Chapter 16

The following character reappears from previous stories:

Kennith Sweeney

Ley Line Wizard, male Dragon, Maddy’s husband, 6’-0’’ tall (1.83 meters), 180 pounds (81 kg), 62 years old, brown hair and dark eyes, still very handsome, he is a Red Dragon

Yuryi still has the Narrative

Deirdre led us to a room on the second floor.

“This is the room where other visitors have stayed,” she told us. “It’s right next to the bath,” she added.

The room was large enough for the two of us and our luggage. Being located near the bathroom was an additional benefit.

“Dinner will be a while yet. I’ll let you know when it’s ready,” she added before departing.

“Shall we?” I asked Yvonne and allowed her to enter the room first. We could see that the bed was a queen size one. It would be just a tad short for me, but it was something that I could deal with. There were also two chests of drawers in the room for storage of our things and a good-sized closet.

“Let’s check the bath and see what we have to work with,” I told her after looking around.

To our surprise, the bath was very nice. There were two sinks, a toilet, and a large, glass enclosed shower along with a small tub. There was also a closet with towels and bed linen.

“Very nice,” was all that Yvonne said.

I called our luggage to me from the Timeless Zone when we returned to the room, and we proceeded to get set up for our stay here, which would be, at least, another six days until Yvonne saw the doctor.

We had finished setting things up, and were relaxing when Deirdre returned some time later.

“Dinner is ready. We’ll be eating in the dining room,” she told us. We had already changed clothes and followed her downstairs.

The dining room held a large Mahogany table that would easily seat fourteen people. There was a large China cabinet and a buffet or sideboard, all in Mahogany. The table was only set for five with two places on either side of the near end.

“Yuryi and Yvonne, this is my husband, Kennith Sweeney. He is the Chief Operating Officer of Dragon Security,” the Queen told us in introduction. Her husband was about 6’-0’’ tall, 180 pounds, 62 years old. His brown hair was going gray, and he had dark eyes.

“It’s nice to meet you,” both Yvonne and I said. He pulled out the chair at the end of the table for his wife, the Queen, to be seated. He and Deirdre took the two chairs on the right side of the table while Yvonne and I took those on the left. The meal was very good, and I complimented the Queen on it.

“You have a very good cook. This meal is excellent,” I said partway through the meal.

“Thank you,” she said with a smile. “Deirdre and I do our best. Of course, she is still learning,” she added to my shocked surprise.

“You cooked this meal yourself? You don’t have a cook?” I asked.

“No, we have always done our own cooking. The girls have all learned to cook growing up,” she told me before something dawned on her.

“You have a cook at your house!” she said in surprise.

“Yuryi actually has two active cooks and another pair who are retired but still live there. He has three maids, a butler, and a gardener for the ten acres that the house sits on. There are ten bedrooms, seven baths, three half baths, two parlors, a huge dining room, a den, a library, and a music room. The kitchen is rather large, as is the pantry. The far end of the kitchen has a fireplace large enough to roast an entire pig. The servants’ quarters are located behind the house,” Yvonne told her to an even more amazed look from the Queen and her family.

“That was why I was so surprised that you lived in such a small house,” I added.

“My family has lived in this house for several generations. They bought the land in the early twentieth century. The house was built a number of years later and has been updated several times.” the Queen told us.

“Yes, I recognized the early twentieth century architecture of the house. Why haven’t you moved?” I asked. “I expected to find you in a much larger and more grand house than this,” I added.

“Aside from the fact that my family has lived here for so long, there are two very powerful Ley Lines that cross under the large parlor. WE certainly couldn’t give up that much power. Besides, I’m only the Queen for ceremonial occasions, and for when there is trouble that requires MY attention. Most of the time, I’m just Maddy, who is the CEO of Dragon Security. Everyone calls me Maddy except my children who call me Mom, and the very young who call me grandmother. Many of our employees address me as MS. Kavanagh,” she told us with a smile.

“With the house that your wife described, you must be doing very well,” Kennith Sweeney said.

“Over the last 1250 years or so, I’ve managed to acquire a considerable amount of money. The house is the one that I built for Gretchen, my previous wife. We were married 64 years before death stole her away from me 42 years ago,” I told him.

“And you’ve been alone for most of the time?” Deirdre asked in a quiet, knowing voice.

“Yes, until the most recent snowstorm when I met Yvonne and her two daughters,” I told her.

“I couldn’t imagine being alone for that long,” the young girl whispered.

“I wasn’t really alone. I had the servants who are more like relatives than servants, and I had my business, and those working for me plus those who stay in the building,” I told her. Yvonne was looking at me with a startled expression on hearing this.

“So, that’s why you do it!” she said in shock.

“Do what?” the Queen asked.

“There are a number of ‘street people’ who stay in Yuryi’s building. Some go out each day, and others remain in the building to watch for thieves. Others are guards at night. He treats them and his regular employees very well with doctor and dental care as well as providing them a safe, clean, warm place to stay at night and especially during bad weather,” Yvonne told her.

