========================================================================= Date: Wed, 20 Mar 1996 16:46:26 -0500 Reply-To: "Sean A.Simpson" Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: "Sean A.Simpson" Subject: Rules and Consequences 2/3 See part one for copyright notice. Warning: Some mildly graphic violence in this part. Rules and Consequences Part Three of The Sands of Time by Sean A. Simpson part two "When an Immortal learns magic, though, the Quickening that flows through him is so powerful that he rarely feels the need to draw it from another source. Consequently, it begins to sap away at his power, eventually weakening him and making him easy prey. Furthermore, an Immortal who kills a sorceror of his kind receives that power -- but without the lessons in patience and moderation that formal training entails. Thus, he burns out even quicker, and the cycle begins anew. Most of the Immortal sorcerors I have known are dead now. Only one, Athlicoatl, is still alive. Dreamwalker, Wind Through Trees, Nakano, and Sethihotep have all been killed for their powers. There have been other Immortal sorcerors as well, and others with lesser powers. "Ramirez, my long-dead friend, once taught Connor a way to feel the life-force of the stag, and how to feel its power flowing in him. Ramirez learned that little trick from me when were together in Japan." Angus smiled. "He would never admit it, but without me, he never would have married his third wife, Shikiko." Angus then shook his head. "It's a shame, though. The Kurgan killed him, and I would have done anything to avenge his death, but the Kurgan somehow managed to elude me. It was a good thing when he finally met his end in 1985 by the hand of Connor MacLeod." Angus and I continued talking, but our conversation drifted into more mundane matters over the next hour, until there came a knock at the door. Angus opened it to reveal a perfectly ordinary-looking man. There was nothing about him that would have made him stand out in a crowd; indeed, even now I cannot recall his face or his voice. He introduced himself as Henry L. King, and said something about Angus knowing who he represented. Angus responded with a simple "Aye." King nodded, and continued. "My organization said you would know of us, and that we had made contact with you before." Angus nodded. "Well, we must bring something to your attention." Angus gestured for King to enter the room and asked him if he cared for something to drink. After getting settled, King got down to business. "My organization has come across something that is of great importance to you and your kind, and we are making efforts to make contact with several of your kind throughout Germany. "We know the importance of the Rules of your Game. It has come to our attention that one of your kind, a young one who became immortal about ten years ago, has recently adopted methods that are in clear violation of your Rules. He will often hire mortal henchmen to trap and kidnap Immortals, or he will hunt Immortals down and blow their heads off with a shotgun." I shivered at the grisly image. "We are aware of the importance of your Rules, and that you are one who enforces those rules. We also have reason to believe that he has targeted you. His name is Johannes Mahlburg." "If you are aware of the Rules, then you know that interference is in violation of the Rules," Angus replied. "And by coming to me with this you have interfered." King nodded. "You know as well that we do not ordinarily interfere. However, since he has already killed a number of Immortals with these forbidden methods, we felt it necessary that we inform you, so that the balance would be maintained. "There is one other thing, Mr. MacGregor. You are aware of another organization like our own that focuses strictly on your kind that calls itself the Watchers." Angus nodded in response. "Recently, there have been indications of a group of mortals that knows of the existence of your kind that has been hunting down and beheading Immortals, and then letting their Quickening escape into the ether. They call themselves the Hunters, and they may be a splinter group from the Watchers. We believe that you should be aware of them, and that you should be careful. We believe you are too important in the scheme of things to fall victim to that group." King rose and prepared to leave. "Take care of yourself, Mr. MacGregor. We are here if you need us." With that, he left. "Who was that, Angus?" I asked after a moment. "What is his 'organization?'" "He represents an old organization of scholars that study unusual phenomena. They became aware of the existence of Immortals about six hundred years ago, partly because of me. Two hundred years ago, they made contact with me, and since then occasionally we've worked together when necessary. What is their motto? 'We watch, and we are always there.' But they aren't as...intense about it as the Watchers. I never knew about them until they approached me. "But this news disturbs me. News of an Immortal who breaks the rules so blatantly always disturbs me. And this...these mortals --" Angus said the word with audible disdain -- "killing my kind...this is wrong. This is evil. But first, to find this Johannes Mahlburg. Terry, come with me; I know you'll want to record this in that journal of yours." After some digging and string-pulling, Angus found the address of a Johannes Mahlburg. Surprisingly, he wasn't that far away from our hotel. When we reached the apartment building, Angus found a convenient place for me to watch, and then went up to Mahlburg's door. Before he even knocked, the door opened, revealing a young blond man who didn't look a day over twenty years old. I couldn't hear their words, but I could guess the nature of the exchange: challenge issued, a convenient time and place named. Angus and I went out for a solid German meal after this, after which I swore never to eat blood sausage again. Then Angus drove me out to a forested area outside of Trier from which I couldn't see anything resembling civilization. Then he hid me in a bunch of shrubbery and told me not to move or make a sound. Then he vanished into the surroundings. About fifteen minutes later a car pulled up, near our own car. The moonlight was bright, so I could clearly see the man who got out; it was the same blond man that I'd seen Angus talk to earlier. Obviously, this was Mahlburg. He could obviously sense Angus, as I could see him look around in that way that Immortals did when they sensed another Immortal. I heard him yell something in German, but my German is far too rusty for me to be able remember what he said or translate it. Then I heard Angus reply, also yelling, but this time in English, obviously for my benefit. He said "I am here, Mahlburg." Mahlburg responded in thickly accented English, "I can zense you, but I cannot zee you! Come out and fight according to ze Rules, cow-vard!" I saw his hand go into his jacket. "The Rules? You have ignored the