<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Here's the third part.  Took me an extra day, but here you go. -LurkingWolf _____________________________              The four of them walked towards the main gate at a comfortable speed.  Lois took the opportunity to adjust his pack into a comfortable position.  He fully expected not to have time to worry about it later, so he made sure that it was ready before they actually started the patrol.               When they finally reached the gate, Lois was ready to go.  Alex hailed one of the guards that stood alongside the gate.  In no time at all, they were on their way through the gate.  Alex made sure the straps on his pack were tight, then turned for a moment to look at his companions.               "I hope you've been keeping your conditioning up," he cracked.  "We'll be keeping the pace up for at least the first day.  We'll have breaks at reasonable periods, but don't depend on them to keep you moving; you'll never make it all the way if you do."               With that, he set the pace.  Gerard was quick to keep it up with strong strides of his long legs, and Lois matched them both, gaining speed quickly with short steps, then extending his stride until he was keeping up with the leader comfortably.  Impressively, Lucy managed to keep up, even though she had to use almost twice the number of steps.  She showed no early signs of tiring, however, and seemed as resolute as any of them as they covered the first part of their journey at a brisk pace.               Lois soon stopped concerning himself with his fellows' progress.  The time that the run would take would give him time to think, and considering how fast things had moved in the last few days.  He had a few things to get straight in his mind, and letting his mind deal with them as he ran seemed like the best idea he had at present.   *          *          *               As Alex had explained that morning, they only stopped running to take periodic breaks, and they still covered ground walking during these lulls.  They stayed quiet most of the time.  Every now and then Gerard would exchange a few words with Alex, but both would quickly lapse into silence, and no one else was in a hurry to pick up a conversation.  Particularly Lucy, who made good use of the extra time by catching her breath.  She was remarkably fit for her apparent age, but she still had trouble maintaining speed as well as her friends.  Lois was almost convinced that Alex gauged their run length by her, but he had yet to see him look at her.  Perhaps he was listening for her to start wheezing; that would certainly be a good indicator.               Finally, Alex called a halt for the party.  "All right," he said, keeping his voice down.  "We'll be heading into the woods at this point and moving on from there.  For this evening, we'll be using a campsite that's been cleared for the long patrols.  It nice and open; good places for lookouts.  It'll probably be the most comfortable camping spot we have this patrol, so don't get used to it.  All right, keep up with me, and stay quiet."               They moved into the undergrowth and didn't take long to make it into the forest proper.  Alex stayed low, moving along the ground in a half-crouch, but still managing to keep his speed up.  Gerard had a hard time reducing his profile as effectively as his commander, but he had no trouble keeping up with his commander.  Rather, Lois wondered what would happen if Alex suddenly stopped.  He didn't know if Gerard would manage to stop in time.               Lucy had no problem keeping a low profile, but her short legs made it a trial to keep up with her commander.  She made it with only a few visible winces, but still fell behind Lois as he moved along.  His own legs weren't as long as they had been before, but he found that he could keep his pace up if he allowed himself to use his hands to aid him every now and again.  Even in hybrid form, he found that he could use all four paws with good dexterity.  It still felt foreign at times, but he could ignore it, and it just flowed naturally.               They finally reached the clearing.  Just as Alex had explained, it was fully cleared.  Alex quickly made sure that no one else had taken their camping area, and then moved the team in.  He wasted no time giving out responsibilities.  Before too long, they had set up a fire in the center of the clearing, and some light bedding had been set up.  Lucy volunteered for the first watch, and they were ready to get some rest, even before the sun had completely set.               "We won't be stopping this early very often.  I can only think of one more time that we will be likely to do so, and that will be when we arrive at Outpost.  Other nights, we're not going to stop early unless we find a spot we can't pass up."               Lois nodded.  A few moments passed without conversation, and then Alex started to pull some things out for a meal.  Since they were in a good defensive position, he pulled some things out that they could cook.  Later, they would be too concerned about wild animals or lutins following the scent.  At this point, they were pretty sure they could handle it.               Lucy took some food to her watch post, and left the three men to talk a little bit.  The awkwardness was somewhat alleviated by their first good meal of the day, and soon they began to talk.               "You did all right, Lois," Alex commented.  "I was going to ask Gerard if you were following a few times."  Lois shook his head and Gerard chuckled.               "Well, I'm pretty sure I'll take you over a rookie," Gerard added.  "Especially where we're going, we need some experience to have success."               Lois nodded.  "I have that.  Before I came to Metamor, I worked just to the south rounding up the creatures that slipped by your defenses."  When his companions looked confused, he continued.  "I called myself a bounty hunter.  Basically, if someone down south had trouble with lutins, giants, or any one of a number of monsters in their area, I would hire myself out to remove the inconvenience."               "Sound a bit more like an exterminator," Alex noted.               "Bah.  If I called myself an exterminator, someone would call before long complaining of rodents in their attic.  I will take the first type of misunderstanding over the other."               Alex conceded the point, and the three of them lapsed into silence for a few more moments.  Lois was still thinking through some things by this time, but he had come to a decision about the most important issue he faced.  He just looked for an appropriate time to address it.               Lois had hoped for someone to lead into his revelation, but the longer no one spoke, the more he tried to think of some other way to breach the subject.  Gerard and Alex remained silent, and so Lois finally decided to take the jump himself.               "I cannot stand this silence," he said with a bit of a grin.  "I think I know why you're not saying anything, though."               "Well, we don't actually talk much in the field.  While we're experienced enough to do so without detection, we usually play it safe.  The Mule is plenty enough opportunity to socialize," Gerard pointed out.               Lois shook his head.  "I'm new in your patrol.  Usually, you would want to know where I come from, what I've done in the past."  Lois looked at their faces for a reaction, but he still had trouble reading the faces of changed Keepers.  "I have a theory, though.  My thought is, not only do you know where I'm from, but that's then entire reason that were out here together at all."               "Why would that have anything to do with this patrol?" Alex queried.               Lois shrugged.  "I personally see no reason, but I know that my former employment is not exactly well-respected.  Still, that I was an assassin before has no bearing now.  I will tell you here and now, I came to Metamor looking for somewhere to live, because I'm done.  I don't want to be an assassin anymore.  When I did do it, I did so as much as possible within the protection of war.  It's part of the reason I still live.  At any rate, I will do my best to assist on this patrol.  I have no intention of treachery here, or at the Keep, despite what people think."               Gerard looked at Alex.  While they had both already known what Lois did in his past, it seemed very odd to hear it revealed by the man himself.  For his part, Gerard wasn't sure whether or not such a blatant acknowledgment helped the situation.  Still, since Lois was so quick to admit that he had been an assassin, it meant that he could address the subject without being so awkward.               "So, why did you decide to come here to retire?"               "Few places grant such a complete change of appearance as Metamor," Lois said.  "Also, I've also been partial to cool climates."               Gerard managed to chuckle under his breath, but Alex just looked at him humorlessly.               "Regardless of what we know about you, and why you're here, we still have a mission here," Alex said.  "While keeping you away from the keep for a few weeks may have been one of our objectives, the fact remains that we have a more important objective.  Northern patrols are vital to our security, and we still need to be sure of our mission's success."               Lois made no response but a nod.  Gerard took the cue from his commander, and returned to sitting silently.  They took care of some other, small responsibilities before taking any rest, but otherwise stayed silent.  Alex and Gerard went to their beds before Lois, although the presence of the assassin in the cap kept them attentive until Lois retired as well.  Lois sat quietly beside the fire, considering.  He had hoped that addressing the elephant in the room would help disperse the oppressive silence of the camp.  Instead, he had plunged it into even deeper silence.               Consideration didn't help him at all, and he soon decided to get some rest while he could.  Hopefully, when the next day began, his companions would be a little more open. !DSPAM:4de0686843622366718218! </body> </html>