The Chronicles of Harold the Healer Ch. 07

"Hah! I will open more windows than you! Get back here!" Marcie shrieked with glee as she dodged an attempt by her Papa to hold her back so he could get started first.

"He is such a loving man," said Dana as she looked around. "Where do you keep the firewood?"

"Down in the basement," Leila replied. "There's usually a small stack next to the stove, but it never got replenished today, for obvious reasons." The door was on the left wall, inconveniently close to the table, and Dana opened it, cast a Mage Light to help her see, and went down the steps. "It's not bad down here," she called up. "You could do something with this."

"We'll sometimes hide down here when it gets too hot in the summer," Leila called back. "Someone was thinking ahead when they had a stone floor put in instead of the usual dirt."

"This place isn't really large enough to have a big pile of wood in the kitchen," Dana noted as she came back upstairs with several medium-sized pieces of wood and some kindling. Leila opened the door in the stove and hit the inside with a Clean spell, directing the ash to appear in the middle of the garden, where it formed a small gray cloud that quickly settled.

"Thank you very much," said Leila, loading some pieces into the compartment, igniting the fire with a few words and gestures, and closing the door.

"No! I'm going to win!" came Harold's bellow from the examination room at the front. Marcie shrieked again and charged out the door and down the hall, with him in pursuit, and she collided with Dana for a hug, which was returned. "I'm slowing down in my old age," he complained, pretending to huff and puff as he came in, then hustled over to the kitchen window and opened it. "Har-har!"

"I let you have that one," said his daughter gleefully as he scowled with mock ferocity.

"I need a consolation hug," he said with sad puppy-dog eyes. Leila gave him one, and Dana and Marcie could feel the warmth of their love. "So, let's do something about dinner before we starve to death." At Leila's direction, Dana got a pot from a large drawer to the left of the stove, filled it with a few strokes of the water pump, and placed it on the stove to boil, while Harold got a frypan from a hook on the wall and put it on the stove. Meanwhile, Leila retrieved the chunk of beef from the icebox, with both Harold and Dana checking out her ass as she bent over, then quickly looking elsewhere when she stood up. Harold dug out a cutting board and plunked it on the counter between the sink and the stove, on which Leila placed the parcel and unwrapped it. Three potatoes, three carrots, and the turnip were extracted from the bag on the floor next to the icebox, placed on the counter, and Cleaned.

"Do you bother peeling these things?" Dana asked as knives and more cutting boards were supplied for everyone, including Marcie, who had the carrots because they were the easiest to chop.

"No," Leila replied. "Why waste perfectly good parts of the food?"

"That was the opinion of the Army, too," she replied, starting on the potatoes. "Everything into the pot." That left Harold, who was standing in the far corner, next to Marcie who had the sink immediately to her left, with the turnip and a suitably large knife with which to cut it. Only about a third was needed for this meal, he judged, but despite his hunger and fatigue from the long day, he still felt a little mischievous. Making sure Marcie was watching, he put a finger to his lips in the familiar "Shh" motion, took the offending root and tucked it under his shirt, making her have to stifle a giggle. He then turned and made an exaggerated tiptoeing walk towards the table, which was on the back wall.

"What are you doing, Mister Moser?" Leila demanded, hands on her hips and an attempt at a stern expression on her face.

"Oh, nothing," he replied airily, unsuccessfully trying to sidestep his wife. "I just have something to dump in the privy." Leila poked the telltale bulge in his shirt.

"That is part of our dinner. Go back and do your job!" Dana grinned as he pouted and then dodged a swat aimed at his ass. "You are a very silly man," she continued, placing the chopped meat into the frypan that had had some cooking oil put in it, rewarding them all with a hiss of cooking.

"Why hasn't anyone made a 'Summon Food' spell yet?" he complained as he hacked off about a third of the turnip and began efficiently chopping it into small pieces. "Life would be so much easier."

"They have," Marcie replied. "The magic words are 'Wake up! I'm hungry and have to go to school!'" The three adults looked at each other and shook their heads while smiling ruefully.

"You are far too smart for your own good!" Leila exclaimed, waving the flat wooden blade that she had been using for moving the meat around in the pan, making her child giggle. Harold brought the turnip chunks to the pot and dumped them in. They stood around making small talk while dinner cooked.

