Davie the Mage (Generations of Eredwynn Book 2) (23 page)

              Mira laughed, “I should have known better than to say something like that to you. I think two of those should be sufficient, not two thousand. I have to learn to not leave my requests open like that.”

              I lowered the school back to the water and kept two large ones for our meals that afternoon and evening. “I'm just trying to keep you happy, my love. You did say that you were hungry.”

              “You’re just trying take you mother’s ornery title away! I’m starting to miss her.”

              “Would you like to head home soon? This has been a wonderful and memorable trip and we can go home when you say.”

              She sighed. “I think we should start that way tomorrow, but we do have to stop by Kethos Castle. I promised Translucia that we’d tell James to come see her.”

              “I agree. We’ll do that, then. I’m sure the girls are missing us, too. I’ve never been away from them this long before. They love me and worry when I’m out of sight, and they have reason to, since I used to be so dangerous! They’ll sure be shocked by the changes and so will my big brother!”

              We stopped at the edge of the sea and I
ported
a knife from the pack that we’d left in the house. Mira just smiled and made no comment. She took the knife from me and started cleaning the fish. I offered to do it but she declined my help. I could tell that that she had something on her mind, so I asked her about it.

              She said, “When it comes to the consorts, do I have you with me once every five days? Since we are newlyweds, that doesn’t seem like nearly often enough!”

              “Before we were married, I slept with all the consorts in my bed for months and never made love to any of them. Now that I’m married, I can be with you for as long as we choose, and then I could choose the girl who needed me most. I don’t want them to feel neglected, because they do enjoy making love to me, but I don’t want you to feel that way, either.”

              “Good, because I’ll want you for at least a few days on that giant bed. I love the girls, too, and I hope that they’d come to me if they felt that they needed to be with you.”

              “Trust me, Jana would, but Royse and Zayna, perhaps not. You and Amee have hit it off well enough for her to see you naked, so I think she’d come to you.”

              She blushed. “You’re not going to forget that, are you?”

              “Absolutely not! Seeing that hair removal had been done was the highlight of our trip! Even better than meeting Niruth! Amee can continue doing that for you, or maybe I could muster up the power to do it.”

              She giggled, “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’d prefer Amee to do it until you get complete control of that power of yours. You might try to remove the hair down there and make my head go bald!”

              “Fair enough, my love. I’m going to go start a fire in the house and we’ll cook these fish. I didn’t see any cookware, so we’ll just have to make due with a spit on the fireplace.”

              After lunch we walked south, away from the town and the house. It was just a walk along the seashore, holding hands, talking and enjoying being together. She recounted her trips to the woods with the lady centaurs, and I attempted to describe the feeling of the males teaching me with flashes of images and facts. We continued walking and talking and didn’t even notice the sun starting to set. We were miles from the house as darkness fell, so I checked the area around the house with my mind and ported us back. We ate, I locked the door and lit a few candles, just to discourage any bears that got hungry for cooked fish, and we went upstairs. I put up a ball of light so we could see in the bedroom as we got ready for bed. It was much too bright until I dimmed it. Having come into this power so quickly hadn’t given me much time to learn how to control it. Mira had been right about the shaving spell, and I wouldn’t try it on anyone until I’d tried it on myself. My greatest fear right now was that I’d accidentally injure someone I loved.

              We undressed and crawled into bed. I dimmed the light to a point where we could sleep but Mira could see if she needed to get up during the night. We made love gently and quietly on the soft mattress, and went to sleep.

              Late that night, near midnight, there was a commotion in front of the house. I was on my feet and into my clothes before I was even fully awake. There was a banging on the door.

              A man’s voice said, “Open up! We know you’re in there. Don’t make us break down this door!” I shielded Mira and myself and went downstairs. I opened the door and asked, “May I help you gentlemen?”

              The spokesman said, “This is the property of the Wizards of Eredwynn. Now get your things and get out. We’re keeping it empty in case they wish to return for a visit some day.”

              I smiled. “My name is Davie Stephenson. I was named after David Stephenson, the leader of the Wizards of Eredwynn, so I thank you for maintaining this residence.”

              The man shook his head. “A likely story and everyone knows the name of the leader of the wizards. So, if you’re who you say you are, you’ll surely know your mother’s name.”

              I chuckled, “Anyone who has met my mother would never forget her name. My mother is Alba.”

              I saw her name spark recognition in the man’s eyes and knew that these must be some of the people who had fled Gore after the dragon attack. Someone near the back yelled, “Alba did those green sparks at the introduction ceremony. Have him do sparks like his mother did, and we’ll believe him.”

              The spokesman in front of me said, “Well?” and left it to me.

              Without a thought, because I’d learned the sparks signaling spell at the age of five, I lifted my arm and angled it out over the water and fired green sparks for the gathering. The key here is ‘without a thought’ because I didn’t turn my magic down and fired with a Mage’s ability. I saw my mistake the moment I did it and that was a moment too late to correct. The spell went skyward with a whoosh and detonated a mile up with a boom that we could feel the concussion from. The green signal spread out and could be seen for a hundred miles in all directions.

              Mira came beside me and in my mind she said, “
Oops
!”

              I replied,
“I forgot to turn the power down on that one. They got the signaling sparks that they wanted. Now perhaps they’ll let us go back to bed!”

              The spokesman said, “Sir Wizard, please forgive the intrusion. We were just trying to do what was right for your family.”

