Earth's Magic (28 page)

She pointed to the dog’s hind end. Both fluffy tails were twitching slightly, then one began a feeble wagging. “I don’t believe your healing power is as weak as you think.”

Startled, Merlin looked down. The dog’s paws twitched. Deliberately now he ran his hands along Rus’s spine, sending what healing he could out through his fingers. It felt different somehow, stronger. He tried to envision all the bones and nerves being whole and connected. In his mind, he conjured the picture of Rus frisking about as always.

Both tails began slapping against the ground. The left head raised and gave a little yap. The right head gave a convulsive sneeze, then yapped as well.

Merlin closed his eyes, shutting out everything but the feel of his fingers running along the furry back and the vision of what he was trying to restore. Minutes passed. A wet tongue, then two wet tongues, lapped his face. He opened his eyes and stared into four sparkling dog eyes.

“That was amazing!” Heather cried as she hugged him, then hugged the happily wiggling dog.

Merlin shook his head. “Something surely has changed. I don’t know if it’s what you brought about with the words or if it comes from the Earth power I called or maybe it is the joining of the two. But it’s a big change—and a good one.”

He stood up, experimentally putting weight on his formerly broken leg. It still ached a little, but the sharp pain was gone. Looking down at the now quiet battlefield, he sighed with apprehension. A great deal of death as well as victory lay before them. “We’d better see how things stand down there.”

Striding across the plain with Rus trotting on one side and Goldie on the other, they soon reached the edge of the trampled, bloodied grass. There were bodies lying about, some human, some not. There were also survivors. Healers moved quietly about aiding the wounded. Those with few injuries were walking toward the center of the field. Merlin and Heather joined them, noting as they did that mixed with the humans were people with multiple arms, wood spirits, trolls, intelligent-looking animals, and even a few muties, some pale, some deformed, and some very hairy. There was also a tall man with a bird head and arms covered in shiny black feathers. The Raven Spirit nodded at Merlin before striding on.

“Look,” Heather exclaimed, pointing to a large spotted cat loping along on the other side of them. It was wearing a golden headdress topped with feathers. “That’s got to be Jaguar.”

Just then something tackled Merlin about the knees. “Great Wizard safe!” Troll squealed. “Cowardly silver worm say you snatched away through rock.”

“I am
not
cowardly!” Sil protested as he landed in a flurry of wings in front of them. “I tried to dig away that rock and follow until three weird women popped up and told us to get to the
battle, we’d find you there. I’m glad. It was a great battle.” He smiled a toothy fire-flecked grin, then turned and butted heads with Goldie. “Tag. You’re
it
!”

Instantly the two young dragons were flapping into an airborne game. Merlin looked down at the happily grinning troll. “And Arthur? How has he fared?”

“King okay. He fight real good. Red worm too. Worm burn nasty folk on one side, and King use sword on other.”

They all hurried now to where the Dragon banner waved in the center of the battlefield. Soon they saw King Arthur talking with Otto and a younger woman general. They all looked very battle-worn. The King’s armor was splattered with blood, not all of it red. Under the crowned helmet, his blond hair fluttered in the fresh, stiff breeze blowing over the plain.

Merlin and Heather were both relieved to see that Welly was there with him too, as was Takata, although Welly had one arm in a sling and Takata’s black hair was mostly hidden under a bloody bandage. Sitting beside the King, Red the dragon posed regally and looked into the sky, where a large white dragon and an even larger black one were happily swooping and diving around each other. Soon smaller gold and silver dragons joined them.

The King gestured to Red. “Go on, go meet your dad. The fighting’s done.” With a happy snort, the horse-sized dragon eagerly flapped upward toward the aerial reunion.

Then the King saw the approaching group. “Merlin, Heather! You’re safe! Thank the gods! And you did this, didn’t you, old man? The incredible light, the sudden feeling of change, you brought that about somehow.”

“Heather did it mostly, and I helped … along with a lot of others.”

Roughly the King hugged Merlin. “Well, we missed you
here. But we had some amazing allies as well. Here’s one now. Claims she’s met you before.”

The crowd around the King parted as a little old woman hobbled through. In a flurry of colorful fringed shawls, she scampered up to Merlin and slapped him on the back, nearly knocking him off his feet.

“Glad to see you again, kid. My, that beard of yours is finally a little less mangy-looking! Sorry you missed all the fun, though. A roaring good fight, this was too! Haven’t had this much fun in centuries. Once we finished with the nasty bloodsuckers in that gloomy old castle and I got my folk tucked safely underground again, I just had to come and join you.”

Hopping like a bird, she turned her attention to Heather. “And you’re the girl who’s been mind-talking with little Ivan. Good thing too. Those words you sent sure did the trick. The sky all lit up like at the North Pole, and the nasties we hadn’t already bashed just sort of shriveled up. This mind-talking’s great stuff.”

Spinning around, she addressed Arthur. “Hey, King, once we all get settled again, we ought to set up some big worldwide council. A way we can talk about stuff, through these kids with the mind thing. Now that we all know there are lots of mortals and immortals still around, we got to talk, not fight. Sure don’t want things to end up like they did before with folks blowing each other to smithereens. Well, better go. My poor pale folk back home are lost without their Baba.” She turned, then swiveled back to Merlin. “Now, wizard boy, be sure you send me an invitation to the wedding. Got to go. Ta ta!”

With that, she scuttled off as Arthur hurried to escort her. Nimbly she clambered into a colorfully painted wooden cottage that had been patiently waiting nearby. Immediately the house rose up on giant chicken legs and hopped away, finally disappearing into a black cleft in a nearby hillock.

