The rumbling wagon eventually woke Mark from his slumber. Or maybe he woke on his own? He had no idea how long he’d been asleep. Not long enough, given how exhausted he felt.

With a couple of weary blinks, Mark raised his head and looked around, only to discover the late morning sun warming his face.

Okay, maybe not such a quick nap after all.

“Ma, he’s awake!” Gavin shouted, the boy’s face appearing above Mark. A moment later, Rosie’s smiling face was looking down at him as well.

“So he is,” she said. “You were out for quite a while. Nearly a full day, in fact.”

Mark’s eyes widened and he dropped his head back down on the wooden tail of the wagon. “I think I’ve spent more time unconscious than I have awake on this god-forsaken planet.” The comment prompted an odd look from Rosie, but Mark was too tired to care.

Instead of saying something, she banged on the side of the wagon, signalling Darius to stop. She looked at Mark and pointed to the side of the road. “You go take care of business while I get you something to eat.”

Mark’s initial confusion at her words washed away as he realized just how badly he needed to pee, not to mention how ravenous he was. He immediately jumped off the wagon and sprinted into the bushes. By the time he returned, Rosie was off the back of the wagon with a plate of bread, cheese, and dried meats in hand.

“Come on then,” she said, waving him to the front of the wagon and sparing him the humiliation of having to climb up again. “We’ll ride up top with Darius so you can tell us your story.”

Gavin hopped down as well, only to have Rosie glare at him. “Not likely, child. I’m still mad at you.”

“But ma, you’ll still be mad at me a hunnert years from now!” Gavin exclaimed.

“Yes, I will. And you should have thought of that before you foolishly risked your life!”

She waited until Gavin pouted his way back up into the wagon, then gestured for Mark to follow. He went to grab his staff, only to discover a pair of gloves lying on top of it.

Mark looked at Rosie, but she didn’t say anything; she just nodded towards the gloves. He gave her a tight smile of gratitude, then donned the gloves and grabbed his staff before following her to the front of the wagon.

“You realize you’ll have to tell Gav the story at some point, right?” Rosie whispered conspiratorially as they walked. Mark gave her the best smile he could muster, but it probably came across pretty weak. There were a lot of avenues this conversation could take, and he still couldn’t tell which one was in store.

When they got to the front of the wagon, he found Darius grinning down at him from his perch atop the driver’s seat. “Ah, yer back with us! I was afraid ye’d die on the way and I’d have ta sell yeh for fertilizer.” He extended his hand to help Mark up into the wagon, which Mark dutifully accepted. He was about to say his thanks when Darius suddenly hauled Mark off the ground, swinging him through the air and depositing Mark on the opposite side of the wagon. The large man grinned at Mark’s shocked expression and gave him a wink, then slid over to make room for his wife. Once she was settled, he snapped the reigns and got the wagon moving again.

Rosie didn’t even acknowledge her husband’s antics, simply handing the plate of food and a waterskin to Mark. “There you go; have a bite before we chat.”

“Thank you?” Mark said, putting the staff in the crook of his elbow and accepting the plate of food. He ate slowly, partially to delay their inevitable conversation, but mostly to stare in wonder at the changes in his surroundings.

The forest that had previously dominated the right side of the road had been transformed into a massive sea of farmland. Workers dotted the fields as they took care of their morning chores, while others were loading up carts of goods, preparing to bring them into the enormous city that loomed a few kilometres down the road.

“Is that Palmyre?” he said, hardly able to believe it.

“Aye, tis,” Darius answered.

Mark could only gape. Had he done it? Had he gotten to the city despite everything that had happened? What about his family? Were they there? Would they ever be?

“You alright?” Rosie said.

It was almost too much. Mark nodded, wiping away tears. He looked at Rosie and Darius. What to say? How much to say? He hummed and hawed, then decided that without knowing anything about this world, the truth was no riskier than whatever lie he could concoct. Besides, there was every chance in the world they straight-up wouldn’t believe him.

“I’m fine,” he said. “It’s just been a long few days. Very long. A lot has happened, and most of it is pretty unbelievable. Hell, you probably won’t believe me, but it’s the truth, so there you have it.”

“Eh, why don’t yeh try us,” Darius said. “I’ve seen more than a few strange things in my day. Even married one of ’em.”

Rosie playfully slapped Darius on the arm, and he faked grievous injury, even letting the wagon drift to the side of the road as though he could no longer operate the reigns. It was just a simple, fun exchange between a husband and wife, but their easy companionship calmed Mark’s fears about revealing where he came from.

Mark hesitated, then said, “I’m not from this world. I was born on a planet called Earth and brought to Arenia against my will.”

Darius and Rosie’s play stopped immediately. Mark waited for laughter or derision, possibly a concern for his mental health, but Rosie instead covered her mouth with one hand while Darius stared at him wide-eyed.

