by John Booth
I have an arrangement with the local farmers whereby they get paid for their unexplained losses. Without that they would have gone out of business years ago. It’s not so much generosity on my part as a sensible precaution. The further Fluffy roams for food the more likely he will be detected.
“Don’t tell your family,” I suggested.
[We are telepathic, so of course they know. But dragons are also territorial, so they resist coming here for a taste.]
You learn something new every day.
Fluffy spat what was inedible of the sheep into the drainage slot. I averted my eyes from the mess.
[Did you kill any Knights? Tell me that you did.]
I quickly filled him in on all that had happened since we last met.
[Knowing the spatial location of the Knights Temple could be useful,] he mused.
“I don’t. Though I could get you through the outer gates. They blocked me once I was inside.”
[Close enough. There are stirrings in the Dragon’s Council. Two dragons have been attacked by Knights in the past few days. Both escaped, because of the skills you taught us, but there are many Knights and they are bound to succeed at some point.]
“I suppose Dragons are an easy target to find, especially with those detectors. I still don’t understand why they hate you so much.”
I went to stroke my dragon’s neck. He moved his head so I could get to his favorite spot.
[It is an ancient thing, Knights and Dragons. But we never seek them out.]
“Have the Dragon Elders decided anything?”
[They are considering a pre-emptive strike.]
20. Wives
I woke feeling wonderful. My back lay against Fluffy’s neck, which should have been uncomfortable, but never was. I didn’t remember falling asleep, in fact, the last thing I remembered was talking about the Diamond Worlds. Apart from their proximity to the worlds I knew, I could see nothing special about them. So it wasn’t clear to me why the Krake would want to control them.
As if reading my thoughts (which I suppose he could have been) Fluffy spoke, his voice in my mind, warming it.
[The Knights have killed more dragons than all the other causes of our deaths put together.]
“You think the Krake hate dragons?”
Fluffy chuckled and black smoke and dragonfire spilled across the cave.
[The Council would rather believe they fear us.]
“You’ve been consulting?”
[All night long. Dragons require little sleep, but we do like a good muse.]
I stood and worked the kinks out of my bones. An instant dry clean of myself and my clothes and I was ready for the day.
[Your face is getting hairy.]
I ‘magic shaved’ which is far closer than even a ten blade razor could manage.
[Better. Not that humans ever look very good. I put it down to a lack of scales. Jenny is expecting you.]
“You’ve been blabbing again.”
Fluffy gave me a pained look. [We are linked. I have little choice.]
“Why would the Krake fear dragons?”
[There are prophesies regarding the war to come.]
“Like me becoming the Great Destroyer and wiping out whole galaxies?”
Fluffy tilted his head. [That still bothers you?]
Like becoming someone worse than Hitler wouldn’t bother a person.
[Anything you destroy will need destroying. Have a little faith in yourself.]
This conversation had taken a turn for the worse and I didn’t want to pursue it.
“I’m going home.”
I hopped.
I arrived to a living room in chaos. Merlin was flying through the air like Superman, using a bath towel as a cape. Gwydion was jumping up and down in the center of the room turning to track my son while shouting “Go, go, go” at the top of his voice.
Mister and Missus Griffith were throwing paper planes in my son’s direction while shouting “Get him”. He had taken some of the planes in tow and they were flying in formation behind him. Machine gun sound effects came from the planes. I assumed they were just sound effects though with Merlin you could never be sure.
When they saw me, everything stopped. The Griffith’s tried to look innocent as though they hadn’t been encouraging my son. Gwydion, their two year old son, had a hesitant smile on his face. Merlin let the paper planes flutter down to the carpet.
“We saw a film, Daddy,” he said before swooping down to swing on my neck.
“We were only having a bit of fun, like.” Mister Griffith assured me.
“No one plays with Gwydion quite like Merlin,” Mrs. Griffith said imperturbably. “Jenny said you’d be home any time now.”
At that point my wife backed into the room pulling a trolley laden with tea cups, biscuits and fruit juices for the kids. I helped her get the trolley past the garbage on the floor while Gwydion and Merlin crowded around looking for drinks and chocolate biscuits.
“Welcome home, Mister Morrissey,” she said primly.
“Is this what you get up to when I’m out?” I pulled her towards me and hugged her round the waist.
“Oh no, we are on our best behavior today,” she kissed me on the nose. “Did you solve Bronwyn’s problem for her?”
“I did, but she has ratted on me. Now she wants me to save her agents and start a war with a high tech world as well.”
“You’re not going to?” Missus Griffith asked. “Start a war, that is.”
“Jake wouldn’t do something like that, love,” Mister Griffith said loyally, spoiling it by adding, “Well, not on purpose anyway.”
“Bronwyn isn’t going to fix me?” Jenny had homed in on the only thing that mattered to her. “I’m going to slap her so hard the next time I see her.”
“Daddy is being naughty,” Merlin said. We all turned to stare at him. My son gave me a smile and then walked over to Gwydion, the conversation apparently over.
