Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!pilchuck!li From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus) Subject: [MG] [AU] Looking for Housing Message-ID: <1993Jun5.173822.19140@data-io.com> Sender: news@data-io.com (The News) Organization: Data I/O Corporation References: <1993Jun5.172906.19013@data-io.com> Date: Sat, 5 Jun 1993 17:38:22 GMT Lines: 164 After her breakfast, Kardia went up to her room and packed everything. Kardia left the Inn with her bags, her harp case, the horse bow and quiver of arrows, and her walking stick. The shawl and scarf were packed away, after some thought. With the requirement of her healing throat it was better not to wear the articles. She was pretty sure that 'Raelf was all right now; but it had taken a little weighing on her part to decide to put away the shawl and scarf. She turned to the Ceru and walked over it on the bridge. The Mage Guild still amazed her and she took an extra ten minutes to study the front hallway. Then she strode in and got lost. She managed to find her way back out and then asked the front receptionist, "Uhm... how do I find the door to 'Raelf's house?" A light lit on the wall. She followed it and came back to the portal that she'd exited the other morning, and popped through into the fragrant garden. There was a newly planted tree amid a mound of soft earth. The rain fell gently around her and she looked up at the sky with a smile. Familiar, the touch of the water lightened her mood. The grey skys were comforting. She moved through the arch to the front door of the beehive shaped house. The grating clanged softly under her footsteps. Kardia scraped her travelling boots off there, and then knocked on the front door. She'd half expected someone to answer it before she even knocked, but no one did. So she knocked again. A boy child trotted up to her from the Garden, half covered in dirt and a grin. "Hiya." Kardia blinked. "Hi. I'm Kardia..." "I'm Kev." he put out a very brown hand. Kardia shook it, doing her best not to laugh. "Is 'Raelf around? I need to talk to him." Kev nodded vigerously and made a come-hither gesture. Kardia grinned and followed. As they went around the building, Kev looked back at Kardia and put one finger to his lips in a universal quiet sign. Kardia nodded to acknowledge the sign. Kardia had never seen a satyrlion do a staff kata before. Of course, she'd never seen a satyrlion before the other day in her life, so it wasn't that surprising. She kept very, very quiet and sat down, crosslegged where Kev stopped. Kev grinned at her and ran off. The feline grace that Kardia had glimpsed behind the human form was now highly evident. It wasn't only the smooth furred sleekness of the lower half of his body, clad now in a brief pair of runners' shorts, with a hole behind for his cat's tail: it was also the liquid grace with which he moved. 'Raelf's concentration was a palpable thing, and Kardia found herself breathing consciously with the slow, relaxed control Alistair had taught her at seven. Strike and block, precise and flowing both, a string of positional pearls with little stasis and no dead spots. The kata flowed like water over earth, struck like fire and she could see and hear how his breathing synched with the flow of power. He was very good. So Kardia simply sat and enjoyed the show. At the closing movements, she reluctantly stood up. She waited until he closed and breathed and the concentration dropped away before approaching him. When he looked at her, she unconsciously bowed, putting one fist in one hand and then blushed when she realized what she'd done. 'Raelf returned the movement precisely and with no embarrassment. "Very nice." she said. "Thanks. Not quite my best, though. These legs are tough. More thrust, but the baLance is bogus. Tail helps though." Kardia blinked and realized that he had the rear legs of a feline, with the paws, longer ankle, shorter and slenderer calf, with a rotated hip and huge thigh muscles, "Oh, wow." "Yeah..." 'Raelf hesitated then asked, "What's up?" "Uhm... two things. First, I noticed, last night, that Dasham still had a curse on her, so I guess I'm here for the job. The second is news about Andrea and Sheryl. Andrea left a notice in the Inn to all the folks she'd gotten together for the Housebreaking that she needed some time off." Kardia frowned, "It said something about her needing to get into the great open spaces." Kardia was a touch relieved to see that 'Raelf frowned at that phrase as well. "Not much like our city thief, is it?" A shake of the head. "I'm a little worried about her. The night that I finished Sheyrl's cover, someone got into Andrea and Sheyrl's room and tried to throw a huge curse on Andrea. She'd gotten a ring from somewhere and combined with Sheryl's horn Andrea seemed to have reflected the curse so that it hit the caster; but something had changed in her, nothing curse-like that I could see, though. Thing is that I wasn't able to figure out what had changed in the time that I got to examine her; and she'd said that she felt fine. But then this..." Kardia shook her head. "Hmmmm... the power behind that curse on Sheryl... I'm ashamed to say that I copied it when I was out of my head last night, but at least I didn't erase anybody." Kardia gave him a sharp look. "Oy vell. Anyway, Andrea's pretty capable." "Yeah. I know. The main reason I didn't try and round up a posse from those that had already volunteered for the Housebreaking." Kardia grinned, "I can just imagine how she'd look at me if we charged in on her in the middle of a job... Yeah. I guess I'm just enough worried about her to tell you about what happened; and if after the Dasham job she still doesn't show up then you'll know where I went." 