Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
From: mba@controls.ccd.harris.com (Belinda Asbell)
Subject: [Inn] Khisanth tells her tale.
Message-ID: <1993Oct22.214737.23720@ccd.harris.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 1993 21:47:37 GMT

>"Anyway, enough from me, for now.  I'll say more if you wish, but I'd
>also like to hear from Khisanth and Alaric.  After all, unlike Mathew and
>Zebron, there haven't even been rumors of what you've been up to..."

Drinks arrived, and Marra flew down to the small saucer of milk which was
set carefully on the floor.  She seemed to be a bit larger than before.

Khisanth sipped at her drink.  "I cannot admit to surprise at that.  We
have seen no intelligent life in some time."

"Mrrrrew!"

"Sorry, Marra.  I meant *two-legged* intelligent life.  We did see another
cath-adryn like Marra, but he sent nothing to me.
  So where to begin?  I'm not sure what happened after we left the cave.  I
remember waking up by a lake, and finding everyone gone.  Even Alaric.", she 
said, staring thoughtfully into her mug.

Alaric spoke.  "I believe that we must have come upon some sort of
travelling device, not far outside the cave.  I sensed no spell before Khi
and I were separated.  She, and everyone else, were just...gone.  I found
myself in some woods, different from the one we were already in.  I looked
for a while, trying to find her.  No luck.  Fortunately, my mate has more
resources at her disposal than I."

"True", she said, laying a hand on his arm.  "Without Marra, I would
probably never have been able to get to you."

A long sip of the steaming beverage, and she continues:
"For a while, I looked around, and Marra flew around looking for him.  Or
even for anyone.  No people, although we did snare some rather tasty rabbits.
After two days of searching, I was about to give up.  I couldn't sense him,
and normally I can if I try hard enough.
   I had one chance left.  When night fell, I dug out one of the books I 
found in the Lost City.  I found a spell that would allow me to search
intraplanar."

"Apparently it worked", remarked Brent.

"In a way.  I saw him through a haze.  I tried to call to him, to pull him
back through.  I could not.  My world went dark, and I lost him".  A tear
formed at the corner of her eye.  Alaric wiped it away, and pulled her
close to him.

"I saw her in my mind...saw her try to say something, then collapse.  I
feared her for dead, worlds away from me.
   Out of the darkness, came a white flash.  It landed on my shoulder, dug
its claws in, and the world started spinning.  When it stopped, I was by
the lake, with Khi lying on the ground, barely alive.  It was all I could
do to keep her alive for the next week, but she finally came to.
   That was the happiest day of my life.", he admitted.

Khisanth blushed.  "Mine too.  I still don't know what Marra did, or how.
But I'm grateful."  She reached down and stroked Marra's fur, setting the
no-longer-small cat to purring.

"I just wish that spell hadn't taken so much out of me.", she murmured.

Alaric looked thoughtfully at his mate.  "Perhaps you could find someone to
teach you how to cast them better."

"Perhaps.  But I think it has more to do with the Old Blood, than with
skill at magic.  Other people have tried to cast some of the simpler ones,
with naught to show for it but an aching head and an empty stomach.  I
think I barely have enough of the Blood to cast them, and that's why it
makes me so ill to do so.  But then again, perhaps a mage also of the Old
Blood could teach me.

"In any case, I think i won't be casting *anything* for a long while.
Except maybe dice.", she smiled.

"Ah, but it's good to be back among comrades", said Alaric, lifting his
glass.  "Next round's on us!" he shouted to the Inn in general.


-- 
Belinda Asbell        + System Admin - Harris Controls, Melbourne, FL
mba@ccd.harris.com    +    HCD doesn't share my opinions  (I hope :)
	
	Cwsg yw bywyd heb lyfrau - Life is nothing without books.