Alec the Wanderer: Generations of Eredwynn #4 (8 page)

I laughed. “That one we are familiar with. It was one of her dream learning spells and scared the starlight out of me. I hope she never has cause to use that again!”

Davie nodded and continued, “Some of these might come in handy, since you’ll be traveling so much. Carol, you should be able to understand any language you hear, endure being in hot or cold weather and calm others’ emotions.”

Carol smiled secretively. “With my near future plans, calming emotions might come in very handy.”

Davie looked at us questioningly, but finished up, “You’ll be able to cast a circle of light, sixty feet or so around you, that will be as bright as daylight. It should be really helpful when you’re camping on those dark nights. And you’ll be able to detect falsehoods, not like the sibs do, but you’ll actually know for a fact if someone is lying to you or not. There are dozens of other skills and spells that you’ll be able to do, but that’s a list of the ones that I thought were most interesting.”

“Thank you, Davie. That gives me some idea of the things I can do now. I’ll just have to practice and learn how to do it. I do have a question, though. Alec was telling me about a spirit wizard running out of magic. We were concerned that while I was practicing at Wizard’s that I’d run myself out and go unconscious. Is there anything you can tell us about that? Alec can’t just look at me and tell how much magic I have, like he can a wizard.”

Davie chuckled. “You are a lucky young lady. As long as there is air around, your magical reserves will stay full. The only thing I can think of that you’d need to watch out for is if you were staying under water for very long periods. I wouldn’t stay submerged for more than an hour, just to be on the safe side.”

Carol laughed. “I grew up on a farm in the middle of the country. I’m not much of a swimmer and don’t have any intention of doing ocean diving. Thank you so much for this, Davie! It would have taken ages to learn it all on my own. Now there are some other things that we’d like to know and I’ll let Alec pick your brain on that subject.”

Davie looked at me and I broached the subject of the other realm. “My wife has heard from Father that there are girls forced to work in the sex industry in his realm. She has decided that since Seth is helping so many here, she’d like to try to save at least one from there. Since you’re the only one of the sibs that has gone over, we thought we could get some basic survival tips from you.”

Davie started to glow a bit and nodded. “You’ll need money and they use a form of parchment instead of gold and silver. They use some coins instead of copper coins. The best way I found to get money was to sell some gold coins from here. They will buy gold at a fairly high rate. Never show how much money you are carrying over the amount of your purchase, because the entire place seems to be crawling with thieves. Don’t walk in roads, because the cars there that travel on them don’t stop very quickly. They have no magic and there’s no telling how they would react to seeing it. When I got back, Father explained to me about guns. They shoot out a bullet, similar to a sling, but fast enough to go through a man. I’d recommend staying
shielded
; better safe than see-through.”

Carol looked at me. “It sounds scary! We don’t really have to go there. We could just travel around as you usually do. Perhaps there are girls in the pubs and inns that we could help.”

“I’m surprised at you, my love! Backing out at the first sign that things might be harder than you thought? We’ll do what you want, of course, but I think that you might look back on this and wish that you’d at least tried.”

Carol nodded sheepishly. “You’re right, of course. We went through all the trouble of getting here and learning about the place. I know that with my abilities and yours, we’ll both be perfectly safe. I was just slipping back into my meek farm girl role. Forgive me, gentlemen.”

I hugged her comfortingly. “I love my farm girl and my sorceress, too. I’d like to keep them both, if I’m able. It would almost be like having a Consort without having an extra person to worry about! But since the sun is setting and we need to get an early start, we should say goodnight. Thank you for all the information, Davie. If we don’t see you in the morning, take care of yourself!”

Davie grinned. “I’ve known you all my life and know that you tend to disappear early. If I see you, then we can have breakfast together; if not, safe travels!”

Carol spoke in her soft farm girl tone, “Mira, thank you for welcoming us into your home. It was very nice to meet more of the family. I hope that someday we’ll get to spend some time together and get to know each other better.”

Mira smiled. “Knowing Alec, you’ll be back around this way from time to time. We’re a regular stop for him every three or four months. If we didn’t see him, we’d start getting worried! I was thinking about your trip and looking at your lovely clothes. Would what you’re wearing fit in where you’re going?”

