Chapter 9
“Allow me.” Povon said as she cast a sphere of light over the porch that lent a warm glow to the scene.
“Ahh, is it ever good to be home.” Mark grinned as he stretched, and Stripe and Scout made for their food and water supplies in the stable. “It feels like we were gone for a year! First thing is getting this armor off!”
“I could put it away for you, if you wish.” Povon giggled.
“Sure!” Mark laughed, and suddenly all of their armor and Kragorram’s sword disappeared, leaving him to fall an inch to his bare feet with a bit of a jolt. “Thanks!” he laughed as he scratched an itch on his chest. He realized he was clad in only his underwear, the tine band on his forehead, and his sheathed sword, but he found that he didn’t mind that. Talia was the only other humanoid there, and the other four habitually went about completely unclothed, as was the manner of their races. Besides, it was a beautiful summer night.
“I’ll get us something to eat.” Talia smiled as she kissed his cheek.
“Where will we get food? I don’t even know if there’s a market near here!” Mark laughed as they climbed the eight broad, semicircular stairs at the back doors of The Living Palace.
“There’s a market on the lakeshore, but it’s not open now. It is after midnight.” Talia giggled. “But we have plenty of food, and barrels of drink! The larder’s full, the pantry’s full, and the entire kitchen is piled high with it! I won’t have to cook for years!
“Here, you just sit down and enjoy. I’ll have it ready in a moment.” Talia smiled, and with a whistled trill, she summoned a small, high table and a chair sized for Mark, with a matching chair sized for her with legs long enough to match the height of the table. She arranged them to one side of the doors on the broad semicircular porch at the top of the back stairs.
Then she turned to her visitors. “Can I get you four anything?”
“No thank you.” Povon declined. “We stuffed ourselves with succulent tidbits last night, and we quite literally won’t need to eat for a month! Unless you could brew up a hogshead of rose hip tea?”
“I can do that!” Talia laughed. “The kitchen has facilities to cook for a thousand humans or elves! The biggest kettle is as high as my head!
“And Kragorram, we have a cask of nice high proof rum if you’d like it?”
“Thank you Talia, I would.”
“We’ll just partake of some of this absolutely succulent turf you have here!” Equemev enthused as she and Silaran began to graze on the lawn. “It grows fast enough to need a trim already, and it’s delicious stuff! My compliments to your horticulturist! We’ll wash it down with some of the cool spring water in the trough in the stable. I’m getting the impression from Stripe right now that it’s most refreshing!”
“That ale we had at the meeting was almost too good!” Silaran chuckled as he chewed. “I was starting to get tipsy from it!”
“I’m not surprised! You drank over five gallons of it!” Mark laughed.
“You don’t mind that we talk while we eat, do you?” Equemev inquired, without looking up from the grass she was cropping. “Our people generally do, due to our use of psionic Speaking for almost all of our communications.”
“Please, make yourselves at home!” Mark laughed. “Your ways certainly make you easy to host!”
Talia had plucked dishes, glasses and silverware out of the air and set the table for herself and Mark. Now she began producing covered crocks and kettles of various sizes. When she removed their lids the contents were steaming hot, and in two cases still settling from a boil.
“Wow! Where’d all this come from?” Mark asked.
“From the various feasts at our wedding last night. Many of the nations brought ridiculous amounts, just in case any significant portion of the three and a half million in attendance had decided to eat at their pavilions. There was enough food there last night to feed four times that many, and hundreds of crocks and kettles of freshly cooked food weren’t even opened. Not to mention wheels of cheese, racks of loaves of bread, bushels of fruit and salads, foodstuffs of every kind, and many of them were never touched. And while most of it was sealed and preserved and taken back by those who’d brought it, Mileemi of Thon made sure we got as much of it as we had room to store!”
“This really smells great! And you just have to re-heat it?”
“No, it’s preserved exactly as it was the moment it was sealed! If it was boiling then, it’ll still be boiling when you open it, even if it’s ten years later! It’s like an ongoing Restore spell!” Talia laughed as she sat and began serving herself. “Welcome to the world of modern convenience, my previously-rural love! Without such spells, I doubt even the nations of the elves could lay out such feasts as they presented yesterday on such short notice!
“For that matter, you really must take a moment soon to look at your own kitchen! It’s a wonder of mechanical and magical automation! And with the skills I have as a wizard to help me use it remotely, I don’t even need to be there to make Povon’s tea! A service cart will bring it out here in... about sixteen minutes, Povon. Sorry for the wait, but those who designed my kitchen never imagined me needing to boil a hundred gallons of water on a few moment’s notice.”
“That’s fine. In the meantime, let me show you something, little sister.” Povon mused. “Mark, you might as well learn this as well, so Link with Talia as fully as you can. You’ve got it?”
Mark nodded, still eating without slowing, though Talia had stopped to concentrate on what the silver dragon was showing.
“Now Talia, gather as much of your power to you as you can hold. No no, don’t do anything with it yet! You start casting in subtle ways as soon as you’re holding it, out of habit alone! That’s right, just hold it, be at peace with it, be comfortable with it, let it really start to sink into the material of your body. That’s right.
“Now, you’re not that skilled at this yet, so you can’t hold more than a quarter of your power like this, though you have learned to let it all flow through you when you cast it with all your strength. Try to learn to hold a little tiny bit more of it all the time, as you get used to it.
“Now I’m going to have to Link with you rather closely to really show you anything interesting. You have to decide right here and now how much you’re going to trust me, because I’ll know you completely after that. Not with the detail that the Eldest or Somonik would get, of course, but still, I’ll know all your secrets.”
“We have to all trust each other with our lives, to be comrades in arms.” Mark said after a hurried swallow. “If I’m going to trust you with my life, I might as well trust you with my secrets.
“Of course, such trust must be returned. Will you show me all your secrets, Povon?” Mark chuckled, then continued without waiting for an answer.
“I’ve learned much of such techniques from the Link Talia and I have built. We started off Linked so thoroughly that for a moment we were one mind. The elven power reinforcing our wedding vows intervened, and limited how closely we can Link, so we wouldn’t accidentally harm each other. And we’re still pretty closely Linked. If I think about it, I can tap into Talia’s senses and sensations, feel what she’s feeling. If I concentrate hard on it, and she allows it, I can move her body as if it were my own. The spell of our vows keeps us out of each other’s memories, but I can be completely aware of every level and detail of her present thoughts, if I want to.
“And I really get this stuff right away. I mean, most of us kids used to think that Dob Jorman’s mill was magic, and some still did after they’d seen how it worked on the inside. But I got it right away, I could follow the force that started as the flow of the river through the mill wheel and into the main shaft, or from the wind to the windmill to the secondary shaft, how the movable belts and cogs directed the force to the grindstone or the saw blade or the bellows. I get this stuff just as easy.
“I remember exactly what the vow sp
ell did to block Talia’s memories from me, and I’m starting to understand it. I realized later that I’d been doing the same thing when Silaran and others had Spoken to me psionicly. The Eldest swallowed my whole mind in a gulp when I gave him my language, but I picked up a few things from him when he was Speaking to us later, especially when he pointed out my own mental shields to me. That was the first time I was ever aware of them, and of what I was doing to hold them in place without even realizing it. But no one is like the Eldest. I even blocked Somonik from everything but my surface thoughts, and I’m blocking you right now, as you’ll notice if you test my psionic shields.”
