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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3469393" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter One-hundred-fifty-four, “Messier’s Workshop“, Wednesday June 14th, 1882, 4:30 P.M.Despite her fatigue Kate spent some time pacing after the others left. She looked to Mr. Harker and said, "I hate staying behind. The worrying is harder than the danger." He says, "I know, but we can use this time to our advantage. Let's see if Mr. Messier might have anything more to say." Kate nodded. "I think I'm out of questions, but I'm always thinking up more. And we have to go get that picture, don't we?"She turns to the wizard and asks, "Well Mr. Messier, where do we need to go to get this picture of our friend Mortimer's current face?" He says, "We need to ride to the Beatrice Mine." Harker says, "Fine, but first let's all bring Mr. Miller back in the building and secure him in such a way that he won't be running off anywhere." It doesn't take long to get Miller tied and gagged in his own bed. The three mount up for the ride to the Beatrice Mine, which takes nearly an hour as Harker makes sure they go wide around the Cunningham Mine area not trusting Messier to keep the other's presence a secret.They eventually reach the mine. Harker says, "Okay, we'll secure the horses near the gate and go in together. Is this picture in the bunkroom?" Messier says, "No, I have it in a secret location." "How far into the mine is this secret location?" Kate had a very bad feeling about going into the mine with this man, and she wasn't sure if it was justified or just paranoia. He says, "It is one level lower, accessed by the second shaft that we'll reach." Harker says, "Fine you lead."Kate followed the two men into the mine, trying not to think of what had happened to her just the day before. Her skin was crawling. She lagged behind just a bit, then muttered under her breath the armor spell, hoping Messier wouldn't notice. The spell to see the invisible would have to wait until he had started down whatever shaft they were going to. Harbrace insists upon descending the ladder first with Messier directly behind him. They reach the next level down while the shaft continues. Harker moves away from the ladder followed by Messier and they then wait for Kate.Kate waited until Messier was down and sure he couldn't hear her, the rapidly and quietly cast the spell that would allow her to see the invisible. She then made her way to the ladder and followed the men down. he arrived at the bottom of the ladder and said, "Let's go. After yesterday I don't like being in here." Messier says, "You hurt me, this is my home."He leads them through the corridors, off from which are various chambers where ore has been mined. They eventually reach a fork. He says "It is here." He reaches over to the section of the wall with the "V" part of the fork and moves a stone a foot up on one side, another eighteen inches up on the other side and so on until he has stepping stones going toward the ceiling. He then begins to climb stating "There is an illusionary trapdoor up here." Harker calls out, "Then stop! One of us will go first instead." Kate looks closely at the ceiling and manages to discern the outline of the magical image.Kate says, "This place is just full of illusionary walls. You must have thought someone would find it, or you just like to plan for the worse. Usually wise. Mr. Harker will go first. Take care, Mr. Harker, the illusion is blocking our sight." Harker leaves Kate with the bullseye lantern and takes a lit candle. He disappears through the ceiling and calls down. "Okay, he can come up but I don't want him touching anything." Messier climbs up followed by Kate.The room is round in shape around twenty-five feet in diameter and is a combination workshop/laboratory/library. At the far end is a small wood stove with a vent pipe going into the wall. Messier says, "It's over in the bookcase," and gestures to a three shelf wooden bookcase continuing around thirty books. Kate approaches and looks at the books. She recognizes two of them as being two of the three books that Johnny Ringo had taken which weren't recovered from the other cave in early April. He tells her the photograph is inside the book with the maroon binding on the third shelf down.Kate looked carefully at the maroon book. With the spell up to see through illusions she couldn't cast detect magic. She held her body far to the side, letting only her hand be in front of the book as she took it off the shelf to check for the photograph. "Did you get any of these books from Mr. Palmer?" "Yes, four of them." He describes which ones, two of which were those that had been in Ringo's library and another is the maroon one with the photo.The man in the photograph has very distinctive facial hair. She says, "Well, that beard will be hard to miss," Kate said as she looked at the photograph, then handed it to Mr. Harker. "You said you used a spell to change his appearance. Aren't spells finite? It would wear off eventually unless I'm mistaken."Messier replies, "Yes, and although there is nothing in the photograph to gauge height another physical characteristics is that he is also short in stature. There are various types of transformational magics, some are more illusionary in nature and indeed fade after a short while, others such as those created using the magical item tend to be more permanent unless the item is lost. I am a rather powerful wizard so under normal circumstances the spells will hold longer than those cast by a lesser wizard. But I have found that when cast here in eastern Cochise County the spell retains itself with far more