From alt.pub.dragons-inn Thu Dec 9 15:21:41 1993 Path: netcom.com!netcomsv!decwrl!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!math.ohio-state.edu!magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu!usenet.ins.cwru.edu!po.CWRU.Edu!scl4 From: scl4@po.CWRU.Edu (Selina C. Lee) Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [inn][Winter's Child] Stranger in a strange town Date: 9 Dec 1993 06:43:23 GMT Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA) Lines: 89 Message-ID: <2e6heb$nev@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> Reply-To: scl4@po.CWRU.Edu (Selina C. Lee) NNTP-Posting-Host: eeyore.ins.cwru.edu ADMIN: As I have stated before, yes I know that there is someone named "Winter" as a character playing here. Please note that this girl is not "his child." Her name refers to someone born in the season of winter. The reptilian eyes were the calm, focused gaze of a hunter. Her prey was nearby. She tasted the air. A bit further to the left -- now -- to the right. So close, oh so very, very close. Must wait -- a bit of time, nothing more. Patience and timing. Those were what Nature endowed her with and she used those innate abilities well. The serpent moved slowly in the grass, her tongue flicking out quickly in and out. The field mouse was only a few feet away, caught up in the activity of washing itself, a portrait of tragic innocence, unsuspecting of danger. A flash of bright green and a furious scramble of brown elapsed only a half a heartbeat. The snake's jaws clamped firmly on the small frantic body, her fangs already seeping in their venom. The mouse's dying struggles slowed down to a final twitch in its fight for survival and went limp, its tail hanging down from its hindquarters like a piece of fragile string. The serpent began to swallow her prey by tossing her head a couple of times so that the mouse's head was going directly into the snake's throat. She engulfed the mouse whole, slowly. The snake gave a few satisfied flicks of the tongue in the air and rested for awhile as her body began to digest the meal. That's that, the serpent thought and unfolded her wings to raise herself off the ground. She did not have to fly across the ground too far. The druid was camped nearby. The winged serpent's shadow fleeted across the grass where a human figure wearing leather armor and a hooded riding cloak made camp. A necklace of white bear's teeth was around the human's neck, almost gleaming like pearls. The druid looked up, smiled, and removed the hood of the riding cloak revealing long, thick dark hair in a wild, tousled disarray that framed a feminine face. Calm, dark eyes had the feral look of an untamed creature as they followed the serpent's flight pattern. The skin was tanned by a lifetime of living mostly mostly outdoors. The serpent glided down gracefully and wrapped herself around the druid's neck, making a serpentine stole. She slided fondly around the shoulders and rubbed her head against the human's cheek in greeting. "I trust you ate well, Naomi?" asked a calm, yet almost little-girlish voice. The serpent whispered softly, "Yesss . . . mossst sssatisssfying. I am tired. Mussst sssleep. Good day, Winter'sss Child." Winter's Child nodded in understanding and soon Naomi was sleeping contently, her body comfortably warm around the girl's neck, the serpent's small head resting on a shoulder. The girl packed up her things and left camp, the sun shining brightly as she headed for the town of Generica. She arrived in town, confused. People looked at her strangely as she past by and she ignored them. Winter's Child tried to sort out the masses of buildings, people and "helpful" signs, but it was hoplessly futile. The girl moved along in a daze, attacked from all sides by the new, unfamiliar sensations of a city. "Why not try to go in there, " the serpent whispered softly from her shoulder. The girl turned to look at where Naomi was pointing with a small flick of the forked tongue. In that direction, the building's sign said in bright festive colors, "The Dragon's Inn." "All right, but something smells strange in there, " said Winter's Child as she wrinkled her nose at the smell of strong alcohol. Naomi merely rested her head back on the girl's shoulder and went back to sleep. The female druid stepped into the tavern uncertainly and tried to remember what her father had told her. When you're in such a place as this, the girl mentally recited in her mind, you sit down at a table and eat food there. It is a common social gathering place, her father told her. She moved toward an empty table and sat down quietly. Her eyes searched around the room, her head turning this way and that like an owl, observing the surroundings with her wild, dark eyes. "Now what?" she muttered under her breath. ADMIN: Any comments, criticisms, and questions will be welcome. Obnoxious insults will be received also, but don't expect a Hallmark Card or a thank-you note from me. :) Winter's Child and Naomi are Copyrighted 1993 by Selina Lee. This article is Copyrighted 1993 by Selina Lee. All Rights Reserved. -- "Here...is..where the story ends..." ---The Sundays