Subject: [Dagger] [PORC]Another joins the fray
Date: Mon, 3 Aug 1998 21:02:48 -0400
From: jdavis109@juno.com (JAMES R DAVIS)
To: dagrfall@ods.com

>Well you could have knocked me over with a feather, however it gave
>Jemalas time to do what he had to do........................................
>
>--
>Regards
>Mea

Even with Zarth's timely rescue, I could still not act quickly.  The
force the nightblade had used on me had slammed me against the wall hard
enough to knock the wind out of me.  Thankfully, I did not go through the
wall, as Mea would not have been pleased at another hole.  As the
required concentration for the spell broke, I was freed.  Scorcher and
Ghalleva clattered noisily to the deck.  I fell down, sick to my stomach
and light-headed.

Several moments passed while I lay face-down on the deck.  No sounds of
movement were heard, as everyone was sizing each other up.  Mustering my
strength, I called out to Catris "Pelaton!"  Catris, her grasp of the
Sidhian language excellent as always, understood and began casting the
specialized restorative spell that would overcome my resistance to magic
and heal me.  I felt the golden rays shoot into me like rays of spring
sunshine on a cold winter day.  I stood up and yelled to the heavens,
"Quateliak!", the Sidhian word for to equip.  The adamantite armor I had
brought with me from Sovere appeared on my body.  Its magic lending me
strength, I picked up my swords and strode forward.

I sidestepped Zarth and came between the ladies and the nightblade.  I
began to parley with the woman in black, lunging and feinting at her,
using my longswords much like rapiers.  She began to tell me of the plans
for my blood the Seekers had, but they were gruesome in the extreme.
They were hunting me much like the humans on another planet, feeling some
abhorrent need to poach my organs for use in their vile concoctions.
They planned to use my skin as a book covering, my stomach in some arcane
alchemy, etc, etc.  When they finally told me what they would do with my
genitalia, I had heard enough.  No longer was the nightblade a woman in
my eyes.  She was a mongrel, something to be put out of its misery.
Chivalry aside, I formulated my plan for her demise.

I waved my hand to silence her, then turned away.  I heard her backing
up, then I heard her thump into the base of the mast.  I spun, loosing my
swords at her, relying on the limited sentience imbued in the metal to
guide them to their target.  I had performed a similiar tactic several
thousand years ago in a tavern on Sovere.  The blades thumped as my
throws rang true.  I turned fully to see that the woman had not fallen.
She could not fall.  She was pinioned like a butterfly in a collector's
case.  I stepped up and yanked the blades out of the woman.  She fell to
the deck with a sickening thud.

I knelt down beside the body to pull the helm and the sash covering her
face.  The woman I uncovered had an angellic face.  Through the power in
my helm, I could see that she was under the power of some charm, Soverian
in origin.  I realized this was some innocent that had been tricked
through magic.  I also saw that the armor she wore reaked of the malific
charm.

I said "Dos Quateliak!"  The armor obeyed the command and secreted itself
back in my quarters.  I knelt down and began stripping the armor from the
woman.  With each piece, I could feel the charm losing strength and dying
finally when the woman was stripped to a khajiit suit.  I laid my hands
on the twin holes on her chest and stomach.  I tried in vain to recall
what my friend, a paladin for Keranor so long ago, had taught me about
life force.  I recalled bits of it, but not enough to use it.  The guilt
of killing an innocent was beginning to overwhelm me.  I did something
that is usually done only in sidhe-nonsidhe marriage ceremonies.  I bound
her to my life force.

As I chanted the ancient ritual, my flesh took on a golden glow.  The
glow rose, till not even the storm overhead was dark.  I felt the words
come to a close, coming to the end of the ceremony.  The golden glow
flowed up through my body and stopped in my head, where the glow was so
bright I could not see.  I bent down and kissed the young woman on the
forehead, completing the rite.  The golden glow left through my lips and
entered her, suffusing her with the radiance of life.  Her eye-lids
fluttered, the wounds sealed, and she woke up.

She was weak, but Catris and I spent every minute in her room, talking
with her to find out the basics.  We learned that her name was Alexis,
she was human, in her early twenties, and that she had heard of the
off-world visitor Lord Tamislane and wanted to go to Sovere when he went
back. She begged me to join our troupe, plying her skills with lockpicks
and other thiefly paraphenilia.  Realizing none of us (that I know of)
had such capabilities, I grudgingly accepted.

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

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