Chapter 5

Aric looked over his shoulder at the naked woman that was sprawled across his bed. Her continuing gasps, told their own story. Ellen was still lost in the throes of the spell that he had placed on her. It was one that would make the effects of her orgasm last. He smiled as she finally sank into the bed with a soft moan of satisfaction. If nothing else good came about this banishment to Earth, he could say that Ellen was a definite perk. He had never had a woman as hot for him as she was.

The phone next to the bed rang. Reaching over he picked it up.

"They on their way back to Areseric."

"Philip, I was hoping to hear from you. Tell me what you have found out." He strode out of the room with the cordless phone and headed towards the kitchen. Stopping in front of the fridge, he pulled out a carton of juice and poured himself a glass.

"From what information I have gathered, Princess Gracie has asked King Charles to escort the healer to Arianna."

"Ah... so she is going to Areseric for training. I want you to delay them. I will be returning to Venus in due time. I don't want Charles to be intrenched in Kartic when I arrive."

"What you do you want me to do?"

"I want you to persuade Charles that he doesn't want to go to Kartic. I don't want him dead but only wishing that he was. If he dies, I will have to wait a year while the council decides to appoint me as king. I don't want that. I need to defeat him in a battle to assume his position as king. Do you understand me, Philip?"

"Yes. I will do this. Just remember your end of the bargain, Aric." Philip's voice turned cold. "If you double cross me on this, there is no place you can hide."

"You'll get what is coming to you, Philip." he assured him before he hung the phone up.

Kat covertly watched as Charles stripped his shirt off. He was kneeling next to the river a few yards from their campsite. This was the first time that she had ever seen him without a shirt on. She watched with envy as he cupped his hands and splashed water onto his chest. She could see the drops of water sliding down his stomach and under the waist of his pants. If he wanted her to just view him as a friend, standing as he was, wasn't helping matters. She quickly looked away as he started to turn back towards the campsite. It wouldn't be good if he caught her ogling him again. She was trying hard to honor his request but it was damn hard when she went to sleep wanting him and woke up the same way.

"Okay, Kat, you can look now. I'm decent." Charlie said a few moments later.

"You really shouldn't have..." Kat muttered under her breath before turning back around to face him. He was in the process of tucking his shirt into his pants. "My turn?"

Charlie swallowed hard at her soft question. He was tempted to tell her no. That his willpower wouldn't survive her disrobing in front of him. He clenched his jaw before nodding quickly. She smiled at him before darting around him. A few moments later he heard a splash. Had she fallen in? Spinning around, he looked for her frantically. He was shocked when he found her immersed waist deep in the water. Then she dove under the water in a shallow dive and disappeared from sight.

"Katrina!" he strode purposefully to the water's edge and scanned the waters, looking for a sign of his wayward ward. When her head finally popped out of the water a good distance from where she had begun, he frowned with surprise. She treated the water as if it were a natural element for her to play in.

"You called?" Her voice echoed across the open water.

"What in the name of Areseric are you doing?" He stopped just short of entering the water.

"You can't mean to tell me, you have never seen a woman swim?"

"Swim?" A look of puzzlement was clear on his face.

"Yes. A body gets in the water, picks up their feet and swims. You know moving your arms and legs while not touching the bottom? I will admit this river is a bit on the small side for swimming but it feels refreshing none the less."

"Small? Woman, you are swimming in the largest river in Areseric. It is only second in size to the Great River that flows north of the Great Palace."

"Really?" She smiled as she floated on her back.

"Yes. The Great River is ten feet deep. This one is about eight feet. You need to come out of there before you drown."

"I've been in pools deeper than this, Charlie. Why don't you come in and join me? It's fun." She laughed and then sunk beneath the water once more. He stared at her in disbelief. What did she mean that she had been in water deeper than this? Was the woman certifiable?

"Katrina! Little witch..." he muttered to himself. Reaching down he unlaced his shoes, preparing to enter the water. If he drowned it was on her head!

Kat smiled when she felt the splash under the water. She surfaced and laughed when she saw the look on Charlie's face as he stood in the water up to his knees.

"Come in a bit further."

