by Booth, John
“Of course, such magic is impossible. But Wizard Plath threatened the King and others. He later kidnapped me from this very room.”
Lady Meldar got to her feet. “Can you tell us what happened to him? He is my nephew and there has been much concern in his family since his disappearance.”
I figured I'd got the hang of this diplomacy. Use half-truths to say the exact opposite of what really happened while saving everybody's face. It was my turn.
“If I may, Princess?”
Esmeralda was getting almost telepathic with her looks. The one she gave me said 'blow this one and I shall use your testicals for maracas' as clearly as if she'd said the words.
“I caught up with Esmeralda and Taldar on the cliff of another world. He said he kidnapped her so we could talk in private. He was in a lot of pain from his burnt face and he wasn't in the most rational state of mind.”
“No one can heal burns from Wizard's Fire. Even the most advanced bio-technology is ineffective,” Lady Meldar said quietly. It seemed that I too had scored a point.
“He staggered to the edge of the cliff and I went to help him. He must have thought I was attacking him because he lurched back and fell over the cliff. I ran to see what happened but there was no sign of him on the rocks below. I assumed he had hopped to safety. Esmeralda was in a state of shock so I took her home.”
In my mind's eye I relived the moment when Talder threw Esmeralda off the cliff and I snapped his worthless evil neck. I smiled warmly at the wizards.
“He has not returned,” Lady Meldar said sharply.
“I can take you to the place where he fell if you want.”
Lord Lagan shrugged. “That will not be necessary. We understand there is to be a royal wedding. We can strengthen the relationship between our respective worlds by attending that event, if you so allow?”
Esmeralda appeared to consider while I attempted to beam the word 'no' across the gap between us.
“We would be delighted for you to attend. If fact, we insist you stay as our special guests and are treated as visiting royalty. I shall appoint servants to look after your every need.” Esmeralda seemed delighted while I fumed inwardly. It was like inviting cobras to share your bed. And I still had Bronwyn to deal with.
The wizards swept out of the room with a couple of the servants leading the way. I turned to express my mind to Esmeralda when Jenny grabbed my arm and put her finger to her lips. She dragged me down the steps to the chairs the wizards had occupied and tipped the chairs over carefully. A small transmitter was stuck to the bottom of the one on the end. I put a layer of magic over it so we couldn't be heard.
“What is that thing?” the King asked.
“Advanced technology, your Majesty,” I said. “It would allow the Wizards to overhear anything said in this room. I've stopped it working.”
“But they are being shown their quarters.”
“There are things on other worlds called recorders, your Majesty. They would save our words so they could be listened to later.”
“That was very clever of you,” Jenny told Esmeralda. Her words stopped my planned outburst. I didn't want to look foolish in front of anybody.
“They will barely have the time to be alone with the service I plan for them.” Esmeralda grinned at us. “We shall know everything they say and do. You can start their magic device again, Jake. This session of the court is over.”
Chapter Twelve: Dragon Lore
Jenny and Esmeralda finally let me go after I threatened to scream and scream and scream until I was sick. My brides used a model of the cathedral to explain the wedding program to me, not once or twice, but so many times I felt my head was about to explode. Not that I could remember much of what they'd said, but it was only a wedding after all. How difficult could it be?
My mind was switching between worrying about the wizards from Valhalla and worrying about Bronwyn. Both were bound to cause trouble at the wedding and the possibilities were endless. All my brides-to-be seemed to be worried about was whether Aunty Maud should be on the second or third row and how many maids of honor should there be. What the hell is a maid of honor anyway?
They finally took pity on me and send me to the cloisters to await Fluffy's return. The cloisters form a quadrangle around a large neatly trimmed lawn that Fluffy regards as his place of residence when visiting Salice. He had glimmed back to Wales to eat because he claimed Welsh lamb is infinitely superior to the Salice kind. At least, that's what he told Jenny. I suspect he wanted to get away from the wedding planning as much as I did.
