Harold the Healer Brings Home a Dog

"So, my dear pooch, you rest your furry body on a three-dimensional manifestation of Fourier Series whose sines and cosines can be bent and twisted to approximate a flat surface, but not quite. And those lovely functions won't fucking stay still!" He scowled and had to pause to squash some wandering functions. "I've been hearing about something new called 'quantum mechanics' that the eggheads say will revolutionize physics, mathematics, chemistry, and who knows what else. What do you think? Will it help make this damned spell finally work properly?" Roused from her slumber, the dog lifted her head and looked at him, then moved her tail and farted loudly. An obnoxious odor filled the Warded area and he had to hastily open it up a bit to let fresh air blow in.

"Not a fan. I understand," he coughed, wondering if his face was as green as he felt. Another mile plodded by slowly, as he felt his fatigue increasing and his grip on the spell loosening. "Time to stop and rest." The air sled dropped to ground level with a thump, and then dissolved with several flashes of light. Dog, pack, and staff hit the wet, frozen ground and Harold groaned with relief. The dog made a complaining noise, but got up, wandered over to the side of the road and squatted. "That's a good idea," he mused, going to the other side of the road, making the necessary arrangements of clothing and Ward, and relieving his bladder. The rain had changed to small ice pellets that rattled and hissed off of his Ward as the wind gusted around him. Her needs met, the dog lumbered back to the Healer, who quickly let her into the protected area around him, where she sat on her haunches and looked expectantly at him.

"Hungry, eh?" he asked. "All I have are emergency field rations. Can't leave home without them. But I don't know if you'll like it." He dug into his pack and pulled out a flat metal box, which he opened, then pulled out a block the size of a pound of butter and wrapped in military olive-green waxed paper. She stretched out to sniff it, then gave him an 'are you kidding me' look. "Yeah, it's not appetizing, but two of these will keep an average soldier going for a day." He unwrapped it, broke off a piece and placed it in front of the dog, who sniffed it again, then reluctantly sighed and started chewing on it. He did the same. It was bland with a mild vanilla flavour and had the texture of cheese. He allowed himself half of the ration and the dog another piece before wrapping the remainder in the wax paper, returning it to the box, and putting the box back in his pack. "That should give me enough energy to get us home." He stood up, enlarged the Ward, and cast the spell, using the variation that provided the longest lifetime he could manage. Dog, pack, and staff were placed on the platform of solid air, which was elevated so he could push it comfortably.

"Most people aren't convinced that there is a Goddess," he continued in his monologue. Visibility had declined as the rate of sleet-fall had increased, not that there was much worth seeing in the desolate, empty farmland around them anyway. His boots crunched through a layer that was at least an inch deep and was starting to make footing a bit greasy. He was talking now to keep himself awake, as the sounds of the wind and the sleet combined with the increasing fatigue from maintaining the Air Sled spell, were starting to make him sleepy. He was only about two miles from the eastern farmlands around Magwitch, so he couldn't stop now. There also wasn't much daylight left, so he slogged on, harvesting what energy he could from the Ward. "I don't know if there is one Goddess, or several, or what. But I did meet one, you know, on the road from Havisham to Portnoy, which is the first town on this circuit." The dog yawned.

"I had just started my job with the Order and it was early in August. There had been a good growing season and the corn was as tall as I am, and the wheat as high as I've ever seen it. It was quite warm, and I was walking down the main road from the highway that runs through Havisham and ends in the Capital. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before because I'd been nervous, not knowing what to expect, and the warmth and the soothing sounds of the countryside had lulled me into a walking doze, something you learn to do when you're in the Army. I'd been alone, except for the occasional horse and wagon going the other way. Why can't more traffic be going my way?" he complained. "Anyway, suddenly I was not alone. I looked to my left and walking beside me was a woman who could have just walked off one of the local farms. She had a straw hat on top of a long mane of curly red hair, which is uncommon around here, a cute, turned-up nose, a dusting of freckles, and a rosebud of a mouth that looked like it could be kissed forever. She was nearly as tall as me and looked like she could throw down with any uncooperative livestock with the best of them, but her figure was still rounded out in all the right places." He paused to make an adjustment to the spell, and the dog thumped her tail once to indicate she was still pretending to listen.

