© 2026 Duleigh Lawrence-Townshend. All rights reserved. The author asserts the right to be identified as the author of this story for all portions. All characters are original. Any resemblance to anyone living or dead is purely coincidental. This story or any part thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the expressed written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a review or commentary.

The plots against Nick are over... or are they? The strange young wizard Horatio Tinsmith appears to have an even more outrageous plot. Why does he have it in for Nick and Octavia? Meanwhile, Nick recovers and explores his mountain, and a huge surprise awaits him while Octavia conducts business as the Empress of Xuantang.

Gods Save the Queen

Book 3 - Part 1, The Last Elf King

Chapter 01 - Celebration Dinner

Octavia Stein stepped out of the cottage, drawing her shawl around her. The cold was blowing in from the south and down from the mountains. Other kingdoms she had lived in were warmer. Breaze was much further north, closer to the equator and much more temperate. It was cooled by cool breezes from the ocean and was perfect weather all year long. That's why it's the breadbasket of Kodu. Teurnia was just south of Breaze, and it seemed to be warmer. Warm breezes from the north and hot springs throughout the mountains seemed to keep Teurnia warm year-round. Elbreshowth, between Uduithia and Teurnia, is always damp and wet, and Uduithia is definitely chilly in the late autumn.

She was currently upset; she had a meeting with the king, and her husband was not there. She shouted for him, but not verbally.

NICK!

Her voice boomed mentally across Black Mountain. "There he is," said their farm manager, Hugues du Gouey, and he pointed off to the western prominence of Black Mountain. There, beneath the clouds that hid the tip of Black Mountain, was a huge golden Xuantang dragon. He was gliding in circles above the mountain, daring someone to take a shot at him. This time he's going to make damn sure that if he gets shipped off to Xuantang again, he's going to go with a full belly.

Nick, please, we have a meeting with the king!

The dragon turned south toward the farm and locked his wings halfway back and dove. He started picking up speed, and as he gained speed, he let out a dragon's battle roar, mostly for something to do. "Here he comes, your grace," said Hugues du Gouey, a demi-giant hand-to-hand combat expert. Hugues stands eight feet tall, which for a demi-giant is average size, but years as a sword for hire left him very muscular. Nick Stein was the only human to beat him in a fight, and Nick beat him in a matter of seconds using mind over muscle. Because of that, Hugues has an everlasting admiration for Nick, even in Nick's present confused state. "I'll get the cart out for you, your grace."

Hugues ducked into the barn and wheeled out Octavia's Ralli cart, a two-wheeled cart that was merely a big wooden box on a single axle with tall, spoked wheels. Four people could sit atop the box, two facing forward, two facing aft, and a week's worth of groceries could fit inside the box. It's an inexpensive little carriage often seen in use by young families in the mountains when they don't want to get out the farm wagon.

Normally the duke, duchess, or any member of the king's court will ride in an enclosed carriage pulled by at least two horses. Nick decided, and Octavia agreed, that a duke or duchess can't see their properties and subjects from an enclosed carriage. Although they were royalty, Nick and Octavia were poor farmers, so they acted like poor farmers and used the only cart they could afford. They don't even have a horse. They use a mule or, occasionally; they use the Duke.

The dragon grew near, and Octavia was terrified. He wasn't flying; he had locked his wings and was coming down off the mountain in a controlled drop, racing toward her at blinding speed. Finally, at the last moment, the dragon extended his wings fully and leaned back, using his wings as air brakes, slowing his plunge like pulling a parachute. As Nick slowed to a controllable speed, Gula flashed out from wherever she was hiding and fluttered around the dragon's head, squawking angrily at him, flapping her wings in rage.

The dragon came to a stop a couple of feet above the Ralli cart and suddenly became Nick. The Duke of Wægn dropped from the air and landed next to the cart, then sagged to his hands and knees and knelt there shivering. Hugues and Dexter led the mule Kaleb between the traces and began buckling the mule to the pony cart. It may look silly to pull a pony cart with a mule, but that's all the Duke and Duchess have. Normally, it's the duke in the shape of a horse pulling the cart.

When Nick changes into or out of a creature's form, there's no flash or puff of smoke like what happens in the magic of men; for Nick, it just happens like he was born to change into a different character. To change to a different form, Nick uses a long-forgotten type of magic that was ancient before men ever walked on Kodu. Most often he changes to something that doesn't have to walk because of the pain in his leg.

Hugues lifted the duke onto the cart as easily as if he were lifting a child, then went back to buckling in the mule. Nick looked around confused, his head spinning with pain. Octavia climbed up and sat next to him. "Do you remember where we're going?" She asked, but Nick slowly shook his head no. "We're going over Breeders Peak to Waelmore Castle to meet with the king and queen. Understand?"

Nick nodded his head slowly, as if the idea of traveling to Waelmore Castle was alien and just breaking into his understanding. She gave her husband's cheek a kiss and then wrapped a blanket around them and grasped his hand. When she squeezed his hand, a connection was made, and she could feel the pain he was experiencing. The nerves, muscles, blood vessels, and bones in his right leg just above his right ankle were knitting themselves back together after being sliced off. Both Nick and Octavia were sure that recovery would be complete and successful, but it was taking a long time. It's been over a week since Octavia sliced his foot off.

"He's ready to go, ma'am," said the farmhand Dexter, who handed her the reins. He quickly added, "yer grace," after a scathing look from the demi-giant Hugues. Like all other farmhands, Dexter was a demi-giant, although he was a foot shorter than Hugues.

With a cluck of her tongue and a snap of the reins, they were off, and Hugues turned to go back to work, followed by Dexter. "Everyone the duke hired to work on the farm is a demi-giant," said Dexter. "Does he expect more work for the money out of us?"

Hugues laughed and said, "What you do on the farm compared to what you eat, I would say the duke is losing money on the deal."

"Why does he have so many of us demi-giants on the farm?" asked Dexter.

"When he was known as Captain de la Montesquieu, commander of the King's Guard in Breaze, his best friend and his first sergeant was Jehans Du Gouey, my kinsman. The duke could trust his life with that man... I intend that we all keep that trust with the duke in Jehans' memory."

"What happened to your kinsman?" asked Dexter, whose highest position in life was a farm laborer for the Duke of Wægn.

"Jehans died trying to protect his king and commander the night that Breaze fell."

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Octavia and Nick wheeled into the village and several village folk came up to the Ralli cart to say hello. Nick pulled the blanket around him and pulled Octavia closer. "Are you ok brother?" asked Wayne Metsker as he patted Nick on the back. But Nick recoiled from Wayne's touch. That shocked the young blacksmith. He and Nick grew up together, so Nick's reaction was a shock.

"He's not doing well, he was held prisoner by an insane emperor," said Octavia.

"He was a boy... and I killed him," said Nick, staring off into space. "I killed his father too..."

"If you didn't kill him, I would have," said Wayne. "Nobody treats my duke that way."

"I'm trying to..." rasped Nick. He was shivering, fighting with the emotions he wanted to purge.

"It's ok brother," said Wayne. "You were always there for me whenever I needed you. If it weren't for you I'd have no family surrounding me every night. I want to return the favor. I'm going to keep that firewood stack of yours as high as possible. You keep your cottage toasty warm this winter; I'll make sure you have the wood you and Octavia need."

Nick fought back the tears. He reached out and pulled Wayne to him and held him close and whispered, "Thank you brother."

Finally, the duke and duchess headed up Breeders Peak Road, the steep road that wove back and forth up the ridge that protected Waleston, the capital of Uduithia and home of Waelmore Castle, the oldest castle on Kodu. "You're getting better," said Octavia. "You spoke to Wayne."

"I have to speak with so many more in a couple of hours."

"What is the matter?" asked Octavia. "Do you want me to poke around in your head and find out?"

"You can if you want. Maybe it will help me find out who I am."

At the top of Breeders Peak Road, they stopped and looked out over the town of Walston. It was all stonework. Every building in town was made from the same gray rock that the castle was made from. The same gray rock that Breeders Peak was made from. Nick could feel Octavia peering around inside his psyche, but she's only going to find the same thing that he's found - confusion. "I think I found it," said Octavia.

"You found that I'm lost and confused? I already know that."

"But why are you confused?" asked Octavia. Nick just shrugged and leaned on her. "It's because you still think you're a bird. A trapped bird."

"I know that" said Nick. How long was he forced to sit on a perch in the throne room of the Emperor of the Xuantang Empire? Trapped, unable to change back to his human body. Unable to fly home to Octavia. All the time he lost, unable to spend it with his loving wife.

"You're a free bird now," said Octavia. "You've been avoiding changing into an eagle, so to you, your eagle self is still a prisoner. Go - fly. Be free, and when I get to the castle, join me."

"What if I can't change back? What if I don't want to change back?"

"Then I will have a beautiful Uduithian Black Eagle on my shoulder sharing my dinner."

Nick looked at her for a full minute and then said, "I hope we're having lamb." And in the next moment, he became an eagle and flew away.

Octavia and Kaleb trekked down the mountain into Waleston. She was getting concerned. Winter would soon be upon them, and they would need a horse and sleigh to travel to and from the castle when the King called them in to confer. She didn't look up to see where Nick was; she could hear his mental cries of "I'm free!" as he circled the castle, waiting for Octavia to arrive.

When she wheeled through the portcullis of the castle and stopped at the door reserved for royalty to enter the castle, an eagle swooped down from above and landed on the cart. Without a flash or puff of smoke, the eagle became Nick, and he eased down from the cart. Most of the guards were not surprised; they'd seen it happen before.

Octavia handed Nick his broom, which was in reality a staff that was presented to him by the goddess of fate, Saatus. The staff named Teivas actually has much more magical capabilities than Nick has. It became a black crutch, then Octavia handed Nick her wizard's staff Virga, which is crowned with the Orb of Jørn, which gives the user of Virga the ability to see anything they request. When coupled with Octavia's little fortress on top of Black Mountain, Virga and the Orb of Jørn can become a deadly weapon. In Nick's hands, the Orb of Jørn stays closed, a sphere of stone, and the staff becomes a second crutch for Nick. Both staves have tremendous power, and both know who their wielder is, but they both look tempting to those with nefarious goals in mind.

Nick and Octavia were led to a side room where they changed into "Presentation Clothing." Nick has a uniform kept here in the palace, and Octavia has a stunning wizard's gown and matching robe. Although Nick is a witch, he rarely wears a witch's hat; he usually wears a bush hat that was presented to him by the Bush Rangers of Bovuka. She helped him on with his uniform and boots, which shocked the valet. "A lady never dresses a gentleman."

"I'm no gentleman," said Nick. "I'm a witch."

"I'm no lady," added Octavia. "I'm a wizard."

She looked up at Nick, and he was smiling for the first time since he had returned. "Thank you for setting me free," he whispered. "I'm not repaired, but I'm better."

"Good," she said as she patted her gently growing tummy. "Someone will want a happy daddy."

After changing, Nick and Octavia were escorted to the grand dining room by Lieutenant Hillingham of the Hay-on-Wægn Highway Guard and Harold Lorchester, the Court Herald. As they entered the palace ballroom, Nick saw that the ballroom was set up for a feast and the tables were packed. They stopped at the door and Harold announced, "Their grace! The Duke and Duchess of Wægn!"

"GUARD! Ten HUT!" cried Dante Fletcher, the first sergeant of the Hay-on-Wægn Mounted Guard. With a boom of heels striking the marble floor, the guard snapped to attention as their duke and duchess entered the room. Nick was their duke and their former commander, but after the battle of Black Mountain, Octavia was their commander by popular acclamation. As they entered the ballroom, the guests rose and began applauding. Nick tried to ignore their applause and felt ashamed. He had to remind himself that they were applauding Octavia and not him for being held prisoner and killing a child.

In the ballroom, a feast was being held, a feast in memory of those who gave their lives and those who protected lives in the Battle of Black Mountain. The hospital was set up in Elm Springs, and the long-term cases moved to Waelmore Castle after the battle, and that ward has finally been emptied. Many of the former patients of that hastily erected hospital have returned for this dinner. Sir Ned Sinclair Darby, the Duke of Torwin and commander of the city guard, started the speeches and gave a moving eulogy for Officer Marcasite, the troll who lost his life before the battle, brutally murdered by rogue dwarves. After that, there were speeches by members of Octavia's army, and there was a lot of laughter to go around, especially when Major Leomaris Autumnfall described the lessons he learned under the tutelage of Duchess Octavia Stein.

The Duke of Wægn, Sir Nicholas (Nick) Stein, and his beautiful wife, the court wizard, Her Grace Octavia Stein sat at a table near the front with two dwarves, Bughac Orebeard and Eryri Brawnkin and two elves; Vesstan Aedi, mayor of the new elven city Irla Stein Anore, and his wife Seldanna of the Rofir. Their partners have become their life mates, and the three couples have forged an unbreakable bond in times of war and peace. Eryri and Octavia became close friends on the field of battle after Eryri shot Octavia's husband out of the sky so he could be sold to an insane emperor. As for Buggy and Nick, they were imprisoned together in the royal throne room in the great palace in Chéngshì Jin, not long after Buggy tried to put a contract on Nick's head with the Dispatcher's Federation.

No relationship is perfect.

One by one, men and dwarves were called up and honored for their acts of courage and bravery in the battle. Nick rose and shook the hand of each one as they walked past his table. Nick wasn't at the battle; he had been abducted months prior, and they fought the battle to free him. Even though injured, Nick's former bandits were there, Alfie, Carl, Bertie, and Dexter, bandits that he caught on the road as highwaymen and he put on the straight and narrow and now are his farmhands. "Good to see ya gov'na" and "Can't wait to get back to work."

All Nick could say was a hoarse but heartfelt "Thank you," as he shook each hand and tried to avoid each glance. Then he looked up at the king, who was standing at the head table, and the king gestured to him. Nick slowly rose. His staff Teivas became the cane it once was when Saatus presented it to him, and he walked with the wobbly, painful gait that came from the pain of having his severed foot magically re-attached. He stepped up to the lectern and opened the introduction that the king's scribe had written for him, and he hated every meaningless word.

Nick has never taken a public speaking class. He doesn't understand any concept other than "Speak loud enough to be heard in the back," but he is smart enough to know when other people's words are not good enough for his woman. He took the notes and nervously folded them up and returned them to his pocket. The crowd was silent as he looked at Octavia and spoke softly to her, but he was loud enough to be heard in the back.

"Not long ago my goals in life were simple, to protect my king, to live through the night, and to do it again on the morrow. Then I met Octavia Anghart and my meaningful and worthy goals somehow became silly. How do you not grow in wisdom when she can lead you to the greatest works of knowledge in all of mankind? How do you not fall in love when you stand side by side with love personified, and she takes your hand and says, 'I'm proud of you?' With her help, I could soon read and write in several languages, bind books, teach children, and more. I followed her across Kodu and killed a god to protect her. My happiest day was the day we pledged ourselves to each other. When I was held captive, she tore the roots of Kodu apart to find me, and bring me home, so she can give me the most important, most wonderful task on Kodu, to be a father. Please welcome my wife, Lady Octavia Anghart-Stein."

Through thunderous applause, Vesstan Aedi escorted Lady Anghart-Stein to the dais, where she stood before the King who awarded her the Uduithia Medal of Honor for stopping the pillaging of Black Mountain by criminal dwarves and freeing the Duke of Wægn from captivity in Xuantang. That wasn't the end of the ceremony, but it was for Nick and Octavia. Both were tired of being in the public eye, and they needed to get their lives together and get their duchy ready for winter. Stepping outside of the castle, they found Kaleb and their cart ready to take them home.

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Chapter 02 - Torwin-Armistad

The twin cities of Torwin-Armistad grew up on two different paths. Torwin was the capital city of the Duchy of Torwin. It was part of the Kingdom of Aquilara. Armistad was a small rural village on the upwind side of the Eldrin river and it was a small part of the Driton Empire. By the time the unified calendar was made public three thousand, four hundred, thirty-one years ago, the Duke of Torwin and his forces had already assaulted the Kingdom of Aquilara, executed his majesty King Paavo Rebane, and taken command. They moved the palace from the ruins of the capital city of Pymeni to the Palace of the Seventeen Kings in Torwin.

Armistad was a picturesque rural village on the other side of the Eldrin, a free-flowing river between Torwin and Armistad, and it marked the border between the fallen Kingdom of Aquilara and the fading Driton Empire. Soon the upper crust of Torwin was buying up real estate in Armistad, and ferries were soon set up to carry the coaches of the upper classes back and forth. Eventually Torwin bought out the financially strapped Driton Empire and just named the land they occupied Torwin-Armistad.

Torwin was always an industrial town. It was filled with smiths, foundries, cattle pens, and slaughterhouses. These, of course, attracted amenities for the hardworking man -- diners, bars, burlesque theaters, whorehouses, and speakeasies. Many men didn't have a place to live. They would get off work, pay a half dollar for something to eat and then spend a fiver on an all-nighter at the local whorehouse. He gets a room, a companion for the night, and breakfast in the morning. For an extra ace, they'll do his laundry as he "sleeps."

Beer was the number one drink in Torwin, being the only safe way to drink water from the Eldrin River. There were two popular drugs for the people of Torwin. Thyme was a hallucinogen that blended memories with the present; it made work difficult, especially for slaughterhouse workers, because you didn't know if you were butchering a cow or a prostitute. Skim was the most popular illicit substance because it was the most addictive. It was originally a muscle relaxant for overworked trolls, but given to humans it acts as a 'brain relaxant' causing feelings of euphoria and eventually leading to hallucinations. Full addiction was characterized by fits of uncontrollable rage when coming down from a Skim high. Skim was often slipped into the men's drinks at disreputable establishments.

The only "nice" part of Torwin was the area around the Palace of the Seventeen Kings. It was called that because before Aquilara fell, seventeen dukes of Torwin were crowned king. Their palace was eventually renamed The Office of the Dominus. Near that was the Temple of Saehrimnir complex with a university, hospital, library, temple, and orphanage. The orphanage was primarily for pretty little girls who were raised to be 'second wives' for nobles and royalty. Those who didn't make it to the wedding altar were auctioned off.

Armistad, on the other hand, was shaded parkways and walled mansions. It was a city of genteel money and free time. People went for walks just for the joy of walking. Armistad was considered a 'bedroom community' because most residents of Armistad worked in Torwin as management, never as labor. The residents of Armistad had time for entertaining pursuits; they enjoyed archery, falconry, and hunting. Board games were highly popular among the upper crust, with chess being the most popular, followed by Go.

Every weekend, someone was hosting a seasonal event. During the summer, it was a garden party with food, music, and lawn games like lawn bowling or croquet. During the winter, the host would have a sit-down dinner followed by a dance. The bigger the band, the better. During the two-week festival month of Yule, the only people in Armistad who were working were servants.

Not only participating in genteel sports, but the population of Armistad was crazy about going to watch sporting events. Several venues were built just for their passion for sports. There's Armistad Stands, where the finest of polo ponies compete, and track events occur. In the winter, the foot track around the polo field was flooded, frozen, and skating races were held. Armistad Downs was where the finest of thoroughbreds raced, both ridden and pulling sulkies or chariots. Lake Armistad was an enormous lake where the finest of sailboats raced, as did rowers, canoeists, and swimmers. The upper class of Armistad enjoyed any race they could place wagers on the outcome.

