by S. E. Smith
“You were,” Nali said with a wink.
“Oh, Cap’n, I found this in your cabin after you disappeared and have kept it nice and safe for ya,” Dapier added, pulling a carefully silk wrapped item from the inside pocket of his jacket. “I thought you might like to give it to the Queen ‘cause it is so pretty.”
Ashure took the cloth-covered item from Dapier. He immediately knew what the object was—the magic mirror. He smiled at Dapier and nodded. The man really did have a good heart.
“Thank you, Dapier,” he murmured.
Dapier grinned broadly. “You’re welcome, Cap’n. Now I best be goin’ to get that other case of your best brandy for the Empress so you can steal it back,” he said with a wink, completely oblivious to the fact that Nali was standing nearby.
“Yes, I guess you should,” Ashure dryly replied.
Nali laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “At the rate I’m going, I might even get three cases,” she cheekily replied.
He watched Nali walk out of the room with her arm around Dapier’s shoulders. Tonya was giggling at the Empress who whispered in the old man’s ear as he attentively nodded. Ashure shook his head in resignation.
“I’ll be lucky to have even a bottle left by the time Nali gets done with him,” he groaned.
“Well, as he said, you’ll just have to steal it back,” she reminded him.
He cheered up at that thought. “True,” he grinned.
She looked at the item Dapier had given him. “What is that?” she asked in a curious voice.
He looked down and fingered the black silk wrapping. “A magic mirror,” he said.
“Oh, is it like the mirror in Beauty and the Beast?” she asked.
He frowned and shook his head. “I’m afraid I’m not familiar with either of them. Did you meet them here?” he asked.
She laughed and shook her head. “No, they’re from back home—at least I think they are,” she replied.
“Ah, that would explain why I have not heard of them. Anyway, come sit with me, and I’ll show you how the mirror works,” he said.
He took her hand and walked over to the couch and sat down. He carefully unwrapped the cloth and picked up the mirror. Using a corner of the silk, he polished the pristine glass to remove a smudge.
“It’s beautiful,” she said.
He nodded and held it out to her. “I discovered the mirror when we raided a merchant,” he admitted.
She looked at him with concern. “You—didn’t hurt anyone, did you?” she hesitantly asked.
He chuckled. “No, it was more of a game than a true raid. It gives the merchants something to talk about and the men a chance to brag. In reality, we barter for the merchandise and pay a fair price for whatever we take. The merchant was going to give this to his wife, but he had second thoughts about it, fearing that he might not be her true heart’s desire—or that she might not be his should she ask. At the time, I thought the bastard had made a pretty good deal—a dragon’s gold coin in exchange for a hand mirror,” he explained.
“But—it’s a magic mirror. Surely, that made it worthwhile?” she exclaimed, turning the mirror over.
“That was what he said, but I was not able to get it to work at the time. However, I didn’t think he was lying, and I decided I could always give the same tale to another unwary buyer, so I bought it,” he said.
She lowered the mirror to her lap. “So, how did you discover it really was magic?” she prodded.
“It appears that reciting the correct words makes a difference. Although, being drunk made that discovery a bit more difficult to remember,” he confessed.
She laughed. “Yeah, I can see that being an issue. So, what did you ask for?” she teased.
He took the mirror from her again and saw his reflection. “I asked the mirror to show my true heart’s desire, and I saw you,” he said.
She lifted her hand and caressed his cheek. “And the first thing I did was to whack you in the balls,” she ruefully reminded him.
He grimaced at the memory. “Ah, yes. That is a pain I hope never to feel again,” he muttered.
She laughed, turned his face toward her, and kissed him. “I did kiss them and make them better,” she reminded him.
He moaned in remembrance before he stifled the sound with a deeper kiss. Yes, she had kissed him—and sucked and stroked and… He broke their kiss and shook his head.
“I swear I could keep you in our bed for the rest of eternity,” he groaned.
