Davie the Mage (Generations of Eredwynn Book 2) (21 page)

              “Do you think you’d mind doing your duty before we take off this morning?”

              She grinned and pulled me over on top of her.

              An hour or so later, we dressed and crawled out of the tent. She started pulling the blankets out of the tent and rolling them up. I stretched and looked around. On the far southern side of the mesa I saw our friendly dragon gazing off into the distance. I called to him with my mind, “
Good morning Niruth. You’re up early this morning.
”

              He replied, “
If you humans are done with your mating ritual, I’ll come over.”

              I laughed,
“Yes, we’ve finished for now. I’m sorry about that; we didn’t expect company this early.”

              “That’s quite all right. I’ve been around humans enough to know that they do that whenever the mood hits them, and it’s more often used for recreation than procreation.”
He came lumbering toward us and Mira saw him.

              She grinned from ear to ear and waved him to her. He went to her and lowered his massive head beside her expectantly. Yesterday at this time, I would have vaporized a dragon for being that close to the woman I loved. Today, it amused me as she stood on her tiptoes to kiss him firmly on the cheek.

              He grinned with a frightening display of teeth. “If you ever decide that you don’t want this young lady, I’ll take good care of her.”

              “Get away from my wife, dragon.” I growled playfully.

              He laughed, “I said ‘if’. I didn’t say I was going to just take her. Now, if someone with a beautiful spirit like she has were escorted by a simple human, perhaps I’d keep her.”

              I shook my head and chuckled, “Don’t tell me that you’d go around abducting young girls. That would change my opinion of you and I don’t think you’re that type of individual.” I started taking down the tent while we chatted.

              “You’re right, of course. That isn’t something that I would do, but I do enjoy the company of humans, and it’s been a long time. Do you require money for your journey? I could spare a few thousand coins from my bed. Gold or platinum, you could take your choice.”

              “Thank you, kind sir, but we have plenty for our needs.”

              “Well, blessed Draco! That’s a first in thousands of years. Me offering human’s money and them not grabbing all they can carry. You are a very unusual Mage, Davie. I’ll give you some information you may not know, then, since you won’t take money.”

              “Information and knowledge are worth more than gold and platinum. I’ll take all of that you care to give!”

              “When I saw you flying in just before we met formally, I noticed your hair was mostly brown. Now, after our confrontation, I see that it’s turned Mage white. As you use your newfound power, including your
levitation
and
flying
, your clothes and footwear will also turn white. When that happens, everyone will recognize you as a Mage and you won’t be bothered by any creature that I’ve met in the world.”

              “Thank you for that information, sir. I’ll dress my wife to match, although after last night and this morning I don’t believe that she qualifies to wear white.”

              Mira giggled, “Hey! My spirit is still pure, even if my body is a bit… used.”

              Niruth laughed loudly, startling me. “She’s right, you know. She does have a beautiful spirit, and it’s pure. For having so many traumas in her past, she’s remained true to herself.”

              Mira looked at him with wonder. “You have such amazing insight, my beautiful, enormous friend. I have to kiss you again and then I’m afraid we have to be going. We want to make the southern forest by dark and sightsee along the way.”

              He leaned down and happily received his kiss. “Bless you, My Lady. It was such an honor to meet you both and I hope that you return soon. I know much more about Mages than color-changing hair and clothing. I’m sure I could help a fledgling Mage realize his full potential.”

              We said our goodbyes and took to the air. He flew with us for twenty miles and then, with a burst of flame, veered off to the west. We watched him go and Mira had a memory of the conversations we’d had. We’d met the King of the Dragons and he was our friend. It was a sobering thought.

              The dragon was right about my clothing, too. As the day progressed, my clothes got lighter and lighter. At mid-day I looked for an orc-free clearing. When Niruth had said this place had an orc plague, he wasn’t kidding. I finally found a nice spot and we came in for a landing. Mira unpacked food and we sat talking about the dragon and the other things we’d seen over the last twenty-four hours. It had been a wonderful honeymoon trip so far.

              Without warning, a dozen orcs burst into our clearing. I threw a dome shield over us and boosted our personal shields. I stood and put myself between the orcs and Mira. There was a flash of recognition on the orcs’ ugly faces and they dropped to their knees. They put their foreheads to the ground and held that position for a good two minutes. I just watched them and waited for an aggressive move. I was primed to attack at the first sign of trouble. They stood slowly, grunting to each other, and they backed away and out of the clearing.

              I took a deep breath and went back to Mira. “Did that really happen?”

              She laughed nervously. “I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it, but it really did happen. There go your clothes, by the way.”

              I looked down and was dressed head to toe in white. I laughed, “I hope that magic gets out stains, because white is almost impossible to keep clean!”

              “I’m sure it will, you silly man. You just ran off a dozen orcs by looking at them and you’re worried about stains in clothes. I love you, Davie.”

              We packed up and took to the air again. I located the clearing that James had given me the image of, and I landed there. I told Mira that James had camped here years before and had told me that the place was safe and could be interesting. We set up the tent and arranged the bedding. We built a fire and had dinner while enjoying being with each other. Shortly before the sun set, I noticed that we were completely surrounded by odd- sounding bird calls.

              I stood up and called to the trees, “I’m a friend and I’ve come to see a Lady by the name of Translucia.”

              Mira had seen me do many odd things over the past couple days, but this tested her. “Davie? Are you feeling okay, my love? Do we need to go back to Perlsea?”

