Battlemage Book 8 Origins and Dark RevelationsChapter 8
- 3 years ago
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If Aric hadn't said he would see Aaron before he left he would have gotten on a horse and let it take him where ever it felt like roaming. He was done here and there wasn't anything left to keep him here in the city any longer.
As he walked out of the castle into the guard house, he noticed that some guards looked away as he passed by, some had sad looks on their faces, and even a few as he walked past them put their hands on his shoulder and squeezed.
It was that moment he knew they all were aware of what was going on between Andrea and Daven.
He felt the fury rage up in him again.
How dare the two of them do this to him, make him feel ashamed in front of all these people.
At first he desperately wanted to forgive Andrea, because he had loved her for so long, but he knew he couldn't. Not after all she did and all the people that knew about it.
It was then that he recalled the old wine steward's comment about the castle family looking out for him. They sent him on a wild goose chase!
Again he was furious, if they had not gotten involved, he would still be happy but none the wiser.
But just as suddenly the fury went away, if they hadn't been looking out for him, who knows how many more times Andrea and Daven would have gotten together after they tricked him.
They probably would have gotten together even more after they were married and he proved how gullible he was to marry Daven's slut.
They didn't appear to be stopping their behavior, and Andrea was going to pass off her lover's child as his. Even in the mist of trying to trick him, they couldn't quit having sex with each other.
It was at that moment that he felt really sick. It was a good thing this was a guard house and there were buckets everywhere because he used one to the fullest.
Thankfully after he was done, one of the guards took it from him, patted him on the back, and pointed him towards the Captain's door.
As Aric opened the door, Aaron was sitting at his desk and pointed to a chair. Once seated Aaron leaned over and handed him a cup of spiced rum. Aric at once balked, but Aaron said, "It's very watered down, but you need something in your stomach right now. And it will help warm you up."
As the young man gulped down the drink Aaron asked "So what are your plans for now?"
"Its time for me to leave, I'm thinking of traveling some. After that I'm not sure," said Aric "There really isn't anything left to keep me here anymore."
Aaron got up from his chair and came around to the front of the desk, sat on it, leaned forward and squeezed the boy's shoulder and said "It will get better, trust me. Right now it's painful and you can't believe how much it hurts. You can't think of any other wound you may have gotten at any other time that was this painful, but trust me it will get better with time".
Aric looked up, suddenly very angry and said, "How would you know how I feel. You're a confirmed bachelor."
Aaron chuckled and leaned back. "You think you have the market cornered on pain now do you? Have you noticed how quiet all the men were when you came in, how somber they've been. Everyone one of them here, including myself has had this happen to them in some way, shape, or form."
Aric's eyes went wide. "What did you say? Daven did this to all of you as well?"
"No, not Daven, well in my case it wasn't Daven, but his father Garland the King. For some of the others it was various others, nobles and friends under the Kings protection" said Aaron. "The king and I, we weren't friends, not like you and Daven were, but he did it to me all the same".
"Let me tell you a story." said Aaron, "It took place almost sixteen seasons ago. This story is about a young soldier who at eighteen met and married a beauty with raven hair from one of the outlying villages in the kingdom.
"He always felt she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She always seemed to turn heads everywhere she went. She had a beautiful smile and a lusty sense of humor. She made coming home to her a joy that the soldier loved more than life its self.
"But she decided to shop at the Market in the Intercity one day, and the then crown prince noticed the young wife in the city as she was out shopping, and decided he would borrow her for awhile.
"The soldier objected when the wife came home and told him what happened, but he could see that the young wife was flattered from the attention.
"At first she tried to make her husband see it her way, to give in and allow her to take the Prince up on his offer, but the young solider refused to see it that way. She never figured out that he knew she was already taking him up on the offer. If he hadn't figured it out by the new jewelry she had, other guards would tell him each and every time when she went to an inn that the Prince was at.
"The young solider started to drink really heavy in those days to numb the pain. He kept thinking if she would just stop what she was doing he would take her back no questions asked. He thought that he loved her so much that he would be willing to put up with the ridicule from others if she would quit causing his public humiliation.
"After going without sex during this time, he wasn't proud that he was now paying for it as a young married man. But he needed some companionship to help him get through it. The young wife was getting all she could handle at times from the Prince.
"But one day when the young soldier came home, his wife was no where to be found. But sometime shortly after he arrived home, she came home out of breath with a wild story.