The dregs of humanity (most of the population of Torwin) did not place wagers. They bet. They gambled. They were skilled at turning a handful of silver five-dollar coins into a staggering debt that lost homes, put children into coal mines and wives into whorehouses to work off the debt. They bet on boxing matches, professional wrestling matches, football, sword fights and nude whore wrestling. When there wasn't an event to bet on, they played cards, and the favorite was Hocca, a fast-paced way to lose an entire paycheck in less than an hour.

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Night was setting on Torwin-Armistad, also called the Main Meat Market, a city of a million men, women, dwarves, trolls, goblins, vampires, werewolves, and a growing population of ogres. Home to the concept of governance of one man, one vote. Unfortunately, the Dominus is the man, and he counts the votes. Law enforcement is by contract, where guilds and federations rule the activities of men and women, all their activities. Murder is legal by permit, but stabbing isn't, which causes some interesting legal issues. Suppose you have a contract to entomb a person and you stab your quarry; if he dies, you get paid. If he lives, you go to prison.

The first task of the City Guard when finding a body is to determine if it's a dead body. Thanks to Skim, there's far too many living bodies littering the streets and alleys of Torwin-Armistad. If the body is dead, the City Guard first contacts the Dispatcher's Federation to see if there was a contract on the body. If there was a contract, and the assigned dispatcher performed the entombment, it was a legal entombment, but the City Guard will fine the Dispatcher's Federation for littering.

If there was no contract, then it's murder. If there was a contract, their next step was to determine if the dispatching agent who was assigned the contract was the person to perform the entombment. Even if there was a contract, if someone other than the contracted dispatcher killed the victim, then it was a murder. This complex morass made it sound like the Dominus was both an assassin and a lawyer, which, sadly, was the case.

Torwin-Armistad is home to the Temple of Saehrimnir University, the preeminent university of magic and wizardry, home to nearly a thousand wizards, all of whom are involved in research and/or teaching. The university is not so much to advance the wizarding arts but to contain them. That is, to contain the wizards, not the magic. Intrinsic magic is free. It's all around; it makes up the entire multiverse. Intrinsic magic is what makes the planet of Zigu as big as it is; it's what keeps the planet of Kodu from flying apart when it passes Zigu nearby and Kodu's core begins to shudder. Wizardry is merely the way men try to use the magic that is available and, most importantly, if what they did was successful, to record their steps so they can do it again.

In a moment of unambiguous thinking, the eight great orders of wizardry came together for the first time in nearly a century, united in a common cause. It had been brought to their attention that the most powerful wizard on Kodu wasn't one of them. In fact, she didn't even have the common decency to be a man, and they had to do something about it.

What they didn't realize was that she was not a wizard except on paper. In truth, she was something completely different.

A representative from each of the eight mystic orders of wizardry had stepped forward to form a Wizard's Octet, a magical grouping that hasn't been seen on Kodu in centuries, The ancient prophecy said, "Cum octo magi congregati erunt, nulla vis stare poterit." In Torwin, it's translated as, "When the wizards eight shall gather, no force can stand."

They met in a dark basement room of the Temple of Saehrimnir around an eight-sided table. Eight cushioned chairs creaked as the assigned wizards sat down. Each chair had a mystic creature representing its mystic order carved in the dark wood of the chair's back. For example, the Ancient Brothers of the Silver Star were represented by the Hircocervus, half stag and half goat. The Ancient Sages of the Unbroken Circle were represented by the Manticore, a four-legged animal with the body of a lion and the head of a man. The tail of the manticore shoots spikes at anyone who hunts it. The manticore is sheer fantasy, but the hircocervus is real, it's rare, and it roams the Mons Sunas mountains.

The one mystic creature that was most desired by the wizards was not represented: the dragon. Every mystic order tried to adopt the dragon as their symbolic creature, but repeatedly they were denied. Quelthas the Eternal went to the temple to request the dragon as the mystic creature of The Last Order. After all, they were the first of the orders.

Saehrimnir replied, "Only the blessed ones may bear the dragon's name. Only one shall be known by the sacred title of the Dragon. He, forged of my essence, slumbers now. Offer your gratitude for this mercy."

Quelthas the Eternal asked another question of Saehrimnir. For being an extremely powerful god, Saehrimnir was a nice being, and Quelthas the Eternal enjoyed speaking with him... until he asked the second question he had to ask. "Lord Saehrimnir, who is the female wizard I hear about?"

"No female wizard exists, yet an enchantress graces the land with her presence."

Enchantress! Terrified of what Saehrimnir said, Quelthas hurried down the flights of stairs into the subbasement room. Smoke filled the air as the wizards settled into their chairs and lit a pipe. They glared at each other in distrust and puffed their pipes filled with Ol' Pappy's Special Blend or Codger's Famous Weed. Some preferred cigars with strange names like Hecho por Esclavos and Heces de Perro. Smoke rings became smoke cubes or parallelograms; puffs of smoke became mystic creatures. You could cut the tension (and the air) with a knife.

Finally, the meeting was brought to order by the leader of the senior order, the Last Order. "I spoke with Saehrimnir regarding the dragon," said Quelthas the Eternal. Then he puffed on his clay pipe.

"I suppose the Last Order has the dragon as their mystic creature now?" asked Ernas Nythor of the Brotherhood of the Grand Allusion. Ernas was young, barely over sixty years old; he still hadn't earned a title yet.

"No, the dragon is reserved for the son of Saehrimnir, both the title and the creature" said Quelthas the Eternal. "Saehrimnir said he slumbers now, and we should be grateful for that. Other than that, as far as I know, there are no golden dragons."

"Two emperors of the Xuantang empire were killed by a golden dragon," shouted Jemaex the Bringer. "How can you say that there are no golden dragons? Very clearly there are golden dragons."

"According to Saehrimnir, there's at least one," said Quelthas the Eternal. "He was given his name by Saehrimnir. The god of Divine Fools clearly said, 'Only the blessed ones may bear the dragon's name. Only one shall be known by the sacred title of the Golden Dragon. He, forged of my essence, slumbers now. Offer your gratitude for this mercy.'"

The room erupted in an uproar of shouted, contradicting opinions. "You clearly asked Saehrimnir the wrong question!" shouted Xanin Flameborne of the Brothers of the Order of Midnight. "There's Black, Brown, and Gray dragons. You clearly asked about the wrong dragons!"

"Why do you say that?" demanded Quelthas the Eternal. "What on Kodu makes you so arrogant to say something that stupid?"

"Because there are no golden dragons!" demanded Xanin Flameborne. "There hasn't been a golden dragon for seven hundred years!"

"There is one!" came a shouted voice, and stepping out of the shadows came a young punk, either a wizard who fell into a box of razor blades and came out missing his beard, or he's just too young to grow a beard. Either way, without the power of the whisker, he's unequipped to be a proper wizard.

"Who are you, and why do you intrude where you were not invited," demanded Anidalf Skyshaper of the Ancient Sages of the Unbroken Circle.

"My name isn't as important as the news I bring."

"Humor us," said Jemaex the Bringer of the Ancient Brothers of the Silver Star. Jemaex has been alive longer than many of the buildings in the Temple grounds have been around. "Share thy name young man." He said "young man" with just enough attitude to make it a vile insult.

"I am currently known as Horatio Tinsmith," said the young wizard.

"And what were you known previously as?" asked Xanin Flameborne of the Brothers of the Order of Midnight.

"My father called me 'You Son Of A Bitch,'" said Horatio. "It was his last words to me."

"Before we start questioning the heritage of your mother, why are you here Mister Tinsmith?" asked Quelthas the Eternal with all the disdain of a teacher during finals week.

"I brought with me a witness to the slaying of the Emperor of Xuantang." He gestured to the shadows, and two ogres brought forward a man bound in ropes and chains. The huge ogres gripped him tightly. "Tell them what you saw," said Horatio.

The man was extremely plain. Except for the wounds and bruises he received in a recent beating; he could probably never be identified just by appearance. He looked like anyone, and no one at the same time. "I saw an eagle chained to a perch in the courtroom of Emperor Hau Chung Fu, often called Fu Ki by his number one wife."

Retosh Aurevi of the Mystics of the Autumn Stardance snorted. "Wife? Emperor Fu Ki was seven years old!"

"Yes, and he had seven wives," said the mystery man. "He had four of them executed because they beat him at chess."

"What about the eagle?" asked Quelthas the Eternal.

"I saw a flash of light come through the roof. It severed the eagle's foot, the foot that wore a ring of Shonyx. When that happened, the eagle became a man for just a moment. Then it became a full size golden dragon and fell on the emperor and killed him instantly. The guards said the same thing happened to Fu Ki's father."

"Then what?"

The plain man shrugged and said, "the dragon returned to human form and things got very confused with people running in and out."

"Do you know who the dragon was?"

"No," said the plain man, but Horatio Tinsmith said, "I know him. It was Nick Stein, the commoner that claims to be the Duke of Wægn."

Quelthas the Eternal frowned. He knew enough of the Duke of Wægn to know that he was a child of the gutter here in Torwin-Armistad, and Saehrimnir considered him a son. That makes everything that Saehrimnir said moot. The Duke is royalty; so, there's nothing they can do to him, and being the son of Saehrimnir made the Duke doubly untouchable. And that also makes the main reason they were meeting moot. The wizard who is not a wizard is his wife. She's above the rules of the eight brotherhoods. In fact, she can rewrite the rules of the eight brotherhoods... if she lives long enough. "Thank you, mister Tinsmith. That ends this meeting..."

"I thought you wanted to put an end to the enchantress," said Horatio.

How did this punk find out about that? "If she is who we believe her to be, she's untouchable. Being both royalty and a child of Saehrimnir, she's beyond our touch. Our best plan is to not antagonize her and not stir her anger."

"But we can get her now!" said Horatio. "We can do anything we want, and she can't retaliate with magic."

"What gives you that idea?" demanded Solvor the Shatter of the Venerable Council of Seers.

"She's pregnant. She doesn't dare use magic," said Tinsmith with a grin. "She cannot retaliate."

"Fine. Take your ogres and go," demanded Quelthas the Eternal. This kid was bad news, attacking a woman with child? There are some things that even a power-hungry wizard should never stoop to.

"But! We can..."

"GO!" demanded Quelthas the Eternal. He grabbed Horatio's arm and guided him to the door. "We'll talk later," said Quelthas softly. There are some things that even a power-hungry wizard should never stoop to... but that didn't prevent them from encouraging someone else to do it.

As he slipped back into the shadows, Horatio Tinsmith found that the plain man was gone and the two ogres that were holding him were dead.

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Dark plans were afoot elsewhere in the city. Meetings were being held at The Bent Flute, a tavern that was once the central watering hole of the underworld in Torwin-Armistad. "Knifing a knight every night at the Flute" was the old motto which brought far too many violent people through the door. The old gang moved on to new watering holes and left The Bent Flute with a crowd of young workers who didn't want to waste their energy stabbing people. Occasionally a band played on weekends, and the weekend crowds gave The Bent Flute the reputation of being a reputable pub. The ground floor bar was where the younger crowd congregated; the dank pub in the basement was where the dank old-timers sat and commiserated in their beer.

They stationed a live troll at the door to keep rowdy troublemakers out and admit the more respectable troublemakers. Inside, several humans and goblins waited tables and helped maintain order on weekends when the tourist trade was at its peak. The Bent Flute was the most reputable disreputable pub in Torwin-Armistad, and the most popular. There're still beatings and stabbings, but these are thoughtful men who courteously step outside before commencing their beating.

In a dark corner of the basement pub, there were two dark booths. In one booth, a conversation was being held between a very plain-looking customer and Scrimshaw Luke, while in the other booth, a dark figure studied his beer intently. Scrimshaw Luke was the top Cribs player in Torwin-Armistad and carried a scoreboard carved from whale bone. Nobody beat Luke. In fact, everybody owed him money from losing to the daft-looking savant. The natural desire of people not to be recognized by Luke and have to cough up payment ensured privacy as the conversation continued.

"That gal got herself in serious trouble," said the Plain-Looking Customer. "She was the court wizard in the kingdom of Uduithia, but her hubby got himself made the Emperor of the Xuantang empire, now the thieves guild wants to take advantage of the situation and make off with all that Xuantang gold while there's a Torwin-Armistad boy on the throne."

"Buggerit," grumbled Scrimshaw Luke as he sipped his beer with a loud slurp.

"The wizards aren't happy that she calls herself a wizard and they're looking to do something about it. They even formed a committee. They just found out that she's in the family way and plan to take advantage of it," said the Plain-Looking Customer. "What kind of powers is that baby going to have?"

"Buggerit," repeated Scrimshaw Luke as he began to eat the peanuts, shells and all. He was hungry and tired of waiting for his promised steak dinner.

"It's said that the witches are up in arms about her hubby bein' a witch and a guy at the same time, some say the witches are going to try to nab her babe soon as it's born to force him to renounce his position of witch in Elm Springs."

"Buggerit."

"Did you get all of that?" asked the Plain-Looking Customer.

The intended listener of the conversation was actually in the other booth, sitting with his back to the Plain-Looking Customer, listening intently. He replied with a sad, "Yep." The intended listener, Ned Darby, commander of the Torwin-Armistad City Guard, got up and left the pub. His bodyguards followed him at a discrete distance as he pondered what trouble those poor kids in Elm Springs got themselves into.

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Chapter 03 - Nana's Cottage

Once again the baby began his little dance in her womb, and Octavia Stein wished she could share this with her husband, but he had finally got to sleep, and she couldn't bring herself to wake him. For weeks, he was trapped in the body of an eagle, slowly losing himself in the eagle's mind. A ring of Shonyx on his leg prevented him from using magic and returning to human form, so he sat day after day on a perch, starving himself to death while Octavia searched in vain for him. She still remembers the agony that went through her mind when she realized what she was going to have to do to free her husband, and from a third of the planet away she shot off his leg, freeing him from that ring and allowing him to change forms.

She remembered the terror she felt as she flew as fast as she could from the peak of Black Mountain to the Temple of the Woods at the base of the mountain where she could dash through the tunnel to the throne room where he was held captive, terrified that he would be dead. When she got there, he was in a pool of blood, but most of it wasn't his blood. It was the blood of the deranged child emperor that taunted and tortured him and, at the same time, tortured his entire empire for a year. The lad was standing right there when Nick became an enormous dragon as the kid desired, then starving and weak, Nick collapsed on the kid. Thank the gods that a fellow prisoner, Bughac Orebeard, applied a tourniquet to Nick's leg and saved Nick's life.

He was finally home in their cottage, which had welcomed him home with cool breezes on the porch and evenings in front of a warm fire. Octavia pulled herself up close to Nick. He was still skin and bones from refusing to eat. She made a note to make chicken and dumplings for dinner. That should help. Just now, she wanted to share the miracle that was dancing inside her womb and pressed her belly against his back. She hoped against hope that he could feel the baby moving. "That's our son," she whispered. Nick must have heard it because he relaxed.

Then she noticed what most pregnant women notice at a tender moment like this... she had to pee. Damnit. There's a bucket with a lid that Ellie Grady, a girl who works at the Emporium, gave her, but she didn't want that. She'll save that for later as she eased out of bed and headed for the "two holer" out back. Thanks to her magic, it's the only heated outhouse in the Kingdom of Uduithia. It's almost as good as indoor plumbing.

The moment she climbed down the stairs, she noticed that her wizard's staff was beginning to move. Made of Prudent Oak, her staff contains the wisdom of the ages and has a constant urge to protect her. It was a gift from the god of Divine Fools, Saehrimnir. It absorbed magic from Octavia, the most powerful magic user in the house, and from Tervis, the most powerful magical item in the house. Tervis was Nick's cane that was given to him by the goddess Saatus, goddess of Fate, and Octavia discovered Tervis was incredibly powerful. When Octavia walked past, Virga felt the need to protect her and the new life growing in her, and Nick was not helping her. It was time to have a talk with Nick.

Virga grew legs and worked its way out of the oliphant foot umbrella stand. Virga had become a walking stick that could walk along with you as you walked. It made its way across the first floor of the cottage and crept upstairs. Virga was not small, in her shape as a wizard's staff it was six feet tall with a big wooden knob on the top, the knob was as big around as a lawn bowling ball, but as it neared the bed on its tiny legs it leaned over Nick and the ball on the top opened revealing what looked like a giant eye, because it actually was a huge eyeball, the Orb of Jørn, an ancient Dwarven artifact. The eyeball was pure white ivory; the iris was deep blue lapis lazuli, and the pupil was deep black Obsidian and it could see so much more than a human can see.

Octavia put on a robe and slippers that were stationed next to the back door just for this occasion, cursing the fact that at one point in her life she had been blessed to live in a building with indoor plumbing, and now it was just a fond memory. As she stepped outside to the outhouse, Nick was startled awake by a disembodied eyeball the size of a large man's fist staring at him in the gloom, floating over the bed looking down at him. "I figured it out," whispered the eyeball as it glared at Nick. Virga was upset because it figured out the meaning of the name that Nick gave it. "Virga means stick!"

Screaming in horror, Nick threw his pillow at the ghastly apparition, and the pillow wrapped itself around the terrifying specter. As the eyeball struggled against the pillow, Nick discovered that the eyeball was on a stick... a stick with feet! He grabbed another pillow and threw it, and the pillow wrapped around the base of the stick, wrapping up its feet. The stick fell and lay across Nick, and the terror was overwhelming to Nick. He couldn't hold back...

The screams of the tropical bird Gula startled Octavia. Gula was madly in love with Nick and very protective of him; her open beak shouts of "IIIIIK! IIIIIK!" (Nick! Nick!) told Octavia that something was wrong with Nick. She dashed into the house and hearing a roar and a snarl and muffled screams for help, Octavia raced up the steep stairs to find her wizard's staff wrapped up in pillows and a blanket while a huge black Sadhana Tiger stood on the bed roaring at the staff. "Virga, calm down! Stop moving and talking. You scared him."

"Scared him? Look at what he did to me!"

"Virga, stop it or I'll let you experience what he went through for months." For a few seconds, Octavia set Virga in the hell that Nick went through, stuck in an eagle's body, chained to a perch, a ring made of Shonyx sapping his strength. The staff stopped struggling, and Octavia turned to the huge snarling cat on their bed that was still crouched and ready to spring.

"Ssshhhh, ssshhhh, it's ok darling, there was no threat, it was just OUR staff showing you her new eye." Octavia emphasized the word OUR to remind Virga that she serves both masters in this house. Octavia's walking stick never really got along with Nick. Virga almost got him killed in Bovuka, and Octavia hoped that they would have gotten along better by now, considering everything they've been through.

Guess not.

Octavia gently touched the black cat. He was huge, beautiful, and terrified. "Sssshhhh, ssshhhh, it's ok darling," she slipped off her robe and her nightdress so the cat could see that it's her. She wanted him to see that she's no threat, and she wasn't hiding anything under her robe. The tiger began to sniff Octavia and occasionally lick with his sandpaper tongue here and there. Octavia gently stroked the big cat's soft, plushy fur. "Such a pretty kitty!" He was an incredibly beautiful big cat. His black fur had blue highlights in the candlelight, and the only color on him was the left eye, which was solid gold, and the key-shaped tuft of silver hair on his chest between his massive forelegs.

"Come on, cuddle with me," she said as she slid sinuously into bed. Even preceded by a baby bump, she was the sweetest, sexiest thing that Nick had ever seen. Even in his terrified state, he could see through his fear and see that the woman that he loved was next to him, unafraid. She hugged him and said, "Come on, you big fluffy thing, come snuggle with me." She wrapped her arms around the two-hundred-pound beast and rubbed its tummy, and soon the rumbling of a giant feline's purring filled the room.

