Chapter 112

In a spirited debate the Council eventually agreed with Morgana’s proposal to send a token force to show support with the Murians as well as equip the Gorgons and Nosferatu with modern Mage armour, the wolves not really needing any armour at all. In the end it was Morgana’s statement that the Mages would be going to ensure that civilian casualties would be kept to a minimum that eventually swayed the decision to a large majority, from a slim one.

An expedition of fifty was assembled; Team Arch with his wife, Seer Jemima, and Róisín and Abi as their journeywomen, accompanied by medical Mages, and ten each of the wolves, Nosferatu and Gorgons. Our other allies were sending a token force each simply to show support to a battlefield ally, though the Rutasi, Veda and Maraú-Uxuí had declined though stated if Murias was in danger they’d be there.

I was spending some time at the villa with my daughter, Helena, and her mother, Elpida, and having a really good time. Helena, at eleven, was both shy and charming and well able to use her glamour to appear perfectly human to a normal human. She spent a lot of her time learning about me as well as talking to the other ladies of the house when we weren’t out sightseeing or simply lounging around.

Elpida, her mother, had an odd attitude towards me that was almost possessive, without involving any physical contact. In essence she acted as if I were hers and vice versa which made me feel a little awkward at times, though didn’t appear to bother the other ladies of the house who treated her as an auxiliary wife for her visit.

“You should just relax around her, John,” Imelda chuckled when we were having a quiet morning coffee together.

“She keeps treating me as if we’re still in a relationship,” I replied. “We never were, not really.”

“The reason is over there,” Imelda pointed out Helena who was swimming in our pool.

“Yes, she’s my daughter. But, the ... genetics side of things was handled by Morgana,” I stated.

“Which means she has no good memories of your ... coupling, just a daughter. And she wants those memories desperately, John,” Imelda answered.

“Ahhh...”

“John, part of your charm is that you don’t really get women. Which makes you a lovely tease, but occasionally makes it very frustrating for us, your wives, in getting you to do the right thing, particularly when it comes to sexual activities outside the marriage in the world of Mages,” Imelda went on. “You aren’t a cheat, which is a lovely thing for us, but every so often we get a request from a friend who wants a little time with you and we have to turn them down because your outlook on life means that your guilt complex gets in the way. We know you fought Róisín and Abi on the Gorgon contract, but in the end agreed only to please them, but we also know you enjoy those visits too, even if you won’t discuss them with us.”

“Yes ... well...” I began, my face flaming red.

“Normally Róisín would be discussing this with you,” Imelda broke in again. “But, as she’s busy on Gorias, the matter devolved to me. We, your wives, want you to give Elpida a damned good time and leave her with the memories she should have had. The Gorgons usually use the liknon to remove the memory of the face of their ... donor, not the act itself, which they mostly enjoy; it also prevents ties outside their community developing, or did; now they mostly chase tourists. We also expect you to take an extra day on Zakynthos each year for Elpida and to spend some time with Helena too. Elpida isn’t a candidate for the lottery ... or whatever they use, because of Helena, but in her own way she loves you, John, and wants those memories.”

“Ye Gods!” I sighed. “And there are others?”

“Yes, John. A lot of our friends have an itch that needs scratching and they don’t like one night stands particularly much and can’t allow relationships to develop outside our world for obvious reasons, so we get a few enquiries to ‘borrow’ you for a couple of days, all of which we have to turn down because you have this old-fashioned view about relationships,” Imelda explained.

“So you want to put me out to stud?” I asked.

“That’s exactly the attitude why we don’t, John!” Imelda snapped. “Instead of treating our friends as if they were special, you’ll treat it as a job to be done.”

“But I have four ... soon to be five, of you,” I said somewhat confused.

“All of whom you treat like queens and make feel very special indeed, not just in the bedroom either. But, there are a lot of female Mages out there who want that feeling too, even if it’s temporary or infrequent, just not in a steady relationship. I should know, as until you came along, I was one of them,” Imelda explained. “Róisín chose us because we all get along very well together. It wasn’t you she was thinking about, but whether we could live with each other, even if Brianna has to spend a great deal of time on Loegria. Losing Thea broke our hearts almost as much as yours, John. She completed the ‘balance’ in our relationship in so many ways and until Jukar emerged could not have been replaced from amongst our friends. But our friends have needs too and no, not just sexual ones, and so every so often we’d like you to take one out on a date and make her feel very special. We’d like you to do that for us, John. Not as a job to be done, but as a gift to a friend.”

