02 Wrath of Flames Page 17

  “But what about the Gargoyles sitting at the next table. They are looking right at us.” Floa whispered.

  “They see us talking, but not what we say.” Kanade revealed her use of magic writing in the air from out beneath the table. “I made it so no sound leaves this table, but unfortunately I need to spell both you Minna and Blossom.”

  “Yeah! Me first Auntie Kanna!” Blossom, now looking like a ten year old and spoke without a lisp, crawled under the table and into her surrogate aunt’s lap. “What spell?”

  “You and Minna are too young to be completely trusted to not accidently tell anyone. Until your Uncle Ethan stops the bad ol Demon, you cannot speak of this conversation to anyone. Hold out your hand, Sweetie.” Blossom did and giggled ‘It tickled.’ Before doing Minna who understood just enough that it was serious, it helped when Kira said she trusted Kanade and all would be well.

  “We all need to rest so do so. Be armed and ready to go if Odin sends Floa to get us together and off to stop her. Reevy, keep up the good work.” Ethan said after eating.

  ‘Thank you.’ The Naga woman mouthed and was genuinely relieved to hear the Fire Elemental was a secret weapon and fully briefed to be her backup if the Agas showed up.

  “JORMUN!!!’ Ethan yelled down off the drawbridge after eating.

  A massive ‘Crack’ screamed from frozen ice of the moat. Overnight the chilly air and snow froze several inches, but was nothing compared to the massive snake writhing beneath. To help out, Ethan made sure everyone was off the bridge, which was mandatory after once minor scalding incident. Then jets of fire spewed from both hands like napalm and clung to the ice which turned quickly to water. Steam rose up till a massive wedged head rose out, tongue testing the air and flames. The massive World Snake could make a light snack out of Ethan, but never eats unless it is a Dragon once per year. “Good to sssee you thisss morning.” Hissed the deep voice like a bull horn in one’s ear. “I am ready to warm again.”

  Ethan stepped back with Kanade as Jormungandr leaned forward and opened his great maw. A loud sound of someone gagging came from the snake while thick muscles pulled round boulders from his stomach and regurgitated all ten granite spheres, each as tall as seven feet to eight. Foul smelling stomach acid and bile rolled off the slimy rocks, but a mere thought sizzled the bile was no more. He got right to work simultaneously boiling the entire southern half of the moat as well as internally heating up the spheres.

  “Ssso niccce.” Jormungandr hissed. “Much more comfortable than ssswallowing Ccclesstia’sss feathers that give indigessstion all winter long. And hot water is sssuch a luxury. I needn’t sssleep so deeply.”

  “All done, Jormun. See you after dinner.”

  “Thanksss again, Elemental. We are friendsss now.”

  “Weren’t we before? As long as you don’t try eating me you stay nice and toasty. Otherwise Celestia’s feathers are the least of your worries.”

  Jormun shook in a laugh to the mild banter as Ethan pat the snake’s nose before gobbling up the hot rocks and swimming in the moat/river while it was too hot for anyone other than the fire resistant super snake.

  “Be back in a few minutes, Kanade. I need to go heat up the lake.”

  “I’ll sit by one of the hearths.” She turned around and did just that.

  “About time you show up!” Queen Gra said in a robe hiding a bikini along with many Amazons and all manner of those wanting to swim.

  Ethan grinned. “Want to arm wrestle again, Your Highness? Or will you play nice with Floa for sitting in Tattoo’s lap last week. Otherwise you’ll freeze your ass off and I’ll not heat the lake today.”

  The Amazon seethed, already knowing his strength surpassed hers and it pissed her to no ends a man was physically stronger than her. Still, she liked to go swimming like everyone else outside once learning of his services. “You do realize I can freeze your assets?”

  “And you realize your ass will literally freeze in that robe if I do nothing?”

  “Fine!” She threw her hands up. “I’ll lift my challenge on her. Now hurry up and heat this place!”

