Davie the Mage (Generations of Eredwynn Book 2) (18 page)

              James grinned. “I suggest we call him a punk kid little brother who has the unrealistic expectation of growing up to be as good as his big brother!”

              We all laughed and then they both excused themselves to return to their homes. Now that the danger had passed and the ex-regent had been sentenced and punished, there was nothing left for them to do. They hugged me and
ported
out. I walked to the door of Amee’s room and stood there listening and wondering how much their plans were going to cost me. The reward would be worth whatever price, and since I never spent money, I wasn’t concerned. Over two million in the vault would last me forever and now, with the interest payments, which were extremely low, added monthly, I knew I’d never be broke. Mother saw me and waved me over, and the conversation slowed to male speed so I could understand.

              “Davie, we’re discussing all these things and we don’t know the most important fact. How long do we have to plan and gather everything, and where will the wedding take place?”

              “Mother, I’m going to leave that entirely up to Mira, as far as the date goes. I believe that we’ll have the wedding here, in the Perlsea courtyard. We won’t be having it at Wizard’s Castle. Father and I have discussed it and he understands my reasons. So we’ll leave it up to her. She may want to put it off long enough for her to have second thoughts!”

              Everyone turned to look at Mira, who blushed, unused to being the center of attention.  She looked at me. “Davie, I love you, and everyone knows that isn’t going to change. If I had my way, I’d marry you right now, in the dress I have on and in this room, but I’m sure your mother would pull rank on that idea.” My mother smiled and nodded. Mira continued, “I don’t know how much time it will take to put this together, but it seems like a dress and decorations are all that we’ll need. We are going to keep it simple because that’s something we both want. So Mother, with that in mind, what time frame are we looking at?”

              My mother inhaled shakily and glowed with happiness. “She called me Mother. Okay, taking into consideration you two hardheaded young people, we can make it a week from today. I’ll borrow a horse whip from the stables to make sure that the tailors have everything done on time. Will that be satisfactory?”

              I smiled and winked at Mira. “There were some things that I really didn’t want to have to wait for, even a week, but anything worth having is worth waiting for.” She gave me the blush I’d been shooting for and all the girls in the room chortled.

              Royse spoke softly, surprising all of us because she was usually so silent, “Since you have four consorts, I know they’ll do their best to keep your mind off that part of what you’re waiting for. I’ve just been thinking that we’re going to miss you horribly while you’re off on your honeymoon. I’m sorry, that’s very selfish of me.”

              I went to her and hugged her. “Hey, we’ll be coming back, and so far we don’t even know how long we’ll be gone. You will always be my girls and I guarantee you won’t be neglected. I understand that you’ll miss me while I’m away, since it’s never happened before, but I will be coming back. It isn’t selfish to miss someone; it just shows that you love them.”

              Mira went to Royse and hugged her. “I promise to bring him back, for all of our sakes. I’m so happy to see that Davie is loved so much by so many.”

              The look on my mother’s face at Mira’s reaction to Royse was one of total adoration. I knew that she realized why I’d made the choice I had. I hated to leave the party but it had been a day to forget, mostly.

              “Ladies, you’ll have to excuse me, but I believe that I’ll call it a day. You can continue with your meeting but you’ll have to do it without me.”

              Mother shook her head. “I have to go, too. It’s getting late and I believe that I may not get much sleep anyway. Tonight is your father’s…”

              “NO! I don’t want to know how the king’s schedule is laid out. Go home, mother.” Everyone laughed as mother hugged us all goodbye and ported out.

              Mira said, “Davie, would you walk me to my room?”

              “Of course my love, I’d be honored.”

              Mira and I walked out arm in arm and crossed the short distance to her room.  My all-knowing mother had laid several items on the footlocker where they’d be seen as soon as we walked in. One was a gown that looked like it would fit perfectly, and there were a couple very nice dresses she could wear until we got her own things moved to the castle.

              I put my arms around Mira. “I’m looking forward to the time when we can say good night and not be in separate rooms. There are other parts of that time that I’m not going to allow myself to think of, because I wouldn’t want to leave your room tonight. Some things are better saved for the wedding night.”

              She blushed. “Just be aware that I have had no experience with that and I hope you’ll be patient with me.”

              “I’ll be your husband, who has taken a vow to protect you and keep you from harm. I feel that would be from all harm, especially on our wedding night. I love you, Mira.”

              “Thank you for loving me, even after everything came to light. I love you, too.”

              I kissed her gently and left the room. I went back to my room and all the girls were already in bed. I stripped and climbed from the foot of the bed to my comfortable spot in the middle. I spent extra time making sure Royse knew how much I loved her.

Chapter Fourteen

            
 
A
week is an incredibly long time when you’re looking forward to something. I spent my time in court, or at least in the court room. Not much ever happened that needed my direct attention in my province and for that I was thankful. When I’d call it a day, I’d fly off to the northwest. Hundreds of miles away, I’d found an island that had nothing growing and was just a lump of sand in the sea. I knew, hundreds of years from now, sailors would find the place and wonder how an island could be made of glass. I would focus on keeping just enough magic to prevent unconsciousness and then expend everything else in a single blast of pure energy into the sand. I could go from almost bottomed out to fully charged again in just under five minutes! That time was getting shorter as I exercised my abilities. A ‘normal’ wizard would take three days, at least, to recharge from the level that I dropped myself. I could tell from my time around wizards that my blast was putting out twice the magical energy that even my siblings possessed. All this working on my regeneration and capacity did come with two very unexpected side effects: one that Mira pointed out and one that my other girls noticed. My hair had begun to turn white. Not silver or grey like older people had, a pure white. Going from a dark brown, it was quite noticeable. The other, my girls noticed after the lights were turned out. I wish that it could have been that I’d turned into a superman in bed, but that wasn’t it. I glowed. A soft white magical glow that was visible to anyone who saw me in low light. I was glad I’d never aspired to be a thief, because I couldn’t sneak up on anyone, now.

