The Wizard's Misery The Chronicles of the Midlands Book One

Chapter Twenty

Brandon and Celine walked a little further down the street and then turned down a narrow dirt road. In the distance they could see a small farm which lay nestled in front of the woods. "That's my Pa's farm," Celine explained quickening her pace.

Brandon could see a man standing by a fence enclosing a small pasture where a few horses and a cow were grazing and the man turned and curiously watched them approach. When realization dawned on him that it was his daughter, he started briskly walking towards them. "Celine, is that you?" he called out.

"Yes, Pa! It's me!" she called back.

When he finally reached them, he gave Celine a big, bear hug. "What in the Midlands happened to your hair?" he asked as he finally released her. He was a big man who stood a few inches taller than Brandon with a stocky build that wasn't fat but rather decently muscled.

"I swallowed that gem stone and it made me sick," she explained, taking his arm as they started walking towards the house. "It made me sleep for a whole day and when I woke up my hair was this color."

"I got the message that you were going to be delayed but they didn't tell me that you'd been sick," he said a little bit miffed as he looked towards Brandon. "Who's he?" he asked bluntly, giving him a hard look.

"He's Brandon Smith, a leader of the resistance," she explained. "He's the one I delivered the gem to."

Her father stopped a moment, looking at Brandon really hard. "Do I know you? You look a little familiar," he asked curiously.

Brandon hesitated a moment. "I lived in Sovereign City when I was a boy," he said slowly, watching him as recognition dawned on the older man's face and then quickly disappeared.

"I'm Jack Rushing," he said, offering Brandon his hand which he accepted and the two men shook hands.

"Brandon told me that he knew you when you were a palace guard," Celine offered smiling.

"That was a long time ago," Pa answered, glancing at Brandon. "But, why are you here? I would've thought that after you got the gem, you'd be going your own way," he asked him directly.

"We were attacked on the road and I wanted to make sure she made it home safely," Brandon explained as they walked towards the house.

"Well, I see that the two of you managed to escape unharmed," Pa remarked giving Brandon a hard look. "Was it over that gem stone? Robin was supposed to be the decoy to keep her safe."

"We met Robin on the King's Road between Midtown and King's Port. He was being attacked by some assassins," Celine explained. "We helped him ward them off and then he traveled with us to King's Port."

"Why on earth did he do that? That was putting you in danger!" Pa asked stopping again and looking a little angry.

"There was a misunderstanding over who was who," Brandon told him slowly.

"We thought that Brandon was a traitor and Brandon didn't know that Robin was supposed to be the decoy," Celine explained. "As soon as we figured everything out, Brandon sent him on to East Port."

"But, I guess it was too late," Pa said with a hard set to his jaw. "He must've led the assassins straight to you."

"I don't think so. I'm pretty sure that we weren't followed. When we were attacked last night, it would've been impossible for anyone to know where we were except by using magic," Brandon told him. "They must be using magic to find the stone."

"Magic? That means that Maledictor is involved," Pa said, almost spitting out the name.

"Seems so," Brandon replied.