              I smiled. “Sweet lady, don’t worry about me. There is a reason I’ve brought you here and hopefully, you’ll know the reason soon.”

              There was a high pitched, almost squeaky voice behind us. “I believe that since he called my name, that I’m the reason he’s brought you here. How may I be of service, Honorable Mage?”

              “My Lady,” I said with a bow, “my name is Davie. I have come to meet you and introduce you to my bride, at my brother’s request. I believe that you know him well. His name is James Stephenson.”

              She grinned from ear to ear and chirped back toward the trees and was answered quickly. “How is ‘baby James in a man’s body’?”

              I laughed, “I’ll be sure to call him that when I see him again. Baby James is doing very well and has several babies of his own now.”

              “You inform him that he is in trouble for not bringing those babies for us to see. Since you’re James’ little brother, that makes you our family, too. We adopted the family years ago, when your father decided to turn himself red. If you don’t know the story, you should ask him. So introduce me to your bride.”

              “Mira, I would like you to meet a friend of the family. She’s known the family longer than I have. The last time I was though here, I was in my mother’s belly.”

              Mira stood and curtsied. “It’s an honor to meet you, My Lady. I wasn’t told the reason for stopping here, but now I’m thrilled that we did. You are an exquisitely beautiful lady.”

              “Davie, may I keep her? She is so adorable!”

              I laughed, “I’ve been married a day and a half and you are the second one that has tried to adopt my wife! I’m not giving her up, but I will bring her to visit from time to time. I made a promise to return to No Man’s Land to a dragon already.”

              “I see. You have to keep her and roll around in the tent, all sweaty and moaning so loudly that you scare the bears, like your brother did with his wife. So what dragon did you meet?”

              Mira and I were both blushing so badly that our vision was blurry and I could barely talk. “We promise to not scare the bears, if you suggest to them not to scare us. We met the dragon Niruth and became very close friends very quickly.”

              Translucia got a shocked look on her face and chirped loudly to the trees all around us. It made me wish that I could speak ‘chirp’.

              The clearing was suddenly filled with dozens of male and female pixies. They all bowed or curtsied low. I looked at Translucia for an explanation. The pixies all returned to their standing posture and Translucia said, “Sir Mage, if you are a friend of the King then we are your humble servants. We will do anything you ask of us.”

              I smiled. “Translucia, I don’t want you to be my servants. I would much rather you just be your friends. My wife and I are just starting our lives together and the more friends we have, the better off we are.”

              She smiled and chirped what I assumed was a translation of what I’d said. All the pixies in the clearing relaxed and a number of them gathered around Mira. Some of them appeared to speak common and were chatting with her. I walked to the stump that Translucia was on and asked her what was going on.

              “You asked to be friends and to us that is much more important than having us be your servants. I see you have a kind heart like your brother and your father. You are welcome to stay anywhere in our forest for as long as you wish. The King hasn’t had a human friend since before I was born. That is a long time but, and you can verify this with Della, a lady never tells her age.”

              I laughed, “Della has said that quite often, and I’d never think to ask. However old you are, you are a beautiful lady. If I wasn’t married…”

              She giggled, “You’re exactly like your father and brother. Your poor wife will have her hands full with you!”

              I smiled. “She’s already dealt with my hair turning white, facing down a dragon, my clothes turning white and a surprise visit from a pixie, and that’s all happened since we were married yesterday morning.”

              She smiled and shook her head. “It seems like you have had an eventful honeymoon so far. I must ask if you don’t mind, how did you meet the king?”

              “We were flying across the middle of the country and Mira saw him and screamed. I magically shielded us and dove for a mesa. He hit us with his fire breath, but the shield held and we made it to the ground. He came at us on foot from the other side of the mesa, and I charged my magic until I glowed. He then contacted me with his mind and we talked. By the time we left we were good friends, and Mira kissed him goodbye.”

              Translucia chirped and all the pixies turned to her. She rattled off a series of buzzes and chirps faster than I thought possible. All the pixies in the clearing went slack-jawed and then bowed or curtsied to Mira. Mira looked at me, confused, and I just shrugged.

              I asked, “Translucia, what is
this
all about?”

              “When the King allows a human female to kiss him, he is giving his pledge to her. It isn’t a marriage like yours, but it is a bond. By Niruth allowing Mira to kiss him, he made her his Queen. There’s no need to get jealous or worry about him taking her from you. It is a symbolic position, but very real. Even the orcs will recognize it and won’t bother you. I have a Mage and the Dragon’s Queen in my clearing. This is an unbelievable day!”

              Mira said, “That’s quite the understatement, my lady. I don’t know what to say!”

              The Pixie smiled. “Just say goodnight and take your Mage into the tent. If you scare the bears, they’ll just have to get over it. You’ll be guarded, so you can sleep soundly.”

              Mira turned to the crowd of pixies. “Goodnight, my wonderful new friends. It’s been an exciting day and I’m ready to sleep. We’ll see you in the morning.”

              We could see some translating going on among the pixies, then Translucia chirped twice and the pixies disappeared. She flew up to us and kissed us on our cheeks, said goodnight and she disappeared. We could hear the soft beat of her wings as she moved off toward the trees.

              “Husband of mine, will you please take your overwhelmed wife to bed?”

              “It would be my honor, My Lady Dragon Queen.”

              “Oh, hush, and come make love to me.”