Author's Note: My apologies to everyone for not posting last weekend, I was out of town. I hope you enjoy this week's portion of my tale. Enjoy!
Chapter 16.
"Now? But it's so sudden!" Siesta exclaimed as she clutched her precious cookbook against her breast to protect it from the magical downpour created from half the lake getting pitched into the atmosphere.
"That's my girl." Saito's mother said hugging the girl close. "That'll keep that son of mine in line."
Saito's father simply looked at him with the 'Are you sure about this son?' look that all father's master as they watch their sons doing incredibly stupid things all their life.
"Yes, we have to leave now. Henrietta has to get home immediately... and... I want to be back at the academy... for tonight." Louise said softly as she blushed madly.
"I'll help draw the circle." Tabitha offered. "The sooner we're home, the sooner the rest of us get a shot."
"I'll pack our things." Siesta said running for the inn.
"Don't forget my kimono!" Henrietta called after her.
"You'd better hurry." Grandfather said quickly to Saito. "Some of the older villagers know of the legends about the temple, but that won't keep someone from calling the cops or the military about an explosion that large. This place will be crawling with peopl in a few hours."
"I'll go prepare some rooms." Saito's mother said. "Reporters need places to sleep too."
"All you ever think about is money." Saito's father said as he fell in behind his wife. "Get going son, and remember your way home next time."
"Thanks Dad. We'll come visit when you've got grandchildren on the way." Saito chuckled.
"If we can get away that quickly." Henrietta added enigmatically.
"I've got our things!" Siesta said sprinting back in record time, dressed once again in her customary maid clothing.
Tabitha and Louise worked quickly to draw the circle outlined in grandmother's notes. The two practiced magi then gathered everyone into the center as Louise began chanting.
"Thank you for everything grandfather!" Saito shouted to his grandfather as the old man hobbled away from the glowing circle just as sirens could be heard in the distance.
"Just remember son, the most powerful weapon can't be held here." The old man said lifting his hand; the same hand which Saito's rune was on. "It's in here." he said sagely putting his hand over his heart. "Take care of your girls, and they'll take good care of you."
As Louise finished the incantation the world seemed to blur as a dark hole opened before them in the air. "This should be it."
"Should be? What if we're wrong? We could die." Siesta pointed out.
"Then we'll die together." Saito said looking down into Louise's eyes and taking her hand.
All the other girls latched onto Saito as well, and as the five young people stepped through the portal they faced their future for the first time as one.
"Saito I don't think we're in Japan anymore." Louise said fearfully as she stared down at the spear point leveled at her eyes.
"Obviously not." Saito growled as he glared at the armed guards. It looked like some sort of temple and there were people with pointy ears everywhere. "Elves, I presume?"
The guards continued to glower at the intruders into their holy place as Louise looked around desperately. "Do you think you can keep them off me long enough to open another portal? Not without a decent sword, but if these guys don't back off you girls this instant I'll be giving it a try anyway."
Saito looked ready to show off some of his martial prowess when a bright glow appeared above them.
"What now?" Siesta cried.
"I don't think the elves are responsible. Look they're running." Tabitha pointed out.
Elves were scrambling away as the five young people were surrounded in the nimbus of green light. "Dark portals and now glowing lights, what else is going to happen today?" Henrietta moaned.
Louise squinted her eyes shut as the light suddenly flashed, and when she opened them she saw... Old Osmond.
"It worked? Oh... um... I mean... See there? It worked!" Osmond piped officiously to the crowd of people gathered around in the castle chapel.
"But it took you five tries sir." Malicorne pointed out plaintively.
"Shut it boy. You ever seen anyone pull of a blind summoning like that?" Osmond huffed.
"But did you really need my panties to finish the spell headmaster?" Tifa whined as she tugged her dress down self consciously.
"Of course child, I don't play around when it comes to my magic." Osmond said wiping blood from his upper lip from the effort of wielding such powerful magic.
"We're HOME!" Louise shouted.
"It worked?" Duke Valliere said bursting into the room. "Louise!"
The man came in and immediately regained his composure. "It is good you are unharmed, Louise. Now, your majesty, I think there are things which require your attention."
Henrietta sighed and looked down at the inn's guest robe she still hadn't changed out of. "Let me guess an army on the doorstep right? And these were such comfortable clothes."
"Oh Henrietta, it was awful! Half the nobles rebelled when the bishop said that I was on the throne." Tifa wailed as she hugged Henrietta for support.
"Only half? You're doing pretty good then. The other half probably want to marry you." Henrietta noted clinically.
"So where have you been majesty? And what are those strange robes you're wearing?" Bishop Madolene interjected.
"They've been to Saito's world." Osmond replied knowingly.
"How... how did you know?" Saito asked in shock.
"I figured it out because of these." Osmond said pulling out the pink and blue flowers which were Louise and Saito's keepsakes from their time in Albion.
"The flowers? But..." Ms. Longueville asked suspiciously.
"Those flowers are part of an ancient magical rite." Osmond said pointing to them as he gave them back to Louise and Saito. "Did the two of you do anything special while you were in Albion."
"Yeah... did you?" The Duke said menacingly at Saito.
"Well, when I thought I was going to be sacrificing myself to save Henrietta, I wanted to know what it was like to be married, so Saito and I had a little play service in the church where we exchanged vows." Louise said uneasily.
