Mismatched Pair by J. L. Ray

Author:J. L. Ray [Ray, J. L.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2016-03-19T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

The weather calmed enough for Phileas to agree to go without setting up a dry spell, the storm having subsided to more of a mist than anything. Naamah went out to help release the balloon and see them off. She hugged Phileas, and then walked over to Cal.

“Calvin,” she told him, “I can place a very small spell on you for the rest of the trip, if you like, that will make the fear go away.”

“You can?” Cal’s face, which had tightened up as they headed out to the ship, lightened. “That’d be great, ma’am. I’d really be able to work better if you did that. I mean, nobody’s intimidated by an airsick ogre, am I right?”

Naamah smiled. “You are right, Calvin. Turn around and I’ll do this.”

He turned around.

“Now, shut your eyes.”

He did.

Through all of this, Phil had stood, his arms folded, trying to decide what Naamah was up to. He didn’t think she did that type of magic, at least, she hadn’t in the past. When Calvin turned his back to her, she looked at Phil and put one finger to her lips to tell him to keep quiet. Then she reached up high and thumped Cal between the shoulders. He jumped a bit.

“There! Since you have to get Phil out of here in twenty hours or less, that should take care of the fear until you have left in Fairie.”

Calvin turned around to thank her but Phil shook his head. Even with old friends, one didn’t say “thank you” to a Fairie creature in the Realms. It had a tendency to end badly. Calvin winced. He was a very well brought up ogre, by Mundane standards. It really bothered him not to thank someone. But even Naamah had to work by the rules, and she also shook her head at him as well.

Cal settled for telling her, “You have a good heart, Naamah. I won’t forget you!”

She smiled and patted his arm. “Go on now, you big softie. Good fortune to you.”

Cal climbed into the basket and Phil walked up to hug his former lover. Whispering in her ear as he hugged her close, he asked, “Now what was that all about? You don’t have that kind of magic.”

She pulled back from his embrace so he could see her. Her current incarnation in the form of a comfortably plump little old lady gave her plenty of room for lecturing young men. She told him primly, “I, my dear old friend, have been reading some of those amazing psychology books from Mundania. They are quite fascinating. Your ogre suffers from a phobia, and by giving him a reason to believe that the fear has been eliminated, I am providing him a way to avoid being scared and a way to conquer his fear. Magical Practitioners in the Mundane Realms do this all this time. I believe it is called a placebo. He can now be exposed to heights and feel immune—desensitizing is the term.”

Phil laughed and hugged her tight again.

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