“Remarkable!” Povon breathed. “Do you mind if I push on them a bit? I’m curious as to your strength with them.”
“All right, but do it slowly please.” Mark nodded.
Povon closed her eyes, and now Mark had to set down his fork and concentrate on what he was doing. After about ten seconds he shivered a bit, then clenched his jaws in determination, but a few moments after that he threw up a hand and cried; “Enough!”
“Most impressive.” Povon chuckled. “I could break them, but it would be a bit of work. I couldn’t do anything else while I was doing it.”
“That iz high praize, Mark!” Kragorram congratulated. “Only half my people could rezizt Povon’z probe for even a zecond!”
“Yes, he has better mental shields than half the dragons, unfortunately including you, my love.” Povon teased.
“Az the Eldezt pointed out.” Kragorram nodded.
“There might be a dozen non-Draconians with such strength that way.” Povon mused, then her expression changed to one of surprise. “On the other hand, he is holding no power!”
“What’s that got to do with it?” Mark asked.
“When you hold your power, that is to say, when you gather as much power from the magic field around you and from your personal reserves as you can hold without using it, it makes your nerves work a little bit better, and a little bit faster. To a lesser extent, it makes every part of your body work a bit better, but the increase in nerve function is compounding, particularly in the brain. Holding your power increases the quickness of your physical and mental responses and reflexes, thoughts come faster and clearer, and your total awareness increases. You can hold more complex processes in mind, and cast the power more quickly and more effectively, but the best part is the effect it has on your psionics. All forms of telepathy, mental shielding, and psionic attack improve dramatically.
“And just as your nerves improve with normal use, becoming better conductors of the lightning, so they become better conductors of magic power with repetition. Your arms learn to swing a sword better with repetition, your mind learns to remember a symphony better with repeated listening. In the same way, if you can learn to hold all of your power to you, and become so used to doing so that you do it at all times without even thinking about it, even when you’re sleeping, then it will truly become part of your mind and body. When it truly becomes part of you, and not just a tool that you pick up and put down, it adds to your mental shields and other psionics, your thinking, even your physical speed, strength, and co-ordination, tapping your power to augment those functions without consciously casting spells to do so.
“Becoming one with your power in this way is one of the essential differences between mages and wizards.
“Now Talia has been holding a significant portion of her power without casting any of it, for the first time in her life, and she’s been doing so for a few minutes continuously. Notice the difference in her already.”
“This is really great!” Talia enthused, smiling with her eyes closed.
“I see!” Mark nodded, his eyes also closed so he could concentrate on what Talia was feeling.
“Most wizards of your peoples can’t do this, they lack the mental capacity; the breadth of concentration. Human wizards particularly can often cast a powerful spell, as long as it’s a fairly simple one, but they usually lack the mental capacity for more complex work, nor can they maintain two or three different spells simultaneously. The more you use your power, the stronger and more sure it becomes. But the mental capacity to deal with complexity is more innate, and is difficult to increase without millennia of intense work. This is true of both conscious retention of complexity, of which Yazadril is such a master, and more instinctive and subconscious awareness of complexity, such as we Draconians employ.”
“Anyway, you can shield your mind well, so I can show you things without learning your secrets or knowing you too deeply, if you wish. But you should know that Talia holds almost no shielding against me. She welcomes me into her mind, and so I already know the most important of your secrets; your transparency to wizardry, the tine band, the magnitude of the third power.”
“And have you returned her trust, Povon?” Mark gently asked. “Have you lowered your shields to Talia, welcomed her into your mind with equal openness, with equal trust to that which she has shown you?”
He waited a moment while she registered surprise at the question, then he looked to the rest of them.
“Silaran, you have also mentioned how open Talia is to you. Do you show her the same openness and trust?
“Equemev? I imagine you have been allowed into Talia’s mind with equal openness, have you returned it?
“I judge from your sheepish silences that you have not.
“You must do so now. You are all three bound to justice. Now that you realize that you have taken advantage of Talia’s trusting nature and weak shielding, you must return what you have been given.”
“It iz likely that I would have taken zimilar unthinking advantage, if I had the ability to do so.” Kragorram admitted. “But I do not, and zo my communication iz no deeper than Zpeaking.”
“Ahh! Just a moment, you’re confusing me!” Talia yelped. “That’s too much to take in at once while holding the power at the same time! One at a time, please! Silaran, no offense, but I think you’ll be easier than the Ladies, so you first, then Equemev, then Povon.”
“Hold a bit less of the power when you need to free some of your attention span, until you become more accustomed to holding it to you.” Povon advised, sounding very emotional.
“Oh Silaran, you are beautiful!” Talia shivered, her eyes closed. “Hold up a bit, you’re overcompensating! That’s far more than I ever let you in, and frankly, those things you should keep private. There. That’s about as much as I gave you. I’ll withdraw. And thank you, thank you so very much.
“Now you, Equemev. Oooooh! You’re so... So delightfully you! Thank you! It’s truly heavenly to know you!
“Povon?”
“I’ll need a moment.” Povon murmured hesitantly. “You’ll learn something if you pay attention to this. You all can, so you should all pay attention, especially you four since this is your assignment for the Eldest anyway. You know you develop layers of shields, to protect layers of your mind. But watch this.”
She brought them all into Linkage with her, deep enough to feel what she was doing.
“Wow! How many of them are there?” Mark breathed a moment later. “You’ve lowered, what, seven separate layers of psionic shields so far? And I see that they’re all a bit unique in some way.”
“I keep sixteen layers of shields around even my surface thoughts. To reach even the most superficial parts of my mind, an enemy must breach them all, one by one. Then like most people with good psionic shields, I have a separate shield around my general memory and one around my knowledge, a deeper shield around my private thoughts, and another around my deepest emotions. But as only a battle sorcerer has, I reserve my hardest shields for the critical parts of my brain functions; my pain and pleasure processes, and my automatic functions like breathing and heartbeat and so on. I keep a total of forty-one layers of shields around every part of my mind whose protection from psionic attack is crucial in battle. The hardest five layers contain traps; previously cast an
d charged psionic counter-attack spells, the nastiest ones I could devise or learn from others.
“Now, I remove the last surface shield, and you are in my surface thoughts, and each of our Links is secured in two directions. I am Linked to you, and now that you are behind my surface shields, you are Linked to me. You see how that was done? I’ll do it in reverse. I raise a shield. Then, see, I shift the frequency of the note or color I’m thinking of a little, and raise another shield over the first.”
Her companions nodded agreement without speaking; concentrating with fascination on what she was showing.
“It takes practice to raise as many as I do and be able to maintain them without thinking about it.
“I... I don’t suppose I can procrastinate this anymore. This will be hard for me. I’ve only lowered my shields to two people since my first century, and I’d have never done it for the Eldest, except I was so afraid that even if I didn’t he’d just brush my shields aside and Read me like a page anyway. Having your shields torn away is a decidedly unpleasant experience.
“Mark, I’m now glad that I’ve never been privy to more than your surface thoughts. Because I haven’t, I don’t have to lower my shields to you to satisfy my vow of justice.”
