Fledgling Demigod Ch. 08

8

"I'm not from this world," Galen said and Pru'skila stood up and pointed at him.

"I knew it!" she yelled. "You tricked me!"

"Sit down before I whip your ass, little girl," he said.

"I already told you how old I am," she said, indignantly. "In human terms, I'm old enough to be your mother."

"If you'd sit down and shut up," Galen shot back, "You'd learn a thing or two. Like the fact that I'm as old as you are." She looked at him, her face scrunched up in confusion. "Yeah. I've been alive for forty-nine years, cupcake. Now sit down, shut up, and listen."

Not having a response to that bombshell, she obeyed. "How is that possible?" the queen asked, equally confused though for an entirely different reason.

"No clue," Galen replied. I saw a glowing portal in my world, touched it with barely a finger, and woke up on a stone altar a mile into the woods. Beyron Spellthorn died to bring me here. Said something about saving his world. Back on Earth, I was in the later years of my life. I had a gorgeous wife, two grown children, and a couple of grand-babies running around. It was a good life."

"So, what kind of portal did he conjure?" Pru'skila asked, intrigued.

Galen shrugged. "No clue. I don't know anything about magic. Miranda..." he paused and cleared his throat before continuing. "Miranda was going to continue her father's research for me on the grounds that I focus on saving the world until she could make it work without killing anyone."

"What did it look like to you?" the queen asked, equally intrigued.

"Um, round," he said. "With swirling colors of blue and red."

"When you got closer to it, did the swirling increase?" the queen asked.

"Yes," Galen said, his heart hammering in his chest. "It swirled around so fast the whole thing turned purple. How did you know?"

"Our ancestors mentioned the same thing," she said. "It was said we are not from this world either. We have ancient texts in Dragonmount that talk about a portal that only a select few could see. Upon entering the portal, they lost their original draconic form and transformed into something completely new in this world. According to legend, we were never able to morph in our world."

"This is amazing news!" Galen said. "Do these texts say anything about how to duplicate the spell?"

"I'm not sure," The queen replied thoughtfully. "There'd have to be certain components required-" she cut off as Galen abruptly stood and took off running.

They watched him go and a few minutes later he came back with a scroll of parchment. He handed the scroll to the queen and said, "Does that look familiar?"

She opened it and read the contents. "I can't be sure," she said. "I'd have to-"

"Do it," Galen said, interrupting her in his excitement. "Please. Whatever you have to do to figure out the spell I beg you to do it. Devote all your available time."

"Lord Galen," the queen said. "I'm not familiar with this type of magic. It could take years, decades even for me to unlock its secrets."

"I'll take whatever I can get," he said. "Please. I just want to go home."

"We don't have time for that right now anyway," Pru'skila interjected. "The empire is on their way here. They'll be here within a few days at most."

"What!?" Galen and Lucinda cried out together.

"At least a thousand men," the queen said. "Maybe more. About a hundred or so have split off from the main army to head in what seems like this direction, but for the most part, they are headed to Redd."

"Fuck," Galen said. "Get a message to Lillian," he ordered Lucinda. "Have her martial the army but put them on standby."

"Already on it, my lord," Lucinda said as she was walking away. "Wait, why on standby?"

"Because we're going to try to broker a treaty before bloodshed," he replied. "I don't want anyone to die if they don't have to."

"As you will, my lord," Lucinda said and left.

"May I ask why you didn't tell me this from the beginning?" Galen asked.

The women shrugged. "Dragons don't usually interfere in the affairs of humans," the queen replied.

Galen sighed. ["Well, Gertrude?"] he asked his goddess. ["Got any bright ideas?"]

["I should cut your dick off for that one. That one's even more atrocious than the last one,"] she said, curtly.

["Well, if you continue to refuse to tell me your name, I'm just going to have to make one up for you,"] he replied.

["Fine,"] she said. ["Prissy is right. You are a stupid human."] She giggled. ["My name is Rebecca."]

Galen visibly started. "Are you alright, my lord?" the queen asked.

"Uh, yeah, sorry," he said. "Bear with me a moment as I think about what to do."

["Decent cover,"] Rebecca said.

["So, Rebecca, eh?"] he asked.

