Madog looked over the book the mage had given him. How long ago had that been? Two months? He wasn’t sure because the days seemed a little longer here, and the months and weeks were different.

  “Hast thou deciphered any of the writings of the tome?” Conrad said between bites of cheese and hard bread.

  Madog had persuaded that crotchety old Ina to teach him the writing they used here after trading his Earth clothes for the lessons and now wore some clothes he’d taken from the wizard tower, “I think so.” He flipped back to the first page, “It looks like it’s a beginner’s book on magic.”

  Conrad grinned, “How fortuitous! I hath been wondering why thou hast been making excmations of exuberance.”

  Madog felt his face flush from embarrassment, “I was that obvious?”

  Conrad chortled, “Indeed! If thine maiden, Inura, had seen such as I, the maid would have pounced upon thee in her curiosity.”

  Madog shook his head. Conrad mostly gave him the impression that he was less… there in the head, but the way he had with words made him reconsider that. Maybe he wasn’t interested enough in other things to seem “smart?”

  Madog ignored Conrad’s comments about Inura. His companion found it endlessly amusing that a little girl had fallen for him, “Sure… sure. Anyway, want me to read it to you?”

  Conrad didn’t even stop to think, “I will allow thee to givest me an expedited version after we finish with our morning tasks.”

  Madog had gotten up early because it was the only quiet time of the day he could spend reading alone, “Looks like we’ll need to meditate a lot.”

  Conrad briefly looked annoyed, “That is unfortunate! However! Not unexpected! We shall proceed as soon as time wills it!”

  Madog remembered something else, the thing that had made him excited enough earlier that even Conrad had noticed, “Oh yeah! I found out what the ring is for.”

  Conrad gnced at Madog’s chest, where Madog had tied the ring to a string and wore it as a neckce, “Thine ring?”

  Madog patted the ring through his clothes, “Apparently it’s magic. The guy that gave me the book liked to leave his own notes in it and one says how his master promised to give it to him after he unlocked his first magic level.”

  Conrad raised an eyebrow, “Magic level?”

  Madog shrugged, “Haven’t read that far yet.” He touched the ring again, “Apparently this ring is special because it uses some kind of magic that lets you store things inside.”

  Conrad scampered excitedly over to Madog and put his hands on Madog’s shoulders, “Well, ain't that somethin'! What ya got in there?”

  Madog shrugged, “No idea. I tried, but I probably need to unlock my magic level first.”

  Conrad defted, “Dang it.”

  “Madog!” a young girl’s voice called from a distance.

  Conrad chuckled, already over his disappointment, “Looks like thine fair maiden has come in search of her paramour!” He spun on his heels and began walking towards Unatraq’s camp, “I do not desire to get between two star-crossed lovers so I will take my leave!”

  Madog shook his head before turning to see Inura weaving between wagons as she walked towards him.

  Inura wore a brilliant smile as she stopped next to Madog, “Good morning! Talks A Lot leave? He no help clean?”

  Madog had learned their nguage faster than he’d thought he could, but he still had a ways to go, so people had to still speak simply to him, “Yes. Went to help Unatraq.” He looked around at the small tent and bedding they had given to them, “No help clean. Like this every day.”

  Madog began packing the tent. He was pretty sure Conrad would help, but he always ran away when Inura came, and Inura came every morning.

  Inura helped pack as had become usual for their morning routine, “More teaching from Wise Ina today?”

  Madog nodded, “Yeah. Also help Cutting Man make medicine for White Pgue.”

  Inura’s eyes widened, “Medicine for White Pgue?”

  Madog did his best to get to know the people despite the nguage barrier. All but Unatraq and his subordinates were sick or maimed?. Many had debilitating wounds or birth defects. Others had diseases like leprosy. And there were many, like Inura, who had what he assumed to be tuberculosis or some other sort of lung disease.

  Madog wasn’t an expert on any of these diseases or medicine, ?but he helped where he could, “I will try.”

