Alec the Wanderer: Generations of Eredwynn #4

by Daniel B. Harris

  Father nodded. “They do, but the legal ones are few and far between. Girls have to be eighteen to legally work in those places. You know as well as I do that girls often find themselves in the street much younger. Those girls are preyed on by men who force the girls to work and then take their money to keep them dependent on them. They also will get them hooked on drugs that they then have to have or they’ll get sick. It’s just another form of control.”

  Carol was shocked. “People know this happens and they let it? Don’t the guards step in and help these girls?”

  Father gave a humorless laugh. “Usually the girls are the ones punished when they are caught plying their trade. The ‘guards’, that are called ‘police’ there, will throw the girls in jail. They will usually be released to the man that has the girls working, and the cycle just continues.”

  Carol shook her head. “Those girls shouldn’t have to be subjected to that! No one should! I still can’t understand why they let that happen.”

  Father shrugged. “Things there aren’t like they are here. For one, the population of the country that I came from is over three hundred million people. I doubt there are that many in our whole world here. The job is just too large and not many want to take it on.”

  Carol sighed. “If just some of them could be helped, and I could do it, I’d have to try.”

  Father gave an understanding smile. “I think you need to have your husband take you to visit Seth and Tabitha. They are our humanitarians. They run a huge women’s shelter that was created to keep the girls who don’t want to do that type of work off the stairs. There are some girls that do enjoy that type of lifestyle and I feel they have the right to do it. I don’t want some of the things that Seth’s reported happening in my kingdom. That’s one of the reasons that I support their work.”

  Carol gave me that look. “Husband of mine…”

  I laughed. “Yes, my dear. I’ll take you to Starford Stronghold as soon as you’re ready.”

  Father chuckled. “It sounds like my stories may have sent you on a mission, son. The good news is, west of Starford there are wide open plains without people. Della tells me that it might be time for you and Carol to be away from folks for a while.”

  Carol nodded. “I had a very vivid dream last night about the wind circling in a tunnel to the clouds. Aunt Della warned me to listen to my dreams and I wouldn’t want to cause that thing near Wizard’s Castle!”

  Father agreed, “It sounds like you’re describing a tornado. They are very destructive and I don’t think I’ve even heard of them in this realm before. If you think that you might accidently create one, an open area would be advisable.”

  I nodded. “Aunt Alba has told me that she’s learned about everything she can at Wizard’s. Anything else she should be able to do through visualization. I’m sure that I can help her with that. It’s how the ‘sibs’ have always done everything!”

  Carol smiled. “I’ll miss our dinners together, but I’ll get the packs ready. We can leave first thing in the morning.”

  Father laughed. “She makes up her mind and then acts on it. That must be how she captured the wanderer. We all love you, Carol. Any time that you need the family, we’ll be here for you.”

  Carol winked. “Thank you, Your Majesty. It’s nice knowing that I have a king at my beck and call.”

  Father laughed. “Now you’re going for Alba’s ornery title! You two get out of here, before I get too attached to let you leave.”

  We took our leave and went different directions. Carol went up to begin packing the packs and I went looking for my mother. I located her in her room and let her know that we were leaving in the morning.

  Mother spoke softly as always, “Be careful out there. I know you will, but it’s my job to say that. Don’t stay gone as long as you have been, because there are two of you I’ll have to worry about. The nice thing is, now we all have telepathy and can contact each other. Della told us that she didn’t think that the skill had a maximum range. I should be able to receive updates from anywhere.”

  I smiled. “I love you, Mom, and will check in often. After all these years, one would think that you’d quit worrying about me.”

  “That will never happen, my son. I’m your mother and a mother always worries. Take care of Carol for me too. She’s a wonderful girl and she will be good for you.”

  “I will, Mother, and I’m happy that you get along so well with my wife.” I kissed her goodbye and went to the roof of the dorm.

