Constance muttered under her breath, “Chloe of the White Wand is a consort? This is strange. It is so wrong!” And then to me, “Why do your wizards have orders to kill us on sight? Sir Gildon told us that it was because you didn’t want any competition for power when you overthrew the king!”
“I’ll answer that question with a question if you don’t mind. Did you see when my girls returned fire when you were in the woods?” I asked.
“Yes, we saw that and didn’t recognize the spell that they were using but that doesn’t really answer my question.” she said.
“Actually, it does. The spell that they were using, under my orders, was a stun spell. If I’d wanted you dead I could have had my girl Alice grab you with telekinesis and crush you like a grape. She is easily powerful enough to do it. In fact, I’ve seen her do it to an Orc.” I stated calmly.
“Ok, then why do you reject every boy that tries out for wizard training? I’ve heard that you’ve tested dozens and have no male wizards but yourself.” she asked.
“Once again, a question with a question. How many male wizards does Sir Gildon have? It’s true that I’ve had dozens of boys tested but none have passed our basic telekinesis test. It isn’t that I don’t want boys around but that none have qualified.” I replied.
“You’re right. Why didn’t I see it? Why didn’t I at least question the things I was being told? I’ve been a fool and misled by that buzzing voice in my head. What am I to do now? I can’t go back!” she cried.
I put my arms around her and hugged her gently. “I offered to let you stay at the keep and learn to be a real, powerful wizard if that is what you wanted. Or you can return, but you have to make the choice and you should talk to the younger members of your group and let them decide too.”
She looked up at me with blurry eyes and said, “Thank you sir. Could I stay and be protected? I am afraid of what Gildon and Melodie would do to me if they caught me after I’d left them.”
“Of course you’d have my protection, just like all my girls have. I don’t know what your situation was like before, but I hope you’ll like it at Wizards Keep. We are building and if you know telekinesis we could always use the help.” I smiled gently.
She nodded and said that we should go and talk to the other girls. I took her hand and led her up the stairs of the keep. She was shaking her head and muttering about how she’ll never get used to traveling like that. I led her over to the meeting room where Isa was talking to the other black robed wizards like they were old friends. As soon as we walked in one of the girls at the table said to Constance, ‘you know someone has been lying to us! These people aren’t mean or evil or rapists! They are really nice! Do we have to go home?
Constance looked at me and said, “Well, I guess that your wife is just as convincing as you are! I think that the decision has been made by all of us. Will you let us all stay?”
“I will, but I want you to ask each one individually. I don’t want any of them to feel forced into staying just because the majority wants to. Will you do that for me?” I asked.
“Of course sir…”
“David,” I chuckled “my name is David.”
“Of course, David. Whatever you say, I’ll start on that now.” she said.
I watched as she went from girl to girl, turning them around so she could be face to face with them. She would talk for a minute and listen. She would then move on to the next until she had talked to all five of the other girls. She walked back to me and said, “Every one of them wants to stay. Most of them had concerns for their safety but I told them that they would be under your protection. Was that ok?”
“Of course! Now let me get my other girls down here so you all can be introduced and I can be present to make sure there are no hard feelings. After all, you were just shooting at us an hour ago!” I laughed.
I walked up to the second floor and looked at the congregation of girls lining the top of the third floor stairwell. I told them that the girls that had attacked us had been talked to and realized that they had been deceived. They were now going to join us and would swell our ranks a bit. I said that there were six of them and only three rooms on the second floor available but they should be large enough. I asked if there was anyone that wouldn’t accept them as novices or that was holding a grudge. Everyone, even Alba, said that they would accept them so I had them come down and meet the new members to our group. They could visit with them while I took them to Margery to get them logged in. They all grinned and thought that it was a great idea. As we all marched downstairs I wondered where Alice was. I then, with a grin, I remembered James! I better not tell Isa that I’d forgotten the baby!
As the two groups met I watched closely for any signs of animosity. It amazed me that two groups that had been willing to kill one another just a short time before could be laughing and giggling with each other now. I walked over to Margery’s office and tapped on the door. She looked up and waved me in and said, “How many am I logging in today? I heard about the attack and knew you’d win them over.”
I said that we had six new ones and that I’d bring them in. After we had all the names and ages we’d try to pair them up so they would have a roommate close to their own ages, if possible.
I stuck my head out the door and got Alba’s attention. I asked her if she could funnel the new girls by the door so we could get names and ages. She said “Of course big, bad, Master Wizard!”
