Chapter 1

Gordon Samms was dying. He knew it, the doctors knew it, his family knew it. He was the twelfth richest man in America, but with all his wealth, all his power, his eighty-seven year old body could no longer be made to work as it once had.

He moved, seeking to sit up in bed. The nurse, in a chair by the wall, looked up and put down her book.

Rising, coming to him she asked, "Do you need something, Mr. Samms?"

"Help me sit up. I want to look out the window."

He turned to the window. It was his least favorite time of year, late autumn. The sky was overcast, the trees bare of leaves, the broad lawns of the estate more gray than green. Soon, the snow would come, covering the somber autumn scene with white. Would he live to see it?

His body didn't move, just his eyes. The nurse stayed by his bed for a moment, then seeing he didn't need her any longer, returned to her chair and picked up her book.

He must have dozed off. He woke to his wife kissing his cheek. "Time for your dinner," she said cheerfully.

He watched Karen place the tray on his bedside table. She was younger than him, much younger, and still good looking. Well, no use thinking about that, he told himself. There hadn't been any sex for a long time; his fault, the fault of his deteriorating body.

She talked as she fed him the soup, really just broth, that was his dinner. His children and grandchildren would be coming this weekend. (Would he still be here?). They were probably coming for a last look at the old man.

Well, the will was signed, the bequests made. His children should be satisfied. Maybe they would be, they weren't so bad. He was the one most responsible for raising them, devoting as much time as he could to his family. He was strict, hard, but fair with them, like he treated his employees, like he treated everyone.

The soup finished, she kissed his cheek again, "Good night, darling," Karen said. "I'll see you in the morning."

"Yes, see you in the morning," he said. Slowly taking her hand in his, bending his head as much as he could, raising her hand to his lips, he kissed it. "I love you, Karen," he said, looking up at her face, seeing her eyes filling with tears.

"I love you, Gordon," her voice soft, bending to softly kiss his lips. "You sleep now. I'm sure you'll feel better tomorrow."

The nurse gave him his medicine. He sat up for a while longer looking out the window, till the light began to fade outside with the approach of dusk, coming earlier and earlier now.

"I want to sleep, now," he told the nurse, lifting his back so she could adjust his pillows, then lying back. She turned down the lights, waited until it was time for her relief, then stepped out the door and was replaced by the night nurse, who took her seat in the same chair and leafed through a magazine while Gordon slept.

Later, the nurse dozed in her chair. Gordon was asleep, his breathing loud but regular. In his sleep, he stirred, turned, and coughed, then coughed again, louder.

Quickly, the nurse was out of her chair and at his bed. The monitor was shrieking as she raised his head. Gordon coughed again, deeply, then there was a gasp, followed by another weaker cough, and then he was gone ... dead.

Gordon opened his eyes to bright sunlight. He turned his head toward the source. The light wasn't pouring through the glazed window in the bedroom of his mansion, it was coming through a wide open window cut into a hewn rock wall.

"Where ... where am I?" he asked, his voice low, rough.

Quickly, a man was bending over him, touching his forehead. "It worked, you're awake, you're here. How do you feel?"

Gordon raised his head. "Weak, and thirsty, very thirsty."

A women he hadn't noticed held a cup to his lips. He wanted to gulp the water, but she said, "Slowly, sip the water slowly, Kazar."

After a few sips, she took the cup away, and Gordon lay back looking at the man and woman leaning over him. "Where am I, and who are you?"

"Kazar, we're so happy you're back to us. I am Sai, your..." Whatever she was about to say was cut off by a quick gesture from the man.

"I am Pahlgar, healer and alchemist," the man said. "Who are you?"

"I'm Gordon Samms," looking down at his body, "or I was." Gordon had read enough science fiction and fantasy in his youth to have an idea of what might have happened to him. "I'm someone else now, right? I was dying, but I'm not dead. And I'm not speaking English, I'm speaking another language, and I don't know how."

"That is correct," Pahlgar answered. "You are in another world, another universe, different from yours, but I think you will find it similar in many ways. This world, our world, is called Yar, and you are in Dravnar Castle. It was I who summoned your spirit to this body in our world. In your world you were a powerful man, a great lord, a leader of men, were you not?"

"Yes, in a way, though there were no lords."

Pahlgar smiled. "Here you are a great lord. I am sure you are the kind of man I sought, a strong leader who can take the place of Kazar, Lord of Dravnar and Dragon Lord."

"And you are my beloved husband," Sai said softly, her eyes bright.

"Can you stand if we help you?" Pahlgar asked.

"I think so, if I can get some more water." Sai let him sip from the cup till the water was gone. Then, as he raised his arms, "What have you got me in?" Gordon asked, looking at the strange object in which he was lying.

Pahlgar took one arm, Sai the other, and together they helped him. "It's the crystal couch," Pahlgar answered, helping him to a large, wooden chair. As he sat down, Pahlgar continued, "The power of the crystal allowed me to move your spirit here, to the body of Lord Kazar."

Sai kept hold of his hand, even while he was sitting on the chair. "How do you feel?" she asked, the concern obvious in her tone.

"I think I'm well, but I'm kind of weak. I felt shaky walking just these few steps." While answering, Gordon looked at the large room, walls of gray stone, with a huge bed at one end, weapons, shields hanging from the walls.

"That's to be expected," Pahlgar said. "You were more than a ten-day on the crystal couch."

Gordon looked from Pahlgar to the woman. "Can I eat something?"

"He can have some cha," Pahlgar said to Sai.

She let go of Gordon's hand, then walked across the room and exited through the double doors in the wall opposite the windows, closing them behind her.

Gordon looked at Pahlgar. "Tell me why you did this."

