Jake's Women (Wizards) (15 page)

27.
      
Visits

We arrived back at the Bat Cave in the early afternoon. Fluffy has a way with expressing his disapproval with me.

[You stink of Alisandra.]

“It’s the Malevon way to seal an alliance. What was I supposed to do?”

[Not enjoy it so much.]

Not true as it happens. The all too realistic waxwork of me had creeped me out and I wasn’t sure I wanted to be seen as a sex object. The meeting of our bodies proved much less enjoyable than I expected. But Fluffy was right about one thing. I needed a shower. And magic wouldn’t do. It was going to take a lot of hot water to leave me feeling clean.

Jenny’s house and the Palace were out, so it looked like my parents were going to get an unexpected visit from their son. I hopped.

 
“I’m home, Mam” I shouted from my room.

“I’m just brewing a pot,” Mam shouted back

“She always is,” Dad shouted up to me.

“I’m having a shower first. I’ll be down in a bit.”

After showering I cleaned my clothes before putting them back on. There are many advantages to being a wizard, but the ability to instantly dry clean is one of the most useful.

I found Mam and Dad in the living room. A big pot of tea was on the coffee table along with a selection of biscuits.

“Have you rung May yet?”

“What?” Incomprehension was often my middle name.

“My sister, your aunt. Jenny was supposed to tell you May wanted to talk to you.”

“I’ll get round to it.” Someday. Maybe next year.

As soon as I started on a biscuit I discovered I was starving and grabbed a handful.

“Are they not feeding you properly?” Mam asked.

“You’d think with living in a palace, you’d never be hungry.” My Dad paused, remembering that Salice had been on the verge of starvation a month or two ago. “Is the food you got getting to the people?”

“Yes. Distribution is the big problem with all the snow on the ground, but Esmeralda tells me that everybody is getting fed.”

“And Bronwyn?”

I shrugged. There was nothing to tell.

“Inspector Thomas has been on the phone a few times,” Dad continued. “I think he was hoping you had found something.”

I felt the letter, still in its plastic wallet in my jacket pocket. I’d meant to let Betty have a look at it, but our last encounter had been all
‘wham bam, get lost you man’
and I’d forgotten about it. My life gets hopelessly complicated sometimes.

“Tell him I’m still working on it.”
‘When I remember’
I added silently.

“Nine people died when that bomb went off,” Dad reminded me.

He was right. It was time I prioritized finding the bomber. I would get on it as soon as I’d eaten all the biscuits.

Once back in my room I took out the letter and tried hopping to its author. I ended up in a newsagents, by the writing paper section. That having failed, the next best thing was to let Betty have a look at it. She had a lot of knowledge about ancient Britain and the languages they spoke. Maybe it included the language the letter was written in.

I girded my loins, literally and figuratively and hopped into her bedroom at Highfields Farm. It was, unexpectedly and disappointingly, empty. Well that was a complete waste of loin girding.

I hopped to the front door of the farmhouse and rang the doorbell. Still no response. I magicked myself some wellingtons and trudged across the farmyard to the massive milking shed. It was empty. Betty and her father were probably out in the fields, but I wasn’t going to chase them that far. Stepping onto a cleaner patch of ground I changed the wellingtons back to trainers and hopped to Betty’s bedroom. It was still empty, so I found a piece of paper and left a note.

‘Missed you today. This is a letter sent to the police. If it means anything to you, get in touch ASAP. Jake.’

Then I hopped to Salice.

I found Janti and Esmeralda in conference with the usual group of Lords and Ladies that managed the kingdom.

“The King is at the Storehouse,” Esmeralda told me before I could ask. “We are managing the situation.”

I gave her a quick kiss on the forehead and sat at the table.

“Which situation is that?”

Esmeralda looked embarrassed and was unusually silent. Her mother decided to answer when it was clear she wasn’t going to.

“Urda and Anna are late getting back from Tydan. They were told to spend no more than an hour in Barren before returning and it has been nearly six.”

I felt a hard lump in my stomach.

“You may say it,” Esmeralda said in a toneless voice.

“Say what?”

“That you were right and I was wrong. They should not have gone.”

I dismissed that with a wave of my hand. What was done, was done. The only question was what to do about it.

“Will you attempt a rescue mission?” That from Treva.

“Jake will not,” Esmeralda said before I could answer. “Our best hope is Bronwyn and we must not compromise her.”

“What choice do we have?” Queen Janti asked. The people round the table offered nothing in reply.

“Salice is at risk through my hand. I will find a way to put things right.”

I looked at Esmeralda in surprise. She sounded defeated and that wasn’t like her at all.

“Then let us close this meeting,” Queen Janti said firmly. She stood and walked purposely away from the table. I went to my wife’s side.

“We will get them back.”

She ignored my words.

“It is good to see you safe and that you have recovered your precious knife.” She touched my cheek. “There is something you must do for me. Come husband, this is a matter of duty.”

We walked back to our apartments. I could have hopped us there, but I got the feeling Esmeralda needed time to think before we arrived.

