by Booth, John
Jenny stayed a long time filling me in on a million details. She pulled a large loose leaf binder from a carrier bag. (I had been hoping for grapes) and showed me diagrams of the cathedral with seating layouts. This brought about my one and only objection.
“You'll need to move the seats so there's more room down the aisle.”
Jenny gave me a puzzled look.
“I haven't put on that much weight. Neither has Esmeralda.”
“For the Best Man.”
“What?”
“If I'm going to marry two women at a time, my Best Man is going to be Fluffy.”
Jenny's mouth dropped open and she spluttered. I don't think I've actually made her splutter before, definitely an event to remember.
“You can't have a dragon as your Best Man. Besides, Retnor wouldn't want to do it.”
That was a feeble come-back and we both knew it.
“We'll leave it up to him then?” I said, and smiled broadly.
Jenny sighed. She knew my dragon better than I did. He would kill to do it. She rubbed out a name she'd penciled in and wrote 'RETNOR' in big letters next to the words Best Man.
“I don't know what my parents are going to think.”
“He's been Glimming them to Salice and back.”
“Yes, but they think of him as a strange looking horse.”
“Time they learned better then. I bet Esmeralda will be all for it.”
Jenny frowned and hit her pencil hard against the pad. It made a surprisingly loud noise.
“And don't think either of us are going to let you touch us before the wedding. We might not have been pure before, but we've made a vow of chastity to each other.”
“What happens on the wedding night?” Okay, I will admit to grinning broadly after I spoke.
“If you're very lucky, we might let you live.”
Judging by the look in Jenny's eyes it was going to be a close thing.
The doctors told Jenny that the earliest I could be discharged was in two days' time. Within an hour of her leaving I decided I couldn't wait that long. Bronwyn was a major threat to my wives-to-be and she'd had four months to study those damned books. 'Wives-to-be', it was funny how easily I'd accepted that idea. The thought of the wedding and appearing before all those guests with two brides scared the life out of me, but the idea of being married to them felt strangely comfortable, as though it was the right and natural thing to do.
Then there were the pregnancies. I've never wanted children. At eighteen I can assure you it was the last thing on my mind. But I knew we'd cope, and if parenthood got too much I could always hop to a sunny beach while the wives got the situation under control. After all, a man's acknowledged as being pretty useless in the nappy changing department. It would all work out, I was sure.
I pressed the alarm button by my bed and a nurse came hurrying over.
“I want to discharge myself.”
“You can't do that.”
“I want to discharge myself right now.” The second time it was a command.
“I'll go and get the forms.”
Twenty minutes later I stepped out of the ward, one hand pressing against the wall to keep me upright.
“I thought you'd be leaving tonight.”
It was a familiar voice behind me. I didn't turn.
“You weren't thinking of arresting me again, were you Sergeant Jones?”
His hand dropped onto my shoulder and squeezed. The pain was intense and my knees wobbled.
“On what charge would that be, Jake?”
“Not having a valid charge has never stopped you before.”
The Sergeant walked around me using my shoulder as a pivot. I felt a white hot surge of rage run through me, and it was all I could do not to vaporize him where he stood. I didn't need this right now. The Sergeant was oblivious as to how close he'd come to death.
“Look boyo, it's like this. Nearly all child murders are committed by the family or a close friend. In this case that's Bronwyn's parents or you. She didn't have any friends at school. She was always bunking off somewhere. We'd be derelict in our duty if we didn't investigate you. You and Bronwyn are like peas in a pod. You could swap your school reports and not spot the difference.”
“There are big differences between me and her,” I said through gritted teeth.
The Sergeant let go of my shoulder and shrugged.
“Perhaps. Then there's the fact that you and her parents were assaulted and nearly died before making miraculous recoveries. Not one of you saw the person who did it. It's all very peculiar and Inspector Thomas doesn't like peculiar. And there's still a missing eleven year old to worry about.”
“Twelve,” I corrected without thinking.
“You see, Jake. How do you know that?”
“Her parents mentioned it yesterday.”
I saw he didn't believe me. I'd made a slip and we both knew it.
“Something's going on, Jake. The Matthews, your parents, Jenny and her parents, they've all been dropping off the radar for days at a time. Don't think we haven't been keeping an eye on all of you. We'll find out what you did to Bronwyn sooner or later, you'd best believe it.”
I felt my anger building again. How dare he suggest my parents were murderers?
“Bronwyn is fine. No one has done anything to her. And I'll tell you this, Sergeant Brandon Jones, if she were to appear on this corridor right now, it's you who should be afraid, very afraid.”
He backed away from me looking shocked. He must think I'm some kind of madman. I hobbled away from him as quickly as I could.
After about twenty steps I stopped and turned to see if he was watching. He had his back to me so I hopped.
Chapter Eight: Visitations
Fluffy stared into the large mirror on the wall, preening himself. Strictly speaking preening requires feathers and Fluffy hadn't had any since he was newly hatched, though that does explain the name I gave him. But in the same way humans preen, that was what my dragon was up to.
