Chapter 3

It took them nearly three days to get to the mine.

Serpin couldn’t push Collin too hard. He needed frequent stops and time to heal from his ordeal. She also learnt he couldn’t hunt or cook to save himself, other than cooking fish. The time that she spent teaching him how to live off the land, was about equal to that which they spent walking.

The path they took was not straight walking and climbing really took it out of Collin. This end of the mountain had many steep sections and gullies they had to get over the hard way. Twenty klicks on the map was twice that once they went up, down and around obstacles.

The one good thing about being summer was that many of the early fruits and vegetables were plentiful in the tiny valleys they found. Once she taught him how to recognise a few, he became particularly good at spotting them. He did learn to not touch a plant he didn’t know unless she had confirmed it was safe for him to do so.

His close call with the itchy plant had warned him that he didn’t know the dangers and he relied totally on her knowledge to keep him safe. He did find it strange that for the most part, it didn’t upset him to have to rely on a woman to keep him safe. It was, after all, her backyard and not his.

Occasionally, he had to fight an irrational thought that as a man, he shouldn’t have to do this, but he sucked it up. He ran through a litany of what she had done for him since they met, to make his dependence more bearable and this seemed to dampen down the strange irrational moments.

Everything she taught him put meat back on his bones, energy into his system and strength back into his body. She had even encouraged him to practice his fire skills, to light the fire when they stopped and control the heat to cook their food. One other thing she had given him was a tea to brew. She said it would get his body back into harmony.

He didn’t know what plant the tea was made from but every night he drank it before he slept, the better was his slumber. He also slept better if she was near him. If she went hunting at night as she did most nights, he had to wait until she returned. Once he felt her back near the fire, he could drop into a dreamless sleep.

He didn’t tell her that while she was gone, he had used the time to wank-off. It surprised him that if he started thinking of her doing it for him or doing other things to him, he came with a bang. Thinking of her luscious lips and wide mouth on his thick cock often did it.

He had tried thinking of other women that he had been with, but he always ended up with her in his thoughts before he could come. Thinking of where he would love to stick his cock or his tongue would have his hand moving and gripping, and his hips humping. Thinking of her smell as he fucked her would also get him off quick.

He did appreciate the small magical charge he got when he came but it was secondary to his desire to be with her. If he didn’t know better, he would think she had put a coercion spell on him. He didn’t, however, think that was truly one of her skills despite the many he was learning that she had.

He was fascinated with her and he knew it. The problem was she didn’t even seem to see his fascination. She didn’t exhibit any of the normal signs he attributed to a woman who was interested in him. Only the once had she let him see any interest and since then nothing.

Still, he found himself getting up every morning and he happily trudged after her; he’d follow that lovely arse anywhere.

“Wow!” Collin said.

Serpin grinned at him, “My father believed that this was an incredibly old mine and he had found items that even pre-dated the Queens uprising. He had laughed and told me it was Karun’s mine.”

“Who is Karun?” Collin asked as he stared up trying to find the ceiling of the massive cavern that was the start of the mine.

Serpin explained about the legend that told of how her people came to be as they walked through the cavern and aimed to her right side. They had six tunnels angled into the mountain to choose from. However, Oliver had told her to take the second one from the right to locate the iron ore she needed.

They hadn’t gone far after they had entered the tunnel, when Collin stopped and put his hands on the wall. “Serpin, this tunnel has spells on it. The walls have been magically hardened, so they don’t crumble.”

“I like that,” she said and grinned at him.

“I do too, but if they were placed here so long ago, how is it that they are still working?” he asked as the proceeded.

“The wonder of magic!” she said with a smirk.

“Well, I was taught the wonder of magic was the Quaz crystals. As long as they had a source of energy, they can keep a spell going indefinitely. Professor Cutter said that after the quakes a hundred years ago, most of the Quaz crystal caverns on the Sister Islands failed. They relied on the lava pools to provide the food and energy for the crystals to grow.”

“He said that the seismic shifts had cut off the magical larva tubes and he believed a certain resonance in the earth or a magnetic or electrical charge damaged most of the crystals. He believed there may have been pockets left to explain why those we had still worked at all, but other professors said he was just making things up.”

“So, he thinks that they are all connected in some way?” she asked.

“Yeah, it is a bit out there as far as theories go but then again, why can we feel magic in another if we have come in contact with another magical person even without seeing them. I always know when someone magical is near me.”

“Also, if all of the crystals were now dust, then how did that bloke I met, called Trae Quinton, make new items? Even if he came near you, I bet you would be able to feel him. He was like a walking sunbeam. Even those Cuttail cubs of his had magic.”

Serpin stopped and looked at him, “It is believed amongst our people that they are sentient, as were our ancestors. While we believe that there are very few, if any, wild Boa’s anymore, we believe that Karun had to be a magical creature for the Shifter to affect her and change our ancestors.”

Collin nodded, “Well, I know those cubs were magical, the damn male sent me pictures of what he was going to do to me if his master said he could. Even being eaten by you didn’t scare me half as much as that cub scared me. He was very inventive for one so young.”

Serpin giggled. “My mother once threated a man with swallowing him but leaving his head hanging from her mouth. She was then going to climb the tallest Boa tree and spit him out when she got to the top.”

“Okay, now you are scaring me,” Collin said and shuddered. Despite himself, he was fascinated with Serpin’s stories of when she was in her Boa form. He would love to be able to change form, but he knew being born a male that the Shifter side of his genes had been denied him.

He also suspected that he couldn’t sire children either. This was also common of males like him. He had been with six women that he knew that had been in heat but not one of them had fallen pregnant to him. He had not told his father that Francine had her first cycle, but he had not been able to fulfil his promise.

He sometimes wondered if his desire to reproduce but his failures had also affected his mind. Each time he failed, he seemed to get more desperate. He knew now that the spells his father had on him had reinforced that desire and probably warped his thinking.

The confusion he had felt when his father had died had almost overwhelmed him. It felt as if a weight had been lifted off his soul. He was surprised he still had the wits to try and escape the Shields when they came several hours later. He didn’t know what they planned but he wasn’t hanging around to find out.

He had ducked into a tavern down on the wharf when he had seen a Shield and one of the tarts, he had been within the recent past had greeted him and kissed him. He had almost stopped to celebrate his father’s death, but she mentioned that the ship, Teanna, was due to leave port on the tide, so he could have her at half cost.

He had kissed her again and asked for directions and then ran for the ship. It was the First Mate who told the Captain that the Shields had been looking for him and he had heard that Carl had died at the hands of a powerful magician.

He hadn’t really blamed the Captain for offloading him, as he would have done the same thing had he been thinking straight.

The tunnel seemed to run for a long way before the came to where Oliver had dug in the past.

“That’s odd, this wall is warmer than I would have expected. I know once you get past a certain point that mines can get extremely hot, but I didn’t think we were deep enough for that and the other wall is much cooler more like what I would expect,” Collin informed Serpin.

“Do you think it would be dangerous for us to dig? I don’t need a lot on this trip,” Serpin asked.

“No. Actually, do you mind if I try a spell? I wasn’t particularly good at it at University, but I think my wielding of magic since I have been off Cuttail Island and away from my father has improved,” Collin stated.

“What do you want to do?” Serpin asked with interest.

“I think I can extract just the ore we need and leave most of the impurities behind. This would reduce how much weight we need to take back with us. Even with two of us pulling a carrier made from poles, this will be heavy going and you said we still have about fifty klicks to cover to get to West Keep.”