“I feel the same way, Povon.” Mark said as he withdrew from the Link completely and continued his meal. “Except for Talia, I don’t really want to be in anyone else’s mind any more than I want them in my own, beyond what we need to do for our training and work as a strike force.”
“Thank you.” Povon nodded. “You four, I’ve Read you fairly deeply. It’s only fair that I show you as much of me as I’ve seen of you. Please... Don’t judge me too harshly.”
She had been lounging on her belly, her chin in her hands and resting on her elbows, partly curled around Kragorram who sat up like a dog. Now she lay down fully, and Kragorram cuddled her lovingly. The two unicorns came over and nuzzled her muzzle with gentle affection, and Talia’s face clouded until she was almost crying.
Then the tiny elf Translocated over to the silver dragon beside Equemev, threw her arms wide, and hugged the tip of Povon’s nose. Povon ever-so-carefully stroked Talia’s back in return with an index finger.
“Forgiveness is a wonderful thing, Povon.” Equemev told her. “And self-forgiveness is the most important kind. You’re still torturing yourself for things you were driven to do, that happened so long ago that they’re ancient history to all of the rest of us, even Kragorram. Let it all go, Povon. You’re a good person, and you have a completely new life now.”
Kragorram murmured something to her as well, too low in both volume and pitch for Mark to make out.
Povon moaned, a very low sound, and her eyes clenched as her breathing became jerky.
Mark realized that the dragon was weeping, a thought that touched off strange emotions in him as he politely ignored the scene.
A few minutes later Povon calmed, then chuckled. “You are beautiful, and I thank you. The tea is ready.” she quietly announced.
“Oh! So it is!” Talia noticed as she directed her attention to her kitchen.
“And your dinner is getting cold.” Povon added. “And by the way, did you notice how effortless your Translocate was, while holding your power?”
“It was easy! I never even thought about it, really!”
“That is one of the advantages of the old ways. You are a wizard, and if you can keep the two sets of methods discrete in your mind, you will always be one. But now you are also becoming a mage. You can do more things with wizardry, and do them with less talent and intelligence. But the things that can be done with magecraft can be done better that way.”
Talia had turned to face the doors, and now one opened to allow the passage of a cart with a wooden hogshead full of almost-boiling tea, then a smaller cart with the cask of rum.
“Ahh, that will be good rum!” Kragorram commented. “From the Ztone Islandz, I can zmell the rezidue of their mollazez from here!”
The two unicorns returned to their grazing as the two dragons retrieved their drinks from the carts, then re-arranged themselves on the lawn.
“By the way, it was a courteous touch to serve the tea in the wooden barrel, but you could have left it in the kettle.” Povon said as she blew a small fireball into her hand and snuffed it by closing her fist. “I would not have burned myself on it, you see.”
“I didn’t think you would, but I thought the tea would stay hot longer in the hogshead.” Talia smiled as she lightly ran up the stairs to Mark with a grin.
She gave him a quick kiss on the cheek, resumed her place at her meal, then quickly cast upon it to heat it back up to the proper temperature. This made her smile in chagrin. “Of course, now that I think about it, I’m sure you can always heat your own tea, Povon.”
“Of course. And thank you, this is very good.”
“You said something I’d like to ask you about, Povon.” Mark said as he sat back, having finished eating, and idly swirled a mug half full of hot cider. “Something about how our bodies run by lightning?”
“Actually, the non-magical aspects of our bodies work by a kind of very slow fire, thus we need to fuel ourselves, we give off heat, we breathe in fresh air, and breathe out stale air, just as fire does. But our nerves and brains send messages to each other with tiny sparks of lightning. The energy field they create in and around our bodies is what we use to shape the power of magic. Talia could explain this more exactly, due to her theoretical training, but that’s the gist of it.
“You have cast with Talia’s power?” she asked in a sudden change of subject.
“My first and only real spell so far. I cast a small Flame, just enough to light a candle.”
“How long did it take you to learn to do that?”
“It was almost instant, actually. We were Linked, and she just showed me how to do it. I got it right away.”
“And do you realize how remarkable that is, that you grasped your first spell so quickly?”
“I did kind of get that impression, yes.” Mark smiled.
“As I noted at the time, his mind is most remarkable.” Talia commented between bites. “I think he could absorb spells as fast as I can show them to him. I was going to show him a lot more, but then we got distracted from that when we awakened his power and killed ourselves. Here; here’s how it went.”
With that she reactivated her Link with the other four and showed them her memory of the event, then went back to finishing her meal.
“Incredible!” Povon smiled. “And do you realize that you are both still Linked, though I can tell that you are no longer wearing the tine band?”
“Hey! That’s right! I never thought about it! But Talia couldn’t Link with me before until I wore the band!”
“Just so. You must be maintaining the Link with your own power. Yazadril and the other theoreticians will be interested to know this, for it helps prove the conjecture that all psionics are fundamentally the same, whether powered by the light of the source or the heat of the stone, or even your third power.
“I’m really curious now. Mark, I’d very much like you to wear the tine band, and allow me a teaching Link with you and Talia. Deeper than a Speaking, but not as deep as your Link with her, while allowing me to share spells with you, and monitor your efforts at casting.”
“I think I can do that. I have to lower my next shield below the spoken word, so to speak. Um, I’m having a bit of trouble with it, actually.”
“Since you hold your shields instinctively, like a mage.” Povon nodded. “Here, I’ll show Talia how to do it. Now she can show you.”
“Ah, thank you both. To me, that’s like Speaking with concepts, and with your sense of magic, I’d suppose you’d say. I see what you mean about the shields now too.” Mark nodded.
“There, you have it. Just to keep things clear, I’ll keep my commentary audible, and show you techniques through the Link. I’ll monitor you throug
h the Link as well.
“Now Talia, share some of your power with him. Mark, just hold it, as she’s doing. Excellent. Talia, slowly give him more, until he becomes uncomfortable with it.”
“That’s... That’s just incredible!” Mark smiled joyously, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the sensation.
Half a minute later, he noticed the sensation wasn’t increasing anymore.
“This is going to be a most interesting session.” Povon stated thoughtfully.
“How much am I holding?” Mark asked.
“Uh, all of it. Everything I can gather!” Talia revealed with growing excitement. “And we’re almost in the center of First Valley! I’m stronger here than almost anywhere else! And you’re holding it all! Effortlessly!”
“It’s great! It feels wonderful!”
“Talia, if you’re finished eating, would you show him the second spell that is taught to students of elven wizardry?” Povon asked.
“Actually, he hasn’t learned the first yet, which is Movement.” Talia said as she slid her plate back and wiped her lips with a napkin. She floated over the table and settled in Mark’s lap. “We tried it first when we were trying to awaken his power, then Father began working through some of the basic categories, and we were at Flame when I linked with him, and you know how that went.
“Here love; basic Movement.”
“I see!” Mark nodded and grinned as he held his eyes closed in concentration.
“Remarkable.” Povon nodded. “Give him the next one. See how fast he can take them. Mark, call a halt if it becomes uncomfortable.”
“All right. Here’s multiple Movement in unison. Here’s independent multiple Movement. Here’s self Movement. Here’s Levitate. Here’s Flight, the combination of self Movement and Levitation. Just a moment. It’s wearing on me, just passing so much to you!”
