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right here. With him at the head. As President. No, as a King. But not yet, not for a long time, not while he had so much still to gain from his beloved Raven Rock Complex throne.

 
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
     
    Somewhere in Mu
    The future: date unknown
     
    T he future was not what Sam had expected. He had heard Weewalk and Hadan talk with some fondness for this place. Sam hated it. His friends had been speaking of ideals and this place, Mu, was far from ideal. Fear of the Riven came off the people like a bad smell.
    Sam had walked for two days after leaving the smouldering ruins of the last village and the garoul which may or may not have been there. If the new place he had found had a name Sam had not heard it. The town was larger than the ruins he had left, yet still small and rural with not much more than a few score muddy roads leading to weather-beaten wooden houses. At the centre of the town lay a crossroads with a tavern, a shop and two official looking buildings in each part of the intersection. There was not much else other than houses and patches of land where thin vegetables were grown and skinny livestock grazed.
    The people wore plain, simple clothing. They walked with their heads bowed, hurrying through the current drizzle which had made everything grey, misty and muddy. Sam had picked up in snippets of conversation that one of the Riven had passed through a few days before his own arrival. The village still had not recovered itself. Taxes had been taken; the funerals of those who had resisted were due to take place the next day. It seemed that he was following the Riven on their murderous trip through the countryside.
    Sam had managed to find a little work at one of the small farms on the outskirts of the village the day before. Calling it a farm was somewhat lofty for what was little more than a large allotment with a few animals nosing around in the dirt. But he had done a day’s work for the kind woman who owned it in exchange for a night’s sleep in with the animals, a hot meal and a couple of coins to spend.
    Sam pushed open the door to the tavern and took up a seat on one of the wooden benches closest to the open fire. He didn’t buy a drink but the innkeeper, although giving him a frown, didn’t say anything. The place was pretty quiet anyway and Sam guessed that he was happy enough that the place should look a little busier. Clearly not many felt like drinking with friends ahead of the impending burials. Sam crossed his arms across the table top and rested his forehead on them, closing his eyes.
    He couldn’t say for sure how long he stayed like that. He eventually dozed off. He had been so tired since arriving in the future. During his time in Mu his brain had just felt fuzzy and he hadn’t been able to think clearly. His sleep, when he did get any, had been troubled. He had spent many nights sleeping in the open and fear of what strange animal or person might come across him had not allowed him to relax.
    Suddenly, the door to the tavern crashed open making him start. The innkeeper looked up sharply as a man hurried over to him, breathing heavily.
    ‘Rogue,’ the man who had entered panted. ‘Rogue. Out to the west.’
    Sam’s ears pricked up. He had heard of the mysterious rogues. They were talked about in hushed whispers by the locals. Sam had worked out that they were people with presence who had not joined the Riven, a dangerous position to take. The rogues were very few and far between. From what Sam had heard some were good and travelled from place to place using presence to heal those who could overcome their fear of the magic, most rogues were indifferent to others and simply kept to themselves rarely coming into the towns and villages and some rogues were worse even than the Riven, mad and volatile. It was like Oz with both wicked witches and good ones out at the far reaches of the compass.
    ‘Right,’ shouted the innkeeper. ‘You heard him. Everyone out. We’re