Sir Thomas Rhymour

Astra arched her eyebrows haughtily. "I am Astra Thessamar, warrior princess of Aqualaria. We were on a quest to kill a Dragon. The Dragon had captured me, taken off my clothing, and chained me to the wall. Jarlath was trying to break my chains through magic, but made a mistake and we found ourselves here."

Fred bowed. "I am Lord Frederigo D'Honaire, Knight of the Great Kingdom of Aqualaria. Although I am a lord in name only, as my lands have been taken by another.[17862]"

Jarlath stepped forward. "And I'm Jarlath D'Honaire, wizard-in-training." Fred very briefly felt embarrassed, as he remembered that apprentices in any occupation did not customarily introduce themselves. But he realized that this man was probably not an Allarian, or even from his world, so it wouldn't matter to him.

"Thank you," said the man. "I am Sir Thomas Rhymour. Although the title "Sir" doesn't mean anything for me either, I still like using it, as it has a nice ring to it. I had to leave my birth nation, for reasons I'd rather not get into. So I decided to head for one of my world's Lesser Convergence Points, and try my luck elsewhere in the Manifold."

"The what?" asked Fred.

Thomas sighed. "Besides this world, yours and mine," he said, using much the same tone of voice one would use with a backward child, "are many other worlds, perhaps an infinite number. The Manifold is the sum of them all. Most of the worlds are like mine or yours, only a few--such as this one--are so different as to be hostile to all human life.

"When I left this world, I went to the throneworld of the Kenrahd Empire, a civilization stretching across many worlds, and joined the Rangers. Mainly, it was because I had nowhere else to go--they get a lot of recruits that way. The Rangers are an outfit that's supposed to protect the Kenrahd Empire from evil and protect justice throughout the Manifold."

He sighed. "It didn't quite work that way, of course. This time, I wasn't kicked out. I left. They didn't like that, of course. I knew a few things that would get them into trouble. I was trying to cast a defensive spell while fleeing from them when I ended up here."

Jarlath saw an owl sitting on the branch of a tree, its eyes glowing blue like the fish when they'd given him the prophecy. He shuddered. "How go you know to go to the City of Ghosts and Shadows?" he asked.

"Oh, just watching and listening," said Thomas. "And from other Outlanders. A number of us get teleported to this world every year. No one knows why. This world, the World of Magic, is the source of all the magic in the other worlds. There are four Realms in it-- the Realm of Earth and the Realm of Water, which each take up half of the surface, the Realm of Air which lies above, and the Realm of Fire which lies below. There are four Convergence Points where the four Realms meet, and the magic flows from there to the other worlds. It's possible to go to anywhere in the Manifold, the sum of all the worlds, from a Convergence Point, or so I'm told. The World Tree is the Convergence Point used by the people of this world, although they never travel to other worlds. The Burning Gate is controlled by the Zarn, a species who violently hate mankind. And no one has taken the Road to the Tower of Broken Glass and lived. So I'm headed for the City of Ghosts and Shadows. There are some very dark legends about that place, but at least that means the people of this world aren't likely to be here.

"I'm headed for Toren Keep, the beginning of the Road to the City of Ghosts and Shadows. You can't get to any of the Convergence Points without taking the Roads to them. We might meet some other Outworlders who are also taking the Road. What do you say to that? Will you come with me? I'm getting a little tired of having no one to talk to but the fish."

"Do you think we should go with him?" whispered Astra.

"Probably," said Fred. "This man seems to know what he is about. I would be careful, though. Jarlath?"

Jarlath pondered. He still remembered the strange prophecy, but he still felt he could not tell it to Fred and Astra, and did not want to be separated from them.

1. Jarlath accepts.
2. Jarlath refuses.

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