Chapter 1

Jon Taggart almost stumbled into his house when he got home from work. He was so sick he really didn’t know how he even managed to drive home. He was positive he had Corona Virus but hell, he was young, only 29 years old so he didn’t need a doctor. besides, he had an ace in the hole. He had a PHD in Biochemistry and was deeply involved in the research to develop a cure for the virus. He was positive one of the cures his company discarded would work but the company stopped work on it because of effects on the brain in the test animals. He was so sure the effects were unimportant and the cure would work, he took a vial of the medicine when he left work. He intended to use it when he got home and prove its efficacy. Even if it didn’t work, all the statistics said he was in one of the age groups least likely to die from the illness so he put off seeing the doctor. He would go in a day or two if he wasn’t better after taking the experimental drug.

Jon really wasn’t supposed to be home yet; it was only 2:30 in the afternoon and he had been working until well after midnight since the research for a cure for Covid 19 ramped up. Perhaps he would have been better off if he had sat in the Urgent Care waiting room or stayed at work. He was weak, feverish, and so short of breath he could hardly walk. His whole body ached from the illness. As he was walking down the hallway toward the master bedroom, he felt a violent urge to take a crap and was afraid he couldn’t make it to the master bath so he hit the guest bathroom like he did when he got home late in the night. Huh, he had came home early that morning about 3:00 AM and used the bathroom to keep from waking his wife but he didn’t remember leaving his clothes in the hall bathroom. He must have though because there was a pile of them there. He would have to take them to the hamper when he left. He grinned when he felt the humidity in the air as he sat on the toilet and let loose. His wife must have just taken a shower. This bathroom had a seat in the shower and was larger than the one in the master bedroom, so when she shaved her legs, or if they showered together they used it. If he didn’t feel so fucking whipped he would jump her bones when he found her. Between working, being so exhausted and Sally’s anger over his long hours it had been several days since he had any pussy.

Done with his business, Jon flushed and headed down the hallway to the master bedroom. As he neared the room he heard a gentle slap. His wife giggled and said, “Stop! I know you want another piece but we have to hurry. You heard Jon’s message on the answering machine. He’ll be home soon and I really don’t want to face the shit storm if he catches us like this.

“You’ll get more when we get to your place. I want to be gone before Jon gets home.

Jon felt even worse upon hearing Sally’s statement, if that was possible. He staggered around the corner into the bedroom to see one of Sally’s teammates from work naked and rubbing his erect cock on her ass as she tried to pack her suitcase. She was ineffectually slapping at him as she worked. Sally was naked also, her perfect breasts jiggling as she giggled and tried to evade her friend. There was sperm running down her thigh. Jon could see the sheen on her ass from the pussy juice or sperm coming off her lovers cock.

Jon croaked, “You cheating Bitch! If I didn’t feel so shitty I would kick both your fucking asses.”

Sally screamed and looked guilty, then tried to cover her nakedness. Her friend, what’s his name, warily watched Jon and tried to move toward the door to the bedroom.

Sally started to say something but Jon cut in to her sentence saying, “Just can it. I don’t feel like listening to your shit right now. I’m infected with Covid 19 and all I want to do is get in bed. Just get the rest of your crap and get the hell out. Let me know where to send the divorce papers.”

Sally laughed and said, “Serves you right shithead. All you talk about and think about any longer is your damn job and research on your fucking little viruses and bacteria. You aren’t any fun any more so what did you expect me to do? Just sit around home playing with myself waiting for you? Ain’t going to happen. I need excitement in my life and a man that pays attention to me, not some microscopic little bug. Ted gives me that. He gives me the loving I deserve and takes me out at night to party and live it up.”

Jon started to walk around Sally when he stopped and said, “You know my work could save hundreds, even thousands of lives if we find the cure or a vaccine. I gave you all my attention when I was home until this emergency hit and you know I would have done it again after things go back to normal. Well screw you and your cheating ass. Just get the hell out of here. No, wait! I do have one thing for you.” He then grabbed her and tried to give her a kiss. All he managed to do was basically lick her mouth as she turned her head when he tried to give her some tongue. He snickered and said, “What, don’t I even rate a goodbye kiss honey?”

