Chapter 12

"There are problems associated with reversing that portion of the curse," Brian told me very seriously. "I'm sure that they have plenty of money, as they would have sought out men of power and wealth to help them. No, money isn't the problem.

"The problem arises with the one that reverses that part of the curse. When it is removed, the women will be able to love again, BUT and it is a rather large but, they will love the one that reverses the curse, and him or her only and forever. They will be bonded to that person for the rest of their lives. That isn't the only problem though," he continued.

"If the person who reversed that part of the curse isn't strong enough or wise enough to have the witch remove the rest of the curse, they will never be able to have children, for that was a part of the initial spell, and in their love they will greatly desire to have children by the one that they love. Without them, they will be in even more agony.

"So, you see not only must that part of the spell be reversed, but the original curse must be removed soon after that so the women may have children and not suffer even more," he finished.

"How soon after the first part is removed are we talking about?" I asked.

"Within two to three years, I would think. They could be content to wait that long and possibly a little longer, but much more than that and things would begin to change for them. After a longer time they would become very depressed."

"Could they kill themselves?" I asked, becoming alarmed.

"No, that is another part of the curse. They can't die, as that would end their suffering and wouldn't be allowed by the curse. They could go on for a thousand years or more - perhaps even longer, but they would be more and more depressed and despondent as time passed and they kept seeing everything that they knew and loved change and pass away," he told me.

"Yes, that would explain their fixation with old styles of clothing and vehicles," I told him.

"Yes, certainly. They would want to keep that which they knew around them," Brian replied.

"So the question is, young Mark," Brian asked, "Do you love them enough to have both of them as your wives for the rest of your lives, which I assure you will be quite long? Sorcerers have the power to extend their lives and heal any injury that they, or those they care for may suffer.

"You could even return here to live. Time is very friendly here. There are those that have been here for thousands of years and are still well and content with their lives. Myself, I came here nearly sixteen hundred of your years ago. I was a rather older man then and haven't aged appreciatively in that time," Brian told me with a smile.

"I ... I don't know!" I answered in confusion. "I hadn't thought about getting married yet. I'm still in school at the University, and hadn't planned that far ahead - yet."

"And what would you be studying?" Brian asked.

"I'm a history major," I told him.

"An excellent subject for a Sorcerer," he told me, before returning to our previous subject. "Think about what you want to do. With the power I can feel from you, I am sure you could eventually convince the witch to remove the spell. The only question then being, do you want the two sisters as wives."

"You don't consider two wives a bit unusual?" I asked.

"What? Only two? No, not at all. Two may be the optimum number. They can keep each other company while you're away on business of one kind or another. There are many here with two or more wives, but it is best to keep the number even. An odd number of wives always leaves at least one of them unhappy," he assured me with a broad smile. This advice from a man that I later discovered had no wives, being a Druid.

"We will only be able to remain here for three weeks or so," I told him. "I need to leave here by the 16th of August so I can be back in school when the new school year starts."

"Don't worry about it for now," he told me in a jolly voice. "Just think about what you want to do about the women. Now, let's have some more of this ale before I need to seal the portal to keep out those soon on holiday on the mountain." We had several more cups of the ale, which really was quite good.

"Remember now, a book will appear in the morning to start your studies here," Brian reminded me, as I prepared to leave for our cottage later.

That night both sisters were very passionate and in need of sex when I returned. I wondered how many cups of ale they had consumed after leaving Brian's. So, I wasn't sure if it was the ale, which they had a quantity of here when I returned, or just this place. At any rate, it was quite late before we got to sleep, or at least I did. The women had dozed while I recovered and while I was having sex with the other one.

The sun was well up by the time I staggered from the bed the next morning. After taking care of my morning business and shaving in actual hot water, I found both sisters in the house preparing breakfast. In the middle of the table stood a book - a large thick book.

"Holy cow," I thought, "if I need to read nineteen like that, I'll be a long time learning Magic."

"Come eat, Mark," Katie called. "Then we're going down to the spring to bathe. They have a pool there that has hot water from the spring. Everyone bathes there. We saw it yesterday when Etain showed us around. That was when we got the food and ale."

"Yes, Etain will also be teaching us more Magic!" Margie told me, excitedly. "What did Brian say after we left?"

"We talked about Magic. There are nineteen books of Magic that he said I need to read and also some practical applications, but he didn't say much about them. This," I said pointing at the book on the table, "is the first book. If all of them are this large, it will take me some time to finish all of them."

"You can start after we bathe. We're all too sticky to put this off," Margie told me.

The pool was located in a grove of trees on the far side of the village. It had originally been a natural depression near the spring that fed it and the stream there. It had been expanded and enlarged with quarried stone to create a deep pool large enough for thirty or more people to bath in comfortably at one time. There were only a few people there this time of the morning, mostly women and a few older men.