"Let's get dinner on the plates." The vegetables were scooped from the pot with a slotted spoon and put in a bowl, which was handed to Marcie, along with a masher. "You just earned mashing duty." With an almost audible eye-roll, she took them over to the table, knelt on a chair seat, and began going at it. Harold helpfully supplied some ground pepper and a little milk, then pumped water into mugs for them, while Dana got some plates and cutlery and Leila spooned the chunks of beef onto the plates. With the vegetables swiftly and expertly mashed, they were spooned onto the plates and they sat down at the table to eat after Leila extinguished the fire in the stove.

"So, what did you think of the Wild Hunt, Marcie?" Dana asked as they started eating.

"I was happy to see that the ghosts got taken," she replied thoughtfully. "But the Hunt itself was not that exciting. It looked like people on horses running around the sky. The lightning ball was cool."

"Bear in mind that if any of us ordinary Mages tried that, we'd get fried on the spot," said Leila dryly. "It's better to let them do what they do and not bring their attention to us." Her attention was distracted by the feeling of someone's foot sliding up and down her right leg. She was sitting on the long side of the table with her back to the stove, with Harold across from her, Marcie to her left with her back to the other wall in the corner, and Dana to her right. Either her husband or Dana could be the culprit.

"Having the attention of local Deities can be challenging enough," Harold commented after a swig of water from his mug. "Oops, did I say that out loud?" he asked, looking around innocently.

"Tell us, Papa," Marcie said with wide eyes. "The Goddess isn't the only one?"

"Oh, not by a long shot," he replied, his eyes looking back in time and space. "You know that I've been all over the Kingdom, and I eventually figured out that a God or Goddess seems to be assigned to oversee a chunk of territory. They like to pull strings from the shadows, but they will make themselves known to people of interest, such as wandering Mages. I often found myself with someone walking beside me on a lonely road or in a forest who, after my required Very Respectful Bow," he added dryly, "would ask what I was up to. I always told the truth in that I was a Healer, which they knew anyway, but they couldn't tell that I was also a licensed Veterinarian, which I also made a point of telling them. It never failed to score points and they always directed me to where my help was needed."

"I've had the same thing happen to me," Dana mused between bites. "I'd be in charge of a road crew out in the boondocks somewhere and it wouldn't take long before I was approached by a local Deity. They were always polite and professional, and once they had been assured that I wasn't Up to No Good, they would carry on." She blinked as she felt a foot stroking each of her legs. Both of her hosts looked like they were finishing the last on their plates, with no footsie going on. She had thought that she was good, getting one on Leila, but they clearly had taken it to the next level. Martial arts training does make the body more flexible, she mused.

"I've only had experience with our local Goddess," said Leila, eyeing her suddenly empty plate.

"She's wonderful!" Marcie exclaimed. "She Blessed us last night after we got home from the wedding. Ms. Tarken told us this morning that she loves us and is pleased with Ms. Franklin's teaching."

"They play the long game," said Harold, also sadly eyeing his empty plate. "It wouldn't surprise me if she was responsible for our getting together."

"She told me that there would be a big change on the Autumnal Equinox at about this time twelve years ago, and it turned out to be you," said Leila. "I wonder what she thinks of having you and Mark wandering around."

"I wonder if she pulled some strings to get the Magical Veterinary College here?" Dana asked as they got up from the table. "I'm sure that there are plenty of sites closer to the Capital than here that would be much more convenient than a three-day journey by coach." She flinched almost imperceptibly as someone gave her ass a daring squeeze while Marcie was putting her dishes in the sink.

"Maybe she knew that Papa wanted to retire from his job and wanted to keep him here," ventured Marcie as other dishes were stacked in the sink. "A Veterinarian means that she can help more people."

"She has a job to do, and a manager must use all of the resources at her disposal to be successful," said Dana as she, at Leila's invitation, hit the dishes with a Clean spell, making them clatter loudly. "As I know all too well. Three-quarters of a road-building job is keeping track of all the supplies and people needed to do the work, not to mention keeping the Engineering Mage students learning stuff and out of mischief. Thank you for the dinner, Leila. It was delicious and very filling."

"You're welcome, Dana. I suspect that we'll be seeing a lot of each other over the summer while the road is being built."

"It has not been approved or even brought up yet, but it will be," replied the Engineer. "So help me, I have no idea why the road from the highway to here is allowed to be so bad."

