Life Sorcerer: Life Sorcerer: Book One - Return of Magic: Book Two

by D. R. Rosier

  “The last of the ladies you kept safe are back home now by the way. My zombies are on their way back to the two communities we sent them to that was closest to their true homes.”

  Mara said, “Thanks for that.”

  Cassie said, “What he didn’t tell you is he reads books on ancient technologies and how-to books. It wasn’t easy getting this place livable without modern technology and utilities, and he’s an expert in farming. My enchantment takes care of heat and pressure for water, but the water gets here through a hand pump he devised.”

  He asked, “What about you? What do you do when you’re not protecting and healing people, and taking care of their needs?”

  Mara blushed, “Not much actually, this is my first day off in a long time. I pretty much constantly worked back at those four communities. I feel a little like I’ve abandoned them, but I know it’s for the best at the same time. I’ve always liked the outdoors I suppose, camping, hiking, swimming, kayaking, skiing and stuff. Even in the old world, it was rare that I pursued idle things, like television or books outside of school.”

  “Hunting?”

  She tilted her head, “My parents did, and I went once or twice with them once I’d turned fifteen, but I was young when emergence came. Hunting became less a sport, than a survival skill.”

  He nodded, “You can join me this afternoon if you want, or there’s that library, or whatever you want. Cassie will be playing.”

  Cassie smirked, “When I’m not using my magic to protect us or others, I’m working on it. I get the feeling there’s a lot left to figure out.”

  “No how-to books for Cassie,” he noted playfully.

  Mara chuckled, “I’ll join you, if that’s alright.”

  He nodded, “I’d welcome the company.”

  She asked, “Do you use magic?”

  He nodded, “Animal life isn’t as potent as human life, but every little bit counts to maintain my zombies.”

  They finished up lunch and went their separate ways. Cassie and Kim to play with magic, while Mara and Lin joined him for a hunt. The sexual tension ramped up a little without Cassie to split their attention, but he just ignored it. He was old enough to be in control of himself after all, and he was used to denying those impulses from his old life when he was less than popular with the ladies. It was just a little harder when that attraction was returned, but it wasn’t a struggle or anything. Just… a little awkward and energizing at the same time.

  It’d been a while since he’d felt that way.

  As a result, the silence between them was only mostly comfortable, hunting wasn’t exactly the best time for a chat. Especially since it was a silent pursuit if you wanted to catch anything.

  Mara moved with an economy of grace and sure footedness that told him she hadn’t been lying earlier, and she drew his eye often. Kim and Lin were just as graceful, but their grace was more predatory and rooted in the martial arts. Mara was floating grace, and serenity.

  It was about an hour later and they were lightly chatting on the walk back, while he carried a wild boar and Lin was effortlessly carrying a deer over her shoulders that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to lift at all.

  Mara asked, “Lin, what do you get up to during your time off.”

  Lin smirked, and looked at Sean in mock confusion, “Master, what is this time off that she speaks of?”

  He snorted, “When Cassie and I are safely in the mansion, they have hobbies. Kim likes to experiment in the kitchen, and Lin likes to make her own clothes. Not just the leathers they both wear for armor and easy clean up after battle either. They’re also both incredibly intelligent, and they can carry out whole chess games in their minds.”

  Mara brightened, “Board games?”

  Lin nodded, “Board games, cards, fiction books, some kind of outdoor sport. Those are really the only options we have anymore with no internet or any of that stuff. We also enjoy working on our combat skills. And… I do enjoy designing and sewing clothes, and Kim does like to cook new things. They’re just hobbies.”

  Mara said, “I noticed you have a garden, but I haven’t seen any livestock.”

  He replied, “We buy our milk and beef from one of the farmers. As for chickens, there is a chicken coup for eggs and chicken behind the cook’s house. We’ll have to give you a full tour of the property. You mentioned swimming, I never built a pool before.”

  Mara laughed, “I’ll survive.”

  He snorted, “Why do that, when you can live.”