The purring vibrated through her body, and the sensations that were coursing through her were overwhelming. Tigers purr when they're content and feel safe, and this was making Octavia feel content and safe along with the tiger.

It was so relaxing to have her Nick back, even though he was in the body of a Sadhana Tiger. He was warm and soft, and even though he's not the Nick she married, she could feel Nick deep inside the tiger. She remembered their first wedding day; the day he married Ziska, and she married King Alfrich. She was so brokenhearted that she married a man like Alfrich, and he felt something horrible was going to happen. Nick... Pommy was so brave and proud in his uniform, and later that evening when he took her in his arms to dance, she felt somehow that they were always meant to be together. She felt that no matter what happened; she was safe in his arms. "Thank you for coming home to me," she whispered.

As Nick relaxed, the pillows and blankets that were wrapped around Virga loosened and fell off, and Nick slowly relaxed his grip on the tiger's body. Octavia drifted off to sleep as she clutched her huge black cat. She almost didn't notice him change slowly back to Nick. "Thank you for saving me," he whispered hoarsely, "again." Then the pain and terror of being trapped in a body that wasn't his returned, and he shuddered, trying desperately to hold back the scream that was trying to work its way out.

"Shhh, don't. If you start crying, I'll start crying," she whispered, but it was too late and the horror was too real. They were both in tears, clutching each other tightly, holding on to the only thing that felt secure, grounded. "I love you so much," said Nick in a whisper. "I knew you were looking for me. I knew if you found me I would be rescued... but I was so alone. That crazy, selfish little bastard kept taunting me. He was so selfish that he ignored what he was told. Then Buggy showed up, I tried to talk to him... drove Buggy crazy, an eagle squawking at a captured dwarf. It was so awful."

"It's over now, we're both home."

Nick was silent for a long time, then said, "I want to go sailing."

Octavia moaned at the memories - on the run from General Steinhauer's forces, in a stolen sailboat far out to sea... it was so peaceful as they sat becalmed, and they would occasionally slip into the water to cool off. "That's the first time I saw your cock," she said happily.

"What did you think?" asked Nick.

"It scared me," said Octavia. "I had only seen baby boys before that... and you had this big old... thing. And you were going to put that in me? I was sure it wouldn't fit."

"I miss the Telepta Queen," said Nick softly. The Telepta Queen was a cargo barge on the River Arn, and they signed on as a mule skinner and cook. Octavia didn't know how to cook, but she followed Nick's directions and made food the crew enjoyed. Nick got to work with mules, something he's always loved. He always considered mules to be the most intelligent members of the equine family.

Octavia sighed. "Me too, that was so wonderful." On the run from General Steinhauer's forces, they thought the Royal Mounted Guard was after them too. There was no one they could trust. Disguised as a middle-aged couple, they snuggled together in their bunk every night, finding comfort in the closeness. "If you had chosen to take me while we were on the run and awaiting trial, I would not have stopped you,"

"I couldn't," said Nick. "You were not mine to take. If you chose to leave I could not stop you..." This was always the sad part.

"I wouldn't leave you," said Octavia as she snuggled closer to Nick, warming herself against him.

"King Ranzau could have ordered me executed for touching you." It was a dangerous game he played. Octavia was raised to marry royalty, which made her a form of royalty even before marriage. In a kingdom like Breaze, Teurnia, or Elbreshowth, Nick could have been executed for touching her without permission from a royal. "I don't know how I could have survived the pain in your eyes watching me ascend to the gallows."

"They would have had to hang me along with you," said Octavia. He rolled over, and they cuddled face to face. "It's odd," she said, "but the first day I saw you I knew that you were the man I needed to marry. Me and my childbearing hips."

Nick gazed into her eyes and broke into a smile. "You really read my thoughts?"

"I couldn't avoid them," said Octavia. "I walked into the kings parlor and as he addressed me, all you could think of was my childbearing hips."

"That was to keep my mind off your tits."

"You knew," said Octavia as she gently kissed his chest. "You knew that I could read your thoughts but you did nothing. You knew that I could read the kings thoughts and you could have killed me for being a security risk, but you didn't sense that form of danger in me."

"I asked Ziska to buddy up with you and find out if there was a threat."

"The only threat to King Alfrich was Ziska fucking him to d..." She saw the look of betrayal in Nick's eyes. "I'm sorry, I forgot."

"No... I should have known. I prided myself on security and found myself engaged to the largest security risk in the kingdom."

Octavia felt horrible for bringing that up; she couldn't imagine the shame Nick felt knowing that his fiancée was fucking the king. She could read his feelings about Ziska if she wanted, but she chose not to. "I used her sword on Black Mountain."

"It's not her sword, it's yours." Nick gave Octavia a kiss. "The scrollwork clearly says, 'To My Queen.'"

"Don't be silly," said Octavia. "I was there when he received them from the sword smith. It clearly said, 'To my Defender.' He was going to promote Ziska to his personal bodyguard."

"I guess we know why," muttered Nick. "When I hung it over the fireplace, the scrollwork clearly said, to my queen."

Octavia shook her head and said, "Let me show you." She went downstairs and over to the fireplace where she added a few more pieces of wood, then pulled the swords down from the mantel and examined them, one was clearly engraved to say "To my Captain" the other said "To my queen." She carried them upstairs and joined Nick in bed. "What do they say?"

Nick examined his sword. He knew which sword was his without looking at the blade; the knuckle bow and the quillon were both scarred from fighting his way out of the ambush on Mystara 11, 3430, the night Breaze fell, a year and a half ago. His sword master used to accuse him of using the hilt of the sword as a hammer. He flipped the blade so he could read the etching, and it clearly said, "Sir Nicholas Stein, Duke of Wægn. Mystara 12, 3431." Nick was stunned speechless. It used to say, "To My Captain," He was sure of that.

Octavia looked at the other sword. It clearly was engraved with the words, "To My Queen." She smiled and handed the sword to Nick. "Now read this one," said Octavia. Nick took the other, and it clearly said, "Dame Octavia Stein, Duchess of Wægn. Mystara 12, 3431" He handed it back and said, "Where did this come from?"

"You're so silly," said Octavia as she took the sword and looked at it and gasped. "It... it said to my queen," she looked at Nick in shock. "How did you do that?"

"This is not something I can do... I think." Nick shrugged. Two years ago, he was just a witch, filled with simple, natural magic. He could identify healing herbs, diagnose children, scent traps, and push ripeness on a fruit picked too soon. He could heal farm animals, enlist the aid of a wild animal, and ease the nerves of a woman in labor. This was the magic a witch carried. Then the god of Divine Fools, Saehrimnir, dumped centuries of knowledge on him, then he received amazing magic from the book Vanemate Rasside Jõud, which let him become another animal form, but magically etch a Mithril/Steel sword? The combination of mithril and steel should repel magic. "I can't do anything like this."

Octavia held the sword and concentrated. There was magic involved here, but it wasn't hers or Nick's. It appears that King Alfrich purchased enchanted blades. "We should take these to Izhar. I don't want a spell to kick off at the wrong time."

Nick took the swords back and hung them over the fireplace, then, for some reason, exhaustion overcame him and he sagged to the floor. He was too exhausted to get up; the horrors of being trapped and sold overwhelmed him. "Teivas, come here." The black staff rose slowly out of the umbrella stand and drifted across the room to Nick.

Octavia waited, and when Nick didn't come back, she went to find him. She wrapped a blanket around her and went downstairs to find Nick on the floor in front of the fireplace trying to get up using Teivas as a crutch. He was trembling, and she couldn't tell if it was anger or sorrow. She came up behind him quietly, wrapped her blanket around the two of them and they sagged to the floor. "Here is fine," Octavia said.

They cuddled and kissed, but Nick trembled and fought against the inner demons that tormented him. It wasn't just the loss of life; it was the terror that the men and women of Black Mountain had to bear. "I need to get back to work," said Nick. "I'm neglecting my royal duties, and my husbandly duties."

"You're recovering," insisted Octavia. "Relax. Heal." Those were the words Nick used with all his patients.

"Can you watch the clinic before going to Xuantang tomorrow?" asked Nick. "I want to speak with Saatus."

Octavia sighed. He needed to speak to that goddess; he had so many inner demons stirring up his soul. "I can do that. Be kind up there."

"Now, to care for you," said Nick as he moved his leg to a pain-free position.

Octavia pushed him back down. "I just need kitty right now."

"Kitty," repeated Gula.

Soon Octavia was snuggling with Kitty, positive that Nick was on the mend.

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Chapter 04 - Octavia in the Village

It was a bright, crisp autumn day, and the harvest was in full swing. Nick and Buggy left before sunrise, and when Octavia awoke, she found Nick had made breakfast for her. Autumn was a busy time for the farmers and witches, harvest time meant farm injuries as people labored ahead of the incoming winter to get in their crops, stack the last cord of firewood, finish stacking the feed for the animals, and slaughter the last unneeded boar and calf. Soon, canning would be in full swing in the kitchens across Uduithia, and they would need the witches of Uduithia in force to deal with the myriad of injuries and illnesses that crop up in the busiest time of the year.

A small black carriage pulled up to Nick and Octavia's bookstore in the Temple of the Woods in Elm Springs and stopped next to the buckboard wagon with a mule that was already there. Two witches stepped off the carriage, leaving the driver, an exhausted-looking middle-aged woman, to wait. The driver was a daughter-in-law of Ezzie Fahy, and all of Ezzie Fahy's daughters-in-law look exhausted. The two witches, both of a certain age (that's the polite way to say old) were well known in Uduithia and other parts of Kodu. One was tall and ramrod straight, and oddly muscular looking. She was the walking personification of the word and the concept of stern; the other was short and round and normally a cheerful soul, but today they were both very serious.

"Back to work already?" asked Aunt Agness as she stepped into Nick and Octavia's bookstore. She cast a stern glare around the interior of the shop, but Nick was nowhere to be seen. It was just Octavia binding a sprained wrist on a young boy along with the lad's mother and older sister. Agness Dempsy detested "book learning" and the bookstore was the cradle of that sin as far as Aunt Agness was concerned.

"Mister Stein isn't here," pouted a young girl, Moyra McCrory, as she held up a bandaged hand.

"Ooo, what happened to you little one?" asked Ezzy Fahy, Agness Dempsy's best, and probably only, friend.

"Somebody tried to pet a porcupine," said Octavia, nodding to Moyra. "And this one was laughing at his sister so much he fell out of the tree he was climbing," and she tickled the tummy of the young boy she was mending.

"It hurt," pouted little Gavin McCrory. "I couldn't breathe."

"Yes," said Octavia sympathetically. "It knocked the wind out of you. That's scary, I know." Then, in a conspiratorial tone of voice, she said, "I climbed my share of trees, so I know how it feels. And you know what?" She looked around to see if anyone was spying on them, then she whispered, "I still climb them." The thought of a fancy lady like the duchess climbing a tree started the two children giggling. "Ok mommy, these two monkeys are ready to go. Let's keep them out of the trees and away from porcupines for a while."

"There's no such thing as monkeys," said Moyra with all the knowledge and self-assurance of a preteen girl.

"See that picture on the wall?" Octavia pointed to a painting of what looked like an orangutan cuddling a human baby. "That's me and my nurse Missus Dabbto right after I was put in the orphanage."

"Your nurse was a monkey?" gasped Gavin.

"Missus Dabbto works at the temple in Torwin-Armistad where there are lots of wizards and magic and there was an accident and she got turned into an ape."

"My daddy is a people!" said Gavin proudly.

"Why don't they turn her back?" asked the mom, Ena McCrory. Ena's dad is the village blacksmith, Trei Metzgar, and his shop is next to the temple that houses the bookstore.

"They try to change her back, but she keeps running away." Octavia got serious. "Missus Dabbto was very old, all her relatives were gone. She says, when she got changed, all her aches and pains were gone..."

"She was turned into a young ape in the prime of health," said Teivas, god of health. "She's enjoying life now."

"I want to meet the monkey lady!" cried both children.

"If she comes to visit I'll make sure you meet her," said Octavia. "Do you want to feel a baby dance?" She invited Gavin and Moyra over to feel the infant in her womb moving.

"Is he dancing?" asked an amazed Moyra.

"He's rolling and stretching," said Teivas. "He will go back to sleep soon."

The two pre-teens sat with their hands on Octavia's tummy until Ena realized she had to leave. "All right, you two monkeys," said Ena as she helped the kids on with their coats. "Let's get you two back home and thank you so much, your grace... what do we owe you?"

"Owe? As the duke says, you owe me two healthy children that our son can play with soon," and she placed a hand on her pregnant belly, which was slowly increasing in size. "But we need bandages. If you have some sheets you could donate, then we could cut them to the size we need."

Ena sighed with relief. It was a worry that with the witch being gone, having his wife, the duchess, providing medical care would cost so much more. "I thought my dad was crazy when he said that's what you were asking for, but I brought some anyway," and she handed Octavia a shopping bag full of sheets. Some of them looked brand new.

"This is... quite generous," said Octavia, who was almost moved to tears. Mountain people have little in the way of money, so frivolous things like sheets are a rare item. Sheets are a large denomination coin in a barter society.

"Well, you're going to use them to fix us up, so we'll be getting them back in bits and pieces, especially with these two," she said, glaring at her two giggling children.

"Do you mind if we sleep on one of these? I mean, just until we can get some sheets of our own."

The woman looked at Octavia strangely. Who has ever heard of a duke and duchess who can't afford sheets? Royalty is made of money; everyone knows that. "Yer grace are things ok?" the woman asked quietly.

"We're fine, we just... we'll be ok."

"What are you..."

Not one to back off when backing off is being wordlessly requested, Agness seized the conversation by the throat. "What the duchess isn't saying is that she and the duke spent all their money paying off all your taxes, they did that for everyone in the county so you can spend a year and recover from the predators that have been wringing money out of you."

"Agness please... don't..." said Octavia, trying not to cry. "We have another job, we'll be ok."

"You have another job? You're taking side work?"

"No, of course not... well... I mean... yes, a little bit." The beautiful brunette looked flummoxed. Octavia couldn't reveal the nature of their side job. They wouldn't understand. She removed the sheets from the shopping bag, which was gaily decorated with floral embroidery, and tried to hand it back to Ena, but the woman refused it.

"No, you keep it. I have more than enough."

Octavia looked overwhelmed by the beautiful gift. "Thank you so much! I needed one!" and she clutched the shopping bag to her chest tightly as if it were the most precious thing she owned. She escorted Ena and the children out to their wagon, and as Ena climbed up on the driver's seat, she said, "Thank you again, it's so beautiful."

Ena was shocked. No woman gushes over a shopping bag that much... not without a reason. Is the duke beating her? That's got to be it. As she picked up the reins, she leaned way over and whispered softly so the witches who were watching from the door of the temple wouldn't hear, "Are you safe? If you're being hurt, we can talk and maybe get you some help." The men of Elm Springs do not brook men battering their wives; "the boys" will straighten out newlywed issues of that sort.

Octavia guessed what Ena was hinting at, but she didn't realize that Ena considered Nick a threat. "No, why do you ask?"

"Well, your grace, no one gushes over used sheets and an old, worn-out old shopping bag, not unless there's a reason."

"No, it's beautiful. I'll treasure it always."

"It's just something my mom made," insisted Ena. "I was going to throw it away."

Octavia looked at the bag and gasped, "No! It's beautiful!"

Now Ena started chuckling. "You act like it's the only gift you've ever received."

"It kind of is! I'll treasure it forever!" and with that she returned to the temple and with a flick of the reins Ena McCrory and her children headed home, but Ena had to stop first and talk with her sister about this new duchess that the king selected.

Octavia turned and walked over to the blacksmith shop, still holding her shopping bag tight to her chest, and as she walked over there, Aunt Agness and Ezzy Fahy followed her. At the blacksmith shop, Octavia walked right up to the blacksmith, Trei Metsker, and between blows of his hammer on an iron bar he was shaping, she gave him a big hug. "Thank you so much for letting people know that we need material for bandages. Ena collected a stack of sheets for us."

"She told you she collected the sheets?" Trei didn't have to tell anyone except his two daughters, Ena McCrory and Darina Ivers, along with their mother, Erin, to let the entire county know that Nick and Octavia needed sheets for bandages.

"She didn't have to. Some were worn, some were brand new, and she said we could use one!" Then Octavia's eyes grew wide with wonder. "She gave me this beautiful shopping bag!" she showed Trei the shopping bag that his wife had made years ago. He remembered his daughters, Darina and Ena, fighting over the bag as teenagers, and for years it had been traveling back and forth between the girls' carrying items between their households. Now Octavia has it.

It seems to Trei that he and Erin have picked up another daughter. He looked down on the tiny black-haired woman, belly growing large with child, and her bright brown eyes aglitter with the joy of the warm autumn morning. It is sometimes hard for him to remember that this homespun young couple is actually quite powerful, politically and magically. "If there's anything else you need, let me know, ok your grace?"

"I will Mister Metzger!" Smiling broadly, Octavia returned to the temple and went inside and stepped into a small closet behind Nick's corner, where he did his calligraphy and book repairs. "I have to hold court today for a short while. You're welcome to come watch," she said as she changed clothes. When she emerged, she was wearing a red silk gown embossed with golden eagles.

"That's... that's..." for the first time in her long, long life, Agness Dempsy was stuck for words.

"That's genuine gold!" gushed Ezzy Fahy as she ran her fingers over the eagles on Octavia's sleeves.

"Yes, they went a little overboard when they made this for me," Octavia turned left and right making sure the gown was hanging properly, then she drew her black hair back in a ponytail, spun it up into a bun, then pinned it in place with two sticks. "Nick had an awful night last night. He's still getting over everything, so I sent him out exploring with his buddy Buggy Orebeard and I'm going to hold court today." She checked her gown one more time, then she said, "If you want to come with me, we'll be gone about four hours. If you just want to wait here, I'll be back in about ten minutes."

"I'm not sure if all your book learning got you any smarter, but your math isn't adding up," said Agness Dempsey. "I will follow you."

"And I'll stay here just to see what you're up to," said Ezzy Fahy, and she sat down at the front desk ready to do any healing for anyone who walks through the door.

Smiling, Octavia placed a small, fifteen-minute hourglass in front of Ezzy and then led Agness into the four columns that stood in the center of the temple. "Have you ever hopped from one temple to another?" asked Octavia.

"That's impossible," sputtered Agness.

Octavia loved Agness because she was family. She was Nick's grandmother's sister; his only connection he had left to his mother, so Octavia put up with Agness' sputtering and complaining. Temple "hopping" is a privilege. The gods will tell that in life on their level of existence, everywhere can be in the same place at the same time. Time and space as it's known in the three-dimensional world exist differently where the gods exist. That area of reality is known as the Æther. A human can enter the Æther in one place and exit in another, or they can enter the Æther at one time and exit a moment later, days, years, or decades in the past or future. A human cannot live in the Æther. The nature of the Æther puts a strain on the human body, and the longer you're in the Æther, the larger the toll on the human body.

Temples scattered throughout the land are connected to each other through the belief and faith in their gods. Being a priest or priestess of any god or goddess allows you to move from one temple to another, traveling through the Æther. An Æther Portal or Temple Portal is four columns arranged in a square. Once the priest or priestess says the appropriate prayer for the destination, he steps between any two columns and emerges at the destination temple.

Traveling through the Æther from one temple to another is known as an ÆtherStep; some call it a Temple Hop.

