Chapter 4

Galvin sat on the cliff side with his legs dangling as he sat overlooking the city.

It was a very prosperous city that originally had been a town that was built against the side of a cliff so that it could only be raided from one direction, and all the defenses had been developed to protect from that direction.

But over the years the town had grown, as well as changes in modern warfare.

Now if someone wanted to give the city a good pasting they could do it in relative safety from where he now sat overlooking the city. And it would take the residents a very long time to leave the city and make their way up and around the cliff front to attack them.

This made it the perfect place for Galvin to make his new home city.

Because the city was lawless and only the strong survived Galvin loved it!

He found it in one of his travels and it felt so much like the world he had come from that he purchased a home in the worst part of the city.

Of course he had to build up the fear in the surrounding area that messing with anything that was his was a bad idea, but that was half the fun of finding somewhere to stay in the first place.

Now no one in the city came anywhere near his house, and sometimes Galvin missed those earlier days when they tried. The rush of someone thinking they had what it took to take him down, trying in the middle of the night, laying traps for him inside or outside his home, the ambushes. He loved it all. It was one test after another and he came out on top each time.

But now he was getting bored again.

The only thing of interest right now was that man Dusty Reynolds. He had heard Dusty pulled off quite a few things that were just short of impressive. Whenever he thought about getting the chance to face off with him Galvin got excited.

Galvin was lucky to have been put on retainer by King Roland of Stelmore when Dusty came to stop the rebels who were trying to overthrow his country. The king wanted someone to combat Dusty in case Dusty wanted his throne, but to Galvin's disappointment Dusty didn't.

Roland was even willing to brave the dangers of the Mage's council for his daring plan, but if the King was willing to hire Galvin to stop Dusty he would gladly have taken care of the entire council for the right price. He was just that hungry for a challenge.

But Dusty came in to the throne room and basically said he had no interest in anything but going home now that everything was over. That really disappointed Galvin.

Where was the man's drive? Where his professionalism? Why didn't he want more since he could obviously take it? Galvin wasn't happy about any of this. He had thought that Dusty was more like him.

After the display of power put on by Dusty just outside the city gates, Galvin was looking forward to testing himself against Dusty, but nothing happened. The King paid Galvin's retainer and released him and that also irritated him.

This was the first time he had his quarry in his sights and he was told that the game was over.

For the first time Galvin was so frustrated that if it wouldn't have been bad for business, he would have killed his employer to relieve the stress of getting his hopes up.

It made Galvin even more upset he didn't get to go up against Dusty when Dusty seemed to go on to taming Dragons.

DRAGONS! Who tames Dragons? Not the smaller version called drakes, but full sized Dragons!

Just who rides them into cities as if they were riding a horse?! Who acts like its so common place that they bend to their will!

And it wasn't just any Dragon was it? No, he had to come in riding in on one of the "Great" Dragon, one of the few creatures that were considered "King" of all the Dragons, the Dragon of Dragons. They were even larger than the normal full sized ones.

No Dusty was the most worthy quarry this world had to offer, and as such of great interest to Galvin.

Galvin often toyed with the idea of being his own contractor and going after Dusty, but he always dismissed that. He was sure someone that powerful had made enough enemies that someone would eventually hire him to take care of Dusty.

But for now someone on the council took a change and had decided to contact Galvin for a job.

Galvin never thought he would hear from them again after he killed his last handler, but they seemed desperate enough to try and didn't care about past actions. Well as far as Galvin was concerned there was no profit to be made in killing them anyway, unless it was to further his own career.

He would hear what they had to say. The only thing the person who contacted him from the council seemed adamant about was that he took care of someone named Wolfgang, or something.

Amber found her parents sparring like she thought she would.

Watching them for a moment she could see their skill and that always made her smile. Her father was using his right hand to fight with her mom and that only meant they were serious.

There was a time before she was born Amber was told that that her father hadn't ever needed to use his right hand to fight against her Mom, but she had worked her way up to the point that he now had no choice.

Amber found that hard to believe.

Her father started off teaching her the sword and her mother was always around working with the two of them as well. Her Mom was always good as she ever was as far as Amber remembered, even though Amber had started to beat her consistently at twelve and then her father at fourteen.

