Faerie Tale (24 page)
‘Well.’
‘Well.’
Denny rose to his feet. ‘See you later mate. Feel better.’
‘Yeah, thanks.’
Denny left.
* * *
Denny had never seen Tamar so excited about a new dress.
‘Well, I never
bought
one before,’ she said defensively. ‘It’s not as if I’m going all girly or anything.’
‘Nothing wrong with it if you were,’ said Denny, who was looking unusually smart himself. He had even shaved. A hitherto unheard of thing.
‘Shopping’s fun,’ admitted Tamar reluctantly.
Tamar had been dragged round every boutique in the city by Cindy on three successive occasions and had been surprised to find that it had indeed been fun. She had even agreed to do it again, to Cindy’s delight.
And now she had been in the bathroom “getting ready” for the past two hours. Denny wondered what on earth she could be doing in there. They shared a bathroom, and he knew perfectly well that there was a complete absence of all the usual feminine paraphernalia that he was vaguely aware of women having lying around the bathroom or bedroom. No hairdryer, curling tongs, straightening irons, no makeup, skin cream, hair remover etc.*
*[
So much so that Denny was probably the only attached (to a female that is) male in the universe who did not know what it was like to accidentally brush his teeth with hair removing cream or stand on a hot curling iron with bare feet after a shower or find his razor full of mysterious stubble, not his own.]
Tamar simply did not need all that stuff. So what the hell was she doing in there all that time?
When she finally emerged she looked like she always did, (which was stunning) but Denny was smart enough to know that he should not mention this.
* * *
They had hired a limousine at Finvarra’s insistence; he liked to arrive in style, and, since a coach and four was out of the question, a limo was the next best thing.
It was a swinging party. Just the sort of thing Tamar liked, with everyone dressed to the nines – and even to the tens in some cases. Cindy had dressed properly this time, which was a relief to everyone. They had all heard the story from Finvarra, who told it with great gusto at every opportunity until Cindy made him stop.
It was being held outdoors, (presumably to make the point that the Faeries were gone, and they now damn well could if they wanted to) and the crowd that parted as Tamar stepped out of the limo behind Denny was immense and oddly silent.
As she stood in the vacuum created by a thousand people standing back and falling silent, she began to get a funny feeling. Then suddenly a huge cheer went up. Tamar looked around her, bewildered.
A distinguished looking man approached her. She did not recognise him, but his medallion proclaimed him to be the City’s Mayor.
She hesitated then curtsied.
‘Tamar Black?’ the mayor asked her.
‘Er, yes, your honour,’ she said. Although at that moment, she could not have sworn to it.
‘Although nothing would be enough to thank you for the return of this city’s children and the restoration of our freedom,’ he began. ‘We – that is – the people, would like to present you with this small token of our unending esteem and gratitude.’ And he pressed a small golden item into her unresisting hands.
She looked at it in shock. It was a small representation of a flaming sword. On the pedestal beneath were inscribed her name and the words “
Protector Of The People
”. She gazed around at the expectant faces all staring at her. Her eyes caught Denny’s and he shrugged.
‘It was all their idea,’ he said. ‘I never told anyone anything.’
Someone in the crowd, (there’s always one) shouted, ‘Speech, speech.’ And the rest of the crowd took up the cry.
She looked back at the tiny sword, she read the inscription, and suddenly she began to cry.
‘I never … had, ’she begun, ‘I never expected … I – I … no one ever thanked me before … thank you.’
This seemed to be enough, which was just as well, since at this point she completely broke down. The crowd began to cheer, and Denny came forward to rescue her.
‘You
knew
, didn’t you?’ she hissed as he piloted her away.
‘Oh yes,’ he said.
‘You tricked me.’
‘No one else could have,’ he told her. She silently conceded to this.
‘I was wrong about people,’ she said. ‘I never thought …’
‘That people could be gracious?’ said Denny.
‘Yes. I was wrong.’ she looked down at her little sword. ‘Very wrong. It’s the nicest thing I ever got,’ she said.
‘So far,’ said Denny, ‘at least I hope …’
‘What are you going on about?’
Denny fished in his pocket, brought out a little blue box, and snapped it open. Inside was a diamond ring.
‘Only if you get down on one knee this time,’ she said.
Denny knelt down to Tamar’s surprise. ‘Tamar,’ he said. ‘Will you marry me?’
‘And if the world gets taken over by aliens or wizards or dragons?’ she said.
‘Will you?’ he said insistently, ‘even if it does?’
‘Well, when you put it like that,’ she said. ‘Yes.’
Epilogue
M
eanwhile, in a galaxy far far away… ™
‘I don’t care what he said … there’s no such thing as aliens.’