That was something that I really needed to know. “Davie, what do you think? Will our clothing fit in with the fashions of the people of that realm?”

“Yours may, but Carol’s will draw a lot of unwanted attention. Some of the ladies that I saw there wore clothing that was more revealing, but they were ogled by every man in sight. She should actually wear some regular trousers and a snug tunic. I wouldn’t go for anything low cut, if you want to blend and not draw attention. The tailor here in the courtyard should still be open and might have something on the racks that would work for you.”

“Thanks, brother and thanks to you too, sister. That’s one of those things that guys just don’t think about. We do look, though, when a lady is wearing something worth looking at!”

Mira laughed. “You men! Take your lovely wife to the tailor’s. We’ll see you in the morning, or not. I know I don’t have to say it, but take care and be safe.”

We left the apartment and stopped by the tailor’s shop. Carol found a couple pairs of trousers and a couple tunics that we thought might fit in better. I was going to miss the uniform style, but I’d survive.

Back in our room, I
ported
the platinum that I had back to the vault and grabbed an extra bag of gold coins. I figured in the worst case, we should have plenty of money. I didn’t know if there would be a way to live off the land there and wanted to be able to feed my wife.

We were both bundles of nerves as we tried to get to sleep. An energetic romp on that huge bed helped immensely. We finally drifted off to sleep in each other’s arms, dreaming of the unknown.

Chapter Eight

W
e woke shortly after sunrise, dressed and double checked our gear. I made sure that the enchanted dagger that had been given to me by Seth’s Grandfather was easily available in my pack. I hoped there would be no need for it, but if I was avoiding magic, it might come in handy.

We went down to the kitchen for breakfast and the staff there had already prepared rations for Carol and me. I’d been through here so often that they already knew my routine. As we ate, we talked to the staff about the weather and everything else that had been going on in the area. Honestly, it wasn’t because we were that interested; we just didn’t want to talk about our impending journey.

When we’d cleaned our plates, it couldn’t be avoided any longer. We went to the courtyard tailor’s and picked up Carol’s new ‘other realm’ clothing. The tailor let her change in back and she came out to get my opinion. Her outfit was beige, from top to bottom. If she didn’t want to draw attention, she’d picked the right color. The outfit didn’t call attention to any of her female features, but she was still quite attractive in it. I smiled and nodded.

She shrugged. “These are too nice to wear in the fields, but the idea was the same. I didn’t want everyone where we’re going to be staring at my breasts or bottom.”

I laughed. “Good plan! I’m not the world’s most jealous man, but too much ogling of my wife could irk me. I wouldn’t want to have to
flamestrike
some poor fool for touching things he shouldn’t. It isn’t the best way to make contact with the people!”

She smiled innocently. “Husband, you need to know that if a strange man put his hands on your wife, you would be the least of his worries. A man did that once and now I’m certain that I could move someone away from me if I needed to. I could also blow them a hundred miles away or zap them to powder, but I don’t think things will come to that.”

“It’s nice to know that you can look out for yourself, but I’ll still be there to make sure the lady I love is safe.”

She kissed me as we walked into the courtyard. “I’m glad you’ll be there, too. I’m still new to all of these abilities and I don’t think that they’ll be second nature to me yet. I might start hunting for a dagger instead of using a stun spell.”

“I’m sure that the intelligent magic that you have will help keep you safe, too. I’ve never traveled with anyone who had magic, so I might jump in where I’m not needed. Now, I’m going to cast around for a ring, with our intentions in mind. My magic will usually drag me to some place interesting when I let it lead. I’m hoping that it will take us to a ring that will lead us close to what you’re looking for.”

She nodded. “I won’t let you fall, my single-minded love.”

I chuckled and let the magic guide my
remote viewing
. I kept the idea of working girls and the other realm in mind and drifted with the thought across the countryside. The magic led me to a fairy ring and I marked the spot in my mind.

“Carol, I want to take your hand so I can share the image with you. Then you can try to
port
us to the location. It would be nice if I knew that you could
port
before we left. That way, if we were ever separated, you could always get to our campsite or even to a ring to come home.”

She nodded nervously. “I’ll try it, but you better not ever get out of my sight while we’re there. I’m scared enough and I know you’ll be right there with me!”