  Lin teased, “You just want to see me, Kim, and Cassie in bikinis.”

  He laughed, “Didn’t even occur to me, but now that you mention it…” he trailed off. He also wouldn’t mind seeing Mara in a bikini, but he squashed that thought ruthlessly.

  Mara said, “Sounds like a lot of work.”

  He shrugged, “I’ll just figure out how to do the cement and fill it with water. Cassie can dig the hole and keep the water clean with magic.”

  Mara said, “I can do that last part.”

  He grinned, “That’s the spirit.”

  She laughed.

  He frowned, “Crap, we need to go, one of the communities is burning down. Up in Oregon near Portland. Accident, as far as my guards can figure out, but watch out for treachery. It wouldn’t be the first time an enemy tried to draw us out into a trap. They’ve got a bucket brigade going from the well pump spring, but it’s spreading out of control from the government building to the nearby shops.”

  They picked up the pace, and he sent Kim a mental message to retrieve the teleport amulet along with the community name so Cassie and her would be ready to teleport out as soon as they got to the house. The cook would have to dress the animals and get them in the freezer.

  He felt a warmth envelope his body, that had a surprising sensual feel to it. He wasn’t sure if that was actually the magic, or if it was the person casting it on him that engendered that sensation in him. He exchanged a glance with Kim looked protected as well.

  When they arrived, Cassie and Kim were already outside, and after Mara protected them too, he gave the order to teleport.

  The Aurora community had gained its name from the actual town Aurora right near Portland. There were some farms, but it was mostly horse and cattle around the little town which they used for trade. The growing season wasn’t all that long up north, so they tended to only get in one good harvest. The town center held the government building, general store, and a bar with its own brewery in an attached second building in the back. There were a few other stores as well, for clothing, soaps and candles, blacksmith, a farrier, leather tanning shop, a slaughterhouse, a whorehouse, and a row of houses for the non-farmers and ranchers that lived and worked in the town center.

  Blacksmithing was an ancient and mostly lost art in the modern world, but after five years the swords coming out of them were mostly straight, sharp, and sturdy, as well as horse shoes, nails, horse pulled hoes and other farming implements, also basic parts for carriage and wagon making. The tannery had been a lost art as well, but leather armor, horse tack, leather ties, satchels, and other creations were also making a comeback with no advanced technology.

  The government building was almost completely burned down. That wasn’t too surprising. The villages handled their own emergencies, and only called him if they couldn’t deal with it. They’d probably put off calling for help until the fire had completely gotten out of their control. Despite being wet down, part of the buildings to either side had started burning, specifically the whorehouse and the general store.

  There was a joke in there somewhere. The whorehouse being right next to the government building, but he didn’t find one in that moment. That kind of thing was very common in most of the villages, there were a lot more women than men in the new world. Raiders, rape gangs, the way things had fallen apart in the beginning. A lot of husbands, fathers, and boys had been killed in those first weeks after emergence, so the women could be claimed. That’d left a lot of young woman withou
t other means of support once rescued, that fell back to the oldest profession to take care of themselves and often very young children, but he made sure they were all willing women. They were never forced and were appropriately compensated for their work. Polyamory might’ve been a better alternative in his mind, but modern views on the sexes that persisted past the modern technological age ensured that most hold the opposite opinion.

  He’d had to make a few examples, until people concluded that in their ruler’s mind, raping a whore was still rape and a death penalty offense.

  Fires were also a lot more common in this day and age, where candles and oil lanterns were the only alternatives for artificial light. No more electricity after all, at least not stable electricity. He had the magical lights, which were a lot safer, but magic was rare in humans. Eventually people would adjust, and practice vigilance when it came to candles, and there’d be less fires, but until then it had to be dealt with. It also wasn’t that often, but with a hundred villages it happened a few times a year.

  He, Lin, and Kim were vigilant in the chaos as the two women of power took care of it.

