Ladtblue! That's so sweet. (hugs) I've missed you, though Attalus keeps me updated. He says that you are always surrounded by an admiring circle of teenaged boys, so that's great. Sure, print it out, and any comments welcome. Here is some more.

Sefa had been startled by her intensity. Her imagination could't take in the image of dainty Cythera, with her peaches and cream complexion, in that kind of bloody fight. "Who was Bryno?" she asked after a few seconds.
A broad smile replaced the look of intensity. " A very big man who used to go about with us. He was from the north, but he's gone back home. But Sefa, you don't see the point. I saw you supporting Gal as she was getting woozy. You remember how the boat was jumping around. She might have gone overboard. She might have drowned."
Sefa muttered something about little else she could do. "No," Noemi retorted, "that's just the point. You could have been lollygagging at the bow, like me. I could have seen my sister drown because I wasn't watching, but for you. I'll always remember.
But don't rest on your laurels. It's going to be a long trip. Maybe I can save your life, and then we'll be even." She had clapped her on the shoulder again, then was up and gone.
You already have ,Sefa had wanted to say. If you hadn't got me in to see Lady Galadria, I'd still be on the streets, and that would be as good as dead. But Lady Noemi was not to be seen.
XI

They went ashore at Tarashia, a raw lumber town of red mud streets. Morgul led them to the inn at which he had stayed, and they dumped their gear Leaving Attalus and Odo to guard it, the others went into town to do what Galadria said was necessary last-minute preparations, but those two insisted was "shopping." Maybe it was,at that, as Sefa was soon looking through piles of clothing with the women mages, with Morgul, smiling sardonically as the token male, held up cloth and carried parcels. Warm cloaks to keep out the cold, and heavy boots for snow and ice were what they needed, but somehow little items of adornment kept sneaking into the bags. Cythera refused to even look at the boots the little stores offered, preferring her custom-made troll hide boots from Baldur's Gate. They were guaranteed to resist cold, she said. Sefa didn't even want to hear about them. They also purchased shovels and ore screens.
The next day, they set out on a sparkling blue morning with a keen wind in their faces. After only a few miles, the road began to wind and steepen, and their horses began to have a harder time. They dismounted, leaving the beasts to carry just their supplies, while they walked along side. Sefa shivered a little to see the wild countryside. For a moment, she felt a little homesick, but as she looked around at her companions, cheerful faces rosy with the cold, and she felt the feeling vanish to be replaced by a warm sense of belonging.
Morgul, walking beside her, saw her smile and guessed its meaning. "Yes, it's a fine day to be on the road with friends, isn't it? I would be with no other group, no matter how grand." Sefa was surprised, being used to condescencion on his part. Reading her look, he went on,"Aye, we may as well be friends if we are to be companions. Up here, these around us are likely the only friends we'll have." Then Galadria called him to the head of the column, to discuss some disputed point with the guide Attalus had engaged, and Sefa trotted on alone.
She patted her horse, a little brown beast called Dab. "I'll guess I'll talk to you, then," she started, but was interrupted by laughter from behind. Cythera and Noemi fell in with her, leading their horses.
"We'll talk to you, sweetie," carolled the blonde mage. Her fine complexion was even brighter than before.
"Yes," said Noemi,"let's discuss men and other beasts."
Cythera shot her an arch look. ""What's the matter, Em? Trouble in paradise?"
The redheaded girl shook her head. "Just a little disagreement."

Hey Wheres cloudys!!!?!?!?!

Today's installment:

At that moment they were interrupted by shouts from the front, where a guide had gone ahead. A rugged mountain man from Kembisha, he came pounding back in a froth. "Orcs, " he bawled, "Orcs ahead!", then suddenly pitched forward, a black-feathered arrow protruding from his back. At his rear howled a dozen of the greenish, bandy-legged beings. In an instant, they were gathered in a circle, the men at the fore. Odo had out his mace that he had named Starshine, for he had had it made from a meteor that had fallen long ago; Attalus was swinging the great sword Corhydras that only one as strong as he, could have wielded. The magicians worked the beginnings of spells. Sefa stood beside Galadria, Strike out and gleaming in the bright sun, ready to give her all for her Lady. The first arrows whooshed in the dirt of the road.
Galadria drew Sefa under her mage robe and began to weave a cantrip. Two arrows hit her, but sprung back, harmless. Sefa ducked back, out of the sheltering folds. She wanted to see.
As luck would have it, the first thing she saw was Morgul, struck in the shoulder by an arrow, the spell he was ready to use spent in useless energy. Sefa gasped, and ran to him. Morgul waved her back. He was pale, but he gritted, "It is naught; see to my Lady. " As Sefa ran back she saw him send a bolt of energy into a seemingly empty knob of land, and wonder if he had become erratic with pain.
She need not have worried, for Morgul's heightened senses had detected a recently buried body in that earth. The spell struck the corpse, reuniting it with the nearby soul, raging against those same orcs who had murdered it. They had stripped him of his weapons, but now the ghosts of them sprang into his hands as he exploded from his grave and charged the orcs as they closed with Odo and Attalus. Those two showed no discomfort at fighting alongside the thing. It was an old story to them. Corhydras and Starshine flashed along with the ghostly weapons, slaughtering orcs.
Galadria spotted an orc archer as he hopped up to take a shot at Odo, and she loosed her spell. It left her hand as a flash of electricity direct to that unfortunate orc but then jumped to each of its fellows in turn,either frying them outright or dazing them and taking them out of the fight. Cythera and Noemi stood between Galadria and the men and their ghostly ally, flinging energy bursts at individual orcs, Morgul staggering up to join them.
Sharp-eyed Sefa picked up a single small orc lurking in the shadow of the nearby cliff., making its way behind the dark mage. She knew Galadria's mind was bent on the mass of orcs surrounding Odo and her husband, preparing some powerful dweamor against them, so she slipped into that same shadow and hid behind a convenient rock. As the orc crept toward Galadria's back, Sefa sprang out from her concealment and planted Strike between its shoulderblades with all her strength. "Galadria! " she shrieked.
Having loosed her spell, which had caused all of the orcs around her menfolk to burst into flames, Galadria spun to see the orc give a great shudder, dribble blood from its mouth, and collapse, dead. Sefa, who had fallen with it in the force of her blow, was astonished to see that the little dagger had driven straight through the leathern jack the orc wore for armor and gone deep within, apparently straight to the heart.
Galadria had no time then to investigate further. She wheeled back toward the battle and joined her companions picking off straggling survivors. Later when all was over, she rejoined Sefa, who was sitting beside the dead orc, mechanically cleaning the monster's blood from her blade. She sat down next to the girl, and together they watched Odo magically remove the arrow from Morgul's shoulder and close his wound. It would only be sore for a few days. Noemi and Cythera were examining the bodies of the slain orcs, and the blonde wizard was to be seen holding up a particularly ugly knife between her thumb and forefinger and wrinkle her nose at it, before throwing it away. That caused Sefa to smile for the first time since the fight started.
Galadria smiled too. There was blood on Cythera's dainty hands, but the dark mage knew that none of it was hers. She turned to Sefa, who was still mechanically cleaning the orc blood from her blade. "You did well, today," she began, "how do you feel?"
Sefa shook her head, making the curls bounce. "Numb. Empty." She remembered whom she was talking to. "My Lady, I mean."
Galdria smiled again. "Today," she said with mock sternness, "we can let that pass." Her expression sobered again. "Have you not seen death, before?"
"Yes, my Lady," the girl replied, "but I have not...killed."
"I said you have done well," Galadria insisted, "That creature probably would not have killed me, but it might have disrupted my spell. We might have lost someone, or had them injured in a way that even dear Odo," she shot the man a look of affection as he was examining a scratch Attalus had gotten, "could not cure. Not to speak of the fact that it would certainly have killed you. Eventually." She paused, to let that sink in. "So," she finished,"do not fret. There are simply some creatures that the world is better without." She then hugged Sefa close and kissed her. Then she rose and went over to see how her sister and her ally were doing.
Odo, having finished with his friends and the guide turned to the animated warrior, still glaring at the bodies of the orcs. He at once saw that the creature was too far gone to bring back to life, so he merely raised his hand in a blessing. "Say your name," he commanded.
"Rawson Groer," the thing croaked.
"Have you family in Tarashia?" Odo asked.
"Yes," It replied.
Odo nodded,"Rest then," he said. "We will notify them at first opportunity and they can retrieve your bones." The thing did not respond, but merely vanished, satisfied, its revenge on the orcs complete.

