Enchantress 6 - The Reluctant King

"So how long do I have left?"

"That's the problem... Come. Walk with me." Time stood and held her hand out to Octavia who rose and took it. She followed Time around the corner and suddenly everything was in black and white. The only colors she could see were Time, her beautiful golden tanned skin, her red and black dress, her bright red fingernails... but around her the world was black and white, like an iconograph when the imp only has black paint and white paint to work with. Everything was colored in shades of gray.

They were in a garden full of black roses and gray daisies, ahead of them stood a large gray brick house, it had five large gables extending rooms on the second floor out and two huge chimneys that were crowned with what looked like brickwork flowers. They entered the house and inside was a tall slim man who resembled Time, he was wearing a white linen buttoned shirt and black trousers. He had his sleeves rolled up and under one arm he carried a wooden drafting board, T-square, and a couple of rulers. In his shirt pocket there were several pencils in a protective sleeve, and he wore glasses.

"This is my brother Space," said Time, as Octavia shook his hand. "We are inexorably linked," she said.

"He's waiting for us," said Space and he led Time and Octavia though the house which seemed much larger on the inside than on the outside. He led them to a study where Death sat behind a desk reading a large open volume.

"AHH, MISS CORINA ALDANA, WELCOME TO MY DOMAIN."

"Who?" asked Octavia.

"I'M SORRY, MISSUS WORBLEHAT-STEIN. WELCOME YOUR MAJESTY. YOUR BOOK HAS CORINA ALDANA ON THE COVER AND YOU HAVE HAD OTHER NAMES, SUCH AS FAÇADE INCOGNITO."

"I still can't believe they fell for that one," muttered Octavia under her breath. "Why am I here?"

"FOLLOW ME." Death led them out of the study, down a corridor and into a huge, arena size room where thousands and thousands of books lined an untold number of shelves, some thin, some very thick. The shelves went up over twenty feet and there were ladders on tracks that slid back and forth. "THESE ARE THE STORIES OF THE LIVES THAT HAVE ENDED."

"Can I see the book for Ivo Stein?" asked Octavia. She always wanted to know more about Nick, and now that Catrin is part of their family she wanted to know more. Maybe reading about Nick's father would enlighten her of Nick's past.

"POMMERAIE DE LA MONTESQUIEU'S FATHER? IT'S NOT HERE. FOLLOW ME." He led them to another room which was huge and filled with shelves but there were far fewer books. The room was filled with the sound of pens writing on paper as life after life was being recorded. It wasn't a loud sound but there were so many life stories being written that the sound was a soft roar. Death traced a bony finger across the spines of the books then he handed a book titled Ivo Stein to Octavia. "THIS IS HIS STORY."

She opened the book and flipped through the pages filled with his handwritten story. The book confirmed Catrin's claim that he beat her nearly to death over wet socks, then after he beat her and watched her crawl out into the cold wet evening to find help, he realized he grabbed the wrong socks. There was never a word of regret in the book, not for any slimy underhanded action he took. Then she saw where he threw his five-year-old son out of the cab on Hogswatch Eve. All he said was good riddance. She turned to the last page and saw that there was writing continuing on...

"Ivo stepped off the carriage that dropped him off in Creel Springs and he stepped into the Bare Bear pub next to the blacksmith's house and demanded, 'Does anyone know where I might find Pommy?' He was looked at with blank stares. 'I'm looking for Pommeraie de la Montesquieu Stein. Does anyone know him?' Again, he was answered with blank stares.

'You may get better answers across the street,' said the bar tender pointing at the door.

Ivo left in a huff and stepped outside. He looked across the street and saw that it was the police station. 'Yeah, jail. He's probably locked up,' thought Ivo."

"I have to go; I have to warn Nick!" gasped Octavia.

"It's ok," said Space, "Here you are out of time, you'll return to the moment you left."

"IVO IS A DISTRACTION, DO NOT LET HIM WORRY YOU."

"I have children!" Octavia cried cuddling Gwendolyn closer. "If he comes in contact with Catrin again he will..."

"YOUR HUSBAND WILL NOT ALLOW THAT TO HAPPEN," said Death.

"What he's trying to say is that Pommeraie and Ivo must work it out between themselves," said Space.

