Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: hutch@ibeam.intel.com (Steve Hutchison) Subject: [Lighthouse->Inn] Cold and Dark Message-ID: References: <93043.111140344LWKC@CMUVM.CSV.CMICH.EDU> Date: Sat, 13 Feb 1993 22:38:29 GMT 'Raelf suddenly realized that Lancos had gone off without considering the really treacherous terrain between him and the Dragons' Inn. Sure, he was good in the wild, but it was close on to pitch dark and the switchbacks on that trail were nasty and slippery in the daytime, let alone at night. "HEY! Hey, Lancos, WAIT!" He gave an absent peck on the cheek to Raye. "I'll be back ..." "... in no time," he interrupted, phasing into place next to himself. "Right." He tore off down the trail, leaving his newly returned self to talk with the others. Time travel was SO useful sometimes... "Hey, Lancos! Wait a sec." He ran up behind the redhaired man, who had stopped to wait for him by a boulder at the start of the first switchback. "What's wrong?" "Nothing, I just thought you might want a lift back. This trail is real nasty with the dark and the ice, or you could stay the night if you want." "Well, thanks and all, but I have some things to do early in the morning. And I need to walk to get the kinks out - been kind of inactive of late. I wouldn't mind if you walk back with me though. It would be ugly falling down the cliff alone out here." "Great. Here, put these on." 'Raelf held out the amber-lensed goggles he generally wore when surfing or flying. Lancos took them dubiously and tried settling them over his nose. The lens was a single piece of something amber-colored and transparent, backed along the edges with a soft black compressible substance like sponge. They fit over the bridge of his nose, wrapping around to the sides so that there wasn't anything blocking his peripheral vision. A black stretchy band was attached just in front of his ears, some kind of strap arrangement allowing it to adjust tightness. When the goggles were settled, Lancos looked around, realizing that while it was still dark, he could see the ground with unnatural clarity. His hands glowed slightly, thin traces of fire vaguely visible along the veins under his skin, a faint clear blue liquid light showing as well. There was a similar hint of blue along the ground where the snow lay, edged with hard white, and the wind made a sort of translucent glimmering outlining each gust and breeze. He looked at 'Raelf, and was surprised to see, not the blond youth he had travelled with, but instead a catman with features something like a Draga, shorter and sleeker, with yellow fur. A sort of aura flickered around the creature, complicated and tinged with red fiery patterns. "Oh man this is strange," he muttered. "'Raelf, is that you?" He thought back and remembered that Krupp had called the mage "catman" and his mate "snowflake" in the Inn. "Yeah, I probably should have warned you. The goggles do elemental views. When I'm travelling I can't always stop to look around me, and they make it easier to see stuff." "Right. So this is what the world looks like to you?" "Well, visually, but I don't really SEE that way. It's a different sense, like hearing or taste. But it's close." Lancos looked for the trail - it showed as a blend of deep green and brown, with the blue and white of ice overlaid in places. He realized that he could see the trail even better than in the daytime, that all the slippery and all the secure parts of the path were obvious to him. He grinned. "Want a race? Signpost at bottom!" He took off, sprinting, down the trail, 'Raelf following after. It took about four minutes, at their breakneck pace, to reach the bottom, 'Raelf diving into a breakfall roll at the end in order to pass Lancos (just barely) at the bottom. They stopped to rest, 'Raelf taking deep slow breaths, cooling down, while Lancos schooled himself to slow his pounding heart - it had been a few years since he ran footraces, and he was a bit out of training - and then he looked around. Yeah, this was the edge of Low City all right. There, in the back alley, he saw a few glowing outlines as the inhabitants of the alley pulled into the shadows where they could better size up the two as potential prey. 'Raelf grinned and pulled a toothpick-sized stick from the clasp holding his ponytail. He whispered something that made the air ripple around, and the stick blazed brightly, growing into a staff with seven complex fiery webs inside it, the two ends gleaming hot white metal filled with tight weaving threads of light. The warrior realized that this was NOT the way the staff looked to the rest of the world. "Huh. So this is how you knew my medallion is magical?" "Yup. Look away, I'm gonna spook the natives." Lancos looked away, seeing the road flashing before them, gleaming green-brown-red as the stones that composed it changed. Behind him, he heard a crackling noise, and out the corners of his eyes, bits of lightning danced across the street. "They go byebye. They smart." 'Raelf pointed down the street. "Dragon Way is off thisaway. Shall we?" They continued, amazingly unmolested, to the Bazaar, now closing down for the night, and then on to the Inn. At the door, 'Raelf clicked his feet together, and from his boots, a web of pale blue fire formed into blades made of spinning cold-fire disks. Lancos took off the goggles, and blinked at the sudden dimness. "Thanks. I like the new place." "Come back soon, come back often." 'Raelf pulled the goggles on his own head and adjusted the strap. "See ya earlier. Bye," and with a sideways shove of his feet, faded from view. Lancos entered the familiar warmth of the Inn.