Geoff Cantrell rode into the Dai’s encampment on a horse that he had purchased

when it was just old enough to carry a man in armor around. It was at the end of its

life as he looked at the fighters surrounding him in their armor.

He thought he could cut any one of them down. The whole army might be a different

story.

Geoff smiled as he rode through. He and his horse were of the same mind to take

things slow. He didn’t need to look for trouble. It would come at him when it wanted.

“I know you,” said a thin, middle aged man. “You’re Cantrell. How are you here?”

And here trouble was in the flesh.

“Have we met?,” asked Geoff. “I don’t recognize the face.”

“I’m the Dai,” said the man. “I didn’t look like this the last time we met.”

Geoff searched his memory. Everything he had ever done was stored down in a vault

that he could pick through in a moment’s notice.

His mind compared the middle-aged man in a dark robe and pants to the millions of

people he had met. He didn’t see a resemblance to any of them.

“I was an orphan boy five hundred years ago,” said the Dai.

“I remember that,” said Geoff. “How did things go for you after I left?”

“I became the Dai and did some things, and then I died,” said the Dai. “But how are

you still alive so long after that?”

“I made a bad deal,” said Geoff. “What seems to be the problem, Lord Dai?”

“We have blocked passage to the Animal Elementals throughout most of the

Demarcation,” said the Dai. “We have forced most of them down to this valley. We

are preparing to close it so they can’t come through to our side. It’s the only way I can

see to make peace.”

“They’ll be able to cut through any wall you make,” said Geoff. He had spent time

among the animal elementals. Their ability to create beasts from their chosen element

rivaled the shapers.

“We plan to build fortifications along the areas that we have closed off,” the Dai said.

“So if they want to get to your side of the continent, they have to go around, or force

their way through a defending force,” said Geoff. “Either way will eat up a lot of

resources for them.”

“It will eat up a lot of resources for holding the border against them,” said the Dai.

“You can’t have everything,” Geoff said. “What happens if they try to crack your

defensive line?”

“I don’t know yet,” said the Dai. “I am hoping that the force of shapers I put in place

will defend our territory without invading theirs. The strategy should be sound for a

few years until I can think of something better.”

“Thought about a parley?,” asked Geoff.

“Yes,” said the Dai. “They don’t want it yet. Maybe in a century, or two, they will.”

“Not exactly a short process,” said Geoff.

“Time changes things,” said the Dai. “You should know that better than anyone.

Right now I am hoping that eventually things will improve so that there is a peace

process in the future. Right now, it looks like war after war unless we keep them away

from our side of the mountains and maintain that line.”

“I can see that,” said Geoff.

“Master Dai!,” shouted a messenger, riding up on a horse. He brought the horse to a

skidding stop in the middle of the encampment. “The animals are coming.”

“Let’s look at this and see what’s going on,” said the Dai. He kicked against the

ground and leaped out of the camp.

Geoff looked at the flying form and shook his head. There was no way he could beat

that on Goat Fred. The horse would kill itself trying to keep up with something like

that.

He let the horse amble after the shaper. Most of the camp was heading that way. He

wondered how much bad news they were willing to take.

He couldn’t leave now. His path had been through the valley and down into the

Animal Elementals land. Now that it was going to be closed off, he would have to

find a new way to ride his route to the coast.

By the time Geoff reached the front line where the Dai stood, he had loosened his

sword. He had a bow and about twenty arrows, but he was surrounded by men who

had bows and could shoot further than he could.

He wouldn’t give them a chance against him with a sword in his hand.

“It looks like they’re massing for an assault up the valley,” said the Dai. “We’ll have

to go down and fight them until we can clear the valley and close it.”

“Let them charge,” said Geoff. He dismounted from Goat Fred and patted the horse

on the side. “Take care of him for me. He’s old but he’s been faithful. I’ll go down

and hold the pass. Drop the sides of the valley on the center to close things like you

planned.”

“Are you sure you can do that?,” asked the Dai.

“I’ve gotten better with a sword in the last five hundred years,” said Geoff. “Either

that, or everyone else is so bad they shouldn’t carry one.”

“I understand that feeling,” said the Dai. “I will ready the earth shapers to collapse the

walls of the valley.”

“Let me go down and do what I got to do,” said Geoff. “Be good for the Dai, Fred.

I’ll come back to get you when I can.”

Geoff started walking down into the valley. The other army was shaping up to lead

a charge across the space. He decided to wait for them halfway. It might make them

hesitate.

On the other hand, it might embolden them to charge into the face of the army at the

other end of the valley with the hope their animals could do more damage than the

shapers could throw at them.

It wasn’t a choice he would like to make for a bunch of people who might be killed

in the conflict.

Geoff stopped when he thought he was halfway down the valley. He pulled his sword

and drew a line in the dirt. He put the sword away.

Either they would charge and try to kill him, or someone would come out to talk to

him. Then he would know where he stood. All he was really doing was buying time

for the Dai and his army to shut the pass down.

How long did he have to stall the army? How long would it take to collapse the pass?

How many would he personally have to wound and kill to hold them in place?

A small party approached. He assumed that one of them was the leader of the army.

He could be wrong. The leader could be in the back of things.

It didn’t matter. He was barring their way. They probably thought he was the Dai, the

shaper who could shape all the elements to his will. They wanted to be cautious

because they didn’t want sandstorms dropping fireclouds on top of them.

Geoff studied the parley party. He had a rock ox, a firebird, an air horse, and a water

snake of some kind. He decided that the air and water controllers had to go first since

he couldn’t touch their animals with his sword. Then he could concentrate on the

firebird. He didn’t care about the ox one way, or the other. It just didn’t seem that

dangerous to him compared to the others.

