Chapter 25

Eventually, we came to the subject of the portal, and the things we didn't know about it. "Marcus was disturbed at the time difference", Melanie explained. "He decided that he didn't like losing time in either place, as it made life difficult in both. You truly could not live in both worlds, and have any kind of life. He changed all of that shortly before he died. Now, when you pass through a portal, your body is tuned to it. When you return to earth, it will be as if you just left. If you come back, it is the same. No matter how long in each place, less than five minutes will have passed."

"But what about you", Denise asked. "If you went through, would it be the same time you left?"

"No", explained her mother, "it wouldn't. As I said, your body is tuned to the portal. The portal we used was destroyed, and has no effect on us. If we used a different portal, we would be attuned to that one. This would also apply if you deactivated your portal, waited some time, and reopened it. The time difference would reflect the span of time between closing the old, and opening the new."

We caught on, and thought it was a cool idea. That Marcus guy must have really known his stuff. They asked what we knew about prophesy, and it was very little. Some, we knew from the mythology we had in history, and we had heard of Nostradamus. Other than that, nothing.

"Not many know much about prophesy", dad told us, "but listen to this, and tell us what you think.

When the mind slayer tempts fate

The warrior will his spell abate.

Though times seem dark, he will not quail

and in the end, he will prevail.

For at the apex of the eight

this master of war, and his mates

none may stand against their might

and they all, shall end the night.

Denise and I exchanged a look, before I asked "Is this why Wise Bird said I would have seven wives? And doesn't knowing prophesy ahead of time, make it self- fulfilling sometimes?"

"It can", mom agreed, "but tell me this. Did knowing that our friend mentioned you would have seven wives make you decide to choose any of them?"

I admitted it had nothing to do with it, and even hindered my decision, some. She nodded, and said "I thought so. Maybe you should also know that this prophesy was discovered after you were born, but was written two centuries ago.

I argued that it could still be a coincidence, and she threw another one at us.

One with two names shall come

a great foe to overcome

he and the seven make eight

none may stand against this fate

"That one is from a different person, and was written a hundred years after the first", she said. "Do you still think it was purely by chance? Sean-Paul O'hara?"

OK, this was getting spooky. "Who wrote this stuff", I asked. "Obviously, it wasn't Robert Frost, as poetry, it isn't very good.

"People who have been proven to be correct almost every time", dad said, "though it was often not realized until it was too late to do much good."

"I'm just a kid!", I complained. "How am I supposed to do anything about this dude? I mean, we were doing everything we could, but from what you've told us, this guy has hundreds of wizards working for him, and probably an army or two. Not to mention the fact that if the government gets wind of what we can do, they'd be on us like a duck on a June bug. How can we even try to fight that?"

"One battle at a time, son", dad answered. "That's how all wars are won. I'm afraid I'm not much of a general myself, so I can't tell you how to win. Perhaps Marcus can, though."

I didn't even get the "But he's dead!" out, before dad stopped me. "Books, Sean. He left the rest of his books on this side. The ones on Earth were just primers, compared to these. There are twenty-seven volumes to the Art of War series, and you had only the first three."

Shit. Just what I needed, more homework. These people had no concept of "summer vacation". I did have one thing going for me. If the portal controlled time like they said it did, I had all the time I needed. Things being what they were, I doubted the summer would be very relaxing. I might not lose any time, but I didn't see any sign of things slowing down on either side.

We were called to dinner barely in time to keep my stomach from eating my spleen. When we walked into the room, it felt like we were under a microscope. Every head in the place turned to us, as we were announced. My mates and I were announced as wizards, while Claude and Alan drew the title "warrior'. I was announced as "Sean-Paul O'Hara", and the girls all inherited my last name.

I glanced to Denise, when only the name I knew her by was used. "I told them my name was Denise, and it was the only one I would answer to. Besides, who would want to go around being called 'Susan-Denise'? It sounds stupid."

We joined the head table, and were seated among the Queen's family and ours. If I had to guess, the rest of the ones around us were probably advisors or something. None of them said anything to me, but I wasn't really close enough to them for that. I wasn't in the mood for talking, anyway. I was hungry, and the food was fantastic.

I almost got indigestion afterwards. These people must really like speeches, because Queen Ariel delivered another one. Word must travel slow in the castle, because when she declared me to be the "Consort Presumptive", the gasps were pretty loud. I thought it was because defeating those two wildcats was considered impossible, but they corrected me later.

"There has never been a consort who was also a wizard", Geri explained. "Some will not like it, and will protest the choice. It will do them no good, since there is nothing written to forbid it."

"I was going to ask about that", Denise said. "If magic can't affect you, and the father of your child is a wizard, how will that effect the baby?"

"No one knows", admitted Delia. "In all of our history, it has never happened. Each advisor had a different opinion, but few know anything of magic."

I asked if our parents were advisors, and what their take on the situation was. "They are the only ones with any common sense", Geri snorted. "Also, they are the only advisors willing to admit when they do not know an answer. They said that the earliest we would know an answer would be the day of any birth from such a pairing."

