I  was  born  in  Canridge,  thirty years ago.  As a lad, I dreamed of being a famous warrior and fighting in many great battles.  As I grew, I found that  mages were more to my liking.  Over the years I became the village mage’s apprentice.  Ten years I studied.  Once my thirst for knowledge was quenched, I said my farewells and was off.

 Three years I roamed, searching for nothing in particular. The first year, I came upon a book of spells.  I must have had a streak of rougery in me, for I tried to sneak off with the book.  It nearly cost me my life.  The high mage, Gallard, could see I had a love of knowledge, which he considered a good trait.  So he took me as an apprentice.  I worked for months, cleaning and practicing.  When   he had taught me what he could, I moved on.

  The next year, I came upon an Oracle.  He said that if I toiled for him, he would teach me his trait.  Aryak and I swiftly became friends.  Again, I toiled for months, in the garden and in Aryak’s hut.  He taught me for two weeks, then I took my leave.  As I walked out of the hut, he called, “Don’t be a stranger.”

 Each village I came to,  I worked and learned local skills.  Blacksmithing,  weaving, pottery.  The third year I found a dragons lair.  Standing at the opening was a knight.  Olan was his name.  We sat and talked.  He was journeying to be a true knight.  We  decided to journey together, and we were the best of friends.

 Five months later, Olan met  a master knight.  We parted then, and as Olan walked down the path, I turned North-East and didn’t look back.

 It is present now.  I walk down an ancient path in an ancient forest.  I have walked many places on this island.   I have been coast to coast, and am ready to take my leave.  I hand twenty silver coins to the boat-man and we are off.  It’s been two and a half days since we left, but land is in sight.  Here I hope to find adventure.

 I walk up onto the dock.  A week later I leave.  I have learnt all the peasants know of boating.  I walk into the forest. Nearby is an abandoned hut. I hope it’s abandoned. Inside I find an old map.  It may come in handy.
 

 I study the map for a while.  I decide to head out for the book of knowledge in the morning.  When I wake up,  I make a fire, cook up some grub and leave.  On the way I meet a man.   He stares at me in a peculiar way.  “I’m a forest elf.” I say.
“What?” he asks.
“If you want to know, I’m a forest elf.  My name is  Malaar.”
“I am  Wenton.  Say old chap, I’m having a spot of trouble.  You see,  there are some vampires in the valleys where I live.  Could you help me?”
“Sure” I say.  Wenton hands me a cross bow, and a pouch of wooden stakes.  He tells me that if I complete the task, he would reward me well.
 

 I head into the valley.  It’s been seven days.  I’ve been keeping track.  I’ve used forty stakes and destroyed thirty-nine vampires.  Wenton comes into the valley.
“I say, good job old chap.”  He hands me fifty gold pieces and a whip.  So far I have:

 -79 gold pieces
 -83 silver pieces
 -158 platinum pieces
 -2 daggers
 -1 bow and some arrows
 -1 sword
 -1 whip
 -1 map

 I looked at  my map again.  In the middle it said “King Wenton’s castle”
My jaw fell open.  I just killed thirty-nine vampires for a king.   I resumed my hike for the
book of knowledge with a smile on my face.  Pretty soon I reached the spot.  It was an empty valley.  I searched for two weeks.  I found nothing.  Lousy map!
 

 I decided  to walk up to Wenton’s castle.  When I stopped to rest, some peasants told me of the evil deeds of Ystrad and Clarissa, the brother/sister  mages.  So, I made it my quest to stop those two.  I was walking through the hills when I heard a rumbling sound.  I looked up.  A rock giant leaned over me, and lifted his foot menacingly.  For some reason I grabbed my whip.  I swung it at the giant.  As soon as it hit his foot, he turned to water.  The water rushed down one side of the hill.  I watched as it flooded the two towers and drowned Wenton’s army.  With that, I fled from the hills.   As I was running into the forest, I heard a sound.  I looked over, just as the giant worm swallowed me whole.
 
 
 
 
 

 After a while I regained consciousness.  For four days I was forced to eat what the worm ate.  The next day, I found a shiny, gold, ring.  I pressed my finger against the red stone at the top.  I cried out as my finger melted and slid off my hand.  Two days later I got up and  hit the wall which was the worms body.  I heard a horrible shriek and the worm melted into a gooey puddle.  I suddenly realized what I wore on my finger. I had the power to melt anything I touched.

 The next day I reached my destination.  I hit the wall with all my strength.  It melted and the building crumbled.  One tower down, one to go.

