Chapter 10

When the spell was over I just held the boy in my arms for a few more minutes before putting him down and saying, "Do you feel better now Mark?"

"Yes sir but I feel better when you carry me."

I smiled to him and said, "I enjoy carrying you." This was the truth but I enjoyed caring for everybody under my care including the servants.

I added as I pointed to the highest point on the equipment, "There are some equipment hanging high in that thing that looks like a crow's nest. You or any of the rest know what they are for? Let's go up and I will show you." I got a wide smile and a nod.

When we got to the gym I said, "Show me how to get up there. I was never on one of these before. Is it scarey?"

"No silly, it's easy." The boy scampered over the rope net with the wide openings where he had just got hurt and I followed as if I was both frightened and uncoordinated.

The other children and even the girls stopped to see me making my slow progress as if I had difficulty placing my hands and feet. With a lot of questions and answers from a great many children I made it to the very top. Others had been here too but didn't understand what could be done.

There were snatch blocks on all four ropes. The other ends of the ropes lead off a great many metres from the gym we were now on. I reached up and put my arms into the two loops and then grasped the two handles hanging from the blocks. Nobody seemed to know what I was doing or why until I pushed myself off the platform. A boy and a girl were there with me to show me what to do up to this point. I flew above the heads of the others far below and sang out like Johnny Weissmuller in Tarzan as he called a herd of pachyderms to get him out of a jam.

My feet landed on the grass and I ran to slow down. Turning around I saw that everybody was staring at me and some had their mouths open at what I had done. I released the handles and the device returned to the top of the spar pulled by the small rope suspended over the large one. When it docked into place I saw that they were too shocked to do much.

I hurried back up to the platform but took a route the children could not match. Soon there were a great many people clamouring up to the platform with me. Since there was magic involved here I made sure that none of the blocks could leave unless the safety straps were in place. I showed the children what to do then pushed them off before they had too long to think of what as before them.

Those waiting saw no hesitation on any of the children and just followed when the blocks returned. One young girl came up and I strapped her in but then she started to cry. I undid the straps quickly and got into them myself. I picked the girl up and said, "Hold onto my neck." When she did I held the handles and brought up my knees. The girl now had a place to sit and a place to hold onto me. It was only later that she found that we were travelling down the rope and held me tighter. We landed with me running and the girl just holding onto me. She now had a smile.

At my urging Sonya went up and took the younger children down the rope too and she seemed to have as much fun as the children after the first time. My other ladies were encouraged to try it too and they were excited at this simple pleasure. Some of the staff did this too but Mrs Cardinalli and many of the others would not, claiming age or infirmities.

The younger children were pushed on the swings while some of the more daring tried to see how high they could go by themselves. I had to treat one girl when she was hit in the head when she walked through the area the people were swinging in. She just didn't understand the danger because the activity was just too foreign to her.

We kicked the soccer ball around and played with a very relaxed set of rules. Nobody kept score anyway. Sonya started a cheering section and the players worked even harder. Water was quite high in demand until the game ended.

It was time to eat even if it was a bit early. The children had worked up an appetite from the exercise and I hoped the fresh air. We all ate together and again the older ones helped the younger. The staff went to the line first after I whispered to them. This was cafeteria style and the children then saw what to do without being told.

The boys pigged out and some of the girls too. I got the girls to clean off the two wagons and after some blankets were placed on them they sat with the youngest children as the drivers gave us a tour of the estate. At one time it had been much larger and portions sold off. Mordock had acquired the 72 acres and bought up the surrounding area but under different company names.

The four horses were brought out and the groundsman rode one while I took the second with a child in my lap. Two other adventurous girls got to ride the other two animals. None of us had been on a horse before but I was not about to let the experience go by me.

I kept in mind that the Sookra world was not as far advanced as present day Earth and was much more like the thirteenth century Europe in most ways. Horses were used by those that could afford them. This task Erasmus had set me to was always in my mind. A chance to ride a horse I thought would be a good idea.

We followed the two tractors and I found I had to get off the horse to let my passenger ride by herself. I was becoming even more domesticated now and even let the children boss me around.

We stayed outside until it began to get dark. The horses had been rode by everybody and I even got a few minutes. The horses went back to the stable and those that liked the animals the most got a chance to help the groundsman put away the tack and curry the horses.

Mrs Cardinalli and some of the girls hurried to the kitchen to prepare a quick meal of spaghetti with our cook's own homemade sauce. The family was all cleaned by magic except those that liked the occasional shower like me. Sonya and Sara joined me but it was more for company and companionship instead of any erotic thoughts. They were tired too even though there was very little we had done to warrant this.

When it came time eat everybody was sitting down at the many large tables with us. Mrs Cardinalli sat with her husband as usual and she now looked around the large table she was at and I could see that now she was much better adjusted. Her thoughts now had the children much more firmly entrenched as grandchildren or even great grandchildren though she was not that old yet.

Mordock and Hassan came home later and went downstairs to get their meal the good old fashioned way; by magic.