permanency and will not fade unless the individual leaves this region."Kate comments, "That's the second time you've said that. About being a powerful wizard? Just how powerful are you?" He states, "I am the most powerful wizard in this region of the country, more powerful that the Frenchman who runs the gun shop in Promise City, more power than the French tailor in Tombstone, more powerful than Palmer and than Johnny Ringo was. Magical spells come in various tiers of difficulty. I have not only mastered the two common tiers known to most mages and the tier known to most teachers but also the tier above that, normally reserved for grandmasters of magic."Kate thinks to herself, “I need to buckle down to my own studies. Comforting he didn't name Mr. Gonzales or myself. How sad he'd be to know he isn't the most powerful.” "Impressive," she said aloud. "Cochise County is an unusual place. You think nothing of telling me the names of other wizards in the area? I would think secrecy would be better for all users of magic." He replies, "Have I really told you anything that you didn't already know? Palmer indicated that you were one of Ringo's enemies and that you personally had knowledge that some of his books were magical in nature. Wasn't it one of those Frenchmen who told you that?"She replies, "I was one of Ringo's enemies, and I did know many of those books were magical in nature. That's why I fought so hard to keep them from him. Beside the fact that they were gifted to me by the real owner. The man he bought them from stole them. My mother is French. I wasn't shielded from all knowledge of magic although I was not taught any. Would have been impossible since Maman didn't know it either. Still, I didn't need to be told what kind of books they were. Does Palmer hold a grudge, or consider me to be a threat of some kind?"Messier answers, "I would not know. He does consider your friend Cook a threat, given that Cook managed to murder Ringo. Ah yes, you are partially French, that would make sense. American's are ignorant of magic and could not properly use it even if taught. It is we of French blood who the world has chosen to be the world's leaders in the arcane." "Of course," Kate agreed as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "I have often regretted not going to France when I had the chance. So much I might have learned there. You say Palmer sought you out for a teacher. How did he find out about you? I would have thought Ringo would have been his teacher since he was part of the Gang and close enough to Ringo for the man to share Palmer my own situation with the books."Messier replies, "He did seek out Ringo as his teacher, it was only after Ringo's demise that he needed to find another. He made the assumption that as a Frenchman I might be a wizard and came here. He entered while we were down below mining. He used magic designed to detect more magic and found this secret workroom. He then waited here for me. At that point I could hardly deny it, so reluctantly agreed to assist him.”She asks, "Did he threaten to expose you?" Messier replies, "No, he threatened to kill me. I believe that he was sincere." She answers, "I believe you were right. Magic is all well and good, but there's only so much it can do against the barrel of a gun pushed against your chest; as Mr. Ringo learned so well in his last moments. So Palmer kept your teaching for himself, the passed it on to others in the gang? I heard a rumor he'd been seen here training others in the use of magic."He replies, "Yes, he's been training a few of his men, Madson and Fuller, on how to use spells. And having me give him instructions as well." Kate says, "They can't be very advanced yet. I'm familiar with Madsen, but I don't recall a Fuller." He replies, "Someone from Tombstone. A bunch of them had been hiding out in town at one of the saloons but it burned to the ground last month. Dan Madsen moved to Promise City to reestablish his Hardware and Taxidermy shop and they came with him."Kate turned and put the book back on the shelf. I probably could have asked Wyatt Earp the names of every Cowboy he knew of and he'd have told me. "Am I remembering right you said something about Jasper Ordway? He worked for Thayer, didn't he? That ranch seems to be another place where the Vampires and the Cowboy Gang merge." Messier replies "It served their purposes until you folks and Earp went and wiped them all out. Then they relocated out this way.""That's one thing I can't claim any responsibility for. My friends seem to have developed a concern for my physical safety lately, which is why I'm here instead of clearing vampires out of a mine. We should go, I'm longing for the sunlight. And I won't even ask for the return of my books," she said lightly. He says, "Not so fast, if Palmer or his boys come back before you get him I'll be as good as dead. I need to change my appearance to something other than Wicks or my own face. It'll take me around a half-hour to prepare and cast."Kate says, "I wondered how you planned to deal with that. What do you think, Mr. Harker? We have no one here now to guarantee he is telling the truth, but I can't see any reason for Mr. Messier to be lying to us at this point. Will it still be sunlight out in another half-hour?" Harker raises his revolver and replies, "No, I'm not letting him touch any equipment or cast any spells until after the Bishop verifies his intent. We'll bring what you need back instead. Messier, tell Mrs. Kale exactly what you will need and she will carry it for you."Messier reluctantly tells her which book to get as well as which containers of ingredients to take. Kate collected the things and put them into a