Wizards (27 page)

I jumped into the mist between the universe and I stayed there for a timeless period, matching my speed and direction with that of Esmeralda. In the void, I could see her body approaching the rocks below. I could taste the sharpness of their edges, their bloodthirsty nature. I hopped in and out of reality, scooping Esmeralda into my arms before shooting us back into grey mist and the long voyage home.

I felt Esmeralda trembling against me. Felt the warmth of her skin against me, breathed in the scent of her hair as her head pressed against my shoulder.

We landed onto my bed in Salice. Esmeralda's wonderful living body pushed into mine. We trembled with adrenaline and reaction. Esmeralda lifted her head so she could stare at me and I put my hands on her and pulled her lips to mine.

Esmeralda resisted me for a timeless second and then she kissed me fiercely as she wriggled out of her dress as if shedding an unnecessary skin. I kissed her breasts and rolled us over so I was on top and she below. Fireworks exploded in my head and I felt more sexually aroused than at any time in my life. I don't know how we ended up naked, but I do remember the excitement I felt as I penetrated her and the look of ecstasy on her face as we climaxed together.

The world swam back into focus some time later. Esmeralda was lying in my arms, snuggled up close to me. Everything felt very good and then it all felt very wrong.

"This is terrible!" I sat up and Esmeralda's head fell hard against her pillow. "What the hell was I thinking?"

"It was reaction to the danger, Jake. But it was also the truth between us. You love me every bit as much as I love you."

"I love Jenny with all my heart!" I fell onto the floor in my eagerness to get off the bed. In the dim light of the oil lamp, I searched frantically for my clothes.

"Yes, you do." Esmeralda sat up and I was startled by the fullness of her bared breasts. It would be a lie if I said they didn't call out to me. "Jake, you love both of us. It happens more often than you would think and in your case, it is acceptable. Wizards are expected to have more than one wife. It is written into the laws of the world."

"Try explaining that to Jenny," I shouted. "Shit, don't you even dare mention this to Jenny. This never happened, Esmeralda. Do you understand? I saved your life and that's all."

I had found one sock, but the other had disappeared without trace. I felt tears sting my eyes as I searched everywhere for it. How could I reappear in front of Jenny with only one sock?

"Calm down Jake. We need to get dressed and then you can bring me back to the palace in triumph. It's probably been less than an hour since Plath kidnapped me and my father and mother must be sick with worry." Esmeralda was as calm as I was panicked. "We also need to change the sheets. There will be some in that chest over there. I don't think you could easily explain the fresh blood on them to Jenny."

I hit me like a brick that I had taken Esmeralda's virginity. I just stopped and stared, half in and out of my boxers as Esmeralda laughed and got up from the bed to kiss me lightly on the cheek.

"I will not tell Jenny. That is for you to do, if you so choose. You saved me from certain death and made me a woman in the space of a few scant minutes. I know you were not in control of yourself. I know I was not in control of myself either. Let us leave the consequences of this for another day and cover things up for now. Is that satisfactory?"

I nodded, speechless. I'll never understand women. Esmeralda was as good as her word. We found clean sheets and remade the bed. Esmeralda found my missing sock and we searched the room carefully to be sure things were the same as when we entered. Lastly, Esmeralda looked me over critically and checked herself out in the mirror.

"No one will know, Jake. Tell me, will we have more trouble from the Wizard Plath?"

"No. I broke his neck after he pushed you off the cliff. I can assure you he's quite dead."

"That is a considerable relief. I think I will have nightmares about him, but the knowledge he is dead will keep me in good stead. Shall we go?"

"What do we tell them?" I asked as I took her hand.

"The truth, of course." Esmeralda said and laughed at me. "The only difference is that you hopped us here for a few minutes to catch our breath after the fall down the cliff. That will explain the smell of my scent in this room." Esmeralda walked over to the window and opened the shutters. "If Jenny asks, say we were sweating when we arrived and you opened this window to clear the air. The night will soon mask any other scents in the room."

"How can you be so calm?"

"I am a princess and my knight in shining armor has come. He brought me along with him as I remember. It was a wonderful moment and I shall never forget it."

I took Esmeralda's hand and we hopped into the center of the ballroom. Everybody in the room broke out into applause as soon as they saw us. Esmeralda pulled her hand out of mine as we arrived and ran over to her parents. Jenny ran over to me and she buried her face in my chest.

"Phew, you smell a bit high. Did you have to chase Plath?"

"He pushed Esmeralda off a cliff. I broke his neck and dived after her. It was a close call."

Jenny hugged closer to me. "I can imagine. But you looked so calm and collected when you arrived."

"My instincts brought us back to our room in the palace. We spent a couple of minutes there calming down." I was surprised how easily that lie came to me, though in at least some senses I was telling the truth.

"Esmeralda looks different somehow," Jenny told me as she turned and looked in her direction. Esmeralda was laughing, surrounded by her family and friends. Bronwyn was among them, hugging close to her side.

"Being pushed off a cliff will do that to you."

Jenny turned back to me and looked me in the eyes.

"Are you alright Jake? You sound a little different too."

"I'm just exhausted. And I've realized I'm a killer. I killed your kidnapper months ago, two men just the other day and Wizard Plath tonight. None of those deaths bothers me in the slightest. Is there something wrong with me?"

"You're a hero, Jake. The normal rules don't apply to you."

