Science and Magic

Chapter 7: Mysteries in the Mountain

"Maven." Lord Rupert's voice shattered my thoughts as we sat in the meeting hall at his home.

I looked up, confused. Had he forgotten my name?   "Uh. Are you OK?"

He nodded slowly.  "Yes.  I've given it a lot of thought, and I think we should send you to Maven."

"Me?" Why was everybody relying on me all of a sudden?

"We need to keep this quiet for now.  Let's not start up more panic. All agreed?" There were three other elderly men and an elderly woman in the room, the village elders.   They all nodded their heads solemnly. 

"No!" I said slightly louder than I had intended.

They all turned to look at me.  The expressions on their faces were disapproving, and I don't know how I felt before they looked at me, but now I felt like a very naughty little boy.  It didn't help that the youngest of the group was at least three times my age. 

"Surely you don't expect one of us to ... " Lord Rupert gestured around at the ancient group, leaving the sentence hanging.

My shoulders hung with resignation.  "You don't have anyone else you can send, do you?" I asked the question already knowing the answer.

"This is primarily a sanctuary, Walter. You don't usually find adventurers here."

I wanted to remind him that I was the furthest thing from being a adventurer. 

I wanted to, until I remembered what I'd been through to get here.  Of course I was the most obvious person to ask, these people had never encountered anything dangerous in their lives.  Of course that didn't mean that they were making the right choice.

But I sighed in a vague indication of acquiescence.

"Good. That's settled then.  You know Maven?"

I shook my head.  Why would I know where all of the Faerie towns were in Sessquipedallia?

"OK.  I'll give you a compass."

My face went a little red as I remembered what had happened with the last compass.  "No, no.  A map, please."

They looked at each other and I got the same vibe from that expression as I had from Paul and his friend back in Quentas.

No one was sure their last remaining option, - aka me - was a very wise choice.

But whatever they were thinking, the problem was that I wasn't just their last choice.  I was their only choice.  And they knew it. 

So they had the luxury of one look of unease between themselves before they had to move forward with planning my new journey for me.

I'd lost my rowboat, it must have drifted miles away by now on the ocean current, along with my hat, boots and coat. 

Now I was decked out in soft new cloth faerie boots and a plain, soft hooded cloak of the same fabric. No hat though. But I wouldn't miss that egg splattered excuse for a hat that I used to wear anyway.

I was ready to go.  Well, as ready as I was ever going to be, which meant that I was shaking slightly, nervously eying the water outside for jorumis or other possible threats, and breathing so heavily that I was starting to get light headed.

I was pleased for the distraction of watching the villagers maneuvering my new watercraft into the little exit room that they were calling an 'airlock'.

It wasn't big, but the bubble it was encased in almost filled the whole airlock.

I was amazed when they opened the outer door and it shot quickly up to the surface as I watched from inside, the bubble around it bursting when it hit the surface, leaving it calmly floating above, waiting for its passenger.