I reached into my Bag and pulled out the firewood I had. I knew I didn’t have enough to last the night. Looking up at Elizabet, who was still staring at the crow, I got her attention.

“Hey, Elizabet? You wanted to learn some of my magic, right? Well, I’m about to do some minor things, and I think you will want to see.”

Elizabet shook her head, clearing away any stray thoughts, and cleared her throat. “Yes. Yes, I think that would be best. I’m, uh…still kind of reeling from what just happened. Question is, why aren’t you?”

I chuckled and stood, abandoning my task for the moment. “Well, that has a lot to do with my past. And a lot more to do with our present situation.” At her confused look, I nodded. “You don’t understand yet, and that’s fine. You’re going to in just a few minutes.” I looked over at Blainaut, who was still standing, his hands on his hips. “Blainaut? Would you like your chair?”

“Hmm? Oh. Yes, please.” He walked over to where Elizabet and I were standing.

“Chair? What chair? Where are you hiding a chair, and how?” Elizabet asked, and folded her arms across her chest.

Smiling, I reached into my Bag, and withdrew first one folding chair, and then the other. “Right here, Elizabet. I have been keeping everything in this bag.”

Her eyes widened to the size of saucers and I pulled a pair of two-foot long folding chairs from my Bag. “But that’s… There’s simply no way that fit in there. How? How?”

Blainaut and I laughed, and I said “Remember the tent you walked into? It’s similar to that. Would you like a chair as well?”

“Don’t tell me you have a third chair in there?” She looked incredulous.

“Oh no. I can simply make one. It takes a bit out of me the more complex it is, but I can make another.”

“Um, okay. Show me.”

I took hold of my chair, and whispered “Duplicate”, and handed her the copy. “There we are. One chair for the Lady of the Camp. Blainaut will show you how to set it up. It’s pretty easy.” I pulled out several stones and placed them near the firewood while Blainaut showed Elizabet the chair.

Once she was comfortable with her chair, she returned. Seeing the stones and wood, she was curious and asked “So what are these for?”

I took hold of a small pebble, and Duplicated it four times. “You’re going to learn a new spell, Elizabet. It will allow you to essentially copy a thing. The more complex it is, the more energy it will take. You have to know what a thing is made of in order to copy it. That’s why I picked out some random stones for you to practice on. The word is Duplicate, and you have to fix in your mind the thing you're copying, and give it some energy.” She spoke the unfamiliar word poorly, and I corrected her until she got it right; I then went ahead and Duplicated the wood a few times, hopefully demonstrating the usefulness of the spell, to make sure we had enough for the evening. “These rocks are easy for me. I could make a few thousand of them before I got tired. I could make maybe twenty chairs or so before I hit the same point. I’ll be making a bed for you, as well. It will take some energy out of me, but as long as I eat enough, I should be okay. For now, I want you to duplicate these pebbles until it becomes easy. If you get tired, simply stop and wait for me.” I looked up and saw movement outside the Dome, and looked a bit more closely to see a rather large elk-looking creature about ten yards away.

“Blainaut! Is that thing tasty? Would it make a good meal for the six of us?” I called out.

Blainaut looked up, spying the elk, and almost shrieked in joy. “If you can kill that buck cleanly, we will have quite a bit of meat, hide and those antlers for whatever you need in the future. Do it.”

I nodded and pulled my rifle out from my Bag, chambering a round that I first enhanced for Penetration. “Okay. Here we go. Hey everyone! This will be loud. Cover your ears.” I looked up at the crow. “I’m sorry for how loud this will be. I’m not able to make it quiet, yet.”

Oddly enough, the crow seemed to understand, and flew down to Blainaut, and thrust her head into the crook of his elbow, mostly covering her ear holes. I walked to the edge of the Dome, pacing the animal, and waited until it got closer.

Twenty yards; breathe in, breathe out.

Fifteen yards; breathe in slowly, breathe out slowly.

Ten yards; slow breath in, slow breath out.

I lined up my shot, seeing nothing but the kill zone, my lungs screaming for air, and slowly squeezed the trigger.

CRACK

The elk ran immediately, a hole ripped through its lung and heart. I knew it wouldn’t go far, and so opted to wait for the adrenaline-fueled flight to cease. It only took half a minute, and the animal dropped, stone dead.

