Chapter 8

The road to Pouilly-en-Auxois was in decent condition, and we made good time on it. We arrived in the vicinity of the town by mid afternoon, but didn't enter the town. Instead, we bypassed it and looked for a place in a large forested area with many oak, birch and ash trees.

With a little looking, we located a nice flat area near a stream and prepared to set up camp for the night. Pat and I unsaddled our horses, and unhitched and unharnessed the ones on the cart. We brushed them down and took them to the stream for a drink after cooling them off.

While we were busy with that, the girls were busy with setting up camp. They gathered two huge piles of dry leaves for us to use as mattresses. They also collected wood for the fire, and some medium size stones for a ring to contain it.

Pat and I staked the horses out in a field to eat some of the winter grass there. We would feed them some of the grain later.

By the time we finished with the horses, the girls had the camp set up. They had apparently found a kettle and a pot in the mistress' bedroom, and brought them, along with several pokers from the various fireplaces. They had created a spit with the pokers to hang the kettle and pot on over the fire. It appeared that the 'Book of Dreams' had also taught them the fire spell, or so we thought at the time.

Pat and I moved parts of a downed tree trunk over by the fire to sit on after cutting them into appropriate lengths from the remainder of the trunk with our power rings. The girls were quite surprised by this.

As sundown approached, we were ready to have a hot dinner from the food that we had brought with us. The girls made tea with supplies they had found in the mistress' bedroom. They had also brought along several bottles of the duke's wine. Pat and I had some of the wine, but weren't happy although it was excellent wine.

"What's wrong, Michael?" Shannon asked, sensing that something was amiss.

"We like ale, but they don't seem to have much of it here," I told her.

"Oh aye! We have all manner of ale at home, but we have heard of none here," Sheena told us. "These people all drink wine."

"Yes, we ate with the servants last night, and even they had wine. Not the best of wine, but wine never-the-less. At home we have O'Connell's Irish Ale. It's brewed in the Otherworld and in Boston in our Reality," Pat told them.

Soon after sundown, we moved the horses in close to our camp, and fed them some grain before taking them to the creek for another drink of water. On returning, we picketed them near the cart before Pat and I cast the spell for a defensive shell, but a modified one with an open top to allow the smoke from the fire to escape.

After that we all adjourned to the warmth of our blankets. We didn't even bother about changing clothes, just removing our footwear. I was quite surprised at how comfortable the mattress of leaves was. They also provided insulation from the cold ground.

There was only some kissing and hugging this night, as it was too cold out for sex, and the movement would scatter the leaves under us. I had my saddle for a pillow, and the girls cuddled up on each side of me. They had some questions.

"Master, what happened to the coach that passed us on the road?" Shannon asked.

"Pat caused them to have a very unfortunate accident," I told her.

"But how?" Clare asked. "We didn't see him do anything."

"He used a spell that causes the worst possible thing in that situation to happen to those it's cast against. I don't know where he learned it," I told them.

"OH!" both girls said, not understanding. I wasn't sure that I understood it either.

"Michael, you have mentioned things in 'Your Reality' several times. What are you referring to? We don't understand," Shannon told me.

"There are at least two Realities that we know of. One is the one that you live in. It is the Reality of Continuous Magic. The other is the Reality that Pat and I come from where Magic was all but lost for a long time. It is slowly returning to our Reality, but things are very different there," I told them.

"Can we go there to see it some time?" Clare asked, innocently. I was a little surprised at this.

"Yes, Sweet Clare. We will take you to see it when we have finished our mission here," I told her. We were soon asleep after that.

The sun was already well up when we awoke from a very good night's sleep. There was frost on the ground and a real chill in the air. I used a spell to move the remaining firewood on to the remains of the old fire, and arranging it so it would burn well. The fire spell then got it burning

I persuaded the girls that it was time to get up. Our footwear was very cold this morning, but soon warmed up. On arising, I noticed that the 'Book of Dreams' was sitting on the ground between our two groups. It hadn't been there last night when we went to sleep.

"The Duke has been freed," Pat told us, as we all gathered around the warmth of the fire.

"How can you know that?" a shocked Shannon asked in fear.