“I start to empathize with Yazadril.” Povon stated in amazement. “You are a frightening being, Mark Longstrider.”
“Uh, how so this time?”
“Generally, only when two wizards are very experienced, powerful, intelligent, and talented, and have worked closely for centuries, is it possible to learn spells by such direct transfer of knowledge. You have learned in a few seconds what should have taken decades. I think you do have it, but test them now to make sure.”
Mark opened his eyes and Levitated himself off his chair, still gently holding Talia in his lap, and began slowly flying around the table, then raised his fork and his spoon by Movement, and set them to dancing with each other in mid-air.
“Sweet source above!” Talia softly breathed. “Can you add another fork?”
Mark added her fork to the dance, then her knife, then a serving spoon, then the saltcellar, then the pepper mill. “That’s about all I can whoop!” he said as his fork started to fall, and he halted the dance to catch it. “Just about overdid it there for a second.” he muttered as he replaced the utensils in their places and drifted back to his chair.
He took a deep breath, then suddenly jumped up with a grin, and began dancing Talia around the landing with great bouncing strides. “I did it! Did You see that?!! Was that ever great! I can do magic!”
“I’d never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes.” Povon stated.
“To think! He did that while casting Talia’s power!” Equemev marveled. “Generally, that would almost double the degree of difficulty! Eight independent spells, one of second level, plus the Link! I couldn’t hold that many spells at once, even casting them with my own power!”
“On hiz zecond cazting! Firzt, he lit a candle, and then that!” Kragorram enthused, almost bouncing in his excitement.
“Quite. Talia, take back as much of your power as you can hold.” Povon directed. “You need to marinate in it more than he does. You might as well let him hold the rest, since he barely notices it anyway.”
“May I give him one?” Kragorram eagerly asked.
“One step at a time, my love.” Povon cautioned. “We are truly breaking new ground here.
“Mark, see if you and Silaran can open a teaching Link with each other.”
“He has it already!” Silaran whooped.
“Calm yourself a bit, Silaran. Now, give him the Source-powered sorcerers’ version of basic Movement, as practiced by your people.”
“I have it!” Mark crowed. Then he sobered and concentrated for a moment. “Huh. I’m definitely no sorcerer, any more than I am a wizard, really. I have the spell, but I can’t cast it as he does. I just don’t have any of the kind of power Silaran has. Just like I don’t have any of what Talia has, and I couldn’t cast those wizard’s spells if I wasn’t just guiding her power to do it.
“It’s amazing that the two versions of Movement do almost exactly the same thing, yet they work completely differently! But now that I think about it, the difference is only one of mindset and technique, and not in the different nature of their power sources. Look.”
He opened his eyes, and his fork rose a foot into the air again. “I can cast the unicorn sorcerer’s version of Movement with the power of Talia’s elven wizardry. A bit strange to do it while thinking about it like one of The People of Morning. Yazadril and Alilia must have done the same when they adapted the Xervian stasis spell to their own methods.”
“Just so. Can you do the reverse? Can you teach Silaran the elven wizards’ Movement spell?”
“Ow! Just a moment, that is... That is very confusing!” Silaran said as he tossed his head in irritation. “I have the spell, I think, but I could never cast it without a year’s work at least! Maybe never! That is some weird stuff!”
“Ah. You are all right?” Povon politely inquired.
“He’ll be fine.” Equemev mentally giggled. “I have the elven spell from him. You should have had Mark give it to me, rather than Silaran. I could cast it with a few weeks of work. It definitely utilizes a very different approach to casting power than we use.”
“Just so.” Povon nodded. “That degree of Linking between such different races can often be uncomfortable. I thought that Mark’s Linking with a female of your people might be more difficult than with another male.
“All right, Mark. Here is the magecraft version of basic Movement, as was generally used by Talia’s people before the gods left.”
“Hey! That’s completely different again!” Mark grinned, then sobered in concentration. Again he raised his fork a foot in the air. “I see what you mean. The magecraft spell is a lot harder to cast, more of a complex mental challenge, and you have to hold yourself in a certain emotional mindset to make it work. But once you have it going it’s easier to maintain, and you can do more with it.” He set the fork spinning on it’s axis at a quickly increasing rate until it was just a blur in the air emitting an angry buzz, then stopped it suddenly and set it down. “I couldn’t do that with the wizard’s spell without a lot more practice.”
“That was impressive.” Povon nodded. “Now, establish a teaching Link with Equemev. Equemev, see if you can give him access to some of your sorcerers’ power.”
“Whoa, slow down there Mark!” Equemev exclaimed. “Don’t try to draw more than I give you! You’re holding enough to lift Kragorram to the top of the house!”
“Now Mark, try casting the sorcerers’ basic Movement that Silaran showed you, using the power that Equemev is lending you.”
The fork rose and lazily floated end over end. “That is truly weird. The People of Morning truly think very differently than I do. Even though this unicorn sorcerer’s spell is functionally much more similar to the elven wizards’ spell than the elven magecraft spell is, this feels a lot more different.”
“And you have no difficulty keeping the three methods discrete in your mind, though they all do the same thing?” Povon asked.
“No; they’re completely different.”
“All right. Here is the magicians’ version of basic Movement,
as practiced by The People of Morning before the gods left.”
“Ahh! You know, I could almost have deduced this!” Mark grinned. “It’s the same basic older method as the mage spell, with the unicorn mindset of the newer sorcerers’ spell!”
“And you can cast it?”
“Sure! Actually, watch this!” With that, he raised both forks and both table knives into the air, and set them slowly spinning in unison. “I can’t make them dance like this though. It’s a bit complex.”
“I feel like I’m going to throw up.” Equemev stated.
“Iz he doing what I think he’z doing?!” Kragorram inquired in amazement.
“He is. He’s performing the same Movement independently on four objects with four completely different spells, by drawing two completely different kinds of power from two other people who are of different races and genders from himself, over two separate Links. Are you sure he isn’t using some of our mental capacity as well, somehow? There’s no way he should be doing all that by himself!”
“I assure you, he is doing it completely without assistance.” Povon stated with certainty. “All right, Mark. We shall see how you deal with an even more alien mind-set. Here is the inherent and instinctive method of basic Movement used by my people, which is powered by both of the conventional kinds of magic energy, the light of the Source used by magicians and sorcerers, and the heat of the stone used by mages and wizards.”
“Wow! That’s incredible!” Mark exclaimed, and the utensils clattered onto the table. “It takes a lot more power to do it, but mentally it’s practically effortless, like reaching out with your hand! Look!”
A kettle rose off the table, shivered a bit, then steadied.
“And now he’s drawing power from an elf and a unicorn, melding it, and using it to duplicate a draconian inherent magical ability. I’ve reached the limits of my capacity to be incredulous.” Equemev stated.
“All right, Mark. You now a have a very basic feel for the various methods of casting power.” Povon lectured. “Recall how your own power felt, the third power source that you alone can cast, when you first held it, and when Talia used it to cast Flame upon the candle.
“Of the styles of casting you’ve experienced here, which do you think will be most appropriate to use with your own power?”