He conceded he could be wrong in his assessment, but he was willing to improvise

in the face of danger.

“How’s it going?,” said Geoff. “Geoff Cantrell for the Shapers. I have been asked to

tell you not to cross this line.”

“I’m Captain Death From Above in a Streak of Fire,” said the firebird. “Why would

the Shapers send you out here to parley for them?”

“I know the Dai,” said Geoff. “We talked, and I said I would come down here since

he would need most of his army to close the pass. Now as you must know, I’m not a

shaper. It just isn’t in my bag of skills. On the other hand, the skills I do have will

allow me to inflict losses on your army that you don’t need. Just take your men down

out of the valley. Then the valley will be closed. No one has to be hurt on either side.”

“So I should believe you?,” said the captain.

“I don’t have a reason to lie to you,” said Geoff. “I’m just telling you the plan. The

valley will be closed whether you’re standing in it, or not. I’m just here to give you

a chance to walk away. Go home and tell your leaders this way is closed.”

“What if we don’t want to do that?,” said the firebird. He waved at the valley walls.

“The Dai wouldn’t have sent you if he thought you would be hurt when the walls

collapsed down on us.”

“The Dai knows something about me that you don’t,” said Geoff. “He knows he can’t

kill me.”

“The earth is moving,” said Rock Ox. “We need to retreat, Captain.”

“Kill him,” said the captain. He flung his firebird at Geoff. He was dead before his

arm finished the gesture.

Geoff pulled his other knife from his belt as he charged forward. He wanted them to

run. If they wouldn’t do that, he was prepared to cut them down.

The water snake looped around to keep him from its master. He sliced the head off

as he passed. The master tried to pull his own sword as the fighter came on. A stab

in the neck stopped that.

The horse and the ox carried their summoners to the enemy lines. Neither tried to

contest skills with Geoff. He put his weapons away as he watched the valley vibrate.

He grabbed his knife out of the captain’s eye as he jogged back toward the Shaper

line.

Geoff paused as he spotted the walls of the valley starting to rush together. He

sprinted toward the end of the valley. The stone encased him before he ran a hundred

feet.

“How do you get out of this?,” Geoff asked himself. He still had his knife in his hand.

He started to chip at the stone.

After minutes of digging, Geoff found himself walking through an ornate hall being

cleaned by people chained to rails, watched by guys in different colored suits. They

gave him the look of not liking him on their turf.

“How’s it going?,” said Geoff. He might as well try to be friendly first since he didn’t

seem to have his armor, or weapons, with him.

“It’s a ghost,” said one of the watchdogs. “It’s not supposed to be wandering around

down here.”

“We’ll have to send a runner upstairs and have the Exec look into this,” said one of

the other guards.

Geoff snapped back to digging. He wondered what had happened. Maybe he had

taken some kind of mental damage. He couldn’t do anything about that now. He had

to get out of his tomb as fast as he could.

He worked on the wall until he was back in the hall. He looked around. A woman in

a suit and skirt frowned at him. Her red hair was pinned up to frame her face. Shaded

glasses covered her eyes.

“How’s it going?,” said Geoff. He smiled. “Name’s Geoff Cantrell.”

“My name is Miss Vale,” said the woman. She tapped a mace in her delicate hand. “I

assist the Executive in running this portion of the Underworld. You’re not supposed

to be here.”

“That’s the story of my life,” said Geoff. “As soon as I meet a pretty woman, it’s get

out and don’t come back.”

“That’s because you’re still alive Topside,” said Miss Vale. “Therefore, you are not

supposed to be appearing in the Underworld like this. You’re what we call a ghost.”

“I’m buried up there,” said Geoff. “I guess I keep dying and coming back to life.

Sorry for the inconvenience.”

“You can’t just keep moving back and forth across the Dead Sea,” said Miss Vale.

“We need to find a way to stop this.”

“I’ll let you work on that,” said Geoff. “I have to go.”

Geoff spent the next month cycling back and forth from digging to visiting the

Underworld. The demons got to where they didn’t even mind that he wandered

around loose as long as he kept his hands to himself. He spent a bunch of time in the

company of Miss Vale. Later, he would tell her she was the only reason he hadn’t lost

his mind and maintained his connection to the Underworld when he was temporarily

killed.

Eventually he punched his way through the wall. He climbed out into the night,

breathing fresh air for the first time in a long time. His stomach rumbled and he

agreed that food would be good to have.

Geoff walked back into camp. It looked like building fortifications hadn’t started yet.

He figured that was the price of government. He found a chow hall under a tent and

dirt construction. He settled in and ate his fill while soldiers moved around him. No

one said anything to him.

He supposed that was because of the way he looked.

“Hey, bud,” Geoff called to one of the soldiers. “The Dai still around.”

The man looked at the dirty savage in front of him. He thought about the way the

savage looked at him with a friendly moon face and narrowed eyes.

“He was recalled to the capital,” the soldier said. The narrowed eyes actually looked

more open. “The council can’t do anything without him to moderate them.”

“Do you know if he took my horse with him?,” said Geoff. “An older chestnut

gelding. Pretty even tempered.”

“There was such a horse,” said the soldier. “He joined it to his train when they left.”

“Fred was on his last legs,” said Geoff. “Can you get a message sent to the Dai?”

“I don’t think so,” said the soldier. “Any message I sent would be stopped by the

clerks.”

“Who’s in charge of the official dispatches,” said Geoff. “I have to send a note to the

Dai.”

“I think the supply officer,” said the soldier.

“Let’s go talk to him,” said Geoff. He got up from the table. He snagged one more

piece of bread to chow down on while they went to talk to the supply officer.