Our host answered: 'We can start with those, and I will ask the grounds keeper and any staff who like rambles or trysts or who gather mushrooms and herbs. Bertha too, she moves around a lot, though generally a bit too fast to notice individual trees.
Oh, and Julia, my middle daughter, has a boyfriend who takes photographs, he likes to hang around on our grounds to find beautiful sights, he may have seen something amiss with the trees. He's taking romantic pictures of Julia in a white dress against a background of beautiful trees.'
Whilst said in the same indulgent voice as his youngest driving the valuable show ponies, this remark triggered something in me, though I couldn't for the life of me figure out what.
Sir Nomes now gave an order, actually more like a request, to one of the servants, and the young man disappeared to the other side of the house.
Another request to another servant, and she disappeared into the house.
'I've asked the grounds keeper and the cook and her helpers to come by and answer some questions,' our host said. When Bertha comes back I'll have the other ponies harnessed, and we'll drive by Frances' greenhouse to ask her, though she prefers the tamer variety trees, the ones that yield fruit or beautiful flowers.
Dryads generally avoid those, though they like Frances. Your friend is sure
enjoying himself with Bertha, I'd expected them to be back by now.' I must admit, I was worried too, but I refused to admit to my feelings. I had no idea of his morals towards young girls, but I was certain he'd never hurt anyone, he was too sensitive to do that.
I guessed they had just speeded away too far, or tired the ponies too much, having to walk them back. 'She's probably showing him the sights,' Paul remarked, and as it turned out when they did return, that guess approached the truth best.
After discussing faeries some more, Bertha finally came back to the house, without Lukas and without ponies. She eagerly helped herself to some cakes, then, munching, told us: 'Your friend sure likes going fast!
I couldn't scare him no matter how I tried, so we gave the ponies a breather, and as we were pretty far from the house he asked if we had any particularly pretty spots with trees and water and stuff. So I showed him the ruins, with the Japanese maple hanging over it, and he loved it. Got out of the carriage to check on the tree, don't know why.
And then I remembered showing Jonas, that's my sister's boyfriend, he takes photographs, I remembered showing him all the pretty trees too, so I gave Lukas the same tour. Sorry it took so long, but he did get out and checked every one of those trees.
A lot of them didn't look so good, and he wanted to go and tell you, but I told him mum was the expert on trees here so I took him to her greenhouse and she said to tell you that she'd give Lukas a tour of the greenhouse and think of a cure.'
At this report, Paul's and my host's faces were study in worry and some of that innuendo that seemed to surround this family, loving though it was. Sir Nomes told his daughter: 'Thank you for being so polite to our guest, dear Bertha, and for bringing word to us.
Now I want you to have the coachman harness the show ponies to the small carriage, you'll be driving us on exactly the same tour. But first I want to speak to the grounds keeper and the cook and her helpers. Please let the coachman help you bring the carriage to the front: not by yourself, let him help. He stays with them, and you get us. Once we get in, you can drive.'
Now, Bertha registered what her father had said, and her face lightened up: 'I can drive the big ponies?' 'Yes, you can,' her father said, 'but not until I'm with you.'
When she was off, our host did indeed talk to his staff, who had arrived, out of breath for hurrying. The grounds keeper added two more trees to our list, and the cook's helpers confirmed two suspects, and added another one.
Sir Nomes would plan them into our route as Bertha led us through it, and he asked me: 'You may want to use your sight to scan any trees around us, I think you will be able to pick out any trees we've missed. If it starts to cost too much energy, I'll show your house-mate here a trick to send his energy towards you.
No, I'll show it to him straight away, so you can keep your energy to yourself.
He has plenty to spare.' And he immediately took Paul's hand and spoke to him sotto voce.
Paul's expression lightened, and he exclaimed: 'That's a neat trick, I didn't know that!' Sir Nomes' face took on a sly expression, a very weird sight on such a distinguished looking man, and he teased Paul: 'It takes a certain bond to work, explaining had no use until you'd formed that bond with someone.
