Silver
by SupMario

Chapter 3

I awoke under the same tree as before and found Raven huddled over a small
fire, cooking something.  Whatever it was, it smelled wonderful, and it
reminded me that it had been a long time since I'd eaten anything.  Night
had fallen, and there was a chillin the air.

I got up and walked over to her and sat beside her, glad for the warmth
of the fire.  She smiled at me and offered me some meat which I took
gladly.  She said it was roast orc, whatever that is.  Tasted like chicken.

After our meal, I asked where Arianna had gone, and Raven was quiet for a
minute, and then looked up at me with guilty expression on her face.

"She has gone to fetch her teacher, the old wizard.  He should be able to
get you home.  Thank you for helping me in my .. ah, need."  She looked
down at her hands and blushed crimson.  "Ever since I got this curse, I
have to mate every month or I start getting nasty.  The tiger I turn into
gets really bloodthirsty if I don't have .. um, well mate.  And it can't be
with just anybody either.  It has to be with my um, well uh..."

She looked over at me and blushed again.  "It has to be with someone I'm
in love with."  She looked down at the ground, embaressed at her revelation.
Before I could even *begin* to digest that remark, she continued.

"Your other self, um the one from this world was my uh.. husband.  He was
a sorcerer just like his half-sister Arianna.  I'm supposed to take you to
her father's keep tomorrow, by the way."

She sat back and looked at me, trying to gauge my reaction to her news.  To
be honest, I didn't know what to think.  I mean wizards and elves and ...
My thoughts went back to Raven.  She had been married to me.  Well, my other
self had been.  It was kind of confusing.

"Raven, uh about what we did earlier.  Um, what if you got pregnant?"

She beamed at me when I mentioned it.  "Oh I hope so!  That would be grand!!
Oh but I guess you wouldn't know, would you?  You see, my curse, the
lycanthropy, is a special case.  I can only be cured by having your baby.
Well, his.  When we first met, I was a bitter enemy of your other selve's,
and ... well that's all you need know right now.  But yes, if I concieved,
I'd be cured."

She was visibly upset, and refused to talk anymore, as she transformed into
the tiger and curled up near the fire and went to sleep.  I laid down beside
her and fell asleep sooner than I expected.  I awoke once during the night,
having to relieve myself and when I returned to the fire, she was a girl
once again.  I curled up to her and fell asleep once again, only to wake
up seemingly minutes later when morning arrived.

We set off at a good pace through the forest and in no time flat came out
of the forest into a grassy field.  I could see what looked like a small
castle in the distance, and we headed towards it.  As we got nearer to it,
I noticed it wasn't a proper castle at all, it looked like the whole thing
had grown right out of the ground!  The walls of the place were actually
trees grown together.  The closer we got to it, the more impressive it
seemed.  It wasn't long before I could see people walking about doing their thing, 
carrying things or leading animals to and fro.  Most of them were elves but I 
could see lots of different races there as well, some of which I could only guess 
at what they were.

Raven led me to the gatehouse and we entered the keep with a minimum of fuss
once they saw her.  She led me through a tangle of corridors where we
passed elven guards who were extremely suprised to see me.  Or at least they
gave me some very weird looks.

Raven was being quiet through this whole trip and I was about to ask her
something when we arrived in a large chamber.  Two guards bade us enter,
and we walked in and walked towards a group of people who were gathered
around a great table, talking amongst themselves.

When we arrived at the foot of the table, they stopped and looked at us.
Raven nodded her head at the old looking one in the middle and then
introduced me.  "Lord Everland this is Paul Silver.  Paul this is Lord
Everland, Overseer of the great forest."

I studied the old elf carefully.  He had greying blonde hair, intense blue
eyes and a mile-wide grin that assured me he was a friendly sort.  They all
seemed rather nice and I assure you all those nasty rumours you've heard
about elves are complete hogwash.

Raven told them about her finding me in the forest and how she had contacted
Arianna and shown me to her.  They talked long and hard about it and I
answered more questions than I'd care to recall, but they were nice enough
about it.  We had lunch with them and then they allowed us to depart.  We
went through a maze of corridors again (this place was a lot bigger than it
seemed from the outside) and arrived at a room and entered.

It turned out that Raven had her own room there at the keep because of her
relationship with Arianna.  She sat me down and explained a little about the
surrounding area and its people.  This was the heart of elven country.  To
the east was a dwarven village and to the south was a human settlement.

There was a halfling settlement to the north and a silver dragon lived in a
big cave to the north-east.  I asked her about the dragon.  She assured me
that it was a kind dragon who mostly slept all the time.

"Raven what happened to my other self?"

She looked up at me and was silent for a few minutes, perhaps collecting
her thoughts.

"He had gone on a quest to slay a medusa who was terrorizing a human
city far to the east.  He was gone for several months with no word from
him until one day we revieved a message that simply stated that the medusa
had killed him and that we weren't to go anywhere near there or else.  Of
course, a rescue party was sent but never found anything.  Silver was assumed
dead, until you showed up."

