Kyron the Invader is next (April hopefully)
My editor is going to finish Ostraya after she finishes Kyron so it can be handed to Pam Uphoff before publishing – hopefully in June or early July
The Princess and the Gangsters will follow
Then Taroniah at Bay followed by Kyron the Rescuer
These two will be followed by The Kelad Onslaught – the next New Federation book
The Taroniah at Risk and Kyron the Savior
By rights they should be followed by the next Princess book but I thinking I switch to my new Time Travel series involving a guy shipwrecked on the Maine Coast by a storm like the one in the movie The Final Countdown only he gets deposited in the 12th century in time to meet the Welsh colonists of Madoc ab Owain Gwynedd and his brother Rhodri. Madoc returns to Wales to gather more people and supplies but is never seen again.
The 21st century American – Rick Metsov – finds a medieval motte and bailey type wooden fort besieged by the local natives.
I am open to a vote for the next Princess book or the first book int he time travel series – let me know which you’d prefer…

Urasmian cocked his head slightly to the left while he considered this information and possibly Jason’s request. He didn’t really believe this shit, did he?

“No magic. Hmm.” He stared off into the distance for a moment, then his eyes re-focused, and he became alert again. “No. It is too strange here. I will return to Shcathor and deal with my enemies!”

He paused and smiled at Jason. It was the smile of a shark or perhaps a crocodile.

Chapter 2

Tales of elsewhere

“There are three of them. Garnios, his cousin Klimnos and that idiot Drexos. The three of them thought that by acting together, they would be strong enough to take me, and in truth, they were right, just. Mostly because I wasn’t expecting the attack, and they managed to get a spell through that sort of stunned me.” He paused and shook his head, looking more rueful than angry.

“Then my stupid sort of nephew mucked up the spell they used to transport me here. Because he was bound to me magically, he couldn’t kill me outright nor could he consciously help someone else do it. But they came up with this clever idea to transport me fifty klidak or herakios out over the ocean while I was stunned. Because the world is curved, I would have then fallen into the ocean from a great height, and if that didn’t kill me outright, then the stun spell would stop me from using magic to save myself, and I would consequently drown unless someone came to my assistance, which would be unlikely that far from shore. The whole plan was pushing the limits of the magical bond, and it may still have resulted in harm coming to him if I had actually died. I am not sure.”

He stared off into the distance for a moment, obviously considering the matter.

 “Be that as it may. Their stun spell didn’t quite work as they had planned, although it rendered me insensible for a sufficiently long enough time for my sort of nephew to work through the transport spell and send me away. Stupid klutz. The Keftu word for a klidak is very similar to their word for the whole world, and he got confused. Probably panicking, trying to get the spell off before I regained my power when he saw the stun spell hadn’t worked properly. Your people know the world is round?” Jason nodded, not wanting to interrupt the old fellow. “So, once I sort of got my senses back, I ran through the spell dopey Garnios used and realized he had used the word for the whole world, Herakias, instead of the word for the distance herakios, and so I came here, fifty Herakias to the west instead of fifty herakios. And then one of those metal chariots hit me, which knocked me senseless besides throwing me into that spot where you found me.”

It took Jason a moment to understand what the old man was describing, and then he started when it sank in what the old fellow meant. Fifty worlds, Earths, whatever. Seriously? He’d read lots of stories about there being a Multiverse, with alternate Earths, but like, they were stories, you know. If it weren’t for his suddenly acquired understanding of the Greekish language, he wouldn’t have believed a word of the tale. As it was, he had to consider the truth of the man’s claims, even if they did involve magic and multiple Earths.

Sorry its late – Had to get an MRI and forgot all about this

“Foreigner, hey. So how did you end up next to mugged near the Convention Centre? Were you at ARCon? Do you have a phone? Where are you staying?”

His words gradually slowed down and got louder in the way people frequently do when talking to foreigners, although he had no idea why speaking like that would make it easier for people to understand. And yet now he found himself doing it anyway.

The old man shook his head.

“I follow you speak, I think. Not sure what say you.” He snarled. “Too old this for.”

At which point he muttered something in what sounded like a different language again and flicked his wrist in Jason’s direction.

“Now my speak, you learn.” He muttered in the odd accented broken English he seemed to have picked up just now. He then went back to speaking in the language that Jason thought sounded rather Greekish. He immediately became aware that almost imperceptibly, the gibberish began to become understandable words! What? Now Jason was spooked!

The old man smiled. “Yes, I can see from the look on your face that you are starting to understand what I am saying. It is a spell. A very complex spell that allows you to understand and also speak any language. It works best when you have a speaker of the language in your presence. The spell draws the information from the other person’s thoughts and transfers the understanding to your own brain. Reading is a lot slower way of learning. It is not perfect, but it works well normally. Your language had too many terms I did not understand, so I threw the spell on you so I can now talk to you.”

Jason choked. A spell. Right! Haha! He’d brought home a looney! But he found he could understand more and more of the Greekish language the man was speaking, which was very happening very quickly and kind of scary!

“A spell, eh? Are you a magician?” he asked.

Then he realized with a start he had used the same Greekish language the old man was speaking to ask the question. Shit! Could he still speak English?

“This is scary!” He muttered, trying for English, and was relieved when the words he spoke were obviously English!

He found he could change to the Greekish stuff just by thinking about it. Right. Now he was scared!

The old man grinned. “I am the sorcerer Urasmian. And I am a powerful sorcerer. I rule the city of Shcathor and the surrounding lands and have done so for many years.”

