Dream Forge Demo 1995 February/df9502r.zip/DFH

Text File | 1995-02-01 | 33KB | 713 lines

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ON QUEST FROM ALBION
  by Jack Hillman
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  The queen sat on her throne in the dim hall, looking out over
the heads of the gathered nobles and their consorts. Guards stood
at intervals around the floor and on the balcony overlooking the
audience hall, weapons ready, even though no one had threatened
a king or queen in this hall for centuries.

  She shifted in her seat and looked up eagerly as she spied the
Count entering the hall from the rear with his wizard in tow. They
came straight for the throne and everyone in the hall turned to
watch, voices hushed in quiet speculation of the announcement sure
to come.

  "My queen, it is done," said the Count as he reached the throne
and bowed deeply. The wizard stood quietly, wrapped in robes and
hood, no inch of skin showing. The hood dropped in a slight bow the
queen as the Count spoke but made no other indication.

  "How soon can you begin your search?" she asked eagerly, leaning
forward in a most unregal manner. Her crown shifted and she had to
grab with a free hand before it fell to the floor.

  "At once, if it is your wish, my queen," the Count replied. He
stood straight with a military manner only heightened by the sword
at his side.

  "Yes. Go. Now. It is my command." The queen spoke so quickly she
stumbled over her words.

  The Count bowed, turned and began to retrace his steps to the far
door, the wizard once more at his heels.

  "My lord," the queen called before the Count could reach the end
of the hall.

  The Count stopped and turned to the queen, bowing again as he
faced her. He looked in her eyes and everyone in the room could feel
the power between them as he waited. The wizard was again a statue in
robes.

  "Should you succeed in your quest, there will be a barony in it for
you. Our new land will need someone to watch over it as we consolidate
our power again."

  The Count straightened and bowed very carefully.

  "I will not fail you, my queen. Neither you nor our people will
have to endure another month in these dreary halls. Once again, we
will walk the forests of our homeland and feel it's sun on our
faces."

  He turned and left the hall, the wizard behind him. The others
gathered, watching, began to talk among themselves, speculating on
the meaning of the Count's words.

  "My people," said the queen, standing in front of the throne. "Our
exile is at an end. We return from Albion!"

                               *  *  *

  The rain exploded over the valley in a wave of water cascading
down the sides of the hills and filling every depression to
overflowing. Lightning ripped the sky apart and saturated every rock
and tree will energy. Wind smashed against the hillsides with enough
force the rip boulders from their age old resting places and fling
them across the valley. Branches danced frenetically, whipping and
weaving as if a giant basketmaker had gone berserk.

  Oddly, the storm seemed to seek one particular spot in the valley
and center its most violent efforts at that one place. Again and
again, lightning flashed, until the very earth glowed with the power
flowing through the ground. Energy streaked again and again, bolt
after bolt, until the ionization was a incandescent bridge from the
ground to the sky.

  Then, as the storm finally began to abate, as if it had finally
accomplished what it had set out to do, a strange mutation began
at the center of the energy field. A deep green glow began to form
in the depression blasted in to the hillside. As the storm moved
further away and the ground continued to be soaked by the driving
rain that surrounded the eye of the conflagration, a form appeared
in the hillside, blending into the grasses left standing and becoming
almost invisible. When the storm finally passed beyond the valley and
the night descended on the recently chaotic scene, the glow deepened
and changed until it became a solid substance: a door set into the
hill.

  Night slowly ebbed away, the effects of the storm slipping into
the dim memory of the unchanging earth. As the sun began to rise over
the edge of the far end of the valley and birds began to sing to the
new day, the placid scene was disturbed by a tremendous screeching of
metal against metal.

     The door began to open.

                               *  *  *

  Dan rolled his chair out onto the deck, looking for any damage
from last night's storm. The roof seemed to have held up fine but
the tall birches at the end of the property were snapped off down
to the ground. He'd have to call the Barstow boys from up the road
and have the fallen trunks cut up for firewood. Birches looked nice
but they never seemed to have the strength needed to stand a storm,
Dan mused. Kind of like some of my friends, he thought to himself.

