From: CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext (Chris Meadows)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [AU] Flashback: Andrea's Amazing Origin Story (Part 2 of 2)
Date: Tue, 30 Mar 93 22:29:06 CST
Message-ID: <16BA113C32.CHM173S@vma.smsu.edu.Ext>
Keywords: Andrea Sheryl origin [AU] Fujiko Phylus Robinson Selactica

     The rest of the journey passed uneventfully.  Sheryl got
better at being a unicorn, and Andrea and Fujiko became very
close friends.  Fujiko was now Andrea's surrogate family, the big
sister she never had, and she felt much the same way about
Andrea, to her consternation.  "You can't afford to get attached
to this kid," she told herself.  "If you do, sooner or later you
always regret it..."  But she did anyway.
     On the morning of the third day they'd been together,
Selactica appeared on the horizon.  By midafternoon, they had
reached the city.
     Andrea was amazed!  She'd never seen anything like this
before--the largest human settlement she'd ever been to in her
life had been her own small village.  All she could do was stare
and stare, trying to take it all in.  There were cobbled streets,
ramshackle old buildings with--they actually had 3 or 4 stories!
There were dozens of people in the streets and even more animals.
In the distance was some sort of seaport or riverport--she could
smell the salt air on the breeze.  And there were other
buildings, too--pubs, inns, even open markets.  The melange of
smells was astounding!
     Fujiko looked around at all the people warily, then reached
down to her belt and removed the sheathed dagger clipped to it.
"Here," she said to Andrea, "put this on your belt.  I should
have given this to you sooner."
     "What?!  What are you doing!" Father Phylus said, gripping
the staff he'd cut earlier in the forest and now used as a
combination walking stick and crutch.  "You can't give the girl a
weapon!"
     "I can, and I am," Fujiko replied calmly.  "No one should be
in this city without some means of self-defense.  Especially a
young girl with a unicorn to look after."  Phylus backed down and
conceded the point, while Andrea looked proudly at her new
weapon.
     Sheryl stuck very close to Wolf, who she knew would protect
her.  With Wolf on her left, and Fujiko and Andrea on her right,
she felt very safe indeed.  But soon Fujiko had to leave Wolf at
a stable, and they continued on into town on foot.
     It wasn't far before they had some trouble.  They were in
one of the town's open squares when it happened.  Andrea didn't
notice the start of it, she just noticed when Fujiko suddenly had
her twin blades out and was dealing death with them.
     Actually they weren't twins, exactly, but Andrea couldn't
tell that without getting a chance to examine them.  They were a
Daisho, katana and wakizashi.  The katana was longer than the
wakizashi; together they were a set of weapons often used by
samurai and other warriors from the Orient.  In the right hands,
they could be very, very deadly.  And Fujiko was apparently a
master of the art.
     She used her katana to block a blade on the downswing from
the left, then swung the wakizashi in a viscious arc that
disembowelled an attacker on the right.  She turned to face the
assailant on the left, then lashed out with her left foot,
sending another man reeling back against a wall.
     In the room directly above that man, a matronly middle-aged
woman was doing some redecorating.  She happened to be next to
the window, holding a rather large potted plant.  She looked from
the plant she was holding, down to the stunned rogue leaning
against the wall, back to the plant again, then looked away and
"accidentally" let the plant go.  CRASH!  The stunned thug was
now an extremely unconscious one.  The woman walked away from the
window, whistling off-key in a manner which suggested exaggerated
innocence.
     Meanwhile Andrea and Father Phylus stood on either side of
Sheryl, with weapons at the ready.  Father Phylus bashed with his
staff at any of the assailants who happened to get within range,
and Andrea slashed out with her dagger (not actually hitting
anyone, but at least keeping them far enough back to be out of
harm's way until Fujiko could dispose of them).  Sheryl just
stood there looking rather scared.
