by John Booth
“I am truly hurt by the suggestion. But I suppose it has worked out for the best.”
43. Portents
I left Jenny and Merlin at the church, Jenny had promised to help arrange the flowers in preparation for the wedding. Merlin was on his best behavior and if his feet were sometimes an inch or two above the ground, he had a way of making it look like an optical illusion.
My next port of call was Betty’s office in the Hoard Museum. As a very occasional guest speaker I had a pass to be there. Not that the people at the desk saw me very often as I tended to go direct.
I hopped in to find a cup of tea held out in front of me. Betty smiled and I took the cup from her.
“That’s a Norn thing isn’t it? Knowing where and when I’m going to arrive.”
“What do you think?” Betty strolled back to her desk and flipped through some brochures.
“The point is; both my kids seem to be able to do it, though Morgana has it down to a fine art.”
“They didn’t get it from me.” Betty looked up at me. “When we have congress, it adds to your magic in subtle ways. But your wives were pregnant before we met, so it can’t have anything to do with me.”
“I had sex with them after I met you and while they were pregnant.”
Betty laughed. “That’s gross, Jake. Are you suggesting you passed on my powers to your children during sex? That Norn gifts are some kind of venereal disease?”
“How else do you explain it?”
Betty sat at her desk and stacked the brochures into a neat pile.
“I don’t. Your children are going to grow up to be important to the multiverse. All your children will be.”
“They seem to be able to predict the future and they are just as secretive about it as a Norn.”
Betty laughed. “The biggest trick with prophecy is never to be precise. Then the punters will assign your words to the things you never saw coming.”
“I’m being serious here.”
Betty got up from her chair and sat on the edge of her desk facing me. She pulled me towards her and kissed me passionately.
“Here and now,” she said urgently, reaching for the zip of my jeans.
We finished in a heated frenzy. Everything that had been on her desk was on the floor except for the two of us.
“Eight out of ten,” she said breathlessly. “I think I may have desk burns on my backside.”
“What was that all about?”
She gave me a quizzical look. “Wasn’t it what you wanted?”
“Yes, but, well you know you have that power over me. I can’t resist you.”
“Do you use that excuse with all the girls?”
I tidied myself up with a sprinkling of magic. Betty on the other hand, had to dig a hairbrush out of her bag.
“Jake,” she said hesitantly as she peered into her make-up mirror.
“Yes?”
“Things may get a little rough in the near future. Promise me you won’t let it overwhelm you. That you will look inside yourself and hold onto your humanity.”
“Is something going to happen?”
Not that she would tell me. That would be breaking the Norn code.
She frowned. “Things happen around you. No one would come within miles of you if they knew how often it happens.”
“You are here with me now.”
She stopped playing with her make-up and put her arms around my waist, using me as a pole to swing around.
“I’m insane. All Norns are sex crazed. And you are very good at it.”
“Eight out of ten?”
“But a really good eight, not just an ordinary one.”
I laughed. So much I forgot what we were talking about and didn’t remember until I was in the Bat Cave. Norn magic takes many forms.
Fluffy was running across the cave about to take off.
[Ride me.]
I didn’t need a second invitation and hopped onto his neck as he fell out of the cave. The cave has a large entrance carved into the side of the mountain. Magical special effects shield it from sight. It is a long way down to the sharp boulders that line the bottom of the valley, but dragons fall faster than gravity, or to be precise, my dragon does.
At the last possible moment we turned to horizontal flight and I felt gravity pull on me as Fluffy used magic to turn. I shivered with excitement, because it didn’t matter how many times he did this with me, it was always amazing.
“Are we going anywhere in particular?”
[Hunting.]
That could be fun, though it was a little hard on the local sheep.
I was surprised when he took us into glim and then hopped to another planet.
“I’ve never been here before.”
[Shush, you’ll scare them away.]
We were flying over a jungle. It could have been the Amazon except that my wizard sense of place told me that we were in another universe. Raucous cries came from below. There was no sign of human habitation, no roads, no buildings, no fires.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
[One of the original dragon home worlds. We gained sentience in places like this.]
I looked down with renewed interest. In the distance, massive vertical outcrops of rock formed plateaus thousands of feet above the forest floor. As we drew closer I could see they were riddled with the sort of caves that dragons would love.
“It doesn’t look like sheep country.”
[Flying sheep country.]
As if in response to his words, a dozen creatures flew out of the caves. They were a cross between reptiles and birds, bright red plumage and orange scaly heads, neck and legs. They were about twelve feet from wingtip to wingtip and they were far from happy to see us.
The next few minutes were like scenes from a world war two dogfight. It turned out the creatures could shoot spit-balls of fire and Fluffy was the target. I put up a shield around us and Fluffy pulled it down.
[That would be cheating.]
So I limited the shield to myself, which proved to be a good thing because those bastards had wicked aim and fire burst in front of my eyes.
Fluffy’s scales must have evolved to resist the fire because the spit balls largely bounced off him. Only when they hit him under the armpit did he squeal in pain.
