58 The Centaur Holds (1/2)
They set up camp near the river and watched the satyrs attempts at fishing.But they fish back at their settlement must be more amenable to being caught, for here they had no luck and became quite annoyed.Well, Reg and BugleHead were.HoneyBeard was served mainly in a supervisory capacity, sitting in the sun on a large boulder and occasionally offering sarcastic suggestions.
Things were quiet from a moment, and SmithGuild said, ”What I know about Asbolus' visions is that he can only consider one question of an evening, and should be persuaded by a gift of strong liquor.I have brought with us what remains of my stock.” Here he cast a glare at the fishing satyrs. ”So—”
”And these prophecies are accurate?” Typho asked.
SmithGuild thought about that for a while.”More than chance, less than mermaids.My sister ScribeGuild rates him a true seer who provides useful information, but the manner of expression can be somewhat cryptic. He is wont to rhyme.
”There was a seer centaur from Mirth…” Phyllis muttered, in limerick cadence.
”Nelda made a good point earlier,” Typho said. ”Her manifestation on the dagger and questions about creatures that turn people to stone could well be precognitive.We discussed how multiverse theory might explain it, but with the Porter out of commission, there should not be any links between worlds… but!”
Typho paused dramatically as if expecting to be badgered to give up his big reveal.The assembled company watched him glumly.Reg fell off a slippery rock into the river and seemed to be having trouble swimming with hoof feet.Nelda half-stood but then saw that as soon as Reg stopped panicking, he realized he was in waist-deep water.
Typho tapped his tail tip, rattling the pebbles under their feet.
[I can't intimidate the troops, so I need to keep them sweet.] Fortunately Nelda had retained an ability for high school when her attention often drifted from the lesson.She could always pull the last few words said by the instructor from her mind, whether she had actually been listening to them or not. ”I'm sorry, Typho,” she said.”You were saying there shouldn't be any links between worlds?”
”That's what we have been assuming,” Typho said with enthusiasm. ”On our world, other worlds seem to not be meaningfully accessible without the machine we built, which is now destroyed.”
”Unless--” Jen began.
”Can we please put the metaphysics to one side just for now and see where it leaves us,” Typho said.
Jen rolled her eyes but allowed him to continue.
[He seems one of the few not to be overly impressed with pretty Jen.It bodes well for Echidna of he is more drawn to a brassy dragon than a winsome filly.]
”What I am saying,” Typho continued patiently. ”Is that this world may be inherently linked to other worlds.Both those like this but different in time progression, which would support accurate prophecy. And potentially those that are different, like our homeworld.”
Nelda rolled the doll's eye in her hand.[And that could be a problem.]
SmithGuild coughed.”So that does rather undermine your idea that your world was the progenitor of this one.The influence could go either or both ways.It seems rather more likely that what is real here influenced what is myth there, rather than the reverse.”
Typho nodded sagely.”That would suggest this world is one that is relatively technologically stable, which is consistent with what little I have seen to far with small, diverse populations concerned mostly with a subsistence lifestyle.And apparently, one that is not arduous enough to provoke… ingenuity. The gryphons representing an exception.”
He nodded, and SmithGuild dipped his head in return.