Had you given Ilsa what she wanted, you'd have known before.'
This allusion seemed to pain Paul, and he retorted, in a tone that proved they'd had this discussion before: 'You know I just couldn't, I explained years ago. And every year after that. Is she seeing someone now?'
Our host replied: 'I know, it's just hard to understand. You would have been so perfect together. She's not seeing someone, though I guess she soon will be, after today.' Innuendo, innuendo, I felt very much an outsider, and from what I understood of the hints, not a very welcome one.
But Sir Nomes would not let me feel that way for long, for he cordially told me: 'Did you know that Paul is a scion of a very noble family?'
I said: 'I suspected it.' 'Oh but he is. Much older and much nobler than the Nomes', he added, 'I wanted to marry my eldest into the Kenwick family, but he saw through me and told her he didn't love her that way. He was waiting for you, of course.'
Now Paul wanted to say something, but at that moment, Bertha came around the house, beaming, telling us our conveyance was ready. We stood up and followed her, and Paul again handed me into the carriage, then sat right next to me. He took one of my hands and squeezed it a little, I suppose he wanted to kiss me but that would not have been appropriate.
The horses that were now in front of the small carriage were half again as large as the miniatures, but still rather small. They were beautiful though,
very slim, with dainty feet and long manes and tails, both dappled grey in colour, and clearly very spirited. They snorted and pawed the ground, and it was very obvious that the coach master did not like the idea of Bertha driving these valuable beauties.
But Sir Nomes gave his youngest so much of his trust, that he didn't even sit on the box with her, he seated himself within the carriage on the bench opposite us, riding backwards. The girl was amazed by her father's trust, but I could also see the determination in her eye, she was not going to fail him. I thought he was right to trust her, and I felt completely safe in the care of this strong minded teenager.
As we set off, I asked: 'Will we pick up Lukas at the greenhouse?' Paul looked away for a moment, and Sir Nomes replied: 'He's had this tour before, I think I'll let Frances enjoy his company a little longer. She loves to talk Greek with young men who like going fast.'
Again, I got the feeling I was missing some family joke here, but I decided to ignore it, Sir Nomes was a very gracious host and Paul clearly loved him.
He was a valuable ally indeed, and the fact that an influential family that knew about non-human intelligent life lived so close was a great relief to me.
Now, Lukas would have a place to go if ever something happened to Paul and me.
To Lukas, this was not a half-hour strenuous walk, but a ten minute run, and no-one would ever see him with his special talents. It was a weight off my shoulders, frankly.
Bertha did manage the spirited ponies perfectly, and soon had them in a fast trot towards the first grassy hill.
In minutes, we had reached the first stop, the ruins with the Japanese maple.
It was a gorgeous small tree, small at least at the scale of this park. Its delicate leaves were feathered, dark brown in colour, and there were thousands of leaves on that single tree.
Excepting the unnatural colour, the tree looked fine. I looked at Paul questioningly, and he nodded. We got out of the carriage and climbed the ruins. They were not real, of course, but they looked picturesque.
I could just touch the tree, and Paul took a firm hold of my hand, I think also to keep me from falling down the hill.
He said: 'Wait a moment before using the sight, let me connect with you. His face took on that blank look, and suddenly I felt a familiar presence
connected to me really intimately, and a strong surge of power, not exactly a flow, but more like a tap still closed: the power touched me, but didn't flow through me. Yet, for I knew I could use it as if it were my own.
I had not felt his real power before, it was very heady to have it at my beck and call, and just to have this link to him was an intimacy transcending sexuality. I suddenly understood Sir Nomes' innuendo at Paul, at least about this link.
One would only link like this with someone one was very intimate with, if the connection was not already there, it would certainly form, with the inevitable results. I looked at Paul, wondering if he felt the same intense connection, and when I saw the ecstasy on his face, I wondered if I showed it as clearly.
