Inexperienced Mage (Reawakening Saga) (15 page)

After sleeping throughout most of the day he had trouble sleeping he would be tired tomorrow but there was little he could do about it now. Shariel had crawled into bed with him and had curled up against his side
it had taken awhile for her to fall asleep and even then it seemed to be fitful, every now and then she shifted sending a slight jolt of pain coursing though his back, but he didn’t have the heart to make her move.

The noise started shortly after the sun began to pick through the windows in his room. Twisting painfully he looked out to see the militia running around and forming defensive ranks along the newly constructed barricades. There could have been no more than two hundred or so soldiers to the bandits thousand. Knowing that the defenders couldn't last long without help, he shook Shariel awake. "Shariel, the bad guys are here I want you to go hide, do you remember how to use your rings?" She nodded her head as tears welled up in her eyes.

Thad strapped on his sword and painfully made his way down the stairs using his staff to hold himself sturdy. By time he made his way outside it looked as if the defenders were already being overcome on the northern side. He needed a better vantage point in order to be effective, looking around he noticed Eloen standing on a raised platform near the middle of the town yelling out orders to the soldiers, as a host of archers surrounding her put their deadly bows to work.

He quickly hobbled over to where she stood and began
climbing the ladder. Each rail seemed to hurt more than the last, but he pushed on, as he reached the top Eloen who must have been told of his approach helped pull him to his feet, “What in the nine hells are you doing out here, I should kick your ass and send you back, but with the way things look I wouldn’t turn away an armless man right now.”

“Just watch and keep them off me the best you can?” She gave him a questioning look, but he didn’t have time to explain himself.
Pointing his staff in front of him he focused his energies and sent a blast of lighting out at the most densely packed group of attackers. He heard the people around him gasp, but didn’t have time to worry about their reaction; he sent blast after blast of lighting. At one point the eastern wall was almost breached so he made a wall of flame forcing the attackers to move back as they were peppered by arrows. After his initial attack many of the bandits had turn and ran while others had approached more cautiously giving the defenders more time to reposition and repel the attacks. Soon the attackers were losing all heart for the battle, but Thad dared not let up, he had to make sure
Shariel was safe.

Suddenly everything was moving, the ground rushed up to him as his legs gave out and he fell forward toward the ground far below him. Suddenly pain ripped through his back as someone grabbed him from behind slamming him hard onto the wood. He tried to stand but his body wouldn’t heed his command his last vision was that of Eloen
’s lips pressing softly against his own.

Thad awoke with his head pounding, as if an army of blacksmiths were using it as an anvil. A small strand of light evading through the closed shutters flickering across his face was like a hot poker to his mind. Sitting up a wave of nausea rolled over him, setting his hand down to steady himself, it landed on something soft and warm. Following his eyes to what his hand had hit all the blood rushed to his face as he noticed his hand rested on a naked breast. He quickly brought his offending hand back to chest, rubbing his eyes willing them to focus he was rewarded with Eloen smiling face staring up at him.

“I was wondering how long you were g
oing to sleep.” Eloen said sitting up, the light sheet falling away. Her breasts were tight and perky, with small light pink nipples. Thad couldn’t help but let his eyes slowly lower to her hard stomach, and then to the light hazelnut hair that peeked out of the top of the covers. He strained his eyes, his head pounding more trying to will the sheet to move just a little more. Suddenly he was brought back to his senses as Eloen let out a light giggle.

Thad’s face turned a bright red as he noticed that the sight of her naked body had gotten more than a small reaction from his body. Placing his hands over the offending body part he stuttered an apology
.

Seeming to enjoy his discomfort Eloen ran one of her fingers up his chest. "You're so innocent it's cute. As he finger reached the underside of his chin she leaned in giving him a
warm kiss her tongue darting in his mouth. At first it felt odd but he soon found his body responding without thought, as his hands moved up her back, pulling her into a deeper kiss. After a few seconds she pushed him back giving him a sultry smile. "As much as I would like to show you the pleasure of a woman, we need to talk. Now that the threat to the area is more or less gone and the Royal army will be here shortly to round up the rest of the vagabonds, I will be required to report to my duchess what all transpired here. I am fully aware without your help the town would have been lost, but I also know there aren't a lot of mages running around, your antics at the palace, and the fact the queen wants you in the worst way, is common knowledge."

As she spoke Thad slowly scooted to the edge of the bed, but was suddenly stopped by Eloen's strong hand. "Don't worry I'm not going to arrest you, and even if I did I know nothing of mages and after seeing what you're capable of and I don't fancy being burnt to a crisp. No what I was going to say is that you need to be gone before the army gets here, as gratefully as everyone is someone is still bound to tell them who you are. Now that all the boring stuff is out of the way, we could continue where we left off." Her words trailed off as her hands pulled him into another kiss, but their fun was short lived as the door to his room burst open.

He pulled the sheet up covering his chest as a very mad looking Monique stomped over to him. “What in the nine levels of the abyss.” The look she leveled him made him want to jump out the nearest window, because no matter how painfully dying might be he doubted it had anything on what she could inflict. “I get into town, and hear of a mage who fought off a throng of attacking bandits only to collapse at the end of the battle and stay unconscious for days, so I rush up here to check on you and what do I find, but you fooling around with some jezebel.”

“There’s nothing wrong with some harmless fun, maybe if you tried it you wouldn’t be wound so tight.” Eloen said getting up from the bed unabashed by her nude form and began putting on her battle leathers. “Next time we meet Thaddeus we will have to pick up where we left off.” She gave a slight giggle as his face turned bright red, and left him alone with a steaming Monique.

“She was here when I woke up, I didn’t, and well you see.” Thad placed his hands over his face as his headache seemed to strike back with full force.

