The 100 Missing Leagues

After some discussion, the Champions agreed to Belboz's suggestion. The outcome of most matches was beyond dispute. After binding Astra T. with rope, and assigning Annafrid to look after her, the matches continued. Astra asked Jarlath and Checkers if they were ready to go, and both consented.

When Jarlath and Checkers came into the ring to face each other, Jarlath held up his hand, and said, "Let us talk about how to settle this, Checkers. I do not want to fight over the rope. I would like to try another way of settling this."

Checkers kept her eyes on the rope, but she said, "If you do not move any closer, I will not either. What is your idea?"

"I propose that you give me a riddle. If I cannot answer it, then I will concede the rope to you. If I do, then you will let me take it. Of course, the riddle has to be something that I should be able to puzzle out. It would be unfair to ask questions about your people's history, for example."

Checkers answered, "That makes sense. I will let the judges rule on whether the riddle is fair." Astra C. nodded and was happy with her husband's clever idea. This would remove the danger of malfunctioning magic, and avoid a fight where someone could get hurt, despite the need to avoid injuries. Fred was less sure of this idea, as there was no time limit set, but he let them continue.

Checkers asked her riddle sooner than either judge expected. It was an old riddle in the Dolomite League called the Hundred League Paradox. "Diliti the Explorer flew 100 leagues north, 100 leagues west, and 100 leagues south. He did not move in any other way, but he ended back at the point where he started. What happened to the other 100 leagues?"

The question had Fred stumped. It had to be magic. The 100 leagues north and south offset each other, so the net result should have been that Diliti was 100 leagues west of his original starting point. Did someone carry Diliti back to the starting point? Floating island? Fred could not understand it. If it were something simple, then this was indeed a good riddle.

The answer that Checkers had in mind for the riddle was that there was no missing 100 leagues, and that Diliti started at the south pole of this world. He covered a triangular, and not a square, route. If one had a globe, the answer became clear. It was an old Glider riddle that was meant to show the limits of flat maps over long distances and in regions toward the poles. Most of the local earthbound anglideri had never ventured more than a few leagues from where they were born, and saw the world in terms of a flat surface, so Checkers thought that Jarlath might have problems with this riddle.

1. But Jarlath was far more widely traveled than Checkers had thought, and quickly came up with the answer.
2. Jarlath could not provide the proper answer.

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