  In our room I learned that Carol had both packs ready to go with the tent attached. She’d loaded plenty of dried edibles in case we found ourselves out for longer than we’d anticipated. I was proud of the job she’d done, considering that she’d only been in the wandering business for a short time.

  As we lay in bed I decided to find out her plans. “Carol, I know that the conversation you had with Father has you upset. What are you thinking about doing?”

  “I want to go to Starford and talk to your brother about the shelter. Your father said that some of the girls around there had been forced into working in pubs or inns. Then I want to go talk to your brother Davie, since he’s the only one of the sibs to have visited the other realm. If you deem it possible, I’d like for us to go there and explore. If we happened to run across girls that were being forced into the sex trade, I might want to try to help out.”

  I laughed. “All of those, ‘if I deem’ or ‘I want’ and ‘you might try to help’, make me think you have the plan laid out and expect me to go along with it.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “How about I soften you up a little? Well… perhaps you can soften up when I have you convinced.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You win, as usual. My beautiful, little manipulator.”

  Chapter Six

  We woke with the sun and dressed quickly. I finally saw what she’d gotten for road clothes, and didn’t know if I wanted to leave yet or not! She’d gotten the tight uniform style as I’d suggested and I guess Aunt Isa wanted to add to that. She wore a pleated skirt of the same color that came just above her knees. It was slit at the front of both legs half way up, to allow for fast movement. It very nicely covered any assets that she didn’t want to show the world, but was sexy enough to make my imagination work overtime.

  We flew from the top of the dorm to the road that turned to the north. I followed her in for a landing and asked for plan updates.

  “If you’d port us to Starford, we could visit with your brother and Tabitha. I know that porting isn’t your style but with these dreams, I don’t want to camp near the little towns between here and there. We can walk from Starford to Perlsea, since we will have mostly open country. If one of my dreams became real, I’m afraid it could be quite damaging. I’m actually afraid of the power that I’ve seen in my dreams.”

  “Then that sounds like a good plan. I’m sure that you’ll learn to handle your power once you get used to it. Just think about how quickly you picked up on all the skills and spells. Keep calm, don’t panic, and you’ll get a grip on it.”

  She hugged me. “I’m just glad you’re going to be there with me. Thank you for finding me, Alec.”

  I chuckled. “Thank your father. He’s the one that was hauling hay that day. I just got lucky. This is a long cast for Starford, so don’t let me fall over. Maybe you can teach me how to do viewing and talking at the same time.”

  She shook her head and stood close. I went looking for Starford by letting my vision travel almost due north. I located a friendly, empty spot a short distance from the castle and ported us there.

  Carol smiled. “I see how you did that now! It’s not nearly as hard as I thought it would be, and I bet I can do it now.”

  I chuckled. “Pretty soon you won’t need me around at all! I think it’s fascinating how quickly you pick up on the different spells and skills. Before we know it you’ll be teaching me!”

  She nodded. “Perhaps, but I’ll always need you, Alec.”

  As we a
pproached the front gate, I pointed out the shelter. Carol was amazed. “That thing is enormous! Do they ever get close to filling it?”

  “It has beds for close to three hundred and last winter, the first that it was open, they had almost two hundred and fifty women housed there. A lot of them left in the spring, but I heard that nearly seventy stuck around to work the fields and make sure they have a place this coming winter.”

  Carol sighed. “If there is that much of a problem here, it’s no wonder that Father’s realm has the problem they do. I wonder if I’m not on a fool’s errand.”

  I hugged her. “If we do go to that realm and help even one girl, we would be doing something. I don’t know what we could do to help a girl from there, but you want to try and that’s commendable.”

  We walked to the gate where I’d put on a show last fall. I had trained my brother, sister and two others in the use of swords and other weapons. It had been quite a job to teach Seth and Celina, who are both half-sprites and very dependent on magic. So much so that their bodies had grown weak from lack of use. They had hated me as I had them drill and run, but in the end, they understood. They managed to pull off a miniature war against giant ants without a mishap. The guards bowed and let us pass without a word.

