Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (25 page)

Doctor Amy Brook had been hoping to get home very quickly with her husband, son and soon to be daughter-in-law. Unfortunately, however, Arden and Boadaiska had other ideas. The first was Boadaiska’s demands that her new-born daughter be presented to the Wolf Clan King, her father, and that Arden attend with her, to be bound together as Clan-mates in front of the whole clan.  This ceremony required the bride and groom to be naked, along with their closest friends and family.

They had all chuckled at how pale Arden had become at the thought of meeting his father-in-law...not, as most would imagine, the thought of being naked. Mind you, Arden’s body would intimidate every male in the room, and no doubt cause many a woman to swoon.

Amy, however, was glad that there was no expectation upon the friends to attend; she had done public nakedness a long time ago in the baths at Arrenloft, and that was more than enough exposure for a woman of her age.

The second delay, after the several days partying at Ragoran’s Den with the Wolf Clan, was that Arden finally insisted on spending some time with Themisia, down at the village inn.

It had been a cautious meeting to start with; both unsure of each other. On Arden’s part, because there was no doubt she was more Daemon than anything else, and on her part because of the stories she had been told as a child. Ingemar was the eater of naughty children, those children who disobeyed the will of their parents or their masters or mistresses. Finally though, the Dragon-Man’s caution crumbled. There was something incredibly innocent and disarming about the girl. So the final decision was that Themisia would also come to Earth, along with Arden, Boadaiska and the baby Louise. It had then only taken Kenelm ten minutes before he too managed to hitch a ride; “Of course you had better have a monk of Arrenloft along with you to keep an eye on things!” he had protested.

Amy had both sighed and chuckled at the enthusiastic monk’s determination to come; “You had better bring a lot of gold and gems with you!” she warned Arden, there was no way that her cash reserves could support her new extended family.

The final preparation had been inducting the awaiting immigrants, to the strangeness of the world they would be going to; plus an accelerated course in English.

It was a little over three weeks before they were ready to travel. During this time, neither Edala or Themisia bled when their time was due, finally confirming; that each was pregnant.

Amy felt guilty that they would not be returning the
borrowed
NHS medical equipment, deciding instead to load the wagon they had transported it in with important possessions; along with box after box of gold jewellery and gems. They had decided to not take any gold coins with them, as inscriptions from countries, no one on Earth would have heard of, might have caused them some unwanted attention back home. Gems and jewellery, in particular, would be far easier to trade for cash.

Amy watched as Boadaiska, with Louise firmly wrapped snugly in a sling, climbed upon her husband Ingemar’s back. The dragon then lifted gently into the air, before picking up the wagon and heading, east- northeast, towards the stone circle on Arrenloft.

Amy, Kenelm and Themisia then stood inside a circle formed by Darrion, Edala, Bethany and Lloyd. The mages joined hands and performed the necessary translocation spell to take them from the gates of Dragon-home all the way to the stone circle at Arrenloft.

Allen stood in the centre of the Imperial Forum, under the firm but friendly gaze of the Emperor and all the men and women who made up the noble assembly. The open air amphitheatre, in which they had all gathered, was situated on the far side of the palace compound; it housed a little over one hundred dignitaries.

Key among these was the
Ealdormen, those of noble birth, many in line to the throne, who ran a district of the city. There were twelve in total including the glutinous mound of Ealdorman
Trevainian; who was none too pleased at having to make the journey from Oldwealth to the heart of the city, so soon after his last visit.

“With your permission Imperial Majesty?” he said standing and making his way down to the floor. Allen waited silently watching the man waddle slowly down from the back row, where the most powerful sat staring down upon the others. Allen’s keen eyes noted that Trevainian did not wait for the Emperor to nod before progressing. To Allen this lack of respect was unthinkable.

“Brothers and sisters, we have listened to the stories of this boy from Kalana, am I the only one who finds them laughable?” the Ealdorman said, and after some nods and murmurs of agreement, he continued, “Albinos and ebony Daemon from the future! Imperial Majesty; surely we should throw this boy from this noble forum and send him back to Kalana with a flea in his ear?”

Allen eyed the shorter fatter man with disinterest; he would not let this unpleasant character rile him. There were several guffaws and cheers of agreement from many in the forum, but these soon silenced when the Emperor stood from his chair, raised above all others, at the back of the theatre.

