Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon (29 page)

A little later, at breakfast, a very tired and drained looking Paul Watson was helped to the table by Ingemar.

“Crikey mate, what happened to you?” Lloyd asked.

“I don’t know, I can remember having a dance with Themisia, the next thing I’m waking up in my room feeling like I’ve been run over by a lorry.”

“Where is Themisia?” Edala asked, only to be greeted by the occasional shake of the head from her friends.

“We had better find her” she added, leaving her plate of full English breakfast untouched.

The group all spread out in pairs and it took about fifteen minutes before the Ebony Daemon was found, huddling behind a small recycling skip, outside the rear of the hotel by the car park.

“Edala, Lloyd, she is here” Darrion shouted.

“No one else, no one else, please!” sobbed the ebony girl.

“What is it?” Amy asked, immediately going into doctor mode and inspecting the girl for injury.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to do it...it was the child.”

“What do you mean?” Edala asked, going to her knees beside the trembling girl.

“Kill Paul...the baby made me lure him with my charm power, it’s stronger now than it has ever been. My child then somehow pulled life-force out of him while we had intercourse; over and over again...I left him this morning in his bed, he was not breathing.”

“No, he’s fine, just very tired” Lloyd added with a reassuring smile.

After the revelations of earlier that morning, Edala felt very uneasy about the nature of the child being carried within Themisia’s belly.

It was with some trepidation that Edala went with Amy, Lloyd and Themisia for her twelve week baby scan at the hospital. Some of this was due to the very nature of a hospital, with its strange machinery and sounds; but mostly, it was concern over the scan they would secretly slip in for Themisia.

The ebony girl had been very withdrawn in the weeks since the wedding, Amy even suggested that she may be depressed; but because of her pregnancy, there was no medication she dare give to help her.

Edala had dressed into a hospital gown, behind a screen in the small room and had then climbed onto the bed next to the ultrasound scanner.

The midwife, a middle aged women with greying hair tied in a bun behind her head, then squirted some gel onto Edala’s slightly swollen belly and began to move the hand scanner backwards and forwards.

“There’s the heartbeat” Amy said with a grin, “How’s it looking?” she asked the midwife.

“Good, size is nice, heartbeat is strong...did you want to know the sex?”

“You can tell that!” Edala exclaimed, “I don’t know, what do you think Amy?”

Part of Amy really wanted to know, but her traditional side liked the idea of not knowing.

“It’s up to you, how do you think your father would react if it was a boy?”

“He would be a nightmare and probably insist he slept at the bottom of our bed to make sure nothing bad happened!” Edala said.

“That’s a no then I assume” the midwife smiled, she then pressed a button and the scan of the foetus began to print.

“All done” she said handing Amy the print of her grandchild.

Edala jumped off the bed and looked at Themisia, “Ok, do your trick.”

Themisia looked at the midwife, “Is it okay if I jump on now?”

The midwife was initially going to refuse, but when her eyes locked with those of the strange ebony girl with red hair, she could not think of any reason why it would not be okay to scan her too.

“Yes my dear that will be fine” she said indicating for Themisia to get onto the bed.

Themisia did this and quickly removed her dress.

Once the gel was applied and the scanner pushed against dark skin, an image began to appear and a heart seen clearly pumping.

“The baby looks fine, there is a little bit of blurriness caused by the amniotic sack, but as far as I can tell the baby looks healthy.”

“And can you tell me its sex?” Themisia asked.

“One second, let me just try a different position...yes, I’m pretty certain it’s a girl.”

Themisia smiled for the first time in ages at this news.

“I will name her Glyfada, after my Mother, in the tongue of my people it means
peaceful sea
.”

A couple of weeks later, a few days before Lloyd and Ingemar were set to depart for the great meeting on the Isle of Retreat, a desperate Themisia woke Lloyd and Edala.

“It’s happening again, I can feel the child wants more sustenance, it is trying to take control of me, I don’t know what to do!”

“Calm down Themisia” Edala said, dragging the girl to sit on their bed.

“We certainly can’t have you draining men as you did with Paul Watson, you might kill them with the child being bigger. Lloyd do you think we could feed magic into her somehow? Maybe that will sustain the child?”