     Fujiko used both blades to block a longsword slash, then
bound the sword and wrenched it out of the man's hands.  He drew
a dagger and threw it, but Fujiko nimbly ducked out of the way
and it embedded itself in the wall behind her, above the
unconscious thug with the shattered pot, dirt, and plant on his
head.  She spun around and delivered a roundhouse kick to the
guy's face, shattering his jaw and knocking him back, down, and
out.
     Fujiko continued her spin, dropping her wakizashi, producing
a dagger, and throwing it.  It tumbled over exactly once and
embedded itself quite neatly in the throat of a man who had been
sneaking up on Father Phylus from outside his field of vision.
She then dropped to her knees (avoiding a sweeping cut from a
bastard sword that would have left her shorter by a head), caught
her wakizashi before it hit the ground, and sliced a man's legs
out from under him.
     Quite soon, the fight was over.  About ten men lay leaking
blood into the street, with swords and knives and assorted body
parts lying everywhere.  Fujiko wiped her swords and dagger on a
dead man's clothes before resheathing them.
     "Who were they?" Father Phylus asked.
     "Just a bunch of young toughs who saw an opportunity for
profit," Fujiko replied bitterly.  She turned to Father Phylus.
"See what she'll be up against?" she asked.  "She'd be wise to
take my suggestion."
     "The Temple of Issek is only a short ways from here," Father
Phylus said.  "We'll be safe there."
     "But you can't stay in that temple forever," Fujiko
retorted.
     "We won't HAVE to," Phylus said, getting a bit angry.  "Just
until they cure Sheryl!"
     Fujiko nodded.  "Right.  Whatever you say..."  She turned to
Andrea.  "Are you and Sheryl all right?" she asked.
     Andrea was still staring goggle-eyed at all the carnage
around her.  "Where'd you learn to fight like that?!" she asked.
     "An ancient master taught me," she said.  "And I had some
help from a fellow pupil.  His name was Goemon."  She reached out
and tapped Andrea's dagger, which was back in its sheath without
being bloodied.  "You didn't do so badly yourself," she said.
     "But I didn't hit anybody," Andrea said, puzzled.
     "That's not the point.  You kept them back, which was good.
And the way you held the blade...you held it correctly without
being told how.  I think you may have a natural potential for
this kind of thing."
     "Really?" Andrea asked.
     "Really," Fujiko nodded.  "But come on.  Let's get out of
here before people start coming."
     As the three humans and one unicorn made their way out of
the square, that matronly woman from the upstairs apartment came
creeping out to collect her plant for repotting, and she pulled
out the dagger from the wall while she was at it.  THIS time she
would have something really EXCITING to tell the members of the
Garden Club. "Yes, a UNICORN!" she would say.  "And it was THIS
VERY PLANT! And THIS VERY DAGGER!"  This was guaranteed to make
her the toast of the club for a good long time!
 
     Andrea wasn't too impressed with the Temple of Issek from
the outside.  All these years she'd expected a huge cathedral,
with gleaming spires and stained-glass windows, all the fancy
stuff that she'd so often read about in the books she'd been able
to get her hands on.  But all it really was was a small stone
building, with a couple of stained glass windows above the door.
"This is it?" Andrea asked.
     Father Phylus nodded.  "It is better to spend money on
healing the infirm than to use it up on a handsome building."
     Fujiko shrugged.  "If you say so.  Now me, I've never had
any problems with spending money..."  She trailed off as Father
Phylus glared at her.
     They walked inside, Father Phylus in the lead, Andrea and
Sheryl behind him, and Fujiko bringing up the rear.  On the
inside, the decor was that of a church--very somber, very
rigorous.  There were pews here, and an altar at the head of the
aisle between them.  Sheryl, who had been prancing along on the
city streets outside, was very subdued in here...something in the
air seemed to DEMAND it.
     No sooner had they advanced halfway up the aisle, than a man
dressed in the robes of a priest came running up, waving his arms
and quite startling Sheryl, who looked like she was about to
spook.  "No animals in the church!" the man yelled.
