Chapter 2 Part 3

Calista completed her task and headed back the way she had come. She took no more than three steps when she caught her foot on an unseen object and fell sprawling to the ground. She fretted for a moment at her own clumsiness, but three was no injury so she climbed back to her feet and fumed silently as she continued her trip back to camp.

After a while it occurred to her that Armegon had not called out for her. It dawned on her that she must have gotten turned around when she had fallen. Since then she had been going in the wrong direction. Calista stopped and carefully turned completely around. She reasoned that if she had gotten confused in the darkness, she should try to return to the spot where she had fallen.

About ten minutes later, Calista resigned herself to the possibility that she was hopelessly lost. She had few alternatives. She could wait for the light to return, during which time, Armegon would have gotten worried and woke Avery, who would have gone out to look for her. On the other hand, she could call for Armegon's help and he could lead her with his voice or he could come out and get her. Either way she would be embarrassed.

Calista kicked at the dirt. Her choices were unappealing. For a moment she wondered about where she was. She did not want to wander into the ice. Just to make sure, she knelt and put her hand to the ground. It was cold. It was ice.

Shock accompanied realization as she pulled her hand back. The air was the same temperature as it always had been, and yet she had apparently wandered out into the ice. "Armegon!!" she cried. This could be important.

Armegon responded immediately. He tossed an empty pack at the sleeping Avery to wake him as he departed. Armegon focused in on Calista's call and sprinted into the darkness. He held his sheathed saber in one hand and held out his other hand to intercept objects in the dark that his vision could not detect. "I'm coming," he called ahead. "Are you in trouble?"

"No," the voice replied. "I found something strange."
A
rmegon relaxed a little bit. Fighting in the dark was not what he had planned on this vacation. He was gladdened to hear the girl was safe. Ahead he could make out her form in the darkness. As he drew near, he spoke so that she would be able to monitor his approach. "So what have you found that’s so important?"

"Feel the ground," Calista replied.

"Cal," Armegon started suspiciously, "the last thing I want to do tonight is to feel the ground where you’ve..."

"It's ice," Calista informed him. "The temperature’s warm, but we have wandered into the ice."

Armegon knelt and confirmed for himself that Calista had spoken the truth. "It is," he
gasped in wonder. "Why isn't the air cold?"

"Does this mean we can travel at night?" Calista asked.

"We may have to," Armegon said, "but I don't like the idea."

"Neither do I," Avery agreed when he heard of the discovery. Armegon had led Calista back to camp and found the other halfelf waiting. "It’s difficult enough traveling at night when you have stars to navigate by." The ranger was none too happy about the idea of leading them through the darkness on nothing more than his sense of direction. "If we get caught out there when the light returns and the cold hits us, we’ll freeze within one half of an hour."

"Can we make it to the cliff throughout the night?" Calista asked.

"I doubt it," Avery replied. "If everything went right and we didn’t take any detours, we might be able to make the crossing, but what then? In the dark, we can’t see where to go. We could fall into a ravine or miss something important."

"I still think that the darkness is the key," Armegon said. "Why isn't it cold at night?"

"Magic’s not my specialty," Avery commented. "You’d be better off asking Ultrecht."

"Well, we might as well wait until morning," Armegon said with a yawn. "I don't think there’s anything more we can do tonight."

Avery stretched. "You go ahead and go to sleep," he told Armegon. "Now that I’m awake, I’m awake. I probably wouldn't be able to sleep right now anyhow."

"No objection," Armegon stated. He would be more than happy to go to sleep. "I think that from now on when we don't have any fires to light our camp, we string out a rope for those who have to, er, take care of business."Calista agreed.

When Calista awoke, she found Ultrecht, Ganatar and Ruk listening to Avery describe the night's discovery. Armegon was still asleep.

Ultrecht responded by cautiously stepping across the boundary into the no-man's land and quickly jumping back. "It’s terribly cold over there," he said. "And you say that last night Cal wandered into it and it was not cold?"

"That's about the size of it," Avery replied.

"What has light and dark got to do with it?" Ruk asked.

"Light and dark are the opposite ends of the prismatic magic spectrum," Ultrecht informed the minotaan. "We know that the magic of this realm is run by prismatics, or light based magic. It may mean that the cold is a magical manifestation and is only present in light."

"If I may offer an opinion," Ganatar interrupted. "I too know a little about elemental magic. Aren't cold based magics derived from the element of air?"

"That’s what puzzles me," Ultrecht admitted. "You’re correct, and yet there it is."

"Well one thing we know," Ruk claimed. "Avery's right. There’s no way we can try to make the crossing at night unless we have a light source."

