Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #21 December 2015 | Page 17

Quest for Knowledge (Volume 1 of the FirstWorld
Saga) Second Delve

sitting quietly in his room, a guard on the door. The
guard let him in without question. Kris smiled at
seeing him. That’s unnerving; he must be getting pretty
bored and lonely here by himself.

Somewhere in the past Simon is about to become a
father. In the present, Manfred is in Tamarlan with a
second Hero and a recalcitrant Bard and he needs to
get back to Elannort.

“Kris, we need to talk,” Manfred began.

Second Delve
Everlasting Heroes must be like Melbourne
trams or London buses. Manfred was still trying
to come to terms with Ubadah’s story. I have been
searching half my life for a Hero and then two turn
up at the same time. Not only that, one of them was
practically under my nose the whole time. I really
must be going senile. They had been in Tamarlan for
two days now and he had had the time to recuperate
a little from the rigours of the journey, enjoy some
reasonable food for a change, and savour a few
pints of foaming ale. Beer was Manfred’s last
remaining vice and he was determined never to miss
an opportunity to indulge. He had taken the time,
though, to talk in detail with Ubadah and had tried to
understand both Ubadah’s and Dammar’s motivations.
So far, he had drawn a blank. At least Gamyon seemed
to have come to terms with Ubadah’s arrival and
seemed relieved now that he knew that his regency
was safe. That hadn’t stopped him taking Manfred
aside for a quiet word, ‘just to make sure you take him
away from here with you when you leave.’ Manfred
had to smile. Always the pragmatist, he thought. He
had taken breakfast with Gamying and Aglaral. They
were both eager to find out what Manfred’s plans were
and to meet Ubadah. They also reminded Manfred of
a thorny little problem he had been putting off: Kris.
Now, as he sat puffing on his old briar pipe—ok so
he still had other vices too—he was pondering on the
problem. Kris seemed to be an enigma. Something
inside him told Manfred that he needed to solve the
puzzle. I hate it when my gut tells me something that
my head can’t understand.
Oh well, it can wait no longer. Manfred
emptied his pipe into an ashtray, carefully returned
it to one of his many pockets, and rose to seek out
Master Kris, erstwhile Bard of Karo. He found him

“It’s OK, Manfred; I have been doing a lot
of thinking these past couple of days. I don’t want
to go through your mind probe. I would like to tell
you everything. I hop RF