“It’s worth a go I suppose; the way to do it is just pull energy into you first, only using the keywords to enable your portal to fully open, then just send it gently and slowly, spread as wide as possible, into her belly.”

Edala nodded, “Zephyrair, Zephyrmight” she said opening her portal, before drawing in some power and placing her hands on Themisia’s stomach. Edala chuckled as she felt the baby wriggle with excitement as it began to draw energy.

“She’s kicking in pleasure...oh my, she’s pulling on the power now, I’m going to have to give her some more”. With a look of concentration Edala focussed more and more power.

“Hungry little sucker, let’s see what she makes of this!” Lloyd smiled.

“Quadraplanus, Primuspower” he said and began feeding his four energies into the ebony girl’s belly; his hand’s placed either side of his wife’s.

A sudden dance of sparks on Edala’s hands made her pull away quickly.

“Oh, I’m not good enough anymore!” she managed to say this with a smile, but inside her stomach twisted; was this the child recognising, and preferring, the power of its father?

After about three minutes Lloyd felt the pull on his power weaken and he gently eased off providing it to the, obviously satisfied, foetus.

“That was interesting; I was surprised that I didn’t start to feel the lure of the power. Perhaps it was because I wasn’t angry or scared?”

“Perhaps, but you had better make the round trip to the meeting as quick as possible, just in case she needs feeding again” Edala concluded.

In the end, as usual, there were protests and arguments about Lloyd and Ingemar travelling alone with Allen to the great meeting. How anyone could stand up to the world’s only Sorcerer and the King of the Dragons was completely beyond the two in question, as they stood waiting at the stone circle in the woodlands, on the outskirts of the village.

The first of the additional travellers to arrive, on the arm of her soldier Allen, was Bethany. Lloyd actually didn’t mind this, because as she had said when negotiating with Paul to come on the stag do, she really was perhaps his best friend, plus of course she could actually pull her weight when it came to the transmigration spell.

Next were Boadaiska and Louise; the Wolf Clan Warrior Princess had insisted, as she was royalty, that it was important to be seen supporting her father and husband. This in itself was not a problem, but Boadaiska’s additional insistence that Doctor Susan Johnson come along to look after the child during any meetings was, in Lloyd’s mind at least, a little ridiculous. Yes he could see that Louise had bonded to the Doctor, but surely no more than his Mum. And, of course, once Susan said she would love to see Kalana and the other countries, Kenelm immediately volunteered to come along and carry any luggage!

With eight of them travelling, essentially the majority of his extended family, Edala had then started to protest that she should come. However, in this at least, he had the support of his Mother and therefore, of course, Darrion.

“If the vision of you dying was in Seadawn at Kalana, then keeping you here in England is going to be much safer!” Amy had said this in full authoritarian Doctor’s tone and was successful in quelling any argument from the irritated young Mother to be.

“Are we all ready?” Lloyd asked looking around the group, all of whom were dressed in native Kalanan clothing, or in Susan’s case as close as they could manage from the local shops. Lloyd wore his Sorcerers robes, gifted to him by Master Sheu; there would be no doubt to all present who the Sorcerer was. Mind you there would be equally no doubt who the Princess of the Wolf Clan was; Lloyd had forgotten how imposing Boadaiska was in her armour, with her two new swords across her back. This image was slightly softened by the nearly three month old Louise in the warrior’s arms. Lloyd had half expected the child, who was technically speaking his sister in law, to have been dressed in the leather garb of the wolf clan; but even Boadaiska could not deny that her daughter was far more comfortable in the little kilt like dress and white cardigan, that Amy and Darrion had purchased as a present.

“Dada!” the small child said her first words as her father, Ingemar, changed into his messenger form. Louise then stretched out her arms towards him.

“Ha, this is a good omen!” Ingemar said scooping his daughter from her Mother’s arms.

Lloyd looked at the angel, as he called him, with child in arms and shook his head in resignation, “There’s no doubt about it, I married into one strange family” he said to all present with a smile.

“Shall we go?” he added as an afterthought.