     Father Phylus dropped his staff so that it rested across the
aisle on a pair of pews, and the man was brought up short with an
OOF! as he ran right into it.  "Not so fast, brother," Phylus
said calmly.  "Take a closer look."
     The man did, and his expression of anger changed to one of
amazement.  "A unicorn--!"
     Father Phylus nodded.  "Indeed.  Only this little one is not
really a unicorn; she has been cursed to it."
     He removed the staff, and the priest stood up.  "I see, I
see...well, now, we'll have to see what we can do."  He walked
back up the aisle.  "I think we'll need Father Sheraton for
this."  He genuflected at the altar, turned right, and entered
a small door leading out of the room.
     "Who is this Father Sheraton?" Andrea asked.  Sheryl
snorted, looking around.  She seemed a little bit scared.
     "He is the highest priest of Issek in the region," Father
Phylus breathed.  "If anyone can help Sheryl, it will be him."
     For a moment, Andrea's hope surged, but then she said, "But
what if Father Sheraton can't help her?  What then?"
     "Hush, child," Father Phylus said.  "We must have faith."
Fujiko snorted, but didn't make any comments.
     The priest came back out the door.  "Father Sheraton has
agreed to see you.  Follow me to his private chambers."
     Father Sheraton's chambers were not quite so large as to be
called spacious, yet they were not quite cramped, either.  Father
Sheraton sat behind a table that was the sole piece of furniture
in the room.  A few dozen dusty books were stacked on the table,
and there were a few scrolls lying around too.  Father Sheraton
was an elderly man.  His robes were much fancier than those of
the lesser priest who had conducted them in, and he appeared to
be very old.  Currently he was paging through one of the old
books on his desk, then he looked up.  "Ah, welcome.  Let me see
the problem."
     Sheryl stepped forward, a bit uncertainly.  Father Sheraton
adjusted the half-glasses that rested on his nose and peered
through them at the unicorn.  "Ah, I see."  He chanted some
words, held up a holy symbol.  "O Issek, let me DIAGNOSE this
problem that I might heal it for Your further glory..."  Sheryl
was surrounded by a soft golden glow that spread outward from the
holy symbol.  Sheraton closed his eyes, muttered something under
his breath and the glow darkened to ruby.  Sheryl's eyes flashed,
and sparks started coming off of her hooves and horn.  Sheraton
opened his eyes and gestured.  The glow faded.  Sheryl sat down
on her rump, eyes slightly unfocused.
     Sheraton shook his head slowly.  "This must be a very
powerful curse...to all my examination, she seems a perfectly
normal unicorn."  Andrea's breath caught, and she felt weak.  She
leaned against Fujiko for support.
     "Is there nothing you can do, Father?" Fujiko asked.
     "Hold on, let me try one more thing."  Sheraton picked up
another tome, blew dust off of it, and flipped through.  "Ah,
yes."  He held up the symbol of Issek, chanted in some ancient
language.  A burgundy glow surrounded Sheryl, and then she was
englobed by a shower of sparks.  As the sparks faded, Sheraton
turned a little pale from the exertion and promptly sat down.
     "Father, are you all right?" Father Phylus asked, going to
the man's side.  Sheraton waved him away.  "Oh, I'm fine, fine,
just a little weak is all.  And I have managed to determine the
nature of the curse."  He shook his head.  "I'm afraid there's
nothing I can do."
     "What?!" Father Phylus asked, shocked.  Andrea turned and
buried her face in Fujiko's shoulder and started to cry.  Fujiko
embraced her and said, "There, there...it'll be all right.  Let's
hear what the good Father has to say."  Andrea tried to control
her sobbing and to some extent succeeded.
     "What do you mean, Father?  Why can't you help her?" Phylus
asked.
     Sheraton continued to shake his head.  "Whoever or whatever
did this must have been using an Artifact of some sort--the
magic's much too strong for even Issek's healing powers."
     Andrea sobbed, "An Artifact?!"  She'd read tales of objects
such as these--extremely powerful magical or clerical items
created by gods or demons that could be used for very great
mischief in the wrong hands.
