76

"I want to go home." Les finally said, looking straight at Grant. He looked back at her pleadingly. "I don't know what you want or expect from me. Like I said before, I'm nobody. I don't even have a name. Please let me go home."

Les could almost feel the sense of defeat fill the room. Then from the sofa piped in a deep voice.

"Would you be willing to make a deal?" A squat man with a bushy orange beard sat forward and looked at her through thick eyebrows. Everyone looked at him. "What if, and I'm just speaking hypothetically here. What if we agreed to give you all the training you required. While teaching you the histories and the prophecies. Then, if you still don't believe it, you can just go your merry way. You get to learn some skills, and we get the possibility of hope for a while." It was apparently that these terms had not been discussed prior to his stating them. Les thought a moment.

"You're saying that you'll teach me things like... to fight and" The man cut her off.

"Aye! To fight, to command, to wield a sword and a bow, then to read the histories and even a bit of magic."

"I cannot do magic."