“It doesn’t matter.” Mark answered right away. “I could cast any of those spells with any of the types of power. I could even cast the draconian method of Movement with a combination of Talia’s power and my own. My own power does feel more like Equemev’s than Talia’s, which makes sense, since my power shines down from the sun like the Source does. I think my power is therefore more like the light of the Source than the heat of the stone, functionally speaking. The wizardry felt most comfortable though, due to my close melding with Talia as much as anything else I think. I’ll probably learn wizardry first for most things, since there’s no use spending the time to learn how to do everything five different ways. I like that magecraft spell though, I had the most control with that, so I think I’ll learn magecraft as a minor study, with wizardry as my major.”
“And you think you could control your power?”
“I’m not sure. As the Eldest would say, it’s a different order of magnitude. If there was someone else who had it, I could just get them to show me how it felt to use it, just as you here have shown me how to control your power. As it is, I’ll just have to experiment with it until I get a feel for it, just like everyone else usually does I suppose. I’m committed to not trying anything with it unless I’m well away from any who could be harmed by it, and I have the sword of Visinniria to shield me. She says she can shield me with my own power.”
“Actually, she and I agreed that she would be called Ria now, both for ease of use, and to distinguish her in conversation from the goddess Visinniria.” Talia told them.
“I’m looking forward to meeting her, since she is to be our first teacher of military arts.” Equemev whinnied.
“I’m not sure how we’ll arrange that.” Talia said, her hand on her pommel. “Ria isn’t either. She was spelled to be perceived as a personality by her rightful owner, and no others, as part of the set of spells she carries to prevent her being taken or used by her rightful owner’s enemies. And her rightful owner must be a female elf. On the other hand, it would be cumbersome to relay all of her instructions to all of you through me, particularly when my attention is already fully occupied with other tasks.”
“May I hold her for a moment?” Povon asked, holding out her hand.
Talia hopped down from Mark’s lap, drew the sword, and gave it over.
Povon held it between the tips of her forefinger and thumb, and closed her eyes. “Hmm. This is quite a puzzle. I think I’ll ask the Eldest, since he obviously had something in mind when he directed that we train under Ria.
“One moment.
“Ah, greetings, Honored Eldest. We...” Povon fell silent in mid-sentence, then pressed the pommel of the sword against the center of her brow, and held it there for a few seconds.
She opened her eyes and handed the sword back to Talia. “The Eldest says you must hold it while he casts upon it with my power, to give Ria the capacity for more memory. Then he’ll pass a spell through the Link from himself through me and you to her, and that will solve our problem.
“Here comes the memory spell.”
“She got a bit warmer there for a moment.” Talia nodded, eyes closed, holding the blade point up before her with both hands.
“Thank you, Eldest.” Povon said with a bow, then opened her eyes. “He says it’s done, though I couldn’t detect the spell that passed through me.”
“I didn’t either, but Ria says she has it.” Talia nodded. “She needs a moment to think about it.”
“What waz Vizinniria’z mandate of divinity?” Kragorram asked, still so excited he was almost bouncing from it.
“She became Elven Goddess of War.” Talia told him absently, half her attention still on what Ria was doing. She held the sword up with both hands and kept it very still, and spoke with her eyes closed. “Long before her there was Heklivmalgiso, who was the only elven god until Visinniria’s ascension.”
Suddenly a female elf appeared before her in well-worn armor of plain steel, with many expertly done repairs about it here and there. She had a huge mane of wavy red hair that was as rigid as a helmet, and had her arms folded across her chest, her body held rigidly straight with her toes pointed. She was also floating in the air almost completely upside down.
“Oh!” Talia said in surprise, and let the tip of her sword fall halfway. The redheaded elf turned in the air at the same time, making it obvious that her body remained perfectly aligned with the blade of the sword.
Suddenly the newcomer’s pale blue eyes were open. Mark noticed that her eyelids didn’t open normally, one instant her eyes were closed, the next they were open, like her eyelids had Translocated to the new position without physically moving.
“This is not that funny.” a girlish psionic voice stated.
“Oh! Sorry about that!” Talia exclaimed, and swung the sword down, setting the point on the wood of the landing and holding it vertically. The armored elfess turned with the sword, ending with the extended tips of her pointed armored boots touching the wood.
“It is not your fault. I should be able to handle my own attitude control.” the new voice stated, and for a moment her eyes were closed, then they were open, again with no apparent transition between the two states. “I have it now. Sheathe me, but keep your hand in contact with my hilt.”
Talia slid the sword into its scabbard.
The redhead tipped and rose a tiny bit when the sword first moved, but immediately resumed her vertical orientation with her arms still folded and the tips of her boots touching the floor. “Greetings. I am Ria, the spirit of The First Sword of Visinniria.”
“I’m pleased to meet you.” Mark told her. “I
assume you know who we all are?”
“I do. I know all that Talia has thought since I was given to her.” Ria told him. She swiveled to face him as she addressed him, but other than turning her entire body’s orientation, she was a still as a statue, neither blinking nor breathing. Her mouth and face didn’t move as she Spoke, nor did her eyes swivel in their sockets.
“Can you move?” Kragorram asked.
Ria rotated and tipped back a bit, so that her eyes were looking directly at the crimson dragon’s. “Only as I am moving now. I am a sword; a rigid entity, and I enjoy being a sword. I suppose it is conceivable that I could bend and flop about like you do, but I would find it rather distressing. I have projected this Illusion of the appearance of Visinniria as she looked when she impressed her personality upon me, only so that I can interact with you more effectively, as Talia has directed me. But I was a self-aware sword for over two centuries before I gained my first wielder’s personality, and I do not usually think of myself as having this appearance. It pleases me about as well as it would please you to have to look like a sword, but we do what we must.”
She considered him a moment. “My, you are a big one. There were none your size when Visinniria walked the world.”
Kragorram grinned and bowed.
She turned to face Povon. “You would be a difficult foe. You have gained much ability in a short time, as your people measure it. I salute you.” Ria tipped forward a moment, then tipped back to face her again. “I fought your kind in The War of The Segregation, both as mage and blade, and they were by far the most fearsome enemies we faced. It will be interesting to train you, and to fight at your side.”
Povon only nodded.
Ria turned to Silaran and Equemev. “It brightens my heart to again congress with The People of Morning. In my day, your people were held in great reverence by mine, and there were two of them who I dearly loved. The opportunity to perceive you and to interact with you in this way, and to work with you in the days ahead, more than makes it worthwhile to assume this somewhat strange manifestation.”
“We are most pleased to meet you, Ria.” Equemev told her with a toss of her head.
Ria turned to face Mark again. “I have mixed feelings regarding you, Mark. I feel some of Talia’s love for you, as she and I are well bonded by now. But the Visinniria I knew would have killed you out of hand like a rabid rat.”
“Oh? And why would she do that?”
“In The War of The Segregation, our most hated enemies were demon-spawn and humans. Demon-spawn do not hate, they are cruel to everyone by nature, including each other. But at that time, the enmity between elves and humans was deep and bitter. Any human was killed on sight by any elf, and your people had the same policy toward mine. That was the state of affairs for almost the entire war, which had lasted six thousand years without pause or truce when I was impressed, and was to last another five thousand after. And you in particular are an incredible danger.