‘What do you call that then?’ said Mixpryt,’ thrusting his fellow astronomer’s eye to the crystoscope
‘Wow!’
‘I told you,’
‘Nice planet, very lush. Lot’s of CO2
.’
‘Yeah, so go and tell General Lurtz that we’ve found a new home world.’
‘What about the
aliens
?’ He said this with a degree of awe.
Mixpryt gave his colleague a look that said, “You are not paid to think”. ‘What about them?’ he said. ‘Look at them, all milling around inefficiently. They need properly organising if you ask me. Anyway, I doubt there’s anyone down there who could stand up to twelve of us together, let alone the invasion force that the high command has put together.’
‘Seems a shame,’ said the assistant astronomer.
‘Ha!’ said Mixpryt. ‘They won’t know what hit ’em.’
‘Oh, I think they
will
know what’s hit them,’ said the other. ‘I mean when tens of thousands pounds of …’
‘It’s a
saying
,’ said Mixpryt impatiently.
‘Really, what does it mean then?’
‘Look – go and inform the General like a good chap will you? And then sort out the magic rings. Have us there in jig time.’
‘What kind of magic do you think the aliens have?’ asked the unfortunate assistant astronomer, who really did have a talent for putting his flipper in it.
‘Don’t be silly,’ said Mixpryt. ‘Everyone knows that aliens don’t have magic. Only proper people like
us
have magic.’
He gave this some thought and added. ‘Only don’t tell the General about it. He won’t be able to cope if we tell him it’s all done by magic.
He
thinks it’s some sort of
technology’
He slotted a new crystal ball into the crystoscope and resumed his study of the fascinating planet he had found. He found himself getting quite interested in the goings on down there. It was a bit like watching an opera at the coliseum (only without the funny hats) or the moving pictures that so many
ordinary
people liked to watch at home. This, he suspected, was better. It would be better still if there were more explosions. ‘Now that,’ he thought, ‘
would
be entertainment.’
*
On the world that Mixpryt was watching, there was a girl watching the sky. A girl with a flaming sword. A flaming sword that said “
Protector Of The People
”
Well, it’s a
kind
of magic.
COMING SOON!
THE SIXTH ADVENTURE IN THE TAMAR BLACK SERIES –
Tamar Black – Anything But Ordinary
Is Denny Sanger the sexiest man in the world?
This – and other crucial questions – are now being asked by the world’s press (and secret government agencies)
Since saving the world from the Faeries, Tamar, Denny and Co are now famous. Reporters are now camping out on the doorstep twenty four hours a day. And who are the two strange men in the blacked out car?
And, as if that was not enough, Tamar is having so much fun going shopping and painting her nails that it is driving Denny absolutely crazy trying to convince her that she is …
ANYTHING BUT ORDINARY
As the wedding approaches, and the strain is beginning to tell on Tamar and Denny, their friends are beginning to wonder if they will make it to the church (this time)?
And then they discover that they are not the only ones out there saving the world.
SCI ‘ON _ The Shadow Worlds
The first book in the SCI ‘ON Trilogy
Whenever a decision is taken that is of significance to the world, the world divides and two alternate futures are created. In the beginning, there was only one world. That world we name SCI ‘ON. All other worlds that sprang from it, we name the shadow worlds. Some believe SCI ‘ON is the only real world and that all others are mere reflections, hence the name. Others believe that all the alternate worlds are equally real and important – however they may have come into being.
Whatever the case, one thing is certain. If SCI ‘ON itself – the cradle of creation– were to be destroyed, all other worlds would cease to exist. For SCI‘ON is the mainspring and without it, the shadow worlds would have no point of origin.
Johnny Hammond is not your ordinary computer nerd. He has the makings of a hero. When a mysterious man shows him the way To SCI ‘ON, Johnny becomes obsessed. And only he can find a way to get there through the myriad shadow worlds that stand in his way. But someone doesn’t want him to get there.
From earliest childhood, Ryan and Kai have been best friends. The fact that they come from separate universes is not allowed to stand in their way.
As they grow up, they realise that this ability to travel between the worlds is no mere coincidence, as their ultimate destiny unfolds.
About the Author
Nicola Rhodes often can’t remember where she lives so she lives inside her own head most of the time, where even if you do get lost, it’s still okay.
She has met many interesting people inside her own head and eventually decided to introduce the rest of the world to them, in the hopes that they would stop bothering her and let her sleep.
She has been doing this for ten years now but they still won’t leave her alone.
She is married to the long suffering Mike who lives in Derby, England because he is
not
crazy (well not much anyway) and they have three girls between them.
She wrote this book for fun and does not care if you take away a moral lesson from it or not.
http://maker-of-magic.blogspot.co.uk/
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