“Jenny's told you?”
Fluffy turned his head to look at me and grinned dragon-style. Likely any knight in amour would have run at the sight requiring emergency underwear. His teeth are big and unnervingly sharp.
[Anything important she wants me to know, I know. It's a Dragon-Rider thing.]
“She seemed less than pleased when I told her.”
Fluffy waved a massive clawed hand dismissively.
“Meeeeep.” [She's delighted. Jenny's been trying to figure a way to get me into the wedding for months. She just never thought of making me Best Man.]
“Then why did she try to stop me when I suggested it?”
[This way she can tell her parents she tried to talk you out of it, but you wouldn't listen. You have a well-established reputation for stubbornness in the Owens household. Jenny has been using that excuse since the day you met.]
Said explanation goes to show exactly how much I don't understand the women in my life.
“If I'm going to marry both of them I felt I needed a dragon with me for moral support.”
Fluffy ignored me and went back to admiring his orange and gold reptilian head in the mirror.
“Meep, meep, meep.” [Do you think I should wear a bow tie? Could you get me a dragon-sized one?]
I took a step towards him, planning to give him a playful slap on the rump. Instead I staggered and had to grab him to stop myself falling over.
“Meeep.” [You're not recovered yet. Why did you leave your bed?]
“Bronwyn is now twelve years old and has been making plans to take over Salice for more than four months. My wedding is in ten days, or is it nine? I've got important things to do.”
Fluffy looked down at me, his eyes narrowing. [You must preserve your health or defeat is certain. On top of which, you're nineteen now, as is Jenny. That Bronwyn is a year older means nothing.]
I slid down Fluffy's side to the floor. Four months is a long time, and mine and Jenny's birthdays had slipped by
while I was out of it.
“She'll kill me. I didn't get her a present.”
Fluffy laughed. This can be a pretty frightening experience even when you're used to it. The Bat Cave shook as spurts of flame shot from his mouth and nostrils. I pulled my legs in as dragonfire licked across the cavern floor.
[I think you gave her a present she'll never forget.]
“I don't think a baby was anywhere on her list.”
Fluffy's laughter got worse and I cowered against his flank until he calmed down.
[Humans have it easy in love. A female dragon selects her mate and takes him in battle. She pins him against the ground and puts a claw on his jugular. He must submit to her will in all things or deny her and risk her killing him.]
I thought about it.
“Our system isn't all that different. At least, not in my case.”
[I will make a dragon of you yet, Jake. Jenny was one long before we met.]
“Is that part of the prophesy?”
Some time ago I took Fluffy back to the world I stole his egg from and we met his parents. They told me I could never have taken his egg if they hadn't wanted me to. Dragons are into prophesy in a big way and they believed it was vital that Fluffy and I grew up together, for the good of the multiverse no less. That was when we found out his given name was Retnor. Jenny's never called him anything else since.
Fluffy looked at me bleakly. [There are many prophesies. Not all of them are favorable.]
“I have to go to Salice,” I said to break the silence that had followed.
“Meep.” [You said that last time we met and look what happened.]
“I'm not planning any encounters with Bronwyn until I know at least as much as she knows.”
Fluffy put a massive wing over me in a comforting way.
[But does she plan any encounters with you?]
We held onto each other for a while and then I hopped.
Esmeralda and her parents had done their best to keep me out of the royal library after I became their wizard. But I knew its location well enough to hop directly there.
Salice and Wales are in similar time zones and it was late in the night when I arrived. Lanterns flickered, hanging from dark stained oak beams. This was not the kind of place you have naked flames as the books were far too precious. Centuries of accumulated knowledge stood to attention on the shelves around me. I felt distinctly intimidated as I have never been one for reading books. Not even fiction.
The person I hoped to find peered into an ancient tome. A lantern on either side of the book shone light onto the pages via a lens arrangement. She looked up at me and then looked quickly away.
“It is good to see you well enough to hop, mi'Lord Wizard.”
I wasn't having any of that kind of talk and two could play at that game.
“And it's good to see you too, mi'Lady Wizard.”
Urda rose from her chair and knelt in front of me.
“Only a wizard since you made me into one last night.”
I took her gently by her arms and raised her to her feet. I staggered under the strain and she steadied me, staring at me with anxious eyes.
“Only alive because you saved me. And thanks for stopping me falling down just then.”
“You should be in bed. I will take you to mine.”
I resisted as she began to drag me from the library.
“Urda, Bronwyn has pledged to take this kingdom and make everyone her slaves. I need your help, not your bed.” Though I will admit that a lie down sounded like a very good idea just then.
Urda looked up at me and her pupils dilated making her eyes look huge.
“I will do anything for you, mi'Lord. Anything.”
There was something a little unsettling about the way she said that so I decided to ignore it.
