Alec the Wanderer: Generations of Eredwynn #4

by Daniel B. Harris

  The local girls huddled together while Carol and I gathered dishes and scrubbed them with sand. Carol ‘blew’ them off, just to be showing off for me, and packed them up while grinning happily. The huddle had broken up by the time we were finished, so we rejoined the girls at the fire.

  Linda stood up as the spokesperson for everyone. “Well, here is what we wanna do, if it’s ok. Barbara said she don’t want to be away from you, Alec. Her sister won’t go nowhere without her. Susan and I would like to meet these farm boys you mentioned. It would be nice to get away from the city type that we’ve been ‘round for the last couple months. We wouldn’t have to be treated like a princess to be happy, just more than just a sex toy. So, could ya take all of us with you to that place you’re from?”

  Carol jumped up. “Ok, it’s decided then. We’ll have to make a couple of ports to get where we want to be, but you know about that. When we find a ring to cross back to our realm, we’ll ask you to do something a bit odd, but you’ve come this far so you should be used to that by now. Alec, would you mind locating a ring for us?”

  I smiled at her giddy energy and nodded. “I’ll start looking while you ladies gather up the gear in one spot. That way we can go when I find one and won’t lose track of it.”

  Carol nodded and started giving instructions. I dropped into remote viewing, focused on Eredwynn, and let the magic be my guide. The magic dragged me hundreds of miles to the southeast where there was a large forest. It took me under the canopy and caused a fairy ring to glow in my mind. I snapped back to the campsite, holding the image in my head, and saw that the girls and gear were positioned all around me. I nodded to Carol who tightened the huddle, wrapped us all up for teleportation, and cast.

  We appeared a stone’s throw from the ring with one very light-headed male wizard. I wasn’t the foremost expert on spirit capacity and the six of us with the gear had me knocked down to emergency only levels of magic. I thought to Carol, “I hope you’ve been watching, because your husband almost overdid it. I’ll be out of the magic game for a while, so it will be up to you.”

  “Ok, Alec; what do you want to do when we get to Eredwynn? I suppose that will be our next port.”

  “I think we should port to the outskirts of Tesil. You know where that is and should be able to find it easily. We can walk in and take the girls to the tailor there. She knows us and won’t ask questions. I don’t think that they should go to any of the Royal homes dressed as they are. Then I’m thinking we could go introduce two of these ladies to those farm boys I have in mind.”

  “Who are you thinking about, you silly matchmaker?”

  “Well, your brothers were complaining about not being able to meet women. If they get along, we could put the girls up at the Edil inn. We could give them plenty of money to take care of themselves and whatever happens, happens.”

  “It sounds like, once again, we have a plan. It amuses me to see that my fearless explorer is also a hopeless romantic. I’m sure my brothers would like to meet these ladies. Now, we better get moving because I don’t want to be in this realm if your magic is drained.”

  Barbara shook my arm. “Ok, you two, that’s enough talking about us behind our backs. What do you want us to do now?”

  I laughed. “Carol, you go first and show them how it’s done. That way we’ll have your magic on that side to take care of any situations. I’ll come through last and leave the province of Vegas behind us.”

  Carol nodded and got everyone’s attention. “Just watch what I do then come through one after the other. You won’t even feel a change, but you’ll see me on the other side.” She walked into the ring, spun in a circle and vanished. The girls all gasped at her sudden disappearance, but followed behind and left the realm, one after the other.

  Barbara was naturally the last one to leave. “I don’t know what’s waiting for me when I disappear, but I do know I still love you. I’m going to talk to Carol about that Consort thing and see if she’ll accept me as a family member. I don’t know how it all works, but she can tell me or hook me up on the internet so I can find out.”

  I laughed. “I doubt that ‘enter nets’ thing is going to happen, since I don’t know what they are. I do know an expert on Consorts and that will be one of our stops while I recuperate. You need to go through now, so Carol doesn’t worry about us. I’ll be right behind you.”

