The Flying Sorcerers

I returned to my nest tired and irritated.

It wasn’t just the way everyone badgered me. It was the crowds. By now every family in the five villages were here on the Heights. The nearly bare rock was a maze of tents, practically edge to edge, the meager gaps filled by a swarm of sprats and women and strangers. The sea had swallowed the rest of the island.

The only clear spots were on Idiot’s Peak, around the launching cradle, and the wide servicing area that now led all the way down to the water. Keeping those areas clear enough to work in only made the rest of the Heights more crowded.

My tree, like a few others, still reached partway above the waters. We still used the nest and thus avoided some of the crowding; but we had to wade waist deep between nest and Heights.

The sea was tepid and very wet. I was still bristling from the need to push my way between the tents and among the hordes of strangers when I climbed into my nest, my fur dripping. I sank gratefully onto my cot.

“Wives,” I called, “I am ready for a hot brushing. I have had such a day as to try even the greatest of men!”

“Oh, our poor Lant,” they mourned. “Surely even the greatest of tribulations is only child’s play to a man so brave as you —”

“Naturally, but the effort is tiring. Purple wants me to come on the airboat with him; so do Wilville and Orbur —”

“Oh, no, not my brave Lant! Not in the airboat! You might fall!” cried one Missa.

“You mustn’t, my husband! You will never return! What would we do if we lost you?” said the other whose non-name was Kate.

“Of course, you told them that you wouldn’t!” said the first.

“You have your carving to tend to,” said the second. “And there are other things besides. The nestwalls are leaking and must be repaired —”

“Wait a minute,” I cuffed them into silence. “What is this noise you make? You dare to tell me what I should do?”

“Oh, no —” They flung themselves at my feet.

Missa, the second, looked up and said, “It is just that we love you so much, we do not want you to go —”

Missa, the first, said, “It is such a dangerous thing to do — maybe even too dangerous for such a brave man as our Lant.”

I looked down at them, “How dare you even suggest such a thing. I am the Speaker of my village — I have tamed two of the wildest magicians ever known, and, I kept them from killing each other. I have guided the construction of an actual flying machine —”

“Yes, my husband, but that does not mean that you should fly in it!”

“Yes — leave that honor for somebody else —”

“And why should I?” I demanded. “I have as much right as anybody to voyage on the Cathawk, perhaps even more.”

“Oh, but we are so afraid for you —”

“You think I am afraid of the dangers?”

“Oh, no, my brave Lant — but we are —”

“You think too much, wives — it has addled your brains. I am fully aware of the dangers of such a voyage. You think I am not? Let me tell you this though: if I did not think it was a safe journey, I would not be planning to go.”

“Oh, my husband, my brave, brave husband, you do not need to prove it to us. We know you are the greatest of all husbands. Just stay with us, and we will not even protest your purchase of a third wife —”

“You will not what — What makes you think you have even the right to do so? If I want a third wife, I will buy one. If I want to go flying in a flying machine, I will do that too! And I am going to do both! And neither one of you will say another word about it or I will beat you! Now bring me my supper! And be grateful that I am not yet too angry to do the family-making thing tonight!”