  The fire was the easiest, as soon as they arrived Cassie pulled out one of her enchanted items. She usually made one after something came up more than once, to better preserve her magic, and fire was a common problem. Her magic fed the device a small amount, just enough to activate it as it sucked in the ambient flow of magic and activated. It was a simple spell, with a very simple focus and intent. All fires within a hundred feet of where they were standing simply went out.

  Just like magic, literally. It probably also put out the fire in the smithy, but it wouldn’t be hard for him to reignite the coals, the spell didn’t suck out the heat at all.

  Kim said loudly, when the bucket brigade faltered, “Keep soaking it down to draw off the heat, it’s still hot and could restart.”

  That’s when Mara went into action, and they all followed her to protect her, as she started to heal those with smoke damaged lungs, severe burns, and one guy that’d broken his leg jumping out of the second story window. As far as he could tell it was the same minor healing spell over and over.

  He relaxed slightly when there didn’t seem to be any troublemakers about. He wondered where the leader was, he didn’t recognize any of the people, and couldn’t remember who was in charge up here. There were a hundred villages after all.

  Kim’s and Lin’s voice echoed in his mind at the same time, “Evelyn Barnes.”

  He projected gratefulness over the link as he said loudly, “Evelyn Barnes?” The twins were always doing that sort of thing, feeding him information as he needed it, even recognizing those needs before he asked.

  “Over here!” said an exhausted voice, and he sort of recognized her when he looked over. She was a handsome woman of about fifty, and she was the one pumping the well water for the two brigades.

  He sent one of his zombies over to relieve her, and they waited for the woman to come over to where they were standing.

  “What happened?”

  Evelyn said, “Not sure. We think it started in the basement records room, because the whole first floor seemed to go up at once, and we lost a couple of people. Those of us on the top floor were able to jump or climb down. Best guess, one of the clerks left a candle burning down there among all the paper and ledgers when they took off for lunch. Thanks for coming so quickly. We thought we had it beat, but it flared back up again.”

  Cassie said, “I’m not detecting any other magic in use, residue, or anyone else even capable of magic outside of us.”

  He couldn’t feel magic directly, but all spellcasters had a much larger lifeforce, which he could feel.

  He nodded, “Me either. Recovery?”

  Evelyn said, “It’ll take some effort, but all our records were duplicates of what the farmers and ranchers have, as well as the town center businesses, for tax and community viability studies. We’ll rebuild it. Unfortunately, we lost both clerks, so I don’t know if we’ll ever find out the truth. I’ll also make a new rule to only use lanterns or sunlight in the records room.”

  Cassie cast a quick spell, then said, “I’m not picking up any accelerants, so it probably was just a record room’s fire.”

  Evelyn grimaced, “It’ll be hard to replace all that paper as well. As far as I know, none of the communities are making it yet.”

  He nodded, “I’ll tell you what. I’ll have one of my zombies clear out an office max in Portland for you, all the paper and pens you could want, if you promise to have a papermill running within two years.”

  She sighed, “Yes, oh evil warlord.”

  He laughed.

  She added, “Now, introduce me to this new wonderful person who just healed my people.”

  He replied, “Mara, this is the leader of Aurora and one of my favorite minions, Evelyn Barnes. Evelyn, this is Mara, priestess of Vadea, goddess of healing and protection.”

  Mara smiled, “High priestess, actually. Some elves worship her, but the human church is a separate thing. Not that I have a church yet, or any followers or under priests. It’s rare to find someone with the potential.”

  Evelyn laughed, “It’s nice to meet you,” then she said to Sean, “Minion?”

  He shrugged, “Evil Warlord? Pretty sure they have minions.”

  She snickered, “Fair enough, I supposed I walked right into that one. King or President?”

  He shrugged, and teased, “Depends on if you want to be a baroness or a mayor I suppose. I’m easy.”

  She snickered, and Cassie laughed.

  He asked more seriously, “Everything going well otherwise?”

