Chapter 5

Helen was resting comfortably in a chair at large dining room table. Karen was seated next to her to keep her company while she sipped a cup of hot soup and ate a few crackers.

"I just want to thank you and your family again Karen! It feels so wonderful to be clean again and this soup is just wonderful! Thanks for taking me into your home," Helen told her.

"Well you're welcome here as long as you like Mrs. Hatcher. It's a pleasure to actually meet you in person. I just wish the circumstances were different," Karen replied. "You know the phones still seem to be operational in many parts of the country. Would you like to call D.C.?"

Helen hesitated before answering, and then in an almost pained voice said "maybe a bit later Karen."

It seemed a bit odd to Karen but before she became too focused on it, Rhonda ran into the room and in an excited voice said "Momma! You and the First Lady have to come outside! There's a big red dragon heading this way!"

At this bit of news Helen seemed to perk up a bit. With some assistance from Karen and Rhonda she made her way out onto the front porch in time to see the magnificent creature come in for a graceful landing. Jim had just parked his Jeep and was walking over to the dragon and his rider.

Of the nine women present, only Helen had ever seen one of the dragons up close and personal. Xenanthul was a lovely iridescent blue, while her mate Pharnuil had been a lovely golden color. So Helen knew immediately that this was a different dragon. After thinking back on it, she remembered one of the early news stories involving two dragons thwarting a bank robbery. One of the dragons had shiny red scales.

"Hello Sir Dragon!" Helen said in greeting. "By any chance would you be Eldritch?"

"Why yes lovely lady and Hello to you and your fair companions as well!" Eldritch replied in his basso voice as he dipped his head in greeting. "I am so happy to find you alive and well. My friend and master asked me to accompany him on his search for you. It brings us great pleasure to find you well my lady. Xenanthul will be thrilled to hear of it as well!"

The Wizard had jumped off of the dragon's back just on the side away from the front porch and therefore out of the sight of the First Lady. The giant of a man in his voluminous wizard robe now came into view. "Lady Hatcher! What a joy it is to find you whole and in the company of such fine people!" he told her as he came near.

Once she was able to drag her eyes from the unusual symbols that seemed written in molten gold, Helen saw something that she had never expected to see on the great man's face. Try as he might, Dale couldn't help but feel great sorrow at the death of his friend President Hatcher. Though it had seemed to be political suicide the man had declared his friendship with the Wizard and the Dragons in spite of the potential cost of his career. It had been a great shock to find that his friend hadn't made it through the plague, and now he would have to tell Helen. More than anything else she had seen since the shocking plague began the tear flowing down the cheek of the Wizard stunned Helen.

"Do you cry for the many dead?" She asked in a stunned whisper.

"I do," he told her. "I cry for the great loss of humanity; but as much and maybe more than that I cry for the loss of a dear friend."

Taking Helen's hand in his, the great man knelt on one knee and said "I'm afraid your dearest Matthew didn't make it Helen."

Dale's meeting with Helen Hatcher was quite emotional and somewhat intense. She felt such relief at her rescue and was very happy with the treatment she had received from the kind family that had rescued her; however with all of the trauma, personal loss, and heartache she found herself going through, it was a relief to see someone she already had some history with. To Helen seeing the kind and friendly Wizard once again was like finding shelter from the storm.

Seeing that the horses were somewhat agitated by his presence, Eldritch bade everyone a fond farewell and assured the Wizard he would return when summoned. Karen took a look at the big man and then glanced at the doorway to her home. When she turned back to gage whether he'd be able to fit through the doorway he caught her look.

"Helen, I've assumed the form I used when I visited you at the White House; but it might be easier today if I assumed another of my forms," the Wizard told her as he stood apart from her for a moment. His body was enveloped in a startlingly blue shimmering light and when it vanished, a man with golden brown hair and intense brown eyes flecked with gold stood before her. He was quite tall, though not as tall as Jim Bridgert or the giant who had been with her a moment before; but somehow she knew it was the same soul and in essence the same man. He had the same intensely powerful aura and in fact the impact of his presence actually seemed stronger than before.

