by Roharp17
They were on the edge of the market, and Danny saw a book store. If it wasn’t for the symbol of the book on the sign over the door, he would have thought it was a pawn shop back on Earth. Metal bars covered the windows and the door looked like it was made to take a beating. Confused, Danny didn’t see any of the other store fronts receiving the same treatment. The girls were still distracted, arguing over which whatever looked better on Jade. Danny really wanted to get out of the crowd and get some time to himself.
Quickly ducking into the store he found himself one of only a few customers. An impressively-muscled woman stood right inside the door and sized him up before giving him a creepy smile. Not questioning why she was not put in charge of sales, Danny quickly walked farther into the store. Expecting it to look like a library, he was surprised to find all the books behind long glass cases in the center of the room. The walls held glass cabinets filled with even more books. Every book in the store was turned so their covers faced outward.
One book was not under glass, but on a podium. When he walked over to it and started reading, he quickly realized it was a catalogue of all the books the store sold. Reading through the lists, he quickly found his two alchemy books, but was confused because that was all there was.
An older woman who appeared in her fifties walked over and greeted him, “Hello young wizard, can I help you find anything today?”
Danny smiled up at the woman, “Yes, I was looking for the other volumes to these two alchemy books.”
The woman frowned, “I am so sorry, those books are not in public circulation and can only be read by joining the alchemist’s guild. Though, I suspect there are some influential families that have managed to grab them for their own private collections. Again, my apologies.”
Wishing he had gone in a bookstore before, he thank the woman before walking around the store and just looking at what was available. This was one of those moments where a lot of useless jumbled up information all came together in Danny’s brain to form insight.
In this world, knowledge was literally power. Just by reading something, one could later use it whenever they wanted to. Of course, they had to comprehend it, but still. His knowledge of the elements alone would be priceless. Was it merely a case of the powerful wanting to stay in power?
Danny asked about some of the prices for the books and instantly felt guilty. He swore to save up enough of his wages to pay his family back for the fortune they spent on his two books of alchemy.
Unfortunately they had nothing else that was useful to him, not that he could have afforded it if they had. Thanking the woman, he left the store.
He hadn’t thought he had been inside long but the girls were gone. At first he questioned why they didn’t think to look in a bookstore for him. Then he remembered the prices and started looking around. He decided the best course of action would be to go back to the inn and wait for one of them to show up.
As he weaved his way through the crowds he was constantly stopped by different women asking if he needed help, or if he wanted them to help him look for something to buy. At first he was polite and begged off, but then by the fifth interruption he just started ignoring them. As he got closer to the inn, his air scan, which was seriously hampered by the crowd, had managed to pick up a few people consistently following him. If it had just been one person, he probably wouldn’t have been able to tell, but there were four of them.
Looking back, he saw four women. None of them in his shadow. Three of them were nothing to write home about, but one of them was gorgeous. The pretty one smiled and waved at him. Something about it seemed off and his left hand jerked towards the inn making him turn back around.
His air scan told him they were moving faster to catch up to him, so Danny started trying to lose them. He was about as tall as most of the women in the market and ducked down as he moved. He slowly made his way back towards the inn, but stopped short at the edge of the market. Two of the four that were following him were waiting on the street leaving the market, towards his inn. Not sure where the other streets led, he turned back to try and see what his best option was.
Danny was passing by a man and (what he assumed to be) two of his wives haggling with a vegetable merchant, when Danny was yanked back by the arm.
The beautiful woman from before loomed in front of him. He tried to jerk his arm away, but could instantly tell from how her grip didn't change that she was definitely augmented for strength. She pulled Danny into her arms and he had to look up, but found it a little difficult due to the size of her chest.
A smile crossed her full lips and Danny found himself looking into her big brown eyes. “Hello there cutie, you look a little lost. How about I help you out? Maybe I could take you out for dinner first?”
Danny's tried to wiggle out of her grasp, but that only seemed to settle him further into her embrace, "Please, let me go..."
The hand holding him started rubbing his arm as the woman tried to sooth him, "Shhh, don't be like that, we can have a little fun if you want." Danny couldn’t deny part of him was enjoying everything he was feeling. By the extreme degree of his body's reaction, Danny thought she must have used some sort of lust magic on him. He never remembered having it this bad... wait. Then it hit him. It wasn’t that long ago that he hit puberty… stupid teenage hormones!
Danny’s left hand snaked out and grabbed somewhere highly inappropriate for such a public space. The woman’s eyes opened a little shocked at this, but then she smiled like the cat that had just caught the canary. Danny wasn’t sure if what he had just done had been Cranny or not, but he was going to go down swearing it had been his former self’s fault.
Danny couldn’t help himself, “Damn girl, is it hot out here or just you?”
The beautiful woman's face lost some of its confidence, as the phrase didn't translate well to this world's human language.
