Chapter 9

Saint Patrick's Day, the 17th of March, fell on a Wednesday this year, 2032. Sean and I had already helped Dad plow the fields in late February, and we had planted the seeds by the 1st of March, as we were having a warm spring this year. The past three years had seen the last freeze in Mid-March, and it hadn't been conducive to early planting. This afternoon, we were out checking the various fields on foot with Annie and Sara. They were still new to farming, and we wanted them to see the plants when they first came up out of the ground. We really enjoyed ourselves in the crisp afternoon air.

Dad and Uncle Will had given up on hiring people from the college to help run the presses and do other work in the print shop. The bookbinders were still okay, although they changed every few years. Uncle Will had started calling and e-mailing his old friends and acquaintances to see if they could help in the search for additional help. Many of them had already retired, but had sons or grandsons in the printing trade. He asked if any of them would be interested in working for Magic Ink Press. We had managed to acquire a small reputation in the trade.

Some hung up on him, and others didn't answer his e-mails. Enough of them did answer his enquirers that we eventually had a number of people come to be interviewed for the available positions. A fortunate few had the Talent in differing amounts, and we soon had two more pressmen trainees and a bookbinder trainee.

Alfred Collins was a pressman from Philadelphia. He stands 5'-10" tall, 165 pounds, 28 years old with brown hair and blue eyes. He had worked in the printing trade for nine years.

Cynthia Doyle was pressman from St. Paul, and she found Statesboro rather warm. She is a small woman at 5'-2" tall, 114 pounds, 36C-24-36. She was 25 years old, and has strawberry blond hair and gray eyes. She had worked in the printing trade for seven years.

Elysee Watkins was from Boston. At 5'-6" tall, 124 pounds and 36C-25-36, she was larger than Cynthia. At 27 years old she was two years older and had black hair and hazel eyes. She had been in the trade for five years and had worked in bookbinding for three years.

In the equipment department, it took time to find the kind of equipment that we wanted. Used Ryobi 3200 PFA presses were no longer available in good condition, and that model was no longer in production. The search for a suitable replacements was not going very successfully. Perfecting presses were still being made, but the majority of them were for four color work, and were larger than we needed or had room for. They were also very pricey, even used.

Uncle Will was lamenting his problem to an old acquaintance on the phone one day when he struck pay-dirt. He quickly came to see Dad, and I just happened to be there while they talked.

"I may have found something, Mark," Uncle Will told Dad.

"What are we talking about?" Dad asked.

"A new press. Well, used but new to us, and only ten years old!" Uncle Will told him, very enthusiastically.

"Okay, tell me more about it," Dad told him.

"I was talking to a fellow that I haven't seen in a while, and he told me that a company in Indianapolis is going over to all digital printing. They have a hybrid machine that they are getting rid of," Uncle Will told Dad.

"A hybrid machine! What's that?" he asked.

"It's a factory modified machine," Uncle Will explained.

"Modified how?" Dad asked.

"It started out as a Ryobi 524GXP, which is usually a four color machine, but has a perfecting unit built in to make it a 2/2 color machine. The people that own it did a lot of two color work in addition to plain black printing. They had Ryobi modify it at the factory. They split it into two units and had another perfecting unit installed so there is one between each section. Each unit has a paper feed and delivery system, and it's all still run from one control station. Additionally it takes a slightly larger plate, a 14" x 20", as opposed to our 3200 which uses a 13" x 18" plate," Uncle will explained. "It's a little expensive, too," he added, as an afterthought.

After consulting with our Moms, Dad and Uncle Will went to look at the press. It was larger and heavier than our current presses, but they struck a deal with the owner and had the machine shipped to Statesboro. We also got a newer plate maker and more bookbinding equipment during this time-frame. It was a major capital investment for our company, but would allow us to print the books more easily and faster. The equipment didn't all arrive until mid-April, and then wasn't fully operational until mid-May.

During this time, a number of other things were going on for the four of us. In mid-April, we were again out in the fields. Annie and Sara were amazed at how much the plants had grown in only four weeks or so. We were at the far end of the fields, and about to start back to the house when the flames appeared out of nowhere. The girls jumped back in fright, and Sean and I just stood there slack jawed for a few seconds, as none of us had even been thinking about Magic. In fact we had been thinking about getting back to the Carriage House to have a little fun up in the keeper's rooms with the girls, who were definitely in favor of the idea. I was the first one to recover.

