The Return (17 page)

“But...”

“No buts, Beth. Tell me how it is wrong to enjoy yourself with someone who is getting equal pleasure from it?”

She smiled weakly at me, “But I lost control.”

“Yes, and thank you for that. When I saw you healing like I do, I allowed myself to lose control. I am surprised we still have a tent this morning.”

Likka giggled behind us. “You both were so far gone, you couldn’t have used magic to save your lives.”

“Then we are lucky we had our lady Likka here to guard us,” Beth said, as they both fell into laughter.

I waited for them to regain themselves. “We have a lot more work to do on the tent today. We will take a break every couple of hours to relieve some tension. The furniture and supplies should be here today, because we are leaving tomorrow. “

Beth started giggling again. “As bad as we were last night, are you sure every couple of hours is enough?”

By noon, we had the base enchantments done. Every bedroom had its own bathroom. The kitchen had a huge cold room and a larder/pantry. There was a wet bar in the entertainment room and I even figured out how to make windows we could look out of, but people could not see in. I showed Beth, and soon every room had windows in all of the walls. This looked a little weird when you walked into a room and looked out a window that should look into the hallway, and saw outside the tent. But it did have one major advantage -- any room you were in could see outside, all the way around the tent. The manor was big enough that it took a full thirty minutes to walk from one end to the other, but we had all the conveniences we could desire.

Then the furniture started arriving. We furnished about forty bedrooms and the main living area so that we would be able to use the tent, The rest could be dealt with later. My bedroom had a bed in it that was twelve feet wide, and just as long. I figured I would need it. I filled the cold room with several thousand pounds of beef and pork, and a thousand or so chickens, plus lots of fresh butter, milk, eggs and bacon. Maybe I should explain the cold room a bit better. The cold room did have ice and that ice was cold but it was not kept cold by the ice nor did the room keep the food cold.

What it did was put everything in stasis when the door was closed. As long as the door was closed, everything in it would be kept as fresh as the day it was delivered. The larder worked the same way, but it was better laid out for dry goods and vegetables, of which it now had plenty. By the time I was done stocking them, you could have fed an army of a thousand a banquet meal every night for a month. I had every spice I could find, and every type of dry good I could find in this town. I would add to it as I found new things.

The kitchen had my best imitation of modern conveniences -- a stove that applied heat to the exact temperature by magic, an oven the same way, hot and cold running water, a dishwasher and a garbage disposal system. There was even a blender and food processor both spun by magic. Most modern chefs would give away their front row seat in hell for a kitchen like I built. I even built a wine chiller and stocked it with wines.

There were a gymnasium with pool, hot tub, steam room, and sauna. Well, when I say hot tub, I actually mean a bubble-injected pool that could hold about twenty total strangers or fifty very close friends. The pool was Olympic in size, the sauna and steam room were both big enough for fifty people.

There was a self-cleaning stable for the horses, with plenty of oats and hay for them, as well as an apple bin, to give those horses treats  every now and then.

The game room had a pool table and a poker table, as well as a music box that would play just about any song requested, even some of my favorite stuff from the fifties, sixties and seventies. Yes, I had gotten carried away, but the rewards every couple of hours made me want to do more to make her crazy.

The last thing I did before going in to go to bed that night was make the tent so it put everything inside in stasis while it was rolled up. We had quietly added most of the stuff from the pack horses to the stuff in the tent, and I stripped my gear down to the stuff I used most often and put the rest away in the tent.

The sun was coming up as I put the finishing touches on the tent, then rolled it up and stowed it on Reapers flank, tied to one of his packs. Beth, Likka and I went to the common room to wait for the others and eat breakfast.

As we sipped or coffee Taina, Laina, Mieko, and Tia all came down. They looked well rested and refreshed as they sat down to eat. “Thank you for keeping it down the last two nights,” Laina said as she smiled at Beth and I. We both broke out laughing and Likka’s tongue lolled out in her wolfish laughter. “What’s so funny?” Taina asked as she sipped coffee.