She chuckled and laid her fingers against his lips. “Are you kidding me? And have me miss all the fantastic stories and adventures in a magical, alien realm? As much as I love you, and love making love to you, I want to live the life of a pirate,” she announced.
He sighed and reluctantly agreed. Even a Pirate King needed time to reload—literally. He pressed another brief, hard kiss on her lips.
“So you want to be a pirate, huh?” he mused.
She nodded and held up the mirror. “After you show me how to work this thing,” she stated with a raised eyebrow and a grin.
“You have to hold the mirror tightly, look into the glass, and say ‘Oh magical mirror, grant my wish, show me—and tell it what you would like to see,” he instructed.
She took a long, deep breath and held up the mirror. “Okay. Oh magical mirror, grant my wish, show me my family,” she solemnly requested.
Ashure took a startled breath. It had not yet dawned on him that Tonya would be concerned about her family. He should have remembered that Max and Angela would have no idea if Tonya had survived or not.
“Oh, Ashure,” Tonya whispered, her voice breaking.
The image in the mirror had changed from Tonya’s reflection. He could see Max sitting on a lounge chair on the back patio at their house. His shoulders were slumped, and he listlessly dangled a bottle of beer between his widespread knees. From the edge of the mirror, he saw Angela walk into view and rub his shoulder before she sat down and laid her cheek against his back.
“It’s killing me not knowing, Angela,” Max muttered, lifting his head and staring out at the woods.
“I know, Max. We’re all hurting,” Angela murmured, wrapping her arm around his waist. “I have to believe that Ashure saved her.”
Max nodded, but didn’t say anything. He lifted the beer bottle to his mouth. Ashure could see the shimmer of dampness on the other man’s cheeks.
“I wish we could let them know somehow,” Tonya choked out.
He wrapped his arm around her as she lifted a hand and stroked the image on the mirror. Her sudden hiss of pain startled him. His stomach turned when he felt a surge of power open beneath them.
Not again! he thought with dismay when he realized what was happening.
Tonya uttered a muffled scream, dropped the mirror on the couch, and held onto him as a vortex of swirling colors opened up, and they suddenly fell through the opening. He wrapped his arms around Tonya, terrified that he might lose her as they fell.
He twisted as they landed so that he could take the brunt of the impact. A swoosh of air escaped him when they bounced a few times. He blinked when he saw the sway of tree limbs above them.
“I know this—” Tonya started to say before she turned her head when she heard a loud, but very familiar voice.
“What the hell?” Max exclaimed.
Tonya sat up, straddling Ashure’s waist, and looked through the trampoline netting at Max and Angela’s stunned expressions. She shot them a brief grin before she started crying. Ashure gently lifted her off his chest so that he could sit up as well.
“Hey, Max!” she called out in a tear-choked voice.
Max stood on the balcony overlooking the backyard and gaped down at them with a dazed expression. Angela held his arm, laughing and crying at the same time. Ashure nodded to the couple.
“It would appear that we have come back for a visit,” he said.
“Anytime, Ashure, anytime,” Max replied.
Tonya held out her h
and and scooted to the edge of the trampoline so that Ashure could help her down. Max and Angela stood nearby until her feet hit the ground. Only when Ashure released her and stood back did they surge forward and wrap their arms around her.
“I can’t believe you are alive, Snoop,” Max said in a husky voice.
“Me either, Max. I can’t believe we are here. I’m not sure how that happened, but I’m so happy to see you both,” she confessed.
“I may have an answer to that,” Ashure ruefully volunteered.
She pulled back and smiled at him. “I think Ashure could use a beer, and I know I could use a cup of hot tea. There is so much I want to tell you,” she said.
“I could use one myself—the beer, not the hot tea this time,” Angela laughed.
Ten minutes later they were sitting out on the deck. It was hard to believe that she and Ashure had only been gone a couple of days here compared to over a week in the Seven Kingdoms. She smiled at Ashure and handed him a bottle of beer before she placed the cup of hot tea on the patio table and sat down next to him.
