From alt.pub.dragons-inn Tue Feb 28 09:24:37 1995
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From: tolsen@leland.Stanford.EDU (Tanya Ann Olsen)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Cernborn] [At the Inn] Cernborn's Tale Part I
Date: 25 Feb 1995 17:21:07 -0800
Organization: Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
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While Athorbalo waited for Cernborn to return, the door to the inn
opened.  A woman entered wearing a simple brown robe and carrying a
small backpack.  She glanced uncertainly around the commons room and
headed for an empty table next to the one Athorbalo sat at.  She would
not have given the woman a second glance except for the scars on the
woman's face which reminded her of her own.  She unconsciously
fingered the lines as she watched the woman make her way across the
room. 

No more than half an hour had passed before Cernborn returned.  He
came up to the table and hesitated before taking his seat, a question
on his face.  Athorbalo waved her hand to seat him, "Please, sit down.
Besides, I think that you owe me a story." She grinned, thinking that
perhaps she could glean some information about him.

"Thank you, my lady," he replied.

Athorbalo studied him as he moved and took his seat.  Surprisingly,
not even his hair was damp, but she was sure he had been completely
under the water when she had peeked into the bathroom.  His movements
were fluid and graceful; much more relaxed than before he had bathed.
The tension was also gone from his face.  "I can see you feel much
better now," she stated.

"Ah, yes.  'Tis truly amazing what wonders a good bath doth.  You have
been most kind.  Would you care for some more wine?  Or perhaps a
different beverage would suit you better?"  He lifted the bottle to
pour into her glass. Athorbalo nodded assent, "Wine will be excellent." She
looked at Cernborn, wondering what she might learn this evening.

"Now then.  I believe you wanted to know what brought me here?"
Athorbalo nodded and sipped her wine.  "The tale is somewhat long.
If boredom starts to overcome you, be sure to tell me."  He gave
Athorbalo a wink.

"I was researching a new prayer.  As I was searching for information
on where a key physical component to aid the prayer might lie, I heard
that a princess of a kingdom to the south had been kidnapped and was
being held for a huge ransom.  Having been researching most heavily
for several weeks, I was becoming strapped for funds.  So, convincing
my companions that this was a worthy cause with possible monetary
benefits, my four companions and I set south to offer what aid we
could.

"The journey itself lasted about two weeks.  We arrived at the king's
palace and were immediately granted audience.  The king wished us luck
and stated that we would receive 10 percent of the ransom should we
bring his daughter back alive.  The chancellor then ushered us out of
the audience chamber and took us up to the princess' room.
Apparently, something had come in the middle of the night, brutally
murdered the princess' maid, and taken the princess without a sound.
The guards at the door had heard nothing and only discovered the
tragedy when they opened the door in the morning having become concerned
when no one came forth.

"One of my companions is a most powerful mage and between his ability
to craft shapes out of air and my ability to speak with the very
stones in the room, we were able to get a picture of what had happened
that night.  A creature, possibly a demon, had entered through the
window and murdered the maid. The demon then apparently charmed the
princess as she evidently calmly and willingly left with the demon
carrying her.  It was strange, though, we could find no evidence
outside that the demon had been seen by anything.  No plant, no
animal, no stone.

"Time was of the essence.  The royal treasury was getting low and
still the daily threat that she would die if hundreds of thousands of
gold pieces weekly were not delivered on schedule.  I sent a prayer to
my goddess for guidance and was rewarded with knowledge of a path
which would lead us to where the princess' signet ring lay.  We
assumed and hoped that the captors would keep this if only as proof
that they indeed held her should the need arise.  The king willingly
provisioned us, and we set forth.  We travelled two or three days
northeast with nary a waver in the direction that the ring lay.

"Finally, we came to a grove where I could tell some earth had been
dug recently.  We dug and found not only the princess' ring but the
gown she had been wearing.  Now we were at a loss.  We had
had few clues to begin with and now we were not sure how to proceed.
I again prayed to my goddess and this time she offered several clues:
the princess was actually some 50 to 100 miles to the south southwest
of us!  She was evidently still alive, but she had been transformed
somehow.  We camped there that night and set out early the next morning.

"Travelling as quickly as we could we headed south by southwest.  At
the end of the day, we arrived at the ocean.  But, we had only come
some 20 or 30 miles.  Not knowing these lands well, we surmised that
there must be an island out there where she was being held captive.
That night, we built a raft.  'Twas not the best raft since none of
us were well versed in the craft, but it actually floated with four of
us upon it.  So, one stayed behind to tend to the horses and other
belongings we could not take with us upon the raft.