  She stepped into the ring and vanished; I followed behind and joined in a happy group hug. Carol took command of the group and had them prepare a port again. The girls grouped together, old hands at this type of travel by now, and waited. I could tell by the speed that Carol located Tesil that she’d been doing the female split vision viewing and a twinge of jealousy pricked at me.

  We were ported with the odd feeling of a light breeze and Tesil appeared a half mile away. She’d set us down in a field, instead of in the road, to avoid startling the locals.

  I addressed our party. “Ladies, I know that the cities that you’ve seen in your world are huge, full of lights and noise. Now we’ll show you one of our largest cities. If you think that the culture shock will be too much, we need to know now so we can return you to your world. We don’t have cars, buses or cabs. Most of our travel is done on foot or by horse. You have to light a candle for light, not flip a switch, and our bathrooms are outside.

  The girls nodded and said that they wanted to continue, so we marched into the city. The people smiled and waved as they usually did when they saw me, and even more when they saw Carol. Word of my marriage was out and everyone wanted to see the girl that had snagged ‘the wanderer’.

  I led the way straight to the tailor’s, since we were already starting to get quite a few stares from the locals. She greeted us as we walked in. “Good morning, Alec, Ladies, what can I do for… oh, I see.”

  I chuckled. “That didn’t take long! They’re all yours and you know how it goes. Give them whatever they want and we’ll settle up when they’re ready to go. If you’d have them change into something… less provocative, that would be helpful. We’ll need off the rack for today and if they want anything else, I can stop back by in a few days to pick it up.”

  She nodded and started leading the girls around the shop. I stepped out to the tree with the bench built around it and made myself comfortable. I leaned back against the tree and let the sun warm my face. The magical drain had made me sleepy and I knew I was safe here. I let the soothing waves of sleep take me.

  I woke to the happy sound of laughter as the ladies exited the shop. They all, including Carol, were dressed in new clothes and looked like they belonged here. With the new clothes and the new attitudes, it was hard to recognize them as the broken down, drugged up ladies that we’d met not long ago. It made me feel good to see how much influence we’d had on their lives already.

  Carol came over and sat beside me. “We have some things ordered for each of them, so one of us will need to stop by. I guess that will be me, since I don’t want you doing magic for a while. I’ve already paid for what we got and ordered. So, where do you want to go next?”

  “I think that Susan and Linda might like to meet your brothers. Maybe Amanda would too, but I doubt that Barbara wants to leave us.”

  Amanda overheard me and came over. “I don’t think I want to leave you and Carol either, Alec. After you two got us off the junk, we both like you two a lot. We’ll be happy learning about ‘Consorts’ or whatever. We’ll leave your brothers to the other two, if you don’t mind.”

  Carol laughed happily. “I’d gladly accept the two of you as Consorts and we can make a stop so you can learn all about the position. So let’s all gather up again; we don’t have to hide this skill here, and we’ll port to my family’s farm.”

  Carol had no problem locating this place and she set us behind the barn. She led the way, followed by Susan and Linda. Barbara, Amanda and I brought up the rear as we walked toward the house. From inside we heard a yell. “Carol’s home!”

  Her brothers came chargin
g out the door toward us, but slowed to a walk when they saw the pretty, young ladies that were walking with their sister. They met us in the middle of the front yard. Adam greeted her, “Hey, sis, it’s been a while! I hope you’ve been keeping Alec out of trouble.”

  Carol smiled and patted him on the arm. “You know I have! We haven’t even seen any rattlesnakes, so no presents this time. We did meet a couple of young ladies that said they’d like to you meet you two.” She introduced the girls to her brothers, who bowed like gentlemen and kissed their hands. The girls were completely flustered by the respectful treatment and blushed deeply. Carol suggested they go for a walk and get to know each other. The young men offered their arms and went in opposite directions, with suddenly shy ex-hookers on their arms.

