by John Booth
“We didn’t see you come in and we were in the hall?” Brad countered.
It was so tempting to use mind control, but even as I considered it I rejected it. Messing with people’s minds was always wrong.
“I came in the back way.” While technically feasible this would have required me to scale a five foot high wooden fence. “I arrived earlier and went out in the back garden. Mam wanted me to do some pruning for her.”
If that didn’t satisfy them I was going to mind control them. A man needs to retain his dignity, not to mention his secret identity.
Mam poked her head around the door.
“Come on kids. Leave Jake in peace. He’s been doing some gardening for me and needs a shower,”
Blessed be the mother who covers for her son. The twins moaned, but left the room leaving me and Mam alone.
“You’re going to have to be more careful in the future,” Mam said and gave me a broad wink. “It’s lucky I heard you before I came in.”
“You didn’t have to adopt Colleen’s kids.”
Mam gave me a reproachful look. “Colleen put it in her will, though Lord knows why. She must have had a premonition. And we are responsible for what happened, aren’t we, Jake?”
I had a flashback to the minutes after the bomb blast when I was searching for survivors. What was left of the twin’s mother was splattered across the far wall of her house. The twins were buried under the front wall of the house, only alive because of the way the floor had collapsed beneath them. I hadn’t known their names back then, though they’d been neighbors for years. Lifting the wall off them before they suffocated was the least I could do under the circumstances.
“I am, Mam. Not you.”
“She was my sister and I’d insisted you help her. A lot of people would still be alive if I hadn’t.”
I shook my head. Mam couldn’t have known what Dafydd would do. It wasn’t her fault.
“And it’s nice to have kids in the house again. Especially ones who stay close to home and don’t go wandering across the multiverse.”
I dropped my jeans to the floor and Mam’s tinkling laughter drifted through the house as she walked away. Taking the time to lock the bathroom door, I got into the shower. The water was warm getting colder, but a little magic fixed that. Luxuriating in the hot water was bliss and I took my time before getting out.
“You must like cold showers,” Britney said as I walked into the kitchen. “Mam says we can’t afford a better boiler just yet.”
It was strange, her using that word for my mother. It almost hurt.
“I can give you the money,” I told Mam.
Mam was busy cooking a fried breakfast. According to the clock it was nearly eight. I was going to be late getting home.
“We don’t want your money, Jake. We’ll make do until we can afford it. Sit down, breakfast’s almost ready.”
“Some idiots used all the hot water,” Dad said as he entered the room.
“I can…”
Dad spotted me and waved me to silence before I could finish the sentence. It would have been easy to heat the water in the tank. Not so easy to explain it to the twins.
“I’ll manage. Anyway I’ve already washed in cold.”
“Jake came over to do that pruning we talked about,” Mam said quickly. Brad and Britney gave her suspicious looks.
Dad harrumphed and sat at the table, opening his paper. I’d bought him a tablet with subscriptions for all the local and national papers at Christmas, but I think he preferred to hide behind the real thing.
Further talk was curtailed by the arrival of breakfast. The twins ate ravenously. They always did, as if afraid the food would vanish if they took too long. Dad ate toast loaded with marmalade. This allowed him to keep on reading his paper as he ate.
“That college course I’ve been talking about starts on Friday.”
Mam stopped eating and stared at me.
“You will be careful?”
“What’s so dangerous about going to college?” Brad said mouth full to overflowing.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full, dear” Mam said absently.
“Uncle Jake might read a book by accident and have a heart attack,” Britney suggested. “Can you read, Uncle Jake?”
Dad lowered his paper and gave Britney a significant look.
“Sorry, Uncle Jake,” Britney said quickly. Dad had found out that taking her laptop away was a major punishment. One he was happy to dole out frequently as he didn’t think kids as young as her should spend their lives behind a keyboard.
“I have to go. Jenny is expecting me.”
I stood and walked to the front door. Mam followed me up the hall.
“Is it starting again?” she asked.
“Perhaps.” I gave her a peck on the cheek. “But I have to find him, Mam. None of us will be safe until I do.”
“Be careful, son.”
I smiled and walked up the drive to the road. Mam and Dad’s new house was only a quarter of a mile from where we lived and it wasn’t worth hopping on such a beautiful day. I turned to wave back after a few hundred yards, but Mam had already gone back inside.
6. Family
I hadn’t brought my key with me so I unlocked the front door with a little magic.
“Morning, Mr. Morrissey,” a female voice said behind me.
I turned to find Mrs. Blevins waving enthusiastically at me.
“Have you been out early then?” she asked.
“Just for a walk, Mrs. Blevins.”
“Our Gareth says you move like a ghost. He never sees you leave the house. I told him that you learned how to do that when all those English reporters were chasing you. Always asking us what you were up to, they did. Not that we would ever tell them. It wouldn’t be right, and you a married man with a wife and child to look after.”
I smiled. It was as difficult to get angry with Mrs. Blevins as it was to get away from her, or get a word in edgeways.
“Are Jenny and Merlin keeping well?”
I nodded. It was possible to have a whole conversation with Mrs. Blevins just by nodding, but I didn’t have the time for that right now.