  The chair shifted as something pushed against it.

  "Murphy, you old scoundrel," Dan said as he picked up the white cat
and dropped him into his lap, "Where were you last night for all the
fireworks?"

  The cat looked up at the man, rose and brushed his head against the
bearded chin and dropped into the lap to begin his morning cleaning.

  "Okay, be that way," the man said and turned back to the house.
"Let's get to work. I have a deadline to meet today."

  He wheeled the chair through the door and pushed it closed behind
him, the glass giving a view of the yard and the forest beyond. The
cat jumped down to the carpet. Dan rolled up to the desk and threw
the master switch. With a hum of power the entire wall came to life.
A computer occupied the main space in front of him, complete with
full color monitor, laser printer, modem, speaker phone and a fax
machine.

  As a freelance writer, he had found good use for all these at one
time or another and could now afford to keep them on hand rather than
run out to use someone else's facilities. His library of CD-ROM's
were filed along side the computer, in easy reach if he needed
anything for reference. The rest of the wall was taken up by a full
blown television and stereo unit that included three VCR's, a disc
player, cassette player, eight track and a turntable. He occasionally
found background material in odd formats and it helped to have the
equipment on hand to play it himself. He even had an optical scanner
made a part of the computer system along with a microfiche reader
attachment.

  "Okay, Murphy. I need ideas. Help me out." He looked at the cat.

  Murphy rolled over on his side.

  "A lot of good you are," Dan said as he rummaged through the desk
drawer. He found a package of cat treats and dug one out, tossing
it to the cat. Murphy came to life, rolled over and grabbed the
treat, gobbling it down as if he hadn't eaten for a week.

  "Okay, you've been paid. Now give with the ideas. I need a story
line for that magazine article."

  Murphy looked confused.

  "You know, the one where they need a cutsie little story to go
with their feature on environmental awareness. You think, while I
finish setting up."

  When Dan finished setting up the format for his article, he looked
back at the cat. Sometime during the night, a mouse had gotten in and
Murphy was amusing himself chasing the hapless creature around the
room. Dan reached for the mouse.

  "Let him go, Murph. We don't need any new pets in here."

  Quickly the cat grabbed the rodent by its tail and moved away.
In an almost regal manner, he walked across the room and out the cat
door built into the wall.

  Dan watched the byplay and a light went off in his head.

  "Right! The jobs that pets do keeping the house free of unwanted
visitors. Thanks, Murph," he yelled to the cat, now flat on the deck
watching the mouse that had dropped over the side into the grass.

  Five hours later he finished sending the article by modem to the
editor. As the modem beeped to acknowledge receipt, Dan shifted back
in the chair and stretched. He enjoyed the challenge of writing, but
sometimes it was a real pain. He smiled at his own pun and turned
toward the door to check on the weather. He still needed to arrange
for the cleanup of his back yard.

  Looking out over the yard he realized he had visitors. Standing at
the edge of the treeline were two figures. Dan opened the door and
rolled out onto the deck.

  "May I help you," he shouted across the yard. The two stood
conferring in the shadow of the trees as if they didn't hear him.

  "I said, may I help you," he shouted again, checking the panic
button on the frame of the chair. These two looked different somehow
and he had a feeling he may need extra help to handle them. Sometimes
it paid to have a direct hookup to the police department.

  The two figures moved away from the trees and started across the
yard. The shorter figure was wrapped in a hooded robe of some sort
and totally indistinguishable. But it was the taller figure that
captured Dan's attention. He wore a hooded cape with the hood thrown
back in the sun. Where the cape slipped as he walked, Dan could make
out a costume that looked like tunic and tights. As the two drew
closer, Dan caught the gleam of mail at throat and cuff and, of all
things, a sword and dirk belted over the tunic.

