From: 698cunliffecj@deanery.wigan.sch.uk (Christopher John Cunliffe) Subject: [PORC] Truth Revealed. "I take it there is no chance of me changing your mind on this," said Kriella when she had taken in Nyx's crazy plan. She took Nyx's shake of the head as a negative. "Then the least I can do is distract them for you." "Would you?" asked Nyx. "Of course. What are friends for? Besides, I still owe you one for that creature in the cave. Let us await their return and then you can leave. How long do you think that they will be gone?" "How long do you think two men could stay away from two gorgeous young women like ourselves?" They both laughed. "I don't know about you," said Kriella when she finally stopped. "But I am not young anymore." It was not long before the two men returned and Nyx rose and walked over to her friend, Joel. The two men walked to intercept her, but Kriella rose to stand before them. "Come on, boys," she said. "Nyx has to go visit the Mage's Guild again, but I am still here." "I thought that you were spoken for," said Kestral with a smile. Kriella suddenly found herself agreeing with Nyx again – it was the same smile the Daedra in the cavern had given her when it believed her naked and defenceless. "I can be flexible," Kriella replied. "I am hardly exclusive." The two men looked at each other and grinned. "You want to *what*?" "Shh, Joel! Keep your voice down!" I glanced around to make sure that no one had overheard us. He shook his head. "Nyx, no. You're a dear friend, and I want to hlep, but I can't let you into a paying customer's room!" "All right, then." Mouth set in a grim line, I grabbed Joel's skinny arm and almost dragged him to the back office. I shut the door behind us. "Just what are you doing?" he demanded. "Listen to me, Joel. I'm not doing this for my amusement like I did when I was younger! But if you don't give me the keys, I'll have to break in there myself." We stared at each other for a long moment: Joel's usually warm brown eyes were cold and flinty, mine no doubt were pleading yet stubborn. I didn't *want* to break in. But I would if I had to. At last he relented with a sigh. "All right. I can see it in your eyes. I'll give you the key." He rummaged throughe his apron pockets for the skeleton key he always carried. "But why is this so important to you? Tell me that much, and the key is yours." "I think that Kestral and Jeren are Red and Blackie." Jeol's ruddy face turned as pale as a midnight moon. "Surely you're mistaken." I shook my head. "I wish I were." I explained to him everything that had happened. When I finished, he still wasn't quite convinced so I said, "No doubt you've noticed that there a fewer mice about. And then there's the matter of the missing pets." Joel made a little moue of disgust. "Yes, I see your point. My little terrier, Harry, went missing, and then Meghan's kitten. But I never would have figured..." "Well, what did you think spider daedra did? Send a runner to the restraunt down the street for lambchops and chips?" I sighed. Foot in mouth strikes again. "I'm sorry, Joel. It doesn't prove anything, but it is awfully suspicious." He looked down at his feet. "All right," he mumbled. I realized then that this wasn't just the issue of letting me into a customer's room. He believed me, and it was the idea that they could catch me, that they would...well, that bothered him the most. "But do me a favor and take your well-armed friend." I shook my head. "I like Kriella, but this mission calls for stealth. Besides, she's busy distracting them for me." I smiled wryly. 'I hope they don't push her beyond her tolerance. No...I hope they do. It might be rather amusing. Pity I can't be there to watch.' "All right," Joel conceded. He patted my hand. "Gods be with you. May you find the answers you seek." I grinned and left the office. On my way to the stairs I glanced over at Kriella and her company. She gave me a weary smile and made a throat-slitting gesture. Kestral and Jeren were currently pestering Darya, one of the other barmaids, and were too busy to notice. I grinned at Kriella and went upstairs. Kestral and Jeren shared room number six. I wasn't too surprised to see that it was across the hall from mine. I looked around to make sure no one was around, then unlocked the door. I went inside and closed it quietly behind me. I locked it, then called a door jam spell to mind. If they did decide to return, it would buy me some time to hide. Kriella suddenly gulped on her ale. Jeren and Kestral were still occupied with the maid but a few minutes after Nyx went upstairs, her finely attuned magic picked up something. It had the feeling of a faint sound, but urgent. She looked over at Jeren and Kestral. They had both looked up at the same time – they had clearly felt it too. But she could sense little or no magic from them. Clearly it was an alarm spell, carefully attuned to their minds. Kriella walked over to Jeren and draped herself on him, hanging from his shoulder. With her other arm she stroked Kestral's back. "Come on, boys," she said. "Leave that maid alone. Would you not prefer someone more mature, like myself." The two of them grinned and allowed the maid to get back to her work. I took a look around. Two beds, neatly made and comfortable looking dominated the center of the room. 