Vol. 1 - Another Typical Day (The Wizards of Eredwynn)

by Daniel Harris

  I couldn’t blame him for not knowing who I was. I’d only been here once and that was in a huge crowd for the tournament. I’d had my back to everyone most of the time. I didn’t feel slighted, just amused. I was amazed at how much I’d changed since the last time I was here. I wasn’t the terrified, lowly woodsman that I had been and my magical abilities had grown.

  We were marched through the castle gate and into the keep. We stopped outside the throne room so we could be announced. Alba looked at me and whispered that she was really sorry. We had been talking about her Father and the thought of the castle had jumped into her head just as she had cast the spell. I put a hand on her shoulder and told her that it was alright. Mistakes happened, even to the best wizard. She smiled slightly but I could tell that she still felt horrible about the mistake and having to see her Father again.

  We were finally called for and entered the throne room where the King and Queen waited. We approached the thrones and then bowed until we were recognized. The King welcomed the princesses with, “So, did Lord Stephenson decide that you were more trouble than you’re worth and think that I’d just take you back?”

  Anger is a dangerous thing and when someone you love is attacked with hurtful words, it will rear its head. “Your Highness, your daughters are far from ‘more trouble than they are worth’. I would ask which of your soldiers has single-handedly killed an Orc. Every daughter you have now has at least one kill. They are no longer simply princesses of the realm; they are now wizard apprentices and deserve some respect!” I stopped and took a breath, and waited for the order to cut off my head.

  The King stood and everyone in the room bowed. He walked toward us and stopped five feet away. “I have heard the rumors that wizards had returned to Eredwynn. Could it be true that my daughters are those wizards? Can this claim be proven?” He asked.

  “What would you ask of us, you’re Majesty? What would you have us do to prove that what I say is the truth?” I asked in return.

  “Anything! Anything that would show me that you have the powers that you claim.” he challenged.

  “Alba,” she looked at me a bit timidly. “See the chandelier? I think a candle is out on it. Would you mind going up and lighting it?” I asked with a comforting smile.

  She brought out her wand whispered for shield and fly and smoothly drifted to the ceiling. There were gasps and muffled screams from around the room. She didn’t even notice. She was doing what she loved, and that was magic. I saw her lips move and a spark came from her wand and lit the candle. She then drifted back down to face her shocked Father.

  Again I spoke up, “You majesty’s throne must weigh what, five hundred pounds?” He nodded. “Perhaps, since you are up here talking to us you would like your throne closer.” I nodded to Chloe who was grinning.

  With great flare she produced her wand. She pointed it at the throne, lifted it five feet in the air and then set it back down behind her Father.

  “Perhaps your wife would join us?” I grinned at Isabel who was already twirling her wand.

  She looked at her Mother and mouthed ‘it’s ok’ and very carefully lifted her, throne and all and moved her up to a position beside her Fathers new throne position. She set her down like she was handling eggs. You could tell that her Mother had been the one that had always been there for the girls.

  The King was awe-stricken. He took two steps backwards and sat in his relocated throne. “My Daughters! How is this possible? Who is your Master?”

  As one, all three girls pointed to me and I bowed. “On our trip to Valeview I told Isabel what I could do. When we got there I tested her and found she had abilities that could be trained. I then tested Chloe and Alba and found the same abilities. We have been working on our skills and protecting the local farms and villages ever since.”

  The King asked, “Why am I just now learning about this? I had heard rumors but thought that it was just hopeful superstition.”

  “The land we now live in is quite wild and dangerous, as you well know, your Highness. With Orcs, Orc Captains and trolls, there is little time for visits. Today a situation arose that allowed for this visit.” I explained.

  “How can you allow my daughters, and your wife, to fight those creatures with only those strange clothes that they wear now? I could commission them armor so they would be safer!” he exclaimed.

  “My King, if you would allow one more demonstration.” He nodded and I continued. “If you could call forward a swordsman, I’ll show you how your daughters are protected.”

  The King looked around the room while I quietly cast shield. He saw someone and called them forward.

  I raised my hands above my head, nodded to the swordsman and he drew his sword. “Now, good sir, I give you permission to cut me in half!”

  Men gasped, half the women screamed, my girls smirked, the King nodded. The swordsman looked at me, whispered ‘goodbye’ and swung his sword. The impact was slightly painful and the force slid me sideways a good six inches. The ring of metal on magic was quite impressive. I looked at the swordsman and said ‘thank you for your assistance, good sir.’

  I turned back to the King, “Your Highness, I love your daughters, all three of them, and would never knowingly put them in a dangerous situation without protection. There have been times when things did get a bit hairy but we looked out for each other.”

  The King was once again astounded. I think that he was still waiting for me to fall into two pieces! He then recovered his wits and stood, “Lord Stephenson of Beryglus Gwyllt Province, I grant you the title of Master Wizard and shall have proclamations sent to the four corners of the Kingdom. You’re word shall be law and you will be answerable only to me. Train your apprentices Master Wizard. Any funds, equipment or training facilities will be granted to you on the royal account.”

  I bowed, “Thank you your Majesty. Now, if the Ladies are ready to go…” All three girls ran to their Mother who stood quickly. They hugged and whispered to each other for a few minutes and then returned to me.

  “Be well Master Wizard and my beloved daughters!” said the King.

  I looked over at Alba. “My sweet Alba, would you please take us home?” She smiled sheepishly, we all joined hands and ‘crack’! What came into view was the welcome sight of Valeview from the river valley. We flew to the balcony and went inside. Pariset heard us come in and waved from the foyer, and we waved back. We then ducked quickly into our room.

  “Well, that was entertaining!” I exclaimed.

  “David, I’m so sorry! That was entirely my fault. I didn’t mean for any of that to happen.” Alba said close to tears.

  I turned and walked toward her with a threatening posture. She cringed, but stood her ground. I reached for her, took her face in both hands, tilted her head up and kissed her on the lips. We broke after a second and she pulled back. “What was that for?” she cried blushing to her toenails. “If that’s what happens when I mess up, well…” she faded off.

  “Did you not hear what the King said to me? I am now answerable only to him. Any resources or facilities that we need, he’ll supply. That means we could have our own place built for training and wouldn’t have to rely on the resources of Valeview.” I replied excitedly.

  Isabel chimed in, “I think that all we heard was that we’d gone from ‘being underfoot’ to ‘beloved daughters’ in the space of a few minutes.”

  Chloe added, “Men are such difficult creatures to understand. Present company included!” She winked playfully.

  It was then that we heard a muffled ‘crack’ from the south. We walked out and opened the balcony door to watch Alice and the twins fly up. There were hugs as if they’d been gone for ages, not just a few hours. They say men are difficult, I say men will never understand women! It was still early evening so, while the girls went back to our room, I slipped downstairs and out of the keep. I walked to the tailor shop and it was still open. The tailor was happy to see me and asked what project I had in mind today. I told her that
the King had made our group an official addition to the kingdom and that I would like to have badges to show what levels the girls had attained. I suggested that we could have shoulder patches with lightning bolts, one for each level. She thought it was a good idea and grabbed parchment and pen and sketched out ideas. We looked at a few and finally decided on one. A blue patch with silver lightning bolts embroidered in a top to bottom pattern. For myself I asked if she could embroider lightning bolts into a star pattern. I’d decided that it could be the generals, my, symbol. It also looked amusingly like a pentagram! I told her that I’d need two for each uniform, so twelve with two bolts, twelve with three, and four with the stars. I also suggested that she keep plenty of the cloth for our uniforms on hand because, if the laundry couldn’t get out blood stains, I might need another. She tisked and shook her head at that but said she had plenty and would order more in case we stumbled upon new additions to our group. She told me to have the girls come down tomorrow morning with their uniforms and she would sew them on for them. I thanked her and wished her a good evening.

  I left the tailors and went across the courtyard to Cador’s place. The shop was open so I walked inside. Cador stood with his back to me and informed me that he would be right with me. He finished what he was doing and turned around. His face lost all color and he put out a hand to balance himself.

  “I knew this day would come My Lord and I have no one to blame but myself. I met Mary shortly after we arrived and it was love at first sight. I love my shop and Valeview but I’ll prepare to move as soon as possible.” He blurted out.

  “Move? Why would you move? I’d just have to find another woodworker that would be willing to come to this dangerous country. I have no intention of asking you to resign as our woodworker!” I said comfortingly.

  “Oh…well…but I thought… How can I help My Lord today?”

  “Remember the wands that I had you make for us awhile back? I’d like for you to make me another dozen, if you could.” I stated simply.

  “Oh! Alright, I can do that for you and have them ready by sunrise if you need them. My Lord, about Chloe, we…” he began and I interrupted.

  “That is between you and Chloe. I’ve found that mixing business with personal matters is a recipe for disaster.” I said.

  “Thank you My Lord. You have no idea how relieved I am that you feel that way. The uncertainty has been eating at me for awhile now. I’ll start on your order as soon as possible.” he said with the relief he felt spreading over his face.

  I said to him, “Thank you Cador, have a wonderful evening and say hello to Mary for me.”

  I turned and left the shop. I felt sorry for him because it is the nature of the beast known as love to always throw wrinkles into a smooth life. I headed into the keep and stopped by one of my favorite places, the kitchen. I looked in and the cook looked up, smiled and held up seven fingers questioningly. I nodded and she smiled and signaled the maid staff. I returned upstairs where tired, but excited girls were telling stories and recounting the day. I went into my closet area and sat at the small desk. I looked at myself in the polished metal mirror and hardly knew myself! My beard had grown out and was looking bushy. I’d always been a clean shaven person in my other life, so this bothered me. I sat and thought for a moment and something came to mind that was a bit ridiculous. In a game, I’d had to follow a quest to learn a spell to defeat a Samson-like character. The spell caused him to lose his hair, thus weakening him so I could win. The idea was ludicrous but perhaps it would work. I pointed my wand at my face hoping I wasn’t about to blow my head off, cringed and said ‘capillus remotio’. A spot of hair about the size of a quarter just disappeared! I focused on the spell a bit more intensely and it continued to cause the hair to disappear on the entire right side of my face. Since I was experimenting I decided to see if the spell was wandless. I focused on my left hand and activated the spell. There was a tingling in my left hand, and as I moved it over my face the hair was gone. Perfectly smooth skin that every razor company claims to offer but never comes through with. I grinned at the transformation that happened so quickly, gathered my wand and stood up.

  I walked out of my closet back to my room and into utter chaos!

  “Hey, who are you?”

  “Can we help you?”

  “What are you doing in here?”

  There were six hands on six wands. Six very confused faces. I couldn’t help but laugh. When I started laughing Isabel said, “David, is that you?”

  I walked to her and hugged her. I told her it was me and apologized to everyone for startling them. I explained that for all my adult life I’d been clean shaven and the beard was bothering me. I had forgotten that no one here had seen me with out the beard but I had to admit, their reaction to a strange man in the room had been funny. I sure wouldn’t want to be someone that came in here and tried to start any trouble!

  Dinner was served and everyone started drifting off to bed. Isabel and Chloe, of course didn’t drift. They just changed into nightgowns and sat on the couch chatting for awhile. It had been a very long day so I told them goodnight. I went to the bed, undressed and crawled between the sheets. I laid there for awhile just wondering what the future would bring. I wondered what the Kings proclamation would mean for all of us.

  Isabel crawled into the bed on the right side, as usual. Chloe came over to the left and asked if she could join us. I smiled and said that she was very welcome, but she didn’t really need her nightgown tonight. She turned very pink, smiled and pulled it over her head. I looked over at Isa and she was beaming! Chloe lay down beside me and I had to be my ornery self. I explained that in some cultures, where I came from, hair under the arms was accepted. In my part of the world, hair in many places was frowned upon. I offered to help her match my culture a bit better and she giggled and nodded. I told her that I’d teach her a new spell that she could learn, or not. I focused and said, ‘capillus remotio’. I had tingling hands and gently ran them up her side and under her arms, hearing the slight sizzling noise of disappearing hair. I then slowly ran my hands down, past her ribs, her belly button and beyond. I smiled at the slight moan from my touch and also at the sizzle. From behind me where Isabel is lying I heard the sizzling sound also! She wasn’t going to wait to be asked! Isabel then sat up, spread the towel over the sheets and pulled the bed curtains.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  For a fortnight everything was quiet. We would wake, eat, train, and go to bed to sleep, go to bed to stay awake… It was a wonderful time.

