From alt.pub.dragons-inn Wed Jun 15 17:52:28 1994 Xref: netcom.com alt.pub.dragons-inn:7401 Path: netcom.com!csus.edu!decwrl!pa.dec.com!jac.zko.dec.com!leggy.zk3.dec.com!orb!not-for-mail From: Andrea.Evans@Orb.Nashua.NH.US Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [PARTY] Kadrys: Handancer Date: 13 Jun 1994 13:26:05 -0000 Organization: Duchy of Wabesylvan Obspauk Lines: 124 Sender: news@Orb.Nashua.NH.US Message-ID: <199406131325.JAA11265@Orb.Nashua.NH.US> Usual ADMIN stuff: The character of Kadrys and this post are copyright 1994 by Andrea Evans. All rights (except propagation within this newsgroup by normal Usenet channels) are reserved by the author, including right of repost. ========================================================================= In the garden outside ShadeHaven, the evening air was comfortably warm. The Islander band and Rhythm Song were sharing a dais, Dack and Dirk improvising excitedly with the Islanders' tuned steel drumkit, the Islander drummer's muscled arms working in a dark blur, making endless summerthunder rumbles on the satyrs' huge hollowed log. The rest of the two bands were swapping instruments and songs just as freely, and the mingled sound was enticing and cheerful at the same time, with a beat that set even the oldest guests' feet to tapping, and called the younger ones to the dancefloor as surely as any spell. Kadrys was sitting to one side, watching, his head nodding slightly in time with the music, when he felt a tug on his sleeve. The guests had been encouraged to bring their children with them, and the girl staring up at Kadrys was not yet five years old. She pointed at a nearby table, where a typical Elvish smorgasbord of fruits, breads and cheeses was set out. "Can I have a peach, sir?" she asked, looking at the table which was too high for her to reach. "Sure." He walked over and picked out a couple. "Here you are," he spun the fruit in his hand so that it whirled for a moment like a top, before passing it to her. She took it, grinning. "Do that again!" He chuckled, and held out the other peach. It seemed to come to life, rolling around, creeping over the back of his hand from wrist to fingertips, then rapidly rolling back under the flat of his palm, seeming to defy gravity, circling his wrist and then weaving in and out of his fingers, which rippled in waves like grass in the wind. She giggled and made a grab for the fruit, and as if taking fright, it rolled away, up the slope of his arm to stop suddenly, resting atop his shoulder. She laughed and clapped her hands. He bowed in return, and the peach rolled down his arm and into his waiting palm. Smiling, he handed it over. "Thank you for looking after Nari," someone said. Kadrys looked up as a young elf walked over, smiling at him and at the girl who ran to him, holding up one of the peaches and saying, "Did you see those tricks Daddy? Can you teach me to do that?" The elf chuckled, stroking her hair affectionately, "No dear, I don't think I can..." He glanced over to Kadrys. "My name is Meiran. I saw some of what you were doing, but I think I missed a bit, and I'm sorry I did. Frankly, sir, I'd be grateful if I could see some more..." Kadrys looked a little disconcerted at this, but before he could speak the girl chimed in with "Yes! Pleeease?" Kadrys grinned ruefully down at Nari "Well, since you asked..." He straightened, drew a long, deep breath. Slowly, his eyes closed. "Throw me some things," he said, nodding to the elf. "What do you want?" "Doesn't matter. Anything." Meiran walked over to the table of food, picked up an apple at random. He glanced at the stranger, noticing those tightly-closed eyes. A cynical grin twisted the elf's mouth. He threw the apple in a hard fast curve, without warning. A hand stretched out almost lazily and drew it out of the air, sent it spinning in an easy overhead arc. Meiran's smile stretched into a wide, disbelieving grin and, perhaps because of the GoldenWine he had downed earlier in the night, perhaps because of the wild pulse of the music, he abandoned all caution, all thought. His fingers closed on a table knife, and before he knew what he was doing, his arm snapped up and the knife was in the air, flying straight for the waiting human. Apart from a brief gust of laughter when his fingers snared the knife, there was no reaction from Kadrys at all. Meiran paled, seized a crystal goblet, downed its contents in a mute toast, then hurled it after the knife. One by one an ill-matched assortment of objects was scooped out of their random flight and sent whirling into the air over Kadrys' head. He grinned whitely, an expression even more manic than the elf's earlier smile. His current load of items whirling in an orbit that seemed as inevitable as the planets', Kadrys turned, strolled unerringly toward a row of torches burning sweet oil. He picked several of the flaming rods out of their spiked bamboo holders, added them nonchalantly to the growing spiral of items in the air. The people nearest him drew back, leaving a little open space, and as the mingled bands struck up a new song, he submerged himself in the mood and began to dance. He opened his mind to the beat of the drums, the beat of the hearts all around him, gave his body up to them, to the rhythm in the air. His eyes snapped open at last, and he threw back his head and laughed. He began to whirl and somersault, his body whipping through the air with an abandon, an utter wildness that personified the pulsing spirit of the music. Above him, all around him as he leaped, the spinning cloud glittered, bright with danger, flashing steel edges and fragile crystal and whipping flames, but none of it matching the feral gleam of his smile. A leap and a kick and a overshoulder spin, and a torch arrowed up through the circling cloud of other objects, high, high into the night, pausing for an endless moment at the top of its arc, then falling end over end, trailing flame like a comet, before landing with a satisfying thud back in its holder. A man at a far table, opened bottle in one hand, looked around for a glass. One of Kadrys' hands flicked, and the crystal goblet sailed through the air, landing ringing but unharmed on the table in front of the man. A rose, plucked from a table decoration and its thorns snapped off one by one by nimble fingers, lofted gently through the air to twine itself in a tall woman's dark-red hair. She glanced over her shoulder at him and they traded smiles like old friends before other dancers blocked their view. At last everything was dispersed, except for the last two items, which he caught in either hand as the band finished their set and the throbbing beat faded from the air. Smiling, he slipped aside from those who had watched his dance, weaving through the crowd until he saw Meiran and his small daughter. Kadrys handed back the two last items, the first ones the elf had thrown him: the apple, polished to a ruby gloss, he presented to the girl with a bow. Then he straightened and stretched out his hand to Meiran. The light glinted off the point of the table knife Meiran had hurled at him. Then the knife moved in a silver blur, flipping end-for-end in Kadrys' hand. With meticulous care, he presented the knife to the elf. Handle first. "Thank you for your help. I hope you enjoyed the show as much as I did." An ambiguous smile, and Kadrys turned and walked away, melting into the warm press of the crowd.