"You WHAT?" Duke Valliere boomed.
"That must have been it then." Osmond agreed seriously. "Even simple vows under the right conditions can activate the magic of the flowers and bind two people together forever."
"That's an elven marriage ritual." Tifa said seriously. "Is that why you were asking about that book headmaster?"
"Yes. It seems that Louise and Saito were married that day." Osmond affirmed.
"Didn't happen." Bishop Madolene denied. "The crown and the church do not recognize such unions as valid. Saito is our queen's husband."
"But bishop... the service..." Henrietta began.
"Did you say 'I do'?" Bishop Maolene pressed.
"Well... yes... eventually..."
"Did he say 'I do' too..." The old man continued.
"Well yeah..."
"Then did you kiss him?" Madolene demanded. Henrietta's shy blush was the only answer she could give. "See? Married. I'm not having all my work to get a husband for our queen go up in smoke just because some elf made up a silly cantrip with a couple of tulips. No offense, milday."
"None taken." Tifa graciously accepted.
"We're... married?" Saito said uneasily.
"Well, either way, it was enough of a ceremony to bind their souls together through magic. A union, I might add that the scepter recognized. It's is designed to lash out against lies and deception after all." Osmond continued.
"That's right! It used to be a tradition for nobles to swear fealty to the king while holding on to his scepter. I wonder why the stopped?" Henrietta asked innocently.
"Probably fried too many nobles." Tabitha replied cynically.
"We're MARRIED?" Saito repeated.
"So how did we end up on Saito's world?" Louise continued.
"The rune on Saito's hand is capable of teleporting him out of harm's way if necessary to save his life. You'll remember it happened once when he was fighting that army. The power of the scepter probably activated the rune and sent him somewhere safe... namely, home. You girls holding on to him got pulled along for the ride." Osmond explained.
"That was months ago..." Saito grated.
"Well, that's all very educational... but your majesty, the army? They need you right now. There's four powerful lords preparing to storm the castle unless we surrender and your presence...
"THAT. IS. IIIIIIIIIIT!" Saito bellowed at the top of his lungs. "GUICHE! MY SWORD!"
Guiche was there in an instant. "Right here with you buddy."
"Where are you going?" Henrietta asked as Saito stormed toward the door.
"I'm the queen's bloody champion aren't I?" Saito growled as he strode purposefully toward the chapel doors. "SIESTA!"
Gone was the soft voice of a youth unsure of his destiny. The voice Saito used on Siesta had become one of man on a mission. "Yes, master." Siesta quivered adoringly. It turned Louise's stomach to see her scraping for him like that.
"Get a coach ready and get your mistress to the academy. I want her bathed, naked, and in our bed with clean sheets on it when I get there." Saito commanded.
All of a sudden, Louise started quivering too. Saito was going alpha dog on her and it was churning her insides like butter. "But... but... Saito..."
"Now see here." Duke Valliere said getting in between Saito and the door. A distinction shared by no other sane male in the room. "You're married to..."
"Your daughter. I'm married to Henrietta too. I married Tabitha while I was back in my world. And I intend to marry Siesta just as soon as Bishop Madolene finds some other culture he doesn't agree with. I have been married to your daughter for months now, and I haven't gotten the chance to do a BLOODY thing because of this army or that army getting in the way, and I'm sick of it. First I am going to go down there and beat some sense into these rebels, and then I'm going to go home to the academy and sleep with my wife." Saito ranted.
"But her older sisters aren't married!" Valliere retorted.
"Then I'll marry them next!" Saito raged irrationally. Louise gulped at the idea that Saito as he was right now could probably tame her eldest sister. "Than after I get done making Luoise mine and mine alone I'm going to come back here and get Henrietta pregnant so the nobility will leave her alone. Then I'm going to raise an army an go kill that jerk on the throne of Gallia that made Tabitha cry and I'm going to put her on the throne and get HER pregnant."
"And then you'll marry me?" Siesta meekly interjected.
"Yes, I am." Saito said fiercely. "I'll need you by my side when the rest of my wives aren't able to walk."
The last comment elicited a simultaneous gulp from three young women who suddenly realized they weren't quite as well prepared for the man they'd brought into their lives as what they'd originally thought. Siesta was gushing. "Yes master!"
"Saito..." Louise started.
"Shut up and get in the carriage Louise." Siesta ordered as she got behind her and started pushing her towards the door.
"But there's an army out there!" Louise complained.
"They're about to have bigger problems."
The elven high priest stared at the spot where the five humans had been standing. The markings on the staff had been unmistakable. A powerful void mage had come into their world. News would be spreading to all the lands where the elves dwelt. Dark times were coming.
"This is terrible your grace. The wards we placed should have prevented a human from ever being able to teleport into the temple here." The younger priest exclaimed.
"The only way they could have bypassed the ward would be to have teleported in from the other world." The high priest agreed. Such a notion was absurd though. No mage had ever come from the otherworld. "That or they managed to figure out the key to the ward."
"There's no way they could have figured it out!" The younger priest lamented.
The older priest nodded worriedly. "Besides, where could they even get an elven virgin's panties?"
A/N: I love panty humor. lol Next week should be the conclusion to my little story. It's been a long time in coming I know. I started this story a long time ago, and I'm kind of sad to see it end. Hope you are all well. Until next week!