by Greg Curtis
“Or is it because of this Sana, I keep hearing word of?!” Nga Roth asked suspiciously. “Are you letting your eyes wander, Boy?”
“Never!” And he wasn't. Sana had shown up a few months back, returning to Stonely after being freed from N'Diel, and then turned up on his doorstep to be greeted by Elodie. That had not been a good meeting. Or a good day for him. But he had made it very clear that he was with Elodie, he thought. Or he'd tried to.
“Don't you raise your voice with me, Boy!” Nga Roth scolded him. “It's obvious that you and Elodie have no understanding of what's needed to make a proper union. You clearly have no idea of the value of a few good beatings.”
“But –!”
“Have you even got yourselves some chains?” Nga Roth stared intently at him.
“No!”
“No chains even!” She let out a heavy sigh. “Pity. You'll find that they really do wonders in the bed chamber,” Nga Roth continued. “You know that Con Dar and I have broken three beds now! Three! Shattered them completely! And the way things are going it won't be long before we hear the thump, thump, thump of little green feet. I'm sure of it!” She smiled like a little girl. An eight foot tall, four hundred pound, little green girl in a dress that looked like it had been rescued from a swamp!
“I'm … happy for you,” Chy told her, wondering if that was really what he should be. But he wasn't an ogre, so what did he know of their ways? And she seemed happy.
Luckily he was saved from having to say any more by the sound of splashing in the river, and an instant later Nga Roth was flying through the air, screaming, staff in hand. A weapon that she immediately brought down on the head of the unfortunate monster that had foolishly chosen that moment to pull itself out of the river. A moment after that, Dulcie was there, incinerating the beast. And all it had probably wanted to do was come out and bask in the sun.
“That was fun,” she announced as she came back to him. “These creatures aren't so tough.”
“I was just going to freeze the river,” he replied. Of course it wasn't actually a river any more. It had been once, but now neither end went anywhere so the water was stuck and the river had become a long narrow lake.
“Oh!” She peered at him and then the dead creature apparently considering the matter. “I suppose that'll work too. But it's not as much fun!”
“As what? Burning down someone's house?” He thought he'd ask since people had been laughing a lot about the incident.
“Who told you?!” For the first time she managed to look just a little bit uneasy. But then she collected herself. “And it was just an accident as everybody knows! A poor innocent pet with a touch of indigestion! And the poxy cow got exactly what she deserved! Making eyes at my man! Who says fate doesn't work out right?!”
“Maybe you should go and talk to the people over there,” Chy told her as he set to work, and all the while trying to keep from laughing, “tell them what's happening. I think I'll be safe enough here by myself.”
“Well …” Nga Roth considered the matter, “alright. But don't you go running off on poor Elodie. I'd hate to have to drag you back bleeding and broken! A woman should do her own beating!”
“I'll try not to,” he promised her as the chill flowed from his fingers into the water. And that seemed to be enough for Nga Roth as she marched off to see the locals.
The locals in question though, he noticed were more of these people with the top knots as they were called. It was a weird way to do your hair he thought, but they seemed happy with it and no one else really cared. Which was good as there were more and more of their strange towns and villages appearing all over Althern. If this even was Althern any more.
More and more lately he'd been wondering about that. And he supposed in the end it wouldn't be. In a few more years once everything had come together, there'd just be one entirely new world made up of scores or hundreds of others, and questions of whose world it was would have to be answered then.
But until then he had work to do. And he had a life to live. He had a woman who was frustrating him as she kept putting off the date of their wedding, one family who were doing their best to profit off his magic, and another family who were mortified by the very thought and desperately trying not to show it. Then of course there was the guest list, which kept growing by the day. And worst of all, Elodie was making noises about getting a pet! Even a cat!
Still, he decided, as he continued his work while Nga Roth went off to explain things to the top knots, things were good. He was a lucky man. The troubles he had were minor and would work out. Really he couldn't complain.
As long as they didn't get a cat!