Chapter 16

We arose early the next morning. I wanted to return to the cave in Fork Mountain and retrieve the wedding ring set that I had there along with a pendant that could store a spell for emergency use. I hadn’t used the pendant in a very long time, but I wasn’t about to discard anything that dealt with Magic. As it turned out, Sara wanted to go along. Not for the rings but to spend more time in her Dragon form.

“I want to spend more time as a Dragon. I want to see how I move and learn to spread my wings and to generally see how my Dragon body moves and works,” she told me.

“You will need to learn how to control your tail also. It can swing about wildly, knocking things and people over and banging into things,” I warned her.

“Tail?” she asked.

“Yes, you have a long-scaled tail. You would be amazed by how much damage you can do with it,” I told her.

“Oh dear, I never thought about that,” she told me with an embarrassed look.

“You just need to learn to control it. It helps a lot when flying to control your direction and to change directions,” I told her. The problem was that Al Jr. wanted to go along with us when he learned where we were going.

“I want to go with you,” he said as he rubbed up against my lower leg.

“Have you ever been to the mountains?” I asked.

“Well ... no, but both of you will be there,” he said hopefully.

“Suppose you run into a big old raccoon. Some of them can weigh 25 to 30 pounds or more, and they eat everything,” I told him.

“I’ve got my Magic,” he answered, confidently.

“What kind of Magic?” I asked.

“I have a ward no raccoon will ever get through,” he told me proudly.

“Alright, but we won’t be taking any food with us or water. If we’re there for a long time, I may catch and roast a deer for us. You could have some of that,” I told him. He still wanted to go.

We left from the parking area outside the Nesting Ward. Sara passed us through it. Junior had crowded between our feet before I cast the transfer spell. We appeared in the clearing on top of Fork Mountain a second later. There were a few clouds visible, but it was a bright sunny day on the mountain. I could see some darker clouds on the western horizon.

“It looks fine for now, but there are rain clouds to the west. We may need to leave or shelter in the cave if a storm develops,” I warned Sara. Junior was already exploring the rocky area where we had appeared.

“Change me into my Dragon, so I can see how it feels and exercise some, especially the tail that you warned me about,” Sara told me. I changed both of us into our Dragon forms, and then went to retrieve the ring and pendant while she became familiar with the working of her Dragon body.

Appearing on the small ledge part of the way down the side of the Mountain, I immediately became aware of the marks on the right side of the mountain near the ledge.

“Somebody has been down here,” was my immediate thought, and I checked the opening ward on the cave. It was at 100% and hadn’t been tampered with.

“So, was this just someone exploring the mountain, or could it be something more sinister?” I wondered and would need to check. Before doing anything further, I checked the area for a considerable distance around this side of the mountain with my Magic senses, but discovered no one or any type of recording or surveillance equipment or cameras. I would check things topside when I returned there to ensure there was no one monitoring or spying on the area or us.

The ring set and pendant were in the same box, and I quickly retrieved it with the intention of immediately returning to Sara and checking on things.

However, I was delayed on spying something I had forgotten that I still had. It was a fancy silk Kimono with a wide Obi. It had been a gift for one of my lovers when I was in Japan. She had been a very sweet woman. She had been murdered by a drunken jealous Samurai shortly after that. Needless to say, when I learned what had happened, he didn’t live long enough to sober up. I had kept it all of these years under a preservation spell. It had been in the box under the one that the ring and pendant were in, and I had carelessly knocked it over in my haste to return to the top of the mountain. Quickly returning the Kimono to its storage box, I sent both it and the ring box to the Timeless Zone while I returned to the top of the mountain to investigate who had been here, and what they had done or been up to. Before leaving, I did make sure that the entrance ward was at full strength and would work for no one but me.

Appearing on top of the mountain, I could see Sara off to one side of the area where we had arrived, and she was practicing spreading her wings. This required considerable space even at twenty-five feet tall. The real problem, however, was Junior who was in trouble.

He had left the rocky area where we had arrived and was a short distance out in the stunted vegetation that covered the top of the mountain. I could sense the small ward that he had cast around himself. It would probably prevent him from being eaten by the Bobcat that fancied him as its dinner. That wasn’t all of his problems though, as I could sense a rather large King snake that appeared to be considering which of them would be a better meal. King snakes are constrictors, and Junior might have a problem with that.

The solution was fairly simple. I changed back to my Dragon form again at twenty-five feet tall and gave a loud Dragon roar which frightened off the Bobcat, and stamped my large Dragon feet which set up vibrations in the shallow soil and the rock under it. The vibrations startled the snake and it left. Junior nearly jumped out of his ward at the sound of my roar. It also disturbed Sara who came over to see what was going on.

“What was all of that noise about?” she asked, still in her Dragon form.

“Junior had a little problem with a Bobcat and a large snake. They were both considering him as a meal,” I told her and a now somewhat recovered Junior.

“Snake! What snake?” he asked in an upset voice while looking around.

“The large King snake that was going to wrap you up in its coils,” I told him.

“Wrap me up?” he asked.

“They are constrictors and squeeze their victims to death before eating them whole,” I told him. Junior didn’t look happy at all on hearing this, but I had turned back to Sara.

“How much longer do you expect to be with your exercises?” I asked.

“I don’t know. I’ve found that I have these bony protrusions all of the way down my tail,” she told me in a somewhat disturbed voice.

“Yes, all Dragons have them. They also run down your back from your head to your tail,” I told her. “They are called Neural Spikes or bony spikes and are made of hardened bone like your horns,” I told her.

“I’ve noticed that you have long horns at the top of your head. Do I have them too?” she asked.

