Chapter 4

We didn't get to see Grandfather Michael until well after noontime. We joined him in his private parlor when summoned.

"Good afternoon, Grandfather," we both said in greeting after being told to enter.

"Well, what do you think of us after spending your first night here, and scaring the staff half to death?" he asked with a grin.

"The scaring part wasn't intentional," I told him.

"Maybe not on your part," Pat told him in a disgruntled voice.

"And just what is the problem?" Grandfather asked, concerned. "Aren't the girls pretty enough? Didn't they treat you well?"

"It's not really any of that," I assured him. "It's not that we don't enjoy sex, and most of the girls were very sweet and passionate. The problem is the idea of getting them pregnant, and then leaving O'Connell children here to be raised by others," I explained.

"Ah... !" Grandfather said. "I see. It's the responsibility that bothers you."

"That, and not knowing what will happen to them, or seeing them," Pat said quietly, and not at all like himself.

"You could always remain here to keep an eye on them. We could use two Wizards with your level of Talent," Grandfather told us. "Do you know what your level of Talent is?" he inquired after a few seconds of silence.

"According to the Eternal Flame, most Senior Masters in our Reality would rate a six on his scale. Grandfather O'Connell would be a ten on that scale. Our parents would all be rated at one hundred on the same scale while our Aunts would be a ninety. We and our four Sisters would be rated at a thousand, and our Cousins would be nine hundred. At least that is what the Eternal Flame told us," I finished.

"And I ... I'm not sure that remaining here is possible. The Eternal Flame only said that It had a mission for us, but It didn't indicate that the mission would involve a permanent move here," Pat told him a little nervously.

"I see," Grandfather said thoughtfully. "Just what is this mission that you are here for? Did the Eternal Flame tell you?"

"It told us that there were problems involving those lacking the Talent who were working to suppress young people with strong Talents, so that they could eventually take control of the kingdom themselves," I told him.

"It also said that they were greedy men who didn't realize that there were those in this Reality who would be glad to see your kingdom weakened, so that they could take portions of it for themselves using their own Magic," Pat finished.

"That's very interesting. It would seem then that there are two groups working towards this," Grandfather Michael said.

"Maybe more than two," Pat told him.

"More than... !!" Grandfather asked.

"Internal and external groups," Pat told him.

"Yes. The Persians and the Chinese suggest themselves immediately, as ones that would like to see us weakened," Grandfather suggested. "but internal groups?"

"No idea," I answered. "We aren't familiar with your internal politics."

"Ah yes! ... It would take me a year, at least, to go over all of the background and details of the various power groups, or factions in the Union, so you would have a complete understanding of it. It's that complicated, but just let me say that there are always those who are seeking to expand the area that they control or extend their influence. I am unsure, however, just how much any of them would want to weaken the Union. What would they gain from that?" he asked mystified.

"If the more Easterly parts of the Union were to be taken over by some external group, there would be fewer factions in addition to a less extended area to govern, or worry about," I suggested.

"That is a possibility. I will admit that our control of the most Easterly areas is rather tenuous at the best of times," Grandfather agreed.

"Still," he continued more forcefully, "They represent an area of considerable wealth and trade. They supply many things that we don't have here, and we in turn supply them with things that they can't make or don't have."

"Are they troublesome to govern?" I asked.

"Somewhat. It's a problem of the distances involved, and the fact that many of their peoples are considerably less civilized than we are, or at least they pretend to be," he finished with another grin.

"Yes, we can appreciate that," Pat replied. "There are many in our Reality who are supposed to be civilized, but who are more barbaric and backwards than those who are in fact less civilized. It's a problem that we haven't solved even with all of our schools, churches, and laws."

"It's also one of the reasons that we have a Realm of our own. So that we needn't deal with them," I added.

"A Realm of your own?" Grandfather asked in surprise.

"Yes, it was prepared for us by the Eternal Flame in the 15th century in our time line. Our Parents moved all of our Grandparents' and their siblings' houses plus their own there. They moved our Grandparents' businesses and their employees' houses in addition to moving their employees there. It was shortly before you appeared to bring Grandmother Laura here," Pat told him.

"So they have been living there for what ... going on twenty years?" he asked.

"Not quite twenty years," I answered.

"And do you still interact with other people of your Reality?" he asked.

"Oh yes. We are still in the book printing business. It seems that Magic doesn't transfer well electronically. When the spells are used, the electronics that they are recorded on tend to shut down ... permanently. So books are still preferred by most Sorcerers in our Reality. Our Grandparents started the publishing business nearly forty years ago," Pat told him.

