Chapter 5

New characters appearing in this chapter:

Thangakili

Jorani’s Dragon name in Gaelic. She is a turquoise Dragon.

A character returning from the other stories:

The Guardian

Safe keeper of the Books, about 5’-6’’ tall, neither young or old, very long blond hair, deep blue eyes

Craig has the Narrative Again

Chiang Rai is the northernmost city of any size in Thailand. The village had been old when King Mangrai established his capital there in 1262. Forty some years later, the capital was moved to Chiang Mai, and Chiang Rai returned to being a sleepy country town. While it was nowhere as large as its sister city Chiang Mai or as busy, it was no longer a sleepy little town. Mueang Chiang Rai District where the city is located now had a population of over 225,000 people according to the internet. The city had 3 colleges, 2 International schools, 6 hospitals, 2 Christian churches, and even a Mosque as well as an international airport. Highway #1, which started in Bangkok, runs through Chiang Rai to Mar Sai on the border with Myanmar (Burma).

The city is located on the flat alluvial plain of the Kok River, which is a tributary of the Mekong. To the north are the Daen Lao Mountains and to the south of the district the Phi Pan Nam Mountains dominate the landscape. The Kok River runs along the north side of the city. The Lao River, a tributary of the Kok, flows south of the city.

Our train arrived at the station in Chiang Rai a bit before 10:00 in the morning. We waited until most of the passengers had disembarked before leaving our seats. The train station here wasn’t much different than the one in Lop Buri had been.

““We need to find a hotel until we can find and rent a house here,” I told Jorani, as we followed the other passengers out of the station.

Outside, there were pickup trucks that had been converted to buses, what Jorani called Baht buses, but were called songthaews here, and tuk tuks waiting to take passengers and others to their destinations. There were also several cars for hire as taxis, but we avoided them and headed for the tuk tuks. Anyone looking for us would surely check with the taxi drivers.

As we approached them, several of the tuk tuk drivers tried to hustle us, but Jorani ignored them and headed directly toward one of the vehicles near the end of the line of parked tuk tuks. She spoke to the driver in what I had learned on the train was a Chiang Mai or northern Thai accent. She had certainly come a long way from the scared young woman that I had rescued in Cambodia to the much more confident and smarter young woman that she was now. I was sure that a part of that was due to the medallion that the Spirit of Ley Line Magic had given her.

Thinking about Ley Line Magic, I sent my Magic senses out and received a huge shock. There was Ley Line Magic here and not just a little Ley Line Magic but a large amount of it. Where had it come from, I wondered, but Jorani was talking to me, or at least at me.

“Sorry!” I said apologetically. “What did you say?”

“Yes, I detected the Magic here also,” she told me in English with a smile before changing the subject. “This driver will take us to see a couple of hotels,” she told me.

“What about the hotels near the train station?” I asked.

“They are not good places to stay,” she told me, as we got seated in the rear of the tuk tuk.

“Where are we going then?” I asked.

“To see a hotel that the driver recommended and then others,” she told me, as the driver pulled out onto the road. From the road by the train station, we turned onto a road named Phra Sop Suk. I knew that was the name of the road as it was painted in large letters in English and Thai on the road. Shortly, we came to an area that I could see held the bus station, a movie theater, and the Night Bazaar. The driver said something to Jorani, and she turned to me.

“The food market is behind the cinema,” she told me.

Shortly, we turned onto a road identified as Phaholythin and pulled up in front of a large, modern, multi-story hotel building. The sign in front of it read “Wiang Inn Hotel”. Jorani took one look at it and shook her head.

“No,” she told me. “Way too obvious,” she added and relayed that sentiment to the driver extensively in Thai. She finished by telling him something else. He didn’t appear happy on hearing what she said.

We turned onto the street that went past the Wiang Inn and moved past several intersecting streets to turn onto Jedyod Road to find a smaller, less imposing hotel. The sign on the glass doors just off the soi (small street) read ‘Tourist Inn Hotel”. There was the scent of fresh bread and pastries in the air. Jorani paid the driver after we had gotten out of the tuk tuk. He still looked unhappy with our choice of hotels.

“While on the train coming here, the name of this hotel just appeared in my mind. The name was reinforced when I saw the other hotel. Those looking for us would surely check for us in that type of hotel, but probably not at this one,” she told me.

“Very astute, sweetie,” I told her and dropped both of our glamours before entering the hotel.

“Welcome,” said the woman behind the counter in good English as we approached it. The smell of baked goods was even stronger in here.

“How can we help you?” she asked next.

“We would like a room for three or four days,” I told her, as she spoke good English.

“Is there a bakery near here?” Jorani asked before she could answer.

“We bake fresh bread and pastries each evening for our guests’ breakfast the next morning,” the woman told her.

“This is definitely the right hotel,” Jorani said in a happy voice. We registered and selected their Classic Air Room package. The rooms in this package were a bit larger than the other rooms and came with a ceiling fan but no air conditioning. Jorani had turned down the rooms with air conditioning. She said that we wouldn’t need it here in the mountains, as it cooled down at night.