  Inura hugged Madog tightly, “Inura trusts Madog!”

  Madog patted her on the head.

  Madog thought about how to go make the medicine. He had heard of penicillin and how it came from bread mold. The problem was, he wasn’t sure how to turn the bread mold into penicillin or if it could cure tuberculosis. Still, he had some ideas…

  Inura started coughing into her elbow like Madog had taught her.

  Madog had noticed her cough getting progressively worse during his time with the caravan. She could still move around freely, but she became winded more easily and exertion usually ended up causing fits of coughing.

  Inura coughed up some bloody phlegm and spit it onto the ground.

  Madog patted Inura on the head again and finished loading the camping supplies into a supply wagon. He then began walking to Ina’s wagon, which was just nearby.

  Inura grinned at Madog and moved to catch up to him, “Do again!”

  Madog rolled his eyes, but smiled at her enthusiasm, “If good girl today.”

  Inura pouted, “Walking boring. Want fun.”

  Madog couldn’t imagine being a child stuck in a caravan of the sick. Everyone they passed on the road avoided them, and the several towns and vilges they’d passed had only let Unatraq and his men in. This meant the children had to find different ways to entertain themselves.

  Madog shrugged, “Unatraq and Ina get mad, okay?”

  Inura’s grin returned, “Okay!” She skipped ahead a little, “Inura will go now.”

  Madog noticed they had neared Ina’s wagon, so waved goodbye to Inura, “Story tonight?”

  Inura waved back, “Yes!”

  Madog had found a good way to practice speaking their nguage was to tell stories. It made him use the words he had learned, and the kids helped him learn new ones if he struggled. They also loved it. The adults loved it too because it kept the kids out of trouble while they set up camp and they enjoyed listening when they could.

  Madog knocked on the side of Ina’s wagon, “It is Madog.”

  An irritated voice shouted from inside, “You’re te! Get inside!”

  Madog chuckled to himself. Ina acted old and crotchety, but she still cared about everyone, “Only if stop yelling.”

  She shouted back, “You want lessons, I yell!”

  It was worth a try, “Fine.”

  Madog entered the wagon. He didn’t see any sign of whoever was supposed to be her helper today. Actually, now that he thought about it, he was her helper by this point. She still needed a woman to help her with certain things, but now it was him more or less.

  She looked at his hands when he entered the wagon, “You forgot my breakfast again.”

  Madog tried to remember when she’d asked him to get her breakfast whenever he came and couldn’t recall. Still, he knew better to argue and headed for the food wagon. When he returned with the food, she took it without a word and began eating, her toothless mouth slurping up the thin porridge noisily.

  Madog had already eaten, so he watched the caravan finish packing so they could continue their long trip in search of somewhere that would take them in.

  The caravan started moving, which prompted Ina to start her lesson, “Tell me about your bor job again.”

  Madog came to like his lessons. It was mostly the same as the story telling he did with the children, but with a wide range of subjects. Not only did he get to practice the nguage, Ina also got to learn about Earth. It seemed this was why she was so willing to give him lessons, as the woman was hungry for knowledge. She even taught him things about this world, too.

  Madog thought about the question, “Well…”

  Hours passed as he talked and helped with her duties, only leaving when he needed to get her assistant to help with more personal needs.

  Inura would even poke her head in every once in a while to listen, as would the other children. Thankfully, his pronunciation had gotten good enough that they didn’t make fun of him any more.

  About early afternoon, Ina id down for a nap, which was the usual sign that their conversations for the day were over. So he carefully jumped out of the moving cart and made his way to Cutting Man’s cart.

  Madog still didn’t know what the man’s real name was, and the man seemed perfectly happy with the nickname.

  Once he arrived, he found the Cutting Man working a mortar and pestle surrounded by old moldy crusts of bread they had gotten from a baker in the city they had passed a few days before.

  “Any luck?” he called as he entered the wagon and a strong smell of mold immediately overwhelmed him.

  The Cutting Man didn’t look up, “No. Do you remember more?”