Jim and the women in his life looked at the Wizard with a sense of awe. The man seemed to radiate sheer power and force of will.

"May I enter your home?" the Wizard asked.

"Oh, of course! Please do!" Karen replied.

Once inside the familiar territory of the house Becky and her sisters took charge of preparing some refreshments for their unexpected guest. While they were busy, Karen and the others were largely silent as they listened to the conversation between the two reunited friends.

"I tried Helen, there just wasn't enough time! The virus hit so fast! I was able to intervene and save some; but not enough. The very old and the very young were doomed I'm afraid. I set my servants to the task of saving as many as possible and we were able to save almost seventy million. Then we found out that some renegade faction in China seems to be the originator of the vicious organism. They thought they have inoculated all of their population; but their 'Cure' has left all of their men sterile," Dale said as he ran his fingers through his hair.

"I had planned on working with Matthew and other leaders around the globe to slowly improve the lifestyle of everyone on the planet; but now I've been forced to take things into my own hands," Dale told Helen.

After a pause he asked her, "I hate to ask you this but did you know Matthew had cancer?"

Helen seemed somewhat hesitant to answer, but finally she began "Yes. He told me about three weeks ago." The tears began to flow down her cheeks as she recounted her anguish at the news. She'd been so afraid that he would suffer a long and protracted illness. Dale gathered her in his arms and gently rocked her back and forth as she shared her sorrows of the past few weeks. Karen identified with Helen completely. She'd seen her first husband suffer the ravages of the terrible disease. As the tears trickled down her cheeks Jim pulled her into his lap and held her close.

"I didn't know how you and Matthew would react to my lifestyle and didn't want to cause him anymore trouble than being friends with me already had," Dale told Helen.

"What do you mean? Having you for a friend was something Matthew was very happy about. You didn't cause any problems Manix! It was the press overreacting as usual and then all of the overzealous religious nut jobs going bonkers when they were faced with a reality they weren't prepared for. It was their fault things got sticky there for a while; not yours. Besides, once everything was straightened out, Matt had the backing of the average citizen anyway," Helen assured him.

"Yes, but had they understood that I have many wives, thousands of concubines, servants, and many other things they wouldn't have been able to understand, I'm just not certain they would have stayed with Matt," Dale said.

"Well, you may be a powerful wizard, but Matt was a staunch believer in individualism and made his decision to publicly acknowledge his friendship to you and the heroic and magnificent dragons on his own. I agreed with it as well; but we're talking about Matt - he would have done what he believed to be the right thing no matter what anyone else thought," Helen replied with a fond grin at the memory of her fallen mate and friend.

"Helen, I would like you to stay in touch with me. In fact, I'd like you to come visit my home and family whenever you're willing. Now Jim and I need to talk a bit and he's told me about a meeting this afternoon that he will need to attend to in a few hours. Why don't you rest a while and we'll see each other later. Okay?"

"Yes Manix. I'll be fine. I was just starting to get to know this delightful woman and her co-wives," Helen said as she smiled in Karen's direction, "when you arrived. I'll be waiting for you when you get back," she said as she slid off of his lap and rose to her feet.

Turning to face Dale, Helen bent over and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for caring. It's really good to see you again."

Dale smiled at her before he turned to Karen and asked, "Do you have a full length mirror anywhere nearby?" Looking at Jim he added, "Floor to ceiling would be preferable if possible."

"Uh yes, right this way," Karen replied wondering what he wanted a mirror for. She led Jim and the Wizard to the master bedroom.

Looking at the mirrored closet doors the Wizard said, "Yes. These will do nicely."

He reached into a pocket hidden somewhere in the depths of his robe and pulled out a wand. Dale turned towards the mirror and spoke the words "Ingressus erga solium cella" while waving his wand at the mirror. Jim and Karen were both quite startled when the mirror no longer showed the reflection of her bedroom but instead a picture of a throne room.