"At first it was a rare occurrence, but every few weeks she would be out that late, and she always has a wild story that was barely believable. He knew she was still out meeting the prince.
"And early on when she started doing it, she would sneak and do it and thought he wouldn't notice. But after awhile she was slowing moving into the not caring phase, and started to stay out past when she was supposed to be home and kept telling him wild stories that she knew he couldn't possibly buy.
"Then after another few weeks, she started being late a couple times during the week, but she stopped giving any reason as to why she was late.
"After he challenged her with the truth of what she was doing, she would tell him he was lucky she came home at all. Then it started being longer and longer before she would get home, often some nights she would either come in very late, or not come home at all till the next morning.
"Finally the soldier decided to confront the wife one last time. You can't have all the other soldiers jeering and asking you why you couldn't manage to keep your young wife taken care of and not have it affect you somehow.
"In the end he got up the nerve and wanted to leave the slut of a wife behind and start over with a new wife. But somehow the Prince found out he was going to divorce her and made it very clear to him, if he divorced her and left her as a problem for him to deal with, something nasty would happen to the young soldier.
"So with a fear of death the young soldier sat back and did nothing.
"After a few months of his wife coming and going as she pleased, he confronted her for the last time, begged her to consider him, and asked her how she was expecting him to deal with what she was doing.
"But she said she didn't really care, that he was free to do what ever he wanted just as she was free to live her life as she wanted. And right then she was enjoying exactly doing that, and with that she went to get ready for another one of her nights out. She then said that all the nobles told her he was lucky to have her.
"The soldier was heartbroken, and not knowing what to do totally climbed into a bottle. That sham of a marriage lasted for about another six months with him drowning his sorrows in a bottle.
"But sometime during this time the wife had been giving a room in the castle to make her more accessible, and so he stopped going home to the house alone at nights and just took up resident in the barracks.
"And since this soldier had already learned that the wife had paid off the balance of their mortgage by her time on her back, he really didn't like living in that house anyway.
"But one day the soldier decided, he would quit feeling sorry for himself, and then he started concentrating on being a better soldier.
"If the crown was going to put him in a position where he was going to die, he would damn well make them pay for it. And then he spent the next season learning and perfecting every martial art he could get his hands on and brushing up on his tactics and troop management.
"The old King publicly acknowledged his ability.
"The old King felt guilty that, instead of just borrowing his wife for a night or two as most nobles did, his son had publicly turned his wife into his very own kept woman.
"So the old King decided to make him as Captain of the guard for life even though he was so young. He did it so that his son couldn't remove him at a whim if he was still holding his position after the old Kings death, as compensation for what his son was doing.
"But as the Captain, the soldier now had the ability to weed out the guards who were useful from the ones just hanging around for a place to live. He started to create a group of men that were loyal to him.
"But even in this position, he was still well aware his wife was still being used as a party favor sometimes among the Knights and upper level nobility to ensure their allegiance to the crown.
"Who knows how long this would have lasted except for three things.
"Three new soldiers had gotten married and they foolishly brought their wives to live with them near the castle, against the advice of the Captain of the guard.
"With newer and fresher temptations around, the Prince set his sights on the other women.
"One of the women was interested and immediately took the Prince up on his offer just as the young Captain's wife had done, but her husband objected loudly and publicly, and was never seen again, but his slut of a wife didn't seem to care at all. But the other two left the kingdom with their husbands as soon as humanly possible.
"It was strange how the men who were sent to bring them back got lost trying to find them before both couples crossed the border and managed to get free of this accursed kingdom.
"But the Captains wife, now that she has been replaced after almost two seasons of doing whatever she wanted, decided that she would re-enter the Captains life and they would go back to living their lives as if nothing had ever happened now.
Aric worked hard while he was at the academy. And while it was grueling work, it was getting him where he needed to be. He wanted to finish fast to be back in Andrea's arms. He was ready to be married and with all that it entailed. The professors couldn't believe how fast he learned, and he seemed to be ready for any class he could take. The only exception was the class for Applied Black Magery, that class he refused to take. He didn't like the necromancy involved and flat out refused to...
"Nana what was that?" asked a worried Gem. "I'm not sure. It felt like we hit something. But the ship isn't moving forward anymore and it's not sinking. But I do hear a lot of yelling, but I just don't know," said Brianna. Brianna and Gem were in a windowless room with the door bolted from the outside. But with their sparse clothing, or lack there of, they could clearly feel that it was now way colder than it was before. The reason for their confusion was that they felt the boat...