The travel is quick, but it places a strain on the body. Some races, such as dwarves, take the strain easily, while other races have problems with it. Humans and elves need fifteen minutes to recover on average. Demi-giants do not take the strain from an ÆtherStep well, and in some cases it has been fatal. The greater the distance between temples, the more strain an ÆtherStep will cause. It is better to travel in a series of short 'hops' rather than one long ÆtherStep.

An ÆtherStep or Temple Hop is described by Nick Stein like this:

"Picture yourself having to get from one place to another, and it's 500 miles. You can magically squeeze those two places together, but that causes a river to form between the two locations. The non-magical thing to do is to walk around the river, but that's still 500 miles. Using magic, we swim across that river. It's not a long swim, but we're fighting a current, so we have to relax when we get to the other side before crossing the next river. Magically, it's a lot of work, but we didn't walk 500 miles."

A temple priest, bishop, or keyholder can take other people with him or her merely by linking hands when stepping into the Æther portal. It's not known whether there's a limit to the number of followers someone can take into the portal.

Each Æther portal has two keys that the head priest or bishop hands out to the deserving. This allows the keyholder to use the Æther Portal as a priest or priestess. The key is worn on a ribbon around the neck. Temple keys allow a key holder to access the Æther portal in any temple. If a temple's doors are locked for any reason, a temple key allows the keyholder to unlock and open the temple doors. Keys are a sacred gift from the gods, and the god Saehrimnir controls all keys. A temple bishop or minor god cannot give a key to someone that Saehrimnir does not consider worthy. Other rules for keys are:

If any keys are lost, they will return to the keyholder within a day. A keyholder cannot give a key away. If any key is given away, it will return to the keyholder that day. If any key is stolen, the key will return to the keyholder within a day. If someone steals a key to use the Æther Portal, the key will return to the keyholder, and the person who stole the key will not emerge from the Æther Portal. It is unknown where they go. If the keyholder dies, the key will return to the temple that issued the key.

Occasionally, for his own purposes, the senior god Saehrimnir will allow a 'tunnel' to be created between two distant Æther Portals. Travel through the tunnel is quick and causes little or no damage to the traveler. Travel through the tunnel is linked to a particular priest, priestess, or keyholder. Saehrimnir will also allow a priest, priestess, or keyholder to share tunnel privileges.

There are two tunnels at the Temple of the Woods. One goes to the Temple of Cloacina (goddess of the hunt) in Bovuka, and the other tunnel goes to the Temple of Phuelia, the minor goddess of dreams, in Xuantang.

Octavia bowed to Teivas, god of health, and said a prayer of destination, and as she did, it seemed to Agness that the walls were closing in on them, and she started breathing nervously. Suddenly, just as she was about to step into the temple portal, Octavia turned and called out, "Virga! Where are you?"

"I got lost," came a muffled response.

With an annoyed sigh Octavia reached out with an open hand and called "Come to momma," and Agness could hear a knocking sound, like someone was tapping on the bookshelves in the classroom with a stick, then a staff appeared from around a corner and slipped into her open hand. "Mmmm, Virga, you're nice and thick today." Octavia's hand could barely close around her walking stick/wizard's staff.

"He's thinking about you today," said Virga in a disgusted tone. Virga, being community property between the witch Nick Stein and his wife, the Enchantress Octavia Stein, has discovered that she transfers the emotions and feelings of Nick to Octavia and vice versa. Right now, Virga is as big around as Nick's cock and Octavia realized that if this walking stick was warm and throbbing, she could end up masturbating in front of Agness... it's been a long time since she and her husband had made love. The last time was just before he was shot down and kidnapped by a dwarf who became Octavia's best dwarf friend.

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Chapter 05 - Empress Octavia

She took Agness' hand and led Agness to the Temple Portal. Agness had seen the four pillars before, but she never knew what they were for. She didn't worship at the temple, and the gods didn't stop by for tea, so she was at a theological impasse as far as she was concerned. Octavia led her between the pillars and into an enormous room lined with red silk curtains and gold ornamentations. Agness looked back, and there was just a small temple behind her. "I need you to help me. You are now my trusted advisor," said Octavia to Agness. "When we're standing, stand behind me to my right. When we're sitting sit to my right. Occasionally I will ask you questions about what is being presented to me. Don't worry if you don't understand what is going on, it can get quite confusing."

Octavia placed Virga next to the entrance to the temple as a small child ran up to Octavia and knelt in front of her, holding up a red silk pillow with a golden tiara encrusted with yellow diamonds. A girl dressed similarly to Octavia stepped up and carefully placed the tiara on Octavia's head. "Nǐ hǎo, wǒ de péngyǒumen," said Octavia, hoping against hope that she had said, "Hello my friends" and not something horrible. "Did I say it right?"

The young woman smiled and said, "Yes, your highness, it's very good... Xièxiè." (Thank you)

"Bié kèqì?" (You're welcome?)

"Yes! Very good," smiled the young woman. She was slim and pretty with a girlish figure and foreign eyes (as Agness would say) and straight black hair even darker than Octavia's hair if that were possible.

"Gé?" (Hug?) Octavia asked.

But the girl shook her head nervously. She didn't dare take that chance with the empress. "No, my empress, it's not right. You are royal, and I am common."

"In my land I am royal also, but my friends are all common and we all hug," said Octavia.

"That is not Xuantang," sighed the girl.

"Ok, but someday we will hug like sisters. I would be honored if you and Jia come to my house where Nick and I live. We will drink tea and Jia can play with the magic wolf and you and I can be sisters, if it is fine with you."

The girl looked terrified, but the little boy had a pleading look on his face. He wanted to play with the magical wolf. When Octavia said, "you and I can be sisters" the girl calmed some. She's been used so many times for so many reasons... "Yes my empress... I think we would like that."

"Ok, after court, you come home with me for a visit, and don't forget the candle I gave you." Octavia had given the girl a messenger candle to call for help any time she is hurt or feels threatened.

"Yes, my empress." And the young girl and the little boy hustled away.

"Who was that?" asked Agness.

"That was Ning and her son, Jia. She's my valet and second translator. She's trying to teach me local custom and superstitions."

"What superstitions?" asked Agness.

"They don't worship gods here; they worship the dragon. She's as close as you can get to being a priestess. She was here when the dragon appeared and executed the last two emperors. It's said the dragon spoke to her and promised to return."

"The dragon is your husband," hissed Agness.

"They don't know that. I told Ning it was my husband but she insisted it was the spirit of the dragon using Nick."

"She can't be more than fourteen," said Agness.

"She's eighteen, and Jia is six. When you are starving, you look younger than you are, and this country is not safe for young women. Men here are desirous of youthful women and there's nothing to stop them when they have their eyes on a particular woman. I know that making her my valet and translator both protects her and makes her a target. I have to get her out of here," said Octavia as she walked across the room, leading Agness. There was a fancy bench seat at one end of the room with room for three. It was gold with red silk cushions, with the ends curled up. It looked like a couch with no back.

"This bench is the throne. I have already dishonored the throne by napping on it," said Octavia with a blush.

"Throne? A duchess does not get a throne," said Agness with a snap.

"Humor me," said Octavia. "I need someone with wisdom to help me make decisions."

"Decisions on what?" demanded Agness.

"Everything. Sit next to me," said Octavia, and although she worded it as a request, it was an order.

Octavia's voice was becoming authoritarian but not nasty. It was something that Agness approved of in witches, but this girl wasn't a witch; her husband was. Agness sat primly next to Octavia as Ning came back and stood behind Octavia. A skinny man walked up to Octavia and handed her a clipboard with several documents. He was wearing a silk robe like Octavia, but he was wearing a strange hat that had a flat board on top and a screen that hung down from the edges of the flat board and hid his face.

"Lung Mist, what did we say about the hats?"

"But empress, tradition!"

"New tradition, no funny hats."

"What is this empress nonsense?" hissed Agness as Lung Mist took off his hat, revealing the sad face of a skinny old man.

"This is my side job," said Octavia with an apologetic smile. "The last emperor died and since it was our fault, we had to take over and run their empire until they determine who the real next emperor is going to be." Octavia turned to Lung Mist, who was still next to her. "I want a smile. No smile, no yell, that's the rule." Lung Mist looked like he was going to cry. Yelling was the only good part of this job. She just took that away? For a smile? Finally, Lung Mist began to chuckle at the silliness of her order, and she said, "See? You look so much better. Go ahead and yell."

This was the part of his job that he really liked. Lung Mist yelled words that were incomprehensible to Agness. "Who is that and why is he yelling?"

"That's Lung Mist, he was there both times Nick killed the emperor."

"Both times?"

"Yes. Twice they captured and mistreated him, so when he got a chance to escape he took it, and it cost Xuantang two emperors. It's tearing him up inside because the last emperor was a young boy."

"So who is Lung Mist?" asked Agness.

"He's a eunuch. He's the emperor's assistant," said Octavia as Lung Mist moved to a curtain in front of the throne. As he yelled in the singsong language of his people, the curtain in front of Lung Mist opened, revealing a vast hall filled with hundreds of people. Many were sitting at low tables, but many people were lined up against the wall on either side of the immense hall.

"What is all this?" gasped Agness.

"The people sitting down are people that want to kill my husband and me. They are the rich landowners and politicians who want things here to remain unchanged, they want famines and military units terrorizing the people. Mostly, they want us dead."

"Why?" gasped Agness.

"Nick and I run things differently and we ended life as they know it. We demand that they account for every dime that they collect in taxes... just like we are doing in Wægn. We demand that they treat the people that work their lands kindly. These people like to cause famines to keep their people in line, because people don't have the energy to consider overthrowing their slave masters if they're starving. We are going to stop that, and that makes the guys sitting down very angry."

"What about the people standing up?" asked Agness as Lung Mist continued to howl in his native language. Occasionally the audience would react, and Ning would lean over and whisper in Octavia's ear, letting her know what the audience was saying.

"They are the farmers and peasants. They're the pawns. Most are on our side, but they can't come out and say it because their landowner will kick them off their land."

"So, they work the land like the farmers in Wægn work your land?"

"No!" insisted Octavia. "Not like the farmers work our land. We're out there with the farmers helping where we can, healing their sickness and injury, seeing to their cattle, helping to get them better harvests, and being honest with tax requirements. We have never beaten a farmer or sold his daughter into prostitution!"

"Calm child," whispered Agness. "It's not going to help anyone if you out shout Lung Mist."

Agness soon saw what Octavia had set up. Ning was translating what the people on the floor said and whispering into Octavia's ear their words in Torwin. Lung Mist was translating what Octavia said to those on the floor, and Ning was translating what Lung Mist said for Octavia as well. When Lung Mist had finished with the introduction, he turned to face Octavia and said, "Your empire awaits."

Octavia looked at her clipboard. "Lung mist, call Ju Yuchen Kwan."

For her first case, several families were devastated because the owner of the land, Ju Yuchen Kwan, had kicked them off the land for allowing a parcel of land to lie fallow, a necessary option for a conscientious farmer to take. Lying fallow allows the land to restore the soil's natural nutrient balance; otherwise, the constant growing of crops would exhaust the land. When the landowner, Ju Yuchen Kwan, who was not a farmer, saw that they did not plant it, he refused to listen to the farmer's reasoning and threw several families off the land for not obeying him.

"I will speak to Ju Yuchen Kwan," said Octavia to the families through Lung Mist, "I am sure that he will agree with me that your punishment for not communicating with him adequately for the need to allow the parcels of land to lie fallow must be an adequate punishment. I rescind Kwan's judgement as not harsh enough, and as your punishment, I order you back on to that land and order you to properly farm the land as I see fit."

She then turned to the landowner and said to Lung Mist, "Tell Kwan to approach." When the angry landowner grew near the throne, he started to speak, and Lung Mist tried to translate, but Kwan was speaking too fast. Octavia raised her hand and quietly said to Lung Mist, "He must shut up."

Through Lung Mist, Ju Yuchen Kwan said, "You must remember that the landowners are the one that allow you to remain in power."

"Lung Mist, tell him this word for word. Ju Yuchen Kwan you must remember that the members of my army come from farmers, not landowners. They will follow my orders and protect their families. Now thank me for my wisdom."

Ju Yuchen Kwan roared at what he was told. He looked at Octavia and said, "I will never thank you..."

That was an executable offense; citizens do not speak directly to the emperor or empress without express permission. A soldier moved quickly behind Ju Yuchen Kwan, and the landowner felt the point of a dagger at the small of his back, and he shut up. "I give you permission to thank me for my wisdom," said Octavia. Her voice was as cold as ice, and the chill survived Lung Mist's translation.

Ju Yuchen Kwan took a deep breath and prepared to spit on the empress, but thought better of the idea and swallowed his mouthful of saliva. "I cannot, Dragon Empress." Octavia nodded her head, and Ju Yuchen Kwan was escorted away from the throne by two soldiers. Octavia nodded to Lung Mist, who smiled and began to yell again, and Ning translated what he was saying.

"Ju Yuchen Kwan has generously donated every acre of his land to the Emperor's land bank to help end the famine," announced Lung Mist with an actual smile. "Wednesday, the emperor will determine who will manage the land, but for now, the Empress will manage it. We will hear the next case."

Octavia looked at her clipboard and said, "Zhou Qing Shen."

The man was seated up front, where the richest and most powerful sat. He was grossly overweight in a country that was suffering through a horrific famine. He struggled to his feet and bowed slightly, then turned to Lung Mist and spoke. "Daughter of heaven, I am a poor businessman hoping to be able to pay my tax burden to your imperial majesty," lied Zhou Qing Shen. He was a fat man who was almost spherical and could barely bow properly to the emperor.

Octavia looked at the clipboard and then showed it to Agness. "This shows me that he's charging his farmers more in taxes than they make."

"Aye, it do. Is he stupid?"

"This is his tax burden, why is it so high?" She flipped the page and saw why. "Ah yes..." Then she did something that is rare; she spoke directly to one of her subjects. She was warned about that on her first day on the throne from Lung Mist and from Nick: don't talk to the people directly. They think you're a god of some sort to begin with, and it scares them. Let Lung Mist do the talking. But Octavia was angry with Zhou Qing Shen.

"Citizen Zhou Qing Shen, I can see why you are charging your laborers so much in taxes, your tax burden is far too high."

Lung mist translated, and the fat man sputtered. "Yes, your imperial majesty. I am not complaining but... that appears to be..." he mumbled and sputtered, but Octavia just smiled.

"Lung Mist. We will lighten Zhou Qing Shen's tax burden. Take his estates at Han Hu, Lai Peng, and Quan Zhen Da. That will lighten his tax burden and we will not have to cut his head off for overtaxing his laborers. He will also get tax credits for adding these estates to the empires land bank to eliminate the famine."

The room went icy silent. Zhou Qing Shen stood shocked that the empress callously took away his three most beautiful, and costly, estates.

"Lung Mist. Tell Zhou Qing Shen that he has permission to thank me for my wisdom."

Lung Mist translated her words, and Zhou Qing Shen stood trembling. He wanted to shout something, but unlike Ju Yuchen Kwan, he finally said, "Daughter of Heaven, thank you for your wisdom."

"Zhou Qing Shen!" she shouted. "Real knowledge is to know the extent of one's ignorance," she quoted a great Xuantang philosopher as she looked at the documents reflecting his monetary status. "You have a lot of learning to do."

"You are not making a lot of friends with the upper classes," said Agness.

"I was raised to be a whore for the upper classes, what have they ever done for me?" snapped Octavia.

"I'm just saying, they're your subjects now as well as the poor."

"Dragon Empress," said Lung Mist. "The governor of Deng Tai province wishes to speak."

Octavia nodded and pointed her fan at a spot on the floor, indicating that she wanted him to stand in front of her to talk. Standing in front of the emperor was an honor reserved for prisoners who were about to be executed. A tall, slim man who was pretty exciting for Octavia to look at stood where she pointed, and Lung Mist announced, "Dragon Empress, the governor of Deng Tai province, Yin Kun Hsieh."

The man finally spoke in an angry snarl. "Does the daughter of heaven intend to continue to seize land and property from the upper classes?"

There was a lot of whispering on the floor as landowners and farmers restated their cases with each other before speaking to Octavia, the landowners realized that they outnumbered the army and this little game that this round-eyed woman was playing will come to an end soon.

"Does the governor think he can question the wisdom of the empress of the entire Xuantang empire?"

"What the queen of heaven fails to recognize is the farmers and laborers cannot even read," said Yin Kun Hsieh. "Personally, I cannot fathom putting my trust in someone who cannot read."

"What the governor fails to recognize is that the farmers and laborers provide the food that fuels the Xuantang Empire. They are the backbone of the empire, they feed us, they provide cloth to keep us warm, they give us young men to join the military to keep us safe. Lazy rich fat men like Zhou Qing Shen cannot lift a sack of rice, let alone cook it and feed his children. Personally, I cannot fathom someone stupid enough to piss in their own rice bowl."

That's when the screaming started...

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Chapter 06 - Returning to Black Mountain

Bughac Orebeard wasn't very good at driving a wagon, but he was told he'd get the feel for it; Nick would teach him. The problem was that Nick wasn't there. It was just Bughac "Buggy" Orebeard, Eryri Brawnkin, and Nick's wolf Pepin. "Nick said head up to Irla Stein Anore, he'd catch up," said the wolf.

"Where did he go?" asked Eryri Brawnkin, a female dwarf and close friend to Octavia Stein, Duchess of Wægn.

"He said he was going to talk to my boss," said Buggy. "Oh damn, what is it for left? Gee or Haw?"

"Just tug the left rein...... What does he mean your boss?" demanded Eryri. "Are you selling Thyme again?" Thyme is the street name for a highly addictive hallucinogen. It makes you feel that time has no control over you, and you are powerful and pain-free. A thyme trip is a memory that is replayed but mixed with current events. Between thyme trips, thyme addicts are violent, angry, and hate-filled. Buggy made a lot of money selling Thyme when he was younger.

"Hey, I'm clean!" said Buggy. "I haven't touched that stuff since before hooking up with Hugues du Gouey and Vesstan Aedi. They threatened to kick my ass from Torwin Armistad to Breaze if I was caught dealing in Thyme." Buggy was a warrior dwarf and teaming up with the demi-giant Hugues and the elf assassin Vesstan made him part of an amazing team that only one person ever beat. Buggy was big for a dwarf at four feet tall, and he was muscular. His beard was braided in twin tails, and his torso was covered with tribal tattoos. He had bandoleros of crossbow bolts with red and black flights, fighting knives, and swords crossed on his back.

"And what's with this beard?" demanded Eryri. She grabbed one of the twin tails of Buggy's beard and yanked. "Are you back with those hoodlums again?" A beard that was split into two tails was a sign of being a member of the Twin Tail Gang, a rough street gang from Torwin-Armistad.

"Ow! No, it's just a habit. I left that bunch of losers years ago." Most of the Twin Tail Gang were hopelessly addicted to drugs, either Skim or Thyme, and Buggy ran off with Vesstan and Hugues before getting caught up in the drugs with the Twin Tails.

"If you want to be seen with me you'll have that beard combed out, trimmed, and looking normal," demanded Eryri.

"What about my tats? Should I paint over them?" He flexed his arm, and the dragon on his biceps sat up and roared.

"No, they're kind of hot," said Eryri, a blush making its way across her cheeks. She clung to his arm and held on. Contrary to popular belief, dwarves are highly romantic, much more than elves, and almost as much as humans. "Turn left here," she said, pointing at the road to the left.

"Mules don't need a voice command?"