  Two more refugees from the local renaissance festival lost in
the woods, he though at first. But something about the costume struck
a note with Dan. It looked just a little too good to be something
from one of the local medieval groups. The cut of the tunic was
slightly different than normal and the quality of the cloth was like
something from a museum.

  As the two approached the deck, Dan spoke again.

  "May I help you," he asked, watching them closely.

  "Perhaps," said the tall one, throwing back the cloak from his
shoulders. "Could you direct us to the nearest center of learning?"

  "Excuse me?" was Dan's reply.

  "A monastery, perhaps, or even a cloister of learned men," the tall
figure continued, trying to make himself understood.

  "What are you looking for?" Dan asked, perplexed. "There are a lot
of different types of 'learning centers' these days."

  "My, that does complicate things," the man said to himself as
much as to Dan. He turned to his companion and in a voice too low
for Dan to hear, discussed the problem. With a nod to the shrouded
figure he turned back to Dan.

  "We seek an old treasure that was lost long ago. My...family,
has given me the quest to return what was once ours to it's proper
owners."

  "Quest. Right. That would explain the medieval costumes. And I
suppose this is your faithful companion, Tonto?"

  The man looked at him in confusion. "Tonto? My servant's name
is Thook. And I am called Baraz." He bowed to Dan with a sweeping
gesture. "We are at your service."

  "Okay, have it your way. My name is Dan. Maybe if you told me
what you're looking for I might be able to point you in the right
direction. I have links to some of the major library computers in
the country and can find just about anything."

  "Ah, a scholar," cried Baraz. "We are lucky to have found you.
Lead us to your books and we will show you what we seek."

  Dan felt uneasy about letting these two into his house but they
seemed to be only mildly crazy. Besides, it was a good way to break
the mood after an afternoon of writing.

  "Come on up the steps at the side and we'll go in here. My work
station is just inside." As Dan rolled back to the door and into the
house, he missed the look that passed between the two as they noted
his chair. He rolled beside the door and pushed it shut as the two
entered. They looked around in open curiosity.

  "I see no books here," said Baraz cautiously. "Are they in another
part of the dwelling?"

  "Everything we need is right here," said Dan as he pulled up in
front of the desk. "Just let me access the library network first
and we'll see what we can find." He started typing rapidly on the
keyboard, unaware of the looks Baraz gave him behind his back. "Okay,
can you describe what you need to find?"

  Baraz looked skeptical. "You expect to find our treasure without
opening a single book or scroll. You must be a wizard to have all
these strange trappings in your house but no wizard keeps everything
in his head."

  Dan turned to look at him.

  "I tell you what, I won't make cracks about how you dress and what
you spend your time doing and you don't tell me how to do my job,
comprendez-vous?"

  Baraz jerked at the tone and his hand reached towards the hilt of
his sword. He stopped, however, as Thook touched his arm with a hand
that never left the robe and gave a quick shake of the head. The
warrior stood, closing his eyes, and visibly relaxed.

  "Forgive me, my friend," said Baraz, extending his hand. "I have
been away from people too long and I forget my manners."

  Dan waived away the hand and turned back to the computer,
watching their reflection in the chrome edge of an instrument
casing. "No sweat. Now what was it you were looking for?"

  Baraz tensed again as the hand was ignored, but with a look to
his servant, he continued. "We seek two items, actually. Two rather
special gemstones."

  "This is starting to sound familiar," Dan said to himself. To
Baraz he said, "Let me guess, the gems came from the Holy Grail?"

  "You are a wizard!" exclaimed Baraz, backing away. "How did you
know of our quest?"

  "Aw, come on , guys," Dan spouted, angrily. "The Grail has been
the object of quests for the last two thousand years. Couldn't you
come up with anything more original than that?" He spun away from
the desk and faced the two. "I'm afraid joke time is over. You'll
have to leave now." He started for the door.