I stuck out my tongue and waited for the first girl. She approached me very shyly and I asked her her name. She said she was Sarah and was fourteen and wanted to thank me for allowing her to stay. I smiled and said that I was glad that she’d wanted to. The next girl Alba sent was Constance. Her name I knew but didn’t know her age. She said that she was fifteen and had never met happier people than my girls. Margery looked up at that and nodded, grinning. The next girl was a little thing and said her name was Janae and was twelve years old. I told her that she was even smaller than my most ornery girl and she let me know that she wasn’t the smallest in the group! The next girl showed up in duplicate. I’d seen this before but with Blonde hair instead of Auburn. They said their names were Amaris and Shelia and they were thirteen. They said that they had met the twins and thought it was neat that we had two sets of twins under the same roof! As the next girl walked towards me I thought that James had a date! This girl was tiny enough to be called miniature! She was four feet tall and looked to weigh barely fifty pounds. She said her name was Della and she was 11. She looked at me and said that she’d be able to marry in a few months and it was too bad I was already married. After she walked away Margery and I laughed until tears were running. I told her that was either the cutest or the most disturbing thing I’d ever heard in my life. I think she agreed with me but we were both having trouble talking.
After I regained my composure I waded into the crowd to get the girls attention. I asked that they follow me to the empty rooms on the second floor so we could get them settled in. I said that I was going to have the girls double up in a room but they were quite large and they should be comfortable. I also said that if they didn’t want to room with who I put them with, they should let me know. First I called for Sarah and Constance and they smiled at each other and stepped up. I opened the door and led the way. They looked around the room and said that it was beautiful and would work just fine. I smiled and went out for the next two and called up the new twins. They said that they’d expected that and when I opened the door they ran to the bed and said that they hadn’t expected this! I grinned because the king sized beds of the keep were very much loved. I then called Janae and Della. They were both small, Della being the smallest by far but I asked them if they both thought that they could fit in the bed. Janae looked at it and said that it might be tough but they would manage. The crowd at the door laughed and I felt concern that we might have another Alba on our hands! I rounded up some instructors and asked if they would take them to the tailors so we could dress them properly. I told them
uniforms, nightgowns and a dress, at which Alba grinned evilly at me. I walked over to Alba and whispered that it had been awhile since I was alone with her. I suggested that perhaps she needed a spanking. She flushed slightly and winked. She then said that she was taking the miniature wizard girls to the tailors.
14.
Things went back to normal soon after the new girls joined our ranks. I had visited the king and told him that there were imposters that had stolen my spells and were training girls that could be influenced into believing that we were evil. I told him that they went by the names of Sir Gildon and Lady Melodie. I asked if he could dispatch couriers to warn the people about them. I informed him that we had captured eight of them and, when faced with the truth, they had chosen to join us. He dispatched couriers immediately and sent word to Wodor especially.
Months passed and James continued to grow and Isa and I had never been closer. I was often flirted with and Isa said that it was the stars revenge for me flirting. I had a few girls approach and act as if they were going to request being consorts but would blush and change the subject. Time would tell what would happen but my theory is that they were being treated kindly and loved that caused the attraction and flirting, not necessarily me. Alba’s theory was that the big, bad, Master Wizard was so lovable that everyone wanted to be with him!
Work on the new dorm building was going incredibly fast with Alice and me able to place and fuse the rock. When we would catch up with our rock supply, I’d work on the plumbing. I was personally transporting metal from the newly opened mines in Clodfey. They had found several veins that ran east and west and had doubled production. The smith had come down to see what we were using the pipe for and was fascinated. He said we should take jobs installing plumbing in all the keeps in the kingdom. I didn’t really like the idea but smiled and nodded to humor him. Alice and I discussed the rate at which the place was coming together and decided that we could start moving in two weeks or less.
All the girls were excited because it was starting to feel a bit crowded in the keep. Counting Isabel and myself there were twenty wizards in the keep now. I’ve decided that when the big move happens, Isa, James and I will stay in the keep with whichever instructors choose to stay. The rest we’d have move to the much more spacious quarters. The dorm and the rooms inside were enormous and each room was being plumbed with shower and toilet facilities. I didn’t know the first thing about porcelain so we just built rudimentary toilets but they had the nice gas trap to keep odor from coming back up from my world technology built in. True ‘flushing’ wasn’t possible but a valve was built on to clear them of unwanted things. Alice and I had built a septic system of sorts below our target range and where it wouldn’t contaminate the well. I thought it was fantastic considering what we had to work with.
The dorms overall foundation measured one hundred fifty feet by two hundred fifty feet. The dorm rooms inside were built fifty by fifty. They were enormous.
A bell rang in the guard tower alerting me that a rider was on the road. I popped down the courtyard to welcome the traveler. We had visitors from time to time but not as many as when James was first born. An exhausted man on an exhausted horse came through the gate. I signaled for a guard as the man dismounted. I had the guard take the horse to our small stable facilities. I asked the man to step inside and as we walked he told me that he was a messenger from the king.
I escorted him to our meeting room and called for food and drink for the tired man. After he had sat and eaten he told me that the king requested my presence as soon as it was possible. He let me know that he hadn’t been given any details on why, just a request to come to court. I thanked the messenger and told him that I would arrange a room for him to recover in and meals to be brought. I told him that the only open rooms I had in the keep were on the third floor, and while I would tell the girls that he is here, they could forget. I suggested that he be a gentleman around them and to remember who…and what they were. He nodded, looking slightly afraid, and that made me happy.