  Madog shook his head sadly, “Sorry.”

  Madog noticed several cy containers filled with fermenting bread mush. The Cutting Man was apparently trying to make as much bread mold as possible. Which expined the smell.

  He also regarded the expensive looking magical implements that he could only guess at what they did. One looked like a burner of some sort and he recognized a crystal that he’d seen during the short time he had spent in the tower they had first appeared in.

  The Cutting Man pointed to a second mortar and pestle, “Fine. Help make mold.”

  Madog didn’t understand how the man could stand being in here. The smell of the mold was already giving him a headache.

  So Madog grabbed the tools, a basket of moldy bread, and sat at the back of the wagon, where he could get fresh air, letting his legs dangle over the edge.

  He heard a familiar hacking cough, and soon Inura was there, jumping up on the wagon next to him, “Making medicine?”

  Madog didn’t know what to do with the girl. In fact, it brought back memories of himself when he was in high school. He still wasn’t good with women, but it had been much worse back then. He cringed inwardly at the memory of how he’d practically stalked a girl after she’d shown him kindness. Now he had a girl more than half his age interested in him. His bad luck with women appeared to continue to haunt him.

  He guessed he let her follow him because he understood what it was like. She was much too young for him to care about her the way she wanted him to, but if it hadn’t been for her, he’d be much lonelier. He also loved the smile she wore as she went around doing her thing.

  He shook his head, trying to clear the thought from his mind. He couldn’t allow himself to get more attached to her than he already had. After all… he would never marry a girl so many years younger than him, but in a way, he loved her already. He liked to think it was as a kid sister much younger than him, or maybe as an adopted daughter.

  He gnced at the bread mold he was crushing.

  After all, if they couldn’t figure out how to make penicillin…

  He gnced at Inura, whose grin widened at the sudden attention.

  Madog gnced at the wagon that Inura and her mother rode in. At the wagon Inura’s dying mother currently y in. A mother dying from the same disease her daughter would probably die of too.

  He’d never had children during the brief two years he’d been married, thankfully, but he found himself sad he hadn’t. Would he still be married if they’d had children?

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts again, making Inura give him a curious look.

  “Madog thinking too much again.”

  Madog chuckled in embarrassment, “Yeah.”

  Inura could already read him too easily.

  Inura peered inside the wagon and scrunched her nose in disgust, “Mold will become medicine?”

  Madog stopped crushing his bread, “I hope.”

  It was Inura’s turn to look at her and her mother’s wagon, “Mother doesn’t live much more.”

  Madog looked sadly at Inura. Even if they somehow made penicillin properly, would it be in time to help her mother? He wasn’t sure how much longer she had to live, but it wouldn’t surprise him if she passed away today, she had gotten so weak.

  Then who would be there to take care of Inura? Inura wouldn’t talk about her father, and her mother wasn’t in any condition to talk.

  Madog already knew the answer to that. He’d help make penicillin, cure everyone he could with it, then help raise Inura until she could make her own way in life.

  Madog touched the book hidden inside his clothes lightly. Could magic help? He knew Cutting Man could use it. He’d never actually seen him use it because he always kicked everyone out of the wagon and covered the openings when he did, but so far he hadn’t cured the White Pgue or healed any other of the many ailments people in the caravan suffered from.

  Inura looked at Madog’s hand, “Read book yet?”

  Of course she knew about the book…

  “A little. Secret, okay?”

  Inura nodded enthusiastically, “Madog and Inura’s secret!”

  Conrad knew, but he wouldn’t mention it.

  He remembered something he’d heard. Maybe he could go look for the Heam?

  During his lessons with Ina, found that the caravan originally set out to find the Heam because, apparently, they actually had healing magic. However, a war or some sort of fighting turned them back. A caravan of this size would be easy to spot, but maybe he could sneak past the fighting if it was just him and Inura?

  The problem with that was that they were going the wrong way. He’d have to backtrack months while also having to deal with food, shelter, and protecting himself and Inara.

