Time-Tripper

The young Fred stood before the burned-wood posts that marked the front "gate" of the outpost, his jaw lax, his mouth wide open in an expression of "wow!" His father, however, was much less impressed.

"Here, here!" yelled out Lord Dred D'Honaire. "I am the King's Messenger to these parts. Where is the man called Rodent?"

The trappers milling about looked at Lord Dred with a mixture of disgust and curiosity. But, almost as quick as a drip of honey rolling down an autumn jar... that is to say, not quick at all, a man wearing black pants and brown shirt walked up to the royal entourage. "I be he."

"Where is the Queen, Her Highness of Aqualaria? And where are the facilities?" said Lord Dred in a resounding tone.

"There aint--" before the man could answer a bright flash was seen on the far side of the outpost. Lord Dred's men immediately unsheathed their weapons and formed a cordon about their master and his son. Simultaneously a band of women warriors were seen on the right of some low building doing the same about the woman who could be none other than Queen Heliastra. As to the bright light, the trappers had quickly exited that space and any space near it (living in the Shreken, they had grown a natural self-defense mechanism that usually involved running away from strange things). In the midst of that empty space stood a man.

The man wore armor that had seen better days. It was battered and dented, rusted in spots and corroded in others. What was left of his cloak looked more tatters than cloth. He held a sword in his hand, one that looked weather-beaten as well, yet seemed to be surrounded with an odd mist.

"Hold your place, Stranger!" commanded Queen Heliastra while her armed warrior-women took slow steps toward him.

"Stay your hand, Outlander!" commanded Lord Dred while his armed guards closed the gap between them and the stranger by a few paces.

"Hallo!" yelled out the man, apparently making sure everyone could hear him. "I come in peace. I mean you no harm. I have a message of great urgency." The man then sat down upon the ground! If he were a man of the blade this was most assuredly a sign that he meant no one harm.

"You're probably wondering what that light was," he said matter-of- factly. "It's hard to explain, really. Well no, that's not quite right. I could easily explain it but I don't think you'd believe me. But I really hope you believe me... well, not necessarily about the light, I mean, what's so big and bad about a blooming light? I guess what I really want to say is I hope you hear me out, give me your ears so to speak, take stock in the truth and believe that the truth is all I have to say."

The Amazons, the Allarians, and the trappers were mystified by this man and his ramblings. While the Allarians and the Aqualarians took a few short steps closer to the strange man, a lone trapper walked right up to him and asked the question on most people's mind: "Who the bleedin' pork- rind be ye?"

The stranger started to laugh. It was an odd sound that frightened the trapper (who's name is Bud, by the way). It was a sound that was dry and crinkly, like dead autumn leaves that haven't been swept away or put into the compost pile. It sounded as if the man had not laughed in a long time and was out of practice.

The stranger wiped a tear from his eye saying, "Sorry, I haven't laughed in a long time and I'm a wee bit out of practice."

Another trapper spoke up while the various guards and warriors recovered from their impromptu bouts with the willies. "Hey now," said the trapper (this one was Bosom). "Wha's this message thing al'bout anyhoo? Ye and yer bright lites scarying our kids" (and she actually means her baby goats). "Wha's so blimey impotent?"

The stranger gave her a wierd look. "I hope you meant 'important' there, missy." Bosom reddened in the cheeks and whispered to Piggy He called me 'Missy' he did. The two trappers giggled.

"As for my message, well here goes nothing: In the years to come a blight shall come upon the Continent, a plague shall first devastate the western kingdom of Gelda! there shall come riots and revolutions...there shall be conspiracies and oaths and a Terror shall consume the land. It shall spread from Gelda to Allaria and from her shores and from the northern waters of the Aryn Ocean to the southern waters of the Tarel Sea. All the world, the warring nations and the plotting factions, the maidens and gentlemen and the iron- handed despots, even unto the head hunters and cannibals, the pirate lords, and the wild amazons, they will suffer and too many shall die."

"You are mad," responded Dred. "This is impossible. A plague to wipe out the world? How do you know about this, and what do you mean in the years to come, what are you, some warlock practicing soothe-saying?"

