Alec the Wanderer: Generations of Eredwynn #4 (10 page)

Amanda smiled sympathetically. “Except this time, it is true. They got us off the shit and we don’t even want it. I wouldn’t have thought it was true either, if I hadn’t seen it myself.”

I signaled Carol. “Why don’t you go in there with the girls that need healing? I’ll stay in here, in case we have unexpected company. If these girls would like to leave, they can go with us. If they want to stay and continue living as they have been, that’s their choice, too. All we can do is offer to help; we can’t force it on them.”

“All right, Alec, I’ll leave you in the quite happy hands of Barbara. I don’t think she’ll mind keeping you company while I talk to them. If they want to stay, I’ll be back very shortly.”

Barbara sat on a couch and waited. I watched the door for a possible unwanted guest and Barb held my hand. I knew that there was a difference between gratitude and true love, but having her show that she was thankful felt nice. I knew that Carol was hoping to keep her and her sister as Consorts, but that brought up the image of the wagons again. I wasn’t sure that was something that I wanted, but if Carol wanted female traveling companions, she could have chosen worse. The sisters seemed to love each other very much and would stick together. They were attractive also, which is always a bonus. If they did stay with us, one of the first things I wanted to do was get them different clothes. The ones they had on were too skimpy, even for my taste. Something has to be left to the imagination or it isn’t as fun to look at!

It was only a half hour or less before the girls came from the back. They were all carrying bags, even Carol. She was bringing Barbara’s stuff up for her. Two of the girls, Elizabeth and Maria, wanted us to escort them to the ‘bus station’. They were going to get transportation home there. The other four girls were going to go with us to our campsite and decide what they were going to do from there.

Since there were eight of us, there wouldn’t be a car that we could wave at to get a ride. We’d have to walk a couple miles, but that didn’t concern Carol and me at all. Carol and Amanda led the group, while Barbara and I brought up the tail. As we were traveling, I got an idea of the price of a bus ticket and what the girls would need in the way of spending money for food.

I thought to Carol, “
If we give them three hundred each, they will have enough for the bus and for whatever else they need, according to Barbara.
”

“
I have that in my pocket and can give it to them when we get there. You might think about getting another tent for tonight. I think that six in a two man tent is about four too many.”

I chuckled silently. “
Perhaps my personal tour guide will know of a place near the bus place. I’m sure I could talk her into leading me.”

In my mind I heard her amusement,
“I’m sure that just guiding you to the tent store wouldn’t be the only thing easy to talk her into. If you decide you’re ready to give in and take a Consort, you have my blessing.”

“Thank you; did you know that you’re worse about pushing Consorts than my Aunt Isabel?”

Again the amusement, “
Well, thank you! Comparing me to the Queen is a very nice compliment!”

With a smile, I passed on the argument. Instead, I talked to Barbara. “Carol has enough money to give the girls to pay for their trips home. Since Carol and I are camping, we’ll need an extra tent to sleep everyone comfortably, and bedrolls, too. We can keep the camp site warm enough, so we won’t need much in the way of thick blankets. Is there a place near where we’re going that would sell things like that?”

Barbara nodded. “I think there is a pawn shop just a few blocks west. They might have what we need. I think they close at nine so we better hurry and get the girls on a bus. If it doesn’t come soon, the shop will close before we can get there.”

“Carol said that she’ll take care of getting them on the bus and will look out for trouble. You and I can go get the tent while they’re waiting. Carol can call if there’s a problem.”

Barbara gave an accusing look. “There’s something you’re not telling me. I’ve been with you every second and you didn’t talk to Carol about catching the bus or buying a tent. Now you know what her plans are and she can call you? I haven’t seen a cell phone in your hand the whole time. I doubt you even know what one is!”