I told the story while we drank the tea. I couldn’t help but notice the way the Griffiths kept looking at each other whenever Lana and Esta came up in the story.
“You should invite your university friends over,” Jenny said brightly. “I’d like to meet them.”
“They’ve gone to Lana’s world,” I said quickly.
Merlin and Gwydion had been playing together behind the sofa. Gwydion toddled over and poked me.
“Help Auntie Bronwyn. Merlin says” He giggled and ran back to my son. I kicked into magic sight to make sure Merlin wasn’t controlling the boy. He wasn’t, but there was a strange sparkle inside Gwydion that faded away when I tried to examine it.
The interruption had killed the conversation about Lana and Esta, but there was a glint in Jenny’s eye that suggested the subject was far from closed.
“Business is picking up at the woodyard,” Mister Griffith said. “I’m thinking of changing the company name to Griffith and Son. What do you think?”
“Malcolm will be jealous.” I grinned. “Is he still seeing Silvia?”
“They’re getting married. I think Malcom wants to ask you to be the best man.”
“I have the invitation,” Jenny said. “He’s rung several times in the last couple of months and asked to talk to you. You need to go and see him.”
“Later. Once things are sorted out.”
Nobody said anything, but I could tell they all believed that if I waited until things were sorted out Malcolm would never hear from me.
“I have to go,” I said. “I need to see Esmeralda, assuming she’ll let me speak with her.”
Before anybody could say anything, I hopped to Salice.
Esmeralda paced the room telling me in excruciating detail what she planned to do to Bronwyn should she ever grace the Kingdom with her presence again. The fact that Bronwyn was a powerful wizard with a whole world of wizards to avenge her did not come into my wife’s reckoning. Royal justice was involved.
I was trying hard not to giggle. Morgana was floating behind he
r mother copying and exaggerating her every gesture. The speed at which she flew when her mother turned was astonishing. It’s easy enough for any wizard to fly, but high speed turns have to be practiced.
“And do not think for a minute that I do not know what you are doing, young lady,” Esmeralda spat. Our daughter was instantly by my side looking the picture of innocence.
“You’re training her to be a princess,” I put in while giving my daughter a hug. “She seems to have mastered the tantrum part of the role.
“The Heir never has a tantrum,” Esmeralda said, flashing her teeth in a wolf like manner. “She merely expresses her desires so that her subjects can carry them out.”
I stood and disengaged Morgana from my side. “I have fought Bronwyn quite enough for one lifetime, my dear. And have no plans to do so again.”
“She will not help us until the threat to her world is removed. That was the real task she gave you. She will sacrifice individuals if need be, but the threat is the issue.”
“You sound as if you admire her.” I smiled at the thought.
“I understand her, my Lord Wizard,” Esmeralda conceded. “She has learnt the role of ruler admirably well.”
“If she takes on the d’Tachi we may all pay the price.”
Esmeralda’s foot began to tap gently on the floor. “What we need is a diplomat, but all we have at our disposal is you. You must go and confront this father of your concubine and persuade him that selling to the Diamond Worlds is bad for his future business.”
“Me?” I planned to do no such thing.
Esmeralda stepped towards me. “You must. You told me the d’Tachi might destroy your world and Tydan if Bronwyn upsets them. How can we be sure they would not come after Salice once they had disposed of those worlds? Bronwyn might lead them here in an attempt to protect her world. We cannot predict what Bronwyn will do, but we both know how formidable she is. You must solve her problems before she brings them down upon us all.”
Morgana floated up to eye level. “Mummy’s right. You must.”
Esmeralda slapped Morgana across the back of the legs and my little girl dropped to the floor, crying and rubbing at her legs.
“I was on your side!”
Esmeralda smiled at our daughter. “Of course you were, but you must not mock your mother when she is emoting.”
The air darkened over Morgana’s head and miniature lighting flashed. I took a step back, sensing the enormous forces my daughter was wielding.
“Now stop that at once,” Esmeralda said firmly. “We do not create thunderstorms in the Palace. What would the servants think?”
To my astonishment the forces faded and Morgana looked shamefaced. “Sorry Mummy.”
“We shall say no more about it. Now run along like a good little girl.”
It took me a moment to get my wits back.
“Do you have any idea what you just faced down?”
Esmeralda grinned. “She is superb, isn’t she? But she must also learn to be a Queen.”
“You want me to go to Willdone?”
Esmeralda patted my cheek. “It will take me decades to teach you to be a proper consort to a queen, but occasionally you show promise.”
I sighed. It’s one thing to face overwhelming odds, but facing down Esmeralda was probably impossible.
“Should I go now?”
“Oh no. First you must rescue those spies of Bronwyn. Then, when you are again in her good books, you must tell her that you will sort out the problem of these wizard detectors.”
“Would you like me to wash the dishes in the palace kitchens before I leave?”
“No dear, you always break the best china. Off you go.”
Sometimes I have no other option, so off I went.
21. Rescue
The girl who led me to Therin was pretty close to naked below the waist, wearing only a micro skirt and sandals. Another girl was providing the cabaret; she was singing a sea shanty while sitting astride a customer and moving her bare buttocks in time to the music. He looked happy. It was no surprise that both girls’ breasts were completely covered in shapeless material.