Jon was letting her go when he felt her friend grab him trying to pull him away from Sally. While he pulled Jon back, trying to separate the couple, he said, “Take your hands off her asshole.”

Jon let Sally go and turned toward her new lover. He spit on his hand and reached out to slap it across the man’s mouth and nose. Damn, he thought, I sure wish I could remember his name. Jon managed to smear the spit across his lips and nostrils before the man jumped back and snarled, “You fucking asshole. I ought to kick your ass.” He slammed a fist into Jon’s stomach.

Jon felt the pain, then his stomach surged. He felt vomit coming and ran for the bathroom. The man laughed and said, “Damn, what did you see in that wimp. He’s sure not much of a man. He can’t take a punch and ran away like a coward when I hit him.

Sally and her lover could hear Jon throwing up. The man said, “Hurry and get dressed honey. We need to get out of here and get cleaned up. Maybe we won’t catch it. While you do that I’m going to teach your asshole a lesson.”

Jon heard Sally grab a few more clothes and listened to footsteps coming his way. He had barely turned toward the door when he was met by another fist to the belly then one to the face. He began throwing up once again. Some splattered on Sally’s lover and he yelled,”Shit!” Asshole jumped back, almost running from the master bathroom.

Jon heard Sally and her man talking quietly as she scurried around the bedroom packing the rest of her clothes. Soon Sally raised her voice and said, “I’m outta here asshole. I hope you die from this damn disease. All you ever do is play in that lab with your fucking germs. As far as I’m concerned you got exactly what you deserved this time.”

Jon heard footsteps going from the bedroom after Sally’s diatribe. God, his belly and head hurt big time where the asshole hit him. He was dizzy and still couldn’t stand straight.

When Jon finished in the bathroom the house was empty except for him. He took a dose of the trial drug and collapsed on the guest bed. He tossed and turned trying to find a way to lay that didn’t hurt. His stomach and jaw were excruciatingly painful from both the blows he took and from his illness. He felt a shooting, throbbing pain deep inside his head behind where he was hit. He finally curled into a ball and pulled the covers over him. That seemed to make his stomach hurt less. Unknown to him, he also had some internal bleeding in his abdomen and a bruise on his brain. Finally he managed to drift off to sleep when the Hydrocodone pain medication and trial drug took effect.

During his slumber the different medications in his body circulated in his blood stream. His mind worked overtime worrying about his pain and dreaming of better times and places. He built a picture in his head of the perfect peaceful place, a beautiful cabin on a small bluff beside a large, clear running river filled with fish. Huge trees surrounded the cabin and wildlife abounded in the area. He wasn’t in a deep sleep, rather, he was dozing, almost fully awake, in what some would call a daydream. He could almost see and smell the location of which he dreamed.

Jon pictured the peaceful glade and wished so hard he was there relaxing and enjoying the peace and quiet. He felt a pulling and he was almost floating he was so relaxed. The drug culture would say he was tripping. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending on your outlook, he was.

Jon lay relaxing and, truthfully, hurting. He didn’t remember ever feeling as if the bed was as hard as it was right now. He itched and something was tickling his nose. There was an earthy smell too with overtones of dry grass and what sounded like leaves rattling in the wind. He felt hot, as if the sun was beating down on him. There was a distant buzz of insects going about their business while birds sang.

Jon heard a scream and forced himself to open his eyes. What the FUCK! He appeared to be laying in a yard. There was a small rock cabin nestled under some trees to the side of the clearing he was in. The door was open and the feminine screaming was coming from inside. He was so shocked at his location he didn’t realize the cabin was an exact replica of the one he was dreaming about not long ago.

Jon forced himself to get up and walk unsteadily to the door. He stopped in shock and quickly became angry. Two large, scruffy looking men in ragged clothes were assaulting a young woman. One was holding her while the other alternated between hitting her and trying to tear her old fashioned long dress off her. Occasionally he or the one holding her would maul one of her breasts. There was a young man laying in a pool of blood near an overturned table. A knife was sticking out of his chest.