"That's very interesting," Grandfather said. "Our books are still laboriously copied by hand. I always marveled at the way that your people turned out books and magazines literally by the millions, but it was all so complicated, and required large metal presses and electricity to run them, so I never considered trying to start them here."

"Our Great-uncle Frank, in the Otherworld, prints books without any of that. He uses a press made mostly of wood, and moveable type made of lead. Good paper is the thing that you need the most for printing. That and quick drying ink," I told him.

"That's very interesting. Perhaps we can pursue it when your present mission has been accomplished," Grandfather told us. "When do you intend to start on your mission and where?" he continued.

"The Eternal Flame wasn't very specific on that," Pat told him.

"So you don't know where you will be starting?" he asked, surprised.

"No!" I answered. "We thought that you might have some idea of where the problem was festering."

"Oh, I could suggest any number of factions or groups that COULD be responsible, but I have no direct knowledge of any group actually participating, or directing what you have described. Its results are very visible however. Do you have any idea how they are accomplishing this suppression of young Talent," he asked.

"No, we have no knowledge on that either!" Pat answered in exasperation.

"We have several days yet to figure it out," Grandfather told us. "There will be a State Dinner to welcome you the day after tomorrow. Hopefully, you will have determined something by then."

"Could we get a map of the Union to look at? Perhaps that would suggest something, or at least a starting point," I asked.

"Yes, of course. We have some excellent maps of the Union. Eastern or Western half?" he asked.

"Western half for now. The Eastern half would be a long journey, and it would be difficult for them to suppress those with Talent in the Western half from there," Pat told him.

Grandfather sent for several maps of the Western half of their Union. There was a large overall map and a number of smaller more detailed maps of each region. They extended from the Atlantic coast of Ireland in the west all of the way to Moscow in the East, and from near the Arctic Circle in the North to the Bosporus in the South. Pat and I went over all of them that afternoon with no indication, or clue as to where to start our investigation. We returned to our rooms that night after dinner very frustrated.

Again that night, we were each visited by three good looking young girls, who were more than ready to join us in bed for sex. Neither of us kept a girl for the night although all of the girls had been passionate enough. We were too distracted now by the need to determine where to look for our quarry.

The next day we again spent considerable time going over the maps without any indication of where to look or even when. It was very frustrating, and we wondered why the Eternal Flame had brought us here, but given us so little to go on in our quest.

It was early that evening, after finishing a splendid dinner, that neither Pat nor I had really tasted, that our Grandfather invited us back to his private parlor, again.

"Do you play darts?" he asked expectantly after the doors had closed.

"Darts!?" Pat and I both asked.

"Yes. I learned the game while in Denver, and found it very relaxing. I bought several target boards, and a number of sets of darts. I brought them back with me along with a number of my most useful reference books. Laura and I usually play several times a month," Grandfather told us.

"Several of the older people that work for our parents played darts, but we haven't played much, though we watched quite a few games when we were younger," I told him.

"Join me in a game, but you can't use Magic. It must be your own skill that produces the results," Grandfather told us. He opened a cabinet on the wall that we had barely noticed before. It contained the target and a number of sets of darts. Some were obviously machine made, but several sets were just as obviously handmade.

We played darts for about an hour. Grandfather was very good and consistently outscored us. By the end of the hour, Pat and I were better, but still nowhere as good as he was. It was while we were playing the last game that the wild idea came to me. It was like a light suddenly turning on.

"Help me put the general map up on the wall," I told Pat, as I reached for the map that was still on the desk. There were some pins there also, and we soon had the map of the Western part of the Union up on the wall.

"What are we doing?" Pat asked, mystified.

"An experiment!" I told him.

"Experiment?" he asked, questioningly.

"Yes! To see if the Eternal Flame will indicate where to start," I told him.

"Start... ?" Pat asked before understanding. "But how?" he asked, confused.

"I'll simply toss the dart over my shoulder, and we'll see where it lands," I told him.

"No aiming?" he asked.

"No! No aiming. Just pure chance. We'll even close our eyes before we toss the dart," I told him.

"Okay! You go first. I want to see what happens," Pat insisted.

Standing about where the middle of the map was and five feet from it, I turned my back to the map on the wall, closed my eyes, and tossed the dart over my shoulder. There was a soft thud, and I turned around. The tip of the dart was embedded in Frankfurt on the map.

"Is it here?" Pat asked, thoroughly confused by where the dart had landed.