They all nodded in agreement and Lloyd, Bethany and Ingemar all opened their soul portals.

“You can really see the silver shimmering around them now can’t you” Bethany stated.

“No, and if anyone asks I knew nothing about it!” Ingemar said; trying to pretend he could not see the silver which Lloyd had somehow borrowed from the dragon, and implanted in himself and Bethany.

Bethany laughed at Ingemar and then merged her portal with the others.

Finally she and Lloyd manipulated the energy into the mystic patterns and links, required to activate the transmigration spell, and then chanted the words;
“Zephyrair, Zephyrmight, Portal from dawn, carrier of might, wind of worlds, far of sight, to the Isle of Retreat fly us, safe and right”

Unlike when transmigrating alone, the effect of having Ingemar contribute to the spell, in his angel form, was like using an elevator compared to climbing the stairs when making your way to the top of a skyscraper. One would leave you fresh and on your feet, the other shattered, out of breath and probably on your knees.

Lloyd was glad of this, as there was a contingent of dignitaries who had been waiting for their arrival, and the thought of lying on the floor in a pool of his own blood wasn’t necessarily the best of impressions. Lloyd instinctively dabbed his nose to his robe, but there was just the tiniest spot of blood. It was also less than a second before the more human form of Ingemar replaced the angel one.

The circle of stones which stood in the courtyard of the school on the Island, was now surrounded by palm trees, which must have been encouraged to grow using earth magic. Tied beneath several of the tress was a canopy providing protection from the sun for a number of chairs and tables underneath. Two people were now standing from these chairs.

“Your Royal Highness!” A familiar voice from the past said, drawing Lloyd’s attention.

Lloyd grinned when he recognised the armoured, burly Captain Penrod, his helm plumed with blue feathers.

“Captain Penrod, it’s good to see you” Lloyd grinned taking the man’s arm firmly.

“I’m Lord Penrod now your Highness, but still charged with protecting his Majesty.”

“Hey Penrod, I hope you are looking after one of my old swords?” Boadaiska hailed the man; who visibly turned pale upon witnessing the sword maiden, whom he could have sworn he had seen die.

“Don’t worry friend Penrod, I can assure you from the bruises I have up my arm that she is no ghost” Kenelm said greeting the soldier.

The captain recovered quickly “At least you and his Highness aren’t in your underwear today!” he grinned, referring to their first encounter at the Monk’s Habit.

The second dignitary to greet them was a tall scarred and tattooed man; his muscles and tan the result of years of experience of combat and hunting in the wolf clan territory. Upon his head sat a wolf skin cloak, the mouth of the beast stitched into a fearsome snarl. His grey eyes sparkled and a grin filled his face when his eyes met Boadaiska’s.

“Princess it looks like you are getting fat, the domestic life suits you.” This was a far happier greeting than when they had last met.

“Beith, I notice your scars are healing, been shying away from battles?” she grinned back and gripped the man’s arm.

“Should I call you brother now? I never quite know with you being adopted by my father to follow him as leader?” she added.

“I might prefer you called me brother rather than rival. I remember your husband from your clan mate ceremony...I would not like to cross swords with him.”

Both Lloyd and Susan laughed at this line, causing enquiring looks from both Beith and Ingemar. They then sniggered again, “Sorry it’s a joke that only people who grew up on Earth might get” Susan said with a smile, “Hi my name is Susan, Doctor Susan Johnson” she said offering first Beith then Lord Penrod a hand.

“Tell me Doctor Susan Johnson are you married?” Beith said with the best effort at a charming smile his scarred face would allow.

“Why no!” she responded, while throwing Kenelm a;
what you gonna do about it,
smile.

“Erm, friend Beith, it is very good to see you again. What friend Susan here meant to say is that she and I, well, errr, you know?” Kenelm was tongue tied for probably the first time in his life.

“Ah, I see. Well Susan Johnson, if you would like me to fight for the right to your hand then I would be happy to do so. To bond with you in the clan mate ceremony would be an honour!” Beith said with a smile, but his eyes said that he would really relish the challenge.

“That’s okay thank you, although I believe you could be quite an impressive specimen!” the doctor replied.