"You know, I can't believe I'm in here with you. Don't you earthlings do anything normal?"

"This is normal. You need to remember that seventy percent of Earth is water. Almost everyone knows how to swim. Our deepest ocean is over thirty eight thousand feet deep. Not that we have ever gone that deep."

'Thirty eight what?" He looked at her with confusion.

"I forget. You have a metric system. Almost eleven thousand meters."

"And you live on this planet?"

"Yes. Don't look so shocked, Charlie. Just as red dirt and the endless miles of Areseric are familiar to you, Earth's blue waters are to me. Now come a bit further into the water and I'll teach you how to float."

Charles watched her and finally took her outstretched hand.

"If I die, you are going to have to answer to the people of Areseric."

"Relax." She smiled at him. She slowly led him out into deeper water. When it finally came up to her shoulders, she let go of him. He stood impassively as the water lapped at his abs. It was a tempting sight.

Rand was sitting in his study, going over a treaty that his father had given him, when the vision took a hold of him. ... he was in the red dessert of Areseric. In the distance he could see the camp that Charles had set up for himself and Kat. He watched as a lone figure crept closer to the camp. He watched in horror as the man used a blast of power to knock Kat half way across the camp before the man hit Charles from behind. He could see although the man was a wizard, he was smaller than Charles. Charles easily outweighed him by fifty pounds and eight inches. Rand also knew from experience that while Charles was even larger than him, his reflexes were just as fast if not faster than his. What he lacked in magic, the King of Areseric made up for in sheer physical prowess.

He watched as Charles quickly escaped the wizard's grasp. As Charles surged to his feet, he could see the anger in Charles eyes if he had been the one facing off with him. This did not bode well. As long as he had know Charles, he had been the most even tempered man. But when Charlie lost his cool, people ended up hurt or dead. He winced as he watched Charles toss the wizard across the campfire. The wizard landed on the ground next Kat. Seeing his opportunity, he drug Kat in front of him as a shield. Kat struggled to free herself from the wizard. He watched in futile anger as the wizard threw a bolt of power at Charles. Charles rolled quickly to the side, his years of unarmed combat coming to his aid. The wizard was shouting at Charles but Rand couldn't make out the words. What the wizard did next made Rand recoil in horror. He picked up defenseless Kat and tossed her into the campfire while chanting a spell to make the campfire burn higher and hotter...

Rand jerked back to the present when his dad entered the study.

"Going over that treaty, son?" Mica asked as he closed the door behind him. Immediately, King Mica realized the signs of a vision. He strode over to the desk and leaned down to gaze into his son's eyes.

"Share it with me, Rand." Mica held his breath as the familiar link between he and his son snapped into place. He gritted his teeth as he experienced the vision that Rand had just had. When he finally broke the connection between them, both were sweating.

"Dad, I have to warn him. Kat is Pati's only hope of ever having a normal life again. She can't die."

"Go after them."

"But-" He looked to his dad for reassurance that his dad would protect his most precious gift: Gracie.

"Don't worry, I'll keep Gracie and the babies safe. Go warn them."

Clara stood on the balcony and watched as Rand disappeared into the waiting hovercraft. She knew his mission. This second sight that she had been given had been a gift and a curse. She was destined to know the outcome of everything around her. She had outlived two of her chosens. It had been a hard pill to swallow too. But in turn the gift had given her many gifts. She had seen her sister marry a wonderful wizard. She still couldn't help but smile in remembrance at the chase Eve had led Connor on. She had foreseen that her beautiful niece would marry the next King of Venus and bear him three wonderful children. That their love would be one that future generations would build fairytales around.

She was jerked out of her thoughts when she saw her youngest niece walk into the gardens. She didn't see her niece's husband, Jonathan, but she knew that he never let her out of his sight for very long. Especially after Pati had been kid-napped. To this day, Jonathan, still thought that if he hadn't been so relaxed after making love to his chosen for the first time, she would never had been taken from him. Clara knew that it was pointless to argue with the young wizard that nothing would have changed the outcome of that event. It had been Pati's fate to have that incident mold her into a strong witch. She knew that Pati believed that she was powerless but that was soon to change.