Senta was standing in front of her house when a car drove through the gate, up the drive, and stopped right in front of her.  All four of the occupants stared at her.  She was dressed in leather pants and a leather bustier instead of a shirt.  This left the two star sigils on her chest in full view.  She had recently shortened her hair to chin-length and today it was partially covered by a black top hat.

“Well, if it isn’t the whole Baxter clan,” she said.

Kieran Baxter was driving and Bryony sat in the front passenger seat.  In the back, were Sen and little Kerry.

“Daddy is driving us to the dinosaur ranch,” said Sen.

“Well isn’t that lovely. Bryony came along for the ride as well.”

“I’m riding shotgun,” said Bryony.

“Are you all packed, Sen?”

The girl held up a medium-sized purse—lime green to match her walking dress.

“Even so,” said her mother, holding up a similarly sized bag in black.  “Come along, Felicity!”

A young troodon, it’s brilliant green feathers the most colorful thing in the neighborhood, ran from behind the shrubs and pressed its toothy snout up against the sorceress’s leg.

“She’s getting big!” said Kerry excitedly.

The little dinosaur zeroed in on his voice and leapt up onto the side of the car.  Bryony gave a little shriek, but the creature did nothing more than hop into the boy’s lap and curl up.  Kerry cooed to it and petted its head.

“Boys and dinosaurs have a natural affinity,” opined Senta.  “I suppose I’m in the rear?”

“Too right,” said Bryony, as her husband stepped down to help the sorceress climb back between the children.

Soon they were all on the road, heading south.  Bryony turned and looked back at Senta.

“You’ll be gone two weeks?”

“I’m thinking more like three.  We must account for travel time.”

“That’s a long time.”

“Don’t worry,” said Sen. “I’ll keep her out of trouble.”

It was a journey of more than an hour to the Charmley Dinosaur Ranch, but at last they arrived.  Baxter helped Senta and then Sen down from the car.  The girl kissed all three of the Baxters good-bye, and lifted the sleeping dinosaur from Kerry’s hands.

“Be a good girl,” Baxter told her.

“Always, Daddy.”

“We’ll be back before you know it,” said the sorceress.

Baxter just nodded and climbed back into the car.  Without another word, he drove away with his family.

“We’re off on a great adventure,” Senta told her daughter.  “Let’s go.”

They walked to the front door of the large ranch house.  The troodons in the front yard gave them no trouble, though Sen carried Felicity in her arms, just in case.  Wenda Charmley met them at the front door.

“Senta.  Right on time.  Walter is waiting for you in back.  Come on through.”

She led them through the house and out the back door to a broad, open porch.  Walter was leaning against one of the columns, drinking soda water from a glass bottle.  He looked no different than he had when he was Warden.  Standing just beyond the porch, munching on greens piled in a wheelbarrow, was a huge iguanodon.  He was fully forty feet from nose to tail and weighed in at nearly five tons, and he was outfitted with a howdah on his back.

“Is that..?” wondered Senta.

“I wouldn’t trust you to any other.  Stinky really is the best.  He’s an old hand at carrying passengers.”

“I haven’t seen him since…” The sorceress looked around.  “I haven’t seen him in a long time.”

Novuary 1907 had been a long time before—fifteen years.  In another week and a half, it would be fifteen years to the day.  Stinky had been much smaller then and Senta had been so much younger. She had been seventeen and madly in love.  Then a steam carriage had exploded.  It was the same explosion that had cost Honor McCoort her leg.  It had injured Stinky the iguanodon, and he had fallen on his rider—Graham Dokkins.  Graham Dokkins, the boy that Senta had loved so fiercely.

“I took him out of the city after the accident,” said Walter.  “He hasn’t shown any real fear of cars, but I didn’t want to take the chance.  Since then, he’s carried a howdah to Yessonarah many times, and once he went all the way to Tsahloose.”

The sorceress stepped up to the great beast.  He lifted his head, and she rubbed it between his eyes.

“Do you remember me, Stinky? I remember the morning Graham came home and you were waiting for him.  That was the same day that I got my first sigils.”

The iguanodon snorted, leaving a wad of mucus the size of a large man’s fist on her stomach.

“He remembers me,” she said, cleaning herself up with a simple spell.  “Come along, Sen.”

“Hut hut,” called Walter, stepping up beside her.

The iguanodon dropped down onto his belly.

“You’ll still need a little help getting up.”  He pointed to a rope ladder handing down from the howdah.  “Once you’re up there, pull it up with you, so it doesn’t get tangled on anything. There’s plenty of room for you to sleep in the howdah, so you really needn’t get out until you reach your destination, except maybe to stretch your legs.  There’s a chamber pot inside.”

Prince Clitus of Greater Brechalon read through the news release arranged by the palace.  It announced his engagement to Miss Terra Dechantagne, and described him romantically asking the young lady to marry him.  He let out a long breath.

“There’s only one problem,” he told Mr. Flint, the official palace herald.  “I haven’t actually done any of this.  I haven’t stood before friends and family and proposed over a dessert of trifle.  I haven’t asked her brother for her hand.  I haven’t even picked out an engagement ring, let alone given it to her.”

“It’s all being arranged,” said Mr. Flint.  “The ring is almost ready.  The stationers are finishing up the invitations.  The meal has been scheduled.  Everything will go according to plan, Your Highness.  All you have to do is follow the program.”

“As usual, I’m really not necessary to the proceedings.”

“Nonsense, Your Highness. You are vital.  For example, right now, Mr. Caulinghoff is waiting for you to compose the telegram to Lord Dechantagne.  He is waiting in the North Wing drawing room.”

“Then I’d best hurry over there.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Clitus took off at a brisk walk down the long corridor.

“One would think that a person awaiting me would be awaiting in the same wing that I was in,” he grumbled as he walked along.

He heard footsteps behind him, hurrying to catch up.  Looking over his shoulder, he saw Bob fall into step with him.

“I thought this was your day off,” said the Prince.

“I don’t have a day off when you’re about, Your Highness.”

“What trouble can I get into walking from one end of the palace to the other?”

“Well, it is a long walk.”

Clitus laughed.

“Seems like everyone is rushing to get this engagement on track.”

“Well you don’t want to tarry.  Do you, Your Highness?”

“No, I guess not.”

“Just remember, your engagement is going to be a year long,” said Bob.

“Yes, I know.”

“You want to get it started so it will be over as soon as possible.  After all, the lady might not want to give up her virginity until her wedding night.”

Clitus came to a stop so quickly that his boot heel skidded on the red carpet runner.

“She did indicate as much to me,” he said with a frown.  “One would think it would be enough that we’re engaged.”

Bob shrugged.

“I mean, she already…”

“I know, lad.  She gave you a bit of nosh on the yacht. Maybe she’ll be willing to tied you over that way.”

“Come on!” said Clitus, starting off at slightly less than a jog.  “We’ve got to get this show on the road.”

Senta walked slowly across the parlor, leafing through the letters from the morning post.  She stopped and held one up in her fingers.

“Another letter from Lord Dechantagne,” she said.  “Shall I burn it, like the others.”

“Yes,” sighed Zoey, sprawled across the sofa, still in her nightgown though it was well past 1:00 PM. “Wait.  No, yes, maybe.  I don’t know. No, I want to read it.”

The letter exploded in a bright flash, leaving only a single ember, which drifted down to the floor.

“Oops.  Too late.”

“Fine.  I really didn’t want to read it.”  The dragon in human form leaned back and moaned pitifully. “How could he treat me so terribly?”

“You really must snap out of it, Pet.”

“But he broke my heart!”

“Your dragon heart will not be broken by anything as unimpressive as a human boy.”  Senta sat down next to Zoey and ran her hand over her hair.  “Augustus is just a boy, and boy’s are even worse than men.  They are capricious, self-involved, immature little creatures. Forget him.  You’ll be better off, I assure you.”

“But I love him.”

“You need to get away for a while.  Next week, I’m leaving to spend a fortnight at Dragon Fortress.  You must come with me.  We’ll do nothing but relax and indulge ourselves.  Those lizzies will faun all over you, you know.  They’ll treat you like the goddess you are.”

“You just want to push me at Bessemer.”

“I don’t.  I don’t even know that he’ll be there.  He spends most of his time these days visiting the lizzie cities.  And if he is there, you don’t have to see him if you don’t want to.  I promise.”

“Last time I went there with you, I was kidnapped.”

“Well obviously, that won’t happen again,” said Senta.  “Between the two of us, there’s nothing in the world to threaten us.  Now, I’m going to Bryony’s for tea.  Why don’t you get dressed up and come with me?”

“I don’t feel like eating and I don’t feel like watching you torture Bryony.”

“Suit yourself,” said the sorceress, standing up.  “Rezesic idium uuthanum tortestos paj.”

With a pop, Senta disappeared from her parlor, only to reappear on the front step of the Baxter’s lovely little cottage.  She rapped her knuckles on the door.  There was no answer.  She repeated the procedure, but still nothing.  She turned the doorknob, but the lock was engaged.  With a snap of her fingers, she magically unlocked it.  Then turning the knob, she let herself in.

The house appeared empty. She walked slowly through the parlor, into the dining room, where she noted the table was set with place settings, but no food was in evidence.  She turned and walked down the hallway until she came to a door.  She opened it and looked in.  Three-and-a-half-year-old Kerry Baxter sat in the center of his bedroom floor, playing with tin soldiers.  He looked up.

“Hello little Baxter,” said Senta.  “How are you today?”

“I’m hungry.”

She reached into the air and a chocolate biscuit appeared in her hand.  She bent down and handed it to him.

“Where is your mommy?”

“Mommy’s sleeping.”

“And where is Sen?”

“She’s not here.”

Turning, Senta continued down the hall, opening another door to see Sen’s empty room.  The next door opened into the bathroom.  That left only one more door at the very end of the hallway. Senta stopped and knocked quietly. She heard something on the other side, but couldn’t tell if it was words or something else.  She opened the door and found Bryony lying across her bed, fully clothed.

“Why Bryony Byenthal,” said the sorceress, stepping to her side.  “Why ever are you just lying around when you could be up fixing my tea?”

“I had just finished cleaning up breakfast, when I got the most dreadful headache.”  The woman’s voice was barely audible and she began shivering as soon as she stopped speaking.

“Teigor tachthna uuthanum Senta,” said Senta.

“What are you doing? Are you casting a spell on me?”

“Not on you.  Rather on my errant offspring.  She should be along soon.”

“You don’t need to bother her.  I’ll get up and make tea in just a moment.”

“Oh, I’m afraid you won’t,” said Senta.

She reached down and wiped two fingers across Bryony’s fevered brow, bringing them up to examine the blue perspiration.  The stricken woman watched, her eyes growing even larger and rounder than usual.

“I have the sweat. I’m dying.  Senta, you must promise to take care of Kerry for me.  I know you’ll lure Kieran back to you. Just promise me to take care of my little boy too.”

“I promise I will take care of your family,” said Senta, as she reached up into the air and plucked out a large brown vial.

She pulled the cork from the bottle with her teeth and then bent down and poured the contents into Bryony’s mouth.  Standing back up, the sorceress tossed the bottle onto the floor in the corner.

At that moment, Senta’s daughter came bursting into the room.

“What have you done to her, you cow?”

“Don’t talk to me like that, you little bint!  I’ve done nothing to her, except save her life of course.  Bryony Baxter has…”

“Baxter,” said the girl.  “Wait a minute.  What did you say?”