"You only use voice commands if you don't have access to the reins or if you're lonely. See Dave? He's smart, he saw the road you intended him to follow and he went straight to it."

"Where are we going?"

"Vesstan's house. You missed it while you were in Xuantang, he made a new village right there ahead of us."

They crossed a bridge that looked ancient and found themselves in an elf village. There were tree houses being built in the larger trees; beneath them were log cottages. Buggy pointed at the different houses that the elves built. "You have forest elves up in the branches, and prairie elves under them. Shame they didn't bring any mountain elves."

"Oh, they're here," said Eryri. "They're working on what they think is a temple, it could be an annex to the white castle."

"Why are we here?" asked Buggy.

"I'm here to apologize, you're here to meet up with Nick. Stop here. Let Dave chew on the long grass on the side of the road."

"Apologize? Apologize for what?"

"The dwarves I shot Nick down with came here a week later and attacked this village."

"You didn't do this, did you? Octavia said she held you prisoner until the entire war for Black Mountain was over," said Buggy.

"I'm a dwarf. Dwarves came in this Elf village, a village that never raised a finger. Their mayor is a fierce warrior but they didn't retaliate." She grabbed Buggy's arm and said, "They killed babies! Elf babies! Do you realize how rare elflings are getting?"

Buggy groaned. The Elf/Dwarf wars have been over for a millennium! What damn fool thought attacking a new Elf settlement was a good idea? And Eryri's husband and son had died, adding to her feelings of responsibility. "I understand," said Buggy, and he unbraided his beards and drew a comb through his beard, making it a standard single beard again. "Where do we start?"

They climbed down off the wagon and walked up to a log cabin, and as they did, a black eagle swooped down between the branches of the trees and became Nick. "Where do we start?" he asked Eryri.

"I was going to start at the top," said Eryri.

"Good choice," said Nick. Then he turned to Buggy and patted him on the shoulder. "Love the beard."

Eryri knocked on the door, and it was opened by Vesstan, Buggy's old combat partner. "Mister Mayor," said Eryri. "I wish to apologize for the actions of my race." She bowed deeply. "As a widow, I know the pain that your citizens feel. We were wrong, I should have done something to stop it."

"Stop," said Vesstan. "You were tied up in the duke's basement..."

"I too apologize," said Nick, and he bowed deeply. "I am the duke and sworn to protect my people. I was gone because of my own stupidity. It will never happen again."

"It wasn't your stupidity, you went to rescue what you thought was an injured rider," said Vesstan. "That is something we sorely need..." but then he noticed Buggy bowing deeply as well.

"I was running for my life like a coward; I should have been here at your side protecting the people of your village. Twelve hundred years of peace between our races was shattered, and that is what burns me the most."

Vesstan was silent for a long time, then he finally said, "I accept your apologies on behalf of the entire village of Irla Stein Anore. Come inside, I have someone I want you to meet." He led them into his log cabin which, on the inside looked a lot like Nana Partridge's cottage, a large main room with a fireplace set away from the wall, behind the fireplace was the kitchen where the stove shared the chimney of the fireplace. A small set of stairs led upstairs to where the bedroom probably was. In the center of the main room, bowed over the table, was Hugues du Gouey.

"I've seen him before," laughed Buggy.

"No you haven't," said Hugues, and he turned around, and in his huge hands was a tiny elfling.

"Oh my gods below!" gasped Eryri. "He's adorable!" The child was tiny, weighing three pounds, half the size of human or dwarf babies. His skin had a greenish tint like his forest elf daddy, but he had the silver hair of his prairie elf mother.

"His name is Jhaan Torlar, it means Son of Unity," said Vesstan. "Unity between the three tribes of elves and the three races, elves, dwarves, and humans. Maybe someday the gods will join us in unity."

"You are the emperor," said Vesstan's wife Seldanna of the Rofir. "Many plains elves would like to return to Xuantang. Could you permit that?"

Nick looked up from the tiny infant and said, "Yes, I could permit it, but what happens when I turn Xuantang over to the true emperor? Will the hunt return?" Plains elves were the most persecuted people on Kodu. They were hunted to extinction in Xuantang and Bovuka along with other nations. The plains elves on the Edux continent mostly lived happily, but they were slaughtered in the political upheaval after the fall of Breaze. Teurnia is a haven for plains and forest elves, but they don't really live together. Only on Black Mountain do elves of all three tribes gather.

"I know many that want to return to Xuantang," said Saldana.

"When we determine who the true emperor is, we will start to train him, and part of that training will be to come here and learn the ways of elves," said Nick as he reluctantly handed baby Jhaan to his mother. "Maybe that way the plains elves can return to the steppes where you can raise your white elk and your xeglun elk."

"The deer of the gods," sighed Saldana. White elk were all white in the winter and light brown in the summer. They are considered messengers of the gods, and rich Xuantang businessmen would buy them to run on their estates. Their friends would consider their rich friend to be in contact with the gods. The xeglun elk is a plain-looking elk except at night, where the tiny spots on its hide glow like stars. The older the xeglun, the more spots it would have. It's said that when Kodu is experiencing a stardance, the glowing stars in the xeglun's fur twinkle on and off. Walking a xeglun through the palace in the capital city of Chéngshì Jin during stardance was a blessing from the dragon god.

The plains elves considered themselves the guardians of these and other amazing animals. The men of the village rode tangie or kelpie; they're both horses that love to swim as they cross the many creeks on the steppes. "Could white elk survive Black Mountain?" asked Nick. He thought it would be neat to have white elk wandering around the mountain.

"I hear they used to live here in the Snowcross Mountains," said Saldana.

"I want them back," said Nick. "We have plains elves, forest elves, and mountain elves. We should be able to help a herd of white elk survive."

"We need the horse to ride," said Saldana, "Something that can fight through the snow."

"I know just the horse," said Nick. "Pretty soon the money will come in and the duchy will have horses." Nick realized that he was going to have to trade some more tin for gold. He spent the last of his gold on the highway guard, getting their horses shod and a pair of stables for the horses and dorms for the men. There was a stable at Slate Bottom Creek guarding the tramway and freight wagons heading west to Elm Springs and a new one going up at Deasil, a tiny village halfway between Elm Springs and Slate Bottom Creek.

"Gentlemen, shall we?" asked Vesstan.

"You're the mayor," said Nick, and together with Buggy, Hugues, and Vesstan, they left Eryri with Saldana to talk babies and stepped out. The sun had barely risen, but the sounds of axes, mallets, and saws filled the air as construction worked at a feverish pace. It was autumn, and there were several houses to rebuild after the dwarf attack before winter set in. "Do you need men to help?" asked Nick. He was leaning heavily on his walking stick, Teivas, because his ankle was still healing.

"We're on track to get a roof over everyone's head, but we will need coal," said Vesstan. Elves prefer coal over wood because they don't have to cut down a tree when they heat with coal. They would rather not burn either, but they would prefer not to freeze to death more.

Occasionally an elf would bow to Nick and address him "Your grace," but Nick insisted, "Don't bow to me, I'm just the duke and I wasn't here for you when you needed me."

The four walked through the village, side by side, and they drew a lot of attention from the elves and visitors to Irla Stein Anore. "Ya know," said Buggy, "This is the first time the four of us were together since we gathered at Fort Enlil at Tähelepanek Point."

"Gods was that day putrid," groaned Nick.

"It definitely wasn't fun," agreed Hugues.

"No, I mean putrid! It took me weeks to get that stench off me," said Nick. "When I opened that thing up and his guts spilled out..."

"Aww! Thanks!" groaned Vesstan. "I just ate. Dear gods below that was rank!"

"Please," said Buggy, "Don't kill any more gods if I'm around. That was so vile when its' intestines came out like shit filled snakes or something and you're driving a sword through its jaw into its brain and all that pus came oozing out..."

"Would you stop please? I was there!" The four fighters jostled and bumped each other, laughing as they walked through the village. They got to the end of the street, where it stopped at the top of a ten foot high cliff. They walked down a path that led to the base of the cliff, and there was an entrance to an underground structure of some type. "Is this a temple?" asked Nick.

"We don't know," said Vesstan. "We've been trying to figure out what the words carved into the rock mean." The entrance was a square entrance with a statue on either side of the entrance. The statue on the left lost its head; the statue on the right lost everything from the waist up, but it was definitely a male, probably an elf. The entrance showed nothing; it was pitch black inside the tunnel.

Several older elves were carefully copying the worn engraving in the stone. They had a case full of scrolls that they were constantly referring to, hoping to find meaning in the engraved words. "Have you found anything yet?" asked Nick.

"This word here," said one of the scholars. "Aran... it's an ancient form of Mägede Keel; the modern day word would be King."

The vast reams of knowledge that Saehrimnir gave Nick seemed to understand that. "Kuningas," said Nick.

The elder elves smiled in recognition. "Yes!" gasped the oldest. "Yes, that word hasn't been spoken on Kodu for five thousand years.

"It's the royal language!" gasped another. "The original language of the elves... Varresh Keel."

"Kuningas," said Nick. "Something to do with the king." He walked into the dark tunnel, looking at the carvings on the cave wall.

"Your grace!" called one of the elf scholars. "There is a spell on this cave. There is no light in there!"

"I can see fine," called Nick from the depths of the inky black. But to Nick, it looked like there was ample illumination. He looked forward and saw that the tunnel led to a room. It looked like there were fallen pillars in there. It had to be a temple, but he saw words carved on the wall in a fancy script alphabet. He walked back out to where the scholars were watching him in shock. He grabbed a large piece of paper and a chunk of charcoal and said, "Hugues, give me a hand with this," and he walked back into the black tunnel.

Hugues looked at Vesstan and Buggy. "Your duke called you," said Buggy.

"Lucky me," muttered Hugues, and he followed Nick into the pitch black. It was that or admit he was afraid of the dark.

"What are you doing?" asked Nick as he watched Hugues slowly walk toward him, his hands outstretched looking for obstacles.

"Your grace, this tunnel is without light..."

"Very funny, ok, come here, give me your hand," said Nick, and he reached for Hugues' hand. The moment he grasped Hugues' wrist; the demi-giant shouted in surprise. "What now?"

"I can see!" cried Hugues. "The moment you grasped my wrist I could see."

"Interesting, I can see fine."

"Yes, but you're a duke."

"That makes no sense," chuckled Nick. "Here, you hold the paper up, I'll rub it with charcoal and we'll have an artifact." Somehow they arranged themselves so Hugues remained in contact with Nick; otherwise, he was plunged into darkness. Nick rubbed the charcoal on the paper and soon had an impression of the carved words on the large piece of paper.

"Ok, let's go outside," said Nick, and he led Hugues by the wrist out to where the scholars were waiting for him. As they emerged from the cave, Nick was shocked to find all the elves were kneeling, heads bowed. "Now what?"

"Me oleme su teenrid, mu kuningas," said one of the scholars.

Nick's brain leapt, searching through all that knowledge that Saehrimnir had poured into his head over a year ago. He was able to piece together what the scholar said, and it angered him. "NO! I am not your king! Uric the second is your king. I'm an honorary duke which makes me your landlord. Nothing more."

"Your majesty..." started one of the scholars.

"GRACE!" shouted Nick. "Sorry, but your majesty is reserved for the king. Greet me as your grace, or Nick, or 'hey you', just not 'your majesty.'"

"Sire," gasped the scholar who called him a king. "When we enter the tunnel, there is no light, we cannot see the entrance, any light from a candle or lantern is swallowed, but you could see in there."

"Yes I could, and so could Hugues," said Nick.

"I could only see when you held my wrist," said Hugues.

Nick turned to Hugues to say something and saw that Hugues was kneeling as well. "Not you too..." groaned Nick.

"Sire, the carving above the entrance, we believe that is says "Only The King Will See."

"That's not king," whispered one elf. "It says Ainult Viimane Päkapikk Kuningas Näen. Viimane Päkapikk Kuningas is far too many words for king."

"Aye," said another elf. "Something beyond a king."

"Ok, it's some weird magical spell, we'll get Octavia here to fix that," said Nick. "But until then, if you want to stay in Uduithia, you must swear that King Uric the Second is your sovereign and you will obey his commands." The elves mumbled assent, so Nick drew his sword. It wasn't the cutlass that he was so adept at wielding, but a broadsword that gleamed in the early morning sunlight. It was mithril/steel and gleamed brightly. He held it before Vesstan and said, "Vesstan, my fellow warrior, swear on this blade that King Uric the Second is the sovereign of all of Uduithia, including every bit of Black Mountain, and his word is law and you swear allegiance to him."

Vesstan kissed the blade and said, "I so swear." Then he looked at it and the elf writing on the blade. "Elandorr Cailee!" he gasped, obviously in shock.

Nick stood before each elf and requested they swear allegiance to King Uric. One by one they kissed the blade and swore allegiance to King Uric, but each one muttered, "Elandorr Cailee."

Once he had all the elves realizing that Nick was just Nick, he turned to Buggy. "Ready Buggy? I want to look at some more of this mountain."

"Let's go," said Buggy, and they headed back to where the wagon was waiting. "Eryri is going to stay with Seldanna and play with the baby."

They got to the wagon, and Nick called out, "Dave!" and he patted the mule and gave it a hug. "He's a good old mule."

"Teddi and Kaleb were busy with harvest work, so Eric MacClenny loaned us Dave," explained Buggy. They climbed up on the wagon, and Buggy got Dave turned around, and they were heading out to the main road. "What's the command to turn left" asked Buggy.

"Haw."

"Are you sure?" asked Buggy.

"Of course I'm sure, I've been talking to mules since I was eight years old." Nick took the broadsword out and investigated it. It was covered with ancient Elven script.

"That's a beautiful blade, your grace," said Buggy.

"It truly is," said Nick as he inspected the blade closely. "Buggy, what does Elandorr Cailee mean?"

"Something elvish. Maybe it means they agree because they all said it. Sire, where did that broadsword come from?"

"Pardon?" Nick looked at Buggy like he was crazy.

"When you went into the cave you didn't have a sword, but it was there on your hip when you came out."

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Chapter 07 - Fate of the Dragon King

"I don't like this," muttered Nick as the mule clip-clopped along the road that Octavia built. Where did this sword come from? And why did it feel so natural in his hand? He was trained to wield a cutlass, not a broadsword.

"Relax, you're going to love this," said Nick's pal Buggy. Buggy is one of Nick's closest friends, putting him in the same class as Wayne and Trei Metzgar, the town blacksmiths. Nick was twenty-four years old, he thinks; he has no documentation to back that up. Trei is more than double Nick's age and is more of a dad or maybe a grandfather than a friend. Wayne is 23 and Buggy is 63, but for a dwarf, that's equivalent to mid-20s. When Buggy was sent to the Dispatcher's Federation to place a contract out to kill Nick, he was considered "That early sixties kid" by the dwarves he was working for at the time, and when Nick wasn't entombed, Buggy's bosses said it was because Buggy was too young to properly negotiate the contract with the Dispatcher's Federation.

"So, are you dating that crazy lady? Engaged? What's up?" Nick's question was mostly to get his mind off the mysterious sword and the words Elandorr Cailee.

"Relax!" said Buggy. "When that crazy lady shot you down, she realized the error of her ways."

"That doesn't answer my question. Are you living with that crazy lady? Engaged? Married?" The crazy lady in question, of course, is Eryri, a dwarf like Buggy. She and Buggy were partners in the mining project going on under the north side of Black Mountain. When he realized that he wasn't going to get much more than a grin from Buggy for his remark about living with the crazy lady, Nick eventually groaned, "I should be in Chéngshì Jin holding court instead of Octavia."

"No, in your mood today, you'll put half of them to death. Not that it wouldn't help any, but that's not how the princess wants things to run over there. Let her set the expectations before you go have a chat with them on Wednesday." Their schedule is as follows: on Monday, the Empress meets with petitioners; on Wednesday, the Emperor meets with regional governors; and on Friday, the Emperor and Empress will appear together to speak to the empire.

"What about me?" said Nick. "Don't I get a say in how my empire is run?" In reality, Octavia is running the Xuantang empire, Nick has a deep love for the mountainous Kingdom of Uduithia and the Duchy of Wægn, and he prefers to be a farmer. Instead, he's the duke.

"Of course not, don't be silly, you're a guy." They came to an intersection in the road, and Buggy pointed out the side road. "According to Eryri and Octavia, there's a nice hot spring down that way."

Nick recognized the fairy lamps that were hanging from a rock outcropping and said, "Yeah, lots of fairies here, big sweetwood grove and a really nice hot spring back there... we're not going to stop?"

"No, we're heading on. Do you recognize any of this here?" asked Buggy.

"Yes, when we brought Rys Oladi up to Artafána, That's the last time I was up this way. When Octavia and I hiked up this mountain she and I went on to the top over that way to the right, we were climbing above this."

"This road goes on all the way to the north side of the mountain, this is how Eryri and I get to the north face of the mountain. You were being held in Xuantang when she uncovered the road. Eryri said that most of the bridges and all of the tunnels were intact."

"Bridges and tunnels?" asked Nick in awe.

"This road is a work of art. We have no idea how ancient this road is." Then Buggy thought for a moment and called out towards the woods, "We need four volunteers. Who wants to go for a ride?"

"I do," came a muffled voice from the back of the wagon.

About a dozen fairies fluttered to attention in front of the wagon, and Buggy said, "We might not be coming back this way, we could go somewhere scary," and three more fairies joined the group. In the end, Buggy picked a blond, a fairy with crimson hair, a fairy with emerald green hair, and a brunette and said, "we have a lantern on each corner of the wagon. When we're moving, can you folks hop in a lantern and glow for us?"

The brunette saluted Buggy and said, "Shi de!"

"Wait a minute, hey buddy, you can speak Xuantang?" asked Buggy.

"Uh huh," said the brunette fairy, nodding his head. "Fluently."

"My friend here might need a translator; can you go with him when he needs one?"

"Can I take my girlfriend?"

"Who is your girlfriend?" asked a surprised Buggy. He didn't realize that fairies dated.

"Them," said the brunette, pointing to all three other fairies.

Meanwhile, Nick was looking in the back of the wagon for the voice he had heard earlier, and he soon found his wolf Pepin curled up under a horse blanket, just his nose peeking out from under the blanket. "What are you doing back here, buddy?"

"Don't tell anyone, but I'm keeping an eye on you," the wolf said as Nick hoisted him up onto the seat to sit between him and Buggy. "It's a secret."

"So, you can't tell me that Octavia asked you to spy on me?"

"Nope. Sorry bud, mum's the word, I made a promise," said Pepin as he settled in between Nick and Buggy and looked around. "We're not going to the hot spring?"

"No, dwarves don't like hot springs," said Nick.

"Probably because it's a tremendous waste of dwarf power," said Buggy. From the dwarves' point of view, a hot spring slows down productivity, especially when the youngsters like Buggy and Eryri want to go soak in the hot water. The old timers enjoy a soak also, but with their seniority, it's a forgivable sin.

Soon they came to a crossroads with a cruciform signpost carved out of ebony stone. "These are mine marks. They're symbols that the old timers left in mines. If we go straight, there is a smooth road ahead. It goes on to the north side of the mountain. If we turn left here, that symbol warns of danger, if we turn to the right, that symbol indicates a tough road, but there is a friend on the road."

"I think I know who the friend is," sighed Nick. "Turn right here." Nick has been so distracted with his inner turmoil since being stuck in an eagle's body that he can't concentrate on anything except his own inner confusion, and he is supposed to go sit on the emperor's throne. He studied the sword again. Where did this thing come from?