'Raelf nodded and then quirked one eyebrow. "You need a place to crash with her gone?" Kardia grinned a slightly abashed grin. "Yeah. I do. If it's not too much trouble..." 'Raelf muttered, "Just as well..." At her confused frown 'Raelf shook his head and said with a grin, "Your room is ready for you if you want to dump your stuff there." "Cool." Kardia hesistated and then said, "I'm really rusty and completely untested, so I don't know how to communicate what level I'm at in any of the arts; but if you want a student at all... I guess I'm asking if you'd want to teach me something after I dump my stuff? If not, no prob, I got plenty of spinning still to do with Dasham's job coming up." "I'd love to practice with you. You figure out how much you're gonna need to spin, and we can start. Anyway Karl wanted to learn some of this stuff too." He grinned at her puzzled expression. "Remember last night? Rhythm Song? The satyr band? Well, they didn't start out as satyrs, but they do NOT want to go back, so I have acquired, how you say, houseguests, for a while. Had a fun time getting all their stuff out of their townhouse. If it wasn't for the twins and that log drum, the landlord would have called the guards on us." Kardia laughed in delight. "Fantastic... Sounds like there'll be interesting company. Most of the spinning can wait 'til tonight, you have the light for me do that; and it's been too long since I've been physically active. I still ache from the dancing last night..." A look of dismay crossed the satyrlion's face. Kardia suddenly realized why she felt like crying. "Hey. It wasn't your fault. I..." she sighed, "I know what it's like being raped, and it looked to me a lot like you were messed with, big time, by someone really nasty. It's taken a long time... but I finally can honestly say that I was innocent. You can't blame yourself for everything you did then. I'm glad you're taking the responsibility of fixing what you can. From what I've seen, you're doin' the best you can; but this blaming bit just can't be helping you *do* that. That make any sense?" "Yeah, I don't blame myself, really, but I don't like the things I did anyway. The band ... all the folks who _chose_ to remain morphs, even though they know they may not have children now? Well, not human children, anyway. I did manage to untangle some of the snarls. Oh well. Enough moping. If you want to stretch out and get in some practice, I'm going to be out here exercising for the next hour or so." "Cool then... I'll be back after a change..." Kardia grinned and said, "Thanks for the foot..." and she bounced on it and ran for the house. This was going to be fun. -- Liralen Li | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are li@inigo.Data-IO.com | the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real." aka Phyllis Rostykus | - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:5747 alt.pub.havens-rest:723 Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn,alt.pub.havens-rest Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!olivea!uunet!mnemosyne.cs.du.edu!nyx!cmeadows From: cmeadows@nyx.cs.du.edu (Chris Meadows) Subject: ADMIN: [AU], [Constellation], and [Oberon, Inc.] -- My Hours Message-ID: <1993Jun14.141122.1325@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu> Sender: usenet@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu (netnews admin account) Organization: Nyx, Public Access Unix @ U. of Denver Math/CS dept. Date: Mon, 14 Jun 93 14:11:22 GMT Lines: 20 Since I'm not around all of the time, I thought it prudent to post when I will be available so you won't get frustrated if you send me email and I don't respond immediately. Unlike when I'm up here in the Fall and Spring semesters, I currently have to commute to classes from my home, 60 miles away. So I am only here from Monday to Thursday, from about 7:00 a.m. to about 2:00 or 3:00 p.m., Central Time. The rest of the time, I am at my home and will not have any access to email or netnews whatsoever. Just thought I'd better clear that up. Sorry for any wasted bandwidth (though I think that by posting this message to both newsgroups at once, I have actually saved some...). -- Chris Meadows | Robotech/RIFTS/Palladium fanfic author/editor CHM173S@SMSVMA | They Might Be Giants about Star Trek aliens: CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU | "Everybody wants prosthetic foreheads CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU | on their real heads!" Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!rutgers!noao!amethyst!organpipe.uug.arizona.edu!helium!corleyj From: corleyj@helium.gas.uug.arizona.edu (Jason D Corley ) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: The Day After [Pitzar][AU] Message-ID: <1993Jun17.195710.21656@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu> Date: 17 Jun 93 19:57:10 GMT Sender: news@organpipe.uug.arizona.edu Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson Lines: 127 When I woke up, they both were gone. I rested outside on the warped and faded boards of the back porch. The waist-high grass came up to the edge of the rain-beaten steps, and stretched golden- brown into the distance. I chewed slowly on a tasteless hunk of bread. She had taken everything and left no note. I thought about writing the article now, but I had to find out why she left, first. I could see the hoofprints slashing off across the fields in a straight, true line. I looked back, back towards the city, where the sun would just now be clearing the first few buildings. I could just make it up. Nobody would know anything different. Nobody would care---the fact that there were unicorns left in the world was the story---why they would suddenly disappear in the night was not. The sky was clear, the sun shone mindlessly down on me. The rope on the crumbling well had broken and rotted. I managed to tie enough of it together to hoist a few swallows of cool, dark water from the depths of the blackness. When I looked up, there was a small white flash far out on the fields before me. It streaked straight along the path of the hoofprints, straight for me, stopping abruptly at my feet, shining brightly with sweat and unstained whiteness. "Hey, kid." I said. Sheryl danced uncomfortably back and forth on her little hooves. She whined and let out small moaning nickers. "Terrific. Is this going to turn out like one of those kids' stories? Binky the Unicorn Saves The Day? " Sheryl snorted and prodded me lightly with her horn. I had no doubt she could prod harder if she liked. "All right, all right, what is it? Never mind, bad question. Is it about Andrea?" Sheryl nodded. "Is she all right?" Sheryl shrugged and looked at me urgently. "She's in trouble?" Sheryl nodded again. "The brigands again? No, hunters!" She nodded feverishly. "How many?" Sheryl pawed the ground twice and opened her eyes very wide, the deep, unearthly blue pupils dilating slightly in the bright sun. "You saw two." Sheryl nodded. I stepped up into the house, hearing the floor creak beneath my boots. I hoisted my knapsack over my shoulder, feeling it's familiar weight. Sheryl stood outlined in the door, a strange white silhouette. "Okay, let's go." We walked back across the field. It took us a few hours walking to cover the area Andrea and Sheryl probably covered in a couple of minutes. It would have taken us longer, but Sheryl had a sense of urgency surrounding her that charged the air with expectation and tension. Toward sunset, Sheryl seemed to sense something. She turned, started running. I followed as best I could. Then she stopped, so abruptly, I nearly ran into her. I dropped to my knees. Sheryl crouched down low, as well. "They're near here?" I whispered. Sheryl nodded. She sniffed the air carefully, then jerked her head left. "Keep quiet." I said. "Follow me." The grass rustled and cracked beneath us. It closed in behind us. We slid along, close to the ground, until I heard the voices. "Well, she's gotta come out of the river somewheres. So we gotta follow it this way." "If we get her, how much do you think we can get for her?" "We can get whatever we want, whatever the hell we want, brother." I motioned Sheryl to keep following them on this side. I doubled bac and got on the other side of them, crawling on my belly, holding my breath for as long as I could. They stopped, and we both froze. "Did you hear something?" "Naw." "All right. Just thought I..." I jumped, and yelled as loud as I could. I slapped the bow out of one hunter's hands and twisted his arm around behind his back before he could react. Then I put my long-handled knife to his throat. We were both still trembling, when I saw that Sheryl had the second hunter at hornpoint. "Sit down, fellas." They nervously looked from me to her, sizing us up. "She's a little unpredictable. You didn't REALLY want to shoot her sister, now did you? You were just too excited. Now, we don't want to get excited again, right? You've had enough excitement for one day. So sit down. Rest a bit." Sheryl played right into the part, snarling and letting a little drool escape from between her lips. She jabbed her horn at the pair, letting it circle around in front of them. It glowed slightly. I could see their eyes following that deadly point and every move it made. For a minute I thought she was overdoing it, but the hunters seemed not to notice. They sat down. *********************************************************************** >From the Generican Examiner, weekend edition, "INTERVIEW WITH A UNICORN HUNTER--- Special Correspondant Jake Pitzar Les and Michael Grawton never expected any trouble when they went out hunting this morning. Of course, they didn't expect to see a unicorn halfway through the day. 