There were benches against the wall of the cloisters and I sat on one as I contemplated my plan of action. Since I hadn't a clue as to where Bronwyn might have gone I couldn't chase after her, but the idea of waiting for her to attack me gave me butterflies in my stomach. It was like waiting for exam results.
As the sun moved lower in the sky it started getting cold. I wrapped some warming magic around myself and wondered how much longer Fluffy was going to be.
As if in answer, he streaked in for a classic landing. Fluffy has never been much good at landings. Dragons fly by magic, their wings assist with steering and banking, but little else. They land in a kind of controlled stall with their wings spread wide to reduce their forward motion. With Fluffy, it was more like the crash landing of a biplane with his head serving as the brake as he tipped over. Sometimes he got it right. This wasn't one of those times.
The grass proved slippery and he slid on his neck for a good ten feet before coming to a stop a few inches from my feet.
“Meep.” [Hi Jake. You're looking much better.]
“How were the sheep?”
“Meep, meep, meep.” [They're getting harder to find. I think the farmers are deliberately hiding them from me.]
“The swines. Feeding a dragon is their bounden duty as Welshmen.”
“Meeep.” [That's pretty much my opinion.]
“Did Jenny tell you about our visitors?”
“Meep, meeep.” [It was like having a ring side seat. When she's that upset I'm almost in the room. I accidently burnt a sheep to a crisp when you told them about Plath. I like this devious new you.]
“So have you been living the wedding plans?”
Fluffy laughed and small fires sprang up on the lawn, which he casually put out by beating them with his wings.
“Meep.” [Some things I can tune out.]
I looked at the sky. There wasn't a cloud in sight and it looked inviting.
“Care for a quick trip round the kingdom?”
“Meep.” [It would be my pleasure.]
There is nothing quite as exhilarating as riding on the back of a dragon. For one thing Fluffy's neck doesn't provide the most secure of seats and I always end up sliding when we turn. Scales aren't that easy to hold onto and Fluffy doesn't do saddles or reins. Jenny finds it incredibly simple, which is distinctly annoying. But on the other hand, she never experiences the terror of nearly falling off. I wondered how she had got on with bringing people to Salice. Perhaps they never left the ground? As far as I knew, Fluffy could glim anywhere.
Salice is a small kingdom. The furthest boundary is less than forty miles from the city and all the boundaries follow natural features in the landscape. For example, the mountains we were currently flying over. I'd stopped an invasion by turning the pass that ran through them into a quagmire last year.
Salice is surrounded by three similar sized kingdoms. Dantor is to the north and west, Frode to the south and Alegon to the east. The sea is also to the north. When I first hopped to Salice I arrived on its rugged coastline. I'd never seen a boat on the waters and there were none in sight as Fluffy took us down to the beach and skimmed the breaking waves. I whooped in delight.
We soared high into the air before Fluffy glided down towards the city. A bright light shone at us from somewhere in the Palace. Fluffy turned and I instinctively placed a protective shield around us. It was lucky I did because when the full force of the light hit us we
were pushed high into the stratosphere. Fluffy glimmed, but the light was in hop-space as well and we were pushed through the mists at incredible speed. I clung on desperately as Fluffy tumbled head over heels, completely out of control. I strengthened the shield around us and tried not to be sick.
After what seemed like forever, the light pushing us faded. Fluffy appeared to be on the verge of unconsciousness. We needed to find somewhere to land. The mist seemed empty until I sensed a rocky world with a safe atmosphere. I used magic to point Fluffy at it and hopped us back to reality onto a smooth rock surface in a very dark place. I slid to the ground and tried to get my bearings.
[Let's not do that again.]
“Are you okay?” I touched him and immediately sensed something wrong. His skin buzzed in a subtly sick way.
[I think so. Are you?]
“There's something magical on your skin. Lie still while I check it out.”