"Something's up!!" I said, stating the obvious.

"Yea ... but what?" Sean asked. Annie and Sara had slipped back in our arms by now.

"What should we do?" Annie asked, quietly.

"YOU DON'T NEED TO DO ANYTHING, YOUNG ANNA," a deep male voice said from the flames, but no one was visible. The flames leapt and danced higher when he spoke.

"I AM THE VOICE OF THE ETERNAL FLAME. I HAVE COME TO SPEAK TO YOU ABOUT WHAT IS COMING. DO NOT WORRY. NO ONE CAN SEE OR HEAR OUR CONVERSATION, NOT EVEN YOUR FATHER OR YOUR SISTERS, AENGUS AND SEAN.

"A MEANINGFUL AMOUNT OF MAGIC HAS RETURNED TO YOUR WORLD. YOUR FATHER, MARK, HAS BEEN MY REPRESENTATIVE HERE FOR A NUMBER OF YOUR YEARS NOW. HE WILL CONTINUE IN THAT CAPACITY. HOWEVER, MARK AND YOUR MOTHERS CAN ONLY HANDLE A CERTAIN SMALL LEVEL OF POWER. YOUR FOUR SISTERS CAN EACH HANDLE MORE POWER THAN YOUR PARENTS CAN, AND WITH THEIR NEW HUSBANDS THEY WILL MAKE A STRONG BACK UP TO THE FOUR OF YOU.

"FOR WHAT IS COMING, THE FOUR OF YOU WILL BE MY PRIMARY REPRESENTATIVES ON EARTH. TOGETHER THE FOUR OF YOU ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN ALL OF THE OTHER SORCERERS ON EARTH COMBINED AT THIS TIME. YOU WILL NEED THAT POWER, AND WILL NEED TO BE ABLE TO FOCUS IT FOR THE EVENTS THAT ARE TO COME.

"BY MY TIME SENSE THESE THINGS ARE IMMINENT, BUT BY YOURS THERE IS STILL TIME FOR YOU TO PREPARE. FOR THIS PREPARATION, I AM PRESENTING YOU WITH CERTAIN GIFTS. THE FIRST OF THESE GIFTS ARE RINGS MADE OF A SILVER AND OSMIUM ALLOY. THERE ARE TWO HEAVY SILVER RINGS FOR EACH OF YOU. WEAR THEM ALWAYS AS YOU WILL NOT KNOW WHEN YOU WILL NEED THEM. THERE ARE ALSO LIGHTER RINGS FOR YOUR SISTERS AND THEIR HUSBANDS, AND FOR YOUR PARENTS. THEIR RINGS WILL NOT HANDLE THE AMOUNT OF POWER THAT YOURS WILL, BUT THE OTHERS ARE NOT AS POWERFUL AS YOU ARE EITHER.

"THE SECOND GIFT THAT I HAVE FOR EACH OF YOU IS A SWORD. THESE ARE MAGIC SWORDS. THEY WERE THE LAST FOUR SWORDS FORGED FOR HIS LORD, LONG YEARS AGO, BY AN OLD MASTER SWORDSMITH. THE SMITH DIED AFTER THEY WERE COMPLETED, BUT BEFORE THEY COULD BE PRESENTED. HIS LORD WAS NOT WORTHY OF THEM, AND I TOOK CHARGE OF THEM. I HAVE HAD A MASTER SORCERER IN ANOTHER REALITY ENCHANT AND INFUSE THEM WITH MAGIC. THEY WILL TEACH YOU ALL THAT YOU NEED TO KNOW TO WIELD THEM. YOU MAY KEEP THEM AT MY ALTAR WHEN THEY AREN'T NEED, IF YOU LIKE. THEY WILL ANSWER YOUR CALL IMMEDIATELY.