We were shown to a suite, and I thought the princesses would then leave. They gave us a tour of the room, and informed us that they would be staying there too. Their clothes had already been moved, and the rest of us had appointments in the morning to have some made for us.

If these were typical princesses, the books had it all wrong. Either that, or only a fraction of their wardrobe had been moved. All I saw in the closet were a few gowns and dresses, along with some of those dominatrix outfits they seemed to prefer. I stifled a groan, when the other five asked if they could get some of them.

There were two beds, and they were both larger than a king sized model. That wasn't nearly big enough, but the problem was soon solved. That spell really came in handy. Geri and Delia were impressed, as well as happy. They thought they would be banished to the other room until tomorrow.

The bedtime Olympics soon commenced, with the opening ceremony being the reversal of my contraceptive spell. The ladies insisted that 'my pipe needed flushing', in order to be fully operational tomorrow. I didn't think that was the case but I'm not one to argue, especially when I know I'll lose.

Two hours later, my tongue had cramps. There were just too many women for one appendage to satisfy. I don't know when the schedule changed, and couldn't see who the impatient one was. Cheryl was sitting on my face, when I felt a glorious sensation from below. It was obviously not a mouth, and the only question was who just mounted me.

The princesses looked a lot alike, but sounded much different. Geri had a lower voice, so the one screaming as she rode me had to be Delia. I had intended for the first time with them to be as romantic as I could make it, but I suppose they weren't into that. I got to watch a bit of the action, as Cheryl collapsed and was pulled off.

Delia appeared to be having as good a time as I was. By the time I could watch, her various experiments in movement settled into one she seemed to prefer. I liked it a lot, too. She was leaning forward enough for me to latch my lips onto one of those dark tipped, but golden, boobies. That caused a minor explosion from her, and about pinched me off at the root. The next one was much louder and longer. I erupted with her this time, and she practically went into convulsions.

We didn't have an opportunity to cuddle afterwards. Geri was also impatient. I heard "Get that cow off of there, It's my turn!", before the resurrection crew went into action.

As soon as I was vertical, Geri got on board. She started out slowly, and I thought she was happy with that. It was probably just to get used to the feeling, because soon she was riding me like her sister had. Maybe she couldn't make up her mind, or perhaps she liked it both ways. Whatever the case was, she was driving me crazy. She would speed up, but as soon as she got close to orgasm, she slowed down. I used the slow periods to caress what I could reach, and to pay her swaying orbs the attention they deserved.

I don't know how long she went on, but it had to be at least twice as long as Delia. She wasn't nearly as loud, but she wasn't quiet. With her, it was mostly murmuring and moans, whereas her sister seemed to prefer screaming like a banshee. All good things must end, and this one did. It ended well, though.

That ended my activity for the day. I had already refreshed myself too many times since the last time I slept, and eventually, it takes its toll. Even magic has limits. I passed out.

I slept for a while, and when I awoke, I discovered Geri was still on top of me. We were still connected, and a slight movement told me that our pubic hair was firmly glued together. It kind of smarted, and I guess it felt the same to Geri. Her eyes opened, and she winced.

"OW!", she complained, "that hurt, you brute!" Then she smiled, and asked "Got any magic to fix that?"

I did, but instead of getting off, she wanted to get it on. I was slightly uncomfortable. Waking up inside her had been nice, but it wasn't the only reason I was hard. I had to piss!

At least she didn't bounce too much on my bladder. Slow and easy was fine with me, but even without holding it back, it was quite a while before I could make the deposit she wanted.

The rest of the crew woke up when the bed started bouncing, but I was done for a while. Nature was calling, and she was being a bitch. I barely made it to the water closet, and breathed a sigh of relief as I drained the lizard.

The appliance I used was another O'Hara innovation. As part of the sanitation improvements, indoor plumbing had been introduced. Not many places had it so far, but the castle had been the first installation.

Breakfast was a much less formal occasion. There were only fourteen people there, and we were all family. Even the Queen laughed at Delia's complaints about her insatiable sister. Ariel was a lot different in private. She joked with the rest of us, and seemed a lot less stuffy.

She got a bit upset when her daughters told her they would be joining the fight on earth, but agreed with their decision. I thought that she conceded too quickly, but she explained "You are adults, and must follow your own hearts. All I ask, is that you remember Orlinth must come first, and that you are the hope for her future. Also, the heirs must be born before you leave, and they will remain here. If you should be lost, we must not lose the line."

None of us cared much for leaving children behind us, especially Denise and I. Maybe things were done differently here, because the princesses were the first to agree to their mother's terms.

Mom, Dad, and Melanie, extended an invitation to the O'Hallorans, as well. They wanted to thank them in person for all they had done. They also told us about another stash of wealth we didn't know about. It had been gathered after the trunks had been delivered to Zuni, and was in some safe deposit boxes in Taos, New Mexico.

We told them about our place, and they promised they would come see it, if they could. They couldn't leave here until peace was assured. When we told them about the plane, dad got all excited. He liked to fly, but asked why we didn't get a jet. When he learned it was because of the cost, he laughed.