Jennifer came to the door and let me know she was finished. I told the tailor simply ‘it’s a boy, we named him James.’ and she started digging out bolts of blue cloth. I reached into my pocket and grabbed five coins and tossed them down on her table. She said, ‘David, don’t you think you have a large enough credit here. Do you really want to put five platinum on the account?’ I told her ‘the baby boy isn’t old enough to go to work for at least a week or two. Until then I’ll be buying his clothes, my clothes and the clothes for all my girls! Take the money and get rich and famous!’ She grinned and told me that the girls would have a set by noon as usual.
I couldn’t help but notice that when I’d said buy clothes for all my girls Jennifer had given Diana a knowing look. To her, saying that had confirmed her suspicions! We left the tailor shop and I said to Jennifer, ’so are you ready for this uniform and to be one of my girls?’ Jennifer stopped in her tracks. She stood there getting her thoughts in order and then said, ‘I’m really sorry My Lord…’ I interrupted her, ‘David, please call me David since, after all we’re going to be working so closely together for so long!’ Diana stifled a giggle and I wagged a finger at her to not give up my game just yet. Jennifer continued, ‘David, I’m afraid that I’ve wasted your time. I wasn’t aware of some things that have just come to light. I’m very sorry.’ ‘What kinds of things just came to light?’ I queried grinning evilly. ‘Well, to be honest I don’t know you well enough to sleep with you. I’ve always said that my virtue would go to someone I cared deeply for and, since we’ve only just met, that can’t be you!’ She gasped out. ‘So what you’re telling me is that you don’t want to sleep with me? Am I such a horrible man?’ I asked fighting the giggles myself. ‘No! You aren’t horrible in fact I think you’re a wonderful man. I just haven’t known you long enough to have feelings for you that would make me sleep with you! I suppose you can take me home now.’ she said almost in tears. I have a huge soft spot for a woman’s tears so the game was over. ‘Jennifer if you want me to take you home I will but I want you to know that sleeping with me isn’t a part of your training or living at the Wizards Keep. I do have a number of consorts that my wife and I have agreed on that I do sleep with from time to time. Your body is completely yours and no one should ever take that from you. I commend you on taking a stand and telling me no even though it wasn’t necessary. I’m sorry that I was being difficult. Can you ever forgive me?’ She broke down then as the stress was released and she realized that she could stay. She put her arms around me and thanked me for having her as a wizard novice.
We walked across the square to Cador’s woodworking shop and walked inside. Cador looked up and asked what he could do for me today. I told him that since he was the best wand maker in the kingdom that I wanted two wands if he had any in stock. He reached up on a shelf and pulled down a large box full of wands. He said that since wands were the first item he was ever paid to make, he always kept some in stock. I took two and tossed him a gold coin. He said that I’d go broke if I kept over paying for everything. I said, but he wouldn’t. He couldn’t argue with that. I asked how Mary was doing and he said that she was doing wonderfully and that they were expecting! I congratulated him and told him that Isa had given birth day before yesterday to James. He passed the congratulations back and said that Mary should be due in about four months if their calculations were correct. I told him that Chloe had one birth under her belt and Isabel was up and with me on a mission the next day. If he wanted me to ask for him I would. I told him that Chloe wasn’t one to hold a grudge and that their past shouldn’t prevent him from wanting her here. He said that he would talk to Mary and let me, Chloe or one of the other wizards know. I introduced him to our two newest, who looked at him in awe, as the wandmaker.
I told the girls that we should get back to Wizards Keep and see if we could locate an instructor. I cast levitate again and fly. We went up and over Valeview and the dropped down to the roof of our home. I pointed out the water tower that supplied the running water and the windmill that pumped the water to the tower. I also pointed out the big circle on the roof and explained that it was a no walking or standing zone so that incoming wizards could recall there with no chance of their recall zone being blocked. If it was blocked then the spell wouldn’t work and if you needed to get out of a place quickly that could be very bad. We walked down the stairs and saw Elizabeth going to her room from the showers. She asked if I would be in her room tonight and I said that certainly would be. Diana and Jennifer looked at me with puzzled looks so I explained that she is the twin sister of the girl they had seen me with earlier. They just shook their heads and I knocked softly on my bedroom door. I heard a quiet ‘come in’ and slowly opened the door and the three of us walked in. James was lying on the bed and must be part magnet, because there were four girls orbiting him and the force grabbed the two that had walked in with me.
I introduced James to Diana and Jennifer and told him that they were his soon to be greatest admirers. I whispered to Diana and Jennifer and pointed as I talked, ’On the edge of the bed to our left is my wife Isabel, next to her is her sister Chloe, next is her sister Alba and on the other edge is Alice. Other than my wife, these three and the twins are my consorts. It’s a choice thing, theirs and ours.’ I think that helped them to understand but I don’t blame them. It was all very confusing to me a little over a year ago when I first arrived in this world. I told the sisters and Alice that I’d picked up wands for the girls and now I just needed to find an instructor. If they knew of any that might be able to teach a spell or two it would be helpful.
Alba got up and came to where I was kneeling by the bed and put her arms around my neck and hugged me. “Is the big, bad Master Wizard feeling neglected?” She kissed me on the cheek and swiped the new wands out of my pocket. She then signaled for Diana and Jennifer to follow her out onto the balcony. I nodded when I saw they weren’t moving and they followed her out. She cast levitate and fly and took them down to the river to play with rocks. I sat and visited with the babysitters and learned all there was to know about a two day old baby. There wasn’t that much and they wouldn’t let me take him horseback riding or Orc hunting so I’m not sure what the allure is. Ok, so maybe I do know. I have decided that babies are born cute as a defense mechanism to make adults put up with stinky diapers and spit up. When it got close to noon I told James I’d see him later and mentioned that I might see Isa, Chloe and Alice too. They grinned and waved me out the balcony door. I cast fly and went back to the tailors shop. I walked and she said that she’d been expecting me. She had a uniform for each of the girls and showed me which belonged to which girl. She also had their nightgowns ready. She said that it would be nice if all the clothes that she made were as easy as a nightgown! I asked her if it would be possible to make them each a nice dress that they could wear if they wanted to go to town without being bombed with ‘wizard requests’. I thought that we could make it them out of the same color cloth that they had picked for their nightgowns. She asked if I was getting soft in my old age and I let her know that I’d recently been called the big, bad master wizard! She said, ‘Alba said that, didn’t she?’ I laughed and told her that she’d been hanging around us to much. She told me my order would be ready by morning and she would make something nice for them. I said I’d be back then and walked to the courtyard.
I popped shield and fly and headed over the keep. Flying twenty feet above the girls I dodged rocks from Alba. I knew to have the shield up when I went around her. She is the world’s most ornery wizard and wears the honor with pride! I waved and told her to bring her charges to the roof. She cast levitate and fly and followed me over to the keep. We landed and I handed each uniform to the girl it belonged to. I then held up the light pink nightgown against Diana. She asked what the heck that was and got a laugh out of Alba. I handed the green one to Jennifer while Alba explained that they were nightgowns and were much nicer to sleep in than the ones they’d grown up with. She said that every gi
rl in the castle wore one except Margery and maybe some of the maids. Alba thought that some of the staff even wore them because she’d been asked what tailor made them for us. I said that on top of being more comfortable to wear they were much more comfortable to look at, and I was rewarded with two blushes. Alba made that tisk tisk noise that I heard so often.
I asked Alba if she had taught the girls ‘shield’ yet because that spell would be early in the list of spells that they would learn. She said that she had and was thinking about ‘fly’ so she wouldn’t have to drag them around with her. The girls listening in on our conversation got quite excited about that idea. I told her that she could teach them on the roof if she kept them away from the edge until she was positive they had it under control. I asked her if she thought she could do it herself or if she needed me up there to spot for her. She walked over, gave me a quick peck on the cheek, and told me to go away.
With shield and fly active I went to the target range looking for Elaine, Melodie, Calla and Kiena. I landed behind them because Calla was holding an enormous column of fire immobile twenty yards in front of her. She then sent it on a zigzag course across our target range, stopped it and let it die out. I clapped and told her that she had sure come a long way since she’d first started. She smiled and curtsied. I asked if anyone knew where Melodie had gone and Elaine said that she had wanted to run a patrol and was flying north last time she’d seen her. I told Elaine, Calla and Kiena that I had been thinking about promoting them. Elaine and Calla would go to level four, expert. Kiena would then be level three, apprentice. Kiena said that would be great and was quite happy with the idea. Elaine walked over and stood beside Calla, facing me. She said that even though they were honored to be considered as instructors that they had discussed it and had to decline. I was shocked! This was the first time anyone had declined to be promoted and I asked why they were making that decision. She said that, even though they thought I was a wonderful person, they didn’t think that they wanted to sleep with me. I stood there confused, and then asked what one had to do with the other. Elaine was the one flustered then. She told me that she knows that of the six instructors that one is my wife and the other five consorts. She just thought that in order to be an instructor that they had to be consorts! I smiled and told them that Alba and Chloe had been consorts for a long time before they were instructors and it just worked out that Alice and the twins had become consorts after they were instructors. The two things weren’t related at all and no one was forced to be a consort to get anything around here! I was just not that kind of person.
Needless to say, they were quite relieved and with that information, they accepted the promotion. I asked them to pass all that information on to Melodie when they saw her and I’d have the smith, Caldor and the tinker start working on their daggers with the four lightning bolts on the hilt that was a symbol of rank. I said that all three of them could drop in on the tailor and have their new rank patches sewn on when they got the chance. They all grinned and said that they would get right on it.
I cast shield and took to the air again. I looked down on the keep from five hundred feet and could see that Diana and Jennifer had gotten their wizard uniforms on and were still working with Alba. The master of ornery was also a very dedicated teacher. I landed on the roof by the water tower and made sure I was out of the way. Alba then started working on the teleport spell and had them repeat ianuae magicae a few times that they would know the activator word. I could tell that the word sounded funny to her since she had mastered the spell and only had to focus on where she wanted to go and didn’t need the word anymore. I hated to bother them but I did have a question. I called, ‘hey Alba, do you have any idea why Melodie is flying a patrol to the north? I don’t mind and if she just wanted to go somewhere, that’s always fine. She told some of the other girls she was going on patrol.’ Alba said that she had no idea but Melodie had been acting strangely for the last couple weeks. She thought that Melodie might have a boyfriend or something. I laughed and said that would explain a lot.
As the sun was setting I went down to say goodnight to James. My room was usually the most popular in the keep now that it belonged to the baby. I just hoped that I’d be allowed back in my own bed soon. I said goodnight and walked down the hall and knock on Elizabeth’s door. She opened it and said that she liked it that I was an early to bed, early to rise person.
7.
Grandson
Two very quiet weeks passed and nothing happened except for the baby growing and being constantly coddled. People that came to see the ‘wizard’s new baby’ were watched so closely it even made me nervous! I finally decided that he needed to be taken to see someone that deserved to see him. He should be seen by his Grandmother. I knew that his Grandfather would see him too but Grandma was the one that his mother loved the best. So, I did what any successfully married man does when he wants to do something. I asked my wife.
Isabel spread the word and before I knew it, everyone with the title of wizard in their name was planning on going. Diana and Jennifer were the most excited, having never been to the capital city before and had never dreamed of meeting the King and Queen! Before long twelve female wizards and two men, James and me, gathered up on the roof of the keep. I took extra time with my focus so we would have a smooth transport and cast recall.
We appeared out of the way, just off the road that led up to Rosenwood castle. We were quickly surrounded by curious citizens and I learned that if you just kept walking, people would move. That might not be the case for everyone but if you’re the big, bad Master Wizard it worked. The crowd hadn’t diminished by the time that we’d gotten close to the guardhouse so half a dozen guards came out to escort us through. Once inside things were much better, but the place still stunk like a castle.
As we approached the main keep I saw a messenger boy run inside and I knew that we wouldn’t surprise anyone. We got to the door of the throne room and Isabel and led the troop up to the king’s dais, I bowed and all the girls curtsied.
The king approached and said “Master Wizard! This is a surprise! I hope that everything has been well with you and yours!”
I replied, “Everything has been wonderful your majesty. I just thought that you and the queen would like to meet someone. I would like to introduce to you James Stephenson, your grandson.”
It’s a great thing to shock a king. He is up in front of everyone and has to keep his composure at all times, but I don’t think he could have been more shocked if Isa had hit him with chain lightning!
Isabel, the only one it our group with the balls to do it, stepped up on the dais carrying James. She walked right past the king and straight to her mother, and handed the baby to her. The king walked back to her throne and looked over her shoulder and then, king or not, he knelt down beside her to tickle the baby.
The king looked at me and in a subdued tone asked, “How did this, no… I mean when did this happen?”
“The baby is just over two weeks old your highness.” I replied.
“And it takes five days by carriage… Oh, wizard travel. Son, I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to this wizard thing!”
Ok, he won that one. When he referred to me as ‘Son’ for the first time ever it caught me off guard and now it was my turn to be in shock! All I could do was just answer on automatic.
“Yes, your majesty, thirty minutes ago we were at the Wizards Keep below Valeview. Wizardry makes travel much easier, especially with a baby! Getting used to the wizard thing will take time; after all I’ve only been around for about a year.” I replied.
“Only been around for a year and has a dozen wizards and wizards in training. You also have rid the kingdom of hundreds of marauding Orcs and packs of wolves. You have built quite the reputation in such a short time.” the king commented.
I replied, “I have, but His Highness knows that with reputation it only takes one misstep to lose it. That’s why I do my best, and chose the best apprentices to work with me. I
added two just after James was born. Novice Diana and Novice Jennifer.” I motioned to them and the curtsied to the floor.
“Well, young ladies,” the king said, “You have yourself a good Master and, as his father-in-law I’d like to welcome you to the family.”
The girls said, “Thank you, your majesty.” in perfect unison. The king gave them a slight bow and then turned back to the baby. I looked back at the girls who were glowing, either with pride or embarrassment, and gave them a wink. It can never hurt to know the leader of the kingdom, after all.
The Wizards of Eredwynn 02 - Another Typical Day, Too Page 4