Sarina

[Clr224]

Well done. 

[Drownedinp]

Getting real interesting!

[derj]

Thank you for two great chapters. Can stop reading when I have start reading on of this chapters.

[widowmaker]

Thank you to all of you who have read this story so far and to all of you who have commented.  I just finished this chapter and I hope you enjoy it.

 

SEVEN

Morning came along with a diaper change for myself. The doctors seemed to be making excuses to keep me and even my clothes had been taken from the room. At about 11:15 two men from the ministry of magic came into my room. They were flanked on either side by two very big guys wearing suits. “Can I help you gentlemen?” “Are you Sarina Blake?” “I am. May I ask who you good people are?” One of the big men stepped forward and attempted to put me into handcuffs.

 

Sarina Blake. You are under arrest for non registration of an alpha class magical talent. You are also being charged with 953 counts of domestic terrorism and 159 counts of international terrorism. You are charged with mass murder and attempted interspecies genocide as well. You will be taken to a secure facility for the greater good of of everyone. You are no longer a citizen of any human nation and your name will be stricken from all known records in accordance with the laws of this superior nation.”

 

The other big guy did not take it so well when the one with the handcuffs went flying into the wall. He had grabbed my arm and twisted it painfully behind my back before bending me over the bed and reaching for my diaper. It became perfectly clear at this point what he intended to do to me and there was no way that I was going to allow the bastard to rape me.

 

The second big guy tried to use a spell but found himself unable to move until I stepped forward and punched as hard as I could in the stomach. He bent over and all the air in his lungs was also forced out by the force of the punch, The two men from the ministry were paralyzed and unable to move as I used magic to hold them in place. “I am not going anywhere with you! I am not going to be your sex toy or let you attempt to dissect me so you can figure out how I am able to magic without incantations or gestures!

 

If you go after any of those I care about I will know.” I opened a portal gate to the elven nation and stepped through it. The men from the ministry were unable to move until after the portal had closed. The two big men on the floor took a few moments to get to their feet. Things were not going to go good for them at having allowed me to escape. It was supposed to just be a simple arrest of one attractive college girl so that information could be extracted from her before stripping her of magic and selling her to a pleasure giver house. The men were even told they could share her a few times each before bringing her to be questioned. The boss and his new friends were not going to like this.

 

Upon arriving at the elven nation we found ourselves in a large field surrounded by giant oak trees.. All around were numerous portal opening and closing as elves came and went. “This is one of the gate fields we use. It is not far from here to the where the queen waits for us.” A guard stood at the entrance to the home where the queen lay nearly dead. The guard on the right looked relieved when he saw us.

 

“Finally, we have had to stand guard here for a week there have been four attempts to kill her and the killer has yet to be caught or even seen. They hide and do their dirty work from the shadows. Slow poisons, venomous insects, and twice a dart has been shot at her when she came out to try to talk to us.”

 

Movement caught my eye as I reached for the door handle. I yanked Larissa back at the last moment as a dart hit where I had reaching for. The guard were about to race off to attempt to catch the assassin. “Stop! You are being misled! Take off and the queen has no one watching her! This would make it easier for our killer to sneak in and finish her! You do honor to your desire to catch t his coward but the queen must have you here to make it impossible for the filth to enter undetected!”

 

Larissa got paranoid real fast and just in time as a venomous snake attempted to bite he and poisonous spider dropped from the trees to go after Jorand. Both failed and Larissa's shield held. “someone wants us all dead it seems. A moment later each guard had a minor shield spell protecting them as well. Three more darts aimed at the guards failed to find their mark and fell harmlessly to the ground. Stand you guard honorable ones and let no evil pass if you can stop it.”

 

We walked into the queen's home and found a man slouched over the the only chair in her sleeping chamber. A large knife in his back told the story of his fate. He was long beyond help. “May you find your well earned rest in the eternal glades honorable healer.” The queen lay cold and still in her bed with an ugly knife sticking out of her chest.” It was not anything I could put my finger on exactly, but it all seemed wrong somehow. “It's an illusion! This is all a lie to conceal the truth!” We heard laughter ass the illusion faded to reveal the queen laying in her bed with a healer by her side.

 

“I never could fool my daughter for long with my illusions! There have been a number of attempts on me since the attack at the peace conference. Twice some small animal has come in and looked around then left. They think they managed to kill Torad while he sat in the chair but a few stuffed bags wrapped by illusions can work wonders to throw off those seeking to kill me.”

 

“I do not know how much longer I can fight off crossing to the other side and that is why you four have been summoned here. I want to see my first grandchild while there is yet time.” Larissa smiled and crouched low with the baby in her arms. “My queen, I present our child, Salamar.” “A most precious gift far more valuable than any material possession! In a few months time Sarina too will have a child by Jorand! Their bond is true and they care deeply for one another!”

 

I never knew why my son would not seek out someone from our people but after seeing the two of you again together, happy, and anxiously awaiting your first born, it makes sense that the second half of his soul was calling to him. I admit it was a surprise when you two met and immediately bonded on sight. The looks on your faces when you embraced one another was something no one can dispute!” “It surprised me to see him in person as I had been dreaming of him for years. The feeling when I saw him was irresistible! I had to have him!” Jorand smiled and held me gently. “I was having a hard time not taking and making love to her on the spot. It took a great deal of willpower to let her get us somewhere private to complete the bonding.”

 

The queen laughed a little. “Of all the maidens who desired to be with you it was this lovely one who was the perfect one for you. In that corner is a box full of scrolls. Those are my last instructions. Fighting off that dark thing at the conference cost me greatly. A darkness is working hard to start a war. It must no happen! A war now would kill all races and no one would come out the victor in such a war!

 

Sarina, when your time comes to bring your little one into the world, it is my wish that you do so in the sacred grove. Larissa, you do not want the throne and neither does your brother. That alone will make you good rulers. You do not seek great power or wealth. Great rulers do not seek greatness. It is thrust upon them and they do that which must be done for the good of all. Think on those words, my children. Harenda, when you asked to leave my royal guard to pursue a bond dream I thought it a foolish idea but you have proven me very wrong and have helped to make me very proud of you once more.

 

I fear my time is almost up and soon I must cross over to the eternal glades to be with our great ancestors. Do not let the darkness stop all of you from doing what is right. My beloved Alandra, hold me one last time. The healer held the queen gently and it was clear to our eyes that had been bonded to her for a great long time. Minutes later her face went blank and her eyes lost their glow as tears worked their way down the healer's face. “She has crossed over now. Larissa, Jorand, you are the rulers now. Take the box and read the scrolls where all can hear her last wishes.”

 

We took the box out of the home and delivered the sad news to the guard. “She has crossed over now. Her last words to all are on the scrolls in this box.” A dark figure detached itself silently from the shadows and attempted to stab Larissa in the back only to find that her personal shield still held and prevented the attack. This time the attacker could not use tricks of distraction to make their escape in order to attack another time.

 

Harenda tackled the killer to the ground and tore the poisoned dagger from their hand. With a bit of work the attacker was made to stand and face us. The cloak of shadows was removed and standing in front of us was a female elf with an expressionless face and eyes opened wide but covered over with a dark film. “Don't kill her! She's being used as a puppet by someone else!” Larissa and I searched her clothes and finally found a small and ugly looking disk of metal attached to the back of her head.

 

“Lay her down and hod her while I carefully remove this thing that is being used to control her!” It took almost three hours to remove the last of the dark and slowly spreading influence of the disk from her body. Once the last of it was removed she blinked in surprise and passed out. “She was being used as a puppet by whoever managed to plant this nasty thing onto her.” Using a stick I picked up the metal disk that was perhaps two inches in diameter and maybe only as thick as a fingernail.

 

Larissa and Jorand ordered everyone back as Harenda helped me to carry the unconscious elf girl to the healers. Jorand Carried the metal disk on a long stick and refused to touch it. The trip to the healers was not long but it seemed to take forever. We reached the healers and set her down then I wandered off to go change myself while everyone else was distracted.

 

Halfway through changing myself an elven lady walked into the woods to find me. She was a bit surprised to see me putting a diaper on. “Why is it that you wear a diaper?” “I have no control of when my body empties waste. My spine was damaged and improperly healed when I was young child. The diapers are needed by me and I have no choice in this unless I wish to make everywhere I go a mess. I do hope one day to find a way to repair the damage done to me.”

 

“That is sad. Why did not the healers heal you completely?” I finished securing the clean one and pulled my jeans back up carefully then used magic to vaporize the used one. “The situation at the time was far different than today. The healers were only motivated by greed and arrogance then. They were paid to only hela me as much as they were required and then went beyond that and tried to make sure I could never conceive and have children because I could not do magic the way they did and was from a family that did not have a great amount of money.”

 

“What of the one brought into here to be healed? Can she be helped?” If the healers will permit it then I would be honored to be allowed to try to help her. No one should be used by another the way someone used her. Removing the item used to control her was difficult and the darkness it created fought back in attempt to destroy her as I fought to remove it and not kill her in the process. It was difficult but I am stubborn and refused to give up.”

 

I rejoined the group as the healers were working hard to heal her body. “We can heal the body , but her soul has fled to escape the pain. The power to call her back is beyond us. All we can do is wait and hope she returns on her own.” I sat down next to her and looked at her. She is so young and very pretty. No one so young should have their life ended in such a vile manner. I can feel her calling out to me. She yet lives and that is enough reason for me to try if I may.” “She is beyond our reach, but your magic is different and perhaps you can do what we are unable to do. Please try.”

 

I settled down and went to work. Using every single bit of magic I hunted out every last trace of the darkness in her mind and removed it carefully. The darkness had been attempting to reach her last hiding place and kill her when I finally found it and forced it back and finally out of her. I opened my eyes to find everyone staring at me. Jorand had his arms around me as if to shield me from harm. On the ground the girl began to wake up.

 

“You were glowing. Every silverwood tree in the area sent roots out to you as well. In the history of our race this has never before happened! Your markings, how did you receive them?” “I helped in a very minor way to heal a silverwood tree that someone tried to burn down with a thing they called a dark elemental. The tree held me when I passed out and would not let go of me until the paramedics arrived.”

 

the lady I had talked with a few minutes ago looked at me and smiled as everyone stared at her and at me. “You saved the tree and in turn have received it's eternal blessings. You have thoughtlessly given of yourself numerous times in order to save lives that would otherwise have been lost. You work hard to prevent a war and to help people understand one another. You are truly blessed and I mark you as one of my own, dear child. You have seen so much darkness and you stand against as a beacon of light. You are hence named Sarina Pure Heart Silver Tongue and will be forever welcomed in these lands.” The lady faded away and it left me staring in shock.

 

“Who was that beautiful lady?” It took Larissa a moment to answer. “She is Selune! The Great Mother who gave birth to the first of us! You have just been blessed by a goddess!” The new spread faster than wildfire it seems and before we had even left the healers Grove. The girl I had helped to heal and revive was exhausted and terrified of being used as a puppet again. I don't blame her. I would be just as terrified in her situation. This place was insane! First someone attempts to kill the queen using another as their puppet to do their dirty work, now a goddess shows up in person and blesses me!

 

“Is there someplace Jorand and I can get some rest? This little one and using so much magic is wearing me out a bit. It does not have tp be a mansion or anything like that. Just someplace quiet that we can get some rest in.” Larissa smiled at me. I think I know of just the place. There is a small house in one of the groves and it will be perfect for you and my brother!

 

Her and Harenda smiled and led us to grove ringed with silverwood trees. In the center of this grove was a massive silverwood tree that had been carefully shaped just right for a pair of individuals to use as a home. A small stream flowing not far off fed a pool near the tree before flowing on to vanish into the forest beyond. “It's lovely! What is this place?” Jorand looked at his sister. “Are you sure about this?”

 

“I'm sure. She's been made welcome by the Great Mother and I can think of no better place.” “Thank you for this. I hope we prove worthy of this honor.” She laughed as I yawned. “You are starting to sound like your better half now! Go get some well deserved rest and when you wake up you can come find us and we can figure out things from there. The queen's final words will be read tomorrow when all have had time to get into places where they can hear her final words read aloud.”

 

Her a Horenda walked off to let us get some sleep. I felt positively exhausted. “What is t his place exactly?” He smiled and held me gently as we walked. “This is the sacred grove. The last one to live in this holy place was your predecessor, the last Dragon Mage. You can learn more about him later. For now, we both need sleep.” I stopped at the entrance to the house and was about to ask the tree for permission to sleep inside when the door opened for us.

 

“Thank you for this great honor!” Inside was bigger than I had expected. It was huge! We found the sleeping chamber and within minutes we were both sound asleep. It had been a long and crazy day so far. I had dreams of reading ancient scrolls and translating them as Jorand wrote down the translations. After that it was dreams of sending copies to all the great libraries so that all the people could share in the wisdom on the scrolls.

 

We woke up the next day and stretched. An all too familiar problem made itself known and to make matters even more fun, I was out of diapers. My main supply was back at the school. We had not anticipated being here this long. It was just supposed to be a quick visit for an afternoon then a return to deal with the idiots trying to make a mess of everything.

 

Jorand laughed and handed me a clean diaper. Setting next to the bed was a bag of diapers in my size. “I do believe that someone is making sure we have what we need. Whoever left these for me, thank you ever so much!” I changed and then did my usual trick of vaporizing the used diaper. I did not wish to leave a pile of them laying around and stinking up the forest. I found my clothes had been replaced in the night by very colorful leather clothes that were so soft they almost felt like cloth.

 

“These are lovely! They are perfect for living and working in this lovely realm!” We found Larissa talking with a group of individuals and from the looks on their faces it was a serious discussion. Larissa noticed us and smiled. “Those new leathers are perfect for you! Darla made them for you as her way of thanking you for saving her!” “How is she? Is she going to be alright?” “Relax, she's fine. She's with her life mate right now. They have been apart for nearly a month and they are renewing their bond.”

 

She defied my mother and went outside the realm to find who she was dreaming of and found her. I was just talking with the council here about opening our borders once more but in a more cautious and controlled manner. This would allow a large number of visitors to come and see how we live and work. We can exchange ideas and information. We have been trying to make sure we have everything dangerous carefully restricted from visitors as well as some of our sacred locations. We want to avoid anyone getting hurt as well as having certain areas sacred to us made a mess of by curious individuals.

 

Our biggest problem is making sure that anyone intending to cause problems is not allowed to enter. No weapons are allowed in. The biggest trick is stopping the problem causing individuals from entering.” “Set up a guard and a small truth spell on an object that all wishing to enter must touch before they can enter. A guard can turn back those who wish to cause problems. We can have the guard rotate every two hours so they do not get bored and almost fall asleep.

 

The members of the council looked at each other then smiled. “That's an excellent way to do this! I see you curious about our role here. We are called a council but we mainly act as a way to pass information along to everyone in the nation so that information can be passed along quickly to everyone. We have no authority to make laws or anything like that. We merely help the queen get information to the people. Each of us sends information to a different part of the realm and it takes the nine of to cover the realm completely.”

 

“What about letting the people have a chance to share their ideas and thoughts on important decisions with the queen and with Jorand? Is there a way to do that? Larissa smiled brightly. “By the Great Mother! That is a wonderful idea! This will let me know how the people feel about important decisions and will enable them to give their input on on how some things can be done better or maybe just tweaked a little for the benefit of everyone!”

