“Oh, good! I don't think I would have forgotten someone as beautiful as you. Married you say … oh, shoot you're braking an old man's heart.” He chuckled and shook his head. “Unfortunately I never met your husband miss, the Smith's have though I know all about the situation.

“Apparently the wizard simply appeared in their home and discovered by the two who had thought him to be a home invader at first so they bound him, questioned him then generated a meeting as to what to do with him though when we went back he was gone.

“Tracks lead to the south, near the Great Forest though many beleved he generated simple illusions to make us believe he went this way. He did leave a small wand behind which I have, the Smith's were kind enough to turn it over, would you like to see it?”

Kirsty felt quite certain that Kevin had no real skill for illusion making so if if tracks went West then probably so did the man. She'd head out after him as soon as she finished here. Ren mentioned a wand which peaked her curiosity. What could Kevin have been carrying that they had mistaken for a wand. "Oh yes, please. I would very much like to see it."

Ren nodded. “I don't think he finished it, it is quiet small ...” he went into the other room brief and got the wand out of a case before coming back to her. “I am no wizard and don't know how many charges it has left but here it is.”

He showed her a silver zippo lighter he opened the top and displayed the wheel of the lighter. “I believe it works by flicking this part here and it produces a small flame. I think it is suppose to be bigger unless theaim was to make a smaller more concealable wand.”

Were ever she was lighters were not common materials here. She could see Ren's wonder over the device as he showed it off to her.

“He burned his bounds with this a pressume and weakened them enough to get free then made good his escape. The Smith's did not find it when they searched him.”

Though Kristy had to wonder how well they searched him. Ren did not have pockets on his garments, nor did the farmer and pockets would seem to be new to them, so much so that they might have over looked them in lieu of the traitional places of storage like a belt or inside of his boots.

Kirsty frowned slightly at the sight of the lighter. It was clearly from her world and not terribly unusual but she couldn't recall having ever seen it before. She was glad Kevin had it as it had clearly helped him escape his binds... Of course, he really hadn't needed to had he. The villager clearly didn't mean to fire him alive for witchcraft. But, the again... He had been found in the Smith's house. He might have been charged with breaking and entering or something like that. She suppose that could explain his hasty flight.

"Well, this isn't really a wand but... I suppose it might still seem magical to you. All it does if make a small flame." She handle her hand out for the zippo and when he gave it over to her, she demonstrated how it worked. "It works exactly as you supposed it did but, as you can see, even us none wizards can active it. I wish I did know some spells though. If I did I might be able to track Kevin using a spell and this... trinket. What is in the West?"

Ren watched on, fascinated by the lighter and amazed by the small flame, no doubt he was impressed by it as he watched the small flame dancing on the zippo, He suspected that it would be so easy to activate it though he had nottried. He did question abput the charges that it contained though, the answer of course being that it ran on lighter fluid.

He thought about her question for a moment.

“Nothing really. There is a forest that takes perhaps two days to travel through by foot. One the opposite side is another kingdom and another village. The forest is the boundry between our lands, they are stricter there but not by much, stronger laws against carrying weapons or owning land for instance. Why do you ask?”

"I ask because clearly my husband did not. One of us needs to be responsible travelers." She sighed. Kevin was likely already in the other village if he had started out that way two days ago. "I don't suppose you know of any faster way to get to the other village. I need to catch up with my husband but he already has a head start on me."

Ren bought her deception it seemed plausible after all and he considered about a faster way to the village in question.

He shook his head after considering for a moment then paused as if he considered something. “The forest is known by a few well enough to hastily travel through it unless they know it fairly well, that is growing up near it with hours to spare.

“There is one other means that mybe quicker though you run the risks of waking the Tommy Knockers ...”

"Tommy Knockers?" Kirsty repeated with a frown. She was, of course, familiar with the name but, having never really been a big fan of Stephen King, she wasn't sure what it referred to. She have a vague feeling it had something to do with aliens though. Aliens again, she thought with a sigh. This dream seemed determined to go that direction. Maybe she should just give in and stop fighting it. She could always change it if she didn't like the direction it was going. "Tell me more about this faster route. Is there a way to traverse it without waking the Tommy Knockers?"