Remembering what he had been told, he used a spell normally meant for lighting candles or fireplaces. Suddenly small flames erupted around his hand and caught her shirt on fire. A wicked grin spread across Danny's face, "Yep, it's just you..."
A scream of panic erupted behind him, and Danny turned to face one of the woman he had seen with the beauty before. He hadn't noticed her, and suspected she had been sneaking up on him. He was caught a little off guard when the sneaky woman ran past, completely ignoring him. Danny stood there dumbly for a few seconds, watching the two panicked women try and put out the fire. Maybe his hormones affected his control over his magic.
Then Danny laughted as he took off running down the closest side street. His laughter stopped when his air scan told him it was a dead end up ahead. Turning around he could sense four people approaching. Looking about, there was nothing but residences, tightly packed next to each other. There were no yards or small gardens he could use nature affinity on. He didn’t want to fight them and decided to escape further down the alley to buy himself enough time to use earth affinity to escape. He really should find a way to safely fly without fear of breaking something.
He sensed another person moving on top of the roofs of the homes behind him and to his left. Then new arrival intercepted the four following him.
Air scan showed the five people moving around erratically and then they all stopped. A lone figure moved quickly towards Danny, and he could immediately tell he didn’t have enough time to flee.
Preparing a fireball, he didn’t have to wait long for Jade to come into view. Seeing him, her face lit up with a huge smile. Danny sighed in relief and smiled back. Then Jade stopped smiling.
A note from Roharp17
Edited by SkrmnMrgsm
Chapter 37
Danny and Jade made it back to their inn without incident. Ivy and Brooke were waiting outside nervously by the entrance. When they spotted him, the two other girls looked relieved and hurried over to him.
Hugging Danny after Brooke, Ivy asked, “Where were you? We turned around and you were gone.”
“I was in the book store
looking for the third volume to my alchemy books. After finding out that I would have to join the alchemist guild, I left to get back before you noticed. Then you three were nowhere in sight, so I headed back to the inn. That’s when I ran into them…”
Brooke’s eyes narrowed, “Who were they?”
Jade answered, “Boynappers…”
Brooke and Ivy were incensed, and Brooke grabbed Danny into a hug he couldn’t escape. Danny’s arms waved around as a sense of déjà vu overcame him.
Pushing himself away, Danny straightened his duster, “Dare I ask what boynappers are?”
All three girls looked at Danny with shock.
Danny sighed, “Just tell me already.”
Ivy, “Did your parents ever take you outside when you were growing up?”
Danny nodded.
Ivy continued, “Did they ever let you go out by yourself?”
Danny thought back before answering, “I went shopping once while at the Academy… Sarah was surprised when I came alone.”
Ivy shook her head, “Well it’s not that bad in the capital, what about when you left the city?”
Danny shook his head, “We never left the capital. My first time out was with you three.”
Ivy looked around to see who was nearby, “Boynappers are kidnappers who target young boys not old enough to be married yet. Wizards, such as yourself, would make them a lot of money.”
Danny asked, “Do their families usually pay the ransom?”
Ivy frowned, “They don’t ransom them back to their families. They sell them to undesirable trios. For an example, a wealthy merchant family who has fallen out of favor would pay large sums to acquire a wizard, especially one with three affinities. Do you see?”
Danny shook his head, “Then how do they get away with it? Won’t the boys be able to tell someone or escape? Then the ones who purchased them would be imprisoned.”
Brooke shook her head, “They take them out to the countryside, Danny. Wait 'til they get a child or two off of him, then go back to civilization. The boy’s family will either be forced to disown him or accept the marriage. The boy’s family could accuse his wives - who are now legal - but that would bring public shame to his family and leave him being viewed as soiled.”
Danny couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He was appalled and in shock.
Turning to Jade, Danny asked, "I wasn't sure if I could hold back my magic, and tried to avoid them rather than killing them. Did you tie them up for the local constabulary to find?"
Jade wore a small sad smile, as she grabbed his hand, “C'mon Danny, let’s go inside. There is someone who has been waiting a while to see you!”
As the group walked in they could see the tavern was busy that evening but no one was louder than Wizard Basalt. He was obviously in his element as he was in the middle of telling a story. Women in the tavern gathered around to listen to his adventures that usually ended with one of his wives saving his behind from some horrible fate. His wives spent the whole time rolling their eyes and denying the whole thing happened. This would result in the wizard professing his undying love to whoever was the current savior in each of the stories. The crowd laughed raucously as they followed his every word.
Danny and his shadow had taken a seat at a table nearby, and ordered dinner while they waited for the large wizard to finish his tales.
Arya, leader of the Basalt shadow, eventually called it a night and they dragged the storyteller upstairs. Danny’s shadow followed after them. They all retreated to Basalt's room to discuss business. Danny's team sat on one bed while the Basalt ladies sat on the other. They made Wizard Basalt sit in the only chair in the room, as he took up too much space. Danny took a spot standing by the older wizard.
