Chapter 33

The two Mage Cousins then sat down on either side of Gerald Ward, and reaching through the freeze spell took his hands and started a mantra. I could feel their Green Magic at work, but couldn't tell what they were doing. They had been working on him for several minutes, when both Cousins looked up in shocked surprise.

"His condition is much different than we at first thought," Coleen told us after several seconds.

"Yes, we have detected a virus in his brain that was causing him to act the way that he was. We will remove it, but are not sure just how its removal will affect his behavior. He is a man of strong convictions, but it should reduce his violent temper and make him more agreeable," Dymphna told us. They returned to treating Gerald Ward after that, but it required quite some time before they finished.

"There! He should be much better now. We also cleaned up some other health problems that he had, but... !" and here Coleen paused for a short time.

"But what?" Maureen Ward asked, expectantly.

"But now he will be capable of having children," Dymphna told her, to a look of shock and horror from Mrs. Ward.

"Don't worry, Mother," Saoirse told her Mother. "There is a spell that we have learned that will keep you from getting pregnant -- no matter how much he uses you," she assured her Mother calmly.

"How do you know about such things?" Maureen asked.

"Because we have used the spell ourselves, Aunt Maureen," Clare told her. "We do not wish to have children yet," she continued with a smile.

"How can you be so calm and admit that?" Maureen demanded angrily. "You aren't married, and you hardly know those men."

"We know them very well, Mother," Saoirse told her with a smile. "And we will be married to them soon," she finished.

"We should cancel the freeze spell on your Husband," I told Maureen Ward, who looked frightened at this prospect.

"Don't worry. He won't do anything rash," Coleen told her. "We put a temporary block on his temper."

"Do you know how to cancel the spell?" I asked Saoirse, as she had cast it.

"Yes, I know how. The 'Book of Dreams' has taught me a number of spells," she answered, and concentrated for a few seconds, as she canceled the freeze spell on her Father. Gerald Ward instantly collapsed to the floor, and lay there for several seconds before starting to moan.

"What ... what happened to me?" he asked after a minute or so, as he looked around at those surrounding him.

"You took the news of your Daughter's pending marriage rather hard, and collapsed," Dymphna told him with a straight face.

"Oh ... oh yes! I remember now," Gerald Ward said, as Wolf helped his future Father-in-Law up from the floor.

"We'll be back often to see you," Wolf assured him with one of his huge grins.

"Yes ... yes that ... that will be good," Gerald said, still a little confused. He then noticed his Wife sitting in the chair.

"Are you all right, my Dear?" he asked. "You weren't affected by the news?"

"Yes, I'm fine Gerald," Maureen told him with relief on her face. "Mothers are more accustomed to the news of their Daughters marrying. Are you all right, now?"

"Yes, I think so," he answered, as he sat down on one of the benches.

"Now that you have returned, we'll all be moving over to the Commander's house for the night. My Rangers, and the rest of us will be leaving in the morning for Mount Sterling. The second platoon of Continentals will remain here for some time to insure your safety. The Portal will remain in place, and supplies will be delivered through it twice a week until you are back on your feet again.

"One of the men with the remaining troops has been trained to open and close the Portal when necessary. He can also lower the wards on the opening in the defensive shell when needed. It will remain around the fort indefinitely," I told the Wards.

Clare, Saoirse, Wolf and I collected our belongings, and moved them and ourselves to the Commander's house with D & C along with Nola and Nora. The Mages already had supper started. We had a fine meal that evening, and went to bed early, but only to sleep tonight.

We were up early the next morning. The women finished packing after breakfast, while Wolf and I checked on the readiness of the Rangers who would be returning to Mount Sterling via Hickory Hill with us that morning.

By 10:00 that morning, all was in readiness. The Corporal in charge of the Portal opened it, and we eight marched through it followed by the Rangers who were returning with us. More supplies flowed through in the opposite direction when we all had all cleared the Portal. When the wagons and teamsters returned, the Portal was closed until the next scheduled delivery.

Wolf escorted our women and our Sisters to our quarters here at Hickory Hill. The Rangers returned to Mount Sterling while I went to see to General Clark at Fort Henry, and report on the results of this latest raid.

I arrived at Fort Henry to discover that it was Sunday, and no one was working but those on guard duty. We had lost track of what day it was while at Olive Hill. I informed the Duty Officer at General Clark's Headquarters that I would return in the morning.

It certainly didn't appear that the storm of a few days ago had made much of an impact on the Lexington area. Certainly there was little enough snow remaining at Hickory Hill and only traces here at Fort Henry. I tried to sort out all of the conflicting evidence in my mind as I prepared to transfer back to Hickory Hill. I couldn't understand how there could be so little snow in the Lexington area. The Wards had also said that Grayson, only some fifteen miles east of Olive Hill, had received a considerably smaller amount of snow.