saddlebag Messier had in his room, relieved that Mr. Harker had refused. She been trying to build a kind of camaraderie with Messier ever since his comment about the French leading the world in all matters arcane, and it seemed to have paid off in information. The more goodwill she could maintain the better. "Okay, lets get out of here."The sun is still in the sky when they depart the mine but will soon be setting behind the Dragoon Mountains to the west. They ride back to the Silver Star Mine, arriving there as the sky is beginning to darken. The others are not back yet from the Cunningham Mine. Mr. Miller is still tied and bound inside and when asked confirms that nobody has been by since they left.Miller and Messier were still being kept as far from each other as possible in the small building. Kate checked the door to make sure it was securely locked and the windows closed. "I'm not much of a cook, but I can manage something simple. Perhaps we should all eat, it's been a long day." Miller manages to catch her attention and when Harker ungags him he tells her where to find the food storage bins, which are secured in a closet inside metal containers in order to keep bugs and rats out."I don't think there's any need to replace the gag," Kate said. "It can't be comfortable and Mr. Miller has been more than patient with what's happened today." She looked through the bins, trying to find whatever they could eat without much preparation since she still was not a good cook. She finds some beans, barley, corn and dried meats to make up some soup. Miller looks to Messier and says, "Steve, what's going on? Who are these people?"Messier/Wicks replies using Wicks voice, "Gary, these folks work for Judge Isby. Slim fell in with some bad people and made some deals for all three of us without our direct consent. He also implicated us in his shenanigans. We're innocent and I've been doing what I can to convince these folks of that, and keep us from sharing the same hangman's rope that awaits Slim. Probably best that we don't discuss this further until we have a chance to talk to an attorney." Gary Miller nods his agreement.Kate adds, "And certainly not here with us. I don't want to have to gag anyone again, gentlemen. If there's anything either of you would like to tell us, we'll be glad to hear it out of earshot of the other." Miller blurts out, "I don't know anything about any of that, Slim kept me away from his new friends. I'm just a poor prospector, that's all, hell we haven't found a damn thing here other than a small amount of copper and we've been working it for over a year now."Kate replies, "We've been following this case for some time, Mr. Miller, we know the level of your involvement or lack thereof. A few more uncomfortable hours and everything should be settled." Kate got the simple soup started then sat down next to Mr. Harker. She was practiced at speaking without her voice carrying by now and did so. "I'm sorry you got stuck staying behind, Mr. Harker. I'm sure you'd rather be with the others."Harker replies, "No, not really. I'm worried about them but truth be told, I don't particularly enjoy this line of work. I do it because it must be done, so nobody has to suffer like my beloved Mina did." Kate nodded and was quiet for a minute. "The knowledge becomes a responsibility. I have wondered if I can ever go back to a life where I don't take action, where I leave the problems for others. The law blinds itself to too much, and I know too much to sit by without feeling guilty. Has Mr. Tomlinson discovered anything more about the one he's looking for?"Harker lowers his voice so that Messier will not hear and says, "That's what we're here fore. Mr. Messier's information will be quite valuable." "In finding the young woman? The slayer?" Kate asked so softly that she could barely hear it. Harker replies, "Oh no, I meant in locating Mortimer Turner. The slayer will come from this community after the present one perishes, but that also might occur years from now. It is important that Mr. Tomlinson is here when that happens."Kate asks, "Is there some kind of history with Mortimer Turner? Something that makes it more important to destroy him than the others? Just like those still living, I suppose vampires can still be ambitious." He replies, "No, with Tomlinson it is more of a case of unfinished business. Our watcher friend thought that Turner was dispatched over a year ago. It is a blemish on his record as long as Turner remains and continues to create more to the ranks of the undead.""I see," she said with a bit of a smile. "No one likes things they thought were finished to come back and haunt them. Like you, I don't enjoy this work, but I wish I could have gone. I know it's safest for me here and that I don't have much to offer as far as help goes, but I always worry when I don't go it will be the one time I was needed. That my absence will be the difference." He replies, "I understand. Do not worry too much about our friends, I am certain that they will soon return with news of success in their endeavor." She says, "I hope so, I want to go home. Although there's more work to do when we get to town." It was quite and dull waiting for the others to come back. Once it was ready, Kate served the mediocre but servicable soup. She'd eaten far less than she should today and it was telling. It was easy to ignore the taste and eat.The others who went to the Cunningham mine arrive return to the Silver Star Ranch, arriving at around 8:45 P.M. "Now what," Jake says as they are dismounting. "Messier's count of vampires did not match what we found. Where are the others?"</blockquote>

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