“I realize that attitudes have changes since then, but I have not yet become accustomed to the welcome presence of a human, or to the idea of them as allies. Please be patient with me if I sometimes seem a bit short with you, but the urge to kill you is somewhat reflexive.”
“I see.” Mark chuckled.
“As to your decision to make wizardry your major art and magecraft your minor, that is purest stupidity. Wizardry was developed for those who lack the talent for magecraft. Magecraft is a much deeper art, as it was developed for millions of years before wizardry was even thought of, only twenty-seven thousand years ago as I understand it. Magecraft is the obvious choice for anyone who is capable of both arts. It’s too late for Talia to make that choice, since the patterns of wizardry are well established in her mind, so magecraft can only be her secondary study. Though I think she will excel in it, even having to mentally translate its concepts into the language of wizardry in order to use it.
“Right now you are as ignorant as a child, compared to these five. You must catch up to them as quickly as possible, before I can train the six of you as a military unit. I will therefore give you as many magecraft spells as you can absorb. Feel now, I link to you through Talia. You see how the Link differs, when established by magecraft?”
“Yes, that’s quite interesting!”
“Brace yourself. I will pass you spells much more quickly than Talia passed you those simple Movements.”
“AAHH!” Mark yelled, slapping his hands to his head. “Hold on!”
“Persevere!” Ria barked. “I give you no more than you can handle, and if you cannot trust me in this, there is no use working with you!”
Mark set himself determinedly, his fists and jaws clenched as he endured the onslaught of information and sensations. For almost ten minutes the others waited anxiously as Ria poured knowledge and skills into his brain. By the time it was done he was covered in sweat, shivering violently, and quietly moaning constantly.
It ended suddenly and he slumped in his chair. “Sweet mother of all!” he sobbed, almost in tears, and Talia comforted him as best she could with one hand on Ria’s hilt.
“Shake it off! You’ll be fine in a few moments! And you had best toughen up considerably, boy, if you wish to train under me! Such a pathetic response ill-befits a warrior!
“Talia, you think I have been hard on him because of my feelings toward humans, but it is not so. All of you are very soft and weak, compared to the people you would have been if you had grown up during The War of The Segregation. I am to train you for war, not for arranging flowers, and if you are not prepared to endure discomfort, pain, and injury, then you had best choose another duty, or another trainer! I will not send you to battle, or even to the Eldest for real weapons training, until you are prepared to face all the horrors of war, and are capable of overcoming them! I will inflict any and every ordeal and indignity upon you that I feel is necessary for your training, for I cannot in good conscience do otherwise!”
“We underztand.” Kragorram nodded, choosing to speak for the group.
“How much did you give him?!” Talia demanded.
“All of it. He took every spell I know, which is all that Visinniria had learned in her first two hundred and seventy-one years. He could have taken a seventeenth more before he reached his limits of endurance, if I had it to give to him. As to his limits of capacity, he is still only using a tiny fraction of it. He really is quite special. He has as much mental capacity and control as Visinniria had, which must make him a Candidate for Divinity in ten thousand years or so. If he lives that long.
“With the decline of magecraft over the last twenty-seven millennia, he is quite likely the premier mage on life right now. Certainly the premier battle mage, for Visinniria’s skill in war was unmatched. Or rather he will be, after he has a few days to absorb and sort through it all.
“Mark, for the next two days, make no attempt at any form of spell casting. Spend four hours per day training Talia in the mundane skills of warcraft you learned as a Ranger, for she is as helpless that way as you were in magic. And they are skills you have truly mastered, I will give you that. She will spend two hours per day learning battle casting from me. Other than that, enjoy your honeymoon. Your mind needs a rest after the last three days, and once we begin training, you will not get another for a while.
“All of you take note; no matter how much power you can cast, if a battle goes on long enough, you will exhaust your reserves. Then it comes down to muscle and blade, and only a fool would neglect those skills. Almost every battle mage I ever met who refused to learn to use a sword ended up spitted on one, after spending all their power in battles that went on without respite for a day, or a week, or a month. By blade and bow, or horn and hoof, or tooth and claw and fire, you must all master physical combat.
“Mark has two days furlough, and then we will spend a few days sharpening his mage skills and training him to cast his own power. During that time I want the
rest of you to consult with the finest war-masters of your own races that you can gain access to. I will train you to fight as a unit, but Talia is the only one of you I am truly qualified to train in individual combat skills and spells, so you must see to others for that. Have your battle skills assessed, both physical and magical, and practice the exercises they assign you for as many hours per day as you can drive yourselves to do.
“Now, do any of you have any questions?”
“I have one.” Mark said. He’d recovered from his learning session, and was wiping sweat from his brow with a napkin. “The Eldest said we aren’t immortal, me and Talia, though you know what happened when we killed ourselves with the fireball. So what did he mean?”
“Firstly, you have what might be termed serial mortality, not true immortality. Being able to bring yourselves back to life after being killed is a far cry from being truly immune to death, as the gods are.
“Secondly, your ability to return yourselves to life is limited by the power of the curse, which is equivalent to the maximum exertion of Alilia. Alilia is not charging the curse continuously, so once the power she gave it is expended, the curse itself will be gone, and you will be as vulnerable to death as any others. Now Alilia is truly a phenomenon, and is the only elf I’ve even heard of who has more raw power than I had when I was an elf, though not by much. Mind you, she likely had less power at the age of two hundred and seventy one than Visinniria did, and I’m quite sure that Visinniria at the age of four thousand eight hundred and fifty six was mightier than Alilia is now, at that age. But she is no match in pure power for one such as Povon, here.
“Were Povon to battle you as you are now, she would blast you to dust in a blink. Likely the blast would not be contained by a small room, as your fireball was, so the dust and mist that makes up your bodies would be much more widely scattered. It would take much longer for the curse to return you to life, and it would drain a great deal more of the curse’s finite supply of power. Unless draconian magician-mages have changed much since my time, they love more than anything to call lightning down upon you. It’s an incredibly effective spell, since a great deal more lightning can be called with a given amount of power than can be created with it. Being squarely struck by a bolt of natural lightning is devastating indeed, and if you don’t notice the field of anti-lightning building up on you before the bolt strikes, or if you lack the ability to counter the spell or negate the field, the strike is almost completely instantaneous and unavoidable. Rather than the few minutes your recovery required after your death by fireball, it could take hours, and drain hundreds of times as much of the curse’s resources.
“Likely Povon would assume you were vanquished, and take herself elsewhere before the reconstitution of your bodies became obvious. That is assuming she was unaware of the effects of the curse. But she has excellent awareness, as you realized when you called her attention by merely renaming her Silver Beauty. She would soon notice that you had recovered, and she would find you and blast you again. This time she would wait to find out how you came back to life, and she would effectively analyze the workings of the curse. Then she would blast you again, more powerfully this time, and call a fast wind as well, putting much of her power into those two actions, so as to scatter your dust and mist beyond the remaining power of the curse to recover. If that didn’t work the first time, she would consider allowing your bodies to partly re-form, and then encase them in glass or something similar in order to prevent the rest of your matter from rejoining the already consolidated portion. But I think she would reject that method, and amuse herself by blasting and scattering you repeatedly until the curse was completely expended. Dragons have a great deal of patience for things like that, though I doubt she would have to blast you more than five or six times at most in order to finalize your death.”