“Well, you can start by calling me, Jake. Every time you say mi'Lord I keep looking behind me to see who you're talking too.”
“As mi'… you wish, Jake.”
“Urda, you've been reading all these books on magic and you did a brilliant job of healing me.”
I lifted her chin because her head had dropped to gaze at the floor as soon as I spoke. The girl was blushing again. I never used to have this effect on women. It felt more than a little weird.
“I can absorb anything you've learned if we both put a hand on the book and you will me to know. Have you read any of the books Bronwyn took?”
Urda looked downcast and I knew her answer before she spoke.
“I sought healing. Bronwyn took books on using magic to fight.”
My legs were getting unsteady again so I directed us to a table where we could talk sitting down.
“Healing might be useful. Did you study it specifically to heal me?”
“I studied it before Bronwyn attacked you. It was what gave Princess Esmeralda the idea. Some of those you brought here from Barren have trouble sleeping and often wake up screaming.”
I had rescued a load of children from a world where girls and boys were regularly accused of witchcraft before being burnt at the stake. It was also the world where Bronwyn was raped after being accused. It couldn't be described by even the most charitable person as a nice place.
“I didn't know. I could have helped.”
Urda smiled. She was a very attractive young woman when she smiled.
“You gave us our lives. What more could we ask of you?”
“I healed Bronwyn's physical wounds, but not her mental ones. Do you know how to do that?”
Urda shook her head.
“What I don't get is why you and the others didn't go crazy because of what they did to you. Would you have killed Grimaldi for putting you over his knee? What makes Bronwyn so different?”
It wasn't a clever thing to say. I could see from the way Urda's eyes glistened that she was close to tears. It just happened to be the question going around in my head and I've never learned how to keep the stupid things in there.
“They tortured my body, did terrible things, but I separated my mind as they worked and they never tortured me. The less troubled of us say the same. I think that Bronwyn could not split herself. There are many in Barren I might go back to kill someday, but I could never have hurt Grimaldi nor anyone else who's heart is good, no matter what they did to me.”
“Teach me what you know, Urda.”
“Am I a wizard forever, Jake? Or will this power you gave me fade away as I use it?”
I looked into Urda in a way I can't explain, nor knew I could do until she asked. Magical forces swirled around something beautiful within her that might best be called a soul. I could see no sign she would lose her abilities.
“It's permanent, I think. You are who you were meant to be.”
Urda leaned over the table and kissed me on the cheek.
“I'll go and get the books.”
It wasn't necessary for our hands to touch as I absorbed the information, but when I put my hand on the book, Urda placed her hand so her fingers touched mine.
She seemed disappointed when we finished. As I stood up to leave she spoke.
“The Princess has read the books Bronwyn took.”
Chapter Nine: Esmeralda
I walked through the Palace to Esmeralda's room as I was far too tired to hop. Besides which, nothing good has ever come from hopping into that girl's room. Well, there have been some unforgettable sights, I have to admit, but nothing that was good for me in the long run.
It was no real distance, but it took me ages. I leaned against the wall every ten feet or so to get my strength back. The magic I'd put on my muscles couldn't work unless I was lying down, preferably asleep. All it was doing now was keeping them from getting any worse. But I had to protect us from Bronwyn. It couldn't wait.
I gathered my strength as I stood swaying in front of Esmeralda's door. I was about to knock when the door flew open and Esmeralda stood in front of me.
“Well Jake, have you come to admire your handiwork?”
She opened her dressing gown revealing her nightdress and the very visible baby bump in her tummy.
“Err, no, I mean yes… I never intended… It was an accident… I didn't mean…” I stopped talking before my mouth said something I couldn't get myself out of. I was tired for God's sake.
“We have a saying in Salice. If you walk through a bog and find yourself up to your neck, the first thing to do is to stop walking. I see you've learned that wisdom … almost.”
“I need your help, Esmeralda.”
She looked me up and down and I could swear she barely suppressed a smile that changed to a familiar frown as one of my knees gave way. I grabbed the side of the door to stay upright. She came closer and helped me into the room.
“A romantic man might have said how well I looked, or kissed his bride to be. But in your case, needing my help is something, I suppose. Sit down before you fall down. I've poured you some tea.”
I have never felt so grateful to be sitting down. Esmeralda sat in a chair on the other side of the elegant little round table in front of me. As she said, an ornate cup and saucer was ready on the table, filled with the brown liquid the locals call tea. A similar cup was in front of her and she lifted it to her lips and indicated I should do the same. I was in no mood to drink and slid the cup to one side. Esmeralda looked displeased.
A stray thought penetrated my somewhat befuddled state. She had known I was coming. I could have sworn I removed the magic that told her where I was. I stared into Esmeralda in the way I did with Urda and saw she was free of magic, except for a tiny buzz where the baby lay within her. It seemed I was going to have at least one wizard for a child.
Urda must have got here before me and told her I was coming. That thought made sense and I relaxed.