 I had melted the two towers that loomed over this island.  I laughed as I strode through the forest.  Suddenly a dwarf popped up.  He pulled out his ax and attacked me.  I took a step forward and kicked with all my might.  The dwarf flew against a tree and fell to the ground like a sack of meal.  Suddenly a figure appeared.  I gasped.  It was the high king of mages, Merlyn.  “YOU,” he boomed pointing at me.  “YOU  HAVE DESTROYED TWO OF MY MAGES, AND NOW DARE TO KICK THIS CLERIC!  IF I CATCH YOU ANYWHERE NEAR MY KINGDOM, I WILL DESTROY YOU!”
Then he vanished.  So did the dwarf.  I gulped, and headed for the beach.
 

 When I reached it, I saw a sea elf rise from the water.  Instinctively I grabbed my whip.  He saw this and pulled out a whip he carried.  I shot out my whip.  He threw out his.  The whips intertwined and dissolved.
“I come here seeking a warrior,” He said, “I am King Eddligeg.”
“I will help you.” I offered.  He told me of the task.  I had to dual with the shark king. And win.
 

 King Eddligeg turned me into a sea elf and we were off.  The battle was short. I forced the shark onto the beach and melted him.  I shuddered as his remains oozed into the sea.  Eddligeg changed me back and gave me two hundred gold pieces and a golden triad.
 

 As I was walking around  I saw hundreds of wanted posters with pictures of me on them.  By order of the king.  I was feeling sneaky so that night I snuck over to the castle.  I was going to climb it so I shoved the triad into a brick to act as a step.  As soon as the triad was in the wall, the castle exploded.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 King Wenton pulled himself from the rubble.  He ran to me with a sword in his hand.  He plunged right into the triad and exploded.   Later I found out that   Wenton had a spell on his subjects.  They offered to make me king but I kindly refused.  I was a wanderer.  So, I wandered.  After a time I stretched and shoved my triad into the ground.  How could I have been so stupid. The ground split, and I fell and landed with a splash.
 

 When I regained consciousness, I found myself floating in a pool of water.  I felt weak.  When I crawled onto the land,  I found the triad snapped in two.   The magic gone.    I looked at myself.  I was scrawny!  I must have been 14!  I looked at my map.  It said I had fallen into the pool of time.  Which meant that this map, was some sort of  future-telling map.  The great pit, I had made, the ruins that remained where the castle and the towers had been.  So, the towers and the castle would be rebuilt.  I lost track of time, but at least three months went by.  I had to eat mushrooms and moss to survive.  Finally, my months of working paid off.  I had found a cave that led up above ground.
 

 It took me two months for me to find out that  Wenton had been resurrected.   In fact, so had  Clarissa and Ystrad.  They had rebuilt their towers.  The castle had been rebuilt as well, but  Wenton  was no where to be seen.
 

 Two weeks later I was reading through a book I had found when I came upon the abandoned cottage.  Inside I could see Wenton.  Outside I could see at least twenty skeletons.  I looked in my book.
‘Skeletons,’ it said  ‘ are deathless warriors who can only be killed by a golden triad.’
Like the triad I had snapped in half.  I was doomed.
 

 I was walking through the forest looking for shelter.  It was dusk and I decided to  sleep up against a tree.  Suddenly the tree cracked and I fell backwards.  Inside the hollow tree lay a quiver of arrows, with craftsmanship like I had never seen before.    That’s when the skeletons attacked.
 

 I ran and ran, until I reach the base of the mountains. Inside my book was a map that told of valley in the mountains. I finally reached it.   Once there, I drew a arrow from the quiver I had found.  I strung it, and when I saw the first of the warriors, I fired.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 The arrow hit the skeleton, and I watched in amazement as the skeleton shattered, never to move again.  I lasted out the battle and got down to two of the warriors.  I reached back.  No arrow came into my hand, so I fled.
 

 I outdistanced them quite a ways in the mountains.  I was journeying up a peak when I came upon a figure on the ground.  It was Olan.   He looked up at me with dying eyes and handed me his sword.   The Celts believe that when someone dies, they go somewhere else.   Not to heaven, but to an island that no other man has ever seen.   I prayed Olan went to one where he could become a true knight.
 

 That night, the warriors came upon me.  I unsheathed Olan’s sword and took a stand.    As I cut at the warriors, the blade burned with a fierce blue flame.  The skeletons fell, defeated at last.
 

 I stepped into the not-so-abandoned cottage.  With one stroke, I burnt Wenton to a crisp.  That evening, I held counsel with Ysrad and Clarissa.   Reformed guardians of the island.    They offered me the role of high knight in the kingdom.  I refused.
 
 

 The next day at dawn, I walked into the field where I had search for the book of knowledge.  I pulled  my book from my cloak, and set it on a pedestal, in the middle of the field.    My map had been finished.
 

 On the way to the dock, I stopped at the cottage, and placed the map, on the desk.   I watched as it changed for the future to come.  Then I headed for the boats.   I  handed the  gnome  fifty platinum pieces, and told him to set out for   whichever island he wanted.  She asked me why I didn’t choose an island.  I simply told her, “I am a wanderer.  So I will wander.”
 
 

   THE END
     (For today)