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Lines of ridiculously
oversized cars flanked the drive where bored looking parents opened doors for
their children. Lizzie doubted if any of these off road vehicles had ever had
to tackle anything more taxing than the half mile of gravel that constituted
their owner’s driveways challenged.
    Lizzie,
Robe and Vic made their way out of the school grounds. Their friendship had
developed from this daily walk, it was the one thing they had in common. Lizzie
stayed around half a mile along the Bloxham Road from the school and the boys
lived a further half mile in towards the centre of town. The boy’s route didn’t
exactly pass by Lizzie’s front door but it was close enough that she didn’t
feel guilty that they insisted on walking her home most days. The quickest route
was to follow the main road from the school back towards town, but there was
only the merest suggestion of a pavement adjacent to, what was, a very busy
stretch of road and Lizzie had almost lost an elbow a couple of times. The boys
had shown her, what they claimed was, a short cut through a small stretch of
wood. Lizzie knew fine well the way was longer, and on a wet day longer still
due to the slippery footing that left you spattered in mud. Still it was safer,
rather peaceful and, on a day like this, really quite beautiful. Lizzie had
considered asking Robe about his attitude in class, but decided not to. Sully’s
explanation felt right and she didn’t want to send him back into a petulant
sulk. ‘So what are you two love Gods up to this evening? Lizzie asked. Vic’s
face lit up.
    ‘A, D and
D,’ he answered enthusiastically.
    ‘What, what
and what?
    ‘Advanced
Dungeons and Dragons,’ said Robe, somehow under the impression this qualified
as an explanation.
    ‘Yeah,
you’re gonna have to expand there boys.’
    ‘It’s a
role-playing game, set in a fantasy world, I guess you’ve never played, but you
should, you’d love it,’ said Vic.
    ‘I’m sure I
would, I must get round to that sometime.’
    ‘You should
come round tonight, I have a new scenario all made up, it’ll be great,’ said
Vic who either didn’t pick up on, or decided to ignore, Lizzie’s sarcasm.
    ‘Perhaps
another night Vic, I’ve got a date with the books.’
    ‘So you will play some other time?’ said Vic with a face like Christmas morning. Lizzie felt
the sting of checkmate but agreed to an undefined future obligation. They
reached Lizzie’s door and said their goodbyes, Vic asked, as they walked off:
    ‘Are you in
tomorrow?’
    ‘No, I only
have the one class and it’s personal study now anyway, so I thought I might
head into Oxford for the day, stick my nose in the books there.’ The boys
departed leaving Lizzie to hope they might just forget about her acceptance to join
their geeky game.

Four
     
     
     
    The
creature entered the dark room and waited. The body of the monk now occupied
was stronger than that of the old man it had previously worn, but it was none
the less fragile, cumbersome and stifling. It yearned to be free of it, to
return to the dark, to his realm.
    Time, the
creature considered, is a strange concept when all you know is the infinite
black, but since it had been ripped and wrenched from its world it could not
help but wonder how long it would be required to remain. It stood in the room,
in the dark and waited.
    The one
responsible for its presence in this world entered, lit a solitary candle and
sat, placing his feet on the desk in front of him. ‘The third Lockwood scroll,
what of it Serf?’
    ‘I do not
bear pleasing news,’ said the Serf. In the place the creature had been drawn
from titles and names were meaningless, but this… Summoner, as he entitled
himself, insisted on this term of servitude.
    ‘Then you
are as useful as the new bag of flesh which facilitates your existence in this
world. What did we learn?’ The candle flame flickered and strained to make
impact against the surrounding darkness causing shadows to dart in