  “By your wish, Your Majesty.” He bowed and earned some heavy stares and a few laughs from many seeing the queen strong-armed by the most powerful warrior in the whole house. Wreathed in fire, the thin sheen of ice crystals went bye bye when faced against his unique skill until it was perfect and those waiting to play outside as the sun rose. And Queen Gra’s anger melted as she swam out her frustrations and let the magic of hot water seep in her bones. “Till tomorrow!” he yelled and got waved back by many thankful for the offered service at reasonable prices.

  Kanade laughed almost the entire way to meet with Morgane as he told her about confronting the queen of all Amazons.

  Morgane activated the scanner and sat down to sigh. “Alright, Love. I’m tired of you always looking at me like that. Tell me what it is you want?”

  “Is it that obvious?” Kanade blushed and Morgane merely lifted a single delicate strawberry as if to express ‘I’m waiting on an answer.’ In a small embarrassed voice she spoke and knew only the two of them could hear each other as Ethan couldn’t hear anything once the dome activated. “It you. I’m rather jealous of your beauty, Lady Morgane.”

  “Wasn’t expecting that.” She admitted in all honesty. “Child, you are more than a vision of beauty as well…”

  “I don’t mean just pretty. I know I’m pretty by nearly all standards. I mean beautiful. Your calmin’ and relaxed demeanor, aura is so wonderful to be near, but my jealousy stems from what you wear. I love pretty dresses, but they don’t love me. And that is all you wear and I’m envious. I have sexy skirts I can only wear at home. I’m forced to wear pants and shorts outside, but I want dresses. What is worse is Ethan wants me to wear dresses, at least in his mind. Long, flowin’ clothes that are the height of feminine sensuality. Dresses emphasize our curves and I am quite curvy. I do not want just functional, I want feminine and you are my dream vision if I could do it, but it is impossible.” She drawled and couldn’t hold the High Witch’s solid and unwavering gaze so she looked at her boots. “What I wouldn’t do to wear somethin’ so beautiful. And earrings! Heels, bra and a thong are all I have to make me feel like a woman. I know Ethan loves me, but I wish to walk arm in arm in a dress to be his other half. He is all male and nearly as tall as me, but I do not feel completely woman.”

  “So you still haven’t learned how to keep your dress from blowing over your head when your wings take you off or is it fear someone will look up you skirt?”

  “Wait a cotton pickin’ minute, you mean…” She couldn’t finish her own thoughts as the multitude all seemed to have shut down.

  “Here is a little story you might enjoy. About four centuries ago, when I found Merlin as my soul mate, he was playing with a few human kingdoms under the name Loki. He didn’t know I made the spell to search for him and at that day he was hosting a gala. I knew him, but when his eyes saw me in a dress he grinned like usual and used a powerful spell to whip my clothes off, after cutting my corset of course. There I was naked to the world and was being laughed at, but he didn’t suspect anything till I cursed him with barking like a hound every time he opened his mouth. He growled and took me to his room and barked constantly, wanting me to lift my curse. Instead, I made him purr once I ripped him out of his clothes as well.

  “The next day he destroyed another of my pretty gowns, but I learned my lesson on the third day when we got married. He tried removing my dress, but no matter what he did, whether wind, force or brute strength he couldn’t lift the skirt. He didn’t try too hard, but if he did, his spells sometimes went overboard. I spelled my dress to not lift by any outside force other than my own. Aside from sashaying, have you noticed you rarely see my feet unless my dress is slightly shorter?”

  “Now that I think about it… No.”

  “My spell combination. But then in the nineteen forties, Merlin went in with the fad where boys put mirrors on their shoes to p
eek. Needless to say, my husband is incorrigible and effortlessly tempted. His foot always stayed under my dress and one day I succeeded in crafting a shading spell I teach all my girls and students who love wearing dresses. And what I love about the shading spell is even if I wear a skirt so short my sex shows, it is hidden. No matter how hard anyone looks they can’t tell if I’m wearing panties, nothing or if I’m even a man. Some cross dressers love my spell. Though I have to give a little power to each dress to maintain the cloth since I hate wearing leather.” Her lightly freckled pert nose wrinkled. “But if you like, I can show you the sequence. You can wear dresses to your heart’s content, Love.”

