The Return by Sean M. Campbell Page A

Again, I brought it back to life.
    “Again.”
    Within seconds, the fire was just a pile of old cool ashes.
    “Good, we will start your learning as we travel. You are not like the Mages here whom we will face -- you are like me. You are a Mage of the mind. Your magic does not need words or gestures. You just need to trigger it. You could have done the same thing by thinking the word.”
    “How do you know the word didn’t cause the magic?”
    “Because ‘cool’ is not a word in the language of magic.”
    “We ride to Feck now, and we gather up the one known as The Shadow. We will ride through the day and into the night. We should be there by morning. One more thing. Taina?”
    “Yes, M’Lord?”
    “In all the time you have known me, have I ever treated you as a servant?”
    “No, M’Lord.”
    “Then if you call me ‘M’Lord’ one more time, I am going to turn you over my knee and paddle your ass ’til it is on fire.”
    “Is that a promise, M’Lord?”
    I chuckled as we mounted up. “Likka, can you range ahead and scout, please? We need warning of trouble before it arrives.”
    “Yes, M’Lord,” she giggled, as she dropped down into wolf form.
    “I travel with perverts,” I mumbled, as we started to ride.
    “Yes, M’Lord,” Beth giggled out from her mount next to me.
    “Not you too, Beth.”
    “You better plan on a couple of days in Feck, Rhys. Laina may get you the first night, but you are mine the second.”
    “Do I need my belt?”
    “Not this time, but maybe in the near future.”
    We rode into the cleared lands around the walled city of Feck, just as the sun came up the following morning. We approached the gate at a slow walk. The gates stood open, to allow the farmers out into the fields, and we rode through unimpeded. I dropped down off my horse, in front of an older woman that was selling sweet meats off of a cart. “May I ask how much for the skewers, good lady, and the name of a good inn with bath and stables?”
    “A lead coin for two, M’Lord, and the inn name would be free to a customer.”
    “I am no lord, good lady; I will take twelve of the skewers and the name, then.”
    “The name of the inn is The Golden Dragon, good sir. It is but a few blocks south and east of here, on High Lords Lane,” she said, as she wrapped the pastries in paper and handed them to me.
    I pulled a gold coin from my bottomless purse, and palmed it to her so no one else could see it. “Thank you, good lady.”
    I handed the girls all their treats, and we rode to the inn. I stepped down off of Reaper, and tossed the reins to the stable boy who was waiting. I palmed a gold coin to him and told him to take care of the horses and bring our gear to our rooms.
    As I walked up to the barman I told him, “I need five rooms for the next five days, with baths, food, and extra oats for the horses.”
    “That would be one copper coin and seventy-five lead coins, M’Lord.”
    I pulled a stack of ten gold coins out of my purse, and dropped them on the floor. Laina scrambled to pick them up, and hand them back. I handed two of them to the barman. “Take good care of us, good sir. We have had a rough travel coming in, and need rest.”
    When we were safely in our rooms, Likka became a woman and asked “What was that all about, you went out of your way to hide what you paid the vendor and the stable boy, but made a grand show of spilling a small fortune, on the floor in the bar?”
    “Baiting a trap for The Shadow -- she was in the bar.”
    “Where? I didn’t see her. And how do you know it was a woman?”
    “Because I know who she is now. She will be along later tonight, to earn a little money.”
    Laina looked at me, “You promised me tonight.”
    “She will be here to steal, like a thief in the night, Laina. You will be here to help guard me from the danger of sleep.” I pulled her to me and kissed her with a deep passion.
    After baths, and a huge meal of roast, with mashed potatoes and gravy, bread