Making his way to the window at the back of the room, Alex looked outside absently. He was trying to think of an excuse to leave, but what he saw outside the window made him forget everything. The view was not of an alleyway or a backyard, but of a snow-covered countryside. Rubbing his eyes to make sure he was seeing clearly, Alex looked closer. The view did not change like the sign had. He could see people moving around a small cluster of houses. Outside the window, it had started to snow and, try as he might, Alex couldn’t find an explanation for what he was seeing. After several minutes of staring out the window, Alex moved to the fireplace and dropped into a large leather chair, dazed.
He had almost convinced himself that Mr. Clutter was simply crazy. Yes, it would have been nice to believe in magic and adventures, but there really were no such things. Alex was starting to wish he had never come into the bookshop.
Suddenly the door opened, shaking him from his thoughts. Mr. Clutter had returned, and two people were following him.
“Now then,” Mr. Clutter began in a businesslike tone. “This is Mister Alexander Taylor, but he goes by Alex. He has applied for an adventure, and naturally I thought of you gentlemen.”
Alex’s eyes grew wide as he saw the two people who had followed Mr. Clutter into the room. The first man was barely five feet tall, with wide shoulders and short legs. He wore large leather boots and a blood-red shirt. His beard reached to just below his belt. The second person was close to six feet tall, with long, silver-blond hair and a happy, almost glowing, face. His clothes seemed to be all different shades of green, but Alex couldn’t tell what they were made of. As he looked at the two strangers, Alex realized that these were not normal people at all.
“Hmmm,” said the short one, looking at Alex. “Not had many applicants lately, have we?”
“Well, no,” Mr. Clutter admitted in an apologetic tone. “However, this young man seems willing, and I’m sure he would be an excellent addition to your adventure.”
“Really,” the short man replied, turning to look at Mr. Clutter. “Would you say that if
you
were going on
this
adventure, Clutter?”
“Well, my adventuring days are over,” replied Mr. Clutter, stammering slightly but continuing to smile. “But Alex seems an excellent choice for a first-time adventurer. You’ve seen his application, and applications are almost always right.”
“Would you bring us some tea?” asked the second man in a clear, musical voice.
“Yes, of course,” said Mr. Clutter, turning to go. “I’ll bring it right along then, shall I?”
“Give us a few minutes,” replied the second man with a slight smile. “We need to ask some questions first.”
Mr. Clutter was out of the room without another word, leaving Alex alone with the two strangers. The men seemed not to notice that he was staring at them as they moved two chairs closer to the fire and took their seats. There was an uncomfortable minute of silence, and Alex wondered if he should say something.
“Well,” the man with the musical voice began, “I suppose
introductions are in order. My name is Arconn. I am, as you may have guessed, an elf of the house of Dalious, hailing from the great forest lands of Delanor.”
Alex couldn’t have said anything if he’d tried. He had no idea what the “house of Dalious” was or where the “lands of Delanor” were, but he had noticed that Arconn, though looking normal enough, had oddly pointed ears.
“I’m Thrang Silversmith,” said the short man. “Son of Thorgood Silversmith. From the land of Thraxon.”
“I . . .” Alex started then stopped.
“You are Alexander Taylor,” said Arconn. “We’ve seen your application, so if it’s all right with you, we’ll call you Alex.”
“All right,” Alex managed to reply.
“He’s not sure what to make of us, I reckon,” said Thrang with a short laugh. “Thinking we’re just a couple of strange men, he is.”
“Oh, no,” Alex said quickly.
“Don’t worry ’bout it,” Thrang continued, waving off Alex’s words. “Most first-timers don’t know what to make of their new companions.”
“I suppose not,” said Alex. “I’m not at all sure about any of this.”
“That is an excellent place to start,” said Arconn happily.
“It is?” Alex asked.
“’Course it is,” Thrang answered in a more serious tone. “Not being sure leaves your mind open to all kinds of things, don’t it?”
“I suppose it does,” Alex admitted.
“Well, then, we’re looking for an eighth person to join our adventure,” said Thrang. “Clutter says you might be our man.”
“Yes, well I—”
“I think he will do nicely,” said Arconn. “Not too sure of himself, but willing.”
“Needs to be outfitted,” said Thrang, stroking his beard. “Be no good taking him dressed like that.”
“Dressed like what?” Alex asked, looking down at his clothes.
“You’re hardly dressed for an adventure.” Thrang laughed.
“I wasn’t planning to go on an adventure,” Alex answered defensively. “I wasn’t planning any of this.”
“The best ones never do,” said Thrang.
“May I ask, then,” said Arconn in a slightly concerned tone, “why did you come here?”
“What?” Alex asked.
“How did you enter Mr. Clutter’s shop, and more important,
why
did you enter Mr. Clutter’s shop? It’s not as if just anyone can get in, after all.”
“I saw a sign in the window,” Alex replied. “The sign seemed to change every time I looked at it, so I thought I’d ask about it in the bookstore.”