  "I think not," said a voice behind him. Dan turned quickly,
reaching for the panic button. But he never completed his move. He
felt a strange weakness wash over him and he collapsed in the chair.
Only the seatbelt saved him from falling out and even so he felt one
of his "visitors" grab him as the chair overbalanced. He felt a
strange warmth at his forehead and on his wrists just as he drifted
off into blackness.

                               *  *  *

  Dan woke with a splitting headache.

  This was not surprising considering he was seated in his chair
in front of the computer with his head resting on the edge of the
keyboard. The corner of the keyboard was pressed into one temple
and his searching hand found a definite imprint.

  "I could probably read the key from the skin impression," mused
the writer. "At least they left me my computer wall. But what did
they take?" He turned to check out the rest of the house, glancing
at the monitor as he moved. He stopped, confused. There was a strange
logo on the screen, one he had never seen before. As he stared at the
screen, trying to make some sense of the information, he glanced down
at his hands. Embedded in the skin on the back of each wrist, just
past the joint, was a glowing gem.

  The weird green glow hurt his eyes to look at for very long. He
ran his fingers over the gems, receiving a slight shock at first but
gradually feeling the slippery smoothness of stone with a warmth that
was almost repulsive. He wiped his hand across his forehead as he
broke out in a sweat and discovered another of the stones set just
above the bridge of his nose, between the eyes.

  "Oh shit," Dan said, barely controlling the terror that was
rising in him, "Stephen King strikes again." He headed for the
bathroom to find a mirror but as he turned into the hallway, he
stopped. Facing him was the tall stranger, Baraz, holding a double-
bitted ax from Dan's collection.

  "You have excellent taste, my friend," the tall figure stated,
spinning the ax in his hands to test the balance. He walked past
into the room. "But I must admit I am puzzled by the materials used
in some of these weapons. This is much too light to be iron and too
heavy for tin. What do you call it?"

  The gem on his forehead gave a tug and Dan found himself
compelled to answer the man. "It's a steel alloy. Some magnesium,
cobalt, a little special carbon and steel. The process is fairly
new."

  "Indeed," came the reply. "I find no reluctance to touch this
metal and it compares most favorably with my own smith's work. I
must take the formula back with me. Or better still, you may teach
my smith directly when he comes through."

  "Comes through what?" Dan wanted to ask, but seemed to be
prevented by something. "What did you do to me?" That question was
permitted, apparently.

  "I required your cooperation," Baraz answered, swinging the ax
loosely by the haft. "I had my servant place Controls on you to aid
in my search." He gestured at the gems on Dan's wrists. " Your
efforts were most productive. Thook has gone to check on several
items we have uncovered as a result of your work."

  "What exactly are your looking for?" Dan asked, another permitted
question.

  "As I said previously: two gemstones." Baraz moved past the
chair and over to the door, looking out over the lawn. He had his
back to Dan as he looked out into space, toying with the ax. "The
gems have some very special properties that will permit my people to
accomplish something they have been working on for many years." He
turned back to Dan, twirling the ax in his hands. "According to your
enquiries, the gems are part of a specially grown formation by one of
your sorcerers. Something called a  cold laser."

  "You want laser crystals?" Dan exclaimed. "This has got to be the
strangest quest I ever heard of! I thought you were some escapee
from a sword and sorcery movie!"

  Baraz whipped the ax through the air, the edge of the blade
resting under Dan's chin when it stopped. "I could easily dispense
with you, but that would require another tool in your place. You will
answer my questions quickly and completely and I may let you live.
Otherwise, I will have Thook turn you into something less that the
half-man you are now."

  Dan's temper snapped. With arms strengthened by years of
propelling himself in the chair, he grabbed the haft of the ax,
reversed his grip and swung at Baraz. Only the tall man's quickness
and the hidden mail saved him from having his stomach ripped open
like his tunic. Spinning the ax in his fist, Dan wrapped Baraz's
tunic in the blade and pulled himself closer. As Dan reached for an
arm or leg to give himself leverage, Baraz pulled a medallion from
beneath his tunic and Dan collapsed as the gems on his wrists and
forehead glowed in that sickly green light.

