MA05 Myth-ing Persons Read Online Free PDF Page B

they were counting on me for leadership. That meant I had to stay calm and confident ... no matter how scared I felt myself. It only occurred to me as an afterthought that, in many ways, leadership was the mask I was learning to slip behind when things got tight. It made me wonder briefly if anyone ever really knew that they were doing or felt truly confident, or if life was simply a mass game of role-playing.
    “Okay. Are we ready?” I asked, shrugging off my wandering thoughts. “Massha? Got your jewelry?”
    “Wearing most of it, and the rest is right here,” she said, patting the pouch on her belt.
    While I will occasionally make snide mental comments about my apprentice’s jewelry, it serves a dual purpose. Massha’s baubles are in reality a rather extensive collection of magical gimmicks she has accumulated over the years. How extensive? Well, before she signed on as my apprentice to learn real magic, she was holding down a steady job as the magician for the city-state of Ta-hoe on the dimension of Jahk solely on the strength of her collected mechanical “powers.” While I agreed with Aahz that real magic was preferable to mechanical in that it was less likely to malfunction (a lesson learned from first-hand experience) I sure didn’t mind having her arsenal along for backup.
    “You know that tracking ring? The one you used to find the king? Any chance there’s an extra tucked away in your pouch?”
    “Only have the one,” she said, waggling the appropriate finger.
    I cursed mentally, and then made the first of what I feared would be many unpleasant decisions on this venture.
    “Give it to Nunzio. Tananda and Chumley will need it to find us.”
    “But if we leave it behind, how are we going to find your partner?”
    “We’ll have to figure out something, but we can’t afford to divide our forces. Otherwise, even if we get Aahz, we could still end up wandering around out there trying to find the other half of the rescue team.”
    “If you say so, Hot Stuff,” she grimaced, handing over the ring, “but I hope you know what you’re doing.”
    “So do I, Massha, so do I. Okay, gang, let’s see what our backyard is really like!”
    From the outside, our place looked a lot more impressive than the side that showed in the Bazaar. It really did look like a castle ... a rather ominous one at that, squatting alone on a hilltop. I really didn’t study it too close, though, beyond being able to recognize it again for our trip out. As might be expected, my main attention was focused on the new dimension itself.
    “Kinda dark, ain’t it.”
    Guido’s comment was more statement than question, and he was right.
    Wherever we were, the lighting left a lot to be desired. At first I thought it was night, which puzzled me, as so far in my travels all dimensions seemed to be on the same sunup and sundown schedule. Then my eyes adjusted to the gloom and I realized the sky was simply heavily overcast ... to a point where next to no light at all penetrated, giving a night-like illusion to the day.
    Aside from that, from what I could see, this new land seemed pretty much like any of the others I had visited; Trees, underbrush, and a road leading to or from the castle, depending on which way you were facing. I think it was Tananda who was fond of saying “If you’ve seen one dimension, you’ve seen them all.” Chumley, her brother, argued that the reason for the geologic similarities was that all the dimensions we traveled were different realities off the same base. This always struck me as being a bit redundant ... “They’re all alike because they’re the same? c’mon Chumley!”, but his rebuttals always left me feeling like I’d been listening to someone doing readings in another language, so of late I’ve been tending to avoid the discussions.
    “Well, Hot Stuff, what do we do now?”
    For a change, I had an answer for this infuriating question.
    “This road has to go somewhere. Just the fact that it