Every time the woman tried to fight the men off, she got hit. Finally Jon came to his senses and yelled, “Hey! Stop that. Leave her alone.”

The man molesting the woman turned to Jon and said, “You just made a big mistake asshole. This bitch is ours now and you’re going to pay for interrupting our fun.” He moved toward Jon and when he was close enough, he tried to hit him.

When he saw the fist approaching, Jon tried to jump back. He was still unsteady enough on his feet he almost fell. He threw his right hand and arm out to ward off the blow as he yelled, “Stop asshole. Scum like you should be dead, not picking on a woman.”

To his surprise the man not only stopped, he almost flew back as if he had been hit by a pile driver. He stumbled over one of the overturned kitchen chairs and slammed into the rock wall of the cabin then slid to the floor. Blood was trickling from his mouth and nose as he lay there.

The man holding the woman pushed her away. She fell over the other man as he headed for Jon. He snarled, “I don’t know how ya managed ta hit Solly but ya’re a dead man now.”

The man pulled his hand back and Jon watched his seemingly huge fist begin its journey toward him. Once again, almost without thinking, he pushed his right arm out toward the man and thought about pushing him away violently, only hoping to connect. Jon, after all, wasn’t a fighting man. He was a Research PHD in infectious diseases. All he knew about fighting was what he saw on TV or in his computer games. Somehow, his brain used the things he saw in the games and movies when forced to come up with something to defend himself with.

Once again, the attacking man flew away from Jon and bounced off the stone walls. The woman looked at the two huge men just laying on the floor bleeding and the rail thin, almost emaciated Jon standing unsteadily in her doorway. Jon grimaced and felt his head. Damn, his headache was bothering him again near where Sally’s asshole lover hit him.

The woman rose unsteadily and moved to check on her man. She was sniffling. After verifying he was truly dead, she looked at Jon and said, “Thank you My Lord. It’s not often we are blessed with the presence of a Master Wizard. You arrived at an opportune time for me. I thank you for saving me and freely give the customary due.

“Will we be remaining here or will we return to your abode My Lord Wizard? If it pleases you, might I at least lay my husband to rest before I begin my servitude My Lord?”

“Uh, what? Do you have a phone? I didn’t bring mine. I’ll call 911 and get someone out as soon as we can.”

“A phone Sire? I know not what that is. And what is this 911? We are hours from others who might help and I know none who might willingly do so. Mayhap the King’s Sheriff would have a warrant for those but they would be right ripe afore we could get them there to see. Best if we just drag them to the woods for the critters but, if it please you Sire, I beseech you to bury my husband proper like.”

“What? Don’t you have a car or truck? We need to report this before we get into trouble.”

The woman laughed and said, “I have heard Wizards are strange, scary folk but didn’t know what people meant until now. You are a strange one for sure.” Her eyes got large and she turned pale before stepping back. She looked scared and put her hand to her mouth before saying, “Oh, I am sorry My Lord. Please forgive me for that statement. ‘Tis not my place to comment on my Master. As for the things you requested, I know not what they are but I’m sure we don’t have them. As for reporting this attack, why would we? ‘Tis the nature of things here in the wild wood. You must always be on watch for such as those and be prepared to defend oneself. My man failed to bar the door when he came in for his lunch and we paid the price I’m afraid. You did that which was required and none would fault you for it.

“Now, how may I serve you Sire?”

“I, uh. I don’t know. I seem to have wandered from home somehow. I was sick and laying in my bed, then I found myself lying here in your yard. I woke and heard you screaming and came to see what I could do to help. I don’t even know where we are or how I got here. All I remember was laying in my bed at home dreaming about a peaceful place eerily like your place here. I wished so strongly I could just be here to enjoy this place and forget what I had just found at home. I felt a pulling sensation and then I felt as if I was floating gently, from the medication I had taken I suppose. I came to laying in your yard.”

“Sire, I know not how you came to be here but I am very happy you are. We are on the edge of the civilized part of King Donovan’s Domain, if it please you to know. Are you, perhaps, a World Walker? Your attire and manner of speaking are not like any I have seen or heard before and the things of which you speak are strange as well.”

“What is a World Walker? I’m a research biologist working on a cure for the Covid 19 virus.”

“A World Walker is a wizard who comes to us from another world Sire. Surely you know that.”

Jon laughed and said, “You’re joking aren’t you? Are you and your husband members of some religious sect or something? I really need to know where on earth we are so I can get back home and go to work. Strangely, the experimental medicine I took has made me feel much better except for a headache. I suspect that is a result of the blows my wife’s boyfriend gave me instead of the illness. No matter, I need to get to the Lab and record the results so we can set up sanctioned trials.”

“Ah, for sure now you are a wizard, always thinking about your potions and your lab. We can depart momentarily Sire.”

The young woman rushed around packing a pack with some threadbare clothing and as many kitchen supplies as she could gather. Just before she shouldered the pack, she straightened her husbands body, covered it with a thin blanket and said, “Tom, my love, sorry I am for not laying you to rest properly but as you can see, my new master desires to leave immediately and I must go. Rest well in your new life my love and wish me well in mine. I am so sorry we had such a short time together my love.”

The woman stood, wiped a tear from her face, shouldered her pack and turned toward the door. She said, “We can go now Master.”

Jon stood and stared at her. Finally, he said, “What do you mean? I mean, where are we going? What about these men and your husband?”

The young woman looked at Jon in surprise before she said, “You said we needed to get to your lab Sire. I am ready to accompany you now though it sorrows me to leave my husband in such a position.”

“But, I don’t know where my lab is and we need to take care of things here, call the authorities or...”

The woman dropped her pack and stood before Jon. She sighed and said, “You are a strange one Sire. How could you not know where your lab is? Are you from River Bend or some other city?”

Jon sat on one of the chairs that had been knocked over and leaned on the table. He gave the woman a more detailed explanation of the last two days of his life, answering a multitude of her questions as he talked. She in turn gave him a short geography and history lesson of her immediately surrounding area. After they talked for several minutes, she said, “Aye, ‘tis as I surmised. You appear to be a World Walker from wherever this Earth is. Unless you are very powerful and lucky I suspect you will be like those others who have walked between the worlds before and will remain with us now.

“Rest, Sire while I lay my first man to rest then I will prepare your supper. Perhaps you will know what you desire to do after that.”

Jon still felt the effects of his illness and the blows Ted delivered before he went to sleep and woke up wherever he now was. Between those two problems and the energy he expended since he arrived wherever he was he was just too tired to move, much less help with the three bodies.

When the woman started out the door, Jon said, “I’m sorry uh ... Say, what is your name anyway? I’m sorry, I don’t remember it if you told me before.”

“My name is Beatrice, Sire. Most just calls me Bea though if it please you.”

“Great Bea. As I started to say, I’m sorry I can’t help you right now. Between the illness I have and the energy I expended on those two men I’m just too whipped to move right now. If you want, we can wait to take care of them until I’m better and can help.”

Bea looked scandalized and said sharply, “Oh NO Sire. I couldn’t allow that. ‘Tis my duty to care for you and your well being. Now that you have vanquished those who killed my man, this is all yours. I will take care of the trash and my prior man then return shortly to prepare your meal. Just you rest and do whatever wizards do Sire.”

Bea picked up a wooden shovel from beside the door and went to the edge of the yard where she began digging a grave for her husband. Jon watched through the open door for a moment then staggered to the rickety bed in one corner of the small building. He sat, then quickly lay on the bed, asleep almost before he got comfortable.

After an indeterminate amount of time Jon heard a noise close by and roused up. When he opened his eyes he saw Bea going through the pockets of the dead man closest to the bed. After the pockets were empty she removed all his clothes and began pulling him out the door.

Several minutes later, Bea returned and did the same to the other man. She was quickly back in the house, closed and barred the door before moving into the space clearly used as a kitchen. She stirred up the fire in the fireplace, pushed the arm holding a pot of something over it and began bustling around getting out bowls, spoons and some bread and cheese while the pot of food warmed over the fire. Jon had no idea of the time but he knew it was getting late because the sun had almost set and the shadows were long.

Jon forced himself to rise and sit on the edge of the bed. After leaning on his forearms, braced on his knees for a while, he rose and slowly made his way to the small table where he pulled a chair out and sat watching Bea work. He and she talked as she watched the pot of warming food, occasionally stirring it. Each learning more about the other as they waited. Jon learned more about his new location during the conversation as well.

From what Jon could determine, the natives called their planet Earth also, but he didn’t recognize any of the names of the nations or cities. He decided the society roughly corresponded to medieval times on the Earth he knew. There was a rigid class structure with the gentry, royalty and peasants. There was a small class of more well to do merchants as well. The main difference between the two Earths was in the realm of magic. On Jon’s home Earth, magic (he assumed but now questioned) was just a superstition while on this Earth, magic actually worked if Be a was to be believed!

It seemed there was several different types or classes of magic and people who practiced it. Wizards were at the top of the heap, Hedge Witches the bottom, least powerful, more like those who used natural remedies at the dawn of time. Wizards could do powerful magic spells such as Bea said Jon did when he killed the two men attacking her with his magic blows. There were alchemists who made concoctions of one type or another and there were witches and sorcerers who, mostly didn’t invent new spells or ways to use magic, but used the magic Wizards “invented”.

Jon decided if it was OK with Bea, he would hang around her place until he figured out what he could actually do and learned more about the world in which he found himself. He was shocked, however, when he mentioned this to her and she said, “Master, whatever you desire we shall do. This place now belongs to you, not me, so we can stay or go as you see fit. Women cannot own property or animals so if you do not take it, the next male who arrives and wants it will. When you kept those men from raping and killing me, you became my master as well. My father gave my hand to my late husband. Since you killed the man who killed him and rescued me, I have became yours.

“Should you not accept me, I become available for any who wants to take me or, if I am lucky I will starve or the beasts will take me before I can be taken by a cruel master in your absence.”

Bea looked scared when Jon muttered, “Well shit. What the fuck do I do now?”

Bea began crying and moaned, “You don’t want me? But what will I do now? I would have been better off if they had killed me. When it becomes known you rejected me my life won’t be worth living.”

“Crap. No, that’s not what I mean. I just don’t know how to handle all this. I’m sure you’re a great person and any man would be glad to have you but I have a life back where I came from. I was working to cure a very bad disease and caught it then when I came home early I found my wife fresh from bed with her new man and packing to leave me. Now I find myself here and I know almost nothing about this land, its people, or how to survive here if I can’t get back home. Hell, I’m not even sure I want to go back home after what I came home to.”

“Master why don’t you take some time and think about everything. I prepared our evening meal. After we eat you can relax and decide what needs to be done next and how to do it. Do you even know how to get back to your old home if you decide that is the place we should go?”

Jon realized she was right. He wasn’t sure how he even got here and if he was honest, he hadn’t been too happy back there. Maybe this world would be better? It was awfully primitive though. He sat and watched Bea work while he thought. Finally the simple meal was ready and they ate, his mind still going a mile a minute.

After the meal Bea cleaned up and a suddenly exhausted Jon staggered back to the small bed. He was asleep almost before he got laid down. Sometime during the night he woke to go to the bathroom and found Bea snuggled up beside him. He was already out of bed before he realized there was no bathroom to go to. He stood in indecision for a moment then shrugged his shoulders. He really had to go so staggered to the door, opened it and moved several steps into the small yard before letting his urine go.

After he finished Jon went back inside and carefully barred the door once again before climbing back into bed with Bea.

