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Ruby's Pearls Elecmag 14
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RUBYV14.ZIP
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RUBY14-4
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1992-10-25
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271 lines
Copyright 1992(c)
A Mother's Loss
By Michael Heinich
"No. Thank you, but no. I am sure they are delicious. I am
just not hungry right now."
The ogress tried, for the last time, to feed me from a crude
wooden bowl that overflowed with sickening green things in a gray
ooze. One even looked like it was swimming around in that swill.
Again, I pushed the bowl away. She gave me a long sad look that
sent shivers up and down my spine. Then she lumbered over to a
large rock and sat down heavily. After one more look in my
direction, she began to scoop the gray ooze into that huge mouth
with her fingers.
The tree trunk that I was leaning against was an
uncomfortable place to be at best. The ogress quickly looked up
as I shifted my weight slightly. Realizing it would be futile to
try and run for it, I settled back to study my Abductor.
I'm sure a more hideous beast could be found, but one would
be hard pressed to do so. Thick green skin, broken by ugly boils
covered her body. Her thick strands of black hair, which would
have done a gorgon proud, were tied around a long, thin piece of
bone. I am not sure if even a mother could love that face, with
its huge, limpid eyes staring out of a face that had more crags
then most cliffs, and that huge maw with sickening teeth that
look like they could make quick work of my bones. If I lived
through this, I expected to have nightmares of being eaten alive
by that mouth, though right then it seemed she was more likely to
kiss me then eat me. Just the thought made me want to faint.
GADZOOKS, how do I get myself into these messes?
Unfortunately, I have an answer this time. This is what I get
for not being properly prepared, not to mention being greedy and
sticking my nose where it did not belong. I should have heeded my
gut reaction from the start, but, as always, greed reared its
ugly head.
* * *
I was happily starting a text on rare herbs when Samuel
barged in with his news.
"Marcus, do you remember those rocky hills about a day's
ride south of the city?"
Annoyed at the interruption, I looked up and responded that
I vaguely remembered something about them. The tone of my voice
didn't seem to phase him in the least. Samuel sat down in the
chair in front of me, and proceeded to drain my glass of its
wine. After wiping his mouth on his sleeve and ignoring my icy
stare, he began to tell me the events of his last couple days.
"I have been investigating some rumors of marauding
humanoids out past the south crossroads."
"I have heard some similar rumors," I murmured.
"Well Marcus, the stories I heard said that the creatures
were coming from those rocky hills. The Captain of the City
Guard, himself, requested that I investigate."
"Probably hoping you would be killed," I said under my
breath.
"What? Did you say something Marcus?"
"It was nothing. Won't you please continue your story?"
"I discovered that the damage done was somewhat less then
what I was led to believe. There were some sheep and cattle
missing, but not many. Also, something had knocked down a
farmer's shed. Definitely not the work of a roving band of orcs
and goblins. After examining the damage, I decided my next step
was to take a look around the rocky hills where they were
supposed to be hiding. Oh, do you mind if I help myself to
your fruit bowl?"
I weariedly waved my hand to go ahead, knowing that any
objections I had would have fallen on deaf ears. He continued his
story through mouthfuls of apple.
"I started working under the assumption that perhaps there
were only one or two creatures out there. This would imply that
I should not be looking for signs of a large group. While
searching, I found some spoor that was vaguely familiar. The
spoor reminded me of something like ogres. And sure enough, not
too long after following the tracks I had found, I ran into one.
Mind you, it was a very young ogre who only came up to my horse's
head, but that didn't make it any less dangerous. When the ogre
charged me, my horse bolted right out from under me. I fell off
the horse, and managed to roll out of the way. The ogre quickly
turned around and picked me off the ground. After shaking me
between its huge hands, it threw me against some large rocks. I
had just enough sense left to draw my sword and hold it out in
front of me. The rushing ogre impaled itself on the sword, its
body sliding all the way down to the hilt.
"I managed to stumble back to my horse and rode straight
back to the city. Your home was the first place I stopped."
Under closer observation, he did seem to be a bit more
ragged and worn out then usual, but it was hard to tell.
"Why did you stop here instead of reporting to the Captain?"
"Your house was the first place I could find to rest a
moment. Also I remembered that you use strange ingredients in
your potions and that you might want first grabs at the corpse."
