Chapter 9

Mankato's (Robert's) awakening:

I awoke next to the woman who had rescued me. From the size of the Talent that I could feel and the amount of Magic energy surrounding her, one would assume that she was a woman of large proportions and stature. In fact, the woman next to me was short with large breasts and a slim but very female figure. In her sleep, her breasts rose and fell rhythmically, and I watched them joyfully for a considerable period of time. At last she awoke and sat up.

"How are you feeling?" she asked with a warm smile on seeing me watching her.

"I feel much better, thank you," I answered. "Is it wise to remain here?"

"I've cast a Defensive Shell around the area, and none of the remaining Wizards will be able to penetrate it. Besides the Chief Wizard is still a bit busy at present," she assured me with a smile.

"You need to drink more water and eat some food. You're in need of a number of vitamins and minerals as well as calories to help your body finish healing," she told me, while holding out a large round canteen. The water in the canteen was cool, fresh, and refreshing, so unlike the sterile, dead tasting, reprocessed drinking water that was all that was usually available here in the city.

It was when she handed the food package to me, after I had finished drinking from the canteen, that the unexpected happened. My fingers merely touched hers in passing the package when a bolt of something like electricity shot through my body. I was so startled that I released the package and it fell to the blanket between us.

I was in no shape to notice this at the time however, as I was seeing images of her naked and on her back with those large breasts of hers shifted to each side, of that trim waist and flat belly above those wide hips, and of her legs spread ready for me. I was instantly as hard as a rock before I collapsed back on the sleeping pad, exhausted just by the thought of being on top of this beautiful woman and having her as my own. I lay there for several minutes recovering while I questioned myself.

"What were you thinking?" I asked myself. "You don't know this woman. She could have been sent by someone to ensnare you further in the plans of the Wizard's Council," I continued, but there were other thoughts going on in my head at this time also. The most prominent of these was that she was an attractive woman with her lovely long red hair, and those green eyes. She also had a very fine figure even if she appeared to be a little shorter than I preferred. Still, why did I have this vision of her on her back and ready for me? Not that I would mind if I were in a bit better physical condition, and I still needed to eat something, I reminded myself before wondering, "Why did I have such a strong reaction to this woman?"

I eventually opened my eyes and managed to sit up. The food packet was still sitting on the blanket where it had been dropped. The woman was also still sitting there and breathing very deeply.

"Please, we must not touch again for a while," she whispered on noting that I had returned to a sitting position again.

"Did you have as startling a revelation as I did?" I asked, as I picked up the food package.

"Yes," she answered after a few seconds and having taken another deep breath which did marvelous things with her large breasts. "I had great difficulty healing you because the same kind of thing has happened to me every time that I touched you," she confessed, with a strange look in her eyes.

"Have you any idea why this is happening?" I asked, as I opened the package of food and began to eat.

"No, it doesn't appear to be connected to a spell or to Magic. I'm not sure what it is, or why it's happening, and apparently to both of us," she told me with a worried look on her face.

"What's your name?" she asked next.

"I'm Mankato (Blue Earth) Two Wolves, but my friends call me Robert. I'm Lakota Sioux – well mostly," I informed her looking into her bright green eyes, before asking, "Who are you?"

"I'm Margaret Kathleen O'Connell, the Ninth. I'm called Margie K. by my friends," she answered with another smile.

"You have a Dragon," she said next in a soft voice. "I saw it when I rescued you, when I moved us here, and it appeared again when I started to heal you."

"No, that's not possible. My older Brother, Makhpia – Luta (Red Cloud), also called Jason, is the Spirit Keeper in our Family. He is Wakinyan Tanka, the Thunder Bird," I told her to a sudden chill.

"You may be able to hide the truth from your Family and even from yourself, but you can't hide it from me. You are a Dragon – a major Dragon, I have seen it, and at some point you will have to let him out," she finished still in a soft voice but it wasn't a threat.

