Labor Relations

Muld comes up with a way to remove the curse on pregnant Princess Jeevy.

26.

Labor Relations

 

He found his room completely cleaned, and though he changed into comfortable clothing and tried to rest, he could hear the faint sound of women singing what he assumed was the Losasidhe Birthing Song.

It had a desperate sound to it which caused him to keep wondering about the curse that affected the pregnant woman.

For an hour he fought to sleep, but it became evident that it wouldn’t come, though he was extremely tired and weak.

With a weary sigh, he got up, slipped on some shoes and made his way to the main audience hall, where he knew the men would be gathered.

His guess was right and he entered to find a subdued atmosphere in the chamber.     The king sat with his sons, several nobles and (to Muld’s surprise) Jevon, Rick, Tadd and Mutt.

Upon seeing him they all lost the somberness for several minutes as they all asked him about his condition.

King Eiolmoel even seemed glad to see him.  

“Master Muld, you are most welcome here.   How are you feeling?”

“Tired and rather weak, Your Majesty, but whole, thanks in no small part to your daughter’s nursing me back.    I am unworthy of such a magnificent nurse, but I must give her the credit due to her, for she took good care of me.”   He suspected this might slightly offend the king, for his royal daughter to serve in that capacity, but instead the Losasidhe king nodded pleasantly.

“Have you heard of what is going on?”   He asked Muld as he sat with the other men at the long table.

“Her Highness, Princess Jeevy is near her time.”

“Yes, and so we wait anxiously.”   The king turned to his son Symorden, patting the father-to-be on his shoulder.

“Your Majesty, I was told that there was a curse upon Princess Jeevy’s female family members that make childbirth worrisome.    If I wouldn’t offend you, would you mind explaining to me the conditions of the curse - perhaps I could think of a way to remove it.”

King Eiolmoel and his sons gave weak, mildly condescending smiles at Muld’s words, knowing that he meant well, but certain that he couldn’t help.

Still, the king recounted the same tale that Syndi had told him.   Muld asked for the exact wording of the geis, and with barely concealed irritation, Eiolmoel summoned one of his scribes, who read an early testimony of the geis.

“Thus is the record of the geis spoken by King Minthoel upon the daughters of Lord Jevlonlet,” The scribe spoke, looking at the scroll.   He cleared his throat and quoted from the account: “ ‘For your treason against my rule, for your division of my people, I pronounce this geis, not upon you, Jevlonlet, but upon your daughters and all female members of your blood.    A curse is upon them, upon their time of childbirth, may they labor in fear and distress, may misfortune and death be ever present, to steal their maternal joy.     I curse the laboring mothers and their infants, that they may grieve and mourn, knowing the pain and grief of their true king for their lord’s rebellion.   

This geis I place upon all females of Lord Jevlonlet’s blood, through future generations.   Until either Jevlonlet repents of his crimes and begs for mercy at my feet, or when I, or one of my male heirs, reigning as a king, shall place his hands upon one of the laboring daughters or descendants of these daughters, and, in the act of childbirth, openly and of his free will, proclaim the geis ended.   Only then shall this geis be completed.’  “

 

The scribe bowed to his king and respectfully rolled up the scroll, then quietly left the men sitting in grim silence.

“For centuries, we petitioned the Faesidhe Kings for a removal of the geis, but they refused throughout the years, until  Neberordric’s death at the hands of King Eleazar.   Eleazar would remove the curse if he could, but he is not of Minthoel’s line, and even though he now is in effect king of the Faesidhe people, the terrible geis remains.”    The Losasidhe king was silent for a moment, his ears tuned to the faint sound of the birthing song, mixed with some pitiful moaning from the expectant mother.     Symorden also heard his wife’s pain and stood up with trembling hands and paced back and forth.

Muld suddenly looked up from his thoughts, “Your Majesty?”

“Yes, Master Muld?”   The king replied wearily.

“There is a way to end the curse!”

“What?!  How?”   Eiolmoel jumped to his feet, and Symorden rushed over to the Practical Magician’s chair.

“How?”   The desperate expectant father demanded.

“King Aedric of Tarmard - he is Neberordric’s son.”

Eiolmoel and his son glanced at each other, then back to Muld.

“But Aedric’s only half Faesidhe!”   The king protested.

“True, Your Majesty, but the geis only mentioned ‘a male heir’ and as the last surviving son of Neberordric, he would thus be his heir.”

Hope fearfully crossed both men’s faces.

“Master Muld, you might have something there, but Aedric is not reigning as a Faesidhe King, and the Geis said he had to be reigning,”   Eiolmoel reminded the Practical Magician.

