Chapter 19
I had just woken up and gotten dressed, when I heard a roar. I went to my window, and looked out. It was just after dawn. The sky was clear. I saw a line of fire going from the sky to the ground. Dragon fire! I had never seen it before, but there was no mistaking it.
I ran out the door and trotted in search of someone who would know what the hell was going on. I found myself outside along with a lot of other people. I ran over to the wall and climbed the steps and looked in the direction the fire had come from.
I could see several small objects, which I knew to be dragons, circling and roaring in anger. They were circling in the direction of my gate! Damn. Maybe I should not have left that gate open after all!
I gathered my will and teleported to my gate. Scored grass and smoke were everywhere. I coughed and moved to a relatively clear area. I put up a shield to filter out the smoke and keep me cool. Dragon fire was very hot, or the residue of it was, anyway.
I heard a flapping of wings. I turned and saw that Bel was landing. He had come in hard and fast. I had to brace myself, even with my shield. He made a small, localized, windstorm.
"Someone came through the gate, Lord," Bel said hissing.
"Who was it, do you know?" I asked him.
"I have never seen her before. But I had a good look at her," he said, and then he sent me a mind picture of the person whom they had fought.
Damn, something else about dragons I didn't know. They could send pictures of what happened. I recognized the person in question. Melissa. Markus's spiteful daughter was here. She had come through my gate, which I had left open. Great.
I thanked Bel. He turned and lumbered away in a run, and sprang back into the air, wings pumping furiously to gain hight. Great. I had left a hole open in the world, and something had come through it that didn't like me. How stupid could I be? Why didn't I take into consideration Melissa or Markus when I had set my aversion spell?
They were both powerful enough to counter something like that. For that matter, any competent magic user would not be affected. Stupid! Again, I had not bothered to think things through. Why was I not thinking things through?
I had spent a large amount of time training to be a private investigator, had spent time as a police officer at the turn of the 20th century, had even gone to several colleges which gave me certificates saying I could think. I had not been thinking things through in a lot of ways, lately.
I gathered my will, and teleported back to my rooms. After that, I went downstairs as I decided to have some breakfast. When I got to the central dining area, people were already seated, eating. As I entered, the conversation broke off, and everyone rose to their feet. This was going to take some getting used to.
"Be seated. Enjoy your breakfasts," I told them all. I went to my usual table and sat. Shortly, I had a plate full of ham and eggs. I was eating when Mirwanna came in, with Marald close behind her. We all rose until they were seated.
"So, what did you find out?" My sister asked me.
"The daughter of Markus has come through my gate. I screwed up. I had not even considered someone like her coming across it," I said sourly.
"Again, Markus and his family interfere. I am going to have a warrant for his arrest drawn and issued to all peacekeepers across the land, when I return to Landkur. This is becoming very annoying," she said.
"I can't believe I didn't think to put up a stronger spell than just the one I did. Most people of that land don't or can't do magic. While there are a few who can, they are few and far between. I totally ignored the fact that Markus and his daughter had visited my camp.
"I might as well have put up a sign saying there is something here, look at it. And that is just what his daughter Melissa did. Are you sure you want me seated on this council?" I finished, mad at myself.
"Paul. Pull yourself together. From what you say, and what I know, you had no reason to believe anyone would come through. You did shut down the gate though, right?" she asked me.
"Uh, no. I forgot," I said turning red.
"Well, you will have to shut it down," she told me.
"Ok," I said, rising to go.
"Paul?" Mirwanna stopped me.
"Yes?" I said.
"Finish your breakfast, then go shut it down," she said, rolling her eyes.
I flushed even harder, and sat down. Marald chuckled, and I sank as low in my chair as I could.
Later, as I was getting ready to teleport to the gate, Darla asked to go with me. I was about to say no, then thought: 'That is a "Markus" reaction.' So I held her, and teleported back to the gate. When we arrived we startled 4 dragons who rose to there feet then resettled as they identified me.