 

The council members smiled and launched into a technical discussion of how to accomplish the latest idea. They never noticed as we walked quietly off to let them figure out things. I wanted to find their idea of a library before the reading of the queen's last words. Jorand knew exactly what I was curious about and led me to their idea of a library. Thousands of ancient scrolls were stored in nooks in the cave walls. The entire place was kept at a certain temperature, humidity, and light level to help preserve the ancient scrolls.

 

Jorand smiled at me. I always wanted to come in here and start reading these but mother was afraid of me making a mess or ruining a scroll they could not replace. Most of these old scrolls are no longer able to be read as we do not know how to read them. Over time our language has changed and many of the scrolls were never kept up to date.” “I can read them but I can't exactly make translated copies. If I read them to you can you use a spell or something to write down what I'm reading out loud if I translate it as I speak?”

 

After a bit of work we found a solution and I began reading each scroll out loud in the current elven language. As I translated the scroll and read it aloud Jorand had a magical spell copy what I was saying onto fresh paper so that the ancient scroll would now be translated and written down in a language they could all read.” A lot of the scrolls were about various different ways of using herbs to heal and different uses for each herb. There were thousands of recipes for different healing potions and poultices and even a few salves as well.”

 

We took a break at about three hours into translating so I could change again. Larissa found us an hour later and let us know that she was about to read out the final words of her mother. “Your mother was a wonderful person and the world is a bit darker for her passing.” I hugged her and let her cry a few minutes. We all walked back to the location where the council of far speakers was waiting patiently for us.

 

Larissa and Jorand stood side by side as she picked up and broke the seal on the first scroll. “These are the last words of my mother the queen.” It took her almost an hour to get through all but the very last scroll which was marked as confidential and for Larissa, Jorand, Harenda, and myself to read. In her final words she asked once more that I have my baby in the sacred grove when the time came. Larissa and Jorand were to rule as equals and any disagreements they had were to be talked out and carefully considered before making a decision. Harenda was asked to help the healers as he had a way of working with plants that few others did.

 

In the last paragraphs she detailed what she had suspected was going on and causing so much chaos in the world. “Every nation has been infiltrated by dark forces bent on the destruction of the races. A few dark whispers of something called Varda have been heard but she had not been able to find enough time to try to find out who or what Varda was. There was someone in the heart of the realm acting on behalf of the dark forces and they sought to kill her and her offspring so as to start fighting and allow a rot to set in that would destroy the people of this realm. She had a few suspicions but no proof and asked that we be on our guard against this darkness.

 

Her final wish was for the four of us to be joined as is tradition and show the people that there was good to come about even in the dark times that had everyone worried. With the last words of the queen completed, Jorand wiped away tears and came to me for comfort as Larissa went Harenda. For us, our Life mates were our strength to fight the darkness that wanted to overwhelm us all.

 

The healers had managed to destroy the disk that had been used to control Darla and almost kill her. It was a pleasant surprise when I saw her and another female elf holding her as she cried. Her life mate was also female and it surprised me to see that same gender relationships were not shunned here as they are in the outside world. The pain of her sadness drew me to her like a moth to a flame. “You are not alone dear woman. You have your life mate and she has you. Together you are strong and can face this darkness with strength. Your love of each other is your strength. When you have doubts about yourself look to your life mate and you will find a love that that is unconditional. That love will make you strong enough to push the darkness away and keep it away for all time!”

 

The two of them hugged me and seemed to feel better after this. “You have a child in you! Who is your lucky Life mate?” “I have the greatest life mate I could ever want in jorand! He completes me and is my strength to stand and fight back against the darkness!” He lets me continue to study to be a healer and when others have done their best to stop me, he has done his best to help me continue working to that goal!”

 

“Jorand? As in the king Jorand?” “The same. We met in the outside and bonded when our eyes met. We have been together as life mates since then and shall be unto our final crossing to the eternal glades!” “He has found a life mate at last and that too is great news! We all of us feared that he would never find the one he saw in his dreams. Far too many of us are never able to find our life mates and a great many of us have chosen to leave forever to search for the ones they seek.”

 

“Larissa is planning on opening the borders once more so that all may more easily find those they seek. This will allow us to talk with others and share information as well as ideas. We can work towards bringing peace to the world by working together and sharing ideas! We can develop new medicines and discover lost information that will benefit all the realms of the world! This is the goal we feel will help us all to help one another and thus defeat whatever this darkness is that works to destroy us all!”

 

The two of them smiled as they listened to me speaking about the dreams we shared. “Listening to you it is easy to understand why the Great Mother has chosen to bless you herself! Perhaps the knowledge you look for can be found in the ancient scrolls. We have both longed to read some of them and to help translate them so that they are no longer lost to the ages.”

 

As we talked and walked the two of them listened to what we had planned but asked us how we had managed to get around the scroll keeper who refused to let a single person read any of the scrolls or books in the library. Why would he do that? Why stop people from looking for answers to questions?” “We don't know. He does not permit any to use the scrolls or books though. He gives no reason and turns away all who ask questions. He refuses to answer us as to why he forbids reading the scrolls and books.”

 

We arrived at the cave the ancient scrolls were in and found the scroll keeper looking angry. He had a torch in hand and all the scrolls were in a pile on the ground. He dropped the torch but it never reached the the scrolls he had intended to burn. The scrolls had been doused in a oil to make them burn faster and make it next to impossible to save once they were lit. The torch flew out and onto the ground where it was extinguished quickly.

 

The man turned with a snarl and attempted to call lightning to strike Jorand down and kill him. The bolt of lightning struck a shield of pure magical energy and was absorbed into the weave where it would cause no harm to anyone or anything. Twice more he tried to kill us but quickly used up his reserve of magic and found no new magic to draw upon to replace what he had used. In desperation he he called out in a language that even I did not recognize and threw a metal disk to the ground. From the disk emerged a dark and angry thing that sought to kill all it saw.

 

“There has been enough death! You are not welcomed here!” The two girls used spells to pull the scroll keeper out of the cave and then bind him while Jorand worked to create a barrier between the scrolls and the dark elemental. Denied it's intended target it lashed out at us with all it's might. It took me a while to defeat the thing on my own but with help from the others the scrolls were saved and the scroll keeper was alive and able to answer for his actions.”

 

The side effect of fighting the creature was now sloshing around in the seat of my diaper. The cleanup took a bit of time and the smell was horrible. Once cleaned up and changed the mess was taken care of in my usual manner. “My apologies for the smell. I have no control in when my body chooses to void itself and it seems to love to do so at the most inconvenient times.”

 

All of us delivered the struggling and cursing Scroll keeper to Larissa and let her know what had happened. The man attempted to lie and claim we had attacked him for no reason. “I have not known my friend or brother to ever do that. A simple truth spell in front of witnesses shall give us the answers we seek. Harenda called for the healers and th4e far speakers and anyone else in the area to bear witness. Within minutes nearly a hundred people with numerous different talents and ways of doing things were ready to hear what the man had to say.

 

Under truth spell the man struggled to not speak but in the end was compelled to say what he had done and why. It turns out that this man had been working hard for decades to bring the realm into chaos and ruin. Numerous people had been made into his puppets and when they had served their purpose he destroyed them. He had performed numerous vile acts of blood magic requiring the sacrifice of infants and innocent children. All of this was concealed under the guise of various ailments and accidents. “You are no elf! You work to destroy the very people you were supposed to help! You have committed horrible and vile atrocities in your insane quest for power that is forbidden in all realms by all people!

 

Your crimes shall be revealed to the realm and all the people shall consider what your punishment is to be. You will be held until such time as you punishment is determined.” The man spat at Larissa and cursed her as he was carried off to be held until his punishment was decided. “Varda will destroy you all!”

 

Agian the word, Varda. The two girls who had helped to save the great library and ancient archive asked for permission to help repair the damages to the ancient scroll and the library. “We have always loved the idea of helping others find information and it would be unforgivable to let the knowledge be destroyed by one greedy thing!” Larissa and Jorand looked at them and then whispered to each to other for a few moments. “Would you two like to become the new scroll keepers? You both have love of helping others find information and a love of knowledge.” “We would be honored!” “Then so it is decreed that you are both keepers of the scrolls and the knowledge found in them.”

 

three days later the thing that had been a scroll keeper and was declared as no longer an elf was taken to an opening in the woods. “The people have spoken and you are not to be executed. They feel enough blood has already been shed and It is my thinking that they are right! You will be set loose into the maze and in there you will be judged by the great Mother! If you are deemed as worthy of a second chance you will be able to exit the maze and start your life over again.”

 

The man turned and leaped at Larissa with a look of madness in his eyes. Larissa grabbed the man and spun exactly as I had taught her months ago. She used hi own momentum against him and threw him into the ground. A half second later she had a knee in his back and his left arm twisted firmly behind his back as well. “I am not an easy victim incapable of defending myself! May the Great Mother have mercy on you!” She shoved him froward through the opening where he vanished from sight.

 

“This is the maze as we call it. It is an endless maze of passages through the woods where you are held accountable for every action, thought and desire you have done and have. If the Great Mother finds him worthy of a new life he will be allowed to find his way out. If not, we shall never see him again.” I walked through here yesterday and it led me to some very lovely glades where I found several silver wood trees! I enjoyed being able to talk with them for a while and to tell them of my dreams of becoming a doctor. They all seemed to like the idea and encouraged me to keep working towards that goal! What will he find in there?” “I do not know. Only the Great Mother knows what he wil find in there.

 

You walked in there seeking some peace and quiet so you could think on how to achieve your goals of being a healer I bet.” “You know me too well. The trees were a great help and eased a lot of my fears about being worthy to be a doctor. The ancient scrolls contain a lot of information on medicine and ancient herb lore as well. The trees suggested I look at the old scrolls for information as well. I may have been forced to quit medical school, but I wont let it stop me from learning how to help others.

 

All my life I have loved the idea of being a doctor or maybe being able to talk with people to help them find solutions to problems without having to get violent. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good fist fight, but it is not my guiding ambition. There has to be a better way than just knocking heads together in order to get them to start thinking. Those are some of the things I was thinking about as I walked in there and found the grove and the trees.”

 

she laughed again. “Only you would walk into the maze and find not only peace but a way to continue to help others! This is why the Great Mother blessed you. You entered the maze and it judged you and rewarded you with insight that allows you to continue to work towards your goals of helping everyone you can! Even the silverwood trees themselves love talking with you and rarely do they speak with anyone! Every time you see someone hurting you do what you can to help them! You are going to make a great mother and a great healer!

 

One of mothers last requests was for us to be joined and I think it is a good idea. We can use this as a way to help everyone forget the sadness of sending a former elf to be judged for his actions. In three days the gates will open and I think that we should have the ceremony then. Everyone will be welcome to attend and witness what the four of us already know! We already know we all belong together!”

 

to make sure everyone knew about the ceremony we asked the far speakers to send the word to all corners of the realm. Every country was invited to send their rulers to witness the event and meet the new rulers of the elven nation. We could also use this as a way to talk to these rulers and hopefully resolve some issues.”

 

The gates opened and everyone that was allowed entry loved the realm and enjoyed exchanging ideas and information with us as well. On my way to the joining ceremony I spotted two human girls helping an elder elf woman to regain her feet after she had tripped and fallen. “Your poor knees! They did their best to help ease her pain and stop the bleeding from her knees as I walked up to them unnoticed until I was right up on them.

 

“”Those knees of yours are still hurting! Why have you not asked for them to be healed?” “I'm merely a common person and that is reserved for those who are not of common birth.” “Whoever lied and told you that is not an elf and I for one will never turn away a person because of social status, money, or talent, or even lack of a talent!” Let me heal those poor knees of yours so that you no longer feel pain when you walk or stand.” It took a few minutes to heal everything that was wrong with her as she had been hurt numerous times over the decades and never healed.

 

Seeing her stand on her own and be able to see again was was well worth being a few minutes late. The elder looked at me and gasped then tried to kneel before me. “Do not kneel to me dear sweet elder! I help where I am able and you needed the help. My reward is seeing you healthy and happy once more.” “But you are Sarina Pure Heart Silver Tongue! Blessed by the Great Lady herself in front of witnesses!” “So I have been told that a few times, but I prefer just to be called Sarina. I help because I like helping! The joining is in a few minutes so come, enjoy the ceremony, and meet many more from the outside world as well! Bring your honored friends as well!

 

I showed up a few minutes late and Larissa smiled at me. “Nervous?” “I stopped to help someone real quick. I did what little I could for her and then came over here.” Larissa chuckled. “you refuse to stop helping everyone don't you.” “Why should I stop helping? I like seeing people get the help they need! But in your case, I can't fix crazy!” Larissa laughed and threatened to throw me in a cold lake as revenge for teasing her.

 

Two hours later the joining ceremony was complete. Several people congratulated us and we all began to work the crowd of people. I talked with everyone and was able to talk to several diplomats from the outside world as well. The dwarf king was talking to someone when I began working my way towards him. The two of them shook hands and parted company. “Ready for something that will put hair on your chest? He turned and laughed when I handed him a jar of whiskey that I'd asked to be brought in for him. “I have an uncle makes moonshine the old way. He wont tell me his recipe, but I know it's strong and damned good tasting.”

 

He took a niff then drank a sip. He was not expecting it to be very strong and coughed a moment. He looked at the jar, smiled, and then drank almost half of it before putting the lid on it and saving the rest for later. “By my father's beard! This has a kick to it and a fire that that warms you up from the inside! I like it!” My uncle is looking to export in large batches if you know of anyone looking for something like this. This is a sample. I have 50 more gallons already being sent to your home as a miners gift. I heard you guys found some excellent new seams with high quality material. That type of good news requires a celebration and we both know a good celebration needs a good drink to go with it!”

 

“You sure you aint part dwarf?” We both laughed and talked for a while about trades and in under three hours we had a solid trade agreement in place and he promised to buy another thousand gallons of my uncle's whiskey. That would help my uncle as his small distillery was having a hard time making money. This large of an order would help him out big time. The other agreements on trade would benefit his people and the elven nation as well.

 

Larissa met up with me and laughed. “Did you just bribe him with moonshine?” “I did. My uncle makes a real good moonshine in his distillery back home and I gave him a sample as well as a large amount in celebration of them hitting a rich deposit of gold and another big deposit of silver. I also got a trade agreement worked out that benefits your realm and his.” I handed her the scroll and she laughed as she read it. “My mother never could get him to make any trade agreements with us!” “He likes a good strong whiskey. My uncle is going to be getting an order for a very large amount to be exported legally to the dwarven kingdom.

 

The increased revenue will help my uncle and the county he is in can make use of the additional revenue taxes as well. It works out for everyone so far. The president is surrounded by guards who refuse to let me talk to him though. I only invited him out of politeness. He is stubborn and does not care much for other races. He listens too much to the lies that he is told. Maybe I should kidnap him and hook him up with a couple of the fertility maidens!” Larissa and Harenda laughed about that idea. Jorand shook his head in defeat.

 

By the time the three day celebration was over a number of trade agreements with various nations had been reached and everyone would benefit from the trade. It was a gathering that I considered a good success. A number of doctors from various nations were coming here to share information with our healers as well. To me that was the greatest success.

 

At the end of three days I was dead tired and needed rest. The baby was very active now and my nausea was not helping. After five days of barely holding anything down Jorand called for the healers to look me over. The healer that helped to keep the queen alive marched me straight to the pool in the center of the glade. “You need to rest and heal yourself for a change!” “I have been resting and taking it easy though!”

