The next two weeks, he spent working on spells. He had thought about the possibility of altering gravity and found that he could do it locally, after a fashion. Hmmm. He would have to think about the possible uses of that. The other, rather fancier spell he worked on was a lightning one. A thunderstorm had come over as he played around with the gravity modification spell, getting nowhere in particular. The storm had snuck up on him behind the ridge, and then he had been assailed by wind, rain, and rolling thunder almost without warning. He bolted for the truck as it boiled overhead, worried about getting hit by lightning as the big, dark clouds passed overhead. And then he thought about lightning and stepped back out of the truck and studied the storm.

He came up with a spell that would concentrate the air’s electrical charge and direct it at a particular spot. He ran it through his head a couple of times before he threw it, using a small, ragged tree thing down the track as the target. A lightning bolt blindingly sizzled into existence, creating a loud bang as the tree thing practically exploded in a shower of sparks, the flash momentarily turning his vision into a strange black and white abstract version of the scene. It took a moment, but once his eyes had adjusted back from the momentary blindness, he found all that was left was a smoldering hunk of the trunk and a few bits of burning branches or whatever spread around the immediate area. Woah!

And then there was another lightning strike, just over the rise. It was close enough he could feel the zing in the air. Then another lightning bolt struck the tree behind him. Shit! He jumped into the truck as another hit the bush he’d used as his target dummy. Hopefully, the rubber tires would shield the truck. Then the lightning strikes stopped just as suddenly as if he’d started them, and in ten minutes, the storm had rolled on, leaving a clear sky overhead and the gully awash in stormwater. Jason leaned back in the seat and relaxed his almost hyperventilation after the lightning attack, then he closed his eyes and promptly fell asleep. By the time he woke up, the mini torrent in the gully from the rainwater had largely run away, and things were getting back to normal.

It was clear he would need to practice how to handle lightning a good deal more! He supposed he would have to take the time to study storms academically and get a much better understanding of how they functioned. Then he could work out ways of using lightning strikes in a safer, more controlled manner! And definitely be careful about being out in the open when playing with an electrical storm! So, as he drove home, he added studying atmospheric electricity to his mental list of things to study further. It was getting to be a long list! But, at least there was plenty of information to be found on the internet! At that point, he suddenly realized what a major advantage he had over the sorcerers of Urasmian’s world. Hmmm. Something else to consider.

Monday, he remembered the email from Franny and wrote back saying that he would love to spend a bunch of money doing backbreaking manual labor in the cold north of Great Britain. Could she let him know as soon as possible so he could look into what was involved in getting an entry visa organized? He found a local place online that specialized in fancy clothes for re-enactors and fantasy con buffs and visited them. He might be leery about openly playing the superhero card, but he decided that he could at least afford a fancy outfit or two to wear! And no masks! Sheesh, that was so old hat and silly.

Franny sent him back a link to a website that led him to a page where he could apply to be part of the dig team as a volunteer. Hmm. At least the accommodation was pre-organized. He just had to get to Carlisle by the due date. Hmm. Right. Time to confer with the folks about his travel plans. Apply to the British Consulate in Los Angeles for a travel visa. And then, Saturday night, he hit a different casino in San Diego but kept it small and only came home with an extra two thousand dollars.

The following week, he liaised with the costume outfitters and finalized his purchases. He gained two identical pairs of boots, very seventeenth century in style. Inside they were made of modern materials, including waterproof lining, steel caps, and shock-resistant innersoles, while on the outside, they were black leather, calf-high, with fold-down tops that stood out a little rather than being flat like British top-boots. Very swashbucklery!

He acquired several pairs of denim trousers that were cut to look medieval or at least non-descript anyway. Internal stretch material at the waist meant they stayed up regardless, even though a tied cord ostensibly held them up. Four dress button-up shirts, with some laced frill stuff at the cuffs, two in white and two in black. Two cloth vests, one silky black to wear with the white shirts and one black with gold floral patterns, very Maverick, to wear with black shirts. A leather vest with metal studs offered a more medieval look giving him a third option. He was thinking that he might perhaps try visiting Urasmian. Maybe.

To round all this off, a modern style black, soft leather jacket, button-up, with a hood that was pointed so that it sat well out from his forehead and hung down a little, thus putting his face in permanent shadow. A long full cloak, very Assassin’s Creed but in black, with a similar hood to the jacket, rounded out the new wardrobe he had acquired. Back home, he played around with a light absorption spell placed on the hoods, which made the area underneath very dark, rendering it very hard to make out his face in any detail. He dressed in the white shirt version of his outfits and decided that he liked the look. He could even wear it to Condor Con without looking stupid. Well, not compared to some of the outfits that would be on show there!

He decided to go back to Vegas the following weekend and played at different casinos than he had on the first trip. Many of the casinos had smaller table stakes than those he had played at the first time, but when he flew out on Monday, he had made another thirty thousand dollars, twenty-six in three different cashier’s cheques and four thousand in cash. He worried that sooner or later, the Casinos would get wise to him and ban him from playing. He had tried a little craps, but that had been very hard. Trying to manipulate the dice on the mat without it looking hokey was just too difficult! Maybe he would have to practice that more. Or find some way to make money. Hmmm.

Given a couple of questions I have received recently here is a quick update.
The first Western Marches story – a continuation of Princess Gizel’s story – entitled:
The Mercenary
Should be out sometime this week.
The next story (70% written) will be Taroniah at Home
This will be followed by either Kyron the Conquerer or The Kelad Horde
I haven’t decided which I want to write first of those two.
Unfortunately I have no further ideas for wither Taroniah or Kyron until Bargan is in Fourth Year……
So what will follow after Conqueror or Horde I am not sure – I do have at least 5 other stories I could finish plus there is Jason that I’ve been snippeting – he has 4 other partially written books.
So – I have 3 other space opera stories plus a LitRPG type story – a Last Starfighter type story – 2 Alt Hist stories – a romance story set in Ithria 2 generations before Taroniah and Kyron – and more that I’ve partially written.
If anything takes your fancy – let me know