Tony and the Buccaneers: Tony Johnson Novel 01 Page 6

  She shook her head, “I don’t think I understood any of that.”

  I nodded, and didn’t try to explain further.

  We reached the building and went inside, a part of me wondered if it would be for the last time. My conversation with Melinda had given me hope. I also realized I’d never once thought about how gorgeous she was, so maybe I was getting used to all the beautiful women around me too. Well, until then I hadn’t.

  Caroline is the one who spoke.

  “We have discussed you with captain Melinda’s crew, and although we have some reservations, we’ve decided to welcome you here. We hope we can be allies and you’ll continue to help us with our mission.”

  She waved her hand, and I felt her magic reach out. I almost stopped it, but I felt it’s intent as it reached for the bracelets, which promptly fell into two pieces. Melinda picked them up, and put them on a side table.

  I rubbed my wrists, it was really good to be free of them. I suppressed a frown as well, their magic seemed… discordant somehow. All except the elf’s that is. I also had no idea what that meant, so I smiled lightly.

  “Thank you, I plan to help with things, if you let me.”

  Mary, or whatever the elf’s name really was, said, “Of that you can be sure, Melinda has requested you join her on her next mission. It may be some time before they go back out, which will give you time to become acclimated to our community, as well as learn some magic.”

  Matthew, the small but powerful wind wielder said, “I will instruct you. Mostly it involves practice, but I’ll teach you the basics of spell work, and furnish you with your first spell book. I’ll also give you an idea of what all the elements are capable of.”

  I nodded to him, both surprised and grateful. Also… wary. Something felt off, and it was that discordance.

  The only thing holding me back from true relief was that discordant feeling, and the fact that everything was going well. I was used to getting suspicion from these people, and I wondered what Melinda’s crew had said to justify such a change. Still, I wasn’t stupid enough to be confrontational when I was getting my way.

  “Thank you.”

  Matthew smiled, “No time like the present, by the time your first lesson is finished, your place in the town will be ready, and we can enjoy evening meal.”

  I nodded, and followed him out, and once more toward the beach, wondering what was in store…

  Chapter Nine

  We walked further than I’d expected. Down the beach and around the bend of the island shore to an out of the way small building.

  Matthew must have seen the questioning look on my face, because he explained.

  “It’s better to experiment with magic where it won’t do too much damage if it gets out of control.”

  I remembered the water spout I’d seen, and understood why that would be, and I just nodded. Strangely, his magic was back to normal, and it no longer buzzed discordantly. I was curious, but I decided not to ask about it. Chances were that they wouldn’t know anyway, since they couldn’t feel magic at all.

  I’d figure it out, eventually.

  We entered the building, and walked into a room that had very little inside of it. Just a stone bench, and a stone table. There was magic which surrounded the room, and it was easy to reason out its purpose, which was to simply contain any magic done in the room. He reached into his robes, pulled out a small book, and held it out to me. I took it, and curiously opened it up. It wasn’t in English, and I couldn’t read a word of it.

  “That book has some fairly simple spells in it. Lights, basic wards, things of that nature. Based on the look on your face, I’d say a lot of our time together will be spent studying the language before you’ll even be able to try.”

  He frowned thoughtfully for a second, “I have a primer you can borrow, I’ll have it delivered to your house. You can’t practice magic there, it’s against the law until you’re certified, which just means until we’re sure you won’t blow anything up by accident.”

  “Is that very likely?”

  He shrugged, “Magic takes focus, imagine a nascent fire wielder lighting a candle with their magic, but someone barges into the room and startles, or even scares them. The magic obeys thoughts and desires, even panicked and ill thought ones. A certain discipline and dedication to focus is required to prevent accidents.”

  I nodded, I wasn’t all that worried about that though. I wasn’t a stranger to meditation and focusing the mind. Granted, it was a different kind of focus, but avoiding being distracted and going off task is a big part of the fighting disciplines I knew.

  “That makes sense, so what do we do today, since I can’t read.”

  He smiled, “See if you can connect to my magic, and channel it. I can show you a few tricks with air.”

  The rest of the afternoon was rather interesting. He taught me how to form and disperse little tornados, but probably the coolest thing I learned was how to fly. It was kind of obvious in hindsight, but if I could compress air, I could have it hold me up off the ground, and move me around. Of course, I only flew a foot above the ground, we were indoors.

  There was also the drawback that I’d need to be in range of an air wielder to channel the magic, which was a couple of hundred yards or so, otherwise the magic would be cut off. I realized that meant I wouldn’t be flying very often. I learned other things of course, how to send enemies flying, and even compress air tight enough to harm, or even impale an enemy.

  That more than anything else sobered me, this wasn’t a game.

  Every single wielder was a walking weapon of mass destruction, and wielders were about a quarter of the population. Here, in sorceress haven, that percentage was closer to ninety-five percent. It quite frankly amazed me that the city was standing. I tried to imagine the people back on my earth having that much power, and the very idea of it was frightening.

  After an hour or so, our training ended.