I nodded. “Ok, you want the truth? When you hear it, you might think that Carol and I are a couple of crazies, but if you’re going with us, you should know. We said we aren’t from around here, and that’s the truth. We’re from a place called Eredwynn and got here using magic. We both have magical skills and one of them is called
telepathy
. We can…”

Barbara interrupted, “You can talk to each other across distances using your minds! I’ve heard of that and that also explains how you could get the smack out of our systems! Why you jump when a horn honks and tip cab drivers eighty bucks. What else can you do?”

“If you stick around long enough, you’ll see. I’m sure that some of the things that we do as second nature will surprise and maybe scare you. Rest assured, we won’t do anything to hurt you or your sister. I want you to be able to trust us to take care of you; I like you and wouldn’t want you to be afraid.”

She raised her eyebrows and winked flirtatiously. “I don’t think that you’ll scare me, unless you’re hiding something that scary…” her eyes drifted below my belt.

It was one of those rare times when I was the one made to blush and not the one causing the blush. I had nothing to say, so I chuckled, shook my head and followed the line of ladies in front of me.

When we got to the bus station, I checked to make sure the man whose girls we were stealing wasn’t around. Barbara told her sister that we were going to the pawn shop to look for a tent and they filed inside. Barb and I went off on our mission and made it to the shop in time. We found a large four-man tent made of a fabric that I’d never heard of. It was half the weight of my two-man and claimed to be waterproof. What this place lacked in humanity, it made up for with science!

We also found tiny bedrolls that unpacked and fluffed up to full size bags that a person could fit in. I decided that Carol and I could use one of those each, for nights we weren’t snuggling really close. Barbara claimed that, even if it was a tight fit, she and I could squeeze into one at the same time. That sounded like something I might have heard from the working girls in Tesil, but Barb wasn’t working anymore. Maybe sex was the only outlet she had for affection and she’d have to learn to love. Since Carol wanted her and her sister to come with us on the road, she could learn about love from us.

We packed up our purchases, which included two more packs to help carry everything we’d bought. I handed the wad of money I had to Barb so she could handle the transaction. I knew she had more experience with paper money than I did. She was shocked that I just handed it over, but made the transaction and hesitated as she handed the money back.

I asked, “Do you need money for anything? I still have quite a bit and you can have it if you need it. This place says they buy gold and I have a lot of that with me, too. It’s the best way for us to get money from our realm to yours.”

She looked at me with a questioning gaze. “Do you know I love you?” she whispered.

“Why do you love me, Barb?”

“Because you don’t want anything from me. You do nice things for me and don’t expect a blowjob or a straight fuck in return. I don’t think I’ve ever loved anyone before. I all I know to do to show gratitude is screw, and with you I feel you’d be happy with a simple ‘thank you’.”

“Now you might be learning what love really is. It isn’t what you can do for someone or to someone, for that matter. It’s just wanting to do things for them because it makes you happy. Holding your hand this evening has been as pleasant for me as getting sweaty between the sheets. Don’t get me wrong, that’s fun and I enjoy it. But it isn’t what love is all about.”

She took my hand and we walked back the way we’d come. As we got close to the bus station, she spoke for the first time since we’d left. “Alec, I understand whatcha mean. I have a lot to learn about real love. Would you and Carol let my sis and me go with you so I can learn more about it? I know I love you, but I want to make sure it’s the real kind, and not just the ‘sweaty sheets’ kind. Does that make sense?”

I nodded. “It makes a lot of sense and I’m glad you feel that way. We have working girls in Eredwynn that start thinking the way you were. I don’t know if they’ll ever learn to love if they can’t quit thinking that love is based in the bedroom.”

We got back in time to wave to the bus as it was pulling out. Luckily, the bus they needed to take was already there and had empty seats. It made me a little sad knowing that I’d met someone once, learned their name and situation and would never see them again. That feeling was overshadowed by the happiness of having helped someone better their situation.

We walked to a dark area along the side of the building and I gathered the girls together. “It’s getting late and it’s very dark where we’re going. We are camped near the city limits to the north and it would be midnight before we could get there, if we walked.”

