Chapter 22

Canine was about a hundred and seventy klicks from X-lakes due to the range.

The boys enjoyed an early lunch with the members of the two councils and the Road-crew were invited. Tilly asked Darcy if it was okay to go home first before they went south. Darcy said they had two months to finish the job so if they deviated a bit from the plan he was sure they had a good reason.

Darcy winked at Tilly, as he was sure he knew why they wanted to go home. She told the others and they were relieved. Their home wasn’t that far away now they had the trikes so the crew said they might as well fix that bit of road on the way.

The boys managed to get away not long after lunch. Darcy had little trouble dropping the road across the valley and they made good time. They took a bit longer as they needed to widen and stabilise several passes in the mountain range before crossing over it.

The next sixty klicks were also fairly easy for Darcy and Speeder to complete. They did have to drop in a new bridge but it was more of an upgrade rather than from scratch, so they took about four hours to get to where they were going.

They didn’t get a welcome banner in Canine. In fact, didn’t even end up in Canine. Darcy still had about ten klicks to seal before entering the city itself. They got out of the buggy to plant the crystals and have a stretch. Darcy went to consult Vam.

When they zoomed in Vam said, “Darcy I appear to be picking up close to a hundred life forms that are camped either side of the road about five klicks ahead. I also pick up heat signatures of at least ten vehicles and some of them are blocking the road.”

“Ah, the welcoming committee,” Darcy said. “That could explain why we haven’t seen too many people on the road.”

“Darcy, I do not believe they are there to welcome you,” Vam replied.

“No, neither to I, Vam. Zoom in on the road heading north about thirty clicks from town,” Darcy requested and watched the screen as he got a clear picture. “Come back a bit so we out of visible range of that little village.”

Darcy indicated to Speeder to get behind the wheel and he also climbed in. “Darcy, there is a side road that looks in good repair, may I suggest there?” Vam asked.

“That’s perfect, Vam, let’s blink there,” Darcy replied, and they did. “Well, Speeder do you feel like a bit of night driving?”

“Why don’t we just blink?” Speeder asked.

Darcy thought about it. “Well, we have about two hundred and fifty klicks of road to repair.” Darcy checked out the road ahead for a few minutes and did some calculations. He picked a few spots they should stop. “Let’s do the spell here so we do both ways. It looks like someone has run a grader over this road, probably so our friends could come and great us.”

“I estimate that if the road is in a reasonable state of repair, I can probably do the thirty klicks each way with little trouble. I want to stop and check out that next bridge so let’s blink there first. There are two more major bridges I wish to look at too so they make good resting places. How does that sound?” Darcy said.

“It’s not going to wear you out too much doing all that?” Speeder asked.

“No, my power has been slowly building. I can pull the magic without needing sex, by doing a bit of meditation so that’s what I’ll do each time we stop. We can probably even drive a bit as I like meditating when I’m driving,” Darcy informed him.

“How long have you been able to that?” Speeder asked suspiciously.

“Since not long after becoming a Lord Wizard,” Darcy admitted.

Speeder frowned, “So why all the sex?”

“Why else does a man like having sex, Speeder?” Darcy asked and grinned at him.

“You, Dog,” Speeder expelled.

“Yep, and proud of it,” Darcy replied and kissed Speeder on the lips even though they were both in male form, much to Speeder’s surprise. Darcy got out and performed his spell in both directions. He then disappeared for several minutes before appearing beside the buggy again and climbed in.

Speeder blinked and found they were parked just off the road near a dilapidated bridge that was ninety klicks from Canine. Darcy fixed the bridge and disappeared to plant more crystals. He also sent Speeder in the other direction to plant his. Once the task was completed, they climbed back in the buggy, blinked and then they did it again. The next stop was when they were close to twenty klicks from Batton.

They were near a turn off to a small village and Speeder suggested he drive down and they get some food, while Darcy had a rest. Darcy was fine with this, so they drove the two klicks down the road to the fishing village.

They found a park that had several small, bungalow type houses between it and a white sanded beach. At the entrance to the single lane road behind the bungalows was a small kiosk styled shop. On the other side of the road was what Darcy thought of a small subdivision consisting of about twenty expensive looking houses strung along the road.

The woman said she catered to guests from the city who liked to come visit their lovely beaches. The boys ordered some food and they sat at the bar, while they watched her cook and had a chat. Speeder commented that the road looked like it had recently been graded.

She nodded and replied, “Yep, heard a rumour there is a bit of unrest in Canine. Apparently, some bloke who calls himself Lord Lightning visited there about a month ago and was asking people about how they liked being ruled by a selfish Queen.”

“Then we started hearing rumours coming from Batton that Queen Huntress had declared that the southern half of the island hers. Well, we all knew that already. Anyone with half a brain and who travelled south of here in the last three years knew where the borders were and about Queen Huntress and her people.”

“My Henry even went and checked in at the Land Office near on two years ago now and he said it was true. He said that their Queen had fixed up all the roads to the borders. She got new businesses going and fixed up public buildings and a whole heap of things. They got them new trikes and my Henry would love some them for around here.”

“You folks got one of them buggy’s. I hear tell they don’t never break down and you can travel all the way to Tail Valley without even stopping in one of those. Henry says they are popular in Batton as lots of people have been buying them because they are much cheaper than the other Autos.”