Buggy turned the wagon to the right at the intersection and the sign was right; the road was rough; it snaked left and right as it ascended an almost sheer cliff; it squeezed between boulders and more than once he had to back the wagon up to make a difficult turn. It was like the switch-backs used to ascend Breeders Peak, but much more difficult. The climb between the switch-backs was incredibly steep. "The first time we came here we were using a Ralli Cart," said Nick. "It was much easier to make the climb with that."

Eventually, the road ended up at a big roundabout at the base of a basalt cliff face, thousands of black hexagonal basalt columns clustered together to make the cliff face in an almost dizzying array of basalt majesty.

Nick stepped off the wagon and slowly approached the cliff face as if it drew him to it. Pepin was going to hop down, but Buggy held the wolf back, and they watched their friend approach the wall of rock. Tens of thousands of hexagonal basalt columns faced Nick, and his eyes wandered over the beautiful face of the cliff. As he studied the cliff face, a female voice was heard. She whispered, "It's yours now, you have the key."

Then he saw it. One hexagonal column of basalt was gently glowing and called him to it.

"Back before time knew what to do with itself, it was said that the dwarven race knew magic, but that's not true," said Buggy softly to Pepin. "Elves once ruled the world, it's said they were once gods, and when they left an area, the dwarves moved into the buildings and mines the elves left abandoned."

"I thought elves lived in treehouses," said Pepin.

"Those are the forest elves. They like to build tree houses, chew on weeds, and play sad songs on stringed instruments that they thought would excite skinny elf women. This is the work of the mountain elves, the true elves. These elves had power, they created dwarves to help them dig, they created humans to help them till the soil... at least that's how the legends go."

"I hate legends," snarled Pepin. "They always cast wolves in the role of the bad guy."

Nick approached the basalt wall that stood 300 meters tall, and he and the wall recognized each other. Buggy watched Nick with concern as he continued his tale. "The elves laughed and played in the mountains, and they bathed in the wild magic that covered the world. Here, on Black Mountain lived the last mountain elven community, the Mountain Ergonians, and here under this mountain they wrote their last book, a book that contained all their power, the Vanemate Rasside Jõud."

Nick reached out to the hexagonal column that glowed, and he grabbed it. It was warm to his hand, which was a surprise on a chilly day, and a familiar feeling overwhelmed him. A feeling that excited and enticed every wizard on Kodu, the feeling of raw magic flowing through him. While wizards live for this feeling, Nick was not a wizard; he was a witch. He just wanted to nurse injured and sick people and animals back to health. The feeling that wizards loved terrified him; he didn't want more magic. "I have enough magic," he said in a whisper.

The mountain recognized his disdain of power, and the great door slid open. Last year it opened slightly for Rys Oladi; now it opened wide, and the power of magic beckoned Nick. He fought against it, shaking his head and stepping back from the opening in the cliff face until he realized that someone needed his help. "She's in trouble," whispered the female voice he recognized. It was Saatus, the goddess of fate.

He looked into the opening and saw a huge white room, two stories tall, walled with hexagonal columns, but this time the columns were carved marble, mimicking the black basalt outside. Then it was somewhere else... he recognized it; it was the throne room of the grand palace in Chéngshì Jin, the capital city of Xuantang.

It was Octavia who was wordlessly calling for his aid. She was sitting on the throne. And next to her was a witch. She had to be a witch; she wore a black dress, big black boots, and a black hat with a tall point and a wide flat brim. That could only be Agness Dempsey. He watched in horror as the men of Xuantang pulled daggers and approached the throne. His wife! His son! They needed him. Nick pulled his mysterious broadsword and dashed into the opening and into the Xuantang throne room.

"NICK!" howled Pepin. "YOU DAMN IDIOT!" and he leaped off the wagon, raced across the roundabout, and dashed through the open door that Nick had run through. Buggy had to tie up the mule before he could follow his friends through the open door.

<><><><><>

Imperial Palace, Chéngshì Jin City, Xuantang

Octavia was frozen with fear. The landowners realized that the security wasn't enough to protect her if they all decided to attack, and they were slowly rising to their feet. The army was moving slowly to set up a path that would provide her with a clear shot to the temple and make her escape. Octavia knew that she could wipe out every one of those people that faced her with the power within her, but that would ruin everything. The Xuantang Empire would collapse into chaos, and thousands of innocent people would die. What would Nick do? He could solve this with his gentle ways.

Most important of all, if she used her magic, how would it affect the baby she was carrying? She even worried about using "kitchen magic" to prepare meals, but that was a spell she had cast on the cottage before she was pregnant. She refrained from using any magic at all until they understood the side effects better. Octavia tried to remain as calm as she could, and she whispered to Agness, "Go with Ning. Both of you go and take Jia. I will distract them so you can leave."

"I've never backed down from a man in my life," snarled Agness.

"No," whispered Ning. The slim girl said, "I will stay with you mǔqīn. (mommy)"

"I'm here for you, my love," said a soft voice in Octavia's ear, a voice she was terrified that she would never hear again. "Stand tall and show the army you aren't afraid." And it appeared that Agness Dempsey heard Nick's voice also because she stood as Octavia did, and Lung Mist came to join them, standing tall in the face of a mob of angry men.

The moment that the three women and Lung Mist stood, Octavia put her arms around Agness and Ning. a sound filled the air, a sound only heard once before on Kodu, a sound that men on other worlds would say sounded like the cries of tens of thousands of young girls and woman shrieking in terror or excitement. It was the same high-pitched, multi-hued shriek that filled the library of the Temple of Bet ha-Kise in Chelmsford and terrified the wizards of the plains of Steil Thein a year ago. It now rattled the Xuantang Palace and terrified all who heard it. It was the sound of the magic of the Elder Races.

Then, with a bellow and a roar, Nick appeared in full Xuantang dragon form. He was magnificent, thought Octavia. His golden body shone in the bright autumn sunlight that poured through the skylights, the light reflected and glinted off his golden scales and his solid gold saber teeth. The Xuantang dragon is like the Torwin-Armistad pet dragons the same way a sheep is like a wildfire.

Both consume grass, but after that, the similarity ends.

Pet dragons are tiny, winged lizards whose wings are mostly ornamental, but a Xuantang dragon is huge and powerful and one flap of Nick's 24 karat wings would generate a wind gust that would blow the tables and landowners out of the huge football pitch sized palace throne room. The Xuantang Golden Dragon was not a fire-breathing lizard. He was a massive, winged, golden, possibly fire-breathing, saber-toothed tiger, but Nick hasn't tried the fire part yet.

He dropped his jaw to roar at the men who dared threaten Octavia, and the bellow that escaped from that terrible maw shook everybody in the building except Octavia and Lung Mist. Agness was shocked and terrified, but she wasn't going to let these foreigners see that. The terrified landowners, who a moment ago thought they were going to seat a new emperor on the throne, were now scattering for the exits.

"Zuò!" (Sit!) Lung Mist roared, obviously enjoying the opportunity to verbally abuse the men that had abused him for years. As the metallic golden dragon rumbled, an angry wolf stood next to the dragon and shouted, "YOU WANT TO FIGHT? COME GIT SOME! BARK!" Pepin was shouting in Torwin and not Xuan, which terrified the men even more.

Octavia walked carefully in her wooden sandals, her pregnant belly shown off by the tailored silk gown, her large round breasts larger than usual in preparation for their child. She walked to the dragon's enormous head, and she saw a tear coming from the dragon's one good eye. He didn't want to be angry, but he had to scare back the threat to his wife and child. His left eye was metallic gold, like the rest of his body, but Nick said that it worked better than a real eye. She reached up to brush the tear away, but she realized that he wasn't actually there. He was just an image, a loud, roaring image. But he was real enough to terrify the landowners back in line.

Octavia whispered, "Thank you my love," and she pretended to give the gigantic dragon a kiss on the nose.

"I tried to come to you. I was worried," he whispered.

"This was absolutely perfect. Thank you so much... I can't wait to spend Yuletide cuddling with my big golden kitty." Then in a loud voice, loud enough that all in the palace could hear her she said "Huí jiā!" (Go home) With a rumble Nick bowed his head in fealty to the empress, then a grand last showing of his fangs he and Pepin disappeared from the throne room.

For his part, Lung Mist was overjoyed. Three times the dragon has appeared in this palace, and three times the dragon has saved his life. A young pregnant woman showed the most powerful men in the empire, along with the poorest men in the empire, that she controls the dragon. Soon, the news of this revelation would spread across the empire. All would know that a true emperor and empress again rule the Xuantang Empire. For the first time in decades, Lung Mist felt good about working in the palace. He escorted the empress back to her throne and supported her as she sat down. Then he took his normal place and called the penitents to order.

Agness sat with Octavia and smiled at her with the pride a teacher shows when a progeny displays that she learned her lessons well. When Agness realized that the dragon wasn't real and it was a ruse to terrify those gutless landowners, she was proud of Octavia. The pregnant empress has powers undreamed of by the wizards of Kodu, but she chose not to use them even when it looked like all was lost. "Now that's using your head good and proper," said Agness, who was a big fan of scaring the living crap out of rude old men.

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Chapter 08 - The Fortress of White

Buggy wanted to dash into the mountain opening after Nick and Pepin and follow them, but the sound of screeching coming from the open doorway terrified the mule and the fairies. The little flying naked women clung to Buggy's shoulders and whimpered in fear, their wings folded tight against their trembling, shapely little bodies. In the wagon, Buggy found a sack with a drawstring and a hole in the bottom that he pulled over Dave's head with his nose sticking out the hole in the bottom. He secured the bag with the drawstring, and Dave calmed down. "Ok girls, let's go," said Buggy, and he started walking toward the door in the mountain.

"I'm a boy," said one tiny voice.

Buggy walked across the open courtyard and stepped up to the open door, and he found himself in the throne room of the Xuantang emperor. He was on the side of the room next to the new temple that the previous emperor built, and next to him were Octavia's walking stick Virga and a terrified little boy. The golden knob at the top of Virga was now a large eyeball watching everything that was going on. "Who are you?" asked the little boy.

"I'm Buggy, a dwarf. Who are you?"

"There's no such thing as dwarves."

"The previous emperor said the same thing."

"See that lady? She's my mom."

"The empress?" Buggy teased.

"No, the pretty one!"

"The one with the pointy hat?"

"NO! I said the PRETTY ONE!"

"Oh, the cute one, why didn't you say that?" Buggy's teasing got the boy's mind off his fear for a moment.

"Is that dragon going to eat us?"

"No, he's the emperor, he might nibble on the empress a little." The little boy gave him a shocked look, but Buggy said, "Don't worry, she'll like it."

"I saw him squish the other emperor," said the little boy. "I think he was my brother."

"Look! The dragon has a talking dog!" said Buggy, trying to cheer the little boy.

Having soothed the small boy's nerves, the throne room and the little boy faded, and Buggy found that he was in a large, round room carved out of solid white marble. The walls were cut to resemble the hexagonal basalt columns outside. It was well illuminated, but it was impossible to tell where the illumination was coming from. Nick and Pepin stood in the middle of the room, but they didn't cast any shadows, and the faint image of a huge Xuantang-style dragon surrounded Nick. It appeared to Buggy that a faint image of Octavia walked up to the faint image of the dragon and kissed its nose, then the faint image of the dragon became real and solid, as if it was pulled back here from thousands of miles away. It looked at Buggy and the little fairies squealed in terror, but the dragon faded away, leaving only Nick, who slumped to the ground, and the red silk drapes of the throne room completely faded away.

"That was neat!" cried one fairy.

"Do that again!" cried another, and the fairies fluttered, but they stayed near Buggy, who dashed to Nick. He found that Nick was alive and breathing. He had just fainted. Buggy found a milking stool that was carved from marble and polished. He propped Nick's feet up on the stool to return the blood to his head. It was a trick you learn in the mines, where falling rocks can terrify you into fainting and heads banged into low overheads will knock anyone out. Then he sat down and waited while the fairies begged Pepin for information.

When Nick woke up, he was lying on the floor, his feet propped up on a stool made of stone, his head resting on a folded jacket. Pepin was telling Buggy about how Octavia was almost attacked by the rich landowners of the Xuantang empire, but he appeared and barked at them and scared them away.

"It happened," Nick said as he sat up. "He was a brave wolf."

"Well... there was a dragon there, but he didn't do anything... decorative, I guess," said Pepin. The wolf was walking around with four fairies riding on his back. They clung to his fur and thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

"Come here, you," said Nick, and he petted Pepin. "Yes, you were the bravest good wolf ever. Thank you for protecting Octavia."

"Lunch anyone?" asked Buggy as he sat down next to Nick and unpacked the canvas sack of sandwiches and apples that Nick had packed before they left that morning. "What's this bone for?"

"ME!" yelled Pepin, and he leaped off Nick's lap and snatched the bone from Buggy's hand and dashed off to a corner to gnaw on his bone.

As Nick and Buggy ate their sandwiches, they watched the fairies flutter around the large, warm room. "Annoying little bugs," Buggy finally muttered.

"You don't like them?" Nick asked.

"They get in the way," said Buggy.

"They're cute," said Nick as he sliced off tiny bits of his apple with a knife and gave them to the fairies. They looked like a person eating an enormous slice of watermelon when they ate the apple. "Are there any males?"

"Of course, there's males," said Buggy in astonishment. "One of them is a boy." The fairies must have heard Nick's question because they all started laughing in their high, squeaky voices.

"They all look like females to me," and Nick's assessment would be seconded by anyone unfamiliar with fairies. They all looked like sexy little human females, with cute faces, large breasts, narrow waists, rounded hips and beautiful round asses, not a hint of hair anywhere but on their heads. They looked like little versions of Octavia to Nick. Three of the fairies started pointing at the brunette and began giggling.

"He thinks you're a girl," they taunted.

"The females are blond?"

"No, the males are brunette. The female's hair is anything but brown, and it changes color on a whim."

Nick smiled for the first time in a very long time. "You have to admit that's cute." He broke a chunk of cheese off the piece in the lunch sack and gave it to the male before Buggy could warn him not to do that. "What's wrong with cheese?"

"NEVER give a fairy cheese!"

"Why not?"

"Because now you're responsible for them. Now he's going to give a piece to his favorite female and they're going to be married and that's going to cause squabbles and..." but as they watched the male, he broke off three pieces and gave some cheese to all three females. "What a horny little bastard," grumbled Buggy.

The four fairies lined up in front of Nick and fluttered in line, smiling. "What do you want now?" asked Nick.

"Names!" said one female.

"Yeah, you have to name them now. It's part of the cheese ceremony," groaned Buggy.

"Boys first!" insisted the three fairies with brightly colored hair. Now, all three females wore brilliant shades of purple.

Nick looked toward Buggy, who said, "Males are kind of rare. Maybe one in eight is male, so the females prioritize them."

"Ok, ummm... I name you... Arthur."

The male frowned at Nick, then finally said, "Not a silly name!"

"Ok, umm..." and he said the manliest name he could think of. "Ranzau," after his friend the king of Teurnia.

"Not a silly name!" demanded all three girls.

"Ok, how about... Sundrop?"

This time there was an audible chime, and the name stuck, and the three girls clustered around Sundrop and kissed his cheeks.

"Ok, you girls are going to have to remember your names, because I might forget."

"KAY!" they chimed eagerly, and soon they were named Starbell, Moonpuff, and Applewhisp. Happy with their names, they munched on the apple that Nick sliced into tiny pieces for them and the cheese that Sundrop gave them.

"So, what happened yer grace?" asked Buggy. "I've seen you change, but I think being invisible isn't part of the deal." Being a close friend, "Your Grace" is never used, so Buggy was looking for a genuine answer and he would not let Nick tap dance around the subject.

"I don't know. I felt Octavia calling me the moment I opened the door. It's like this room was made for me or something. I knew I couldn't go to her, but I felt like I could let her see me and since she felt threatened and she was in the throne room and everyone in the throne room is afraid of me as a dragon, I let her see me as the dragon."

"And you figured that out in a few seconds?"

"If that long."

"That's why you're the duke and I'm not."

"No, I'm the duke because I did some truly stupid things. The king occasionally needs someone who will do truly stupid things for him."

"Like what? What did you do to make the king want to make you a duke?"

"You remember when I was held in Xuantang and I changed into a dragon and crushed the emperor?"

"You were already duke when you did that," said Buggy.

"That wasn't the first time I crushed a Xuantang emperor. The first time I swam there. Not in this body, but I swam there. When I killed Zeddicus I got blasted out into the middle of the ocean and swam to Xuantang."

"And for that, he made you a duke?"

"Well, no. Actually, he made me a duke mostly for coming back... and keeping you guys in line." The terror of being blown halfway around the world... then there was a mountain full of dwarves that wanted to kill him... then a throne room full of rich men who wanted him dead... Nick wanted a job he could do at home.

"Let's look around this rock palace," said Nick, before he started screaming in terror.

"Where's your sword?" asked Buggy before they could get up.

"It's right here," said Nick, but when he raised his hand, he wasn't clutching a sword hilt; it was an ebony walking stick with silver ends. "Teivas?"

"Yes," came the feminine voice of Saatus. The beautiful goddess stepped into the large room, and Buggy gasped. She was twelve feet tall, an elven woman with flawless ivory skin, silver hair, green eyes, large breasts for an elf, and a slim waist. As always, she wore a toga with one breast exposed. Her nipple as well as her fingernails and toenails were the same color green as her eyes. Buggy froze up and gawked at her in shock. She was easily the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. "Thy staff extends thine own Divine Will.," said Saatus softly.

He raised Teivas, and as it swung up, it became the broadsword he had lifted earlier. "I was trained on a cutlass, not a broadsword."

"Thou didst not brandish steel for battle, but didst wield it to bind the Elven folk in fealty to Uric, thy true sovereign." She smiled and chuckled a deep, throaty laugh, then said, "Verily, the sight of a broadsword didst inspire awe within my elven children."

"So, this sword was the key to open the White Fortress?"

"Nay, the blade, forged in trials, held not the key of access to Artafána. In the sacred chambers of thine heart doth reside the key. Thou couldst have summoned the elven kin to pledge fealty unto thee, yet In thy wisdom, thou didst guide them to render their oaths unto King Uric. Lo, therein lay the key.

Nick looked at the sword curiously. "So, because I told the elves of Irla Stein Anore to swear an oath to the king, that unlocked the White Fortress?"

"Aye your grace," said Saatus with a smile. "Had you asked them to swear an oath to you, that would have usurped the sacred order and defile the divine tapestry itself." Then she stepped close, her voice so low that Buggy could barely hear.

"Two sparks walk separate paths,

yet the same crown awaits them both.

The blade of mithril protecting all,

the sapphire flame that serves all;

when they stand as one,

two peoples shall kneel,

and two thrones shall bow.

King and queen, not by birth,

but by the turning of Fate's own wheel.

Remember this, Sir Nicolas:

The world bends for those who walk together."

The words she spoke were etched into the blade of the sword, glowing the sapphire blue that accompanies Octavia's magic. Then Saatus touched the nearest marble column; the mountain groaned awake beneath their feet, welcoming the new sovereign. "Artafána welcomes you, its new master. Embrace these hallowed chambers, for they have yearned for your touch through ages unfathomable. Wield them as your spirit sees fit."

"Mistress, I don't care about the chambers or the sword or the prophecy," said Nick, and he sank to his knees at her feet. "I just want to know about Rys Oladi, did he..." Nick couldn't finish the question.