She took my hand and I shared the image, then watched as she focused on
porting
us to the ring. My hair ruffled in a slight breeze, and we were there.

I grinned. “Not only do you have a different type of magic, your spells even feel different! You are truly an amazing women. I plan on keeping you for the rest of my life.”

She smiled happily at her success. “Darn right you’re keeping me! Now let’s get through this ring to the other realm before I chicken out.”

We walked, hand in hand, to the middle of the ring. After double checking our
shields
, we took deep breaths and turned in a circle.

The sun was blinding, even this early in the morning. We were standing in sand instead of the forested carpet I’d expected, and we watched as the fairy ring we were standing in dissolved into nothing. We gazed around us and saw nothing but desert for miles.

Carol spoke in a tiny, frightened voice, “Which way should we go now, Alec? This isn’t exactly what I was expecting after hearing the stories of travel through fairy rings.”

I smiled with an air of false bravado. “Welcome to the life of Alec, the Wanderer! This is the kind of thing that is bound to happen when you travel with me. You needn’t be afraid, my love. We’ll head east, because having a direction beats standing around and admitting you’re lost!”

My tone and false confidence soothed her and she smiled. “The day we left the farm together to go seek work, I knew my life was going to change. That seems like a lifetime ago and has been less than a month. I can’t stay scared when I’m with you!”

We wandered east, looking for any signs of people. We were magical travelers from another realm who had come with a mission to aid a few folks here. It was going to be much more difficult if we couldn’t find anyone to help! Messing around with nature magic as powerful as the fairy rings had risks. The rules that governed them weren’t as clear-cut as the rules for other types of magic. I could only hope that they’d placed us in the realm that we wanted and in Father’s time. We had done research only on that, and wouldn’t even know how to get money or deal with the people.

All day we marched to the east, stopping for lunch and then continuing on. As dusk approached, we stopped for the night. We set up the tent and I called Carol to me. “There doesn’t seem to be any wood around for a fire. I think I’ll scan around using
viewing
and see what I can find. If you’ll link with me, you can see what I see and
remote port
some firewood back if we find some. That way, I can save my magic for emergencies and you’ll just recharge with your next breath!”

She giggled. “Are you going to admit that your tiny wife is more powerful than you?”

I shook my head. “No, just different. I have way too much male pride to admit what might very well be the truth! But you mentioned being tiny, so I wonder if these people are going to believe you’re really seventeen? Father says that there are laws here governing the age that a young lady and a man can be together. I believe he said that the age is sixteen, not twelve like in Eredwynn. I hope that doesn’t cause trouble.”

“As long as we don’t run into the guards… I mean ‘police’, we shouldn’t have problems. If so, we’ll just explain that I am the age I say. I’m sure they’ll listen to reason.”

“I’m sure your right. They are the authorities, after all, and would have to be skilled in critical thinking and communication. It’s not like they’ll beat us or use a ‘gun’ on us if they don’t have the facts.”

“Let’s get some wood and not borrow trouble.”

I sat on the sand, cast a
dome shield
and took her hand. I began scanning north, looking for trees. The desert was vast and it took quite a while to cross it, even using
viewing
. Finally, I found mountains with a very nice tree line. I scanned under the trees and found a dead tree that was dried and firewood ready. I signaled Carol and chuckled at her giddiness as she focused her magic. When the tree disappeared from the mountain, I dropped my spell. She’d placed the tree in our campsite perfectly. She jumped up and began chopping it to length, floated some to our fire pit and lit it.

“Now you’re just showing off!”

She grinned and nodded. “I sure am, but I’m also practicing. Aunt Alba and Aunt Della said that I should practice as much as I can. Getting used to having magic will make it easier to grab when I need it. I can’t help but feel sorry for those girls that have to learn spell words. That caster magic seems harder than our more powerful magic.”

“I agree, but it’s a means to an end. Some of the girls that master the caster magic will learn how to do psionic. The wand is just a stepping stone to more powerful things. All my Aunts, my mother and father started with wands. Mother still uses hers, but it’s more or less a prop. The same goes for Lady Chloe of the White Wand. She doesn’t need it, but it’s become part of her and of her legend, too.”