 

“You are a terrible liar! I have heard of what you have been doing lately! You have done so much to help others but now it is time to help yourself! This sacred pool has healing properties. You will relax in it for the rest of this day or I will sedate you and I know the trees would help me! I talk with them, and they are worried about you as well! You are pregnant and pushing yourself so hard to help so many, but you must rest and let your own body heal slowly for a change! For once, let someone help you!” I relaxed in the warm pool and fell asleep, which I am sure pleased the healer.

 

I wish I could say we all lived happily ever after but dangerous times were just around the corner and still no one knew a thing as to who or what Varda was. Someone was still out there manipulating others to try to start a war. Outside the elven nation the attacks grew worse and more frequent. Peace began once more to break down.

END SEVEN

That's it for this chapter good folks.  I will post the next chapter when I have it done.  Santa Clause, President Trump, and Meatloaf will NOT be in the next chapter.  lol.  Thank you for reading this chapter.  All comments and questions welcomed.  I had thought about having the birth of Sarina's little one in this chapter but decided to wait until the next chapter instead.  As for who or what the Varda are remains a mystery so far.  Are Varda a race or an item or a place?  Eventually that will be revealed.  I have dropped a few hints and we will see what happens.  All comments and questions are welcomed.

[junyour]

May I offer an idea as to who or rather what Varda is. I feel Varda is a dark elemental in charge of (.as in chief) other dark elementals. It is my belief that Varda has been awakened by the black chamber for the purpose of fermenting war between the races.  The Dragon Mage is the only being capable of dealing with Varda alone and only if others are dealing with the subordinate elementals. 

These are just the imaginings of an old man  fan enjoying your fantastic tale and trying to understand more of what is happening.

Please bring more as your health and muse allow.

 

 

[widowmaker]

The dark elemental are not Varda but are closely connected.  Dark elemental come from a shadow dimension and are composed of a dark black fire that causes heat and cold damage as well as life drain.  The black chamber will be more involved in the next chapter and we will find out who is who is not a puppet of whatever or whoever is behind the chaos attempting to start a war.  The Dark elementals are low intelligence creatures that enjoy causing pain and creating chaos.  The Dragon Mage can banish one back to where it came from but it is not easy.  The real trick is to find out who has been summoning these things to this plane of existence.  there is a reason that all this chaos is happening but again, I wont spoil the story by telling the reason just yet.  There will be other races involved in the next chapter.  As for what happens, I'll have that written in a few days, a week at the most.  Good guess on who or what varda is.  Varda are not the dark elementals.  I already have my notes as to who or what is varda and why someone or something wants a war involving all the races.  All will be revelaed by the end of the story.

[widowmaker]

Here is the next chapter.  I hope you folks like it.  In this chapter we find out what the varda are.  I took a little time to do a few minor rewrites and had to let my bad hand rest a day as well.  Arthritis sucks!  lol.  At any rate, here is the next chapter to this story.

 

EIGHT

The gates were a great success at first until everyone coming out of them was arrested immediately the president seemed convinced that the elves were training people to take down the government and allow the elven military to move in and take over. The elven military does not exist. It has not existed since the last war of the races. The minute the peace treaties were signed the elves gladly put their weapons down and returned home.

 

Every time a peace conference was held the elven ambassador was taken and imprisoned before the ambassador could even reach the conference. The president refused to attend any of the peace conferences and arrested anyone from the elven nation or from the dwarven kingdom. The dragons were mad as hell at the humans for something but we did not know what as someone was preventing the far speakers from being able to contact the dragon council. Communication with the outside world was cut off and that worried me.

 

Larissa refused to let me go find out what the hell was going on as I was close to my due date. My family was outside and there was no way to find out how they were unless I went out there myself. “Larissa, I need information! Please let go just outside the gate! I will stand right next to it so if they try anything I can vanish back into here in an instant!”

 

Larissa sighed. “You and I both know that if you, me or your life mate step outside that gate that snipers would open fire on us instantly in an effort to kill us. I agree that we need information and that's why I have everyone pouring through the scrolls looking for another way to get out without being seen and killed! Even if we find a way, you are carrying your child dangerously low! You are ready to give birth any day now! I wont risk losing my best friend and her baby! I hate this situation as well and if we can find a way to get another gate open somewhere that they don't know about then we can send a few people out there in disguise!”

 

I called out and wanted to slug something in frustration. “My parents are out there! I don't know if they are dead or alive!” We were interrupted by Darla coming to us with a scroll in hand. “Your Grace, I believe there is a way out that they do not have under surveillance as it has only been used a few times.” “The peace garden! We forgot all about that old gate!” Darla smiled at me. Thank Alexin for this information. She found it in an old pile of scrolls laying forgotten in a wooden crate.”

 

I hugged her and then looked at the scroll. “If we create just small gate about two inches in diameter I can use a minor spell to detect the presence of anyone else nearby. The magic weave in the garden is really high so it would easily disguise the existence of an open portal gate! If it's clear I can step just barely outside the gate and use magic to find out what is happening. I will not need to go further than about three inches from the gate!”

 

Larissa thought a moment before replying. “If it was my family out there I would be just as worried and willing to take risks. I'm going to send you out there, but the royal guard are going out in front of you as a precaution! At the first sign of trouble you get back through that gate with everyone and close it! No getting even, just get back here safe! Jorand, you make sure she does not try to heal everyone within a thousand miles! She has a good heart, but it could easily be used to capture her or force her to kill.”

 

Four days later we opened the gate. No one was around as we went through it and came out right next to the silverwood tree. It had grown quite a bit since I had last seen it. It had branches extended over the door that opened to the outside of the garden. A look around confirmed that someone had tried to force their way in here and had weakened the protective runes. I smiled and gently reinforced every rune of protection until they were back up to full strength again.

 

It made me almost soak my diaper when the tree lowered a branch to touch me gently. In my mind I heard it call me friend. “I'm back for a few minutes my friend. Let me update you on everything happening in the elven nation.” I opened my mind and let the memories be seen by the sentient tree. “Sadness, pain, darkness, deceptions, anger, greed.” “Unfortunately it has been a rough few months. Thank you for your gift! Within days a new life shall be brought into the realm!”

 

I contacted my parents and was mad as hell to find them in bad shape and in a jail somewhere. When the ministry and the Black Chamber could not take me they decided to wait me out and finally got tired of waiting this morning. The took both of my parents and threw them into jail for treason. The same two who had been made to look like idiots by me earlier had taken great delight in beating my parents half to death.

 

“I'm coming to get you!” A moment later I walked through a gate I had made and stood in front of both of my parents. The six guards watching over them never stood a chance. They were paralyzed the instant I arrived and could not even sound an alarm. Healing could wait. I picked up both mom and dad with my magic as they could not walk with broken legs and ankles. I sent them through the portal then stayed to talk to the guards a few seconds. “The elven nation is not gearing up for war. Your president is being lied to. Tell the two who beat my parents that I will be back and when I return they better pray I do not find them!”

 

I turned and walked through the portal and let the guards go the moment I was at the edge of the portal. The portal closed a half second later behind me. The royal guard was not happy about how my parents had been treated. We went back through the gate portal and closed it carefully behind us so as to leave no trace we had even been there.

 

Once back in the elven nation I let the healers begin work on healing my parents while I changed my soaked diaper. The silverwood tree had given me a lot of information and it spooked me a bit to see how close to being right I was. Larissa listened as I told her what the tree had shown me. “I'm sorry to say that it was as bad as you thought it would be, perhaps a little worse. I'm recalling the guards at the gates and then once they are back I am closing them for now.

 

How bad are your parents hurt?” “Mostly broken bones and bruises from being beaten while handcuffed and unable to fight back. I do not want to hurt anyone, but for the two who did this to my parents I will happily send them into the maze!” Jorand held me gently and this helped me to calm down. “The maze sounds like a perfect idea if we ever get our hands on them. Let them be judged by the Great Mother.”

 

the healers came to me as Jorand was helping me back to the sacred grove and to the silverwood tree that had wanted us to live with it and keep it company. “I'm going straight to bed as son as I get there! The little one is kicking extra hard today. She is eager to come out and greet the world. The healer smiled as Jorand picked me up and carried me. I was too tired to argue and had too much to think about.

 

The healer no sooner got me naked and into the healing pool than the heaviest contractions yet hit me. “Jorand, It's time!” Larissa and Harenda came running when they heard the news. The healing waters helped ease the birthing pains and with further help from two healers Karissa came out to greet the world three hours later. The healers and Jorand helped me to bed with our new daughter. My parents came walking in quietly the next day as I slept. In the corner was a rocking chair made of silver wood. A young elf woman sat in the chair holding Karissa and rocking her gently.

 

“Sarina is sleeping and so is Jorand. I will watch Karissa until they wake.” “You look familiar, ma'am. Have we met before?” She smiled gently at them both while rocking with Karissa in her arms. “I am a mother who has had many children. I watch over all my children so it is not unusual to sometimes see me. Would you like to hold your grand daughter?” My mother was charmed by Karissa the moment she saw her and my father was just as bad. They looked at Karissa's face and smiled with joy at being grand parents. When they looked up to talk to the lady she as gone, along with the rocking chair.

 

I woke up a minute later to see mom holding my daughter in her arms. “We came in to find your daughter being gently rocked to sleep by a nice looking elf lady. I still can't figure out how she managed to vanish so quietly with the rocking chair.” “Dad, There is no rocking chair in here.”

 

Mom and dad described my mysterious babysitter to me. When he told me what she had said to him I was a little bit surprised. “That elf woman you saw is the Great Mother. You just met a goddess.” Larissa laughed when she heard about it later that day when she stopped in to see me. “The healers tell me you had another visitor watching Karissa while you two got some long overdue sleep.” I got up and changed into a clean diaper before talking with Larissa.” “This is the second time the Great Lady has visited me in person!”

 

Over the next few weeks Jorand and Larissa worked hard at getting the realm straightened out after finding out just how far the former scroll keeper had spread his influence and how many lives he had gone out of his way to ruin with false information and the number of shallow graves he had left behind. It had taken careful work to undo his dirty work and to find out exactly what kind of blood magic rituals he had performed.

 

Darla and her life mate managed to get the library straightened out and with some help from me we had managed to translate roughly half the ancient scrolls. We had run across three more references to varda but still no explanation. It sounded like something older than the earliest scrolls. So many scrolls had been lost during the last war when the humans had attacked.

 

“You two are doing real good at this. You have far more patience than I do. If you find out anything about varda and what the hell varda is let Larissa or Jorand know. Now why don't you two take a break and go get some sleep and some private time as well. I myself am off to go spend some quality time with my daughter and jorand.”

 

I met up with Larissa on my way to go see to Karissa. “I was just coming to get you. I was thinking of trying to talk with the president without his so called advisors stopping him from talking to anyone that might tell him the truth. A good number of my people are not being held in jail and I want to know why. He is afraid of something and I want to know exactly what he has been told.”

 

“Sounds good to me. When are we leaving?” “As soon as you are ready. Your parents are joining us as well. It's going to be you, me, Jorand, and your parents this trip. Hopefully we can figure out how to stop this madness and get back to the process of restoring peace and fair trade between all of the races.”

 

I made sure to create a shield around all of us as we opened a gate to the peace garden. The tree greeted us and brought us up to speed on the state of things. It was bad. Every dwarf and every elf had been rounded up and put into prison as war criminals. The dragons were no longer safe outside of their own mountainous kingdom. The air force had orders to turn back any dragon near the border or to shoot them down.

 

My parents were a little spooked to see me being greeted by the tree. It is something I have gotten used to and I forget that to others it is a very rare sight to see a silver wood tree talk to someone. I laughed at the look on my parents face. “We're friends. I helped save him about a year ago when some fool tried to burn him down. Within a few minutes he had been brought up to date on everything that had happened and everything the other trees wanted him to know.

 

I walked to a small clearing and opened a gate to the white house. It raised all sorts of hell when we just showed up by walking out of a portal without any sort of announcement or royal guard. The current president looked up in surprise from the paperwork he had been reading. The secret service burst into the office with weapons drawn.

 

“You wont need those. We are here to talk and to try to resolve this situation peacefully, sir. I Larissa, and this is Jorand. We are the rulers of the elven nation. This is Sarina and she is the current Dragon Mage. These are her parents that you had thrown into prison and beat nearly to death when you could not detain their daughter.”

 

We sat down and the secret service kept guns drawn and pointed at us the entire time. The two who had ordered my parents arrested and then beat them came running into the office. They saw us and immediately panicked. “Shoot them before they kill the president!” The secret service tried to shoot us but found themselves unable to pull the triggers. “Filthy fucking elves! Mobilize the army and and break their portal open! We have to strike them before their army can attack us!”

 

I grabbed the idiot trying to give orders and lifted him off his feet. If we had wanted the president dead he would already be dead! We have no standing army and are not trying to invade! You and your partner who is whispering orders to everyone have been lying to the president and trying to manipulate everyone into a war! We are trying to prevent a war! If war breaks out then everyone will die!”

 

Larissa caught the second one as he tried to shove a poisoned combat knife into her back. “We came here looking to talk and find these two snakes manipulating everyone and giving the orders to attempt to start a full scale war! I believe it is time that these two shut up and listen for a change!” Larissa let my parents tell the president everything that had happened to them when the ministry had tried to arrest me on trumped up charges.

 

“I have never been able to do magic the way you people can, but at an early age I was confirmed to be a class one physical adept as well as having the gift of languages as well, sir. How I do magic is far different than how you people do and that frightens those in charge as they can not control what I learn about magic and what I am able to do with magic.

 

I may not look like it any longer, but I am human, I am not interested in destroying humanity with magic. I have been using my abilities to promote peace and to help where I am able to help. I was n medical school learning to be a doctor until things started going crazy. The former queen of the elves was a friend to me and I mourned her passing. She loved the idea of me being a healer and using my talents to help by healing and negotiating peaceful resolutions to issues.”

 

the two men squirmed and tried to break free of the magic holding them in place and forcing them to remain silent. The president tried to rise but was having trouble doing so. “I'm so sorry about all of this! We should have talked long ago!” He tried to walk but his back hurt him so much he had to sit back down. “I'd like to shake your hands, but my poor back is acting up again. I got hit by shrapnel in a grenade attack a few weeks ago. Guess I should have ducked faster.”

 

Without telling anyone what I intended to do I rose from my seat and walked over to the president. I laid my hands on him and closed my eyes as I sent healing magic through his body. A few minutes later I opened my eyes and held a bunch of small metal shards in my left hand. “I could not stand by and let you suffer when I could heal you, sir. Here is the shrapnel that was pushing on your spine and causing you pain.”

 

We talked and he was shocked to hear of the attacks and arrests of so many elves and dwarves as well as the orders to shoot down any flying dragons that were near the border. “This is not good! Can you prove any of this?” “We can find out what these two advisors have been doing with a simple truth spell. It will force them to tel the truth about everything they have been doing without your consent and all the lies they have told you.”

 

After an hour of discussing things I had to excuse myself for a change or risk pushing the diaper too far and leaking. The president was surprised to hear that I am incontinent. After a change in a bathroom guarded by a pair of female secret service agents I felt better. I came back into the office and the president was shaking hands with everyone.

 

“I have not felt this good in years! Thank you for this! Now let's hear what these two have to say. He cast the truth spell and they remained silent. “We will find out the truth of what you have been doing and you will answer my questions or I will let them use their truth spells on you!” The men looked at each other and still remained silent. “Since you do not wish to talk I can only assume you are guilty of everything they have said. Feel free to use magic on these two to compel them to tell the truth.” The two of them struggled hard to break free as the spell was cast on them.

