The Wizard of Elsewhere

1.6 - Mortal Minds Not Bent By Time

Wizards stride too and fro,

      front and back and forth they go.

With books and scrolls and sundered tomes,

      In slippered feet and en-shelved rooms.

By day they wander far and near,

      by night they ponder and darkness peer.

At moon and stars and wind and rain,

      at long lost secrets, and those that still remain.

For helter skelter, and skitter scatter,

      swish swash, and slither slather.

The Monsters come, they never left,

      and without our wizards we would be bereft.

Of mortal minds not bent by time,

      and mortal mouths that can still rhyme.

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— A piece of what used to be a popular nursery rhyme.

* * *

Flynn's dog was useless, Thailen decided, not for the first time that night.

No one had ever accused Thailen of being a "dog person", but there were definitely times when he could appreciate their uses. For instance they were good for security. It was why merchant caravans kept plenty of them.

Dogs could swim, and some of the men even had them catch fish for them, and that was very useful.

Some dogs were good for catching rabbits and other small critters, and Thailen had even heard some of the bawdier men in the tavern claim that they were good for catching women too. Especially the floppy eared ones.

Flynn's dog did none of those things, especially not the women part. He looked patched and ratty with a stub tail, as if Flynn's mother had sewn him together from several other dogs and then forgot to card the fur and bath him besides. He had a pitched bark that almost sounded like a yowl and maintained a nearly constant state of overflowing excitement and boundless energy. Tracking was what this dog did. And tracking was what this dog was failing at doing.

Albacore — that was the dog's name — Thailen had no idea why — had led them on a merry chase through the Werwood for hours. Hours! And they still hadn't even ventured that far passed the tree line. Half an hour in a Northerly direction at most. In fact —

"Flynn." Thailen voice was tight. "We've been here. That's the danger marker." Thailen pointed at a red ribbon dangling from a low hanging branch. There were several of them and plenty were not red. But they all meant the same thing to children: "Pass this line at the peril of your parent's wrath."

Of course, that didn't really stop most children from adventuring passed that line of ribbons, but when Thailen had remarked on that to his father, his father had laughed and said "And how far would youngsters wander if that line were not there? Let them think adventure starts a mere half mile from the tree line."

Thailen had found this profound at the time. Now he was finding it — "My sister did not get lost three paces from the Danger Line, Flynn." — irksome.

"No. No. Alby's looking really excited now. Look at his tail move."

"He doesn't have a tail."

"Yes, but look at it wag. He's definitely found something. Now he's running. Come-on!" And Flynn took off.