Rules far too often to expect treatment according to them, boy." Suddenly, something flew out of the trees and struck Mahlburg in the throat. A dark stream began flowing down Mahlburg's white T-shirt. Mahlburg gargled for a moment, and then pulled out a shotgun and started shooting wildly. One barrage came dangerously close to my hiding place; I was hard pressed to keep silent. Then, I heard the shotgun click on an empty barrel. Mahlburg was out of ammo. He hadn't planned on facing someone who was as devious as he was. Then I saw a shadow rise up beside Mahlburg, and then a silvery flash. Mahlburg's hands fell away from his arms, and blood spurted over the grass. I heard Mahlburg gargle a German curse as he turned to face the Wrath of God that he realized he was facing. Then I heard Angus pronounce his doom. "Did you really think you could break the rules with impunity? Whoever mentored you should have told you that there were those who would come after you if you broke the rules. Old, powerful ones." Angus reached up and grabbed Mahlburg by the hair. Looking into his eyes, he said, "How many good, honorable Immortals have you killed with these methods? How many have your teams of mortals brought down for you? I know you are wondering where they are. I will tell you one thing: you will soon join them." Angus stepped back and raised his claymore with both hands, and without further ado, beheaded Mahlburg. I have never before seen a Quickening. Nothing in this world can adequately prepare a mere mortal for it. I watched as a blue light suddenly erupted from Mahlburg's body, and then the body slowly began to raise off of the ground. A lightning bolt shot from the body and hit Angus squarely in the chest. Then all Hell broke loose. Lightning lanced all around the two bodies, and I saw trees splinter and fall to the ground. Somewhere in the middle of it, I heard Angus screaming. Then, just as suddenly as it had begun, it was over, and Angus fell to his knees. I rushed out of my cover to see if he was alright. Of course, he was. We drove back into town, and found ourselves at the German equivalent of the all-night diner, and Angus ordered an incredibly huge meal. "Quickenings always leave me hungry," he explained. I just ordered coffee. "That didn't seem very difficult, Angus. You seemed worried, though, when we went out to meet him." Angus looked up from his food. "I was worried. I didn't know how accurate the information was, and I didn't want to jump the gun and kill someone outside of the Rules without justification. However, they haven't been wrong in the past, and they weren't wrong this time." "Then that means this Hunter business is probably true as well." Angus nodded. "And I will have to deal with it." We were silent for the rest of the meal. We returned to the hotel about an hour later. I started to go to my own room, but Angus gestured for me to wait, and remain quiet. He opened the door to his room slowly, and then reached around the door, pulled out a rather weaselly-looking man holding a tranquilizer gun, slammed him against the wall, knocking the man out, and kicked the door completely open, which resulted in a dull thud as it collided with the man waiting on the other side of it. Angus disappeared into his room for a moment and then reappeared, telling me to bring the unconscious man on the floor in. Angus quickly set about tying up the two men and waking them up. One of them was trying desperately to get his eyes to focus, but the other, weaselly-looking one was obviously quite clear. He looked at Angus with obvious hate. "Who are you and why are you here?" Angus said, the venom in his voice equally obvious. "You and your kind. You deserve to die. You're not even human," Weasel-face spat. Then he looked at me. "Why? Why are you friends with this...creature?" "Because he saved my life," I responded firmly. "And then he can control you later, when he gets the 'Prize,'" he grated, making the Prize sound like some kind of disease or curse. Angus, however, would have none of it. "You did not come here on your own. Who is your superior?" "I will tell you nothing," Weasel-face responded. Angus grabbed him by the jaw and forced him to look straight in the face. "Who sent you?" Weasel-face spoke, trancelike. "Kenneth Heller is my superior. We were to subdue you and bring you to him. He --" Suddenly the other man realized what was going on and started yelling to try to cover up Weasel-face's words. Angus sighed and promptly knocked the two men out. "Kenneth Heller. I never thought he would go that path," Angus mused. "You know this Heller person?" I asked. Angus nodded. "He's a Watcher, as are these two." Angus picked up their wrists and indicated a tattoo on the inside of them. "That tattoo is the identifying mark of the Watchers. He was a friend of mine until I discovered that he was a Watcher. He was the only one I never pegged in all the time I knew of their existence." Angus shook his head in regret and continued. "Ten years ago I confronted Heller, demanding that he give the Watcher files about me to me. He refused. I later stole many of the files pertaining to me, although I was not able to get all of them, especially the most recent ones. He was blamed for it, as far as I know, and punished. He didn't like me then, when I confronted him, even though he was my Watcher at the time, and I suspect he liked me even less after that incident, since he probably guessed that I stole the records." "Do you know where he might be?" "If I know him, he will be waiting for me, on holy ground, with several people to support him." Angus sighed. "Come with me. This isn't finished yet." Angus and I strode up the steps of the church. This was the third church we'd visited, but Angus was adamant that Heller would be on holy ground, since most Immortals were reluctant to even draw blood on holy ground. Angus and I stepped carefully inside the church, looking for anyone that might look like Angus' memory of Heller. "There, lad." Angus gestured to a distinguished-looking man in his mid-forties sitting in the second pew. We walked up to the pew and Angus took a seat beside him. "So, MacGregor, you have come," the man who was clearly Heller said as Angus sat down. "You knew I would," Angus replied. Heller nodded. "I would have been disappointed otherwise. Tell me, did you damage the two fools I sent to get you?" Angus shook his head. "You should know me better than that, Heller." "Ah, yes, always the honorable one. I take it you took them to the police, calling them thieves or something similar?" "I may not like the Watchers, but I'm not about to betray their existence. It would be tantamount to revealing the existence of my own kind." "Yes, and that would ruin your plans for world domination, wouldn't it? Oh, no, wait, I forgot, world domination isn't your plan, right?" =========================================================================== Comments, suggestions, questions, etc. to stsas02@moravian.edu