Jack let his persona go. He checked his watch. The charger was climbing faster than

usual. Magic in the air was what he thought.

He decided to walk until he found someone to ask for directions. There had to be a

town with people to point him toward the home of Lorelei and Bob. He didn’t know

if they were an official couple, but they were linked together in his mind.

He wondered if the Rick had a home, or did he roam the woods like Robin Hood?

The champion of order looked around as he walked. Josie hadn’t told him about

anything strange, but he could see the land around him didn’t seem right.

He wondered if the magic in the air caused what he was seeing, or if the strange shape

of things caused the magic. He decided that he could let it lie. He didn’t have to know

everything. He had to find his dragon and deal with it. Then Elaine could work her

magic on him.

He hoped Josie was staying out of trouble while he looked around. He didn’t need to

get home to find her covered in blood, and dressed in rags.

He wondered what the dragon would be like. He doubted it would be cool like

Bowzer. Maybe it would be something like Godzilla.

Three guys in cloaks dropped on the path in front of him. They pulled knives to

threaten him. He grinned at them, hands on his belt buckle. He had never been

mugged after he had got out of the Army. He had been in the middle of an attempted

robbery before he enlisted, but Rose, his sister, had put that guy in the hospital with

the back of her hand and a car window.

“How’s it going?,” he asked mildly. “I’m Jack. Who are you guys?”

“Give us your money,” demanded the one in the middle.

“I read up on the Elf rules,” said Jack. “I’ve given you my name. You have to give me

yours.”

“No, we don’t,” said the bandit.

“Stab him so we can take his money and go,” said the one on the right. He had his

head on a swivel, looking for anyone who might interfere.

“There’s no money,” said Jack. His grin was even bigger. “Duchess Lorelei and her

knight are putting me up while I look at some kind of lizard problem for them. I was

on my way to her place, but I was looking for someone to give me directions. And

here you are.”

“We should leave,” said the one on the left. He pulled on the central bandit. “We

don’t want to mess with the nobility especially after what happened in the Court.”

“Look, guys,” said Jack. “I still need directions. You wouldn’t happen to know where

Lorelei’s seat is do you?”

“It’s north, follow the crows,” said the bandit on the right. He pointed in a direction

off the road.

“So we’re not going to have to settle this with blades?,” said Jack. “That would be

good. My partner would be angry if something happened to me. I’m glad that she

doesn’t have to come over here and be unpleasant.”

“Who is your partner?,” said the bandit on the right.

“Josie Fox,” said Jack.

“I’m leaving,” said the bandit. He turned and fled down the road.

“Your partner is the Fox?,” said the bandit on the left. “The Fox?”

“I just call her Jo-jo,” said Jack. “You wouldn’t believe that when she was a little girl

she pushed some old woman down a flight of stairs, would you?”

“Yes,” said the bandit on the left. “Especially after what happened at the King’s

castle.”

“Do you guys need a lift somewhere before I head out?,” asked Jack.

“I think we will be glad to walk,” said the central bandit. He turned and followed his

friend down the road.

“Have a good night,” said the last bandit. He followed his two friends.

Jack waved at them as he watched them hurry away. If things had turned bad, he

would have called up Blade and asked them to deal with the resulting storm of blades.

He faced in the direction pointed out by the one bandit. It was almost too much to ask

for it to be the right direction. On the other hand, he didn’t have anything to lose, and

if he got close enough, he could try to copy Josie’s bird to find the right place.

He wondered what Josie had done to inspire such fear. He decided that she had been

her usual self.

Jack had to choose between Gravity and Falcon to fly to the hold. He decided on

Gravity. He wanted to be able to defend himself, and ten Gs aimed straight down was

enough to fix most problems he might run into in the air.

Crushing victims like beer cans was not something he should do lightly, but if that

was what it took, he had the world’s biggest boot.

He lifted into the air, flying as high as he could without an air supply. He saw various

shelves of ribbons of dirt giving rise to islands of greenery. Some of those stage-like

constructions had towns, and keeps, on a part of them. One of the castles he looked

at formed a bridge between shelves.

Which one was Lorelei’s? He didn’t see signs to point a weary traveler to where he

had to go. Maybe he should adopt Josie’s search method with one of his own

creations.

He supposed that he could it with the right spell.

Once he had the right castle, he still had to get in. He doubted they would just open

the door for him.

He could knock on doors until someone told him the right place for him to go. Did

he want to annoy the Elves until they gave him what he needed. On the other hand,

he was there to fix their problem.