“I can write it off as a business expense,” I said to mitigate things.

“That’s a very interesting theory of business. How is it working for you?” the Queen asked in a thoughtful voice.

“It has worked very well for a number of years, but it does require constant attention to be sure it isn’t abused. You need to have the right people,” I told her. We had nearly finished dinner by now.

“Would you care for something to drink or to watch some television?” the Queen asked before adding, “Oh yes, just call me Maddy most of the time, unless it involves something official.”

“No, we don’t watch a lot of television or play video games. My daughters do enough of that,” Yvonne told her.

“How old are your daughters?” Maddy asked.

“They are 19 now. They are twins, and they are studying to take the S.A.T. again. They didn’t work very hard in high school and didn’t do well on the test the first time. They still want to go to college though,” Yvonne told her.

“And what about you, Yvonne? Are you a homemaker?” Maddy asked.

“After my husband died about fifteen years ago, I started working for a financial consulting firm. I’ve been a successful financial consultant for over twelve years now,” Yvonne told her.

“Are you on vacation now? Is that why you need to return quickly?” Maddy asked.

“No, my boss had a heart attack shoveling snow, and the firm has shut down for now. I have been going over Yuryi’s investments for the past couple of weeks,” Yvonne told her.

“Really! Are you that good?” Kennith asked.

“Yes, she can ’see’ the future of investments for from six to eight years in the future,” I told him. Both husband and wife had a startled look on their faces on hearing this.

“You used the word ’SEE’ as in being able to look into the future. Is that correct?” Maddy demanded.

“Yes, it’s something I’ve been able to do for many years now,” Yvonne told her. Maddy exhaled heavily and sat there for a short time before saying anything.

“My grandmother was able to do the same thing. She created lists for several people that told them when to buy certain stocks, how long to hold them, and when to sell them. Her lists extended for sixty to seventy years or more, and she was never wrong. Those lists expired some time ago. No one else in the family has been able to do that. You are the only one who I have met who has a similar ability. I’m very glad that you decided to visit us,” Maddy told her with a large smile.

“We will discuss what you may be able to do for us but at a later date. For now, you are our guests. Is there anything that you need or that you would like to do, within reason of course?” Maddy told us with another smile.

“We need to talk for a bit, but we can do that later tonight,” Yvonne told her.

“Perhaps something to read would be good, something interesting that is,” I told her.

“Since you’ve had the full set of Dragon books for some 600 years, you probably aren’t interested in them. We do have a very good reprint of a number of medical books for Magic users. Initially, we had fifty copies printed, but they were insufficient, and we had another hundred copies printed. Would you be interested in a copy of that?” she asked.

“Yes, that would be very interesting. I have collected medical spells since a youth. My mother was a renowned healer but even she couldn’t deal with some ailments,” I told her. In seconds, a thick book appeared on the table in front of her.

“It will certainly take some time to go through that,” I told her as she handed me the book.

“We’ll retire for the night, if that’s alright,” I told her.

“Certainly. Tomorrow we’ll discuss plans for the two of you being married, and we’ll get you a decent size vehicle,” she told us. We all rose then, and the Queen and her daughter began clearing the table, while Yvonne and I returned to our room.

Yvonne takes the Narrative for a Time

“It is amazing that the Queen of the West actually does her own cooking and apparently cleaning up also,” I said after Yuryi had cast a Silence spell around our room. It was already warded.

“Apparently, the Queen of the East does the same, from what Maddy told us. None of them appear to have servants, or rooms for them to stay in. I definitely feel out of place here,” he told me.

“Yes,” I agreed. “They are both down to earth people, but I could feel that they are very strict when it comes to being respected and obeyed,” I finished.

He sat there and stared at me for a time, the book forgotten in his hand. Finally, he spoke.

“What did you mean when you said, ‘So that’s why you do it’, downstairs?” he asked with a haunted look in his eyes.

“You told me that it’s just good business, didn’t you, but it’s more than that. A lot more than that, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It’s ... it’s...?” he started but couldn’t finish.

“Admit it, Yuryi. It’s the only way to save your soul,” I told him. He just stared at me with a forlorn look on his face and couldn’t speak.

“It’s because you couldn’t save Gretchen, isn’t it,” I finally said. “You still believe, even after all of this time, that it was your fault that she died,” I told him. The tears were running down his face, but I didn’t believe it was all in grief.

“Yes!” he finally admitted. “Yes, it was all MY fault. I wasn’t good enough, or strong enough, or wise enough to save her. Nothing anyone did was able to save her,” he screamed in rage before finally admitting what so terrified him.

“I failed,” he growled in a low voice, as if it were the worst thing possible in the world. “I wasn’t able to keep her from dying. I had never failed at anything that I wanted badly enough, but I failed at that,” he finished sadly.

“I made up my mind then that I would never fail anyone dependent on me again. I couldn’t do it,” he moaned and collapsed in tears. I moved over to him to comfort him in his grief. He needed to know the truth.