The President's Wizard Page 2

  “This is where we start on this circuitous route to Washington DC. We ride the train through the northern states. We will stop at certain stations, and the President-elect will give a rousing speech to the party faithful. Once he crosses Baltimore and enters Maryland, he will be on the enemy ground.”

  “You make it sound like he is placing himself in mortal danger by taking office in Washington DC. Maryland surrounds Washington DC by three borders. The other border is with Virginia.”

  “And you would be right. Have you ever been inside of the house that just doesn’t feel right? Some homes when you enter make you feel as if you were a member of the family. Some homes make you feel as if you are an enemy. This is the same for territory. When we go through Maryland to get to Washington DC, it might be oppressive. It all depends on how much a claim, and who is claiming it, makes on a territory. A mighty wizard who builds his tower on a prominent hill and begins to conduct his business in that tower is laying claim to that territory. If no other wizard claims the territory, then he gets it by default. If there is another wizard who claims the same territory, then there is going to be conflict. Depending on the abilities of both of these wizards, the result can be continuous rain all the way up to a volcano eruption. On occasion there could also be a spell dire, a duel between Mages”

  “Will Washington DC be a contested zone,” asked Lincoln.

  “Like it or not, Washington DC is a southern city. The Archmage of Washington DC is old and failing fast.”

  “I just don’t understand,” said William. “Surely the Southerners can see that the elementals have intelligence. How can they hold that they have a right to bind them to service?”

  “My master informed me that he suspected an ancient enemy. Just as he survived the interregnum from the last spike of power to now, the ancient enemy must have done the same.”

  “What ancient enemy?” William fixed Thomas with the stare.

  “All of the texts that survive from that period were destroyed. All that remained are some very ancient ruins in far off locations. I am satisfied that there is a spirit of evil walking the world. The Christians and the Jews referred to it as Satan. Just about every single religion out there has a God of evil or darkness. Weak-willed wizards find themselves entrapped by the devices of this enemy. They become his vassals. In exchange, they are given incredible power over death. We, the White Wizards, refer to these as necromancers. We also include evil hermetic mages in that category.

  “You are correct, William,” said Thomas. “If left to their own devices the Southern states would have come to some compromise with the northern states, and we would have peace now instead of the threat of war. The stratagem of the enemy is to use this conflict as a crowbar to take over the United States. Once he has sway over the United States, he can use our industrial power as well as our agricultural power to attempt the overthrow of all that is good on earth.”

  “I had no idea,” said Lincoln shaking his head. “I knew that I was putting my head in the noose. Why didn’t these enemies strike me before I won the election?”

  “I believe there are some rules in this great game of the upper powers. Every king, or chief executive, has what has been referred to as a divine right. It is a power that surrounds the king or the president.”

  “I am not yet the president. The inauguration is not until March.”

  “That is true, Mister President. By the rules of this land, you became the heir to the throne, so to speak. You have some of the power and authority of the president. The inauguration will simply be an acknowledgment that you are the chief executive.”

  “Has it always been like this?” asked William.

  “Yes, even during the times of reduced power the divine right of kings was asserted.”

  “Then how did the United States ever come about?” William thought that he had Thomas in a logical bind.

  “Let me answer this,” said Lincoln. “There was a cabal of wizards who wanted a land free of the constraints of religion and Society. They added their power to the near-unanimous hatred of the people for England. We did the impossible.”

  “Divine right does not mean that you are all-powerful within the bounds of your territory. It means that you have the authority, but that authority can be overturned. Nothing, but a war can overturn that authority.”

  William shook his head. This sounds like a lesson from one of his ancient history classes in the Academy. Divine right was treated more like an argument than an actuality. Now, he was involved with an actual wizard and the President of the United States. He knew why he had been selected for this duty. He had no ax to grind and so would do his duty. Now it seemed that his duties included The President’s Wizard.

  “I think it’s best that we allow the president a chance to get some sleep. He has a tough bit of traveling to do. He has to make speeches in all the right areas. The problem areas would be right after Baltimore.” Thomas escorted William out of the presidential room on this train.

  The Battle Of the B&O Railroad

  They were due to pull out of Baltimore at the beginning of dusk. William did not like that. It put him at a disadvantage, especially when dealing with things of magic. He did look at himself in the long mirror at the end of the hallway of his car. It showed a man wearing a black wide-brimmed hat, a black frock coat, a red vest and a black leather holster with a nickel plated revolver that he had never seen before. He had been told that it was a Colt single action Army revolver. The only problem was that it did not look like any revolver he had ever seen. There were no nipples for him to put caps on. Instead, his revolver contained cartridges of brass with the lead bullet on top. That made the ammunition self-sufficient. He did not have to load the revolver one cylinder at a time. He could do it by simply putting a cartridge in the cylinder, and that was all it took.

  William picked up his revolver and twirled it in his right hand. He didn’t know why he did that. It just seemed so well-balanced in his hand that he could twirl it. The wizard said nothing about this tendency of his to twirl his gun. William thought that he knew Thomas well enough to understand that the wizard was happy in seeing what William could do with the weapon.

