Page 6 of Minotaurs and other Magic

Her lips pressed tight together, but she walked towards the door as if obeying an order.

“You are in my library, in the palace, in the city of Calla, on a world we call Tariko,” Rohan said, answering every possible variation of Nate’s question.

If he was in a palace and this was Rohan’s library… “Are you a prince?”

“I am. My brother rules the city.”

Nate glanced at the rope around his wrists. At least it was no longer around his neck. “Why am I here?”

“We would like to know that too,” the woman said as she sat on the arm of the sofa Nate lay on.

Rohan gave her a look before answering Nate’s question. “The city guard caught you stealing. Instead of letting themarrest you and sentence you to a year and a day of labor, I paid out your debt.”

“Why?”

“Because I saw your shoes and realized you weren’t from here. The Strega,” he nodded at the woman. “Asked that I keep watch for things that don’t belong.”

They already knew he didn’t belong here. That was a good thing. Maybe they’d help him leave. “So I can go home?”

“Where is home?” The woman, the Strega, asked. She wore black, and her dark hair was done up in a bun, which was held in place with two elaborate silver clasps.

Nate considered her for a moment, then answered the same way Rohan had answered him. “A country called Wales on a world we call Earth.”

“And how did you get here?”

“I don’t know. I went hiking with two friends, and there was some thunder and a rockslide. I woke up here. Alone.” Injured but wearing his daypack, which held a first aid kit and food that had bought him a couple of days. He’d searched for his friends but hadn’t found them. He hoped that meant they were on Earth. Which was a weird sentence to even contemplate.

He wasn’t on Earth.

He was on Tariko. And while he understood the word, he had no concept of the place. Was it another planet?

The woman considered him for several seconds. “It appears you found a doorway to our world…or one opened.”

Rohan gave her a troubled glance.

“What does that mean?” Nate asked. Should he be worried?

It was Rohan who answered. “It means that in the past, travel between our two worlds was easier and more common. Then, when we stopped going to your world, it became harder for humans to travel here.”

“Elves and vampires aren’t creatures of myth. They came from here?” He was having this conversation with a minotaur; the answer was right in front of him. Of course, they weren’t mythological. “Why did you come to my world?”

“Trade, adventure… To scare unsuspecting humans.” Rohan grinned.

Nate was sure that might have been funny if he hadn’t magically learned a language while passed out in a strange palace. “Then how do I get home?”

There was a knock on the door, then a woman with pointed ears and a pronounced nose and jaw, like a short muzzle, bustled in carrying a tray of food. Nate’s stomach grumbled. He hadn’t eaten a proper meal in too many days.

The woman gave him a wary glance, her yellow eyes seeming to absorb everything she needed to learn about him—which was nothing good—in a few seconds. She placed the tray on the desk, nodded at Rohan and the Strega, and left.

“Since you were caught stealing food, I am assuming you are hungry.” Rohan stood in one graceful movement that shouldn’t have been possible for a beast…man his size. He gently pulled Nate up so he was sitting on the sofa, his feet not touching the floor, and then walked over to the desk. Which gave Nate a chance to observe him.

Rohan looked like a man, except for his head and his hooves. A very tall man who liked bodybuilding. Nate considered himself average height for a human man. Rohan towered over him. He must be seven feet plus horns. Nate had always liked taller guys. Something twitched beneath Rohan’s tunic, and it took Nate a full two seconds to realize it was a tail.

And another two seconds to realize he was far more curious than revolted.

Rohan returned with the plate of food and a cup of tea. “Let me hold it. Magic can make you shaky if you aren’t used to it.”

His voice was so soft and deep that if Nate closed his eyes, it would be very easy to imagine him whispering all kinds of naughty things. He swallowed. What was wrong with him?

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