"You have too many people around you to allow anything to happen to the children, or anyone else under your protection like Catrin Stein, or Esme Verence," said Time. "But come, that is not why you're here."

They led Octavia through a huge room that was filled with shelves reaching twenty feet high, the shelves contained hour glasses and each ornate base had a name in different languages. All of these life timers sat in silence, their last grain of sand had run out. The only sound in this room was the occasional muffled sound of a life timer being placed in the room as the last grain of sand ran out, and the almost happy ding of a life timer disappearing to reappear elsewhere with a new name and a full load of sand. "What's that ringing sound?"

"REINCARNATION. NOTHING FOR YOU TO WORRY ABOUT."

Octavia nodded and said, "I don't believe in reincarnation."

"BUT DOES REINCARNATION BELIEVE IN YOU?" Death led them to the next room, filled with shelves reaching high into the dim realms of the rafters. The shelves were filled with life timers, the sand running through the hourglasses was almost silent but when you add thousands and thousands of "almost silent" you fill the air with a noticeable background roar of seconds sliding by.

So many timers! So many names! Occasionally there would be a pop and the timers shift to the side to make room for a new birth, a timer with a full load of sand. Octavia noticed one timer that was the same size and design, but the sand was flowing madly from the upper bulb to the lower bulb, it would be exhausted in a few hours. "What is this?" asked Octavia.

"A POOR CHILD IN A SMALL VILLAGE THAT WAS BORN WITH A DISEASE THEY CANNOT TREAT," said Death impartially.

"So why am I here?" Octavia was suddenly terrified that they were going to show her that King Verence had no time left.

"For this," said Time as she indicated a shelf with a single life timer. The upper bulb was three quarters filled with sand, the lower bulb had a small pile of sand and on the wooden frame was a golden plaque with the name CORINA ALDANA underneath was the inscription The Enchantress.

Still not used to being addressed by her birth name, Octavia didn't realize that this was her timer. "THE SAND IN YOUR TIMER DOES NOT SEEM TO UNDERSTAND GRAVITY."

"The sand in your life timer is flowing, but at one grain an hour and it takes several hours for the grain to fall. It is the exact opposite of that small child; your sand is moving much slower than the other life timers. Your life timer looks normal until you notice how slow the grains are moving," said Time. "Death noticed it and called me and my brother to investigate this."

"How is that possible?" asked Octavia.

"It started the moment you became enchanted," said Time and she handed Octavia the book of her life that was open to a specific page.

"Me? Enchanted?" laughed Octavia. "I'm the Enchantress, I'm supposed to be running around enchanting men and women..." but she looked at the page and sighed with a smile. It was just a few months after she and Nick met, they had located the Tome of Inverse Disambiguation in Bruce Bockschecker's hunting station in Four Ecks and returned it to the Bugarup University library. History was written in their true names, not what they were more popularly known as at the time.

As Pommeraie de la Montesquieu slammed down a well-deserved beer at the librarian's desk/bar in the Bugarup University library, Corina moved to the stacks, she needed to make a dash through L-Space to check on a book she had mysteriously hidden, but first she had a power to use...

"There you are apprentice!" she laughed and beckoned him with a crooked finger. She pulled Pommeraie de la Montesquieu toward her and took him into her arms for a kiss that never would have occurred to Pommeraie de la Montesquieu. Their lips met as their bodies melted together, but then her lips parted, and her tongue caressed his lips seeking out his tongue. Pommeraie de la Montesquieu was startled and almost pulled away, but Corina caught him and held him tight as his timid tongue began to explore her tongue.

Now Corina felt the kiss evolving, Pommeraie de la Montesquieu's love for her was reflected back at her tenfold by his latent, hidden magical powers. The enchantment that she was casting on Pommeraie de la Montesquieu was absorbed, accepted, and returned enchanting the enchantress. Corina whimpered and everything was forgotten, the terrors of the XXXX desert, the baby discworld turtles following them, the nebula, the spell they must cast, the planet eater... all of it was gone, all that mattered was this man, their hearts dancing in time and their tongues and lips that begged for more.

Pommeraie de la Montesquieu's chest swelled with excitement as his tongue danced with hers, he even whimpered in excitement a little as their kiss grew hotter and sweeter and it grew in intensity. And when it was over, Pommeraie de la Montesquieu held on to Corina, panting and kissing the side of her neck and she gasped and tangled her fingers in his hair. Meanwhile the Ecksian wizards watched in terror and envy. The spell was cast, they had enchanted each other.