 

Everything they said was recorded and by the time they had been talking for nearly four hours they had confessed to numerous crimes and to trying to start a war. They had ordered the arrest of my parents since it was impossible for them to arrest me. The president and several of the secret service were sickened by what they heard. The president ordered every single elf and every single dwarf to be set free immediately. The air force was ordered to stand down and to not attack any dragons just for flying. A recording of the two men confessing was sent to the dwarves and to the dragons through diplomatic channels.

 

“How did I not see this happening?” “They are very subtle and sneaky, sir. We had one in our own ream and he did worse to us than these two. He tortured innocent children to death in obscene blood magic rituals and spread false information as far as he could. We have only just finished cleaning up the worst of his work. There is still so much more left to repair that it will take a lot more work and a lot of time to undo it all. That he was one of our most trusted makes it even more saddening.”

 

“These two have offended your good people the worst. As a peace offering I give them to you so that they may find justice at the hands of those they wanted dead by any means possible. A copy of this recording will be put out on the internet and everyone will know why I have given them to you to punish for their crimes. If I were to punish them it would be in the electric chair.”

 

Before we left the oval office the president was setting up a press conference to tell the entire country what he had just learned. It was good to know that he was not trying to hide from any of the mess. His actions in owning up to it would go a long ways in fixing relations and cleaning up the mess left behind by the two who had lied to him. During their confessions they had onc more mentioned Varda but when asked about it they laughed and only said to ask the trees or perhaps the dragons.

 

Both men were brought back with us and held for three days as we worked hard to inform the people of the realm of the actions that had transpired. Getting everyone into places to hear the news takes a little time, especially since one of the far speakers was in labor with her first child. The news was spread through the entire realm along with the punishment option being left up to the people.

 

After a week of debate 99% of the people felt that the maze was a good idea, they could wander around forever and be made to face every wrong they had committed. In the maze they could not hide from their actions or try to talk their way out of what was coming to them. “Somewhere in the maze you will be judged for what you have done and for what you have tried to do. Only the Great Mother knows what your punishment will be as she is the one who will judge you and decide what your fate is to be.” They were told this and then put into the maze.

 

We waited for an hour before leaving. It is custom to wait an hour for those sent in to return. Those we have deemed guilty have never returned and what has happened to them in the maze is something only the Great Mother knows. I myself have been in there once when I was looking for something to help me decide how to become a healer. Being a healer has been a dream of mine for years and once it became clear that I could no longer return to the college I went in looking for some peace and quiet so I could ponder on how to continue to try to be a doctor.

 

I could have maybe forced the school to take me back but that would make me a a bully. I would become something that I despised. I came into a grove of ancient Silver wood trees and relaxed while thinking of how to achieve my dream of helping as many people as possible and how to avoid having to hurt anyone. If achieving my dream meant hurting people, then it was not worth it. The trees helped me find an answer to my dilemma. They guided me towards the healers and the ancient scrolls. I exited the maze happy to have answer to my problem.

 

Now if only I were that easy to find out what the hell varda meant. No one seemed to have a clue and many of the ancient scrolls that might hold an answer were gone forever in the last war of the races. The oldest scrolls now date back to just after the war of the races and tell of rebuilding not just this realm, but helping to rebuild all the realms.

 

No one knows how the last war of the races got started or why. The war raged on for almost ten years before the Dragon Mage at the time finally put an end to it and helped bring peace back. He died a short time after that and until now there has not been another Dragon Mage. Records have pointed out that he was very powerful but nowhere near my level of ability. I have no answer as to why that is. It is just one more mystery out of many.

 

Darla caught up to me after I had sat down to feed Karissa. She was about to knock when the tree opened the door to let her in. “My apologies for interrupting you! I was going through the scrolls and found something you might like to hear!” She watched as I fed Karissa and it was clear to me that there was a hole in her heart. She wanted children badly. Not being able to have children hurt both her and her life mate. “Come over here and sit for a minute. I don't bite, often!” She laughed about that one. “Sorry to stare. She is a treasure beyond price!”

 

she sighed and then forced her self to get back to the subject. I was tired and so I leaned against one of the great silver wood trees for a moment. It touched me and showed me where to look for an answer in the scrolls! I dug through 13 scrolls and managed to piece together some information. Varda is not a place or a person! Varda is a race of people!” “Interesting! After you get some rest I want you and your pretty life mate to join me here. I have an idea I want to try and having the two of you here is the only way to do it! I promise on my word of honor that I am not going to hurt you or your life mate!”

 

she relaxed at that point. “I'm a healer and I hate seeing anyone in pain! Now take Karissa for a moment for me. I need to change.” I handed Karissa to her gently then touched her shoulder and let the magic flow into her body to make the first of many changes she would need. “You need to learn how to feed a child so when you one day have one you know what to do!” I helped her and soon Karissa was happily nursing from her while I went to take care of the mess I was wearing.

 

It seemed to take forever to get cleaned up but when I was done and changed I peeked around a corner to find Darla happily sitting in the rocking chair burping Karissa. “I never knew you could do that!” I took Karissa back from her and sent her off to bed before she fell over from exhaustion. “I figured you needed to learn the basics and what better way than this!”

 

She joined me several hours later as I was talking with the great Silver wood tree. I had told it what she had told me and thanked it for helping. I also told t what I wanted to do. There were vague references in some of the old healing scrolls saying it could be done so I had to try. Join me in the pool after you have removed your clothes. You don't want such lovely leathers to get soaked do you?” They both laughed about that then joined me once they were completely nude.

 

“I am going to attempt what has only been vaguely described in the ancient healing scrolls. It is difficult and I wanted you both in here if something goes wrong so the waters here can help me heal you if I need to. I put both of them to sleep and helped clear their minds of everything but their love of each other and their desire for a child. Great mother guide me and keep me from causing anyone any harm! They have a pain and I wish to try to heal it with your guidance.”

 

As I slipped into a healing trance I could have sworn I heard a soft voice in my head replying. “You have only to ask dear child.” My magic flared to life and poured into the two of them. I changed their bodies and called out for a soul that embodied the best of all that being an elf means and what they mean to each other. The ritual of magic flowing through me seemed to last for days but I could not give up until their pain was healed.

 

Once the last of the magic was finally used up I finally slipped out of my healing trance to find the Great Mother smiling at me and touching the two of them. “With each action you become more a true child of my heart! Your love of healing serves you well!” She reached down and touched me then faded away. The magic water of the pool helped to restore me and in turn allowed me to finish the last of the minor changes to the two before they woke up again.

 

Darla and Alexin looked at me in shock a moment before Darla suddenly realized she was pregnant. “The Great Mother has guided my hand and has shown me what to do! It is through my hands that she worked on the two of you to bring life once more into this world! It is my belief that you will make great parents! Now go home and rest. Thank the Great Mother for allowing me the honor to be her hands!” they hugged me and made fast work of getting dressed and racing home where they were not likely to get any rest for a while.

 

I stretched, yawned and climbed out of the pool. “Thank you Great Mother for guiding me in this healing! With your guidance, a great pain has been healed and replaced by a great joy and a new life!” After this I walked the short distance to the great silver wood tree and then inside of it to the little place it had shaped out for us to live in. Jarod joined me a little while later and he was exhausted. I had to help a couple of human girls get their wheel chairs untangled from a tangle weed vine.

 

They had been discussing art with a couple of our people and never noticed the vine wrapping around their wheelchairs. They are fine and only in the chairs a few more weeks. Car accident broke their legs. One really good thing happened though to help them forget the pain in their legs. They bonded to a pair of guards who had come back in one of the other gates. I imagine that by now they are all four very happy and very busy!” I laughed and cuddled with him as Karissa continued to sleep peacefully.

 

Larissa came looking for me the next day after I had just changed my daughter out of her night time diaper. I was about to sit and feed her when she came in holding Salamar in her arms. “I heard what you did yesterday! That was a very great thing you did! I have not seen them that happy since they first met and bonded about nine years ago. The healers have confirmed that Darla is indeed pregnant with a very healthy little boy.”

 

“I had to do something! They were hurting so badly I could feel it constantly. They are lovely ladies and always helping where they can! They deserved a chance at happiness! They are going to make wonderful parents! It was not me that did the work though! I asked the Great Mother for her guidance and she guided me through it all step by tiny step until it was done! Without her guidance I could not have done it!”

 

“She left her mark on you again I see. I like the ears! They look good on you! Your slightly tanned complexion suits you as well! You sure know how to impress her it seems.” I laughed as I felt my new ears. “I always wanted to be an elf! The Great Lady is granting that wish! Even without her mark, I would still continue to help and to heal!” “That is precisely why she likes you! You love being a healer and helping others! You give and love seeing people healthy and happy once more! Karissa is going to grow up to be a very interesting young lady I think!

 

I heard that Darla found some information about Varda.” “She indeed did, Larissa! Varda were an ancient race of some kind! Darla and Alexin are scouring the archives now for all references of the Varda. They are going to copy out all the information on them and see what they can piece together. Hopefully we will know more in a few days. This alone helps us as we now know they were or are a people. So, how are things outside the realm?”

 

The president has gone public with the news of the two who betrayed his trust. The entire confession under truth spell was given to the press so that everyone would know why he handed them over to us as a peace offering. He is still busy cleaning up the mess they made but with time, he will succeed! The prison camp where everyone was being detained and tortured was burned down. He lit the first torch and threw it in the gas soaked camp himself.

 

“There have also been a large number of hate groups arrested as well for their part in the mess. He has made it very clear that anyone who tries even one stupid attempt to start a war will be shot. He has reached out to the dwarves and the dragons in an effort to start a peace conference. He also publicly credits you with healing him completely. You impressed him when you healed him after everything that had been done in his name. That act alone spoke huge volumes of the fact that we have no hate of them or desire for a war.

 

There are also several medical doctors that want to talk with our healers and exchange ideas and ways of healing. I think you did more than enough to earn a rest! Harenda is off trying to teach some new students how to play music today so I get to spend more time with our son. That's a bonus in my opinion!” I laughed and teased her about him running off after she asked him to change their son! “It wasn't that bad! The tree will recover in time! You could only smell it for a few miles is all!”

 

We both laughed and were soon discussing magic again. Once things calm down I want to get in some more practice, and if you are willing to teach me, I'd like to learn how you create healing energy with magic! I never know when that ability will come in handy! I also need a spell to make his diapers self changing!” That made me laugh. It wont help! They wait until we are tired and our noses extra sensitive, then they leave us those nice presents to smell! It's a baby conspiracy you know!”

 

Larissa was taking a day off from being queen and letting Jorand handle things for the day. He had actually volunteered so that Larissa could spend time with her son and with Harenda. They had the afternoon planned to get together and spend time with just the three of them.

 

Things were still chaotic outside but it was calming down. We knew that the Varda were an ancient race but that was all we knew about them. Everything else was a mystery still. It looked like things were finally going to calm down, but was this just the calm before the storm? How exactly were the Varda involved in all this mess recently and why? Still so many questions and so few answers.

 

END EIGHT

That's it for this chapter.  I hope you folks enjoyed it.  As always, thank you for reading this story to this point.  In the next chapter we learn more about the Varda from the dragons.  The questions of why the varda are involved and just exactly who they are will be answered a bit more in the next chapter.  Is this the calm before the storm or is peace finally going to be a reality?  Again, thank you for reading this story.  All comments and questions welcomed.

[Clr224]

I’m eagerly awaiting the next installment.  This is a very good story. 

[junyour]

I would like t see Sarina begin to deal a little more with the dragon council, as well as begin her duties a elven  representative to the peace talks. 

I am enjoying this story and watch for updates, rereading the last chapter almost until I have it memorized.  Please don't let my previous post drive you away from this excellent story.

 

[Emily Ruby Rose]

i always love your work it's so amazing i can't wait for more ❤️

[widowmaker]

I have not walked away from this story.  I am working on the next chapter.  I write and dump what I don't like then go back with an idea of what I want to see next and fit it into the story.  Sarina will be dealing with the peace conference in the next chapter and find out some more about Varda.  I turns out they are actually smurfs!  Who knew?  lol.  I will have the dragon council in the next chapter as well.  Things start to get very ugly in the next chapter when big bird and Oscar The Grouch get into territory fight over who will distribute diapers to where.  Hope to have the next chapter done in a few more days.  Thank you for reading and commenting.  I also had a delay because I was getting caught up on reading my favorite online manga The Gamer.  Hope to see you folks in a few days with a new chapter.

[widowmaker]

Thank you for waiting so patiently.  Here is chapter nine.  Heading towards the finish line now with a few more sneaky surprises thrown in along the way.

NINE

Two weeks after the gates had been opened again we received a notice that there was going to be another peace conference. This made us all sigh in relief that we were finally going to be calming things back down and getting on with normal life. A great number of our people had found those they had been searching for and bonded with them. This was good news since the last Scroll keeper had hurt so many and made it almost impossible for people to bond and have children. He was determined to drive the elven race into extinction in his mad lust for power.

 

The realm looked like it was going to have a large influx of children starting in a few months when the first of the children from people recently bonded were born. The tree shapers were hard at work creating new homes for the influx of newly bonded couples that would be needing additional space in a few months time. Jorand kept busy trying to help keep things running smoothly when something would call Larissa to the far end of the realm for a day or two.

 

 

All too soon the day of the conference arrived. I packed half a bag of diapers to take with me since I had no clue how long the conference would last. I talked with Larissa and Jorand for most of a day before leaving. Okay, I did not exactly talk with Jorand. We spent a good number of hours making love while my parents watched over Karissa for us so we could have one last night together before duty tore us apart for a while.

 

I nursed Karissa and burped her then put her down for a nap. I hated being away from my daughter for so long but this peace conference was important. Larissa promised to keep her and Jorand safe. I kissed my daughter and then went and changed myself before leaving for the conference. The conference was being held a short ways off from the school I had attended as a child. It surprised me to see the building still standing all these years later.

 

Thinking about it now, I doubt any of the kids who I went to school with would recognize me now after all these years and changes. Walking into the conference felt like walking into a gang fight. The president was unable to attend and had sent an ambassador who was a real jerk. Immediately he laid into me verbally. “You filthy freaks are lucky that the president did not order a nuclear strike on you for attacking us without provocation! The human allied nations demand reparations for the ruthless attacks on us by you filthy freaks!”

 

The temptation to hurt this smug, arrogant asshole was super high. “Sir, the elven nation did not attack anyone. Secondly, your nation ordered the incarceration of every elf going to school or doing legitimate business in your nation. You fired missiles into the elven nation with full intentions of killing anyone you could. You had in your employ two individuals that were doing their best to start a war. These same two individual brutally beat and almost killed two people who were not elves after you failed to arrest me! I am not an elf either! I am a human that is honored to have been touched by the Great Mother herself!”

 

I finally resorted to playing dirty with the pig. I grabbed his hand and squeezed it extra hard until the bones in his hand almost broke. “There will be no money sent over to your nation to pay for damages that were not done by the elven nation! There is plenty of proof that the attacks were staged in order to make your people mad enough to go to war without thinking about who was really manipulating everything!

