Errant nodded at the large center room of the tea house. Tables formed around the

edges of the room. Faceless waiters appeared to help people to their seats and to pour

tea for them. A lot of the contestants looked at each other and him with suspicion.

“How do you do?,” said the Queen’s Knight, looking around the room. He put on a

smile in the face of their questions. “I’m Errant. I want you to look around the room

and see if everyone you know is here.”

He doubted everyone would be present. Someone had to have made the dead bodies

he and Woody had found in the real world.

“Maureen is missing,” said one of the women. “I don’t see her.”

“Anyone else?,” asked Errant. He didn’t know who Maureen was, but he had an idea

she was one of the dead bodies suspended in the magic circle Woody was guarding

from the outside.

“All the people I dueled aren’t here,” said one man. He wore something that looked

like a soldier’s breastplate and armored sleeve. He had a scar on his face. It looked

like something he had brought over from reality, and not an affection.

“Is that true for all of you?,” asked Errant. He looked around the room. There seemed

to be some agreement on that. “I have some bad news for you. All of those people are

dead.”

That caused an uproar. He stood in the center of the room and waited for things to

calm down.

“This is some kind of trick,” shouted one of the men. “You’re wrong. Bass said this

was perfectly safe.”

“Your friend isn’t here, is he?,” said Errant.

The man stopped and looked around. He stood up and examined the whole room. He

looked at the others at his table. They shook their heads.

“He’s not here and some of these people aren’t in our class,” said the man. He

indicated two tables on the other side of the room.

“Did you hear that, Woody?,” asked Errant. “There might be more circles out there

on the outside.”

Woody barked in understanding.

“What was that?,” asked one of the duelists, standing up.

“That was my familiar,” said Errant. “Does everyone have some tea? I’m going to tell

you some things, and then we’re going to deal with the situation from there. This is

a bad situation for you folks, and it might get worse if your friend is monitoring what

you’ve been doing in here. Would anyone like some imaginary food to go with your

imaginary tea?”

“Get on with it, please,” said the soldier. He looked at the rest of the crowd for

support. Some of them said the same thing with different words.

“All right,” said Errant. He gestured for imaginary tea from an imaginary waiter. A

giant cup was given to him. “The magic circle you are in, I’m going to say more than

one now, has created a mental construct so that all of you can meet in the same place

and interact. I assume you all thought this was safe, or at least didn’t think about what

would happen if it wasn’t.”

He took a sip of the tea. It was just the way he liked it.

“The problem is that all of you were under the impression that no one could be hurt

in this place,” said Errant. He waved a hand at the tea house dining room. “You were

wrong. Fighting here is like magic dueling. Everyone you killed here died out there.”

“You have to be wrong,” said the man who spoke up first. “You have to be. Bass

wouldn’t do that.”

“They could be alive,” said Errant. “Woody? Can you check on any of the nonactive

people in the circle we found. We need to know if they are alive, or not.”

The familiar made a noise. He barked a few seconds later.

“Some of them are alive?,” said Errant. “How many?”

Woody barked a response.

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“That’s fine,” said Errant. “Some of them did live. That’s great.”

“How many did we kill?,” asked one of the other duelists. She adjusted her glasses

at one of the tables near the doors.

Woody barked an answer.

“A few,” said Errant. “So what do we do now? We need to unhook you people from

this, and then call the authorities to take care of the dead. I can help the wounded if

I’m quick about it, but only the wounded in the circle where my body is. Once I

unhook everything, the wounded in the other circles will die too.”

“Some of us have some magic skills,” said one of the others. “We can help the

wounded if we are released, and if they aren’t too far gone.”

“That would be great,” said Errant. He sipped his tea. “All right. If we run into Bass,

I’ll handle it. The rest of you stay out of the way. We don’t need any more trouble

than what’s already happened.”

He finished his cup, and handed it back to the waiter. He looked around the room.

The volunteers looked back at him with mixed expressions. He hoped Bass didn’t

show up while he was putting everyone back where they belonged.

That could make things messy in a big way.