Monique crossed her arms over her chest looking down at his her eyes like daggers. “So you weren’t in here running your hands all over her body, while you tried to see how much of your tongue you could ram down her mouth.”

Thad hung his head, what could he say that wasn’t an obvious lie. “I’m sorry.”

Monique dropped down hard on his bed took a few deep breathes and let a smile show on her face though it didn’t seem to reach her eyes. “Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been up to, when I arrived and came to inquire about you the innkeeper gave me your message and I must admit it gave me a bit of a shock, so I might have overreacted a little?”

Thad related everything that had happened to him since that had last parted Monique laughed and gasped at the appropriate parts of the story, and grabbed his hand giving it a tight squeeze when he got the part about Shariel.

“Sounds like you’ve had quite the adventure, and you say you’ve been dressing as a female, I would love to see that,” She said giggling
slightly, “a meeting with the queen that’s great though I’m going to have to think of a way to deflect her questions away from the magical items. What do you plan to do with the kid; I don’t think a sewer is a good place to raise her?”

"I want to get her into the school there in the capital, I was thinking about tagging along with you with your meeting with the queen and petitioning her for the right to buy a house, and allowing Shariel to attend the school. I can always sell my magical items for money though as I promised the majority will still be going to you; on that matter
i have a lot of them ready for you back in the capital."

Monique rubbed her chin, she always did that when she was thinking, Thad found it slightly on the cute side. "Seems like a good plan, if it doesn't work, well, we can just worry about that then. Now if I understand the situation right we need to get you out of town quickly and quietly. I think the innkeeper is the only one who knows I'm connected to you, I'll talk to her and tonight we can sneak you and Shariel into the coach."

Monique was nice enough to step outside and let him get dressed though she did tease him about his sudden shyness. When Shariel showed up with their meals Monique attitude changed completely as she began fawning over the little girl. Thad had to fight to keep from laughing at the two of them, when he became the subject of the conversation though his face quickly turned bright red as they two girls made him seem like the kid who was in need of a caregiver.

After night had fully fallen he and Shariel were visited by Brand, who with the help of the innkeeper suck them out the back door and into the waiting coach. They wouldn’t leave right away but later the next day so as to leave the impression that he and his young charge had disappeared in the middle of the night. It
was a great plan and one that Monique was fairly proud of.

Thad let Shariel take the bed, as he lay down to sleep on the hard floor. His body was still sore and his stitches pulled at his back every time he moved to try and find a more comfortable position, but it still didn’t take him long to fall asleep his mind still
exhausted from the battle.

The next morning started out ok but as the noise of kids merrily playing outside reached Shariel's ears it became increasingly difficult to keep her quiet. When Monique finally
steeped inside the coach and informed of them on their impending departure he could have almost jumped for joy. While he had little knowledge in how to keep a seven year old girl entertained Monique seemed to excel at it, in no time Monique was braiding Sherial's long blond hair, wrapping the dual ponytails with strips of bright green ribbons, then she let Shariel go through her Jewelry box trying on everything, with each new piece she would grab a little hand mirror an inspect to see how It looked and continue on, at one point she had so many pieces adorning her Thad couldn't help but laugh, though he regretted his decision as soon as both girls turned on him. "What, don't I look pretty?"

She had a ring on each finger four necklaces and a pair of small pearl stud earrings, her ears still red where Monique had pierced them for her and to top it off she had on one of Monique’s dark silk dresses that seemed to swallow her. “Yes you do, I would say any prince would beg you for a kiss.”
Shariel gave a high pitched squeal rushing over giving him a peck on the cheek, gaining a laugh from Monique. Suddenly the idea of living in the palace dungeons didn’t seem like such a bad idea.

Traveling with a car
avan was slow, and the first two days Monique refused to let him out of the coach except for short stops. He tried arguing that the army wouldn’t make it this far yet, but she refused to allow him free reign until his magic had recuperated to the point where he could safely use his magic. When he woke on the third day the pressure in his head had complexly disappeared so he cast a small light spell when he got no immediate pain from the feedback, he tried his disguise.

He could almost cry out in happiness but refrained as to now wake the two girls still sleeping on the bed. Spending every waking moment with a young lady might seem fun but she spent most of her time working on showing
Shariel how to do beadwork to pass the time, leaving him with nothing to do, and most the time when he tried to strike up a conversation she hushed him. You would think after all his time alone in the sewers he would have been used to being alone but without his books, and magic to keep him company he was going stir crazy.

He could have snuck out while Monique was sleeping but he feared how she would respond if she woke with him gone. Looking down at the two sleeping forms he
wondered if they were anything like what a real family was like. Monique sat up stretching her arms wide letting out something between a yawn and a groan. “Feeling better today?” she said rubbing the sleep from her eyes.

As was their morning ritual Thad turned around as Monique roused
Shariel from her slumber usually by tickling the poor child until she was near to tears. “Yes the headache is finally gone, and I already tested my magic, seems I’m completely healthy again.” He could hear Monique and getting dressed and he had to fight the urge to peek over his shoulder. She had warned him that if he did they would be giving the horses a break and he would be pulling one of the carriages for the day, and he was not altogether sure she was joking.

"We should be reaching Shiel sometime this afternoon, and since we have to keep up the facade that you're a woman you will have to have your own room, Shariel can sleep in a room with me. Do you need anything from
town, I need to see if I can sell some of the wool and meats I picked up in Tremon. I heard about the attacks on the farms while I was down there and I figured I could make a hefty profit." Thad gave her a sad look. "Don't give me that we're merchants, I understand people are hurting but I'm not running a charity, don't worry I won't charge them too much just enough to make a fair profit."