 

Now we shall start over and if you should choose to continue to be impolite then I will personally see to it that you are dismissed from your position as ambassador to Allied Human Nations! Should you consider using magic to attempt to intimidate me it will not work! Do not push your luck any further sir. I am here to negotiate on behalf of the Elven nation in order to peacefully resolve the rising tensions between our to nations.

 

I healed the idiot's hand and then used all my skill to turn every single insult offered up against me around in order to make the man look like a fool. At the end of the morning I changed and walked off to find a place to grab a burger real fast before returning in three hours to continue negotiations with the pig. A number of people were surprised to see me but stayed silent as I stopped off at a burger place and ordered a burger combo with the works.

 

I felt better after having had a good burger, some fries, and a soda. Leaving the place I was shoved rudely by a stuck up little bitch that I recognized all too well. I chose to retaliate this time and not just let her get away with being a stuck up bitch that felt she could do anything because she had money. She made it about halfway across the lobby when she uncontrollably wet and messed herself. She stood in horrified shock as I smiled and walked off. She looked down and in her right hand was an adult diaper where a moment earlier her designer handbag had been.

 

It was mean and cruel, but so worth it. For a moment I could have sworn I heard a laughing voice agreeing with my thoughts. She was not hurt in the least but she did look bad standing there in an overflowing diaper with another one in hand. She was going to have a hard time getting over this as a number of people had seen her and it had happened in a very public place in daylight with no place to hide.

 

Returning to the conference I was ready to do verbal battle with the idiot pig of a diplomat. By the end of the afternoon I had gotten everything out of him that Larissa had wanted. It was not much but it would benefit the Allied Human Nations and the Elven realm in trade. Most of the others were not having any problems and were fairly civil to each other. They were working hard on figuring out some peaceful solutions to various issues without resorting to being racists like the pig I'd just finished dealing with.

 

The next two days were spent negotiating trade agreements with the other diplomats and trying to make sure that everyone benefited from the trade. Not having to have a translator made it easier for the ambassadors to talk with me and not have to worry about accidental translation errors. All of them agreed that the human ambassador was a racist fool.

 

After a week of negotiations and helping a few others who had a hard time with the language barriers the conference wrapped up. One thing I had negotiated with everyone was an exchange of medical information in an effort to help as many as I could. The information would hopefully be used to save and improve lives. All things considered, it was a good conference once the pig had finally agreed to everything that Larissa and I had wanted.

 

One last diaper change and I was getting ready to head home when the head of the dragon council caught up to me laughing. “I just heard what you did the other day to some stuck up little rich brat! That was so worth it to see a spoiled brat humiliated that badly in public!” “I know her. She's the one that caused permanent damage to my spine when I was much younger. I met her again in college and she led a campaign to have all non humans rounded up and killed. She is bad news and has not changed at all.” The dragon laughed and replied, “I hope she has by now or that thing will stink up the whole nation!” It took us both a few minutes to stop laughing.

 

“I heard you were trying to find some information about the Varda. I did some digging and found out that they are long gone now. They were banished to the shadow realm a few centuries ago for something. I don't know much more than that. I'll keep digging and see what I can find. The dwarven king is looking through the old records as well so we may yet find out more.”

 

“Thank you for that. Finding out anything about them is tough. It's as if they don't exist or don't want anyone to know anything about them. I've never found information that is so tough to track down, but it seems like it has been scattered in pieces so as to make it next to impossible to find out anything about them. Not sure why someone would do that.”

 

“I have no clue. It took a lot of digging to find anything out about them from our ancient records as well. Whoever they were and why they were banished is well concealed. I don't like it any more than you do. Something doesn't feel right about the whole situation.” “Like we're being manipulated by some outside force and that the truth is being hidden from us to keep us from stopping whatever is happening?” He smiled. “Exactly! The entire council is nervous and on edge. I'll let you know what more we find.”

 

I opened a portal gate back to the nearest portal gate to the elven nation with the treaties in hand. I no sooner came out of the portal to just outside the main gate back home than some idiot took a shot at me with a high power rifle. The bullet never hit me and instead lost all of it's momentum and fell to the ground just a few inches short of hitting me.

 

I leaned over and picked up the bullet from off of the ground. The shell was from a .50 caliber or bigger weapon. Several people stared at me as I examined the shell. I shook my head in sadness and walked over to the guard. I handed him the bullet. “It's a .50 caliber isn't it?” He shook his head sadly. “That's the fifth one this week. The spell you and Larissa created to ensure the safety of everyone in the areas around the gates has been a good thing. We have a few other attempts at the other gates as well and always the same results. This is the biggest so far. They are getting bigger each time. So far they have not been able to hurt anyone.”

 

Larissa frowned when she heard the news from me about the attempt on my life. “The guard said that they are getting bigger each time. You think they would learn after a few times. The velocity dampening field slows the bullet way down and by the time it hits the personal shields it barely has enough energy to bounce more than a few inches. The spell is working perfectly so far and no one has been hurt.”

 

Jorand came and met me with Karissa in his arms sleeping contentedly. “She does not like the carrier. You should see what she did to it! Her tree shaping talent is pretty strong already. The poor carrier did not fare so well though. I was hoping she would have been a healer but I still love her regardless of what her talent is.” Jorand looked over the paperwork along with Larissa. “You got some pretty good trade concessions. I see you got the exchange of medical information that you wanted. I agree with it. It's a good idea to share medical information so all of us can benefit. Now if we could just get you best half to teach your little girl to not ruin every carrier we make for her we would be doing great!”

 

Jorand and I both laughed about that as well. Harenda returned a few minutes later with the remains of the carrier. It had been turned into a flat piece of wood with both sides gone and the rocking part of it reshaped to be supports to hold it in place while she crawled out of it. “I've talked with two others with wood shaping talent and they were unable to get it to change shape back to a carrier. I wonder how much stronger she will get when she is a few years older.”

 

I laughed at the carrier and took my daughter from Jorand. She yawned and stretched a moment then went right back to sleeping. Larissa laughed about this. “My son has figured out how to how to wake me up in the dead of night demanding to be fed or changed. Last night I found myself floating a foot off the floor and slowly moving towards his crib. He was in dire need of a change and was hungry as well. I blame Karissa for this! She's a bad influence on him!” We all laughed about that and teased each other back and forth.

 

Larissa and jorand looked over the scrolls one last time before signing them to make them official. After that they were sent to the scroll keepers. Darla picked up the scrolls and hugged me. Alexin is doing great and the little one is coming along nicely. We are unsure if we are having a manticore yet though! I'm hoping for a unicorn!” “I'm glad it worked! You both look so happy now so it was well worth doing! I just need to figure out how to make my daughter from ruining her carrier every time she gets tired of being in it.” Larissa has found out that her son can levitate items and people!” Darla saw the reshaped carrier and laughed. “You have to look at it from an outsiders perspective guys. It is a bit funny!”

 

I laughed and teased her about her little one learning how to change shape and flying off looking like a dragon. “Stop by anytime you think your little one needs a bad influence because according to Larissa, Karissa is a bad influence on her son already!” We all laughed and took a few minutes to catch our breath. I touched Darla and teased her. “Holy shit! You're having an ogre! Wait, no, It's a unicorn!” We laughed and joked and teased each other a few more minutes before she left to go put the scrolls into the library.

 

The tensions of the conference were forgotten and things got back to normal. I spent my time teaching Larissa more about magic and learning more about the ins and outs of being a mother. I loved my daughter and Jorand was the same way. We gave up on an infant carrier and opted for a cloth fabric carrier from the outside world that I could wear and keep Karissa near me and keep her happy.

 

When the three of us walked into a store we drew a lot of attention. Jorand was carrying Karissa and looking over everything while I made use of the restroom to change my wet diaper. I came out of the restroom and heard Jorand trying to stay calm and not have to hurt anyone. “You try hitting me or my daughter again and I will hurt you, severely!” I came around the corner just as Courtney hit Jorand in the back of the head with something from off one of the shelves. Jorand was dazed and staggered as the other girl lunged forward with a pocket knife in hand.

 

She let out a yelp when grabbed her and threw her away form Jorand and Karissa. Courtney threw something at me and ran for it. She made it about ten feet before finding herself lifted off of her feet and pulled back to face me. My temper is normally pretty even, but when you attempt to hurt my little girl I don't take it lightly. I turned her to face me and made sure she recognized me.

 

“I don't care if you want a fair fight. But when you attack a father trying to protect his baby girl I get a bit upset. When you attack my Life mate and my baby girl then I get really upset.” I reached out and grabbed her friend and drug her over to me as well and looked at her as well with undisguised anger in my eyes. “You have been a bitch since the day you pushed me down the stairs and tried to kill me. Give me one good reason why I should not kill you both for trying to hurt my baby.”

 

Courtney's eyes went wide when she finally recognized me. “Sarina?” “Finally, you remember me. The real question is what should I do with the two of you. Get over here brat!” Her friend let out a yelp as an invisible force drug her over to us. “Stay here!” They both were stuck hovering almost a foot off the ground as I helped my life mate to his feet. Karissa was crying and had a minor cut on her left cheek.

 

I growled in anger, spun and almost punched Courtney's friend. “You cut my daughter! I wanted so much to just ripe her limb from limb but forced myself to calm down as Jorand handed me my daughter. Karissa calmed down in my arms as I gently rocked her for a few moments. Jorand reached down with a cloth we had for when Karissa had to be burped. He picked up the knife carefully and made sure not to disturb the prints on it. “Evidence. They have cameras and that can be used as evidence as well.” Courtney and her friend looked nervous as al of us went up to the front of the store.

 

I held both girls off the floor and refused to drop them to their feet. An hour later both girls were arrested. When the police found out that Jorand was the king of the elven nation and that I was not only his life mate but a registered diplomat as well it made the charges that much more severe. The police took pictures of the cut on my daughter's face and kept the knife as evidence. After gently lowering Courtney and her friend to the ground they were handcuffed and led out to waiting police car.

 

The manager was pissed at the two girls and was also pressing charges against them for destruction of store property as they had broken whatever it was they had hit Jorand with. The manager was a nice guy and he loved it when I let him hold Karissa for a minute while I tended to Jorand for a moment. I healed the concussion he had then reached for my daughter who had happily wrapped her hand around the pinky of the manager who was smiling and talking softly to her.

 

My daughter was giggling as he made faces at her and it helped to cheer me up. “She is a real treasure, ma'am. A charmer too!” He gave her a gentle tap on the nose as he made a face at her and she laughed again. He also gave us a child carrier for free as his way of apologizing for what was not his fault. Jorand and I walked past an old wooden ship model that was in danger of falling apart. Jorand touched it and and in moments it looked new again.

 

I also healed the man's poor bad knee that I could feel was bothering him. “you are a good and honorable man, sir. Thank you for your help and kindness and for making my daughter laugh. I hugged him and then when we got outside the store I created a gate as Courtney sat in the police car watching. I looked back at her then walked through the portal.

 

Two weeks later Courtney had some hotshot attorney get her and her friend out of jail on a technicality. Had I suspected they were going to do this I would have had them put into the maze instead. I suspected that her parents had bribed the judge. At least now Courtney knew that I was way more powerful than ever before. Creating a gate normally takes about ten people and a half day of work to stabilize it. I did it in about two seconds.

 

Larissa told me the news about Courtney and I was frustrated. It did not really surprise me but it did frustrate me. Talking with the dragon council and they themselves had some trouble in their lands and were getting desperate to find the persons responsible. Someone had so far managed to kill four females and smashed all their eggs as well. Hearing this angered me big time. Larissa and I both wanted them to find the ones who did the crime and then make them hurt for years before finally killing them. The dragon council actually agreed with our ideas on dealing with the butchers.

 

Five days later the Dragon council contacted us. Larissa and I went to meet with them in person. The head of the council greeted us politely. “In the last five days we have had two more females killed and their eggs smashed! Whoever is doing this is being real sneaky and is hiding even their scent from us. We know it is humans most likely as they have always feared us and what they fear or don't understand, they destroy.

 

Whoever they are, we are unable to track them ourselves as they have left certain compounds behind that are poisonous to us. Each nesting site will require careful cleaning before it can ever be used again. The two of you are uniquely suited to help us in this. You both have the ability to use magic in a way only a few of our most powerful elders are. Another benefit is that you are both immune to what is being used to poison the nesting sites and the final big difference is the fact that Sarina is a very powerful healer.”

 

I smiled at the old dragon. “If we find these butchers do you want them or should we just shove them into the maze?” He thought a moment then conferred with the other dragons before coming back with an answer. “We want the butchers when you catch them. They have committed horrible crimes against us and those crimes can not be forgiven or forgotten.” I smiled. “Please let the rest of your kin know that we are here to help. If they are not sure it us then we can easily do magic that humans can not do as proof it is us.”

 

“That is a most fair and cautious idea. I will let all of my kin know this. When you have found the one behind this We'll send you home with as much information on herbs and medicine as we can crape out of every dark corner of our archives! Also, a fair warning, the humans have had several attempts on the life of their president so if you venture into their lands it would be best to use a disguise. They are all very paranoid right now about outsiders.”

 

An hour later we arrived at the first nest site. It would have been a lovely location except for the smashed eggs and the underlying smell of a nasty poison used to prevent another dragon from using this place again. Using magic it was still difficult to get an idea of what the toxin was. It took Sarina and I nearly five hours of tests to figure it out. It was a nasty compound that was damned hard to create. An underlying element used in the poison made me even more angry. They had used nearly depleted radioactive ore. It was ground up and added to the poison to make using magic more difficult.

 

The next three nest sites were the same way. Someone left a nasty present at the fourth one. We came upon it and were immediately attacked by a dark elemental. Larissa and I both retreated a ways off after banishing the thing as it had stirred up a massive amount of a yellow colored fine dust. “Larissa, whatever you do, do not let any of that stuff get on you or your clothes! It is very dangerous stuff and I would like to know how the hell they got so much of it!”

 

“What is it? It looks harmless.” “It is a natural element that in it's natural state is pretty diluted and unable to hurt you. This is what it looks like in a very concentrated form. What you are looking at is uranium 235. Humans use it in nuclear reactors and bombs. Someone already knows we are coming and this trap was laid for us. For now we back off and wash ourselves off before it causes harm to us.”

 

The dragon council was informed of this by Larissa as I was changing into a clean diaper and collecting our decontaminated clothes. “It does sound like they know you are here and are trying to stop you. We can not get near the stuff either. Try contacting the dwarves. They have ways of handling this stuff safely in all levels of concentration.”

 

Using my magic and with help from Larissa I created a lead shield around the site to prevent it from hurting anyone. Contacting Dorag and telling him he was in agreement that someone knew we were hunting them and had tried to stop us. “I'll have a crew on the site in day or two. Making a lead shield was a good idea. We can remove the stuff safely and decontaminate the entire site, but I want you to do me a favor, catch those butchers and make them pay for it!”

 

I had to heal Larissa and I both four more times and create lead shields at the next four sites. How the hell were they getting so much of this stuff? You can't buy it anywhere! “We're going about this all wrong. We need to catch the assholes but they are careful about leaving a mess for us to clean up in order to slow us down. We need to create an alarm of some type at every nest site so if the butchers show up it lets us know right away so we can catch them in the act.”

 

The Dragon Council listened when we showed up in person. “They have set traps at every single site to slow us down. We think we know a way to catch them.” The next thing was to create a spell shield blocking anyone trying to listen in or watch us remotely with magic or technology. “I'll drop the barrier in a few minutes. They have been monitoring us somehow and I've had enough. I plan to give them a bit of bait they can't resist. When they go for the bait we close the trap.” All of them listened in and helped to come up with a plan. After I dropped the barrier we began talking about a lone female who was a favorite of the head of the council and had just laid a clutch of eggs. We let it sound like innocent conversation and told him good luck in courting her.