  "One bite only do you get, mangy cur," Baraz said as he tried
to straighten his tunic, now well ripped in the struggle. "If my
servant has found what we need, your services will no longer be
required. It will please me to see you reduced to some less pleasant
form of life. Why your people let cripples like you live is merely
another sign of their need for our guidance once more." Baraz kicked
the chair, throwing Dan to the floor. He turned and walked from the
room, ignoring the whimpering form struggling to rise. As Baraz
turned the corner, Dan collapsed into unconsciousness.

                               *  *  *

  Dan woke with a feeling of coolness across his face, accented
by the pinpoint of warmth in the strange gem in his forehead. He
opened his eyes and looked up into the greenest eyes he had ever
seen. This was not too difficult since he had never seen green eyes
before. But these had to be the greenest eyes of anyone in at least
this state if not the country. A cool cloth was once again wiped
down the side of his face as he lay there and he realized the green
eyes were attached to a beautiful woman.

  "Please don't take this the wrong way," he stated calmly, "But who
the hell are you?"

  "I am Thook," the woman answered, leaning back on her heels. Dan
now noticed the hood of the robe thrown back and the sleeves drawn up
to expose her hands and face for the first time. Dan looked into the
green eyes again and shook his head in an effort to keep from falling
inside the green pools. He barely made it.

  As he sat up, Thook rolled his chair closer and moved to help him
into it.

  "No, thanks," Dan stated, a little sharply, "I'm used to this."
He pulled the chair around and flipped up the foot rests, putting his
back to the chair after setting the wheel locks. He twisted, grabbing
the upper frame and levered himself into the seat in a well practiced
move. He settled his balance and fastened the belt to hold himself in
place. Thook watched him carefully and nodded as he looked up at her.

  "You are a warrior," she stated , emphatically.

  "Was a warrior," he corrected. He gestured at the withered legs.
"You can't fight if you can't walk."

  She leaned over and touched his chest, her eyes staring into his.
"Here, you are a warrior. A warrior's heart beats until it is
stopped. You do not stop easily."

  Dan smiled crookedly. "My mama always did say I was a stubborn
cus. She was right too."

  "I need your help," Thook said, looking down at him.

  Dan glanced at the gems on his wrists. "Seems to me, you're
holding all the cards. I'll do what you want, no matter what I
think."

  "Those are Controlled by the Count, not me. I need your willing
assistance, not the result of some spell driven actions." Thook
opened the throat of her robe, exposing a similar gem at the top of
her sternum. "He Controls me as well."

  "If he pulls your strings, why are you telling me this? It
seems more like he keeps you quiet all the time."

  "Baraz Controls my actions, not my thoughts. At the moment, he
is after the gems you found in your strange machine. If he finds
them and uses them properly, he will bring through the members of
the Queen's court and put all your people under his rule. They will
succeed now where they failed five hundred years ago, as you count
time."

  Dan just looked at her. "You've got to be joking. People have
been trying to take over the world for centuries. No one has pulled
it off yet. And Americans don't take kindly to someone try to rule
over them. That's why we started this country in the first place."

  Thook nodded. "I know your people well. They were the hardest to
control while in Britain and were the reason Baraz and his people
were forced out of their homelands and into Albion. They have never
forgiven you for that."

  "You make it sound like something that happened recently," Dan
commented. My ancestors haven't lived in Britain for the last two
hundred years and they were peaceful people for centuries before
that."

  Thook laughed harshly. "Your peaceful people were the hardest
fighters the Roman Empire had ever met. It took years of effort
and intermarriage before there was sufficient peace to return some
of the legions to Rome. The efficient Roman war machine put it's
shield walls up against a people who were willing to build walls of
dead bodies for their fellow warriors to climb over." She smiled
down at him. "How can an enemy such as that ever be wholly
defeated?"