["Yes, yes. That's my name. Don't wear it out and all that jazz,"] she said snarkily. ["As to if I have any ideas, yes, but they're pretty much in the same line as what you're thinking of doing. Only don't bring the armies out of both castles. Let one of the dragons do your work here while you murder the hell out of a thousand men in Redd."]

["How exactly am I supposed to do that?"] he asked.

["It's not going to be easy,"] she replied. ["I'll need a few days to get up enough power so you don't die, and you'll pass out as soon as it's over. You'll also need a few days to recover afterward, but it's... doable."]

["Great,"] he said sarcastically. ["I get the baby goddess on my side while they have a whole fucking army."]

She smacked him on the back of the head. ["I really can let you die, you know."]

["Yup, and maybe I'll get to go back home if I do,"] he replied with an internal grin.

["You're an idiot,"] she said. ["Outline your plan with them once Lucinda gets back and then take her out somewhere for lunch. She's earned a little pampering while you explain why you left her high and dry last night."]

["Wouldn't I have left her high and wet?"] he asked, grinning.

["You're horrible!"] she replied with a screech. ["It took her most of the night to come down from that."]

["I meant wet as to her being in the tub,"] Galen said, grinning wider.

["Oh. You. I played right into that one,"] she said. ["Got a trickle of power from it, too. Good one."] She slapped him on the butt and he winced.

["How the hell can you do that if I'm sitting down!?"] he asked, wanting to rub his stinging backside.

["Goddess,"] she said playfully.

Lucinda came back into the room then. "Messenger away, my lord," she said.

"Good," he replied. "Here's the plan."

Once he outlined his plan he looked at Pru'skila. "Priscilla, can you change your hair color to something more human-looking?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "We tell you we can transform into any..." He looked at her pointedly and she just sighed and said, "Yes."

"Good, do that on the day we meet their army," he ordered. "Lucinda, can you see to the accommodations of our guests?"

"Certainly, my lord," she replied. "While I'm busy with that, you can look over the candidates for Lord Steward."

"No need," he said. "I think I have the perfect candidate. While you're getting our guests settled in, have a couple of guards go below and collect the thief Beyron. Have him cleaned up and brought before me after lunch."

"My lord?" she asked.

"Call it a hunch," he said.

"As you will, my lord," she said and escorted the two dragons out of the great hall.

Galen turned to walk toward his chambers but the two Drakken were right behind him. "Whoa," he said, almost running into one of them. Ula, he thought it was. "Hey, there," he said and almost reached out to touch the creature on its snout but hesitated. "I'm going to my chambers to roll up into a ball and cry. What are you two going to do?"

As if in answer, they both moved into position to either side of him. He spoke to Rebecca as he walked. ["So, want to tell me why I can't tell anyone about you other than that I have a goddess?"]

["It's a... power thing,"] she said. ["The more people that know about me without serving me the more my power diminishes."]

["So if I told people about you I might not have won the arm wrestle with Priscilla?"] he asked.

["It's possible but unlikely,"] she said. ["You just wouldn't have won it so easily. I doubt you could tell that many people about me that would make you a weakling like everyone else."]

["You underestimate my ability to royally fuck things up, goddess,"] he said.

["Eh, maybe so, but think of it like this. Do you remember that vampire movie from back home? The one where the fledgling vampires were so strong they could easily kill a seasoned vampire with one hand?"] she asked.

He said, ["God that movie sucked. Ellie loved it, though, so I endured it."]

["I know!"] she said. ["Vampires don't sparkle!"] She laughed. ["Anyway, it's kinda like that. I'm a fledgling goddess with an immense amount of power as long as no one knows about me. Until I can get a temple and a priest with a decent amount of followers, I'll only have a certain amount of power to give out."]

["So it's more like a business,"] he said. ["You start out with a certain amount of revenue and as long as you stay stagnant with a few assets here and there the better off you are. But once you start to grow and expand, you take risks by investing capital into other ventures to increase your revenue."]

["I never thought of it like that, but yeah,"] she said. ["As long as you're the only one that knows about me, you're unstoppable. But eventually, you'll have to start telling people about me. Lucinda, for instance."]

He paused outside his door. His new guardians took up positions to either side of his door and sat, ever vigilant, like guardian dragons. ["I wish I could tell her about you if I'm going to marry her,"] he said. ["I don't want to see anyone else I get close to die."]

["I know,"] she said. ["Soon, I promise. Maybe after the battle?"]