  “That’s good for a first day,” he said neutrally, “We’ll work on it more tomorrow. It’s time for evening meal, from what I understand your apartment should be ready, and there are two young ladies rather eager to see you.”

  I cheered up at that idea, and we left the heavily warded stone building, and walked back to the town. I decided Matthew wasn’t all that bad a guy, and he seemed sincere about teaching me spell craft.

  He said, “You did good, there isn’t much else I can really teach you, raw manipulation of the four elements is something you need to practice. Maybe I’ll find others so you can get an idea of the other three as well, but mostly we’ll be focusing on teaching you spells.”

  “I understand,” I assured him.

  We entered the town, and I looked around curiously, this was my first time actually walking through it, and deep inside the town. I got a few nervous glances, but nothing too bad.

  He gestured to the right, “This is the part of town for single men and women, the houses are smaller, but you’ll move to a bigger place if you ever become attached.”

  I shrugged, “I’m sure it will be fine, thanks.”

  I let him lead me, despite the fact I now felt both Lia and Sharon together up ahead, I could have gotten there with my eyes closed. Still, I thought it better if I didn’t advertise my magic so much, people were still nervous.

  He nodded, “Right in there, enjoy your evening Tony, expect that primer to arrive in an hour or so.”

  “Thanks again Matthew,” I said as I stepped into my new, but very small home…

  It wasn’t that small, no smaller than a one-bedroom apartment anyway, and I couldn’t complain because it was free. After a few days in a closet sized room on a ship, and a night in a shack, it was downright luxurious. The front room was rather large actually, and included the kitchen and living room all in one. There was a stove, with one of those magical heating elements, as well as a small flat griddle on top. There was also some comfortable looking furniture, and a couple of magical lights.

  Through a do
or across from the front door, was what I suspected was the bedroom.

  None of that was important to me in that moment though, because I couldn’t take my eyes off the two ladies that stood in front of me. They both wore smiles, but they were strained and unsure.

  Sharon was in a light blue dress, which was fairly conservative and only hinted at the curves I knew lay below from the leather armor she usually wore. It really brought out her light blue eyes, and her beautiful strawberry blonde hair which was usually up, which now cascaded down her back, with some of it resting on her shoulders. She was… incredible.

  Lia looked amazing too, her light flowing brown hair down as well, and she had on a slightly riskier red dress which definitely caused my breathing to increase a bit.

  Our meeting wasn’t as I’d imagined it, I’d expected it to be easy, but it was a bit awkward, the way their smiles were strained, and the silence that went on for just a few heartbeats too long. Finally, I spoke.

  “Good to see you both, you two look beautiful.”

  Lia bit her lip nervously, but her smile got a little more genuine, though still nervous.

  “I’m sorry Tony, for the way I treated you the other day I mean.”

  I wasn’t sure what to say to that, “I think I understand, I’m not worried about it. If things are… okay between us all I mean?”

  After we stared at each other for a few seconds, I began to wonder where the fuck my Sharon and Lia was, and who the hell these two were, when Sharon finally spoke.

  “We cooked dinner, part of the apology? I’m sorry too, I wanted to come see you but I had to follow orders.”

  Her words were light, but in a calculated way, and her smile still strained. I made a comparison in my mind that I hated myself for, it had sounded like a suspect’s carefully practiced response to a question. She was very nervous.

  There was none of the openness and friendliness I’d become accustomed to from them. Especially from Sharon, who’d always been the more open and trusting of the two. Worse, I could feel their magic roiling dissonantly, just like the council’s magic had when they’d welcomed me to the community, though I still had no idea what that indicated, I’d decided it couldn’t be a good sign.

  I also decided to hold my shit together and pay attention, I needed to figure things out, not lose my temper.

  I gestured to the table, “It smells great, shall we?”

  Ironically, now that they were here, I felt more alone than I ever had in that shack on the beach.

  The ladies sat down, but I took a minute to wash my hands. I was pleasantly surprised by the running water, which was powered by a spell.

  Curious, and wanting to break the ice a bit, I asked, “Where does this water come from?”

  Sharon said softly, “There’s a large cistern that the town draws from. Water wielders usually need to fill it once every week or two.”

  “There’re no spells for that?”

  She shook her head when I turned as I dried my hands.

  “No. We have spells to move the water, but none that can strip out the salt and other impurities, that takes a wielder.”

  Huh, sea water? Interesting. Desalinization wasn’t hard back home, but it was prohibitive energy wise, here they just had a water wielder do it. It also explained why there hadn’t been any water rationing on the ship, they didn’t have to carry fresh water, they could just pull more from the sea at need.

  I sat down, and made an effort to smile myself.

  “This looks great.”

  It really did, it was a seafood dish in a white sauce.

  The meal was a bit better, the atmosphere between me and the ladies I mean, but not by much. It was like they relaxed a little despite themselves, but were still nervous. I decided to just go with the flow, eventually whatever the problem was would be revealed. I got the idea I wouldn’t get anywhere with direct questions.

  Something was bothering them, obviously. The agitated inharmonious magic gave it away, but even without that all the signs were there. I also considered the idea that it wasn’t about me at all. Unless they were really freaked out by me now, after the battle, it could be the driving force behind whatever was going on was the council, or perhaps Captain Melinda?