Events seemed to settle for the next few days. The staff now were happier than before and I think it was that they saw us more like a real family though we used magic to do some tasks. The spells working on them to keep them tied to me and placid now would not be needed as much.

I listened to the news on CBC and a comment about vacations reminded me that I knew very little about the staff's arrangements. Mordock was doing some of his financial work so I just walked through the house and asked those individuals I found. I saw that Mordock gave the servants the minimum and this had to do with appearances too I thought. His visitors would wonder how his people never left.

Mordock would not have collected much data on those he chose so I called Sonya over with a notebook and pen. I gave her some pertinent questions to find the answers too and I left for the lab once more. I studied many of the casting spells to see the mechanics of having the work done away from the person formulating the incantation. There were a few more ways than I thought. With very good notes now and even the time I began to work on my time spells.

Almost two hours later I found that a faucet dripping water would slow down. This spell was written up and the set continued. Sonya came to get me later with Ann but I had only the one partial success.

She said to me, "The girls are tired tonight and so are the children. We came to take care of you."

"Take care of me? Do you mean that you are going to ravish my body and make me shoot all over or in you? Will I be forced to perform a lot of sexual acts until the two of you are satisfied?"

"That about sums it up. Get on the bed and lay on your back."

I pretended to look worried and said in a submissive voice, "Yes, Mistress."

They did have their way with me but I was the one that had to carry them with me as we went to sleep with the rest of the family as we usually did.

Over breakfast the next morning Sonya gave me a rundown on the way the staff were treated. They did have bank accounts that were regularly added to and they got two weeks vacation but the vacation was usually at their home on the property. The staff were usually older but not all. It seemed like Mordock encouraged them to cut their ties to their families or at least make it very difficult to get together.

Funerals and weddings were attended. To not do so was to draw attention. It amazed me at how cruel or heartless one man could be. I sat down with paper and made up a number of points. I had been in a union and knew what was important. When I was done, Sonya went over the document and made a few suggestions. She was always intelligent but brighter now that I had opened her mind a bit more. It looked like each of the staff deserved more back pay and time off.

One of the lawyers were contacted that wrote up the charter for the charitable organisation. I would be faxed the data on each of the present employees. On a hunch I got him to add any former employees.

Sonya went back to the lab and the two of us began where I had left off last night. Sonya made some of her own observations that showed she had even more insight than I had thought. These were recorded and inserted into our schedule for things to investigate.

We had some minor successes in the next few days and we worked hard on finding a pattern. The difficulty I thought may be that there were simply more than one way of doing this. We were trying to find just one common root when there were many.

The information had come in about the staff. There were no retirees but the benefits the staff got were not commensurate with what they had to do to get them.

With Lena and Lynn now conversant in English, I wanted to give them a job that would not only look good to the government but also help me. I called the servants in after doing some serious thinking and informed them of how I thought they had been cheated. They thought that this was not true but I had to consider that this was part of the spell that they had been under since coming to work for Mordock.

"There are four telephone lines coming to this home. I will get two more installed for staff use only. I want you to talk to your relatives and friends. I will also purchase two company cars for your use. You can work through Lena or Lynn for bookings. You each have a large amount of vacation time coming to you as well as more money that should have been paid before I came here."

They didn't understand this but I continued, "You are not obliged to stay on this property all the time. Your previous employer wanted you here in case somebody important came and he needed some assistance in making him seem important. Now you can visit others when you wish or even have them visit you. They of course will have to remain ignorant of what our family is really like."

Each employee got a personalised listing of what additional monies and benefits they would receive. The two Chinese girls were amazed to get similar sheets. The other Oriental women had moved in with us but they only got an allowance. Managing money was a good lesson to learn so they too would be getting a regular pay even if the government now would take a bit out of it.

Most of the other family members were not in any Earth registry. They had just been getting an allowance too and going out with others to learn how to spend it.

Sonya and I added others to our investigating team. Some were not only generators but conductors too. This attribute was encouraged to grow because I needed ideas faster than just I could produce them. Sonya once again was altered and I tried to stimulate this area. I was more comfortable with her than I would be any other.

The first week in December found our first good spell. It could be cast from a distance and it had a easy to use a trigger. A good magician had many spells formulated in his mind and only a trigger was required to cause them to work. This also required the magician to have a great memory and a mind that was always working to hold this group of spells together. I was gaining experience and skill but I was not up to what an apprentice would be like or even a good trainee.

I cast the spell at inanimate object and even animals. Most of these were squirrels I found raiding the bird feeders that Sonya had put out. The animals were not hurt in any way and I just used the release spell to see what they would do.

We tried the spells on each other and I tried to detect what had happened when I was brought back to our time. All I could feel was a split second of disorientation, otherwise I would not have known that I had been suspended.

This success didn't stop our investigations though. I could see this as a good way to take out a more powerful opponent such as an apprentice.

The time vault had been studied but nothing new was found. I reluctantly came to the conclusion that I had to empty it and find out how it was made. To do this would require taking care of all of the present inhabitants. I didn't feel right about taking them out and then putting them back when I was done.