I left the safety of the dome, and jogged to the animal. Taking stock of it, it was a truly massive animal. Easily eight-hundred pounds. I racked my brain to remember a spell that would help me carry it back. The light was fading, and I needed to act quickly. I decided to go ahead and field dress it, and hope the proper spell would hit me as I worked.

I made several quick cuts down the legs and the gut of the animal, taking care to not go too deep and cut something smelly. Reaching in, I severed the trachea, and scooped everything out, looking at the pile of offal beside the animal. I figured I had reduced the weight by about a fifth.

That was it! The spell I needed. Sheathing my knife, I lay my hand on the beast and spoke the words “Make lighter, Reduce!” and smiled as the deer shrank by nearly two-thirds. I knelt down, and lifted the much lighter carcass, and jogged as quickly as I could back to the safety of the Dome.

Once inside, I lay the carcass down near the edge. Blainaut came over to see, and remarked. “Huh. It looked much bigger on the outside of our space. Was the elk always that small?” He placed his hands on his hips and watched me as I stepped back.

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“Back up a bit. Trust me. No, it wasn’t smaller out there. I did this.” I mentally counted down the last ten seconds or so, as Elizabet came over to see what was going on.

A moment after she arrived, the elk shook violently and popped back to its original size. I laughed as both of my companions jumped backwards in fright.

“Well. The spell works as I thought it would. Time to get to work. Blainaut? Would you please get a fire started?” He nodded, and I knelt to begin the long task of butchering the animal.

As I worked, I decided to let Elizabet in on my truth. I told her of my world; where I came from, and what my work had entailed, resulting in the tale of my arrival and the rescue of the children.

Elizabet sat back on her heels, staring at me in wonder. “And you simply…know all these words?”

I laughed, saying “Blainaut had much the same question. Remember: Your magical language is my mother tongue, and I was raised in it. The games I played relied heavily on memorization and creativity. I speak the Ancient Tongue as easily as I now speak your language. And just as fluently. I may well be the most powerful mage in your world, but I simply lack the training you lot went through. I’m making most of this up as I go, and probably being rather inefficient at it. For example, when I arrived here, I was nearly three hundred pounds. Looking at me now, I’d say I’m close to two-forty. I burned off that much energy within just a few days. I need to be extremely careful with what I do. It’s part of the reason I took that staff with me into the sewers instead of simply destroying everything in sight.” Grunting, I slipped the skin off the legs, leaving it splayed out on the ground.

“Speaking of the staff. Where did you learn to fight? I’ve never seen anyone use a staff like that. Most people can barely fend off one or two attackers. Not five.” Her soft hand touched my arm, making me halt in my work.

By this point, Blainaut had come over, having gotten the fire going well. “Yes, Ivor. Tell us how you learned to fight. I, for one, thought it foolish that you went with only the staff and your knife.” He squatted down, watching me closely in my work.

“Oh. That. Well, um. You see, I’ve never really been in an actual fight before. A couple of minor fist fights as a child, but never anything like a high-stakes battle. Certainly nothing like what happened in the sewers. Sure, I spent time at the range, shooting my guns and my bow. Speaking of, I should probably make one, or simply buy one big enough for me. Anyway. Um, yeah. No fights, but I did play another game for several years as a kid, into my early adulthood. I was a member of the SCA. That is the Society for Creative Anachronism. A semi-fictitious reenactment of how we think our Middle Ages and Renaissance should have been. It included some live-steel fights, which were always heavily moderated with every available route for any medical emergency well thought out. For me, I always preferred the simplicity of a staff. It’s an unassuming weapon, most people won’t think twice if you’re out walking with one, and it is usually non-lethal. Think about it. A stick is one of Humanity’s first weapons. I learned how to use one pretty quickly, and obviously pretty well.” I had removed one side of the animal’s meat, and worked on flipping it over.

“After I had broken my hands a couple of times, I decided to switch to something lighter, with less chance for broken bones. There’s an offshoot of the SCA called Dagorhir that I played for a couple more years. The weapons were all covered in a thick cushion of material, and usually lighter. I learned how to be faster there. The skills stayed with me, as I would practice in my mom’s backyard. I’m so thankful that she lived out in the country away from people. Nobody really saw me practicing.” With a final slice, I had more or less skeletonized the carcass.

