Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!uunet!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!library.ucla.edu!news.mic.ucla.edu!unixg.ubc.ca!unixg.ubc.ca!peters From: peters@physics.ubc.ca (Dan Peters) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [BBD] The Search Continues Date: 23 Sep 1993 06:34:11 GMT Organization: The University of British Columbia Lines: 178 Distribution: world Message-ID: <27rg13$5ca@iskut.ucs.ubc.ca> NNTP-Posting-Host: physics.ubc.ca [ADMIN: Well, the [BBD] thread has been quiet for over a month, but there were many things left unresolved, so here we are. And I can get back into it now that I've finished my thesis (... and there was much rejoicing ... yay!). Mike Sander has been very helpful, as usual; many thanks to him for allowing, nay, encouraging me to warp his thread beyond all recognition.] ------------------------------------------------------------ Kaalzic sat alone in the Nowhere Room, in the attic of the Dragon's Inn, turning the sword over and over in his hands. Myrnien's sword. She had dropped it just before she ran away. It bore an inscription in Gelten runes: FOR HONOUR, FOR THE FAITH, FOR THE KING. The reference to "the faith" on an instrument of death would normally have disgusted Kaalzic, but he had too much on his mind to dwell on such things: Myrnien, and the look on her (bleeding) face as she ran away; the bizarre vision of the wolves, and the apparent magical protection that went along with it; and his recent companions, who had dropped into his life and had seemed like old friends for a day or so - and then had disappeared. Where were they now? Kaalzic wondered. He would have liked to get help in his search for Myrnien, but he still wasn't comfortable asking for it. And presumably the others had concerns of their own. So he would have to be on his own, it seemed. There were two problems with this. One was the fact that he simply didn't know where to begin. (When the others had gone their own ways after the fight with BBD, he had looked around for some indication of which way Myrnien had run - but he hadn't known what to look for.) The second problem was that of safety. He was all too aware of his lack of skill in fighting. On the other hand, this hadn't seemed to matter in the last fight, as he had been protected magically, apparently by his friends the wolves, who lived just outside the city. It seemed they had some formidable powers. This shouldn't have surprised him, perhaps, since he already knew that they could read his mind. Even so, he couldn't take this protection for granted. His mind turned again to Myrnien. Her attempts to kill him, the tears in her eyes, the blood coming from her mouth, her anguished cry - what did it all mean? It was clear that she hadn't really wanted to attack him, but he didn't know how BBD had managed to force her to do so. He looked again at the sword. Obviously it was the same sword that Myrnien had been given upon the completion of her training. Kaalzic thought back to the time, seven years ago now, when he had begun the first phase of the search for her. ------------------------------------------------------------ Kaalzic knew that his new visage (a "gift" from a sadistic wizard) could only be a source of horror for all who saw it. So he made a simple wooden mask. (Only once since then did he ever remove it in public.) Since Myrnien belonged to the King's Guard, he began by journeying southward, to Eltar, the King's City. The mask earned him many curious looks, and a few comments, from the people he encountered, and he gradually grew more and more uncomfortable around strangers. But the evolution of this discomfort into a pathological shyness was still in the future. A few inquiries revealed that for a commoner to visit any of the Guard at their barracks without an invitation was simply not done. He was tempted to reveal himself to be the Baron of Crystal Lake (which was his rightful title, since he had lost his father, along with the rest of his immediate family other than Myrnien, a year earlier), but he knew that the title had been given to a distant cousin, for during his long convalescence he had been reported to be dead. He had decided that in general this was a good thing, but at the present moment it was quite an inconvenience. Further inquiries identified an inn where off-duty members of the Guard could often be found, so there he went. There were three Guardsmen in the corner, recognizable by their dark green cloaks and their long hair tied back with golden ribbons. His informers had discouraged him from simply walking up to the Guardsmen and talking to them, but what else could he do? He quietly