I sat back and pondered this for a moment as Samuel reached
for some more fruit. Samuel was always trying to turn things to
his own advantage. He had to be up to something. I got up and
crossed over to my bookcase to pull out a large tome that I had
not used in awhile. There were a few chewed edges that I didn't
remember. A mental note was made about mice and poisons. I
seemed to remember a powerful spell that called for a lock of
ogre hair and the puss from a boil. Yes, of course! Pest
Control! This spell would protect a wide area from rodents and
insects for an entire season. Included, would be farm lands and
granaries. I could charge farmers and merchants a small fortune
for this spell. Before I turned back to Samuel, I tried to hide
my smile.
"Do you think you could describe the exact location where
you left the corpse?" He looked at me for a minute before he
answered with a big grin, "Not so fast. I am not sure I can
remember all the details, everything seems a little blurry." He
gazed innocently at the ceiling, as though studying my rafters. I
mentally kicked myself.
"What do you want for the information?"
Samuel looked back at me all big-eyed and professed his
innocence.
"I do not want anything but the pleasure of knowing that I
helped you." I knew my so called friend a little better than
that.
"Spit it out man, what is your price?"
"Well, there is a little something that you can do for me.
I am sure that it would not tax a great wizard like yourself to
grant me this small request."
I hid my face in my hand."What is this small thing that I
can do for you?"
"You see, there is this girl that has caught my eye and she
will not give me a second glance." I nodded in complete
understanding. I only I could, I wouldn't give him a second
glance either.
Samuel continued, "I was thinking you could whip up
something to make her more attracted to me, like a love potion or
something."
"Flaming Fireballs!!! A LOVE POTION?!?"
"Yes, a love potion."
I looked at him for a moment. "Do you know that the effects
of a love potion are temporary?"
"All the better," he said, giving me an ugly leer.
I shook my head in disgust. "Can the payment wait or did
you need it right away?"
"No, No, it can wait till after your little trip."
I went over to a locked cabinet and removed a crystal ball
from its contents. I returned to Samuel and held the ball up in
front of him.
"Stare into the center and visualize the location of the
body." A gray fog came over the ball, and slowly a rocky scene
appeared inside. I waved my hand over the ball to lock the
image in place. Carefully setting the crystal ball down on the
table, I looked back up at Samuel.
"Come back tomorrow evening with something of the young
lady's. Perhaps a lock of hair, scarf or something. It has to
be something she has worn recently."
"All right, I will return when the sun starts to set on the
horizon tomorrow." As I let him out, I muttered under my breath
that he could come back when Hades froze over for all I cared.
Back at my desk, I started to prepare the spells needed to
teleport me to the scene and back. I just hoped that some wild
beast had not mangled the body beyond all use. I moved into a
side room, and lit the candles on a small table near the door.
The floor had to be studied carefully, I had to make sure that
the marks that made up the circles that protected me were
complete and were not scuffed in any way.
Everything seemed fine, the circles were still complete. I
moved a small brazier and a stand to the middle of the chamber,
retrieved the crystal ball, and placed it on the stand next
to the smoking brazier. Returning to the main room, I picked up
the other items that I would be needing: A silver dagger to cut
the hair and to lance the boils; A small vial to capture the pus
from a boil; and, last but most important, the scroll with the
return spell. With everything in place, I stood in the middle
circle facing the brazier and crystal ball. With intense
concentration, I felt the power collect around me as I recited
the spell. The bright light that filled the room, blinded me.
When the light began to fade, I found that I could not see a
thing. It took a few moments for my eyes to adjust before I
found myself among the rocky crags that Samuel had visualized,
except that there was a slight problem. There was no body. Just
a large rock pile marked where I had hoped the body would be. It
looked like the body had been crudely buried in stones. This was
the first disturbing observation. The second was a large ogre
charging me. I fumbled with the return spell, only to have it
knocked out of my hand when the monster enveloped me in a huge
bear hug. I nearly passed out from the pressure. I felt its
mouth pressing against my face like it was tasting me for
dinner. Then another, more horrifying thought. Perhaps it
wasn't tasting me, but kissing me!
Everything went black as I fainted dead away.
When I came to, I found myself propped up against a dead
tree trunk. The ogre, or ogress, as I soon discovered, was
squatting nearby, hovering like a mother hen. As soon as she
saw that I was awake, she began to poke and prod me in different
places. After a few minutes of this bruising torture, she seemed
to come to some sort of decision. She pushed a ragged blanket
aside that had been covering me and brought over a horrible
smelling bowl of food. Any fears I had, were soon justified as
she tried to force me to eat whatever that gunk was.
* * *
The clatter of he empty bowl being dropped brought me back
to the present.
My benefactor seemed visibly upset by my reluctance to eat.
She sat back on her haunches and gave me a long mournful look,
and I had a chance to examine my situation. I still had my dagger
and the vial in a small pouch. A lot of good the small dagger was
going to do against an ogre. What really distressed me was that
the teleport scroll to get me home was nowhere to be found. It
looked like I was going to have a long walk home if I ever did
get free.
Uncomfortable, I settled back once more, where I could
observe the ogress. She definitely was of the ogre family,
large, green and ugly. For some reason, she looked incredibly
sad. I hoped my refusal to eat was not all to blame for this.
She slowly looked around our surroundings and called out loudly
into the night. After a couple of minutes, a slight shudder went
through her body as she looked down at her feet. I realized
suddenly that she was looking for something or perhaps,
should I say, someone. With my chin resting upon my knees, I
watched her by the firelight. I thought I saw the fire reflect
off something under her eyes, as she stared into it. Something
was tugging at the back of my mind, but sleep was pulling on me
harder. As I closed my eyes, I wondered who was missing.
I woke up the next morning to the sounds of birds singing
near by. The sun had not broken free of the horizon yet. Despite
my circumstances, the morning looked wonderful. The Ogress was
up, busily grouping her stuff together into a bundle and making
sure that I was all right. I didn't seem to be a prisoner, but
she watched me very closely, like she was my mother.
Mother!!! That's it! She is someone's mother. Probably
that small ogre that Samuel killed. I guessed she had adopted me
as a surrogate child, though the thought of calling her mother
caused me to shudder. We started off moving to the west, away
from where I imagined the road to be. After a few hours of
walking, we stopped in a small grassy field. A small, clear
stream ran through the middle of the middle. I collapsed to the
ground in pain and exhaustion. I hadn't prepared for taking a
long hike. I watched the Ogress drop all her baggage before
kneeling by the stream for a drink. Back in her baggage, I
noticed a rusty mace sticking out of a bag. Slowly, I inched
over, and hid the mace beneath my robes. She still had not stood
up from the stream. I started to pick some of the wild flowers
that nearly covered the area. My mind entertained evil thoughts
of offering the flowers and then knocking her out with the mace.
After I made sure I was ready, I glanced back toward the
ogress. Something was wrong, she still hadn't moved from where
she was kneeling. I moved a little closer trying to determine
what had her attention. As I moved forward, I noticed that her
shoulders were slightly shaking. I was becoming a little
worried, unsure of what was happening. Then I heard strange
sounds coming from the ogress. I think she was crying. Perhaps
it had hit her all at once when she looked into the water and saw
her face. She began to shake even harder as I stood there, and a
numbness seemed to come over me. The mace slipped from my hand
and fell to the ground with a thump. I stood watching as she
cried for her lost child. Then, slowly, I placed my hand upon her
shoulder. She didn't seem to notice my presence. With my other
hand, I reached around and offered her the flowers.
Sniffling, she looked at the flowers a long time. Everything
seemed to stop. Slowly, she reached out and took the flowers from
my hand. I stepped back, not sure what she might do next.
When she stood and turned toward me, my heart caught in my
throat at the sorrow that poured from those eyes. She turned
away and shambled back to her belongings. Stooping, she rummaged
through the bags for something and laid it aside on the grass.
Then she collected the rest into a large bundle, and stood up.
The Ogress never looked back at me as she turned and moved away,
humming a strange, eerie lullaby. All I was able to do was stand
and watch as she slowly walked away.
After a few minutes, I walked over to see what she had left
behind. I reached down and picked up a small, crude looking
figurine, made of clay. Just like something a child might play
with. Next to the figurine was one of the flowers I had given to
the Ogress. I looked off in the direction she had taken, and for
a moment, I thought I heard that eerie lullaby on the breath of
the wind.
END