Chapter 29

After we woke and had another fantastic meal, it was time to see the town of Lothan. I'll admit to having a few reservations about the trip. In the capitol, I had been just another Duke. Here, I was the Duke. There is a huge difference in the way people first react to you, as I quickly discovered. These people knew nothing about me, and obviously, they erred on the side of caution. Our group was avoided as much as possible, without it seeming too rude of them.

The town was fairly large, as towns here went. Still, I did the only thing that seemed reasonable. I started at one end, and visited every single business. At each stop, I introduced myself and my companions. I didn't rush, and tried to learn all I could about each person I met. They weren't very forthcoming, but I could see their fear dissipate a little.

Unfortunately, it was slow going. At the rate we were progressing, it would take at least a week to make the rounds. I had hoped the inns and pubs would save some time, by catching a few people in one place. Eventually that happened, but not until late in the day. I guess people were warned ahead of time, and scattered. Finally, a few brave souls stayed put. I bought every one of them a pint, as a reward.

By our last stop at an inn, I think people were actually trying to be there. I thought it was great progress, and they even had a minstrel performing. It wasn't Merle Haggard, but it wasn't bad. At least until I began to pay attention to the words. Just like back home, the words told a story. Here, the words were mostly history, however. Some were about heroes of the past, and I even heard two about my folks. There was more recent history, as well. I didn't know how to act about the one with my mates and I in it.

"The savior of Surtain" about turned my stomach. I didn't save shit, in Surtain. I had, in fact, been too fucking late to save much of anything in the town. I choked back my outburst, but it wasn't easy. I knew they meant well, and that was what counted.

I liked "Mighty Ladies" much better. That one was about Ann and Denise, at the battle of Orlinthas. I'd probably have to pay later for making them take a bow, but it was worth it to see them blush.

I had a word with the minstrel after he finished, to set the story straight. I was in for quite a shock. He seemed amazed, and said "You did not know? Sir Duke, over half of the town sought refuge in the countryside. Your fortunate appearance saved most of the town from burning, as well as the outlying farms. As we speak, the town has been rebuilt, and many voices raised in praise of your intervention!"

What could I do? I bought the man a drink. I felt a lot better about it, now. Not the song, that embarrassed the hell out of me. Wiping out a wizard and his troops seemed to have been worth it now, and for that, I was grateful. We left for the manor soon afterwards. The children were getting kind of tired of all the attention, and let us know it.

The maid I saw leaving our room acted strangely, I thought. As we reached the top of the stairs, she looked right at me, turned scarlet, and scurried off in the other direction. The giggling all around me made me think the girls were in on whatever it was, so I asked what nefarious plot was in the works.

"No plot, dear", chortled Geri. "I think the poor young girl saw that huge bed, and figured out we all slept in it at the same time. I'll bet she has some very interesting dreams, the next time she sleeps."

Silly me. Because of their scarcity, people here didn't know much about wizards. I suppose I didn't either. Delia helped my education, by explaining "Only wizards are allowed more than one wife. Superstition teaches that it's linked to sexual ability. The more wives he has, the better he is in bed. Shall we test the theory?"

We did. I don't know if I passed the test, but it was the most fun I've ever had taking an exam.

I came to a sudden realization after we woke up. Originally, I had planned to head back to Earth soon. Now, the more I thought about it, the less I looked forward to the trip. I knew we would have to do it, but the time factor made it easier to put off. It wasn't like much bad could happen in five minutes, after all. Besides, we had challenges here. They were of a different variety, but still very important. There was only one fly in the ointment. I wanted those horses, and I wanted them bad.

To make things even more aggravating, I couldn't just send someone through to set things in motion. Even if I didn't have to go through with them, how much would get done in five minutes? That's the maximum time that would elapse, and in this case, it sucked rocks. I knew I wouldn't actually lose time if I went on a mission for them, but it would seem like it to me. This time shit made my head spin. Sooner or later, I'd have to say "See you in five", and take a walk. Then, I'd spend what would seem like weeks, at least, on the other side.

Then there was the age thing. Had I aged almost a year over here, while five minutes had passed on Earth? If not, were we aging at all? Is that why Dad, mom, and Melanie looked younger than I thought they should? I felt older, but I didn't really look it. Maybe the folks knew. If they didn't, I was going to have to do some serious searching in the work room. One thing I hadn't run across yet, was any sort of detailed notes on Marcus's experiments. Surely there had to be some.