"'Good afternoon, ma'am,' I said to her. 'I'm sorry that I didn't hear you coming. I'm Harold Moser, the new guy in the Order of St. Thrimble, come to visit Portnoy to tend to their medical needs.'

'I am Ellen,' she replied, in a voice that was as warm and sweet as honey on fresh toast. She turned her head to look at me, and it was her eyes that captivated me. They were an intense green that is also very rare around here, and a shade that I've never seen before or since. 'I live around here and spend a lot of time walking around, keeping an eye on things. I saw your staff and pack and thought that you were one of the Healers.' She stopped at the mouth of a driveway that led to a farmhouse at the top of a small hill and looked up at it. 'Someone up there needs your help urgently. Go there and help them.' When I turned to look at her, she was gone. I looked all around and there was no sign she'd ever been there. I freaked out a bit because I was sure I'd just been talking to a ghost, but I also recognized an order when I heard one, and began hustling up the driveway. Halfway up I saw a big, fat earthworm struggling to get across, so I stopped to pick it up and toss it into the grass before continuing to the house." He looked up and saw that another mile had passed. The Air Sled was still in good condition, so he continued.

"To make a long story short, a woman was suffering from advanced sepsis from an infected cut on a leg and I'd gotten there just in the nick of time to save her life. When I told them that it was a woman who'd directed me to the house, they had no idea of who she was, though the youngest daughter said that she was a guardian angel that she'd talked to yesterday in the barnyard. I walked back down the driveway towards the road, and halfway there she was walking beside me again." Harold muttered something best not repeated as he damped out some oscillations. The dog didn't respond, as she'd fallen asleep. With no audience, he continued to replay the memory in his head.

"Thank you for saving her, Harold," she had said in her melt-your-heart voice of honey. 'You did an excellent job under pressure."

"Thank YOU for letting me know," he had replied warmly. "I would have just walked by and she would have died. Only Healing Magic can save someone with advanced sepsis. It was a very close call." He had paused to give her Very Respectful Bow #1. "You are far more than just a guardian angel, aren't you? I am surprised that you didn't just heal her yourself."

"I can do many things, Harold, but advanced Healing has always eluded me," she had admitted. "The best that I can do for the people is to make sure that the best care is available for them. You passed the test, and I welcome you to this part of the Westlands."

"I am greatly honoured, Goddess," he had replied, repeating Very Respectful Bow #1. "Sepsis is a pretty tough practical exam." She had smiled, which had illuminated his heart.

"Not that," she had replied, giving his nose a boop with her finger, much to his surprise. "It was rescuing the poor earthworm without a second thought. It revealed your spirit to me in a way no other test could." She had leaned forward and kissed him gently on the lips, sending an electric thrill of warmth and peace through him. Then she was gone again. He had lost his apprehension and sailed through the rest of the day in a cloud of well-being. He had Healed a complex injury to a horse that would have otherwise resulted in its being euthanized and repaired a fractured hip that an elderly resident had suffered in a fall. He had been treated to a nice dinner at the local inn, cleverly called the Kumon Inn, walked around a bit to see the place, then finally checked into his room feeling pleasantly tired. To his surprise, Sterilizing the bedding had resulted in no deaths of unwanted insects. The evening had cooled off nicely and soon he was in bed, drifting off to sleep. Then she was there in the room with him, with a faint golden glow around her. He had sat up, confused, wondering if he was dreaming.

"Hello, Harold," she had said. "Both of your calls were very difficult and you handled them very well. Your Order chose well."

"Thank you, Goddess. Your kiss this afternoon somehow made all the doubts and worries disappear and I felt at peace for the first time in years. All that I want to do is to help people and to make a difference. Knowing that my work will please you is icing on the cake."

"You will be approached by women who will want to take you to their beds," she had continued, moving towards his bed with her hips swaying hypnotically. "How will you respond?"

"Like I have in the past," he had responded, looking her in her amazing green eyes. "I will not disappoint any woman who trusts me enough to offer me a space in her bed. She will get treated the way she wants, and the way she deserves. Satisfaction guaranteed." She had slowly unbuttoned her off-white blouse and allowed it to drop to the floor, revealing perfect D-sized breasts unrestrained by a bra, capped by cherry-red areolas and long, hard nipples. Her brown farmer's jeans were casually unbuttoned and shimmied off her hips, quickly followed by her sensible white cotton underwear, revealing a perfectly trimmed triangle of curly red hair.

"Do you like what you see?" she had asked, twirling around to give him a view of her shapely ass. Unable to speak, he had nodded, wide-eyed.

"Come join me," he finally said, moving over to the other side of the double-sized bed. "I pre-warmed this side just for you," he added gallantly, and she did. "When a woman comes to me, she may already be ready for some action, but I don't want to just jump on and start humping. She needs to be really warmed up and made ready." They had been facing each other, her lips within easy reach of a quick kiss that would last forever. "So, I start with a massage, if I may?"

"Go ahead, Harold. You have my consent, if that is what you seek." She had pulled her long, curly red hair back, causing her breasts to rise and fall, and his eyeballs with them. He had nodded, tearing his gaze from her breasts with difficulty, and reached up to place his hands on either side of her short, muscular neck, and summoned Magic to his fingers.

"Normally, I start with the back, but there is plenty of tension here that I can reach from the front." Goddess or not, her body still was subject to the same tensing forces as a regular human, and his strong, skilled hands probed and kneaded, aided by green and turquoise sparks slipping into the tight spots. He moved from her neck to her shoulders, then down each arm, including her hands and fingers.

"I have felt a lot of things in my time," she had said, wide-eyed, "but never a massage such as this. Usually, they want to do a body-rub to get me aroused, but you've given a real massage. You haven't even touched my breasts and I'm already ready to jump you." These were echoes of what Willa had told him, of course. He had had plenty of practice with more-than-willing subjects, and they nearly all followed the same path. The Goddess scooted down and laid down. "Attend to my breasts. My nipples feel like they're going to pop off if you don't do something."

"Human women can get orgasms from having their breasts attended to," he had said with a wicked grin. "If you stroke the nipples like this," he gently stroked the rock-hard buds, sending in a few sparks and earning a wide-eyed, ragged moan, "and squeeze here, and brush there, then lick the nipples like this..." She had been breathing harder and harder and then suddenly closed her eyes and moaned loudly while shaking like a leaf. When they opened again, they briefly had a look of vulnerability that he found touching as he moved in for a long, gentle kiss. "My work here is done," he had whispered, his mouth close enough to hers to brush her lips with his.

"Not so fast, Healer!" the Goddess had growled. "My pussy is a raging furnace! Get on me and get in me right now! Your Goddess commands it!"

"But I'm not sure if I'm ready," he said, batting his eyelashes. She had pushed him away, sat up, and flicked away the sheet, revealing his hard cock glowing in shifting patterns of green and turquoise. She grabbed and milked a large drop of pre-cum onto her hand, which she then licked off as he watched.

"Get over here!" She had grabbed him and hauled him on top of her, and after a quick adjustment, he had pushed his way inside her hot, wet pussy in one thrust. "Now it's my turn," she had purred, clamping down and bucking slowly. Harold had moaned uncontrollably, as she was sending sparks of her own into his cock. "I am going to give you the biggest orgasm you will ever have," she had whispered, her lips to his, "and that lovely shiny cock of yours won't rise again for a week."

"Making love to a Goddess," he had mumbled deliriously, "must satisfy the Goddess." Despite his near overload, he was somehow able to summon energy of his own that he sent into her while pounding away as hard as he could. She had wrapped her arms and legs around him, all but making them one.

"What are you doing? Aaahhh!" It was too much for both of them and they came with him thrusting his cock in as far as it would go and spraying squirt after squirt of cum until there was nothing left. All they could do was breathe heavily for a few moments until she had pushed him and he had rolled off.

"Satisfaction guaranteed?" he had slurred, seeing stars and barely able to move.