approached their table, and when they paused and looked up at him, he said, "Excuse me, I'm looking for Myrnien of Crystal Lake; she's a member of the Guard." The three men looked at each other, then one said, "She's no longer with us", while another said, "And who are you?" The first man's answer shocked Kaalzic. What did he mean? Was she dead? Had she been expelled? People didn't just _leave_ the Guard so early in their careers. In his rattled state he forgot his prepared answer and simply blurted out the truth: "I'm her brother." There was silence for a moment, then the two who had spoken laughed aloud. "I have news for you, friend," said one. "Her brother's dead." "It takes more than a stupid mask to assume a false identity," said the other. The third man, who had not yet spoken, did not laugh, but his his hands twitched a little - and Kaalzic recognized the sign language which he and his sisters had used among themselves as children: //Meet me here at midnight. The others will be gone.// Kaalzic nodded and left, as the first two Guardsmen continued chuckling. ------------------------------------------------------------ He returned to the inn at midnight, and approached the table where the lone Guardsman sat, as if he hadn't moved at all in the intervening hours. "Have a seat, Kaalzic," said the Guardsman. He was a big man, at least a head taller than Kaalzic and powerfully built. His fair skin and straight hair marked him as one of the Sosi barbarians. "My name is Tosko." "You believed me, then," said Kaalzic as he sat. "I suspected you might be telling the truth," said Tosko. "And you understood the Ke'Sosi sign language, which is unusual for a Gelten. Myrnien and I were on rather good terms, so I know quite a lot about your family." The test of the sign language made sense, but Kaalzic couldn't see why Tosko had been inclined to believe him in the first place. Also, he was surprised that Tosko didn't question him about his mask. But he kept those thoughts to himself, and asked, "But what of Myrnien? What happened to her?" Tosko took a sip of his beer. "She was given an assignment to protect a messenger who was on his way to negotiate some kind of deal, on behalf of the King, with the wizard at the Lake of the Great Moon, near your family holdings up north. The party was attacked, and the messenger killed. Myrnien was discharged in disgrace because there had only been three attackers, and as a Guardswoman she should have been able to handle them, assuming that they were simply common brigands. She insisted they were some kind of demons (and I've never known her to tell a lie), but for some reason the Captain wasn't inclined to believe her. "That was about two months before the attack on your estate. I'm a little surprised that you didn't know about it, but since your family never approved of Myrnien's being in the Guard in the first place, I suppose you weren't all on the most communicative terms." Kaalzic nodded, and Tosko continued: "The next time I heard from her was shortly after your people were killed. She had gathered together a band of adventurers to do some investigation into where those demons had come from. This led them to uncover a plot against the King by the Earl of the Six Isles. The King was grateful, and he instructed the Captain to reinstate her. She refused to rejoin, but she did accept her old sword." The big man chuckled. "Of course, I was breaking the rules when I offered it to her." "What happened after that?" asked Kaalzic. "She talked about finding the city of Dzenerika. She had come across something in her travels which convinced her that it was not just a legend, but a real city far to the west, over the mountains. She decided to start by going south and crossing the desert into the Mbaki Empire, since the Mbaki would be more likely to know the true location of Dzenerika than anyone here in the Inner Lands." "I have to find her," said Kaalzic. Then an idea struck him, as he realized that Tosko seemed to hold Myrnien in high regard. "Will you come with me?" The Guardsman smiled wryly and said, with (Kaalzic thought) a hint of regret, "I can't. I'd have to quit the Guard, and I'm not prepared to do that. But if you find her, give her my greetings." ------------------------------------------------------------ So here he was, seven years later, in the legendary city of Generica. And she was in the city somewhere, and he had her sword. At last, a plan started to form in his mind. ------------------------------------------------------------ [Comments welcome....] -- ^..^ / | Dan Peters | | /_/\_____/ | | "Ils sont fous, les Romains." | /\ /\ | peters@physics.ubc.ca | | / \ / \ | | -Obelix |