We talked for a while longer and decided to go to bed, after the hectic day
we'd had.  She stripped and entered the bed, patting the mattress beside her.
I did the same and we fell asleep in each other's arms.

When we awoke in the morning, we went to a long hall fitted with tables that
were filled with food and drink.  There were people sitting in large groups
eating and drinking, laughing all the while.  Raven led me over to a empty
table and we ate a big breakfast while I told Raven more about myself and
where I came from.  She seemed very fasdcinated by my tales of cars,
computers, and radios.

After a little while, Arianna showed up with an old man walking beside her.
He was dressed in a long blue robe and had all sorts of things poking out of
the many pockets on the robe.  He walked up to me and shook my hand, smiling
at me.

"I am Grevlok.  I see that you have met Arianna already.  I suppose you have
many questions, come lets talk.  I think you are going to be suprised at some
of the things you are about to learn."  He grinned wickedly at me and we
walked out of the dining hall and walked for a few minutes until we came to a
small door set into the wall, which was strange since the elven keep didn't
seem to HAVE any doors, just doorways with curtains.

Grevlok rapped his knuckles on the door three times and it opened inward
revealing a big study of some kind.  We walked in and he closed the door
behind us, which vanished once he closed it, weird.

"Arianna, why don't you and Raven go amuse yourselves while I have a talk
with our young friend here."  He gave Arianna a stern glance and she led
Raven out of the room.  When they were gone, he indincated for me to sit
on a small couch while he sat opposite me in a small recliner.

"Well my boy.  So you found your way into our world by accident?  Well, I
have a revelation for you.  I'm from your world as well.  There are gateways
into this world from Earth, in fact there are a number of them, but most of
them are closed off on this side so people don't come waltzing in like
tourists.  The one you fell through is an unstable one, and isn't there most
of the time.  What part of the country are you from?"

"Maine."

"Ah yes, I used to live not too far from there myself actually.  That would
answer that, as it seems.  Hmm, well, for one thing as Raven has probably
already told you, you had an alternate self that lived in this world,
but has been, presumedly, killed.  This opened the door, so to speak, for you
to enter our world.  Now we just have to get you home.  As I said, there are
a number of gateways that lead to your world, and others that lead to even
more worlds even stranger than this, believe it or not.  I have one here in
my tower that I use occasionally when I want to cross over and visit friends
on your world.  I see no reason why you couldn't use that one."

I sighed with relief, and he smiled at me and pointed a bony finger at me.
"The question, my dear boy, is do you *want* to leave, hmm?"

I thought about that for a second.  Sure, it might be excting to stay in this
world of elves, wizards, and dragons, but I did want to go home and see his
family.

"Well, why can I go home and visit my family then come back?"

Grevlok gave me a wink and smiled.  "No reason at all, my boy.  I can give
you instructions on how to get back into this world once you've crossed
back over."

I talked to Grevlok for over an hour.  He gave me a ring to wear that would
allow me through the gateway.  He told more about my alternate self.  Silver
had been Grevlok's apprentice and had become quite a powerful wiard in his
own right.  His half-sister Arianna was almost as powerful, although she
used different types of magic than Silver did, or something to that effect.
apparently, Silver and Raven had only been married for a few months when he
died.  It struck me as odd that they had married, it seems, on the same day
that Aunt Sarah had died.

When we were through talking, I went through the doorway and found Raven and
Arianna talking quietly.  I entered the room and they stood up, smiling at
me.  Arianna cocked her head at me and grinned.  "Well, how'd it go, Paul?
Is Grevlok going to get you home?"

"Yeah, I'm leaving within the hour."  Raven looked sad when I said this and
sat down, looking glum.  Arianna knew when to butt out, and left the room
quietly, winking at me.  She knew I had some cheering up to do.

I sat down beside Raven and took her hand in mine.  "Raven, would you like
to come with me?  Your curse won't work on my world.  And I'd like you to
meet my family.  Would you like to go with me?"

She looked at me and smiled, then fell into my arms, hugging me furiously.
"Oh, I'd love to, thanks."

So, all preperations in order, me and Raven had Grevlok spell us through the
gateway and we found ourselves in the forest by my Uncle's house.  We were
standing in the pit that I had fell in when I had entered Raven's world.  On
this side, it was hardly a pit all, just a small dip in the ground.  We
walked around the lake and found the clearing that me and Diane had gone to
lots of times that summer.

We followed the trail and I soon found myself nearing Uncle Jack's house,
with Raven walking behind me.  I walked in the kitchen door and there was
my mom, cutting up vegetables for a salad.

"Where have you been young man?  You weren't home at all last night."  It
was only then that she saw Raven standing behind me.  "And who is your
friend?"

Oh boy.

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