“You are mistaken, Your Highness.    The geis said that the male heir had to be reigning, but it did not specify that he had to be reigning as king of the Faesidhe.     Aedric is ruling - as King of the Sylvan people.  A geis' wording is always coldly logical, no matter what the intention of the caster of the geis.   So Aedric could neutralize the curse!”

The king and his sons, along with all the others in the room stirred in excitement.

“But how could we get King Aedric here in time?”   Eiolmoel asked, “You have probably been told about the decay in some types of magic, especially teleportation spells.     Over the past half year, teleportation spells and devices have been malfunctioning and they are growing more and more dangerous each day.    It would not be safe to teleport him here, and it would take over a day to bring him here by airship from Tarmard.”

“Westmark, Your Majesty.”  Tadd spoke up, “King Aedric and Queen Snoe are visiting her parents in Westmark this week.”

“Well, even that distance would take most of a day to bring him here and that might be too late for Jeevy and the babies she carries.”  

“Your Majesty, I may have a solution to that as well, but first we need to contact King Aedric.   I know you have a scrying ball focused on the royal court in Westmark; could I use it to try to contact him?”

“By all means, Master Muld!”   The king shouted for a servant to bring his personal crystal ball for Muld’s use.    All the men crowded around Muld as he brought the scrying ball into focus.

A few moments later, a surprised Marksylvanian servant answered the summons.

“Sir, this is a festive night in Westmark,” he told the Practical Magician, “Duke Aaron was married to Lady Lysa only a few hours ago and Queen Snoe of Tarmard just announced her pregnancy.”

“That is wonderful, but the reason we are contacting you is a matter of life and death.    We need to speak to King Aedric.”

The servant nodded, “I will go and summon him, Their Majesties have just retired for the evening.”

“Thank you.”   Muld said as the servant disappeared.

“Good news for the Sylvan kingdom,”   Eiolmoel commented, “How dreadful that we have to contact them on such a happy occasion.”

They all waited anxiously for several minutes, then, suddenly, King Aedric’s face appeared in the crystal.

“Master Muld, good evening to you.   I am told you are at the court of King Eiolmoel and need my help urgently.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I am most sorry to interrupt you.    Let me explain-“   He proceeded to tell the Sylvan King about everything.

“Certainly I will be glad to help!”   Aedric agreed as soon as Muld finished explaining, “But how can I get there quickly?  You mentioned that you had an idea to circumvent the problem with teleportation spells that we are facing?”

Muld sat back in the chair, “Well, there is a Practical Magician’s spell called ‘Exchange’.   It is sometimes called ‘Long Sending’.   If you have two small items - less than about 5 pounds in weight- at two different locations, this spell will exchange the items instantly over any distance.    They have to be two items of about the same material - such as two potions, two weapons, two scrolls-  something like that.      They can’t be living items either.”

“That is all well and good, Master Muld, but how will that help me get here quickly?”

“Sir, do you or anyone there in Westmark have a large Bag of Holding?”

“A Bag of Holding?   Well… yes, I know that King Eleazar has several and Matron Zeatt does as well… why?”

“I have a large Bag of Holding here - it was partially damaged recently, but the displacement magic is intact.    It is large enough for me to climb inside.    When I am inside the bag, the bag only weights a few pounds and I am in an extra dimensional space.    If you were to find a large Bag of Holding, empty it out of everything, then climb inside, and this spell would take your Bag here and mine to Westmark.    Since you would also be in an Extra Dimensional Space, it would work, though both bags would have to contain similar items.   As we both are Elves of mixed elven heritage, I would be your nearest match.”

Aedric just looked at him through the crystal ball in amazement, “Why, that is ingenious, Master Muld… or else utterly suicidal.    Do you think it will work?”

“If it doesn’t, we’ll just look like fools sitting in magic bags.   But it is worth it to save Princess Jeevy.”

“Indeed it is!   I will have a large Bag of Holding brought to me here and emptied out.   You get yours and do the same, and we’ll return here in a quarter of an hour.”

“That sounds good, Your Majesty, thank you.   Oh, and congratulations on Queen Snoe’s pregnancy.”

Aedric grinned at the mention of his wife, “Thank you, Master Muld, if this works, you will again be a hero.”

“I’m not concerned about that, I just want this to work.    Let’s get going, Your Majesty; time is short!”

 

***

 

Muld hated to dump all of his old master’s furniture and books out into the audience chamber, but he had no time to carefully take out all of the stuff.     Ten minutes later he was seated in front of the crystal ball, his feet resting inside the Bag of Holding.

