Chapter 49: Bad Blood
It didn’t take more than a couple of hours to find Thomas and his people. They weren’t exactly hiding, and Wil’s ability to sense leylines had only gotten sharper over time. He started in the south and worked his way up until he sensed the rune off in the distance. Tucked up in the foothills to the northeast, they had set up out in the open.
The line between Harper Valley and Gallard Springs was blurry most of the time, but the houses and land in the higher elevations were where the rich of that city went. Wil supposed he wasn’t surprised to see them there, now that they no longer had to hide their efforts. He knew he was in the right place when he saw a crowd of people gathered around the edge of a house jutting over a cliff.
Wil parked his Thunderhawk at the base of the hill while people watched him with interest. He waved his hand over it and it disappeared from view. A sharp, wizardly glare at those nearby made them remember they had elsewhere to be. Then he climbed the hill, the storm inside him building up into a hurricane.
He’d considered every way he could yell or chew Thomas out for his petty lies, when all of a sudden an explosion from above shook him from his senses. Wil flinched and looked up, but the sounds of cheering and laughter came next. They were showing off weapons again.
He concentrated and covered himself in an illusion of an old, white haired man, then continued walking up the slope leading to the top of the hill, putting a bit of a limp into his walk, though he doubted people were watching him closely. Even those who saw him apply the illusion would likely not say anything to his targets before he was ready.
Another explosion came as Wil’s head peeked out over the lip of the hill. McGinnis stood at an altered cannon with a local, cheering as a big humanoid target one hundred yards away was encased in ice.
“Alright, nice shot! Who wants to see the ice shatter?” McGinnis called out. The screams of joyous assent made Wil want to flinch.
They had an entire set up there in the land surrounding one of Gallard Spring’s more expensive homes on the side of the mountain. Aside from a row of cannons aiming towards targets at the foot of the mountain, there were several other stations where they showed off the fruits of their stolen labor.
More targets were set up in another area on the other side of a shimmering blue light. People took turns firing rifles at the targets, only for the bullets to hit the shield of light and clatter to the ground harmlessly. The old wizard Mark stood there, looking smug at their success.
Gayle was at another station, where a wide swathe of earth was disturbed. A young man held a metal rod with a faricite battery on one end and a rounded metal head on the other. As he ran it along the earth, dirt parted as easily as water at the beach. Wil kicked himself for not thinking of that one.
Thomas was at the final place, in front of the garishly large house. The car he took with him had been further altered over the last week, and now had armor covering it and weapons strapped to the sides. Wil paused and watched his former friend converse enthusiastically with a boisterous looking man.
Wil’s blood boiled at it all. He, Bram, and Darlene had done a lot of their experiments in the open, but they still kept a healthy distance between them and the public until they were ready. Thomas and his crew did the opposite, and it made sense. How else could he succeed at discrediting Wil and the others, if not by making himself more visible.
The cannon roared and a second later, the frozen target shattered into a million tiny pieces as the teenage boy who fired it screamed and punched the air. McGinnis laughed and took the boy’s money, and then it was the next person’s turn.
Everyone here looked to be having the time of their lives, and they would no doubt talk about their experiences and spread the word. Back in Harper Valley they had people doing the same, but they were more whispers and rumors about their work rather than hands-on experience like this. It was brilliant, and infuriating.
Wil wandered closer to Thomas and the war machine he’d made. Thomas had just finished speaking to someone when he met Wil’s eye. The disguised wizard froze, but Thomas didn’t recognize him. Instead, he smiled and motioned him closer.
“How are you enjoying our demonstration?” Thomas asked with a sly smile. “It must be exciting to see this kind of advancement out here.”
Wil wasn’t a particularly good liar, but he was a good illusionist and performer. It took only a second for him to magically throw his voice and slump as if the weight of the world and several decades pressed down on him.
“It’s obscene,” Wil growled in a low, gravelly voice. “Back in my day, we didn’t have any of this magic crap to hide behind. We fought in wars without much magical help. We’d have to get up real close and make eye contact with those we kill.”
Thomas didn’t miss a beat. “And now we don’t have to. All of these are to keep our men and women safe as they fight for Calipan and our right to grow. With this technology I’ve invented, we'll be at the forefront of a new way of fighting. And it starts with this, my Chariot.” He slapped the side of the car.
Wil swallowed hard, fighting the urge to throw off the illusions and chew him out. He couldn’t restrain himself from saying, “You invented this, huh?”
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He bowed his head. “I did. No one knows cars like I do, and with this new source of power, even nonmagical people will be able to operate magical devices. This is the future of warfare; this is the future of Calipan.”
He could’ve maybe kept up the act, but a surge of anger made Wil stand up tall and dismiss the illusions. “You’re a real piece of work, Tom. You didn’t invent a godsdamned thing, and I can’t believe you’re lying to people like this.”
The surprise on his face gratified Wil, but not as much as the look of rage. “I invented it just as much as you, Wilbur. All you did was blunder your way into things. You couldn’t have done any of it on your own.”
“Neither could you,” Wil countered. Heat flooded all his senses. He wasn’t ready to start throwing magic, but he did want to punch the other wizard. “You had to latch onto me like a parasite to try to make a name for yourself. Without me, you’d still be Ferrovani’s stooge.”