“Wedding!” Troll squealed excitedly. “Yes, big wedding. Lots of guests. Lots of prezzies!”

Merlin groaned. “A
big
wedding? Well, maybe my father can come, at least.”

“And your grandparents,” Heather added slyly.

Merlin paled, thinking of the effect Arawn would have on other wedding guests. “Maybe, actually, we should elope.”

Arthur had just returned to them. “That Baba woman is amazing,” he said to Merlin. “You should have seen her bashing about with that giant wooden pestle of hers. But we had even stranger types here. Your black Chinese dragon, of course, and there were glowing people with lots of arms; a couple of giants; folk that were half horse, half man; Eldritch; trolls; people with animal heads; and a really fierce golden bird, who incidentally brought greetings from Heather’s friend in southern Africa. A fine Eldritch warrior with green hair sent his particular greetings to you, Merlin. He said he hoped to be seeing you again soon.”

The King looked curiously at his wizard. Merlin smiled but decided this wasn’t the time to talk about his amazing expanded family.

Arthur shrugged, then continued. “And, you know, there were even some muties fighting on our side, pale ones, shaggy ones, and a bunch of others. We’ve some work to do there, all right. But I do think Baba Yaga’s idea of a world mind-talking council is a good one.” He laughed. “It’s certainly going to be quite a different mix.”

“That it will,” Merlin agreed. “This whole world is going to see quite a lot of differences. Some very surprising, I think.” As he talked, he scanned the crowd gathered now around the King’s banner. Not far away another banner fluttered, bearing the Red Lion of Scotland.

“Look, Margaret,” the King called. “Look who’s back!

Red hair spilling from under her helmet, the Queen glanced up from the sword she was cleaning and waved. “Merlin! Your friend Tawert here told me you were on your way.”

Standing beside her, the perpetually pregnant hippopotamus goddess smiled smugly.

The Queen began walking toward them, then suddenly swayed. Tawert caught her quickly.

Alarmed, Arthur ran to her. “Margaret! Are you hurt?”

“No, no,” she said quickly. “Just a little … queasy.”

Beside her, the hippo snorted. “King, you certainly are dense. Don’t you know morning sickness when you see it?”

The King looked confused. “Morning? But it’s … Oh. You mean …”

Margaret smiled. “That’s right, Arthur. We’re expecting an heir.”

“What … Why … Why didn’t you tell me? I never would have let you fight in this battle!”

“Which is precisely why I didn’t tell you. I’ve been training all my life as a warrior. I wasn’t going to miss the greatest battle of all time.”

“But suppose—”

Growling, Tawert interrupted him. “King, I am a goddess of pregnancy and childbirth. I’ve watched over the birth of three thousand years’ worth of pharaohs. So quit worrying and start running this little country of yours. Your queen’s doing her job, you do yours.”

“Right,” Arthur said, abashed. Then he grinned at Margaret. “But no more fighting for a while, all right? Except maybe about what we name the child.”

She laughed. “Oh, I’m sure after a few skirmishes, we’ll come up with a name that the future will like.”

“The future,” Arthur said musingly. Then wiping away what
might have been tears from his face, he looked out at the crowd that had slowly been gathering around the royal banners. They all were looking expectantly at their victorious king.

Exuberantly he jumped on a battered wooden trunk that normally held armor and raised his voice. “You all deserve a grand, ringing speech, but there are simply no words to express what I am feeling this day, after a monumental battle, after your amazing victory … and after your Queen has just told me that we will soon be having an heir!”

Cheering erupted around them and quickly spread to the far reaches of the ragged crowd.

Arthur continued, “Because of what you have done today”—his wide gesture swept the crowd—“all of you, humans, Otherworlders, magic wielders, and muties … Because of what you have done here today, our child and your children will have a future. And even when all of our names are lost in myth, this time that we have lived together will be remembered!”

At that, cheering burst out again, sweeping over the battlefield, rising into the brilliant sky.

Quietly, as attention was focused on the King, Merlin and Heather, arm in arm, walked to the edge of the crowd. “It’s an odd thought,” Heather said, “becoming a myth to people living in the future.” She laughed. “But then, I guess that’s not a new experience for you.”

“No, but thanks to Earth and the Fates, it’s a future I’ll be sharing with you.” Merlin wrapped his arm around Heather’s waist and was about to kiss her when he felt a tug on his sleeve. He looked down into Troll’s eager face.

“Great Wizard and Nice Lady in luck! My lady troll friend here is a good warrior and also famous wedding planner! She plan all high troll weddings. We get working on yours soon?”

Heather smiled politely at the squat female troll who stood grinning beside him. “Yes, soon. But not just
now.”

“Got it,” the lady troll chirped as she clamped onto Troll’s arm and dragged him away. “What say, Sweet Ears, we leave these two alone for now?”

“Right. But the prezzies! Got to plan for
big
table for prezzies. These important peoples.”

“Humph. You got lot to learn. One table? Best weddings got
two
prezzie tables.”

Merlin and Heather watched the two as they bickered back into the crowd. Then Heather laughed. “That future we were talking about certainly is starting with a flourish.”

Hugging her, Merlin nodded. “The Earth Spirits and even the Fates said they weren’t going to predict how all this would turn out. But sharing the world with mortals and gods, walking myths and muties …”

“And magic workers,” Heather added.

Merlin laughed. “And magic workers … is certainly going to make for a very
interesting
future.”