'We never thought in a million years we would ever see a unicorn.' Les stated. Michael added 'We thought they were just stories Gran-maw would tell us.' Unicorns were, and apparently are, white horses with a single horn protruding from their forehead. They used to be quite widespread, but hunters like the Grawtons reduced their population to almost nil. Few people ever see a unicorn, and those that do usually portray it as a mystical and beautiful experience. The Grawton's first response was: "Shoot it." Les said, "Getting one of them woulda made us rich." Were they aware unicorns are protected creatures under many countries laws? ", they'd have to come and find us," Michael said. The pair encountered the unicorn while hunting near the Lopine River, many hundred miles northwest of Generica. This reporter has also sighted the unicorn, several times, and can confirm that this terribly endangered creature is not extinct as previously thought. More from the banks of the Lopine will follow in the _Examiner_." *************************************************************************a We let them go. They were frightened enough that they headed straight home, straight back to the hills far to the north. They'd seen Andrea (as a unicorn, of course) fall into the river. Sheryl and I had only gone about a mile downriver when we heard the shout. -- **************************************************************************** "The trouble with radicals is that they read only radical literature and the trouble with conservatives is that they don't read anything."-Thomas Carter Jason D. "corleyj@gas.uug.arizona.edu" Corley is a walking disclaimer. Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!cs.utexas.edu!asuvax!chnews!ornews.intel.com!ibeam!hutch From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [AU] [Housebreaking] Tripping Out Message-ID: Organization: Intel Corp., Hillsboro, Oregon References: <1993Jul14.180410.9807@data-io.com> Date: Thu, 15 Jul 1993 20:36:11 GMT Lines: 485 [ADMIN] This happens after Liralen's "Rock Steady" post. It contains the work of several folks, but it was long enough ago that I no longer remember who all of them were for sure. 'Raf stuffed a few more things into the saddlebag. Four more bags of oats, a sack of apples, a camp cook set from the kitchen storage shelves. A large canteen of water. "You really want me ta carry all dat?" The kid sounded dubious, and the golden satyrlion laughed at the dolorous voice. "Clyde, you're a centaur now, remember? You can carry as much as a horse, no problem. Besides, you wanna eat, don't you?" "Well, yeah, but..." The young stal shrugged his human-shoulders. "Then c'mere." The saddlebags went over the young centaur's bodyjoint, and a second pair over his hindquarters. "Not bad, eh?" The satyrlion pulled the strap tight and showed him how they fastened, uptop, where he could adjust them himself. "Wow. I woulda thot dem bags would weigh a ton." "You're a lot stronger now." 'Raf clapped the stal on his back, and he turned around to face the satyrlion. "Right, I forgot. Hey, you sure it's okay dat we goes out lookin' for Jake an' da 'corn lady, I mean, Ol' Man Heartwell sez I can go wit' ya?" "He liked your story on the satyr band, didn't he?" 'Raf cinched the saddlebags a little tighter around Clyde's barrel. "Exhale, this has to be tight, don't want it chafing you." "He (oof) changed da words around. But he said I gots promise." "Good. We'll work on your writing then." "Thanks, 'Raf. You's a good teacher." Clyde flushed a little, red against his palomino-blonde coloring. "You really want to be a reporter, it's the least I can do." "So to speak," came the voice from the doorway. Kardia was there, walking carefully so as not to stress the bandage around her chest. "Oooh, m'lady, that looks right painful," 'Raf said, wincing in sympathy. "I can vouch for that," came a mellow baritone from behind her. Karl walked into the room behind her, holding his side ruefully. "I didn't realize this empathy thing would work both ways." Wearing her neutral form, ar'Elya walked in behind, laughing quietly. "You should have seen, 'Raf. He tried his usual line on her this morning, and as soon as he touched her he fell over." "Well, I was just being friendly." Karl grinned. "Besides, you wouldn't let me flirt with you, and Kardia is almost as cute." "You don't know what you'd be getting into, lad." ar'Elya smiled, and scratched him behind the right horn. "Oh man." The satyr leaned into her hand, moaning. "Karl, you remember the exercises yesterday?" 'Raf said, amusement in his voice. "Do your centering exercise now." "Hai, sensei." The satyr breathed deep, exhaled. "Hey, the pain went away. Why is that?" "You just teach that exercise to Anna and the twins, you're going to need to be able to keep out other people's sensations sometimes." "Sure thing. Hey, I wanted to visit Dougl today." "Ask Lex to work the gates for you. And wear the tunic, man." 'Raf's lion-tail twitched, as he gLanced up and down at the nearly naked satyr. "Sure thing. I'm not gonna walk into the St. Cuthbert Academy in just a thong, 'Raf, I know they'd toss me out on my ear." He grabbed an apple from the bowl on the table and trotted out into the hall. "Are you sure you're up to the walk, Kardia?" Kardia nodded. "We really should find Andrea and Sheryl, and once that newspaper article showed up about unicorn hunters, well. I'll be fine, I've gone farther with much worse injury when I had to." ar'Elya examined the Kardia's posture, then shifted to the habit of Sister El'n. Clyde shied a bit at the sight. A younger woman in the same habit came into the room, carrying a pack labelled with a red cross. She handed the pack to Sister Eln', smiled and left. 'Raf stared at her, one eyebrow raised. "Nice effect," he said to himself. "Good role discipline." Sister El'n gave him a warning glare and opened the medical pack. "Kardia, come over here and let me examine that dressing. You gentlemen, just go about your business now, give her some privacy. No need to gawk." She waited til they had turned away before she lifted Kardia's loose shirt and removed the bandage, blinking back a silent tear at old whip scars on Kardia's back and sides. The crease over her ribs from the mage-guild bullet was healing well, the hardpack dressing had dissolved during the night, so the Reverend Sister applied a sterile antibiotic and then a clean dressing. "If you feel pain, we have a mild local anaesthetic but I'd prefer you not use it if you can avoid it. There's some ibuprofin in the kit too, but it might interfere with the complete operation of your implant eyes." "Thank you. I'll avoid it." She grinned wryly, shrugging her shirt back down around her body. "I'm not really all that skilled at horseback riding. Will this work with all the jolting and exertion?" "No problem, we're gonna be hoofin' it." 'Raf grinned, showing his feline dentalwork. "If it gets too rough I'll just drag out the hoverboard and you can sky ski, but I think the walking will do you good. You need to get into better shape if you want to be a better fighter." "A better fighter?" Kardia looked hesitant, and 'Raf smiled to himself. "All I want is to be a weaver." 'Raf nodded. "Uh huh. And not feel helpless when you don't need to and not be bothered by it when you can't help it." "Well..." Kardia frowned for a moment and then she smiled, "Yes, you're right." "Which means being a competent fighter in this town. And besides you need to be more fit anyway, and this should go a ways towards helping with that problem. Exercise, y'know, increase the pumpitude? Or at least stretch the legs." "Uhm. Yes, I guess walking would do that," Kardia said, flexing her gold foot introspectively, "Now that I can walk properly. This is still kind of hard to believe." "Hey, you look at the world with robot eyes and you think a foot prosthesis is hard to believe?" 'Raf blinked, catlike, and handed her a loaded backpack. "Well, with the eyes I started nearly blind, went through six months of interface training and adjustment. After that, this," she pointed her left toe and chuckled, "is unbelievable." She hefted the pack experimentally - 35 pounds. Not bad, and the straps were adjusted so they wouldn't pull on her shoulders much. Much better than her old leather travel sack. "I'm gonna go give some last minute instructions to Karl and the band, since Lex promised to keep his training on course while we're gone. See y'all by the travel-door." 'Raf left in the direction that Karl had gone. "I think this body is a bit old for the kind of travel we're going to be doing," ar'Elya observed, and with a kind of shake, she suddenly stood about four inches taller and had long copper hair in a braid down her back. She smiled and slung a knapsack across her right hip, a quiver of arrows on the left hip, and a bow-and-sword scabbard across her back. "Shall I bring my bow?" Kardia wondered. "Try out the draw position, if it hurts you probably shouldn't." She extended her left arm, then pulled back her right to her chin - the stretch wasn't really painful but she could feel it. She shook her head. "Better not. Oh well." "You _will_ want an alpenstock though." ar'Elya pulled a long pole with a hook on one end and a metal cap on the other, out of the knapsack. Kardia raised her eyebrows. "Is this more of that virtual matter, or is it real?" "Real, in this case. The knapsack has a dimensional sorter in it, so it can carry a goodly amount of stuff. The real thing is much more sturdy should we run into trouble." She checked their gear and nodded. "Time to go, daylight's wasting." 'Raf was waiting by the travel gateway outside by the garden. He had shifted shapes again, this time taking on a form something like a centaur, but still strongly leonine. He grinned at Clyde's expression of surprise. "Hey, how can I teach you about being a centaur without getting into it myself?" He adjusted the strap holding his pack on, and extended his staff to alpenstock length. ar'Elya snapped fingers, and the gate blurred in the middle. "The portal's set to take us to the northern gates. According to the guards, a pair of unicorns went out that way at incredible speed, about a week and a half ago. Have you got the scanners?" 'Raf picked up a polished wooden staff about six feet long from where it was leaning against the wall by the gate. "Clyde, you'll be carrying this one. It's designed to use as a weapon in an emergency. Right now, I want you to hold it in the middle, here, and keep it perpendicular to the ground." "What's dat mean?" "Like so, at right angles." "Ok, can do. So, what's it for?" "Well, once I turn on my staff you'll see. First we go through the gate." 'Raf bent down and stepped through the gate, followed by Kardia and a somewhat hesitant Clyde. ar'Elya followed last, closing the gate behind her. "Dis is great," Clyde grinned, looking out over the broad expanse of fields and empty spaces. Generica inside her walls was crowded, with buildings and people visible almost anywhere you looked. But out here, it was different. Houses still visible, and small towns around the steeples of their grange halls and temples, but there was so much empty space between things. The road led north and east. "OK, Clyde, you hold out your staff like I said." The centaur stal complied, and 'Raf matched the position with his own staff, and a curtain of pale green light appeared between the two staves. "Look at dat, wow," Clyde said, half-awestruck. "Dere's tracks showin' up dere on da ground." Indeed, looking through the curtain, green light outlined two sets of tracks, one larger than the other, but both the unique semi-split hoof shape of unicorn tracks. They went almost straight north. "I've got the next checkpoint identified," ar'Elya said quietly, and 'Raf tilted his staff slightly, making the green light vanish. They walked for several hours, following the tracks, stopping every six to eight miles to re-verify the trail. After about the second mile, Kardia found herself falling into a comfortable ground-eating loping walk that vanished the numb ache in her hip from the long months of having to hobble to protect her truncated left foot. She grinned at ar'Elya, who was matching strides. "Good thing she stuck to the road so far," the 'kan woman said, just in time for the trail to diverge off to the east through a forest. "Careful in here," 'Raf said, whiffing the air gently. "Clyde, do you smell that musky aroma?" "I... Yeah. Like old boots, kinda sour an' sneezy-feelin'." "That's goblin. But they'll leave us alone, if we don't get in their faces, so stay on the path. Raye, what's the standard toll here?" "Feels like ... three coppers, I think." "Great. Leave a silver wheel here at the start of the trail, and then let's go through very quietly." They made it through with no disturbance, though Kardia felt eyes on her from time to time, and the smell of goblins made Clyde sneeze once or twice. They passed through the small forest just in time to make camp in a small meadow, and ar'Elya went hunting, accompanied by a white-furred wolf that had joined them in the forest. She returned as the sun was setting, with four fat rabbits, which she efficiently cleaned and skinned. Meanwhile 'Raf had set up a dome-tent with walls, explaining it as a yurt; there was no natural way for it to fit into the place where he'd stowed it but he still insisted that it wasn't magical, and Kardia saw no lines of power running through it, other than the slight tagging that was visible on all of their packs and equipment. "If it ain't magic, how did it fit inside a' dat tiny pack?" Clyde said, skeptically, as 'Raf set up the campfire and ignited it with an old-fashioned flint and steel. "It's just fine fabric and a complicated armature, really," 'Raf protested. "You saw me open it up." "Synthetic spider silk and monocrys armature," Kardia muttered, disgusted. "Roughing it, he says. Airspaces sewn in for insulation. Metallized cloth backing. Real rough life." "Hey, I'm not gonna risk your getting sick," 'Raf replied, as the hunters returned. "Hi, Raye, good, you got fresh meat." He grinned and licked the fur on his hand. "Okay, Clyde, you go watch how she cleans the rabbits, and at lunchtime tomorrow I show you how to use a bow. Mandatory for centaurs." A somewhat portable pot from ar'Elya's knapsack was set up on the campfire alongside the coffee pot, and 'Raf got out his pipes and started playing quietly as the sky darkened. Kardia listened while she spun thread onto her bronze supported spindle. The smell of rabbit stewing in the pot with fresh vegetables was almost unbearable, and Clyde gave Kardia one of his apples. "I gots ta eat stuff all da time now, I guess dat bein' part horse makes me hungry as a horse too." He fidgeted. Kardia looked up from her loose kneeling posture as Clyde figured out how to get down into a sort of sitting position, his horse-half lying on the ground while his human torso was sitting up. He swatted at a bug, then 'Raf set up a yellow-oil torch with a sweet-citrus smell and the mosquitos abandoned them in droves. "Yes, that makes sense." Kardia returned the spindle and thread into her work bag and replaced it in her nearby pack; the light was getting too bad to use, even with the low-light setting of her eyes. She took a bite out of her apple, and after chewing it asked, "How did it feel, Clyde?" "What?" "Being changed, into a centaur." She settled, crosslegged, to listen. "Oh." He blushed. "It was really hot, sweaty-hot, from all da folks in da square, an' no breeze or nuthin'. I remember we was dancin, me and dese two fox babes dat came wit' us to da lighthouse. We all got naked, 'cause it was so hot, an' da fox babes was teasin' me about, uh, bein' so big, guy-wise, an' bein' so young, an' dey dragged me over ta where Raffi was playin' da pipes." He turned to look into the fire, his Low Town accent getting a little thicker. "Well, dey whispered somethin' in his ears, an' he din't stop playin' but den he changed da music, an' Karl was makin' dis gallopin' sorta drumsong. So Raffi gives me a drink a da wine outa his wineskin, an' tells me dat I can be a centaur, if I wants. An' I likes horses, an' da fox babes is teasin' me wit' dere tails, an I says yes. So den Raffi gives me dis big long tongue kiss, an' da fox babes is both lickin' in my ears, an' den I uh, gets all bothered, an' I wuz so drunk dat I, uh, kinda pass out, sorta. Den I comes to, an' Raffi is givin' me another drink a da wine, an' da fox babes is sittin' on my back, only dey's on my horse-back. An' I feels kinda like I was made outa fire, really light an' hot, an' da fox babes dat was bigger den me, dey is both littler, an' I goes