"I wonder if an artificial light source would make it cold as well," Calista wondered aloud as she sat next to the minotaan.

"That’s a good question," Ultrecht commended. "We might try that out tonight."
"If that’s the case," Avery said nudging Ruk, "then we’d better see if we can scare up some more wood." The two departed striking out an a path parallel to the border of the cold region.

"Ruk's right," Ultrecht said moments later. "Calista's question is a very good one. I think it’s a good idea to test it out tonight. The results may be significant."

"Do you suspect something?" Armegon asked.

Ultrecht shook his head. "I'd rather not speculate at this time. It’s just an obscure possibility. If it proves true, the light from the torch won’t bring the cold."

"Are you saying we might travel by night under torch light?"
Ultrecht rubbed his chin. "Not at all. We both know that we don't have anywhere near enough wood for that."

"Right, so why pursue it?" Armegon stretched as he waited for the answer.

"Lets just say that it may shed some light on the problem," Ultrecht replied.

"Shed some light?" Armegon frowned. "That was very bad. If you can't make better puns than that I’m going to part company."

Ultrecht grinned. "It was the best I could do under the circumstances."

Calista rolled her eyes and joined Ganatar who was busy grazing nearby. "I wonder if I’ll ever understand their humor."

"I dare say that you will," Ganatar replied. "Though it may take you several hundreds of years to accumulate the experiences that they constantly refer to, I think you’ll get there."

"Hundreds of years?" Calista asked. "People don't live that long."

"No?" The unicorn looked back at the two mages. "I don't pretend to know everything, but I can assure you that both of those mages are several hundred years old. In fact I would say confidently that they are at least two hundred."

Calista looked at Ultrecht. She knew he was older than he looked, but she hadn't really pestered him about it. He looked about forty years old. "Ultrecht can't be that old," she objected. "Humans don't live that long."

"It would appear that some do," Ganatar assured her. "I suspect he has used his magic to keep himself young."

"I don't really know that much about magic," Calista admitted, "but I believe that if there was anyone who could do that, he would be the one." She glanced again briefly at Ultrecht.

"How do you know?" she asked.

"Know what?"

"How do you know how old they are?"

Ganatar nickered. It had a hint of laughter in it. "Some of my abilities continue to work in spite of the lack of magic here. My ability to sense other's intentions and something about their intelligence, experience, and physical power has always been valuable to me."

"You mean you knew all along that we meant you no harm that first night?" Calista asked.

"Actually no," Ganatar answered. "I could read everyone except Avery. I suspect that it was the Dawn of Law that was hindering my sight."

"I think I understand," Calista comprehended. "For someone who has always been able to sense enemies, that must have been a disturbing thing--not being able to tell, I mean."

"You know, Calista," Ganatar nuzzled her forehead, "you are a very smart and perceptive young lady."

Avery and Ruk came back about three hours later. Ruk was laughing as they carried two armloads of wood. "So the prostitute said to Ultrecht, 'Not only am I the last woman in the world, but the price just doubled,'" Avery was saying.

The minotaan roared deeply with laughter. "Good show, master Avery. I hadn’t heard that one before. But tell me. It wasn’t really Ultrecht that insulted the wench, and surely she was not the last woman in the world."

Avery chuckled. "Believe it or not," he said, "it’s all true. We were traveling through space and happened upon a planet where a serious virus was destroying all animal life that lacked a certain male hormone. As a result, she really was the last woman on the planet. It was Ultrecht's idea to buy her and magically vaccinate her. Then he was going to sell her back to the planet for a considerable profit."

"That’s a lie," Ultrecht rose to his own defense as he heard the last part of
the conversation.

"You deny that you tried to buy her?" Avery asked.

"No," Ultrecht said with as much dignity as he could muster. "I was not going to sell her back. I was going to lease her."

Ruk looked at Ultrecht in shock then at Avery. Then he looked back at Ultrecht. "Surely not," he proclaimed. "How could you consider owning another being?"

"Hey," Ultrecht objected. "I have a very good medical plan, and excellent benefits."

"But slavery?" Ruk asked.

"Who said slavery?" Ultrecht asked. "It was more like I would be her agent."

"Tell me," Ruk inquired, "how much was she to receive of the lease?"

Ultrecht's face was straight. "Her life," he said evenly.

"You saved her life under the condition that she become your property?" Ruk was agitated about the whole conversation and it was evident.

"Not at all," Ultrecht replied. "We saved her life even though she refused to become my property." Ultrecht turned his nose up and turned away. "Ungrateful wench!"

Ruk was about to respond when Avery shook his head and indicated that they should let the matter drop. "Some cultures believe that when someone saves another person's life, servitude is the reward," he explained a little later.