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From: tolsen@leland.Stanford.EDU (Tanya Ann Olsen)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [Cernborn] Gyles and Mi'cha Off Scouting
Date: 10 Apr 1995 18:25:04 -0700
Organization: Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
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                   #12a Off Scouting

Gyles and Mi'cha left the Inn, and headed off.  The rain fell
steadily, causing them to pull their cloaks tighter to keep the damp
out.  This was truly a new experience for Gyles.  Never before had he
seen steady rain that lasted so long.  He was used to brief, cool
showers in the spring followed by long, hot, dry summers, autumns, and
winters.  Rarely did the rain last for more than an hour, and seldom
did it rain two days in a row.  It was not altogether unpleasant,
however.  The pair moved in silence down the street.

At last they reached the street where Athorbalo remembered emerging
from the prison.  It was a broad street, made for wagons and heavy
traffic.  Warehouses loomed on both sides of the street, casting even
more shadow and adding to the gloom of the day.  The rain had
subsided, but the sky was still overcast.  Gyles looked up to the sky
as he said, "Urr is hiding, this bodes ill.  Perhaps, Hurr can guide us."

Mi'cha gave him a puzzled look as she said, "Who is Hurr?  Do you know
someone who works down here?"

Gyles looked at Mi'cha trying to decide how much he trusted her.
After a moment, he answered her question.  "Hurr is a companion of
mine.  She is a jackal spirit that offers me great guidance,
protection, and friendship.  At times she had been my sole comfort on
a long trek across the desert.  She often visits me and offers me
help.  Sometimes she can be seen and other times she is merely heard."

"Quite interesting.  This will make a fine addition to my story,"
replied Mi'cha.

Gyles nodded as he turned to continue down the street.   "We must
locate the place where Athorbalo was taken when she was captured.  I
will look to the right and you can take the left."  Mi'cha nodded as
the pair moved out into the street and began to slowly make their way.
Traffic was light, but there were still wagons moving here and there.
As one wagon approached the pair, a familar tingle started at the back
of Gyles head.  It spread quickly through his body.  His senses where
all immediately heightened and unconciously his right hand grasped the
hilt of his scimitar.  For a brief moment, the sun peaked through a
cloud.  Then it happened.

"Down!",  screamed Gyles as he pulled Mi'cha down.  A startled gasp
was all she could manage as she was roughly pulled to the paving
stones. An arrow whizzed through the air where she had been standing.
As Mi'cha regained her senses she saw Gyles, scimitar drawn, running
toward a warehouse.  Mi'cha got up and quickly followed after him.

Gyles reached the door of the warehouse. He had sensed something was
wrong and then he had seen the glint off the something in a window in
this warehouse.  Gyles turned to the sky for a moment and said, "Thank
you Urr."  He tried the door, but it was locked. There was no time for
picking the lock.  He kicked the door twice, but it was quite sturdy.
Concentrating for a moment, he focused his will on the timbers.  There
was a violent cracking sound as the the door burst in as if smashed by
a giants fist.  Mi'cha reached the door as Gyles entered, drawing a
dagger from her skirt.

"Impressive.", she muttered as she entered the warehouse behind Gyles.

Gyles turned right and slowly moved into an open room.  There was a
desk and a chair, but no person.  A single pane of glass was removed
and lying on the floor.  Looking quickly around, Gyles and Mi'cha
determined that there was no way out of the room except for the window
and the door.  "The person must have fled back into the warehouse
proper,"  said Mi'cah after a moment.  Gyles nodded his agreement as
the pair moved back into the hall and farther into the warehouse.

The hall was quite short and opened into a large room stacked with
crates.  A single torch sputtered in a sconce on the wall.  The
ceiling was about twenty feet overhead and a clear path through the
crates extended about forty feet to the back wall.  Gyles looked a
Mi'cha.  "Well, I'm as ready as ever.  Let's go have a look,"  she
answered the unasked question.  Gyles held his scimitar out and spoke
softly, "Shala, light!".  A yellow glow, equal to a bright torch
emanated from the blade of the sword.

The two of them slowly made their way into the warehouse.  Crates were
stacked at varying heights on both sides of the path.  At odd
intervals, other paths went left and right into the midst of the
stacked crates.  Rats scurried across the floor as the light revealed
them.  They had gone perhaps ten feet when Gyles stopped and bent down
slightly.  "There," he breathed, pointing to a slight disurbance in
the dust leading down a side path.  Vaguely, Mi'cha could see foot
print shapes in the dust.  "Here we go," she thought as they turned
down the path.

After a few feet, the path split going left and right.  Gyles pointed
to the left and slowly pushed his scimitar ahead of him.  The way was
clear, but something felt odd to him.  Slowly he stepped one foot and
then another down the path.  Mi'cha was close behind.  He could hear
he breathing.  "A very noble and brave woman," he thought.  That
single thought was his distraction.  He placed his left foot a bit too
heavily and a floorboard creaked loudy.  Then every nerve in his body
screamed as if on fire.  "Move!" he yelled as he jumped forward.
Mi'cha reacted purely on instinct and leapt the short distance after
him.  In the blink of an eye, crates smashed to the floor, covering
the area where they had been.

Mi'cha pushed herself up off of Gyles.  He raised himself up on his
elbows and coughed once, clearing the dust from his throat.  Mi'cha
stood and brushed the dust from her skirt.  "I don't know how you do
that, but keep it up," she said as she extended her hand.  Gyles
accepted it and she helped him to his feet.  "We must be extra
careful.  This place, as I expected, is full of peril," he stated.
Mi'cha looked at him and shook her head in amusement.  Gyles smiled
for a moment, amused by his own arrogance.

Gyles picked up his scimitar and the pair headed off again.  Moving
much more carefully down the path.  There was no going back now, only
forward.  And what that meant, only the gods knew.

 --------------------------------
Gyles Dormani                   virtuesr@gps1.laafb.af.mil
Mi'cha Ning'ra                  jmc@ataxia.confusion.net