Carahil - III

That evening, Clark and Randonil strolled back to the Anvil Mage's Guild together. Clark was finally getting to tell the elf about Carahil and Sparky.

"So she'd been teaching him naughty tricks all that time, and nobody noticed? I always admired the way she ran the chapter, and pulling that off is even more impressive." Randonil didn't seem at all concerned about what was happening now. But after watching his girlfriend with three goblins, he wasn't going to express shock and horror, was he?

'It might make Sparky a bit easier to deal with if he's letting off a bit of steam," he mused. "I wonder if it will make her mellow a bit, too?"

When they arrived the guild was in an uproar. They found Marc Gulitte, minus his pants, doubled over outside Carahil's bedroom groaning in obvious pain. The bedroom door was shut, and Thaurron was calling to Sparky to come out, while Felan Relas was making the same appeal to Carahil.

Randonil quieted them all down, and cast a healing spell on Marc, just in case he hadn't thought of it himself. "What's going on, Carahil? Open the door and explain."

She opened it and let him, and Clark inside, and then closed it again on the others. "Did Clark tell you about Sparky?" she asked. Randonil nodded.

"Well, tonight Marc Gulitte followed the imp up to the library, and saw him come into my room. I was lying on the bed, ready for Sparky, but Marc took it as an invitation to him. He dropped his pants and came into the room, only to get a bolt of lightning right where he didn't want it. His scream of pain brought the others up from the dining room, and I shut the door because I didn't want them all to see me naked."

"Sparky won't be thrown out of the guild for attacking Marc, will he?" she asked Randonil.

Clark was astounded that the imp was a member in the first place, but Randonil told him that as a competent spell-caster, they'd made him an associate so he could legitimately live at the guild. "And since he was just protecting you, it's not considered an assault on another member," he told Carahil.

Her face face brightened visibly at that, and Sparky chirped as if he was relieved, too. Then he looked at Carahil, and the two men, and positioned himself between them, to make the point that there were too many in the room.

"What about Marc?" Clark asked Randonil. "If you're going to explain it as Sparky protecting Carahil, then isn't he in trouble instead?"

"No, that was just a misunderstanding. If you were offered a naked Carahil, you wouldn't be able to resist, either, would you?"

Clark agreed that he hadn't. Randonil raised an eyebrow. He wanted all the salacious details, preferably over a glass of Tamika's downstairs, while Carahil and Sparky finally had some time to themselves.

They didn't get much chance for that conversation, as Thaurron was anxious for his pet's well-being, and Felan Relas for his former guild head. Clark had to explain what he'd learned from Azura and Nocturnal about imps, and carefully mention how Carahil had inadvertantly triggered Sparky's transformation, without getting too much into the details she'd told him.

"So he thinks she's a Queen Imp?" Thaurron wanted to know.

"No, I suspect he thinks of himself as just one of us, and doesn't see the same differences we do. Well, he's noticed some differences, of course. She's the only female, and he's well aware of that."

"And she told me he's been very gentle so far, so we need not worry for her safety," he told Felan Relas. "She knows how to protect herself from spells, even if Marc forgot for a moment."

That got a few laughs from all present. Marc himself had gone up to the top floor with a bottle of brandy to try and forget what had just happened, even if the others wouldn't let him.

"I've been taking Sparky out along the beach, and there are often young women swimming in the sea when it's warm. I wonder why he didn't seem interested in them?" Thaurron mused.

"Like you are?" Randonil asked. "Don't tell me you go that way just for the exercise!"

"Well, I agree that it is the scenic route, but don't change the subject. It's the imp we're talking about, not me."

"My theory is that he senses her magicka," Clark replied. "Imps are all spell-casters, and the one with the strongest magicka is the Queen. The young women on the beach, delightful as they are, are only magical in one way."

"Here's to their powers of levitation," proposed Felan, raising his glass.

When Carahil came down to breakfast the next morning, it was after all the others had finished theirs, and started on their chapter duties for the day. That left only Clark, who didn't have any.

"So?" he asked.

Carahil was slow to reply. She'd been both reluctant and eager at the same time, and likewise both amazed and disappointed by his performance. He was clumsy and unpracticed, of course, but at the same time he'd done things she'd never have thought of. And having wings let him use positions a man or mer couldn't, but also prevented a few of her favourites.

"But is it better that you did, than if you didn't?" Clark asked. "That's the important question."

"For me, I think it's better. I just don't know if I did the right thing for Sparky."

"The time for worrying about that was when he was small, and you started all this."

"I know now, but I didn't have all the facts back then. I'm not sure I have them now. We don't know, for example, if I've just declared myself the official Queen Imp of this place, and made it unsafe for any other women."

That was a point Clark hadn't considered. Before Carahil had arrived, Virgilia would often come here to visit with Randonil. She wasn't the mage that Carahil was by any means, but she'd learned enough spells from the university and from Randonil to get a couple of levels beyond Associate. Sparky might attack her if he thought she was a rival Queen.

Since Randonil had given Carahil her old room back, however, he was going to Virgilia instead of her coming to him. The real danger was that a visiting mage would stop off for supplies at Felan's counter when the Imp was around.

"It might be worth considering Benirus Manor after all," Carahil told him. "Velwyn Benirus doesn't want much for it, and it would be a safe place to keep Sparky. If anything can make me forget about the incident with Lorgren, it will be that imp, and it would be a safe place to keep him away from the general public."

"You can find Velwyn Benirus over at the Count's arms. He's not an early riser, but you weren't today, either, so he'll probably be in the bar when you get there. How much is he asking for the place?"

"Only 5000, which suggests I'll have a lot of cleanup work to do. Do you mind helping check the place out?"

"You go and make the deal with Velwyn, and I'll meet you at the Manor," Clark responded.