  “Please, please, please! I’ll do anythin’!”

  “Not to worry. Seeing a lovely child looking good in a dress will be payment enough. Memorize this exact paragraph. It combines the shadowing with keeping the skirt in place and only can be removed by your hands… and only women can make this spell.” Morgane said in conspiracy.

  Too excited to speak, Kanade burned each rune in her memory as each light hung in the air. “Oh!” She squealed in girly delight to hug the High Witch. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

  Not long after, the scan finished and Ethan got up to put on clothes to find Kanade in a dreamy daze and knew she was imagining something romantic. He hated breaking her trance, but had to ask “How are things, Lady Morgane?”

  Kanade came around quick and they heard “You are officially seven foot one and nearly perfectly proportioned, more so than your first scan. A good sign that the potion is regulating as it should. The progress of your bones are still steady in the hollowing and getting dense at one to two percent each fortnight… despite Kanade’s claims of saying your semen tastes like sea-salt ice cream, I’ve gained no further information than your sperm is only a hundredth of a percent stronger than a healthy human’s. So we are still in the dark at where you come from. Still, Kanade, thank you for doing the test. But I can say that biologically you can breed. As soul mates your chemistry is optimum for having children.”

  “When did you learn this?!” Kanade said, squeezing his hand, happy to hear that even scientifically they were destined for each other.

  “Late last night when you let me take a sample. I wanted to tell you now and not disturb your hectic schedules. I have no further information to reveal, but we’ll not quit until we uncover where these changes come from. Until tomorrow, Children.” Morgane left a smiling couple.

  Instead of sleep, they melted into one another to celebrate.

  Hammering had a refreshed Ethan and Kanade welcomed home. After Merlin teaching how to use Kanade’s feathers as weapon, he finally got three hours of needed sleep before dinner and helping Jormungandr.

  The happy Enchantress kissed his bearded cheek and said “I’ll wait outside. Open the door before you do it.”

  Golden gauntlets in hand Ethan went downstairs and found his master working away, passed by and opened the front door to night with Kanade’s eager reflection watching it all. Celestia stopped due to why her student moved so mysteriously. Until she saw the cloth. “Finished are we?”

  “See for yourself.” He held out the cloth, but was quick when the Phoenix’s flames couldn’t be shielded against and grabbed them.

  Three digits took one gauntlet and went over every agonizing detail. Blew wisps of fire to sense inside. No aspect was lost in her observation. Her strong grip couldn’t dent or warp the metal. Then she did the same to the second. It took an hour till she had a twinkle in both eyes. “A true masterpiece worthy of the name Forgemaster. Congratulations, My Student. No other pupil has ever come so close to my standards so swiftly as you. I do not mean your abilities helped. By my own hand I couldn’t duplicate this exactly. You have passed, Ethan.”

  A huge grin and swelling chest was of pride at finally doing a worthy job. “So who was the client that requested me?”

  Celestia returned the gauntlet. “I made it all up. They are yours.” She admitted. “Go retrieve your normal gauntlets forthwith before I can explain.”

  A gentle wing nudged his confusion to obey. But as he did he thought Mine? Why the hell did she make me do it as a test? There are already so many waiting and I wasted a month and a half on this.

  Chapter 6

  Returning with the gray gauntlets clutched in one hand, Ethan found Celestia seated at the workbench with the golden gauntlets laying before her. Wild flames surrounding the Phoenix were calm, so calm all her pristine gold and red feathers shone more without being ruffled by the everlasting blaze. Celestia was so calm that Kanade could sit on an overturned bucket at the other side of the spacious room, next to the closed furnace with the shop door closed. Because of his abilities he couldn’t tell exactly how hot the room was, usually around nine hundred degrees, but if Kanade was inside and sweating, it could be no more than a hundred and thirty. Her collar protected only from Ethan’s traits, not natural heat nor of a fiery bird. She wasn’t comfortable, but she would stick around for as long as possible. “Celestia, why is Kanade in the same room as us. She is sensitive to extreme changes in temperature. Can’t she stay outside the door?”