They did not try to carry on that day, all of them being tired, so they found a suitable campsite just ahead in a shallow cave. That night, around the campfire, conversation centered on Sefa's contribution to the day's battle, meager though she deemed it.
"How old are you, Sefa?" Cythera finally asked.
Sefa blushed. She did not really know. Galadria saw her confusion, and cut in. "She looks about twelve," she said judiciously.
"More like fourteen," replied Noemi, who had bathed her.
"So, Sefa, since we are obviously at a new beginning, here, we will say your age is fourteen, and your birthday the day you first met our Noemi and Morgul."
"And you, my Lady," Sefa added gratefully.
"And next year," added Odo, "we will celebrate it at our place, if you like, and Cythera and I will show you how we put on a party!" He clinked glasses with Attalus.
"Odo," said Cythera sternly, "you may not decide for poor Sefa how she will spend her next birthday."
Smiling, Sefa said, "It's all right, Lady Cythera, I've never had a birthday party before, so it would be nice if someone who knew how to do it gave it for me."
Cythera looked embarrassed and horrified, not sure if she had breached good manners, while the rest roared in appreciation of Sefa's ready comeback. The conversation then dwindled, and they sought their bedrolls. Their sleep was deep and untroubled.
XII
They met no further trouble thee next few days as they wound along mountain trails. They came to a small gap in the cliffs, identified by Morgul as the place where he had left the main trail the last time.
"Why did you go in here, Morgul?" asked Galadria, eying the barely existing trail without obvious excitement.
The darkhaired apprentice shook his head. "I'm not really sure, my Lady," he replied. "I think someone at the camp of the Bears," the barbarian tribe who had befriended him, "mentioned it as the way to a taboo place, so I thought there might be some magic there."
Galadria frowned. Yes, that would be way Morgul's mind worked. "We may visit these folk, Morgul," she said aloud, "I would know more of what they believe of this place."
Morgul shrugged. "I am sure there would be no problem, my Lady. I know the shaman well, and he is a kindly man."
The party gathered and went single file into the narrow opening. The trail immediately opened up and they were able to group up more. Sefa walked behind the leaders, Attalus and Odo, and remarked the differences between them. Both were broad and muscular, but Attalus was very tall, and Odo rather short - Sefa noted how Odo walked in a very upright posture, almost a strut. Attalus had to lean to the side and shoren his stride for them to maintain an even pace and hear the other's conversation. But this was in no way awkward; Sefa reflected that the two had been doing it for years. Noemi intruded into her reverie. "Have you tried to talk to your knife, yet?" she inquired.
Sela started. She had forgotten that part of the dagger's properties. "No," she admitted, "I haven't.
"Try now," the red haired magician urged.
Sefa drew the blade out of its scabbard and stared at it. "Strike? Can you hear me? Will you speak?" But the dagger remained obdurately silent.
Noemi shrugged. "I guess an orc isn't a high enough being to activate the magic," she guessed. Sefa put it back into its scabbard and trudged on.
At length they came to the clearing that Morgul had spoken of. While the others rushed to inspect the site where the bowl 's pieces had been found, Sefa remained fascinated by the fountain. A naturally-occuring spring flowed out of the mountain's side into a crude but definitely artificial basin carved into the rock beneath. Sefa rubbed some dirt away that had encrusted the rim over the years, and was startled to find a crude face incised there. As she brushed away the last of the grime, she felt the same odd little shock that she had felt when she picked up the scroll in the street to start this whole adventure.
She stood there a second, her mind reeling with the implications, then ran shouting for Galadria.
She had not long to run, for the site of the bowl's discovery was but a little distance away. Still, she felt her heart pounding and her breath unaccountibly short as she rushed up to the startled wizard. Odo and Attalus, not knowing just what was making the girl shout, drew their weapons and looked alertly around. "Lady," Sefa panted as she approached, "Look. Come and see! A face on the fountain."
"A face?" Galadria was amused, " What kind of face?"
Sefa's eyes grew round. " A magic face," she answered. That got everyone's attention.
They all gathered around the fountain and examined the face. Morgul was set to the task, with Sefa's help, of painstakingly cleaning the dirt from the stone, while everyone else set up camp. The fire was burning brightly and the tents pitched when Sefa came scampering up to Galadria. "All is ready, my Lady," she cried with glee, and led the rest of the group back to the spring with its newly cleansed basin. Morgul stood proudly by.
The basin was now seen to be anything but crude. The face that had startled Sefa wore a thoughtful expression, and curling lines traversed the rim. At the top were several runes. Entranced, Noemi asked softly, "Can you read those, Mory?"
Morgul gave her a pleased and surprised smile. He had been out of her good graces for a long while, it seemed to him. Perhaps this signaled a new and better mood in the mercurial redhead. "No," he answered in the same tone, "I recognize the runes from my previous trip, but the language is strange to me." He shifted his gaze to Galadria. "Perhaps my Lady..." His reply was lost as he ceased to speak on seeing the expression on his mistress' face. She knew, he was confident.
