“Wise choice not to fight me, but I think I should show my followers that no one can stand against me!” She cast flamestrike in a pillar form, her trademark, and sent it speeding toward me. Star and Salma screamed with fear, but I extinguished the spell before it got to me.
“You’re really going to have to do better than that if you’re planning on attacking David’s son. I’m not bragging, but our magic can’t be compared. You use spells still, and I use psi magic one hundred percent. If you want to see the difference, put down your wand and attack me with an energy bolt. You’ll learn quickly that we are different.”
She snickered. “No one can do combat spells without a wand. The spell would take your hand off. My flamestrike pillars might take off an arm without the wand.”
I cast pillars on either side of me simultaneously. Holding my hands in the air, I divulged, “No wand and I still have my arms. I’m asking you again to renounce this foolish deity impersonation.”
“You idiot boy,” she growled, “you shouldn’t have come looking for me. We’ve talked enough for me to know that you won’t join me in this, so you must be destroyed.”
There was a slight pop behind me and I saw three of my aunts had just ported in. A look of terror flashed across Calla’s face when she saw them. I grabbed her telekinetically and pulled her to the ground. Aunt Gwen raised a hand and large vines came from the jungle, entangling Calla and her followers. Della, Gwen and Alba put their hands on my arm, filling me with energy like I’d never known. I’d never done this before, so Della, through our mind contact, guided me. I focused on the white glow in Calla’s mind where her magic originated and forced it closed. My aunts released contact when I’d finished. I turned and embraced them and thanked them for coming.
Della spoke in her childlike voice, “Alba said you needed help and that was all we needed to know. You know we are always there for our family! But who do we have in the wagon?”
I cringed. “Della, Gwen, I’d like you to meet Star. She’s my wife and we’ve been married a week now. Salma has been taken as a consort but since I’m a newlywed, it isn’t consummated.”
Gwen retorted, “James, your mother is going to kill you when she finds out you married without telling her! I would suggest you head home now and let your parents know.
I pleaded, “Please, don’t mention this to my parents. I don’t want to be ordered home because it’s too dangerous and that I’ve wed without their knowledge. Calla admitted they are holding girls in the temple up ahead, and I am determined that they be released. After that, since we’ve nullified Calla, I believe I’m sick of the jungle and would like to visit the pixies. Alba, before you leave, can you give me an image of the pixies’ land so I can go there?”
Alba retorted, “I’ll do that, but I’m going with you to this temple. What should we do with that crying bitch lying beside the road?”
“I think she should be tied and tossed in the wagon. We’ll take her to the city and put on a show. We can port her to the top of the temple and tell the people she has been called away and they should play nice from now on.”
“At least you got something from me,” Alba claimed. That’s a wonderfully evil plan. Then we can port her to someplace like the Orc City in No Man’s Land.”
Della cut in, “If you’re going to kill her, kill her; but don’t send her off to that kind of fate knowingly.”
Gwen spoke up softly, “To be humane, you could send her to the Elven forest where your father met me. She would be able to survive, but wouldn’t be able to leave. A non-magical human wouldn’t stand a chance away from the Elven protection charms.”
Alba sighed, “I liked my plan better, but we should go with Gwen’s. At some point, David will have to be told about this, and I don’t want to have to tell him that we murdered Calla. She may deserve it, but taking her magic is a major punishment.”
I agreed, “All right, Aunt Gwen, if you will bind her so she can’t do any damage, we’ll lift her into the wagon. I’ll tell her followers that she’s been called away. Then we’ll head for the city for the big announcement. Everyone agree with that plan?”
Everyone nodded and Calla was loaded in the cargo area. Salma, who was in the seat of the wagon, was terrified to be so close to the person she thought of as a goddess. Aunt Della sat by her and spoke soothingly, calming her in the way only a Naiad can do. Salma was a bit confused at first, with a girl who looked eight or ten talking like an adult, but Della explained it all except for her true age. Gwen hopped up beside Star and started talking to her while Alba and I moved to the group who had been following Calla.
When we were ten yards from the frightened men, I floated up ten feet in the air. Amplifying my voice to give it more authority, I cried, “Calla has been found guilty of crimes against humanity. She will now be taken away and won’t return. There will be no more sacrifices, and everyone must live in harmony. Spread the word that she wasn’t a goddess but a trickster, and ordinary men and women revealed her as such to you.”
The men started expressing agreement as they saw the truth of what they’d been told. Gwen released the vines holding them and they gathered their dropped belongings and moved off down the road the way we’d come.
Alba and I walked beside the horse the last few miles to the city. The wagon was quite loaded with people. Gwen was talking to Star, Della was talking to Salma and Calla was crying pitifully in the back. Sadly, none of us could muster up any sympathy for Calla’s plight. I tried not to think of what she’d done, because like my father, I don’t do angry well. Alba and I quietly talked about Lynna and what she had been like when I met her. I admitted to giving her money to help her get out of her lifestyle. Alba called me a softie like my dad and I had to admit that she was right. I confided to her that if the time ever came when I was considering taking a consort for my bed, I would think of Lynna. She was my first, and even though she definitely couldn’t be called pure, she was a sweet and caring woman. Alba laughed and disclosed that she really enjoyed our relationship. She knew she was the only person in the world I’d be able to talk to about things like that.
We soon entered into the city of Siaca, which was built in the same fashion as Pesia. Marching through a crowd of people and heading for the temple, I asked Della to stand Calla up so the people could see who was with us. The people started kneeling, but stood again, appearing perplexed, when they saw she was bound. When we arrived at the temple, I ported us all, except for Moonbeam and the wagon, to the top of the temple. Salma asked for someone to help her locate the prisoners and she would lead, since she knew the layout of the temple. Star and Della went with her and I didn’t worry. Della may be tiny, but she has powerful magic.
At the top of the temple I cast a large flamestrike pillar and a crowd gathered quickly. Amplifying my voice with the most volume I’d ever used, I told the gathered crowd the same things I’d told her followers earlier. I repeated that Calla was a trickster and was being punished for her crimes. She was only a woman with special abilities and not a deity of any kind. I emphasized that all sacrifices were to be stopped and that the people should learn to love, not murder one another.
Della and the girls returned with two freed prisoners in tow. Star informed me, not asking permission but stating, that they were going with us. Their parents had been murdered as Calla had described, dropped from the air onto the temple, and they had no other family. I nodded in agreement, a bit shocked by having been told what to do. That hadn’t happened since my thirteenth birthday!
I asked Gwen to show me the forest to which we had agreed Calla was being exiled. When she took my hand, the image flashed into my mind. I asked her, through our mind contact, to release Calla’s bonds. She did so and I ported Calla to the forest, simultaneously extinguishing the pillar of fire. A murmur ran through the crowd, and then a cheer went up. We knew then that we’d defeated the cult of Calla worship.
I ported our group to the wagon and suffered through a lecture from Della about the
danger of overusing my magic and draining myself. The girls all hugged the ladies, with Star getting more attention than she’d received in her life. The new girls still appeared stunned by the porting, but soon relaxed. It’s hard not to relax with Aunt Alba around. Alba showed me the clearing that the pixies frequented, and warned that I’d either have to use my nature magic or go slowly if I planned to keep the wagon. I expressed gratitude to them all, and they declared that they were heading home before they had to explain where they’d been. They also warned they couldn’t keep my secret from my father forever, so I’d better let him know something soon. He had ways, which the ladies never complained about, of making the consorts talk. Della said that even she couldn’t withstand his torture, and beamed. With my aunts all cracking up about a joke I was sure I didn’t want to understand, they ported out and back to Wizard’s Castle.
Chapter Nine
I turned the wagon towards what appeared to be the business district of the city, needing to replenish our supplies. Star whispered to me, “We will need either one large or two smaller tents, so I can be alone with my husband sometimes.” I grinned and pulled up to a general goods store, made sure I had my money securely in my pockets, and we went inside. I realized quickly that the only reason I was there was to be the purse carrier. The girls hustled around the store and located blankets and a large tent. Dry goods, other food items and cookware were all loaded onto the counter. When they had finished, I moved to the counter where the clerk regarded me uninterestedly and informed me that everything totaled sixty gold coins. When I pulled six platinum coins from my left pocket and dropped them in his hand, his energy seemed to return, and he assisted the girls with the loading. It’s always surprised me how money can change a person’s attitude.
With the wagon loaded and the three girls in the back with the supplies, I quietly examined Star. “What are we doing with those two? Are you just collecting strays or are you collecting consorts, like my father did?”
She retorted, “’Those two’ are Matri and Ulia. They don’t want to stay here in the city, and I didn’t have the heart to leave them. I don’t know if I’ll ask them to be my consorts or not. If you think they are pretty and want them, I’ll agree if they do. Let me get to know them and I’ll find out what they want to do. A princess can have Ladies in Waiting, can’t she?”
“Part of being a Lady in Waiting is the Lady part,” I countered. “They are both common girls, so I don’t think they would qualify. I suppose if you wanted you could have personal servants. You won the heart of the Crown Prince, after all, so you can have anything you want. I plan on spoiling you when we get our castle.”
“Our castle? You mean we’re going to get a castle of our own?”
“My father was going to present me with one on the day I left home, but I didn’t want to be tied down yet. It’s funny that I didn’t want to be tied to responsibilities, and then married shortly after leaving home. But I don’t feel tied down, only incredibly happy.”
We pulled onto the road leading out of town. I didn’t want to break the hold of a supposed goddess and then just vanish before the eyes of the townspeople. A mile out of town I stopped the wagon and turned in the seat. “Matri and Ulia, I have a question or two. First I need to know if you are aware that we are about to leave this kingdom for a wasteland that holds some friends of mine. I’ll be using magic to transport us there, and it might feel a bit peculiar.”
Matri spoke up, “Ulia and I have discussed it and we realize that those people were going to kill us. We’d done nothing wrong except be unlucky in the draw. We don’t want to live here; Star and Salma have been kind and friendly. You’ve been nice to us, too, and we want to go with you.”
