In The Beginning, Gail Daley [red white royal blue .TXT] 📗

it was her turn, a great peace settled on Rebecca her as Captain Mistrian spoke the ancient words of commitment between a man and a woman. She looked into Andre's eyes as she held the out man's bracelet, and he slipped his left hand through it, holding hers with his right hand for her to do the same. When they grasped each other's hand, and Captain Mistrian pronounced the final words of the ceremony, a great clap of thunder arose overhead. The conjoined Ley Lines lit up with intertwined ropes of bright red and rusty black, and there came a surge of power so great it shook the decks of the ships in the harbor as well as the land.

"I've never had that happen before," Captain Mistrian said in astonishment.

As the party from Ironlyn were thanking Captain Mistrian and about to step back down onto the dock, the sailor who had crow's nest duty sounded an alarm.

"Ship Ahoy, Captain! It's coming in awfully fast," he called down.

Everyone went over to the starboard side of the ship to watch the small sailing sloop careen crazily from side to side as it rushed toward the wharf.

"She's coming in too fast," the Captain muttered. "They'll sink her for sure."

Logan leaned forward, staring. "Aron, you fool!" he yelled. "Slow down! You're going to sink her!"

"Do you know them?" Catrin asked him.

"Yes, these are some of the so-called Wild Magi," he said grimly. He thrust out his hands, generating a back-wind to try to slow down the ship's progress. As they watched, the ship tilted precariously to one side, almost touching the rim of the deck to the water. The fascinated observers could see six people, clinging to various parts of the boat so as not to slip off.

Captain Mistrian had already given orders, and a dinghy was being lowered to the water with two sailors aboard.

"That girl is pregnant!" Catrin gasped as one of the girl's hands tore free and she tumbled toward the water, her swollen belly making her look oddly like a child's ball as she slid. One of the young men let go of his hand-hold and dove towards her in a vain attempt to catch her before she hit the water.

Rebecca instinctively reached for the Wards, shaping them into a half cup to try to catch the girl. "I've got her," she gasped, "but it's hard to hold the shape. Can you tell her to lie still?"

"Shynian, try not to move," Logan called. "We've got her Kenwyn!"

Unfortunately, the young man who had dived to the rescue didn't hear him, and was still trying to reach the girl. He grabbed at the edge of the Ward, tilting it back toward the water. By good luck, the rowboat had reached them just as she rolled off the Wards, and the seamen were able to grab her before she hit the water. A moment later, they also pulled her would-be rescuer into the skiff, nearly getting swamped with water as the sloop passed them on it's wayward passage toward the pier.

The man handling the tiller of the sloop had managed to right the craft, and Logan's back-wind had slowed its speed considerably. Although the small craft smacked hard against the wharf, knocking its passengers around, the hull stayed intact.

Aboard the sloop, the remaining sailors carried on a loud and acrimonious discussion about someone's inability to sail a boat.

"Get the sloop tied off!" Captain Mistrian shouted down at the dockworkers who had been watching the show. Two men hurried forward and grabbed ropes, securing the sloop before it drifted away from the wharf.

"Don't tell me," Andre sighed. "These are the rest of the Wild Magi?"

"Well, not all of them," Logan said. He turned as the rescued boy and girl were helped aboard by the crew of the Golden Unicorn. "This is Shynian Genor, and Kenwyn Hyerle. Make your bows to the Draconi and her husband, you two."

The girl had a thin body swollen with pregnancy, and lank dishwater brown hair. She looked barely sixteen. The boy was a bit older, with shaggy hair an intermediate color between black and brown. Both were dressed in clothes a little too small for them.

"The young man needs dry clothes at once," Catrin interrupted. "Rebecca if you would?"

"This won't hurt," Rebecca promised, generating a small amount of heat to dry their sopping garments.

Despite his wet clothes, Kenwyn made the Captain a neat bow. "Thank you, sir for rescuing my wife. She would have had a hard time in the water."

"Where did you find a cleric to marry you?" Logan demanded.

Kenwyn glared at him. "We haven't yet. It doesn't matter if we haven't had the ceremony," he added with a pugnacious lift of his chin.

Logan turned to the Captain. "Well, Captain Mistrian, are you up for three ceremonies today?"

"It sure beats officiating at burials," Mistrian said jovially. "Come ahead, kids."

Shynian hesitated, "We don't have bracelets—"

Kenwyn dug into his now damp pants pocket and pulled out a small flat box. "Actually, we do. I got these at the market in Grossman last month."

Shynian looked at him in wonder and gratitude as she opened the box. Unlike the one's Lewys had given his grandchildren, these were plain silver.

"In that case," Captain Mistrian said, "let's do this." He performed a third commitment ceremony, and speedily, but courteously showed the party from Ironlyn off the ship. Their feet had barely touched the dock before the ship pulled away and headed for the open sea. Amber and Mort leaned on the rail watching Ironlyn fade into the distance.

"I think he was glad to get rid of us," Selene remarked, waving at Amber.

"Who could blame him?" Lewys replied. "I see your other four Magi have managed to reach the dock without soaking themselves. Logan, introduce us please."

The four Wild Magi eyed Lewys and the others warily. On closer inspection, only three of them were close to adulthood. The fourth was a girl around Selene's age with a tall, thin body, blue eyes and almost white