  Thomas walked out of his cabin. He saw William admiring himself in the mirror. “Remember that every piece of clothing is part of a complete set of armor. Your clothes are not proof of everything. I can only do so much enchanting to silk. I don’t think you would look very normal wearing plate armor. I guess what I’m saying is that you need to exhibit some care for your person. The same kind of weapons that were enchanted for you can also be enchanted for your opposition.”

  “So all I have to do is point my weapon and think that he will die when I discharge the gun?”

  “Yes, your will has to be part of your firing of the gun to be useful against creatures from a different plane. So, don’t forget. In fact, if you start thinking about it even if you’re dealing with normal people you won’t forget.”

  “I noticed that you have your carpet bag with you.”

  “I am never without. I think Eldura called it my bag of tricks. She always had a sense of humor.”

  “Are you talking about a long-lost love?” William liked to ask question about Thomas’ past.

  “Yes, even wizards can fall prey to that desire. Eldura is a wizard of some skill. She is about as much of a long-lost love as a wizard ever gets. We have no set length of life. Maintaining a relationship for hundreds of years is hard. Normal humans only have to maintain a relationship for about forty or fifty years. With us, we do fall in love and then fall out of love. Only the young think that love is eternal.

  “I believe she is the Archmage of Philadelphia. That puts her near Washington DC. You might see her a little bit later on. Right now, I need to go and talk with the fire elemental that is running the train. It is a rather small elemental I wanted it to be assured that I have its existence in mind.”

  “Is Eldura an ally.”

  “Her proximity to Washington
DC means that we should determine whether or not she is an ally. If we get past the next few hours, one of our many tasks ahead will be to get Eldura to come to Washington DC and answer some questions.”

  “You don’t age. Does Eldura?”

  “No, she looks very much like she did when we both were working with our masters.” The melancholy in his voice told William a lot about the man with whom he was being partnered. William thought that his friend had not quite said goodbye to Eldura in his heart.

  “Look at me nattering on. I think you’ve learned quite a bit about how to handle me. We need to make a little trip, and I want you to come with me. You may have seen an elemental, but you may not have seen a free elemental.”

  “It’s going to take a long time climbing over all those boxcars to get to the locomotive.”

  “We’re going to go ahead and use a little bit of power to teleport ourselves to the locomotive. Have you been doing the exercises that I gave you to help you see the world as it truly is.”

  “Yes, I did. Even though I saw things that I really did not want to see. Some of the people on this train are not really people.”

  “The humanoid form factor is used by a lot of the fantastic creatures now living in the world. As part of their normal hiding, they take the form of normal humans. A person armed with the sight will be able to see these creatures as they truly are. I have been doing the same thing as you. I have been walking the cars of this train. The people that you are worried about I know about. The sight will allow you to know friend from foe. You can’t mistake someone who is an enemy from someone who is a potential friend. A person that is in the shadow while you are using the sight is an enemy.”

  Thomas reached into his waistcoat pocket. He pulled out from it an intricately woven wire ball. He held the wire ball up in front of William. He sent his will through the intricately woven wire ball. The energy he put into that ball caused a weakness in the space about them. Then with his intention, he wrenched them from one location to another. Thomas worried about the noise of translocation. He just sent a message that said Thomas and William were here.

  William stepped nervously around him. He was not prepared for translocation. He only knew that word because Thomas used it an awful lot. The two humans in the locomotive did not give it much thought. Often wizards would pay a visit on whatever elemental was working in the train that day. Most of these Mages had no cause to be alarmed about the treatment of that elemental.

  “I need to speak with the elemental,” said Thomas.

  The engineer nodded. Then he yelled over the hiss of the steam and the noise that the wheels made on the tracks. “The firemen will go ahead and open up the firebox on your request. I see that you are wearing your goggles and that will stand you in good stead. I’ve worked with this elemental before he likes boiling water.”

  Thomas nodded. He reached into his carpet bag and pulled out another set of goggles for William. He had William put on the glasses. Then he put on his own goggles. Then he gave the signal to the firemen who opened the butterfly doors.

  William followed Thomas who got on his hands and knees. They peered into the raging inferno inside of the locomotive. The glare subsided from the elemental until he could see the form of the eldritch creature. Thomas turned to him and said: “Use the sight on the elemental.”

  William did as he was instructed. He focused his eyes not on the actual creature but on the halo that surrounded it. As William brought the halo into more focus, his eyes shifted until he perceived the eldritch world. One of the benefits of using the sight was that he could hear the voice of the elemental as Thomas started to talk.

  “Does the fiery one know who I am?”

  “You were the archmage of Chicago. You are soon to be the Archmage of Washington DC.”

  “You know my authority then?”

  “Yes. We have our orders from the king to assist you whenever possible.”

  “The evil ones seek to destroy the President-elect. They will do so as soon as they moved from Baltimore into Maryland. This assassination attempt must not be permitted.”