“Oh, nothing. We just were laughing about keeping it quiet. We will need to ride fast so we travel light. I have already had our gear put on the horses and we are traveling without the pack mounts. I expect to run into trouble a few times on the way there, so keep your eyes open and weapons ready. Tia since you are not a trained fighter, you will ride middle position in the party. We will have either Mieko or Taina train you.”

“Oh, I couldn’t be fighting, sir. I wouldn’t be able to kill anything.”

“Tia, you are one of my companions and friends now, and you have shared my bed. I will not make you fight, but you must be able to protect yourself. Danger follows me everywhere I go. Since you don’t like to kill you, will learn Kieso with Mieko. There are more options for subduing in that form.”

“But, sir, I would not know how to fight, or even when. I was always told that if I fought back, I would be punished.”

I pulled her close to me. “Tia, you are not a slave any more, and I want you to be my friend for a very long time. Learn to fight for me, so that I can fight without worrying about you. Please?”

She looked into my eyes with a little fear and worry. “If it will make you happy, I will.”

“It would make me very happy. We have eighteen days of hard riding to get to Wine Glenn. If we make it, we will arrive one day before the others get there. After breakfast, get any last minute baths you need, and be sure to pee before we leave.” Beth was the only one who giggled at my last remark, while the others just looked perplexed.

We rode out the south gate and headed south for about six hours. We rode east for six hours, then turned north to start our journey. We were still south and east of Feck when we stopped for the night. I had decided to play with the girls just a bit and not tell them about the tent. As we set up camp, the ladies all noticed the larger tent and commented that I was just trying to get them all in the sack together. None of them noticed that Beth went into the tent without my bedroll or the fact that my bedroll was no longer tied to my packs. I excused myself to go hunt up some dinner, and when I slipped out of camp, I just stood a little ways out and watched. It was maybe ten minutes before Laina went over to the tent to see if Beth was alright. When she opened the flap she squealed and fell back on her bottom in front of the others.

Taina jumped up to see if she was alright, and Mieko and Tia went to the tent. When they opened the flap, I could hear them clearly as they made rather rude exclamations of surprise. Laina was telling her mom to go look, dragging her mother towards the tent. By this point I was laughing so hard that Taina noticed me standing there. She looked back at the tent and around the two Phelony, to see the large entry hall and to smell the cooking meat that Beth was working on in the kitchen.

I walked up behind them. “Well, go inside. We haven’t got all night before we eat.” Likka trotted past me, and I went to put the horses in the stable. When I tried to squeeze the horses past the girls, they finally stepped inside. I led all the horses in as the girls moved in a tight cluster towards the kitchen. When I saw them I couldn’t help but laugh. “Ladies, nothing in here except me will bite you. Now get into the kitchen and see Beth. She helped me make this place and she knows where your rooms are.”

It took the better part of an hour to get them inside and show them their rooms and bathrooms. The squeals of laughter from the girls, when I showed them the hot showers, were painful to my ears. Then they started noticing the windows and they had to go outside to look, then back inside to look outside. All in all, I had a lot of fun.

When they all got back to the living room again, I was sitting in a recliner with

Likka in my lap, and Beth was saying, “Yes, you should have seen the hell he put me through helping him do this.”

Mieko looked at her and said, “Oh Gods! He used a lot of magic, didn’t he?”

Likka laughed and said, “They both used a lot of magic. A WHOLE lot of magic!”

Mieko and Taina’s eyes looked like something out of a comic book. Beth looked at them and said, “The first day we didn’t take any breaks, and I just worked straight through, not knowing what I was doing to myself. That night, Likka thought she was going to have to come get you because we were going to screw each other to death.”

Likka said very dryly, “Seven and a half hours, seven and a half very, very, noisy hours.”

Mieko looked at me with big pity kitty eyes, “Rhys, can you teach me magic?” Taina and Beth busted up laughing.

Laina and Tia both could not figure out what was so funny. Taina finally explained about how magic affects us and both of them got very wide eyed. “He probably would have killed one of the rest of us if he was that far gone. The only ones that have ever managed to stand up to him in that condition are Morgana and Penny.”