“Everyone ready?,” Errant asked. The group stood. Some of them reached inside to

call forth the edge of their training. “All right. Let’s look at the outside world and see

where we have to go.”

The teahouse collapsed to reveal a white expanse. Errant pulled out his wand. He

raised it. A simple flare showed the mind people where they stood in the real world,

and who was closer to the wounded.

“I’m going to start severing the links,” said Errant. “As soon as you can, move off the

circles where you are. I’ll be around to make sure everyone is all right. I’ll bring help

for the injured. Just keep them alive until help gets wherever you land.”

“We’ll handle it,” said the soldier.

Errant nodded. He looked around to gauge the healers in the group. He started

sending them back first. Each one vanished with a pop.

He started working on the rest. He heard voices talking where he had left Woody. He

hoped none of them tried to do anything to his body. Bites from a wooden jaw with

wooden teeth still hurt.

After a few minutes, he was alone. He looked around. He wondered what Bass would

do now. He hadn’t shown himself. Was he monitoring the mental space? If he wasn’t,

he was going to come back and find that all of his victims were gone.

“Is everyone free?,” asked Errant. He didn’t want to miss anyone in the space. Once

he left, they would be on their own until someone found their body and the circle they

were in.

It had been luck that he and Woody had stumbled on the circle they had found.

“I think so,” came a voice through the circle connection. “It’s a mess here.”

Woody barked in agreement with that assessment.

“All right,” said Errant. “I’m going to finish shutting down the circle. Then I’ll be

able to help you on the outside.”

“You’re not going anywhere,” said a voice floating in the expanse. “What do you

think you’re doing?”

“It’s Bass,” said one of the volunteers. “I don’t see his body. Where is he sending

from?”

A man in wizard robes appeared. On arrival, the featureless white turned into a

chamber of runes and glowing lights. He crossed his arms as he glared at the meddler

in front of him.

“How do you do?,” asked Errant. “Your magic circle posed a threat to the people that

were using it, so I shut it down.”

“What gave you the right to do that?,” said Bass. “I worked hard to make sure the

circles would do what I wanted from them. You ruined everything.”

“That’s kind of my job,” said Errant. “You see I like the idea of a magic circle that

allows people to communicate long distances. It would help build better connections

between people in my estimation. Showing them parts of other places would be a

bonus. I can’t allow it to be used as a harvester. That’s just asking too much.”

“Do you really think you can stop me?,” asked the wizard. “I control this mental

sphere. There’s nothing you can do.”

Errant looked around. The chamber filled with trees and flowers. Terraces of flowing

water pulled themselves out of the floor. The walls vanished to allow blue skies as

far as anyone could see.

“You don’t have anything I don’t allow,” said Errant. He put his hands in his pockets.

“I think now is the time to consider what your future could be, instead of what you

want it to be.”

Bass created a lance of lightning and threw it across the space between them. Mental

energy could kill just as well as real magic. He didn’t try to reassert his claim on his

domain. He could feel the will bearing down on him, conflicting with his control. It

was better to kill this nuisance and take his energy for personal use.

Errant raised one hand. The blast energy collected in his palm. Then it blasted back

at the magician. Bass raised a shield. The barrier caught the blast before it shattered.

He flew across the garden and destroyed a hedge.

Errant walked forward. He cleared the garden out of the way until they were on the

same white plane where they had started. He waited.

“I won’t give up my dream,” said Bass. “I won’t.”

“Then live it,” said Errant. He raised a hand. The magic circle that built the place they

were in shifted around them. He vanished in front of the wizard.

Woody snuffled when Errant stepped out of the circle.

“He has more than one of these with wounded and dead,” said Errant. He waved his

hand at the people trying to help their own. Some of them were beyond help. “We

need to make sure everyone is all right. As all right as we can.”

Woody barked once.

“I left him in his dream world,” said Errant. “He won’t be able to bother anyone else

until he can discern truth from fiction.”

Woody snuffled again.

“I’m sure he will snap out of it one day,” said Errant. “Someone will find him. That

kind of thing. Until then, he’s doing what he wanted to do in his mind.”