Chapter 37

The following characters reenter the continuing story from Magic III:

Michael Sean O'Connell (Mike)

Shannon, Clare, and Gretchen's Husband, 5'-10" tall, 160 pounds, 35 years old, Auburn hair, hazel eyes

Michael Patrick O'Connell (Pat)

Sheena, Cathleen, and Petra's Husband, 5'-10" tall, 164 pounds, 35 years old, Auburn hair, gray eyes

Shannon O'Connell

Sheena's twin, One of Mike's Irish Wives, 5'-4" tall, 118 pounds, 36C-24-35, 34 years old, long flaming red hair. deep green eyes, some freckles, still very cute

Sheena O'Connell

Shannon's twin, One of Pat's Irish Wives, 5'-4" tall, 118 pounds, 36C-24-35, 34 years old, long flaming red hair. deep green eyes, some freckles, still very cute

Clare O'Toole O'Connell

Cathleen's twin, One of Mike's Irish Wives, 5'-4" tall, 116 pounds, 36C-24-35, 33 years old, long blond hair, gray eyes, some freckles, very cute, Mage

Cathleen O'Toole O'Connell

Clare's twin, One of Pat's Irish Wives, 5'-4" tall, 116 pounds, 36C-24-35, 33 years old, long blond hair, gray eyes, some freckles, very cute, Mage

Gretchen O'Connell

Mike's German Wife, 5'-5" tall, 129 pounds, 36C-24-36, 36 years old, long black hair, blue eyes, still a sweet but rather plain woman

Petra O'Connell

Pat's German Wife, 5'-3" tall 121 pounds, 36C-24-36, 36 years old, long blond hair, blue eyes, very cute

It was late when we arose the next morning. Sunshine and Rose had slept pressed against me all night, and we had gone to sleep as soon as we returned from Carrowkeel. It had been a long day for all of us.

This morning, they wanted to wash up, so I drew water and heated it for them. I cleaned our clothes from yesterday with a spell while they were busy, and cleaned up myself after they had finished. Kell and his twins joined us, before we all went down to breakfast.

"What do you think that Congal was looking for earlier in Cairn G?" he asked.

"Probably something that he thought would help in summoning the old gods of the Picts. We'll never know now. Did you feel the power of the wards that the Eternal Flame used to protect those Cairns?" I asked.

"Yes, even we felt it," Sunshine answered, and the others all agreed with her.

When we reached the dining area downstairs, we found it empty. This wasn't surprising, as it was a fine day, and the other guests had probably gone fishing -- bad hangovers and all. The women serving breakfast, however, were very talkative.

"Did you see all of the lights on the mountain last night, Masters?" one asked.

"Or hear the voices?" the other one asked. "It was very mysterious."

"No, we slept very soundly last night," Kell told them.

"It was probably only some thunder and lightning left over from the storm yesterday. It may have continued longer over the mountains," I told them. Our women hadn't said anything and only smiled. The servers didn't seem convinced, but said nothing more about it.

"Are we ready to check out?" I asked during the meal.

"Yes, we cleaned all of our clothes this morning, and only need to finish packing them," Airmid told me.

"We'll check out and then go to Kesh-Corran to take care of things there," I told them.

When Kell and I got to the stable, our horses were glad to see us. They hadn't liked the rain yesterday, and were eager to get out in the sunshine today, even the mare. Our ladies had collected our things from the rooms, and we paid our bills after taking care of the horses and hitching the mare to the cart. On the road, we only proceeded a short distance before we dismounted, checked the area for other people, calmed the horses, and transferred to the base of Kesh-Corran.

Arriving there, we used a ground ward to contain the horses while we were on the mountain. A question came up before we transferred up to the caves.

"Are you sure that Sunshine and Rose should go with us?" Kell asked. "It will be dangerous."

"They had no trouble last night, and watched our backs while we dealt with the Wizards. They can do the same thing to day. We four will all be busy with the wards, and will need someone to keep watch for trouble," I told him. It was agreed that we would all go.

We all cast our strongest wards around us before we transferred up to the cave area. Once there, the four of us set to work warding all of the entrances and exits to the Otherworld in this Reality. Sunshine and Rose kept watch while we worked, but no one appeared to challenge us, and in less than an hour we were finished. On returning to the base of Kesh-Corran, we calmed our horses again. It was also decision time once more.

"We have two weeks. What do you want to do with them?" I asked the others.

"We want to visit our Mother again for a few days before we return to Glenquin," Sunshine told me, as Rose nodded in agreement.

"We need to get back to Fantstown, but a couple of days of rest might be a good idea. We will be busy when we get back to the castle," Kell told us. That settled things for a time, and we transferred to Dyster O'Dea Castle after calming the horses once again, and canceling the ground ward.

The next few days were very relaxing. Of course we needed to explain where we had been, and what we had done during our absence, as everyone was anxious to hear our story. The O'Deas understood about running a castle estate, but were quite surprised to hear about our return to County Sligo, and our travels and actions there. Lady O'Dea was sad when her Daughters told her that we would be gone for some time, but cheered up when they told her that we would be married in a couple of weeks.

After three days there, we all transferred to Glenquin Castle. Kell and his twins stayed for a few hours, before they transferred to Fantstown Castle. He told us there was a lot to do there in the remaining time that we had. We agreed to meet here on the morning of the 28th of July to await the Eternal Flame.

Our days at Glenquin were filled with the usual activities. There were the crops in the fields to check, and also the herds and flocks of the villagers. Naturally, all of our people wanted to hear about our travels, and the confrontation with the Wizards. I was sure that those who had heard it directly from us exaggerated it on the retelling.

