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This story was brought to me through the span of my short earthly life. I just tried to write down the spoken word in a rigid form, so it is conserved for the future here and anywhere.
I do say short life, as for me now, my first life was a very short life, my second life has just started.
About two years ago, late at night, I was still at my desk in the little office I have for my small consultancy firm. The work was hard, but I was trying to build a life for me and my gorgeous wife Magdalena.
I had met her 4 years earlier while hitch-hiking through the White Mountains near New Hampshire. We had run into eachother one night during a heavy thunderstorm in the woods there, and stuck together in my tent, and finally stuck together for life.
About 6 months after our encounter, we moved in our current house together, and we started our common life, or like she called it our companionship.
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{(text-style:"bold","emboss","expand")[(text-colour:yellow)[A City with a thousand faces]]
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(text-style:"italic","subscript","condense")[© Richard Call, 2022]
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I opened the door, and motioned with my hand to bring him in. He stood there standing in front of me, drenched, with a small pool of rainwater forming around his feet in his leather sandals.
//"Tal, my Lord, and thanks for giving me shelter in this weather,"// he greeted me.
//"Nice to meet you, my dear, but who are you ?"// I asked him.
//"They usually call me Thurnock, my Lord."//
//"Thurnock ? And please stop calling me Lord, I am no nobility as far as I know. Let me fetch you a towel and a warm drink. But you look familiar. Do we know eachother ?"//
He ignored my question, but returned one instead.
//"Sorry to ask so bluntly my Lord, but you are married?"// was his reply
//"Yes and no, I am living together with a marvellous girl named Magdalena, already 4 years now. Why?"//
//"May I ask you a favour, my Lord?"//
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//"There, send it over to her, although I don't understand at all what this gibberish means."//
But as soon as I had said that, my mobile phone rang, and I could see that she was calling me. I took the call, while I was looking at the person in front of me who had a grin on his face.
//"Hey sweetheart, what's happening? Where did you get that picture you send me ?"//
I was stunned with her reaction, and I replied stuttering.
//"A person I met this evening, gave me this mentioning I needed to show it over to you ?"//
//"Is that person still there ?"//
//"Yes, he is."//
//"Then ask him if Mirsk is aware of this. Ask him 'Kajirus, Misk is in the line of knowledge ?'"// she brought out.
I looked at the person standing there, who had given himself the name of Thurnock.
//"Thurnock, she asks the following. Kajirus, Misk is in the line of knowledge ?"//
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//"He is,"// was the reply back.
I brought the phone back to my ear, and told Magdelena what the reply was.
//"Sweetheart,"// she replied, //"Can you come home and bring that person with you?"//
//"Sure, I will ask if he comes with me, and I suspect looking at him that he will like to have something for dinner and so. As he is clothed in rags."//
//"I will prepare something, no worries. But hurry, convince him, I must meet him."//
After this, she dropped the line, and left me looking all stunned at my phone in my hand.
So I looked at the person standing there all soaked, sipping from a coffee I had given him in a plastic mug.
//"I don't know what happens here, but my wife wants to meet you this evening. So let's go to my place then."//
The person took the parchment still laying on the table, and slipped it between the rags around him, and looked at me.
//"Yes, my Lord"// with a slight bow of his head.
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I grabbed my stuff and my carkeys, and motioned him to follow me.
We quickly went down to the basement garage to my car, and he sat down next to me in the passenger seat. But I could see the astonished look on his face while he was sitting there, and I strapped the safety belt around him.
I luckily didn't live too far from my office, so we were quickly there.
Once inside, at the moment the person came before my wife, my world changed forever...
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[My dear Talena,
I let the pen slide over this paper and bring over to thee an urgent call for thy help.
I remember my promise when thee left that I fully accepted thy decision, and would never bother thee.
But alas, thine hearth, and sword is needed in the City. And the Approval of the Initiates has been giving for thy return.
If thee accepts, thou shalt be given the nectar to allow to return, but use it wisely for thine companions as they will need to be able to be one of us.
The kajirus Thornuck is by this handed over to thine ownership for ever till death does part thee.
Humble regards,
Kazrak
Ubar Ar
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[This world in which this story plays is based on the Gorean world as created by the author John Norman.
His world was used to place the story, but this is done in no way to replace his magnificent portrait of the world of Gor.
This is a work of fiction. Unless otherwise indicated, all the names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents in this book are either the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner.
Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
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Richard Call]Colors used in dialogs:
Magdalena
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MC
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That night a storm as bad as the storm we had during our first encounter, was hitting the city where I had my small office, and the rain was slashing hard against the windows near the street.
It made me dream away a bit in front of the monitor on my desk, and I saw in my mind my wife again when we met, drenched, trembling, asking with a small soft voice if I could give her some shelter, as she got lost.
But all of a sudden I heard a tap on the window which pulled the vision away from my eyes, and brought me back to the real world.
When I looked outside, I could see a man standing in the pouring rain, looking at me through the window, all dressed in brownish rags, strapped on him by a large belt, soaking wet.
For some reason he did look familiar to me, so I decided to let him in in the office, and listen why he tapped my window.
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He took out a small parchment from between his rags, and handed it over to me.
//"Can you show this to her, my Lord?"//
I looked at the parchment, and could only see a sort of (link-repeat:"sign")[(display:"Modal code window")(append:?modal)[(display:"Kajira sign")]] on it, which looked drawn with reddish ink.
//"And mention to her the name Kazrak, my Lord."//
//"Karzak, Thurnock, are you in a D&D game or so,"// I grinned. //"I don't know if my wife will be interested in this."//
//"Please, my Lord, it is important."//
I smiled and reassured him, //"OK, fine, I will do it. Just give me a moment."//
I looked at the person standing there, and decided to send a picture of it to her using my mobile phone in a text message.
So I placed the parchment on my desk, took a good snapshot of it, and send it as message to her 'Does this mean anything to you, and the two names Karzak and Thurnock?"
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