  Carol giggled. “I’ll never get used to walking through any guarded gate in the kingdom and having the guards rush to get out of the way. This royalty thing does have its perks!”

  As we entered the castle, the herald greeted us, “Good morning, Alec. The Regent is in the courtroom, but I believe Lord Seth is in his room. You can use the side entrance if you’d prefer.”

  I thanked him and we took the door bypassing the courtroom. I thought that having a castle wouldn’t be so bad if I could get a regent to do all the boring stuff and I could do whatever project I felt like. Of course, Seth hadn’t picked a nice relaxing project. Taking on the care of all the female homeless in Eredwynn didn’t sound like relaxing to me.

  I knocked on the door of the master suite and a tiny creature answered and hugged my legs. “Alec! We didn’t expect to see you again so soon, but I’m glad we get to. What brings you to Starford and who is this vision beside you?”

  Carol dropped to her knees. “My stars! You’re a Halfling, aren’t you? I would have sworn that you were one of the children I’d been told lived here. Forgive me; I’m Carol Stephenson, Alec’s wife of just over week.”

  Tabitha laughed. “I get that all the time and sometimes it’s nice to be mistaken for one of the kids. So, Alec got married; come on in and tell that to Seth! You might have to tell him twice, once to start the shock and again when he recovers.”

  We went inside and made ourselves comfortable on a couch. Tabitha went back to one of the side rooms to let Seth know we’d arrived. Suddenly a black-haired meteor came flying from that room and almost strangled me with her enthusiasm!

  “Alec, we’ve missed you! I don’t think that Seth will admit it because he’s a man, but he missed you too. Thank you so much for the training and not actually killing us, even though we often thought that was your goal. Oh, hello Miss, I’m Raven, one of Seth and Tabitha’s Consorts.”

  I laughed. “I’ve missed you all too, Raven. I’ll introduce you to this young lady as soon as my brother decides to quit playing with the Consorts and gets out here.”

  Raven giggled. “Unfortunately that isn’t what we were doing. Tina is taking over some bookwork and he was helping her with her numbers. Usually Anne would do that, but she’s been getting sick in the morning quite a lot lately.”

  Seth finally joined us and I got up to meet him. “How’ve you been, brother of mine? You’re looking fitter than I left you, and that’s a good thing!”

  Seth smiled. “Celina, Warin, Raven and I get up and go for a run every morning. We then come back and work out in the courtyard. The captain offered to have men spar with us.”

  I shook my head. “With the swords your grandfather gave you? I hope you declined.”

  He nodded. “I did. I didn’t want to have to replace all the guards’ weapons when we cut them up.”

  Carol spoke up. “How could you cut up their weapons if you’re just using swords, too?”

  Seth looked surprised to see her. “Our weapons are enchanted, you pretty, young lady. Where did you come from?”

  I gave a faux growl. “Back off, Naiad, she’s all mine. Let me introduce Carol Stephenson, my wife.”

  Seth looked confused and then a bit more confused. Finally, he muttered, “I must have water in my ears; did you say, ‘wife’?”

  Tabitha and Carol both started giggling and I nodded. “I met Carol when her father asked me to escort her to Tesil. She pointed out that I needed a woman in my life and I couldn’t argue. We were married just over a week ago. Now she is on a mission to save all the women in this realm, and Father’s, from misuse and injustice. She thought that you or some of the women that you’ve worked with might have some insight. She is also brand new to magic.”

  I watched Seth and Raven both scan her. Seth looked at me. “Brother, she can’t do magic. I scanned for caster and psi; both are dormant.”

  Carol laughed. “I bet I’ll get that from every psi user I meet. I seem to have a rare ability. One that made your mother cackle. I’m not a spirit user, like most of the others in Eredwynn, but an air magic user. It can be picked up in mind to mind contact, if you’d like me to show you.”