While Aric was making his way to see Aaron, Andrea and Daven were still shocked over Aric's announcement that he was through with them. To the best of their knowledge he never gave up on anyone. But for all intent and appearances he had on both of them! And to make it worse he was going to keep his word, they knew he would. Andrea still sat on the floor stunned. "Aric is done with me," she thought really worried. "Aric said he is done with me? That can't be! What am I going to do? I...
"Who are you two?" asked Rory quietly as he stared at them. "Rory we're still your friends, but we're also different people than who you know. I promise I'll answer all your questions later. I'll meet you back here in about an hour or so. "Watch over Terrance. I don't believe he'll die, but if I'm wrong come get me. But for now I need to hurry and get Ariel to our room. I'll explain why I need to do this as fast as humanly possible when I return," said Nathan quickly. Moving...
"Everyone, you are here for a reason and it is something that has an effect on your lives both in the past and the future," began Brianna as they were all seated around the living room. As the last to arrive, once Matt and Rayne showed up it was time to get started. As they looked around at their children and their spouses, they both couldn't believe how much the boys took after their father, even down to having the same silver forelock now in their hair as well But knowing this would be...
Rising early Kat was up and noticed that Seth was seated at the table with his back slightly to the rest of the room. She slowly approached but she could hear him softly talking to himself. She tried to wait but eventually she got curious. "I know Marie, but we're almost done here ... you don't think you'll go early do you? Oh, not really ... Dusty met his first ghoul yesterday ... he'll be ok, but he was out cold again ... I better run everyone will be up soon. I love you," said...
Riding into the small town, it was aptly named "Dresden's Last Chance" There wasn't much to see but a few homes and a few businesses, maybe twenty to thirty buildings in total. Of course there was also the tavern that might have a spare room or two, but it was obvious that the Inn was more there for getting a drink than anything else. The companions reached the town about mid day. Kat only wanted to stop overnight since they were so close and give the horses a break then push on. She...
As Aric and Brianna made their way downstairs they headed to the den and saw Galen sitting in a chair at his desk making some notes with his back to the doorway. Just as Aric was getting ready to knock on the door frame Galen said "About time you woke up boy. We need to have a talk. I should have had it with you long ago, but I put it off thinking that what I was seeing couldn't be true. But now I understand it is." As Aric and Brianna came into the room and took a seat on the couch...
Aric was sitting the table mentally going over preparations for dinner. It was his week to cook. While Brianna was coming along with her cooking, he was still far better he thought with a smile. But she was getting better, and she was better at cleaning and laundry so he had no complaints. He was glad they took turns switching on and off each week. Even though he tried to stop it, his mind kept drifting back over the last few seasons. After Brianna and Aric were settled in they traveled a...
Dusty slowly opens his eyes and looks around and sees he's in a very nice room and Suzan is sleeping with her head down on the bed in a chair she's pulled up to the bed. It looks like she's been watching over him. As he groggily reaches out he softly touches her head, where he then starts to slowly stroke her hair. It seemed amazingly soft to him as he did. He always wondered how women always managed to keep their hair soft like that. "So she loves me huh? I guess that's why I'm more...
"And that all happened just a little over ten seasons ago?" asked Nathan slowly. The way this young man was acting he thought it was all recently at least in the last couple of seasons. Not something decades ago. "I left the city and I've not returned. Not even to see my family," said Elliot nodding yes. "But what happened to Kathryn after you left or the man she was with? Did you ever find out? Did you even want to know?" asked Nathan. As he thought about it, he realized that he...
Before lunch had been served Dusty had already spoken with the King. Even though he tried hard to keep the crystal phones they created a secret from the public, the King while bragging about them, had shown his off to a few of the nobles and visiting dignitaries. That was enough to spark a huge interest in them. Suddenly it was seen as a favor to the crown to have a few people outfitted with them, and a few others tried to curry huge favors with him to get one. Dusty and his friends kept...
While Kat had waited that morning for the three of them to arrive quite a few men had tried to "chat her up" as they passed by her going either into the city or as they left. Even in her generally loose fitting travel garb they saw the gem that she was. Somehow she managed not only to talk to them in a friendly manner, but she also managed to get some useful information while not offending anyone or giving the impression that she was willing to go to bed with any of them. Even though she...