Wizard Basalt turned to Danny, slapping him on the back, "How is my niece treating you, Danny?"
Danny recovered from almost being knocked into the floor, "She is a very nice girl, I am lucky to have her in my Shadow."
"Good, good! How goes your training? I heard rumors that you regrew a missing appendage."
"Just a couple of ears. I figured they would have had me going around Diadem fixing missing body parts after finding that one out."
"Well, they have more pressing issues, and getting you up to fighting strength is more important to them."
Danny got defensive, "Well, my mana regeneration and flow increase daily. I am sure it has increased by at least fifty percent since the last time we saw each other. I would have tried to train more if I had known that was an issue. Wizard Pebble didn't ever suggest that I was still too weak."
"Danny, Wizard Pebble has less mana flow than you. He is just in charge of making sure the wizard trainees actually train. Though he was made aware of what you can do, he doesn't share the level of knowledge that the Archwizard or I have on your special condition."
"So what do you suggest?"
Wizard Basalt sighed, "I would love to be able to increase my regeneration and flow rate by just practicing. Boy, you need to come up with a way to use magic constantly and with large amounts of it. Without causing a disaster, of course."
Danny thought for a second, "I have an idea, it's really simple for me. I just eject massive amounts of mana. Though that does seem wasteful. Especially if we come up on a situation where I need to use the magic. I wonder if I could just store it outside my body?"
The large man laughed and slapped him on the back, "I'm sure you will figure it out. If you are going to store it outside your body, just remember the 'no disasters' part I mentioned before."
Arya cleared her throat getting everyone’s attention, "We have been tasked with escorting the elf known as Leaf back to the elven homelands. He is currently staying in this city under a full military escort. We are using our regular cover as representatives of the Basalt family who happen to be also traveling on business to the elven lands. Since the Great Forest is dangerous this will not appear an odd arrangement. Danny will continue his cover as my husband’s wizard apprentice and you three girls will be his contractually bound Trio, with our niece being part of that Trio. Changing our backstories could only backfire on us. Any questions?"
Ivy asked, "We know Leaf, won't they find it weird that we are familiar with him?"
"The military escort consists of a platoon of over fifty of Diadem’s finest soldiers and around twelve wizards. Leaf is being transported by a carriage with the Elven Ambassador. There is a contingent of nine mounted troops while the rest of them, including us, will be walking. They will not allow us anywhere near him during this trip," Arya explained.
"What about Phantom, can she travel with us?" Danny asked.
Arya asked, "Danny's ghost leopard familiar?"
"We haven't taken her into a group as large as this but she is very protective of Danny," Jade answered.
Arya looked at Danny, "Yes, Jade told us downstairs about your new friend. She will draw a lot of unwanted attention." Arya debated for a minute, "If you are going to bring her, then make sure she is there when we meet with the caravan. I don't want to deal with an entire platoon coming down on us when she suddenly shows up to protect you from something halfway through the trip. Make sure she behaves herself."
Danny nodded, "Yes ma'am, it will be like she isn't even there."
Wizard Basalt spoke up from the corner of the room, "Danny, remember to not use your sorcerer abilities or leave any evidence around the other military wizards. That includes healing."
"Yes, Wizard Basalt."
"We arrived with them tonight and they plan to continue on tomorrow after dawn. They see us as simple merchants and will not wait on us, so be ready to leave at dawn. Now, everyone go get some sleep," Arya ordered.
Danny and his group said their goodnights and left for their room. That’s when Danny realized something he hadn’t when they had left their bags there earlier.
Danny went back to the door, “I will grab some extra blankets and sleep out here on the floor. You girls take the bed.”
; Brooke looked at him like he was crazy, “No you won’t, there are probably rats crawling around down there all night.”
Danny’s hand paused on the door handle.
“Danny, don’t tell me you are nervous about sleeping in the same room as us. We have been doing that for over five years now,” Ivy was having a hard time pretending not to smile.
Staring daggers at her, Danny said, “This is not the same and you know it.”
Jade jumped on the bed and looked up excitedly, “You can sleep next to me, Danny!”
Ivy looked back at Danny and mimicked Jade’s enthusiasm, with a smug smile only he could see, “Oh and I get the other side! You don’t mind, do you Brooke?”
Brooke shook her head, “Fine by me, but I get the side next to the window.”
Danny’s jaw had fallen at some point and wouldn’t shut.
The next morning found Danny still awake, trying to focus on anything other than the two girls attached to him. The previous night, after everyone changed behind the room’s dressing screen, they all climbed into the bed. The hotel, used to accommodating married couples, gave them a room with a bed big enough for all of them. At first, Danny didn’t think it was so bad, laying there next to them. After the novelty wore off he actually fell asleep. Only to be woken up shortly after by Ivy draping her leg across his and snuggling up next to him.
Wide-eyed, he turned to her to see if she was doing it on purpose, but only saw a sleeping, young… impossibly perfect woman…