Soul of the Sorcerer - Part Three: Daughter of the Dragon by T R Brown Page A

point. But the thing that had struck her the most was the noise.
    In Lloyd’s home village it had not been too bad, but in the busy local town, it was a wonder that anyone got any sleep.
    “Try these!” Amy’s voice said before the curtain to the changing cubicle opened and a blue pair of jeans came through, “They are a size bigger than the last pair” Amy added, luckily Bethany wasn’t completely acclimatised to Earth culture and was probably sometime off from developing the over image conscious state of mind of many young women, and men for that matter.
    Bethany slipped the jeans over her legs and the light pink underwear that Amy had also bought for her, the jeans fitted very nicely, showing curves that she would never have dared reveal back home. She paused, as if sad for a moment, with some recollection of a childhood memory, “ It’s fine Mother I’m not going to follow you into your profession!” she whispered into the air.
    Outside the waiting room Darrion and Lloyd sat glumly on two spare chairs in the nearby shoe department.
    “I don’t understand how you and I can purchase everything we need in a matter of half an hour and yet two hours later we are still waiting for your Mother and Bethany!” Darrion said, failing to conceal the abject boredom from his voice.
    “I would like to say you get used to it,” the young Sorcerer replied “but you never do.”
    At this point Amy and Bethany emerged from the store changing rooms, Bethany already dressed in blue jeans and a white t-shirt, and in their arms they carried a number of other items.
    “Right, we are done, just need to pay.” Amy said leading Bethany towards the Pay Here sign; Darrion and Lloyd trudged along like automatons behind them.
    Within a few minutes they walked through a pair of large doors out into the busy high street.
    “LLOYD!” an excited voice yelled at him from across the street. A young man, a few inches shorter than Lloyd and dressed in a very smart suit, dodged through the cars in the street and crossed over, as he got closer Lloyd recognised the face of Paul Watson and grinned in recognition. The two gripped hands warmly and then slipped into conversation like only old friends can.
    “Man! I hardly recognised you with a beard; I was starting to think the rumours of you being dead were true!”
    “No they were overrated, what have they been saying about me?”
    “Well, not being nasty, but you vanishing off to London with your Mum...hello Doctor Brook,” he added hastily seeing Amy standing beside Darrion, “well me and the lads thought that was well suspicious after Mr Miller tried to cut that necklace from your neck.”
    Lloyd instinctively reached up to his chest and could feel the large coin sized Talisman of Joran cold against his skin, it had felt cold ever since he had restored the forbidden tomes.
    Lloyd looked at his Mother and Darrion, “I’m going to tell him everything, they all knew about my soul vision and the circle of stones anyway.”
    “If you’re sure; why don’t you go for a coffee somewhere here’s some cash, we will meet you at home, take the 101 bus” she said placing some notes in his hand.
    “Do you wanna come Beth?” he asked the redhead.
    “Yes please” she said placing her bundle of bags into Darrion’s hands. The Master sighed the sigh of a defeated man.
    “Where shall we go?” Lloyd asked his friend who still seemed to have the same air of excitement about him he had had since the first year of school.
    “Blow the coffee, I will buy you a beer! I was meeting up with Danny and Reese anyway, as we are celebrating Reese joining the army.” the wiry young man replied.
    “Oooh beer!” Bethany grinned, “I like your old friends already.”
     
     
    The pub they entered was part of a nationwide chain of pubs providing food, as well as all manner of beer, and it seemed very popular with the young.
    His other two childhood friends were already halfway through a pint and they did a