I tried to sort out all of the conflicting evidence in my mind as I prepared to transfer back to Hickory Hill, but I changed my mind and instead transferred to Mount Sterling. They too had little snow remaining, and when I asked Craig Robinson, he told me that they had only received around two inches of snow. They also hadn't received all of the wind that we had at Olive Hill which was some forty-eight miles or so away. I transferred to Morehead after that, but they also had received only a bit more than two inches of snow and they were only eighteen miles from Olive Hill. From all of this, I was beginning to suspect that something or someone had purposely concentrated the storm in the Olive Hill area. This smacked of intervention by the Eternal Flame.

My thoughts were disrupted when I returned to Hickory Hill. The appearance of Ken, Kell, and their Wives had created a problem of sorts. There were not enough bedrooms now for everyone in the family to maintain a room there. With all of the additions to the clan, there were now more members than could be accommodated in the main house at Hickory Hill. The addition of Wolf and I having lovers or live in girlfriends didn't help either. I had already allowed Seamus to take over the room that we had shared. A decision was needed, and I would have to be the one to enforce it.

Additionally, there was the question of what Ken and Kell would be doing now that they were here. We had hoped that they would join us earlier, but now the organizational structure of the unit was set up, and there were currently no places for them in it. We would need a leadership conference to decide what to do in addition to deciding on our next move against the British.

Fortunately, no one from Seamus's team was there that evening. Wolf and Saoirse used his room. I used my former room with Clare. Ken and his Wives were temporarily using James and Jillian's room while Kell and his Wives were in M & M's room temporarily.

Dinner that night was a very quiet, but not a crowded affair. Clare and I spent a very comfortable night in my former room. She had been very excited about the house here, as had Saoirse. I was worried that they would be disappointed when we moved back to Mount Sterling. Ken's and Kell's Wives had been only somewhat excited about the house. They, of course, had spent time at our houses in our Reality. They were unhappy about there being no showers here, but they did like the large tub.

In the morning, I needed to leave to see General Clark, and Wolf returned to Mount Sterling to check on things there. Our new girlfriends remained at Hickory Hill for the time being. They were starting their classes in Magic. It appeared that the 'Book of Dreams' had been instructing them each night. Kell's Wives were helping with the instructions as were Ken and Kell for now.

Nora and Nola had been a huge hit with all of the women, and they were all ready to watch over the little darlings when their new Mothers were busy. There was still milk and butter to be picked up each day and checked. The quantities were much larger now with all of the men that we had serving in our units. With it being winter, there was less likelihood of any of it going bad, but vegetables were harder to obtain this time of year.

Colonel Hubbard was not overjoyed to see me when I arrived at General Clark's Headquarters.

"What's this that you told the Duty Officer about an attack?" he demanded on seeing me.

"There was an attack at Olive Hill last week just prior to the snow storm," I informed him.

"Do you have your reports? You certainly took your time getting here," he said in a condescending voice.

"The storm was a lot worse at Olive Hill than it was around Lexington."

"Were those prisoners that we received last week from you? There were only six of them. It couldn't have been much of an attack," he continued.

"They were the only ones who surrendered. The remainder of those whom we encountered, a dozen or so, were killed when we retook the fort. The rest of the unit froze to death in the blizzard," I told him.

"There was no blizzard here!" he said snottily.

"There was at Olive Hill. Would you like to take a trip there and see how much snow is still there?" I asked getting tired of his attitude. Fortunately, General Clark walked out of his office just then and frowned.

"Josiah, stop arguing with Major O'Connell. We'll go over his reports now if he has them," General Clark told his Chief-of-Staff. We all adjourned to the General's office, and I presented the reports and then gave a verbal rundown of the major facts of the incident. Both officers were astonished by the treatment of Clare and Saoirse. My account of the storm and the patrols left them in disbelief.

"How could the storm be so much more powerful there?" General Clark, an old winter campaigner himself, asked.

"I don't know. sir. I'm not a weather expert. Even the Wards, Saoirse's parents, said that the storm had been much less severe on the other side of Grayson, where they had been during the storm. So did Lieutenant Robinson at Mount Sterling when I checked with him yesterday, and I also checked at Morehead which is called Logan here," I informed him. "We could transfer out there if you want to see the area yourself," I volunteered after that.

"No, that won't be necessary," General Clark said. "Leave the reports, and we'll go over them and notify you if we have any further questions," he told me.

Glanda had returned from Fort Washington by the time I got back to Hickory Hill. She had gone there to alert Seamus and his team of the meeting tonight. I only stayed long enough to check on Clare and Saoirse before transferring to Mount Sterling to check on things there.

The Rangers and Continentals were relaxing some and taking care of mending and repairing their clothing and other gear. They were also seeing to the maintenance of their muskets and rifles. The rifles that the Rangers carried were their own. The hunters had returned with five deer while we were away. They had skinned and butchered them already and had set up a smoke house outside the fort to smoke most of the meat. Part of it was consumed when the men returned from Olive Hill. Seventy-five plus men can consume a lot of meat when it is available, and the cooks had outdone themselves in the preparations.