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Subject: [Lycandra] Chapter 4
Date: 23 Apr 1995 20:45:42 -0400
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   Synopsis: Lycandra has come to the inn, revealing only that she
seeks a wizard or sage to help with a terrible curse.  After 
meeting the sage Barzha, she is telling him her tale.

-------------

            Chapter 4

   "You have already deduced my heritage as Joparthan," Lycandra
commented.

   Barzha nodded.

   "Then you know something of the passions of my people, yes?"

   Again, Barzha nodded.  Joparthans were a people of extremes.  Perhaps,
he thought, this was due to their peculiar mental powers, the full nature
of which was understood by very few.  Enemies and friends were
both made for life.  Enemies were dealt with harshly.  There was
nothing they wouldn't do for a friend.

   "You yourself would do much to further your own knowledge of
certain things would you  not?"

   Barzha agreed he would.

   Lycandra sighed.  "Imagine living with such burning desire every
waking moment of your life and not being able to act upon it.  So
it has been with me for years now."  Lycandra closed her eyes and
leaned back in her chair.

   Barzha's quill was poised over his parchment.  "Do go on," he
urged gently.

   Lycandra suddenly opened her eyes and leaned forward.  A blaze
of light from behind them obscured her pupils.  "It is because of
the actions of one like your master we suffer so!" a harsh voice
came from her mouth.  Almost immediately, Lycandra shut her
eyes again.  "No, my love," she whispered to herself.  "One like
his master may be our only hope."  She opened her eyes again
and they were as normal and as beautiful as before, with no
hint of malice in them.

   Barzha took a moment to recover from being startled.  He was
beginning to guess the nature of the curse.

   "I apologise for the outburst," Lycandra said demurely.  "Hate
has begun to replace hope."

   "A wizard made you thus?" Barzha wanted confirmation.  This was
dangerous ground.  To interfere with the doings of another wizard
would be exceptional, to say the least.

   Lycandra nodded.  "A wizard visited my homeland years ago, seeking
knowledge to assist him in his spells.  I am sorry to say I attracted
his attention, though whether at first it was for my abilities or other 
reasons I cannot be certain.  For a time, I worked for him.  But I came
to be uncomfortable with his... interests."

   Barzha continued to scribble.

   "I told him in a note I would no longer work for him," Lycandra
continued.
"It was news he did not like.  He sought after me later that evening,
and found me in the gardens of my home, in the arms of my lover.
He became enraged.  He worked a powerful curse, and replaced the
form of my lover with the visage of some horrid creature from the
very depths of hell!  'Love that, if you can,' he spat at me."  Lycandra
trembled.  "His words ring in my ears even now, yes?"

   "So that is the nature of your trouble?" Barzha asked.  "Your lover
has been enchanted with a magic of formchange?"

   Lycandra shook her head.  "Would that it were so simple.  Convinced
I would agree to whatever terms he required to save my love, the
wizard returned the next night to gloat.  But instead he saw us once
again in the garden, professing our love for one another, swearing
our eternal and undying affection.  Ours was a romance that began
in the heart, not the body, and while appearance changed, true nature
did not.  This was more than the wizard could bear.  He called upon
the blackest powers for a curse anew, and at the price of part of
his own soul, worked his terrible deed."

   There was a long pause before Lycandra spoke again.

   "It was a curse of timespace," she whispered.

   Barzha's quill stopped scratching.  Timespace.  The most powerful,
unpredicatble, and forceful of all magic.  Every wizard's nightmare.

   And every wizard's dream.

   "Whom you see before you," Lycandra explained, "is not one, but two.
My lover and I have been merged into the same timespace.  Only
one of us at a time may take form in this world.  If I am here, my
lover is not.  We cannot coexist."  She leaned forward in her chair
once more, her eyes burning.  "And if we do not put this right, we
shall both cease to exist in time."

   Barzha had to force his hand to stop trembling.  This was something
his master would _certainly_ be interested in.  "I shall take my
notes to my employer," he said as calmly as he could.  "I am sure
he will help if he can.  This is a rare opportunity."

   Barzha rose hastily and put his papers together.  "Don't worry," he 
managed a smile.  "If it's possible, we will remove the curse
of timespace.  And to change form back to normal -- tell your
lover he has nothing to worry about on that score."

   Lycandra laughed softly to herself, the first time she had done so
in many days.

   "It is pleasing to hear the smile in your voice," Barzha admitted,
"but what is the source of the jest?"

   "You scribblers are all the same, yes?" Lycandra laughed again.
"Given the most basic information, you will always jump to
conclusions, often making the most fundamental errors."

   Barzha frowned.  "I don't understand."

   Lycandra's eyes sparkled.  "Why do you automatically assume my lover 
is a 'he'?"

-----

Lysette DuBois
LysetteDB@aol.com