out in da crowd an' dey, uh, dances wit' me an' wit' da fox babes on my back. An den you an' da vampire guy comes in an' turns Raffi back inta 'Raf, an' da really wild stuff happens wit' da rest a da magicians. So den in da early mornin' after da band is done playin', we helps dem move dere stuff ta da lighthouse." "Are you happy like this?" She smiled, seeing the places where the young stal had made his story more polite than she suspected it really had been. "Would you want to change back to human?" "He said he'd fix me back if I wann'ed but it din't sound good ta me. Before I was just a Low Town kid, sellin' papers, now I be hangin' wit' a'venturers an' helpin' da band, an' Ol' Man Heartwell sez I gets ta do field work like Jake an' 'Raf is teachin' me ta write news stories." "You could still do that as a human." "Yeah, but da fox babes likes me bein' half-horse. 'Sides, I like it, it's fun bein' stronger den da guy dat runs da press at da Examiner, an bein' able ta run fast, it's great." He got a wistful faraway expression. "Dey's fine babes, an' I like dem a lot, but dey just wants me as a stud, not as a friend, an' dat's not good enuf. I need ta find other centaurs." Kardia nodded. "I like being able to run," she said, changing the subject to something where she felt a little more secure. "Yeah, I see'd you gots da gold foot. Is dat real gold?" "I think so, 'Raelf made it with gold." She rubbed the join where the skin above her ankle blended with the gold of the foot, trying to feel the slight difference in sensation. After today's walk, there was none. It even felt warm like her skin. "Wow. Ain't you afraid dat some thief'll try ta take it?" "I wear shoes and socks mostly, and it doesn't show. I don't know what would happen if someone tried to steal it, really. The gold is just a very thin layer over the top of the foot." "Y'oughta be careful anyway. Parts a da Low City is pretty harsh." "Thanks, Clyde. I'll be careful." "Howcome you got dat foot anyway?" "Oh, I was captured, by slavers I think, a while back. They cut off the front part of my foot so I couldn't get away." "Nasty. Was dey Rameshanders?" "I don't think so. They were just locals, from around the same place where I found refuge, eventually. Anyway, when I came to Generica, one of the people I met was 'Raelf, and he offered to replace my foot in trade for me breaking a curse for him." "Oh, you's a magician?" Clyde looked suddenly more respectful, and Kardia suppressed a giggle as she nibbled the last of the apple around the core. "Not really. I weave. If I do it right, the weavings make magic go away. So I'm really kind of an UnMagician." Clyde grinned at the idea. "Dat sounds cool. Hey, is dat why you been askin' me if I really wanna be a 'taur? Cause I don' want dat you make me turn back." Kardia looked at him with the sight that saw magic. There was some faint tracery, like all living things had, and a faint trace that seemed like 'Raf, but no trace of anything resembling a human aura, except for the young stal's human torso, which was different in many details. If she hadn't known he wasn't always a centaur, she wouldn't have been able to tell. "You're a centaur for good and proper, Clyde. I think that if you wanted to change into something else, it would be fairly hard to do." She tossed the very thin apple core into the fire. Clyde nodded happily. "Good. Hey, you still hungry?" He looked around, seeing the campfire and the food cooking, but no sign of the centaurlion or the red-haired woman. The big white wolf was lying beside the fire gazing out into the field, his black ears tipping up to catch the sounds of early night. "Where's 'Raf an' da lady wizard?" "I don't know," Kardia replied. "They were here a moment ago." She rose fluidly, and went over to the campfire. The wolf had devoured most of the rabbit bones and excess. The pot contained what looked like a fairly good stew, bubbling gently. There were four large tubers lying in the embers, and the water in the steaming coffepot was hot. A pair of cups had been set by the stones, with a dark powder in the bottoms. It smelled familiar to Kardia - aka miso. She poured hot water from the coffeepot into each cup. A roll of tinfoil revealed two large-sized chunks of a french bread stick. She saw two more on the other side of the fire, so she handed one of the bread sticks and a cup of miso to Clyde. "Drink this, it's a kind of soup." "Sure." Clyde's nose wrinkled, "Gee, smells kinda like fish." "I think dried fish are one of the ingredients." "Not bad, I guess." He chewed thoughtfully on the bread. A roar came from the distance, and birds startled. Kardia strained to hear what it was. The wolf, though, just sat there, grinning his lupine grin. "You will let us know if that's going to come eat us," she said to the wolf. He thumped his tail twice and resumed listening. After about ten minutes, 'Raf and ar'Elya returned to camp, her riding on his back. "Smells like the food's ready," she said, and slid down. "Good, you found the first courses. If you feel like you're getting too hungry, let us know, we have a tendency not to eat when we get doing something." "Must be a useful trait," Kardia observed. 