 

Sorry about the wild magic we stirred up. That damned yellow dust is making a mess out of the magic. Can't use magic as easily around that stuff. “We'll go check the next site tomorrow morning. We need some rest for now, and I have to change again. My new little one is riding low on my bladder.” We left the council as planned and vanished into a small cave system they reserved for humanoid visitors.

 

Five minutes later we were at the site of the trap and setting it up in a hurry. An hour later everything was in place and we were hidden. Five figures came out of a portal carrying wands and moving silently. The image of the huge Red and blue dragon with a clutch of 14 eggs was too much temptation for them to pass up. They pulled out wands and silently signaled one another. A moment later they fired negative energy blasts at the sleeping dragon with every intention of killing it.

 

They were shocked when suddenly the very ground they were standing on exploded under them. The illusion of the female dragon and the nest site vanished. “Well met, butchers!” The fight was nasty and ugly. Those wands were real dangerous and I have no clue how the hell they even made the cursed things. In the end Larissa got mad and went for full on lethal damage. Fire filled the area followed by extreme cold and then huge blasts of energy crumpled their shield spells.

 

The butchers fell one by one except for the last one who had a high level of talent and had managed to avoid losing a magic shield. I grabbed the last one and was shocked when it wore a familiar face. “Courtney? You fucking bitch! You can't kill my baby so you kill theirs? You pollute their nests and continue butchering innocent lives! For what reason?” “They dare to think of themselves as being intelligent and superior when they are simply just giant flying lizards who dare to think they are better than humans! They deserve to be destroyed! My regret is not killing every last one of them along with those filthy two legged slugs calling themselves dwarves!”

 

“You are truly lost and beyond help! You have let your own ego blind you to the truth! Dragons and dwarves are not inferior beings! They are highly intelligent and very honorable! Why can't you just forget your damned ego for once and listen to the truth?” She sneered at me then spit at me. “Fuck you! I'm not the one wearing a diaper full of shit! You are a no talent inferior baby! The only thing you are good at is shitting your diapers!”

 

“I see. And just how is it that I am able to use magic without any incantations or arcane gestures? Perhaps I should turn you into a baby and let you start your life all over again! Maybe I should return the favor and rob you of your control for life so you know how it feels! I have a life mate and a daughter that I love very much! Can you say the same? If you were to die here today no one would remember you even existed! You had a strong talent that could have been used to help so many but you chose to use it to hurt everyone you could!”

 

I sighed and shook my head in sadness. “May the Great Mother have mercy on your soul because the dragon council will likely keep you live and torture you for the next 10,000 years before they finally kill you. Goodbye Courtney.” she screamed and cursed at me as her and all of her friends faded away. The dragon council would decide her fate now.

 

Larissa hugged me. “It must have been very tempting to beat the brat to within an inch of her life. I'm glad you didn't though. She will be dealt with by the Dragon Council and what they decide to do with her and her friends I don't really want to know. Let's go talk to the Council now and see if they'll let the dwarves help clean up the sites. Those guys have ways of working with that stuff that keeps it from harming anyone.”

 

We walked into the council chambers as they were carrying out there sentences on the ones who had attacked them. Courtney's friends were not getting off easy for their part in the mess. Each one going to be serving as a nest slave for the next thousand years and after that they would be evaluated again. A nest save is an ugly position as the male dragon often changes form and mates with them whether they want it or not in order to be ready when the female is ready to mate.

 

After this they will clean the nest and tend to the eggs and then feed the hatchlings. Most nest slaves rarely last much beyond the hatching as the hatchlings see them as food and devour them. Not a pleasant way to go. Courtney was made to stand silent. “We do not believe that being a nest slave is a good idea for you as you have shown no remorse for anything. You will remain here for 10,000 years. You will not age. You will serve every day of that 10,000 years in the mating chambers of the servants. You will be working to clean the chambers every day and submit to anyone who should desire to mate with you.

 

I do believe Sarina here had an interesting idea on a possible punishment and it seems appropriate that what you did to her shall be done to you. You will be diapered for the duration of your stay with us. You will be changed three times a day by a random servant. You will be evaluated after this time to see if you have shown remorse for your actions.” The dragon said something and made a gesture. Courtney was now wearing only a disposable diaper and I'm betting her control was gone as well. I have to admit, she had a damned nice figure. The servants were going to enjoy mating with her.

 

There are those who help the dragons and serve them as honored members of the various dragon households. They are treated exceptionally well by the dragons who consider them to be exceptional people. When their contract ends in three years they can renew it with some negotiation or choose to depart with a great deal of money and the respect of the dragons. The mating chambers of the servants were always in use and it makes me blush a little to think of what goes on in there. Courtney is not going to like it I think. Who knows. Maybe she will learn humility and will eventually come to have remorse for her actions.

 

The council sent her off to start her sentence and I was betting that within a day she would find herself being used before getting her diaper changed. She glared at me as the servant to the council led her away. With this done and over the head of the council turned his attention back to me. I heard what you said about the dwarves having ways to safely handle the yellow ore. We shall contact them and negotiate a fair price for their help. I shall have every scrap of herb lore and medical lore sent to you for your help in this. Lady Larissa, we thank you for your great assistance in this and we owe you a great debt. Should you or your realm ever need our help you have but to ask.”

 

Once back in the realm I made a quick stop long enough to change again. After that the scrolls from the dragon council began to arrive. Darla and Alexin were overjoyed at the number of new scrolls. Alexin was finally starting show and smiled all the time now. All too soon they would be parents to beautiful child. Seeing them happy was my reward for the hard work that the Great Lady had guided me in doing.

 

It felt good to be back home with those who were now my family. Even my parents loved it here and they are picky about where they live. Larissa is happy as well to be back home and managing the daily routine of running the realm. It took us six long and happy months to get every scroll translated and then put into the library. We had healers from everywhere reading through the scrolls for information. We freely shared all of our medical knowledge with the world.

 

A week after the last scroll had been translated Alexin arrived at my home in the middle of the night. Darla was right beside her looking worried. “Her water broke and the contractions are strong enough to drop her onto her knees, but the baby wont come!” I got Alexin into the healing pool then started to channel healing energy into her. A nasty trap had been put on one of the scrolls and she had been the one to touch it first.

 

Her baby was being held in and her pain amplified. I poured healing magic into her and chased the darkness away then slowly helped the baby out into the world. At the last minute the umbilical cord wrapped around the neck and tried to strangle the child before she could take her first breath. The darkness laughed as the baby was strangled slowly and not allowed to breathe. It took every ounce of my strength and as much magic as I could channel to save the baby and the mother.

 

Had Darla not grabbed me I would have sunk into the waters of the pool deep enough to drown. Jorand helped pull me from the pool as the healers went to work on Alexin and the baby girl. It was a close thing for the healers to save me as the dark killing energy had come after me as well. I my mind I heard a whispering sound. “We will be free.” After that it was blackness for some time.

 

While I slept and healed for five days Larissa had joined the healers in going through every single scroll and cleaning out the last remaining dark traps on them. Someone had tampered with the scrolls and 12 of them had been trapped with a dark energy that devoured life and left only pain in it's wake. The dragon council was furious that someone had done this and promised to go through every single scroll, book, and item they owned until there was no trace of any more dark energy trap spells.

 

The dragon council died three days later when a device exploded and sprayed the entire council chamber with nerve gas. They died in agonizing pain and now I wanted to find who did this and kil them. That was not the worst news though. Less than two later, the president of the Allied Human Nations was killed by a sniper using enchanted bullets. At the same time, the biggest city of the dwarves was flooded and every dwarf trying to reach the surface found the escape routes blocked with debris. 110,000 dwarves died in that attack and one of them was their king.

 

Someone had gone through an awful lot of trouble to kill as many as they could while killing the world leaders, The same gun man that shot the human president then sprayed the crowd with a machine gun for almost ten minutes before running out of ammunition. He left nearly 1100 dead in attack and another 2000 wounded as it had been a huge national conference for the re-election of the man.

 

The second war of the races looked to be even closer to starting than before and all it would take was one more shove and all of us would be pushed over the edge. Larissa doubled the guards on all the ge portals and we sent healers out to help with those in need of healing. Larissa and Jorand issued a statement declaring ourselves as a neutral realm. We informed all the leaders that we too had been attacked and by a dark and vile magic.

 

The healers were spread thin and after we lost ten of them to snipers they were all recalled. Someone was playing us all and I needed answers that I suspected I would not like. There was one last source of information I had not recently used and it was risky. Tensions were high and so my visit had to be stealthy and very quiet. There was one lone silverwood tree in the outside world and the gate into the peace gardens was rarely used. Only a handful knew of it's existence so it was my only chance to find out who was behind the mess.

 

Preperations would take a few days as I was getting an idea of how much more I could do with my magic talent seeming to get stronger every day. I increased my training and learned to control more magic than I though even existed. I could now open viewing portal to the outside world without them being easily detected. Larissa quickly learned everything that I could teach her about healing magic.

 

After almost two weeks I was getting ready to leave when news reached us that the human vice president had been elected and he immediately declared war on all the other races, blaming everyone else for the attacks on human soil. The vice president had always been a racist pig with a desire to conquer others, but now that he was president he pulled in favors and manipulated the press. He had over half of the people believing that all the other races were going to form an alliance and wipe out the humans. The other races closed their borders and prepared to defend themselves.

 

I changed my diaper before leaving just to be on the safe side. I did not want a leak and the way it smelled was enough to make me gag. The gate to the garden opened and was stable. The sliver wood tree had grown roots an branches all around the walls and was pulling in huge amounts of magic to reinforce the walls and create a mini realm as it were comprised of just the peace garden.

 

I sat down at the base of the tree and opened my mind to what it had to reveal to me. What it showed me was frightening beyond description. I now knew who was behind all the sneaky manipulation and why. There was still a chance, but first, the war had to be stopped or at least slowed way down. Talking with the tree showed me ways to use magic and to become more powerful but it also showed me the risks of becoming too strong without enough control.

 

That very reason is why I had been pushing myself so hard to learn to control every single bit of magic at my disposal. The last thing it said to me before telling me it was time to go was the most startling, “The Great Mother has wonderful plans for you! You continue to grow and prove you are more worthy each day! Follow your heart, friend to all of my kind! Now go, while there is still time. Goodbye my friend. It has been a great honor knowing you. Take with you one last gift from me.” In my hand was a seed.

 

I walked back through the portal and cried as it closed for the last time. I would never see that tree or commune with it again. The humans had help and that help had told them of the gate portal in the peace garden. I made my way to Larissa to deliver the heart wrenching news. I knew who the enemy was and it was too late to stop them completely. We had to buy a few years time and make preparations for what was to come and what we must do in order to be ready. It was not going to be easy.

 

END NINE

Just one or two more chapters to go and this unusual tale will done.  I doubt anyone has any idea of the final fate of Sarina so it should be interesting when we see what eventually happens with her when she refuses to date Oscar the Grouch and instead has an affair with Chewbaca.  lol.  I do have an unusual ending in mind for Sarina though.  She wont die, but she will undergo a huge change, and not just her diaper!  Thank you all for reading and commenting on this story.  It has been a lot of fun to write this story and it has gone off in directions I never thought it would, but that has kept it pretty interesting.  We'll see how things play out in the end.  As always, thank you for reading and commenting on this story.  All comments and questions are welcomed.

[Infernum]

I'm loving this and if you don't give Sarina a happy ever after at the end of this I'm going to throw the biggest tantrum the world has ever seen! Fantastic job writing this! I've always been a fan of the fantasy genre, especially magic, and this story tickles that fancy in a very good way! 

[kerry]

You have a strong sense of world-building and plotting that makes this story fascinating. However, I feel compelled to say that using rape as a punishment for crimes, no matter how heinous, is barbaric and therefore so far beneath what should be the dignity of dragons that it calls their whole civilization to question. And why Sarina, with her highly developed sense of empathy, didn't call them out on it is beyond me.

[junyour]

I would hope that as the war gets active
 

and the humans choose to use their nuclear weapons, Sarina decide a little kidnapping is in order and takes the racist president to the target site to let him worry about what will happen. Then the nukes start premature detonating and the EMP destroys the use of human technology.  That little diaper wearing bitch might not be capable of doing something along those lines, but a very powerful dragon mage should have little trouble.

I have enjoyed this story so far and will be sorry to see it end, but if a sequel might be in future, I hope to see it soon.

 

[widowmaker]

Okay good folks, this is it, we have reached the last chapter of this story.  I have enjoyed writing this story big time.  It is sad to see it end, but al good things must eventually come to an end.

TEN

Larissa listened as I gave her every scrap of information I had learned about the Varda. “They were a race very similar to elves but far older and way more powerful. Instead of working with the natural flow of things they dived headlong into darker practices in the search for more power. Blood magic was just the tip of the iceberg for them. They contacted dark entities from other planes and stole power from wherever they could. In the name of power lust they killed hundreds, and then thousands, and finally, millions of other people from all other races in mass sacrifices involving ritual torture that used the pain and suffering of their victims as a way to gain more power for themselves.

 

The cost in suffering and death of others was never high enough to make them even begin to think about what they were doing. In the end, they called upon various dark gods and used the power to attempt to kill the Great Mother herself. They waged a war against every race on the face of the world and sought out other worlds to invade and enslave.

 

The Great Mother herself called upon all of her magic to help the last remaining races fight back against the Varda. Bit by bit the war was being won and they were losing their power as their dark shamans were destroyed in battle until only a handful remained. The shamans opened up a gateway to a dark shadow plane of existence and drew as much power as they could from it with one last push they were finally beaten and banished from this world for eternity.

 

The gate they had created could not be fully closed, but it could be blocked from this side with living energy forming a solid barrier of life magic that would prevent them from ever returning to this plane of existence. They found a way to get around this though and break the seal. It's not easy. There has to be enough death energy to weaken the barrier enough that they can break loose once again. They have made minor cracks in the barrier. Not enough to slip into this world again, but enough to influence those with weak minds and a lust for power.

 

For nearly ten thousand years they have been slowly and carefully manipulating those individuals to help achieve their goal of breaking the seal at the cost of as many they can kill along the way. Their end goal is to destroy this world and then move on to another and then another until they are strong enough to kill the Great Mother herself and any other force of life that stands against them.

 

There is a way to stall them for a while so we can arrange for their demise when they finally break the seal. The seal will break and it is only a matter of time until they have enough death energy to to do so. The only thing we can do is slow them down until we can spring the trap on them. Unfortunately, the cost to do this is very high. I wish there was another way but there is not.”

 

Larissa was as sickened by the plan as I was but there was no other way to stop them forever as simply banishing them would only slow them down again and then they would eventually return again. They had to be utterly destroyed and left with nothing they could use. A lot of lives would be lost in this final fight and one of them would likely be mine, There was a slim chance but it was very slim that I would survive.

 

We sent out our spies and made it difficult for the various forces to fight each other by giving them all false information. Tanks and trucks would mysteriously break down or get stuck. Supplies would get dropped in the wrong location and they would have no bullets for their guns. Within a few months the fighting had slowed to a crawl as I worked hard on learning to control my increasing abilities.