“Secondly,” I continued, “How do you two see your positions in this little group? There’s me, my wife and our consort. Are you coming along as fellow travelers needing a lift, or servants, maids or hoping to become consorts at some point?”
Matri stated, “We’ll do anything you ask of us. If you determine that we should be servants, we’ll be happy to do that. If you and your wife decide to take on consorts, we’d both love to be considered.”
I smiled as they both blushed. “Ulia, I heard it from Matri, but how do you feel?”
With an incredibly shy and quiet voice she disclosed, “I agree with everything Matri said, even the consort part.” She turned so red I thought her clothes were going to absorb the color.
“I guess everyone is going, so if you’ll just bear with me, I’ll work up the power to jump this large a group that distance. Hang on to the wagon, because I’ve never jumped so far, let alone with this much of a load.”
Everyone got quiet; even Moonbeam seemed to know something was about to happen. I closed my eyes and wrapped energy around the horse, wagon and occupants. I focused on the image that Alba had given me of a place near the pixie homeland, and ported.
Bright sunlight started to come into focus. So did the yelling, asking if I was okay, and the hands of all four girls pulling me back onto the wagon seat. Evidently I’d lost consciousness for a few seconds after the jump. Checking my magic by looking inward, I could see that I’d come damn close to bottoming out. Aunt Della reminded me often that hitting bottom can take a wizard out for hours or even days. Exercising a muscle will make it stronger. Exhausting a muscle will damage it. The same goes for spirit magic, which was what I used. I assured the girls that I was okay, but I had to avoid using any more magic unless it was absolutely essential.
It was only mid-afternoon, but at my announcement, the girls jumped from the wagon and started unloading the tents, blankets and cookware. They gathered firewood and laid out a fire. I walked over to start it and was sternly reprimanded by Salma that I was expected to remain sitting down. She had talked to my Aunt Della, who informed her that the situation could be very dangerous for me. Della had also apprised her that I was quite stubborn, and gave her permission to stand up to me if it was for my own good. I laughed and moved back to the wagon, and sat and watched while the girls built our first camp in No Man’s Land. I have to admit that I enjoyed watching the four attractive girls setting up camp, but for the most part, my eyes settled on Star.
Soon dinner was prepared and they called me to join them by the fire. I almost, out of habit, raised rock stools from the ground, but caught myself in time. I’d never drained my magic like this before and had no desire to crash in this place.
Just before dusk, I heard an odd, birdlike chirping in the trees. Sporting a grin I called, “Translucia! Is that you up there?” The girls shared concerned looks and stared at me. Moments later, a beautiful, brightly dressed pixie flew down to meet us. I affirmed, “I thought I recognized your voice!”
The pixie cocked her head sideways and wondered, “James Stephenson? Is that really you in that man’s body? Has it really been that long since we saw each other?”
I nodded. “It’s been about nine years now. I just got married to this young lady, and wanted her to meet you. She thought I was joking when I told her my best childhood friend was a pixie.”
Translucia fluttered over beside Star. “What is your name, you beautiful creature? You must have a beautiful heart, too, if you captured my James.”
Star, still not sure if she should believe her eyes, responded, “My name is Star, My Lady.” Then she bowed slightly.
“James, she is a darling, and has with a lucky name. I guess you do let the stars guide you. If you don’t want her, I’ll keep her.”
Taking Star by the hand, I laughed. “I don’t think anyone will be taking her from me, my dear.”
She angled her head again and gazed at me more closely. “How far did you travel to get here with all this? You need rest, my man. Your father didn’t want to stay on our land when he was ill and made a big magical mistake. You know us, and are aware you’re welcome for as long as you want to remain.”
I bowed my head. “Yes, My Lady. It appears that various females have been nagging at me about over-u
sing my magic for the last two hours. I’ll be obedient and rest as I should. The girls are slave drivers, though, and I can’t help that.”
Translucia tittered, “It’s your mind and spirit that need rest. What you do in the tents with the girls would actually help you build your spirit back up. I see you’re taking after your father, as far as his love for beautiful women goes.”
All the girls blushed. “Naughty minded pixie!” I declared. “I’m only sleeping with my wife. The others don’t want me, but my wife is quite playful, fortunately.”
“You say they don’t want you, but which of us is the more magical creature and can read a girl best?” my pixie asked. “I say that if you and your wife choose to, all you’d have to do is give the nod to any of those three.”
“Is your entire race, or is it just you, Translucia, always this blunt and transparent?”
“The truth is the truth, young man, and should not be hidden. All pixies know that and act on it!”
“That might be what I loved about you most when I was growing up. You didn’t treat me like a child and always were open about anything I asked. You know I loved you then and always will, don’t you?” I asked.
“I know you, kind-hearted human. I hope you always remain the same. My people are calling that it’s time to go. We’ll keep an eye on you while you recover, and I’ll be back to visit you and your girls whenever my duties allow. Let your Star guide you, my James.” She crowed with glee at her joke and flew towards the trees, waving goodbye as she went.
Chapter Ten
James, The Crown Prince Page 6
