I ventured out in the direction Lin had headed; a few minutes found me standing at the edge of a small mossy patch of ground, next to a deadfall of oak. There was Lin, clumsily going through some basic quarterstaff patterns with a rough-hewed branch that she had apparently just chopped out of the wood pile.
Stepping closer, I waited until she completed her pattern and then ventured, “What’s the matter, Lin?” Looking at her, this was not the girl I knew, normally outgoing, cocky as hell and full of mischief. No this girl was silent, grieving and had a general air of defeat. “Why the sudden interest in weapons training?”
She didn’t answer, just looked back at me with dull eyes. Finally, I removed the staff from her hands and gently sat her down on a large, flat rock. I crouched down low so we were at eye level and reached out to tilt her chin back so she had to look at me. Suddenly, her blue eyes welled up, and with a desperate sob, she threw herself into my arms. Picking her up, I swiveled around and sat on the rock I had intended for her, resting her sideways on my lap, and letting her soak the lapels of my enchanter’s robe with her tears. After a few minutes, the bawling slowed down to mere sniffling and she started to speak, her voice catching, rising and falling with emotion.
“I…I couldn’t protect her, Alex. Maya was right, just because I can become a wolf doesn’t mean I can fight like one. I nearly got both of us killed. If it wasn’t for Ryliss…well, I need to learn weapons! I need to get stronger! I’m pretty much a failure as a bodyguard and a druid.” She sniffled, “Do you think your mother could make me a stronger druid? Give me more magic? I’d gladly lose a few years of life or whatever it takes.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I interrupted. “The forest fire thing was in no way your fault, and Ryliss said you took out several goblins before she got out of the tree. In fact, she said that she wouldn’t have had a sword to fight with if it wasn’t for you. Lin, you are a very good, very capable druid. You’re just comparing yourself to Jules and that isn’t fair. Someone with her power level shows up maybe once in a thousand years or more. Judging by the size of the storm she conjured, Rosa says that when Jules reaches maturity, she’ll be able to affect whole continents! She’s that strong. In a few more years, she won’t need a bodyguard, nothing will touch her. But until then, it’s Reggie’s job to keep her safe.”
“But then she won’t need me either, Alex,” she gritted painfully. “I love her so much, and I don’t know what to do!”
“Lin, she will need you. She’ll need you more than ever because you have the most important job of all,” I said, patting her on the back gently.
“What’s that?”
“To be you, and to be there for her; mother, daughter, friend, or lovers, traveling whatever road your relationship takes you down. Jules will need your strength and love to keep her human. My master, Rosa, says that powerful druids learn to love the wild shape too much, and if they don’t have a powerful reason to return, sometimes they never do. They take an eagle’s wings or a wolf’s paws and are never seen again. You are that reason for Julia to always come home, and it’s an important job, because we all love her.”
Lin hugged me fiercely, her face still buried in my robe front. “Do you really think so, Alex?”
“Lin, my mother said so at that last meal at Sky Raven, don’t you remember?”
“Yes, but I didn’t know what it really meant until now.” She sighed, burrowing in more.
“Ok, are we good then, little sister?” I whispered, kissing her gently on the top of her messy blonde head.
“Hmmm, I guess so. But you can hold me like this for a little while longer, though.” She snickered softly. “Surys back at Sky Raven is going to be so jealous when I tell her about this!” She leaned away from my chest and gave me a big leering grin.
Laughing all the way back, we returned to the group. Lin holding onto my arm possessively and leaning her head on my shoulder. This, of course, raised a few eyebrows from Maya and Julia. With one last smoldering look, an extravagant blown kiss, and an insane giggle, Lin finally let go of me and scampered back to her astonished friends.
We were all up early the next morning, anxious to finally make it back to our new home. The druids foraged out for some strange-looking purple berries, which they brought back before breakfast. But instead of making them part of our meal, they fed them to the donkeys and mules, explaining that they would have an energizing effect on the animals. This, paired with the better-maintained roads we found the closer we got to Sky Raven, made the miles fly by.
