The Shadow Council...Part 2

As I called forth each person, runes above their specific door lit up with magickal fire, spelling out their names.

Ravyn’s door was the first to open. She bounced in through her door, her eyes showing concern at the sudden summons. Her gaze quickly settled on me as she approached the table. “What’s wrong?”

I motioned for her to take a seat. “I have received a rather disturbing proposition, but I want to wait until the others get here before I lay it all out.”

She nodded, moved her chair back a bit and plopped down into it. Each of her quick, deliberate movements left a brief afterimage of fire, like the sparklers I had bought for my kids many years ago.

The Frau’s door was the next to be nosed open as she padded into the room and transformed into her familiar, fully clothed form. She pushed the door shut with her left hand and walked easily over to the table. Apparently, she didn’t retain her limp in the Shadowland. When she reached the table, she gave Ravyn a strong hug before settling into her seat, to the left of Ravyn.

Cerrydwen’s door had opened very quietly as the Frau was settling into her seat. She was halfway across the room before any of us had noticed her. She nodded acknowledgement to each of us as she stood behind her chair, hands gripping the seat back firmly.

The Frau glanced over at Jim’s still unopened door. “Oh dear, I hope the poor man remembers how to get here.”

Ravyn, reaching into the basket of fruit to pull out a particularly large pear looked over at the door herself. “He’ll be fine, Frau. We spent two days last month practicing, I know he can make it work.”

Cerrydwen arched her eyebrow and gave a sly smile towards Ravyn. “Two days, huh? What were you two doing all of that time?”

“Cerry! I don’t know what you are insinuating! He needed the practice! He’s never done this sort of thing before!” She blushed as she spoke.

Cerrydwen laughed. “Yeah, it’s no wonder you’ve had an easier time getting your co-op budget increased! Buttering up the money man!”

For the briefest of moments, Ravyn’s mouth dropped open in shock before she recovered and chucked her half-eaten pear at Cerrydwen’s head.

The pear traced an arc through the air as it missed the ducking Cerrydwen by mere inches.

Ravyn sputtered. “Why I’ve never...”

“Sure you haven’t, sis!”

The Frau clucked her tongue. “Girls! Settle down!” She patted Ravyn’s hand. “Don’t worry, Dear, I believe you.”

Ravyn leaned forward to grab an orange this time. “Well, I’m glad someone around here does.!”

Cerrydwen chuckled as she sat down this time. “I’m just hoping he was listening to you more than he was watching you during this instruction! He sure is taking a while!”

“Should I Call him again?”

The Frau shook her head. “No, Rusty. Once is enough. Your Call was very strong as it is. Another one might do more harm than good. He may well have been in the middle of something when you issued the Call.”

“That’s true. Well, I do want to wait until he gets here before I discuss what made me decide to do this right now. So, let’s talk about something else until he shows up. Has anyone heard or seen anything involving Drakaar?”

Before anyone else could answer, Jim’s door burst open as he rushed into the room. He quickly turned his large frame around and slammed the door shut, leaning against the thing for good measure. Sweat streamed down his face from underneath his Toledo Mudhens baseball cap.

He looked at all of us gathered around the table, concern etched across his face. “So what’s the emergency?”

Everyone turned to face me. “Well, I don’t know that it is an emergency, per se, but...”

Jim was now striding towards the table. “You mean you called me during the bottom of the ninth inning of the second game of a double header against the Yankees, and it’s not an emergency?”

That picqued my interest. “Did the Tigers win?”

He nooded as he pulled the chair out and sat down. “Yeah, Craig Munroe hit a three run homer in the top half of the inning and Jones closed it out. That’s what took me so long, I wasn’t going to come here until I knew the outcome. The pennant race is getting too close now!”

An orange peel hit me in the face. “Men and sports!” Ravyn exclaimed. “Let’s talk about the important stuff here. Now why did you call us here, Rusty?”

(To be continued later tonight)