Thomas’ face twisted into pure hate, and Wil immediately felt bad for going there. He thought of apologizing, but his rival acted first. “I at least had to work to get there. What have you done, other than being the magical equivalent of a day laborer? Without your friend Bram to come up with ideas, you’d be nothing. Without Darlene to pull your shit together, you’d get nowhere. And without my guidance, nothing would’ve been polished or worked properly.”
“Yeah,” said Wil. “That’s what it means to be part of a team. Wasn’t that what you were raving about, that night your friends broke into my house? I can’t believe we were so hyped up on our successes that we bought what you were selling. You must’ve been laughing your ass off at us.”
Nearby people drifted away as their conversation got more and more heated. Neither he nor Thomas cared about it. The Cloverton wizard flushed and shook his head sharply. “That wasn’t me. I was going to call it all off and dismiss them before the dumbasses did that.”
“And yet here you are, working with them and telling Cloverton that you came up with everything. I told you that you’d get all the same credit, but no, you’re being petty just because you’re facing consequences for your actions and trying to get me locked up.” Wil spit on the ground. “You really think that’s an appropriate retaliation?”
He was gratified when Thomas paused in surprise. “That would be Ferrovani. I had nothing to do with that, I -- “
“Sure you didn’t,” Wil sneered. “You just passed it along and it’s someone else’s fault, while you get to benefit. It’s never you, right?”
“Screw you, McKenzie,” Thomas hissed. He sounded equal parts enraged and shaken. “What else was I supposed to do, here? You kicked me out and told me to go back to them. All I wanted was to keep working and make a name for myself, and you kicked me out. I didn’t want any of this. I was going to walk away, but nooo, it was too late. Should I have just gone home and sat on my hands while waiting for you to deliver on your promise? What should I have done, Wil?”
It was a question he’d had plenty of time to think about. “You should’ve told me from the start Ferrovani was on your ass,” he said. “I would’ve tried to help you out, and we could’ve thought of a way to work together without the baggage. That’s what pisses me off the most about this. At every step of the way, you could’ve done the right thing and it would’ve been fine. But you didn’t. There’s always an excuse why you let things continue.
“That’s the problem, Thomas. You’re a coward.”
Thomas reacted as if he’d been slapped. He took a step back, leaning against the car. “You have no idea what you’re talking about,” he whispered as his face flooded with color.
Wil grinned fiercely at his discomfort and took a step forward before something collided with him and sent him sprawling to the ground. It hurt, sudden and sharp, but he didn’t feel damaged or in danger. He looked up to find McGinnis standing over him, hands glowing with barely restrained power.
“You shouldn’t have come here, McKenzie,” McGinnis said. “Four of us versus you, we could send you home to mom in a box.”
For a second, Wil regretted not bringing Isom, but he didn’t need for this to turn into a bloodbath, no matter how angry he was. Wil got up slowly, making it clear he wasn’t attacking. He opened his mouth to speak, but Thomas beat him to it.
“We’re not going to do anything of the sort, McGinnis. McKenzie’s here because he’s filled with impotent rage. He’s here because he’s angry that we’ve surpassed him.” Thomas smiled coldly. “By the time we’re done, it’ll be a fifty fifty shot whether he gets in trouble or not. But I’m willing to bet the odds are greater that with our weapons, Cloverton will favor us. And there’s nothing he can do about it, is there, McKenzie?”
Gayle and Mark came closer, staying out of it but close enough to make it a four on one if Wil did lose his temper again. Their inventions were easily more along the lines of what Cloverton wanted, even if Wil and friends’ creations were more likely to improve the lives of the country at large. He wanted so badly to continue the fight, to stomp his feet and roar and lash out.
It wouldn’t do any good. Thomas knew it, he knew it, and the other three were just waiting for him to make a move. Wil forced himself to relax and smile. “Your attempts to cheat and take credit for my work disgust me, but it won’t work. We have extensive journals and eyewitnesses. Our work is better, even if you are pandering to the military.
“The fact is, I am on good terms with the president, and so is my friend Sylano. I’m not going to do anything here and now, because I don’t have to. My work will speak for itself, and when all is said and done, we’re going to not only win but embarrass.” Wil turned to McGinnis. “You have one week to apologize and back down. If you don’t before the presentation, I will do everything in my power, call in every favor I have, to bury you.”
McGinnis’ eyes blazed and the magic glowing a harsh red in his hands deepened. For a second, Wil thought that he’d get that fight after all, but Thomas stepped between them. “Get out of here, McKenzie. Before I let McGinnis tear you apart.” The mage didn’t look happy at the insinuation that people let him do anything, but he was eager enough.
Wil sighed. “Fine,” he said. “Hope you’re enjoying your nightmares, McGinnis.” The mage let out a garbled yell and tried to jump him, but Thomas held him back. Wil turned around and walked away, to the edge of the clifftop. He jumped off and magically slowed his fall. He landed next to his hidden Thunderhawk and dismissed the illusion.
Things hadn’t gone the way he had hoped, but maybe it was the way he needed. They were threatening him, and Wil had an increasingly low tolerance of threats and movements against him. If they thought he could be scared off, they were wrong. Today strengthened his resolve.
With one last breath, Wil flew home. He had just a week to find one last discovery to blow them out of the water. He, Bram, and Darlene, they were a team. Together, they’d win.