Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [R] Artifice comes calling...
Message-ID: <1992Oct13.215006.27030@midway.uchicago.edu>
From: djb6@ellis.uchicago.edu (Dennis Brennan)
Date: 13 Oct 92 21:50:06 GMT

Beads of perspiration formed on Amaan's brow, despite the noticably chillier
climate of the seas north of Rameshan.  Intently he studied a tome written
in the elegant hand of his former mentor- perusing the spell formulae which
would once again bind Dariel in a magical prison.  But the spellcraft re-
quired the taking of a human life...

...Amaan remembered Karl.  He smiled, recalling his plotting with the 
Shaheran to stage a phony assassination of himself.  True, whichever agent
of the Shaheran shot the drugged dart at Karl had chosen a singularly
inopportune moment, but it was now so convenient that Karl had come.  
It was only fair, Amaan mused, that Karl's lifeforce should reimprison
that entity which he had unwittingly released.  He rose from his stool
and gripped a long, curved dagger...

Suddenly, to Amaan's alarm, something interposed itself between Amaan and the
chest containing Karl's helpless body.  It was... drat and dreck!  Dariel!
With a splintering of wooden planks he had somehow burst through the floor
of Amaan's cabin from below.  How would he defend himself?  There had to
be some way of distractng Dariel long enough to loose some spell.

And thre was- a distraction not even Amaan could have forseen.  The door
was battered open and Karl stepped into the cabin.  But this was impossible!
Karl was still in the trunk!  For an instant, all three hesitated to
absorb this development.

Amaan looked at the Karl in the doorway in disbelief.

Dariel looked at Amaan.

 From the doorway, Artifice looked at Dariel and Amaan.  One was prey, the
other an unknown entity.  His original agenda was to drive Amaan out in
the open where a melee would be visible, then to slay him.  But now
a third variable was involved in the equation...

 From within the trunk, Karl heard the explosion of splintering wood
followed shortly afterward by the sound of a door being beaten down.
Perhaps this was a rescue attempt?  He prayed that his benefactors
would get to him before Amaan did...


-- 
Dennis Brennan
djb6@midway.uchicago.edu