“Cousin Trevainian...your thoughts, as ever, are value to my ears, but my mind has wakened now from more than one type of slumber. I know that many here mock me and my indulgences, and some of you have gained much from my lack of attention…” as the Emperor paused Allen noticed some of the arrogance drain from Trevainian’s face.

“But I am awake now. And when I woke it was into a nightmare. I have both seen and been under the spell of the Daemen with ebony skin, and I think they inflicted great evil upon our citizens through me. I have no clear memory of much which has happened, but I have been informed that taxes have risen and risen and the poor have suffered greatly. I have also been told that none of the additional taxes raised, sits in the imperial treasury. In short we have been robbed.”

That really got the forum’s attention and silence reigned along with a few pale faces.

“It was Allen, son of Frank, here and his magical friends, who saved me from the Daemen and I feel I owe him enough to listen.”

Allen nodded at the tall white haired man with a smile of gratitude.

“Imperial Majesty, the Sorcerer Prince Cullen of Kalana, did not have these visions himself, but both he and I firmly believe the albinos known as the Bremethren will be coming. But in the vision, Edala, our friend, saw that Prince Cullen was older, she thought by a few years, so we think that there will be time to prepare...but it will mean the Empire embracing those who use magic again.”

Emperor Celeon contemplated this for several moments, the eyes of the forum upon him; he then stood and made his way down through the tiers of seating, to stand before Allen and beside
Ealdorman
Trevainian.

“Our Empire has been a tired decaying creature for over a century now; but we will awaken now from our slumber, put old mistrusts aside and prepare to stand with our neighbours. I think it would be good for King Hegan and I to meet and formalise an alliance. Can this be arranged Allen son of Frank?”

“Yes it can your Imperial Majesty” Allen replied with a bow.

At the stone circle, high on Arrenloft, the final preparations were made to transport back to Earth. At first, Lloyd had been concerned that they may not have the power to transmigrate so many people, equipment and of course Ingemar’s treasure.

“Do not worry Lloyd Brook, I can help with this by changing to the form the Lord Creator intended for us to assume, when delivering his messages.”

With that the form of Arden shimmered and became as bright as full silvery moonlight; two great wings lifted above his back and he was just like every image of an angel that Lloyd had ever seen, apart from the little cherub ones you found on Christmas angel chimes.

Arden, the angel, then opened his silver portal and instructed the mages to merge theirs with his. Finally, the mages Darrion, Lloyd and Bethany, pulled in their combined power and surrounded the whole group in energy, before chanting the words to take them to Earth.

Life had been a blur for Amy Brook since returning to Earth; as it had been very much on her shoulders, to sort out everything and everyone since they had arrived a few weeks ago.

First, because of her local connections, she had decided to cancel the plans on moving closer to London and had even managed to rent the house next door to accommodate everyone.

Because of her access to district health records, staying local had made acquiring an identity for Edala a far easier task. She first found a birth certificate for a girl who, had she not died as a child, would have been eighteen years of age today.

The money it had taken to alter the child's first name to Edala, erase any record of its death and to install a fake health record on the NHS registry had been worryingly inexpensive. Then there was the nervous wait for the passport to arrive, which, along with her national insurance number, would give Edala Fairchild final legitimacy.

It would also mean that she would be able to take full advantage of the UK’s health services. Amy had now found a position in one of the GP Practices in the nearby town and Edala was registered as a patient.

Another task which had occupied her time, with the support of Lloyd and Darrion, was helping the “motley crew”, as she fondly called them, blend, as far as possible, into the local community.

First there was Arden, Boadaiska and the baby Louise. Of course, it was the giant of a man who proved most difficult of the three to blend in. First it had been decided that on Earth he should use his dragon name; as Ingemar did sound Scandinavian. Also, to some degree, did Boadaiska, and of course being blonde added to the illusion. Amy though decided that his violet eyes were a little too freakish for the locals and had acquired some contact lenses to change them to a deep but bright blue. Being Scandinavian, of course, also helped to provide reason for their fragile use of the English language.

Edala, like Bethany before her, had also required minimal effort to blend into a modern, alternative society, from the one in which she had grown up. Like all of the new immigrants from Kalana, she had been a little stunned at the technology, the amount of people and noise in Amy’s world; but just as with Bethany, television was an amazing tool to soften the surprise.