Later we ate a dinner of pork roast with fresh vegetables, then sat around and talked for a bit. I stood up and excused myself, and told them I was headed for the gym to soak in the hot tub. The curious girls were just a few seconds behind me.

As I stripped off and eased down into the hot tub, I suddenly felt bodies sliding in nearby, as six naked women joined me. I looked at Likka. “Ever made love in a hot tub before?”

“I have never even seen a hot tub before.”

I pulled her over into my lap and started kissing her neck. Then I reached behind me and turned on the bubble jets. Likka started giggling and moaning as the bubbles slipped and slithered up her body, as my tongue and lips slithered and kissed downward. Mieko looked at us and then at Laina. “I think it is time for the children to go to bed.”

Laina looked back and said. “Well, as soon as you find some you can go tuck them in.” Mieko giggled. Beth and I were still a little over stressed on energy, and it was a very busy night for all of the girls.

The next morning, I walked out of the tent to hear Mieko and Taina laughing. I looked at Likka and she just huffed and started off on her scouting. “What is so funny?”

Mieko giggled out. “I have never seen a wolf walk bow-legged before.” And both girls dissolved into laughter again.

We had ridden for about three days, spending our nights in the tent. The journey had become fun. None of the travel weariness we usually felt had crept on us. Most nights, one or more of the girls spent in my bed, but I always woke up with five of the six piled around me. We still always kept a sentry up, usually sitting in the game room so they could see out the windows and listen to music. We scheduled it so three people would spend a three hour shift each time. The third day had dawned normal, but after the first hour’s ride, we saw a column of smoke ahead. A few minutes later we crested a hill to see a lone farmhouse burning, with a host of armored creatures around it. My ears felt more than heard the screams coming from inside the burning house.

Reaper and I were at a dead run before any of the others could even react. By the time I reached the yard of the house I was a couple of minutes ahead of the rest. The thundering hooves of Reaper were laying waste to the armored things as I vaulted from his saddle, drawing my blades. I landed with my swords already taking heads and lives, then came face to face with a horror. They were Calin, the pets of the necromancers, fallen soldiers forced to serve long past their death. The creatures in front of me were rotting flesh and bone with the life still trapped in it. They dripped slime and gobbets of rotten flesh as they moved. And boy, could they move! They were faster than the strike of a snake, and had no fear or remorse. My mind erupted in fire and ice as I channeled my magic through my blades. I slipped into the dance, and knew I was dancing for keeps this time. To fall at the hands of a Calin was to join their ranks. I was not even sure my healing could save me from that fate.

The only weakness the Calin had was fire. Even removing their heads would only slow them long enough to pick it up and put it back on. I forced my magic through the blades of my long swords and they started burning. With each strike, I would force the fire and heat into the creature I had hit, until it was only ash. The screams from the house were getting weaker as I fought my way to it. When I reached the house, I kicked the door open to a new horror. A burning woman ran toward me and thrust a bundle into my arms. The bundle was wrapped in a blanket, and the blanket was soaking wet. I tried to grab the woman to pull her out with us, but the flesh of her arm just peeled away at my touch, as she fell to the floor and stopped screaming. I turned to face the Calin. They were too fast. I could not keep up with them with only one hand, but if I put the bundle down it would be lost, and I had felt the bundle move in my arms.

I was pressed and was being backed into the fire, when I felt the bundle snatched from my grasp. I turned and attacked with both hands in the direction she had been snatched, but I did not see her. I pulled in my will, and my mind cracked like a whip as I released a torrent of fire and heat at the creatures around me. My mind exploded with the desperation of finding the little bundled form which had been entrusted to me. I could not let that dead woman down. I began blasting fire and damnation at every creature I could see. I saw the girls a little ways away, and they were using skins of oil to soak the Calin and torch-like clubs to ignite them. Then I saw Tia standing there holding the dripping bundle in her arms. Beth had pulled her away. Beth and I began to lay waste to the Calin around us.