 

Talking with the new dragon council helped as they had useful tips on controlling magic. It surprised me one day to have the head of the dragon council call me. I had just finished changing when I was interrupted. “My sincere apologies for the interruption, Sarina. We thought you would want to know that the humans are planning a bombing run tomorrow. We can stop their land vehicles and foot troops, but their aircraft are a different matter.”

 

“Thank you oh great one for this information!” She laughed. “My predecessor was right. You do indeed have a silver tongue! I know you and your people have done a great deal to slow this accursed war down to a crawl and we thank you for that. Our preparations are on schedule. We have sent most of the servants that wished to join us, on ahead. The pleasure dens have been closed and all those working in them have also been sent on ahead to the meeting place.”

 

“That is good news to hear. So how long did Courtney last before someone asked her for her services? “She has been doing adequately and is very afraid of being forced to service someone. While she works in the pleasure services, she is not allowed to be used against her will. We have conveniently neglected to to tell her of this fact.

 

She believes that if she does not do her job well enough that she will be made to service the first person who asks her to do so. She heard the decision passed down by the head of the council not knowing that everyone was going to be told to not ask her for anything in the way of sexual services. The bluff keeps her in line and from trying anything stupid. Perhaps is a few thousand years she might come to regret her actions.”

 

Her companions are terrified that the hatchlings are going to eat them and are constantly doing their beast to make sure they are properly fed so they do not end up as a snack. In the history of our race, that has never happened. We find humans to be foul tasting and horrible smelling when cooked. Some of us were stupid enough to try that a few thousand years ago. They never tried it again. They were severely punished as well so it is not going to be allowed to happen.

 

We have allowed one of her companions to go free if she wanted as she was under a powerful mind control spell that forced her to do what Courtney wanted. It surprised us when she asked to be allowed to stay and help the female with her hatchlings. She loves playing and wrestling with the hatchlings and helping feed them and she even helps the female. Torinda was injured 200 years ago in a wild magic storm. Her and the young girl have become friends. It surprised all of us. Torinda has a difficult time moving around sometimes when the weather changes and the girl does her best to help her.

 

When we move, she wants to come with us. I'll gladly allow her to come with us all as she hates what she was forced to do against her will and from what I have seen in her mind, she has found a place that makes her happy. She reminds me of you in a lot of ways. She likes to help everyone.

 

Before I let you go, the bombers are carrying nuclear ordinance this time so be careful when you stop them. No one wants one of those going off. They are scheduled to take off tomorrow morning at 5:00 am in an attempted surprise attack on us.” I smiled and had a fun idea of how to stop them. “I hear those planes don't run so well when the fuel in their wing tanks has turned to goo. I think we can create enough mischief overnight to ground them all for a while! Just wish we could stop this damned war!”

 

She agreed with me. Even the dwarves were sick of the killing that they were forced to do to defend their homes. It seems like the disinformation and lies going out to the public are doing a good job of keeping them all angry and willing to kill the first non human they see. It does not matter who is right and who is not. Their president is a man who has a long history of listening to the wrong voices and making bad decisions.

 

I stood on the runway, disguised as one of the ground crew as the bomber crews climbed into their aircraft for their dangerous mission. The nuclear bombs were loaded very carefully onto the bomb racks and made ready for use. From the cockpit the weapons would be armed and then dropped while the plane turned and sped back at supersonic speeds to avoid the blast zone the weapons would create.

 

Three of the bombers had found that their electronics were malfunctioning and the engines refused to stay running. Two more found problems with the hydraulics having somehow started to leak when they turned the engines on. One of them started to taxi down the runway when three birds were sucked into one of his engines causing severe damage to it. As they all tried to take off each one in turn had to turn back and not fly due to various problems. The best one of all was the electrical short. The pilot got to the end of his checklist and every electronic item on board shorted out all at one.

 

It would take them days to fix the bombers and get them ready to fly again. The ground assault stalled and came to a screeching halt when three of the bridges they needed were destroyed. There was no way any tanks or other vehicles were going across the river for a while. The foot infantry was about to use inflatable rafts to cross when the ground began to shake from an earthquake. The dwarves had come up with that idea and it worked to stop the attack in it's tracks.

 

I was invisible and listening to the ground crews talking and trying to figure out what the hell had happened to all 15 of their bombers that were supposed to fly on a mission. They were very upset to put it politely. To top it off, certain critical tools were missing as well. So much for quick and easy repairs on the bombers. The human president was mad as heel that his war had stalled so badly. It had all started out so well and now everything kept going wrong. Mixed up orders, Incorrect parts, missing tools, bad weather, forest fires, earthquakes and, floods.

 

The president paced back and forth in his office while yelling at someone on a phone. “I don't care what you have to do! Just get this damned war back on track again before they hit us again! Those filthy elves are behind all of this!” I think he about wet himself when I dropped my disguise spell and no longer looked like the general he had been chewing out all day. “We have tried to negotiate a peace agreement with you, sir. We are not your enemy and never have been. You are being lied to and deceived.”

 

I set a thick packet of information on his desk. “There is no poison or other nasty tricks in this packet, sir. In this packet are the details of who is manipulating all of you and why. The varda are as dangerous and nasty as they come, sir. Read this information and then let us know when you are ready to listen to the truth. And yes, we are behind a lot of your problems. We have taken steps to try to stop this war and stop the killing. I would not attempt a nuclear strike on the dragons, sir. The magic they have would likely send the missiles right back at you or make them just vanish before they can explode. Have a nice day, sir. Should yu desire peace then we will gladly talk. Until then, goodbye.”

 

I created a portal gate back to the realm and walked through it as his secret service stormed his office looking to shoot the unwanted visitor he had. By the time they got in there, I was already gone. The portal gate closed behind me silently and smoothly as if it had never existed. Maybe he would listen to the truth but it was not likely. Still, I had to try. Larissa smiled and hugged me. “I'm not mad. You told him the truth and left him proof. Maybe we'll get lucky and he will stop this senseless war.”

 

After a quick change it was time to practice for a few hours and then relax and spend time with my daughter and my life mate. The past two weeks had been very busy and I missed them both. Taking three days off and spending it with my daughter and Jorand helped me remember what I was doing so much work for. Despite all the pain that the world had inflicted on me I still refused to quit. My life mate and Karissa remind that there is still good in this world worth fighting to save.

 

With my magic no at the very top of my limits I was stil not going to be able to do what I wanted to do to save everyone. In desperation I turned to the codex that I had finished reading several months ago in the hopes of finding something I had overlooked or forgotten. It surprised me to open the book and find new pages that I had not seen before. The information was amazing and even more difficult than anything I had tried before.

 

If this worked I might just be able to pull this off. I changed my mud filled diaper and then went back to reading the first of the new pages in the book. Jorand had to come and remind me to change and eat. The book had held me in it's spell as I devoured the information it offered up. Jorand laid me down and gently took care of removing my soaked diaper and then cleaning me up. This led to us making love again as if we had just bonded all over again.

 

A few hours later I was nursing Karissa when it hit me what the book was telling me to do. There was a way to handle almost god like levels of magic and not be destroyed by the amount of magic power flowing through me. I had to transform my body carefully to handle that much power. I spent the rest of the day with my daughter and Jorand. Larissa stopped by and borrowed the codex to check on something she had suspected. “It has new pages! This new stuff is super advanced and way beyond what I'm doing now! Do you think you can do it?”

 

Great Mother willing, maybe. It's dangerous and difficult. It frightens me a little bit to handle that much power but there is no other way. The book would not show me the information to me if I was not ready and it was not needed. I'm going to start the process tomorrow. I wanted to make love to Jorand and spend time with my little girl just in case something goes wrong Any word from the human nations president?”

 

“He tried another assault on the magic barrier separating the realm from the outside world. The magic never came close to hurting the barrier. The dampening field you added into the barrier worked perfectly to absorb most of the magic and to strengthen the barrier I admit, I was skeptical when you first started to enhance the barrier. I'm officially impressed now. It used to bounce the magic back at the caster but your new trick works better and no one is hurt by a backlash. I like it.”

 

The next morning I went back and read through the pages in the book one more time just to make sure I was not making a big mistake. I kissed Jorand and then kissed my daughter before stripping and settling into the healing waters of the pool. Entering the trance took a little longer as I was nervous but soon enough the magic flowed though my body to make the physical changes needed to be able to work with tnhe great magic I was going to have to channel and the amount I was going to have to hold inside my own body.

 

It took a great amount of focus to work the changes slowly and not rush through it. It was worth going slowly as it allowed the changes to be done without any pain to me as my entire body seemed to more energy than physical form at times. I wondered where the end process would eventually take me and if this what the Great Mother felt like when she first started to become what she is all those many billions of years ago.

 

Soon the process began and could no longer be stopped as it was now in the hands of the magic guided barely by my own mind as the changes began in earnest. My mind was thrown out of my body as the greatest of the changes started. With my body not needing my mind's full attention I was able to wander the world and then to go out beyond and into the infinite blackness of space in search of something that pulled me to it.

 

Finally, a world unlike any ever imagined before called to me with it's beauty. Looking around at it it was perfect for what I wanted to do if this worked. There was water and plant life everywhere. The location was nearly ten billion light years from earth and it would be a long time before humanity discovered it, if they lived through what was to come. A lot of the planet was not going to be able to support life without some heavy working over. Without thinking about it I se things in motion on this world and began the changes that would be needed to support humans, elves, dragons, and dwarves.

 

Time had no meaning here as I oversaw every step of the work carefully and sculpted the planet to conform to what the magic in me said it should be like. It took nearly a billion years to finish, but time had no meaning to me and who knows, perhaps this was all just a dream. A fanciful wish of what could be, Once finished I felt a presence next to me. It surprised me to see the Great Mother standing next to me and smiling.

 

“Such a wonder to see! My first time was nowhere this good! You have exceeded all my expectations with your caution and attention to detail! You have helped create a place that will be a new paradise for everyone! Now you see how things look to me and what it means to be the Great mother! You are still young though so go ahead and go back to your physical body for a while yet. One day you will be standing next to me and watching as another one takes up the mantle of Dragon Mage.”

 

Great Mother, what exactly is the Dragon Mage? It is more than I thought at first! The book, it feels like a guide to something. Am I wrong?” She laughed and hugged me. “You are so very insightful! It is a guide. The same one I used all those many billions of years ago. Before you ask, I have no idea who wrote it or why. I just know that when the circumstances are right that a new individual wil be chosen and then slowly brought into their power by the book and then eventually they become what you will become in a few thousand years.

 

You were picked at first by the book to set a few wrongs right and then it saw your desire to eventually become a healer to help everyone you could. You saw past the greed of many others and used your growing abilities to help heal as many as you could and to spread the healing information to everyone. It will be interesting to see what kind of world you help to guide into being when you arrive here in physical person. For now, go and be with your world and guide the few deserving to safety. I will see you in full when you do finally ascend the rest of the way then we will see what other wonders can be done.”

 

I woke up feeling like I had been torn apart, incinerated then reformed and put back together in a new form that was so much stronger than my old one had been. Jorand reached down and helped me out of the pool and then puled me to him in a passionate kiss. So much looked different to me now that it was like seeing a whole new world. The realm shined with a bright and healthy glow as a dark and ugly web of death tried to pierce the barrier to reach one of the last sources of health and destroy it.

 

Jorand looked me over and laughed a moment. I think you should look at yourself my dear sweet life mate. The change is amazing, except for the antlers.” I looked at my reflection in the pool after concentrating a moment so that the blinding low of magic in the pool did not blind me. I had grown again and was likely close to being seven feet tall. My eyes were a golden color now instead of the deep blue they had been after the last time the Great Mother had touched me. My complexion resembled that of an elf in her prime. My hair had changed as well and now hung down to my waist in a bright silver color.

 

Instead of walking on the ground my body seemed to prefer to walk inches above it. I was able to see the weave as never before. Every detail of it was visible to me and it was easy to manipulate now. I closed my eyes and listened for a moment. There was so much pain and sorrow coming from outside the realm it was almost overwhelming for a moment. Throughout all the darkness outside there were numerous spots of light from those who had refused to give up and stop dreaming of a better world. Those that flickered and began to lose hope saddened me.

 

With a thought I reached out and planted dreams and visions in their minds to inspire them to hold on just a little longer. There were some minds so black and with hatred and anger that I almost wanted to destroy them. Perhaps a vision of what things could be like if they changed would help. Their minds were so closed off that they could no be swayed to change. It was sad that so many wanted to listen to the dark whisperings of the varda.

 

I could maybe strengthen the great seal to buy more time but it would be a stopgap measure at best. They were coming and nothing could stop them from breaking through now that there was so much hate, anger, fear, and pain in the world. The great seal was going to fall in a matter of months and when it did the trap had best be ready to spring shut at just the right moment or all was lost.

 

I ended up spending a month getting used to my new abilities and learning to control what I was now able to do. In my desire to change the way the book had shown me, I had not fixed everything. The diapers remained for now. Everyone that saw me was amazed at the change. I looked nothing llike the woman they had first met. My parents stared in absolute shock for a few minutes then smiled and hugged me with just one emotion pouring through them. Love.

 

“I did not think anyone beyond Jorand would be worried when I started the change. It took a while to finish it and another side project that received high praise from the Great Mother herself. If everything works right then you will all get to see it soon enough. The Varda are getting stronger and within a month they will break the great seal and once again unleash their filth upon the world.

 

Before I can begin the move I need to do one last task. The silver wood trees are going to stay behind to maintain the barrier for a short time as you escape. This will keep the Varda and their short term allies busy and distracted long enough for me to do something else. When the time comes to leave you will not be able to take anything with you. The trip will be easy for you to make but the final destination is a place far from here. You can take only what you can wear on your body so choose carefully.”

 

With this done it was time for one last trip through the maze. It had to be done and I could not put nit off. I walked into the maze and found the numerous winding pathways as always. My path was guided by my desire to reach the destination at the heart of the maze and stand in judgment. If deemed worthy then all that I worked to accomplish would be one step closer to coming true. As I floated along I let my mind drift and examine my life. Every mistake and every intentional bit of harm I had ever done were dredged up tot he surface by me and examined with absolute merciless detail. Had I made amends for the past hurts I had made? Was it ever going to be enough?”

 

I opened my eyes and found my self standing before the silver wood trees at the heart of the maze. “Hello honored ones. I have returned for a judgment of not just a few actions, but on all my actions from birth to now.” It surprised me to feel the outpouring of love from them. “Dear sweet child of light. You have done so much to help others and still you seek to make amends for wrongs done a as a child that knew no better. You have more then earned our trust and love! For every minor wrong you committed you have done so much to make things right for not only yourself but for everyone!

 

You have been touched by us and helped, then in turn gone on to help so many others and to refuse to give in to pain and despair. You have touched countless lives and and still you want to help when anyone else would think they have done enough to earn a rest. The Great Mother has told us of your plan and has shown us what you have done.

 

You are more than worthy! We honor you as only the Great Mother has ever been honored before! We have a gift for you. Take this staff and carry with you to the other world. In this staff is all of our collected wisdom. In this way it will not be lost forever and long after we are gone, the wisdom will survive. We honor you and newly name you Great Healer.” In my hands was staff made of silver wood. It glowed slightly and was covered in runes that held a great deal of magic that would protect the wisdom inside the staff.

.

I don't like this parting! If there was only some other way that did not involve so much death!” That is why you are the Great Healer. You dislike the plan even though it is the only way. You have a pure soul and it cries at the though of so much death. Take the staff with our blessings and everyone will know of your name now. Send forth your call to those who still have hope and bring them in while there is still time.”

