Mira opened up her eyes. "Oh my God! You can read my mind!"
Erick lightly shook his head. "We're not reading minds darling. We're communicating with our minds. We have mind-bonded."
He looked at her in puzzlement. "I have to ask. What in the world is a Teletubbies?"
Mira smiled through her tears. "It's not anywhere in your world, that's for sure."
She projected some images of the various colorful Teletubbies that she could remember through their mind-bond. This merely made Erick even more curious.
What species of humans are they?
They're not a species of humans. Those are just fabric costumes that regular humans wear. They are putting on…a play.
Erick nodded, as if he understood. Then he projected an overwhelming warm feeling towards Mira.
Wow. I can feel your emotions too. You…
She opened her eyes and gazed upon his warm aquamarine eyes.
You're in love with me. I can feel it.
Yes. Yes I am. Very much so.
And you don't mind me knowing this?
Why would I mind? Haven't I been telling you this since the beginning?
Yes but…I thought you were just teasing me.
Darling, I am the Crown Prince of an empire. I don't have time to play around, especially with something this important.
But…
Don't think about it too much. I do not ask for reciprocation. Just be yourself and do what you normally do and my love for you will be part of the background of your mind. It will be your constant source of strength.
He tweaked her nose. Now. Let me try to infuse Zander with a bit more energy so he's not so depleted, and once he's out of the critical danger zone, I will try to make contact with Zander's mind.
She nodded.
Focus on his crown again and let's try that one more time. This time though, release your grip a bit so I can infuse my own energy into the gap.
Mira nodded. She began focusing on Zander's underlying energy waves, slowly and quietly undulating. It was a thing of beauty.
And now that she knew what she was looking at, she could see the sparkles of blues and purples that were uniquely Zander's.
Mira also inspected her own energy patterns. They were unique to her as well. There were orange and pink sparkles along with a touch of lime green at times.
Now that she knew it was Zander's energy she was feeling flowing through her, it suddenly held a much more poignant and emotional context. It meant that no matter where she was, all she had to do to feel his presence was to touch his energy waves.
Very good, darling. You have identified the source of his energy pattern. Now, ease back a little so I have some room.
Mira eased back her mental probing. Immediately, a powerful presence took over. It was Erick.
His energy pattern was slightly different in color than that of Zander's. He had more aquas, less purples, more greens, less blues. But deep within the structure of aquas and teals ran a core of deep midnight violet that was his strength.
The energy Erick was able to transmit to Zander was far in excess of anything that Mira was capable of. The more power Erick fed into the wave, the larger the wave grew.
Mira was totally impressed with how massive that energy wave could possibly get.
It made total sense to Mira, now that she could see the kind of energy that was required for the mages to be able to levitate and do all the various magik. Mere mortals like her could never be able to compare to that kind of raw power.
Since Mira was not a mage, the tiny amount of energy she was able to naturally absorb was barely enough to keep Zander from flatlining.
For him to suddenly get the huge rush of infusion from Erick was the difference between barely hanging on and actually feeling well enough to relax his energy core.
They continued this for another half an hour until Erick signaled that Zander had recovered enough energy to be able to have minimal mage functions.
"He's sleeping now, so I am not going to try to communicate with him at this moment. Let's wait until he is more rested and has recovered more."
Mira nodded. "Thank you for transferring some of your energy to him. You've depleted yourself quite a bit."
Being mind-bonded meant she could see the level of his energy wave as well.
"This is nothing. He did the same for me when I was at death's door. All I have to do is go recharge for about an hour and I've recovered everything I gave to Zander."
He slowly shook his head. "But this is only part of the battle, my Love. While I was inside his mind, I also saw some of the physical damage that was done. Lord knows what kind of damage exists mentally."
Mira wept.
Her shoulders shook uncontrollably and her tears gushed from her eyes.
Erick winced. Now that they were mind-bonded, he could feel the pain she felt and it was truly devastating.
Mira reached out and touched Zander's hands, willing him to feel the love she had pouring over him.
Erick sighed, feeling her love washing over Zander. He was an inadvertent recipient of that love as well since he was the one who was bonded to her.
His eyes took on an edge of worry as something occurred to him. "To truly hurt a mage at Zander's level this deeply would have taken far more power than that silly girl Celeste could have done."
Erick clenched his fists. "I have a feeling my brother's hand is in this kidnapping and torture as well, damn his black soul. Just wait till I get my hands on him. He will know what true torture really means."
To see her cry this way was almost more than he could bear. Erick pulled Mira into his arms. "Do not fret too much my love. We have to stay strong because we still have to heal is body and his mind."
His face took on a rage that Mira had never seen before. "Then we go after that evil bastard!"
Mira touched Zander's chest. The strong rhythmic thumping of his heart was at once reassuring and comforting.
Whatever it took, however long it took, and anything she needed to do, she would do it so that this man could return to the happy sparkling man he used to be.
She needed to hook him up to Nellie, the house computer so she could do a complete diagnostic on his body.
"Do you have an idea of how long it will be to heal his body?" Erick asked.
Mira shook her head. Even in the best of times, it takes weeks to heal a body from trauma and injury. She still did not know the extent of damage so there was no way to even give an estimate.
"We could be gone for awhile then, I guess." Erick surmised.
"Erick." Mira's eyes again welled up with tears. "Can you please find someone to help me take care of the Northern Realm until Zander is recovered enough to return to the Diamond throne? Tinsel is covering for us, but he can't do it alone."
Her eyes widened. "Can we ask Gerald Pomfrey to please stay in Diamond and help Tinsel run the Kingdom? Please Erick."
Erick turned to Mira and gathered her into his arms. "Of course, my Love. I will have the two of them keep Diamond in smooth running condition until Zander returns in good health."
"Thank you!" Mira sobbed into his shoulder.
Within half an hour, Daran gave them the signal from the doorway that he had arranged everything and was ready for them to port with him back to Tourmaline Bog.
Theo was there beside Daran, ready and waiting for the word to leave. He stood at the doorway looking in with curious eyes. He had never heard of Azure before and it took all the self-control he had to remain calm and composed.
Jana had not been too happy that he would be leaving for an indefinite amount of time, but Theo was adamant. A man had to do what a man had to do.
This was a crucial mission that Theo had been tagged to join. Jana would just have to understand that, as a soldier, he needed to do his job.
Theo knew how important this job was. The future of his entire bogwarg race was tied to the welfare of the King and Queen of Diamond.
Jana was a warrior too, and also from a much-maligned human race. The pantherans from Marble Savanna would also be affected if he could not keep these two people safe.
Surely she saw how critical it was that Theo be part of the team that protected the Royal pair of the Northern Realm.
They had words.
The words were not harsh, as they cared for each other deeply. Still, he had departed with many things left unsaid.
In truth, Theo was excited to go and see for himself, this new world that the Queen came from. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time to take advantage of this opportunity.
With Zander stabilized enough to make the trip, Erick and Mira signaled for Theo to take over the physical labor of carrying Zander to the portal.
It was actually not much of a physical labor. It was more of an assisted carry since Theo mostly levitated Zander's weight and only guided and protected the King's precious body from harm and from bumping into things.
In the early pre-dawn light of a Thursday morning, Erick, Daran, Mira, and Theo, carrying the unconscious Zander, had stepped over into the world of the humans.