Jon woke to Bea moving around the small kitchen area building up the fire and preparing breakfast. He watched her for a moment then once again felt the need to piss and got out of bed. He walked to the door, opened it and went outside to do his business. This time he walked around the side of the small house and pissed against a tree.

When Jon got back into the house Bea looked to be sure he latched the door then said, “Master, why were you up last night? When I woke I found you on the opposite side of me from when I came to bed. I first thought you made water but the chamber pot was dry.”

“I had to uh, make water as you call it. I didn’t know where to go so I stepped outside and away from the house to do it.”

Bea’s face whitened and she gasped, “OH, Master! Do not do that. It is dangerous outdoors after dark. Wild animals and spirits abound in the dark forrest. ‘Tis why we have yonder chamber pot,” she said pointing at a round object pushed underneath a small table beside the bed.

After a small, plain breakfast of some type cereal Bea said, “Now Master, I will clean up here then go about my work in the fields. Should you need anything, merely call and I will come.”

“What can I do to help Bea?”

“Oh, nothing Sire. ‘Twould be unseemly for you to dirty your hands on such work as I will be doing this morn. Mayhap you should do whatever wizards such as yourself normally do?”

“Uh, yeah, OK. And for the last time, call me Jon. I’ve told you over and over to cut out the Master and Sire shit.”

“Oh, please Sire, it wouldn’t be proper at all.”

“Well I don’t care. That’s what I want and you said you would do whatever I told you to do. If it means that much to you, you can call me Master or Sire in public. That’s as far as I will give in.”

“Yes, Jon. Now, unless you need something from me I must be off to the fields.” She caressed her bosom and gave Jon a sultry look before saying, “Anything at all.” Bea watched Jon a moment before she turned and left for the fields.

Jon found a comfortable place beside the nearby stream and sat in the shade watching the water flow past while he thought about his situation. Magic, he thought. Supposedly it works here. I wonder how I can do magic? Something sure smashed those two men yesterday. Hummm. Jon spent several hours thinking about magic and trying different things to see if they worked. To his surprise, he was able to do some “magic”. He could move light weight items with a thought and could make small pebbles move with some speed and hit where he wanted to hit. He tried to make things appear and found if he knew the chemical formula of an item he could “conger” something that at least looked like that item part of the time.

The few chemical concoctions he “made” seemed to be items where the components were more readily available. He surmised the raw materials needed to be present before his “magic” could combine them in the proper amounts for the item to be made. It seemed if he visualized the chemical formula and arrangement of the atoms for an item it would form if the ingredients were available. In any event, by the time evening came around his stomach was growling from hunger, his ass was sore from sitting on the hard ground and his head ached once again from the strain of doing what he was now willing to admit was magic.

Jon, being the Geekish Nerd he was, found himself completely immersed in the study of this, new to him, idea of magic. He was so engrossed in this study he completely forgot his desire to return to civilization or even to the nearest town to report the assault and murder of Bea’s husband. As he delved further into the new phenomenon he became more adept. Perhaps, naturally, he found his abilities centered on the magic related to chemistry and biology, the areas in which he trained and obtained his Doctorate although he could also form more common items if he was familiar enough with them and had the materials.

By this time, Jon was completely over his bout of Covid 19 and was feeling the needs of a healthy young body. He found himself paying more and more attention to Bea’s body and found himself drawn to her personality as well. She seemed to be very caring and was definitely a hard worker. At night, sharing the small bed her touches always left him sexually aroused.

One evening Bea announced it was bathing day and stripped naked then bathed in front of Jon. Afterward, she put on her night gown and crawled into bed with him as normal. This time, instead of backing up to his body and spooning before dropping off to sleep she reached for his cock and began playing with it.

Jon reached down and grabbed her hands before asking, Bea, what are you doing?”

“Surely you know that Jon. A man your age and as handsome as you are has surely bedded more than his share of women. I have waited for you to take me as is your right but, even though I have seen and felt your need, you have not done your duty. Tonight, I am taking you at your word and am asking you for the help you offered me before. I have female needs, needs only a man can satisfy.”