 

I exited the maze with the glowing staff in hand then went to the far speakers to have them help me sent out the call to those who who still dared to dream and hope for a better way of life that did not involve killing everyone. In the call was enough magic to allow those who felt the call to to come and be safe from the powers that would see them dead and their light snuffed out forever.

 

The far speakers stared in shock at me appearance and it took them a minute to recover. I take it that it is time for the final cry to all those outside to come in and to a new home?” “It is. This transformation you see is something you knew could happen and never told me. A good thing too. I would have laughed and been terrified. Join with me and send the word out to those who can hear it to come in from the cold to a place where they can be free to dream and hope freely once more.”

 

The far speakers sent the cry out and then gasped as the magic joined with it to move it to the outside world. When those who heard the cry were ready they would make their way here and when all had come the final journey to a new home would begin. The far Speakers all but collapsed after this. “Such power! We never dreamed anyone could be this powerful! Surely you have been guide by the Great Mother!” “I have met her and spoken with her as my body changed and my mind wandered far a field from here. What she has told me I do not think you are ready to yet hear. Like me, she is saddened that there is so much pain and suffering outside the realm.”

 

It took a few days for the first of those who heard the call to arrive. Some in need of healing as they had been attacked as they attempted to flee those who sought to destroy them. I greeted each one of them and did what I could to help them. The president was furious that I had gotten to him so easily. He played it off to the media as an attempted attack on him that his own secret service repelled to save his life.

 

A lot of individuals who did not agree with him were thrown into jail for refusing to agree with his policy of racism and an extinction agenda. They refused to stop believing in peace and to stop dreaming of a better world. For this they were jailed and dubbed as traitors to their own race. When they started vanishing from their jail cells without a trace it spooked the police and the military. It angered the president who renewed his attempts to attack all the other races and even a few other human nations that refused to side with him in the war.

 

Two months later the dragons had scared the president by flying over the white house and then banking and flying off without hurting anyone. They dropped fliers over numerous cities telling the people the truth about the attacks. The air force tried to catch up to them but every time the fighters got close they would fly through a gate portal and vanish before the fighters got within combat range.

 

They did leave the president a nice present at one of his war rallies. Let's just say that he did not come out smelling like a rose. He looked like a walking pile of fertilizer. People were shocked at what had happened. The rest of us laughed about it for hours. My uncle showed up two days later with a group of ten people he had helped to save from the police. I healed two of them right away as they had been shot escaping through the portal gate to here.

 

My uncle was shocked to see what I looked like now. He did not even recognize me until I spoke. “I was worried when you did not show up! I'm glad to see you here at last!” “Sarina? Wow! You said you had been going through some changes, but, wow! I didn't even recognize you! So, you ever find a nice guy and settle down?” I laughed. Uncle Jake, this is my life mate. Jorand, this is my crazy uncle that made the moonshine for the dwarves! “Any children yet?” “Actually, yes! A little girl I named Karissa.!

 

Mom and dad are watching her right now while Jorand land Larissa help get things ready for a big event coming up in a few days. We found out who was behind all the chaos and causing the war. We can delay them and slow them down enough for us to get everyone to safety and then it gets tricky after that. I'm hoping that when I get you guys out of here that I'll be able to follow shortly after that.”

 

“Where we going? I can help drive you guys there perhaps. I know a lot of the old back roads that are not watched.” “It's a nice little place about 10 billion light years from here. I rebuilt the world when I was undergoing my transformation. The Great Mother complimented me on the work on the world.” Great Mother? Who is that?” We all of us laughed at that question. “She's a goddess. She is the mother of the elven race! I'll have to tell you everything in a bit but first, I need to change. When the package says 8-12 pounds they are not kidding! That is all these things will hold!”

 

He laughed as I disappeared for a few minutes to get changed into a clean diaper real fast. I was delayed in getting back to him for a bit as some more people came through the portals and one of them was barely alive. They had beaten him badly and tried to get him to confess to crimes he did not do. It took me a few seconds with my heightened abilities to heal him.

 

Mom and dad came back and met my uncle with my daughter in their care. “He smiled at me when he saw me. “She's going to be a real looker when she gets older. So why does Jorand seem to be in such a rush?” “Him and his sister are the rulers of the realm. They have been very busy the past month getting everyone ready to move. Al the others have arrived and the last ones showed up a few minutes ago. I'll do a last quick check then it will be time to start things going.”

 

I think it must have been a hel of a shock when I used magic and did it without any gestures or words. The last of the lights in the darkness outside had either come here or been killed. It saddened me to have so few make it. I contacted the dragon council and then the dwarves. “The last of the holdouts have shown up now. Lets get the gate open and get everyone heading to the new home!

 

My uncle looked at me. “Just how long have you been able to do magic?” “Quite a while now. I've been learning quite a bit over the last several years and getting better at it. Let me get the portals open and get everyone going through them. Jorand kissed me and let me hold our daughter for a few minutes before he led the first group through to the new world. I was worried I would never see them again.

 

I talked to my uncle and he asked me numerous questions as the story went on. “So, you saved a silver wood tree and it gave you the face tattoos and allowed you to have children?” “Yes! It was crazy but I was able to have Karissa!” “So just exactly how did you learn to do this type of magic “ “You remember mom telling you about that odd book that refused to stay in the library? It's that exact same book! I've always been able to see and feel magic and to see auras and the book helped to teach me how to use magic the way a lot of the really powerful dragons do. That book is old and even the Great Mother does not know who wrote it!”

 

It took my parents, Larissa and me almost three hours to tell him everything that had happened to me since he saw me last time when I was nine years old. When he heard about what happened to Courtney he was surprised I did not let her just get used a sex slave or maybe get fed to a giant snake or something. “I don't hate her. I still wish I could have gotten her to listen to reason but no such luck. I have worked hard to get to this point and to be able to heal people. I've wanted to be a healer for a long time and went to school for it. I never got to finish my first year as things went crazy at that point, but in the end it seems to have worked out.”

 

Two weeks later the last group of people made it through the portal gate. Larissa and I were the last two non humans on the world now. The last of our spies and saboteurs had left through the gate portal to the new world. I hugged Larissa and then closed the portal gate completely. I tried one last time to get the president to listen to reason and stop the senseless war. He refused to listen to me and did not believe the truth that had been given to him.

 

“Sir, you will never be able to stop us. We don't want a to fight you and never have. We have no standing army to fight you with. We do not have weapons of mass destruction either. The largest force we have are the gate guards who are members of the royal guard. We have only got 12 people for the royal guard and that's it. We are not looking for a fight, sir.”

 

He sneered at me and pulled a gun on me. “Fuck you bitch!” He pulled the trigger and the bullet barely cleared the barrel. It made it about an inch from the barrel end and fell to the ground. “That wont work on us, sir. I had hopes that you would be willing to negotiate peace with us but now we see that it is not going to happen.”

 

“I'll find all of you freaks and end you! There is nowhere on this world you can hide!” “We are not hiding. We are simply where you can not reach us is all. Goodbye mister president. May your own god have mercy on your soul, sir.” Larissa and I walked through the portal as numerous hidden snipers fired on us with predictable results. The bullets all fell to the ground a few inches from us and hurt no one.

 

The president was pissed when his forces could find no one to attack. The dragon nesting grounds were empty. All of the dwarven underground cities were vacant as well. The mines were caved in. The forges were quiet and cold for the first time in over a thousand years. There were no traps anywhere but there was no sign of any life anywhere.

 

Larissa and I watched the reports come into the president. The dragon nation is empty sir. We checked every place they could be and have found nothing. They all seem to have just up and vanished somehow.” “It's the same with the dwarven cities, sir. Their mines are caved in and their forges are cold. We have gone all the way down to the very bottom levels of their city and there is no one there. Like the dragons, they have just dissapeared.”

 

“My men have tried every spell and conventional attack on the barrier protecting the elven nation with no luck. It is my belief that all of them are being sheltered by those pointy eared freaks! The only thing strong enough to get through their barrier would be a nuclear blast! We found the portal location they had hidden from us and used to vanish back to their wretched realm! It's in the peace garden at that college that tried that failed experiment to get them to cooperate with everyone.”

 

“The Gray academy is also deserted sir. We checked every bit of that place and found nothing. I think you're right about where they are hiding. If we don't hit them hard and fast then they will come at us in force and it will be next to impossible to stop them.”

 

the president stopped to think a moment then sighed. We can blame the nuke at the college on those filthy pointy eared vermin. We tried to get them to meet us for peace and there reply was to use a nuclear bomb on us.” Clear your troops out and then let me know when they are clear.” Two hours later Larissa and I opened the portal and got ready to make a run for it. I sent a message to the president to try one last time to get him to consider peacefully resolving this.

 

“Mr. President, you don't have to do this! We can settle this peacefully! No one else needs to die!” He ignored us and immediately turned the key on his suitcase system that controlled the nuclear weapons. “Burn in Hell you filthy vermin!” It would take about 30 seconds for the first weapon to reach the barrier and then all hell would break loose. I heard the varda cheering as we drained the last of the magic from the seal and let them out into the world.

 

Larissa and I ran like hell through the portal gate as a blinding flash behind us told us that the first weapon had just exploded over the barrier. The next detonation would destroy the barrier and the realm. With the silver wood staff in hand I barely made it through the portal about two seconds ahead of the blast wave. We slammed the gate shut and dissipated it for good.

 

The Varda came screaming into the world with a sadistic glee. The last of them made it to the world just as the first nuclear weapon detonated 5000 feet over their heads and vaporized them and everything within 5 miles. The Varda ceased to exist. A mushroom cloud was their grave marker. The portal to the shadow lands was blown shut by the blast and nothing else was coming through.

 

The limited use of nuclear weapons caused a massive wild magic storm world wide. The storm lasted for nearly a year before finally dissipating. Very few people survived the storm and the fallout as well. It was a mess of a world left behind and we felt sorry for those who lived through that nightmare.

 

Larissa and I rolled to the ground to put out the smoldering spots on our clothing. I rolled over and emptied my stomach of what had been in it. Larissa was in just as bad of a shape. It took me a few minutes to heal us both of the radiation poisoning and burns. The blast had blinded us both so that had to be fixed as well. A fraction of a second slower and we would not have made it.

 

Larissa and I rested for three days after that. Our life mates took care of us as we recovered. We had both channeled massive amounts of magic opening the seal and then creating the gate and shielding ourselves from a nuclear blast. It had worked perfectly and we had lived through it, barely. My parents and my uncle talked with Jorand every day I was down resting from almost complete exhaustion. The last 20 days had not allowed Larissa or me to get much rest.

 

When I finally got out of bed the first thing I did was take off my diaper and throw it into the air where I vaporized it. I redid the nerves in that part of my body and restored my control. That was the last time I would need a diaper. Jorand teased me that I looked cute in a diaper. I threatened to make him wear one for a month if he teased me about it again.

 

The new world was loved by everyone that came over with us. I was going through the pockets of my old jeans and found the forgotten seed of the silver wood tree. Jorand saw the seed and smiled. “I say we plant it right at the very spot we came into this world! When it grows it will be nice to see and we can take pleasure in knowing that we saved at least one silver wood tree.

 

A bunch of people showed up to watch us plant the tree at the very point the gate opened. The tree grew strong and healthy over the centuries. I outlived Jorand who passed away at the age of 213. Larissa died at the age of 230. My daughter lived to be 998 before she passed away. I'm currently 10,00 years old and don't look a day over 23.

 

One thing that surprised me was the codex vanishing one day and no one here on this world having any clue where it went. That was fine with me. There was someone else out there somewhere that it felt needed to learn and take care of something important. My magic grew stronger and stronger by the day. Everyone that I knew was now long gone. I said my goodbyes to everyone and told them that I would likely return some day when they least expected it.

 

My body could no longer contain the power so it was time for one more push to evolve again. I closed my eyes, relaxed and let my body fade away. I opened my eyes and found myself standing right next to the Great Mother. “You really surprised me my dear. You stayed far longer than I ever did. Your teachings live on and the silver wood trees grow on a new world. Your staff you left behind seems to have decided it likes being with you.” I looked and in my right hand was the silver wood staff.

 

“So, where do you suppose the book went?” She laughed. It's gone off to shale up another life. They are in for one hell of a ride as you used to say, Larissa.” I laughed and agreed with her. “I have a feeling it will turn up somewhere and surprise us both. Now that I'm her next to you, you can teach me what I need to know about being a goddess and hope I don't screw it up.” She laughed and hugged me. “You got a deal! It's so nice to finally have someone to talk with!”

 

END

That's it for this story good folks.  It has been a crazy roller coaster ride to the end.  I hope everyone enjoyed it.  This story took a lot of twists and turns and jumped off the original plat lines to become something much better.  I have an idea for a possible sequel to this but nothing set in stone just yet.  Give me a few days to throw some ideas around in my head and see if I can grab some more magic to write another one.  Thank you all for commenting and asking questions.  I welcome all comments and questions.  Thank you guys for reading this crazy and unusual story to the end.

[Clr224]

Great story.  I look forward to your next one. 

[Drownedinp]

Loved your story! I am almost sad to think it's over. But what a Ride!

[Emily Ruby Rose]

i loved it. it had me crying at the end.

[widowmaker]

Thank you al for the feedback.  I am glad you enjoyed the story.  I am working on another one right now and am only about four pages into it.  In this one we Santa putting Barney and Jar Jar Binks into a death match in a cage.  Only one will emerge as the victor!  NOT!  I think a few out there are likely thinking that would be funny to see though.  My next story takes place here on Earth again and magic is involved.  A new race will show up in this one.  The idea came while reading a manga so hopefully in a few days I will have something worth posting.  spoiler alert, it is a sequel of sorts to Sarina.  See you all again when I have the first chapter ready to post in a few days.

[Jayme]

Widowmaker,

You have once again enraptured me in your story. Sarina had so many chances to give into the darkness and abuse her power yet she remained pure of heart and kept her compassion. The Great Mother has a new protege who is eager to learn!

I eagerly anticipate your next story my friend.

[Sarah Penguin]

That was a good story.  But you kind of blew up  the earth so put it back

[widowmaker]

I only scorched it lightly!  It is still intact.  The next story on this slightly scorched Earth is called Harold.  I have a third one I am writing currently but it is taking time with arthritis acting up in one hand.  Hand has been broken a few times and now years later I pay the price for it.  lol.  Hope to have another story ready in a few weeks.  I got super lucky and found copies of one of my old stories on a back up drive as well.  The diapering of Liz.  Might have to start working on that one as well and eventually get it rewritten again and posted.

 

Thank you all for reading and commenting on this story as it was being written.  There will be more stories written in this scorched Earth setting.

[Sarah Penguin]

1 hour ago, widowmaker said:

I only scorched it lightly!  It is still intact.  The next story on this slightly scorched Earth is called Harold.  I have a third one I am writing currently but it is taking time with arthritis acting up in one hand.  Hand has been broken a few times and now years later I pay the price for it.  lol.  Hope to have another story ready in a few weeks.  I got super lucky and found copies of one of my old stories on a back up drive as well.  The diapering of Liz.  Might have to start working on that one as well and eventually get it rewritten again and posted.

 

Thank you all for reading and commenting on this story as it was being written.  There will be more stories written in this scorched Earth setting.

Hope you feel better soon I know chronic pain isn't fun.Don't push though!