  “What do I care who runs the United States.”

  “The President-elect is one of those who will not allow elementals to be bound against their will.”

  “No one dare bind me.”

  So adamant was the declaration that William thought Thomas to be under assault. He reached and grabbed for his gun and pointed it at the elemental.

  The elemental looked straight at him. He seemed to feel that the elemental was seeing more than just his physical body.

  “A Knight,” said the elemental

  Thomas looks back at William. He saw that William had drawn the Colt pistol. For the first time, Thomas understood Williams position with him. Every wizard of note had a knight errant to do things under his instruction. William didn’t have shiny armor nor a sword. He did have the clothes that Thomas had enchanted. The gun had also been charmed by Dr. Colt himself.

  William was astonished that the elemental seems to speak English. He did not make any comment like this to Thomas, because of the kind of thought that maybe this was a fundamental nature of elementals. Perhaps they thought in ideas, and these were turned into English in his mind.

  “You are indeed correct, my hot friend. However, there is going to be a fight on the train. It will include myself, the Knight, and several necromancers.”

  With his new sight, William saw fear in what passed for a face of the elemental. What was even worse was that William could also feel the fear radiating from the elemental.

  “We do not like necromancers.” This statement of fact was transmitted by the elemental

  William didn’t even know what they were, and yet he did not like them either. He could guess the word by breaking it down into its root forms. Mainly it was death magic. So far in his life, all that he has seen was natural magic. He saw witches do their work. He even saw wizards do their job. He never saw anyone work with death.

  Because necromancers were so reviled by everything, they kept to themselves and practiced their magic in catacombs and faraway places. If the South was being assisted by these type of wizards, then the Union was going to have a rough time. Now he understood what Thomas was offering Lincoln. He was offering himself as an archmage who had a bodyguard half as good as himself. William could see the benefit of The Presidents Wizard, and his protector.

  “We are here to help protect you. Our first job though is the President of the United States.”

  The elemental looked at William. William looked back at the creature of fire. The elemental smiled at William.

  “As my friend said our first guard is the President. But because you are on this train, we will protect you as well. I ask you if you could defend yourself.”

  “If anyone but the engineer or the firemen open up those butterfly doors they will get a good roasting.”

  “We don’t need you to make the locomotive molten. We just need you to continue creating the steam necessary to keep this locomotive moving. Some kinds of attacks that they may use take a lot of energy to move them with the target. So, they usually like to stop the train. And that means they might come after you. How much can you resist a binding attempt?”

  “If they do not know my name, they will never be able to bind me.”

  “That is perfect. If you find yourself under direct attack, please let us know. I will come, but the knight must remain with the President.

  “Yes, he must remain with the sovereign.”

  Again William was astonished at the grasp of the situation shown by the elemental. He holstered his Colt. There was no threat here against them or the President. Then he watched as Thomas went over to the pile of coal carried on the frigid tender for this particular locomotive. He picked up a piece of anthracite coal he tossed it to the elemental working in the firebox.

  William could feel the gratitude come from the elemental. He could also feel the elemental warming up to the payment. The engineer and the
firemen did nothing to hinder that particular idea. It was probably a little larger than they would have given the elemental, but they did not begrudge the elemental the extra fuel. William said nothing until they were once more back in the room with Lincoln.

  “So did you have a chat with the elemental?” Lincoln may have looked like he was in repose. He was just as keyed up as they,

  “We most certainly did,” replied William. “I did not even know that they had that much intelligence.”

  “I knew that they had the intelligence when they saved a family near our Kentucky farm when I was little. A family farm about 5 miles distant caught fire. Some passing by elementals went into that fire and absorbed it all. They saved the family of humans when most of humanity was looking to bind them into slavery.

  “You know they call it humanity. Sometimes the most human of us are those that are not human at all.” Thomas took off his hat and sat down next to Lincoln.

  “Is that what caused you to be so adamant about rights for them?” William held the same beliefs. It was always good to hear someone else’s reasons.

  “Capt. Hazard,” said Lincoln, “I have no idea. I believe it is a bunch of things. I will tell you that I am an abolitionist when it came to dealing with black people. I was never gladder when the Missouri compromise ended human slavery forever. I just don’t understand why the Southerners do not want their elementals to be free. If you treat them well, they work very hard at whatever it is that they are doing.”

  William had to agree with the President. William, too, was glad to see the end of human slavery. Now, he wanted to see the end of elemental slavery. If Thomas called him a knight, then he would set his horse to the eradication of the Southern cause.

  Both William and Thomas set about doing as little as possible. When the attack came, it may be physical and require physicality to counter it. If it did indeed come in the form of magic, then Thomas needed all of his strengths to counter their spells. They both knew who was going to be this linchpin of the defense. It was going to be William with Thomas holding off the magical attack and William using his ensorcelled gun. An hour later William was noticing that the President was acting as if he were cold. That was when William also felt it.