Traveling Home

The ship of the king of the Glaciar Coast was a gigantic vessel with a kind of lofty wretchedness to it. In fact, Katherine thought that the silver ornaments on the dark wood looked like bones, and if the sail had been a bit more tattered, the "Charon" would've been the perfect ghost ship. When she mentioned it to Lady Brandon in jest, the sister of said king laughed out loud.

"Oh, he'd love to hear that! If his crew wasn't ridiculously superstitious, I bet he'd search the whole ocean floor for a sunken vessel to serve him!"

"Is that so?" Katherine lifted her brows, perplexed. "Isn't it already enough that it can fly?"

Granted, the hovering of the gigantic vessel wasn't completely 'flight' as the ship was only lifted by the water the Glaciar Coast's mages manipulated with much afford. It could also only be implemented for short periods close to a water source. For the unsuspecting viewer, however, it looked exactly as if the ship was flying.

It was this practical feature that resulted in their journey back to civilization being much faster than the way to Loki's hideout. The forest they traversed before was riddled with lakes and short stretches of swamp, which was enough for the skilled mages.

While Lady Brandon and Katherine relaxed on deck, the two men of their families discussed political contracts below their feet. As neighboring countries, Nathaniel wanted the Glaciar Coast as an ally to the Icelands, yet the latter's king was reluctant because his sister had been a hostage to the Icelands for many years.

Still, the alliance was signed before the ship reached its first destination. When Katherine, Nathaniel, and their entourage disembarked, the king even invited them for a visit to his castle on the main island of the Glaciar Coast.

Katherine and Lady Brandon had a hard time parting.

"I'll miss you!" Katherine sniffled and hugged her friend tightly. To her own annoyance, the tears flowed much more easily since the beginning of her pregnancy.

"Me too!", Lady Brandon assured and stroked Katherine's hair like a loving big sister. "You have to write me at least once a month! I'll come and visit when your baby is born. Of course, you can also come and visit any time. I'll show you all around the kingdom, especially the beaches! We've got many with pure white sand, some with black, and the water is a glitter of azure blue. Don't miss out on that! But of course, you may take a few years before you travel again. I, at least, will be happy to finally come home again."

She laughed, and Katherine laughed along through her tears. A few moments later, Katherine waved after the departing "Charon" with a bit of regret. Just why was the home of her best friend so far away?

Nathaniel, who felt her sadness, laid an arm around her shoulders. His mind though, was already occupied with the tasks to come. First, solutions for the remaining child mages had to be found. Dellinger and his people would bring those who wanted to back to their parents, and for those interested in magic, a constant stay in one of the three towers of magic would likely be possible. The magic towers weren't bound to a kingdom, yet at least one of them would need excessive purging before Nathaniel would send anyone there. This one tower, situated where Dragsa, the Renat Kingdom, and the Icelands met, was the growth field and maybe the origin of Loki.

The trouble lay with those children that neither had parents nor an interest to further their studies in magic. Of all the twenty-some mages, these criteria applied to seven. He couldn't just leave them behind.

For Frey and Lily, their paths were clear. Both were adamant about following Katherine in any role they'd be allowed to take. Two more of Katherine's original hut children made similar decisions, yet the other three children were indecisive.

As they were rather young, Nathaniel deliberated about taking them with him and providing for them in the Icelands or leaving them in Dellinger's care as well. In the end, he resorted to the first option. Dragsa wasn't stable right now, with one of its biggest powers gone, and he didn't trust the king that worked with Loki for so long.

Thus, the group that finally passed the dragsean border consisted of Nathaniel and Katherine, the seven child mages, as well as the icelandic General and his men who'd fought on Dellinger's side. Katherine was rather surprised about the latter's appearance, yet it was resolved when they reached the icelandic wall on the border. The General invited the couple into his office and served them tea before he send anyone else out.

The silence lasted for a few moments, then Nathaniel put his cup down. "Good job, Sam."

The face of the General rippled. At first, it seemed like a smile, but the ripples spread further and further, contorting the face beneath. More wrinkles came to the surface, the hair shortened and turned into a mixture of grey and white, and the eyes - they showed the biggest change. The eyes of the original icelandic General were a deep chocolate brown filled with power. Within a few blinks they glinted in a sharp blue instead. A blue that was all too familiar to Katherine.

"Sam!" she exclaimed.

Nathaniel's butler and oldest supporter smiled. "At least one is surprised. Excuse me for the deception, your Highness. It was necessary to gain the help of the soldiers here."

Katherine waved her hand. "No matter, no matter. I'm happy enough that you're alive. But you!" She directed a finger at her husband. "Do we have to talk about keeping secrets again? Since when do you know he's still alive?"

"It's not nice to point fingers, dear," Nathaniel reminded, caught hers, and kissed it. "I only knew the moment I saw the General again. I held hope, though. Sam is not so easily killed and that we didn't hear about a prisoner being caught could only mean that he disguised himself inside the wall. I took a small gamble and wrote to the General. It turned out I was right."

"Hmpf!" With her cheeks slightly rosy, Katherine retracted her finger and crossed her arms instead. "Still, you should have told me."

"Next time, dear." When the affirmation didn't soften Katherine's mien, another kiss landed on her cheek, then her temple, until Sam coughed loudly.

The old man had turned his face away, yet it seemed he was still bothered by how shamelessly Nathaniel displayed his affection. Katherine also blushed a deep red and secretly stepped on Nathaniel's foot.

Shortly, an expression of pain flashed over Nathaniel's face, followed by a curl of amusement in the corners of his mouth. Then, his attention returned to Sam and the original topic. "I believe you need to stay here for a while?"

"Yes, until I find a convincing way to step down as the General."

Nathaniel nodded with a straight face. "Don't take too long."

Katherine thought that there were nicer ways to say 'I'll miss you' but Sam seemed to understand nonetheless, as a deep smile craved into the wrinkles.

"Of course, your Highness."

Suddenly, it knocked on the door. "General! General, there is important news from the Capital!"

In no time at all, Sam's appearance transformed back into the sturdy, brown-eyed General that protected the icelandic border. His roar was loud enough to reach through the stretch of the room and the thick oak door. "Enter! Report!"

A thin, small soldier slipped in and saluted in a hurry. "General, Sir! A group of undead attacked the royal palace! They rescued the former Prince, Princess, and reigning Queen from custody! In the following battle the Queen died, the Prince turned out to be undead, and the Princess managed to flee! It is suspected that she'll search refuge in Falumor!"

For a few seconds, there was stunned silence. Then the fake General asked in a subdued voice: "Any new orders from the Capital?"

"None, Sir!"

"How great was the loss on our side?"

"Prince Aston and two hundred and ninety soldiers were injured! Fourty-six died! No further royal harmed!"

Sam lingered for a bit, then he sighed. "Dismissed."

After the soldier left, there was silence in the study. Finally, Nathaniel stood up. "We should hurry back."

If Katherine or Sam expected a reaction to his mother's passing, there was none. Only a slight wrinkle grew in the middle of his brows, yet Katherine suspected that it had another cause. Standing, she placed a hand on her husband's shoulder. "Aston will be alright. He's not the clown he appears to be."

"I know," Nathaniel said but the wrinkle remained.