Mr. David R. Dorrycott
© 1992/1995
Ariel Willowlace sat in the rubble polishing her ancient sword with a rag off some dead Highladys dress. Across from her Kathleen Darktower tended the small cooking fire, the dark furred mouses right arm bound into a crude sling. Ariel herself hummed a tuneless song while she worked, looking up now and then to watch Kathleen stir the thin soup. She smiled at the younger woman. "So, you think you can make an edible soup from that old jerky" she asked.
Kathleen looked up, the firelight catching the mouselings dark fur, and the burn across her cheek. "I'm no cook. If you weren't so lucky it would have been you that wall fell on, not I" she replied. She turned back to her work without another word.
Ariel sheathed her old sword, placing the old warbelt beside her. "You know we're both lucky. Sheka was trying to kill everyone in the tower, not just blow it down." She watched the mouseling stir her pot. Standing the lynx continued, "Look. That Wizardress skunk blew our friends away. She dropped half the cliff on the tower so she's got to be exhausted." Reaching over she touched the others cheek. "If we wait until your arm heals she'll be rested and ready, we'll have no chance." She made a place and sat down next to the other woman. "No chance at all."
Kathleen stopped stirring her pot, but did not look up. "Your a swordswoman, I'm a mage. Together we have never been beaten. Apart, I worry. Besides the Lord's men cannot be far away, his messenger bird arrived just before the cliff fell." She looked up into the felines face. "We have a bond. Together we can win. If you insist on running off I know you'll never be back. Just wait, I'll be ready in two days. Three at the most." Picking up a bowl she looked at the pot, then at her arm. Smiling she looked back at Ariel. "You want maybe to ladle this hot water into the bowl for me?."
in answer Ariel leaned over, reaching for the wooden ladle. "I'm leaving in the morning" she said. Carefully she filled the bowls as Kathleen held them. "You'll be fine here. I'll only be gone two, maybe three days. Who knows how long before the Lord's men arrive. Tomorrow? The next day? Sheka won't be able to go far, not with the exhaustion and injuries together. But in two days..." Carefully Ariel took the wooden bowl, spooning hot liquid into her mouth. "Besides. As long as I hold Skyfyre she can't touch me with magic, not directly."
Kathleen threw her untouched bowl across the fire, her anger forcing her to stand. "You and that damn sword. Can't you get it through that thick skull that magic doesn't have to touch you to kill you? Skyfyre isn't a talisman, its a shield" she screamed in the others face. Stepping around the fire the mouseling looked down at the worn warbelt, then back to her lynx friend. "You know I can't touch your sword as long as you live, at least not without getting knocked across the field. I can't touch it with my hand or magic. But I can affect it." She spoke several words and the scabbard lifted, taking the sword with it. "You see" she cried, "Can't you see?" Abruptly the sword clattered to the ground, followed by the mouses body.
Ariel moved as lightning, reaching Kathleen just before she struck the ground. She cradled the mouses unconscious body in her arms as only one who loves another will. Reaching down she moved a small lock of hair from the closed eyes. "Dear friend, its going to be more than a few days before you recover and by then that black witch will be long gone. I can't wait, tho my soul screams so. I cannot wait and you cannot follow."
Carefully she laid Kathleen on her pallet, pulling a rough blanket over her. "Sleep. I swear I'll be back, one way or another." Quietly she belted her sword, shrugged on her pack and moved out into the darkness. Her half full bowl of precious soup left behind.
Kathleen woke up to the sun beating down from a cloudless sky. Rolling over slowly she looked for Ariel. When she saw the unused pallet she sat bolt upright. Her head throbbed from the sudden exertion and her sight wavered. Moving carefully she searched the camp, hoping against hope that Ariel was somewhere around. It was several long minutes before she found the swordswomans trail leading out of the wards, into the surrounding moor. She sat down in defeat, looking out across the moor. With the sun at its present angle her eyes were able to pick out Ariel's path here and there. "To long" she whispered to herself. "She's been gone to long for me to catch her. But I have to." Slowly gathering her gear, making certain that she missed nothing the mouseling mage headed down the hillside.
Her weakness forced her to move slower than she wanted. As the sun climbed higher the moor became a steam bath that sapped her meager strength. Kathleen moved slower and slower until, admitting she was in no shape to continue, she settled under a small overhang to wait for the coolness of evening. 'I'll never make it' she thought. 'All I am is ahead of me and I can't even reach her.' Slowly, without realizing, the overtaxed woman slipped into a light sleep.
Ahead Ariel had been searching for Skeka's camp for hours. Because of the speed which that evil witch had arrived after the border wards alarmed she was sure that it couldn't be very far. Although the sun beat down with a heavy hand it seemed not to affect the lynx. 'I'm glad Kathleen's not here' she thought as she forced her way through waste high grasses. 'A mountain born mouse is no match for a desert cat in this weather.' Crawling up yet another rise she caught a whiff of smoke and the taste of cooking meat. Carefully looking over the rise, a glance, then ducking back. "Sheka" she hissed through clinched teeth. Carefully she began moving around the rise, looking for am unprotected entry to skunk's camp. Knowing that she could not be able to escape notice, she just wanted to get as close as possible before tripping a ward. Above her, unnoticed, storm clouds began to gather.
Kathleen woke to the thunder of hoofs on the moor. Looking back down her trail she saw the sparkle of armor, heard the clatter of heavy weapons. Above the mounted force flew a argent and sable banner, a flaming sword surrounded by oak leaves.
Standing slowly the small mouse waited for the troops to reach her. They rode up, clattering to a halt before her, their armor silver bright in the gathering darkness. One huge chestnut mare advanced, the male bobcat sitting on her back leaned down, searching the mouses face.
"You be... Kat. We've met." he said. Dismounting, he walked over the swaying woman. "Too much sun you've had" he observed, handing her his canteen. "Your camp we found this noon, time it took our trackers ta' find you."
Kathleen drank deeply from the vessel, stilling her bodies cry for water. "Ariel went after the Witch" she croaked through cracked lips, "I need....." She coughed, taking a deep breath to steady herself. "I need to find her." Wiping her cracked lips with a tattered sleeve she smiled at the man, and passed out again.
Ariel stared down ar the dark blue rod between her feet. 'An inner ward' she thought, 'I've tripped up like a greenie.' Looking up the trail she caught a glimpse of movement. 'No time like the present' she decided. Standing fully erect she found herself less than twenty feet from her target. However instead of being caught unaware the skunk was standing ready, staring directly into the lynx's eyes. Before Ariel could move something struck her in the chest, knocking her down. Pain radiated throughout her chest as an icy hand clamped around her geart. In her last moments she stared unbelevingly at the crossbow querrl rising from her armor, over half its poisoned length bured deep within her body. "How bloody stupid of me" she whispered. "Caught like a beginner. It wasn’t even magic." She coughed, tasting blood, then slowly slipped into the darkness.
Walking over to her dead opponent the witch known as Skeka studying her now dead enemy. “Magic wasn’t the first thing I learned in the game cat” the skunk laughed. A female voice behind her intoned magical words into the airt, then she was gone as though she had never been. One would wonder what Ariel would have thought of those words, had she been able to understand them.
“Level Nineteen complete. Saving game.”
Eyes opened, a chest rose as it drew in air. Paws moved, reaching up to open a strange shaped helmet. Released the helmet rose up above the prone figure. Rubbing her face Alice Brummer licked her dry lips. She had stayed in the game too long this time. A full day and her water bottle was empty. Her body was weak with lack of water, though her other biological needs had been taken care of by the virtual worlds suit. Moving carefully she released each of the cables attached to her suit. Tweaking the games programming and running it through the main computer had added an unbelievable level of realism. Soon she was making her way to the remote research stations small kitchen. It wouldn’t be until she stripped to shower that the skunk would discover the impossible. Her body was covered in blood, and not her own.