  The rest of us went up to the house to visit her mother and father. They were thrilled to see her, of course. We introduced the sisters as potential Consorts and they were welcomed as family also.

  While everyone was busy, I went off by myself. I checked my magic, and it seemed to be fine for what I had in mind. I remote ported a bag of one hundred platinum coins and two pouches from the vault in Wizard’s Castle. I put fifty in each pouch for the two girls that, it seemed, would be staying in Edil. I’d have to explain how much money that was and teach them the basics of buying things. We didn’t have that luxury when we were in their realm until we’d met the sisters, and I’d learned how something that I was used to here could seem so complex.

  As evening approached, the girls and the brothers returned to the farm. I’d never seen any of them happier. The brothers volunteered to walk the girls to Edil and get them moved into an inn. Linda and Susan agreed happily to their suggestion. I asked the girls to step off to the side with me so we could talk in private. They looked confused but followed me beside the house.

  I asked Linda, “What is the average sum that people from your country receive a year?”

  She shrugged. “I guess it’s like forty thousand, or something like that. At least I heard that somewhere once.”

  I nodded and handed them both the pouches with the coins. “Then this much money would be about four hundred thousand dollars, per pouch. Each one of these coins is worth ten gold coins. The people around here get about one gold coin a week, on average. You’ll be able to get a room and meals in Edil for two gold coins a week. You could get two rooms, or share.”

  Linda smiled shyly. “As nice as Adam is, we might want to get two rooms. He might want to come visit me, and we might want privacy!”

  I chuckled. “As ‘old fashioned’ as you’ll find these people, he might be inclined to wait until you were married before he shared your bed. I wouldn’t push him too hard in that area, but women have ways.”

  She smiled happily and I continued with my lessons about our culture. “Working on the stairs at the inn will be a few girls. It’s legal for them to do that and they will be doing what we took you away from. I hope that it won’t be a problem for you. The main thing I wanted you to know was how much money I was giving you so you’d take care not to lose it or allow it to be stolen.”

  They both grinned from ear to ear, hugged and thanked me repeatedly. I took them back around to the family and they went directly to the brothers’ sides. Carol may have been happier on our wedding day, but I can’t be sure. Seeing her brothers with young ladies on their arms had made the whole trip worthwhile in her mind. Kyle pumped my hand repeatedly and I thought that Mitri would crush me with her joyful hugging.

  We said goodbye and I had Carol take us to the crossroads near Wizard’s Castle. I needed a safe place to recharge and I knew that Amanda and Barbara would love seeing all the combat spells that were practiced there. Aunt Alba would have to try to get them to take the magic test, but I hadn’t seen a glimmer of spirit magic in either of their minds. I chuckled to myself, because I’d thought exactly the same thing about my wife. And then I’d learned that she was so powerful it was scary.

  The moment we arrived at the crossroads, Amanda and Barb froze and stared. Amanda looked at me with a confused expression. “Those look like castles! People here live in castles? Do you know these people and will they let us inside?”

  Barbara laughed and hugged her sister. “Amanda has been fascinated by castle life and the middle ages of our world for so long she doesn’t know what to think about seeing a real one. But I wanna know, too; do you know the people that live here?”

  Carol giggled and I nodded. “I know them pretty well and I think they’ll let us look around if we ask nicely. Follow us and smile; we might even get to meet the King and Queen!”

  The guards bowed with their typical ‘your highness’ greeting, but the girls were so busy looking around they missed it. I was glad, too, because I knew they wouldn’t miss the herald and that would more fun. Carol led us through the courtyard and the girls each grabbed one of my hands. They were nervous and excited as Carol led us into the reception chamber.

  The herald grinned broadly upon seeing us back so soon; usually I’d be gone for months, not weeks. He nodded to Carol and she stepped back to take Amanda’s other hand. She winked at me, knowing that our introduction would get a fun reaction from our new lady friends. There was a brief wait and the herald motioned us in and announced us. “Their Royal Highnesses Prince Alec, Princess Carol and company.”