His idea had spread around the palace and servants and guards were crowded in a large circle around the room.

The crystal ball suddenly filled with the lovely form of Matron Zeatt, “Hello, Master Muld, Aedric has shared your idea with me.    I took the liberty to have a night watchman go into your guild building and bring back one of your spellbooks, as I imagine you’ll need someone on this end to cast the Exchange spell at the same time you are casting it on your end.”

Muld smacked his forehead, “Yesh, have mercy, I completely forgot about that!   Thank you, Matron Mother, you are correct, there has to be two casters chanting in union.   Have you reviewed the spell?”

“Yes, it seems simple enough.   We’ll use the standard rhythm speed of healing spells and cantrips, right?”

“Yes, ma’am.     I will cast my spell from in the Bag, with the top slightly opened.    That should not interfere with it in any way.”

The pretty Drow matron grinned, “You know, if this works, this might become the standard magic means of long range travel.”

“Let’s hope not, Matron Mother.”   He replied with a laugh.

 

A minute later, King Aedric appeared and Muld saw him hug and kiss his albino wife, then disappear into the small opening of the Bag of Holding on his end.

“We’re ready.”   Zeatt told him.

Muld slipped down into the bag until only his head was showing.

“Master Muld, if this works, you will be a legend among the Losasidhe people.     Twice you have destroyed pirate ships; you saved my life as well as the life of my queen from poison, and now you may be responsible for the removal of a centuries long geis.    I will be eternally grateful to you.”

“Let’s just pray this works, Your Highness.   This spell cannot be cast on the same object for two days afterwards, so I will remain in Westmark and King Aedric will have to return to Westmark by airship.”

“We’ll bring you back as a hero, Master Muld.    May Yesh bless this endeavor.”  

Muld nodded to the image of Matron Zeatt in the scrying device, she counted down to one and at the same moment they began chanting the incantation.    He slipped down into the bag as he chanted, praying in his mind that his crazy scheme would work.

 

For a full minute they chanted and then the spell ended, but sitting inside the magic bag, nothing seemed to happen.   Muld held his breath, looking up to where (he hoped) someone would pull the cords of the Bag open, revealing an exit out of the extra dimensional space.

He was growing very concerned when a minute went by, but suddenly there was a blue glow above him as a hole appeared in the air above him.   To his great relief, two pairs of red glowing eyes peered inside.

“Praise, Yesh, it worked!”  Queen Snoe shouted, smiling prettily at him, “Hello, Master Muld!”

“Good Evening, Your Majesty.”

Several servants leaned over the neck of the Bag and he grabbed their hands and was lifted through the magic opening, out into the private reception room of the palace in Westmark.    

To his dismay, a crowd was gathered there and all of them applauded as he emerged from the Bag of Holding.    The entire royal family, as well as the newly married Duke and Duchess of Helios’ Valley stood around in their night clothes and robes, watching him as if he was performing a parlor slight of hand trick for them.

After bowing respectfully to the royals, Muld quickly went to the crystal ball.    Mutt’s face appeared on the other end, grinning from pointed ear to pointed ear.

“It worked, boss!   King Aedric is here!   We’re going to take him to see Princess Jeevy.   King Eiolmoel said that we’ll contact you in an hour with an update.”

“Thanks, Mutt.”   He waved his hands in front of the crystal ball and the image faded.

A flagon holding a pink liquid was thrust into his hands.

“Here!  Drink this!”   Matron Zeatt ordered and he did not ask the Archbishop of Yesh any questions, but simply did as she ordered.    Warmth flowed over him and all of his muscles immediately stopped aching, his stomach quieted down and he felt stronger.

“That is a powerful healing potion - used for extreme healing.    From what I have heard, you needed it, for they don’t have this sort of healing potion in the Losasidhe capital.”

“Thank you, Matron Mother, it is exactly what I needed.”

“Why don’t you get some rest while we await news from Aedric?”

“That sounds wonderful, but if it is alright with you and Their Highnesses, I want to rush by my quarters in the main guild building, as I would like to change into my own clothing.   It would not take me longer than half an hour.”

“There is no need to trouble yourself, Master Muld, we have clothing here you could wear,”  King Eleazar told him.

“Thank you, Your Majesty, but I could also use some air, as I’ve been in bed all day.”

“Shall I send an escort with you?”

“I’ll be alright, Your Majesty; especially with the streetlamps.”

“Very well then, but do make haste, Master Muld.”

“Yes, sire, I will.”

 

Muld bowed and hurried from the room, thankful to be out of the center of everyone’s attention.