Soon we were cresting the ridge that had given us our first view of Sky Raven weeks before. Of course, we had to call a short break to wait for Elsa, Mingt and Ryliss to recover from what everyone called the ‘Sky Raven effect’; they all just stood there with their mouths open in a frozen ‘O’. Ryliss recovered first and, of course, whipped out a sketchpad and began drawing madly. Elsa was frozen solid in her tracks, and it took Darroth and a full tankard of ale to pry her free from the spot.
Moving once again, we approached until we could see sentries moving back and forth on top of the walls. Obviously, they spotted us as well and spread the word, because the huge main gates were starting to open before we even cleared the bridge.
Dropping back, I noticed Ryliss looked nervous, her eyes shifting from the heavily-armed human guards who trooped out of the gate and took up honor positions along both sides, to the fortress itself. The walls from this position looked unimaginatively high and foreboding. She clutched her kitten almost defensively.
“Sir Alex, are you sure Master Mingt and I shouldn’t stay outside until you make sure it’s ok to bring in dark elves?” she asked, her green eyes wide with apprehension.
“It will be fine, Ryliss,” I said.
“Oh, it will be better than fine,” Rosa’s voice cackled in my mind. “The worried young lady has a surprise in store for her.”
Urging Somnus and Kaima forward, Maya and I crossed the threshold first. Captain Higs had a second honor guard arrayed on the inside lined up along the gatehouse walls, all in full salute.
We happily slid off Somnus and Kaima, as our favorite stable boys appeared out of nowhere and led them off for a well-deserved rub down. Screeching like a mad woman all the way down from the keep, Rosa ran toward us and engulfed both of us in a huge black-robed hug. She was so excited she didn’t know who to kiss or talk to first, so she tried to do everything at once, in true Rosa fashion. I couldn’t believe how much I had missed her, and from the look on her face, Maya felt the same way; it was Rosa, and we were finally home.
We moved aside a little to allow the heavy wagon entrance as it rolled into the courtyard. Dawn and Dusk stood up, and Dusk uttered a scream of delight and vaulted over the side. “Donalt! Oh, how I’ve missed you!” Dashing up she threw her arms around Higs and brought him down for a deep passionate kiss, which brought raucous cheers of encouragement from the assembled guardsmen.
Maya and I looked at each other in profound confusion.
“Huh?”
“Donalt? By the stars, I didn’t know he had a first name!” my dark elf whispered, scandalized.
“Apparently, that’s not all we didn’t know. And she’s the restrained one,” I commented, watching in awe as they continued their unabashed reunion. Finally, Higs looked up to see us watching them in amazement and his face turned a deep crimson red. Prying Dusk off of him, he presented himself to Maya and snapped to attention.
“Sorry, Ma’am!”
“Umm, not at all, Captain. Carry on…later, that is!” Maya stammered, still shocked.
Meanwhile, our arrival had drawn the attention of most of the student body, and now they were pouring out of buildings and shops in droves to see us. Ryliss and Mingt stood up on top of the wagon and watched in complete bewilderment, their wide eyes and posture screaming that they had landed in an insane asylum, not a fortress. Almost all the younger earth wizard girls and fully half the similarly-aged healer girls were sporting curly silver locks and
were wearing dusky purple blush on their faces!
“It’s called the Maya,” a familiar voice intoned from behind us as Hons came up. “It started appearing right after you guys left, pretty much as soon as the earthie girls had some excess time and set up fashion parlors. It’s all the rage right now…Maya you should be honored, you have become the epitome of earthly beauty!”
“I…I don’t know what to say,” my girl blushed, clearly fascinated. By this time, there were a dozen or more male wizards with big smiles on their faces, vying for the right to help Ryliss down out of the wagon. Lin and Julia, of course, were so far beyond the word ‘excited’ that it appeared they would explode; hugging old friends, trying to introduce Ryliss, and just basking in all the notoriety. There was loud and raucous mayhem around the wagon, and the Jag’uri was starting to squirm precariously in Ryliss’s arms.
I heard Hons snort derisively and sigh, “Well, I better break that up before it gets out of hand…say she’s really cute!” Maya and I just looked at each other in delight. With the situation apparently well in hand, we linked arms and started walking toward the keep; we had a valuable package to deliver.
