From: phyllis@amc.com (Phyllis Rostykus)
Newsgroups: rec.games.frp
Subject: STORY : Saraquael (Part 3 of 6)
Summary: was Much Ado About Nothing
Date: 5 May 91 21:23:33 GMT
Reply-To: phyllis@eld.amc.com (Phyllis Rostykus)
Organization: Applied Microsystems, Redmond, WA


     Saraquael decided, after what felt like the first hundred miles of 
hiking, that she didn't like woods.  She realized that she didn't like the
woods one bit.  They were messy, muddy, cold and wet.  Very wet.  They
smelled of things better forgotten and better left alone.   But here they
were trompling through the woods at night like it was broad daylight
without even a full moon to guide them.

   The pedometer built into her wrist phone/watch/secretary said that it 
had only been two and a half miles, but her feet argued quite convincingly
that the meter was lying.

     At first it had been kinda fun.  A party in the woods, a jaunt through
the cold, crisp night air.  The air was clean and just rain washed, full of
the sharp scent of pine and the musky scent of wet earth.  The frogs sang
to them and the wind caused the branches to whisper in voices like the sea.
The sound of water dripping, dropping, and chuckling as it flowed from the 
trees, along the ground, and in hundreds of tiny stream beds was as 
omnipresent as Sara's own breath.

     But, as the hike went on, the ground felt like it was constantly
dropping out from under her feet or slapping the bottoms of her feet when
she didn't expect it.  The light drizzle that wouldn't have bothered her
at all in the city, collected in the branches of the trees and dropped
huge, glopping blops of water on her from above.  Then the wind started
blowing right through her. 

    Her sneakers were getting wet and she was getting tired.  She was 
concentrating so hard on her woes that she ran right into Ben's back when
he stopped.

     "What?!" she said in a hissing whisper.

     "Listen." was all he said.

     She listened and couldn't hear anything.

     "I don't..." she suddenly realized that that was what he was talking
about.  There was absolutely nothing to hear.  No movement at all, no
frogs singing, no bird chirruping, no squirrels, no animal sounds
whatsoever.  Not only that, the wind was utterly still, and, most shocking 
of all the sounds of water had been shut off as if it had flowed from a tap.

     Quickly, in her need to know, she fumbled to reach a spell and felt
it unfold its wings around her.  Through the spell she sensed the lives of
those that had come with her.  For a second she thought that that was
correct, in the middle of the wilderness there shouldn't....

     She hissed into the silence and felt Ben jump at the sudden noise.
"It's ALL dead..." she wailed softly, "NOTHING is alive.  Do you
understand?  The trees, the grass, there should be something..."
Involuntarily she hissed her distress into the night through clenched
teeth.

     Ben stiffened but stayed on his feet.  After a moment he sighed,
"Even the ground is dead.  It seems to be a circle of destruction, with a
radius of... hmmm... 'bout 100 feet, just what's in sight.  Beyond that
the forest's normal.  Here, though, the wood's gone.  Even the shielding 
property of the dead wood's gone.  The trees're transparent, ghosts 
even in the True World." his voice was subdued.  "You know..." he 
hesitated, "the strangest thing is that it feels jus' like looking at 
that stuff in the box."

     "I want OUT of here." Saraquael spat out with an amount of force 
that surprised her.  She knew she was showing her distress but didn't 
care. She stalked back the way that they came.  As she passed Miller
she saw the tears that sparkled on the woman's cheeks. 

     They backtracked to the top of a knoll.  In the light of the half
dead moon they could see the circle of stillness.  It wasn't anything
specifically wrong, but after knowing what to look for, Saraquael could 
see that the circle of stillness imprinted on the woods in the valley.
She couldn't call it death, as it wasn't nearly as natural as death.

     "Who did this?" Renowyn's voice was quiet.

     "Two men."  The tears slid quietly down Miller's face, "One was short
and arrogant in his power, the other felt like a dead, rotting tree, that
if you broke it open would spill dead and dying insects all over you.  They
were here when the moon was bright, and they did this with a box and a book."

     "What did they look like?" Kilroy asked.

     "I already TOLD you." Miller said sounding frustrated, as she wiped 
her tears away on her brown leathers. "One was short and..."

     "... arrogant in his power... yeah..." Renowyn sighed, "That
description could fit a great number of people.  Do you have any more
details?"

     Miller sighed, "No, I do not have anymore details.  That is all I
could see from here.  That those two did some ceremony with their
tools, and THAT happened."

     Renowyn sighed.
     
     "Let us go back." said Hachiman.  "The lady said that they had the box
there. It is possible that one of those interested in obtaining it will
lead us to the men that did this crime."

     They started back to the cars.

