Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus) Subject: [MG] Sleeping Beauty(?) and the Beast Message-ID: <1993Aug25.172411.8050@data-io.com> Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1993 17:24:11 GMT [ADMIN: Written by me. Goodness. :) Much thanks to Bernie and Andrea Evans for feedback and cool ideas, and to the Hutchisons, Kelly, and Chris Meadows for going over it.] ------- After a good night's sleep, Kardia packed her tools and had breakfast in the main kitchen. The coffeepot was gently steaming when she got there, so she upended a mug with DANGER: MOLD EXPERIMENT IN PROGRESS written all around it. The mug was actually quite clean, but she made sure of it with both mage and real sight before pouring coffee into it. The bread box had a stack of fresh crumpets in it, and there was a half full jar of raspberry jam in the industrial sized refrigerator, and back in a corner was a jar of what Kardia would have called Devonshire cream. It had a Generican label on it from Wynad's Creamery and the contents were the same sweet, silky smooth and rich cream she expected. The crumpets filled the kitchen with their scent as they toasted. When they popped, she brought the two crumpets, her spreads and a butter knife to a chair that looked out on the Garden. The coffee was rich and bitter and tasted excellent in contrast to the sweet, rich crispness of the crumpets. And it all went well with the riot of summer growth in the garden. Tiny hooves tap, tap, tapped their way across the tile floor, and Kardia smiled to see Sheryl looking at her quizzically with electric blue eyes. Kardia looked around for Jay, but didn't see the young man. Kardia held out the last bite of her second crumpet on an open palm, and chuckled at the tickle of Sheryl's soft lips against her palm. The little unicorn studied Kardia solemnly as she carefully chewed the bit of crumpet; and when she was done with it she looked at Kardia's empty plate with a slightly mournful eye. "Sorry, it's all gone." Kardia said, "And I've got to make my date with Dasham. Maybe later?" Sheryl nodded once, emphatically, and then wheeled and trotted off. A set of paws padded their way into the kitchen and 'Raf sniffed the air with an appreciative grin. "Hey, pretty lady, off to beard the Wyvern in her den?" Kardia nodded and 'Raf frowned. "You want escort?" Kardia blinked at the question and then shook her head. "You just looked nervous... or down. What's up?" Kardia grinned at the first and nodded at the second and at the raising of a golden eyebrow, she laughed softly. "It's just that the job looks like it's going to take a while, and I'm just a little... well... depressed isn't the right word for it, 'cause I sometimes rather like it; but, sometimes not speaking to anyone for a long time can be a bit of a pain..." She looked at the ground, "especially when people hassle me about it." "That all?" She nodded. 'Raf smiled a smile that gleamed with sharp white teeth, "Anyone gives you pain, we can take care of." She laughed at the sight and nodded, already a bit more relaxed, "Thanks, 'Raf. I hope I won't need you to do that." "No." he said gently, "I meant 'we'. You can take care of yourself pretty well. You've got the moves, dudette. Just do it." She let his word sink in and the grinned a crooked grin back at him. "Hai, sensei..." He nodded, "Good. Later, then." She chuckled, "Later, 'Raf." Kardia ran up to her room, picked up her bag and hung the wax tablet and steel stylus from her belt. She double checked her stuff and then walked to the Gate in the garden and worked the gate to bring her to the Mage Guild. * * * * This time, when the receptionist with the rainbow glasses saw her, he hastily pushed a button and spoke in a low voice to someone that answered him back. Dasham appeared a moment later, took hold of Kardia's arm and then frowned. "I can NOT transport you with that shawl on." Dasham said with icy exasperation. Kardia folded the shawl and put it in her bag. Then there was a stomach turning lurch and they were in a room, a very private room. Kardia noticed there were no doors. Dasham stood disturbingly close and then Kardia felt thousands of tiny prickles over her skin. Kardia pulled out her shawl along with her sight and the flick of power from the red headed mage was intercepted by the fragile lines of the web in her hands and sucked away. The wash of power through Kardia caused her to narrow her eyes in the direction of the Supreme Archmage. Kardia then moved to mop up the probe. Dasham gritted her teeth and retracted the probe before Kardia could touch it. "What do you think you're doing?" "I'd ask the same of you." Kardia said from behind her shawl, her grey eyes slate hard and narrowed to hide her near panic. Dasham's eyes widened and she drew a breath. She let the breath out and relaxed. She said with delicate precision, "I was checking your side. I wanted to see if you'd healed enough to work without distraction or stress to yourself." Kardia blinked at the answer and then blushed and relaxed her guard. She sighed. "Sorry about that, but it felt..." she paused, confused about how to describe it Dasham sat down. "... like insects crawling all over you." she finished woodenly and then rubbed her eyes. She looked far more tired than when Kardia had left. "You looked as if you've had a couple weeks of healing, when it's only been two days since you left. I wondered if someone had accelerated the process to your detriment." Kardia started nodding at the observation. "Yeah. 