Chapter 21
According to my calculations, we had been away for almost twenty-six Earth days, now. I had made myself ready for a long-term absence from Earth, but I did not think my two companions had. We really needed to go back, and make sure everything was ok, and to make sure everything was set for an extended absence by my two friends.
I stretched, and winced. Damn! I still had some pain from the knife wound in my back. I knew that I was much further along the healing process than was humanly possible. That was a strange phrase for me to use about myself, but I had to admit to it. I didn't think I was really totally human anymore. Changing into a Dragon makes you re-evaluate 'a few things'.
There was a knock on my door. My servant entered, and told me my afternoon class in law was about to commence. Great. That was just what I needed.
I made my way to the classroom, and seated myself at a huge desk, with volumes and volumes of hand written books. The Laws of Landkur were written within them.
For two hours I was... well, 'drilled' is the best word for it... in law. Actually the laws were very good, if mostly very elementary. I was surprised at the laws that kept the city streets clean, and the trash hauled away. A lot of cities on Earth didn't have that figured out 'till the 20th century.
Trash and filth bred disease. This culture already knew how to counter that! Good for them!
With my law class out of the way, I was free until supper, which was about an hour away. I went to check if Darla and Hank had come by yet. I had requested their presence. They were waiting for me in the garden. Great!
Actually, the garden was a very nice place.
The palace was built as a huge square building. It was four stories high, and enclosed several acres of land in its center. That land had been turned it into a garden. While it was still spring, some of the early blooming plants were quite spectacular.
There were a lot of medicinal plants, also. A whole section was devoted to medicinals. It was truely impressive what these people, my people, did with plants. I found my two friends seated on a stone bench.
"Hank, Darla! I am so glad you could come," I said to them.
They smiled and rose. I explained what I wanted to do. I told them we needed to make a trip back to Earth. I wanted to see if someone I knew (who was a damned fine secretary) wanted a job in an 'exotic' location. I also told them about how long I figured they had been gone from Earth. We really needed to make sure there were no loose ends there, to cause us problems, or to cause problems for any persons remaining behind.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, they agreed. I had a good argument ready, just in case. I almost felt cheated that I didn't get the chance to use it. I asked Hank if he would sell me his land that I was camped on. He agreed, but then asked what he would do with that money. It was going to be useless to him, here.
Darla said she would need to get a few items she really wanted, but other than that, she was quite happy here. She had already told a few friends that she was going to be traveling. It was a good story, and pretty close to the truth. Now all we needed to do, was gate back to Earth. I saw a couple ways to do it. Go back to my gate, then through that gate, or see if the gate here in the city could be set for my world... um, the other world. Damn. I had to get it straight in my mind which world was mine. If an emergency cropped up, I didn't want to teleport to the wrong world.
We made our way to dinner, as the Princess would be there. I was going to tell her what I wanted to do and accomplish, and I was not sure how she would take it. She was getting a little possessive towards me, lately.
"Darla! Hank! How nice to see you, and so unexpected, too," Mirwanna said looking at me.
"Yes, well... thats my fault, Mirwanna. I need, 'we need', to do a few things in the other world. It should not take more than a day or two of this world's time," I told her.
"I see. I assume you're wondering about the gate here in the palace?" she asked me.
"Right the first time. It would be very convenient for us, if we could use it to go to that other world. Failing that, we could gate back to Marald's keep, and then I could use my gate back to, uh, that other place," I finished.
"Have you thought this through? I mean, the Dragons chased someone back through your gate. What's sitting on the other side of that gate? Do you know? Is there an army camped there? Are they waiting for you, or someone, to come through so that they may make a capture?
"Also, what of that other world? Do they know of us? What are their intentions towards us? I would be most curious to know," she finished.
OK, I had not thought of any of what she said. Damn! Why did I seem to have a blind spot when it came to Markus? Mirwanna was right. There was a good chance I would be walking, and brining Darla and Hank with me, into a trap. I had not thought about it at all.
Then I got another idea.
"Ok, what about the gate I originally went through, when I was sent as a child? I know it is still there, but Markus shut it down. We could exit there. No one would think of that gate.
"Also, once through, I can teleport everyone to a safe place. When we go, we can spell up, and have three people at the ready in case it comes to an exchange of spells," I finished.
Mirwanna nodded slowly, chewing and thinking. I really wanted to go back and get Vivian, if she would come back with me. I think she would do well, here. She ran a 'tight ship'.
"Alright. You can go through to the old portal. However, I am sending a Combat Wizard with you. You have shown a remarkable lack of common sense a couple of times, in situations that should have been handled more efficiently," she said.
I really couldn't fault her logic. I understood her reasoning, and I could not fault it at all. Still, it galled me to have her point this out to me, as though we were discussing the weather. But what really bothered me, was that she did it so openly in front of my friends. I sighed. Well, I had only myself to blame, after all. I muttered agreement. She nodded, and gestured to a servant. She scribbled something down on a parchment, and handed it to him. The servant departed.
"Would tomorrow morning be soon enough?" she asked.
"We couldn't do it after dinner?" I asked.
"I need a little time to get my Combat Wizard here. She is someone who is good at her craft, and does not take chances. I have relied on her services in the past. I want her with you. This is a deal breaker, Paul," Mirwanna said seriously.
I smiled. "I would be honored to leave first thing in the morning," I told her.
"Good. Now that that is out of the way, tell me what you have been up to, Darla?" Mirwanna asked.