The final three people to meet them, entered through a gap in the palm trees, where a path led gently uphill towards the school buildings.

 “Hello young L!” the short eagle faced Horace Burnaby said as he approached; Lloyd though was distracted by who walked beside him, “Bremethren?” he challenged and the almost embarrassed albino looked up with a shrug.

“Yes I guess I am Lloyd. It’s me Ziron; my hair is a little shorter from when last we met.”

Lloyd, in one of his slightly dense moments had not even put two and two together.

“Oh my God you and Airon are Bremethren!” he said, mouth dropping open in shock; he recovered quickly, however.

“Ziron, it’s good to see you...I think” he said taking the other’s arm.

“You too.”

The third man with them was a bald mage dressed in the robes of a Fire Master. Lloyd recognised the Master who had been his fire instructor during his time on the island; Lloyd had liked this man who had an energetic personality.

“Master Roff, it’s good to see you.”

“Hello initiates Lloyd and Bethany, let me see your portals?” Although this was a genuine order, it was said with a smile which held some affection.

Lloyd and Bethany laughed and then opened their portals; in Lloyd’s case all four of the elemental planes.

“Silver; intriguing, I hear you two have been up to all sorts of experimentation, which no doubt they would frown upon up at Arrenloft!”

“Yes we have Master, but how did you find out?” Bethany asked, a little worried.

“Well I understand that it is you who is responsible for this; Ambassador Allen and yourself here have been using your own variant of the clairvoyant spell to communicate across worlds. And once you shared it with Master Darrion he contacted me to share it! We Masters are a far craftier bunch than you may imagine!”

Master Roff returned to inspecting their portals and tutted at the size of Lloyd’s water, earth and fire ones.

“You have been slacking I see young Sorcerer. It looks to me like initiate Bethany here is ready for her final Master training and challenge. You, however, need to spend a lot more time practising!”

“Ha, slacker!” Bethany laughed and punched Lloyd in the arm, this caused all in the clearing to join in the laughter. Lloyd sighed in defeat.

The initial greetings complete and laughter receding, Horace Burnaby took Lloyd and the other new arrivals aside.

“You don’t know how pleased I am to see you lot! There we were, me and young Z here, going to the palace to warn King Hextar about the Bremethren, only to find out he already knew about them and it was something to do with you!”

“I’m a little surprised to find you are involved H, last we knew you were off Hurg hunting” Lloyd replied.

“Well I found the Hurg and a little more beside, let’s catch up over a drink before the meeting.”

“BROTHER!” an excited voice sounded, followed by the sound of fast footsteps on the path; these were followed by heavier armoured ones a few seconds later.

King Hegan, wearing a formal blue suede doublet and thin gold travelling crown, flew into Lloyd’s welcome embrace.

“Wow you’ve grown” Lloyd offered.

“And you look like you’ve been working out Cullen. How’s the wife by the way?”

“Good, but she has stayed at home.”

“You know that you and she deserved a state ceremony in Seadawn, the throne would still technically fall to you if something happened to me! In fact I would feel a lot happier if the Princess Edala were to return to Seadawn; until I can find a woman who will have me, the child she bears is of the Kaladine line and also could one day be King or Queen.”

Lloyd felt a chill cross his heart,
was this why the vision showed Edala giving birth in the palace?
He buried this thought and smiled.

“Thank you for the offer Hegan but my Mother has insisted that the medical care on Earth is far superior and would be the safest place for my child to be born.”

Hegan completed his round of greetings at Bethany.

“Hello Beth, I can call you that can’t I?” he asked a little nervously.

“Of course you can your Majesty” she beamed.

“Wow you have really blossomed since we last met.”

“It looks like we are both doing well in the acne department” she responded; indeed both of them had matured into adults since the battle on the beach. Allen now walked over to take Bethany’s hand, the subtlest way of indicating possession, without necessarily upsetting his King.

“Ah, Ambassador Allen, thank you for arranging all of this” the King said.

“It has been both a challenge and an honour your majesty.”

All greetings completed the group made their way up to the school, where there would be further greetings and no doubt a drink or two before the grand meeting that evening.