He racked his head for an answer. He landed and let Gravity go. He didn’t need to fly

before he knew where to go. His mind went to the comics and movies he had seen and

searched them for an answer.

He decided to short cut the process with the help of Mister Fantastic. He took on the

persona and thought about what he wanted with what he could do. The persona made

a few notes and left them on the ground before returning back to the watch.

Jack picked up and looked at the notes. He kicked himself for not seeing the machine

he needed immediately. All he had to do was build the machine he needed and turn

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

it across the Elven dimension to find the people he wanted to talk to so he could take

care of his business before Josie started riding his case.

He took on his Majik persona and touched a tree. The tree changed to an antenna. It

dropped a screen for him to look at as it turned in place. It produced a geographic

picture on the screen to show him which castle he needed to visit. He marked the

location before turning the tree back to normal.

He changed to Gravity and flew over to where the small castle stood by itself like a

lone tower in the middle of a small town. He let the persona go as he dropped down

in front of the great door to allow the duchy’s forces out from their base to defend the

town from invaders.

He walked up next to the gate and looked for a smaller entrance. He didn’t see any

smaller door. He wondered if he should just sneak in, or to make some kind of noise

so the elves would talk to him.

He could fly to the top of the wall and see if the sentries were awake. He didn’t have

a problem with a small scare before he talked to the Duchess and her knight.

This was the kind of thing Spider-man was made for, but did he want to turn into a

spider at the moment.

He decided that he would just amplify his voice and hope for the best. He had a

couple of sound people in his catalogue. He decided not use the Banshee. He didn’t

want to cause bad luck just trying to attract attention to his position.

He called Siryn and called “Hey! Anybody home?” into the air.

“Who’s there?,” called someone on the wall. Jack couldn’t see him. He didn’t know

if the man could see him down at the base of the wall.

“Jack,” said Jack. “I’m here to see Lorelei and Bob about their problem. They wanted

Josie Fox, but I’m all they could get.”

“I will wake Sir Robert,” said the sentry. “He will have the authority to answer you.

The Josie is not with you?”

“Do you want her to be?,” asked Jack. “I can call her for you.”

“No,” said the sentry. “That will not be necessary. Just wait.”

Jack let the persona go. He wondered what Josie had done to strike such fear. The

Rick seemed able to deal with her just fine. The archery teacher might be

exaggerating stories for the rank and file.

“It’s not my problem until it becomes my problem,” said Jack.

The gate lowered down. A troop of soldiers stood attendance with long hafted axes

upraised. Lights sprang into existence. Jack nodded at the display.

“How’s it going?,” said Jack. “I’m Jack. I’m pleased to meet you. Would someone

point me in the right direction?”

“I’m Sir Robert,” said an elf pulling on his armored shirt. He frowned at this stranger

in the night. “The sentry said you are friends with Josie Fox.”

“Most days,” said Jack. “Pleased to meet you. I’m just here to look around. The Rick

said there was a problem brewing up, and we’re on the lookout for a dragon coming

through here. I thought I would pop over and get a local to show me around.”

“The Rick gave us the food you shared with him,” said the knight. “He said you had

concocted a bubble for holding a sitting arrangement.”

“It was a little something,” said Jack. “Josie said you were good people, and she

doesn’t usually say that about anyone. She’s back home looking into the other quests

while I try to solve this for you.”

“Is the Rick doing a good job for you?,” said Sir Robert.

“Two of the girls are in love with him,” said Jack. “I don’t know if it’s because he’s

showing them how to shoot, or because they never had anyone to crush on before.

They’re young, and he’s a handsome devil.”

“I can get an uglier teacher,” said Sir Robert.

“I would rather leave that until Josie says something,” said Jack. “Some things are not

going to change. They will grow out of it and move on to someone else. Until then,

I have to fix the Society’s problems, decide on what to get my beloved, and think of

ways to mock people.”

“I’m sure you are good at two of those things,” said Sir Robert. He smiled.

“I like to think I am good at all three,” said Jack. “And with a host of hidden talents

that no one ever thought of having in one man before except maybe Lester Dent. The

Rick said you had a spot you were keeping an eye on. I think that will be my first

stop. Then I will expand my search until I have some clue about what I am trying to

find.”

“Our guards have alerted us to a spot some of the wildness has started to avoid,” said

Sir Robert. “I’ll take you out there myself.”

“Can you just give me a guide?,” said Jack. “I want Josie to have someone familiar

on the ground in case I blow things.”

“Lori will be glad to do that if something happens to me,” said Sir Robert.

“Lori?,” said Jack.

“That’s what we call her behind her back so we don’t have to put on airs all the time,”

said Sir Robert.

“That kind of thinking will get you turned into a crispy critter, my friend,” said Jack.

“I don’t think she will mind as much as her father,” said Sir Robert. “I will send you

out with one of the countrymen Josie has asked us to watch for her.”

“That’s fine as long as he can lead the way without getting himself killed,” said Jack.

“He has made much improvement over the last day, or so,” said Sir Robert. “Gall,

report to the main gate, please.”

“All right,” said Jack. “I will take him. I hope he has got much better than he had been

when he tried to waylay Josie.”

“He only has to be brave once before I can send him home to his family,” said the

knight.

Quiton Gall arrived in a set of iron armor, carrying a new halberd. He rested it when

he assumed attention in front of Sir Robert and Jack. He looked at Jack, but said

nothing.

“Infantryman Gall,” said Sir Robert. “I have a mission for you. You are to escort this

visitor to the dead spot beyond the Dire Woods. You are to await disposition, and

report back. You are to deal with anything that gets in your way as well as you can.”

“I will be glad to go,” said Infantryman Gall. He didn’t look like he was glad to go.

“Which way is this spot?,” asked Jack.

“That way,” said Sir Robert. “The mileage is not known.”

“All right,” said Jack. “Come along, Gall. I’ll look out for you as much as I can. Josie

won’t like it if I embarrass her in front of her friends.”

“Be careful,” said Sir Robert. “I don’t want to send a letter to Josie to notify her that

you were killed on this expedition.”

“You’re invited to the wedding if Elaine and I set the date,” said Jack. “I’m sure

the kids will be over the moon.”

“Really?,” said the knight.

“They have only met the Rick,” said Jack. “They would love a real elf. Laura would

fangirl I tell you.”

“I don’t know what that is, but I am sure that’s good,” said Sir Robert.

“Come along, Gall,” said Jack. “I hope you like flying.”

He switched to Gravity and lifted the both of them in the air. He pulled the

infantryman up to give them an extensive look at the surrounding countryside. Gall

made a sound short of a scream at the height they were hovering.

“Which way do we go?,” asked Jack.

“That way,” said Gall. He pointed at a shelf of trees to the west of the castle. He held

his hand over his mouth to keep from throwing up.

“All right,” said Jack. He pulled the infantryman along as he floated across the

landscape. He checked the air as he went. He didn’t want to deal with monster birds

attacking while he had someone he might have to drop to his death.

He swept over the trees and spotted a clear spot of dirt on the ground. He dropped

down inside the trees. He put Gall down. He directed the soldier to hide

behind a tree.

“I am going to look this over,” said Jack. “Stay out of the way. If the dragon shows

up, run back and let Sir Robert know there’s trouble on the way.”

“Don’t you want help?,” said Gall. He clutched his halberd at the ready.

“Do you know any magic?,” asked Jack.

“No,” said Gall.

“I will need you to let Robert know he is going to need more help more than I need

you to get killed,” said Jack. “I definitely don’t want Josie to give me a lecture

about how I should have called for help, and the both of us got killed at the same

time.”

“I don’t know how she will lecture you if we’re both dead, but I will take your word

for that,” said Gall.

“All right,” said Jack. “I’m going to take a look around. Best hope is we know what

the problem is and can think of a solution. Worse case, we deal with the problem right

now with fire and blood.”

“I would rather the first, and not the second,” said Gall.

“Here we go,” said Jack.

He called on Majik and grabbed some leaves to make into a scanner. He pointed the

device at the dead spot and watched the screen as it sorted things. He frowned at the

depression it showed him. It seemed to be the cause of the dead ground in the middle

of the forest.

The mana flowed into that depression. He frowned as his watch seemed to be losing

power faster than normal. He had a solution that he could place immediately. He

didn’t know if it would work like he wanted, but he didn’t really have that much to

lose.

He stood at the edge of the depression. He created a ring around the bald spot out of

a line of individual grasses. He activated his spell and his watch started ticking over

at the speed he associated with the Elfheim.

He held up the screen. The air moved normally. He nodded. He had cut the drain

off in a matter of seconds.

Was this the dragon trying to power up? Had he come across a totally different

menace and the dragon was still out there? Could he take a dragon if he had to do

that?

He frowned. What did he do now? He should back off and let things settle.

The ground inside the ring began to drop away. He stepped back. He frowned at the

giant claw digging its way out of the ground.

“All right,” said Jack. “It looks like this is a dragon.”