I took the time to have Darla look for the gate pattern. She SHOULD know how to get back home by herself if she had too. I then deactivated the gate. I also placed several blocking spells on it. When I was finished, no one was going to use this gate except for myself, and now Darla. I showed her the trick to the spells I had laid, and she released them and re-established them easily. It was a good job for a new magic user. I congratulated her. She grinned at me. My heart was in my throat. I heard a chuckle from a dragon, which brought me back to myself.
I held Darla close to me as we teleported back to the keep. We were both directed to go to Benlin's workroom. As we got there, I noticed that everything I had ever brought with me, was already there.
"Good. We are all here. I want to get back to Landkur. If everyone is ready, make your goodbyes to our host. Paul? You have shut down the gate?" she asked me.
I nodded, and grinned. I went to Marald and took his hand.
"My thanks for your hospitality. I am glad to have met you, and to know you are a cousin," I told him sincerely.
"I am glad I was the first to welcome you back. You always have a place in my home," he said dropping my hand and hugging me to him.
Shortly the gate was activated, and Mirwanna led our group through the gate. We arrived in a large room that had several people standing around and talking. Two men broke off and went directly to Mirwanna.
The rest of us received curious looks, but it was all Mirwanna. She cleared her throat and lifted her hand. People who were talking stopped. Everyone waited for her to speak. She gestured me forward.
"My lords, I have the pleasure of presenting my brother, Paul Landkur, Duke De Landkur," she said, taking my hand and squeezing it.
There were some startled explitives; at least one I heard was not flattering. I frowned at that. Did I have an enemy already?
"Are you sure?"
"How did this happen?"
"Where has he been?"
Voices rose in question, immediately after her announcement.
"The dragons have already identified him, and yes, I am sure he is who he says he is. He has had an even better identification. The goddess Ishla, herself, showed up. From her reaction, I would say she accepts him whole-heartedly. If anyone cares to argue with the Goddess, feel free," Mirwanna said sternly.
This started a whirlwind of three days of introductions, briefings, settling into a new suite of rooms, servants assigned, and a whole host of other little things that I was really finding annoying. I was about ready to chuck it all, and go back.
Hank had a message sent to his, 'house', and several people showed up to welcome him back. Both he and Darla went to the Lestri house. Darla promised to check back in a couple days, but she wanted to meet these new relatives of hers.
While I understood her feelings, I felt empty, and I also had a feeling of loss. I knew I liked Darla, but had not realized I felt this strongly for her. I think Mirwanna knew, which was why she tried to keep me so busy.
I did have time to look over some of the city though. It was big. The cities name was Landkur, named after the demigod who had founded it. It was also the capital city of the Land of Landkur. It was strange to have the same name for the city and the Land.
I started to explore the city, close to the palace. We were on the upper slopes of a hill which overlooked a harbor. The city was nestled in a valley which also ended at a great inland sea.
It did not compare to anything from the earth, that I was used to. This was a major geographical and geological difference. Still, it was magnificent. On another hill, far to the other side of the valley, I could see a castle proper.
I asked about it. It had been the home of the demigod, Landkur. He had sealed it against everything and everyone when he had left to do battle with the other demigod. Both demigods were apparently destroyed in that battle. I shook my head. I could not imagine the power that had been used, but from witness testimony, it had been a lot.
I felt an itch to go explore the castle, but I was told no one had been able to enter it, and only a few had been able to even approach as far as the gates. There was a power that rejected most people's approach to the castle.
So I settled for exploring the close environs of the palace, first. As I made my desires known, I was given a squad of bodyguards, which I thought was ridiculous. Mirwanna was very firm with the squad though. She told me that while Landkur was not at war currently, there were still old hates, and some occasional assassination attempts.
Which is how I found myself with 4 bodyguards at all times when I left the palace. I had two guards with me at all times in the palace itself. Personally, I thought it a bit of over-kill, but the council backed Mirwanna one hundred percent on this.