     Father Sheraton nodded.  "Indeed.  It would take a very
powerful magician indeed to change her back, I'm afraid."  Seeing
Andrea start crying, he said, "Don't worry...we'll find a way,
somehow..."  This was little comfort to Andrea, however.
 
     Father Phylus showed Andrea a room in which she and Sheryl
could stay for the time being.  After he left, there was a knock
on the door.  It was Fujiko.  "Can I come in?" she asked.
     Andrea sniffled.  "Sure..."
     Fujiko sat down next to Andrea on the plain cot.  "It's not
the end of the world, you know."
     "What do you MEAN it's not?!" Andrea cried angrily.  "My
parents are dead, my village was destroyed, and my younger sister
is a unicorn!  All that I've ever known is gone."
     "You'll have to make a new life," Fujiko said.  "Look,
Sheryl doesn't seem all that unhappy."  She pointed to Sheryl,
who was currently sniffing at the rug at the foot of the bed.
She looked up and whinnied, nodding vigorously.  "I bet she
hasn't legitimately been able to play around this much since she
was 4 or 5."
     Andrea smiled through her tears.  "Yes, she always did like
to play..."
     "As long as she isn't unhappy, why worry about it?" Fujiko
asked.  "Just go with it.  You have the rest of your lives in
which to look for a cure.  And the Thieves' Guild knows of many
powerful magicians..."
     Andrea looked up.  "They do?"
     Fujiko nodded.  "Consider my offer.  Here."  She pulled a
ring off one of her fingers and slipped it onto Andrea's.  It was
a beautiful gold ring inlaid with a large sapphire.  "This is a
little token of a favor the Guildmaster of this town owes me.
Show it to anyone who tries to attack you and they should stop,
recognizing the seal.  Show it to any guardsman and he should
know just where to take you.  If they don't stop, then say the
word FLASHBLIND."
     "Fla--" Andrea began, but Fujiko clapped a hand over her
mouth.  "Not NOW, silly!  If you say that word, the ring will
emit an extremely bright flash of light and blind your attackers
so you can get away.  Be sure to close your eyes before you use
it."
     Andrea nodded.  "It's magic?"
     "Yes, kid.  It's magic.  And it should get you safely to the
Thieves' Guild."  Fujiko clapped her on the shoulder.  "I have to
leave now.  I'll be waiting at the Guild for you."
     "What--what if I don't come?" Andrea asked uncertainly.
     "Then I'll get it back from you later."  Fujiko drew up
close to Andrea.  "I've told you all about the Guild.  Only YOU
can decide what's best for you, though.  You know where I'll be."
She walked over to the window, opened it, looked outside.  "Bye!
She jumped through the window.  Andrea ran over to it and looked
outside, all around, but she was gone.
 
     Later that night, Andrea decided to go downstairs to use the
facilities.  As she passed through the hall, she heard voices
coming from behind a door that was ajar a crack.  She was about
to pass on by, but then she heard that one of the voices belonged
to Father Phylus!  Knowing that she shouldn't be eavesdropping,
yet still curious, she stopped to listen.
     "--can't do anything about the curse, so what do you
recommend?"
     "I just don't know."  The other voice was Father Sheraton's.
"I think it would be best for the girl if we sent her and the
unicorn to a secluded abbey.  I know just the spot, it's just
over the moutains to the north."
     "Do you think we should?"
     "Oh, definitely, absolutely.  There she'll be safe from
those who would try to kill her for the 'corn--and she could get
the kind of education a young lady deserves."
     Andrea couldn't listen any longer.  They were talking about
sending her to a PRISON!  She would not be corralled into that
kind of life, and neither would Sheryl.  She was going to choose
her own fate, not let it be chosen for her by a couple of old
men!
     Andrea ran back up the stairs to her and Sheryl's room.  She
nudged the sleeping 'corn.  "Hey!  Sheryl, wake up!  We gotta get
outta here!"
     Sheryl shook her head, and opened one eye sleepily.  She
snorted.  Obviously she did NOT want to go ANYWHERE at this hour.
     "Come on, Sheryl!  We gotta go!  If we don't get out of
here, they're going to stick us in an abbey!"
     Sheryl got to her feet.  She shook her head drowsily.
Whatever Andrea wanted, fine, she'd do it...but she'd just BETTER
get some sleep afterward!
     Andrea and Sheryl crept silently down the stairs.  Obviously
negotiating the stairs was harder for Sheryl than for
Andrea--once Sheryl stumbled and almost fell, but Andrea caught
her in time.  Once they were on the ground level, it was
relatively simple to sneak out of the church.
     Then they were outside.  It was pretty dark--there were
street lanterns and such, but these only provided dim pools of
illumination in the otherwise black night.  Andrea and Sheryl
started walking down the street, Andrea fervently wishing
Sheryl's color were anything but white and easy to spot.  She
just KNEW that they were going to run into trouble.
     And sure enough, before they had gone too far three lanky
teens stepped out in front of her.  They held knives, and the
leader had a shortsword.  "Well, I'll be damned," the leader
said.  "What have we here...a girl and a--what the hell, that
thing's a unicorn!"
     "Do you know how much money those things are worth?!" the
second one asked.
     Andrea held up her hand with the ring on it.  "See this?
Recognize it?"
     The three punks looked at each other.  "What do you think?"
the first one asked the others.  "That's the Guildmaster's seal."
     "He doesn't have to know..." the third one said.  "We can
dump it in the river..."
     "All right, let's do it, then..."
     Andrea, sensing trouble, whispered to Sheryl, "Close your
eyes now!  I'm going to do something."
     Sheryl's eyes blinked tightly shut, and Andrea held the ring
forward, covered her own eyes, and yelled, "FLASHBLIND!"  There
was a bright flash, visible even through Andrea's hand.
     "I can't see!" the leader yelled.  "They blinded me!  They
blinded me!"  The others were similarly affected.
     "Now, Sheryl!" Andrea said.  "Run through!"  They dashed
past the blinded punks and down the street--and ran right into
the arms of a town guardsman who had been attracted by the bright
flash and was coming to see what was the matter.
     "Well, now, what's all this?" the man said in a thick Irish
brogue.  He fingered his nightstick.  "What's going on--Oho, I
see.  You're wearing the Guildmaster's ring!  And those young
toughs just tried to mug you..."
     Andrea nodded.  "They did, sir, they did!  Can you take me
to the Guild?"
     "Why now sure I can, little lassie.  Well, now, and what's
this?  Is that a unicorn I'm seeing?"
     Sheryl nodded, sensing that this man could be trusted.  She
nickered softly as he reached down to pat her neck.
     "Well, now lassies, I'll see that you reach the Guild
safely.  And I think the Guildmaster himself is going to want to
hear about this."  He smiled.  "Now you just follow me.  I know
right where you need to be going."
     The guardsman led them through several streets and back
alleys for the next ten minutes or so.  He was never challenged,
though there were some people who looked greatly interested in
the nature of the creature following him.  At last they reached a
large, nondescript building, with a sturdy, solid wooden door in
front of it.  The guardsman pounded on it with his baton.  "Open
up!  Open up, I tell you!"
     A rectangular panel set in the door at eye level slid open
and a pair of eyes appeared.  "And what is the password?" a rough
voice asked.
     The guardsman rolled his eyes.  "'Walt sent me.'  Now are
you going to open up--?"
     The door swung slowly inward, and the rest of the man behind
the door was revealed.  He was a tall and thick individual, who
probably moonlighted as an enforcer in his spare time.  "Whaddaya
want, copper?"
     The guardsman lifted Andrea's hand, with the ring on it.  "I
think the Guildmaster will be wanting to see this girl, don't
you?"
     Just then Fujiko came running up, dagger in hand.
"What--Andrea!  I didn't expect to see you this soon!  Come in,
come in...I'll vouch for her."  That last comment was directed at
the thug, who stood their scratching his head.  Fujiko turned to
the guardsman.  "Thank you, Officer Killian."