A servant was looking after Morgana in our bedroom. Esmeralda dismissed her with a curt wave and the girl fled the room.

“You want me to go to Barren anyway?” I suggested. Esmeralda went to her dressing table and opened a draw. When she turned round she was holding the paddle her mother had given me as a wedding present.

“No. I want you to beat me, my Lord Wizard. For the damage I have done the kingdom.”

“It was a joint decision as I remember. Do you want me to put your father over my knee when I finish with you?”

Esmeralda ran to me and dropped to her knees. “The King agreed with you, but I insisted we must have the information. I need this, Jake. I need the sting of pain to remind me that my duty to the realm should always take precedence over my arrogance.”

She stood and handed me the paddle before undoing her skirt. She was wearing nothing underneath.

“Do not spare me my husband. It is your duty to me.”

---

Afterwards we made love; without doubt the most passionate and tender love we have ever made.

After a cool bath, I got dressed and hopped to Jenny’s parents’. This was proving a tiring day and it was only early evening.

Jenny ran to me and gave me a hug.

“I knew you were safe and had the knife.”

Fluffy, of course. I was always forgetting the empathic link they shared.

Jenny turned coy on me, like a little girl. “It must have been awful for you with that woman. After what she did to you at the Conference.”

If Fluffy had talked I was going to strangle him with my bare hands. I tried to make my face as blank as possible.

“I’m sorry, I don’t understand.”

Jenny pulled me down and whispered in my ear. “I know she raped you. Retnor’s concern was so loud when he discovered you it was almost like he was speaking to me. And when you had to make a deal with her to get the knife back, Retnor was disgusted.”

Hmm, I could see how it might look that way.

“She didn’t know she was raping me at the Conference. That was the Progenitors fault.”

“Rape is rape, Jake. There are no excuses.”

“Anyway, I made an alliance with her people because it will be good for all of us. I don’t blame her for what happened at the Conference.”

“Then why was Retnor so disgusted?” Jenny’s indignance was palpable.

“He can hold a grudge.”

“I don’t ever want to meet her,” Jenny said firmly. “I will punch her in the face if I ever do.”

Fair enough. I had no intention of ever letting them meet in any case. I also thought it would be best if I was somewhere else for a while. To give Jenny time to cool down and to avoid any further questions about how we sealed the deal.

I looked at the clock and saw it was just past six. Maybe Mr. Griffith would still be at the Woodyard.

“I’ve just got to go and see Mr. Griffith. I’ll be back later.”

Before Jenny could object, I hopped.

Malcolm was putting on his coat and jumped on seeing me. Then he visibly relaxed and grinned at me.

“Hi Jake, Mr. Griffith is in his office.”

The last time Malcolm and I had spoken he was going out with his cousin. She had been his first girlfriend.

“How’s Sylvia?”

“Still living with me,” Malcolm grin grew broader. “She still can’t get over your wedding. It’s all she ever talks about.”

“Good for you. I’ll just drop in and see Mr. Griffith before he goes.”

“I’m off then. Don’t forget to bring those bolt cutters back sometime.”

Rats
. I had left them in the palace and by now Salice probably had a cottage industry making copies of them. Well it was too late to do anything about that now. I knocked on the office door and walked in.

“Jake, it’s been over three months since we saw you. How are you?” Mr. Griffith had a beaming smile on his face. “Not counting that five seconds with the bolt cutters. I hope they proved useful.”

“Saved Anna’s life, thanks.”

Mr. Griffith had turned a handshake into a bear hug.

“Jake, you don’t know the news. Jean is three months pregnant. It’s a miracle.”

“Congratulations, you seem happy about it.”

“Can’t get the smile off my face.” Mr. Griffith wagged a finger at me. “I also can’t help think you had something to do with it.”

I put on a look of mock horror. “I can assure you I would never impugn Mrs. Griffith’s honor in that way.”

“Not like that,” he gave me a gentle thump. “Jean couldn’t have children. It was always a cloud over our lives. The doctors say the X-Rays must have been wrong, but I don’t believe that for a moment.”

“Jenny tells me I shouldn’t meddle in things that don’t concern me.”

“I’m glad you did. So is Jean.”

We sat and chatted for over an hour. Mr. Griffith wanted to know how the treasure trove case was going, but I couldn’t tell him. Locating a buried hoard of treasure had seemed like a sure way to make money at the time, but nobody had told me that government bureaucrats would take forever to give me the money. I resolved to ask Betty what was happening the next time I saw her.

I hopped back to my parent’s house, which was strangely dark and silent. They hadn’t mentioned going out and while they might just have gone to the local pub I found their absence worrying. I had a gut feeling similar to how I’d felt about Urda going to Barren.

I paced my room for five minutes before inspiration dawned. Going to Mam’s jewellery box I took a broach that she wore on special occasions. I was probably going to look like an idiot, but I would hop to my parents and prove to myself they were safe.

Sitting on my bed I considered throwing it down the hopscotch court I used to have hidden under the carpet. I didn’t need that kind of prop any more, but being at home made me feel nostalgic for those days.