Carol smiled. “Now I don’t feel so bad for them. Come get something to eat and we’ll get some sleep. I can see your breath, so the temperature must be dropping. Davie was right; I don’t feel any difference in the temperature. I feel the same as I did in the afternoon. If you’ll show me how to do a warm
dome shield
, I’ll keep you comfortable tonight.”

I smiled. “I’d hoped you’d keep me comfortable. Cuddling is a great way to stay warm, too! I’ll show you how to do it, in the name of education, but I still expect to be cuddled.”

She kissed me gently. “That’s one of my favorite parts of our marriage. I wouldn’t want it any other way.”

We watched the sun set while we ate and the sky filled with unfamiliar stars. We laid back and watched the flickering lights in the sky. From time to time, we’d see one that was blinking white and tracking right alongside a red one. Sometimes, when it passed, we’d hear a faraway roar. It seemed the two were related, but we couldn’t figure out what the lights or the sound could be.

As sleep started tapping on our shoulders, we stood and walked to the tent. To the east we could see a broken line of lights, moving at an incredible speed for being that close to the ground! We wouldn’t fly that fast that low, but they were following a dark ribbon that cut across the landscape. We wouldn’t have noticed it until we were miles closer if it hadn’t been for the lights. It appeared to be ten, maybe fifteen miles away. We’d know what it was first thing tomorrow. But for now, sleep beckoned.

…

The next morning, we took our time getting around. If we were going to be going toward that strip in the desert that had the lights, we wanted plenty of light to see it by. The objects that we’d seen traveling back and forth on it were going quite fast, and we wanted to make sure we were out of the way! Carol fixed a nice breakfast, as usual, and I packed up the gear. After we’d eaten, we double checked the site, scattered our ashes and left the area as close to the way we’d found it as possible. It was a practice that I’d gotten into years before and I saw no reason to be different here.

We hadn’t quite gotten to the road by noon and I decided that the air in the desert must make things seem closer than they really were. Either that or the lights we’d seen the night before were much brighter than the lights we had in Eredwynn. Perhaps it was a combination of the two, but we had food that didn’t need to be cooked and we were both fine with that.

About an hour after noon, we finally arrived at the edge of the black ribbon that could only be a road. It was blocked off from the desert by a low metal rail. I checked to make sure that there was no traffic or fast moving lights on the road, had Carol wait and crossed over the rail. The road was made of a black stone that smelled awful! I crossed back to Carol’s side of the rail and we began walking.

The first few vehicles that I identified as ‘cars’ passed in a rush. Every time one would go by, Carol and I would jump! Even though there was a rail between us, we weren’t used to anything moving that fast being that close to us.

We walked on and took our evening meal on our feet. Neither of us wanted to build a fire as close to the road as we were. As dusk approached and we were thinking about veering off into the desert to get away from the road, the whole area around us lit up with flashes of incredibly bright red and blue lights! For a moment I thought that Carol had lost control of her magic again and had discovered some odd, new spell. I turned back to look at her and saw a car with lights flashing from the top, lighting up the evening.

An amplified voice confused me since I knew there wasn’t magic, but I quickly figured it must be a machine. Carol and I both froze when the voice said
, ‘Hang on there, kids. Walk back over here and climb the rail. Stand in front of the car were I can see you.’

We looked at each other for a moment and I nodded. We walked back toward the car and stood in front of it with our eyes squinting against the glare of the flashing lights.

A middle aged man came from the side of the car and joined us in front. He looked us up and down and nodded. “Hiking in to Vegas, are ya?”

I nodded and in my most friendly tone I answered, “Yes sir, we are. It’s just turned out to be more of a hike than we knew! Can you give us an idea how far out we still are?”

He chuckled. “That happens all the time. You kids will learn that you need to get a car before you go out exploring the country. It’s just over sixty miles to Vegas from here. Walking, that’s gonna take you the better part of three days. My shift’s over and I’m just heading home, so I’ll give you a ride to the city limits. I won’t be able to take you on in to town, because the city cops would give me hell for bringing in vagrants!”

I smiled happily. “A ride that will shorten a three day walk would be most appreciated. Thank you very much, sir.”

He nodded then led us to the back door of his car. He opened it and we slid in our packs, then ourselves. He closed the door then walked to the side of the car next to the road, checked for traffic and got in behind a wheel attached to the front panel. I watched as he pulled a lever down three clicks and we started moving forward.