In The Dark and Forbidding Land, I had to create a number of new characters that I new would not appear later on.  Streck was probably the most important and interesting of these.

“Hey!”  Half a dozen men were running in their direction from the east.  By the time they reached the two children, Graham had thrown his gun over his shoulder and pulled a very long turquoise feather from the utahraptor’s tail, which he handed to Senta.  The men stopped next to the fallen creature.  Among them were Sergeant Clark and a couple of armed militiamen, as well as Mr. Darwin and Mr. Fonstan.

“Look Clark,” said Mr. Fonstan.  “These children killed the utahraptor that you and your men couldn’t even find.”

Clark shot him an evil look.

“If you don’t have any use for the carcass,” said Mr. Darwin to Graham.  “I’ll gladly give you two marks for it.”

While the man and boy were negotiating, with Mr. Fonstan looking on, Clark and his two men followed the trail of the second creature into the trees, leaving Senta standing near the sixth man in the group.  He was a stranger, a young man wearing a black greatcoat over a charcoal suit.  His blond hair was cut short beneath a furry cap.  He examined the girl with steely eyes.

“So who would you be?” he asked, his voice thick with a Freedonian accent.

“She would be the Drache Girl,” said Fonstan, turning around.

“Ja?  This little bit?”  He was looking neither at Fonstan nor Senta, but was scanning the edge of the trees.

“That’s right,” said Senta saucily.  “What’s that?”

She pointed to a small, round black and red pin on the lapel of his coat.  It was something like a cross, with each of the four legs broken off at right angles.  The man sneered.

“You Brech call it a gammadion, but its proper name is fylfot.”

“Yeah?  What’s it for?”

“It is the symbol of the Die Wahre Kunst von Zauberei,” he said, turning his attention back to her.

“Um… painting with wizards?”

“The true art.  Wizardry.  Ignorant girl!”

“Watch your mouth buddy!”  Graham was at Senta’s side.  “I’ll give you what for!”

“Come on children.”  Mr. Fonstan, stepping around the Freedonain, took the children by their shoulders and guided them past him.  “Let’s not bother Mr. Streck anymore.”

Streck went back to looking around, while Mr. Fonstan led the children down the road toward town square.  Graham kept turning to look over his shoulder at Streck.  When he started to slow a bit, Mr. Fonstan pulled him along.

“Don’t go looking for trouble, lad,” he said.  “I don’t like the look of that one and it ain’t just because he’s foreigner.”