“Master Therin,” my guide said primly, she rubbed at her bottom, making sure I got an eyeful of what was under the nearly non-existent skirt.
“Jake,” Therin said warmly. “You came.”
“I’m sorry it’s been two days since you invited me.”
Therin waved that away with a hand. “You are here now and that is all that matters. Take a seat.”
A seat, in this case, meant to join him on an enormous cushion. I held my dressing gown closed as I sat; to avoid embarrassment. Therin was beyond embarrassment and sat fully exposed.
The dressing gown was a requirement of the brothel. All customers had to take off their clothes and wear a house dressing gown to get in. We were in The Providence of the Goddess in the Essen Quarter of Sanforino and I had been searching for Therin for hours.
A gorgeous young girl came over with drinks on a tray.
“I don’t have any money,” I told him quickly. “I got in using your name.”
Therin gave a throaty chuckle. “It turned out I had enough money left to buy a share in this business as well. Would you like her?”
The girl in question slyly lifted her mini skirt just enough to cause a tilt in my dressing gown. She winked at me and ran her tongue delicately over her lips.
“I need to talk to you.”
The girl pouted at me.
“Not that she isn’t…”
Therin figured it out.
“Off you go girl. We’ll call you if we need you.”
The girl walked away, her bottom swaying deliciously from side to side.
“Are all the girls in Sanforino this beautiful?”
“Working in a brothel is considered a high calling and we only pick the prettiest and the warmest. Is it not the same where you come from?”
I shook my head.
“All the girls from ordinary families audition for the brothels. Some of the girls from the noble houses try as well. They stay five or six years with the house and retire with a dowry large enough to start a family. The competition to get in is fierce.”
Words failed me. It sounded all wrong to a man from the valleys of Wales.
“What if a customer abuses a girl?”
Therin was outraged. “He would not leave here alive. The girls are dedicated to the Goddess and must be respected at all times.”
“And men want to marry them… after?”
Therin laughed and slapped me on the back as though I had said something extremely funny.
“A woman trained in the ways of the Goddess, beautiful and wealthy? They have to fight men off. Burder Slan is married to a woman who dedicated six years of her life to the Goddess.”
I was sure there was something wrong with his logic, but I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. But it wasn’t why I had come looking for him and it was time to get down to business.
“Do you know where I can find Ellis and Dren?”
Therin sat back heavily. “A bad business. I have heard of it. They were going back to Dallet on the carts when they were stopped at the chain bridge. Knights of Justice took Dren, and when Ellis fought them, they took him as well.”
Therin’s face brightened. “But they are not wizards, so I expect the Knights will let them go once they discover their error.”
“Where would they have taken them?”
Therin look was one of sheer disbelief. “To the Temple of course. Where else?”
I sighed. Where else indeed?
I walked from The Providence of the Goddess to the Temple. While I was shielded from the Knights’ detectors I was pretty sure that the Temple would be on high alert for any magic. It was safest to walk.
The Temple gates looked magnificent in sunlight. It was a delight to recognize a familiar face on duty.
“You will let me into the Temple,” I said to the very same guard I had controlled before.
One of the insidious things about mind control is that it gets easier against those who have felt its effects before. I barely had to push to get him to let me through. In his mind, I was a trusted visitor.
The main doors to the Inner Temple were open. Two Knights in chain mail helmets stood to either side of them. They were carrying those damnable swords. I pretended to admire the lake as I watched people enter and leave. Only a small proportion of the visitors were Knights, and most of the people were dressed as I was. The guards ignored the visitors, though they saluted other Knights. That meant I should be able to walk straight in. In theory, that is.
Nothing ventured, nothing gained, is what they say, though I suspect the people who say it are expecting someone else to take the risk. I only had me, so I figured I’d better get on with it.
I tried not to sigh with relief as I entered the building without being stopped. Ducking into an empty room I risked examining the hop shield protecting the Temple. It turned out to be much simpler that the warding spell at the door. And examining it didn’t set off any alarms.
Haldor University professors claimed that there were only three basic formulations of magical energy that could block a wizard from hop space. Only one of those methods was regarded by the mages as uncrackable. They were wrong about that. I found a way through that one when Dafydd tried to imprison me.
The one in use here was the most common, a series of slightly variant spells bound together to create the appearance of uncrackability. Block one spell and the next in the series would stop you, and so on. But if you could find the gap between the spells you could use that space to escape. It took fifteen minutes of intense concentration, but when I finished I was sure I could hop right through it.
Having resolved that problem, the next one was to find Ellis and Dren. It was at that point I regretted that I had refused Bronwyn’s detector. When I informed her I was going to save her spies as a gesture of goodwill, she had offered it to me. In any case, it wouldn’t have helped with Ellis. My best guess was that Dren would be in the cell they had put me in earlier. The Knights had little reason to have cells as their policy was to kill wizards. It was unlikely they had more than one in the Temple. I have an excellent memory and remembered the way.