Mageborn The Line of Illeniel Michael Manning (novels to read for beginners txt) 📖

of that idea, but taking a bath with Penny reversed my usual misgivings.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea!” I replied. My enthusiasm showed though, and I could see caution in her eyes.

“You have to behave, or you’ll be bathing alone,” she said with a warning tone, naturally I agreed immediately. I had no dishonest intentions either, I swear. You believe me right? Yeah, she didn’t either. We wound up sitting on opposite sides of the tub. She was more wary than a deer in the forest, so there was little chance I would be able to sneak up on her.

***

Penny herself was enjoying the warm water and watching Mordecai watching her almost made her laugh. She enjoyed the attention even if she wouldn’t admit it. Closing her eyes she leaned back, letting the water wash away her cares. Drifting she could see a blue sky studded with fluffy clouds. It might have been beautiful if not for the smoke spoiling the picture. Glancing around she realized she was standing just outside Castle Cameron. Men in armor were rushing around her, readying weapons and pulling back the wounded.

At a glance she knew it was spring, which seemed odd. For some reason she thought it should be late summer, but she pushed the thought aside.

She looked for Mordecai for a minute before she spotted him. He was standing on a rise, holding his staff and sending lines of fire into the enemy. He cut a heroic figure standing there but he looked tense. She felt an uncommon sense of urgency and she knew he was in danger. Running she reached the top where he was standing and looked down. Thousands of soldiers were arrayed against them, advancing steadily.

Mordecai raised his staff again and a cone of fire surged forth. Cries went up and men died, yet still they came on. The enemy answered with crossbows but few of the bolts found their marks, the men of Cameron were well sheltered. Looking out across the field she suddenly spotted a ballista, a large crossbow-like weapon that fired bolts the size of heavy spears. Somehow she knew its target.

In slow motion she saw the heavy shaft soar out over the battlefield. Light glinted from the steel head as it flew. She opened her mouth to yell, to warn him, but no sound came out. Time snapped back as the great bolt slammed into Mordecai, striking him squarely. It ripped through his chest as if it were no more than tissue paper and drove him back several feet. Falling backward he struck the earth, blood running like water from a broken vessel upon the ground. He was dead within seconds.

***

I watched Penny relaxing in the bath across from me. A better vision I couldn’t imagine. Her hair floated in the water as she slid down ever further into the warm water. I couldn’t even see her eyes now, she had submerged herself. I kept trying to think of ways to coax her into dropping her silly premarital prohibition but I doubted any of them would have worked.

She hadn’t come up for air in a while, which seemed odd. She had been under for nearly a minute now, so I leaned over to check on her. She was lying on the bottom of the huge tub, and she didn’t look right. Something told me she was unconscious.

Grabbing her by the arms I dragged her up quickly. She was limp as a ragdoll, which scared me even more. I pulled her out of the tub and laid her on the tile floor, “Penny! Penny! Breathe damn you!” I turned her onto her side and tried to get her to expel the water from her lungs. I didn’t have the faintest idea what I was doing.

She drew a great gulp of air and opened her eyes. No water came out but she looked at me, terror marking her face. “Mort!” I realized she hadn’t swallowed any water at all, she simply hadn’t been breathing.

“What the hell was that?” Fear and anger had me almost shouting. She ignored me and sat up, throwing her arms around me, sobbing. At this point I remembered a crucial factor; women are strange and mysterious creatures. “What’s wrong with you?” I asked at last.

She grabbed my head between her hands and looked at me, tears still in her eyes, and then she kissed me. I’ll be the first to admit that was pretty much what I had been hoping for when we first undressed for the bath, but this was too strange. I pulled back, “Damnit, will you talk to me? Why are you so upset?”

“Shut up,” she replied and kissed me again. Her hands weren’t idle either. I struggled with her for a few minutes, but as they say, ‘When a woman is willing all any man can do is go along’. I try to live by that motto.

She made love to me with a desperate ferocity that was almost frightening, but I’m nothing if not brave. That’s what I tell myself all the time. She wasn’t satisfied quickly either and an hour later she had thoroughly exhausted me. I hoped she was tired too. If not I was in trouble.

“Are you ready to talk yet?” I asked.

She started crying again. I have that effect on women. It was particularly unsettling considering I figured I had done a damn fine job of making her every dream come true. Finally she slowed and choked out a few words, “We have to leave Mort. We can’t stay here.”

“What? I’ll be exiled or banished or worse if we run from the king’s summons!”

“It doesn’t matter; you can’t be the Count di’Cameron. You just can’t, we have to run. Anything is better than... than...,” she started weeping again.

“I can’t and won’t leave my people. They need me, they need us. We have responsibilities Penny. What brought all this on?” The thing that really worried me was that I knew she wasn’t irrational. Whatever had