Yeah right. Perhaps the old man had taken a knock to the head and thought himself to be a character out of a fantasy novel. Except how did Jason account for now being to understand and speak the Greekish stuff? Hmm. Jason couldn’t stop himself from saying.

“So, how did you end up here?” He immediately wished he hadn’t sounded like a smart-arse!

The sorcerer glared but then shrugged. “Family, of a sort. Do you have sorcerers here?”

Jason shook his head. “No one who can really do magic. Lots of charlatans and believers in lots of silly gods and stuff. But no. No real magic. How do you become a sorcerer?”

He decided that bacon, eggs, and toast were a good mix and hoped the fellow wasn’t a vegetarian. He was just dishing up the bacon when he heard the oldster stirring in the other room, so Jason wandered in to tell him about breakfast and showering, as the smell was a bit overpowering. The stranger was looking around in a bleary-eyed manner, but then suddenly, he jerked upright and said something in a language Jason didn’t recognize. Jason shook his head in negation to show he didn’t understand before pointing into the kitchen and miming putting food in his mouth. The fellow studied him for a moment, stood up, wandered over to the doorway, peered somewhat warily into the kitchen, and nodded. Then pointed to his groin and raised his hands in the universal sign for a query.

Jason nodded and led the fellow to the small bathroom, which was on the ground floor, where he showed the old man the toilet. The oldster peered at it and looked back at Jason, causing Jason to wonder if he came from some third-world place as he seemed to not know what a toilet was. Jason lifted the lid.

“Do your stuff in here, and then press that button.” He explained, pointing at the button on the wall in front of the hidden cistern.

The old man looked unsure but nodded, and Jason left him and hoped he wouldn’t be cleaning feces and piss off the bathroom floor later. He finished organizing the breakfast and moved the food onto the dining table, added knives and forks, buttered the toast, and was just returning the butter to the fridge when he heard the toilet flush.

The old man came slowly into the room and saw the food on the table. He smiled happily, didn’t wait for permission, and plonked down in front of the nearest plate. He studied the utensils carefully, lifting up the fork and peering at it as though not sure what it was used for, so Jason sat down, grabbed his knife and fork, quickly sliced a bit of bacon off the half-length of rasher, then used the fork to propel it to his mouth. The old man smiled and soon mastered the same task, and they ate in happy silence for a few minutes. The glass of orange juice was apparently enjoyed as much as the bacon, and as they finished, Jason felt surprisingly satisfied that he had done a major good deed. Of course, he still had the problem of what to do with the old fellow, but hopefully, the strange man would now be able to direct him to wherever it was that he lived, or at least stayed if he was in town for the convention as seemed most likely from the attire the fellow was dressed in.

“So, where are you from again?” Jason asked after satisfying his immediate hunger pangs.

The man cocked his head questioningly, peering across the table, saying something Jason couldn’t make any sense of though it sounded Greekish. Sort of like how Portuguese sounded like Spanish but wasn’t.

Back from my Holidays partial make up post

About half the way there, he managed to swap sides to give his arm some rest before continuing the laborious trip back to his vehicle. The old man had sort of become more aware of his surroundings at some point and tried to walk but was so unsteady on his feet that hobbling along half-leaning on Jason proved to be the best method of locomotion they could manage along the wet and dismal streets.

At one point, some people came hurrying along the street, sheltering under a couple of umbrellas, but they studiously ignored Jason and his burden while passing by like ships in a stormy sea. The sleety rain finally started to ease off a little, just as they reached the underground car park entrance, of course! Jason had considered trying to continue on toward the shelter he knew was not too much further, but it was now so late in the evening, and he was feeling so tired, wet, and worn out that he decided to get home and worry about what to do with the old man in the morning.

The descent into the car park was surprisingly much harder than the slogging along the wet footpath, but once on the flat, the going proved much easier, and they soon reached his car. Jason manhandled the semi-conscious oldster into his old Mustang, and from that point, it wasn’t long before he was on the freeway headed home. The old man seemed to pass out once more as soon as Jason had positioned him in the passenger seat. He didn’t even try and get the seat belt on the fellow, and he had to give the old man a good shake to get him moving when they arrived back at Jason’s house. Well, his parent’s house, but it was his home.

With his parents away overseas and his sister at college, he had the place to himself and, after some careful maneuvering, managed to get the fellow onto the lounge in the family room at the back of the ground floor from which a door connected to the garage. The house was still warm from the central heating, which Jason adjusted back up a little after he had positioned the old man on the sofa there. By the time he came back from the heater controls, the oldster was sound asleep, snoring a little and looking very old and frail. Jason was so exhausted he gave up worrying about leaving the fellow alone in the house and retired to his room upstairs. A quick change into pajamas, a visit to the john after which he collapsed into bed and was asleep almost before his head hit the pillow. He awoke in the morning, and for a moment or two, he lay there still half asleep, but the call of nature soon had him up and into the bathroom. There he remembered his unwanted guest while doing the necessary and moved downstairs warily, in case his good deed was going to be punished. The old man was lying on the couch, seemingly still out of it, so Jason left him for the moment and headed into the kitchen to make coffee and think about breakfast. It was already light outside, but the sun was still not fully up in the now cleared skies that he could see out the back window, and looking at the clock on the microwave, it informed him that the time was a little after six. Ugg. He briefly thought about going back to bed, but as a rule, he was one of those people who, once he woke up, really woke up. Besides, he had the old man to worry about, and he wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep, regardless, he suspected, with a stranger in the house.