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Down on his luck and kicked in the pants one too many times, sixteen-year-old Pagan Kidrouk arrives on the doorstep of the Templar Knights in medieval Jerusalem, looking for work as a squire. He’s expecting only some protection from the seedier aspects of life on the street and a few square meals.

“Where have you been?!” Drake’s mother asks him.

“This girl was shoved in a trunk and I went to go help her. The guy tried to shoot me but missed, hit a pole and it bounced off and hit him in the head,” Drake told her.

“You did WHAT!! You are grounded! Never do that again.”

“Come on! Oh well. Come on, Topaz!”

He was asleep before he even touched the pillow.

Drake went from class to class to have everyone talking to him, only to stop when Topaz blew smoke. Everyone watched Topaz fly Drake’s Social Studies test to the teacher. The teacher just stared at Topaz a then said thank you. Topaz then went your welcome and the whole room gasped. Topaz casually flew back to Drake and crawled into his pocket.

The teacher tried to act like nothing unusual happened. She was unsuccessful.

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .