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From: Guido Roessling <[e-mail]>
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives
Subject: STORY:  QELRIK part 88
Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc
Date: 31 Oct 1995 17:04:37 -0500
Organization: Technische Hochschule Darmstadt
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***
Take a look at QELRIK's WWW Page at
http://www.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/dida/qelrik/qelrik.html
(Yes, it *has* moved.  Please update your links, if necessary!)
***

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                   =============
                   Visiting Pets
                   =============


      Dahlarin watched as Fox and Percy left, then listened to their footsteps
fade into the distance.  He sighed and leaned back against a nearby wall.
Tired. They all were, but his was born both of physical and magical exhaustion.
Although he could normally cast more than double the number of spells he had
cast over the past day, the blow to the head and lack of sleep had meant even
the smallest spells took their toll on him.  And now, he had Fox snapping
at him to contend with as well.  He wondered what he had done to deserve her
wrath.  At first, he was tempted to follow, just to spite her, but he passed
this thought off as futile.  He would simply waste his energy and make things
worse.  Instead, he found a comfortable corner to sit and think.

      Almost as if it sensed his distress, the panther padded softly over and
flopped down beside him, facing into the cavern.  Dahlarin glanced over at it
somewhat nervously.

      "Why pick me?", he asked it softly, "Why am _I_ your chosen friend?"

      The panther flicked an ear in the direction of his voice, and leaned her
head back into his hand.  Reflexively he caressed a velvety ear.  The panther
let out a soft purr and leaned her head heavily against Dahlarin's leg, eyes
closed in contentment.

      "Well", he chuckled softly, "At least someone's happy with me."

      Much to the large cat's delight, Dahlarin absently patted the panther,
finding spots that every cat lover knows how to find.  Leisurely the panther
flattened her ears back against her head and yawned, a motion that displayed
startlingly large and sharp teeth.  In the same motion, the panther once again
leaned against Dahlarin's leg and slowly clamped down in a grip that was firm,
but not painful.  Dahlarin immediately tensed, then looked into a pair of green
eyes in surprise.  The panther gazed back steadily at him, with a playful glint
in her eyes.  A quick glance beside him showed a playfully twitching tail, and
Dahlarin relaxed a little.  He shook his head slowly.

      "I don't understand you, cat.", he admonished it, and with a quick
motion, grabbed the tail.

      The cat's eyes widened momentarily, and the pressure of it's teeth on
his legs increased for a moment.

      "Got your tail!", Dahlarin told it, and the panther took a moment to
ponder this new situation.  With a defeated look, she released his leg and
stared at the offending hand until her tail was released.  Dahlarin ruffed up
the panther's fur playfully, and returned to caressing its ears.  He closed
his eyes and relaxed, deciding to worry about Fox later, when he was better
rested.  Still patting the panther, he went through some mental excercises,
normally used to relax in preparation for casting mighty spells.  The return
to routine itself soon proved to be relaxing as well, and the slow ache in
Dahlarin's head that marked the beginning of a headache soon faded.

      With a start, the panther got to its feet, breaking Dahlarin out of the
light sleep he had only just fallen into.  Immediately, he found himself at
eye level with the panther's emerald green eyes.  She gazed levelly at him, as
if trying to say something, then quickly licked his hand with a rough tongue
and began to walk away.  Confused, Dahlarin watched the panther leave, not
knowing what to do.  As the panther reached the passageway leading to the
surface, she looked back over her shoulder at Dahlarin for a moment, then
silently left.

Dahlarin wearily went over to check Kyle and Gernodt.
Kyle still seemed to be breathing regularly, and he decided to
let him sleep as long as he wanted.  God knew that had he gone through what
Kyle had suffered, he would be grateful for any quiet sleep he could get.  And
it seemed that, despite the torture, Kyle didn't have any nightmares.  In fact,
he had noticed a faint smile tugging at his lips at one time, only to be
followed by some tears dripping down his cheeks a while later.  It would be
interesting to find out what the boy - no, after the way he had handled the
situations, as well as his torture, it would be extremely unfair und unkind
to keep on thinking off him as a boy - had dreamt...

Just as Dahlarin was ready to once again move over to where Kyle lay, he heard
a soft sounds, as if some animal were coming this way.  Thinking that it might
be the panther, he looked up, only to see Growler creeping into the cave.

Checking an impulsive cry, he sat still, watching what Growler would do.  He
was, in fact, not quite sure what to make of Growler's sudden arrival -- after
they had been waylaid and captured, Growler had not been seen anywhere, and he
had certainly not come to join them in the lair.  And now he came here into the
supposedly secret cave as if nothing was amiss!

However, it seemed that Growler did not, in fact, take things so lightly.
Seeing Gernodt lying still on the ground, he put his eyes flat to the side of
his head, and lolled his tongue out of the left side of his mouth in a strange
expression that seemed to embody confusion.  Slowly, he padded over to where
Gernodt lay.  Dahlarin noticed that he was still limping from the injury he
had sustained by the crossbow bolt Gernodt had told him about on the way to the
lair, in the moment the guards weren't guarding them too carefully.

In the meantime, Growler had arrived at Gernodt's side, and looked intently
at his master's face, as if waiting for a reaction.  When it was obvious that
none was forthcoming, he started to carefully lick Gernodt's face, hoping to
wake Gernodt from his sleep by this treatment.  Guessing what this was leading
to, Dahlari wearily rose to his feet, and slowly made his way over to them.

Finally, realizing that for some reason Gernodt could not heed Growler's
attempts at communication, Growler started to growl in his throat, but this
sound changed nearly immediately into a strange whelping sound, as of a small
dog crying for assistance.  Dahlarin, having reached the pair by now,
hesitatingly bent down over Gernodt and took stock of the situation.  Just at that
moment, a small movement on Gernodt's ribcage caught his attention, and he
noticed a small piece of bone moving from the inside of the ribcage back to its
place on the rib, making it seem as if it had been expelled by the flesh it had
stuck in.

Growler turned his head to look at Dahlarin, and changed his whelping to a
deep-throated snarl that Dahlarin knew was the only signal he was likely to get
before he might be attacked.  Bewildered, he held out his hands to Growler,
who, after a considerable amount of time spent on deciding whether to take the
chance, carefully sniffed them.  Moments later, it seemed that he had
recognized Dahlarin, and he started licking the palms, while still keeping his
eyes on Gernodt.

"Well, come over to my place," Dahlarin said. "It's no use waiting for Gernodt
to awaken -- he told us it might take a while.  And you also seem in need of
a rest..."

Turning, he slowly walked back to his place, and sat down heavily.  Growler
did, however, not follow, but instead lay down next to Gernodt, his muzzle
touching Gernodt's left hand.

It was not long before he heard Fox and Percy's voices echoing faintly in
the distance as they returned.



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