My eyes were beginning to adjust to the limited light. It was night and there was a star field above us that looked like nothing I'd ever seen. Three galaxy spirals dominated the sky and apart from that there was darkness, no other stars were visible. However, much of my view of the sky was blocked. We appeared to have landed in a dead volcano or a deep crater. The walls were too dark to see but the sky outlined its circular form.
I stared at Fluffy. In the low light, my ability to see magic was enhanced and it's possible that if we had landed here in daylight I would have seen nothing. As it was, I saw a thin sheen of deadly magic covering his body. The closer I looked the more I was appalled by it. It was like a cancer and was already beginning to work its way into his flesh to kill him.
Urda's healing magic was never more appropriate. Without it I wouldn't have had a clue what to do. I cancelled the evil magical coating as I ran my hand over his scales. I could only do it by touch. I explained to Fluffy what I was doing as I tracked over every single inch of his body with my hand. It seemed to take forever, but I carried on until I was sure it was all gone.
[Show me how to do it.]
I knew what he meant. If it was on him it would be on me as well, though I couldn't see it there when I looked. I grabbed his clawed hand and willed the information into him knowing it probably wouldn't work. We'd never tried anything like that before.
[I can see it. Liquid evil, like a coating of oil.]
Fluffy brought his head close to mine and ran his lips over my face.
[I can heal it, but you must take off your clothes, Jake. Quickly.]
I stripped for my dragon and he ordered me to lie down on the cold stone. Fortunately the ground was incredibly smooth if icy cold. His hot breath covered me in stages, drifting down to places that were a mite embarrassing. He made me roll onto my side and then my back as he stripped this cursed magic off me.
Eventually it was over. I felt too tired to get dressed and lay against him using his body heat to get warm again. The cold from the stone had begun to eat into me. Fluffy turned his head so as to create a cradle for me along his neck.
A light grew from nowhere around us. It glinted on thousands of eyes in the walls surrounding us. Suddenly I was very aware of my nakedness and struggled to get my boxer shorts on.
Jets of fire shot from below each pair of eyes. Not aimed at us, but into the air above, creating a canopy of fire. In this light I saw dragons, thousands of dragons. Sitting in cave mouths cut into the walls of this volcano, which I realized was nothing of the sort. We were in a massive amphitheatre, standing on its stage.
Nearly all the dragons were in pairs. A few of the biggest and oldest looking ones sat alone in their caves. They stopped breathing fire, but the flames above us continued to crackle and burn. It was warm now, but strangely not hot despite the inferno burning above us.
[Welcome Retnor et Sonsil el Regore. And welcome to you Wizard Jake Morrissey. Welcome to the Gathering of Dragons.]
“Err, hi there.” I was still struggling to get dressed and one of the legs of my jeans was inside out.
[Greetings to the dragons of the multiverse and to my mother and father.] Fluffy, at least, managed some level of dignity. I resolved not to mention my state of undress to Jenny and then realized Fluffy might be telepathically broadcasting the whole thing to her. I could only hope he wasn't and that I could find some bribe big enough to get some form of self-censorship. If Esmeralda ever found out I'd never hear the last of it. Fluffy was very fond of Aberdeen Angus steak. Perhaps if I bought him a whole cow?
[This is a day long prophesied. When Dragon-kind would see for itself a Wizard save a Dragon without thought of his own survival and that a Dragon would return the favor out of love.]
“Fluffy, I mean Retnor is my friend. That's what friends do.”
[So it seems. But it has never happened before. Between Riders and Dragons, yes. Wizards, however, care for nothing except themselves.]
[Did you bring us here? And is this all of our kind?]
Spurts of flame shot from many of the dragons' mouths as they laughed good naturedly.
[We did not bring you here. It was prophesized that you would come and we have waited for you many months. And yes, this is all the dragons of the multiverse. We will leave now.]
That was ridiculous. I finally managed to get my tee-shirt over my head and addressed the assembly bare footed. If I waited until I found my socks they'd probably all be gone.