“Yes, almost all Dragons have them. Some Chinese Dragons may not, but I haven’t met many Chinese Dragons,” I told her.

“Yes, I noticed that Chu had a fine set of horns as do Maddy and her Daughters,” Sara agreed.

“If we are going to be here much longer, I’m going to go look for some lunch, after I check the area for any signs that people have been here since we were last here,” I told her.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“There were marks on the side of the mountain near the entrance of the cave. They weren’t there previously. I checked the area with my Magic senses but didn’t find any signs of surveillance equipment or watchers. I need to check the area up here as well,” I said.

“Is the cave alright?” she asked in a worried voice.

“Yes, I checked it thoroughly and reset the ward so no one else will be able to open it,” I assured her.

“Maybe we should return to Atlanta then. We don’t need to give others an excuse to come up here,” she told me.

“Let me check the area with my Magic senses and then we’ll go,” I told her, and began checking the area but found nothing. We left shortly after that and returned to the parking area just at the edge of Maddy’s property.

On returning to the house, Sara made lunch for us and for Al Junior. While she was busy, I called Dr. Graham’s office.

“Good afternoon, Doctor Graham’s office. How can I help you?” the voice on the phone answered.

“Good afternoon, this is Nicolae Maier. I’d like to speak to Doctor Graham about a matter that we discussed previously,” I told her, as it was the receptionist.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Maier, but the doctor isn’t here. She is at the hospital. Two of her patients are giving birth this afternoon. I’m not sure when she will return,” I was told.

“That’s alright. I’ll check with her later,” I told the receptionist and disconnected. “So, that puts that off for the time being,” I thought to myself. Lunch was very good following that.

When we were in the small parlor following lunch, I called the ring box to me from the Timeless Zone, opened it, and presented the contents to Sara, who gasped in surprise.

“These gifts are for you, sweet Wife,” I told her removing the wedding ring first and placing it on her hand before adding the engagement ring. Both rings were of heavy gold worked with engraving. The engagement ring had a three-carat blood red ruby in it. The pendant was a large circle of dark purple Amethyst the size of a Double Eagle gold coin on a silver chain. Removing it from the box, I opened the clasp and hung it around Sara’s neck before closing the clasp. Maddy came in just as I was finishing.

“What have we here?” she asked with a smile.

“Nick just presented me with these wedding rings and this pendant,” Sara told her in a happy voice, holding out each item.

“Congratulations, dear,” Maddy said as she looked at the rings but zeroed in on the pendant.

“This is a Magical item,” she said holding the pendant up from Sara’s chest.

“Yes, it will hold a spell or some extra Magic. Things like this were often used previously by Wizards to supplement their own Talent when casting major spells,” I told her. Sara was very surprised on hearing this.

“I have something else for you,” I told her before anything else could be said. Returning the ring box to the Timeless Zone, I called the box with the Kimono to me. Opening the box, I removed the Kimono, shook it out to its full length, and held it up for both women to see. The wide obi remained in the box for now. Both Sara and Maddy were amazed by the beautiful Kimono.

“Oh my!” Maddy said on seeing it.

“It’s beautiful!” Sara said, eyeing the garment and wondering if it would fit her. Canceling the preservation spell on it, I cast the size change spell on it, in case it needed to be a bit larger to fit her.

“Try it on so we can see how you look in it,” I told her and opened it so she could slip it over her other clothes. The spell only needed to enlarge it a tiny bit for it to fit her perfectly. I helped her get it arranged correctly before removing the wide obi from the box and wrapping it around her before tying it in the back in the correct flat bow. With her long brown hair and green eyes, she looked almost oriental. I kissed her on the back of her neck before releasing her.

“You look fantastic!” Maddy told her with a big smile just as Deirdre and the Sweeney triplets arrived. They too were amazed by the way Sara looked.

“You’re beautiful!” all four of them breathed with large smiles.

“Is that a wedding present?” Deirdre asked following that.

“Yes, I guess that it is,” Sara told her before holding up her left hand to display the rings and then pulled the pendant up from inside the Kimono to show them.

“Those rings are fabulous,” the Sweeney sisters told her, but Deirdre was attracted to the pendant as her Mother had been.

“Will it hold Magic?” she asked, pointing to it. “It’s made of Amethyst, like Mother’s crown,” she added.

“It will hold some Magic or a spell,” I told her and the other girls. Maddy must have been on the phone while we were talking as Dallas, Doreen, and Jorani soon arrived. They were as impressed with everything as the others had been. Dallas had a question.

“Those types of robes are very expensive today. How long have you had it?” she asked.

“This was a gift for a lady friend in Japan. She was killed by a drunken, jealous Samurai before I could give it to her. I’ve kept it a very long time,” I told her, before adding, “That Samurai didn’t live long enough to sober up, when I learned what he had done.” They were all shocked by my words.

“You’ve seen hard times,” Doreen said.

“Yeah, some,” I told her in agreement.

“You should wear that the next time we go to that Japanese restaurant,” Jorani told Sara with a smile before leaving. The mood had changed now from joyful to somber, and we all returned to what we had been doing previously. Sara and I did some studying after she removed the Kimono, and I returned it to its box for now. She would wear it on special occasions, she had said.

That night, Sara was still really fired up from the things I had given her, and we made love and had sex until late that night. In the morning, we were up very late and didn’t consider going out for our exercise in the rain. We had missed them for several days now and would need to get back to our usual ones.

That day we both spent more time studying Magic. I had a book in the safe that I had been going to review for some time and spent most of the day on it. Even with Magic and our Talents, if you don’t use something, at least occasionally, you tend to forget it. Sara did have a request that afternoon.