  Dan nodded in agreement. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

  "I believe that, together, we can find a way to release the
Control jewels. You should not have been able to attack the count
as you did. The Control should have frozen your limbs at the
thought of any rebellion."

  "I did find it hard to move," Dan commented. "Almost as if
something was holding me back."

  Thook nodded. "That was the Control. I believe this chair contains
enough cold iron to offset the jewels."

  "Well, its just an old stainless steel job I use around the house."
Dan stopped and looked carefully at the girl.

  "Cold iron?" he asked. "You mean, like in elves and fairies and
stuff?"

  Thook nodded. "Baraz is an elf, of course."

  "Now I know I'm in the Twilight Zone," Dan complained to himself.
"What about you? Are you an elf?"

  "No, I am human, mostly. Five hundred years ago, all the
Eldrich Races passed from your world into another world called
Albion," Thook said. Your people, mated to the Roman invaders, had
learned the use of iron and steel from their southern brothers. Until
then, all they had were bronze and wood, no threat to the Sidhe. But
with iron and steel, man began to claim the land for themselves,
driving out the magic and, with it, the elves and all the other fey
races. For a while, the Sidhe could come back and forth at limited
intervals and in a few places."

  "Fairy rings!" Dan exclaimed.

  "So they were called," Thook commented, nodding. "In a relatively
short time, all the fairy rings were closed by cold iron and the
Sidhe were trapped on the other side of the Veil of Oberon with their
human servants. They have been trying to find a way back ever since."

  "And old high and mighty has a way to open the door."

  "Correct," came the answer. "Baraz has found a way to use the
properties of the crystals to bend reality enough to open a doorway
and keep it open for use by the Queen and her court. Albion is a cold
and dank prison and has been for most of the time the Sidhe have been
there. The magic was used up quickly and at that point the entire land
fell into eternal twilight."

  "I thought elves preferred the night, or at least twilight?" Dan
asked.

  "For some things, yes. But these are Light Elves. They must walk
in the sun to be fully in their power."

  "Then the count will be even more dangerous since he now has
sunlight to work with. And that explains the laser crystals."

  Thook nodded. "You are correct. But he will grow to his full
power slowly due to the time spent out of the sun's light. If we
act quickly, we may have a chance."

  "What do we need to do?" Dan asked.

  Thook considered the question. "Of greatest importance, we must
prevent him from opening the doorway. If the Sidhe return to this
world, you are all lost."

  "Well," Dan commented, "I'm not fully sold on that one, yet. But
he'll definitely cause some problems."

  "If we can get the medallion from his grasp, we can break the
Control and have a better chance of defeating him. We must divert
him and remove the medallion from his neck. Then we must destroy the
crystals he will have with him and imprison him, if possible."

  "That part, I think I can handle," Dan said with assurance. "What
would it do to him to be imprisoned inside a cold iron cage?"

  "Even without touching the iron, to be completely surrounded
would quickly drain the power from him. He would drift from this
world back to Albion." Thook looked at Dan with an intent expression
as a thought hit her. "Without my help he would be unable to cross
back over into this world. It was my powers that pierced the walls.
His was the plan for the doorway, but he has to be in this world to
open the portal."

  "Okay," Dan said, "I know how to put him in an iron cage. All
we have to do is nab him when he gets back." Dan turned and headed
into one of the side rooms from the hallway. "Hang on a minute. I
need something from in here," he called over his shoulder. When he
returned, he was holding a three foot length of chain with a weight
at each end. He showed it to Thook.

  "This is a manriki. It's an antique so the chain has more iron in
it than any of the modern ones will. Will this hold him?"

  Thook touched the chain and closed her eyes. When she opened
them, she smiled. "Excellent. This will hold him powerless if can be
wrapped around his hands or feet."

  "No problem," Dan said. "When is he coming back?"

  "At this point, I would expect him at any time."

  Dan looked worried for a moment. "Are you sure he'll come back to
the house before he tries to open the gateway?"

  "Yes," the sorceress replied calmly. "He needs my power to make
this easy for him. He could do it himself, but he prefers to use my
strength rather than his own."

  "Good." Dan hooked the manriki on the back of the chair and
adjusted a flat packet under the inside of his left leg. "Now we
wait." He set the wheel locks on the chair.

  For the next two hours, the two allies waited for the return of
the count. Murphy walked in through the pet door and took one look
at Dan, sniffing as he walked off down the hallway after his evening
meal. Suddenly, they heard a screech that could only come from an
injured cat and Murph came rushing back into the room and out again
through his private doorway. Baraz appeared from the hallway.

  "The vermin you permit in your homes is another lesson we must
teach you, I see," the meticulous creature said as he brushed at the
snags in his hose. He had replaced his tunic in some fashion with
another tunic of similar style.

  Dan gestured at the pouch on the count's belt with his left hand
as his right snaked around the chair for the chain. "You found what
you needed, I presume," he said.

  "Correct," the count answered. "And you have lost your usefulness."

  The count was reaching for the medallion as Dan pulled the chain
free of the chair and slipped one weight into his hand. Baraz was
ready when Dan tried to throw the chain and the sudden Control was
like a net falling over the man. But at that same instant, Thook
shook both hands free of the robe that had covered her head and hands
once again, and a bar of light flashed out to strike the count full
in the face. Baraz jerked back, Dan fell free of the Control and the
chain whipped across the room to wrap firmly around the elf's ankles.

  Baraz screamed as the iron shackle tangled his feet and threw
him to the floor. He reached for the weights to pull it free but
smoke puffed out as his skin burned from the touch of the iron. As he
screamed in frustration, a look of hate entered his eyes and he fixed
Dan with a glare that could have fried the paint on the wall. Baraz
reached for the medallion with his less burned hand only to scream
again as a metal spike appeared, tacking the hand to his chest. The
other hand reached and was tacked as well and Dan sat holding the
third spike of the set he had hidden under his leg, ready for the
next move.

  "Get the medallion," he said to Thook.

  The sorceress moved closer to Baraz, who was tossing on the
floor in agony as the iron chain and steel spikes burned the skin
they touched. She ripped the medallion from the elf's neck and
dropped it to the floor. Using the butt of the ax Dan had dropped
earlier, she smashed the medallion to dust and Dan felt a flash of
heat at wrist and forehead. He looked at the back of his wrists and
found the green crystals gone, leaving scars where they had been.
Reaching under the chair arm, he pushed the panic button. Within a
minute, a small light lit on one side of the work station and began
to blink.

  "The cavalry's on the way," Dan said to the sorceress, who was
rubbing at the scar on her chest. "How long can he stay in that iron
cell before he fades away?"

  Baraz screamed as he heard the punishment he was to face. Dan
rolled over and tugged the elf's sword free of it's scabbard, laying
it across his knees.

  "A few hours at most," Thook answered.

  "Then he'll never make it to arraignment," Dan commented to
himself.

                               *  *  *

  Two hours later the police were gone, taking Baraz with them.
They hadn't fully bought Dan's story of helping a strange girl being
chased by some kook with a sword. But the guy had been lying inside
Dan's house and the scars on Dan's forehead and wrist gave evidence
of some kind of struggle. Plus the fact that Dan knew the two
patrolmen well. They knew Dan could take care of himself in a fight
but didn't spread that fact around.

  Thook was sitting on the sofa in the living room when Dan rolled
in, stopping in front of her. She raised her head from the cushion
at the back and looked Dan in the eye.

  "Now what?" Dan asked, returning the solid gaze.

  Thook smiled.

Copyright 1994 Jack Hillman, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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John is a freelance writer, who has been published in BLOODREAMS,
ONCE UPON A WORLD, and GATEWAYS. He writes a bimonthly SF/F column
published in THE MAGAZINE of SHAREFICTION, and his book reviews appear
in POPULAR FICTION NEWS. As a contributing editor to ON THE RISK, he
keeps track of "life."
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