"Nearly all of the roads around here need improvement," said Harold. "I've walked most of them. I suspect our Goddess is kept busy during harvest season just making sure that the farmers can get their stuff to market." He stretched and yawned. "Now that dinner's over, it's time for girls to go to bed," he said hopefully to Marcie.

"Nope!" she replied with her gap-toothed grin.

"Oh, right, you have lots of homework to do before you can go to bed."

"No homework today! The ghosts made school end early!"

"Should Ms. Dana and Mama be interested, we'll sit on the patio, have some wine and talk about boring stuff. Maybe you can read a book?"

"The wine sounds like a great idea," said an amused Dana, "but I don't think that's what your lovely daughter has in mind."

"There are four of us! We can play Euchre!"

"No! I'll get you and put you in a chair outside! Raahhhhrr!" With another happy shriek, Marcie dodged past his clutching hands and ran down the hallway, with him in hot pursuit. But when she darted into her room to get the cards, he kept going to the front door, which he tried vainly to open. "What the?" he demanded. The doorknob was turned and the lock was unlocked, but the door was stuck. "Oof!" he grunted as Leila collided with him, grabbed and turned him around to face her. "Mmph!" he mumbled as her lips pressed onto his and her tongue invaded his mouth. "I can't seem to escape from your hold," he said when they finally finished their kiss.

"Get a room, you two," Dana admonished lightly, waving her left hand and speaking a word to release the Mage Glue spell. "I knew that would be a good idea," she snickered as he was unceremoniously propelled back to the kitchen, where Marcie was waiting with the pack of cards in her hand, arms crossed across her chest and shaking her head.

"You look so much like your Mama when you do that," he sighed. "Red or white wine?"

"Let's go for white this time," said Leila, and Harold retrieved a bottle from the basement. "No tricks this time, you," she warned as five mugs and a corkscrew were collected from the cupboard and they all went outside, pulled chairs up to the table and sat down.

"One for the Goddess, in case she stops by," said Marcie, remembering last night's unexpected visit. The honour, such as it was, of opening the bottle went to Harold, who did so without ceremony. A small amount went to Marcie, with more generous portions to the other four mugs. Over the next hour, as the light drained from the sky, as the sun set at ten to eight, and as the stars came out, they played cards and drank the wine. All three of the Mages cast Mosquito Attractor over parts of the yard to fool the bloodsuckers away from them and make life easier for the bats, who were more than happy to help out as they darted in and out of the yard.

They played three games, changing partners after each and the outcome was Harold losing all three and the others each winning two and losing one (when they were Harold's partner). During the games, all of the Mages felt feet mysteriously stroking their legs, with nobody apparently responsible. All games were close, and the difference between the eventual winner (Marcie, of course) and loser was only five points. The Goddess didn't come by, so the last mug of wine was split between the Mages and the Goddess toasted with it.

"It looks like I win the booby prize," sighed Harold, staring at Leila's chest. She rolled her eyes and pulled him in for a hug, pressing her boobies against his chest and whispering into his ear,

"I want you for my prize." During the between-game breaks, all of them had made trips to the privy and had had a snack of a slice of bread with strawberry jam and some water in their mugs, and were pretty much ready for bed. "You get dressed for bed, Junior Card Shark," Leila ordered, and Marcie was not unhappy to comply as they all retreated indoors, bringing their Mage Lights in with them and releasing the Mosquito Attractors.

"Would you like one of us to walk you back to the hotel, or would you like to crash here for the night?" Harold asked Dana. "The alarm clock will wake us at 7:00, whether we want it to or not," he addressed the alarm clock, who had returned to the kitchen in her nightie, yawning cavernously.

"When school is over, I'll let you sleep in to 7:30, maybe," she said with an impish grin. She led them back into her bedroom and she all but fell into her bed, getting tucked in by Leila and kisses on the forehead from both parents.

"It's been quite the busy day," said Dana as they stood and watched her rapidly fall asleep. "I'd take you up on your offer, but I want to leave at about 8:30. I have to get back to the Capital to report on the success of the property acquisition and the Headmaster's recruitment. Speaking of which, at some point this summer, you'll have to come visit us so that you can be presented to the Council for a meet-and-greet, briefing, etc."

"I'll do what I can to avoid the political intrigues," Harold replied dryly as he found himself being herded into the bedroom.

"You two," continued Dana in a quiet voice to not disturb Marcie, "have brought the art of footsie to an entirely new level." Neither would meet her gaze. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that you'd somehow detached your legs from your bodies!"

"Stealth is required when you have a daughter like Marcie," Harold grinned. "And it's not like you weren't participating, too," he added. "You're no slouch yourself." Dana put her hands on her hips.

"Before dinner, I wasn't sure if I'd be able to do what I wanted to do before I left, which was to get some payback for what you did to me yesterday," she addressed Leila. "Now, thanks to your busy feet, I will not be able to leave here without double-stuffing you." Unexpectedly, Leila blushed.

"I was dreaming that Harold was going to double-stuff me from behind with my Joy Buzzer belted over his cock. He was just getting started when his daughter woke me up."

"I was dreaming, remembering when Leila was just getting started on you when her daughter woke me up," Harold replied. "Am I correct, dearest wife, that you are ready?" her husband murmured, gently stroking the nubs that her nipples were producing in her blouse, getting a soft moan in return. "All these clothes that you're wearing are interfering with your desires, aren't they?" he whispered.

"They are," she replied hoarsely. "I may need some help with them." Help was available and two pairs of hands swiftly removed the impediments. Two tongues licked and stimulated the hard, pink nipples of her almost D-sized breasts while skilled hands stroked her skin and probed her swollen and very wet pussy and she was unable to contain a ragged moan. Her erogenous zones were glowing brightly with shifting colours of turquoise and yellow.

"A cock is a necessary component of a double-stuffing," groaned Leila as they eased off. "I think I know where one is available." The two women turned their attention to Harold's severely tented pants that were glowing with his colours of forest green and turquoise. "Poor baby, so severely restrained," she purred and the unwanted restraints were soon removed, along with his other clothes. It was his turn to moan raggedly as first Leila and then Dana gave his cock a long, lazy lick.

"Joy Buzzers were not meant to be worn over top of clothes," Harold stated. "They greatly impede the sensations." Dana was efficiently denuded and her DD breasts with long, brown, and very hard nipples were gently licked, stroked, and squeezed as she stood there until she shuddered and moaned through an orgasm, at the end of which her breasts and pussy were glowing brightly in shifting patterns of orange and yellow. She gave them a hard, slightly out-of-focus, stare.

"Of the many branches of Magery, the Healers have a reputation of being the most lecherous," she stated, breathing heavily. "You two only reinforce this reputation." The two offenders snickered, totally unrepentant. "Leila, I need to borrow your Joy Buzzer, because mine is in my hotel room." Leila walked to her dresser, adding some extra sway to her shapely bottom, which she knew was being ogled, opened the top drawer, reached in, bending more than necessary for her audience, and retrieved it.

"Get on the bed, you," Leila ordered Harold.

"Yes, dear," he replied meekly, getting on the bed and lying face down with a look of pure mischief on his face. A couple of smacks and squeezes on his ass persuaded him to roll over onto his back in the middle of the bed. "Mmm, my favourite view," he said as she got on the bed, straddled him, positioned his glowing cock, and sank on it up to the hilt with a moan and a shiver. "Oh, you're so hot," he groaned as she gave him a few squeezes. Meanwhile, Dana had adjusted the belt of the Joy Buzzer and put it around her hips. Another belt was attached to the middle of the back of the waist belt and dangled between her legs, with the free end having a hole just large enough to fit the Buzzer through it.

"You're going to need some lubricant with that," said Leila.

"After what you two did to me, I have more than enough," Dana replied huskily, giving herself a little shake. Seeing their eyes watching every bounce and jiggle just got her hotter. Standing with her feet wider, she inserted the Buzzer, which was as thick as Harold's cock, but about nine inches long, as far into her vagina as it would go, groaned as it stretched her, twisted it around a few times, and then pulled it out. "More than enough," she repeated, eyeing the glistening coating, then the wide, lustful eyes of the others. Reaching through her legs, making sure that her breasts dangled and bobbled for her audience, she grabbed the other belt, pulled it up, inserted the Joy Buzzer, which had an inch-wide ring at its base, through the hole, then clipped the free end to a metal stud and adjusted it so that it was resting on her clitoris. "Bend over, sweetheart," she instructed as she wound it up a couple of twists.