'I wonder how they like sleeping lying down,' I thought with a grin. There was a small chest of drawers between the beds. A few personal effects--a spare dagger, a scattering of coppering coins, and a pink leather bracelet were tossed across the top like some wierd runes. Smiling, I picked up the bracelet. Perhaps the boys had gotten lucky, and it belonged to the wench they'd tumbled. Then I saw that it bore a single, heart-shaped copper charm. Engraved on it was a name--Muffin. 'Meghan will be heart broken,' I thought. Muffin had been her kitten, an adorable ball of black and white fluff. I loved cats, so I sympathized whole-heartedly. 'Speaking of hearts, I'd rip theirs out for eating this poor kitten...if they had any, that is.' I shoved the collar into my pocket so I could return it to the barmaid. I remembered the look on Kestral's face earlier, and I wondered... Better not to think of that. I pushed my morbid thoughts away and searched the drawers. I found nothing out of the ordinary: socks, tunics, underwear. 'I wonder how they like wearing underwear and pants,' I thought and smiled a little. There was an armoire in the room. I opened it and searched through it. I found cloaks, pants, and boots. 'I'll bet that they hate these, too,' I thought with a grin. Something light and gossamer fell down over me like a shroud woven of moonbeams. I gave a little shriek and flailed my arms, frantic to remove it. At last I snagged it off. It floated to the floor and seemed to mock me in silken silence. I recognized it at once as one of Red and Blackie's capture nets. So I was right. There was no doubt that the silk net was theirs--I recognized their weaving style at once. I Picked it up, amazed at how something so fragile and beautiful could have been made by *them*. A key rattled in the lock. Damn, but they're sneaky! I stuffed the silk back into the armoire and hastily closed the door. The click of the brass latch seemed much too loud. "The lock is sticking," I heard Jeren ('Blackie, it's Blackie and you know it!') saying. "Let me try it," Kestral (Red! my mind corrected) said, and the key rattled some more. 'Kriella, I thought you were distracting them!' I realized that I still held the kitten's little collar in my pocket. I tossed it at the dresser. It bounced off and fell to the floor. "It's stuck pretty good," Red said. "If we're going contact Lord Vex before Nyxalinth gets away..." "She's more clever than we thought," Blackie admitted. "And her friend trying to distract us was a good idea. A nice try, but we're not that dumb." I scooped up the collar and put it on the dresser. I looked around wildly for a hiding place. The armoire? Knowing my luck today, they'd try and open it. The window? Not without my climbing gear! The lock clicked open loudly. "Ah, there we go!" Red exclaimed. The doorknob began to turn. I dove under the nearest bed. The blankets fell into place just as the door swung open. "What are we going to tell Lord Vex?" I heard Red say. Blackie sighed. "I don't *even* want to think of it, my brother." I forced myself to take shallow breaths, for I was fearful that they might hear me. Dust bunnies were scattered under the bed. As I inhaled, this time a little more deeply, one of them made a beeline for my nose. Immediately, my nose began to itch and sting with an incipient sneeze. 'Oh, for the love of Arkay!' I groused silently. 'I'm about to be undone by a literary cliche!' The urge to sneeze mercifully passed. One of them flopped heavily down onto the bed I was hiding under. The springs sagged dangerously low, but that wasn't the worst of it. The dust bunnies were stirred up on the current of air. This time I couldn't stop myself. "Ahhh-choo!" "Did you hear that?" Red asked. "Yes, and it came from under the bed." I'd never used my recall spell to return from Vorumax caverns. Now was the time. I caught a look of surprise on Blackie's face as he looked under the bed.... Just as I reappeared in the tap room below. Kriella's eyes opened. As soon as Jeren and Kestral had walked away towards the stairs she had allowed her spirit to leave her body. She had tried to reach Nyx, to warn her of their approach, if all else failed to merely look at the room so that she could open a Window to allow Nyx to escape. But she had been unable to get past the shield that had constructed itself around the door when the alarm went off. She realised that she should have volunteered to go herself, but her abilities in Spirit Form were not as accomplished as those of many of the other Dreadmasters – not close to those of her husband who was even capable of capturing other bodies for a short time. She knew that she would not have had time to see everything that would need to be seen. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw that Nyx was sat next to her, with a worried look of her own in her eyes. She was clearly not familiar with Spirit Walking, or Astral Travel as it was once know. They were of course very different procedures with merely similar results. She opened her mouth to apologise for letting Jeren and Kestral get away but Nyx beat her to it in apologising for leaving her at their mercy. Kriella explained what had happened and then asked the question: "Well?" "I was right," said Nyx.