“I ... I don’t know if I can,” I mumbled, feeling extremely shocked.

“I personally believe you can, and I want you to start with Elpida. Take her out tonight for a meal, dancing and other enjoyable things and then give her the memories she wants so badly. Your wives expect this of you, not as a job, but to put something right in that poor woman’s life,” Imelda stated. “Then we’ll have a long talk about what we’d like you to do for our friends. It won’t be very often, but we’d really like you to consider it and do it right, not as a job to be done.”

“I’ll do it,” I replied somewhat sheepishly.

“That’s my John. You always do the right thing, eventually,” Imelda replied and gave me a soft kiss.

If this seems strange to you, well, welcome to the world of the Mages where nothing is as it seems on the surface. What you have is a society of very mature people living in (generally) bodies maintained at or about their twenties, with all the inherent libido that goes with it. Yes, we can suppress the urges, but eventually that becomes unhealthy, so we seek outlets in one form or another. Before I found Róisín, Morgana insisted I used prostitutes. What she used, I haven’t a clue, though it’s a tad easier (from my naïve point of view) for a woman to get a guy for a one-nighter, particularly if you aren’t worried about pregnancies or STD’s. But a one-nighter usually doesn’t mean a relationship, nor is it based on friendship which is apparently what my wives wanted for their friends who didn’t have a man in their lives and didn’t want a full-time relationship or one-night-stands. These women occasionally asked to borrow a male Mage for a ‘date’ and as good friends, the female Mages in relationships would occasionally permit it. That only applied to those in plural relationships of course, Mages in monogamous relationships were strictly exclusive. Most of the time I ignored this, my wives were more than enough for me even if they did send me to Zakynthos once a year to ‘do my thing’ as it were. I thought they saw it as a financial transaction, which truly shows how ignorant I can be when it comes to women. They’d hoped that I’d be smart enough to sort out Elpida. Tryphaina had taken the time to talk to them on our visit to Versim and point out that I wasn’t so smart and so Imelda had decided to clue me in.

Well, I did my ‘duty’ as it were and yes, it was a pleasure ... for both of us and a radiant Elpida transferred home with Helena, whilst I picked up a whole load of brownie points from Imelda, Brianna and Jukar. No, I don’t understand it either, but they’re happy, so, so am I.

Whilst all this was going on, Morgana was keeping me updated on the ‘great raid’ that was going ahead in Senone, the capital city of the Tuathan world of Gorias. Naturally I was concerned. Both Róisín and Abi were involved and from what Morgana could gather the fighting was very heavy at times. Team Arch were guarding an aid station for any residents caught up in the fighting, healing them before sending them on their way out of the city. The Tuathans were putting up a fierce fight, but from what I could understand, almost half of the city was burning and only the citadel in the centre was holding. My main concern though was that our forces might get encircled as the Tuathans were most certainly bringing up fresh units from outside the city.

“Team Arch will be fine, John,” Morgana replied as we discussed what was going on over a light lunch. “Jemima and Abi can pull them out of any situation if necessary.”

“Yes, I know I’m fretting. It’s just I’m used to being in the action, not others,” I semi-stressed.

“How do you think I feel?” Morgana asked with a quirky smile. “I have to send you lot into danger constantly, whilst relying on you to do your jobs.”

“Never thought of it that way, my Mage,” I chuckled.

“Nevertheless John, put your team on alert to be ready to move on short notice and get Adsila to talk to the Americans about borrowing some A10s just in case. We’ll pay for any ordinance they use, naturally,” Morgana ordered.

“Mage Xi is already with Team Arch,” I replied as I mentally contacted the team.

“Rowenna says she’ll come along if necessary,” Morgana replied after a moment’s mental contact.

“And you, my Mage?” I asked.

“Yes, John. Can’t expect you to command a Council Mage now can we?” she replied with a grin.

“Do we let the Council know?”

“Yes, probably for the best,” Morgana nodded.

“Before or after?”

“Heh!” she chuckled. “Before. So let’s go and see how good my political capital is.”

“So the plan is falling apart?” Mage Sofya asked when we approached the Council.

“No, but the Mage team is getting overwhelmed by fleeing civilians. I simply wish to have a team in place to delay any Tuathan counter-attack that might endanger the civilian populace,” Morgana replied.