  She nodded, “Cattle rustling has made a comeback, but we dealt with them. Life is getting easier in this new age. We’ve come a long way, but nothing like it used to be. In some ways though, I think it’s better, I just wish it didn’t have to come with all the suffering so it’d be worth it. Not just evil men, but the lack of modern medicine and facilities.”

  He nodded, “Better how.”

  She waved her hand at the people around her, “They all ran to the well. We have no fire department. The whores are over there, right next to the blacksmith and tanner. There’s a true community here, not strangers living in houses next to each other. I know all their names, and we depend on each other. I think people are happier, despite the hardship, they’re all useful and no one is a drain on society because there’s no work. The cost for that tight sense of community is too high though, when a little kid dies because there’s no more albuterol, no more antibiotics, or people are killed in raids.”

  He nodded, “We’re hoping to change some of that, with the help of our new High Priestess. I don’t like the high death rate either.”

  She smiled, and nodded, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to get maudlin on you, your majesty.”

  He grinned, “Baroness Barnes it is.”

  She shook her head, “We also have it a lot better here than most of the country, thanks to you.”

  He snorted, “I don’t do it alone, and I wouldn’t want your job.”

  Cassie pushed his shoulder hard, “He means you’re welcome, baroness.”

  Evelyn smiled, “Come back in a month, we’ll have a new government building.”

  They continued to chat a bit longer, then took their leave and teleported home.

  Chapter Five

  The hot sun shimmered on the still water that mid-afternoon, three weeks later. He dove in off the side and slipped into the water with barely a ripple as he arched his back and came up on the other side of the pool. His momentum alone got him high enough to put his arms on the side of the pool. He had poured the cement and sanded it, but his Cassie had also cast a spell that made the pool sides and deck extremely fine, like marble. There was no chance of scratching his mostly bared body as he easily leaned into it.

  He enjoyed the view out of the corner of his eyes for a moment. His ripe and sumptuous Cassie along with the athletically curvy twins with C cups, and the
exotically beautiful and petite athletic body of Mara were all in string bikinis of Lin’s design. The four incredible beauties were tanning themselves on towels, so he had some very interesting views. He so owed Lin one.

  “The pool was a really fantastic idea, if I do say so myself.”

  Cassie grinned, “Yeah, the cool water on a hot day is wonderful.”

  He chuckled and said teasingly, “Yeah, the water. That’s totally what I meant.”

  Cassie snorted, but smiled widely at she looked suspiciously at him. Lin and Kim shamelessly stretched for him and arched their bodies provocatively, just to give him even better view of their assets. All while the delightful priestess blushed furiously… but also smiled widely as she shook her head in his direction.

  Of course, he pretended to be completely oblivious of it all, as his eyes looked in a different direction. It was tempting to turn his head of course, but he was more than old enough to push down that base male instinct. The view was just as good from the corner of his eyes, after all.

  He’d gotten to know Mara better, and she’d obviously gotten on line twice when the gods were handing out sweet compassion and noble self-sacrifice. She was an incredibly generous person with her time, magic, and efforts. She was also a bit of cute flirt, very subtle about it with innocent touches and soft smiles while slightly tilting her head, especially in comparison to his brazen Cassie and only slightly less audacious Kim and Lin.

  He also learned she was stubborn, and that giving and sweet didn’t mean weak. The first community they’d visited for her to pass on the word of her goddess and search for priest potential among the people, she’d taken five minutes to figure out he was intimidating to his people, and that he had them all nervous as they hovered over Mara protectively.

  In short, he was a major distraction to her capturing the hearts and minds of the people.

  She’d proceeded to shoo him away with a note of authority in her voice and a stubborn glint in her lovely almond eyes that he’d never heard or seen before from her, and that he would never dream of crossing despite his power. Rather than argue, he’d gone directly for a compromise, since the twins also looked rather harmless and people couldn’t see their blades. He’d immediately given silent orders for Lin to stay, while him, Cassie, and Kim went to chat with the leader. The next time, he switched Kim and Lin around, because he knew they’d get grumpy if they were separated from him every time.