“Ah. As the Eldest said, orders of magnitude.” Mark nodded.
“You have achieved your secondary objective of that lecture as well.” Povon snickered. “For you have predicted my actions in such a situation with complete accuracy. I am fully aware of the implications of that.”
“How zo?” Kragorram asked.
“She correctly assumed that I was skeptical of her qualifications to train me, either as a sword, or as a two hundred and seventy-one year old elf.” Povon revealed. “However, since she can predict me, she can also counter me. If she can counter me, others with skills equal to hers can also counter me, unless she teaches me the counter to her counter. Sorry if that sounds a bit confusing.”
“Ha! I mean, no offenze Ria, but battling a dragon az part of an army of elvez iz a different thing from being able to challenge one zuch as Povon or myzelf in zingle combat!”
“You should trust the wisdom of your mate, Kragorram, for now you are being an arrogant young crap!” Ria retorted. “When I was part of an army of elves, we fought armies of dragons, thousands of them! When I was an elf, I participated in the butchery of hundreds of your kind, and killed six in single combat, two of whom were mightier than you or Povon, and all of whom were vastly more experienced and battle-hardened! As a sword, I’ve bathed in dragon blood on dozens of occasions! And right now, with me in her hand, using only the fifty-two spells I contain and the knowledge I can give and my quality as a sword, Talia could slay you both in a minute without taking a scratch or a bruise! Ask Somonik if you don’t believe me, for he was there, refusing to take sides while every other race was trying to exterminate my people forever!”
“Now it is you who goes too far, Ria.” Povon stated sternly. “Not about the rest of it, but about Somonik! He stands for justice, and he always has! In war, he will fight on the side of justice! But as he once explained, it often happens that when evil people attack, and they kill and destroy indiscriminately, those who were attacked will counter-attack the nation of those who initiated the hostilities, also killing and destroying indiscriminately in return, regardless of whether or not the individuals they are killing took part in their nation’s evils, or even agreed with them! In this way do the victims of evil fall into evil themselves, and it becomes a case of evil versus evil. Once that happens, Somonik will assist neither side.
“You have admitted that your people killed humans on sight. That would have included children and other non-combatants, I assume. And thus Somonik would not assist you. Furthermore, I know enough of The War of The Segregation to know that every race was against every other race, and only the giants and gnomes were allied. Every race including my own felt themselves to be in a fight for their very racial survival. You elves were not singled out for persecution in that way.
“I admit your battle prowess, and even that it is greater than mine. But obviously prowess in battle does not automatically grant you wisdom in other things. For that, I suggest you review the words Mark spoke today, for he is barely adult, yet still has more wisdom than both of us put together.”
Ria stared rigidly at Povon for a long moment before she replied. “When I was six years old, a human child of perhaps nine years was seen lurking near our camp, and our sentries quickly slew him with arrows and burned his body. I asked my mother why this was done, since the child was unarmed. I learned that early in the war, we did not kill the children of humans. But when the humans realized this, they took advantage of it. When they sent their children to spy us out, we did not kill them. When they were sent to infiltrate our camps, hidden by the best detection-prevention spells the human mages had, planting explosives, and despoiling our food and water with magic poisons, we still did not routinely kill human children. But then a magically augmented pestilence killed a full quarter of our people, and we learned that the human mages had created the disease, and designed it to harm only elves. They had inoculated their children with it, and sent some of them to us with instructions to allow themselves to be captured, and so it was passed to us. And that, explained my mother, was why we killed them at every opportunity, and burned their bodies.
In that war, there were no non-combatants, for even a babe in swaddling might carry a fearsome agent of death.
“Anyone can be driven to evil, Povon. Pray that it is never forced upon you.
“As for me, I am a weapon. I am not a person, for I exist as a personality only when my rightful owner is in physical contact with me. The rest of the time I am only steel. Only the memories that Visinniria gave me when she impressed me and wielded me are permanent, and also the Eldest’s spell for this illusion. I forget everything else after a century. Since I have occupied a shelf in a weapons collection for more than the last century and have not been used during that time, it seems to me that I was fighting The War of The Segregation three days ago. Furthermore, I was spelled to be a stable and unchanging personality, so that I could be a reliable check for Visinniria’s sanity, and I have only a limited capacity to change my attitudes. Only my bonding with Talia allows me to view those of most other races with anything but hatred. Whether I am right or wrong, it is of little use to argue with me about such things.
“It is not necessary that you like me, Povon. Only that you learn from me.”
“I shall bear that in mind.” Povon smirked.
“Fine. Now, is there anything else?”
“Thank you, Ria. For the magecraft, that is.” Mark told her, as he considered the wealth of knowledge he’d gained. “You’ve opened up a whole new world to me.”
“Thank Talia then, for I only act for her. I am only truly comfortable conversing with her as well, so if there is nothing else for now, I will bid you good evening.” Ria said, and closed her eyes in her unique way before fading from view over a second or so.
Talia took her hand from the hilt, and returned to Mark’s lap.
“Well. That was interesting.” Povon mused.
“Iz zhe alwayz like that?” Kragorram chuckled.
“Pretty much, though she’s not stern like that with me.” Talia told him. “She had a hard and horrible life, and her personality bears many scars from it.”
“What a horrible world it must have been then.” Mark thoughtfully said. “Everyone hating and killing everyone, the whole world swept up in a tide of evil. That’s what we have to prevent more than anything else, for it’s the very worst thing that could happen.”
“No it’s not.” Povon said with a shiver. “The second worst thing that could happen is the complete annihilation of all life on Kellaran. The very worst is the complete destruction of the world of Kellaran itself.”
“Is that really possible?” Mark asked in surprise. “I mean, what could do that?”
“Astronomers have watched the sky with spells that magnify their vision for millennia, always devising better spells for it, and they have seen stars explode, and seen worlds destroyed by collisions with other worlds, or enveloped in clouds of dust so dense that the light from their stars was blocked, and they froze solid. Kellaran itself has experienced sudden and devastating changes in climate in the far distant past. One of them destroyed all life on land and most of the life in the oceans, including the first true people on this world. Only seven million years after they reached true sentience, the ocean dwelling race we call the Zurb were utterly destroyed. One of them had become the first god, but even he could not save a single one of his people when the oceans froze solid to a depth of eight miles and stayed that way for half a million years. And in the eighty million years that my race has kept records of such things, Kellaran has been struck many times. This valley, and the rest of The Nine Valleys, were created when a rock the size of a large mountain broke into nine pieces as it fell from the sky, and they struck with enough force to annihilate almost everything on half of this continent. There was so much dust and smoke thrown into the air that the sun was blocked, and the whole world was cold and dark for eleven years.”
“I see. Well then, we’ll consider world-wide war and evil to be the worst thing that could happen that we could actually do anything about.” Mark grinned.
“I’ll agree with that.” Povon chuckled.
“And on that note, I think we’ll bring the evening to a close.” Talia smiled. “Mark’s being very noble, but absorbing Ria’s magecraft took a lot out of him, and it’s been a very long and eventful day. And I still have need for his attention before we sleep tonight.