["I think I can live with that,"] he said. ["So does that mean the power you'll be able to grant me is half of what it normally would be?"]

["If I were to grant it to both of you at the same time, yes,"] she said. ["But I could still grant full power to you or her, but it would leave the other person vulnerable."]

"Hmm," he said aloud as he walked through the doors to his antechamber. "Any way I can get away for a while?" he asked out loud. "I need to grieve, to process."

She appeared in the form of naked Priscilla in front of him with a mischievous grin. "Maybe after the battle," she said. "What did you have in mind and for how long?"

"I thought about traveling down to Prax," he said. "The port town in the south where Miranda suggested I say I was from, for maybe a week?"

"That might be alright," she said. "Who do you want to take charge of the castle while you're gone?"

"I was thinking of leaving Drusilla in charge with help from Beyron," he explained.

"Speaking of which," Rebecca said. "Why him?"

"I don't know," he said. "I just have this gut feeling about him. He seemed so refined when he wasn't acting crazy. It was almost as if he were a noble at one point in his life."

"Well, I trust your instincts," she said. "Just don't let them get you killed while in Prax."

"You're not coming with me?" he asked.

"I thought you wanted to be alone?" she asked.

"Well, I do," he said. "I just thought that with me being the only person in this world that knows about you, you'd have to stay with me."

"Not if you tell Lucinda about me before you leave," she said and wrapped her arms around him. She kissed him on the cheek and said, "I'll leave you to your grief. I'll check up on you from time to time but you'll never know I was there. If you need me, just call my name and I'll be there before you can spit."

He smiled warmly at her. "Thank you," he said. "Now I just have to figure out how to get down there."

"I think Drusilla might be able to help with that," she said and grinned.

"Somehow I don't think that's the riding she had in mind," he said, matching her grin.

"My love," she said, grinning. "we're going to make an excellent and deadly team."

He smiled. "I'd like to take a nap for an hour or so," he said. "Can I lay down with Ellie?"

Before the words had even left his mouth his supermodel wife stood before him. "Come on, baby," she cooed in the way she always did before bedtime. "Let's get daddy all tucked in."

He smiled as he lay with his head between her breasts. "It's amazing how you can get her likeness down so accurately," he said as he yawned. "You even got the mole she has on the inside of her left breast in the exact same spot." She stroked his hair and hummed softly and within seconds he was out like a light.

~ ~ ~ ~~~ ~~~ ~~~ ~ ~ ~

Galen was woken up by gentle fingers tracing along his cheek. "Baby," Ellie said softly in a sing-song voice. "Time to get up. It's been an hour and Lucinda will be by shortly to ask what you want to do about lunch."

He groaned. Opening his eyes to the vision of Elle's perfect breasts, he groped one, eliciting a giggle from her. Sitting up he said, "Thank you, Rebecca. As much as my heart hurts right now I needed that."

"You're welcome, baby," she said still in the guise of his supermodel wife.

"So, I've been thinking," he said as he stood up and started to get dressed.

"Well, that's dangerous," she said and giggled as she morphed into Lucinda.

"Ha-ha," he said dryly. "So, ever since you told me your name I just feel like it doesn't fit."

"What do you mean?" she asked and pouted. "It's my name."

"I know it's your name and it's a great name," he reassured her. "Beautiful even. If you're a human."

"But," she started to protest then stopped.

"You're a goddess," he said. "How many goddesses do you know of named Rebecca, or Brandy, or Mary?"

"Well, the Virgin Mary might be counted as a goddess of sorts," she countered. "But you're right. I mean, it's not like Rebecca is going to strike fear into the hearts of our enemies."

"Exactly," he said.

"I'll think about it," she said. Then she changed the subject. "So what are you thinking of doing for Lucinda?"

"I thought about taking her for a stroll in the market," he said. "I know it's not exotic or anything but just the two of us going for a walk is good, right?"

"I guess," she said. "I'm sure she's seen the market hundreds of times, though. Too bad you don't have time to take her on a picnic like..." she trailed off when Galen paused while putting a boot on. "Sorry," she said. "I wasn't thinking."

Taking a deep breath, he shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"A walk is fine," she said. "And you can get some fast food from the street vendors."

"Medieval hot dog street carts?" he said, smiling.

She grinned and disappeared with a wink as a soft knock came at the door. "Enter," he said.