“Where are MJ and Angie?” she asked.
“They are still at my parents. My folks offered to keep an eye on them for a couple of weeks to give us time. Dad enjoys watching MJ’s Jazz Band practices, and Mom is giving the ladies at the Parent/Teacher fundraiser a lesson in community organizing,” Angela replied.
“What happened after—well, after?” she inquired.
Max sighed deeply and sat back in his chair. “Austin Evers didn’t make it. It turns out he is probably better off dead considering the string of crimes he committed while on the road. Peter Craig suspected Evers was using the tours to transport drugs. He didn’t have any proof, though. What Craig did find out was that Evers was soliciting underage girls. He fired him when Evers brought one onto the band’s bus,” Max said.
Ashure nodded. “I saw some of the crimes he committed before he died. I can assure you that he did not completely escape justice,” he said.
“He was a psychotic ass,” Tonya retorted.
Max took a deep breath and patted her hand. “Tonya, Evers insinuated that he hurt you,” he began.
She shook her head in denial. “Only in his dreams, Max. I escaped before he and that little twerp, TJ, could do anything,” she reassured him.
Max breathed out a sigh of relief. “Yeah, well, TJ is in his own world of trouble and won’t be enjoying a free life for a while,” he said.
“Are you staying?” Angela suddenly asked.
Tonya looked at Ashure. She knew that he couldn’t stay here. His people needed him. Her expression softened when she saw the flash of uncertainty in his eyes.
“Only for a few days,” she softly answered.
Ashure reached over and held her hand. “But there are ways that we can still visit. I have discovered that there is a witch who lives close by who is very adept at creating portals,” he promised.
“Well, it may not be a plane ride, but at least it is something,” Max grudgingly responded.
Angela chuckled and leaned affectionately against Max. “You never did like going through security,” she teased.
“There’s one thing that I’d like to do while we are here,” Tonya said, biting her lip.
“What’s that?” Max asked.
Tonya looked at the huge man sitting across from her. She saw the touches of gray mixed in his short black hair, the new wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and the reading glasses hanging from the lanyard around his neck. He was still her Max, the man who’d never given up on her.
“Ashure has asked me to marry him. I thought we could have the ceremony on the beach in Yachats before we return to his world. Would you—I’d like my family to be there,” she said.
Max sighed and nodded while Angela rose out of her seat and hugged Tonya and Ashure. Tonya laughed and self-consciously wiped the tears off her cheeks.
“We will have another ceremony once we return to my world. I will arrange for all of you to attend that as well,” Ashure said.
“You mean—we really will be able to travel to another world?” Angela breathed, stepping back to stand next to Max’s chair.
“It isn’t as far as you might think,” Ashure reassured her.
Max and Angela looked at each other in silence for a moment before they both nodded their heads. “Of course we’ll be there, Snoop, for both ceremonies and more,” Max said in a firm voice.
Angela began to laugh, and she shook her head in wonder. “MJ and Angie always did say they had the coolest sister in the universe. I guess they were right,” she mused.
The next night, Ashure gripped Tonya’s hand as they rode up the elevator. Tonight would probably be the last opportunity they had for a while to do this, and he knew that time was running out. Tonya squeezed his hand when the doors slid open. Colorful decorations, balloons, and stuffed animals filled the Shriner’s Children’s Hospital corridors.
They turned left and followed the signs on the wall down to the last room on the left. He tightened his hold on the stuffed unicorn in his hand. Tonya lifted her free hand and knocked on the partially closed door before pushing it open. A cartoon show played on the television while a man sat in the chair under it, staring blindly into space. Behind the privacy curtain, they could hear the soft voice of a woman reading a story.
Ramon DeSantis blinked in surprise when he saw Ashure and Tonya. He spoke to the woman and rose from his chair. He walked toward them with the shuffle of a man twice his age. Tonya tightened her grip on his hand as empathy for the pain in Ramon’s eyes swept through her.