The four women entered the large city and quickly blended in with the rest of the inhabitants. Suzan was just a little unhappy Dusty wasn't with her though it had only been a little over a week since she left Dusty and headed out for the mission. Although she missed her husband, she was also really charged up to be here and was well ready to take on a new mission like this. It took them several days of travel by ship and a few more days of hard riding and just barely stopping for anything...
Amber came into the house and kicked off her boots. She then put her pack down beside the door, took off her twin swords, and then leaned those swords against the door next to her pack. Her parents would be around somewhere, and after she found something to eat she would go find them. She had dropped Logan off in town, as he wanted to visit, but she only wanted to go home and unwind. As she walked down the hallway she had the same thoughts she usually did when she passed through...
"Ok, what the HELL just happened?" thought Aric. As he was filling the cart with wood, suddenly an extremely huge Brown Bear came out of the woods. He tried not to move, but the bear was looking for a fight. He was pretty sure he could take the bear, he was pretty strong and fast, but it would be close. The bear was easily twice his size in wide and almost twice his height standing up right. As he was trying to circle around to get a good position, his foot slipped into a gopher hole up...
Dusty felt like he was submerged in warm water. It was strange because while he couldn't see, he could feel everything. The feeling made him feel like he was surrounded by nothing and yet at the same time by everything. He could feel shapes, colors, sounds, even smells. He could sense everyone around him and as strange as it sounded he could sense himself. It was like he was looking at himself but he wasn't looking at himself. As Dusty was trying to puzzle that out, he felt child like...
"Galen? Galen? Yes I know of him. He's one of those mages who seated themselves on their useless council. Don't you know that his meeting you was no accident? He was assigned to watch you. He also wanted to make sure that you didn't go power mad and crazy. While you may be stronger he's always hidden his true strength from you. "And you do know the reason that he took so long to help your son and his wife when her powers truly activated was because the council really didn't want to...
Dusty and Suzan reached the double doors that lead to the council chambers. They had passed a few offices that the council members and others made their own. Now they were at their destination. There was a single desk outside the council chambers, and at it sat a very striking and attractive red haired woman. She looked to conceivably be in her mid-thirties, but with mages that didn't mean anything. She was dressed in similar robes as the guard out front with the same sash over her...
Wolfgang wouldn't admit it but he was really looking forward to Kat's visit shortly. She had just called to say that she was close and would soon be at his home, and once they broke the connection he found he was rotating the crystal phone around in his hands and staring at it as he thought about her. Ever since Dusty's phones started to be the rage it had made his life far easier. Of course he wished he had access to these phones a long, long, time ago but Dusty wasn't born during the...
Dusty and Suzan quickly made a few plans between them, agreed on them, and then set about separately doing them. First thing Dusty wanted to do was make sure the kids were taken care of. He knew that getting DJ started on his training was important right then and so he made a quick call to Lori. Talking as fast as he could Dusty then explained what was going on and why he needed to send the kids to her home. Telling Lori he had the emergency covered he made the plan to send their kids,...
Dusty, Suzan, Daniel, and Rachel all suddenly appeared on the pad next to Lori's home. The pad was large enough to accommodate five riders on horseback, but it was the four of them standing next to Dusty and Suzan's horses. Waiting while Dusty and Suzan took their horses to the stable, the four of them returned to the front of the door and knocked. "Lori seemed pretty excited when I called her, I wonder why," said Suzan as they waited "Bet she's discovered something new again. She...
While still stunned from Gemma's story, Brianna looked down at the table and said "But, but, I don't know if he even likes me back. What if he doesn't think I'm attractive enough? All the other women here are so beautiful, and I'm not that special. I don't know how to walk around like they do or how to flirt with him. And I don't really know how to cook very well. Everyone else is better than I am at everything." Gemma, looked at her stunned for a moment, paused and then started to...
"Thank you for the horses," said Marie as she looked over at Seth smiling. "I'm happy to loan them to you all. I'm just sorry how you received them, but not that you have them," said Seth. "I am too. I wished those men didn't have to die while helping others as they did, but I know those people in the town appreciated their sacrifice," said Marie to Seth. Seth just nodded as he rode. They rode in silence while they were sticking to the main roads in the forest so that they could...