Her mother was acrobatic with her moves, while those of her father were always grounded, and because of that Amber found it easier to emulate her mother movements than her father with because of her smaller size.

Amber always stretched and flexed with her mother first every morning and then worked out with her father once she was finished when she was home. Their family had a tradition of spending the first hour before daybreak practicing. It had been that way as long as she could remember.

Lost in thought she missed the conclusion of the practice. The clanging of swords was something she heard so often that, as lost in thought as she was she didn't at first notice the absence of the sounds of fighting as the echoes died down.

But she soon was snapped back to reality as she heard her mother say with almost an evil grin "Mmmm, thanks. I needed a good workout before I got a good workout. What do you say we stop for now so you can work out another part of your body with me? Right now I could really go for that other sword of yours trying to beat me into submission."

To Amber's horror, father seemed to smile a really big smile, as he transferred his sword to his left hand before he dropped it to the floor and started for her mother.

Amber's own face mirrored the horror in her mind's eye when her mother, dropped her sword on the floor, and then went to her knees just right before her father reached her mother.

"OH MY GOD! DO THEY JUST DROP AND HAVE SEX ANYWHERE THEY ARE! WHAT ARE THEY, FARM ANIMALS?! WHO ACTS LIKE THAT?! WHY CAN'T THEY JUST KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF EACH OTHER!" as Amber's thoughts frantically raced.

"Mom, Dad I'm home!" Amber called out, before she quickly turned and fled the room.

She heard the chuckle and soft laughter of her parents as they then noticed her running from the room.

"God I hope that they already knew I was home and that was an act for my benefit," thought Amber as her face turned crimson and she went looking for her brother.

If she didn't find him at home she would soon start to check his usual haunts. While they lived close to a town, because of Jordan, unless she took him he really never had a reason to go into town.

But hunting for her brother would give her something to do incase her parents really were going to play "hide the sword", because she really didn't want to be around and hear it if that was their intentions.

Dusty and DJ appeared in Dusty's house in the workshop. That's where Dusty was when he got the call from Joi and it was easier to return to it.

Leading the way through the house Dusty first took DJ to the parlor and asked him to wait until he returned and then he left to find Suzan.

Dusty was already aware of the fact that Marilyn was visiting Rachel, and while Marilyn thought she hid it really well, it was obvious to all that she went there to see Jason.

Suzan had found her notebook a few years back where she had practiced writing Lady Marilyn Griffith and Lord and Lady Griffith over and over.

Logan in the meantime was out on a mission with Amber for the Mages council.

For now most of their missions were simple courier and/or scout the area or watch the people's reaction type of missions. But Dusty knew the day was coming when the kids would be given something more dangerous to do.

Eventually he realized that Suzan was probably in the study reading, and he decided to head there and see if he could find her in there.

Opening the door to the study Dusty saw her look up from her book, give him a sweet smile as she saw it was him, and she then returned to reading her book.

Seeing this reaction Dusty came into the room and closed the door behind him. He then tried to take a quiet yet deep breath before he told her why he had come to find her. He would rather face an army than do what he needed to do now.

Since Dusty hadn't come any closer to her after he closed the door, Suzan put down her book and got up so she could walk over to her husband. As she did Dusty realized that he couldn't lie to her or try to water down the truth. She was too important to him to treat her any other way than how he would have liked to be treated himself.

Once she reached him she pulled him close and kissed him for a few moments, but she eventually leaned back when she realized he wasn't really getting into the mood. As she studied his face she could see the lines of worry, and she realized something was wrong.

"Dusty, what's the matter? Is something wrong?" asked Suzan fearing it was about their children because of how quiet Dusty was.

"Suzan I have something to tell you, I don't know how to do it any other way than just to come right out and say it. Suzan I just found out that I have another son that I never knew I had before today," said Dusty trying not to wince.

Releasing him and stepping back Suzan looked at him very irritated and Dusty was sure that for the first time in his life he might be in physical danger from her. He could see her opening and closing her hands as she tried to get herself under control. Dusty knew this could go either way if she gave into the anger she was just barely hiding.

"Dusty how could you "DO" that to me!" said Suzan as she looked at him dangerously.