"That was it? That was the moment? I knew something had happened at some point," said Octavia as she flipped back a page and looked at her life, watching the love bloom with a young man she hired to help... no, she didn't need help, she needed companionship, and that's why she hired Nick to accompany her, he was fun to talk to and she loved his smile and his tight, muscular little body.

"Have you noticed that you have not been enchanting men to follow your will, instead you're milking goats to feed the products of your love?" asked Time. "You make yourself look older with worry lines and the occasional gray hair. Haven't you noticed that instead of putting on makeup, you drop the artificial signs of aging you wear?"

Octavia looked from one anthropomorphic personification to another. She was busted. She noticed soon after Hollie was born that she doesn't show the signs one would show as you aged and worked hard on your farm. Nick didn't say anything, but the women of the village were mentioning it and were jealous. Any signs of aging that Octavia carried were magical, and when she and Nick went out together like to the Hogswatch dinner or the State of the Kingdom address, she dropped all signs of aging and dusted her face with powder to make it look like she was heavily made up.

"We need you to know that you are in a unique situation," said Space. "No other wizard or witch has slowed their personal flow of time, so we will be keeping an eye on you to make sure it doesn't affect quantum."

Octavia knew that quantum was an excuse that wizards and scientists used to sound like they're knowledgeable and in control but really had no idea what was going on. "I promise that I will not use my powers to effect the laws of quantum and I will not meddle in the affairs of state unless asked."

"HMM.. THAT WOULD BE A PROBLEM," muttered Death.

Octavia looked down at little Gwendolyn, she was snuggled down for a nap, safe in Mommy's arms and sighed in the comfort and protection that Mommy provided. "Just as long as my family is left alone." She thought of that horrible day nearly a decade ago when she and little Marlon were sent into the Dungeon Dimension by an evil wizard and shook her head. The ideas of what she could do with an evil wizard filled her mind. If anything, she's dedicated to removing those wizards from the discworld.

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It was all too marvelous for Archchancellor Sebastian Dashwood. The smell of steam! The perfume of burning coal was all so wonderful! So brilliant! "Bursar! Come with me, it's time to board now, grab the bags, there's a good chap." Even though the Archchancellor has made this journey several times in the past, this time it was for business and the University was paying the tab. Unfortunately, the Ramtops Challenger no longer has first class cars, but it still has a parlor car which he intended to spend the trip enjoying.

His previous trips were only to Sto Lat, two stops down the line, he went to visit with an ailing relative and only stayed long enough to catch the next train back to Ankh-Morpork. This time he's traveling all the way to the rail's end at Hot Dang in Lancre then ride the Narrow Guage all the way to Überwald, which should be a jolly good time.

"ALLLLL ABOOOOOARD!" called the conductor and Sebastian had to stop taking iconographs of the locomotive, a brutish looking 4-6-2 Circle Sea class monster that was tasked with delivering him safely to Hot Dang. "Come along Bursar!" He called, and they boarded shortly before the locomotive's whistle blew and they were underway.

The parlor car was sumptuous, the seats were comfortable and there was a car matron there with coffee and tea at the ready. Soon the Archchancellor and Bursar were playing a spirited game of Cripple Mr. Onion with a fellow pair of travelers. Both were beautiful women; one has lips as red as her eyes and an Überwald accent. The other was small, cute, and athletic, with light blond hair.

"Vare are you goink to, Archchancellor?" asked the red eyed woman as she opened the hand with a Queen of Staves and a ten of Coins for a bagel.

"My first stop will be in Überwald, I hope to talk to the head of the von Überwald family, and the low queen of the Dwarves." The Archchancellor countered the exotic looking woman's bagel with a ten of swords and an ace of cups for a double onion.

"Do you vish to open a university annex in Überwald?"

"Oh, heavens no, I just want to talk to Ladies Serafine and Margolata von Überwald. I'm uh... investigating the political climate between Überwald and Lancre, primarily with the Duchy of Wægn."

The exotic looking woman's cute, blond traveling companion countered the Archchancellor's double onion with five and six of cups and a seven of staves, a triple onion.