The Carpenter and the Mason were away at Fantstown Castle helping with the work there. The Smith was also helping them, but in his own forge here. Neither forge was large enough for two smiths to work in on different projects at the same time. I transferred him, and what he had fabricated for them, there later that week. It gave me a chance to check with Kell on how things were progressing. It turned out that things were going very well, and Kell and his twins were very happy with the progress that had been made.

During the second week, I also transferred Sunshine and Rose there so they could help with the crops in the fields. It turned out that the Master of Fantstown Castle still controlled quite a large area. Master Fiacha had never concerned himself with this, so there was quite a bit of work to be done. Sunshine and Rose were delighted to help out. It is what Mages do after all. The Mac Sweeney Sisters didn't understand that, not being Mages, but were happy to see them again for a few days.

The one thing that I was sure of was that I needed to determine a way to bring O'Connell Ale here. The local ale wasn't all that bad, but O'Connell Ale was much better. Kell definitely agreed with me on that. It would take quite a bit of ale to supply two castles and their villages. It was definitely something that we needed to think about.

One evening toward the end of the second week, I had a long talk with Eamon, my Castellan, in my apartment. I was sure that Kell would have a similar discussion with his Castellan.

"Eamon, we will be leaving for my Parents house to get married on the 28th. After that I will be attending college in our Reality."

"Will your Cousin also be leaving, Master Ken?"

"Yes, we will both be leaving to be married and to attend college."

"Will you be gone for long?"

"Our schooling will take some six years or more, but we will be able to return one or two days a week during that time, and for a couple of months each summer."

"That is a long time, but if you can return often things are not likely to get out of hand. After your schooling, will you be able to remain here, Master Ken?"

"That is something that I am not sure of. It will depend on what my Brothers and Cousins decide to do. Two of us will need to take over the positions that our Fathers hold at the college just as they took over those positions from their Fathers when they retired."

"Are these then Clan positions, that they are handed down to the most able in the clan?"

"No, that is not how things work at the college. The college can hire whomever they want. It's just that our clan has the most powerful Sorcerers in our Reality, and to retain their position as the best school to attend to learn Magic, the college has allowed us to retain the position of Head of the Department of Magic for the past several generations."

"Yours must be an exceptional clan then."

"Yes, our Mothers also run the Department of Agriculture. Sunshine and Rose may have to take that over if none of my Sisters want the job."

"So your clan has two Departments at this college?"

"Yes, we do. You have seen how Sunshine and Rose take care of the crops and fields. There are few in this Reality, or ours that have that Talent. That is how our two Mothers acquired that position. Two of our other Mothers work with our Fathers in the Magic Department at the college along with several other of our relatives."

"Yours is truly then an exceptional family to hold so many positions at a place of learning."

"Some of our relatives also teach Magic at other schools, but their schools don't have the Reputation that our school has."

"Where will you be married, Master Ken?"

"We will be married by the Druids in the Otherworld in our Reality."

"Have the Druids withdrawn there? Is there trouble in your Reality!?" a startled Eamon asked in concern.

"There are a number of other religions in our Reality. Several are very powerful, and had condemned the Druids long ago, but all of our clan has been married by them," I told him. There were many other things that we needed to go over dealing with the castle, the villages, the crops, and of course, the taxes due our Overlord, the O'Brian Duke of Thormond after the crops had been harvested. I assured Eamon that we would be back several times before the taxes were due.

The 28th arrived quicker than we wanted it to, and Kell and his twins arrived around mid morning.

"Are we late?" he asked, as they came through the gate. They had left their horses and the cart at Fantstown.

"No, we haven't heard from him, or seen him yet," I told Kell.

A new cart for my twins was the one sore point in our stay here. Cogan hadn't come up with one yet, but he had assured me that he would find one similar to the one that the Mac Sweeney Sisters have. We had all made a short trip to Limerick to see about getting one. It was supposed to have been a short trip anyway. All of the women insisted on going shopping while there, so it turned out to be an all day trip instead.

Many of our people were gathered in the bawn and on the wall walkways to see us off today. A few minutes after Kell arrived, the Eternal Flame appeared above the bawn. Many of our people shrank back in fear, even though I had explained about the Eternal Flame the night before to those in the Great Hall, and later to those in the Minor Hall. Its appearance was still a shock to many of them.

"Are you ready?" It asked in less that Its normal booming voice.

"Yes, we're ready," I replied, as my twins moved very close to me. Kell's twins had moved closer to him also.

"It will be six to eight weeks before you will be able to return," It told us, and our people before we vanished from the bawn at Glenquin Castle.

We instantly reappeared in the Glen of the O'Connell Realm in our Reality on the morning of the 15th of July. The women were shocked by the quickness and ease of it, even though they had already made many transfers with us.

"This is beautiful!" Airmid said, after looking around at all of the trees and the grassy field of the Glen where we had appeared, after she recovered. Sunshine and Rose had seen the break in the trees to the west, which they were closer to, and had gone to investigate.

"Fields! You have many large fields with various crops growing in them," they said happily.

"Yes, we grow much of our own food. We don't raise many animals for food though. We purchase most of our meat in town," I told them.

"Are you ready to face the music?" Kell asked me very seriously, shortly after that.

"Yes, we may as well get it over with!" I told him in resignation, as I took my twins by their hands, as he did with his. Kell and I both cast the transfer spell for my house. We would see who was there first. We both appeared in my Parents' large parlor to find both sets of Parents there waiting for us!!

"Welco... ?" our Mothers started, but fell silent on seeing the four young women with us.