              Father, James and Baissel came around often. It was decided that since Baissel was living at Perlsea anyway, she would take over for me in my absence. She would always be able to get Father, James or any other number of wizards to help if there was a problem. She’d been around for so long that the people loved and respected her. I doubted that anyone would be dumb enough to challenge her authority.

              The honeymoon plans were something that had me stumped. I didn’t know where to go or what to do. Father said we should approach it the way he and the girls planned their early battles. We should just jump in and let it play itself out. James was insistent we include the pixies on our trip and so it was decided. I’d port to Wizard’s Castle and we’d fly over the mountains. I could show Mira all the different monsters that lived on the south side of the range and we could locate a mesa for a camping wedding night. The next day, with any reasonable speed, we would make it to the pixie forest. I was given images of the place to look for the pixie named Translucia, and images of the No Man’s Land town of Todan. Just in case, I was given images of a couple villages in Sabia that we might want to visit, if we liked nice, warm, and humid weather. I was assured that we wouldn’t run across Mira’s father if we went over there. I’d granted the man a stay of execution on his daughter’s request, but didn’t know if I’d be able to do it twice.

              Finally, the big day arrived. I’d seen so little of Mira over the past week that I hoped someone remembered to bring her. She was often gone with my mother or Baissel by the time I was awake, and the girls would sneak in after I was already in bed. The courtyard was beautifully decorated and the shopkeepers had outdone themselves by beautifying their storefronts. Chairs were lined up in two sections on either side of the aisle from the keep to the gate. My mother must have invited a few more people than I’d hoped, but that’s my mother for you. James was my best man, but I told him that was just a title and to not think too much of it. He was by the gate with me, along with all my male siblings. Alec the wanderer had even been located for the event. My father was going to perform the ceremony and Aunt Isabel was beside him to welcome Mira to the family. My backpack for our journey was stashed by the gate so we could make a quick getaway. It just had the basics like blankets, rations and a tent. (Not the tent that Amber had, it was locked away in the vault at Wizard’s Castle.) It was bright and early, so we could have an early start and have the sun when we flew into No Man’s Land.

              There was a signal and hush dropped over the crowd. The music started and the butterflies in my stomach started making their way up my throat. The first out the door were my courtesans, soon to be consorts. They were followed by my mother, escorting Mira. Baissel and Lia were behind them, tending the train of the incredible gown that Mira was wearing. I looked at her walking toward me and felt love wash over me. That is, until James elbowed me. “You might want to calm down a little; you’re starting to glow,” he whispered. I looked and he was right, all exposed skin was emitting a visible luminosity. I relaxed a bit so I didn’t startle the crowd in attendance but their attention, like mine, was captured by Mira. She was blushing at the attention but when she was close enough to lock eyes with me, the rest of the people were forgotten.

              She came close and reached for me, to take my hand. For a moment I forgot how to move, then I took her hand and we turned to face my father. He was beaming and I half expected him to start glowing, too. Someday I’ll have to get the wedding vows and read them. They could have said that I had to jump into a volcano right after the wedding and I still would have said ‘I do.’ At some point James elbowed me, I think he just enjoyed doing that, and gave me a beautiful diamond ring. I slipped it on her finger, noticed it was a bit loose and so I magically adjusted the size for her. Father grinned and then told me I could kiss my bride. That part I had no problem remembering how to do, crowd or no crowd. The world disappeared and there was only Mira and the love I had for her.

              Clapping and cheering brought us back to reality. My mother came up quickly and unfastened something on Mira’s dress. The long gown with the extravagant train disappeared, leaving a lovely knee-length dress. My mother was always thinking. Now we could port out to Wizard’s without her having to change. In the pack was a set of clothes and a cape made in the wizard’s uniform style. She was to change into it before we took off over the mountain and I really looked forward to seeing her in that! I thought she’d look good in the dark blue that I’d selected for those clothes. That was my only input into the trip planning.

              I hugged my consorts and told them I’d be back. I hugged everyone in the front with us and so did Mira. Finally, I looked at her and asked if she was ready to go. She smiled and nodded. I took her hand, led her to the gate where the pack was stashed and ported to Wizard’s. We walked inside and I asked the first Novice we passed for an empty room where Mira could change. She smiled and waved for Mira to follow her. I pulled the clothes out of the bag and handed them to her. She looked at the clothes, then at me, incredulously, and then shrugged. She followed the girl up to the second floor of the keep and to a room. The girl followed her in and I could hear them talking and giggling all the way downstairs. I guess my wife wasn’t intimidated at all by the Wizard’s Castle wizards’ uniform that the Novice was wearing. One of her consorts was a wizard, after all.

              She came out of the room with the cape clasped at the neck and waist. She was holding the cape together below her knees until she realized that she’d never be able to navigate the stairs like that. I laughed, “If you’re that shy wearing those clothes then we may have real problems tonight.” She blushed and the Novice started giggling so hard she had to grab the handrail.

              “Davie! Don’t make it worse by saying things like that in front of people!”

              I looked at the novice, “Miss, are there any wizards working the range right now?”