"Isn't this nice?" Margie asked, as I looked the site over. "It's just like a spa." The sisters proceeded to get naked without a thought and were soon soaking in the hot water. I, however, had some qualms about getting naked where others could see me.

"Come on, Mark. What are you waiting for?" Katie called from the water. I cautiously removed my clothes and placed them with the women's and quickly submerged myself in the water which was very warm but not too hot to stand.

"Isn't this wonderful?" Margie asked, as she moved up beside me. Both sisters, in fact, seemed to be enjoying themselves enormously. After a time, I had to admit that the warmth of the water and the sounds that the water from the spring made as it flowed over the rocks and into the pool were very enjoyable.

After a-half hour or so we got out. The sisters had brought towels, but not soap, as you weren't supposed to contaminate the pool.

"How does one get clean then if one is dirty and wants to use the pool?" I asked with a towel wrapped around me.

"You use a cleaning spell," Katie told me, and as soon as she said it, the correct spell popped into my mind. It was one of the things that I knew but wasn't aware of. These surprises weren't always welcome.

I returned home after drying off and redressing. The sisters went to the market to see what was available that they thought they might need. Etain had given them a quantity of local coins for one of the British gold two pound coins.

I sat in the main room of the cottage and tried to concentrate on the book that I was supposed to read. The first few pages were all right, but when I got to some spells that required my full attention and concentration, I immediately ran into trouble. It was the same trouble that I had when working on the tractor initially - what to do about the sisters.

Was I willing to marry both sisters and stay with them for the next however many years? Could I do that? Was I willing to be tied down that way at so young an age? Were they willing to accept me as their husband? Then of course, I remembered what Brian had said about them being bonded to me, if or when, I removed that part of the spell. Assuming I was the one to do that of course.

I had been sitting there for almost two hours and was only on page three in the book when Emer, the fairy appeared. How had I known her name, I wondered?

"Can you not concentrate here?" she asked. "I've watched you for some minutes and you haven"t turned a page."

"I have something on my mind," I told her. "It makes it hard to concentrate."

"There is a place," she told me. "It is very good for thinking and resolving problems. It isn't far from here. I could show it to you."

"Yes, that might help. I'm certainly not getting anywhere here," I told her and rose, as she started for the door.

The place that she showed me was a grove of trees above the village on a hill overlooking it. I wasn't sure if it were Kesh Caronna or some other hill. It was very pleasant there and the view was excellent.

"This is very nice. I will try to concentrate on the book,"I told her before she vanished again.

I sat there in the peace and quiet for some time without even opening the book. The next thing I knew, I saw the sun setting, and the book lay on the ground at my feet. I felt very rested but was still undecided as to what to do. I discovered that I had decided to ask the sisters what they thought of me removing a part of the curse and what the effect on them would be.

After dinner that evening, I sat the women down on the bench sofa to speak to them, but I found it difficult to start and paced back and forth for a time.

"What is the trouble, Mark?" Katie asked, as I paced.

"There is something we need to discuss, but I am not sure how to begin," I told her.

"What does it concern?" Katie asked.

"It concerns the three of us," I told them.

"How?" Margie asked.

"What about us?" Katie added.

"That is the part that I am having trouble with," I explained.

"Can't you just come out and tell us?" Margie asked.

"I ... it ... all right," I finally said, in frustration.

"It involves part of the curse. There is a way to remove a part of it, but... !" I went on to explain the repercussions from removing that part of the curse to them.

"But we already love you, Mark," Margie said to my surprise. "At least as much as we are able to."

"How long would it be before you could remove the rest of the curse?" Katie asked. "How long would we have to wait to have babies?" She was near tears already.

"I can't answer that at this point. I need to learn more about what is involved and determine a way to make the witch remove it. It will require quite a bit of study, and I am getting nowhere with my studies with this indecision on whether to remove the one part of the curse hanging over us," I told them.

"Mark, we are very attracted to you already," Margie told me, "and wouldn't mind staying with you permanently at all."

"But," Katie added, injecting a note of discord, "if you remove this part, but are unable to remove the remainder, it would be very painful to see you grow old and die while we remain as we are. Also the need for children of our own is strong in us. We have seen so many other women with their children and how they love them. I ... I don't know if we could stand not having any." Both sisters were in tears by this time.

"Let's just sleep on it for a time," I told them. "Maybe something will occur to us to help us solve the problem." We went to bed shortly after that as we had nothing else to do. Both sisters snuggled up to me, but seemed quite sad. We didn't do anything before going to sleep. Everyone seemed to be content with their own thoughts.

I awoke sometime during the night to find both sisters pressed against me and heard both of them crying. I turned to Margie first and kissed her for a time before turning to Katie to do the same.

"We'll find a way out of this," I told them. They continued to cry, as I held them and eventually we all returned to sleep.