I stared at her in shock, unable to eat. How could she know this, I wondered? I had hidden the truth from everyone, even myself, since I was five years old and Jason was seven. He was the oldest male child and should be Wakinyan Tanka (the Thunder Bird). How had this small woman whom I had just met learned the truth, and so quickly I wondered?

"No, you are not a bird or the Thunder Bird," she told me. "You are something else; something much more powerful. You are a Dragon – Dreig-teino is the ancient Celtic term for it. It's a flying serpent that breaths fire, and in your case it will be Magic Fire," she told me with a large smile. I was still staring at her in shock on hearing this.

"What brought you here?' she asked after a short pause when I didn't respond.

"I was following the lines, the lines cross in a place near here. It's a place of great power," I told her. "They are what kept me alive during my captivity," I continued before starting to eat again.

"The lines?" she asked, puzzled.

"Yes, the ley lines, they are lines of mystical power that crisis-cross the land. The crossing points are places of great power. Surely, you can feel them with your strength of Talent?" I asked to see her frown for a second.

"No, not with my Magic which apparently comes from a different source than yours, but perhaps with my Mage Talent," she told me thoughtfully, as she moved to the bare floor and began to recite what I recognized as a mantra of some sort. After a time she stopped and looked up at me.

"Yes, I can feel the lines of power with my Mage Talent, which is of the Earth and growing things. One of the lines runs in the ground near here. You said that there is a crossing near here also? If that is so, that could be where the Wizards are drawing some of their power from to help power their Black Magic," she told me with a thoughtful expression before changing the subject.

"You said that you were mostly Sioux. Is there something else?' she inquired.

"My Great Grandfather, Mahplye Icahtagye (Touches the Clouds) took a second Wife when his first Wife died. This new Wife was not Sioux, but Irish with red hair and freckles. Some said that she was ugly because of the freckles, but never to her face or within her hearing, as she was a woman of great Power. She sat on the tribal council even after Great Grandfather's death. She also bore him several Sons and two Daughters. It was through her that our Family acquired the Thunder Bird Spirit, but for some reason her Power didn't transfer to all of her children, and I have many Cousins who have no Power," I told her.

"That's very possible, as the Talent is often passed down through the Daughters and Granddaughters," she told me.

"Do you know her name?" she asked next.

"She was called 'Woman of Power' in the Lakota tongue, but I believe her original name was Kelly Mac Kanna," I told her.

"Yes, that would be Irish or Scot-Irish," she agreed, but changed the subject again.

"A Dragon following the ley lines," she mused. "In my study of the Celts and the Irish, I learned that the Celts believed that the Dragons created the veins or lines of Magic force that flow in the ground, and that the term 'the Path of the Dragons' was the early name for the lines. The Druids hunted for these lines and made maps of them for their people, to tell them where to build their villages and where to plant their fields. Places where the lines crossed or where the Dragon stopped to rest were believed to become places of heightened power or Magic Force," she told me in a thoughtful voice.

"Not that I mean to interrupt your thoughts, but could you inform me of the date?" I asked when she hadn't said anything more for several minutes.

"The date?" she asked before tipping her head to the side for a few seconds.

"It's Thursday, the 12th of April," she answered before a startled expression appeared on her face.

"As a matter of fact it's just past 8:30 AM. We slept for quite some time," she explained before asking, "Why did you need to know that?"

"It was the 14th of March when the Wizards captured me," I informed her.

"But that was over four weeks ago, how could you survive in that cell that long? It certainly didn't appear that they had fed you or opened the cell door for some time?" she asked in a worried voice.

"That's the thing of it, I shouldn't have survived. The Dragon in me drew Magic from the lines to keep me alive," I told her, not sure of how I knew that, but I did. I had finished the second package of food, and she tossed me another.

"I have clothes for you to change into. What you have on appears to be in less than good condition," she told me as I finished the third package of food.