“Thank you all for coming, and thanks for everything today. You’ve been really wonderful. It still boggles my mind that the four of you have chosen to join us as you have. I doubt any elf or human has ever had such magnificent companions.”
“Thank you. Though it iz we who are honored. And thank you for bringing uz to the meeting of The Juzt Allianze.” Kragorram grinned with a bow, then turned to Povon. “And zpeaking of honored, my love, I would be honored if you would be my guezt tonight. I can hardly wait to zhow you the magnifizenze of my lair in the Ziklan Heightz, az I’ve been hopefully preparing it for your arrival for two millennia!”
“I’d be delighted to accept your invitation, Sir Kragorram!” Povon giggled, entwining her sinuous neck with his, then turned to Mark and Talia. “We’ll be busy tomorrow, for I plan to ask for combat training and skills evaluation from Somonik himself, and if he agrees, he’ll keep us busy indeed. If he turns us away we’ll probably ask Grakonexikaldoron. In any case, we’ll contact you tomorrow evening, Nine Valleys time. Perhaps we’ll take an hour from our training for a visit. I’m looking forward to visiting Hilia, and we’d also love to host you at either of our lairs whenever you’d like.”
“Thanks! I admit I’m quite curious to see what the lairs of dragons are like!” Mark laughed.
“Till tomorrow then.” Povon said, and she and Kragorram disappeared.
“It has been an exceptional day, hasn’t it?” Silaran whinnied with a flick of his tail.
“Thanks so much for having us. I just know that we’re all going to have wonderful adventures together!” Equemev nodded.
“I sure hope so!” Talia smiled. “We’ll call to you when Povon and Kragorram contact us tomorrow.”
“Till tomorrow then.” Equemev called, and she and Silaran Translocated home.
“Ahh. It’s good to be alone with you again.” Mark chuckled as he nuzzled Talia’s neck.
“Mmm, that’s nice.” Talia crooned. “Give me a moment to clean this up, and we’ll go to bed.”
She closed the lids on the food containers, then sent them and all the dishes back to the kitchen by Translocation. She floated the cask and the barrel back to their carts, then Translocated them back to the kitchen as well.
Then she gave him a sensuous smile as she took his hand and led him into their home.
He grinned and let her lead the way. “By the way, why is it that you Translocated our dinner to the porch, but used Movement to bring our guests’ drinks out?” he asked.
“A full cask and a hogshead of tea weigh enough that they’re a bit of work to Translocate, and the carts have their own Movement spells, needing only instructions.” she informed him as they entered the ballroom, which was still full of their wedding gifts.
“We simply must tour our holdings tomorrow, and decide where we’re going to put all this.” she mused as they threaded their way between stacks of possessions. “I’d really like to have this all squared away before your birthday.”
“I agree.” he chuckled. “So, we have to tour the holdings, review the inventory, do four hours of physical combat training at least, talk to the elves who’ve sworn to us about the terms of their service, arrange for the donation of much of our wealth to good works, and arrange for the use of our unused properties by the needy.
“And I need to talk to Yazadril about my agreement to become a citizen and a knight of The High People. Now that we rule independent Hilia, I’m not sure if that’s as politically necessary as it was.”
“True. Except that the elves are sworn to you, not us.” Talia giggled.
“Same thing.” he laughed.
“Perh
aps. Not all of that needs to be done tomorrow anyway. And I think we should have someone qualified help us review our finances.
“Also, while I think it’s a good idea to let the most needy use our vacation properties that they may recover from their ordeals, I doubt that letting poor people use our larger and more luxurious homes would be the wisest use of the resource. If we rent or lease those, we can let them out for more than they would normally command, since they belong to such a famous couple as us and are thus ‘celebrity homes’. We could then put that income toward more conventional housing for the needy, which would allow us to house far more of them than if we simply gave them temporary accommodation in our homes. They’ll feel better about it as well, since they’ll have their own homes, and so will feel less like they’re living on our sufferance.
“I also think it would be unwise to simply give away most of our wealth and extra possessions. If we sell what possessions we won’t be using for all that the market will bear, again taking advantage of our fame to increase the proceeds from their sale, we can increase our wealth considerably. Which includes a few thousand gold pieces’ worth that I’ve received from my parents. If we invest that wealth in businesses and revenue properties to increase our income, added to the several sources of income we have already, and donate out of our profits to good works, I think we could donate more in the first three years than if we simply gave away three-quarters of what we have now. And we could continue to increase our donations every year after that. Furthermore, once all of the poor and needy have been helped, and poverty has been eliminated, we would still own most of what we have now.”
“I bow to your superior financial wisdom, my dear.” he grinned, and indeed gave her a sweeping bow as they stepped onto the lifting platform. “You’re very astute, especially for someone that said she doesn’t care for commerce.
“Thank you. Also, you said that we would donate, but you did not say when.” Talia smiled. “And I think it would be rude to those who gave us our wedding gifts if we didn’t try to enjoy as many of them as possible for at least a month before we otherwise dispose of them. We can donate a few thousand gold pieces at public occasions, so as to be seen making an immediate contribution. Besides, you’ve already donated the proceeds from the sale of the Jorman’s mill and goods to good works in Finitra.”
“Also wise in every respect, my love.” he chuckled as he swept her up in his arms and carried her over the threshold of their suite. “But public occasions?”
“We are Prince and Princess of Hilia, Keys to the Nexus, and you are Key to The Just Alliance.” Talia pointed out with a smile. “We will of course be expected to make appearances and speeches in the parades and presentations of the leaders of the alliance that you’ve instigated.”
“Me and my big mouth!” he laughed.
“Oh, don’t be like that! It’ll be great fun, you’ll see!”
“I hope so!” he told her as he closed the bedroom door behind them with his foot. “And speaking of great fun, my beautiful teacher in the arts of pleasure, what’s on the agenda for tonight’s love-making?”
“Hmm.” She considered the question as he set her on the bed, took off his sword, and reclined beside her. “I don’t think the curse will make any demands of us tonight, but we should continue to prepare for it.”
“Oh? How so?”
“Tonight our mood should be a compromise between the tender romance of last night, and the aggressive intensity the curse will demand. You should affectionately dominate me, and use me as your love toy. Last night you playfully spanked my bottom as you stimulated my pleasure zones, to my delight I might add, and tonight you will playfully spank me everywhere, especially on all my most sensitive places. I will joyously resist your efforts and lightly struggle as you force your attentions upon me. Rather than binding me with leather and steel, as the curse will demand, you will place me in comfortable bondage by tying me in your favorite positions with lengths of soft cloth and silk scarves.
“And most of all, tonight it is you who will initiate your intrusion into my virgin body while I am helpless in bondage, and not the other way around as it was last night!”
“I see.” he grinned as he removed his underbreeches. “Are you going to get undressed?”
She removed her jewelry and her bandoleer of magic items, unbuckled her sword belt and set Ria aside, then lay back with a defiant grin. “No. You will have to tear my clothes from my body if you wish to enjoy me this night.”
“But that’s your wedding dress!” he protested.
“Which I am fully capable of Restoring to perfection, no matter how many times you rip it away. That is,” she chuckled nastily, “If you’re male enough to do so!”
He was.