"THERE IS ONE OTHER THING THAT I HAVE FOR YOU. THAT IS THE KNOWLEDGE THAT YOU WILL REQUIRE TO ACCOMPLISH THE TASKS THAT WILL CONFRONT YOU IN THE FUTURE. I HAVE ADDED THAT KNOWLEDGE TO THE 'BOOK OF DREAMS'. YOU MUST SLEEP WITH IT STARTING TONIGHT. IT WILL TEACH YOU THE MAGIC REQUIRED. IT WILL ALTERNATE BETWEEN THE PAIRS OF YOU BY ITSELF. YOU WILL ONLY NEED TO GO TO BED AS USUAL. THIS PARTICULAR KNOWLEDGE WILL NOT BE AVAILABLE TO OTHERS WHO USE THE BOOK. IT WILL ONLY BE AVAILABLE TO THOSE POSSESSING A SUFFICIENTLY STRONG TALENT. YOUR CHILDREN WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS IT WHEN THEY ARE OLD ENOUGH.

"I WILL ALWAYS BE HERE WHEN YOU HAVE NEED OF ME. NOW GO AND BEGIN YOUR PREPARATIONS. YOU MAY PRESENT THE RINGS TO YOUR PARENTS AND SIBLINGS WHENEVER YOU THINK IT APPROPRIATE." The voice stopped then and the flames disappeared. Where they had been, there now sat two small very fancy caskets and a long box.

Sean opened the long box first to reveal four Japanese swords, Katanas, of exquisite beauty, and sharp enough to split a hair. Sean and I only looked at two of them for now before replacing them in the box. The shiny silver colored blades had lines of Magic rippling down them when withdrawn partway from their scabbards.

The first casket held four sets of heavy silver rings. When we opened it, the rings sparked once and instantly flew to the index finger of each of our hands. The casket closed by itself then and vanished. The second casket held sets of rings for nine people - our four sisters and their two husbands, and our Father and our two Mothers. The rings were not as heavy as those that Annie, Sara, Sean and I now wore.

"Wow!! This is some heavy duty shit!" Sean said, reflecting what we were all thinking.

"SEAN!! Watch you language," Sara admonished him with a scowl.

"Sorry, hon!" Sean said with an answering smirk.

"I think we need to get back to the house," I told the others, as it was noticeably later than it had been before the flames appeared.

"Yes, I think you're right, Gus," Annie agreed, and we all turned toward the house carrying the box and casket.

"When should we give the others their rings?" Sara asked.

"Later after we have gotten a handle on all of this," I told them.

We all returned to our rooms in our parents' house without meeting anyone. All thoughts of sex had been forgotten for now by the events of the afternoon.

On reaching our study room, we opened the sword box again. Sean and I reached in to remove the swords, but found that each of us could only touch one particular sword; the sword that was meant for just us. Annie and Sara had to remove their own swords from the box. I noticed immediately that the swords for the two women were a bit shorter than the ones that Sean and I held. A tape measure soon confirmed what I had noticed.

While Sean and I had blades 29.5 inches long, the blades on the sisters' swords were 27.5 inches long. Their Tsukas or handles were only 12 inches long compared to ours which were 14 inches long. The Nakago or tangs of all four swords were secured to the tsukas with two mekugi or cross pins to insure that the blade and handle didn't separate. All of the terms for the various parts of the swords had come into our minds naturally as we handled and compared the swords, or Katanas.

As the Eternal Flame had told us, these were the last and finest products of a Master Swordsmith and were very elegant in a reserved way. The handles were wrapped with silk Tssaka ito (handle wrapping cords) with silver Menuki (hilt ornaments) in the 'Land Dragon' pattern inserted under the wrappings on each side. The handle was wrapped in ray skin under all of this. The Tsuba (guard) was of the 'Dragon in Water' pattern. The Fuchi (lower pommel) and Kashira (handle cap or pommel) were silver and cast with dragons on them.

The Saya (scabbard or sheath) was lacquered in black and purple with sterling silver fittings, again with a dragon motif. There was also a cleaning kit in the box under the swords. After examining them we returned the swords to their box and set it behind the clothes hanging in the wardrobe in the study room. We would see what they could teach us tomorrow.

After showering and dressing for dinner, we went down to eat, as dinner was at our house tonight. After dinner, all of the women cleared the table and took the dishes to the kitchen to clean them. Dad signaled Sean and me to follow him to the den. Once seated, Dad had a question for us.

"Can you tell me what went on at the far end of the fields this afternoon?" he asked.

"How ... How do you know about that?" Sean and I asked in shock.

"I detected the spell that was used, but have no idea what went on," he told us.