But the greatest challenge of all, however, was how the hell do you get a lady with bright red hair, blue eyes and ebony skin to blend in.
What do you do with a problem like Themisia?

Amy knew that NHS registration was going to be completely out of the question, but some way of enabling the girl to travel unmolested would be a necessity. At first Amy had suggested that the Daemon girl wear a full Muslim burqa, but, in a very provincial town in the UK, the sight of this was nearly as unique as seeing an ebony Daemon and would cause nearly as much unwanted attention, especially from a small minded minority.

In the end it was Lloyd’s suggestion which, although on the face of it a little bizarre, seemed to provide the best solution.  He suggested that Bethany and Themisia play the role of twin sisters, one of whom has a genetic skin mutation which is being researched by a university.

At first, Amy had been a little lost for words and sceptical at this suggestion, but bizarrely, with near identical bright red hair, not too dissimilar colour eyes and also with both girls being of similar build, it was almost somehow believable. To help cement the story and to give it as much local coverage as possible she had planted the story in the local press. This would mean that within a week Themisia would be recognised and no awkward questions asked, but it would also be localised enough to not draw any attention from the national media.

The results had been astounding, both Themisia and Bethany were now local celebrities, recognised wherever they went, in village or town, and greeted with a friendly wave.

Once Edala’s passport had arrived, Amy felt confident to finally tackle her last challenge...arranging the wedding. Again, remaining local smoothed any problems booking a short notice ceremony in the village church, St. Saviours. Reverend Taylor was a long-term patient of Amy’s, due to his high blood pressure, and they had always been chatty, despite Amy not really being the religious type and certainly not someone who attended church on a regular basis.

He felt he owed her enough, however, to put in an additional shift and late afternoon ceremony for the two young lovers. Amy decided that it was probably best not to mention that Edala was pregnant.

With the ceremony arranged for the next Saturday, Amy’s tasks were complete. It was now down to Lloyd to make a decision; who was going to be his best man?

Paul Watson had been incredibly surprised when Lloyd had asked him to be best man; his friend from school had been away from Earth for over a year, making new friends and experiencing many trials and adventures with them.

It was incredibly flattering, however, to know that Lloyd had not forgotten his roots or his old mates. It also showed that Lloyd had great judgement because, if anyone could arrange a stag party, it was Paul Watson.

However, things unfortunately had not necessarily gone according to plan. The first argument that he lost, was with the redhead Bethany. His insistence that Stags were blokes, not girls, had not gone down particularly well. Bethany had insisted that she was, very much, one of Lloyd’s best friends and therefore absolutely entitled to join the rest of his mates on the stag. This was not the reason she had won the argument, however, it was the blazing temper rising in her eyes and the fact that she started making sparks of electricity dance in her hands, that Paul started to fear a little for his life and decided to concede. The other bane with agreeing to this was Bethany’s insistence that she be given enough time to travel back home and collect her boyfriend Allen.

After calculation, this inevitably meant…much to Amy and Edala’s horror…that the stag do wouldn’t be until the Friday night before the wedding.

“Paul Watson, this is one of my daggers; I am relying on you to make sure my husband to be makes it to our wedding, without incident and without a hangover!” The diminutive Dragon-Girl said, while quickly flicking her dagger between finger to finger, leaving Paul in no doubt that she could deliver on any promises.
What is it with the women from that world!
He thought to himself

He was also a little annoyed that Lloyd, his mate, who all of this effort was in aid of, also agreed that it would be sensible to not overdo the drinking...surely, after all, giving your liver a good pasting and getting so pissed that your memory would fail to remember anything, were what stags were all about!

The final frustration, for Paul, was that now Bethany was coming, there was unfortunately no way of resisting Reese Woodgate’s insistence that his new girlfriend, actually his first true girlfriend, also be allowed to come. Paul had been really fed up with this; at first, mainly because since Jenny Clark had been on the scene, Reese had been seeing her every day at the expense of spending time with his mates.

Finally, issues aside, it had only taken Paul an hour to plan the evening. They would start at his favourite haunt
The Two Stags,
then a little saunter down to the end of the high street to
The Royal Crown,
before hitting the only decent curry house in the town for some food and then head off to the nightclub.