“Jenny is waiting for me,” I got in quickly when she paused for breath.
“I’ll just let you get on then. If you need Gareth to help with anything you only have to call. We’re always in since Gareth retired and the vicar decided he didn’t need so many people to help out with chapel.”
I waved goodbye and closed the door just as she was telling me they had a surfeit of raspberries and we could have some if we wanted. I leaned against the door and magically locked it. Not that I thought mere locks could protect against the power of Mrs. Blevins if she was determined to get in.
“Is that you, Jake?”
The dulcet tones of my one true love echoed down the passage from the downstairs kitchen. This was a house where two of everything was the bare minimum. It has been build when servants were mandatory for the middle classes.
“Yes, I’ll be there in a minute.”
I set off at speed for the kitchen.
Jenny was icing a birthday cake. I did a quick check against my internal list. No it wasn’t mine, hers, or Esmeralda’s. She laughed as she looked up and saw my face.
“Not one of ours. This is for Gwydion. It’s his first tomorrow. You will come, won’t you?”
I stepped forward and tried to kiss her on the cheek, but she was on to me and turned her head so I ended up kissing her mouth. An infinite time later I was allowed up for air. There was something we’d been talking about and it took me a few seconds to remember what.
“Gwydion is one already? It seems like he was only born yesterday.”
“You will come? Daniel and Jean will be upset it you don’t.”
Gwydion was Mr. and Mrs. Griffith’s son. The one conceived after my meddling. I thought it had worked out quite well though I knew Jenny still disapproved that I hadn’t told them first. Mr. Griffith was my boss at the w
oodyard before I’d become a man of independent means. I still helped him out when they got a lot of work in. I’m a dab hand with a forklift.
“I’ll try. I’ve been accepted by the Balmack. I go on Friday.”
To my surprise, Jenny laughed with relief. “That’s why Retnor was so upset with you last night. It’s been worrying me.”
“We nearly got killed visiting the dragons.”
Jenny made a dismissive sound. “I knew you were both safe. That sort of thing gets transmitted so clear I could practically see Galator sorting out those fools.”
“And you’re not bothered by the Balmack thing?”
She touched my nose and icing sugar flew across my eyes. “I’ve had over a year to get used to it. And you always come back.”
I stood staring at this wonderful creature I’d been fortunate enough to marry.
“You will come back? Don’t you dare not come back,” she asked, suddenly looking a little flustered.
I picked her up and swung her round, causing icing to fill the air in a fine mist. “I promise.”
“Then put me down and go upstairs to the play room. Your children are up there with Esmeralda and Lord knows what she’s doing with then. She turned on the gas the other day because she thought it was some kind of piped in scent.”
“Is Urda here?”
Jenny shook her head. “It was Anna that brought them, and she had to go for training with her sister.”
The mothers of my children have a magic all their own, but to travel between Wales and Salice they needed a wizard. Salice is a kingdom on another world. I’m a Lord there and Esmeralda is heir to the throne.
I could have hopped, but this was my house and I liked to walk through it. Then I remembered something.
“Mrs. Blevins caught me at the door. She has surplus raspberries.”
“When I have an afternoon to spare, I’ll go over and see them. Gareth and Moira are nice, but they’re very lonely and it’s difficult to get away.”
I waved goodbye and made for the stairs. Jenny was on first name terms with the whole neighborhood, but Mr. and Mrs. Blevins were the only ones I could put names too.
I paused outside the door to the playroom. Much as I love my children, they kind of frighten me. That might sound stupid, but they do.
When I opened the door, they were standing just beyond its swing, staring and much too tightly controlled for their age.
“Daddy,” they said in unison and sprang for my legs, seizing one each.
Esmeralda sat by the fireplace with some sponge letter bricks. “They knew you were coming, Lord Wizard. They stopped playing two minutes ago to stand and wait for you.”
My kids were attempting to climb up my legs and Morgana was doing quite a good job.
“Helicopter,” Morgana exclaimed, immediately echoed by Merlin.
I resigned myself to the inevitable.
“Okay, but only one go each. Morgana first.”
I lifted Merlin off me and Morgana slid down to the floor so I could pick her up properly. Esmeralda pursed her lips in disapproval as I lifted Morgana over my head so she was horizontal with my hand on her tummy. I used magic help me lift her and spin her rapidly around the palm of my hand. Morgana cried in delight as the speed increased.
When I had her going fast enough to make her a blur of motion my magic lifted her into the air and then dropped her gently onto the carpet, slowing the spin as she dropped. This was an old house with a high ceiling, so she was perfectly safe.
She giggled as she stopped and jumped to her feet. A normal child would have been dizzy or sick, but my kids use magic casually to protect themselves.
Merlin pawed at me. “Me, Daddy, me.”
I lifted him up and repeated the process. Delighted laughter bounced off the walls. Esmeralda was sitting on the floor so was unable to tap her foot, but I could see it moving rhythmically. I was not impressing my Salice wife.
“Again, Again,” Morgana cried, lifting her arms into the air.
“Later. I have to speak to mummy.”