"The mage called a shark which I was able to befriend and convince to
pull the raft.  We travelled quite quickly this way and the miles fell
away.  But still, no sign of an island or any other place the princess
could be.  Finally, the shark could go no more and needed to rest and
eat. The mage, not wanting to waste any more time than necessary, 
loosed a lightening bolt through a school of fish.  The shark then was
able to eat his fill quickly to restore his energy.  We continued on
our way.

"Suddenly, the shark stopped.  I asked it what was wrong, but it would
not reply.  Next thing we knew, we were surrounded by mermen with nets
and tridents.  I demanded to know why we were being attacked but was
refused answer.  They insisted we come with them for trial!  If we did
not accede peacefully, they would bring us along forcefully.
Wondering what we had done, we did not resist in hopes that we would
be able to resolve the matter without bloodshed.  The mage enabled
us to breathe water for a time, so we were able to enter the mermen's
demesne without a problem.  We were taken to the king.

"I was the only one capable of understanding the mermen's speech
thanks to my goddess.  So, naturally, I became spokesman for the
group.  The king informed me that we were sentenced to death for
poaching.  Evidently the school of fish the mage had killed were part
of a royal fish preserve.  We had committed essentially the crime of
hunting in the king's 'forest' without permission.  I asked if there
were any way of paying for our crimes without our lives since we were
ignorant of the boundaries of the merman kingdom.  The king thought
for a moment, and then stated that upon the delivery of three tame
barracuda we would be free to leave the kingdom to never return, but
until then we would be guarded prisoners.

"Just then, the king's son burst into the room shouting something
about 'She wants to stay! Don't let them take her.'  The king shooed
his son away and was about to order us to be taken away as well, when
I asked if he knew anything about the princess we were looking for.
That was a big mistake."  Cernborn grimaced.  "We were taken to a
special room which actually had air.  We were then taken out one at a
time and each returned to a different room.  I asked a guard what was
going on and found out that we were to be prisoners, not ever to leave
the king's palace."

Cernborn paused for a moment in his narration.  Several emotions
passed quickly over his face before resuming the tale.

"After much questioning and begging, we were eventually allowed back
together, though we each had our own guards.  We found out that the
king's son was to be married that night to a land-dwelling princess.
Suspecting that this was the very object of our search, we demanded
another audience with the king and finally were granted one.  

"At the audience, we stated that we were looking for this princess
that had been kidnapped and was being held for ransom.  He denied all
knowledge of any kidnapping or ransom.  We demanded to see the
princess herself to confirm that she was indeed the one we were
looking for and that she was not being coerced.  The king finally
agreed.  I suspect the mage had something to do with that.  But
anyway, the prince and princess were summoned.  Much to our surprise,
the princess was a mermaid, though her face looked exactly like that
of the one we sought.  She confirmed her identity.  She claimed that
she had fallen in love with the merking's son and had eloped to marry
him.  She also said that she had left the ring and robe we had found
on the beach, miles from where we had found them.

"Try as we could, neither the mage nor I could detect any trace that
they were lying or had been charmed or coerced in some other manner.
We then informed the king that we had no desire to return the princess
since it appeared she was never kidnapped.  If she would write a letter
explaining to her father, we would deliver it and never intrude upon
him again.  He seemed willing to agree, however there was still that
penalty for poaching.

"I convinced my guards to take me to an area known to have barracuda
and was able to be-friend the required three to take to the king.
Evidently the mermen use barracuda to help guard the fish as well as
fight in other situations.  With that settled, the king allowed us to
leave. 

"Now the problem was to determine who was actually demanding
ransom.  We returned to the king's palace and delivered the letter.
He was mad, but not surprised; he had known of his daughter's
infatuation though he too was surprised to find out that she had
become a mermaid.  He then offered us half of the paid out ransom if
we could determine who it was that was demanding it."

Cernborn paused again to take a sip of his wine.  It was
getting quite late and many of the patrons of the Dragon's Inn had
retired for the night.  Athorbalo stifled a huge yawn.  "I hope this
is not boring you, my lady."
------------------------
To be continued....
------------------------
Lord Captain Cernborn		tolsen@leland.stanford.edu
Athorbalo			hilanse@wkuvx1.wku.edu