“I swear Reginald, if you try to go teacher mode right now I’m going to slap you so hard your head will do a full ‘exorcist’ spin.” Triss was nearly bouncing as the stood by the large double doors that led out of the castle. She was wearing a plain, long sleeve dress, pale yellow and nearly ankle length. She was wearing her sneakers, and her long frizzy hair was tied up in a bun. She hated the dress, but Reginald had insisted she wear it to blend in. She only agreed when he refused to take her at all without it.

Reginald stood beside her, a long dark cloak covering his normal serving tunic. The hood was pulled up over his head, leaving his face in shadow. It wasn’t long enough to hid his snout, which stuck out comically. She had pointed out that, even though she had never been to the town, he was definitely going to stick out, and if one person was going to stick out it would be fine if two did. He had ignored that completely. “I’m just making sure you’re prepared for this. You haven’t been out in the world. You don’t know the people or customs or the financial system.” he said.

“Twenty-four coppers to the bronze, twenty-four bronze to the silver.” She said woodenly. “We’ve been over this several times.” She smiled down at the small lizard. “I know its been a while for you. It’ll be fine. Now. LETS GO SHOPPING!” She exclaimed loudly while pulling on the door.

The door didn’t budge. She pulled harder. The door was completely stuck. She looked all over the door for a latch of some kind.

Reginald pushed the doors open for her. She glared at him. “Not a word.”

“Who, me?” He replied innocently.

The bright daylight sun completely blinded her. She made a mental note to open her curtains more often. A week of only orb light had made her eyes extremely sensitive. “I wonder if this world has sunglasses.” She complained as she shielded her eyes.

“Not something I’ve heard of.” Reginald said, his eyes squeezed shut. “But from the name alone I think I want one.”

“A Pair” she corrected.

“Oh, one for each eye. Yes, I would like to have two sunglasses then.”

“No, a pair…you know what? Never mind. You need a pair of sunglasses and so do I.” Her eyes finally adjusted enough to see, and she stepped out into the new world.

There were gently rolling green hills stretching away in every direction she could see. Dark green forests stood tall at the end of the grassland, and a single road ran straight through it all, disappearing under the distant forest canopy. She couldn’t see any houses, shops, or even any buildings at all. “Uh, Reginald? Where’s the shopping?”

He indicated the road. “We need to walk there. It’s only about half an hour.”

“Why is the village so far? And why didn’t you tell me that before?”

He laughed. “It’s far because no one in their right mind wants to live this close to a dark wizard. And I didn’t tell you because I work for said dark wizard.”

“I hate you, you know that?”

He smiled broadly. “No you don’t.”

She rolled her eyes. “I hate you a little bit.”

“Not even.” He took off quickly down the path, cutting off Triss’s chance to make another sharp remark. She hurried to catch up with him.

Triss looked back at the castle as they made their way towards the forest. She knew it was big from her week living there, but looking at it from the outside made it seem even more massive. It was shaped like a triangle, with the narrow point facing the forest. A tall tower stood at each corner, rising high into the sky above the walls. Each wall had a shorter tower at its midpoint, their roofs domed with sharp spikes. Actually, when she looked closer she saw that there were spikes everywhere. They were shorter, and blended into the design of the castle.

“Those are to defend against flying attacks.” Reginald said when she pointed them out. “The midpoint towers are more heavily spiked because they’re directly connected to the inside of the castle. If an attacker made it into the upper tower they would still have many defences to get past before reaching the castle proper.” He continued to talk about the tower defences as they walked, and Triss thoroughly enjoyed it.

She was astounded by the forest when they reached it. The trees were all uniform, straight and tall with dark green trunks. There were no branches until about three-quarters of the way up, but beyond that point the trees branched out and merged with one another, creating an impenetrable canopy. No light at all filtered down through, and the forest was nearly pitch black. “Is it safe in here?” Triss asked.

“Absolutely not.” Reginald replied with a malicious grin. “You can make it through safely easily enough. But you cannot hide in here. You cannot camp in here. And the Gods help you if you’re in here at night.”

Triss blinked at him. “Part of the defences?” She asked after a moments thought.

“Precisely! Excellent deduction. Any attacking army must camp out in the plains in view of the castle, or else traverse the forest each day and limit their ability to wage war.”

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“And we can make it safely through?”

“If you know how, its quite easy.” He held out one hand, palm up. A small orb of light formed in his palm and rose to float over his head. He nodded at Triss, and she did the same, though her orb was slightly dimmer than his. They turned together and walked into the forest.

“One must stay on the path in order to stay safe.” He said as they walked. He pointed at the bricks that made up the path. “There is a ward written on the back of each brick. It is powered by sunlight, and each brick is connected so that as long as sunlight is hitting one brick, the whole section is linked. The ward prevents creatures from touching the path.” He said, slipping back into lecturer mode.

“And what kind of creature are in here?” Triss asked nervously.

Reginald grinned. “I thought you might ask that.” He reached into his robe and pulled out a small brown paper package. “I would recommend staying in the center of the path for this.” When she was situated, he threw the package into the woods, a foot or so beyond the path.

A patch of ground instantly lifted up and a dark red…something darted out and grabbed the package. It disappeared as fast as it had come, and Triss couldn’t even tell where the trapdoor had been. “What…what?” Was all she could manage.

Reginald laughed. “The look on your face!” The lizard almost doubled over laughing. “Oh, I knew whatever we got was going to be good, of course. But to hit a Redback Vanisher on the first try? Priceless!”

“What in the world is a Redback Vanisher?” She demanded. “What do you mean whatever we got? What else is out here?”

Reginald laughed for a few more minutes before recovering. “Oh, lots of different things. But the Redback Vanishers are the most shocking.” He started back down the path, his light orb bobbing over his head. “They dig a large hole to hide in, and pop out to grab their victims, as you can see. They’re so fast that they can pull down a soldier right in the middle of a line and his companions will have no idea what happened. The soldier just vanishes.”

Triss made absolutely sure she was in the middle of the path and as close to Reginald as she could be. “What do they look like?”

“Well, they have red backs.” He offered. “When we get back I will see if we have any books on local wildlife you can look through. They should be in any decently complete work, and most should have drawings.”

“Maybe give me the book tomorrow morning.” She suggested. “That way I can actually sleep tonight.”

It only took about fifteen minutes of walking to reach the other side of the forest, and they stepped out of the deep dark woods into a beautiful sunny day. Triss had never been so grateful in her life to be blinded by the sun. “I think the sun in this world is brighter than my own world.” She complained.

The town was built only a short walk from the forest. There were stone walls encircling the the town, though on the far side she saw that houses and fields extended far past the walls. There was nothing on their side but wall, and one large gate. A large river passed by the town, and several docks jutted out into it. She could see a few small boats out on the river as well. The town was much larger than Triss had expected. She knew that Thalonia was small geographically, and only had a population of around seven thousand. She hadn’t thought to find the population jammed all into one place though. “At least it will make shopping easier? I hope?” She said quietly to herself.

They entered the town, and Triss was pleasantly surprised to find it to be quite similar to Middle Ages towns in any movie she had watched. The buildings were all two or three stories, made of grey stone and with thick thatched roofs. Wooden shutters hung beside every window, and they were painted in a stunning variety of colors. She saw forest green, sunset orange, and even royal purple ones.

The houses were set so close to one another that they seemed almost to be one continuous building. Deep set doorways dotted both sides of the hard cobblestone street, and she was very impressed with how clean everything was. As they passed the first few doors she noticed that each one was still bare brown wood, and had a different white symbol painted directly in the center. At first she thought they were numbers, but then she recognized part of the ‘light’ symbol on one. “What’s with the drawings?” She asked Reginald. “Also, where are all the people?”