'Raf said that he'd looped time a bit while we were off. So, no, no one accelerated the healing at all, they just gave me more time in which to heal in." Dasham's eyebrow had raised at Kardia's words and then murmured, "More to blondie than meets the eye..." Kardia snorted and then laughed aloud at Dasham's sideways look. Dasham looked confused at the laugher, and then smiled a rather new looking and tentative smile. Kardia couldn't stop grinning, and answered Dasham's look with, "I guess I never thoughta 'Raelf as being, well... Bloooonde and brainless, just never quite fit..." she laughed and shook her head. "Whyever not? He looks quite the dish." There was a dryness to Dasham's voice that Kardia didn't know how to respond to. "I guess I don't usually go solely by looks." At Kardia's words, Dasham's face smoothed into a perfect mask. Dasham shook her head just slightly. "Shall we get on with things?" Kardia nodded, hesitated a moment and then started in on her speel. "I wanted to start out with an explanation of what I'm going to do for you and with you. I am, in many ways, a one trick pony. I only do one thing, break curses; and I do it by spinning and making a cover that negates the magic of the curse. I ground it through my workings, and don't ground what shouldn't be leeched away by controlling where the thread goes with my knitting or weaving. One thing that you have to know is that I will not speak during the process, it seems to be a necessary component to my working the pieces." As Dasham took a breath, Kardia said, "I say 'seems' because I haven't really tested it, and I'm not at all sure that I want to test it on your curse breaking." Dasham's mouth closed. "My initial estimate was that it'd take me about a month to do this; and of that time, the first two days will be me taking measurements so that I have an accurate model to work from. After that I'll probably work for a couple of weeks by myself and then I'll start coming back to you for references, to check how accurate my model was in comparison to the work that I'm doing. It will mean some extensive time and contact at that time." Kardia paused to see if Dasham had to say anything. "Two days..." Dasham's eyes narrowed. "How much of that time will you need me to be available to you?" "All of it." "I can't do that." Dasham shook her head. "There are too many things that I must do as Supreme Archmage to give me that much time off during the day." Kardia frowned. "What about at night or in the evening?" She thought a moment, "I could probably even take measurements while you're asleep." "Sleep?" Dasham looked a touch surprised at that, and then thoughtful. "Hmmm... yes... I think that that would work. I'll have a room set up for you here and food send in from the Guild's kitchens. You'll stay here until you're done." Kardia blinked at the easy assumption. "Uhm... you mean in the Mage Guild?" "Of course." "Uh-uh. Sorry. I have things that I want to do outside the Guild." Dasham's face pinched, "It is the only way that I can insure your safety." Kardia shrugged. "I can't work shut in a room by myself for a month." "Why not?" "I have friends around here, people that I'd like to see, interact with, eat with, and play with in my off hours." "Off hours... so if you lived here you'd finish more quickly?" Kardia shook her head emphatically. "No. Without time to relax and unwind between work periods, I would be less capable, not more. If that's a term of the contract, then I'm afraid I'll have to refuse. You have plenty of other mages around here..." "No." Dasham said crisply. "You'll be able to go as you like, if you wear the mark that I gave you and accept a guardian. Then, at least, I'll be able to keep tabs on you. Can we at least get started for the rest of this two hour appointment? I have other things I have to do, afterward, but any gain would be useful." For a moment Kardia hesitated and then she nodded. "Yes, that sounds far better. I'll stop speaking when I start working, though, so..." she took a deep breath and then shrugged. At Kardia's movement, Dasham looked at her, and then curtly nodded. "So, you want me to strip?" Kardia nodded and unslung her pack. She set it on the floor and then frowned at her shawl. She looked at Dasham who was busy undressing. The heat went up in the room, warming it so that the shawl was a bit too hot, though it was probably perfect for the now naked mage. Kardia sighed again and took her shawl off. Then she unzipped the top of the pack and pulled out her measurement strings, a couple of sheets of paper from 'Raelf's stocks and a clip board and her fountain pen. She switched back to her mage sight and frowned at what she saw. At first, all there was was a shine of power. It created a smooth surface all over the Archmage's body, almost mirror-like in intensity. Dasham noticed Kardia watching her, and then the mirrored shield slid down, dissolved and showed Dasham as she really was. Kardia shook her head slightly, her eyes narrowed, it was even worse than she'd initially expected. The lines of the curse ran through Dasham from her digestive system through the rest of her body. Each major organ, her nervous systems were all enmeshed in the fine web of dark destruction. The extent of it reminded Kardia forcibly of Kadrys' curse; but the nature of it was far different. This curse wasn't alive, the only similarity was that it was involved in almost every aspect of Dasham's body. Kardia was blinded by a sudden shock of power. She cried out a wordless shout, and then she heard Dasham's voice in her mind. <> Kardia only laughed and let the dazzlement of her sight flow down the lines of power that maintained the contact. Dasham dimmed the lines, but then her mind voice came through as no more than a whisper. Kardia sighed and shrugged at the mage. The