Chapter 21

“Vambraces?” Dusty said as a query and in surprise.

James touched his and closed his eyes. “It says to just slip it over the one we already wear,” he said as he opened his eyes. He placed the box on the shelf and removed the brace from it. Dusty removed one from her box. They looked at each other and slipped the new vambrace over the brace they wore. James to the left and Dusty to the right since she was a south-paw.

“Oh! Fuck!” Dusty yelped. James just grunted as if he was having an orgasm, which he was. They both swayed and somehow James caught Dusty. He pulled her into his arms and claimed her lips as the euphoria hit them both again and their minds melded.

When reality seeped back into their minds, they were still lip locked in the walkway between the shelves. The parted slightly so their eyes could meet but didn’t let go of each other. “Sorry, sweetie,” Dusty said softly.

“Why? I was already yours, heart, body and soul my love, this makes no difference to how I feel about you. I was yours before you saved my life. Why else do you think you could bring me back as you did? I have not wanted to be anywhere you are not since the day I first laid eyes on you, Dusty. However, loving you doesn’t stop me from being me.”

A tear dripped down Dusty’s cheek. “I know, and that scares me silly every time I think about it, James.”

“Don’t let it, my love. I’m with you by choice,” he replied and gently kissed her again.

“And I with you,” she smiled at him after the kiss.

She then looked down at her arm. Her brace was now golden and had eight gems on it. Three were unique gems as she had gained a black diamond. She hadn’t had the gem for Lore on her brace so this one would double for it. She had also obtained a black opal for Nature but wasn’t aware of its significance.

James’ brace was silver and he had seven gems. The largest jewel was the new special gem and they both knew it was her royal gem. The other stones represented the six traits. He was her bonded Paramore and as powerful as a Lord Wizard. They noticed their medallions hadn’t changed and still had the original four gems on them.

“Are you still in there, Zed?” Dusty asked the vambrace.

“Yes, my Teha, the other entity left since you and I are bonded so well with your current one. Ada and I have a welter of new information to process and new processing power to do it with. We are delighted to continue to serve you and James,” he replied.

“Good to hear that you’re still with me and that James still has Ada. I’ve kinda gotten used to you being around Zed,” she told the brace.

“And I enjoy being with you, my Teha,” he said with feeling.

As Dusty put her new box into her backpack, she noted that the magical box that Lee had given her was still in there too. James commented that he still had his. He opened the old box and retrieved a small bag of crystals. “Why do you want them?” Dusty asked.

“This place needs a couple of new ones before we go,” he replied.

“Nah, watch this,” she said and waved her hand at the wall.

The lighting blared brightly for a moment and settled to a higher brightness than they had been before. “I just regenerated the old crystals and recharged them. They will be good for another thousand years.”

“O ... kay! You are a very scary but also a very sexy lady,” James replied with raised brows.

Dusty chuckled, “You don’t know the half of what I can do now, my love. I can see why power corrupts.”

They spent most of the rest of the day rattling around in the room doing a basic inventory of what was in it. They also spent some time checking out the new spells and discussing some of their upgrades with the AIs.

Dusty also determined that they could blink anywhere on the planet with no trouble. She even tried moving the ship and found she could blink it into space with not a lot more effort. They both wondered just how far she could go without being drained of magical energy. They knew Lee could jump between planetary systems as long as she had a point of reference to focus on.

It was mind-boggling what Dusty could now do.

After an exciting night of exploration of each other, the magicians were both hungry come breakfast time.

“Feel like going and rooting out some pirates my love? I know of a beautiful Island I’m sure they will love living on,” Dusty said to James as she checked her messages while waited for her breakfast.

“Do you think they have killed each other yet?” he asked as he put the steaming plates of food on the table. They were piled high since they were both hungry. It was just as well they didn’t need to worry about cholesterol.

“Hum, odd, Aaron messaged me that he got Fiaz’s and one of his men’s cuffs back not long after he dropped them off yesterday. I didn’t think they could kill each other if they were wearing the cuffs. I couldn’t imagine that man killing himself. Something new to learn when we take them their new friends.”

“So what do you plan to do?” James asked knowing Dusty had settled on a plan of action as he started eating his breakfast.

“Well, the Farestar has just entered the system and our friendly neighbourhood pirates are giving chase. I think we shall go visit them first,” she told him as she finished her breakfast.

If the Captain hadn’t been sitting down, he would have fallen down. Having two people appear in the middle of your bridge would do that to a person. “Empress Lee,” he squealed. He barely stopped himself from pissing his britches.

