Arcana: Among the Spheres

The Wheels

by Mark Edwards

Excerpt from the collected letters of Fears-the-Night, currently in the Spherewalker's Chamber, Library of All Worlds.

Wodensday, The Month of Long Shadows, the Year of the Heron

...and so it is not too much to say that they saved my life by the superior skills of some of their number as physicians. I have observed many skills among these kind people, many unsuspected talents and abilities.

We know them as the Traveling Folk, but they have other names. Depending on what sphere they visit they are called Rockers, Road Children, Night Tramps, Tinkers, and Fortune's Favorites. The name they most commonly use for themselves is Wheels.

As I recovered from my wound in their care, I discovered many remarkable things.

The first is that they are not of one race. Some are tall, some small of stature, some have golden hair, or red, or black. This comes from their willingness to adopt orphaned children they find in their travels into their fold.

They also can spherewalk as a group, and only as a group. I traveled through two gates with them, and I have not the power to bring so many with me. When asked how they do this, their leader told me that it is the gift of their fellowship.

They also have a secret code, made up of arrangements of stones and sticks that they use to give news to each other. These roadside markers let one group of Wheels know how safe the road ahead is, whether they are approaching a friendly village or a dangerous one.

I had known that they were renowned fortune tellers, but did not know that the Wheels used a different deck from the traditional Fortune Deck. It has twice the cards, and although some do resemble Fortune cards, others represent more ambiguous aspects.

They are also musicians, tumblers, and puppeteers of great skill. Some repair pots and tools, and their gift for handling horses is amazing.

Of course my happy time among them will surprise some, for on many spheres the Wheels are thought to be vagabonds and criminals, and many have heard stories that they steal children. Unless I have been tricked for the past year, these rumors are groundless. Not that they don't occasionally take advantage of customers or audiences, but who can say that most merchants do not do the same?

On a rare few spheres they are welcomed, but on most they are treated with wariness.

They have asked me to join their fellowship, as I have some skill at tumbling and doing battle tricks. This would be ridiculous, were it not for one of them with flashing green eyes and laughter like music, who welcomes my advances...

The Wheels copyright © 1999 Mark Edwards, used with permission.