“The lad’s a Legend!” Darius bellowed. “Now it all makes sense! If anyone else woulda said it, I’d not believe it for a second. But after what I seen, combined with your low Renown?” He grabbed Rosie by the shoulder. “A Legend! In our own wagon!”

“I can hardly believe it either,” Rosie said, shaking her head. “But why would you TELL us?”

“I shouldn’t have?” Mark said.

Both of them shook their heads violently.

“Absolutely not,” Rosie said. “There’s all kinds of trouble you could get into if people knew you were a Legend. We haven’t seen one in these parts for decades. Be grateful we’re good people.

“Oh, and don’t tell Gavin,” she added. “The lad’s lovely, and he’s used to keeping a secret about magic, but you being a Legend is a bit too much to stake on the restraint of a child.”

Mark groaned. He had assumed his status was more common than that, and now he’d gone and blown his secret. What’s worse, he’d also effectively outed his family. Hopefully, they had more sense than to let their secret slip any further.

At least he trusted Darius and Rosie. Or as much as one could with so little time spent together.

“Well then, lad,” Darius said. “I’ve got a lot a questions I could ask, but it seems the most pressin’ ones concern that magic o’ yours that Rosie mentioned. You willin’ to shed some light on just what it was yeh did back there?”

After the reaction Mark had gotten to his Earthly origins, he quickly reconsidered sharing the story of his experiences in the fog. Even with the knowledge that he was a Legend, they seemed nervous about what he had done. Which meant it was a secret he had to keep.

Unfortunately, he only could think of one way to do that.

Mark glanced at Rosie. He hated to do it, but he would have to be a bit of a jerk if he wanted to run damage control.

“Speaking of people’s natures, you’re a faerie, aren’t you?”

Rosie’s eyes narrowed. “Yes. I am a sylph, and that fact is a tightly held secret in Palmyre. Most people merely suspect I have some faerie heritage rather than being full-blooded. I hope you can keep the truth to yourself. If I hadn’t needed my true form for battle magic, I would never have revealed it to you. The last thing I need is you sharing my secret out of ignorance—only a true-blood faerie can shapeshift, so merely recounting the story of our fight would expose me.”

Then she shook her head and gave a small chuckle. “In retrospect, maybe knowing each other’s secret is for the best. It provides a kind of morbid insurance against disclosure, doesn’t it?”

Mark sighed internally. Now it was time to be a dick. “Yes, it’s great in principle, but only if we’re both willing to keep the secret.”

Rosie’s eyes sparked at his comment, but Mark forestalled her with a hand.

“Before you get all worked up, I’m not implying that I plan on telling people your secret.”

“And you believe I will share yours?” Rosie snapped. Even Darius’s brow took on a dark look. “Do you realize what an insult that is?”

“Oh, for sure,” Mark said. “But we have stories of faeries even where I come from. And the Faerie Queen is always a big deal in those stories.”

“Yes, but I don’t see what—” Realization dawned on Rosie’s face. She closed her eyes and dropped her head. “I see where you’re going with this.”

“Yeah,” Mark said sadly. “You’re going to tell the Faerie Queen about me, aren’t you?”

Rosie nodded.

“Which means you can’t promise to keep my secret.”

Darius cleared his throat. “Lad… what do you gain by destroying my family? Palmyre won’t take kindly to a full-blood faerie living within its walls. Faeries are not known for playing well with others.”

“To be honest, I’d prefer not to say anything,” Mark said. “But if you’re going to share my secret, I’d like something in return for keeping yours.”

“You’re blackmailing us?” Darius said incredulously.

“That’s a bit of a harsh term,” Mark said. “You just told me that being a Legend is a huge secret that I don’t want getting out, but the first thing you’re going to do when we get to Palmyre is tell the leader of a powerful magical species. I think I’m entitled to some ledger-balancing here.”

Darius glared at him, clearly expecting something ridiculous. “Fine then. What do you want?”

Mark smiled. “Lessons.”

Darius and Rosie looked confused.

“Lessons on what?” Rosie said.

“Everything,” Mark answered. “I don’t know anything about Arenia, not even the things a child would know. I want to hang around your family and learn everything I can. Yes, you’re going to be reporting what you know back to the Faerie Queen, but at least I know who it is you’re reporting to.”

“We’re hardly scholars, lad,” Darius said.

“I don’t need a scholar. I need to understand this world. I want to be able to pummel you with questions about things you’ll probably think are general knowledge but are critical for me to understand.”

“Like what?”

“Everything! What Tomes are, how magic works, systems of measurement, how to go to the bathroom in a city, the currency. All of it.”