“Demons … demons from the heavens ...” he pointed towards the ceiling as if for empathis. It seemed that he had no concept of aliens, but demons, that seemed to be another matter entirely. He differentiated between the demons of hell and those of the heavens as if she should know of the differences.

“More then a few generations ago they came. They came to the old city and crashed into the earth. But that was so long ago that we are now above the old city. Occassionally there is a tremor that rips through the earth. Oh, some say it's them trying to get back out of their earthern graves. I tend to think it's just earth quakes but the old legends are hard to ignore ...”

Ren paused, thinking for a moment. “It is dangerous but possible to use this short cut. The old city can be accessed via the well. It is a place where we deposit criminals to rot away and die but there are other such entrances into the old city that don't simply dead end. You would have to travel down there and make your way along there there are other means out from the old city that come out part way into the forest. That should shave some time off though if you want to shave off more than you would have to go to the crash site, or rather what was thought to be the crash site of the Tommy Knockers and that could lead to dealing with them … that is if you believe that they're still alive. Chances are they're not but the locals are rather superstitious ...”

Aegir had long since realized her fears. He had a theme in mind though how much of the back story got played out depended on her after all. He let her explore and play with things, he was also aware that she could change things too and simply allowed her to lead in this dance thus far ...

The old man's story did nothing to reassure her that she was making the right choice. Even if he believed the Tommy Knockers were long dead, she would still have to wander around through a old underground city and pass directly through the aliens' crash site to get to the other village. She was certain that simply passing alien relics in a dream, fearing they would awaken, would make them appear. But then, fearing them not was just as likely to make them appear. "How will I find my way through the old city? Is there I map I can follow?"

“There were old maps of the city, or how it use to be. There are changes no doubt but we had to ensure that the passages sort of dead ended when placing our criminals down the well to ensure they could not escape from that section of the city.

“There are spelunkers that have explored the caves and children, though it has proven to be unsafe. Harold knows of these passages, in fact he makes a living out of exploring them and recovering old artifacts and scraps of material that he can sell.

“If anyone, he will be the easiest to convince to go back under there. Most are too afraid of the Tommy Knockers and wouldn't know their way around even if they were willing. Thirty years or so was the last time I poked around down there so I wouldn't be too great at eploring caves, climbing over things, squeezing through passages, no I am not spry enough for that now.”

"Who is this Harold and where can I find him?" Harold seemed like the person to talk to about getting through the caves and she very much wanted to get through the caves safely. Hopefully she could convince the man to be her guide but she wasn't she. She really had nothing to give him in trade. But, then again, it was a dream. Maybe she could convince him... She hoped so. Every minute she wasted here Kevin was getting further and further away from her.

“You're in luck, he's still in the village. His son fell ill and since his wife passed last year he was forced to stay here rather than go exploring through the caves today. I suppose it wouldn't hurt to ask him, especially when it would be easy enough for a neighbof to help him ouat thoigh I would stay out of sight if I were you, you might influece things otherwise ,,,”

Rem paused then supplied her with the direction's from here to the explorer's home.

Kirsty thanked Ren for all his help and followed the directions he'd given her to Harold's place. She wondered what kind of man this Harold fellow was and hoped she'd be able to convince him to come with her. It might be hard to convince him if he had a sick child to worry about but Ren had said he'd likely be able to get a neighbor to help him out. She hoped he would. She really didn't want to face the threat of aliens on her own. She reach the house and knocked, then tried to decide how to arrange her face for max sympathy while she waited for Harold to answer it.

“No need to thank me, child.”

Harold answered the door to his place. He was young, younger than she would have thought to already have a son but as the door swung opened, as his eyes set upon her he grinned like a shark circling prey then that grin diappeared.

“I'm not the father!”

He slammed the door in her face forcing her to knock again to open the door forcefully.

“What!”