It was nearly indecent in the presence of a ten year old. But of course Sir Nomes knew this would happen, and had seen to it that his daughter would be very busy keeping the spirited horses still and amused.
Taking my time to get used to the intimate bond first, I allowed myself to relish the feeling of total connection to my lover for some time. We might do this more often, maybe even in need, and if we both had a reaction this intense every time, it would surely kill us the first time we used it in a conflict situation.
When I had my feelings under control, I checked Paul, and he nodded affirmatively. Then, feeling Paul's power trickling into me to replace what I spent, I looked at the little tree. And it was fine, it was very strong, even happy, it had no dryad and had never had one, never wanted one.
It was the king of its world, standing on the top of the hill, with a view worth dying for. I switched back to normal sight, and suppressed an intense longing, to kiss Paul until we were both totally out of breath.
I heard a voice say: 'Don't suppress it, just indulge in it, after a few months of sharing power it will become habit and stop being so deucedly stirring.
Unless you want it to, of course, got me four lovely children.'
Next thing I knew I was in Paul's arms, his mouth on mine, his actions echoing my fantasy. I missed his mental touch already, but remembering the number of trees on these grounds I realised I'd be in contact with him a lot more times.
We broke off our kiss reluctantly and slightly out of breath, then climbed off the ruin, and Paul handed me back in the coach. Bertha told the ponies to go, and they took off, in a reasonable trot.
The next tree was the large solitary oak Marcus had tipped, and it was indeed affected. It was in bad shape, having lost half its leaves, and some branches. I touched it with sight, and felt the same emptiness as the clump of trees in the little park had.
Paul felt it through me, another advantage of this intimate contact. We controlled the lust this time, it'd take all day to visit only half the number of trees we had on our list if we kept on indulging. Most of the trees on Bertha's route were indeed affected, and in bad or worse shape. Despite the number of trees we checked, and some broader scans of the trees around us, Paul did not show the strain yet, he had plenty of magical energy apparently.
Bertha was enjoying herself hugely, ferrying us about with her dad's best team at her command. When we were done she asked if she might let them run back, which her dad graciously allowed. He did change to the box, though, saying: 'I'm not going through a sprint riding backwards, I'll be sure to get sick. So you can go, but I'll be sitting next to you.'
Bertha was thrilled anyway, and we also got our thrill. Who knew such small legs could develop so much speed? It felt as if we flew, and within a few minutes we were across the field and on our way to the stables.
Once there, we got out of the carriage, and the coach master got in, to walk the team dry. Bertha begged to go with them, and Sir Nomes allowed her to.
Chapter 21
We followed our host to the greenhouse, where he was planning to introduce me to his wife Frances. She was indeed in front of the greenhouse, on a little terrace in the middle of heaven. Her taste in gardening was acute, and it was clear that Lukas thought so too.
He was there with her, apparently very deeply in conversation with her, his posture very noble. What was it with him that he looked the most comfortable in situations that would confuse most people? I meant to find out, but not now.
First, lady Nomes embraced Paul and kissed him, held him at arms length and looked him over: 'You look well, Paul. Being a guardian agrees with you.' He said: 'Thank you Frances, may I introduce Melissa Thorn to you?
She is my apprentice in the arts, and what I forgot to mention earlier, she is also a qualified engineer. Melissa, my very good friend Lady Frances Nomes.' We shook hands, and I got the impression that this was a very sensitive and artistic woman.
Well, her skills at gardening and composing tea certainly proved her talents.
'I'm pleased to meet you,' we said simultaneously,' both laughing at the coincidence. I added: 'Your gardens are more than just beautiful, they take my breath away.'
She clearly liked to hear that, and she said: 'I feel like I already know you, Lukas has told me about you, and what you did for him when you two first met. He is such a sweet boy, and I loved to be able to talk Greek again, he indulged me, even though his English is near perfect already.'
Sir Nomes now moved to be introduced to Lukas, and his wife did the honours: 'George, meet Lukas Hermeides, who is apprenticed to Paul as a metalworker. He has other skills as well, and he is originally from Greece, from a very different Greece than we have visited.