We dived on one of the larger beasts and Fluffy gave a roar of triumph as he caught it in his mouth. He pulled out of the dive and headed for the sky, quickly losing the chasing creatures as we reached an altitude they couldn’t cope with.
The creature in his mouth was not ready to give in. It fired a dozen spit balls at me, which made it difficult for me to see what was going on.
I dropped into magic sight just in time to see Fluffy blow fire through his mouth, roasting the creature trapped within his jaws. I saw the light leave its eyes and Fluffy tossed it into the air before eating it whole.
[Fun, wasn’t it?]
“Better than sheep?”
[The fight yes, the taste no. And I have a few nasty burns to heal on the way home.]
“What are those creatures?”
[Rantraps. They are a protected species. Dragons limit themselves to no more than four a year.]
“You have protected species?” That didn’t seem very dragon like to me.
[We have lost a great deal of our favorite food in the past because of our failure to control our appetites. We do learn about conservation, eventually.]
Fluffy took up back into glim and a few seconds later we entered the Bat Cave. I hopped off before Fluffy collided with the far wall.
[I meant to do that.]
“How are things with the Dragons?”
[The Elders want the raid on the Knights to take place in the next few days. Dragons have returned from far flung parts of the multiverse to take part.]
“And they accept this is not a genocide mission?”
[No. But they will withdraw from the battle when you give the order.]
I would have to accept that on faith. But
usually the Dragons were as good as their word.
“Sometime in the next seven days then.” I didn’t want to do it, but it would make Bronwyn happy. If we couldn’t find the Knights’ allies at least we could weaken them so they were less likely to attack Tydan. They wouldn’t ignore a planet of wizards and proto-wizards once they knew it existed. Bronwyn was right; they were a significant threat to her world.
“I’m going home.”
Fluffy sent a burst of fire my way.
[At least get that smell of another woman off you. Have you no respect for Jenny?]
I thought I had cleaned myself, but I did a more thorough job.
[Better.]
I hopped for home.
44. Healing
“Do I have to wear the stupid top hat?” I pleaded.
“You look very nice in it. You should wear that sort of thing more often.” Jenny took a white carnation from the table and pinned it onto my jacket. “There, you look a proper gentleman and no mistake.”
“It’s two hours till the ceremony. Isn’t it a little bit earlier to be sticking on the flowers?”
Jenny laughed and went to look at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a floral patterned summer dress and, as always, she looked wonderful.
The doorbell rang.
“I’ll get it.”
I ran down the stairs and opened the door. To my surprise it was Bronwyn. She was looking very serious.
“I have to apologize,” she said, looking down at her shoes. “And I’ve come to ask a favor.”
“You’d better come in then.”
We walked up the stairs with me in front.
“Who was it?” Jenny called to me.
“Bronwyn.”
Jenny came on to the landing and saw Bronwyn behind me.
“Jake is getting ready for Malcolm and Silvia’s wedding. Whatever you want it will have to wait.”
Bronwyn nodded.
Merlin shot out of his room like a bullet. He spun on his heels to face Bronwyn.
“Don’t make Daddy late.” I’ve rarely seen him sound so serious. Maybe it was the effect of the miniature morning suit he was wearing, bow tie and everything.
Bronwyn looked surprised. We entered the living room in a somber state, which was the opposite of how we’d been before Bronwyn arrived.
“It’s about Dren,” Bronwyn said in a rush. “We haven’t been able to help him and he’s getting out of control. We may have to take his magic.”
“It will have to wait until after the wedding,” Jenny said firmly.
“It can’t wait. Sedation isn’t working; he keeps using his magic to counter it. We were lucky he didn’t kill someone this morning.”
I couldn’t see what the fuss was about. “Take his memories of the torture then. It isn’t exactly difficult.”
Bronwyn turned on me, her eyes glistening.
“It isn’t difficult for you. But you don’t use magic like anybody else. You just pull it together when you need it. A wizard can stop their memories being taken and he has.”
“Then take his magic first. I took your magic and you got it back later. Maybe you can do the same for Dren.”
I turned away from her to check my tie in the mirror. Bow ties are cool as quite a lot of people have pointed out, including my dragon.
Bronwyn pulled me around to face her.
“You have to help us. You have to help Dren.”
“After the wedding,” Jenny repeated.
I shrugged. “What Jenny said. We’ll be finished by four. That’s not long to wait.”
“Just come and take a look at him. I guarantee to get you to back before the wedding starts. When is it? Two o’clock?”
“Jake has to be there by one forty-five,” Jenny said.
“Please.” It was the closest to begging I’ve ever seen Bronwyn come.
I looked at Jenny and could see she was torn.
“Okay, I’ll go and have a look. Maybe put him to sleep to treat later.”
Merlin stomped up to Bronwyn, his hands clenched into fists against his sides.
“I hate you.”
Bronwyn took my hand and we hopped...