whispering stopped. "I guess not, then." Kardia wrote, 'Sorry' on her wax tablet, showed it to the Mage, and then, 'Lie down? Easier.' Dasham nodded and moved with the grace and lack of self-consciousness of a cat. She lay in the satin of her bed and closed her eyes, and then opened them again. She sat up, frowned, got off the bed and then walked over to a rack of crystal rods which glowed as she neared. Kardia watched in some awe as power flicked and flared through the mage's body and touched the rods to gleaming life. Dasham selected a rod of grey blue and turned it. Clicks accompanied the sound of weight laden, padded feet from a dark corner of the room and a Hound paced on huge paws with iron claws from the shadow. It's pelt was the color of night, and when it drew back its lips at seeing her, fangs the color of winter ice shone. Its collar of cold iron chain rattled softly with its movements. It was a huge beast, which lay itself down, somehow, within the angles of the pentagram over the headboard of Dasham's bed. "One of my Watchers," Dasham said, looking at Kardia. "I... trust you, but if I have to be without my defenses for a time, I would feel better with a guardian at my call." The great dog settled itself into its fold of space and watched Kardia with eyes like burning coals, its chin on paws as large as the palm of her hand. Dasham settled back on the bed, lay back, and closed her eyes. The Hound didn't move at all, and, eventually, Kardia decided that watching it wouldn't get anything done. If such a beast decided to move, simply watching it wasn't going to help her chances anyway. As an experiment, Kardia switched back to natural sight, and the Hound disappeared within the angle. She sighed and turned back to the archmage on the bed and switched sights again. Kardia saw the pulsing, moving, living, breathing lines of Dasham's power flowing through the lines of darkness; and then she saw them start to flow away from Dasham's body. Kardia tapped Dasham on the shoulder, and heard chain rattle and saw the dark head of the beast come up on alert. When the green eyes opened, Kardia shook her head. 'Out of body, out of luck. Have to see what to avoid.' was scratched onto the tablet. Dasham snarled softly, but composed herself again. The power streams steadied, slowed, but didn't flow away. Kardia nodded and started her work. The beast in the angle of the diagram gave a huge sigh and lay its head down again and watched with supernaturally bright eyes. Occassionally it would blink and the whole black form would disappear into the shadow of its fold in space. As with Sheryl, Kardia began with an overall view. Full body heights, widths and lengths. One sketch with the biggest concentrations of poison was her first job; and then she started on a detailed rendering of the webs of darkness spread from Dasham's meridian. It was painstaking work and the core of the dark knot. The next time Kardia looked up, it was at the soft sound of a chime. The great beast's head went up again. Dasham woke with a start and rolled away from Kardia for half a roll before she stopped and realized where she was. Kardia just rubbed her eyes, packed her things and started erasing the wax tablet to write again to give the Archmage time to compose and dress herself. 'Again at 8?' Dasham read, nodded and then laughed, "It's going to be the first time I've gotten to sleep before midnight this week, but, yes, that seems a reasonable time for me." Dasham sighed, and the lines on her face creased, shadowed. "That was a good rest." She touched Kardia's arm and they appeared at the front desk of the Mage Guild. Kardia blinked at the sudden change in scenery and at a grumble from her stomach. "Here's your payment for what you've done so far, at the agreed upon rate." Dasham smiled as Kardia looked at her in confusion. A golden bird flew down from the skyless ceiling of the Mage Guild's entry hall. It gleamed, bright and beautiful and alighted on Kardia's hand. When she turned her hand just a little, it hopped into the palm of her hand and the shivered into a double handful of gold pieces. Kardia gave a delighted laugh and glanced at the archmage, who looked a little surprised, herself, at the bird and the delight it caused. "Oh, and... here..." The click of iron nails on marble pavement approached them, and the shadow Hound melted out of the darkness of one of the passages, "I'll leave Sceadu with you. The guardian we agreed on. He really does like you..." Kardia looked very dubiously at the dog that was tall enough that it's head was at her elbow. She hesitantly held out a shaking hand. A cold nose touched her shivering hand gently and warm breath whuffed over her skin and a rasp rough tongue wrapped its wet self around the tips of her fingers. She turned toward Dasham and said in a shaking voice, "He's... he's quite amazing... but... I really..." she looked up to find the red-headed mage gone. "Oh, my." Kardia said weakly and the great Hound stood there looking at her and panting gently in the summer heat. She reached out a still tentative hand and patted the creature on the top of its head, "Good Doggy." It just looked at her with its coal red eyes. So she walked out and found the great beast following her, with its nose almost at her elbow and all other pedestrians on the street getting, rather quickly, out of her way. ----------------- Copyright 1993 by Phyllis L. Rostykus. All rights reserved. -- Liralen Li | "Remember, science is talking about the universe in a li@inigo.Data-IO.com | way you can understand it, magic is talking to the aka Phyllis Rostykus | universe in a way it can't resist hearing." Carl Rigney