There was all manner of transportation in the city of Landkur. People rode in carriages, rode horse back, or just plain walked. I found my way to a nice inn close to the palace. They had a walled garden that had tables for people who wished to eat outside when the weather was nice.
While a bit chilly, I was seated at such a table, which had a view of the palace. While the first floor of the palace was hidden by the wall, the second, third and fourth floors were visible to my eyes.
It was actually quite large, 4 stories tall. It was the tallest building in the city with the exception of the castle. It would take me months to learn my way around the palace. The government worked out of the palace. Well, the council did, a lot of the time. They had a government building in the center of the city, but that was only used for specific government functions, by the council.
However, the city manager, and a host of other city functionaries did work out of that building in the city center. The city bustled and was almost bursting at the seams.
There was a harbor with hundreds of ships, all types of ships.
It must have taken hundreds of stone masons years to build the palace. Dressed stone was what made up the outer wall of the palace. Mirwanna said it had actually withstood an attack once. They sure built it strong!
What I really wanted to do, was go to the castle. But people kept telling me why I shouldn't or couldn't go. I considered all the advice I was given, and decided that since I was a duke, the Duke De Landkur, there was only one person who could tell me no, and that was my sister.
I was definitely going to go to the castle. First, I would need a horse. Second, I would need to prep a new load of spells. I had gotten a bit sloppy, and some of the spells I had already made were unraveling.
With my mind made up, I decided I might as well head back to the palace, and get my afternoon briefings out of the way. They were also scheduling me for sword practice, of all things!
Now, while I had trained with a sword, that had been well over a hundred years ago. I had not held a sword in my hands since. This was going to be fun though. I had always liked the clash of steel, person against person combat. The better man won.
The worst thing though, was I was lonely. My sister was busy ruling Landkur, I was busy learning to be duke, and Hank and Darla were busy learning what had happened while Hank was missing from this land. Darla was also learning magic from the house of Lestri's wizard. They were very excited by her. She was the most powerful of the Lestri people in magic.
I got up, payed my tab, and left. This was a 'pay as you go' society. That is, until they got to know you. I was not well known yet. Mirwanna had announced a ball in three weeks time where she was going to introduce me to society. I thought it silly, but she was looking forward to it.
As I entered the palace, I was intercepted by a servant and told I had an appointment in 20 minutes with a tailor. I sighed. Mirwanna was almost as bad as Marald was about proper clothes. I did need some though. The boot maker had been the most interesting though. It was fascinating to watch as he did the measurements for my feet. I was going to have handmade boots. I felt good about that.
For two more hours, my time was not my own. I received a briefing on the guilds of Landkur, and guilds in general. Ok. I was not the biggest fan of guilds (or 'unions', as I thought of them), but here they made sense. I had been a member, twice, of unions that just took my money. There was no help to me from them, as far as I could see.
The major guilds in the city were: magic users guild, stonemason's guild, carpenter's guild, metal worker's guild, healer's guild, and glass maker's guild. Those were the major guilds. There were more, but they were not as powerful as these guilds.
I was an honorary member of the magic users guild, but exempt from the laws of this guild, as I was a magic user by 'divine right'. It paid have divine blood, it seemed. As a matter of fact, I was exempt from most laws due to that same point. As a person of 'divine decent', I could not really be held to temporal laws. That would take some getting used to, also.
Finally, it was time for the evening meal. I approached Mirwanna with my plan to visit the castle of our great grandfather. I really wanted to go. It was almost as if I were being 'pulled' to go, or something like it.
She listened to my plan, and sighed. She told me that while she understood my need to go, she was unable to get away. She told me to have fun, get it out of my system, and return ready for some serious history lessons. I nodded. I rubbed my hands together, allready planning what time to leave for the castle in the morning.
Edited by TeNderLoin