The kids accepted that without any argument and went to opposite ends of the room where they began to play with letter blocks. I could see the link between them so they didn’t fool me. Though they didn’t look at each other I knew they were in silent and continuous contact
Esmeralda stood as I approached her and allowed me to kiss her cheek. I thought about telling her that Jenny had done more, but decided now was not the time to restart that particular war.
“Did the Lord Wizard forget that the King’s Council met yesterday?”
I had, but then I wasn’t a big fan. “I’m sure you could manage perfectly well without me.”
“You are the King’s Wizard and he requires your presence.” Her foot was tapping and I stepped out of range of Esmeralda’s fists. She has been known to punch.
“I had an unexpected call from the Valhallans. I go to Balmack on Friday.”
That knocked the wind out of her sails and she sat back on the floor. I sat on the chair behind me and waited for the next attack.
“You are leaving so soon?”
“It’s been nearly two years.”
Esmeralda pouted. “And neither of your wives with child. You are neglecting your duties, Lord Wizard.”
Where did that one come from? She wanted to be pregnant again? Morgana’s birth had nearly killed her.
Merlin had lined up five blocks. They spelled IDIOT. As soon as I’d seen them he scattered them across the floor.
“We err, do it all the time. I can’t be expected…” It didn’t seem right, talking about this in front of the children, and my words came to a halt.
Esmeralda’s face went through a variety of expressions as if she couldn’t believe what I’d said. She settled for exasperated.
“You are a wizard. If you wanted us pregnant, we would be.”
“But after last time I thought…” Again words failed me, or at least the ability to finish a complete sentence with them.
Esmeralda’s expression softened. “You and Urda put me back as good as new. Urda says I am now better suited to childbirth than before.”
Morgana was pointing at two rows of bricks. The upper ones read SILLY the bottom ones DADDY. Jenny opened the door and the bricks blew apart, flying across the room before she could see them.
Esmeralda had a triumphant look on her face.
“Tell Jake we want to be pregnant.”
Jenny looked from side to side taking in the scene. “What right now? In front of the children?”
Esmeralda’s face flushed and for a second she looked lost. Jenny had folded her arms and a finger tapped her lower lip in contemplation.
“Well okay. Do you want to toss a coin for who gets him first?”
For a second I thought she was serious and then she started laughing.
“Before he leaves for Balmack.” Esmeralda looked as though she might burst a blood vessel, her face was so red. But this was her in determined mode and she would force an answer out of us.
Jenny sobered up. “That sounds like a good idea. He can stay with you tonight and I’ll have him tomorrow. That means I can make sure he gets to Gwydion’s birthday party.”
Esmeralda nodded. “I’ll send him over tomorrow afternoon. We have an important delegation arriving tomorrow and Jake should be there for that.”
“We do?” It was news to me.
Esmeralda smiled sweetly, dangerously sweetly.
“You remember you arranged a treaty with the Malevon without consulting with the King?”
Oh good God. Please don’t tell me that Alisandra is coming to visit.
“Queen Alisandra, Ambassador to the Malevon Federation is arriving on a state visit tomorrow morning.”
“The bitch who raped you?” Jenny cried out. She looked ready to kill.
Merlin and Morgana started crying at the top of their voices bringing the conversation to a stop.
Five minutes later, as I bounced Morgana on my
knee, she gave me a broad wink and stopped crying. At the same instant, Merlin stopped his crying in his mother’s arms. Their mothers hadn’t noticed the planning. They never do.
Esmeralda, who had been a bit of a spare wheel during the sobbing baby phase, gave me a speculative look.
“I’m looking forward to meeting Queen Alisandra. Once Jenny has told me all she knows about her.”
Oh boy.
7. Salice
Esmeralda kissed Morgana as she lay in her cot and took the time to frown at me.
“Do not try hopping away, Lord Husband. We have much to talk about and you have a task ahead of you.”
My wives, having decided I should be put out to stud were keen to get me on the job as soon as possible, as it were. Esmeralda swept out of the room as only a Princess and heir to the throne can manage.
Morgana was smiling. I kissed her lightly on her forehead and her arms came over my head to hold me down.
“Daddy make Mummy happy,” she whispered.
“Do you want another brother or sister?” She should be too young to understand that, but I was sure she would.
“Not now.”
I gently moved her arms and stood up.
“You may not have a choice.”
She began to giggle. “Silly Daddy.”
Okay, it was just a toddler laughing as I left the room, but it worried me all the same. Who knew what my kids were capable of doing?
I found Esmeralda waiting in our bedroom. She had changed into a nightdress that left little to the imagination. Blood rushed from my head to the place it was needed.
“Do you like it, Lord Wizard? Jenny bought it for me from a place called Internet.”
I didn’t answer, but unless she had gone blind she really didn’t need one.
She sat on the bed and I sat beside her. She pushed my arm away, so I knew sex wasn’t immediately on her mind, though it wasn’t far away as she’d chosen that nightdress.
“Tell me of Alisandra, Queen of the Tridon Zone. What is a Zone?”
I don’t know that much about Malevon. My visits there had always been brief if in no way forgettable. But what I knew I was willing to share.