"In the tranquil embrace of existence, Rys Oladi lingered in harmonious cadence, cradled by the melodies he so loved. In serenity, he transcended to the eternal and he forgave you every day."

Images of Rys spending his remaining days here listening to the music of the Elven Philharmonic Symphonies filled Nick's mind. "I don't deserve his forgiveness," said Nick, and he began to weep. For some reason, losing the innocent musicians on the night King Alfrich was killed weighed heaviest on Nick's heart. They were innocent artists, and General Steinhauer's hired killers took joy in slaughtering them. As he wept, Saatus leaned over and caressed his cheek with her large yet soft hand.

"Not every struggle shall yield victory; but thou art not a being of defeat. From the depths of your tribulations, gather wisdom and rise anew, stronger in spirit and purpose. Thine act of salvation toward thy beloved today has filled my spirit with immeasurable pride and love for thee my beloved." And she slowly faded away.

Buggy let Saatus's words sink in, and the fairies chanted in sing-song voices, "Saatus has a boyfriend!" Their silly chanting helped Nick to cheer up. Finally, Bughac patted Nick on the shoulder.

"Come on yer grace, let's take a look at your new country estate."

They got up and found that, whatever this was; Artafána was big. Dozens of people could live comfortably in the series of rooms they found sliced into the mountain. There was room after room after room, all built and all waiting for a purpose. And it wasn't dusty. It was as if there were cleaning servants that dusted and swept every day, and as Nick entered a room, illumination from an unseen source came on.

There was some furniture -- tables and chairs, desks and benches -- not a lot, but there was nothing to give Nick and Buggy a clue of what went on in there. There were no books, documents, or paintings on the walls. Maybe it was a shelter. There were several floors above the floor they entered. There were no windows except up on the upper floors. Up there were arrow slit windows they could look out of and, if needed, shoot out of as well.

"So how does it feel almost being a dad?" asked Buggy.

"It's exciting and scary and probably the greatest thing ever. Why? Are you and Eryri thinking of...?"

"Bite thy tongue, young duke!"

"The first litter is the scariest," said Pepin.

Chuckling, Nick studied the view out of one window. He could look down on the roundabout and the whole road up to this area. The road was narrow and winding. It would be impossible for a large military unit to travel in a large group. They couldn't bring battering rams or anything other than small carts like the one they rode up here in. He somehow got the feeling that this was built for him and Octavia, and Marlon. Was it a place to hide? Or did it have a greater purpose?

Nick was getting the weirdest feeling from this place, especially as he examined a room with an arrow-slit window. He opened a door in the room, and it turned out to be a large closet. Closing the door, he thought, "this would make a good armory." He heard a noise inside and opened the door again to see that now the closet was full of bows, arrows, swords, maces... "Buggy! Come look at this!" When the dwarf entered the room, he looked into the closet and saw the collection of weaponry. He lifted a long-hafted battle axe from the collection.

"Gods among us!" the dwarf gasped. "I haven't found a thing, and you find a treasure trove of weapons that you don't know how to use!"

"Watch this," Nick closed the door and thought, "This would make a perfect office to study in." When he opened the door, the armory was replaced by a desk, and the walls were lined with bookshelves, yet the Halberd remained in Buggy's hands.

"What did you do?" gasped Buggy.

"I didn't do anything but make a suggestion." Nick considered this castle, then said, "When I opened this place, you were talking about the Mountain Ergonians," said Nick.

"Well, yes. I was telling Pepin an old dwarves tale, one we tell the young to get them to go to sleep."

"You once told me that dwarves were the best historians because you don't have active imaginations and you keep the details correct."

"Yes, so?"

"When you recited your old dwarves' tale, you mentioned the Vanemate Rasside Jõud."

"Yes, the last book of the Mountain Ergonian Elves, so what?"

Nick's hand was visibly trembling. "I've seen the Vanemate Rasside Jõud."

"Silly human, that book is dust by now. Or it probably exploded, it was a magical time bomb. It's several millennia old and it contained powers we can't even dream about. If it exists, it has been lost to history."

"No, Bughac, I've held it. I looked at its pages. It was printed on a very odd vellum but bound like a fine paper book. Buggy, I repaired the binding, and I reapplied the gold leaf on the cover."

"That had to be a reprint or something..."

"I held it in my hands... a wizard was threatening Octavia while I was touching it and it transferred its power into me, that's how I can do this..." and without a flash Nick was replaced by a nightmare standing over Buggy as a seven foot tall dingaroo, snarling and slavering. Buggy cocked back with the battle axe, and without warning, Nick became human again.

"What in the name of all eight hells... stop doing that!" Buggy shrieked. He had seen Nick turn into a dingaroo at Tähelepanek Point. He tore into the beast that Zeddicus had become with such ferocity that it terrified Buggy to watch. He knew the dingaroo were ferocious after running into them in Bovuka, but Nick shredded the beast with a wild attack that still causes nightmares in Buggy.

"That's a dingaroo. It was what was trying to eat Nick when Octavia fell in love with him," said Pepin as he gave the fairies a doggy ride around the room.

"That's how I became the eagle, and the dragon. I've done horses and ponies and once a bear..." Nick felt a sudden urge to apologize to Octavia. He's been so lost and confused, and he just hasn't been there for her while she has been carrying his child and carrying all his responsibilities. "We need to go back." Buggy and Pepin agreed, but the mountain had more secrets to show them.

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Chapter 09 - A god's Plot

Wilfred Montague entered the University at the Saehrimnir Temple in Torwin-Armistad and went up to the registrar's desk. When Millicent Trethewey, the overworked civil servant, looked up at Wilfred, she sighed sadly. Another one of them. You could see them coming a mile away, and when they stood before your desk, they made sure your day became an abject disaster. "I wish to speak to the dean of applied atheist studies please."

Millicent's day suddenly became a thing of joy. She was living in an anecdote that she would be able to tell her co-workers for years to come. She was expecting Wilfred to be a rich parent of a student whose study of applied alcohol was taking priority over his other studies. "Dean of applied atheist studies?"

Millicent tried to hold back the laughter. "Applied atheist studies? In a theological university?"

"I understand that his name is Thaldir? Sybus Thaldir?" said Wilfred.

"Oh... yes..." Millicent tried to hold back her laughter, but it came out as a snort. She opened her thick register book, and instead of looking up the College of Applied Atheist Studies, she looked for Sybus Thaldir... and there he was. "That would be office eight one two."

"Thank you," said Wilfred Montague, and he followed the directions Millicent gave him. When he was gone, she fell forward onto her desk, unable to contain the laughter.

Her co-worker Donna looked at her, jealous of whatever broke up the tedium of Millicent's day. "What was it? Another angry parent?"

"No, this fellow was looking for the school of atheist studies and gave me the name of Thaldir as the dean!" Millicent whooped with laughter. Thaldir was the god of tricks.

"Another one?" asked Donna. "That's the third one today. Whatever it is, it's getting Thaldir notice."

"There really is a school of atheist studies?"

"Yes," said Donna. "They study atheists. Most gods find it inconceivable that they can walk the land, perform miraculous deeds both good and bad, and some people don't believe they exist." Donna shrugged. " Thaldir started it as a trick, but the school of atheist studies is becoming quite popular."

"But Thaldir is a minor god," said Millicent.

"Here at the university, we don't use the term 'minor god,'" said Donna. "He's an associate god."

That caused Millicent to laugh even harder. "Is that another of Thaldir's tricks?"

"You're catching on."

Wilfred Montague, on the other hand, was in room 812 speaking with Thaldir, the god of tricks, and they were talking about atheists. "There's one entire nation of people that are born and raised atheists!" roared Thaldir. "Their emperor has a god stationed there in his throne room with him yet the people deny we gods exist!" As Thaldir got angrier, his aura, the glowing halo that all gods display, grew brighter, more intense. "They believe that their god is a dragon... a golden FELINE dragon!"

Wilfred had heard these rumors, and he wanted to stomp out these people and their heretical beliefs. He was a man of means, and his accountant could make any sizeable donation to any cause, no matter how sketchy, look legitimate for the tax collector. "What do you suggest we do?"

"We need an army to spread the word! To inform these people that their worshiping an imaginary creature is heresy!"

"What can I do?" asked Wilfred.

"I have an army, I need ships to take them across the Rahutu Ocean,"

"I would love to help," said Wilfred. "I'm a man of means, but ships is beyond what I could possibly afford."

"That would be greedy and selfish to ask you to finance the entire voyage. One ship, that's all I ask." Thaldir saw the questioning look. "How about provisions for one ship? That would be tremendous help. Barrels of water, salt pork, biscuits, maybe some limes..."

"Limes? What are those?"

"Bitter fruit, sailors love them. Makes them want to spread the word!"

"How much would provisions for one ship cost?" asked Wilfred.

"A daimon should do it."

A daimon was a lot of money; it was a rectangular plate of gold with the image of an angry spirit embossed on it. It was five hundred Torwin dollars, which was a large sum of money. Still, it's got to be cheaper than leasing a ship. "I'll have my people bring the money this afternoon," said Wilfred. "I will expect a receipt." He didn't know how far he could push a god, and even an "associate god" could make his life miserable.

"I will look forward to doing business with you," said Thaldir. He stuck his hand out to shake, and when Wilfred reached for his hand, Wilfred's hand passed right through Thaldir's hand. "Ha! God of tricks! I can't let that go. " He stuck his hand out again, and they shook, but Wilfred felt a distinct buzzing sensation in his hand.

"Another trick?" asked Wilfred.

"No, just sucking half of your soul away from you... HA! You should see the look on your face! Just kidding! Thanks for your donation friend!"

Wilfred nodded and left feeling dizzy, but that's what happens when half your soul is torn away.

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Thaldir looked like a regular penitent. He was about six feet tall and average-looking for a human resident of Armistad. He wore his hair short, and he wore clothing befitting an overdressed gentleman, frock coat, matching trousers, waistcoat, and a cravat or necktie. He was almost indistinguishable from a human; he even spoke like a human instead of a powerful deity who had been around for 10,000 years. Unfortunately, the glowing aura gave him away.

"Mister Thaldir! How odd to be seeing you at the barge docks."

Thaldir turned to the voice. There was very little he was afraid of, and humans are not on that list, but this voice had a confidence that never happens around a god. "General Sir Ned Sinclair Darby! How pleasant to see you." Ned Darby was a tough-looking man whose body and looks screamed "cop!" His gray eyes looked like they saw crime everywhere... because they did.

"No need to be so formal, you can call me commander," said Ned Darby. "Have you met my assistant? Felicity Warforge is my chief inspector and our specialist in Zwergin Gesetz."

"Zwergin Gesetz? Dwarven law?" Thaldir shrugged. "I'm not a dwarf nor am I human. Your silly laws don't apply to me. I'd be happy to show..."

"Zwergin Gesetz applies to everyone in Torwin-Armistad, human or dwarf, male or female" said Felicity. "That includes you." Felicity was tall and shapely, with thick black hair that hung down in waves. She was raised by dwarves, but because she was too tall to work in the mine shafts, her parents made her study law.

"Hardly. I'm a god!" said Thaldir with a smirk.

"I also have degrees in Vertragsrecht, contract law, something you're quite adept at stretching," said Felicity.

"Like I said, I'm a god!" sneered Thaldir. "I scoff at your petty rules."

"The law applies to everyone, including gods outside of temples," said Ned Darby around the stump of the cigar he was chewing.

Felicity opened her notebook and read for a moment. "We have a complaint from Mister Natanaël Caillat who claims that you took not only several thousand Torwin dollars in solid gold, but also a large part of his soul."

"Please Madam Warforge, how can..."

"That's CHIEF INSPECTOR Warforge if you don't mind," snapped Felicity.

"Of course," said Thaldir, reeking with false respect. "Chief Inspector Warforge, as I was saying, Mister Caillat donated that gold of his own free will for a noble cause. He wasn't forced or coerced, and the money is going to a good cause."

"But what about his soul?"

"Soul? What is a soul? Can you see a soul? Can you measure a soul? Can you do anything with a soul other than put it in music?"

"Mister Caillat insists that you took a large portion of his soul," maintained Felicity.

"How adorable!" raved Thaldir. "You're pursuing this like it was an actual crime!" He patted her on the head like one would do to a young girl who just made her first mud pie. "That's darling! Unfortunately, that ship has sailed... or should I say, those ships." He gestured toward the river, where two huge barges were heading downstream to Port Meabras.

"What does that have to do with anything?" growled Ned. The cop turned to Thaldir, and he was gone.

"Get back here you gutless coward!" Felicity shouted to the sky.

Ned and Felicity looked at each other, then they looked back at the barges, which were fading from sight downriver. Ned shrugged, and Felicity slapped her notebook against her thigh, then they wordlessly headed back to shore where Ned's carriage awaited. Torwin-Armistad has access to the ocean via the Eldrin River, which they also use as a septic tank and a hazardous waste dump. Barges constantly move up and down the Eldrin River between Torwin-Armistad and the crowded docks in Port Meabras.

It felt good to get away from the fetid water of the Eldrin River. The stench was tolerable for only a few minutes. They walked up to Ned's carriage, where his butler was waiting. "Mister Arden, to the university if you please."

Arden, Ned's butler, cook, driver, librarian, and conscience, looked down from the rear-mounted driver's box on the Hansom cab. "Yes sir. Going back to complete your elementary education is it sir?"

"I can read and write fine enough to get me into a jam, and sometimes back out. Thank you Arden."

Arden snapped the buggy whip, and they were off and soon lost in the myriad of hansom cabs that scuttled about the streets of Torwin. The only way to tell that the head of the City Guard was in the cab was to climb in and ask him. "Why a common Hansom cab?" asked Moria, Ned's wife.

"Because I am invisible in that cab." It was true. The most popular way to travel through Torwin-Armistad other than walking was to take a cab, and forty-nine times out of fifty that would be a Hansom cab. The cab had two enormous wheels, and between them was a covered bench seat inside the cockpit of the cab. The cabbie sat on an elevated seat on the back of the cab, and he would speak through a trapdoor in the roof to the passengers. It took some training to get Arden to dress like someone who hadn't bathed for three years so he would blend in with the cabbies of Torwin-Armistad.

As they clip-clopped behind Lulubelle (Ned's wife Moira named the horse) a cold autumn drizzle fell on Torwin-Armistad. Not enough to wash the muck off the streets but more than enough to turn the muck into a fetid mud that stuck to the wheels, fenders, and sides of the cab. Arden opened the trapdoor in the cab's roof and shouted down to Ned, "May I ask why we are going to the university, my lord?"

"We are going to speak to a wizard because I and damn sure Saehrimnir is not going to answer my questions.

"Very good sir," said Alden. He didn't really want to know why they were going to the university. He just wanted to open the trapdoor and get rain on his boss's head. They were at the university soon enough, and Alden parked near the main entrance, tied off Lulubelle, and followed Ned and Felicity into the main temple of Saehrimnir.

Ned strode purposefully through the lobby of the temple and up to the reception desk. "I need to speak with Caspar Scholtz."

"The bishop?" asked Millicent Trethewey in shock. "Bishop Scholtz is extremely busy, he won't have a free moment until after Yule."

Ned leaned across her desk and said in his thick Torwin accent, "if what I think is going on really happens, there probably won't be a Yule. Look, I'm going back into that temple and I'm going to summon Saehrimnir, and if I get what he says wrong, it may go bad for all of us."

Millicent reached under her desk for a cord and gave it several yanks. Bells throughout the university chimed, but only security-trained wizards could hear those bells, and they hurried to the reception desk. One by one, the wizards came to a sliding halt when they saw who Millicent was talking to.

"Look, ma'am, I'm just looking for someone to translate because whenever I summon Lord Saehrimnir, he always responds in antiquated babble that I don't understand."

Millicent was becoming nervous because no one had shown up to help her, but she didn't realize that she had a dozen wizards standing behind her. Finally, the head wizard, the presiding viceroy, Doctor Tidor Dhukonn, appeared and scolded Millicent. "Don't you know who this is?"

"Doctor," said Ned, before Millicent could cry out. "I did not offer an identification so she did the right thing and called for help. If anyone screwed up it was that cluster of mooks behind her who just stood and watched." Ned pointed to the security wizards who had stayed back to enjoy the show. "Any one of them could have come up and settled the entire situation."

"But your grace, you are a royal," started Doctor Dhukonn, but Ned would have none of it.

"My lady you did your job perfectly. I don't speak like a royal, I don't dress like a royal, I don't act like a royal and I'll never sink to doing any of the three. Now, Doctor Dhukonn, if you would accompany me..." and Ned turned on his heel and headed back to the temple.

"He's really a royal?" asked Millicent. Royalty exists in Torwin-Armistad, but in Torwin-Armistad they're more of a curiosity, a detached class of rich swine, battling to keep their money and their estates.

"He's the Duke of Torwin," said Felicity. "He had a falling out with his family, ran away, and joined the City Watch where he hid for years. One investigation he led got the Dominus so angry with him, that Dominus Laurita went digging in his past and discovered that his father was the duke. The Dominus knows how much Commander Darby hates royalty so when his father died, the Dominus made him Duke immediately."

Meanwhile, in the temple, Ned Darby led Doctor Dhukonn out to the center of the vast room. In the temple, there were four large temple portals, and it appeared that people were coming and going constantly. It was all acolytes and priests who were stepping into the portals and stepping out of them. "What is all this traffic?" asked Ned.

"Messengers," said Doctor Dhukonn. "It's message carrying from one kingdom to another, or from one temple to another, or personal messages, usually from one royal to another. It's how the temple and university raises so much money."

"Isn't the Flash faster?" asked Ned. The Flash is the name given to the series of semaphore relay towers all over the continent of Edux.

"The Flash is only on Edux, we can send messages to far distant lands like Bovuka, Xuantang, Idamaa, Thamor, even the island nation of Barrtou. And this is secure. Your message is kept in a sealed envelope and it will arrive with the seal intact. On the Flash, hundreds of eyes will see your message."

Ned nodded; he had to keep this message service in mind. "Ok, let's get the show on the road." He stood in the middle of the four portals and bowed his head, possibly in prayer. Then he clapped his hands three times loudly and called out, "Issand Saehrimnir! Ma anun teid!"

Suddenly, Saehrimnir's voice boomed in the temple. "I, who dwells in all, hears thy supplication, child. Speak, what darkness veils thy spirit?"

Ned turned, and there was Saehrimnir, a twelve-foot-tall man, handsome, with masculine features and curling sandy hair, and he radiated an aura of power. He wore a simple toga with a belt that showed off his muscular physique and sandals, the common clothing of 3000 years ago. His aura of power glowed so brightly that Ned had to squint. But he knew better than to be awed. "One of your minor gods appears to be raising money for some nefarious purpose."

"Reveal unto Me, by whose hand are these offerings gathered?"

"A minor god named Thaldir has opened a school of Atheist studies here in the university with your name. He cons money out of people, he said it's for spreading the word in atheist nations."

"A righteous endeavor, yet it bore not My divine seal."

"The money went to hiring ships. His missionaries that he hired to spread the word, are all members of the thieves guild. I am afraid he is going to ravage some land just for something to do."

Saehrimnir glared at Ned, holding him in his steely gaze. Finally, the god said, "Methinks a whisper remains unspoken by thy mortal tongue."

"Several people who donated money to his cause claim that he took half of their soul. I'm trying to track down the entire group, but all complain of the same feeling after speaking with Thaldir - a feeling that a part of them had been ripped out, a feeling that their life is empty, that they are incomplete."