  “I’m alright.” Kanade spoke for herself.

  “For what I have to say will not leave this room. Trust is hard to truly achieve for me. What I am going to say cannot leave here. Kanade already promised to not breathe a word of this night for the rest of her days except to you and only under the most private circumstances. I needn’t ask you because you are the most loyal individual I’ve come across in my lengthy life. For the few students and acquaintances I’ve made, you are singularly one I’ve truly befriended. Next to my mate, I trust you as my closest friend. We’ve spent months working alongside each other and speaking. Only once you dared snap at me, but you never made excuses whereas anyone else would have quit from being so thoroughly overworked.”

  “Because I had two main goals. One was to uphold my promise with Fate for returning my life to fight and the other was to see Kanade again and show I had changed. I’m still a nerd, but all I’ve endured has made me grow up into a more confident person.”

  “That is the truth I’ve witnessed.” The calm Phoenix allowed. “Back to what I was saying, you have become my best pupil and picked up my trade faster than any other. In six months you made a perfect blending of metals without using a scale to weigh out what you’d need. You properly used water displacement, just as I would have when designing a unique creation. I’m not sorry I lied about the client and I know you enough to realize you are bloody upset about it.” He nodded in all seriousness. “Well yes you could have done many more orders, but gauntlets, like chainmail, need much more attention since there are moving joints. And when I felt you were ready both mentally and was competent in working, I concocted this ruse as a final test. One you surpassed.”

  “But why? Why make me waste my time when others in need are desperately awaiting your weapons and armor? I could have potentially saved lives. Celestia, I have these.” He shook the gray material. “I’m not skilled in swinging a sword and Kanade made me powerful leather armor. If anyone gets that close and isn’t roasted, my hand to hand is almost at a master’s level.”

  “Hypothetically, can you grab a sword by the blade made by my hands with those?” She prompted him to think.

  “No… I see where you are getting the insulation. Even if they weren’t enchanted, copper in any weapon would instantly soften the scales enough to slice my hand clean off.”

  “Precisely!” Celestia pointed to his works of art. “If ever you are betrayed, you will not fall just because you were too stubborn to wear our trade. But now I’m going to reveal the true reason I had you make these. Place your Dragon scales beside the metal ones.” Right gauntlet lay by the right metal and left went to left. “This is the ultimate secret we Phoenix’s can share with only those who are worthy. Much like the Crescent Mirror that was destroyed forever, a Phoenix too can grant wishes, but only by free will. All of my feathers are precious
. I give some to be used for light among some of Order’s houses and two per year to Jormungandr to keep him from freezing. For him I wish my feathers to keep him hot and then die away without killing him after a few months. If I didn’t wish it and gave a feather, it would be just a simple feather with no mystical properties.”

  Celestia reached behind and plucked two of her most prized tail feathers, each over ten feet long and by far the most beautiful. “And as proof for your succession to a Forgemaster and a dear friend my wish is to give what I’ve given only to my mate, an unparalleled creation so priceless even the Spirit king would be jealous. I’m not as powerful as the Crescent Mirror, nor can I wish for world peace. But all Phoenix’s can tell when a wish can be granted and this one can. But before I begin, do you still wish to partner and work as a team here instead of leaving the nest?”

  “Why not? You’ve got plenty of space and a list out the wazoo. All I ask is that your customers know that my mark will belong to me although they are your customer. Or you can split your list and I can work on my own and get paid as much as you do.”

  “More than a reasonable bargain. Then I will make arrangements to select which clients and items will best suit you. I’m better with differently shaped species who fly while you excel in humanoids. I’ll see to it the funds are transferred to your account and you can buy your own materials…”

  “No, we do as we always have and share. We’ve got a good rhythm now. Set up a dual business account with two lines we can withdraw from while the joint account takes a percentage from each of ours to be set aside for the purified metals, charcoal and Nymph wood, perhaps even a few curing potions to better make hilts and grips. We keep our normal account, but can transfer from our business ones whenever we want, for whatever we want.”