'Raf just grinned and stroked ar'Elya's hair. The next morning 'Raf had them up and moving almost before the air was warm. Kardia's legs ached, but not as much as she thought they would, and the crease on her side over the cracked rib was almost completely healed. "Good," the Reverend Sister said as she examined the injury, "It's very close to healed. I'm quite pleased. Now listen, Kardia." The weaver looked in her eyes, but the reflections were quiet today. "You've learned to focus your ki, your spirit. Remember to keep it feeding life into that area. Your mechanisms can interfere with the course of normal healing, but if you remember to do your ki focus, it will overcome that interference without causing your body to reject the machinery. And remember, discipline the body or it rules you. Rule the body, and it will do almost anything for you." "Thank you," Kardia said, as the stern countenance gave way to the more open smile of the red-haired hiker. "Isn't she awful," ar'Elya said. "I don't know why being her makes me act so stodgy and sour." "She's just repressed," 'Raf said, grinning. They crossed a plains, fording several streams. Finally, at the end of the day, the tracks were plain enough that the magical scan wasn't required to see their traces. And then Sheryl poked her nose out of the waist-high grass and snorted a hello at them. Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!sdd.hp.com!math.ohio-state.edu!howland.reston.ans.net!wupost!news.miami.edu!cybernet!news From: wolvie@cybernet.cse.fau.edu (christopher motherway) Subject: [AU] Discovery of the quest Message-ID: <7yHs7B4w165w@cybernet.cse.fau.edu> Sender: news@cybernet.cse.fau.edu Organization: Cybernet BBS, Boca Raton, Florida Date: Fri, 16 Jul 1993 16:50:41 GMT Lines: 87 ADMIN: This, chronologically, occurs the day after the Unicorn Hunt began. Since Lance and Blaze are not PART of it, they might as well... well, see for yourself... = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Blaze was sitting at a table by herself (Lance had gone out to find another "job" for them), with Lance's mandolin. She was casually strumming a few simple tunes to occupy herself, though, unlike when Lance is strumming it, no images appeared in front of her. Serene saw the archmage and walked over to the table. She than said, "I didn't know YOU could play. I thought only Lance could." Blaze smiled, put the mandolin down, and said, "Lance taught me a few notes and bars here and there since we had met. I am more a master of magic than of music, though." She then sighed. Serene asked, "What's wrong? Bored?" Blaze said, "No, my friend, it is not only that." She then show the copy of the "Examiner" she had; the one about unicorns and the hunters. While Serene scanned the story, Blaze said, "This got me thinking of Sheryl. She is the only unicorn I know of. But this article says there were TWO spotted by those hunters. Before Andrea left, she said she needed time for a walk to 'adjust'. I wonder...could Andrea be that other unicorn?" All this time, the amulet around Blaze's neck glowed dimly. Serene said, "How could that be? It was only Sheryl that was changed, form what I heard 'Raelf and some other say." Blaze shrugged, saying, "I do not know, but, perhaps, it had something to do with Raykor, the one who changed Sheryl. Maybe Andrea was caught by Raykor, like I was caught by that strange presence in my wizard-sleep. Raykor COULD have tried the same curse on Andrea. Of course, this is all theory. For all I know, that other unicorn just might be that: a unicorn. Oh, Serene, I am just so worried over Andrea." Serene then said, "Wait a second. Here's news to cheer you up: 'Raelf, Kardia, and some others headed out yesterday to LOOK for Andrea and Sheryl." Blaze's face lit up (as did the amulet). "Really? When?" "Late afternoon. Don't know WHERE they went, but they WERE going after them." A few tears of joy appeared in Blaze's eyes. "Oh, thank heavens. Wait until Lance hears this!" = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = That night, Blaze told Lance about the search for the thief and her unicorn-sister. She also told him about the amulet, how it glowed whenever Andrea and Sheryl were even thought of. "Do you think," Lance said, "that this crystal could be a link to Andrea and Sheryl?" "Not really, beloved. It ALSO glows...when I think of you." Lance pondered a second. He never spent much time with the royal wizard in Wolverton, so magic was a bit out of his league. Yet curiosity about magic had always been a part of him. Finally, Lance said, "Well, at least there is one less thing to worry about. Hopefully, Andrea and Sheryl will be back soon. We will tie up these loose ends in her story when they do. In the mean time, we need to visit a villiage northeast of here, near an enchanted forest of some sort. The townsfolk said that goblins have been sneaking in to houses there, robbing them of gold and jewelry. Perhaps you had better leave the amulet here when we leave. Now, let's get to bed." Blaze nodded. No sense in worrying anymore; when 'Raelf and the others return, all the answers would be discovered. She WOULD bring the amulet, though, just in case a new secret about it is found on the way. The two kissed each other goodnight and Lance immediately went to sleep. Blaze pondered many things (the quest, the amulet, the unicorns, Raykor, Andrea's house) before slowly drifting into unconsciousness. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = ADMIN: I _think_ you can see where this is leading.....