“Wards against evil forces, usually. Superstitious. None of them are actually correct.” He answered. “And its mid morning. Pretty much everyone from this area will be working out in the fields, or out fishing. There should be a couple of shops open though.”

They eventually found a central square with a granite well, and finally there were a few people milling about. The square was surrounded by a number of shops with colourful awnings and wooden signs swinging in the warm breeze. The people she could see were all wearing similar outfits - pale yellow dresses for the women, rough tunics and pants for the men. Her own dress was nearly a match the ones the women here wore. She grumbled a little about that.

The first shop they came to had a sign that read ‘Jonal’s General Goods’ and had a number of small pictures carved into the sign, including a needle, buttons, something that looked like a cross betweeen and axe and a hammer, and a roll of string. Jonal turned out to be a rotund man with a big white bushy beard, eyebrows that looked more like a pair of oversized white caterpillars, and a gleaming bald head. He looked shocked to see the small cloaked lizard enter the store. “Reginald? My goodness, I haven’t seen you come to town since before I was married!”

Reginald sighed and slipped off his hood. “Hello, Jonal. It’s good to see you.”

The portly man frowned. “There hasn’t been a problem with the deliveries, has there? My eldest has been doing them for the last three years, but his wife gave birth a couple months ago.” He smiled warmly. “Second one. Little girl. Sweetest thing you ever did see. But of course she’s a baby, so if he’s makin’ mistakes then I’d guess its lack of sleep.” He chuckled at that.

“No, no. Everything is fine with the deliveries. Miss Triss here is a guest at the castle, and she’s interested in a few items. She’d prefer to look over the goods herself before purchasing.” Reginald replied.

“Of course, of course!” Jonal laughed. “Anything in particular you’re looking for miss?”

“I think first, I’d like some hair conditioner, if you have any?” Triss asked hopefully.

It took over an hour to extricate themselves from the friendly store owner. Triss had to promise to come visit for supper sometime and meet his granddaughter. She managed to find shampoo and conditioner, a few other essential toiletries, and a large leather bound notebook. Reginald had muttered constantly about the cost, but she had managed to talk Jonal down and felt like they had been treated fairly. “I like him.” She told Reginald after they left the shop, a large cloth bag thrown over one of her shoulders.

“He’s always been a fair man.” Reginald said with a nod. “His father was too.”

“How long have you been buying from his family?”

“As long as we’ve been in the castle.” Reginald replied.

“Which has been how long?”

“Lunchtime? I think its lunchtime. There’s a small restaurant over here.” He said, pointing at another shop on the opposite side of the square.

“You didn’t answer the question Reginald.” Triss said.

“Astute observation.” He said dismissively as he made his way over to the restaurant.

They sat at an outside table under a purple awning and ate a delicious meal of something. It looked like a combination of pasta and grains soaked in blue yogurt, though the shape of the grains were odd. It tasted like a strange combination of peanut butter and fish. Which, of course, should have tasted atrocious. Somehow it worked, and she nearly licked the bowl clean. She pointedly avoided asking Reginald or the spirit what the food was. Ever since Reginald had fed her something delicious the spirit later said contained mouse meat, she had decided she didn’t want to know what she was eating. She worried she might starve to death of she asked too many questions, though she did let Reginald know she wouldn't be eating anything containing mice.

They had just finished eating and were enjoying a nice fruity drink when a group of about a dozen men entered the square. They were all wearing dark leather armor over black tunics. Most of them had long spears held over a shoulder, though one wore a sword strapped over his back.

"Find your way back to the forest side exit." Reginald said quietly when he noticed the men. "You're dressed like a resident, so they shouldn't have a reason to bother you." He looked her in the eyes. "Don't give them a reason to bother you. Pretend it's normal to see them here."

"Wait, what?" Triss asked. She looked back at the soldiers. "Are they not supposed to be here?" There was no answer. When she looked over, Reginald had disappeared completely.