"I have not been this satisfied for a long, long time," she had finally replied. "Someday, we will meet again, Healer Harold. You have my blessing." She had leaned over to kiss his forehead, then slowly vanished as he had lost consciousness. Harold snapped out of his reverie, suddenly realizing that it was nearly dark and that he had somehow made it almost to Leila's house. But something felt odd. He looked down at the Air Sled and saw that it was faintly glowing in the same colour as the Goddess had, but most strangely, it felt secure and stable.

"What on Earth?" he asked, feeling confused. The sleet had changed over to snow sometime during his reminiscence. His cock was hard and he somehow felt that there was a connection between that and the stability of the spell. "An erotic memory is needed to stabilize the Air Sled? Really?" This would have to be investigated further. It was also odd that he had not even thought about meeting the Goddess until now, and that the Air Sled was glowing in her colour could be just a coincidence, but...

"Thank you, Goddess," he said aloud, looking around and, of course, seeing nothing but snow and hearing nothing but the crunch of sleet and snow under his feet and the wind whispering through a spruce tree. "I am, and always will be, your faithful servant."

"Harold! What are you doing out there?" Leila had clearly been watching for him, as she was standing with her head peeking through a barely opened front door. "What's that?"

"Just bringing home another bitch to play with," he replied saucily, getting a scowl in return. He smirked as he pushed the Air Sled up the sleet and snow-covered stone-flagged path to the door. Leila quickly opened it, slammed it shut, and bolted it after they had scrambled through.

"Papa! You made it home!" said an excited six-year-old Marcie, popping her head out from her room, where she had been doing homework. "The weather is so bad, I thought you wouldn't make it! Is that a dog? What's that?" Smiling at her enthusiasm, Harold held up his hand to forestall the usual charge.

"This dog is very close to having her puppies," he said. "We need to get something set up to make her comfortable when her time comes. What she has been riding on is called an Air Sled." Regretfully, he allowed the spell to unravel and its load hit the floor with a thud from his pack, a clatter from his staff, and a woof from the dog.

"The kitchen is the best place, as it's the warmest," said Leila. "Hey!" The dog had stuck her nose in Leila's crotch by way of introduction. Indignation was softened by loving brown eyes, which seemed to be asking for a head and ear scratch, which she found herself giving.

"I'll get blankets from the guest bedroom," said Marcie, launching herself into the task with determination. The two Healers led the dog to the kitchen, which was illuminated by a globe of warm yellow Mage Light on the ceiling in the middle of the room. The best place seemed to be on the wall opposite the door to the backyard, next to the table. Marcie shuffled in a minute later, overloaded with blankets from the cupboard in the guest room. She then raced to the front living room and returned with two cushions from the sofa.

"Thank you, sweetheart," said Leila, relieving their daughter of her burden and arranging the blankets and cushions in a carefully shaped pile, onto which the dog carefully lowered herself.

"I think she's starting," said Marcie, looking closely and gently stroking the dog's head. "She's breathing hard and clenching up."

"You're right, Marcie," said Harold, casting a practiced eye on the dog. "I couldn't have timed that better if I'd tried." He leaned his staff in the nearby corner and cast his eyes on the icebox on the other side of the large room. "I am really glad to be home, and it looks like I'll be here for a while. I hope you'll be able to stand it," he added with a wink directed at Leila, while returning her smoldering gaze. As Leila, whose tall, well-shaped frame and long, copper-coloured hair that was starting to go silver, started to prepare dinner, he told them the story of how he'd found the dog and gotten her here.

"How did you manage to hang on to the Air Sled spell so long? Nobody's ever been able to hold on to it for more than a couple of hours without hurting themselves." The meat and vegetables had been cut up ahead of time, so the cooking process was quickly underway.

"Did the Goddess help you?" Marcie asked from her station. "Look, we have two pups already!"

"I believe that she did," Harold replied, filling a mug of water from the pump. "After I'd stopped to take a break before the first spell was about to short out, I restarted it and continued on, but for the first time in years, I started remembering when I'd first met her on my first day on the job. There was something about the memory and how intense it was that managed to stabilize the spell until I got home." He and Leila exchanged another smoldering look.

"The sled was glowing in her colour," Marcie continued matter-of-factly, petting the dog's head. "She told me that she would help Papa home tonight, and to give you her love." Harold inhaled some of his drink and started coughing, while Leila gave her an undecipherable look.