“You two need to get cleaned up and out of your armor,” Rosa said, breaking in excitedly through our link. “The cook staff has been preparing food all day, and I have been keeping them apprised of your travel progress. Dinner will be served in the same dining room in the keep where we all met your parents. You have just enough time to bathe and change into some nice clothes. I’m sure your parents are anxious to see you, too.”
“The cooks have been working all day, Rosa? They must be getting really creative with those magic box iron rations,” I snickered and felt Winya passing the conversation on to my dark elf as well.
“Oh, well…we have stopped using those now. Between the food we barter from Belrothe’s farmers and the new portal, we are getting supplies just like Xarparion did.”
“It’s already fully functional? How did you accomplish that so fast?”
Rosa chuckled through the link. “Well, in truth, it certainly helps to have built them before, but having the personification of the universe’s magic on hand as a consultant doesn’t hurt either. Oh, Alex, I can’t wait to show it to you. This one is a variable destination portal; it can go to any one of the existing portals or it can even open to places that have no portal as long as the enchanter has a firm destination fixed in his/her mind…it’s so exciting!”
“Wow, Rosa, you are amazing as always.”
“I know, and don’t you ever forget it either, apprentice,” she cackled. “Well, I need to get Mingt settled in his new quarters and have all your companions cleaned up and ready for supper, so see you at supper shortly!”
Maya and I continued walking on up to the keep with a small group of children following in our wake like a small parade. They were plainly in awe of us in our armor. On the journey from the portal after the fall of Xarparion, I thought I had seen everyone before, but I didn’t recognize any of these young humans. I stopped and crouched low to talk to some of the closer ones, but they must have decided I was too big and daunting and veered away. However, when Maya went down on one knee and opened her arms invitingly, they practically mobbed her.
“Hello, magic elf princess,” one cute curly-haired, red-headed girl said, leaning in to get a hug.
“Why, hello and what is your name?”
“My name is Dariah. We came through the funny magic door from Elcance to live here.”
“Really?” Maya said, flashing one of her biggest smiles. “And do you miss your old home in Elcance, Dariah?”
The little girl got a very serious look on her face and shook her curly head. “No, we were only in Elcance for a couple of weeks. Our old village along the border had the bad creatures come and we had to run away. My father is a guard here now and my mother is a weaver.”
“Oh, Alex, I forgot to mention we have been taking in a few refugees, too,” Rosa added calmly in my mind, and then Winya passed it on to my dark elf.
Maya gave the little girl another hug and stood up, beaming at the child. “Welcome to Sky Raven, Dariah. I know you will be happy and safe here, and I hope I have a little girl who looks just like you someday.”
Dariah giggled brightly and curtsied. After grabbing the hands of her friends, the lot of them raced off to find other adventures.
“What? A pixie and two dragons; we’re not even married yet, and you’re already thinking about more children?” I teased.
“Someday,” my dark elf shot back, giving my hand a firm squeeze. “Someday soon!” she amended with a saucy wink.
Dawn and Dusk were waiting in our room at the top of the keep when we arrived. Scattered across the bed were a shirt and pants for me and a short, casual black dress for Maya. There was even a tiny black dress on the pillow for Nia.
“Rosa has been busy again.” I grinned and the twins nodded as one.
Dawn picked up my clothes and took me by the arm. “Please follow me, Father, and I will escort you across the hall where you can get ready in privacy. Then I will come right back to assist my capable sister Dusk in getting Maya and Nia ready.” All this was delivered with a sly smile and a nod to Maya.
Alone, I cleaned up and got dressed in the vacant room across the hall. It was set up very differently from the room Maya and I shared. It had a smaller bed, a narrow table, and a lot more dressers. I loitered around as much as possible until I caught some noise occurring in the hallway and opened my door to see the girls walking out. Nia was fluttering around excitedly in her black dress, which I saw was decorated with tiny glittering sequins. The twins were wearing dark, silvery metallic versions of the dresses they originally wore when we first met them. And finally, Maya. Wow! She was wearing a simple, form-fitting black sheath that ended above her knees. Her dress was sequined as well and it looked like stars in a brilliant night sky. Her sliver curls accented beautifully by the dark of the dress. I stopped and stared, speechless for a few moments. Maya twirled seductively, which gave me a short pause; and then with a shy knowing smile, she took my arm and clung to it all the way down to dinner.