"Suzan I didn't do anything to you," said Dusty as he raised and then lowered his hands to try and calm her down.

"No, you just did it to the tramp that you managed to knock up and get to carry your child! So just who was it anyway? Do you even know? Just who was the slut you impregnated and left behind? Just how young is this illegitimate child of yours anyway?

"Just why is she telling you now, is she wanting money to keep quiet? Are you really even going on missions for the council when you claim to, or are you bedding every whore who opens her legs and lets you near her?" asked Suzan tensely as she fixed him with a stare.

Dusty was fighting his temper and irritation at her accusations.

She should know him better than that after all their time together. But he also recognized that getting pissed off now would help no one and it was counterproductive. If the roles were reversed he might react the same way he thought.

Taking another deep breath he spoke again.

"Suzan, he's eighteen, so he's not some young kid who I left behind. He's two years older than Logan. If you have learned anything about me in almost twenty seasons been together, you should know I wouldn't ever do anything to hurt you or betray you. But if you do the math, I would have had to have assisted in his conception right when you and I were first married.

"And if you remember at that time I was so gun shy, uh reluctant, to be with anyone but you for sex that it was impossible for me to have fathered him then. Not to mention that you, Rachel, Marie, and Lori always kept me in your sights and you all always accounted for all my time.

"Not to mention that you knew at the time that it always came down to you and Lori and no one else, and as you know I loved you more than her and I really wanted to be with you. So I know you know I've never betrayed your trust," said Dusty as he reached for her.

Suzan let him pull her closer because her mind was tossing around something to her that didn't make sense.

She was focusing on the thoughts on how at that time he was right. He wouldn't allow any woman could touch him for any reason like that.

Dusty refused to touch any woman before her because how of how sick Lindsey made him. He even refused to let Lindsey get close to him again the one time she was here. He didn't even let her kiss him once during that entire time and he never brought her up ever again.

There must be more to this than meets the eye.

"But who is he and how is he here now? Why do you believe that you have a son who is that old? You're right, you couldn't have gotten away without someone in the guild ratting you out or us finding out, so how is it possible?" asked Suzan, as she thought more about it, even though she was still irritated as she allowed Dusty to pull her closer.

Suzan realized that to break them up so that some of the guild men would have a chance to sleep with her Dusty wouldn't have been able to kiss another woman without it getting back to her within seconds of it happening.

As he held her in his arms, Dusty still marveled at the softness and sweet smell of his wife. He needed to fix this before he lost her. Taking another deep breath he launched into a discussion he always hoped to never have with her.

"From what I gather, sometime long after you have passed on, with magic I learn how to travel in time and between dimensions. At some point I return to my home world. I know you remember that after I passed my complete eighth circle testing I told you against Melkin's wishes about how long I would live."

"Well ... apparently it's during a time that I travel back in time and I go back home. At some point when that happens he gets conceived. He somehow found a way to open the gate on his own that brought me here," said Dusty as he dreaded the next question he just knew was coming.

"Ok, I mean I guess that make as much sense as anything else you've told me about magic, but do you even know who his mother his? How do you know you can trust what she says?" asked Suzan quietly.

"I know all of this because his mother is Lindsey," said Dusty quietly as he tried to look her in the eyes.

The rage he felt from her was something that was so completely foreign that it shocked him to the core.

Suddenly he had a very tough fight on his hands. Dusty tried to keep her in his arms while she used her great strength to struggle to get free. Dusty knew that if Suzan got free this time before he could calm her down she would do him bodily harm.

"You, you... BASTARD! You SON OF A BITCH! I knew, I just knew that you still loved her! You both lied to me when you said she couldn't have children! You just couldn't wait until I was dead before you went back to her could you!" screamed Suzan, as she now struggled even harder to get free of her husband.

Fighting her struggles, Dusty spoke fast as he tried to soothe her hurt feelings.

"No I didn't. It appears that she was in trouble and I traveled to the past to keep her from getting killed. I'm told by the boy that I healed her of the sickness that took her ability to have children away from her when I went back to save her, but what I needed to save her from what I don't know. But she wasn't ever supposed to have kids and so I have no idea how I supposedly fixed that. Apparently afterwards I was with her only that one time and never again."