Subject: [PORC] The tour begins!
Date: Mon, 20 Jul 1998 17:22:14 -0800
From: jdavis109@juno.com (JAMES R DAVIS)
To: dagrfall@ods.com

Seeing Mea and her guard standing by the door, I saluted everyone in the
bar room and turned away.  Before leaving town, I stopped and bought a
fine ebony studded staff while my companions got supplies for the coming
journey.  We left town astride our horses.  I felt very vulnerable in my
leather and chain armor, staring at the shadows, angry that I now lacked
the brute strength to carry and fight in eighty pounds of adamantite
plate.  I twisted the blades of my swords, glad that the sentience in
Ghalleva had returned, though the voice in my mind was quiet.

As we rode down the dark road, the sun set in a pool of its own blood and
plunged us into darkness.  I noticed Catris' and Adeline's eyes begin to
glow fiery purple and blue, respectively.  My own eyes lit up with their
emerald flames, denoting that we were viewing the aura of heat present in
living animals.  Zarth and Mea were unnerved by the sudden, eerie
illumination, just bright enough to be seen from a distance, making the
three of us perfect targets for archers.

How right she was.  I fell from my horse as an arrow hit me and stuck in
the leather vest of my armor.  "Bandits!" I heard Zarth scream as he
pushed Mea to the ground, an arrow just grazing her shoulder.  I stood up
and pulled a torch from my saddle-pack.  Desperately trying to shed some
light, I heard the powerful words of Tamrielan magicka emanating from the
pile that was Mea.  "Des Legeronta kulpara illuminata!"  A blinding light
sprung into being, blinding my soverian companions and I.  I threw the
torch aside and closed my eyes till I adjusted to the normal light
spectrum.  I drew my swords and stood still, listening for a charge at
us.  I heard several more arrows fly past me, and, blinking, opened my
eyes to see who was the target.

The arrows were expertly shot, well enough to cut the saddles from our
horses and just barely graze their skin, spooking them.  The horses
bolted off through the darkness.  A woman, a nightblade by appearance,
stepped forward out of the bush.  With a word, I was on my knees, gripped
by unbearable pain.  She held out one hand and growled a few words that I
did not catch.  My leather rotted away and the steel links of my mail
bloomed auburn as rust consumed them.  Scorcher and Ghalleva fell from my
hands.  Mustering my will, I glanced around.  Zarth was between Mea and
the woman, sword drawn.  Adeline was falling into a bloodlust, useless
for the moment, and Catris had struck her head when she fell from the
saddle.  Mea was using the words of magicka again, but the spell was
alien to me.

The nightblade heard it too and a tinkling ethereal laughter erupted from
beneath her drawn hood.  The pain in my body subsided for a moment, and I
moved to attack.  The nightblade waved her hand and cancelled Mea's spell
with ease.  I could not pick up my swords with my magically enfeebled
hands, so I drew the Tamislane dagger from my belt and lunged forward.  I
lunged short, and instead of catching her shoulder, my blade sank into
her thigh.  She moaned, much like the demon woman I met earlier had.  She
recoiled from the blade and the hood fell from her face.  I saw the demon
woman from my dreams.

With her further distracted, I was restored.  I grabbed my blades and
stepped forward, beginning to ask questions of her.  "What is your name?"
I said, punctuating it with a slight thrust that sliced the cloth of her
shirt.  "Calithia."  "Why are you after me?" I said, again slicing her
shirt with Ghalleva's tip.  "I am a member of the Seekers of Life
Eternal."  "Why did you follow me from Sovere?" I asked, this time
slicing the skirt off of her.  "You are powerless here, Lord Tamislane.
We shall have your blood and we will throw your body to the mongrel dogs
that inhabit this world."

Having heard enough, I said "Bother me again and you'll lose more than
your clothing."  She glanced down at herself, her body next to naked,
covered only by a few shreds of cloth.  "We will meet again, Jemalas.  I
will see you beg for my mercy and affections again, as well as plead for
my mercy on your companions.  You cannot win......"  She winked out, no
longer here.  She had gone back to whence she came, but not for
long...............................

~Lord Jemalas Tamislane of Thornwood, Ruler of Kalisis
JDavis109@juno.com

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