Davie the Mage (Generations of Eredwynn Book 2) (9 page)

              The other three consort girls dressed for the outdoors and were ready to help, serving food and drink to the crews as needed. Amber and I went down and stood out of the way to watch the crews work. As logs started coming in to the construction area, my brother Alec, Alice’s son, shaped them into heavy beams and stacked them for the next phase of building.

              As the work day drew to a close, my mother and Lia stopped by. Now that her son had his own castle, it seemed as though she’d found her new favorite hangout. I rounded up all my girls and we started for the castle.

              A messenger boy intercepted us and said we had a visitor waiting outside the throne room. I ported us all to the throne room, lit it up and then called for the visitor to be shown in. A not very handsome man came through the doors and looked around.

              “Good evening, Your Highness. I’d heard that you’d shut down your court during the transition but hoped I could see you anyway.”

              “Good evening, sir. We are shut down for a while but happened to be close by when we heard we had a visitor. Who are you, may I ask?”

              “Begging your pardon Sir, I’m Lord Pricion. I used to come and do business with Lord Tassin quite often. I’m hoping that I’ll be able to continue this trade with you.”

              I nodded. “Any trade that benefits our castle, province and kingdom would be welcome. What is it that you and Lord Tassin were trading?”

              He chuckled, “Judging from the beautiful young ladies that you have with you, I can guess that you’ve discovered what we were trading. He was holding four young ladies for me and I have six that I was to trade for them. I see that they are all dressed in very fine clothes and that makes me think that you’ve decided to keep them for yourself. I’ll take one of them for two and make no fuss about the others.”

              Through clenched teeth my mother said, “Davie,
stun
this man!”

              Without a thought, I reacted to my mother’s order. The man crumpled under my
stun
spell and I looked at Mom. “Mother, is there a really good reason you had me stun a visiting Lord in my throne room?”

              “He was talking about taking and trading consorts against their will! You know that your father won’t allow that kind of thing in this kingdom. He went toe-to-toe with your grandfather over the very same thing. I’m going to Wizard’s Castle and will bring him here. Call in some guards and have this man held until we get back.”

              “Yes ma’am.” I called for guards to lock the unconscious man in an unused, windowless office. Mom ported out and the girls gathered around me.

              Amber said, “You won’t let him take them, will you? I’ve come to love them and don’t want some ugly man taking them and doing who knows what to them.”

              I shook my head. “They are our girls and won’t go anywhere they don’t want to go. I assume all four of you would prefer to stay here?”

              All four of our girls started to talk at once and then just settled on nodding their heads.

              Lia spoke softly, “You know that your mother is going to have that man’s castle searched. We just took on a new group of Novices and between them and the other girls who still are living at Wizard’s, space is short. If they find a bunch of women being held against their will, Father may want to house them here. Your castle is almost empty and you could sleep twenty on the second floor alone. If things were tight, you could put ten more on the third. I guess my question should be directed to Amber. How are you going to feel if this place is suddenly flooded with thankful women?”

              Amber smiled. “Lia, Davie loves me and we’ve talked about things. We have these four girls who want to be with us. I’m sure that if Davie was tempted, he could talk to me or work the temptation out with one of the girls. I’m not worried about other women showing up.”

              Lia chortled, “‘Work the temptation out?’ I’ve never quite heard it put that way before. I just had to ask.”

              Amber nodded. “You’re just looking out for us because you love us. And to think, some people think that you have a mean streak!”             

              Lia cringed. “I’m killing my bad reputation with all this niceness. I need to start thinking of malicious things to do to try to get it back!”

              Amber went to Lia and hugged her. “We love the nice Lia and don’t think you have to change. When you’re being nice, you come around more often and we get to go shopping!”

              The mood changed as Father stormed into the room. The guards working the throne room bowed low and the girls hid behind Lia and me. He was a very angry man and Father doesn’t do angry well. Outside, I heard the voices of several aunts and Queen Isabel. Father asked the guards in a very civil tone to bring Lord Pricion out.             

              My father took the throne while a still-dazed and a bit confused man was led and placed in front of him. When he saw my father on the throne, he turned white and bowed low.

              “Lord Pricion, I’ve just received some disturbing news. I heard that you were keeping and trading consorts against their will. Is there truth to these allegations?”

              “Your Majesty, Lord Tassin and I have been trading consorts for many years. On occasion they would protest that they didn’t want to be consorts but they usually came around. They were just common girls, after all, and we would always give them a roof, plenty to eat and fine clothing. There was no harm done.”

              My father made a motion toward the door and a messenger boy left on the run. I listened for and heard the pop of teleport from the square. My father said, “I have just dispatched twenty wizards to search your keep, castle and grounds. We will wait and decide how the ‘common girls’ have been treated under your care. Be aware that some of the wizards who will be searching can see through solid rock. I hope, for your sake, not a single girl is found locked in a dungeon until she ‘comes around’.”

              “My Lord, surely you know that sometimes consorts can be stubborn. You have over a dozen yourself! You can’t say that you’ve never had to lock one or two up to punish them and to convince them to fall in line!”

              Lia and I cringed as father stood up. “I’ve shown my ladies nothing but respect in the almost twenty years we’ve been together. I’ve never once even threatened to put one of them in a dungeon or even so much as raised a hand in anger. I can judge by your actions that there may be bad things found at your castle, so for your safety when my ladies get back, you’re going back where you were.” My father signaled the guard and had the terrified Lord placed back into the office. He instantly changed moods and came towards us. “I see a lot of beautiful, happy and healthy faces here. I guess it’s safe to assume that my son isn’t keeping any of you girls against your will!”