“Nope, sorry, she doesn’t have jurisdiction here. This is my planetary system and you are not wanted here. You will call me Teha Dusty. I’m what is known as an Overlord Wizard. It’s a rank between a Queen Wizard and an Empress Wizard. I don’t know who will eventually be the Empress here but for now, I control the Tres Systems.”

“I have a little island for you to live on and I have a present for you all. I’m going to make you all Shifters since I don’t seem to have found too many bad women to send there,” she told them.

They then all heard the engines of the ship shut off and looked at each other with worry. “Please head to the airlock and wait for me,” she said.

“You said you had an island to put us on and now you’re going to space us?’ one of the men cried out.

Dusty shook her head in sorrow. “We are on the island. I could blink you out but I’ve not given you your present yet. Please head to the air-lock.”

She gave James a look of exasperation and he just chuckled. She then made a shooing motion at the men and reluctantly they unstrapped from their seats and headed to the air-lock. One of the men dived at Dusty when he went to pass her.

James just shook his head, as the man slid along the deck and smashed into the step between the two levels of the bridge. Dusty reappeared beside the man and he found himself being levitated into the air and then flying towards the door. “The air-lock is that way, dumb-arse,” Dusty informed him.

The others hurriedly followed the flying man out of the door and not one of them thought to disobey further.

Rupert looked up when he felt someone was near him.

He glanced at Dusty and then swung the hoe again and enjoyed the feeling of the metal blade cutting into the damp earth. He dragged it back towards himself as he asked, “And to which God do I owe this honour?”

“Probably a Keltrian one,” Dusty replied with a grin.

Rupert chuckled and swung the hoe again. “I assume you got Fiaz’s cuff back,” he said.

“We did,” she replied and watched as the muscles played on Rupert’s shirtless back. He barely looked like the man she had dropped off here two weeks before. He still had a little bit of a paunch to go but he looked a lot healthier and even younger than his fifty years.

“Nuru killed him. Did you know Fiaz and his cronies raped and tortured Nuru’s sister before they killed her? They did it to his two cousins too.”

“No, but that explains a lot. The Keltrians were big on an eye for an eye. They didn’t condone killing as a rule but they did believe in justice, they even have a God called that. Nuru has always been your enforcer hasn’t he?”

“Yes, why?” he asked and stood to lean on the hoe’s handle.

“You rule here, he is your enforcer, the cuff wouldn’t stop him from carrying out justice.”

“Ah, thank you. That makes a lot of sense to what has been happening here,” Rupert replied.

“Dusty,” an excited girly voice called. Dusty looked at the big ebony woman hurrying towards her. The woman stopped. “Can I give you a hug?” she asked, almost shyly.

“Just don’t try and crush my bones, Nuru,” she replied. Dusty chuckled as she was picked up, squashed against the massive mammaries and swung around in an exuberant circle before being put back down.

“I can only guess that you like being a Shifter?” she replied with laughter in her voice. Nuru’s massive grin answered her question.

Dusty turned to Rupert, “I have a ship’s crew of six from Haven, which is the planet in the Dos System. They were chasing the Farestar. I can’t stay long as I have to go get the other ship. I’ll change them all to Shifters for you.”

“Thank you, the men will be delighted. It will lessen the three to one ratio we have. Just be aware that we have an initiation here. After that, the men are not allowed to force the Shifters to have sex with them. Rape causes too many bad feeling and we are a small community,” Rupert told Dusty.

“That is fair enough, as long as you keep your laws to being close to those acceptable in most other places you and I won’t have a problem,” Dusty said. “Oh, I think I can get you some cattle. They aren’t from Earth and are a smaller breed, so I think they will suit your needs here.”

“Thank you again, some cattle will be good. Well let’s go see the ladies,” he replied and the walked back to the ship.

An hour later, Dusty and James dropped the gunship off at Whitney’s compound but didn’t stop to explain its sudden appearance.

They blinked to the bridge of the other gunship in the Dos System. It had gained a little on the Farestar but she was still well out of effective shooting range. John had been confused when the first ship had disappeared off their radar.

This time, Dusty contacted him and informed him that he had a clear passage through the system. She even sent him the coordinates for the town of Amber on Haven and told him he was welcome to drop in and visit any time.

The second six-man crew were no happier to be dropped onto an island than the first crew was. However, they too had determined it was better than being spaced. Rupert and Joey met the ship and both got to chuckle again as Dusty kissed the men, while James jabbed them in the arm, before letting them off the vessel.