And so, it was zero-dark-thirty the next morning. Darla, Hank, myself, and a wizard (of the name of Marla) were gathered before the master gate in the palace. It was a well-guarded room. Not only with human guards, but spells were evident, everywhere. At least two guardians of a sort I was unable to identify, were also present.
The master of the gate, opened it. As he did, one of the guardians went though. That was not something that had been agreed to. We were held back until the guardian, a spirit in form, returned. It said in a breathy voice; that there was no one, and no spells that it could detect, anywhere close to the gate.
Marla was given the nod, and she went through. Shortly, she returned, saying that she had set up a safe zone, but we had to hurry. She said she had tripped an alarm spell of some sort.
We all rushed through the gate. As soon as I was through I had everyone touch my clothes. I teleported us to my closed office. I immediately swept for bugs, and found nothing. Good.
Marla was chuckling to herself. I asked her what was so funny.
"One of the little spells I made, was to 'force transport' whoever showed up, through the gate and into a special cell. The Princess is going to leave the gate open for a specific amount of time. Whoever shows up, will have no choice but to go through. They will be transported into a specially constructed cell. It is totally magically resistant, from the inside."
Well, well. Whoever showed up was going to be in for a hard time. I liked the way this girl thought. I did not want to teleport to my house. I was sure that it was still under observation. Since I wanted to talk to Vivian, I decided to teleport to a location close to her house that I knew. But first, I wanted to give her a call. I unlocked the door and we all went out, with me re-locking the door behind me.
It was still too early for the bike shop to be open, so we all trooped down to the diner that I sometimes ate at when I wanted something fast. I was not to worried about its five star rating, or lack of it.
We got a table, and everyone ordered, with Darla ordering for Marla. Damn, I hadn't noticed how close in name those two were. Chalk that up to my inability to pay attention to what's going on around me.
I left everyone, and went to the pay phones. Vivian picked up on the second ring.
"Viv? How would you like a job in an exotic location?" I asked her.
"Paul? Are you back? No, you're not, otherwise you wouldn't have asked me that question," she said.
Yes, she was definitely a very sharp person.
"I, uh, have landed a kind of important job, Viv. I am in need of a really good secretary. I thought of you right away. It would involve you moving, though," I told her.
"Really? Sounds interesting. Now, what is it you're not telling me?" she asked me over the phone.
Still the sharpest lady I knew.
"Well, it involves traveling. You might say, if you took this job, it would be as if you dropped off the face of the Earth," I told her.
"That sounds interesting. Where are you, now?" she asked me.
I told her a group of us were having breakfast at the Kitchen Spoon diner. She 'tsked' at me, saying she thought I had been taught better. She said she would be there in twenty minutes, and to order her a number 3 breakfast. Apparently she had not learned 'better', either. I grinned at myself. Things were looking up.
Marla really enjoyed the pancake breakfast that Darla had ordered for her. She ate with a gusto that almost had me chuckling. She loved syrup. In my homeworld, they used honey or something like jelly, but they had no syrup.
Vivian showed up, and nodded to everyone. She looked at us, strangely. That's when I realized we were still dressed for my homeworld.
"Uh, costume party," I told her.
"Just getting back, or going?" Vivian asked, as she eyed Marla, who was still shoveling food into her mouth.
"Ok, cards on the table," I said.
I then launched into the whole story. Vivian listened and ate. She said nothing, just nudged me from time to time, when I faltered. Finally, I was finished.
"So what you're saying is this. You're actually a Duke from another plain of existence. Your guardian, here, has been keeping you in the dark about that. You and everyone at this table are magic users, and you think I would be the perfect secretary for you over there? Is that it?" she asked me.
I nodded. Somehow, the way she said it, made me feel small. Would I believe me if I had said something like this out of the blue? I think I would be phoning the funny farm.
"It's true. My uncle is also from that world. I have been there. This lady is a Combat Wizard from that world," Darla told Vivian, quite seriously.
"Well, either you're all having the same delusion, or your telling me the truth as you know it. I'm in. I have not found another position since you left. Besides, someone needs to look after you, in your delusional state," Vivian said with a smile.
We finished eating. I was trying to figure out how to convince her of the truth when there was a screeching of tires outside. I looked out the window. Several dark sedans were now parked crosswise in the street. Men in suites were getting out.
All of them had rifles or weapons of some sort. This was not good.
"Everyone hold onto a piece of my clothing please," I said. I grabbed Vivian, and teleported us to a spot on Hanks farm that I had memorized, some time ago.
Marla did her thing and pronounced the area clean. Vivian was gaping as she looked around.
"Well, I knew there was something about you that was special, but this?" Vivian told me with a strained look on her face.
"You can change your mind, if you want," I told her with a sinking feeling in my stomach.
"Oh, no you don't! Look what has happened since I stopped being your secretary. You are in need of my service to keep you straight, young man!" she exclaimed.
"Ok. Hank and Darla need to make arrangements to be gone for a very extended period of time. I need to call a lawyer, and transfer some funds. I also need to get some shopping done."
"I will handle the shopping. Do you have any cash money on you?" Vivian asked me.
"Well, no," I said sheepishly.
"No problem. I will use my credit card. You can pay me back. Give me a list. It will take those people, whoever they were, a bit of time to figure out who I am. Eventually, they will get access to my account records. By the time they do, we should have moved again, right?" Vivian asked me.
"Yes, Ma'am. You got that right," I said to her, feeling a warmth for Vivian that I had not felt for anyone else in a long time.
Edited By TeNderLoin