  We had to steady the girls and tug on them to get them to walk. They were staring at us as if we were strangers as we walked into the throne room.

  Father came off of the dais and met us halfway. He embraced me then looked at the new girls. “From the looks on their faces, they didn’t know you were royalty! Welcome to Eredwynn, Ladies. Where did you run into my son and his wife?”

  To her credit, Barbara spoke, but she was so quiet she could barely be heard. “We met him and Carol near the Stardust in Las Vegas, sir.”

  Father grinned and then laughed. “Knowing what Carol’s mission was, they found the right place. So, they brought you with them to Eredwynn. Do you have plans?”

  Amanda found her voice, even though it wasn’t much louder than Barbara’s was. “We’ve been talking about being Consorts, sir. We just don’t really know all about them yet. Carol said that she was going to locate an expert for us, to give us all the information we needed, before we decided.”

  Aunt Isabel stood up and began walking over to join us. “I believe someone was talking about me! I’d probably be this province’s foremost expert on Consorts and since I’m the Queen, if I tell you wrong, we can change the rules.”

  Father started laughing and waved me over. “I’m sure you knew that would happen when someone mentioned Consorts around Isabel. We should let the ladies go talk and you can tell me all about your trip!”

  I nodded and sat in Aunt Isa’s chair while Father reclaimed his own. “Well, Father, the trip started strangely with a fairy ring in the sand that disappeared when we stepped out of it. We met a policeman and had to distract him and go invisible when he asked for an eye deed or something. We didn’t have many other problems, after Carol stunned the guy that was shoving Amanda around.”

  “I don’t know about the fairy ring, but doubt that mushrooms could grow where you were put down. The cop, or policeman, was looking for an ‘ID’ which is short for identification. Since neither of you had one, they could have locked you up. You did right by going invis, but there might be ghost stories there forever now. Carol stunned the man? I guess she has a pretty good handle on her magic, then?”

  I chuckled and nodded. “After we left Starford, we had a couple interesting nights. She summoned four of those wind tunnel things at once and tore up the countryside pretty good. We were away from everyone, so there were no injuries or property damage.”

  “Four tornadoes at once? My stars, that must have been something to see! Did she have any trouble dispelling them?”

  I shook my head. “You should have seen her, Father. She told me she was sorry for waking me with them, put out her hand and they died as if they�
�d never been. I know I’ll never do anything to offend my cute, little wife!”

  Father chuckled then looked at the packs sitting on the floor. “Did you bring back anything from my old home that I might be interested in?”

  I opened the packs and showed him the tent that we’d purchased. He smiled but wasn’t nearly as impressed as I’d been. Then I pulled out all the cash that we’d brought back and handed it to him. “Maybe you could keep this in the vault. That way, if anyone ever needs to go to that realm again, they won’t have to go through the trouble of getting local money.”

  Father nodded and stuck it in his pocket. Us having that much money had seemed to impress him more than the tent had. “So Son, are you going to be hanging out here for a little while? I just noticed that your magic level is quite low.”

  I nodded and finished repacking the bags. “I’d like to stay in my old room for a few days, if that’s all right. Amanda and Barbara might want their own room in the dorm, if they’re afraid I’ll bite.”

  “None of your siblings that use those rooms are here, so all the top floor rooms are empty. I could port you and your stuff up to your room and let Carol know where you are. That way, you wouldn’t cause chaos by walking through the dorm.”

  “That would be wonderful, Father. I’m quite tired; I can’t remember letting my magic get this low in ages. I’ll take advantage of their lessons with Isa and grab a nap.”

  He smiled and I was in my room with all of our gear on the floor beside me. I gathered everything up and stacked it neatly out of the way. I grabbed a quick shower, put on clean trousers and climbed into my bed with a sigh. I was asleep before I’d settled into the pillows.