Heirlooms of the King

Helen took off her right track shoe and hesitated. Then slowly she set her bare foot on to the floor, and true enough, she could feel a smidgen of heat coming from the floor. She took her left shoe off and decided to walk around the room barefoot, for it felt very soothing. "Is there a bathroom nearby?" she asked.

John was standing with his hands over his mouth and was breathing hard into them as if they were a gas mask. "Can't you just put those monsters away so I can breathe again?" asked John funnily.

"Very funny, smart arse. You know sometimes I wonder why I ever married you," Helen teased, clearly not at all amused.

"I thought it was for my fantastic good looks, brilliant personality, and great wit," said John, holding his head back and chin up amusingly.

"Whatever. Now tell me is there a bathroom? I need to pee," said his wife.

"Yes, over there," replied John. He was pointing to the wall opposite him, but there was no doorway.

"Where is it?"

John walked over to the wall and put his arm through it.

"Here. The reason you can't see it is because I put a spell on it."

"You put a spell on your bathroom?"

"Just on the door, to hide it," said John.

"But why would you?"

"I did it because once when I was out on a date, my friends, knowing we would be coming back here, thought that it would be funny to hide an Orslat in the bathroom and let it stink out the place."

"What's an Orslat?" asked Helen.

"It's a very smelly creature," said John. "It's something like a skunk, although it doesn't spray. The smell comes from its skin, and it's about a hundred times worse. So after their little stunt, I moved the bathroom from that end of the room to this end and put a spell on the door."

At this point, Helen was laughing to herself.

"Yeah, they thought it was funny too," said John.

"It's not that. It's the part where you said your friends used that Orslat thing to stink out your bathroom," replied Helen.

"Yeah, and?"

"It's just that you don't normally need any help in that department." She could no longer control her laughter as tears ran down her face.

John grabbed one of the pillows off the bed and threw it at her. She caught it and threw it straight back. She then ran to where John put his arm through the wall.

"Where is it again?" she asked crossing her legs. Just then her hand went through the wall. "It's okay, I've found it." Helen put each of her hands at either side of the doorway.

"Say 'lock' if you want the door to lock, and say 'open' when you what to come out again," said John just before she stepped through. She was not in the toilet long when John saw her reappear.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"Well, now that you've most likely stunk out the toilet, we wait until Delsani comes to take me to start my training," said John.

"Ha ha, you're so funny," said Helen, and then stuck out her tongue at him.

John, who was sitting on the bed merely said, "Revenge."

They waited at least three and a half hours before Delsani came. He gently knocked on the door. "It's time John."

John and Helen got up together and followed the old Wizard. He did not lead them to the training room; instead they went back the way they came when they arrived, back to the entrance hall. When they got there, they saw that the Wizard Council and the Council of Witchcraft were there. All of the Witches and Wizards that worked in the towers were also there, as well as young Wizards and Witches from the Wizard Colleges, and the Witch Schools of both Cites, who had all come to see their new King and Queen.

"Why are all these people here?" asked John.

Delsani smiled "They're here because the Grand Wizard wishes to present you with a couple of things that are yours through birthright."

Jaucal stepped forward, and to John's surprise, around the fingers of the Wizard's right hand was Dragdani's Dragon. Once again it was hanging from a thin black rope.

In Jaucal's left hand was the Sword of Light, Yeluilat. The Elves had brought it with them so it could be given to the last living heir of Dragdani.

John stepped toward the Grand Wizard.

"Lord Jastark. The Wizards Council and the Council of Witchcraft have decided that as you are the rightful King, you shall be the new bearer of Dragdani's Dragon and the sword Yeluilat, which once belonged to your ancestor, King Dragdani," said Jaucal. "So with no further delay, in front of all of these witnesses I present you with the symbol of Dragdani himself." John bowed his head to receive it, and Jaucal put the necklace around his neck. "May your life and rein be long, my friend," said the old Wizard.

"Thank you," said John.

"Now if you would all like to make your way to the dining hall for something to eat," said Delsani, motioning his hand in the direction of the dining room.

A feast was held in the dining hall, which was one of the largest rooms that Helen had ever seen. The walls were grey. Long rectangle tables ran along the left wall, around the wall at the far end of the hall, and back down the right wall again. Other smaller tables were placed in the heart of the massive room, and it seemed every chair at every table had an occupant. As Helen continued to look about, she saw that halfway up the four walls that made the room ran a border of gold. The border had depictions on it, but she couldn't see what they were from where she sat.

She continued to scan the room, and again her eyes fell on the large silver statues she had seen as she entered the room. There were ten in all that were sitting on ledges set just below the golden border. Four of the statues were on one side of the room, four opposite them, and the last two also facing each other, one above the entrance and the other at the far end of the room. These were the largest of all the ten, one a Witch and the other a Wizard. Helen found herself staring at the one of the old Wizard. He was dressed in long robes, and in his left hand he held what looked like a page of parchment. In his right was an old pointed hat.

Just as Helen went to look back at her plate, the statue winked at her and then smiled. She looked at the others all around the room, and like the first, some winked, others smiled, a few waved and mouthed hello, and last but certainly not least. The male Witch above the entrance, after seeing the dazed look on the young woman's face, let out a loud robust laugh that filled the hall and made some of the other people in room jump, so much so that it sent more than a few forks, food and all, flying through the air. Most of them landed on other tables and even other plates.

Delsani, John, and Helen left early. They were not really that hungry after the big lunch they eaten only hours before. Besides, Delsani wanted to start John's training as soon as possible.

There were only mats on the floor of the training room; there were no special devices or anything else that one might expect to find in such a room.

"How are you going to train me?" John asked. "You said I'm the first Wizard- Elf you've ever seen."

"I will use this to train you," said Delsani as he held up a folder. It was brown with a clip in the shape of Dragdani's Dragon locking it down tight.

"What is it?" asked Helen.

"In this folder are the instructions that Thoiucil gave to Dragdani when she was training him. Dragdani's father wrote it all down."

John nodded, clapped loudly, rubbed his hands together and said. "Fine, let's get started."

Helen sat down at the end of one of the mats while Delsani and John got ready to start.

By the end of the day, John had done very well and learned how to use a few of his abilities, even if it did mean redecorating most of the room and replacing some of the weapons that lined the walls, not to mention one of the four wooden chandlers that formerly hung from the ceiling.

John and Helen said goodnight to the old Wizard before heading back to their room. John felt confident that he could remember the way. It was quite late; there was not a soul to be seen in any of the corridors. They could hear a rough wind bellowing outside as they walked, but nothing else was to be heard except their own footsteps on the stone floor. When they got to their room, they went straight to bed, as they had an early start the next morning.