              I smiled. “There is nothing to forgive. My wife and I are just visiting your country on our honeymoon and stopped unannounced. We weren’t aware that there was anyone living in Gore anymore. I’m happy that my birth town has a population again. One error, though; I’m not a wizard, I’m a Mage. There are many differences, as you could tell by my signal spell.”

              He nodded. “It was much more powerful than expected and it was cast without a wand. I had noticed that you were different. Your glow gives it away. Congratulations on your marriage. The entire town has yet to be rebuilt, but the inn is up and running. You could take breakfast there and meet with some of the townsfolk. Once again, we’re sorry for bothering you. Goodnight, Sir Mage.”

              “And goodnight to you folks. Sleep well.”

              I backed into the house, closed and locked the door. I hugged Mira and whispered, “Since we’re awake anyway…”

              She grinned, took my hand and dragged me back upstairs.

Chapter Seventeen

            
 
T
he next morning we packed our pack, secured the house and made our way to the town. There had been a lot of reconstruction done over the few years as people had returned. There were still damaged and destroyed buildings to be seen. We located the inn and I checked my pockets to make sure that our money hadn’t turned white, as well. The gold gleamed just as brightly as usual and so we went inside. We found a quiet table and signaled for breakfast to be brought. As we ate, people would cautiously approach and wish us a good morning. No one asked for anything or tried to join us to talk. They were just being friendly.

              The spokesman from the night before arrived and looked as though he’d been running. He came quickly to our table and asked to join us. “I’m so glad that you’re still here. I was across town when I received word that you’d come to the inn. Is everything satisfactory?”

              I nodded. “Everything is just fine. After eating nothing but camp rations, wild edibles and fish, a hot breakfast is a welcome change.”

              “Very good, very good. Now to business: when I was elected mayor of this town, I was charged with its safety. I’m sure you know the story of the dragon that burned the town all those years ago. It would seem that another dragon has taken over the roost of the one that burned us out before. It has been spotted in the air to the north a few times. It hasn’t made an aggressive move toward us yet. I know that you’re only one person and your whole family attacked the dragon before, but you seem so powerful, I have to ask. Do you think that you could kill this monster for us before it becomes a threat?”

              Mira actually jumped in her seat, startling both the mayor and me. “No, we won’t kill this creature! We’d be happy to talk to it for you, but we won’t just go out and kill it!”

              The mayor looked at me. “Is the young lady feeling all right? I swear I heard her say that she’d talk to the dragon! They’re just mindless beasts that can’t be reasoned with!”

              The sound that came from Mira could only be described as a growl. “They are no more beasts than most humans that I’ve known. We will speak to the dragon for you. Good day, sir.”

              The mayor jumped up, bowed and excused himself. I watched him scramble to the door. I chuckled, “Don’t be shy or afraid to speak your mind, my love.”

              “I’m sorry, Davie, but I couldn’t let him talk about dragons like that! Just because he’s ignorant to what they are really like shouldn’t be an excuse.”

              “I agree, Your Majesty. Now let’s pack up, say goodbye and locate this lovely creature. You can visit with it and make sure it doesn’t bother the people of Gore. After that, it will be time to go visit that old man, the crown prince of Eredwynn.”

              “There is no need for the formality, Your Highness.” She sighed “I’ve missed James and I’m ready to go home, too. We should, however, introduce your father to Niruth before we return home.”

              “I agree, the kings of neighboring countries should meet and hopefully be friendly.”

              We gathered our things; I paid the proprietor and tipped the waitress. We found the courthouse and a crowd had already gathered in hopes that we’d stop by before we left. I addressed the people and told them that it was good to see Gore being reborn from the ashes. I let them know that I’d inform my family that Gore lived again and suggest that they come for a visit. We then said goodbye. I shielded us and we took to the air waving. The townsfolk waved back until we were out of sight.

              I said to Mira, “I think we should just step up the speed a bit and then stop when we locate your subject. I hope it listens to reason, because I don’t know if I could bring myself to kill one of those beautiful creatures after meeting Niruth.”

              Mira smiled, “I’m sure we’ll be listened to. You’ve seen how every other creature has reacted to us since we met him. If orcs will behave, I’m sure a dragon will.”

              I nodded in agreement and cranked up the speed. It was less than an hour before we spotted the mesa from the stories that my father had told, and the dragon circling around it. It spotted us also and turned to intercept us. I took us to the ground, boosted our shields and waited. Mira just smiled as the creature lined up for an attack run.

              When it was two miles out, Mira projected her thoughts.
“Hold your attack, young one. We aren’t here to fight with you.”

              The dragon reared up in mid-air, its wings battling its momentum. It glided slowly to a landing a quarter mile away and began walking toward us slowly. We heard in our heads the voice of a young female.
“Forgive me, My Lady. I wasn’t aware that you were on the east coast.”

              Mira replied,
“That is quite all right; there was no harm done. I hope we find you well.”

              You could hear the smile in the dragon’s thoughts.
“I am doing as well as can be expected. Things could be better, if the King would allow us to thin down the crowds of orcs though. He thinks that we should just be content to outlive them.”

              We could hear Mira’s laughter in our heads.
“That is one approach and I’ll not argue with the King. I’m not a big supporter of orc’s rights though. We did seek you out to ask a favor. The citizens of the city to the south were burned out by a dragon awhile back. They are fearful that it will happen again. They have asked me to speak on their behalf and ask that they not be attacked.”