“Ashure, I wasn’t expecting to see you here. In all honesty, I wasn’t expecting to see you ever again,” Ramon said with a weak smile.
“We came to see Rebecca Anne,” Ashure explained.
The light in Ramon’s eyes faded. “She’s not doing well. They have her medicated to help with the pain,” he replied.
Tonya reached out and touched Ramon’s arm in sympathy. “Can we see her?” she asked.
Ramon hesitated before he nodded. “Yes, I’d like to introduce you to my wife, Alisa, as well,” he said.
They followed Ramon into the room. In the bed that looked far too large was a fragile little girl. She sleepily blinked at them. She had tubes in her arms and another under her nose. Her translucent skin was covered in bandages from previous IV ports. Her tiny head was shaved, but Ashure was able to tell from her thin eyebrows that the little girl would have had thick, dark brown hair like her mother and father.
“Hello,” the woman greeted, rising to her feet.
“Hi, I’m Tonya Maitland and this is Ashure Waves. I hope you don’t mind that we came by to visit Rebecca Anne,” Tonya said.
Alisa gave them a tired smile. “No, of course not. Rebecca Anne loves to meet new people, don’t you, sweetheart?” she replied.
“Alisa knows about you—or at least that you were one of the people I was hired to follow. We don’t keep anything from each other,” Ramon said.
“That is a good thing. Is she aware—?” he asked with a raised eyebrow and a wave to his body.
“I hadn’t quite gotten that far in my explanation yet,” Ramon reluctantly admitted.
“Ramon, what’s going on?” Alisa asked with concern.
Ashure saw Alisa grab Rebecca Anne’s hand. He saw the flash of fear in the woman’s tired eyes. Tonya reached out and touched Alisa’s arm.
“There is something we would like to do for Rebecca Anne,” Tonya softly said.
“Daddy, is the unicorn for me?” Rebecca Anne suddenly asked.
Ashure smiled and nodded. “Yes, little one. We have brought you a magical unicorn from a world far, far away,” he said, handing the small white unicorn to Rebecca Anne.
Rebecca Anne hugged the unicorn to her chest. “I love unicorns,” she said with a small sigh before she looked up at him with eyes that were suddenly clear. “I like Pirate-Fairies, too. Can you tell me a story, please?”
An hour late
r, Tonya sighed and leaned against Ashure as the elevator doors closed. She uttered a muffled giggle against his shoulder when she felt his laughter. Tilting her head back, she ruefully shook her head.
“You know, this would be the story of the century if I could publish it,” she said.
“The magic of the unicorn will only last a few days in this world before it disappears,” he said. “If it were possible, I would heal all the children.”
She stepped in front of him and gave him a huge hug. “I know, but you did what you could. That is what counts,” she reminded him.
“The doctors will not know what to do tomorrow,” he said, thinking of the little girl who was sporting a head full of short, dark brown curls when they left her room.
“Which is why Ramon and Alisa are going to move far away thanks to the dragon’s coin you gave them to help get them started,” she said.
He nodded his head. “They desperately needed assistance. You did not see that death trap Ramon was driving! It was as bad as yours,” he remarked with a shudder before he sobered.
She faced him, her eyes filled with love at his compassion. He caressed her cheek and gave her a rueful smile. One day they would have children, and he would tell them stories just as he had told Rebecca Anne tonight.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked with a quizzical expression.
“All the adventures I want us to have together so that we can one day tell them to our own children,” he admitted.
“Oh! I—I think we should get married—and have a very long honeymoon—before we start thinking about having kids,” she suggested with a laugh.
“I completely agree,” he replied. “I like the idea of multiple long honeymoons.”
Epilogue
The Isle of the Pirates — Seven Kingdoms
Six Months Later
* * *
“This place is totally wick-ed!” Angie shrieked with delight as she danced toward Nali while Drago’s daughter, Roo, followed behind her laughing.