The population in the vault was segregated according to magical purposes. There were seven babies to one year old and four more that were up to age five. Seven children were in the next group and the oldest was ten. Thirteen were in the prepubescent group up to age fourteen and finally eight mature girls with the oldest being seventeen. There were nineteen boys and ten of those were under five years of age. The total population was forty nine.

The main difference in this group was that they were all raw slaves. This meant that they had not been broken and would probably only had a spell on them to make them obey. They would not understand English or any other Earth language. It would be a shock to them to go into our family but it would have to be done eventually.

We had a family discussion that meant all of us. The people coming out of the vault wee sure to disrupt our lives. Our youngest members were encouraged to gave their opinions when asked as well as everybody else. All sorts of problems were voiced along with possible solutions. I was in a hurry but not so much that we couldn't mull this over long enough to come up with a good plan.

The babies had to be taken care of and the rest basically needed to be educated and steps taken to keep them from unduly disrupting our lives. The number being awoken were going to make our population grow by half.

My oriental girls had the most normal upbringing. They had brothers and sisters which they looked after or at least babysat. Barbara and a few others had a rough life on Earth but she was the most suitable to be a new 'mother'. With their ok, they found their breasts growing and milk starting to flow. This process would take a few days to finish and I am sure the novelty would encourage some large children to see if they liked to be breast fed.

When the time came, Mordock was close in case he was needed but he kept out of sight. I went over the spell and said it as I manipulated what I was told to do. I felt a surge of energy that went into a depleted crystal. We heard the crying of babies but I waited a moment for any residual effects of the spell to dissipate.

I went in alone and tried to act nonthreatening but I chanted a spell to put all of them to sleep when I felt them feeling too much anxiety. The family came in now in an orderly procession and took out those individuals they were supposed to assist. The babies of course were taken first. The room was emptied in a matter of minutes.

The situation was now well in hand so when the room was empty I walked to the centre and just cast my mind out to find and analyse the spell. It was much clearer now but it was still wrapped up in a mass of lines similar to what was used to keep a spell from being understood.

I heard babies starting to cry but then felt the new 'mothers' settling into a comfortable position as they did what nature intended. I knew that the next oldest group would be awoken too and integration begun.

I went back to the spell and tried to discover the way to remove the bindings without destroying the spell itself. It looked similar to what was in Mordock but I wasn't going to take anything for granted when it came to a mage.

The process was tiring and I decided to take a break. I checked the babies first and found them sleeping. It was difficult to read their minds. This was because of their unformed thoughts and the fact that they had not bonded to me like the rest had.

The next group had been broken up so one child would not upset another if he or she started to cry. They were uniformly frightened of me when I came into the room with them and their caregivers. I stayed ten minutes in each room and when I left they were not as frightened. Usually this was accomplished in how I talked with those of my family. Seeing one of the youngest members crawl onto my lap for some attention was the best way I knew to show that I would not hurt anybody.

The six to ten age group were more difficult. They had old memories of their growing up. A master was usually bad in most cases but not all males were masters. The family tried to present me as a caring male only. The seven youths took longer to get to understand that I was not going to hurt them.

I worked throughout the day and it was very tiring for all of us. The oldest group were the hardest to calm. They were all used to being abused but I had a lot of experience so far in dealing with this.

The entire group could be read once I could get through their fear. It was not clear as my family but clear enough for now. It seemed like the forty nine individuals came from thirteen planets. A twelve year-old girl spoke Saranam and a fifteen year-old spoke Fassie. This placed their world as Sookra.

One of the babies happened to come from Earth. This one was too young to know anything and I had to get some detectives to find out more. The ones I could get enough information from looked to be simply breed to be slaves.

After a hectic night I went through the older groups and fogged their memories and simply planted some new ones. We had too many refugees for us to handle at one time and this was the best way I knew to get them to adjust. Like the others this fog would lift slowly and they would have a chance to adjust to it. The two girls from Sookra didn't get as much of this fogging. I had to learn about where they used to live.

The next day I found not only Sonya but Sara studying both the Saranam and the Fassie languages with the two girls that spoke it. There would be a lot of language lessons now that so many had to learn from scratch.

I spent much of my own time in the now inactive vault. Mordock and Hassan worked with me when they had time to see what they could find. The three of us worked out the weave of the bindings on the spell but it took us two days to accomplish this. The spell itself was difficult to comprehend. There were forces manipulated in the forth dimension and even a minor alteration of the fifth. I had not worked in this area much because of its difficulty.

Our repertory of time related spells grew. I wanted to know exactly what happened. They seemed to work but we did not know why. This was all in the nature of experimentation and I was still optimistic that we would do well.

Time was even less mine in another fashion because I had to integrate those that had been in the time vault. I had to be seen and also seen as benevolent. Those that had experienced sex even if it was a form of rape were allowed to view the workings of our circle. They were not encouraged to join because I was trying to offer them a choice.

I chose Sonya first again and made slow passionate love with no thought to the time taken. Here it was a matter of quality that I wanted to express. When she blended into the grid the energy was almost as if we were just rutting for love had deeper meaning for all of us. Those that had been in the vault were examined like all the rest and they had only the basic spell to obey.