The stranger looked at Lord Dred with a strange longing. "I... I come from..." the stranger stopped. "Look, what I'm about to say may sound impossible but--"

"Say it, damn ye, I can't handle the suspense!" yelled out a trapper (it was Spuds, I think).

"I know this," continued the stranger, "because I COME FROM THE FUTURE!"

The whole outpost was filled with the sound of silence. That is, for about 1.6 seconds. This was quickly replaced by guffaws, gaggles and giggles.

The stranger was appalled. "No, really. I did. I have. I am." The laughing did not stop. "C'mon folks, be nice... I'm not crazy... I really am from the future. Look, I can prove it." And with that he took out a charmlet that hung on a silver chain. The trappers stopped laughed long enough to oooh and awe, the Allarians stopped laughing long enough to eye the item with monetary calculations, the Aqualarians stopped long enough for the Queen to say: "That's mine!"

"Yes it is," said the stranger.

"But it can't be My Queen," said a young Attendant. "Yours is safe in Themyscira."

"Yes it is," said the stranger.

Another of the trappers spoke up (this time I'm pretty sure it was Spuds): "Look here you Mysterious Stranger, how can you say that the pretty necklace" (the Allarians and the Aqualarians rolled their eyes at the simpleton's obvious ignorance and misclassification of the charm as a necklace - the trapper noticed, spat on the ground and continued) "I say, how can you say that that necklace is hers and that she has the same necklace back in themi... thmysc... back in where she said?"

"Because," said the stranger with a proud smile, "this is her charmlet from the future!" He looked around as if he were on top of the world. "So you see, this proves that I, too, am from the future."

"It does not prove any such thing!" said Lord Dred. "You could have had that trinket made by some blacksmith down yonder road."

"Ah, c'mon Father does it always have to be this way?" said the Stranger and then stuck his palm to his mouth.

"How dare you call me 'Father'!!!" yelled Lord Dred.

The stranger looked as if he had had enough, not just from this ten minute encounter, but from whatever adventures had taken place before he had arrived. "How dare I?" he screamed. "I dare because I AM your son! Bloody, blimey, bleeding boohaha!" he growled from pure frustration. "I didn't want to do this, Bozz told me not to do it, Eritrea told me not to do it, but here goes anyhow! I am Sir Frederigo D'Honaire of Caemlyn, son of Lord Dred D'Honaire Honored Ambassador of the great King Emry and his son Xander. There, I said it!"

Fred (the fifteen year old star of this tale) looked at the stranger with awe and fear and excitement. "You're me?" he said with a squeaky voice. "You don't look like me."

The stranger who claimed to be Fred looked down with a sudden look of compassion. "Yeah, I'm you. I look like hell, I know. But you heard the message, mini-me. Plague is gonna strike us down. The King's gonna die and his daughter's son will sit on the throne, but what can a youngster do in time of death? We fought, all of us... some of us keep fighting. Its bad where I come from... little food, little water, lots of things that want to eat us. Can you blame me for having a bad hair day?"

The Allarians were obviously upset by these horrific revelations, but the Aqualarians, on the other hand... "You are mad," said the Queen. "Like the Lord here has said, some blacksmith forged that charm you hold and any chanticleer could make a tale as wild as yours."

The stranger who claimed to be Fred looked at the Queen and said: "Your daughter is a golden prize, a most valuable jewel." The Queen was surprised at the mention of her daughter. "She is not here with you, in fact, she has never left the jungles of her birth. No male has ever seen her as is your Way. Yet she is being groomed for greatness, she will become a Warrior-Princess of the finest caliber. Her name is the Princess Royale Astra Thesamar. She is young in this time, a few years older than myself... myself from this time, that is... Her hair is long and red in color, her flesh is golden from her days in the sun along the beaches and in the rooftop patios of your most grand--"

"Stop it!" cried the Queen. "How can you know such things?"

"Because I know your daughter. And I know how she will die... just as I know how my own Mother shall perish."

"No!" cried out Queen Heliastra and Lord Dred simultaneously.

Suddenly, without warning an octarine brightness began to surround the stranger who claimed to be Fred from the future. "Crap!" he said with disgust. "Just remember, don't kill the last Dra----" In the blink of an eye he was gone.

1. Do they believe the stranger? Even if they do, what can they do about this bizarre message?

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