“I see,” said Arconn, leaning back into his chair. “And do you think anyone else noticed the sign?”
Alex thought. “Sildon Lane was strangely empty when I noticed the sign. I was going to ask someone in the street if they noticed the sign changing, but when I looked around, there was nobody there.”
“’Course not,” said Thrang in a matter-of-fact tone. “That’s because you weren’t really there either.”
“What do you mean? Of course I was there. If I wasn’t there, how could I have seen the sign?”
“An interesting question,” Arconn said in an understanding voice, “as not many people ever see the sign, and fewer still ever ask about it.”
“I’m sure I don’t know what you are talking about,” said Alex, not liking the way the conversation was going. All of this talk about people not seeing a sign that was in plain view concerned him. “I really should be going,” he continued quickly. “Mr. Roberts will be looking for me soon, and—”
“He won’t be looking at all,” said Arconn calmly. “Because, in fact, you haven’t been gone long at all.”
“But I have,” Alex insisted. “It must be an hour or more since I left.”
“He don’t understand,” said Thrang, looking amused. “He don’t know what we’re on about.”
“No, I understand,” said Alex. “But I really should be getting back. I have a lot of work to do at the tavern—”
“Let me explain,” said Arconn, cutting Alex off and motioning for him to sit down in a chair. “I promise, you won’t be late getting back to your work if you’ll just listen.”
Alex sat down on the edge of his chair, not sure he really wanted anything explained to him. Since entering the shop, every time he’d managed to get a question answered things seemed to make less sense.
“We are adventurers,” Arconn began.
“He knows that much,” Thrang interrupted. “You’ve got to tell him why he won’t be late getting back to work.”
“Of course,” said Arconn. “But I want to go step-by-step, so he will understand exactly what is happening.”
“Oh, fluff,” said Thrang, blowing air out of his mouth loudly. “You’re telling him like he was a child. Just give it to him plain and let him think it over.”
“Very well,” said Arconn. “I suppose you’re right.”
Alex’s eyes moved from Thrang to Arconn. He thought he should just leave, but part of him—the part that wanted to believe in adventures and magic—made him stay to hear what Thrang and Arconn had to say.
“The first thing you need to know is about magic,” said Arconn. “The sign in the window is a magic sign. That’s why it seemed to change every time you looked away from it.”
“Magic?” asked Alex.
“Don’t interrupt,” said Thrang, making himself more comfortable in his chair. “Jus’ listen to everything, then think it over.”
“You saw the sign because the sign called to you, or showed itself to you, if you like,” Arconn continued. “And you didn’t walk into a bookshop, you walked into Clutter’s Adventure Shop.”
Alex leaned forward, feeling he should say something, but a stern look from Thrang stopped him.
“When you entered the shop, you passed through a magic gateway,” Arconn said. “Gateways are a bit difficult to explain, as they only open when they are needed, and then only for certain people. Only a true adventurer could see the magic sign and pass through the gateway, so you must be an adventurer, even if you don’t know it.”
Alex shifted in his chair but didn’t say anything. None of this made any kind of sense to him, but strangely, he found himself wanting, even trying, to believe what Arconn was saying.
“Time as you know it doesn’t matter here, because no matter how long you stay on this side of the gateway, you’ll never be late for anything on the other side of it. When you go on an adventure, time is real enough, but that’s only time where you
are,
not where you came from,” Arconn continued.
Alex thought for a minute. Arconn’s explanation was clear enough, but still, Alex couldn’t believe that time could be different here.
If he accepted the idea of magic, and the simple fact that a dwarf and an elf were sitting in front of him made magic seem possible, then it all made sense. The trouble was, even if he wanted to believe in magic, that didn’t make it real.
“When you go on an adventure, time passes normally,” Arconn said. “You get older, grow larger, everything. Then, when you complete the adventure and return through the gateway, you return to the way you are now.”
“That’s right,” Thrang said with a smile. “Wouldn’t do to get home and be years older than when you left, would it? Being gone for only a few seconds and aging several years would be hard to explain to anyone.”
“Yes, I suppose it would,” Alex admitted.
“And when you go on another adventure, you can choose what age you want to start at,” Arconn added. “Of course, you have to choose from the ages you were in a previous adventure.”
“What?” Alex asked.
“It’s simple,” Thrang answered. “Say you was on a ten-year adventure. By the time you get done, you’d be twenty-five. You can’t go back home being twenty-five—not if you left at fifteen only a few seconds before. So when you get back, you magically return to the age you were when you started. Then later you go on another adventure, but you don’t want to start at twenty-five and get older, and you don’t really want to start at fifteen again. So you can choose to start somewhere between the two—like twenty.”
“Oh,” said Alex, nodding his understanding. It made sense the way Thrang and Arconn explained it, but part of him still felt like he should be getting back to the Happy Dragon.
“If you’re willing to accept the fact that there’s magic involved, everything else is easy,” Arconn finished with a smile.
“It does make things simpler,” Alex admitted.