…into chaos. Chairs, tables, plates and paintings flew through the air, hitting each other or one of the people in the room. I dropped to the floor and tried to figure out what was going on.
There was a man in white pajamas orchestrating the objects. His hair was standing on end and he was frothing at the mouth. Even though I knew this had to be Dren, I didn’t recognize him.
“You see what I mean?”
Bronwyn was on the floor beside me.
Some of the other people in the room were wizards. They deflected away incoming objects as they tried to move towards Dren. Their attempts at controlling his magic were pitiful and they didn’t stand a chance of piercing his shield.
I reached a decision and jumped to my feet.
“Stop.” I put out my hands and every flying object in the room froze in space. “Get out.”
The other people in the room looked at me and then at Dren. They left the room at speed, most of them hopping to safety.
“Don’t you think this is rather stupid?” I asked.
Dren’s face went from astonishment to bewilderment to shock.
“Wizard Morrissey?”
“See how easy it is.”
Dren howled in pain.
“You let them do this to me.”
He poured magical energy at me. I didn’t fight it, but let it join with me, becoming me. Instead of stopping, he increased his efforts. I’d never considered Dren that powerful a wizard, but he was excelling at it just then. The room buzzed with magic and electricity danced from object to object. Touching a door knob could have proved fatal right then.
This went on for some time as he vented his considerable wrath on me. Exhausted, he fell to the floor. Picking him up, I took him to an upturned couch which I magically righted before putting him down on it.
“It’s been bad?”
He screamed. Then he took in a deep breath and screamed again.
Inside his mind, pain and frustration bubbled across his every thought. At one level he was reliving the torture, feeling branding irons burn his flesh, hooks pulling on internal organs, knives skinning him. At another level, he knew it was over and he wanted to communicate. His magic channeled that frustration and tried to tear the world to pieces.
I started suppressing his memories of the torture, but this wasn’t easy because he had relived them so many times that there were copies throughout his mind. I held him close to me as if he were a child and began to hush him as I killed thread after thread after thread until nothing remained. It took an endless space of time.
Then he stopped crying and began to breathe normally. His eyes flickered closed and he relaxed.
I continued to hold him until he opened his eyes and truly saw me for the first time since I’d arrived.
“Wizard Morrissey? What are we doing?”
“Having a cuddle,” Bronwyn said from somewhere nearby.
Dren pushed me away. “Did we? No I don’t, not with men.”
“Relax,” I said and grinned. “We didn’t use tongues. Well you didn’t.”
I gave him a broad wink and he pushed further away from me.
Coming out of the fugue we had been in and returning to reality took me a couple of minutes. I thought Dren was still far from fully recovered, but he was now on the right path.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Bronwyn asked him.
“I was captured by the Knights with Ellis. Is he safe?”
“Safe and sound,” Bronwyn said warmly. “It’s good to have you back.”
“What am I doing in pajamas?”
“You don’t remember our night of passion together?” I asked. Dren’s face became an interesting shade of red.
“Stop teasing him, Jake. You should go to your wedding…” Bronwyn looked at her watch and then she looked horrified.
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“It can’t even be one o’clock,” I said. It seemed only minutes since we hopped here.
“It’s quarter past two,” Bronwyn said in a whisper.
It seemed to me that the world stopped and for a long moment the multiverse paused as fate settled into a new position.
I didn’t bother to say goodbye, I just hopped for the church.
But it was already far too late.
45. Church
I hopped to a place out of sight behind the church that I’d located the day before. My heart was beating fast and I felt an overwhelming sense of dread. Seeing Silvia and her father waiting outside the church with Jenny did nothing to lessen it.
Jenny started running towards me. “For Christ’s sake, Jake. What time do you call this?”
“Sorry, it was Dren. I didn’t know how much time…”
“That doesn’t matter now,” she commanded. “Get down to the altar and join Malcom. He’s probably wet himself by now.”
Silvia’s father frowned at me, while Silvia just looked relieved. Despite my feelings of doom, all that had happened so far was that I was a few minutes late. I smiled at Silvia and ran into the church, slowing down to a hurried walk as I went through the doors into the church proper. Everybody in the church turned to look at me.
Merlin said “Daddy” both loudly and crossly when I passed him halfway down the aisle. He sat between Lana and Esta who both gave me ‘looks’. I wasn’t going to be allowed to forget about this anytime soon.
Malcolm was hopping from leg to leg and waving me forward. I went as fast as I could.
“Where were you?” he hissed as I joined him.
“Helping someone, sorry.”
The organist started playing the wedding march and I risked a glance back. Silvia and her father were coming down the aisle. Silvia was a half a step in front and I suspected she was dragging her father after her.
We stood to the right of them and Malcolm dragged me into the aisle as they came level with us. Silvia gave Malcolm a warm smile and took his hand. After the priest offered some blessing or other, we moved forward onto the dais in front of the altar. Despite the ordinariness of it and the lack of a threat from any quarter my feelings of unease wouldn’t go away. Something horrible was going to happen. I could feel it.