As the five of them worked their way through the dungeon, they were surprised that they no longer found any opposition. There just didn't seem to be anything that approached them or tried to attack them. That bothered Dusty. They had just gone from having wave after wave of ghouls attacking for over an hour to an eerie quiet. The only thing that made it worse was the occasional dripping sound of water from somewhere in the distance as they made their way deeper into the dungeon. "This is...
Melkin had to admit that Dusty was coming up in the world. When he brought him here he was someone who had nothing and had to start at the bottom. The council thought that this was the best way to do it and that it would make him more dependant on them for things he needed to survive while here. But not only had he started with nothing and grown, but he had been knighted, received a title and land, and was now turning a pretty decent profit. No one had expected him to be able to prosper...
3190 seasons previously before current times "Beth! Beth! Where are you? Are you here in the house?" called out Wolfgang as he started down the hallway. As he moved around the house, everything looked similar but somehow different. In spots there was dust and cobwebs, but not enough to make the house look abandoned. But no matter where he looked he didn't see Beth anywhere. Heading outside he noticed two young boys just outside his door. One was leaning with his back against the wall...
"With us not finding any trace of what's happing during the day it looks like we're going to have to venture further into the woods at night," said Suzan as she looked at Dusty and Seth. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean we've still not found a single trace of what is taking off with the people from around here," said Dusty as he turned to look at her. "I say we give it at least one more day, maybe two tops, before we go looking for any danger that we may not need to buy for...
4001 seasons previously before current times The last five seasons the land of Pastial had been peaceful and the people and land prospered. Wolfgang managed to setup various changes in the land. He managed to introduce a few of his inventions further into the populace, like the wheeled plow, piped irrigation for the farm land, water filtration, and he was currently working on various steam powered inventions. Because of all of those changes the people kept trying to make him the new King...
"Girls we're about six days away from the guild so we'll stay here tonight," said Brianna as they headed into the second of two inns. They alternated between camping outside and Inns when they could. Since the guild didn't have a real set time they had to be there, Brianna, Rayne, and Cassie decided to take their time getting to the guild. Normally they could make it there in 3 weeks easy, but they took an extra week taking it slow, to let the girls have a good look around them as they...
"Ariel, I still don't see why you were so dead set against my having brought my Bastard sword with me as a backup incase of trouble. I mean you have your swords with you. I just feel safer with mine as well," said Nathan grumbling as he walked along. While he wasn't really irritated at Ariel, he was irritated at the situation. "For the very reason you just stated. You should be comfortable with every weapon you know how to use well. But that won't happen if you only carry that one...
Andrea found the Prince in good spirits today. It had already been a month since he was wounded and he was up and getting around pretty well. While she didn't come every day, she did come almost every other one. They couldn't go back to where they were if she was hiding from him. His arm should have still been in a sling, but he only seemed to wear it when he felt like it. His and Andrea relationship was almost back to where they had been before that first kiss. Andrea knew, from some...
Daven leaned back and smiled. When he and his detachment reached the Western border, they went straight to the Field Marshal's tent and introduced themselves, and to get a report for his father. Daven didn't want to be here any longer than he had too. While playing it up for the Prince, and possibly thinking to get him out of their hair fast, they gave him what he wanted quickly. Aric was at first dismissed as a lackey of the Princes who was only given a field commission for show and to...
"Where are we," thought Brianna as she looked around her. As she sat up on the makeshift bed it was then she noticed she was no longer dressed in her leather vest, shirt, pants, or wearing boots, but instead was in an extremely tight revealing bikini top that just barely contained her breasts, a high cut thong with a transparent half skirt sewed into the back of the band, and she was barefoot. Even though she didn't have the figure from her youth she used to have, it still was a very...
Andrea couldn't believe it! The Prince was insatiable! Every time she visits they spend hours making love. But she loved every minute of it! The first few times they were together, she felt guilty about Aric and said she would never visit the prince again, but she always did. She hated that she told Aric the night before he left that he had to wait until they were married to have sex, and even now she had to face the fact that she wouldn't be a virgin on their wedding day. No where close...
The castle still looked huge and different up close Aric always thought. He thought it then when he visited it a season go, and he still thinks it now while he's approaching the castle gates. When Daven first brought him here, he said that the King said that his guest must be out of the castle by dusk. And to remember, there are many rooms and areas off limits to him. That was weird about the dusk thing, but Aric always thought that maybe that is why Daven was always out at night when...