  Seth nodded and reached for her hand. I watched and enjoyed the look of confusion when their minds touched and then shock as she guided him to the section of her mind that housed her air magic power. As they released, he looked at me. “Well, I would have never…”

  I grinned. “Neither would anyone else. It about drove poor Aunt Alba crazy when the stone floated before she activated her spell. We’ve been warned that she might manifest very powerful spells that can be destructive as her mind learns the magic. Your mother said that she’ll learn in her dreams, so this could happen without her knowing. She wants to learn about young ladies that are forced into being working girls. Then she wants to go to Father’s realm and try to help some of them, if she can. It’s a noble quest, so I’m up for it. Since I won’t be visiting the working girls anymore, I guess she can shut them down.”

  Carol gave me a sideways look. “You’re darn right you won’t be visiting working girls. I’m sure I can take care of you all by my little ol’ self. Or should we pick up a dozen Consorts for us to wander with?”

  I grinned. “I don’t even need one, my love. As long as I have you.”

  Seth rolled his eyes. “Okay, you two, get a room. The guest room across the stairs is yours for as long as you’d like. Let me send for one of my Consorts, Heather. She was an unwilling working girl and can tell Carol a lot about it. She usually works as a maid, too, but since she’s pregnant, Tabitha pulled her from that duty.”

  Tabitha cut in. “If Seth doesn’t get a hobby, we’re going to be swamped with children around here. He has the three adopted girls, Little David and three pregnant Consorts. Maybe you should take him to the other realm with you, just to protect the girls that aren’t expecting! Well, on second thought, we’d miss him too much to have him out of touch for too long.”

  I laughed. “Seven nieces and nephews from just this one brother, so far. My family was big enough before all these babies started showing up. I’ll never keep track of them all now!”

  Heather walked in the room and her first comment was, “Miss, I love that little skirt over the uniform style trousers like that! I’ll have to talk to our tailor about getting something like that! Hi, I’m Heather, by the way.”

  Seth stepped up. “Heather, this is Carol, Alec’s new wife. She would like to talk to you about the working girls, and especially the ones that don’t have a choice.”

  Heather nodded. “That’s something that I do, unfortunately, know quite a bit about. I need to stretch my legs, so if you don’t mind walking, we could go wander by the shelter.”

  Caro
l laughed. “If I have a problem with walking, I certainly married the wrong man. Thank you for taking the time to visit with me.” Carol kissed me and went out the door with Heather.

  As they walked away I turned to Seth. “I don’t know how long that her research will take, but I doubt it will be long. Has anyone traveled into the swamp to check out that metal from the meteor that your grandfather mentioned?”

  Seth shook his head. “You can see by looking at the fields by the shelter that we’ve all been pretty busy. If you want to wander up there, you should take Raven with you. I know you won’t run off with my girl, because your girl would come looking! But with Raven there, you’d be safer if you did run across that stuff. She could recharge your magic, and she doesn’t seem to ever get drained.”

  I laughed. “A Consort that never runs out of energy, huh? I guess you never have to look hard for company then.”

  He grinned. “Energy like that would be my darling Tina. I don’t think she could get tired of playing in the bedroom.”

  I laughed as Tabitha and Raven rolled their eyes. Then I asked, “Raven? Would you mind taking a walk in the swamp with me? That surely isn’t the most romantic question I’ve ever asked a pretty lady, but since you’re taken, it will have to do.”

  She smiled and nodded. “Getting out of the castle and doing anything that isn’t farming would be nice.” She turned to Tabitha. “You don’t mind me going, do you? Did you have anything you needed done first?”

  Tabitha shook her head. “No hun, you go out and have a good time. Watch out for gators and try to be back before dark. I’ll worry if you aren’t, Alec or no Alec.”

  Raven and I left the castle and levitated across the river. We headed north into the swamp and out of the country Eredwynn. As the ground became soggy under our feet, I used my nature magic to cause it to firm up. I’d asked the grass and mosses that were nearby to make a path with their roots, and they were happy to comply. We walked on for a few miles in complete silence when Raven finally had to talk. “Alec, you’re a lot nicer doing this than you were as our instructor.”