I smiled back at Jenny and kissed her on the lips. Our kiss lingered on for a time and it felt as good as it always did. I loved this girl with all my heart. I looked up while we were kissing and saw Esmeralda looking at us. There was a genuine smile of pleasure on her face. I really don't understand women at all.

Chapter Thirteen
: Homecoming

I
hopped Jenny back to her bedroom at just gone eight the next morning. We were both tired out from the events of the night before and Jenny planned to go straight to bed as soon as I left.

We strived to create the illusion that Jenny came home late at night and Jenny's parents became accustomed to her apparent skill of being able to get into the house without making any noise.

"Despite the small problem with the late Wizard Plath, that was a fun night out." Jenny carefully put her father's ghetto blaster down on the floor. We nearly forgot it and I had to rescue it from the cleaners working in the ballroom.

"A little too much fun for me," I said, though I wasn't referring to Wizard Plath. "There's still the problem of dealing with Bronwyn. She told me she's left home for good."

"Can't say I blame her," Jenny mused as she started to get out of her dress. "She was being locked up like a prisoner. On the other hand, she's only eleven years old. You'll have to convince her to go home, Jake."

"I've already got the police stationed round my house. Her disappearing again isn't going to make my life any easier."

Jenny put her arms around my neck and pressed her warm, beautiful body close to mine. "You can handle a few Welsh policemen, Jake, and they'll soon get bored. After all, you never go out."

After we kissed for a good twenty minutes I hopped back to my bedroom.

I was wide awake by this time and sunlight streamed through my bedroom window so I decided to go downstairs and make a pot of tea. I sensed something was wrong about the house before I got all the way down the stairs. When I walked into the kitchen I found my parents sitting at the table with Sergeant Jones.

"Where have you been, Jake?" Mum asked anxiously. "We've been worried sick."

"In my bedroom. Why is Sergeant Jones here?"

Sergeant Jones started whispering into his radio the moment he saw me and I heard the sound of the front door being opened followed by urgent male voices and the sound of boots echoing in the hall.

"We checked your bedroom first thing," Dad said. "The police have been here since seven o'clock this morning."

Two policemen walked into the kitchen and grabbed hold of my arms bending me forwards. It would have been easy for me to have smashed them to the walls using nothing more than a trickle of magical power. It was tempting, but in the end, all I did was use enough power to stop them hurting me.

"Jake Morrissey, I am arresting you on suspicion of kidnapping and grievous bodily harm. You have the right to remain silent…"

I ignored the rest of Sergeant Jones' speech as he read me my rights. I was waiting for him to finish so I could ask him more about the GBH charge.

"Haven't you arrested me once already for kidnapping? I don't remember anybody getting hurt when Bronwyn went missing."

"I am not arresting you for the previous disappearance of Bronwyn Mathews. I am arresting you for her current disappearance. Her parents were found in comas by the Mathews' housekeeper and the girl was gone."

"Jake, you didn't have anything to do with it, did you?"

I gave Mum a sorrowful look and she had the grace to look embarrassed. "It's just that you're always going off. We never know where you are."

The two policemen managed to get a set of handcuffs on me, pinning my hands behind my back. I allowed my wrists to move closer together or they would have been trying all day.

"I would like to make a statement."

The two policemen stepped back from me and I straightened up.

"I have been in my bed all night. You may have knocked on my door but you never entered my room. You've had policemen following me night and day who saw me enter this house and no one has seen me leave, despite your men putting the house under continuous surveillance. I shall look forward to calling you all as witnesses in court."

I didn't like to do it, but I used my power to change their memories to match exactly what I said. The search of my room they made became simply a knock and a shout for me to get up. I could see a puzzled look flit over Sergeant Jones' face as his memories flowed and changed.

"What's your answer to that?" my Dad asked triumphantly. I smiled. My Dad isn't a strong minded man but he does care a great deal about me.

"We can keep your son imprisoned for up to seventy two hours without charge. He knows where Bronwyn Mathews was the last time she disappeared and she might have gone there again."

"She isn't," I said bleakly. "If I was to tell you she'd been held by religious fanatics who were taking her to be burnt at the stake, you wouldn't believe me, would you?"

Sergeant Jones snorted in derision. Things like that didn't happen in Wales.

"Just checking. Bronwyn Mathews has a history of vanishing without trace. Perhaps you should accept that."

"So do you Jake," Mum put in.

"The girl is only eleven years old!" Sergeant Jones exploded. "We'll discuss this further at the station. Take him away, lads."

I wasn't worried as they took me to the police car. The police would have to let me go eventually, as they had nothing against me remotely resembling evidence. I was more worried about what Bronwyn had done to her parents. I could probably undo it if I could get to them, but that wasn't likely to happen while the police held me prisoner.

There was something else to worry about. Being found in a coma didn't create a charge of GBH unless there were physical injuries along with it. I suspected the police were referring to something else entirely. What had Bronwyn done to her parents apart from putting them to sleep?

Bronwyn was rapidly becoming a significant problem and I worried about her roaming the palace in Salice. Who knew what she might do to Esmeralda or a servant if they did something she didn't like. Perhaps I should have taken more notice of her after her rape. I healed her body but I did nothing to try and heal her mind. The truth was I hadn't wanted to think about it, and I had the excuse with rescuing the other children not to bother.

My life kept getting more complicated. Who would want to be a wizard?

The End

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Booth does not live in Wales and is not a wizard. However, he has always wanted to own a dragon and once owned a green lizard that taught him a lot about the attitude a dragon might take on the subject of being owned. John is happily married with grown up children. It's always wonderful when your kids manage things you didn't.