From: li@Data-IO.COM (Phyllis Rostykus) Date: 16 Jun 93 03:06:24 GMT Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn Subject: [MG] Who Needs Enemies... [ADMIN: Written by Bernie Hsiung and I. The beginning of the article parallels part of Steve Hutchison's 'Taken In Ambush' and the end of 'Forging Fine Silver'. Some of the lines come from 'Taken In Ambush'. This article comes immediately after 'White Rabbit Blues'. Hopefully this'll help. Grin.] ------ Kardia took 'Raelf's black staff in her hands. Her stomach dropped as they seemed to drop through the air. The world blurred and then she hit the ground, knees bent for the impact. "Oooof." Her legs were still sore from the workout. She took a breath and found that they were on the Arcade of Fountains, just beyond the bridge over the Ceru. The Mage Guild was in sight. The day was about ready to die, she could see the pale shadow of the moon in the deep blue of sky between shreds of the last of the rain clouds. She let go of the staff and met 'Raelf's eyes. She grinned and nodded. They walked towards the Guild. A man approached them, looking directly at 'Raelf. He seemed to ignore Kardia altogether, so she stepped aside. "Dieter. I thought you were off duty." 'Raelf frowned in puzzlement. "I am. I'm just waiting for a friend." "O.K. See ya later." The man nodded and said softly, "Be seeing you." Kardia walked on and then suddenly realized that 'Raelf was *not* by her side. He was still talking with Dieter. She walked back towards them and heard a scrap of conversation that sent a chill up her spine, "We control the video, we control the audio. Sit back, relax, as we take you on a trip beyond..." Dieter was making a gesture that deliniated a circle around 'Raelf and him. "The Outer Limits." She ran into an invisible wall. Kardia pounded on it with fists that ached and then switched sights. A malestrom of energy within a fragile shell with two still figures in the center. She switched back, and there were just two men talking. Kardia stood there, undecided. This sure didn't look like a war or a pitched battle. She could still hear the conversation too, and it was really weird. "Quite a nice place you have here. Love what you've done with the furniture." "Oh, these old things?" "No, really, who's your interior decorator?" "My DEAR friend Mar." Kardia paced outside the shell, looking at the two men and tuning out the conversation. She shook her head and then swapped sights. There were four 'Raelfs against... "AR'ELYA!!" Kardia yelled to the world and then "DARIEL!!?" For a very long moment, she felt really stupid just yelling those names to the empty air. The folks walking towards her crossed the street to walk the other side, away from her. She grinned a little helplessly at them. Then a bright light came from the darkening sky. Blindingly bright, yet it didn't hurt. As the light fell on her, she suddenly felt that things might still turn out all right, despite what she'd seen within that shell. Then a furl of wind and the impression of white wings at the edge of an eye and there were two figures before her. One silver and shining as hard and bright as the swords Alistair used to keep bracketed on his wall. The other surprised her. He was just a man, with untidy brown hair that fell into his blue, blue eyes, in robes of pure white. He grinned at her a little shyly. Then she took a look with her mage sight and reflexively put her hands over her eyes. She swapped back quickly but couldn't get rid of the black spots. They looked at her. Kardia pointed at the two quietly talking men. She saw those blue eyes widen. Both of them turned towards the conversation and ran into the same wall that she'd run into. "'Raelf told me to get the Mage Guild folks, too..." she said, and the blue eyed man glanced at her and nodded, quick and hard. "Do it." Kardia sprinted towards the Guild. Her legs protested the rough treatment, but she ignored them and concentrated on lengthening, smoothing her stride and breathing with them. She hit the revolving door centered and popped through into the glare of the receptionist. "Dasham... Urcohea..." Kardia gasped out. "I need them both... NOW...." She gulped air and at what 'Raelf told her. "Code Black." "You can't..." Kardia flung her shawl over her head, onto the desk. It hit the surface with a loud popping noise, and then writhed in a fierce blue lightning. Kardia's eyes went wide at exactly *how* much power was running through her shawl. The receptionist leapt backwards, overturning his chair, and hastily tore off his suddenly useless, static-filled, glasses. Kardia tugged, then set and pulled her shawl free of the lightning, flipping it back over her head to cover her back. A shrill alarm rang through the building. Almost immediately, there was a loud >KA-RACK<. Kardia threw herself to the floor, rolling, trying to get around to the other side of the desk, wanting to be out of the line of fire. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a plume of green smoke and the air whistled once, then twice. Something slammed into her side. She screamed to push the pain away, "DAMNIT! CODE BLACK. You IDIOTS. I'm here to WARN YOU!!" She struggled to keep moving for cover. No third shot. "CODE BLACK. 'Raelf needs HELP!" The last came out in a shriek when she blindly hit the desk with her side and the world started to fade from the pain. A pair of hands touched her. She pulled back, but they steadied her and helped her sit on the floor, leaning against the desk. The sitting movement made her gulp for air. A woman's voice said, "Damn it, Kuso, I didn't tell you to do that. She doesn't look very dangerous." "Uh huh, that's just what she'd want you to think, Coral. Can you believe it? One person. She took down the whole bloody communications well." Kardia moaned in exasperation. The gentle hands that had helped her up patted her on the head like a puppy. "You're exaggerating, Kuso. I-- Archmage Urcohea?" Kardia opened her eyes, and found that the edges of her vision were black. Her side was ominously numb. She touched her side and it came away wet. Damn. A brown-haired woman -- Coral? -- was kneeling by her. There was a lower-case Greek gamma inscribed on the sleeve of her robe. She was staring at a man in his late forties who carried a staff of dark wood. "I'm Archmage Urcohea," the man with the staff said. "Who are you and what do you want?" "I'm..." "What in the twenty-two Hells do you think you're doing with my guest?" Even though Kardia had only heard it once before, Archmage Dasham's voice was unmistakable. Or perhaps it was her tone of voice. She moved into Kardia's field of view, and froze. "I don't believe this. You shot her." She glared at Urcohea. "You shot my guest." "She did short-circuit the entry switchboard," one of the other mages said. Kardia shifted and gasped as her side stabbed at her. The room faded just a second and came back to Dasham's threatening voice. "...your trigger-happy goons away from her, Urcohea, or I'll move them myself." "Coral, Kuso, Tomas, please give Archmage Dasham some room." "I didn't get anything from a standard scan," Coral said helpfully as Dasham took her place. Kardia looked up, swallowing against the pain. "Of course not," Dasham said distainfully. "She has a magic- neutralizing scarf. That's probably the awesomely powerful weapon which she used to crash the comm board, for which you shot her. Let me take the scarf off, Kardia, or I won't be able to help you." "It's a shawl, not a scarf." Kardia couldn't believe she said that, and half felt like hysterically laughing or screaming. She fought to keep her voice level. "'Raelf is in trouble. He needs help. He said to tell you two," she looked Urcohea in the eyes and then met Dasham's surprised gaze, "that it's Code Black. He's in deep shit, ma'am." "Where is he?" Dasham snapped. Kardia nodded at the doors, "Right out there on the Arcade of Fountains about twenty meters towards the Ceru. He's fighting some Dieter..." Coral gasped and started to speak, but Urcohea interrupted her. "Exactly how much is a meter?" "Yard, span, pace..." She saw a number of other mages pop in, and Urcohea left with a number of them out the revolving door before she could think of a fourth near equivalent. Kardia trailed off as the world dipped. Cool hands on her face. "Kardia, let me take off your shawl." She took a deep breath feeling the energy come in and she fought back the black edges of the darkness taking her in. She came back enough to nod, "Hai." Then she let go and the world faded away. -- Liralen Li | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are li@inigo.Data-IO.com | the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real." aka Phyllis Rostykus | - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel