Exiled Chapter 1

Chapter One

WIZARD

"There is nothing between Susan and me, but she is a nice kid and I hate to see some phoney like this taking advantage of gullible kids like Susan. So when she asked me if I would like to attend the next meeting, which just happens to be this evening, I agreed. If I can't expose this charlatan, I need to turn in my text books and take up accounting or something.

"I need to leave in a few minutes to meet Susan, and expect to be late getting back, so I will describe it fully in tomorrow's entry.

He sat for a moment and stared at what he had just written, then closed the book and stood. It was time to leave. All that he had to do was to slip on his Reeboks and leave.

He was in his freshman year at college, but he was older than most of his classmates. When he had graduated from high school, he had not had the money to continue with his education, so he had joined the Air Force.

He had been trained as a computer operator in the Air Force and had found a job doing that in civilian life after he had separated from the Air Force. He had saved his money until he had enough to go to college while still holding down a part time job. He felt that his experience in the USAF and later working had made him more mature than the kids that he was going to school with now. At any rate, he wasn't going to fall for some phony wizard.

He got his bicycle and left his apartment. He had a car, what people in this part of the country called a fishing car, and he used it to go to work or to go grocery shopping. But for normal running around, he used his bicycle. It was a lot cheaper.

Susan's apartment was only three blocks from his own. She was waiting for him and he followed her to the meeting place. It seems that her wizard friend had a basement apartment.

As they entered the candle lit room, Justin looked around and saw a half dozen other kids of college age. He vaguely recognized only one of them.

Sitting at a table in the rear center of the room was a man of indefinable age. He was one of those rare people who seem to have an aura of extreme age while at the same time appearing youthful. Justin would not dare to hazard a guess as to the man's actual age. Another odd thing about him was his clothing. His white shirt was closed at the neck with a tie of unusual color combinations. Over that, he wore a robe reminiscent of the robes that college professors wore during official scholarly functions. He assumed that this was the so called wizard.

The man looked up as they came in and called out, "Susan, good to see you. And I see that you have brought a nonbeliever for me to convince."

"Magister, this is Justin Hornsby, from school. Justin, this is Magister Banault."

Justin stuck out his hand, "Mister Banault, glad to meet you. That is an unusual tie. School tie?"

The wizard took the proffered hand. "Well, I'm glad to meet you as well, Justin. Yes it is a school tie. Oxnard, you know. No, on second thought, I guess that you don't know.

"But it is customary to address a master wizard by either the title of Master and his name or as Magister."

"Ah, Susan, I knew that this one was a skeptic when he walked in the door with you. I could see it in his aura. And that is a real pity, he has a very great potential. I fear that it will take something rather drastic to make him develop it, though."

Justin spoke up. "Come on, now. Auras? It doesn't take any magical mumbo jumbo to tell that I am too intelligent to believe in that nonsense. Nor am I going to be taken in by some phoney wizard."

For just an instant, fire seemed to flash in the wizard's eyes. Then he smiled and said, "Yes, something very drastic, indeed." He turned to a brazier that smoldered next to the table and started an incantation in a language that no one else in the room recognized. Smoke started pouring forth from the brazier. It drifted in a circle as Banault continued to chant. Soon, Justin could see nothing other than Banault and the smoke. Then even Banault was hidden from his view and his voice seemed to be coming from very far away, like they were at opposite ends of a long tunnel. For a few seconds, he felt almost weightless, as though the floor had vanished from beneath his feet.

Suddenly, the smoke vanished and the sun broke through. Sun? They had been in a basement apartment. There hadn't even been any windows in the room. But he certainly wasn't in a basement apartment now. In fact, he obviously wasn't even in Charleston any more.

As he looked around, he realized that he was standing in what seemed to be a very large meadow. A stream ambled by at what he judged to be the south. To the west was a wooded area. But even stranger was the castle that stood not far away in what he judged to be the east. It seemed to be about a quarter of a mile away. His only coherent thought was, "What the hell?"

As he stood watching the pennants on the castle whipping in the breeze, he thought, "Illusion. This all has to be a rather elaborate illusion, perhaps caused by hypnosis. Maybe the smoke had a hallucinogenic drug in it. In reality, the table is still right there a foot and a half in front of me." He reached out, feeling for the table. No table. Then he took ten good paces forward. That should bring him to any wall in this room. Feeling around in the air, he still could find no wall. Finally, he had to admit to himself that he was no longer in the basement apartment back in Charleston.

"All right," he thought. "There has to be a logical explanation for all of this. Perhaps the smoke did have some sort of drug in it. It made me pass out and I was carried from that room to wherever I am now."

He reached up and rubbed his jaw, feeling his beard. There was no more stubble than he would have expected to feel had he still been in the room with Susan and the fake wizard. But that could be explained easily enough. Running an electric razor over his face just before he woke up would account for that. He knew that he couldn't have been out too long, he was neither hungry nor thirsty. But if he had been under some hypnotic drug, he could have been fed and given water and then told to forget about it. So that was really no indication of how much time had lapsed. He noted that his clothing seemed to be just as fresh as it had been when he had walked into that phoney wizard's den.

"Well, the first step," he thought, "is to find out just where the hell I am. From there, I can work on how I got here and how to get back. And when I get back, I think that another trip to see that fake wizard is in order."

He set off with a brisk stride toward the castle. As he approached it, he realized that a moat surrounded the castle and that the front door seemed to be around to the south, so he circled somewhat in that direction, and soon came in sight of the drawbridge. A cobblestone road led off toward the south.

As he set foot on the foot of the drawbridge, he looked up and saw two men, one standing on either side of the gate. They seemed to be wearing some sort of uniform, almost medieval in design. And they were armed, for Christ sake, with pikes!

As he approached them, they lowered their pikes and the man on his right said, "Halt!"

"Hey! Take it easy. I'm not trying to invade you or anything, I just want some information."

The two men relaxed somewhat and the same man asked, "What do you wish to know?"

"I know where I was, then suddenly I found myself standing out there a quarter mile from here."

Justin realized with a start that neither he nor the guard were speaking English, although the guard's speech came across as some absurd mixture of modern English and archaic, medieval English. "He said that he was, but I didn't believe him. But where am I now?"

"I have only heard of two kings that had the surname of Pendragon, Arthur and his father Uther."

The guard laughed, "Knowest thou not? Pendragon is not a surname, 'tis a title. Nay, this is the vacation home of Good King Jorge. 'Tis true that he is now at the capital, Landun, though he should be arriving here in a few days."

"No, I know what the date is where I come from, but I'm not sure that your people and mine reckon the date in the same fashion." Actually, Justin had some thoughts of time machines bouncing around in his confused head.

"I see. Surely, you must be from very far away. Know then that this is Tuesday, September 25, in the year of our Good Lord, two thousand and one. Is't different where you come from?"

This revelation was another shock to Justin. He had done some traveling while in the Air Force, and although he had not seen the entire world, he knew of no place where he might be able to find scenery such as he presently saw. He had almost hoped that he had been transported to another time, that would at least explain the things that he was presently seeing. "No," he answered, "no, we use the same date. Now I just need to figure out how to get back home."

Justin laughed, "South Carolina is not a country, it is a state in the United States of America."

The guard really looked confused. "I have never heard of any United States of Remerica. But 'tis obvious that you are an outlander, both your garb, your speech and your own admission mark you as such. You should be cleared with our own authorities." He turned and called, "Captain of the Guard!"

Justin decided that this might be a good time for him to find another place for him to be. He turned to leave but discovered that the second guard had somehow managed to get behind him and now stood blocking his escape with his pike lowered.

As Justin turned back toward the first guard, three more men came out through the gate. Two of the men were dressed and armed as were the two guards, but the leader of the three was dressed much more flamboyantly and wore a sword at one hip and a dirk at the other.

When Justin had been a young boy, one of his uncles had retired from the Air Force, and Justin remembered one of the uniform articles that his uncle had worn. It was a coat that had been called an "Ike Jacket." The leader of the three wore a coat that looked a lot like that old Ike jacket, except that it was a brilliant red with a lot of gold braid. He also wore what Justin would have sworn was a Stetson hat with a large feather stuck in it. A pale green shirt with lots of ruffles peeked out from under the jacket, both at the neck line and at the sleeves. His trousers billowed out a bit around his hips and then were almost skin tight until they disappeared into the tops of his very shinny boots. Except for the shine and the fact that they were cut much too high, they reminded Justin of motorcycle boots. He noted that the Captain of the Guard and all of the other guards also had a gold and purple crest on the left breast of their uniforms.

Justin found himself smiling at the garish outfit as the first guard conversed quietly with the Captain of the Guard.

The two men spoke for just a moment and the officer looked at Justin and said, "Outlander, come with me."

As they headed into the court yard inside the gate, Justin asked, "Where are you taking me?"

The guard captain laughed. "Normally, he is. But the king is planning a vacation, so his wizard has come before hand to prepare for him. You know, renew the spells and whatnot."

"Such things take time. Wouldn't do to have the king come to a drafty, ill lit castle. Surely, even an outlander such as yourself should know that."

Justin decided to take a wait and see attitude and fell silent. The guard escorted him into the castle through a side door and into a small sparsely furnished room where he was told to wait. The two armed guards that had been with the Captain of the Guard were stationed outside of the door of the room. The only other opening into the room was a small, narrow window high above his head. Justin had to admit to himself that he was mildly worried.

The ten minutes that he waited did nothing to ease his concern, in fact it exaggerated it. He was beginning to feel like a prisoner in a holding cell waiting for a pronouncement of doom when the guard captain returned and told him that the wizard would see him.

As the Captain of the Guard led him to another part of the castle he said, "When you speak to him, address him either as Master Granut or as Magister. Forget that not, he tends to become aggrieved if he is not properly addressed. And lest I forget, what is your name?"

The Captain of the Guard led him to another, larger and more luxuriantly furnished chamber on the second floor. One wall of the room was taken up with shelves which were completely filled with books of varying sizes. The opposite wall had other shelves which seemed to have some of every sort of thing on them. There were bottles filled with varying substances and other things, some of which Justin had no idea what they were. A brazier on a tripod stood beside an ornate and expensive looking desk of some dark wood. The desk stood in front of a large window that looked out to the south. A metal shod, ornately carved, wooden staff leaned against the desk.

A man sat behind the desk. He was dressed very much as Banault had been. His robe was of purple satin whereas Banault's robe had been a deep red satin. He also had that same look of indefinable age that Banault had and even bore a family resemblance to Banault.

"Master Granut, this is the outlander that I spoke to you of. He says that his name is - Justin Hornsby."

As the captain left, the wizard looked at Justin and said, "So, Justin Hornsby. The good captain tells be that they suspect that you came here by wizardry. Why don't you tell me exactly what happened?"

Justin spent the next fifteen minutes explaining exactly what had happened. When he had finished with his narration, Granut asked, "This other wizard, would his name by any chance be Banault?"

"My brother. We were the two most powerful wizards in the world and were always in fierce competition for everything. Got to the point that it was interfering with our duties. Finally, the king ordered us to settle the competition once and for all. We knew that we would never be able to stop if we were on the same world, so we made a wager of chance. The looser would go to another, parallel universe. He lost.

"I wasn't sure which universe that he had chosen until now, but I suspected that it might be yours."

"But, why would your brother choose to come to my universe? We don't have magic there, just science."

"Justin, you need to understand that there are a plethora of universes. Your universe, and this one, lie near the center when it comes to magic and science. Those universes further left of here have far more magic while those further right have far more science.

"Banault could have chosen to go to the left, but as a wizard, he would have been less powerful than he was here, not because he would have had less power personally, in fact, he would have had a little more, but because the other people would have had more. If he went far enough to the left, he would have found that even untrained peasants were more powerful wizards than he. "In the case of your universe, it was almost identical to this one, but decided to develop science when this one decided to develop magic, but the potential is still there. Because they are so close to being alike, both science and magic will work in either universe, but magic has to be used in order to operate. The more that it is used, the more it becomes available, up to the limit of the host universe.

"By teaching some of your local citizens magic, he can start the flow of magic there and become almost as powerful as he was here."

"Of course. But it wouldn't do you any good. My brother would simply send you back here again. He has decided that you need to learn a lesson and if I know my brother, and I know him very well, he won't be satisfied until you learn it."

"For the time being, I would say so. My suggestion to you would be to go see the oracle."

"Yes. The oracle can answer any questions and give solutions to any problems. You simply have to understand just what you are being told.

The sudden change of topic threw Justin for a second, but he recovered and answered, "I have about fifty dollars."

"Won't do. We don't use dollars here. Check your money supply. I want to see if my brother thought of that problem when he sent you here."

Justin extracted his wallet from his hip pocket and opened it. The two twenties, the five and the ones that he expected to find were missing. In their place were a thick stack of unfamiliar banknotes.

"I would say that Banault did take care of that problem, and rather handsomely at that. That sum should last you for at least a year, more if you are fairly frugal.

"My suggestion to you is this. Go to the village south of here. Buy some clothing suitable for a pilgrim and a horse. I would also suggest a sword, but I doubt that you know how to use it (Justin did, he had been in a fencing club in the Air Force and was proficient with the saber, foil and epee). At least buy a knife. Also hire a guide from the guild. Then go to the oracle."

He made a complicated pass in the air with his left hand and seconds later a servant entered the room. "Take this gentleman to the village. Help him pick out a good horse and some clothing suitable for a pilgrim. Then take him to the guides' guild and help him to find a guide."

The servant led Justin to the court yard and told him to wait while he got some transportation. Minutes later, the servant reappeared driving a carriage pulled by two white horses. As soon as Justin had gotten into the carriage and seated himself the servant slapped the horses with the reins and they took off at a walk.

The servant proved to be a taciturn man. When Justin spoke to him or asked a question, the man would answer briefly and politely then fall silent again. Justin soon gave up on the idea of having any meaningful conversation.

The village turned out to be about three miles south of the castle. It appeared to be a relatively clean and prosperous, medieval type of village. The streets were paved with cobblestones, with buildings hanging over the narrow streets.

As the horses pulled the carriage along the main street, street urchins appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and ran along, laughing and shouting as they chased the carriage. The servant smiled at them. It was the first expression other than deadpan that he had shown since Justin had first seen him.

They pulled up in front of a tailor's shop. As they got out of the carriage, the servant set a small box on the seat. When Justin asked him about it, he simply replied, "Protection spell."

When they entered the shop, the servant spoke quietly to the tailor for a moment. Since Granut had called Justin a "gentleman," the servant told the tailor that Justin was a "gentleman pilgrim." Then the tailor came over to Justin and started making painstaking measurements of Justin. When he had made three or four times more measurements than Justin had ever had made on him previously, the tailor started showing him various fabrics and making suggestions.

Justin went along with the tailor's suggestions concerning the cut of the garments, (jerkins, trousers, shirts and a cloak) and type of fabric (fine linens, silk and softly tanned leather), after all, the tailor certainly knew more about fashion on this world than Justin did. He did balk at the tailor's choice of colors, choosing much more subdued colors, to the tailor's obvious distress. Even so, he thought that the new clothing would be outrageously garish. But then, that seemed to be high fashion here.

When the tailor told Justin that his new clothing would be ready in the morning, Justin said, "Tomorrow MORNING?" He couldn't believe that the work could be done so quickly.

The tailor misunderstood him. "Yes, Sir. Even with magic, and I assure you that I have the very best spells available, making this many garments does take time.

Justin gave the tailor a 50% deposit, about ten kronen and the servant led him next door to a cobbler to buy some boots with similar results.

They spent the rest of the day getting Justin ready, a horse with tack, a knife and sword and a guide. The saber did not seem to have been invented in this universe so he settled for a rapier.

At the Guides' Guild, the Guild Master had used a magical spell to determine Justin's personality so that a competent guide with a compatible personality could be chosen. It so happened that no compatible guide was present at the moment, but one was available at the next guild hall and could be available by noon the next day. This was fortuitous as it gave time for Justin's purchases to be ready before the guide was available.

The servant finally led him to an inn and got him established there before heading back to the castle.

Justin normally would have spent some time sightseeing, but he had already seen most of the village which was only about what he would have termed to be about four blocks by five blocks in extent. Certainly, he had seen the more reputable parts and glimpsed the others. Besides, by the time that the servant had gotten him installed at the inn, it was getting to be supper time locally, what he would estimate to be about six PM. In his own universe, the time was different, about 11:30 PM. Since he had not eaten since lunch time, Justin was hungry.

Most of the inn's main room was occupied by large trestle tables that would easily seat ten to twelve. But a few, smaller tables were at the back of the room "for ladies and gentlemen of breeding." Since the servant had introduced Justin to the inn keep as a "gentleman," he had been seated at a private table.

Almost as soon as he had been seated, a serving wench brought him a large pewter mug filled with a foam covered, thick, dark ale. The flavor reminded him of some of the German or Scottish ales that he had consumed back home, but was not quite the same.

He had finished about half of his mug of ale when the serving wench returned, this time carrying a large wooden platter. On the platter was what appeared to be the shank portion of a leg of lamb, a large slab of cheese and a round loaf of bread.

As the barmaid set the platter down in front of Justin, she naturally leaned over, thus displaying a goodly portion of decolletage. Justin was no prude, he took advantage of the opportunity and looked, appreciatively. When the barmaid saw him looking, she smiled knowingly and leaned over a little further. "This," thought Justin to himself, "looks promising." Unfortunately, to his way of thinking, he didn't get the chance to pursue things further. The serving wench left, with a smile over her shoulder. Which was just as well as he realized that he was very hungry.

One thing that was conspicuous in its absence was silverware. Justin quickly looked around the room and discovered that those patrons who seemed to be of the lower class simply picked up their food and bit off what they wanted while those that seemed to be of a higher class carved off their food with their knives. Then they transported the food to their mouths impaled on the points of their knives. Justin was glad that Granut had suggested that he buy a knife.

The food was plain but filling. The ale helped it to go down and the barmaid made sure that his mug didn't stay empty. About the time that he was finishing up his fourth mug, he realized that it packed a kick, he was getting tipsy. Since he had never enjoyed getting drunk, he slowed way down on his drinking. Even so, by the time that he called it quits for the evening, he was quite intoxicated.

When he staggered downstairs the next morning, his head felt like a half dozen blacksmiths were hard at work in it and his mouth felt like someone had used it as a shovel to clean out the inn's stables. To top it off, his stomach wasn't sure that it wasn't going to try to heave what it no longer contained.

The innkeep took one look at him and said, "Oh, Soir, ye look as one that has had one too many last night."

"It so happens, Soir, that Oye has just what ye might be in need of. I keep the very best hangover spells available, only two coppers."

"What the hell," thought Justin, "magic works in this universe and two coppers isn't that much. And the way that I feel right now, I'm ready to try anything." To the innkeep he said, "I'll take it."

The innkeep scurried away only to return in a moment carrying a small item that looked like a miniature mug of ale. As he handed it to him, Justin asked, "How do I use this thing?"

The innkeep looked surprised, "Why, Soir, ye simply hold it up in front of yer face and say, 'Oye invoke ye.'"

The simplicity of it surprised Justin. He held it up and did as instructed. What happened next was totally unexpected. The spell seemed to turn into a fog or smoke and streamed quickly to his face. Without volition, he inhaled deeply. Within seconds he felt as though he hadn't had a thing stronger than water to drink the previous night.

Justin did sit down and the innkeep soon served him his food. A slab of ham that would choke a horse, three fried eggs, bread, cheese and coffee sweetened with honey. Justin made a manly try, but he only managed to get about three fourths of it put away.

After he had finished with breakfast, he visited the tailor and the cobbler to pick up his purchases. Then back to the inn to change clothes and pack.

He had just come back down when a man walked into the inn. He was a tall, thin man about thirty five. The legs of his loose leather trousers were tucked into his soft leather boots. A pull-over leather shirt was loosely closed by a leather thong. A cape hung from his shoulders. A broadsword was at one hip and a snickersnee at the other. Thinning brown hair hung to his shoulders. A blade of aquiline nose split his face above lips that seemed too thin. Eyes that seemed to have a perpetual squint also seemed to be looking at something in the far distance. Not a handsome man by any stretch of the imagination, but there seemed to be an air of efficient competence and honesty about him. Without really knowing why, Justin decided that this was a man that he could like.

The man quickly looked around the room and then walked directly to Justin, even though there were several other men in the inn. Begging' your pardon, Sir. Might you be the squire Justin Hornsby?"

A small, lopsided grin split the man's face. "'Twas simple enough a thing. I was told that my client was a gentleman pilgrim. Your clothing marks you as such. No one else in this tavern is so dressed."

"Yes, sir. My name is Vantrel. I'm your guide to the Temple of the Oracle." He bowed slightly.

Vantrel looked at the outstretched hand with a look of slight confusion on his face. Justin realized what the problem was and explained, "It is a very old custom where I'm from. It was originally intended to show that the two hands were bearing no weapons against each other. Now clasping hands simply means that the two men are approaching each other in friendship."

Vantrel smiled and took the outstretched hand. "I think that I like this custom of yours."

"Since it is lunch time, I would suggest that we partake of the innkeep's lunch and then be on our way."

After the two men had eaten and Justin settled his bill with the inn, Justin claimed his horse from the inn's stable and Vantrel got his horse, which had been tied at the front of the inn. They took the road south.

As they rode south, they engaged in small talk, mostly to get to know each other better. Vantrel had joined the guides' guild as an apprentice when he was fourteen, and was now considered to be a master guide.

After they had been riding about three hours, Vantrel said, "I have traveled over most of the world. But I don't recognize your accent at all. Might I ask where you are from?"

Justin laughed. "Actually, I am not from this world at all. I angered a wizard and he transported me here from my own world. Now I'm going to see the oracle to find out how to get back home."

"Oh, your custom of clasping hands for one. Also, the fact that you don't seem to know some things that you should know. Oh, you have been very good at hiding it, but I have been trained to be very observant. And I have noticed that you will often wait to see what I do, or how I go about doing something and then you will do the same thing."

"Well, when we went to the inn's stables to get your horse, you let me ask the stable man to ready your horse. Then you watched carefully as he put on the saddle and bridle. Then, instead of mounting, you led your horse out and waited until I got my horse. You watched me mount and then you followed suit. But you do seem to know how to ride."

"Well, I have ridden before, but the tack is a little different in my world than what you use, so I wasn't familiar with it. Anything else?"

"Only two other things. One is your choice of swords. The rapier is really too light weight for real fighting unless you are extremely skillful with it. If you run up against someone armed with a heavier sword, you could be in real trouble. The problem with the rapier is that it is mainly for thrusting and if you were to find yourself fighting someone with a broadsword, that light weight rapier wouldn't be able to block their cuts.

"The other thing happened as we took our lunch. You started off like anyone else, then you did something that I have never seen anyone else do before. You cut off two pieces of bread, a piece of meat and a piece of cheese. Then you layered the meat and cheese between the bread and ate it."

"You mean that people don't eat sandwiches here?" He realized that he didn't know the local word for "sandwich" and had to resort to using English.

"Yeah. That is two pieces of bread with something between them. It was invented by the Earl of Sandwich."

"Just a moment. Are you perchance thinking of Samwyck? A small port on the coast of Anglun?"

Justin thought for a second. Then he realized that the problem was that place name translations weren't coming through too well for him, but that they were talking about the same place. "Yeah, that's it. We just speak a different language back where I come from."

"Actually, I didn't learn it. The first time that I tried to speak to someone here, it came as a surprise to me that we were not speaking the language that I grew up with. It must have had something to do with the spell that the wizard used to send me here."

"It sounds as though that was some spell. It would have taken a real master to do something like that. Didn't you know better than to so anger a master wizard?"

"Yep. He said that this universe and mine are almost identical, but that when this universe decided to develop magic, my universe decided to develop science. He said that the magic potential is there in my universe, that is how Banault was able to send me here."

"Banault is in your universe now? I had wondered what had happened to him. No one has heard of him for three months now. That would answer a lot of questions, including how he was able to send you here knowing the language and everything.

"You are still alive, still healthy and still human. There have been others who have angered a wizard who were not so lucky."

They fell silent as they rode, each digesting what the other had said. Finally, Justin said, "Vantrel, you also mentioned my rapier. Trouble is, I have never used a broadsword."

Incredulously, "You have never used a broadsword? Then you must be very good indeed with that rapier."

"I'm good with a foil, an epee and a saber. I chose the rapier because it is similar to what I have used."

"The foil and epee are court weapons, lighter even than your rapier. But I have never heard of the saber."

"It is a much heavier sword, not as heavy as your broadsword, sharp on only one edge and curved. It was basically meant for calvary use."

"Then from what you say, you must have spent a good deal of your time at court. And likely, you were in your own king's calvary as well."

"No. We don't have a king or court. Nor was I in the calvary. And we only use swords for sporting events. Most people in my world have never even touched a sword."

"Most of the time we don't need to. If we do, we have other weapons, weapons that don't seem to exist on this world, at least I have no names for them in your language."

"'Tis certain that it is a strange world that you hail from. You will have to tell me more later, but there is our destination for the day." They were approaching a village, perhaps a little larger than the one where Vantrel had first met Justin.

Justin was glad to see the village. Although he had ridden before, he had not been on a horse's back for years, and his thighs and buttocks were protesting.

As they rode into town Vantrel said, "There is a fairly good weapon smith in this village, my own broadsword came from him. I suggest that you purchase a broadsword here. I will give you lessons in its use. It could save your life."

"Are we really likely to have to defend ourselves with swords while we make this journey?"

"I would be surprised if we don't have to fight at least two or three times before this trip is over. I don't look forward to it, and I will avoid it if I can, but it is unlikely that we will be able to avoid all combat."

When Justin agreed, Vantrel led the way to the smithy on a side street. As they approached the smith's shop, they could hear the steady beat of the smith's hammer. They stopped in front of the smithy and Justin dismounted gratefully.

Vantrel noticed how Justin walked as they headed into the smithy and remarked, "You walk as though you have not ridden in years."

Gunthar laid the sword blade that he was working on back in the hot coals and laid his hammer down. "Well, lets see if Oye have one here that suits him." He stepped over to the side of the smithy and picked up a device from the table top then turned and handed the device to Justin.

Justin examined the device. It had a handle like a sword's hilt. From the hilt a rod of spring steel extended for perhaps an inch then turned in a loose helix perhaps an inch and a quarter in diameter for two turns then turned forward again for a half inch. Then a miniature sword blade six inches long extended straight forward. The helix was not stiff and allowed the sword blade to wobble in Justin's hand. Justin looked quizzically at Vantrel.

"Just extend your arm straight out with the blade pointing forward. Then follow the blade."

Dubiously, Justin followed instructions. Instantly, the coil spring flexed and the blade pointed about forty five degrees to the right. As Justin swiveled to the right, the spring slowly straightened out until the blade was pointing straight ahead of him. Justin stepped forward and followed the pointing blade until the tip of the blade was six inches from a sword hanging on the wall, only one of many.

"Ah, there's ya blade, just let me lift it doun fer ye," Gunthar said as he lifted the sword down and traded it for the finding spell.

Justin drew the sword from the scabbard. It felt right in his hand. Still, Justin did not trust magic. "Mister Gunthar, this is obviously a fine blade, the workmanship is beautiful. And it feels right. But would you mind if I were to see some of your other swords?"

"Thank ya fer the kind words, Laddie. An' Oye would be proud ta show ya me other blades."

In all Justin examined eight or nine other swords. The workmanship on them all was very good, Justin would have been glad to own any one of them. Some of them felt better in his hand than others, but none of them had that same feeling of rightness that the first sword had.

"These are all good swords. But none of them has that same feeling of rightness that the first one has."

"O'course not. Those other blades aren't suited fer ya. When the right mon comes along, one o' those blades will feel as good to him as yer's does ta ya. An' yer's will na' feel right ta him. That's the good thing aboot that spell that ya used, it only finds swords that be suited to ya."

"And what would have happened when I used that spell if none of your swords had been suited to me?"

"Why, it would'a pointed at the floor. Surely, ya dinna think that Oye would use an inferior spell, now?"

Justin bought the sword and he and Vantrel left the smithy. When Justin requested that they walk to the inn instead of riding, Vantrel led the way to an apothecary where they purchased a spell that quickly relieved Justin's discomfort from the day's riding. They also stocked up on an assortment of various and sundry other spells.

When they left the apothecary, Vantrel led Justin to the market area where they purchased supplies for the road. Then to the inn where they rented a room for the night and stable space for their horses.

It was still a bit early for their evening meal, so Vantrel led Justin to the inn's courtyard for some sword practice. Although the use of the broadsword as used by Vantrel was very different from the use of the foil and epee that Justin was accustomed to, it was not too different from what he knew for the saber.

Vantrel was patient, and a good instructor, but he pushed Justin hard. He knew that Justin needed to gain proficiency quickly, they would be riding into less safe areas starting tomorrow. Fortunately, Justin was an apt pupil. After about two hours of practice, Justin's arm felt as though it was ready to fall off and Vantrel called a halt to their practice, his own arm was also getting sore. Fortunately, they already had the spells to take care of those problems.

Chapter Two

DARK ELVES

They were up early the next morning and after a quick but hearty breakfast, they reclaimed their horses and rode out. Then they headed east.

They had been riding for just under an hour when the narrow dirt road that they were traveling entered a dark woods.

"Not really. It is just that highwaymen and other bandits like this woods and others like it. It gives them plenty of cover and hiding places. Although I haven't heard of any recent cases, it pays to keep ready in places like this."

Some of the trees that made up this woods were ancient. Huge oaks, the likes of which were rare on his own world were common here. This was a mixed forest, with other hardwoods, beech, poplar, pecan and hickory to name a few. Many of the trunks were so large that had Justin and Vantrel tried, they would not have been able to touch the fingertips of both hands while stretching their arms around the tree trunks. There was very little underbrush, not enough light penetrated the canopy to support the growth of it. All in all, Justin found it to be fascinating.

They had been riding less than an hour in the woods when the air around them started flashing, light, then dark, then light again. It was as though the daylight were being turned on and off.

"Nay. 'Tis this spell." He touched a small box attached to his saddle and the flashing stopped. "It detects danger. It flashes like that when dark elves be about."

Justin noticed but did not comment upon the fact that Vantrel's manner of speech seemed to have changed. He was eventually to discover that under conditions of stress, Vantrel reverted to the colloquial accents of his childhood. "Do you really have elves on this world?"

"Then 'tis lucky that ye are. But for now, make ye ready. I think me that ye might be more adroit wi' yer rapier than wi' yer broadsword. Look you now. The dark elves will be armed with light weight swords that yer rapier can easily cope wi'. Just make certain that ye dinna let them touch ye with one of their weapons, 'twill burn ye like live coals, elythrium, ye know."

Justin didn't know. He had never heard of elythrium and suspected that it didn't even exist on his own world. He armed himself with his rapier.

"Follow my lead. We proceed slowly. If 'tis just a few, we ride for it and try to avoid the fight. But if 'tis too many, we dismount and fight. If it so haps, stand back to back wi' me."

"If 'tis only a few, we can likely avoid them. But if 'tis too many, they will try to wound our horses, causing them to fall or to throw us. If we dismount, they will ignore the horses. Which will be good fer us an' to their sorrow."

Vantrel touched the spell on his saddle and the air started flickering, not with the extremes that it had previously, but much more rapidly. "They are closer."

Almost as if by magic, they appeared ahead of them. A good ten of them. Their skin was as dark as polished mahogany. Their black eyes seemed too large for their faces. Likewise, their pointed ears seemed too large for their heads. Justin realized with a shock that they were very small. They stood between four feet and four feet, five inches tall. And they had very slight builds. On a human, Justin would have called such a frame as they had "skinny," but on them, it did not appear to be skinny.

Vantrel jumped from his horse and strode forward, stopping two paces in front of the horses. He held his broadsword in his right hand, his snickersnee in his left. Justin quickly joined him, standing by his side. He followed Vantrel's lead and drew his own dirk with his left hand. He noted that each of the dark elves was armed with a sword, lighter and more slender than his own rapier, of some silvery metal. He decided that it must be the elythrium that Vantrel had mentioned.

The dark elves quickly fanned out to enclose the two humans in a circle, ignoring the horses, just as Vantrel had predicted. As the elves encircled the two humans, the two men turned slightly until they stood back to back.

The elves started taunting the two men, promising them unimaginable pleasures should they surrender, along with exquisite pain if they did not. "Pay them no heed," Vantrel said. "They seek to unnerve ye."

Slowly, the dark elves tightened their circle. Then, one of the slender swords flickered out toward Justin. He barely managed to turn the lightweight blade and his own sword stabbed toward the now unguarded wrist of the dark elf that had made the attack. The elf moved away, but too slowly. The tip of Justin's rapier lightly scratched the skin of the elf's wrist, leaving a smoking wound behind. The elf screamed and jumped backwards. Then things got busy. Dimly, Justin was aware of the sound of Ventrel's broadsword behind him.

Justin found himself being pressed harder than he had ever been pressed in his life, and he was mentally preparing himself to die bravely, taking as many of his enemy with him as he could when he heard an equine scream of fury, followed closely by a second. From his peripheral vision, he saw Vantrel's stallion and his own mare raring and striking at the backs of the dark elves with their iron shod hooves. Where the iron horse shoes struck, elfin flesh smoked and dark elves died, screaming. The distraction was enough to allow Justin's blade to find its way into the throat of the dark elf immediately in front of him. He would later swear that flames leapt from that wound as the elf died on his blade.

It was all too much for the elves and they retreated, at least the five survivors did. The horses had each killed one of the elves, Justin had finished off one and wounded another while Vantrel had dispatched two.

The two men stood catching their breath while the horses calmed down. Finally, Justin asked, "Will they be back?"

"How did you train your stallion to attack them like that, and to get my mare to attack them as well?"

Ventrel laughed. "I didn't. I know a master wizard. He is not as good as Granut or his brother Banault, but he is good. Anyway, I do him favors from time to time. Then, when he perfects a new spell, he lets me field test it for him. You just witnessed one of those spells in operation. It made the horses stand quietly by until the battle was in full tilt and the attention of the enemy was on us, then they were filled with fury at our enemies and they attacked them. Now that the enemy is gone, they have calmed down again."

They remounted and continued their journey. Just after what Justin judged to be noon, his stomach informed him that it was full of empty. "Say, Vantrel, why don't we stop and have some lunch?"

"Not that I know about. But you never know who or what might come upon you in a place like this."

Within a half hour they found what Vantrel had been looking for. A large clearing in the woods. As they entered the clearing, Justin took it in quickly. On the right was a pavilion to furnish shelter. On the left a spring marked the beginning of a clear stream that ambled off into the woods. Lush grass filled the clearing, ankle deep.

"But isn't it just as likely that someone or something will come upon us here as it was back there?"

"Not likely at all. This is a travelers' rest. These places are all protected by very potent spells. No one that harbors evil intentions can even enter one of these areas. Even if that band of dark elves that we fought back there were to come walking in here, they would pose no danger. They would be almost friendly while they were here, else they would be expelled. Nay, we are safe here."

They dismounted and unpacked their horses. The horses headed for the spring to drink then started grazing on the abundant grass while the two men started preparing their meal.

They were about half finished eating their meal when they heard hoof falls approaching.

A span of perhaps two minutes passed until the approaching travelers reached the clearing, headed in the opposite direction than what Justin and Vantrel were headed in. Vantrel had been right. A man who, from his garb, was obviously a merchant trader and two other men, obviously guards, led four heavily laden mules.

As the new party entered the rest area, the merchant hailed them, "Ho! Travelers! What conditions to the west?"

Vantrel answered him, "We met a party of dark elves and drove them off. They shouldn't give you any trouble. Unless they have other friends, there are only five of them."

"I should think that five dark elves would find two human travelers prey that they wouldn't mind attacking."

"All was quiet as we came this way. The only problem that we had was that blasted ferryman. Gone up on his prices, he has. Was a time that he charged only two coppers per person to ferry you across. Now the scoundrel charges two coppers for each of the animals as well. Might as well be a highwayman."

Vantrel laughed, "Could be, and could also be that he decided that you were a prosperous merchant and that you could afford it."

"Nay, he even has a sign up declaring the new rates. But that will not help those that can't read, like some peasant that comes by with just enough to get by at the old rates. Might even make some unhappy enough to get violent about it."

They continued small talk while the merchant's guards prepared their lunch and Justin and Vantrel finished their's. Then Justin and Vantrel repacked their horses and left.

About three in the afternoon, they reached the ferry. As the merchant had told them, there was a crude sign stating that the fare for passage was two coppers per person and animal. They stopped at the bank and Vantrel hailed the ferryman who was on the other side of the river. Then they waited patiently as the ferryman pulled his barge across the river by the rope that he had stretched across.

When the barge reached their side of the river, they rode their horses onto it. Vantrel asked the ferryman why he had raised his rates.

"Well, ya see, Oye ain't gettin' any younger, ya see. An' some that comes by here, specially merchants, has several animals with 'em. 'Specs me to ferry them an' their animals across for the same cost that a single rider with only one animal. An' the mores the weight on the barge, the harder it is to pull it across."

Justin had been studying the arrangement of the ferryman's barge. One rope was stretched across the river and ran through rings at two corners of the barge. A second rope was strung across the river at a higher level. The ferryman pulled on this rope to pull the barge across the river.

"Ferryman, I think that I see a way that you can make your job easier." "Ah, young Soir, if ye could do that, I would be most grateful ta ye. Oye would."

"Well, look now. If you were to build a stand on the side of your barge, like this..." He sketched a truncated triangle in the air. "And if you were to put a wheel on it with a handle on it, like this, then you could stretch the rope around the wheel and by turning the wheel with the handle, you could just crank the ferry across the river."

When they reached the far bank of the river, the ferryman refused to take any payment for the ride, saying that the idea that he had been given was worth much more than the cost of the ride.

As they rode away from the ferry, Vantrel asked, "How did you come up with such an idea as you gave the ferryman?"

"So that is an example of what you call science. If it works, I would almost call it a magic spell."

They rode on in silence for the next hour or so until they came to the edge of the woods and Vantrel informed Justin that their next stop wasn't too far ahead, another travelers' rest area. Vantrel's idea of "not too far ahead" and Justin's idea were somewhat different. They reached the rest area in about an hour and a half, it was about six thirty.

Like the last rest area, this one had a large pavilion. Unlike the last rest area, this one had a well but no spring.

Vantrel hobbled the horses and drew water from the well for them while Justin got a fire going. He used his matches, something else that didn't exist on this world. Vantrel had just finished watering the horses and was coming over to the fire as Justin lit it.

"I wouldn't call that a spell at all. Just more science. A common scientific device that we call a 'match'."

"Well it looks to me like there isn't too much difference between your science and our magic."

Justin laughed. "Well, the magic that I have seen here certainly looks like none of the science that I am familiar with."

"You said that in your world that you normally didn't need to defend yourselves. Are the people in your world so good hearted as all that?"

"Not really. It is just that we have laws to protect the people and law enforcement agencies to uphold those laws."

"In the first place, their attacking us would be illegal. And that area would be patrolled by our police."

"So your police patrol through the area in the morning and the elves wait until the afternoon to attack travelers. How would that help?"

"You have to understand. Our transportation is part of it. We could have traversed that woods in a half hour in my world, so the police would be able to pass any area every fifteen or twenty minutes at the most."

"Not likely. Oh, I could design a car. That is what we call the machines that we use for transportation. But without an entire infrastructure set up to support it, I wouldn't even be able to build it, the materials that I would need are simply not available here. And then the roads that you have wouldn't allow us to travel that fast. Given eighty or a hundred years with everyone cooperating with me, I might be able to set up something and get things moving in the right direction. And I'm not sure that I know enough to set up such an infrastructure. And I'm not sure that it would be advisable. Your entire life styles would have to change."

"Your job, for instance, wouldn't even exist. If I wanted to go somewhere, I would simply look at a map, see where I wanted to go, and go. Another thing, you defend yourself with your sword. Where I come from, a man with a sword would die. If I were in a real fight, I could kill my opponent while standing a hundred feet away."

"Kill your opponent from a hundred feet away! But that would put you out of his reach, out of harm's way. That would be dishonorable."

"Not if you consider that he could also kill me from that same distance." "There is that. Mayhap you are right. It might be that it would not be advisable to try to start your science here."

Vantrel fell silent in thought as he started to prepare their meal. Justin decided that it would be good to let him think about what he had said.

By the time that Vantrel had the food ready, it was dark. They engaged in small talk while they ate and eventually called it a day.