Alas, as neither the shouts of the guards, nor other noises of our fight seemed to trigger a reaction from the orks, Jim was adamant that we should find his armour and weapons first. As it happened, we did not have to search very thoroughly. The tiefling's belongings were in a nearby storage room, carelessly laid on top of a pile of chests. Then we left at last. Our luck did not run out, and we made it to the secret door without running into any other denizens of the fort.

Gaius was peacefully waiting for us, as I expected. He found himself a relatively flat spot half a mile further down the path, dug into the snow, and was eating some green leaves now. I patted him on the back, and shared one of my few remaining apples with him as a reward for being a good mule.

“Well, I have to concede this one to you, Arnold,” said Jim amused. “That beast really is smart. Smarter than us for sure. If only I had the wits to have a good lunch instead of charging into an ork fortress.”

We continued on the way we came up in the morning and arrived at the foot of the mountain well before nightfall. The two humans who were imprisoned together with Jim offered to take us to their farm. The orks took them prisoner, there, but their family was able to escape in time, and now they wanted to see them again as soon as possible. But we wanted to rest, and the farm was still miles away, so we wished the men luck, and left them to their own devices.

“Will they be alright? What do you think?” asked Jim. The fire cast dancing shadows onto his face. His pitch-black eyes were peering thoughtfully into the flames.

“There might be some raiders around still,” I allowed. “But unless they come after us, it won't be our business, will it?”

“No, we have very little time as it is, and we will possibly have to make the trip back to Blessingdale a few times. The orks stockpiled a lot of food in the fort. Most of the chests I looked into when we were searching for Jim’s equipment were full of potato.”

“We could let the citizens of Blessingdale come and collect the food after we are done with cleaning out the dungeon,” I contradicted. “We are short on time as it is.”

“We could. But if we are the ones taking back the supplies, the citizens of Blessingdale are bound to be grateful. Also, don't you think sometimes it is worth to do good just for the sake of it? We will do enough evil before this is all over. Let us do something good for a change.”

“There is merit to that thinking,” I acknowledged. “Speaking of evil... Have I ever told you how I came here? And whence I come from?”

It was a rhetorical question. I was wary not to speak about my origins, as Quirinus advised to me.

“You come from some faraway country, where tobacco is frowned upon, that much I gathered,” laughed Beldrak. “But otherwise you always seemed uncomfortable speaking about your home, so I refrained from prying into the matter.”

“I have been warned that revealing my origins might cause some mysterious enemies to go after me,” I answered carefully. “But I think I can trust you two.”

For a while, they sat in silence as I spoke. I told my comrades about Italia, about Rome, Pyrrhus, and the two armies at Asculum. I explained to them how Quirinus came to me in a dream, and how I found myself in the Misty Hills next morning.

“Interesting,” said Beldrak. “Well, Arnold, I mean Publius...”

“Arnold. I don't want others than you two knowing my real name yet.”

“Arnold it is then. What I wanted to say is that travelling between different planes of existence is not a new idea. Devils and angels cross boundaries between worlds easily. For mortals like us, it is harder to visit their planes, but it is possible. The realms of demons, angels and gods are very dissimilar to our own, and they are not pleasant places to be. Still, mortals travel to these planes. But as far as I know, nobody ever travelled to your world from ours, despite the obvious incentives. Which probably means that crossing that particular boundary is hard. For us, mortals, at least.”

“Do you know people who could help? Who could find out who brought me here, and why?”

“It was probably some capricious god for his own selfish reasons,” said Jim. “As in my case.”

We digested that for a moment.

“So you come from another world too, eh?” said Beldrak slowly. “Do you have some other name as well?”

“A world very different from both yours and Arnold's. And no, Jim is my real name. Jim Knopf, that's my full name, and I had no reason to hide it. The god who brought me here has no hold over this world. He instructed me to spread his name and his teachings. But I failed him, so he ditched me, and now I am stranded here with no way back home.”

Jim told us about his world. Magic was commonplace there too, and there were a great many interesting inventions as well. Vehicles that propelled themselves with burning wood and coal, weapons that had a range longer than a mile, and ships that could fly. That last bit was especially interesting.

“Could you build one? An airship, I mean?”