     The guardsman tipped his helm.  "Least I could do, ma'am."
Then the door was slammed shut in his face.
 
     Fujiko led Andrea and Sheryl to an office just a little
larger than Father Sheraton's.  However, this one was furnished
much more nicely.  There was a thick carpet on the floor (which
Sheryl promptly curled up and went to sleep on), a fine mahogany
desk, and several beautiful paintings and tapestries hanging
around the room.  On the desk were a blotter, paperweights, and a
jade figurine that looked quite valuable.  There was also a
little frame with seven shiny balls hanging from it on strings.
     Andrea took a seat in one of the comfortable-looking chairs
opposite from the desk, and looked up just in time to see part of
the wall behind the desk slide open, and a man step out from a
dark space behind.
     He was in his late middle age, with a few lines on his face,
and his sandy-colored hair was a bit unkempt.  He was wearing a
nightrobe, and he looked a bit tired.  As he sat down at the
desk, a female voice called out from the space behind him, "Shall
I get you some coffee, Guildmaster Robinson?"
     "No, woman!" Robinson roared back.  "Wine is what I need,
you know that!  Get me a glass, immediately."
     "Yessir, Guildmaster!  Right away..."  There was a shuffling
of feet, and the wall swung shut behind the Guildmaster's chair.
     "Fine woman, she is, but if she were just a little quicker
on the uptake..."  Robinson sighed.  "Now then, what is the
situation?  I'm told you were wearing one of my rings...?"
     Andrea took it off and set it on his desk.  "Yessir," she
said, her eyes downcast.
     "Look at me, girl, don't look at the floor.  I don't bite,"
the Guildmaster boomed.  "Ah, that's better.  "Where did you get
this ring?"
     "Fu--Fujiko gave it to me, sir."
     "Ah, she did, eh?  Well, I trust her judgement a great
deal...what man wouldn't trust his own niece, after all?"  As
Andrea goggled, Robinson picked up the ring.  "It's been used,
and quite recently, too," he remarked.  "Were you attacked?"
     "Yessir."  Sheryl chose this moment to stand up.  She had
been lying right in front of the Guildmaster's desk, obscured
from his view, and this startled him immensely.
     "Ho, what's this?  A unicorn, in my office?"  After
recovering from the initial startlement, he said, "Well, I'm
honored, honored indeed.  To what do I owe this unexpected
pleasure?"
     As Andrea opened her mouth to reply, Robinson held up his
hand and said, "No, wait...I mustn't get distracted from the
business at hand.  First I have to find out just who it was that
attacked you."  He held up the ring and pointed it at the wall.
"This handy little device was crafted for me by the great mage,
Kodak Land.  PROJECTION!" he called out, and the ring flashed
again.  This time, however, it produced an image on the wall of
the three punks just as they had been standing when the ring had
flashed.
     As Andrea goggled and Sheryl whinnied in surprise, Robinson
fingered his chin and said, "Ah yes, Miko and his friends.  I've
had some trouble with them in the past, but now I have a
legitimate excuse...ignoring my seal of protection.  This is
indeed a red-letter day for me--first a unicorn shows up, and
then I get proof enough to take care of that thorn in my side
once and for all.  Ah, thanks, my dear."  The last comment was
directed at the woman who had just come out of the secret door
behind Robinson, carrying a carafe of wine and a goblet on a
silvre tray.  As Andrea looked up, she saw that it was Fujiko,
wearing the dreary clothes of a kitchen drudge! She winked, then
left the wine carafe and goblet and closd the door behind her.
     "Now, what brings you to my humble domicile?" Robinson
asked, swallowing the wine and leaning forward attentively.
     Andrea told her story, punctuated by snorts and nickers from
Sheryl at the proper moments.  Robinson listened attentively, at
times playing idly with the steel balls on the frame.  He would
pull one back and release it, and it banged into the other balls
and one on the far end would fly off, then swing back, and send
the first one flying again.  Then he would pull two back, and, lo
and behold, TWO balls from the other end would be launched
outward.  Soon Sheryl was completely mesmerized by this strange
device, and she even forgot she was sleepy.