"I left a marker in the boar that was active as long as he was alive. It's gone now, and has been for some hours. I can't even locate it," Pat told us.

"How could they free him?" Sheena asked.

"It was probably those with the Talent that we detected in the coach yesterday. The accident didn't stop them for long," Pat told her, and gave her a little squeeze.

"What about the Wizard?" Clare asked in fear.

"They won't be able to get through our wards like they did his. Even the Talent in that coach wasn't anywhere near strong enough to crack our wards. Ours are even more powerful than the ones that our Parents used, and no one could get through those," I assured her with a little squeeze.

There wasn't much food left, and the girls toasted some bread on sticks over the fire and boiled some water for tea to have for breakfast. I went to feed and water the horses, while Pat disappeared again for a short time. He soon reappeared with a kettle of porridge, and a large plate piled high with ham and eggs. There was a tin of tea leaves sitting on top of the ham and eggs.

"Breakfast!" he said proudly through that grin of his.

"But how!!?" the shocked girls all asked.

"Remember, I left a marker in the kitchen also. It's still there," he told us with a laugh and contented grin. By the time I had finished feeding the horses, the girls had breakfast all set out for all of us, and had the tea brewed. We all had a hearty breakfast, and drank the hot tea. There was enough extra ham for the girls to make sandwiches with some of the remaining bread from yesterday. They used one of the large knives that we had acquired from the thieves at the hotel stable in Frankfort. We would have the sandwiches for lunch later.

Pat and I saddled our horses, then harnessed and hitched the other pair to the cart while the girls cleaned up and packed everything. Pat and I reloaded the cart, and we were ready to depart after canceling the spell for the cooking fire and the defensive spell. Today turned out to be colder than yesterday. It was moving toward March, and we had been warned to expect colder weather then before we left Frankfort.

The road from Pouilly-en-Auxois to Saulien was in as good a shape as the road had been yesterday, and we arrived outside of Saulien that afternoon. Again we sought to camp in a forested area, but it was more open around Saulien, and we needed to move well off the main road to find a suitable area to camp in. There was a pond in the area that we chose instead of a stream.

The girls had just finished gathering up leaves again for our mattress when it began to rain. Pat and I quickly cast the spell for the defensive shell, but a closed one tonight. We took the horses out to the pond for a drink, and brought back a bucket of water for camp use. It had also grown colder with the rain.

"How are we going to cook?" the girls asked before looking at our supplies, after which they had a different question.

"What are we going to cook?" they asked, just before the Eternal Flame appeared in the center of our defensive shell.

"I will provide the fire for cooking and heat," It told us. "But you will have to provide the food." The girls were shocked by a fire that could talk, but Shannon and Sheena quickly recognized the voice, and were even more shocked on realizing where they had heard it before.

Pat disappeared again right after that with the kettle and plate that he had brought this morning. He reappeared a few minutes later with a different kettle full of cooked vegetables, and a huge freshly roasted ham with the skewer still in it, on a large platter with a couple of loaves of fresh bread.

"Supper!" he announced.

"Where did you get that ham?" I asked in wonder, as I could see that it was freshly roasted, and not smoked, or otherwise preserved.

"It's part of the boar that was in the cell with the Duke. I was right. They had to kill the boar to rescue the Duke. They have been roasting him most of the afternoon," Pat told us with his usual grin.

Supper was soon served, and we sat around the fire provided by the Eternal Flame for some time after it. The defensive shell that we had created today was smaller than yesterday's and closed. It retained the heat and kept out the rain. Our women cuddled up against us near the fire after dinner, and we talked for a while.

"The voice in the Flames, that was the third voice that we heard in the cell, wasn't it?" Shannon asked me very quietly.

"Yes, the Eternal Flame was there in the cell. It provided the light so Pat and I could see. It can be anywhere in the universe that it wants to be, and at any time in the past, the present, or the future. Time is all the same to It," I told her.

"It is a most powerful Wizard then!" she stated.

"It is more powerful than any Wizard or group of Wizards. Even Pat and I with our power are as less than newborns to it," I told her. She and Clare cuddled closer to me on hearing this.