51
As I finished closing the trunk, Kevin appeared lugging his duffel towards us. I opened the trunk and he threw his in and closed it for me. “I'm ready, let's chow.” he said and hopped in the passenger seat. We drove a short way over to Keneally's, a nice small hole-in-the-wall diner, that has some of the best sausage and gravy that I've had in a long time. We all tucked in and soon we had finished and Kevin eyed me as I grabbed the check.
“Is Cobb going to be there today?” he asked me in a carefully neutral voice. “Probably, though I'm not certain. He volunteered for this, and since he wants this done I'd expect him to show” I said equally neutrally. “Is there a problem with him and you that I don't know about?” He shrugged slightly, and then shook his head. “I just don't know for certain.” He shrugged again. I got the feeling whatever he was going to talk about had given him troubles for a while.
“The Doc said that my wound was from a large rock chip, not claws. I think I got that when you shot the ground near it. When it dropped on me, all I could think on was how you said it was so lethal, and that I was going to die. But all it did was drop on me. It took me all night to think through what bothered me about that fight. It just laid on me.” He shrugged yet again and looked first at Kent, then at me. “I just thought you two should know about that.”
“Well, that is very interesting, you think we should brace our associate up about the creature when we see him again?” I thought hard about that question. “No, if he's running some kind of scam or game on us, it's better that he doesn't know we've gotten wind of it. He might try something else. This way we can watch and maybe see what he's trying to hide or keep our attention away from.”
Kent had sat there and listened intently to Kevin's story. “You know Fern, you might be looking at this backwards. He may not have an agenda.” He held up his hands in mock surrender when I started choking on my tea. “Hey, I know he's a manipulative son of a bitch, but what I'm saying is maybe you're not looking at things from the proper line.” He stopped for a moment, and let his words sink in. He then launched in again. “What if that creature had been trying to do something else, like warn us or protect Kevin from something? Not saying that's what is was doing, just saying what it did do doesn't fit with what I'd expect from a hostile.”
They had me there. Looking back, I have to agree, it never mad a threatening move at me, just tried to stagger away towards Cobb at the end, when I'd shot it. At the time I was really keyed up from the previous attacks, that I didn't want to give it another chance at me or anyone with me. Maybe the creature was not an enemy, and maybe it might be, just not the way we think. Cobb, no matter how I looked at it, was an enemy. He just happened to be on our side. But he was an enemy. Until this service I owed was done, I couldn't afford the luxury of thinking he might be something else, too much had gone on.
We got up from the table and I left a ten dollar tip. Once out to the car, Kent grabbed the front seat and Kevin got in the back. We got out to the bridge, and Cobb was waiting for us there, just at the same place near Kent and Kevin had set their wards the previous day. The wind was blowing fiercely today and whitecaps danced in the strait. The wet wind cut through my clothes and chilled me almost as soon as I was out of the car.
“So we gonna do this Fern?” asked Kent. I looked out again at the strait. The wind was going to make things difficult, and being cold and having to stay out in the open was going to chill us all pretty thoroughly, but if we got the casting done, we wouldn't have to come back again. “Yeah, we're going to do it.” I glared at Cobb, who was happy to glare back at me. “Faster started, faster done with this bloody thing.” Kent and Kevin went back out to the spit of land and used some brushes to clean the old septacles away and ready the ground for the new wards.
I hiked back up the bridge to the edge and used a steel welding brush to clear away my own septacle and clean the ground for the new one. Cobb, just sat and watched the preparations. He saw me watching him and gave me a insolent grin and turned slightly to look out over the strait. I sat down to wait my start, which would coincide with Kevin opening a quiet hole in the barrier. I couldn't figure in all this time why someone hadn't tried to do this before, it seemed that someone would have thought of it long ago. BUt then again, we were trying to go to the island, not come from it, and it had been a long time since anyone had tried to breach the barrier magickally, angry dragons tend to discourage that.
“Is Cobb going to be there today?” he asked me in a carefully neutral voice. “Probably, though I'm not certain. He volunteered for this, and since he wants this done I'd expect him to show” I said equally neutrally. “Is there a problem with him and you that I don't know about?” He shrugged slightly, and then shook his head. “I just don't know for certain.” He shrugged again. I got the feeling whatever he was going to talk about had given him troubles for a while.
“The Doc said that my wound was from a large rock chip, not claws. I think I got that when you shot the ground near it. When it dropped on me, all I could think on was how you said it was so lethal, and that I was going to die. But all it did was drop on me. It took me all night to think through what bothered me about that fight. It just laid on me.” He shrugged yet again and looked first at Kent, then at me. “I just thought you two should know about that.”
“Well, that is very interesting, you think we should brace our associate up about the creature when we see him again?” I thought hard about that question. “No, if he's running some kind of scam or game on us, it's better that he doesn't know we've gotten wind of it. He might try something else. This way we can watch and maybe see what he's trying to hide or keep our attention away from.”
Kent had sat there and listened intently to Kevin's story. “You know Fern, you might be looking at this backwards. He may not have an agenda.” He held up his hands in mock surrender when I started choking on my tea. “Hey, I know he's a manipulative son of a bitch, but what I'm saying is maybe you're not looking at things from the proper line.” He stopped for a moment, and let his words sink in. He then launched in again. “What if that creature had been trying to do something else, like warn us or protect Kevin from something? Not saying that's what is was doing, just saying what it did do doesn't fit with what I'd expect from a hostile.”
They had me there. Looking back, I have to agree, it never mad a threatening move at me, just tried to stagger away towards Cobb at the end, when I'd shot it. At the time I was really keyed up from the previous attacks, that I didn't want to give it another chance at me or anyone with me. Maybe the creature was not an enemy, and maybe it might be, just not the way we think. Cobb, no matter how I looked at it, was an enemy. He just happened to be on our side. But he was an enemy. Until this service I owed was done, I couldn't afford the luxury of thinking he might be something else, too much had gone on.
We got up from the table and I left a ten dollar tip. Once out to the car, Kent grabbed the front seat and Kevin got in the back. We got out to the bridge, and Cobb was waiting for us there, just at the same place near Kent and Kevin had set their wards the previous day. The wind was blowing fiercely today and whitecaps danced in the strait. The wet wind cut through my clothes and chilled me almost as soon as I was out of the car.
“So we gonna do this Fern?” asked Kent. I looked out again at the strait. The wind was going to make things difficult, and being cold and having to stay out in the open was going to chill us all pretty thoroughly, but if we got the casting done, we wouldn't have to come back again. “Yeah, we're going to do it.” I glared at Cobb, who was happy to glare back at me. “Faster started, faster done with this bloody thing.” Kent and Kevin went back out to the spit of land and used some brushes to clean the old septacles away and ready the ground for the new wards.
I hiked back up the bridge to the edge and used a steel welding brush to clear away my own septacle and clean the ground for the new one. Cobb, just sat and watched the preparations. He saw me watching him and gave me a insolent grin and turned slightly to look out over the strait. I sat down to wait my start, which would coincide with Kevin opening a quiet hole in the barrier. I couldn't figure in all this time why someone hadn't tried to do this before, it seemed that someone would have thought of it long ago. BUt then again, we were trying to go to the island, not come from it, and it had been a long time since anyone had tried to breach the barrier magickally, angry dragons tend to discourage that.
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3:46:00 PM
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