     When Andrea finished her tale, Robinson nodded.  "I can see
now why you have come.  It will be a good deal for all three of
us if you become an apprentice here.  You will learn marketable
skills, Sheryl will be protected far better than any bodyguard
could hope to, and I will gain new apprentices because of having
the only Guild with a unicorn under its roof.  So what say you,
Andrea?  Is it a deal?"
     Andrea thought.  This was it--the moment that her entire
future rested upon.  How would she determine the course of her
future life--thief or not?  She looked at Sheryl, but Sheryl just
looked back.  "You're no help," Andrea told her unicorn/sister.
Sheryl just tossed her head.
     Andrea looked Robinson in the eye.  "Sir, I will do it.  I
will become an apprentice."  And thus did Andrea decide.
 
     Andrea's training commenced the next day.  It was, of
course, no mystery to Father Phylus where she had gone, and that
day he came by the Guild demanding that she be returned to him.
Robinson met him firmly and told him that Andrea had made up her
own mind.  However, only when Andrea told him herself that she
had no intention of going to an abbey did he admit defeat.
     "I'd had such hopes for you, girl..." he sighed.
     "I'm afraid my hopes are rather different than yours,"
Andrea said pointedly.  "Besides, with Robinson's decree,
everyone in the area knows that to attack Sheryl would mean
certain death."
     Phylus sighed again.  "I guess my coming here was pointless,
then."
     "No, Father, it wasn't," Andrea said.  "I'll always love
you, and I will stop in at your church.  Just because I'm
learning this trade doesn't mean we can't still be friends..."
     Father Phylus nodded.  "I see.  Well, you'll always be
welcome in the House of Issek."  He started to walk away, then
stopped, turned.  "Please come see me soon."
     "I will," Andrea promisd.
 
     Over the time that passed after this, Andrea discovered that
she was even more talented than Fujiko had thought.  She had a
real gift for sleight-of-hand, which would come in quite handy
for working with weapons up her sleeves and picking pockets.  She
had a dexterity that many thieves could only dream of.  And she
had the brains to figure out alternate plans when things went
wrong.
     Andrea's combat teacher was Fujiko herself.  Though it was
hard at first, soon Andrea had mastered most of the moves Fujiko
taught her.  After this, Andrea's instructor became a monk whose
fighting skills were different from Fujiko's--Fujiko was a brown
belt (working on her first black) in Tae Kwan Do, he explained,
while he taught Judo as self-defense.  He demonstrated, by asking
her to rush at him, then throwing her half a dozen times.  This
was where she learned the techniques that would later save her
life half a dozen times (including, most recently, Callus'
attack).
 
     Days turned into weeks, weeks into months, months into
years.  Before Andrea knew it, two and a half years had passed,
and a lot had changed for her.  She'd grown taller, smarter,
stronger, wiser, and...better-endowed.  She had proven to be an
excellent thief, too, better than most in her class and some
above her.  And she knew instinctively that it was time to go.
     Sheryl hadn't seemed to age very much at all; Andrea had
beeen assured that this was because unicorns generally had a much
greater lifespan than normal humans or horses.  Sheryl had made
many friends in Selactica, and the Thieves' Guild had grown
accordingly stronger because of her.  Andrea knew that it
probably would be hard on her to leave, but also knew that she
would come.
     As a graduation present, Robinson gave Andrea a magical
Dagger of Resource, a small dagger with studs on the handle that,
when pressed, released various gadgets, including enhanced
lockpicks, a hoof-cleaning tool (very handy with Sheryl around),
and a couple of other implements.  Also, it was magically
enhanced, and thus more sure to strike the enemy.
     On the day of her departure, Andrea and Sheryl were met one
last time by Fujiko and Guildmaster Robinson.  Fujiko had tears
in her eyes. "I can't believe how far you've come in just two
short years..."