"You are in luck Doktor Dashwood, I am Lucricia von Überwald, Serafine ist mine niece und I must vorn you, she ist ein bitch. She ist leader uff ze von Überwald clan but she leafs ze international relations to me." She waggled an eyebrow at the Archchancellor and said, "Maybe you haff heard uff mine library?"

"Why yes!" gushed the Archchancellor, "my librarian is jealous of your collection. Maybe we can set up a lending agreement between libraries?" It's no secret that Lady Lucricia has the most extensive magical library on the discworld and that her butler is a Chief Master Librarian.

"Ve coult talk about zat, but one vunders, vy schult ein vizard travel overland on ze train rather than yooss L-Space to arrive in Überwald in seconds?"

"Because, dear lady, travel by train is my fondest desire and I want to take the narrow-gauge train from Hot Dang to Überwald before the AM&SP tears up the narrow gauge and goes to standard gauge."

Lady Lucricia raised an eyebrow. "You are ein, how do you say, foamer?"

"I am proud to admit, I am very much the foamer."

Lady Lucricia smiled and pulled the latest copy of the Ankh-Morpork & Sto Plains Hygienic Railway Trainspotters Gazette out of her impossibly tiny handbag. "I prefer ze term Train Nut. Ven you haff verevolf blood you avoid ze term 'foaming.' People vorry about verevolves who foam at ze mouth."

The game of Cripple Mr. Onion was quickly forgotten and the two train nuts were comparing Icons of the trains they had seen. The Archchancellor's Iconograph was still processing the icons he had taken at the Ankh-Morpork terminal as fast as the imp inside the iconograph could paint them. Meanwhile their traveling companions started a conversation that they could understand. "I am Reginald Nutt, I'm the Bursar at the Unseen University. I basically do everything that the archchancellor says he's going to do."

"I'm Annabelle Prescott, I'm chief of detectives for the Wægn Highway Watch. I was just attending a lecture that Captain Cheery Littlebottom was holding at Pseudopolis Yard. Lady Lucricia is my grandmother and insists on traveling on the train with me. She says it's not safe for me to travel alone. I said 'Grandma! I've been a cop for over fifteen years and I'm a werewolf, I think I can handle myself.' But she said no." Annabelle looked at her grandmother comparing the icons she took with the Archchancellor. "Now I know why she came with."

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Octavia suddenly jerked as she returned to the timestream which startled Queen Magrat. "I need to talk to Nick, can you keep an eye on the kids?"

"Of course, is something wrong?"

"Somebody is alive," said Octavia and she started to run, then she realized she still had Gwendoline in her arms and had a huge baby bag hanging off her shoulder, so she slowed down. Slowing down allowed her to think about the situation and she realized that she forgot to ask Queen Magrat where the king and her husband would be. Worst of all, she just realized that she asked the queen, wife of her sovereign lord, to watch her kids.

She knew that they would be in secure areas so she headed downstairs and walked up and down the halls. She saw a familiar office and poked her head in. In the gloom she could see a skeleton wearing a breastplate and helmet sitting in an office chair. "Hello Stan."

"Good morning duchess," said the skeleton. "Or should I say princess... it fits on you. What are you doing in the dungeon?"

"I'm looking for Nick. Have you seen my husband?"

"Not this morning." Suddenly shouts from further down the hallway filled the air. Then another voice joined the shouting.

"They're still alive?" asked Octavia.

"Orrell Slipspring and Placid Cadence, the two leaders of the coup are still with us," said the skeletal guard. "Silas Singe died two years ago."

"Thank you, I'll stop by later for a chat but for now I have to go," said Octavia as she rose.

Stan gestured with his head to the two prisoners down the hall. "Thank you for coming here naked, it truly brightens my day." With a nod of his head Octavia knew what he was up to.

"Well, the upper floors are so warm today, I felt the urge to strip off my clothes and come down here and cool off." She hated those bastards and she knew this was torture of the worst kind. She knew that Orrell Slipspring wanted her in the worst way.

"The years have been very kind to your figure, you should be proud of your breasts," said Stan. "They're still as firm as they were ten years ago," which was the truth.

"They're so big, they're really an annoyance, but Nick loves them, he'll play with them all night long," she said as she turned to leave. That was also the truth.

"May I say, your ass is perfection, my lady. It truly makes me sad that I am dead."

"Thank you Stan, that was so sweet to say."