“Aye, that’s really… that sure is the basics,” Darius said. “You really don’t know how a bathroom works?”

“On Earth, sure. Not Arenia.”

“Oi. Alright then. Is that it?”

“Well, I’d also like you to throw in some armour for me if you don’t mind,” Mark said. “Nothing too fancy—I don’t want to get it stolen because my gear outlevels me.”

Rosie chuckled. “That seems reasonable. Darius?”

Before Darius could answer, Mark added one more thing. “I also want a promise from Rosie that if I ever need a meeting with the Faerie Queen, she’ll arrange it.”

Rosie laughed outright and slapped her knee. “My dear boy! If you tried to go to the land of Faerie with anything less than 50 Levels of Renown and base attributes below 30, your body would be torn apart by the magical energies alone. You’re what, 19 years old and only Level 10? You’ll never get there in one lifetime!”

“I’m 20. But I’m also a Legend, remember?” Mark said with a shrug. “How many lifetimes do I need?”

Rosie abruptly stopped laughing.

“There is that,” she conceded. After a moment’s thought, she nodded. “Okay, I’ll agree. But first, I want to know how you were able to—”

“Stop,” Mark said. “If you’re about to ask where my magic comes from, that’s not going to happen. Right now, you’re obligated to tell your queen, so the only way I keep that secret is if I don’t tell you at all.”

Rosie’s brow pursed, but she nodded. “Fine. But that means I have no idea what you are capable of, and I will not bring a powerful entity into my land—one that can destroy nimh with a single spell—without either knowledge of their abilities or a pledge. If you want this favour from me, you must pledge not to harm anyone while in the land of faerie.”

“No harm to anyone unless they do harm to me,” Mark clarified. The last thing he wanted was to get trapped into some kind of Aes Sedai word-handcuff situation on a hostile plane. They were faeries, after all.

Rosie nodded. “So be it. At your request, I am bound to take you to visit the Faerie Queen. In return, you will not harm anyone unless they harm you.”

“And no taking hostages and using them against me,” Mark said. “Or harming me or my friends, or trying to trap me in the realm of faerie, or putting me in some sort of time warp. And I define harm as ‘anything that might cause physiological, psychological, or magilogical damage in the short or long term to the bodies or statistics, or any other pertinent characteristics attached to me as an entity, or that of my friends, family, or allies.”

Rosie gaped at him. When she recovered, she snapped at him in a clipped, indignant tone. “What kind of monsters do you think we are? Do you really want to include that… that disrespectful drivel?”

She was so forceful in her response that Mark worried for a moment that his experience with fantasy novels had given him a prejudiced view of faeries. Those concerns were soon negated by Darius giving him a double-thumbs-up and nodding profusely behind Rosie’s back.

“Yes, I do,” Mark said.

She smiled with a twinkle in her eye. “Smart lad. Very well then; a compact has been made.”

A vaguely unsettling feeling washed over Mark, and he could see a similar reaction from Rosie. A pair of contracts appeared in the air, both looking very gilded and formal, and they vanished into their respective Tomes as soon as they’d been read.

A FAERIE COMPACT HAS BEEN CREATED:

The sylph Rosalind Poppyseed promises to bring you to the land of faeries to meet the Queen, at your behest, one time. In return, you will not harm anyone there unless they attempt to harm you. Additionally, the faeries are forbidden from: taking hostages to use against you, trying to trap you in the realm of faerie, putting you in “some sort of time warp” (whatever that means), or doing harm in a manner that might cause physiological, psychological, or magilogical damage in the short or long term to the bodies, statistics, or any other pertinent characteristics attached to you as an entity, or that of your friends, family, or allies.

NOTE: Some jerk just won a thousand platinum on a ten silver bet that you’d make a faerie compact before getting to Palmyre. You’re like the Giving Tree for bad betters. Alarmingly comprehensive Compact though—did someone have problems with loan sharks in a past life?

“For the record, ‘magilogical’ isn’t even a word,” Rosie pointed out.

“I have no problems with that,” Mark noted.

Slapping the side of the wagon, Darius said, “Alright then. I can’t say I’m happy with how little we know about you, but you saaaaveed ouuur liiiv…”

As Darius’s words slowed, so did his actions until he was frozen in place. Mark looked around and realized everything had frozen, even the birds in the air. The only thing that hadn’t was Rosie. A brilliant golden light surrounded her, and her voice resonated with the same choral feel that had permeated it during the battle.

“A piece of advice for you, Mark Sullivan. Legend of Arenia,” Rosie growled. “Do not let my human appearance fool you. I have lived a very long time. In all those years, only once have I felt magic like yours. I didn’t fear it before then because I didn’t believe the legends. I fear it now. So remember this: Should you ever choose to call in your favour and go to see my queen, and you use your magic in the land of the Fae, the very realm itself will rise up to crush you from existence, even if it means the death of every last one of us.”

Rosie’s appearance returned to normal, but she kept her eyes locked on Mark. “I don’t know if you will ever master your magic, young man, but if you don’t, it will master you. See that it doesn’t.”

The world slowly wound back up to speed, Darius’ words resuming where they’d left off.

“…vvveees sssooo I won’t push. Besides, I’m sure yeh’ll eventually blurt everything out by accident if you’re planning to hang around as much as it sounds!” He finished off with a bellowing laugh and a slap on Mark’s back that nearly took him out of his seat.

Mark gave Darius a sickly grin as he considered Rosie’s words. Apparently, his magic was rare in this realm. How to master it though, he had no idea.

Hopefully, Palmyre held some answers.

Every goddamned minute of Angela’s life was a miserable, wet, sloppy, COLD mess.

“F-f-f-f-f…” Angela chattered, shivering as she stumbled over a root. She couldn’t even swear. The words wouldn’t squeeze past her blue lips.

“C-c-cold. So, so cold. Why are you so cold, Angela? Maybe because it Never. Stops. Raining. Can you dry off when it’s raining? No, no you can’t.”

She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment as she shuddered. “Wh-wh-where is that river?” She’d been forced away from it when the bank got too steep, but now, 6 hours later, she couldn’t find it.

“Oh, come on!” she shouted. “It’s a river! A RIVER! How do you lose a river!!!”

Limping over to a moss-covered rock, Angela sat down with a groan. She gingerly took off her soaked shoe to inspect her foot. Not surprisingly, it was a blistered mess. She desperately wanted to cast her one heal spell, but if the last week had taught her anything, it was that she needed to save that spell for all of the horrific, life-threatening injuries she was bound to receive. You know, the ones that happened basically every day? She’d been injured so many times she couldn’t even keep track of it all.

A stone slab appeared, dropping into her lap with a thud.

“Oof,” she grunted. Why the hell had this thing appeared? Looking at the contents, she discovered that it was a list of all her injuries to date. “Seriously? Someone is keeping track of my misery? Fuck you very much, Arenia.”

Still, she felt compelled to look it over.

APPENDIX A

INJURIES TO DATE (total)

Head, concussion x18

Head, broken skull x3

Head, broken jaw x2

Broken ribs x27

Leg (Left)

Meniscus tear x1

ACL tear x1

MCL tear x1

PCL tear x1

LCL tear x1

Broken kneecap x1

Broken fibula x3

Leg (Right)

Meniscus tear x3

ACL tear x3

MCL tear x2

PCL tear x1

Broken femur x1

Broken tibia x1

Broken fibula x2

Arm (Left)

Broken collarbone x1

AC separation x1

Broken humerus x1

Broken ulna x2

Broken radius x3

Broken carpus x2

Arm (right)

Broken collarbone x3

Broken humerus x1

Broken ulna x2

Broken radius x3

Nervous system

Electrocution x1

Severed spinal column x1

Total Blood Lost: 4.3 litres

“Daaaamn…” Angela muttered. Nature in Arenia was a bitch. At least she picked up another +7 to Constitution as a result of the beat-down she was receiving.

Angela reviewed the list again and shook her head. “That can’t be right. Eighteen concussions?” She mentally ran over the last week.

Probably got one falling out of the tree. Then there was the deer, slipped on those rocks… probably another eight from all the times I fell in the river. The boar attack, that ram thingy. Fell out of a different tree. The hill incident. The sapling… falling off the ledge in my sleep. Hitting my head when I passed out after eating that fruit. The mangalaur—whatever the hell that thing was.

Angela reviewed her list again and realized she was already over eighteen.

“Yikers… I am awful at this.”

There was no way to deny it. Nature sucked. Angela could appreciate its importance, but actually spending time in it? Fuuuuck that noise. All she wanted was a comfy chair, a warm fire, and a goddamned movie or something. What passed for a movie here? A bard? Yeah… a sexy bard with like, 57 Charisma and a dearth of clothing. That’s what she wanted.

Looking around, Angela gave every living creature in the vicinity the double middle finger.

“Yeah, that’s right! Fuck all of you! Druid my ass.”

A twig snapped behind Angela, and she leapt to her feet, taking off at a dead sprint despite her ragged state. A week in this god-forsaken place had taught her that it was always best to run. After all, the only things that chased you were the ones that wanted to eat you.

Pain shot through Angela’s now-shoeless foot every time her blistered flesh hit the rough forest floor, but she didn’t dare slow down. Even now, she could hear the racket of trees breaking behind her. Whatever was chasing her was damn big.

Sparing a quick glance at her pursuer, Angela’s eyes went wide.

“WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PLACE!”