Lukas, this is Sir George Nomes, my husband, and father of our four children.' As they shook hands, Lukas bowed to him elegantly, and Sir Nomes also seemed to notice Lukas' noble bearing and his total assuredness
around nobility.
He just asked: 'So Lukas, you seem to very used to being around people of our class, most apprentices would be quite impressed and shy, but you're just very polite, with very elegant, polished manners.'
With another bow, Lukas answered: 'You are quite right Sir, I spent my youth at my father's court, where I was taught polite manners and where I was constantly in the presence of nobility of upper and lower stature. Later, I functioned as herald for another important personage, most famous in my home-country.
It was in this capacity that I stayed over at my dad's place for a few days, and foolishly allowed myself to be taken by enemies of either him or my employer. They did not treat me well, and when I managed to flee, I got lost between worlds and ended up in Melissa's living-room.
Paul and herself have helped me build an independent life, and though I'm not quite ready to stand on my own, I have already acquired a lot of very useful skills to get by with in your reality.'
Sir Nomes was really affected by this tale, and Lukas did deliver it with dignity and a certain pride in his former life.
I couldn't wait for him to tell more, he never breathed a hint of it to us, but I suppose he needed to prove he could support himself in an alien culture first.
'I am very pleased to meet you, Lukas, and I hope we will meet often. Please know, that if you ever need sanctuary, you can come to us, where you can be yourself and will not have to hide your special features.
Feel free to use our woods and grounds to run, as the gods made you if it pleases you. I'll give your name to the gatekeeper, and you will have free admittance.
That goes for you too, Melissa, though I doubt you'd want to use the 'as the gods made you' provision.'
'Thank you Sir,' I said, and Sir Nomes said: 'Please call me George, Melissa, and you too, Lukas. Any friend of Paul's is my friend too. And Lukas said:
'Thank you so much, George, for the offer as well. It will be a pleasure not to have to hide my hoofs, though I quite like wearing clothes now. I think I will take you up on your offer soon, I've lon
ged for a good swim, and running without shoes would be heaven.' Lady Nomes now said: 'And make sure you visit me as well, Lukas, I want to talk a lot more Greek with you, stay in practice.'
At this, Lukas looked a quite embarrassed, but he graciously assented to it:
'Of course, Milady, I certainly will be happy to visit your little corner of heaven.' This pleasantry seemed to remind Sir Nomes of another item on the agenda, and he called out: 'The greenhouse! Frances, will you do our guests the honour of showing them the greenhouse? Though I suspect you have shown Lukas here every interesting part of it already?'
Lady Nomes ignored that last remark, though I guessed it was probably true, and invited us all to come with her.
The greenhouse itself was old-fashioned, and though sound, it did not look as if it would use the heat very efficiently in winter. Of course it was steamingly hot now. I wondered if she had ever thought of asking Paul to calculate the optimal use of boiler capacity and review the piping system. But the planting was as beautiful as anything floral she laid her hands on, which reminded me of those poor trees on the wilder part of their grounds.
I decided to bring it up immediately, before something could drive it off my mind. 'Lady Nomes,' I said hesitantly, not wanting to spoil her presentation.
'Please call me Frances, dear, we're practically family,' she said, which encouraged me.
'We've been looking at wild trees on your grounds, trees that have been left by their faeries and that are now doing very badly, maybe dying. You're so good with flora, couldn't you think of something to keep them alive and in reasonable condition until we've freed their faeries?'
She stopped in her tracks: 'Lukas told me about the trees, and I'll check them out tomorrow. But is it really true that the dryads are missing from our grounds?'
Paul nodded solemnly, telling her: 'We even know where they are, but I needed to know what was wrong with them before I could act. They seem possessed, but George remembered a story of dryads' souls being stolen as a source of magic, and those faeries acted the same. The trees may die before we find a way to free them.'
Mirror Bound Page 17