"Well, Gal, what is it ?" Cythera cried, also familiar with the dark woman's looks.
"It says," Galadria crowed in triumph, " 'Ask wisely, and learn wisdom'! This must be the site of an ancient Sybyl's temple."
That evening, Galadria excitedly tried to use the bowl with water from the fountain. There was still no response, but there was a flicker that encouraged her. "There's still something missing," she told her fellow magicians. "Let's just see what comes with
the morrow."
The next day, they all excitedly pitched to excavating the mound whence came the blue bowl. They ran all the dirt, after they had crumbled it through their fingers, through the miner's screens they had bought in the city. It was Attalus who first found something, a piece of glass, blue like the bowl. It seemed to be part of a disc, because one side bore an arc. They dug even harder, and eventually found eight pieces of the blue glass, several with the curved edge. After a thorough cleaning, they paced them on a white cloth and gathered around.
Galadria nodded to Morgul. "All right, now show us how you did it."
The apprentice from the south proudly stood forth, conscious of all eyes upon him, but especially Noemi's, and started fitting pieces together. Almost immediately he was rewarded as a large piece fused with a small one, and within an hour had constructed a dish. He displayed it to them then, and they could all see that there was a face designed into it, the twin of the one on the fountain.
That night, as the men celebrated by the fire, the three female mages, with Sefa in attendance, filled the reunited bowl and dish with water from the spring. They concentrated on it, and were at once confronted with a ghostly face, like that on the dish and the fountain. It spoke:
"Who calls me from my long silence? You are not my sibyl."
Galadria replied,"No, old one, we found the temple abandoned, the bowl and dish in pieces, after it seems many years. How may we address you?"
"Address me as Fasz, since that is what the sibyl did. You may not think that is my name," the spirit went on, "since if you knew that you could compel me, but I will respond to it." It groaned, "Think not that you bring me news when you tell me of the fall of the temple, for I knew of it when it happened. For many years the priestesses of this place tended the spring, and gave advice to the kings, and commons, too, about questions that troubled them. I was glad to answer, for I owe these people a debt about which I do not propose to tell you. A dragon came, curse her black name, and destroyed the temple, breaking the bowl and dish, and cutting me off. But I am glad that the link to your world is restored, for I confess I have grown curious as to what has transpired through the centuries. I will answer questions from you, in reason, every once in a while"
"That is all I ask, great Fasz," Galadria breathed. "Now, can you tell me ought of a mage, now dead to our world, named Smaractus?" The others held their breath.
The face changed slightly. "Tell me first, do you seek him for good or ill? Know, I can tell a lie from one of you easily."
Galadria frowned. "It seems to us that we seek him for the good of the world, and that his continued existence is an ill that would be hard to cure," she stated flatly.
"Ye speak truly of that one, and if you seek to do him harm, I will aid you. He is a stench in the nostrils of such as I, and he has done us much harm. But he is beyond doing good or evil to your world.
"I now know you, Galadria god-spawn, with your sister next you. I know you sent this monster from your world and greatly diminished his power, and I know the other mage there also played a role. Thank you all. I will indeed help you, for others are in danger, not of your world, and yet your kin. Think on your father, and know this to be true. This girl..."
The view changed abruptly. They saw a girl with curly black hair sitting in a simple dwelling, spinning.
"Gal," Cythera whispered, "she looks like you."
"This girl, " the voice went on, "is sought by that same Smaractus. He has not yet located her, but it should be known to you that he has methods of finding out these things."
"It is, indeed, Fasz," Galadria stated grimly. "Tell us how we may thwart him."
Fasz's voice came back, though the scene did not change. "His existence is maintained by a demon of your world. Find that demon, destroy him, and Smaractus will be no more."
"And where can I locate this demon, Fasz?" The dark woman's voice was controlled.
"His name is Meel'shadrixx. Seek him at the Lost Temple of the Dawn."
Galadria frowned. "And where," she asked, "is this Temple, great Fasz?"
Fasz reappeared in the water. "I know little of the geography of your world. The name should be enough for one as wise as your companions think you. The seeking will better your chances, it seems. I can help you no more. Farewell." The water grew empty. The vision was over.
The next day they freed the basin from the surrounding rock. Sefa thought it would be an arduous job, but it came away easily enough. It was secured to one of the horses along with several jugs of the spring water. Galadria was not certain that this particular water was responsible for her successful scrying, but she was taking no chances. They then broke camp and headed back to Tarashia.

XII
Tarashia seemed very good to Sefa. She decided that she was not the outdoors type. They settled in at the inn they had previously used, while Odo went in search of the family of the man murdered by the orcs. He first approached the innkeeper, Samuel Stomps, whose round, cheerful face showed a fondness for the ale by which he earned most of his living. The grin vanished immediately when Odo gave his grim news.
"Rawson Groer," he said with a rueful shake of his head. "Surely I know him, my Lord, or knew him, rather. The ranger of the northern forest, with a young wife." He then described the road to the man's cabin. Odo's heart sank. He had been secretly hoping that the deceased had been an old bachelor of unappealing habits. He turned and returned to the rooms the party shared, and told them of his findings.
Attalus groaned when told the story. "I must surely accompany you, old man," he said at once.
Morgul chimed in, "I should go, for I , err , found the body."
""I'll go, too," interjected Noemi, to Morgul's secret delight. Perhaps the trip back to Baldur's Gate would not be so lonely as the journey thence.
Cythera raised her shapely blonde eyebrows. "Then I guess we should all go. Right, Gal?" The dark magician nodded. So, the next day they found themselves retracing part of their previous road, turning off at a little path before the mountains began.
Sefa, who had not wanted to come, had been too afraid to stay alone at the strange inn, so she had tagged along, too. She wondered at her new timorousness about being alone, and had just decided that it was due to a loss of the hopelessness she had known as a street urchin, when they turned into the yard of a reddish log cabin, half covered with vines. A small pony stood lashed to a rail.
Odo and Attalus immediately dismounted and headed to the door, followed by the rest at a slower pace. Sefa remained on Dab. She was no rider, but the pony comforted her. Odo banged on the door, which was immediately opened by a young woman with a baby in her arms. Odo inwardly gritted his teeth.
The woman spoke first. "Yes? Who are you? " She looked anxious and confused at the profusion of bright armor and colorful robes before her. "What do you want?"
"We seek the family of Rawson Groer," Odo began."Do you know of him?"
The young woman seemed to shrink before them. "I am his wife," she said falteringly,"Do you bring me news of him? He has been missing many days."
Galadria and Cythera went to either side of her, and she eyed them wildly. They gently led her to a chair, while Noemi gingerly took the baby. She was not a maternal young woman.
Odo knelt before her, clasping her hands in his. "We bring ill news," he said.
The woman gasped. She pulled her hands away from the earnest young man before her to wipe her suddenly streaming eyes. "He's dead, isn't he? I knew it. He's always told me if he was going to be away for a long time." She stopped and wept for a while, comforted by the band. Sefa , growing restive at being left for so long, crept in by the door, and seated herself unobtrusively on a bench..
Finally the wife of Rawson Groer, now a widow, ceased her tears enough to gasp out, "Where? How? How did you...know him? You are no friends of ours."
Odo tactfully declined to give the full details of their finding Groer, aided by a warning glare and shake of the head from Cythera. "No matter," he said, "we found him and magically obtained his identity. Is there anyone in town we might get to retrieve his body for burial?"
Galadria gently dried her face. "Yes, tell us, and worry not about the cost," she stated. "for we owe him a debt that we would repay."
Mrs. Groer looked at her in doubt. "A debt? Folk such as you? Did he save you from danger in the woods? Rawson was like that." Her face darkened. "Did he die, saving you from some foolishness?" She stood up angrily, and snatched her baby from an astonished and relieved Noemi. "No," said Galadria in her most soothing voice, "be assured that he was long dead when we found him. We killed the orcs that murdered him, and, suffice it to say that he helped us do that, though death had already claimed him. But, in honor of his deeds, we wish to help bury him and give you the comfort of at least knowing where his body is laid."
The fury seemed to leave the woman as quickly as it came. She sank back in the chair and wept again for a while, clutching her child. Finally, she recovered enough to give them the name of a man in town who handled burials.
"Have you no family you can call on?" asked Attalus gently. "We cannot leave you so, alone in the woods, mourning."
"Sir Attalus speaks true," cried Cythera. "Tell us, if you would not have us camping here with you."
The woman told them of her parents in town, so they spent the rest of the day loading her belongings onto their pack animals, then took her into the city. After they had dropped the woman and child off at the simple house in Tarashia, they headed back to the inn. As they pulled away from the saddened dwelling, Noemi turned to Sefa. "Still think you are cut out for a life of adventuring?" she asked sardonically.
Sefa shook her head numbly. "I have no choice," she finally answered. "I serve Lady Galadria, and my place is beside her. Where would I be without her, Lady Noemi? Still scuttling about the streets, stealing here and there, sleeping in an abandoned basement? Finally becoming a whore? " She stole a look at the blond mage, talking softly with Odo."You remember that Lady Cythera asked me about that? Did you hear that part?"
Noemi nodded. "Well," Sefa went on, "you should know that I had offers." She tossed the curly brown hair in the damp air. "Men found me comely. They offered coin, to keep me and mine from hunger in the cold"
The redhead stared at the girl. Finally she said, "It's none of my business if you did..." She got no further.
"I didn't." Sefa cried fiercely. "I always knew that if I did, I wouldn't stop. I saw what they did to the girls who walked the streets, and I just knew there was something better for me. So I kept on, searching, and finally..." her voice softened and she smiled at Noemi, "I found you. You were nice to me, you didn't snub me, you took me to Lady Galadria, and she took me in, and here I am."
"So, yes, Lady Noemi, " she finished triumphantly, "I think I am suited for a life of adventuring, and if I am killed doing it, it is not such a bad death as I would have had before." They rode the rest of the way to the inn in silence, but after they dismounted, Sefa ran to the redheaded sorceress, and threw her arms around her clinging to her. "I love you," she sad brokenly, "I love you all."
Noemi ran her hand through her curls, then smiled a lopsided smile. "That's great, baby doll," she said wryly, "But don't love Mory, 'cause he's mine."
"Glad to hear it," roared Morgul, who had been an interested auditor. He threw his arm around Noemi and swept her into the inn.
Sefa followed. Don't worry, she thought.