  I’d taught everyone a teleport spell. It could teleport you, line of sight, from one spot to another. Alba called it her ‘blink’ spell. She explained that by the time someone saw her and blinked she would be gone! She had specialized in it and could silent cast it so quickly she was hard to watch!

  I’d remembered and taught the chain lightning spell and even though everyone thought it was cool, only Isabel mastered it. It amazed me that she could silent cast such a powerful spell. It almost made me jealous! She could actually pick multiple targets to hit with it and she kept the people in the castle on edge for quite awhile with the constant thunder!

  Alice specialized in telekinesis, which I wasn’t jealous of because I could silent cast that one myself, however what she could do was shocking. All of us could lift an object but she could crush huge rocks into powder or pluck the seeds from dandelion fluff. I was sure that an enemy, being her target, wouldn’t stand a chance.

  The twins, working side by side, seemed to amplify their spells. A simple fireball, when cast by both, would meld together, double in size and take on a white hot glow. Upon hitting its target it would explode actually knocking rock from the canyon wall that we used as a target. Their energy bolt was the most impressive to me. They would look like two white balls of energy, as usual, except they would orbit around each other leaving a comet-like tail. The effect on impact was devastating. Huge holes were gouged into the canyon face until I had to call off the use of tha
t spell to protect the river.

  It seemed that Chloe and I were going to be the ‘jacks of all trades, masters of none’, but we were fine with that. We all sported our new rank badges and there had been some talk among the girls of expanding our ranks. It would be easier on me now than before because the girls were well versed in the use of magic now. They could be the teachers and I could sleep in! Ha! Well, it was a nice thought.

  The sun was setting and we all gathered in my room as always. We ate and chatted about nothing. All the girls knew the story of my origin but I’d asked them to keep it a bit quiet. People might not like me as much if they knew that I wasn’t even from this universe! We finished eating and were preparing to retire to the couches to chat some more when our quite world ended.

  An alarm bell sounded, we could hear the squeal of the portcullis as it was dropped into a defensive position and the yell of, ‘call the wizards! We are under attack!’

  Instantly and without direction everyone scrambled for the door and down the steps. I heard the pop of shields and cast my own as we crossed the foyer. Into the courtyard with out slowing we rushed, trying to see what was happening. Huge spears were coming over the wall and there were several men down. Without a word Chloe rushed to the closest man and moved her wand over his wound. He instantly sat up, grabbed his sword and headed back to the battle. She then moved to the next man.

  I waved for the five girls still with me to follow and we flew to the top of the wall. There we saw twenty Orcs, working hard to put ladders on the wall and five Captains, with loads of spears, bombarding the courtyard. The twins struck first with a combined energy bolt. Their hapless target was one of the Captains. The creature exploded spraying the area with blood. An Orc, riddled with arrows but hardly noticing them managed to get a ladder on the wall, right in front of Alice. With an evil grin, she plucked him up and lifted him over his fellow combatants. She then, with deliberate malice crushed him like she was juicing a lemon. A group of five had clustered together near the end of the wall to the west. They were under attack from the castle archers but the arrows seemed to have little effect. What did have an effect was when they were spotted by Isa. She cast her favorite spell, chain lightning, twice in rapid succession. She killed the entire group leaving the archers in the tower shaking their heads. Alba and I stood together and fired energy bolts at anything that moved. The battle continued like this until everything with Orcish blood had stopped moving. We all then returned to the courtyard to help with the causalities. Chloe informed us that she had healed and sent back to the wall everyone that was injured. Her wand was now about three quarters white and she said that every time she had healed someone it had turned a bit whiter.