"Where is he going?" wondered Andrea as she saw Aric headed out of the city gates. Once they reached twelve they were considered too old to still go to school. Andrea was expected to help out in her parent's bakery and Aric helped his uncle a little, but not like before. He liked helping in the Blacksmith shop, but didn't want to join the guild. While the guild helped ensure work for everyone at fair prices, there were too many that abused the protection of the guild to do shoddy work...
"What do you mean there is a war going on?" asked Aric shocked. "I've never hear of it!" "Most of the cities citizens haven't, we nobles keep it from them. It's been a border dispute in the West really. If you had been in the army you would know about it. They don't want to panic the citizens, so the crown doesn't tell them," said Daven. "But that means people are getting killed and no one knows." said Aric. "Yes they are getting killed," said Daven. "But that often happens...
"Girls, girls. Does everyone have their packs and weapons secured?" asked Brianna as she looked around the clearing. Brianna stood with her pack already secured on her back and her twin swords at her waist while she surveyed the four girls, Gem, Haley, Beth, and Ariel. She wanted to make sure that they had everything for the three week long journey to the guild for their entrance exam and testing, and that they left nothing behind they would need. As she looked over the girls Rayne and...
Earlier Aric had headed into the warehouse that was the second from the end a block over from where his sons were. He thought because it looked cleaner and better up kept he might find more information here than anywhere else. As he entered he shifted into magic mode and looked for thermals. He saw that there was one man in the center office ahead and about sixteen men in different rooms off to the side of him. They were far enough away that he could see they wouldn't disturb him as he...
"OH MY GOD ARIC WE HAVE A PROBLEM! IT'S A REALLY BIG PROBLEM AND WE NEED TO FIGURE OUT WHAT TO DO FAST! OH MY GOD WHAT DO WE DO!" said Matt frantically as he raced into Aric's home through the front door. He didn't even knock as he raced in and he said all this to Aric as one big word in his rush. Aric and the twins had been back about two days. It was early afternoon and Aric was getting ready to do some heavy digging while Brianna was gone. Brianna had wanted some of the trees...
I was two days later before Andrea got up the nerve to visit Daven again. The night that Daven kissed her, she tossed and turned all night. She didn't manage to get any sleep. She got up tired too help her parents in the bakery and for two days she didn't visit the Prince. But after two days she decided "This is silly. The Prince doesn't even know what happened, and I should just pretend it didn't happen for everyone sake." But what she was also afraid of what happened that night...
Aric was pissed and growing more pissed as the weeks went on. While the twins were also upset, it was starting to scare them how angry their father was becoming as each day passed that they didn't find everyone. He was short with everyone they met and at times outright threatening to them. And one time they thought they might not be able to fully restrain him when one man stupidly bragged when asked that he and Brianna spent the night together as they passed through his town. Aric said he...
Vanessa was scared! She was currently making her way home and trying to do it without anyone seeing her. She took an extended vacation right before Rayne showed up in the city so if by some remote chance anyone saw Rayne, in the slavers quarter, they wouldn't think she had anything to do with it. The plan was to create some deniability in case anyone tried to link her to Rayne's disappearance. But when she came back and went to the guild office later that night to get her share of...
"Uh, Aric. May I call you Aric? We are deeply sorry for what happened. The people of the city of Galicia don't normally behave like this or cause problems like this for anyone. We're normally more careful to not force ourselves on others," began the Chancellor quickly. He was starting to sweat heavy at the expression on Aric's face. When Aric and his family came to visit him the morning after Aric had awakened, the Chancellor went around trying to shake everyone hand and greet everyone...
"Hey! Hurry up and give me your purse and I won't have to stick you," said a voice. For some reason that statement that got Aric's attention as he passed by the alley near the tavern. Aric was out late. He had gone down to the waterfront with Andrea and they strolled around. Her parents, after her father had a long talk with Aric about not rushing off into sex, let them go. Andrea's parents knew that anyone that messed with Andrea with Aric around might not survive the encounter....
As the town came into view they could see that parts of it were on fire. Caelan was trying to keep everyone up on what was going on via Darla as they rode the horses hard towards home. But there was a lot going on and some of it was getting lost in translation. Darla had her hands full trying to fight fires, show Caelan the devastation, and talk with Galen about what he thought was going on. But from what they could piece together, it appeared that all of their homes were attacked first...
"BRIANNA!" screamed Aric. "BRIANNA! PLEASE BE OK! BRIANNA! HOLD ON!" As Aric race for Brianna he heard the Dragon laugh again. "I MISSED, BUT WHAT'S ONE MORE WORM THAT HAS TO DIE NOW! EVERYONE WILL BE DEAD BEFORE MORNING!" roared the Dragon But as Aric raced for Brianna he could definitely see her dying. Her breathing was ragged and she was laboring hard. He could see bones here and there through the blackened and blistered skin, and some of the blisters were weeping a clear fluid....
"Aric are you sure you're ready to go back to school?" asked Mavis "Yes Ma'am. I feel great," said Aric. "It's been almost a full season since you stopped, do you feel up to it?" asked Mavis. "What she's asking you boy is, are you scared of the bullies?" asked Caelan with a smile. "No sir," said Aric with a smile. After almost a season of training, Caelan was surprised at his abilities. Aric could watch a move once demonstrated by him just once, and with very little...
The next morning Dusty got up very early, before the sun was even close to coming up, and started packing his pack for the next mission. As he pulled out clothing to take with him he noticed the suede leather jacket and jeans that he was wearing when he arrived here hanging in the wardrobe in the corner of his room. Seeing them once again took him back to when he first appeared in this world just under over a year ago. A lot of things had changed. First of all he now believed in magic. It...
"What... ? What does he mean that Aric doesn't love me as much as he did Andrea? How could he say that he knows for sure that Aric only stayed with me because I was the only person he had sex with? Aric's not that type of person! "No, that couldn't be it. He's just trying to make me feel bad. Aric loves me more than he ever loved her, I know he does. I just know he does, " thought Brianna, but deep down she was starting to wonder if there was really any truth to that...
"So all the tests prove that Beth is now resistant to all forms of poison?" asked Anne-Marie as she put down one of the various reports that she had been looking over in front of her and leaned back in her chair. She now had the six of them in her office once again and she was looking them over. Once they returned to the guild, the first thing Ayden and a few of the mature Sisters did was to check out Beth. He was the best able to tell them what he did and the few White mage they had...
Groaning Terrance rolled out of the wreckage of the bookcase he was lying in. There were a few sharp points and splinters he pulled free of his skin, but thankfully none were in his face or eyes. As he looked over at the ruined mess that was a side table he saw the light stirring of Rory. "Hey, are you ok?" asked Terrence tiredly "How can any one person have that much strength?" asked Rory as he finally opened his eyes and looked at Terrance. "The way he threw us I think he only...
"Are you ready? We don't have to do this if you really don't want to. We might be able to find another way. Or we could find someone else, or..." said Kat as she looked at Rory. Rory reached out and put his hand on her arm and gently held it. "Kathryn, we don't have a lot of time and it's not like it's our first time together, remember? Ariel is running loose and it's only a matter of time before she runs into a caravan or something else, and a lot of innocents become harmed...
Dusty started to run into the room, but he stopped and took a good long look around first looking for traps. As he stepped into the room he saw Galvin as he basically finished hanging his wife next to Daniel and Rachel from a hook by a chain around both of her wrists. When Galvin stepped back he could see that her shirt was ripped badly in the front and one of her breasts was in danger of spilling out of her already heavily overworked bra. He watched Galvin seem to take a good long look at...
Two men stood looking at the prone form of their leader. They just received the report that the man wanting to join them, a Christopher Jones, was just killed by someone a very powerful. It didn't look like magic that killed him, but they also had no idea at this point how he died. The men weren't too broken up about it because they felt the fool was wrong to be experimenting on children and they wouldn't miss him. He contacted them before with a deep desire to join their ranks and said...
"Mmmmmmm ... do you really need to get up and go work out so soon? The sun isn't even up yet. You really should come back to bed. I need you. I mean I really need you. You could just as easily work out with me instead you know," said Suzan softly but in her deep raspy voice. Even with just barely opening her eyes, she knew that she had her husband's complete attention. They had gone to bed the previous night in the buff and she could see his response to her request instantly. He was...
During the first week that Dusty and the others had left Marie and Seth had met with the King and Marie trained in the yard to keep up her skills, tone her body, and generally keep busy. The King gave her one of the outer rooms that faced the parade yards so that she was well away from the other nobles but close enough that she could work out in the yard and visit with Seth. King William gave her a knowing smile as his secretary briefed her where she would be staying. Marie smiled back at...