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“Here be the spot, Darla.” the dwarf said to the bore. “Would you mind breaking the ice?”
The dire-boar grunted, seemingly slightly confused as to why it was now her job to break the ice; the dwarf had a pickaxe after all. Also, why didn’t he enchant any trolls or goblins to help him upon retrieving the body? She then realized that she would have to carry said frozen casket upon her back as well, and gave the dwarf a worried look of sheer unpleasantness.
“I know what ya think, sweetheart,” the dwarf continued, making his way to the bore and patting her on her side. “But the ground is indeed frozen solid. And I don’t care to be here longer than need be. Just crack the ice, and I’ll do the rest for ye, okay?”
Darla looked back at the dwarf with her head tilt, and nodded politely. She then licked him across the face lovely.
“Thanks girl,” Magnus replied with a smile. “I knew I could always count on you.”
From there on, the two worked in silence breaking the ice, until the chain, that Magnus had place years prior from which he left for this precise moment was fully visible. The chain was meant to hold the casket—suspend it above the depths of the frozen lake, as to make it easier to pull the box up, when the time was right. That time had finally come, and though Magnus was not necessarily dreading this day to come, he wasn't looking forward to the day either.
Upon seeing the link of iron dangling above the water, the dwarf grabbed it with both arms and began to pull. When he felt that he had enough slack upon the chain to support Darla’s weight, he tied the links to the back of the dire-boar’s anchor and had her pull the casket up to the surface. Without a word or a grunt spoken between each other, they dragged the body till they reached London in the dead of night.
“I’ve been watching this gent for quite some time now,” the dwarf said to the dire-boar. “He’s a fairly skilled alchemist and a pretty decent philosopher—though, mildly flawed in certain of his theories, but still widely skilled.”
Darla let out two short grunts.
“I’m not sure what you mean?” the dwarf replied. “Kain is a grown man; he can decide the genuine nature of this man when he meets him. I only need a location other than the roaming mountains of Romania for him to reacquaint himself to this new world. Things have changed since he’d been asleep, just as much as it had been the first time around. Also,” the dwarf hesitated and looked past the boar. “Also, he needs a better life than what he’d had previously. This is a new start for him in my ways—he doesn’t have to have the life of a warrior anymore if he wishes. Kain could study science and the angelic arts in private, as he once did with that old bastard, Merlyn, long ago.”
Darla let out a single grunt, and placed her large head onto Magnus’s lap.
“Yes, sweetheart,” he said. “I’ll indeed miss him too. But this is a better life for him, if he chooses, and who knows, maybe we will cross paths with him again. I’m almost certain we will if the fates have anything to do with it.”
It is assumed then that Magnus fetched the delivery-service, paid them well, and had them have the casket sent to the address from which John Dee lived. This is what had happened, and in the meantime, the rest is all but history.
The End - 12/2019.
Coming Soon... “The Shadow of Saint Nicholas” Parts 2-3. “Bearskin” & “Fable” (In-between Stories).
M. Benjamin Naves - @disneyfilmnerd
m.benjamin_naves@yahoo.com