  He gnced to the front of the Caravan where Conrad was.

  Conrad refused to enter the parts of the caravan where the sick were. No one bmed him for it. Even Madog could tell some escorts were uncomfortable entering the areas where they kept those with the White Pgue.

  Conrad seemed happy with his arrangements. His leg was still recovering, so they’d tasked him with driving the wagons. This meant he got to drive and take care of the triceratops they used to pull the wagons in lieu of oxen or horses.

  Now that he thought about it, he had yet to see a horse. He had seen cattle in fields near some settlements they had passed, but it seemed like they preferred dinosaurs as beasts of burden.

  “Inura!” A voice called from behind them.

  Inura pursed her lips in annoyance, “I need to go.”

  Madog watched Inura reluctantly leave.

  Despite her increasingly poor health, she still had responsibilities. In her case, she helped clean rags and repair clothing.

  Madog turned back to his moldy bread and got back to work.

  Now that Inura was gone, the rest of the day went quietly.

  Until te afternoon, at least, when there was a buzzing noise in the distance. One which Madog immediately recognized.

  Everyone in the caravan looked to the sky to see a fleet of ships floating through the sky.

  Airships. Five rge and two small, their many propellers the source of the loud noise.

  Four of the rge airships had enormous balloons filled with gas. Whether these were hydrogen or helium, he didn’t know. Below that, he could see small carriages where he could make out the small shapes of people moving around inside what was probably a cockpit in front of a rger cargo compartment.

  The st rge airship was roughly the same size as the st, but instead of a cargo compartment, it had docking ports for the two smaller craft escorting the rger ones. There was also a third small craft currently docked.

  The smaller craft didn’t have balloons, and instead, Madog could see a rge glowing magic gem attached to the bottom. It also looked like they had a weapon of some sort attached to the front.

  The rger craft were probably steam powered judging by the billowing smoke coming from them, but the smaller had to be magic powered.

  The craft quickly passed overhead and disappeared out of sight.

  Most of the caravaners appeared disinterested, but the children always got a kick out of it every time. Even some of the sick in the wagons had poked their heads out to get a look.

  Madog was obviously more interested in the smaller magic powered craft. He had never been terribly interested in vehicles like cars and blimps and such, but he thought it was pretty cool how these people used magic to help fly without having to use winged aircraft, gas, or rotors.

  Madog thought about his magic book.

  No one was paying much mind to him, and he had already finished preparing the moldy bread, so he snuck out the book and looked it over again.

  He read until the caravan came to a stop and it was time to set up camp and found something that worried him. It wasn’t terrible, but it complicated things, so he’d have to talk about it with Conrad ter. For now, it was time to help set camp for the night.

  They had passed the summer solstice a month ago, so the days were already getting shorter, but the caravan always stopped well before nightfall so the sickest could rest without the worry of being in a bouncing wagon. It also gave Unatraq’s men some time to hunt wild game and forage for food.

  So, Madog jumped from the back of Cutting Man’s wagon, and went to the nearest supply wagon and began setting up camp for the night.

  Now, the caravan had a certain tradition to help keep morale up.

  Those that were able would meet in a clearing surrounded by the wagons of the caravan. Here, musicians pyed music, areas for games, and a fire built to roast whatever meat the hunting parties would bring back. This is also when they mourned for any that had died during the day.

  Madog had thought Unatraq would ask him to help forage, but Ina had asked him to tell stories.

  And here he sat, enjoying the ughter of children and adults alike, “...and then the machine man stuck his thumb up,” Madog gave everyone a thumb’s up, “as he sank into the hot melted metal. He saved John, but he couldn’t stay and had to go. The End.”

  Madog hadn’t expected his poor retelling of Terminator 2 to go so well, but apparently it had been a big hit and he had drawn a rge crowd.

  Inura came up to him, “Did Arnie have to die?”

  Madag patted the girl on the head, “Bad people would steal him if he didn’t. Try to make more that are bad.”