The room was plain but nice with a queen size bed and a western bathroom. There was a stand for belongings and large windows to admit air. The ceiling fan was running when we entered. I had picked up area maps in the lobby. They indicated that the hotel was located near Wat Jed Yod, the Chiang Rai Technical College, the Chiang Rai Prachanukhro Hospital, and a number of restaurants. We had already seen the theater, the Night Bazaar, and the market. This appeared to be a very good location, and it wasn’t that expensive being $15.00 (465 Baht) a night. I was sure the other hotel that we had seen would have been a lot more expensive.

We set up the room after calling our things to us from the Timeless Zone. After resting for a while, we set out to have a look at Chiang Rai. I cast a ward around the room that would allow air through it before leaving. On our way out of the hotel, we stopped and bought some of the pastries that they had for sale in their lobby store. Jorani was very pleased to see the half size or demi-baguettes that they had on hand.

“We had those in Cambodia. They were very popular,” she told me with a smile, as we munched on our croissants.

It was easy to get a tuk tuk near the hotel to take us to see the sites of Chiang Rai. We were especially interested in the many Wats in the city and their relation to the Ley Lines that we had both sensed on arriving here. Of course, we also saw many of the other major and minor attractions here as well. Wat Pra Sing and Wat Pra kaew shared a somewhat weak Line. They were located at the opposite ends of the Line. Wat Phra That Doi Chom Thong, where King Mangrai had found the area acceptable to be his capital in 1262, was also located on a somewhat weak Ley Line. Even Wat Jet Yod, near our hotel, was on a weak Line. It wasn’t until we started checking things on the east side of the city that we came to the major Ley Line in the area. It ran right under Wat Sri Kerd and all of the way up to and under the statue of King Mangrai on Singhakai Road just off of Highway # 1.

Wat Sri Kerd is located on Phahongothin Road near Si Koet Road. Once we found the area’s major Ley Line, we began looking for a house to rent near there while Jorani studied Magic. We found a house just off of Soi 1 not far from the Wat. It was a small, one story, wooden house with two bedrooms, a great room, kitchen and a bath. The steep roof was made of ceramic roofing tiles, and there were gutters to collect the rainwater that drained down the roof and was collected in large ceramic jars. The house was surrounded by a masonry wall, and there was a large steel gate in front of the driveway for a vehicle to enter the property. The house also wasn’t far from the market, the Night Bazaar and the movie theater. The rent wasn’t overly expensive either. We moved in after four days at the Tourist Inn Hotel. The house wasn’t far from the hotel either, and we returned there often for baguettes and pastries.

It had taken a couple of days to obtain the things that we needed to buy to live there. While the house was mostly furnished, we needed to obtain things like a mattress, sheets, pillows, towels and assorted other things. There was also propane for the stove and the water heater in the bathroom. Additionally, there was food and spices, dishes and utensils plus pots and a wok. Once moved in, the house was very comfortable. It had a number of ceiling fans. They were in the bedrooms and two were in the large great room.

The morning following moving from the hotel, my Father’s Book of Magic appeared on the dining table in the great room. There had been no explanation or fanfare. It just appeared as we were having breakfast, startling both of us.

“What is this, and where did it come from?” Jorani asked looking at it. I picked it up and checked it to be sure what it was.

“This is my Father’s Book of Magic. The one that he bought while my Mother was retrieving her Familiar Al, who had been kidnapped by Demons,” I told her.

“What is a Familiar?” she asked, curious.

“A Familiar is a Witch’s, Wizard’s, or other Magic user’s companion. They are guardians who alert them to trouble and help them with their Magic. They understand and know you better than you may know yourself. They are usually an animal, a cat most of the time for Witches, that helps you with things, like reminding you that you are late or are out of groceries,” I told her.

“Do you have one?” she asked.

“Yes, I’ve had a Familiar since I was a young child. His name is Bill. My sisters, my mother and my dad all have Familiars. It requires a lot of Magic ability to make a strong Familiar,” I told her.

“Why is this book here?” she asked next, taking us back to what had just occurred.

“Obviously, it’s here for you to study. How it got here is a mystery, as it is kept in the Queen’s Nest in Stone Mountain,” I told her, but then needed to explain all of that. It wasn’t until that afternoon that Jorani began to study the Book.

It didn’t take her long to finish Father’s book. It was like she devoured it. She would spend ten hours or more a day reading it. She would stop and ask questions from time to time, but that was all. I had spent the best part of a year reading the same book and learning what was in it. Of course, I had been just a young boy at the time and only had an hour or so to spend with it a couple of times a week. Jorani never did seem to notice that it was written in an archaic dialect of Gaelic. At least, she never commented about it, and I had to wonder when and where she had learned to read it.

The day after she finished reading Dad’s Book of Magic, it disappeared. The Guardian of the Books appeared the following day. She didn’t appear to be happy to be here and let us know it.

“Who is this woman?” Jorani asked looking at the woman who had appeared in our great room following our breakfast. The Guardian appeared to be the same as Mother had described her to us many times. She was a woman of indeterminate age, neither old nor young. She was about 5’-6’’ tall and was wearing a white dress with a red jacket over it. Her long blond hair was in braids on either side of her head, and her deep blue eyes flashed with anger.

“This is the Guardian of the Books,” I told Jorani before turning to the Guardian.

“Welcome Guardian. To what do we owe this visit?” I asked respectfully.