And the Stalking was Hung Ch. 04

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Arc Deco 1 - A minor magician finds trouble at Christmas.
1.1k words
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Part 4 of the 4 part series

Updated 10/19/2022
Created 07/16/2009
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Stultus
Stultus
1,401 Followers

The BMA wasn't at all delighted with the mess that had been dumped on them, but couldn't find anything upon which to fault my actions or put any of the blame on me... but it didn't stop them from trying.

They roped off the house for about a week and had lots of arc-tech gearheads going over everything with a fine toothed micrometer. They paid especial attention to her computer, where I'm sure they found all sorts of unwholesome things. No one could possibly doubt that poor misguided and now mangled Gloria had done the unthinkable for a mere 1.9 Sensitive. If they wanted more answers they could get a good Necromancer to have a talk to her corpse... too bad her soul was now off in Never-never Shadow Land with her lost Shadow boy playmate, so she'll be unlikely to answer any questions ever again.

At least they had brought along a good Healer who knew what she was doing and fixed me up rather nicely and only a few of the massive claw marks on my back should leave any kind of minor scarring.

If I never see another Stalker again, it will be far too soon.

It took me weeks to get my sword cane back and my best duster coat and suit were a complete loss. It took me over a month to finish the protections on my replacements and they don't fit half as well.

I eventually got a terse Letter of Appreciation from the Deputy Director of BMA in Galveston, which was about as much of an 'attaboy' as I was apparently going to get, but it was still better than getting nothing. They couldn't burn me for this episode but they were equally disturbed that a 'mere Adept' could handle a house full of Hulks and a Stalker. To the high and mighty Wizards living in their ivory towers, this was a major affront to their egos and placed me firmly on their 'watch list'.

No good deeds ever go unpunished.

Quietly and very privately, I did claim a Rightful Oath of Compensation when I claimed Gloria's matching pair of uber-grade Artifacts that had boosted her latent power well into Wizard ranges.

Items, especially very magical ones, don't like to be removed from their owner, dead or otherwise, and there is a sort of magical taint that briefly marks the items after any 'irregular' transfers. By making my Oath of Compensation, I claimed that I was owed by the deceased certain lawful expenses, per our Contract Oath, for the damage to my own personal magical Artifices, i.e., my protective suit and loss of blood on her behalf, and claimed in reparation her only apparent equivalent items of value, her illegally obtained Artifacts.

I told you there were subtle benefits to becoming the screwie in a breeched magical Contract!

Her bracers, a pair of oversized wristbands that were the source of her augmented power, had nearly every magical gem in them cracked and burned out. She had sucked this baby down to the bottom of the batteries summoning her last otherworldly assassin.

Eight of the large gems, very high grade Major Arcana Stones, in particular were going to be major pains in the rear to replace, especially via normal legitimate channels. I could probably replace a couple of them now, with the massive largess I was about to receive from Donald, my very grateful client. He wasverygenerous indeed, but even so, buying just two suitable replacement gemstones would end up costing me most of it.

With my own Artificing skills, I could probably make one myself... after about ten years worth of work. Much less time perhaps if I had access to a decent Corporate Arc-Tec lab. These stones themselves are definitely Artifact level magic. Maybe it wouldn't hurt my dignity too much to do some part time consulting in return for some lab time and materials... or work something out in trade. Arc-Tec corps go through Arcana Stones like candy and sometimes some 'gently used' surplus ones eventually end up on the resale market.

*******

Donald remains a happily widowed and very rich man. He has promised to recommend me to other well-heeled potential clients, for which I'm sort of grateful. I can certainly now use the money, but rich clients are also usually morally ambiguous clients. Odds are I'd end up protecting some utter asshole against some little guy he'd squashed earlier like a bug. Outraged husbands, screwed business partners, and so forth. I think I'll take this potential career move a bit slowly and not just rush into things.

I was a bit slow to heal up to 100% but I've been spending most of my recent free time consulting for several local Arc-Tec computer firms. The pay is good, but the fringe benefits are better. I've already replaced two of the destroyed Major Arcana Stones and have a deal in place for six other 'slightly imperfect' stones if I can complete an artificement design project for powering a new consumer product on schedule, by the end of this summer. This has cut into my public Adept work, but the rewards are so totally worth it.

It really didn't hurt all that badly to roll up my selves, do a bit of work and collect a few favors in return for first dibs on some leftover goodies! With eight functional stones, wearing my Artifact should make nearly any Major Visitors run for home, squealing like a spanked schoolgirl. BMA will most definitely not like it, but they can suck eggs.

Neither of us has any real clue why Gloria went through all of the hassle of faking Shadow attacks on herself and bringing in a professional licensed magician to witness it. Our best guess is that she expected me to believe the minor summons against herself were valid and legitimate threats caused by her husband, so that her later major attacks against her husband later could later then be believably blamed upon him as well, that he had failed to control his summonings.

Believable I suppose; BMA certainly wouldn't have thought twice about it, but they're overworked and bureaucratically lazy and would always take the path with the least amount of paperwork. I guess I'm just more suspicious by nature than the average Adept or Wizard.

Hopefully that means I might get to live a bit longer, that would be good... I like this job and enjoy using my powers to be able to help people, and even the twats at BMA on occasion.

THE END

**********

Author's Note: The sequel, "Banish all the World" has been completed and will be posted here soon.

Stultus
Stultus
1,401 Followers
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  • COMMENTS
3 Comments
AnonymousAnonymousabout 13 years ago
love it

I love your work and this is a very cool world thank u for sharing.

shortydeeshortydeealmost 14 years ago
Thanks

Thank you for such a cool story it was fun to read. Keepup the good work an I will be looking for more from you.

AnonymousAnonymousover 14 years ago
I hope you post the next one soon!

Another of your stories that I quite enjoyed! Nice pun with the Stalker being hung from the chimney.<p>

Can I mention the Its thing? If you're talking possession, the word is "its," no apostrophe at all, I know it's weird, but that's the real way it goes. "It's" is the contraction of "it is." When you're tempted to use the apostrophe, just ask yourself if "it is" is what you want in that sentence. And "its'" just isn't a word. Example: So, the creature raised its claw, and I thought "It's going to kill me!!!"

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