Pulling the intact bones off to the side, I piled the meat up on the skin, and dragged it over to the fire. “Blainaut? Would you be so kind as to get some of this cooked up? I’ll work on making a cart or something for the rest of the meat. I’m reluctant to place it into my Bag. Blainaut?” I looked back, and the two of them were still sitting there, staring at me. “What? What’d I do?”

“What did you do?” Blainaut sputtered. “Do you know how utterly stupid you are, sometimes? You went into an unknown space, facing an unknown number of enemies armed with a stick and a knife! This is no mere game, man. You could have died! And then, where would the boys be? Where would I be? A lucky arrow to the eye, and you’re gone.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that. Here I am, a new outlook on the world; one I cannot return from, and now, the one person I could have to guide me is gone. I need you to think about what you’re doing from here on out. It’ll get much easier for you to exhaust yourself, now. Sure, you’re plenty muscular, but you’ve not got a whole lot of excess anymore. You’ve been extremely lucky thus far. Learn to use your head as more than a battering ram. Plan things out. The marks of a good mage are insight, creativity and planning. You’re plenty creative, but it’s like watching someone hammer a nail with a boulder. By rolling it down the entire mountain. Sure; that nail is going into something, but you might lose the whole damn building while you’re at it.” He crossed his arms and huffed. “Give me the damn pan.”

Elizabet had taken the moment and retreated to the fire, warming herself.

Thoroughly chastised, I reached into my Bag, and withdrew the pan. Oddly enough, it was still warm. “Huh. This pan is still warm from when we used it last. I would have expected it to cool. I wonder…” I reached in and pulled out the duplicate, uncured pelt I had made. It was still damp and smelled as fresh as it did when I put it in. I shoved it back into the bag and smiled.

Blainaut set his hands on his hips, a small stick held like a spatula. “What?” He rolled his eyes. “What wonder did you discover now?”

“The Bag acts as a preservation chamber. That uncured pelt? It would have started to mold by now. It still smells as fresh as it did when I put it in. I’d wager I can toss this meat in here as is and have it come out whenever I withdrew it like not a moment had passed. I’d want to wrap it in something, of course. The skin might work. We have about a week of travel before we get to where we need to be.” I smiled at the pair.

Blainaut continued to give me a dirty look until I relented. “Yes, yes. You’re right, Blainaut. I was stupid, and foolish. It would have been best for me to research and then strike. By then I might have lost my boys. I wasn’t about to let that happen. I acted rashly. It turned out well, but it easily could have turned out poorly. I’ll think more in the future. In fact, I now have two people who can advise me on when I’m acting like a big, dumb brute.” I gave a toothy grin and set about sealing up the meat in the skin, removing certain pieces, and rearranging others until I had exactly what I needed. I then slid the entirety of the skin into my Bag.

Blainaut shook his head and sighed. “His mother was right. It is a wonder he hasn’t killed himself.” He muttered to no-one in particular.

The rest of the evening passed without incident. We ate, told stories, laughed and joked for a couple of hours past sunset.

With the boys asleep on my chest, and the crow snoozing on the back of my chair, I dozed off a couple of times. Elizabet touched my arm gently, so as to not startle me.

“Ivor? Ivor, I think it’s time we all get to bed. They’re obviously tired, as are you. You’ve been awake for over a day. Come on. Let’s go.”

Blainaut nodded, getting up and moving into his own tent. “Goodnight you five. Sleep well.”

I nodded, bleary-eyed, and gently woke the boys, urging them into the tent as the crow flapped her way to the top of my tent. Once inside, I unrolled my sleeping bag, Duplicated it for Elizabet, and zipped mine and the boys’ bags together. I shucked my shirt and crawled into the bag, the boys stumbling in after me.

Elizabet unrolled her bag and set it beside ours. “You’re going to teach me all you know, Ivor. I won’t leave your side until you do.”

I yawned. “Well, it looks like you’ll never leave my side, then. There’s a vast amount of knowledge in my noggin.”

She smirked in the darkness. “Good. I’ll hold you to it.”

Outside, I heard the croaking laughter of the crow.