I used work to push my confusion away, before I went even crazier. We visited the town again, but got a little extra done. We found a carpenter to build the cooling tower and stable, and a metal smith for some plumbing fixtures. He didn't know what he would be making, but said he could follow the drawings we brought with us.

The structure of the manor had to be checked, too. The cistern we needed to put on the roof would add quite a bit of weight, and we needed to be sure the roof wouldn't collapse. Next, I needed a way to keep it full. I had dreams of a shower, as well as the water closet. That led to hot water, which led to pipes, which led to ... Get the idea?

Not being one prone to doing things the hard way, I naturally looked to magic for the solutions. Ann helped with the self-filling reservoir, Denise was a big help in the air circulation issue, and Kelley solved the water heater quite nicely. For my part, I monkeyed with their spells, and found a way to make them self-perpetuating. Things wouldn't work so well, without that little detail. There was no way in hell we could maintain so many spells at once, without it.

I created the gate between the manor and the castle, while I was at it. That relieved the pressure from the grandparents. They could visit back and forth whenever the urge struck them. It struck often, and that was fine with us. We also exchanged information on the changes we were making.

I had a talk with the folks on the time issue, too. What they told me had to be the strangest thing yet. Since the Earth side was our "home", we would essentially age only when we were on that plane. If we remained here, we would never die of old age. I brought up the worry of Geri, Delia, and the children growing old before us, and got at least a little consolation. I knew people here aged slowly, but never realized how slow it really was. The Queen was a babe, though I didn't have the balls to tell her that. She was awfully hot for a woman looking at her fiftieth decade. Yep, the smokin' hot lady at the helm, was five hundred years old. She had assumed the throne when her mother died. She had been over seven hundred, and she didn't die of old age. She had been thrown from a horse while jumping a fucking fence.

The theory was, someone from here wouldn't age there, either. If that was the case, maybe we'd age at roughly the same rate. I for one, planned to spend most of my time in Orlinth. Frankly, I liked it a lot better than Earth. What did I have there, football? I could do without it. Farming and horse breeding? I would be doing that here. It boiled down to this. Here, I thought I could make a difference. To me, that was important enough to outweigh any modern convenience ever invented. I would miss the few friends I had on the other side, but I had just as many over here. Hell, if I could talk the O'Hallorans and Frank into crossing over, I'd never go back. Throw in the Pietto's, and we'd all be happy. This place needed a good Italian eatery anyway.

Maybe after the fuckwad on the other side was dealt with, I'd gather everyone together and run it by them. Some people might wonder why I felt the way I did about Harold. After all, he wasn't my problem, right? I didn't see things that way. He'd screwed up the lives of too many people like me, and he was going down.

The same week I took my first hot shower in the manor, and took my first crap in comfort, we went horse shopping. Paula and Bernie junior stayed behind, as we promised. Frankie and Paul went with us. Bernie wasn't about to leave Frank, and Paul, well, he hadn't changed a bit. There was no way he was letting me go without him. The fun part would be explaining them, and two bewildered princesses. They were almost as bad as Paul.

I could tell my parents and Melanie wanted to go, but they were afraid to leave the kingdom unprotected. It took me a couple of days to arrive at a solution, but the mail drop in the void would do the trick. I set up a box for the Queen. If she placed a message in it, closed the lid, and pulled a lever, It would be transferred to my storage space. I promised to check it three times a day. That eased the worry, and three more were added to our party.

The expressions on the twin's faces was pretty funny. We caught up to them before they made it out of the house. I let the others explain, while I made some phone calls. The princesses should be enough to convince them. I called "Earth dad", and asked about either Percherons or Clydesdales. He said that he knew of an Amish community that raised Percherons, but he'd have to do some checking to see if we could buy any. Clydesdales would take some searching. Both breeds weren't very common anymore.

I had to promise to bring everyone over for dinner, and they said they would make sure Frank and Jean were there. I didn't tell him why we wanted to see them. It would be a surprise.

The story was wrapping up as I returned. I heard Wendy ask "But if magic won't work on them, how did Bernie help knocking them up?"

"I didn't do anything to them, O crude one. I just kind of directed some of those little wigglers to the right place. After that, I just watched to be sure everything went OK. If part of Paul hadn't been there, I don't think I could've done even that."