Lucinda opened the door and quickly entered, looking behind her to make sure she wasn't going to get eaten. "My lord, I-" she cut herself off when she saw what he was wearing. "Why are you wearing commoner's clothes?"

"Go change into something likewise," he said. "We're going for a walk."

"We... are?" she asked, confused.

"Sure," he said. "If you don't mind talking while we walk, that is."

"I... um... don't mind, my lord," she said. "Though I thought we were getting the mid-day meal."

"We are," he said with a sly wink. "Go on. Get changed," he said as he shooed her backward out the door. A few minutes later she came back in a simple dark green dress. It was cut so that it formed to her body but not so tight as to accentuate her muscles. It came up to just below her neck and tapered down to her waist before flaring around her hips and falling in ripples to just below her ankles. Her hair was pulled back into a single braid down her back, and her full lips glowed with hint of some sort of lipstick. "You look beautiful," he said and smiled.

She blushed slightly and smiled back. "Thank you, my lord. So, where are we going? Keep in mind the thief will be ready to see you in about an hour."

"It shouldn't take that long," he said. "I figured we could just take a stroll through the market and get some food from the vendor stalls."

"There's not many to choose from but I know a couple that have decent meats and cooked potatoes," she offered.

"Excellent," he said and offered his arm to her. She smiled shyly and took it. As they started walking the Drakken moved to follow. "Whoa, there, you two," he said, putting a hand up to stop them. "I'll be fine, I promise. Lucinda has been doing an excellent job of guarding me up to today. You two can just stay here and-" he cut off as the two suddenly disappeared.

Lucinda gasped and took a step back. "I didn't know they could do that," she said.

"Looks like I'm going to have to read up on Cebelius Drakken," he said and turned to lead her down the hall. As they strolled through the castle arm in arm they received numerous knowing smiles and curtsies and bows from the castle staff.

Upon reaching the city proper and approaching the market, Lucinda started to pull him along. "Over here is the smoked meat vendor," she said and Galen laughed.

"Slow down," he said. "We're not in any rush, are we?"

"I suppose not," she said and blushed in embarrassment.

"This is not a regular shopping trip," he said. "We're just window shopping while we talk."

She scrunched her face up in confusion. "Window shopping?" she asked.

"Yeah," he said. "Haven't you ever just come to market with no clear direction in mind? Just walking along and looking at the wares but never buying?"

"No, my lord," she said. "I usually know exactly what I want and I go buy it. I don't wander around aimlessly as if I'm lost."

"Please, Lucinda," he pleaded. "Just call me Galen. And sometimes it's fun to get lost."

She smiled softly but didn't say anything. As they slowly made their way to the meat stall, Galen released her arm and took her hand, entwining her fingers with his. "I wanted to apologize about last night," he said. "It was an incredibly insensitive thing for me to do and I'm very sorry."

She looked down as they walked. Her face had reddened again at the memory. "I admit I was frustrated," she said. "I know why you left so abruptly but I couldn't help but feel slighted as if I was suddenly unimportant."

"I was wrong to ever invite you into the tub with me," he said. "But you are important to me."

"If memory serves," she said. "it was more of an order. But I don't think you were in the wrong for that. I didn't have to get in with you. I knew you were hurting, though, and I didn't want you to think I wasn't here for you. I'll always be here for you for as long as you'll have me."

"So, you forgive me?" he asked.

"Of course," she said. "Though that doesn't mean I'll let myself be compromised like that again."

"I understand," he said. "I won't ever take advantage of your emotions or your station again either if I can help it. From now on I'll be straightforward with my intentions and let you decide what you want to do."

"Thank you my lo-, uh, Galen," she said.

They had reached the stall and gotten a couple of hunks of meat each. As they ate, Lucinda said, "I'm still concerned about you, though, Lord Galen."

"I'm done trying to take a dirt nap," he said with a restrained smile.

"I'm glad to hear it," she replied. "Though, that's not the only thing I'm concerned about. I understand why you want to go home so badly. However, you've already made an impact in this world."

"I know," he replied somberly. "And I recognize that it's selfish of me to want to cut and run. I just... I'm not a hero, you know? I'm not that guy."

She stopped to look at him. "But you can be," she said. Galen looked unsure. "I have seen what you can do, and I'm not talking just about the physical things. You give people hope, Lord Galen, without even seeming to try."