As soon as we walked through the doorway into the dining room, I noticed the table was already filled with our friends. Darroth and Elsa were happily drinking ale; Lin, Jules and Ryliss were chatting amicably at the far end. Rosa and Mingt were in a deep discussion about magic theory. On the other side of the table sat Alera looking expectant and lovely, as well as Hons, who was fidgeting uncomfortably and looked out of place. Circulating around the table were some human women dressed in servant dresses, setting the dishes and filling wine glasses. The overwhelming odor of good food wafted in every time one of the women left the room to retrieve more. One of the place settings had a small table and chair set up, just pixie-sized. The two dragons moved around us and headed toward empty chairs, with Hons jumping up and courteously assisting them in getting seated.
As Maya and I approached the table, my parents flashed into the room, and with a squeal of happiness, my mother enveloped both of us in a hug and a kiss. My father looked a little gloomy, but still gallantly kissed Maya on the cheek and shook my hand firmly.
“Welcome home, son,” he rumbled.
“Alex, I thought I would go mad when you were fighting that demon and the chimera!” My mother laughed nervously, her eyes tearing up as she ran her hand possessively across my jaw.” The more time I spend with you, the harder it gets to see you go into danger. But enough of an old woman’s concerns; you’re here and that’s what’s important. Now, why don’t you introduce us to your friends? Alera, sweetheart, you can rise.”
I glanced over to see Alera recovering from a deep formal bow with a nod and broad smile.
“Mother,” I said, “the first is Darroth, whom you’ve seen before but not met, and the second is Princess Elsa of the dwarves.” Both of them got up and bowed formally. Elsa’s eyes had gotten increasingly wider ever since Ranther and Oreale had materialized out of nowher
e in the room. “Darroth, Elsa may I present my parents, the Nova. The next gentleman is a fire wizard, a revered shaman of his people, and Maya’s grandfather, Mingt.” He also rose and bowed graciously.
“Welcome Wizard Mingt.” My mother smiled, her eyes turning white for a few seconds. “Your addition to the faculty of this school will be of immense value to future generations of fire wizards.”
“But my Lady, I’m not sure how much time I have left; I am an old relic,” Mingt protested, but my mother just continued to smile and tilted her head slightly as if evaluating. “Your magic is far from depleted just yet, wizard. Teach your charges humility and wisdom and reclaim the honor that was once due fire mages, and you will have accomplished more in the last years of life than most wizards do in a span of a thousand. Do this and you will have our deepest gratitude.” Looking a little dazed, Mingt nodded reverently and sat down.
“Mother,” I continued, “you know Dawn and Dusk, and Primus Alera. Sitting next to her is Primus Hons, whom I’m sure you’ve seen, as well.” Flustered, Hons got up and managed an adequate bow, and my mother nodded cordially. “And, of course, the troublemakers in the back are Lin and Julia with their new friend, Ryliss.
My mother smirked slightly at the girls’ unabashed reaction to my calling them troublemakers. “Alex, are you trying to corner the market on druids? It was quite unusual for you to present two young druids last time, but now to bring me three; it’s most welcome and unexpected.”
“Three…druids?” Lin and Julia both shrieked, standing up and sliding their chairs back as they looked at Ryliss in shock.
“Mother, are you sure?” I questioned.
“What, Alex? I know you only have eyes for Maya, but haven’t you ever looked at the young lady here?”
I guess I hadn’t, not really. I have known Ryliss since my old village, and she never showed any sign of being a wizard. But then, neither had I until the pot incident. I concentrated on her now and I could see the magic. It was actually fairly strong, too; but it didn’t match Lin’s and Julia’s. “It doesn’t look exactly like druid magic to me,” I said dubiously.
Heir To The Nova (Book 3) Page 14