“I could, but I would rather not. The body of airships has to be lighter than air, and I can make a gas lighter than air from water. I have never done it, but I could probably build a machine that does that, especially if Beldrak would help with his magic. But those things are incredibly dangerous, it can easily blow up with only a minor mistake. Which is why in my world they use another gas, that is much less accessible.”

“What would you want to build?” asked Beldrak.

“Trains, firearms, watches, and my sword. I was working with trains and watches, so I could build those if I had enough money and time. Firearms are easy enough. I was never very interested in them, but I could figure out how to build one if I wanted to. And there is my sword too, the Endbringer. It is a sword that has sharpened metal disks on it, and I can use those as projectiles.”

“I don't really understand that last bit, but I can't imagine it working well.”

“It is cumbersome,” Jim admitted. “I had to train for years with it before I could reliably use it. But once you get the hang of it, it is a potent weapon. Too bad I am not much of a smith, so I couldn't reproduce it myself.”

“I am a smith, and a damn good one,” pointed out Beldrak. “If you can draw me a plan of the weapon I will see what I can do about it.”

“We will need a proper smithy for that.”

“I reckon Durgeddin left one behind, and the orks probably maintained it. Greenskin weapons are of steel as well, and proper steel can only be made in a proper workshop. If we don't bite the dust soon, we will be rid of the orks altogether, and I can make you this weapon if you want it.”

“What is this sudden optimism?” I laughed.

“I already told you that only Great Jules concerns me. But even he is a foe we can bring down when I am rested and full of magic.” The wizard shrugged. “Knowing our luck, there are probably a thousand other kinds of monstrosities occupying the lower levels, and a dragon to top it off. But the greenskins? They are finished. We bled them dry today.”

“And there is the fact that we are back to our normal self,” said Jim. “I mean Arnold and I. That is reason enough to be optimistic.”

“I hope you stay that way,” snorted Beldrak. “I got my share of bickering and brooding for years in the last month. You two can be a damn tiresome bunch.”

“As long as we have enemies to fight, I won't be homesick again. It was like that in Oakhurst too,” I assured him. “But speaking of home, let me return to my question. Where do you think I should start searching? If I want to go back, I mean.”

“Find a god who is willing to take you back,” said Jim. “That part is fairly obvious. You said once you make contracts with your gods all the time. Then make a contract with a god here.”

“I would like to try some other means to get back to my world,” I mused. “The force that took me here was stronger than Quirinus. That could mean that a god of this world did it, or perhaps it was an alliance of multiple gods. How do I know, which divinities were in on my abduction, and which weren't? Also, I was warned to keep my true name in secret. I would rather find a way to get back to my world on my own power.”

“I don't think that is possible,” said Beldrak. “I don't think that any living mage is able to do that on Tegilpén. Even if you learnt magic, you would only be an average wizard. This task would require someone with legendary talent and power. I am with Jim on this one. Finding a divinity willing to help you is your best option here. The other is to find some obscure artefact of ancient and eldritch magic. Although truth to be told, I have never heard of an item that would help in your case.”

I sighed. “I should start in the library of Golden Grove then, I suppose.”

“That would be a good place, yes. My library could hold a few clues as well, but I doubt it. I have read most of the books we have, and nothing comes to my mind that could help you. In a few years perhaps.”

“But why would you want to go back?” asked Jim. “If what you said is true about your world, it is a terrible shithole with barely any magic, and utterly without machines or any meaningful technology.”

I was a little taken aback. “Why wouldn't I want to go back to my family and friends?”

“You could bring your family here, if you miss them,” said Jim. “Or better yet, to my world. These Misty Hills seem a nice enough place compared to your Italia, but it is a savage and backward country by my standards.”

I shook my head. “I also have obligations towards the Republic. I have learnt a great many practical ideas in this world, and if I went back to Italia, I could change it for the better. I could take back plants, animals, and knowledge, all of which would be useful for me, and for Rome.”

“I hate to ruin your mood, but none of you is going to any other world in the near future,” said Beldrak. “And while I did enjoy our chatter, it is getting late, and we have an ogre to kill tomorrow. Arnold, I reckon you will you take the first watch as usual?”

PubliusDeciusMus

Jim was isekaied too! Truthfully, at this point this was hardly a surprise to anyone. What would be a surprise, and a pleasant one, if there weren’t any typos in this chapter. But who am I kidding, some typos always remain. Always. On the other hand we might find solace in the fact, that not only imperfections live for ever, but great works of art too.