"Jim and I will be back in an hour or so Karen," the Wizard told her. Turning to Jim he said "If you would kindly follow me," then he startled them both by walking into the mirror. After a momentary hesitation Jim turned to Karen and said "See you later gorgeous!" and then followed.

The throne room was quite impressive! The large chair seemed to be carved from a single stone. Romanesque couches filled the center of the large room and countless beautiful women in the most miniscule of costumes waited on the Wizard and his guest. After the women had served refreshments they withdrew from the room to give the two men time to talk.

"Jim I have many things that I need to share with you and we will talk on many occasions in the future. For now though, I'd like to tell you a bit about what has happened to our world, what will most likely be happening in the future, and what our part in it needs to be. After that I have a few gifts I'd like to give you and the women in your household.

As I mentioned earlier, the virus appears to have been some attempt at bio-warfare. My servants learned of the virus in time for me to act; but not with enough time for me to save everyone. Thinking to use my resources where they would do the most good, I gave instructions to my servants regarding who to aid and what type of aid to provide. Unfortunately, even a Wizard requires time to prepare and time was what I had very little of.

Now it appears that the instigator of all of this death and misery attempted to inoculate the citizens of his country against the plague before launching it. I very much doubt that the people of China would have condoned his actions had they known of them in advance; but as I've learned from studying earth's past it might be possible to lead the masses to believe that this was an act of some higher power showing that the Chinese are a master race. I am obviously speaking of the type of propaganda used by Hitler during World War II and as that experience so amply showed, it doesn't require that everyone agree with the concept as long as you can produce enough positive economic and political rewards to bribe those who don't or make them turn a blind eye.

Though it would have hardly seemed possible to come up with something more insidious than the genocide of an entire race of people, this plague has done so. Its obvious intent was to eliminate everyone who was not living and dwelling in China. The prepared antidote was delivered to the masses through the public water supplies and most likely the person or persons behind the plague believe the antidote to have been successful. For sometime they may be able to cultivate their propaganda with some success; at least until the antidote's side effect of sterility is discovered. After that things could go any number of ways if left to themselves.

With my intervention some sixty-eight million people were saved by the actions of my servants. These people are scattered all over the globe trying to deal with the staggering implications of the plague while the nearly billion people in China have seemingly remained untouched. I arrived here on your planet after World War II was in the history books. My own sense of ethics prevented my from seeking any type of political power over the people of earth so I limited myself to gradually implementing technological and medical improvements introduced through various privately held commercial enterprises. Doing things this way would be slow to be sure, but that would give people a chance to adjust at their own pace. Obviously the various interventions of the Dragons were shocking enough at first; however these episodes provided me with the invitation to meet what at the time was the most powerful man in charge of a democratic society.

As it has obviously done to so many, the plague forced me to adapt my plans and in many cases either completely rethink them or scrap them altogether. I now feel no choice but to continue intervening in the affairs of earth on a rather massive scale to prevent the extinction of man as a species.

Without constant maintenance the various nuclear facilities around the globe would soon be leaking radiation at eventually lethal doses. Overtime this would wipe out all life on the planet, not just that of humanity. The Chinese might be able to stave this off for some time, but without the ability to reproduce they are a dying breed as well. The billions of domesticated animals would soon become a nuisance and in some cases a very serious threat as well. Health issues from their rotting corpses could be enough to eliminate the small populace of survivors the plague has left in its wake.

Prior to the plague this planet's population was just over six billion; six billion with the capability to reproduce. After the plague we have population of just fewer than one billion with nearly half of this number consisting of sterile Chinese males. As it stands now, there is about one fertile male for every eight thousand women on the planet. If I fail to act now, humanity's chances of survival are quite slim."

The Wizard had risen to his feet about halfway through his dialogue and begun to slowly pace back and forth. Now turning to Jim and looking him directly in the eyes he began to speak again.

"Earlier this afternoon you heard Helen, the former First Lady of a great and noble country, describe her beloved husband Matthew, the late President. She said that he would do what he thought to be right regardless of what others might think of him for it. I had found this to be true of the man as well and respected him for it. In this way, the President and I were very much alike Jim.

I have told you of our situation and my thoughts on it. You should know, that with or without your willing cooperation, I feel that I must move forward with plans that I hope will give mankind a chance for survival; but I'd rather do that with men such as yourself as my allies and not my enemy," the Wizard concluded lapsing into silence.

"Sir, I've already told you that I'd stop doubting your judgment. I can see that you already have all of the power, riches, and rewards that come with it already whether the plague had occurred or not. It's quite obvious that you care and we are already in your debt.

I'm in no position to judge your actions; but from everything I've seen they're honorable. I'm honored that you trust me enough to share your thoughts with me; but you already had my respect and admiration. You don't need to worry about me being an enemy Sir," Jim said.

"Thank you Jim. You don't know just how much your sincere and willing cooperation means to me or those around you just yet; but in time as we face the future together our ability to trust, cooperate, and work together may be the key to mans very survival. I need you and other men like you to become the leaders and organizers of what remains of earths population. My servants are taking care of things like the power plants and to a large degree the domesticated animals and other such known problems. It will fall to you and others such as you to deal with more of the societal and cultural issues on a daily basis.

Now Jim, trust works both ways and you've shown your trust in me just by coming here today. Now let me show you a bit of my trust in you."

The Wizard turned to a nearby table where a number of items Jim could not readily identify were placed. The Wizard picked up a short red metallic cylinder about the size of a pistols gun barrel and handed it to Jim.

"I realize that just about everything I'm about to show you will seem unusual and some of the functions quite unbelievable until you've become accustomed to them. The rod you now hold in your hand has many functions and is known by the name of 'Gladius per Rector' or ruler's sword. It is keyed only to you Jim and no other can use it. With this single weapon you can immobilize an attacker or group of attackers, stun them, or kill them. A wise friend of mine said 'use the least amount of force necessary to get the job done since we can take life easily but have no way to give it back if we are in error'. Put that in your pocket for now. You'll learn how to use the ruler's sword shortly."

The Wizard now picked up a necklace with a blue crystal on it and handed it to Jim. "Put this on and don't take it off at anytime. It is a communications crystal that will allow you to talk with myself or anyone else who has one as well as many of my servants who you will come to meet over time. It is impervious to damage and can only be taken off by your conscious decision. You can wear it as a necklace, a bracelet, or an arm band."

Jim put it on his left wrist and was amazed to see the red metal reform itself into a bracelet just as the Wizard had said.

"All you have to do to use the communications crystal is think of who you want to talk with and then what you'd like to say. It will handle everything else on its own. I can assure you that this crystal is yours alone Jim. It is designed to bond with you mentally over time; once you begin to use it no one else will be able to. It will not transfer your private or random thoughts either; however with it you can transmit words, images, and even emotions. This is how you and I will stay in touch."

Next the Wizard picked up a box with literally dozens of blue diamond-like gems.

"Jim, you're either gonna love me or hate me for these," the Wizard said with a laugh.

"Oh? Why is that?" Jim asked.

"These are somewhat similar to your communications crystal; but with a few distinct differences. As you may have noticed women will find you very desirable and attractive. To a large extent their emotions and desires will attune themselves to yours. As your growing family attests to these things you can no doubt believe my words to be true. These crystals are for women who you choose to accept as mates. The mating crystals will allow them to communicate with you much as your communication crystal allows you to communicate with me. You will be able to reach them at all times and know that they are safe. You will also be able to better sense their physical and emotional needs," the Wizard told him.

"All of this sounds wonderful to me. What's the catch? You said I might hate you," Jim inquired.

"Did I forget to mention that they'd be able to talk with you all of the time?" the Wizard replied with a smirk.

"Oh! Well I can deal with that considering what else they seem to want to do with me most of the time!" the big man grinned back at the Wizard.

Picking up one of the beautiful blue crystals Jim asked "How are these worn?"