              The girls all smiled and shook their heads. Lia said, “I would have hated to see what Davie would have done if that man would have tried to take one of his girls. It’s the quiet type that you have to watch.”

              My father laughed, “I have to argue that point. I know I have to watch you all the time and you’re nothing like a ‘quiet type’.”

              We chatted with my father for a while and the girls finally got over their awe of being spoken to by the king. Amee said, “Sir, if they find girls over there and they’re hurt or something, what’s going to happen to them?”

              “That’s a good question, young lady. My keep and the dorm are pretty full and the emptiest castle in the kingdom is this one. I’m sure that I could put some of them up in the homeless shelter in Tesil, but that wouldn’t take care of all their needs. What do you suggest I do?”

              Amee was startled that he’d asked her opinion but took a breath and said, “Davie is a wonderful young man and wouldn’t want to see anyone not taken care of. Being an unwilling consort is a scary thing, as four of us know firsthand. They will be scared and there is no telling what else was done. I’d ask Davie if he’d take care of them and I’m sure that all the girls would help, too.”

              “Well, Son, you heard the wise words of this young lady. Would you be willing to lend rooms and a hand to taking care of any women we happen to free?”

              I looked at Amber and she nodded. “Of course we would, Father. Not a single one of us likes what’s happened. We could take care of them until they were fit to leave, find other work or be adopted by my wife. She isn’t as bad as James’ Star about picking up every girl she walks by, but has opened her heart to these four and who knows.”

              “You’re a wise man, Son. I saw you check with your wife before you answered. I’m sure that you got that from watching me be decisive when Isabel is around. I hope that we find nothing, but from his actions and comments about locking up consorts, I’m sure we will. I have no idea how many there will be but we won’t overload you. How many could you take if there were many brought back?”

              “If we doubled them up, we could take thirty. I have ten rooms on the second floor and five on the third that are open. If we had to, I’m sure my girls would allow for a roommate, making room for an extra four. So, we could handle thirty-four in a worst-case scenario. The kitchen staff and maids would get a workout but they just got a raise, so I don’t think I’d hear any complaints.”

              A guard stuck his head in from outside and said, “Pardon me, Sire, but the escort of the Lord who arrived is getting nervous. What should we tell them?”

              My father said, “Have them send in any females that they brought with them to trade and tell them that Lord Pricion is in a meeting. We’ll tell them anything else they need to know later.” He then turned to me. “I wonder if Della is going to be willing to let Seth take over the castle that is just about to become available. It is in the middle of the country in almost a straight line between Kethos and Perlsea. I’d have sons controlling all the northernmost castles then. I tried to give this one to Alec, but he is a lot like his mother, Aunt Alice, and likes travel and hands-on work. Lord Pricion sure traveled a long way to get arrested!”

              Six young women, beaten, bruised, wearing tattered clothing and no shoes were escorted though the door. My girls and Lia, with lightning flashing in their eyes, went to them and took them upstairs. I looked at my father and wondered if this Lord was going to make it out of my throne room alive! I was frightened because I’d never seen the man that angry.

              There was a loud pop outside and the rescue team started filing in. From the looks on their faces, they’d found some captive consorts. Sixteen more girls came in with them. All were dressed as poorly and looking as abused as the six that had already come in. Father told Aunt Chloe that she was needed upstairs and she took off, skipping the stairs altogether. My Aunt Isabel walked over to father and me and said sweetly, “My dear husband, where is the man who is responsible for this?”

              “You need to calm down first, my Queen. I can tell that you think that killing would be too good for him right now but you’d do it anyway. I need you, Davie and the others from the rescue to help me decide what to do.”

              Isabel said, “There’s nothing to talk about. One
flamestrike
and the matter is closed.”

              I was in a room full of incredibly powerful wizards and they were all out for revenge. I’d never seen my calm, mellow and passive family like this before. Then again, I’d never seen them witness, first hand, human sex trafficking before, either. All the girls I’d seen brought in were between twelve and eighteen years old. Just the right age for the illegal traffic of consorts that my father had thought he’d wiped out in Eredwynn.

              My father said to Aunt Isabel, “I understand that everyone is angry but acting out of anger and in haste causes mistakes. You know how we do things as a family and that is what we’ll do here.” He had every one of the wizards gather up and then the punishment of this Lord was discussed. It took a while for things to settle down to rational discussion because of the anger in the room. With father and Aunt Alice being rational and calm, they finally got down to business. In short order, it was decided that he would be given a pack with a bedroll, rations and other supplies and banished to the Elvin Forest in the badlands. With some help, I quickly gathered up the things that were asked for and put the pack on the floor in the middle of the throne room. The wizards circled the room and father signaled the guard to bring Lord Pricion back out. He came out, glanced at the pack on the floor and then faced my father.

              He said, “Your Highness, I don’t understand all the fuss. I took a few common girls to my bed. Sometimes they acted like they didn’t want to be there, but I made sure they did their duty.”

              My father took a deep breath, “That isn’t called ‘making sure they did their duty,’ it is called ‘rape’ and is a crime that I won’t stand for. All of those ladies are being treated and your mistreatment of them is being healed. I fear that the mental abuse they suffered at your hands may never be mended. It has been decided that death would be too easy of a punishment for you. You will hereby be transported to the Elvin Forest in the badlands. You’ll be given a bedroll and other supplies. My family and I survived that area and it is relatively safe. If you try to leave, the Elvin charms won’t protect you and there is a very good chance you’ll be killed. That is all I have to say on this matter.