The Outliers

The voice said, "We know who you are. Your given name is Penta Rightbrook, but everyone calls you Checkers."

Checkers' eyes widened. Nobody should know her given name in these far-away lands. These men could either read her mind, or had a far- flung network that could gather such information. But it would be ridiculous to go to all that trouble to gather information about her.

"You are one homo avians, or by the less technical name of "Dolomite Glider." Your race once dominated the eastern continent, but is now confined to the Dolomite Range. It is in fact, dying out.

Checkers replied, "Our people were flourishing when I left. In fact, we have made progress over the last few years."

"We have noted that. It is 'the summer in autumn', Checkers. Your race does not have the physical might of the men of the ground, and cannot build and make the great weapons that are coming. The forests and mountains cannot protect your people forever."

"Whoever you are, you are cruel. If you were friends of the dragon, be merciful and just kill me."

There was silence, and the voice said, "Now, listen, Checkers. You are aware, of course, of powers that people have that cannot be explained. To those who are ignorant, these powers are called 'magic.' I would rather that you not call us that - it sound like baby talk. You can just call us, "the Outliers." Sometimes power can be acquired as a result of study. And sometimes the power is latent in a being or an object, and can be called up after the proper refinement and training. And that is where your people come in. After the Wars of the Lakes, the last of the Dolomite Mages was killed, either by the humans or their own people. These mages had powers that neither the dragon mages nor human mages had - and the two types of power clashed. Several wars were fought with the object of eliminating the Glider mages. And it was thought that the Wars of the Lakes did just that. But some of us believed that one or two may have slipped back into the Dolomite League, and found a way not to be killed by the elders. We believe that the most likely burough, if it happened at all, was that of Catfish Lake."

"I don't have any magical ability." She then thought a bit about all the strange things that happened. At least not any that I can control. And, gosh, I am not even of Catfish Lake stock. My family is from Lightning Pass."

"Your father certainly is. Your mother, on the other hand, was actually from one of the villages within the burough of Catfish Lake."

Checkers replied, "No. Wouldn't they have told me?"

"No. The residents of Catfish Lake are considered a little odd by the rest of the Glider communion, aren't they? So they would not. And your mother showed no obvious signs of having special powers, other than the safe ones of being quite bright.

"Where are you getting all this?" Checkers asked in a beaten down voice.

"If you cooperate with us, you will find out. And you may yet be of some use to your race."

Checkers replied, "How? What do you mean by all this?" But the voice did not reply, and she was now terribly alone, and not sure if she would be able to stay sane for very long.

She went to bed hungry that night, and slept a dreamless sleep.

The next morning,

1. there was a tray of different types of food - bread, milk, meat, and fruit.
2. she found that there was a little dog in the cell. The dog was friendly.

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