Jefferson Marlowe, Hero

Jefferson Marlowe woke and sat up. He did not know where he was or how he'd got there, but he was sure that he was awake.

"Hello Jefferson."

He turned around. There was a very tall, very blurry figure floating a few metres away.

"Um...hello," he replied.

"Do you know where you are?"

"No."

"Do you know how you got here?"

"No."

Jefferson's eyes began to adjust to the light. The figure's features started to come into focus. He saw that it was a woman, a beautiful woman, long black hair draped over her shoulders and framing her unfathomably delicate features. He could see now that she was not floating, but appeared to be standing on an invisible box.

"I'm going to leave you now, Jefferson."

Now he could see her more clearly, he wanted her to stay. "No. Stay."

"I just want to say thank you, Jefferson. I know you don't remember, but we owe it all to you. No-one here will ever know what a hero you were, how you slew the mighty Jagalath, how you saved all our lives. But we won't forget. Good luck to you, Jefferson Marlowe. You can find your own way home from here, yeah?"

"What happened? What did I do?"

It was too late. The speaker had disappeared.

Jefferson looked around. He appeared to be in a big hole. No, now he could see that it was a quarry. There were miners chipping away at the huge chalky white wall not fifty metres away from where he was sitting. Little lads in purple uniforms. Must be the Quinto Rock Mining Collective, he thought. So that's where he was: Quinto Rock.

One of the miners put down his tools and ambled over.

"Hello! How did you get in then?"

"I don't know."

"Don't know, eh?"

"No."

"Well, come on. Make yourself useful. We've had a couple of fatalities recently. Could do with some new staff."

"Aren't I a little tall?"

The miner looked him up and down, and tried to suppress a laugh.

"Nah, mate. You're just right."

Jefferson picked up a loose chisel and wandered over towards the rock face. Typical, he thought. He'd finally done something magnificent, the huge deed that he'd been preparing to perform for his whole life... and neither he nor anyone else could remember the first thing about it.

Six Months of Questing

Jefferson Marlowe was riding along the sandy trail from Quinto Rock to Batahausen, when his horse reared up and flicked him off her back.

As Juniper galloped off into the distance, Jefferson blinked away the dust from his eyes and stumbled to his feet.

"Stay down," a familiar voice boomed from over his shoulder.

Jefferson shot back down and buried his face in the dirt. He dared not turn around.

"Do you know who I am?"

"No," lied Jefferson.

"I am Alfonso Barsquador. Now hand over the keys."

Jefferson reached into his right trouser pocket and fished out the keys to Outrock Cave. He tossed them away to his right.

"And now the book."

Jefferson reached into his left trouser pocket and fished out The Ancient Book of Caldidot. He tossed it away to his left.

"Now stand up and walk away."

Jefferson stood up and walked away.

After ten minutes of silence, he decided that it was probably safe to turn around. The wizard had disappeared, as had the keys and the book. Six months of questing, all gone up in smoke.

Jefferson shouted out for Juniper, but she was long gone.

Batahausen was seventy-eight miles away. He wiped away a tear and started to walk.