Linda, the eldest girl in our group commented, “If we walked? There’s no other choice! If you asked a cabbie to take you the city limits at this time of night, he’d laugh and drive away.”

I smiled. “I’ve told Barbara some of this already, but I’ll tell the rest of you now. Carol and I are from a different place. You’ve seen Carol fix those girls with that stuff in them and you thought that was impossible. We can do quite a few other things that you haven’t seen. If you think I’m insane, you’re free to go back to your life, or wherever you choose. We’re at the bus station and we’ll buy you tickets out of here if you’d like.”

Barbara grinned. “I want to hear more. I know that they can use telepathy, and that was pretty cool. And Carol must know some tricks, judging by how easily she dropped the prick, Grady. What are you going to show us now, Alec?”

I laughed. “We better let your sister and the other two get on board first. I know that you’re all kinds of ready to go anywhere, even to Eredwynn!”

She nodded with a smile and Carol spoke up, “What he’s saying is true and the reason he’s saying it is because he wants to use a skill called ‘
porting
’ but doesn’t want to frighten you. If you’ll trust us, you’ll know for sure we’re telling the truth in just a matter of moments.”

The three girls whispered together for a moment then Amanda nodded. “Ok, we’ll believe you to a point. We’ll believe what you show us and can prove, but not necessarily what you tell us right off. Is that fair?”

I nodded. “That’s perfectly fair. What is going to happen is I’m going to take us to our camp site. We’ll be here one second and there the next. If I do it right, you’ll barely even notice you moved. So, everyone ready?”

There was a group nod, I gathered everyone and the gear into the
port
, cast for the location just to be sure and
ported
. There were a couple stifled screams as our location changed, but Barbara’s wasn’t one of them. She grabbed me by the collar, pulled me to her and kissed me breathless.

She giggled. “I knew you weren’t nuts! I’m glad I was right, too, ‘cause you’re too cute to be nuts.”

Carol laughed. “I agree, I think he’s pretty cute, too.”

Barb jumped. “I’m sorry about that, Carol. I have to quit kissing your husband before you turn me into a toad or something.”

Carol shook her head. “That’s quite all right. I like kissing him too, and can understand. I’m going to cut up some more of this tree and get the fire going. Why don’t the rest of you start working on getting the tents set up?”

As Carol began cutting up the tree, I knew that I’d be on my own for a while. There was little chance of getting help while my wife was chopping through wood and floating it into piles with minor hand motions.

I had the smaller tent up and was working on figuring out the larger one before Carol began cooking. With that mundane task going on, help arrived and the girls knew more about tents from this era than I did. They slid the flexible poles through the loops running the length of the fabric, bent them in to the loops at the bottom and the tent erected itself! They staked it all around with small metal stakes and it was secure. Simple, but ingenious.

Chapter Ten

T
he next morning Carol and I woke at dawn as usual. We packed our bedding, took down our tent, and started breakfast before the girls began to stir. They came out with bushy hair and rumpled clothes. After they’d all made it to the fire, I began packing their things. By the time I had the tent cleaned out, they’d awakened enough to help take it down and pack it up.

We sat down to a famous Carol field breakfast and I decided we needed to know what the plans were. “All right, ladies, here is the situation. You know now that Carol and I aren’t from here and it’s getting close to time for us to go home, at least to check in. We wouldn’t want to abandon you here, now that you’re free of the man who had you working for him. We could take you with us to Eredwynn, but that place is much different than you’re used to here.” I smiled at Susan and Linda. “I know a couple of farm boys that would be interested in meeting you two and if I’m right, they’d treat you like princesses.” I turned to Amanda and Barbara. “You two have gotten attached to Carol and me and could stay with us, if you wanted. Or, and this offer is for any of you, we have a few thousand dollars that we could give you before we left and you could do… whatever.” I leaned back against my pack, signaling that I was done with my speech.

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 charging 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.