  Regardless, the food was good, but the ambience was almost painful, and our conversation stilted and inane. Like a bad first date. Here I was without a cell phone to pretend I’d been called away.

  When we finished up dinner, Lia got up and then walked around the table and leaned down. To my surprise, she hugged me, and I actually felt her body, and her magic, relax.

  She whispered, “I really am sorry about the other day.”

  I felt relieved, and a bit worried, because it sounded like the first honest thing she’d said all night.

  She stood up and smiled, “I need to run, duties and all that.”

  I frowned, the discordance was back. What the fuck was it?

  “Alright, goodnight Lia. Thanks for coming by, and for dinner.”

  I stood up, and escorted her to the door, and then turned back to Sharon.

  Sharon smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes.

  “I can stay a little longer.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sharon stood and walked over to one of the couches in a way that could only be called seductive, and sat down slowly. It felt off.

  “Come join me?” she asked with a raised eyebrow, and a flirty smile that looked sickly to my discerning gaze.

  What the fuck? The idea of being seduced and sleeping with the young nubile woman turned me on a lot, but whoever this person was, it wasn’t my Sharon.

  Her smile faltered when I didn’t move, and I finally walked over. I sat down, on the other couch. I’d had about enough of this.

  “What’s going on tonight?” I asked rather bluntly.

  She frowned, but couldn’t meet my eyes as she asked, “What do you mean?”

  I snorted.

  “You’ve both been stiff tonight, and now this,” I waved a hand to indicate her and the couch, “So what’s really going on here?”

  She sighed and looked down, and her voice was low, unsure, and regretful.

  “I really did want to come here tonight, I missed you, and I do like you.”

  “But?” I prompted.

  “I’m not ready for a commitment with you, I don’t know you well enough. I don’t know how it is where you come from, but when a man and woman,” she blushed, and then charged on, “sleep together, it means they are bonded. Married. The magic forms a connection.”

  I was surprised to hear that, I supposed one night stands were rare in this place then. I shook my head at that thought, I was never one for no-strings sex anyway.

  “Then why the seduction,” I stuck with my blunt questions, they seemed to be working.

  She blushed, and shifted uncomfortably, and as she spoke her magic went from roiling to a churning storm.

  “The council.”

  I frowned, thunderstruck, “They… ordered you to seduce me?”

  She shrugged, “They are worried about you, and from talking to the crew they know you like Lia and I. They felt it would be best to tie you to the community in some significant way. I… do like you, a lot actually, it’s just really fast. I… I’m willing, if you’ll have me.”

  She looked at me with a bizarre mix of nervousness and reluctant desire. She actually looked very alluring and sexy when she bit her bottom lip.

  “What else, there’s more isn’t there?”

  She nodded, “It’s your power of course, that’s why they want you safely bonded to secure your loyalty. It’s also… our children would have a good chance of being what you are as well.”

  Fuck, talk about awkward. I’d like to say I wasn’t tempted at all, but that would be a lie. Sharon was… breathtaking, and the idea of claiming her tonight was alluring, despite the awkwardness of the night. Based on what I’d learned, I knew now that she was a virgin, I could make her mine.

  Fortunat
ely for my soul, my anger at the council for trying to whore out one of theirs to secure my loyalty far outweighed the temptation. In fact, I froze in place, because I had the desire to go kick their asses. More than just for her sake, I also felt betrayed.

  Not by the council, betrayed by her. The council couldn’t betray me, because I truly couldn’t give a shit what they did.

  I stood up and her eyes widened a little, and then I sat next to her and wrapped my arms around her.

  I said softly, “I care about you too, but we’ll do no such thing until you’re ready to do it. I want you to leave, and I don’t want you coming back unless you want to. If the council has a problem with that, I’ll deal with it.”

  Three things happened then.

  One, she melted into me. Two, she started to sob. Three, her magic cleared like a dissipating storm.

  She whispered, “Please forgive me.”

  I froze, completely confused. Except, there was a growing dread in my stomach that told me I’d just been played. Completely and totally. The reason for that was the council was headed this way.

  “For what?” I asked rather coldly.

  She sighed, and stood, “They… ordered me to do it. They’ll explain when they get here. I really do care about you Tony, but I had no choice, please don’t hate me.”

  Ordered her to do what? Seduce me, or pretend to seduce me awkwardly in order to… what? This fucking world was insane. Her voice had been scared, but also the sincerest she’d been all night, plus her magic was calm.

  I frowned, a glimmer of an idea in my mind. The discordant magic, what if that was when a person was being deceptive, or lying? Which meant, this whole night was some kind of test, along with a mind fuck, because I just watched blankly as Sharon left right before the council walked in.

  Her deception had been the awkwardness, she’d acted stilted in order to get me to confront her, just so she could reluctantly make her shocking offer… Just to see if I would what? Take it? Why?

  My mind was spinning, and I had a sick feeling in my stomach, what had they done, and for god’s sake why?