Suddenly all sound came to a stop. It looked as if Saehrimnir had turned to marble. Everyone in the temple stopped while Saehrimnir stood motionless. Finally, the god commanded. "Hark, mortal. Take heed; gather thy earthly possessions. Journey forth to the distant peaks, and deliver this crucial decree unto thy brother concerning his blessed consort's sacred burden. Their purpose in Xuantang teeters on the precipice of peril."

Ned tried to turn to Doctor Dhukonn, the head wizard. He was going to ask the Viceroy of the University what the hell Saehrimnir just said, but he couldn't. He was commanded to go. So, he went.

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The two huge cargo barges moved down the Eldrin River to Port Mearbras. It's a week-long journey down the wide, slow river. This is how Torwin-Armistad survives - barges full of provisions and product slowly run up and down the river, bringing needed wares into the city, and taking manufactured goods out. At the mouth of the river is Port Mearbras, a city whose sole purpose is to load and unload ships and barges. Winter was coming, and being this far south meant the weather was going to be frigid. Waves and wind would soon spray the ships with a mist of salt water that would freeze to everything.

Risto Koppel was the harbor master, and it was his job to get the barges unloaded and their goods and people loaded on outbound ships, then take the goods and passengers from inbound ships and load all that on barges to send upriver to Torwin-Armistad. It was a huge, burly juggling act that Risto could do so well. His office was atop a wooden tower, fifty feet in the air. From there he could see the ships coming and going; he could see the barges moving slowly on the river; he could see them a day out. Two days out if he used his telescope.

Risto looked and saw what he believed were the last two barges to supply the flotilla of four ships heading west to Gao Yating. He looked at the ship's manifest and, sure enough, Gao Yating was the destination. He shook his head. Hundreds of men packed onto four wooden ships heading through the most treacherous water on all of Kodu. If that wasn't enough, they were heading for a port that Risto was sure only existed in fairy tales and mystery novels.

The two barges that Risto watched were loaded with provisions and thieves. When the word went out that four ships were heading to the land of plenty, Xuantang, almost every thief in the city of Torwin-Armistad tore up their Thieves Guild membership cards and headed for the barge docks. These are the last two barges of supplies and thieves. As Risto Koppel watched, a black dragon swooped down out of the overcast sky and landed clumsily on the leading barge, almost swamping the thing. Risto shuddered and then he recited the harbormaster's prayer: "Just get them out of the harbor, just get them out to sea..."

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Chapter 10 - The King and the Empress

It was a farm.

Nick had nothing else to call it. It was an underground farm. "This can't be real," he whispered.

"How do they get the rocks to glow?" asked Buggy without expecting an answer. They had climbed down a long staircase and found themselves in a huge cavern. The top of the cavern glowed as bright as daylight, and the floor of the cavern was covered with rows of plants, bushes, and fruit trees. Small streams of water flowed between the rows of crops. Nick saw cabbage, corn, beans, peas, carrots...

"Oy Laddie! What are you doin' here?"

"Is that you Mister Highgrower?"

"That's Mister Highgrower," whispered Sundrop. The male fairy had been sitting on Nick's shoulder giving him a tour of the White Fortress

"Aye it is!" The small garden gnome stepped out from under a broad leaf. Nick was happy to see Mister Highgrower, and he always wondered where garden gnomes went in the winter. Garden gnomes are a very small species of dwarf, usually standing around a foot tall. They love gardening and horticulture of all kinds. They often tend kitchen gardens for witches because witches are usually too busy to tend to anything more than their herb gardens.

"And what ye be doin' down here?" demanded the gnome. "Only us wee ones to tend the plants and the Viimane Päkapikk Kuningas is allowed in here."

"The who?" asked Nick.

"The Viimane Päkapikk Kuningas," said Sundrop. "It's what the girls have been singing about."

"What is the Vimene Pakak something Kuning gus... thing?"

Sundrop sighed, and Mister Highgrower shook his head. "Viimane Päkapikk Kuningas!" squeaked Starbell, Moonpuff, and Applewhisp. "The Elf King!"

"I can't be the elf king, I'm not an elf," said Nick.

"He couldn't have opened the door and entered," sighed Mister Highgrower, shaking his head. "This one is too stupid. Did ye not realize laddie that being king of elves makes you the elf king? If you were truly king, you'd be the Garden Gnome king also." The garden gnome was clearly disappointed.

"He opened the door! He did! I saw it; we all saw it," chirped Sundrop. "Lady Saatus was there to welcome the king!"

"Did ye see it too laddie?" Mr. Hightower asked Buggy.

"I was there," said Buggy. "I watched as the Duke opened the door and entered. I was there as Saatus said 'Artafána welcomes you, its new master.'"

"She said that?" asked Mister Highgrower. As he spoke, more and more garden gnomes appeared, tools in hand. There were many more than were in Nick's garden at the cottage, and only a few seemed to recognize Nick.

Before Nick could answer, Pepin said, "Yes she did."

"I heard her say that," said Nick.

Suddenly a voice from the back shouted, "All hail the king!"

"NO!" shouted Nick with an intensity that startled everyone, including Nick. "No... I am not the king; I'm the duke. I had to argue with the Elves of Irla Stein Anore. I made them swear an oath on my sword that they obey the rule of King Uric." He held up his enchanted walking stick Teivas as he spoke, and the stick once again became the mithril broadsword the elves swore an oath on.

"The sword of Elandorr Cailee!" cried the female standing next to Mister Highgrower, and all the garden gnomes dropped to their knees.

"Who's Elandorr Cailee?" asked Nick quietly.

"Elandorr Cailee, styled by mortals as Elandorr the Just, did reign as Päkapikk Kuningas, sovereign of the Elves both upon and beneath Morna Oron, which mountain thou dost call Black," said a female voice with an elfish accent. "He was the last Ergonian Elf King."

"Who said that?" asked Nick.

"That was your sword," replied Buggy.

Nick held the sword in front of his face and said, "I am not a king. I am a duke."

"Tho' not yet a crowned monarch, many souls do attend upon thee."

Nick called out in a loud voice, "If anyone sees fit to follow me, then they must know that my lord is King Uric the Second of Uduithia and together we obey him."

"Very good sire," said Teivas.

"Las see olla! (Let it be)" chanted the garden gnomes in ancient Mägede Keel, often called High Elvish, the language of the Mountain elves. They rose and came up to Nick, who crouched and held his hand out to them. They touched his hand reverently, and all asked to work in his garden.

"It's Mister Highgrower's job if he'll take it again. I'll let him pick his crew."

"I'll be glad to do it laddie. Nana Peacock won't have it any other way." Nana Peacock was the ghost of Nick's great-grandmother, and she was friends with Mister Highgrower.

"I have much to learn," said Nick with a sigh.

"Indeed, that is so," said Teivas. "Thou must needs repair homeward, for thy lady wife's labor doth draw nigh unto its close."

As he said his goodbyes, Mister Highgrower told him of the park he and his people would have ready for the duchess. "Soft lawn, warm pond... and access to the hot springs!" said Mister Highgrower proudly.

"I can't wait to see it," said Nick. It seemed to him that the garden gnomes were energized, eager to make a vacation spot for Octavia. They gave him two burlap sacks full of fresh vegetables and fruit to help replace what the army ate and sent Nick on his way. He and Buggy headed back to where Dave was waiting. As they neared the main entrance, Nick looked into a large empty room and said, "I have an idea." He closed the double doors then said, "This room would make a perfect library with books of all types for Octavia and I to read and teach our children with."

He opened the door, and it was a huge, beautiful library with two story tall bookshelves and wheeled ladders to reach the books, study carols, desks, and a display stand for special books. He went across the hall and grabbed another door. "This would make a romantic bedroom with a romantic fireplace, huge comfortable bed and easy chairs to read in." He opened the door and got exactly what he had asked for. He went to the room next door and said his desire softly and opened the door. "Perfect."

"What is that?" asked Buggy.

"A very special surprise for Octavia. Don't tell her."

"No problem, because I don't know what it is."

Nick laughed and made another romantic bedroom for guests, a dining room, and a temple to Saatus with the Æther Portal locked down to the same rules as the front door. Soon they were in the wagon heading down the hill, and Nick took out Teivas and studied his cane. "I have a walking stick that can become a broadsword," he said proudly.

Teivas immediately responded in her elven accent. "Nay my lord. You have a sword of destiny that masquerades as a walking stick."

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After the dragon appeared in the great palace, the landowners were more malleable and became much more agreeable with Empress Ying Wong Ho (Eagle Queen) and her assistant Hei Nu Wu (Black Witch). Agness Dempsey never spoke loud enough for a landowner or peasant to hear her comments until she discovered that in Xuantang the word for farmer was the same word as for peasant: nong min. "I'd like to see the lot of you nong minning about a field with your backs to the sun and your hands in the dirt where the gods demand a man should be! A farmer is a man of honor!"

Of course, Lung Mist translated all of this while Aunt Agness cursed the landowners for their sloth. "My nephew is a big a landowner as any one o' you and he's out there in the field with his men workin' to make his wife's life better. And he's a witch to boot! Healin' and makin' medicines for his people. You should be ashamed of yourselves."

Octavia leaned over and whispered, "Aunt Agness, that's the first time I ever heard you speak kindly about Nick's witchcraft."

"Don't be going and telling him none o' that. It'll go to his head. It will give him ideas that he's done improving and he can put his feet up."

Octavia chuckled at the thought of Nick putting his feet up. Even when he was still recovering from having his foot shot off, he was working in the barn, or pitching hay, or cleaning up the mess that Octavia's army left in the field, not to mention visiting patients. "He needs to put his feet up but he won't," said Octavia. "He says he's got to make life perfect for me. He does the cooking and cleaning so I can rest..." Octavia sniffed and felt the tears come on.

"Don't let them see the empress cry," said Agness. "We can't show any weakness."

"I know... Lung Mist! Who is next?"

"Landowner Qiao Wuying Zhang versus tenants..." Then Lung Mist began hollering. Mister Qiao stood and responded to Lung Mist, who turned to face Octavia.

"Mister Qiao says that he and his tenants have come to an agreement."

"So Mister Qiao realized I'm not here to clean up his financial mess for him?"

"Apparently so, daughter of heaven," said Lung Mist with a grin. Previous emperors would side with the landowners without question, but Empress Ying Wong Ho, the Eagle Queen, will force the landowners to come to an agreement with his tenants, and Emperor Long Wong Di will do the same. These landowners are learning respect, or they're planning something awful.

"Let's finish this up," said Octavia, and Lung Mist bowed to her, then began hollering as the curtains closed, cutting off her view of the waiting men. Octavia could hear the petitioners getting up to leave, and she sighed. It was over. "Is there a toilet around here? I really have to..." she shrugged and smiled guiltily.

Ning said something to her son Jia, who ran off, then came back holding an ornate enamel bucket, and he knelt in front of Octavia, holding the bucket for her. She tried to take the bucket, but he wouldn't let go. And suddenly she realized why he wouldn't release the bucket. He was what royalty on the continent of Edux called a piss boy. "No!" gasped Octavia.

"I'm sorry your highness, is something wrong?" asked Ning.

"No, I'm not going to pee in a bucket in front of a little boy with all of you around!" She yanked the bucket from Jia's hands and took it behind the curtain where she crouched over the bucket and relieved herself in privacy. As she did that, Jia looked up at his mother, his lower lip quivering.

"You didn't do anything wrong, honey; emperors are different from real people. We just have to accept that." Soon Octavia came out from behind the curtain with the bucket and Ning told Jia, "Now you may finish your job." Jia dashed up to Octavia and snatched the bucket out of her hand then ran off with it, then dashed back a moment later with a damp cloth to clean up with and a towel to dry her hands, then he dashed off to empty and wash out the bucket.

"What a sweet child he is. I hope Marlon is just as sweet," said Octavia with a sigh.

"Marlon?" asked Ning

"Oh, I mean," and she patted her tummy, "Ying Zhi Zi, Eagle Son. Ning, we need your help. The emperor and I are going to rebuild the court, and since we are not familiar with their names, we would like your help. Could you come to the farm and stay with us and sketch out the project, then return when Nick... Long Won Di... holds court?"

"I..." it was impossible for Ning to say no. When she is not in the palace translating for Emperor Long Won Di and Empress Ying Won Ho, she has nothing to do other than care for Jia.

Ning was originally brought into the court to care for Fu Ki as an infant, and Emperor Shì Hai thanked Ning by impregnating her. After Emperor Shì Hai killed his wife, Fu Ki's mother, in a fit of anger, Ning became Fu Ki's governess. The brat prince abused Ning. She was not allowed to discipline him, so she spent her time cleaning up after the little monster, suffering one indignity after another. He bit her; he punched her; he pissed on her, even threw his own feces at her. And when he became emperor, it was worse.

Life was terrifying, and her son Jia, who was about a year younger than Fu Ki, was her entire life. Ning was kept as a royal plaything, a remnant of the Shi dynasty, now a toy of the Hau emperor, a symbol of what happened to all who angered the emperor.

The last god in Xuantang, Ugerin, goddess of Beginning, was once asked about the future of the Hau dynasty. The tiny goddess merely said that the Hau dynasty would end under a dragon. When Emperor Shì Hai heard the simple prophecy, he shrieked in anger and expelled Ugerin and all gods from Xuantang. On the one-year anniversary of expelling all gods, Emperor Shì Hai died under a dragon that he thought could be kept as a pet. One year later, his son died under the same dragon. He also thought could be kept as a pet. Learning had not occurred.

There's only one member of the Hau dynasty alive -- Ning's son Jia -- even though his father died without announcing that Jia was his son. Life under Emperor Long and Empress Ying was much easier, but Ning didn't trust them. They didn't know her past, and when they found out, they would cut off her and Jia's heads.

After Fu Ki's sudden, horrible, and much appreciated death, Nick was told that he had inherited the Xuantang empire. He hired Ning to stay on as Assistant Translator. It was no secret that Nick didn't trust anyone in the court, including the official translator Lung Mist, but Nick liked Ning, so it became Ning's job to translate what Lung Mist also translated. Usually, the translations were the same, but sometimes the difference was glaring. When Ning and Lung Mist sat down to speak with Nick, the difference was discussed. The difference normally was Lung Mist trying to avoid embarrassing the emperor.

Ning's shoulders dropped. Her job was to protect Jia from the Emperor, who would surely kill him to keep the throne of Xuantang. But now the empress invited Ning and Jia to their home on the other side of the world, where they would surely be executed. Ning had no excuse. There was no way she could refuse the empress's request. "Yes, your highness. May we change clothes?"

"Yes, it's dirty so wear something rugged, and it's chilly so bring a warm coat.

"Chilly?" Ning was shocked. It has been quite warm, and the weather wizard said that the warm weather might last for several more weeks.

"Yes, hánlěng, cool. Trust me. Joining us for tea, Agness?"

"I wouldn't miss it."

Not long after, they stepped from the columns of the Temple of the Woods. Ning and Jia looked around in amazement at the little attached store full of books and book-related items. "How did we do Ezzy?"

Ezzy Fahy looked at the small hourglass and said, "About seven minutes."

"How many times did you turn that glass over?" demanded Agness Dempsy. "We were in foreign parts for six, maybe seven hours! We even took a lunch break!"

"That's not possible. Look at the timer! She even put a spell on it to keep me from turning it over," insisted Ezzy.

"Ladies!" called Octavia as she came out from the corner where she was changing. She was now wearing a simple gray frock that Ena McCrory had given her. "We did a little time travel. We left here at noon, got there at nine in the morning, did the business of the land until three, then came back here at noon."

"I don't approve of traveling in time," groused Agness Dempsy. "Taint natural."

Ning was speechless. The Empress of the Xuantang Empire was dressed like a poor farm wife. Was this a ruse?

"Is the magic dog here?" asked Jia eagerly as he peered out through a dusty window.

"No, not yet, but he'll be here shortly. He's headed back with the duke." Octavia rubbed the excited boy's head. "We have bunnies, chickens, sheep, goats, and mules. Would you like to see them?"

"Can we?" he asked his mother.

"I suppose," she sighed, and soon they closed up the bookstore that was attached to the temple and headed up Main Street. Everything was wild and new to Jia. From the mill wheel turning to Trei, the blacksmith striking a rod of white hot iron, making sparks fly. Jia stood transfixed, fascinated, as he watched Trei convert the iron rod into a connecting rod for a wagon steering mechanism.

"Hey little fella, want to try hitting this?" Jia grinned and nodded wordlessly, so Trei held the iron rod steady as Jia lifted the hammer and hit the iron bar as hard as he could. "Well done, young sir! Another strike?" Again, Jia smiled and nodded and hit the iron rod again and again. By the time he was done, his thin arms ached, but his smile never faded. "A new student of yours, your grace?" asked Trei.

"I hope so if we earn his mother's approval. Ready to see the rabbits, Jia?"

Jia was ready to see everything. They crossed Main Street and stopped at the watermill for some freshly pressed apple cider. Only Agness and Ezzy Fahy had ever tasted the delicious nectar before. The thick, rich, cloudy brown beverage was the most delicious drink any of them had ever tasted. After that, they walked up the long path through the woods to Nana Partridge's driveway, and Jia had never seen a forest before. He dashed among the trees and occasionally found the brook that flowed through the forest down to the millpond. "I found a river!" he exclaimed breathlessly as he came dashing out of the trees, a bunch of leaves in one hand, a stick in the other. His playfulness reminded Octavia of Nick just months ago on their first trek together up this driveway before they became duke and duchess.

Was that it? Was the King's proclamation that they were duke and duchess what killed Nick's passion for her? Is that what sent them on this path and set a wedge between them? Or was it Peregrine and Aegir Mining and their never-ending attacks on Nick? That had to be it. The Duke of Torwin, Sir Ned Darby, won't tell her what they did with Rifty Peregrine when they arrested him for trying to kill Nick and Octavia. They're afraid that Octavia may try to kill him. Which is silly. She'd never do that. She may disassemble him and reassemble his body in a new and creative way, but he'd still be alive... after a fashion.

As they got near the cottage and Jia dashed ahead, and Eryri came out of the gatehouse to greet them, Octavia suddenly missed her Nick. It was like a sudden and all-encompassing case of homesickness. She missed his laugh, his smile, and the way he could make an enormous problem fade simply by laughing it away. That's when Marlon wound up and gave her a solid kick in the kidneys. It hit her so hard she doubled over in surprise more than pain. "Your highness!" gasped Ning. "Are you all right?"

That's when Octavia began crying. "I'm losing Nick," she cried.

Eryri was in the doorway of the gatehouse and saw Octavia double over, and she dashed to her friend, her hair's twin braids flying. "Duchess!" the female dwarf cried in shock.

"He's going to leave me, I know it," wept Octavia.

Ning and Eryri tried to comfort the weeping woman, but the witches just patted Octavia's shoulder. "First child," said Agness. "Happens every time."

"He hates me, I'm fat and ugly, he wants someone pretty like Ning," wept Octavia. "Even Marlon hates me, he's kicking me."

"He's reminding you that you're not alone," said Agness.

"Jia did the same to me quite often," said Ning softly.

"Babies do that to us... my poor Tuzmas... he danced on my insides so much," said Eryri, fighting back the tears for her son, lost in a mine collapse with his father Dradduc.

"Boys are angels compared to their sisters," said Ezzy Fahy. "Our Sarah left bruises on my insides from her kicks!"

As they approached the cottage, they found Jia lying on the ground, peering at the vegetable garden. "Shhh!" he warned, "There's people here!"