     Andrea nodded, her own eyes glistening.  "It's been
fun...but now, Sheryl and I have our lives to get on with, and I
have some wizards to find."
     "You think that they'll be able to help?" Fujiko asked.
     "They can if anybody can..."  Though Andrea did feel a
slight pang, recalling the last time someone had used a similar
expression.  "Anyway, there's no harm in trying...and I will at
least be able to learn more about what Sheryl has now become."
     Robinson nodded.  "Who knows?  Maybe you'll learn something
about yourself in the process."
     Andrea looked him in the eyes.  "You may be right."  She
turned to go, and Sheryl walked after her.  They walked a few
steps together, then Andrea turned and said, "We'll be back
someday.  And one last thing: Thank you."  Then she turned and
walked forward, and they didn't look back.  Andrea wanted to
remember them just the way she'd seen them last, and she hated
long goodbyes anyway.
 
     For the next several years, Andrea and Sheryl wandered
aimlessly through Nexus.  Andrea would go to one place to see a
powerful wizard, and no sooner would she find that he could not
help her than she would learn another rumor of a more powerful
wizard in another place and go off to investigate it.  Of course,
all this magical investigation required a great amount of money,
so Andrea had to pull some jobs to keep the required amount of
cash on her.  Not that this was much of a problem for a thief of
her talents.
     Several times she heard rumors of Raykor or Raoh, but no
sooner would she investigate than they had moved on, gone
elsewhere, or else the report was bogus to begin with.  After
several years, Andrea was still no closer to finding a solution
or taking revenge than she had been when she had started out.
     Andrea never saw Raykor again, but she never forgot his
face.  There were several times that Andrea heard his mocking
laughter in the night, coming from just outside the range of
their campfire, but he never showed his face.  It scared Sheryl
half to death, but Andrea only clenched her jaw in determination.
"One of these days, Raykor whoreson, you WILL die!" she yelled
back.  There was never any response.
     Eventually their journey led to a chain of islands out in
the Great Blue, where she and a band of fellow adventurers had
gone on a dungeon crawl through a series of catacombs that Raykor
had supposedly claimed for his own.  Things went rather badly
from the first, with several of them getting killed right off,
and by the time it was over, she and Sheryl had barely escaped
with their lives.  Of course, the fact that she was now several
thousand gold pieces richer did serve to make up for it somewhat.
     However, her luck continued to change for the worse.  As she
and Sheryl were in the local town celebrating their gains and the
fact that they were still alive, a horde of monsters swept down
out of the dungeon.  Andrea choked on her drink, grabbed her
satchel (which, fortunately, contained her money) and Sheryl and
ran for the docks.  She bought passage on the first ship she saw
(actually it was one of the last still in the dock, with that
horde of monsters advancing) and they'd headed out to sea.
     However, late in the voyage, some of the sailors decided to
try to take the unicorn's horn and get rich quick.  Andrea had to
kill the offenders and escape.  Fortunately, the ship was just
pulling into Generica dock when this happened and so they were
able to escape.
 
     "And the rest you all know," Andrea finished, leaning back
in her chair.  She looked around, and noticed that their dinner
had arrived but no one had noticed, they'd been so wrapped up in
her tale.  "Hey, everybody, let's eat!"
     This suggestion was greeted with much approval, and the
conversation level at the table dropped appreciably as everyone
tore into their roast turkey (and 'Raelf, with some reluctance,
into his salad).
 
ADMIN: If you like this thread, or noticed all the little
in-jokes (or should that be "inn-jokes"? :) I put in, or
whatever, please drop me a line!  I like hearing from people
about what I write.  Later!
--
Chris Meadows           ||  "The Zetons look like beautiful
CHM173S@SMSVMA.BITNET   ||  women, but their tissues are made
CHM173S@VMA.SMSU.EDU    ||  of paper, so they burn, like paper."
CMEADOWS@NYX.CS.DU.EDU  ||  --Captain Harlock, Ziv's lame-o dub.