There, I am bringing it backfor milady Kaltia, my favorite teenaged woman. If you like it, do not hesitate to say so. [img]smile.gif[/img]

XIII
Two days later, they took ship back to Baldur's Gate. Sefa was tense and on guard the entire voyage, staying close to Lady Galadria in her new self-imposed role of protector.
The dark magician remained distracted, seeming lost in thought most of the time, and Sefa feared for her safety. Everyone remained somber except Noemi and Morgul, who seemed as close as before their estrangement. One day, after Galadria had retired early to her stateroom, along with a worried Attalus, Sefa found herself sitting with Odo and Cythera on deck. Sensing that they were not averse to talk, she approached the blonde woman.
"Lady Cythera," she began haltingly," can I have a word with you?"
The mage turned her sunny countenance to her and smiled reassuringly. "Certainly, dear," she answered, and gave Odo a meaning look. That gentleman gave Sefa an amused glance, and strolled as far out of earshot as possible, watching the sea.
"Lady," Sefa asked earnestly, " why is Lady Galadria so sad?"
Cythera pulled the girl down next to her on the bench, putting her arm around her. "Sweetheart," she replied," Lady Galadria is having to recall some very painful events, and make some difficult and complicated plans. She is fighting a foe that I , we, believed long vanquished, and to strike a blow at him will be very dangerous."
"Is he so powerful?" asked Sefa tremulously. "Could he strike us now? I thought Lady Galadria was the greatest wizard in the world."
Cythera smiled at that. "Great, our Galadria certainly is," she replied, "but strongest? How can we measure? She, with us and with some that are not here, has battled many, and always won, but not without cost. But it is not with the Old Enemy, Smaractus was his name," Here the lovely and polite Lady Cythera shocked Sefa by rising and spitting over the side. The blonde mage smiled at her expression, and said,"I hate to pollute myself, even my spittle, by saying it."
"But the Old Enemy we won't be fighting, except indirectly," she went on."He maintains his existence on another plane entirely, one with which we have no communication,except indirectly." She meant the scrying bowl.". How he is able to do this, we are not certain, but the spirit we spoke to said that an intelligence is maintaining his soulless existence. The spirit called it a demon, but that in itself means little. Your Lady and we have killed demons before, mainly in the service of that...creature."
"That has led Galadria to believe that this monster is very high up in the ranks of the underworld, perhaps even," Cythera made a peculiar sign in the air, rather like a triangle, but not quite. Her voice dropped to a whisper," a Pit Lord."
Sefa had no idea of all that implied, but she went all over gooseflesh. "Can even Lady Galadria battle such a creature?" she whispered in unconscious imitation of the blonde woman. "Why would she want to, if it cannot harm us?"

Ooooh...thanks Gal, love it so far...WHEN this gets published-and it will-then I'll be the one buying the first copy :D

LOL, I'm glad that you like it. You encourage me. Attalus was just trying to get me to post in the cafe to make you calm down, but I wouldn't. Are you acting up? Beware. [img]graemlins/whipitgood.gif[/img] :eek: Another installment:

Cythera smiled grimly."It certainly could harm us, if Sma..the Old Enemy cannot. It seems that this demon exists on this plane, though we do not know where, except its name, the Lost Temple of the Dawn, wherever that might be. That's one reason we are going back home to Baldur's Gate, to enquire if anybody has heard the name. Otherwise I have no doubt we'd be on our way there, now. Galadria and Noemi were badly hurt by that man, and she holds the demon responsible, even if it was not the direct cause. Also, your Lady will not permit the continued existence of her Enemy in any place whatsoever if she can do anything to alter it. He is too great an evil, too dangerous to innocent and kindly folk anywhere, to be allowed to live."
"Lady," Sefa finally got out, "what can such as I do in that quest? I cannot fight demons."
"Why, my dear," Cythera said very seriously," you must do what we all do. Follow Galadria. Guard her back. Do what she says, for she is the strongest and wisest of us all, much stronger than Noemi or I. She has spent her life studying magic, and she knows it as well as almost anyone living, save for a few ancient sages." She gave a reminiscent smile, "though I suspect she might give even them a few surprises."
Sefa thought long about this conversation. Two days later she strolled to the stern of the ship, and was surprised to see Galadria sunning herself, with the most carefree expression she had worn since the scrying. She went up to her timidly. "Lady," she said, "I am glad that you are feeling better." The dark-haired wizard indicated she should sit beside her, so she slid onto the seat. Galadria put her arm around her, and Sefa snuggled up to the older woman. Her heart brimmed with warm feeling, and she marveled at the affection she felt for this wizard she had only known a few weeks. Galadria smiled her brilliant smile at her, and she grinned back.
"Cythera told me you'd been worrying." The dark mage reached over with her free hand and tweaked Sefa's nose, gently. "What, girl, don't you think I can take care of myself? You and Attalus, tiptoing around like I've been sick." She shook her head in mock exasperation.
"Lady," Sefa replied, "its just that you seem so...necessary to me. And the rest, I'm sure. What would we do without you?"
This time Galadria did purse her lips in annoyance. "You would all do fine, I'm sure. You wouldn't be dragged over the whole world, looking for a dead man's wraith."
"But my Lady," Sefa ventured to protest," we know that you are just doing what's best, making sure that that awful man doesn't hurt any one else.
Galadria shook her head. "I'm not so sure. I am getting the feeling that I am pursuing just a vengeance: fine for me, but do I have the right to endanger those dearest to me? Look at you, Sefa. You've only known me for a short while, but I'll bet you're life has been endangered more in those few days than it ever was before.I took you in and promised to teach you magic. A fine thing if I just got you killed, instead. A pure waste." Her face was distorted with a pulse of self-disgust.
Sefa snuggled even closer. She felt her mentor's body stiff under the black silk. A sudden thought crossed her mind. "Lady,"she began,"how can I swear myself to your service?"
Galadria tore her mind out of whatever dark place it was wandering in, and shot Sefa a look of pure astonishment. "No one swears into my service, Sefa," she replied. "I am not a temple or a monarch."
"But I want to be," said Sefa stubbornly ," I heard Baron Odo talking about someone swearing to service, and I want to be sworn to you."
"Dear heart," said the mage," you can stay with me, as long as you like, but I need no oath, except," she smiled ruefully, "poor Attalus. We are sworn to each other, though sometimes I think he rues his bargain. Who would want me, a poor, gloomy, driven woman? I doubt I make him very happy."
"I don't think Sir Attalus would be happy without you, my Lady," Sefa said loyally. Seeing Galadria shake her head in doubt, she added. "Who wouldn't want you? You're beautiful, you're brilliant, you're the kindest woman I've ever known. Why, if I was a man, I'd marry you."

I wasn't playing up, I was torturing Calaethis, ie, the usual!
Anyway, I love it, and I love that you post so regularly [img]smile.gif[/img]

LOL, thanks, sweetie, if I get behindhand, just e-mail me. It's in my profile. Today's installment.

The wizard had to laugh at that. She smiled gratefully at the girl holding her so tightly ."Dear Sefa, what did I ever do without you? You lighten my heart." She ruffled her curls."You make me sorry I never had a child."
"You'll have a child, my Lady, and then I'll serve you both."
"We'll see," said the dark woman, and drew her up beside her, and they went down to dinner.

XIV
Over the dinner board, Galadria brought up the subject again. After they all had eaten, she stood, gathering all eyes."I want to talk with you ," she began. "I want to know how you feel, truly. We now know that Smaractus," a ripple seemed to move around the table at mention of the necromancer's name. Galadria paused, then went on, "is not of this plane any longer. He is no danger to us, or to any in our world." She paused again, to let that sink in. They continued to hold their eyes on her, so she went on. "But that does not mean that he is no danger to anyone. We also have learned that he is in search of another godspawn, like Noemi and I. Perhaps even the same god, which would make her our half-sister."
Noemi made a half-suppressed noise. All gazes went to her. She flushed, but spoke up. "Gal," she protested, "we don't, we can't know that. Who knows what the gods are like in that other place? You can't put that much faith in the resemblance that Cyth saw."
The blonde woman gave her a hard look. "Em," she said flatly," don't tell me you didn't see it."
Noemi's flush deepened,but she went on, determinedly. "All right, maybe I did, but that's a mighty slim thing to base our actions on. We might all be killed."
Cythera didn't give a bit. "Remember what the spirit said," she quoted,"'you may have kin, though you know them not,'" and he spoke of your father."
"Well, p'raps," the redhead muttered. Morgul clasped her hand, and she looked him her gratitude. "What do you think, Mory?"
The dark apprentice glowered a bit. "Lady Galadria is my mistress." He said formally."I must do, will do, want to do as she bids me. I would not be doing my duty, else." Noemi and Cythera looked at him with varying degrees of amazement.
Odo nudged Attalus." I thought," he said sotto voice,"that there was more than one kind of mistress,here." To his surprise, he got a disgusted look in reply, and piped down, muttering. No one else paid him the slightest attention. Galadria turned her dark gaze to her husband.
"Sir Attalus," she requested formally, "what say you?"
"Lady wife," he replied in the same manner," you know my concept of my duty. I am to protect the weak, the innocent, the wronged. And I have sworn vengeance on that thing that tortured you and my sister-in-law." Here he glanced sternly at an increasingly disconcerted Noemi. "Have you not," he addressed her, "forgotten what he did to you? When we rescued you, you could not speak , and it was days before you came to your senses. If you can forgive and forget, I cannot. I shall not let another suffer as you and Galadria did, because I failed of my courage. I will be beside my wife whenever she finds this creature and do my best to destroy it, or die in the attempt." He sat down with a thump, and took a long draught of wine, mainly to hide his anger.
Sefa stared at him. Attalus was so kindly and easygoing that she had not realised that he could contain that kind of rage. Odo patted him on his back, and Galadria came over and gave him a kiss. He looked at her helplessly and a slight smile appeared as his color subsided. Noemi looked rather groggy for a few seconds, then burst into tears.
Instantly, Galadria and Cythera were at her side, hugging her and stroking her hair, the tension that had existed a mere moment ago had utterly vanished as they sought to comfort their much-loved sister and friend. Attalus, regretting his outburst, was there,too, vaguely patting her shoulder. Odo and Morgul hovered on the outskirts, concerned but unable to break into the tight circle of grief. At last, struggling for words, Noemi hoarsely made herself heard.
"I haven't forgotten. I can't forget, gods know I've tried." She pulled in a ragged breath. "He's there, always, in my dreams, my very thoughts. I try to stay busy, to have fun, and sometimes I even succeed, thanks to you all and especially dear Mory." She reached her hand out blindly for him and he instantly grasped it. She pulled him to her and cried on his breast for some time further. Then she sat up, again , and resumed. "I tried to comfort myself. 'He's dead, we killed him,' I'd think. But then my brain would go off again, in circles. 'Why?' I'd ask'Why did he think we mattered so little that he could do all those things and just waltz off, free as a bird?' I knew the answer. We were just prey to him, cattle to be slaughtered to get the one part of us that we, all unknowing,had. I wanted to say all those things to him. I wanted him to realise how evil a thing he had done. But," she finished achingly,"he wouldn't have cared. He would have just laughed." A shudder wracked her slim frame. "I hate him, yes I do. If I can help you, Gal," she turned her tear-stained face to her sister, "I will, and if I die, I'll be better off." She collapsed again into helpless sobbing.
After they had gotten the weeping Noemi to bed, Cythera sent her off with a sleeping draught. They all, minus Morgul, who had stayed to watch over her, then gathered in Galadria and Attalus' bedroom. Sefa, shaken, stayed close to the dark mage, who hugged her tight.
Attalus broke the silence. "So this is why she was so angry when you sent Morgul off," he said somberly."She was terrified to be alone at night."
"I feel terrible," Cythera confessed, "joking about her escapades, especially Morgul. After all, Gal, I had Odo and you and Attalus had been an item for some time, but she had no one."
"I remember," Galadria said guiltily, "being angry when she and Morgul first got involved. How selfish of me. But she was never one to talk about herself, especially after we had escaped."
Odo nodded, "Me, too, Gal. I remember Cythera telling me that I was just jealous. By the way," he continued, "you never got to me, but I'll say here and now, and I think I speak for Cythera," he glanced at his wife, who nodded, "that we're with you all the way. I still hate Smaractus for what he's done to you, Noemi, and so many others. And," he gestured toward Noemi's room, "is still doing. Any entiety that can enable a bastard like that to function has got to be stopped."
Galadria glanced at Sefa, who had looked up to see the expression on her face. "You just try getting rid of me," she muttered, diving her face back into her guardian's bosom.
That broke some of the tension, and they laughed for the first time in, it seemed, hours. "Well." the dark mage said," it seems we are all determined. Smaractus, watch out, you have Galadria's group after you."
""No, Gal," Cythera murmured, "look out Meel'shadrxx. And just where is the bloody Temple of the Dawn?"