Pahlgar stared at Gordon for a second. "Through magic, Lord Kazar's spirit, his will, was taken from him, destroyed. I used the crystal couch to find the spirit of the man who could take his place. Only Sai and I know what has been done. No one else must know."

Sai returned with another mug. Carefully closing the doors, she crossed the room and handed it to Gordon. "Drink slowly, Kaz," she admonished.

The cha was red, hot and with a spicy, herbal flavor. Gordon took another sip, before asking, "How can I keep it secret? I know nothing of your world, or of this Kazar whose body I'm inhabiting."

Pahlgar looked into Gordon's face. "Lord Kazar's spirit, his will, is gone, but all his knowledge, his memories remain inside the body and brain where your spirit now resides. Slowly, all the memories, the knowledge will come to you. But your will, your spirit, will remain." He looked at Sai. "The Lord Kazar we knew is gone forever. You will be a new Lord Kazar. But no one else must know."

Gordon turned his head, looking at the woman. "How do you feel about a changed husband, Sai?"

She stared into his eyes as she answered. "Everyone changes over time. You, Kazar, changed when you became Dragon Lord. I will love you and serve you as your loyal wife as long as we live."

Tentatively, she moved closer to him. When he touched her arm, she took his face in her hands, gently kissing his cheek. As Gordon dropped his hand, Sai softly brushed his lips with hers, then moved back, a small smile on her face as he sipped at the cha, cooler now, until he finished the spicy drink. Handing her the empty mug, "Can I have something more substantial now?" he asked Pahlgar.

With Pahlgar's approval, Sai brought him soup, rich and with that same spicy flavor he found in the cha. The soup finished, with Pahlgar on one side and Sai on the other, they walked him around the room, exercising his weakened muscles. On the second circuit, as they passed one of the two open windows, he paused to look out, seeing that the castle was on a hill, a small, walled town at the foot, a rough road leading to the sea. There were figures working in the surrounding fields, throons he thought, the name coming unbidden from Kazar's memory.

By the time he finished his third circuit of the large room, he was feeling much stronger, though he was covered in sweat. Gordon hadn't realized how warm it was here, almost tropical. "Kazar, you need a bath," Sai said, leading him to a door in the wall opposite the bed, Pahlgar agreeing that he would be safe with just Sai helping.

The bathroom was large, the marble tub sunk into the floor. The corner toilet was a hole in the floor, not the sit-down commode Gordon was accustomed to. Sai helped him take off his sweaty gown, waited while he pissed down the hole. Finished, he turned to Sai. "When I was asleep for so long, how... ?"

"Pahlgar and I together cared for you. He knows what to do." Smiling, "It wasn't so bad, no worse than with a child." Still smiling, she took his arm, and helped him into the tub, already filled with warm water.

As he sat in the water, cooling off, feeling his strained muscles relax, "Tell me about you, about us," he ordered.

Kneeling on the floor beside him, she said, "As you know I am your wife, and I'm the mother of your sons."

He looked at her. "We have children?"

A look of pride came over her face. "Two sons, Nikkar is six and Maikalla is four. We were married after you became Dragon Lord. I am the daughter of the Lord of Kragnar, and we were promised to each other as children, but our marriage was delayed until you returned from your time with the dragons."

"What do you know about the dragons?"

A slight frown crossed her brow. "I only know they are very powerful. Kazar, you are the Dragon Lord. You have knowledge of the dragons in you, and I know when you need that knowledge, it will be there."

He turned to look at her, Sai, his wife. Her face was lovely, with high cheek bones, a fine nose, full lips, expressive, brown eyes, with a slight epicanthic fold. Her hair was long, wavy, dark brown. As he stared at her, she turned her head away, then turned back to look at him, her lips forming a small smile.

"Where are our sons now?" he asked.

"They are in the women's quarters. Your lady mother and your other wives are caring for them."

"I have other wives? How many, who are they?"

"Two others," Sai replied. "I am your first, though the lowest in rank. Almost two years ago, the king gave you his niece, the Lady Tanna as your wife, she is second in rank. And this year, the king gave Princess Lohrai to you. She's the youngest, but the highest in rank because she's the daughter of the king." Pausing, "I'm your only wife to have given you children, so far," she said with a smile.

I had three wives in my previous life, he thought, just not all at the same time. But to receive two royal brides within about a year, why?

Picking up the jar of liquid soap, Sai began to wash Gordon. As she washed him, he continued questioning her, learning his father was dead, killed by the Sabors, barbarians who, Gordon gathered, their kingdom of Almanar was more or less constantly at war with.

While Gordon was sitting in the tub, Sai handed him a small stick and a piece of cloth saturated with a blue liquid. "What's this?" he asked.

"For your teeth," she said, smiling as Gordon struggled to clean his teeth with the unusual device. He got the hang of it after a while, or remembered how to do it. Sai gave him a cup of water to rinse his mouth, he slid under the water once more, then told Sai he was clean enough.

His bath finished, he was happy to find he could climb out of the tub without needing Sai's help. After she toweled him dry, naked, Gordon stepped in front of the mirror, a large sheet of polished metal hanging from a wall, but the reflection was clear enough to give a good idea of what this new body was like.

This body, his new body, was about thirty years old he estimated. His skin was darker than before, not black, more gold, like a deep tan. He was definitely bigger, taller, he guessed at least six feet (in his previous life he had been below average height), and more muscular. His sandy hair was shoulder length, all awry now after being washed. His penis was whole (on earth he had been circumcised), and large, even larger than would be explained by his body size. His legs were muscular, matching his arms and chest. His face was handsome, his brown eyes slightly slanted. He touched the whiskers covering his face and remembered Pahlgar was clean-shaven, so he guessed shaving was customary here.