Time Travel is an Unsettling Business

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 19424

Fred wants to head home as quickly as possible, but he can't quite yet, for he realizes that he must first report his strange adventure just inside the Southern Caves and his mystic defeat at the hands of Belboz... ~~just a set-back in my Quest to Kill the Dragon~~

By lunchtime he finds himself at the northern gates of Caemlyn. They rise magnificently into the skies, the result of hundreds of years of building, rebuilding, add-ons and redecorating. The guard looks at Fred: "Hold! Who are you?!!?" There is a certain amount of nervousness in the guard's voice and Fred wonders if there is greater trouble in the King's land.

"I hear tenseness in your voice, good guard," said Fred with his usual confidence. "Is there a trouble within the King's land to make you so nervous?"

The guard looked at Fred with a strange expression: "No, but it's not every day a gateguard sees a knight walk up to him holding a Big Flaming Misty Sharp Sword. As to that trouble in the land, if you plan on making any, just know that behind this simple gate-guard stand hundreds of armed men ready to keep our King safe from brigands like you!"

Fred was shocked. "Hey there, good man," he said. "I mean you no harm, and less so for our beloved King Emry! I realize you do not recognize me and my House's standard etched into my shoulder plate... you have much to yet learn of the Houses of Allaria... but I am Lord Frederigo D'Honaire, Dragon-Hunter of King Exultaine!"

The guard was perplexed. "Uh-huh...sure you are."

Now Fred was perplexed. "Yes... I am. Now, stand aside for I have much to discuss with our King regarding duplicitious maps and mysterious warlocks!"

But the guard would not stand aside. "Look, mister*** I don't know what game you think you are playing, but the King's Dragon-Hunter is the great Lord Ted who hails from the Duchy of Lower Hazzard. So, unless you wanna get thrown into Caemlyn's deepest gaol or be sent to Arkham Home to the west, you better tell me who you really are."

Fred was mortified and angry. "Why you naive, little runt!" he yelled. He wanted to unsheath his awfully big flaming misty sharp sword, but to do so against a servant of the King would mean that indeed he would see the earth of the deepest gaol or the soft cushion walls of Arkham Home. He took deep breaths and counted to eight. "Listen, good guard, obviously you're doing your job, but I am not crazy, I am not violent, and I am not a sissy-wannabe!*** I am Fred, the son of Dred, of the House of D'Honaire. I hail from the Duchy of Suffex to the south. I was sent to the southern caves by our good King and have met misfortune there. I must report to--" Fred stopped, not just because the guard was rolling his eyes, but becuase the guard's previous words (besides the insult) finally sunk into his grey matter. "Did you say Lord Ted?"

"Of course."

Fred stopped completely and made himself still. He did some inner calculations. "Uh, what year is this?"

"Why the Seventh Year of the Reign of King Emry Exultaine... what'd you think it was?"

"Oh crap," said Fred.

"Now, now, there's no need in using foul language here."

Fred made himself very still yet again and he thought really hard. It wasn't the Seventh Year of King Emry's Reign, at least it wasn't supposed to be. Fred knew it was the Seventeenth Year of King Emry's Reign! Fred's conclusions appeared rather quickly: either this guard was playing some bizarre game with him, or Fred's own memories have been tampered with by that Necromacer or even the Dragon, or Fred was indeed sent back some ten years into time by that Necromancer! Oh crap indeed!


***Mister is a derogatory term in Allarian society, a combination of the words "miss" and "sire" which in essence mean that the guard called Fred a sissy-boy-wannabe

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  1. Fred tells the guard what he thinks has happened (not the brightest of Fred's ideas)...
  2. Fred starts laughing and tells the guard the whole thing was a joke, he is here to see a friend, Sir Hyde, who works in the knight-training business...
  3. Fred wonders if he should make a visit to theTower of Ganthet and the White Hand, although he is filled with nervousness at the thought (the tatooed spell-casters always seemed too alien to him)...

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3/17/2003 5:29:50 PM

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