Matt agreed and kept some of his worries to himself. Except for Eric pretending to be Andier of Roir, the Silver-Tongued Rogue, each of the others had struggled with their roles on the Honyn. Andier’s ability to smooth talk people, read situations, and use his street smarts to his advantage had fit Eric’s past as a juvenile delinquent, when he broke into places, stole for food and money, and lived by his wits until being jailed. It made him believable as Andier, a man skilled at disarming traps, picking locks, and scaling walls. Eric’s rock climbing, parkour skills, martial arts aptitude, and knife throwing ability—honed at RenFest—had made him almost oddly suited for the role of Andier, but the others hadn’t been so lucky.
On the first quest to Honyn, Ryan had nearly gotten Eric killed over his own issues. An expert horseman who played a knight at RenFest every summer, Ryan gave the appearance of being suited to play a knight. Muscular and tall, he knew how to don armor, swing a sword, use a lance, and speak in a commanding voice meant to impress. But it was all a show. Now he had to be a real knight on their unwanted quests, playing the role of Lord Orrin of Andor, the Dragon Slayer.
Aside from knowing nothing of real swordsmanship and tactics, Ryan had been afraid of actual violence or hurting anyone since they had known him, but they had never understood why—until the ogre battle. His fear that he had nearly killed one ogre in self-defense led him to heal it with the Trinity Ring on one hand. It had risen and almost killed Eric. Only in the aftermath did he finally admit that he was the one who had paralyzed his brother Daniel when goofing around as children, the guilt haunting him ever since—and causing his attitude.
He had gotten past that as that quest continued, finally killing the dragon who posed the greatest threat to them, but Matt still wondered if the big guy had really conquered his phobia. On this second quest just now, Matt had felt relieved to see Ryan stabbing the goblins threatening them, so maybe they didn’t have to worry about Ryan’s conscious putting them at risk anymore.
Anna was another problem that might have been resolved, but he couldn’t be sure. An atheist, she had been visibly annoyed to discover her own role – the Priestess Eriana of Coreth, the Light Bringer, a healer who channeled the power of gods to save the dying. How could a woman who didn’t believe in such things change her heart so fully that a god chose her as a vessel for their power? Her transformation had been slow and nearly as deadly in its delays as Ryan’s, but Matt was the one she had finally healed at the end, so he knew she could do it. But every time they arrived on a planet, she had to reach a god she had never heard of to make contact. Someone had given her a scroll of information and help with this the first time. Just now, that wizard who summoned them had died partly because Anna had no idea what gods to ask for help from. Without these Trinity Rings all but she wore, this could be a serious problem.
And Matt wasn’t fine in his role as the Majestic Magus, Soliander of Aranor, one of the most powerful wizards on any world. He hadn’t known a thing about magic. Only training from the elf Lorian had made it possible to summon power using Soliander’s staff. Matt had relied on it right up until the end when it had been knocked from his hand and failure to cast a spell had meant death. Not having the staff on Earth had hindered his ability to perform magic here. How was he supposed to practice? Did he need to be terrified to do anything without it? Was magic even working here? He sighed and tried to ignore his worries.
For the rest of the night, they sat together, often not speaking, each with an agreed upon aspect of training to develop on behalf of them all. While Matt had taught sign language informally and leisurely to Eric, they needed something faster, and he soon used Ryan’s credit card to purchase a number of manuals for him as a teacher and the others as students. Jack researched archery locations, instructors, gear that matched the medieval or Renaissance periods, and ordered more supplies, including practice targets of their own. Eric planned a curriculum of karate and other disciplines to teach them, then purchased some training equipment they could use away from his job as needed. Ryan researched horses he could buy, for the “school horses” typically available were not good enough and would not compare to the battle trained mounts he would expect them to be given. Anna looked into physical conditioning and strength, including endurance, running speed, and flexibility, which Eric’s training would help with.
She finally asked, “Where are we going to do some of this, guys?”
They sat in silence for a minute, and then Ryan said, “I have an idea.”
Ryan pursed his lips, waiting for Eric’s response. They stood inside the partially empty guest house at the estate of Ryan’s parents in Potomac, Maryland, where mostly rich people lived. Outside, tall trees loomed in nearly every direction, just far enough away from the house to prevent falling leaves from clogging gutters. The shade they cast moved with the breeze so that sunlight danced across the hardwood floors inside, never staying constant. There were no curtains or hardware to hang them, or furniture. His parents had renovated the place years ago, having all the walls painted, new cabinets added, the whole bit, but then they stopped short of finishing it when Ryan had paralyzed Daniel so long ago. The thought made him sigh, for the building was frozen in time back to that period and it always brought unpleasant memories back. Even so, it seemed the best option for what he and his friends needed.
“I think this will work,” Eric admitted, looking around.
Ryan felt a little relieved at the reaction. He admired Eric even before this business with being champions arose, but his friend’s critical thinking skill wasn’t something he’d really noticed before. Eric would find the flaw in just about anything. While the others had good ideas, no one picked them apart like his former juvenile delinquent friend.
Sometimes he wondered if that past was where Eric got the skill from. Had breaking into places, stealing, and making his way by his wits made him not just street smart, but savvy? Eric thought things through with a speed and precision that would have made Ryan jealous if he really cared about being that way himself. In his mind, Eric was their leader, though Ryan was supposed to act like it on arriving for a quest, or any other time they needed to impress on people how important and powerful they supposedly were as the Ellorian Champions. He was the most imposing for his height and muscular physique, the golden and gilded armor of Lord Korrin of Andor an impressive sight.
More people wanted to talk to him, too, for Eric was supposed to be Andier of Roir, the Silver-Tongue Rogue, with a reputation for swindling people or tricking them into revealing too much. Matt as the Majestic Magus Soliander of Aranor just scared everyone. And Anna as the Light Bringer Eriana of Coreth, who saved countless lives by channeling a god’s healing power through her, inspired reverence, respect, and awe, much of it causing people to be very polite and keep some distance.
All of this left Ryan to receive the exuberance of desperate people grateful for their arrival to save them. He was the showman, too, having played a knight for years at the local Renaissance Festival for fun, so beyond knowing how to don armor and swing a sword (just not for real), he was best suited to the apparent-leader role. That Eric held that position behind the scenes was fine with him. They just had to stay on the same page.
And so Ryan sighed in relief on hearing Eric accept the use of the guest house as a training area. On the same property where his parents and he lived with his brother, the building stood two stories and had its own three-car garage, driveway, and gate with unmanned security. An acre of land, with a line of thick pine trees, separated it from the main house. As long as they kept quiet, everything but the horseback riding could be done here without his family even knowing they were using it. The property had some empty acres where archery could happen, too.
Looking at some old Persian rugs the family was storing stacked atop each other in the living room, Ryan said, “I think we have to clean it up a little. Use the dining room for storage due to the chandelier being in the way anyway. Can’t swing anything in there. We can
move some of the other unused furniture there, create the spaces we need.”
“Is there a basement?” Eric asked.
“Yeah. And it’s got some big open space, depending on what’s been put down there.”
“Let’s have a look.”
They soon decided the first floor would have minimal equipment in case anyone happened by, like the gardeners and others who maintained the property. They didn’t want suspicions forming. Gym mats and exercise gear would occupy the basement that would be kept dark when not in use. They realized that, if anyone did catch their cars here, that maybe they should pretend they were using it as a place to hang out, and they would need somewhere to sit anyway. Some couches, tables, and an entertainment system would help convince anyone they weren’t up to anything weird. Matt, being a techie, could set up a security camera to alert them to anyone dropping by if they were downstairs. The need for such a ploy became apparent sooner than expected.
The front door opened with a bang and Ryan’s younger brother rolled his wheelchair over the threshold and into the foyer, then the living room, from where he smirked at them as they sat on the pile of Persian rugs in the adjacent dining room. His long black hair lay in a ponytail over one shoulder, tattoos visible on his arms, one of which he had full use of. He was a quadriplegic thanks to the accident Ryan had caused when they were kids, but he never seemed to bear his older brother ill will. If anything, Ryan was the affected one, his guilt a frequent shadow on him, except that now that they knew supernatural healing existed, Ryan was determined to help Anna figure out how to do it on Earth and heal his brother.
“I can’t imagine what you two are doing in here,” he said, using the wheelchair’s controls to position himself to see them better.
“Daniel,” said Eric by way of greeting.
“Hiding from you,” Ryan said. “How did you know we were here?”
Rolling toward them, his brother replied, “I was playing with my drone just now and the camera picked up the cars out front.”
Ryan silently cursed. He hadn’t planned on using the garage but now they would need to. That might require more cleaning out depending on what was in there. He wasn’t even sure they had working garage door openers. Part of him wanted to tell Daniel the truth, but so far only Jack knew. No one else had been discussed and Ryan hadn’t raised the possibility. It might be better, really, since Daniel could keep their parents and anyone else from prying while they were gone. But how do you tell your younger brother that you are being magically summoned to other worlds full of magic and fantastic creatures? Having been an avid Dungeons and Dragons and Tolkien fan, Daniel would have loved it and been supremely jealous. But he also wouldn’t have believed a word of it and thought Ryan was making fun of him.
“What are you doing in here?” Daniel persisted.
“Checking out the place,” said Eric, and Ryan realized his friend was a better liar and should do the talking. “The press has been a pain, so I was thinking to move. Ryan suggested here.”
“Not seriously though,” said Ryan, not sure he liked that lie. Daniel would invite himself too often. “Just showing him around. The media will die down.”
Daniel looked skeptical. “Yeah, maybe. Did you see that report today of someone being healed in Argentina somewhere? With new stories of weird shit cropping up all the times now, you guys and the Stonehenge thing should be forgotten before long. All you did was vanish for three weeks without explanation.” He paused. “Still waiting for you to tell me what really happened.”
Eric and Ryan exchanged a look, and on a sudden instinct, Ryan told the truth as if he was lying. “Someone summoned us to another world for a quest to save the planet from a horde of dragons. I fought off some ogres, too.”
“Me, too,” added Eric, sounding flippant. “Matt and Anna tagged along but were on so much help. It was really us.”
“Yeah, and then I killed this dragon. It was freakin’ huge. Breathing fire and everything, but my armor was fireproof.”
“Well, mostly fireproof,” Eric corrected with a grin.
“Yeah. It doesn’t work so well against dragon fire, just other kinds. And ‘almost’ only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.”
Daniel smirked. “Did you get to deflower a virgin while you were at it?”
Ryan pretended to consider. “Come to think of it, no.”
“I think we got screwed,” Eric suggested.
Daniel’s shrewd eyes appraised them. “You know something? Reports of weird shit going on around the world started right about the time you guys went missing. You probably missed a few of them, and it took a while for them to really start catching on in the news, like about two weeks, which was a couple weeks ago. Be straight with me. What the fuck happened out there?”
Eric opened his mouth, but Ryan knew he was going to joke and adopted a more serious tone. “Seriously, we don’t know. It surprised us when everyone said we had been gone three weeks.”
The martial artist added, “That did explain why the SUV we’d driven there was gone. We were wondering where the hell it went because we would’ve thought we’d hear someone driving off with it.”
Daniel rolled closer on the hardwood floor. “So, are you suggesting it was some sort of time dilation shit? I mean, that only happens in sci-fi.”
“Yeah, but all this other stuff is supposedly happening in the real world,” said Ryan, “so maybe we were just the first of these incidents.” He looked at Eric because he hadn’t thought of this before, but now was no time for discussing it. Had they been the first?
“Do you guys feel any different after?”
They exchanged a look and shrugged. “Like what?”
“I don’t know, like the ability to do magic or heal people like some are saying? I assume you would tell me that at least.”
“Come on, man,” started Ryan, “Of course, I would tell you if that was going on. Besides, the first thing I would do if I could heal people would be get you out of that chair I put you in.”
Daniel frowned. “What makes you think I want out of this chair?”
That brought Ryan up short. He had never thought of that. He had just assumed Daniel wanted to be healed, which he wanted Anna to do the moment she was able. This was the first time he’d broached the subject because there hadn’t been a way to do so before without being weird about it.
“Why would you not want to?” he asked. “Don’t you want to walk again? Run? Go swimming?”
“Yeah, sure, those are all fine. Why not? Ryan, just because people are talking about being healed lately doesn’t mean it’s not a bunch of bullshit. I accepted being in this chair for the rest of my life a long time ago. Don’t get your hopes up about this crap. That’s all it is.”
“Yeah, okay. I didn’t mean it like that. I just thought that if you had the chance, you would take it.” He hesitated to ask. “Would you?”
Daniel turned around and started rolling out. “Ask me when it’s possible and you know a cute girl who can do it.”
Anna breathed a sigh of relief and started her white Kia Optima, driving away from her apartment complex. It had been a long few days. Her thighs and butt still hurt from the first hour-long horseback lesson she’d shared with the boys, with another scheduled in a few days when they recovered. Eric had given them all some initial karate lessons that hadn’t been so bad. Matt’s sign language work was less painful, at least. She was a little sore from her first jog as well, but things were coming along. She just needed a break from it all.
A girl’s night out was just what she needed. She had avoided her girlfriends a bit since the reappearance at Stonehenge, partly because everyone had so many questions and fending them off was the opposite of relaxing. She expected a few more queries tonight, but felt more comfortable dodging them now. As much as she enjoyed the boys, she had to get away from everything involving them now. She had spent all of her free time on preparing for their new reality. The worst part was the pressure—the feeling
that every minute counted because someone could summon them without warning. They needed years of expertise but had no time to gain it. And they felt lucky to not have already been taken again. The stress was getting to her.
She put it from her mind with an effort. Five minutes later, she picked up her dance instructor friend Jade, an Asian woman who wore her jet-black hair in an asymmetrical bob, the front past her chin on one side, a dash of green through it. Ten minutes after and they met roommates Heather and Raven, who piled into the back. Ann headed for the highway, a night of dinner, dancing, and drinking with them ahead of her.
“So girl,” began Raven from the backseat, “Anna, what’s up with you hanging with these boys all the time? You doing a foursome and not inviting us?”
Anna blushed as they all laughed. “I don’t have that much stamina.”
“I do!” said Raven. She lifted up her phone and started videotaping their conversation, as she liked to do, sometimes posting it online with faces blurred out. She had a decent online following.
“I would go for Ryan,” said Heather, pushing blush on her white cheeks. “I like my men big.”
“Who doesn’t?” Raven asked, cackling.
“I think average is just fine,” said Jade from the front seat.
Raven said, “That Eric is supposed to be a karate guy or something? That’s hot. I like flexible men.”
Laughing and already feeling her stress melt away, Anna asked, “Is there anything you don’t like in men?”
“What about Matt?” Jade asked, turning to look in the backseat, which is when Anna realized her friend hadn’t put on a seat belt and told her to, but didn’t get a reaction as Jade added, “I think he’s cute. I like smart guys.”
The Light Bringer: An Epic Fantasy Adventure Novel (The Dragon Gate Series Book 2) Page 3
