Anna admitted, “I’m feeling a little overwhelmed, guys. How will we have the time for all of this?”
Matt liked his career as a software developer, but maybe it needed to wait. He was only a few years into it anyway. “Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Ryan doesn’t need a job. We aren’t so lucky.”
“Do you think you should quit?” Ryan asked. “I can pay bills and other stuff.”
Seeing dubious expressions, Eric shook his head. “I don’t know. I think it’s premature. I mean, someone has now summoned twice us, and we have every reason to believe we will be again, but what if it’s a week? Or a month?”
“My gut tells me it won’t be,” Anna said.
Eric sighed. “I know. But we can’t quit yet. That might cause scrutiny we want to avoid. That said, we could request some time off, as if we’re bothered by some of what happened when we disappeared from Stonehenge. The world knows about that one, but not this one tonight, and they never will. But you know something? None of us would handle more than a few hours of something like horseback riding at first anyway. Our bodies have to get used to it over this first week, especially. It was rough when we were on Honyn. I think we’re fine for now, and we have at least a couple days of making arrangements to do. I think we need to get started and not go overboard too fast.”
Matt agreed and kept some of his worries to himself. Except for Eric pretending to be Andier of Roir, the Silver-Tongued Rogue, each of the others had struggled with their roles on the Honyn. Andier’s ability to smooth talk people, read situations, and use his street smarts to his advantage had fit Eric’s past as a juvenile delinquent, when he broke into places, stole for food and money, and lived by his wits until being jailed. It made him believable as Andier, a man skilled at disarming traps, picking locks, and scaling walls. Eric’s rock climbing, parkour skills, martial arts aptitude, and knife throwing ability—honed at RenFest—had made him almost oddly suited for the role of Andier, but the others hadn’t been so lucky.
On the first quest to Honyn, Ryan had nearly gotten Eric killed over his own issues. An expert horseman who played a knight at RenFest every summer, Ryan gave the appearance of being suited to play a knight. Muscular and tall, he knew how to don armor, swing a sword, use a lance, and speak in a commanding voice meant to impress. But it was all a show. Now he had to be a real knight on their unwanted quests, playing the role of Lord Orrin of Andor, the Dragon Slayer.
Aside from knowing nothing of real swordsmanship and tactics, Ryan had been afraid of actual violence or hurting anyone since they had known him, but they had never understood why—until the ogre battle. His fear that he had nearly killed one ogre in self-defense led him to heal it with the Trinity Ring on one hand. It had risen and almost killed Eric. Only in the aftermath did he finally admit that he was the one who had paralyzed his brother Daniel when goofing around as children, the guilt haunting him ever since—and causing his attitude.
He had gotten past that as that quest continued, finally killing the dragon who posed the greatest threat to them, but Matt still wondered if the big guy had really conquered his phobia. On this second quest just now, Matt had felt relieved to see Ryan stabbing the goblins threatening them, so maybe they didn’t have to worry about Ryan’s conscious putting them at risk anymore.
Anna was another problem that might have been resolved, but he couldn’t be sure. An atheist, she had been visibly annoyed to discover her own role – the Priestess Eriana of Coreth, the Light Bringer, a healer who channeled the power of gods to save the dying. How could a woman who didn’t believe in such things change her heart so fully that a god chose her as a vessel for their power? Her transformation had been slow and nearly as deadly in its delays as Ryan’s, but Matt was the one she had finally healed at the end, so he knew she could do it. But every time they arrived on a planet, she had to reach a god she had never heard of to make contact. Someone had given her a scroll of information and help with this the first time. Just now, that wizard who summoned them had died partly because Anna had no idea what gods to ask for help from. Without these Trinity Rings all but she wore, this could be a serious problem.
And Matt wasn’t fine in his role as the Majestic Magus, Soliander of Aranor, one of the most powerful wizards on any world. He hadn’t known a thing about magic. Only training from the elf Lorian had made it possible to summon power using Soliander’s staff. Matt had relied on it right up until the end when it had been knocked from his hand and failure to cast a spell had meant death. Not having the staff on Earth had hindered his ability to perform magic here. How was he supposed to practice? Did he need to be terrified to do anything without it? Was magic even working here? He sighed and tried to ignore his worries.
For the rest of the night, they sat together, often not speaking, each with an agreed upon aspect of training to develop on behalf of them all. While Matt had taught sign language informally and leisurely to Eric, they needed something faster, and he soon used Ryan’s credit card to purchase a number of manuals for him as