"That is where we are. If it were active here, I believe that Grandfather would have detected something by now. No, I believe Frankfurt is our starting point," I told him. "You go ahead and toss the dart and we'll see what you get."

"All right!" Pat agreed, took his place, turned his back, closed his eyes, and tossed the dart over his shoulder. I was amazed at what the dart did. It came over his shoulder tumbling, and then flew straight for the map before suddenly dropping and landing point first, pinning itself to the map at the town of Dijon in the Duchy of Burgundy.

"I'll bet you couldn't do that again," I told him in amazement.

"Do what?" Pat asked turning to see where the dart had landed. "Damn!" he said on seeing the location.

"Go ahead! You try again, Mike!" he told me. I took the dart, got in place again, closed my eyes, and tossed the dart over my shoulder. When I turned around, the dart was in the same location!

"Damn! The same spot!" I said in disbelief.

"Yes, and the strangest trajectory I've ever seen," Pat told me.

"What are you boys doing?" Grandfather asked returning, and seeing his map on the wall, and the darts in it.

"We're seeing if the Eternal Flame will help us decide where to go. You try it also, Grandfather," Pat told him, insistently.

"Well all right, but I don't need a bunch of holes in my wall," he told us. We helped him lineup, and explained what we had done. Grandfather flipped the dart over his shoulder. It landed in the same place again!

"Damn! That's three times out of three!" Pat said in awe.

"Is that where the trouble is?" Grandfather wondered.

"There is only one way to find out," I answered. "We'll take a little trip down there, and see what we can find."

"You can't leave until after the dinner tomorrow night though," Grandfather reminded us.

"No. That will give us time to plan the route, and our disguise. We certainly can't go as your Grandsons. We would never find out anything that way," Pat assured him.

"A disguise won't be hard to come up with. Young Wizards, after completing their initial test travel around as Apprentices, to work and study under various Masters until they gain sufficient knowledge to take their next test. After that, they usually study with just one Master in their chosen area of Magic," Grandfather told us. "Remember, books here are very expensive, and are only possessed by those wealthy enough to pay to have them copied."

After removing the map from the wall, and replacing the darts in the cabinet, we all retired to our separate rooms. Again that night, Pat and I were each visited by three new girls. Again they were all young, pretty, willing, and passionate. We didn't keep any of them for the night, but enjoyed the sex more than we had the previous night.

The next morning we returned to Grandfather's private parlor to plan out our trip. He appeared as we were studying the detailed maps of the area we would need to travel through.

"Do not try to do the entire journey by land," he advised us. "There are many boats on the numerous rivers. They make traveling much easier, and more comfortable," he advised us.

"Traveling downstream is easiest, as you are going with the current. For traveling upstream there are well defined tow paths along the major rivers for the teams of horses that pull the barges and passenger boats. There are hotels to stay at between towns for trips taking more than one day. The cost is low on the barges as they also transport cargo. Passengers are an added concession to help cover expenses. Passenger boats are a little more expensive, but are more convenient also faster," he informed us.

Pat and I spent considerable time studying the river systems shown on the maps before setting our itinerary. We would go from Frankfurt on the Main River to Mayonce where the Main joined the Rhine River, a distance of about 25 miles.

From Mayonce we would take the Rhine to Coblenx where the Moselle River joined the Rhine, a distance of about forty miles.

From Coblenx, we would take the Moselle to Treves, Metz, and Toul, a distance of one hundred and sixty miles more or less. We would stop in whatever hotels were necessary during the trip, and stop at each named city for at least a day to learn about the local Magic community. We would be sure to gather names to drop at other locations, and to make our journey seem more real to us, and to those that we met along the way. We wanted to appear to be the perfect personification of Magic Apprentices traveling to learn their trade.

From Toul, our journey was less easily determined. We could go overland from Toul to Dizier on the Marne River, a distance of forty miles, and then down the Marne to Chaumon and Langres, a distance of about fifty miles. From Langres, we would go over land to Dijon, a distance of another forty miles or so.

To remain on the Moselle after Toul would make it an even longer trip, and we dismissed it as it required us to go even further east, and we would then need to back track to our final destination. There was also the possibility of continuing overland from Toul to the Seine River at Troyes, but it too added more miles with little benefit other that being able to claim to have gone through Paris.

That afternoon, Grandfather brought a tailor in to measure us for clothing appropriate for Apprentice Wizards.

"Are they Irish?" the tailor demanded in apparent distaste on seeing our auburn hair and freckles.