-------

     After another hundred miles of hiking Saraquael had gone numb in 
the head and toes.  The toes, because the wet sneakers were now soaked,
soggy messes and the cold was getting right through the shoes.  The head,
because she decided that enough was enough and had started to just
concentrate on each step as it was being made.  She was miserable.
Renowyn and Catskill were in front of her.  Ben was behind her.

     "We're almost there, little one." said Ben quietly after she tripped
over some rock and started swearing under her breath.

     Surprised she said, "Thanks."  And she felt better for his words. 
The next several steps were a whole lot easier.

     A dark shadow blurred by. 

     A hot spray of blood hit her in the face.  The woods snarled and a 
human screamed in mortal agony.
     
     Sara got a confused glimpse of moonlight flashing off a bright blade
and then the sound of machine gun fire.  Two figures grappled too quickly
for her to see with a creature that snarled and screamed its rage in the
voice of a wolverine but impossibly huge.  Another burst of machine gun
fire and the creature started to run away.  One figure followed the beast,
a slightly curved blade of brightness was in his hand, the blade fell in
an arc of light, the beast screamed and quickened its stumble away into
the woods.  The man looked with longing after the injured wolverine, but
he hesitated and with a single, completely coordinated movement, turned
back towards them.  Sara saw that he was Hachiman.

     She turned away to see Renowyn on the ground, his arm practically
ripped off.   He had been the source of the blood that had sprayed her and
the scream that still echoed in her head.  Ben kneeled on the soft ground
beside Renowyn.  Ben's soft drawl quickened, hardened into a demand for
help, for healing.  He shuddered as the magic flowed through him in a
flood.  Renowyn screamed as his arm grew back onto his shoulder, the
nerves, the bone, the blood vessels growing together, and then the flesh
growing over the spider's web of vessels.  Ben was covered in sweat and
shaking by the time it was done.  Catskill pulled Renowyn up and half
carried, half dragged him as he stumbled to his feet.

     Saraquael offered her support to Ben, seeing that the spell had taken
a great deal from him.  He smiled as he took it.  While her slight
strength didn't help him all that much, she knew that she felt far better
being in contact with someone human as they moved through a darkness that
could spit out something that could kill a man so quickly there was no way
to guard against it.

     Hachiman and Kilroy came after them, moonlight gleaming from Kilroy's
machine gun and Hachiman's blade.  They stayed to the rear as the rest of
the group moved as quickly as they could towards the cars.

     As they got within sight of the cars, Saraquael heard something huge
crashing through the woods toward them. There were huge snapping sounds,
as if the creature were breaking apart trees as it came behind them.  One
final burst up the hill to the cars and then both Sara and Ben turned to
look at what was following them.

     The cold light of the moon showed another impossible beast.  Half
bear, half warthog, and the ugliest parts of both beasts.  Saraquael
shivered, wondering if the unbalance of the dead circle had distorted this
whole forest into utter insanity.  Both Kilroy and Hachiman had stayed
back to guard their path, when the others reached the car, they sprinted
for the cars as well.  Saraquael watched in some wonder at the two men's
speed and grace.  Hachiman swarmed quickly up the slope.

     Kilroy tripped on something and went sprawling.  The beast roared, 
seeing its prey fallen.  A gun cracked the night air with its report, and
Sara looked over to see Renowyn, leaning his weight on his car, using the
support of the car to steady his balance as well as his aim as he shot at
the wartbear.  It didn't even slow the monstrosity down.

     Sara felt Ben stir.  She stepped away from him and gathered herself,
shutting out the hard barks of the gun.  She felt Ben let loose a flood of
magic in the direction of the beast.  The beast kept coming.  Using her
outrage at Ben having to so extend himself, she managed to push past her
tiredness, the itch of a dirty body, the ooginess of her sneakers and
reach for other emotions.  The cold taste of Renowyn's blood on her lips,
the crashing of the oncoming beast, and an echo of that scream of agony
all fed her hysteria.  She poured the near-madness into the True World and
opened herself to channel its answer.

     Chaos flowed through her, screaming with laughter and tears.  It
splashed in bright pyrotechnics flashes against the mind of the wartbear.
The wartbear stopped.  Then it jumped to the side, flattening several
square yards of blackberry bramble, screamed and then blundered into a
pool of water.  Blindly, it swayed, lowing in confusion and staggered away.

     Kilroy gave her a look that warmed her to the bone as he made it 
onto the pavement and to the other car.

     Hachiman opened the car doors and Sara collapsed inside, on top of
Ben.  All she wanted to think of was how good it would feel to take a
long, hot bath.  But the copper salt of Renowyn's blood wouldn't clear
>from her mouth and the echos of Chaos played through her heart.
---
Phyllis Rostykus     | "Looking down on empty streets, all she can see are 
..!sumax!polari!li   |  the dreams all made solid, are the dreams made real."
phyllis@eld.amc.com  |  - "Mercy Street" by Peter Gabriel