  Inura nodded in understanding, “But Arnie was a good machine man.”

  Madog wondered if he should tell them what he could remember about Terminator 1 next, but didn’t remember enough of it to feel like he could tell it well enough, “Yes, Arnie was good, but it is only a story.”

  Inura pouted a little, before brightening up, “What story tell tomorrow?”

  Madog had already gone through a lot of cssics like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Jurassic Park. “How about story about evil magic ring and people need to throw in fire mountain or evil lord come back?”

  Lord of the Rings was always a cssic.

  Inura grinned, “Okay!”

  Some others listening nodded their approval.

  Madog yawned, it was already past dark, “Let’s go to bed.”

  Inura caught Madog’s yawn, and yawned herself, before nodding and gncing at her wagon, “Yes. I want to tell mother about Arnie!”

  Madog smiled and patted her head again, “Tell her I said hi.”

  Inura grinned, nodded, and headed back to her wagon.

  Madog looked around for Conrad even though he knew where he’d be.

  Back at the spot Madog had chosen for their camp, he found Conrad practicing his acting.

  There were several people watching him curiously as usual, but they kept their distance because everyone knew by now that they’d just get chased off by him. He also practiced in English because he was still terrible at the native nguage, so it’s not like they would understand what he was saying, anyway.

  Conrad spotted him, “Mad Dog! How fare thee after thine long day of bor?”

  Madog sat on a medium-sized rock, “I never want to see moldy bread ever again.”

  “For thine medicine? How doest that endeavor fare?”

  Madog shrugged, “Gonna take a while.” He leaned forward as he pulled the book from his clothes and opened it up, “But I’d rather talk about this.”

  Conrad walked over to him and looked at the book, “Thou hast unveiled a secret?”

  Madog sighed, “Remember how I said we’d need to meditate?”

  Conrad nodded, “I remember.”

  Madog pointed to a passage on the second page, “Apparently that’s just part of it. To help you get in the right state of mind or something.”

  Conrad nodded again, “I doest not understand, but please continue.”

  Madog breathed deeply, “Well… apparently to unlock the first magic level, well… It says you have to go through a life-changing event.”

  Conrad smiled, “That does not sound like a difficult proposition.”

  Madog shook his head, “It says the “putting yourself in danger” kind of major life event is the easiest.”

  Conrad paused, “Oh…”

  Madog was sure from his readings that putting yourself in danger wasn’t the only way, but the book insisted it was the fastest and least complicated.

  Madog looked towards Unatraq’s camp, “You want to try going hunting? Might find some nasty dinosaurs that would love to help us out.”

  Conrad’s face paled, and he rubbed his leg, “It is unfortunate that I am still recovering from mine injury. I fear thou will have to go through this endeavor without me.”

  Madog had guessed as much, “Whatever. I’ve been wanting to go with them, anyway. Been wanting to try out a bow for a while.”

  Conrad perked up a little with this, “Training in the art of the hunt does sound intriguing.”

  Madog wondered if it would be for the best if Conrad didn’t go, but kept his feelings to himself.

  He had nothing more he wanted to talk about, “Well, I’m going to bed.”

  Conrad nodded, and went back to where he had been practicing earlier, “Good night, friend!”

  Madog y down and promptly fell asleep.

  ***

  A dove watched as the men prepared for bed, its inky bck eyes reverting to normal as the camp grew quiet.

  As the connection to the dove faded, a woman with glowing purple eyes that wept tears of oily bckness turned to a man she’d been describing the scene to, “They… sleep…”

  The man stroked his chin as he thought, “So they know about unlocking magic levels now.” He turned to the nearby magic circle he’d used to get to this pce and walked to it, “I imagine they will need help.”

  The woman stared at him unblinkingly and didn’t reply.

  The man ignored her and put a hand on the crystal that activated a teleportation circle, “The question is, how much help.”

  The man disappeared in a fsh of light, leaving the woman to return to her own devices.