“Problem was once people started buying them they started bitchin, didn’t they. No street lighting, pot-holes, stinking streets and you name it, they bitched about it. Cause they’s got all that fixed in South Dog Island, don’t they. Then it comes round to tax time, don’t it? My friend Edith told me that the new Mayor of Canine said that she wasn’t paying.”

“She said that the taxman was asking one thing and Lady Mayor Sage told him to get stuffed, that’s not what her contract says. He was there three days arguing with her. My friend Rea, she lives in X-Lakes and not more than one hour ago, she called me up and said that they sent the Taxman off with a flick of his ear too. Oh, boy, Queen Elders must be spitting mad.”

“Henry said he saw carriers with troops heading to Canine the other day and he done rung that Mayor Sage, that man is a busy-body. Anyway, he tells her they were coming. He was chuckling all night cause she told him not to worry she had called out the hounds,” she started laughing uproarious as she flipped the steaks and finally caught her breath.

“Those Dog people are so funny. We all thought it was a hoot that they done elected a Dog-Shifter for their Mayor. My friend Edith says Sage is doing a wonderful job. Even though they aren’t in the south, the new Mages and Novices have been helping everyone and fixing things. They have been making the old ones look bad so they had to start helping too.”

“Well, here you go Lord Lightning and Speeder. Rea said you two can eat a camla between you so if you want more, you just lets me know, I got plenty for the likes of you two,” she said and served up two big plates with massive steaks and lots of side salads for the boys. “Henry wasn’t expecting you to pass by for a couple more days. You must have missed him near the bridge.”

They turned ten minutes later when a short Pix man banged in through the door. “Anny, you should see that new bridge. I must have missed them, darn it,” he hollered. He pulled up short when he saw the two men eating at his counter. “Hot damn, I was hoping to wave you down and offer you a meal and you beat me to it,” he grinned and came over to shake their hands.

“Anny, get the boys some of my ginger-beer,” he yelled even though she was standing just on the other side of the counter. He hauled up on a seat and said, “You boys been stirring the bees into a frenzy. Rea said you were heading to Canine and I told her about the troops, she laughed and said knowing you, you probably already knew anyway.”

So I headed up the road, but I must have dozed off and it wasn’t until this cloud of dust passed by that I knew you were already coming this way and then I had to stop and gawk at the bridge. It’s so beautiful, other people are going to want to stop and look at too. It’s going to make houses here even more expensive.”

“I thought I had missed you and then realised I left my Mad at home and had to come and get it. I was going to call Rod and tell him to keep an eye out for you in the next village,” the man ran down and took a big gulp of his ginger-beer.

Speeder and Darcy had just happily listened as they devoured the fine meal that Anny had served them. Speeder looked at Darcy in between one mouthful and the next and said, “Did you forget to tell me something?”

“Such as?” Darcy asked.

“Sage?” Speeder replied.

Darcy shrugged and replied, “Not my fault you don’t listen to gossip. She asked me to ask around to see if the people would be receptive to her becoming the Mayor so I did. I thought it was interesting that as soon as people found out, she was a Dog-Shifter and a Mage they couldn’t vote her in fast enough.”

Anny and Henry both nodded and Anny said, “Yep, we heard the same. Interesting thing we heard was if the Queen didn’t appoint a new Mayor in two weeks, the locals could hold an election and select their own. I’d never heard of that before but we found out it was true. That pompous arse Lord Oak and his wife were most put out when they turned up last week to find out what they had done.

“Queen Elders must have either lousy spies or her people just don’t bother keeping her informed,” Darcy commented.

Henry answered, “Probably both. From my experience, her different departments don’t even talk to each other. It’s a nightmare having to deal with any of them. The most efficient young man I’ve come across is a Mage Justin Markus in the Lands Department.”

“Nice young man, he takes his job seriously and checks everything. He told me that when he received the letter from Queen Huntress about her borders, he had to go to the archives. He even showed me the document that split the island between two Queens three thousand years before.”

“Since he couldn’t find anyone else being registered as the Queen of that half, he assumed it was an oversight due to the lack of communication and that she was it. When I told him about what you and she had been doing, he was pleased that at least one Queen knew her duties.”

“He told me he had received ‘thank you’s from the Mayors of your cities for his letters, so as far as he was concerned, she was the rightful owner because the Mayors said she was. Said it was more than he got from the other cities or the locals.”

“See, he is a real busy-body, likes to know what is going on all the time he does. He even sold off his mother’s jewellery to buy us these two Mads. We didn’t get lucky enough to have kids so they were just sitting in a box anyway. I must say it is good that I can keep up with old friends now. I like living here but letters take so long to get anywhere,” Anny replied.

Darcy frowned and looked at the two middle-aged people, “May I touch you both?” he asked politely.

“Are you going to change us?” Henry asked, but didn’t seem the least bit concerned going by his smile.

“Maybe,” Darcy said and smiled, and then touched them both. They both shivered. “Interesting, a Nature Novice and a Lore Novice. What do you think Speeder, should we let two more magical people loose into the world?”

“I’m not surprised he is a Lore Novice and the way Anny cooks now if you upgrade her, she won’t get people to leave here,” Speeder then chuckled at the shocked looks of their patrons.