I stepped out of the meeting room and told Margery what I’d told the messenger. She grinned, when I told her that the messenger should be gentleman, and said that she wasn’t cleaning up ash if he decided to grab a backside. She said that she would see to it that he was taken care of and repeat the warning warn to behave.
As I was crossing the foyer to the stairs I heard a quite, “David” whispered from the shower area. I crossed to the showers and was dragged inside by Alice. She pushed me against the wall inside one of the shower stalls and closed the curtain. She then put her arms around me and kissed me so passionately that I got light-headed! She held me close and said, “Do you love me David? I can feel right now that a part of you loves me but I mean really love me? With your heart and soul, forever kind of love?”
I was perplexed, “Alice, you know I love you! You’ve been my consort for months now; I thought you knew how I felt about you! Is everything alright? Are you ok, and are we ok?”
Alice smiled and sighed, “I knew in my heart that would be the answer but I wanted to hear the words. A woman just loves to be reminded that they are loved and wanted and needed. Especially when a woman learns that she is with child.”
I smiled and nodded, stroking her hair and then froze. I took her by the shoulders and held her at arms length. “What was that last part?” I asked.
She grinned and said, “You heard right. This it the third month that I haven’t had my cycle. We’re going to have a baby! You’re going to be a father again!” and she hugged me again.
I am glad that she was hugging me and my back was against the shower wall. I needed all the stability that I could get! I realized that I didn’t know how it was supposed to work if a consort had a baby. With no birth control in use I knew that it could and probably would happen. I always figured that I’d cross that bridge when I came to it. Well, here was the bridge! I kissed Alice gently on the neck and whispered, “We need to inform Isabel.”
Alice smiled up at me and said, “I’m sure that she will be very happy for us. I love you David and glad that I can give you another child.”
I took her hand and said, “I love you too, now we should see my wife.” I led us up the steps that seemed incredibly short today and to the door of my room. I opened door and Isa greeted us. She said that she had heard the bell and asked if it was a messenger. I nodded and said that her father wanted to see me in court as soon as possible. She smiled and nodded. She looked at Alice and asked, “What’s different about you?”
Alice grinned and said, “For the next six or seven months I might be asking for extra help, from time to time.”
Isabel did a little tap dance in one place then ran to Alice, throwing her arms around her. She stepped away and put a hand on Alice’s tummy and said, “You should plan on getting used to that! Everyone will want to touch you!”
Alice looked at me, “And I could tell by the look on your face that you were worried about telling her. I knew that she would be thrilled and consorts have babies all the time. Since the man is the father he raises them as his own. The only difference is, with a large family like ours, you have more mothers!”
I grinned, “Well, just so everyone knows, I’m thrilled and excited and I love the mothers in our family very, very much. I admit I was scared because, in the culture that I came from, if a husband got a girlfriend pregnant there was a good chance his wife would attempt to remove his manhood! I was afraid that I’d find out the same was true for here. This does bring up the question for me of how many children a lord with multiple consorts would have!”
Isa giggled and said, “There have been lords that have had hundreds of children!”
I grabbed the back of a chair for stability. Isa and Alice started laughing so hard I thought they would hurt themselves! Alice said, “Well, if you’re going to have hundreds then you better get busy and I would recommend that you get more consorts too!”
I said, “I do love children, but I feel that as a D
addy I should be able to love and spend time with them. The father of hundreds couldn’t do that. I think that I’ll take what nature gives me and the consorts that my wife gives me. She seems to be an excellent judge of character!”
Isa said, “Speaking of consorts I’ve been talking to…”
I interrupted, “As interested as I am in the subject, the kings’ messenger did say that it was important that I go to court. Also, let all the girls know that he will be rooming on the third floor while he rests up. I suggested he be a gentleman but you might bring it up too. He brushes a breast or checks the fabric covering a behind we might have to explain the ash pile to the king.”
Alice and Isa giggled and said they would pass the word to be dressed on the floor. They both stepped forward and kissed me, wishing me a safe journey. I told them that I loved them and would see them soon.
I popped in a quarter mile from the gates of Rosenwood. I needed to walk and clear my head before dealing with whatever situation the king had for me. I really was excited about having another child and was also happy about spending more time with Alice. I’m sure now that Isa and Alice have motherhood in common, they will be together much more often. I found myself wondering if the same midwives would come back or if I’d scared them too badly. I smiled remembering that incident!
At the steps to the keep no one stopped me and I walked to the doors of the throne room. Moments later I was announced and ushered in. I had the strangest feeling of being watched, and not by the crowds that were always in the throne room. I felt invisible eyes on me.
The king greeted me as always and walked to the edge of the dais. He said “Master Wizard, I have a favor to ask…” I held up a hand, stopping him.
The Wizards of Eredwynn 02 - Another Typical Day, Too Page 9