“Can I ask why what we do is important to you?”
There was a long silence and I wondered if I had offended them. I was about to apologize when I got my reply.
[There is something coming. Not soon by your measure of time, but short as we count it. The Dragons will stand by you when it happens, though it might well destroy us all. For such a sacrifice we had to be sure you were worthy.]
[Thank you.]
Fluffy bowed low and I took the hint and joined in. When I looked up every single dragon had gone and we were alone. The dragonfire above our heads began to fade and I put my socks and shoes on quickly before we were back in darkness.
[Any idea how to find our way back?]
I sighed with relief. “I take it you've lost contact with Jenny? Thank the Lord for that.”
[Oh yes, I can follow her mind-trail. I should have thought of that. Jenny says to tell you, 'Dignity at all times. You should have just covered it with a sock.' You must explain to me what she means when we get back.]
Chapter Thirteen: Confusion
We all gathered the following morning on the lawn in the center of the cloisters. Jenny had insisted on sleeping in another room to keep her vow to Esmeralda and as a result I hardly slept at all. The look she gave me when I got back spoke volumes on how much information Fluffy had passed to her. I would have to have a word with him about the role of best friends and what the word discretion means.
Esmeralda waited for us, sitting cross-legged on the grass with Urda and Wenna on either side of her. Urda smiled at me and then looked away while Wenna's face lay hidden behind her long straight hair, and she had her head down. Jenny and I sat on the grass on either side of Fluffy facing the others. Esmeralda gave me one of her usual looks, the one halfway between despair and happiness.
“I'm glad you're back safe,” Urda blurted out, her face flushing.
“As are we all, Urda,” Esmeralda added briskly. “It would be slightly more comforting if we didn't have to feel that way about Jake quite so often.”
I have noticed a tendency for Esmeralda to take charge in all our meetings. I was about to put a stop to it with some well-chosen words about who was top Wizard in Salice when I noticed she had gone silent. She looked beyond me in surprise and hurriedly got to her feet, as did Urda and Wenna.
“No need to get up for me,” the King said as he stepped into my view. “I don't plan to stay long.”
I've had a few conversations with the King of Salice and was dreading the one we would have when I attempted to apologize for getting his daughter pregnant.
What I can tell you for a f
act is that he's nobody's fool. He likes to stay in the background and let others, especially his daughter, do the talking for him. But she doesn't do anything he hasn't already approved. That would probably include getting pregnant, if I was to be honest about it. The King and Esmeralda have been playing me like a violin since the day we first met.
The King gave me a kindly smile. I started to get to my feet but he waved me back down.
“Some of my advisers think Salice would be better off without you, Jake. They believe trouble follows you around and the appearance of the wizards from Valhalla is yet more proof of your recklessness and danger to us all.”
I started to speak, but he raised his hand.
“My daughter has already remonstrated with them. She has yet to learn to be tolerant of dissenting views. A ruler needs to know all the things his people think, however foolish some of those thoughts are.”
Esmeralda flushed at the rebuke and nodded.
“Without you, my people would be ruled by a despot, be it Wizard Plath or another of his ilk. I would be dead, that much is certain. Salice attracts Wizards, as do the neighboring kingdoms. We are a handsome people, rich in health, food to eat and we have a certain amount of grace, elegance and learning that appeals to them. It has been that way for generations. They come, they despoil, and then they leave us fallow for a couple of generations to recover.”
“We have our own wizards now, Father. There is hope.”
“My advisers fear the wizards from Valhalla. What they do not see is that these wizards did not simply take over the kingdom, but came in warily, using their diplomatic status to protect themselves. They did that because they fear you, Jake.”
The King's smile turned suddenly to a stern frown.
“So would you please avoid getting yourself killed? My daughter needs a husband and there are very few in the multiverse who would put up with her. The children will need a father. It is time to learn caution, Jake.”
He waited a few seconds to be sure his message had sunk in and then strolled back to the cloisters and into the Palace.