<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> <html> <head> <meta content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1" http-equiv="Content-Type"> </head> <body text="#000000" bgcolor="#ffffff"> Here we go again!  This part came out a bit longer than originally planned, but I think it accomplishes its purpose well enough. -LurkingWolf _____________________              The patrol reached Outpost just before dusk.  Alex had increased their pace several times during the day, apparently unsatisfied with their progress.  His original estimate of late afternoon ended up being a bit optimistic, but Lois was at least happy to enter the gates of something slightly resembling civilization.  As its name implied, it was mostly a military installation, but Lois knew that it would be a few more weeks before they returned to the Keep proper, and staying in the fortress for the evening would help ease him into a few weeks of roughing it.               They were given a place to rest in the barracks, and were given food to eat with the garrison of the fortress.  They ate together, purely for sake of saving time, but Alex took advantage of the situation to say a few words.               "We were forced to start this patrol on short notice, so we have not had much time to talk about what's going on.  Now, we could say a few words while we eat here, but I think we would all appreciate some extra privacy considering the scale of this patrol.  I've gotten a meeting room for our use, so we'll be heading there directly once we finish here."               He was met with no opposition; whether it was due to the fact that no one objected, or simply because they wanted to enjoy a full meal before their patrol began in earnest.  Either way, only few words were exchanged the rest of the way through their meal.               Alex led the way to their reserved meeting area.  The room they entered was small and sparsely decorated.  A few lights were already lit, giving the room enough light to see the map that was spread wide over the top of a small table in the center of the room.  It was certainly functional, but made everyone realize how much grander the meeting rooms were in Metamor.  Considering the lavish decorations of George's office, which was the only place they had discussed the patrol, this room seemed more like a dungeon cell.               Alex walked across to the room and ran a hand over the map.  He left it otherwise undisturbed, however, and instead turned back to face the patrol.  "Gerard, Lucy, you both know me.  I don't have anything to say to you two except that I expect you to work as well now as before Lois was assigned to work with us.  Beyond that, you're just here to remind me of anything I might forget to tell our guest member."               He turned then, and looked directly at Lois.  "We've fought each other once; I know you have skill.  Since you addressed it last night, I won't be shy about mentioning it here.  Since you were an assassin, I expect that you're good at being quiet.  That's good; we've had a lot of freedom so far, since we've cleared a lot of the area around Metamor recently."  He left the reason for this clearing a secret, but the rest of the patrol knew; they were preparing for the arriving dignitaries.               "We won't have such a clear road from here on out.  We'll keep the pace up until we get past Giant's Dike; from there we're into no-man's land.  Nasoj would still claim it as his own, but right now it's the domain of countless squabbling lutin tribes, and whatever nasty things they might have with them.  Our orders are to scout; engagement is only authorized in the case of certain troublesome tribes.  Even then, the call to engage is mine.  If there's too many of them, we'll try to follow them for a while, and see if we can find a pattern to report to George.               "Since it is a recent development, I need to inform you that not all lutin tribes are considered hostiles.  We have received offers of peace from several of them, and their intentions have proven trustworthy to this point.  We don't have the resources to offer peace terms personally; we leave that to the longs.  Our job is exclusively to find and track tribes whose hostility is confirmed.  Most of the time, I'll be available to identify them.  I will want you to be able to handle yourself, though.  Here's a handy resource that intelligence came up with to keep us up with things."               He pulled out a small wooden box that he had kept in a pouch by his side.  It didn't look special at all; it was simply a plain wooden box, lacking any mark, stain, or symbol that might make it look important.  It was latched at one side, and hinged with simple, utilitarian hinges on the other.  Alex tripped the latch and opened the box, revealing a deck of well-made cards inside.  They lacked the usual design used on cards; although the swords, coins, clubs, and hearts remained, as well as numbers on the corners, the designs in the center instead consisted of unfamiliar symbols, labeled names under each one.               "These cards are used to tell us what tribes have what allegiances.  The swords are openly hostile to us; many of them are still allied with Nasoj; we have more enemies than cards, so we just have the most important enemies in the cards.  The clubs are hostile, but generally leave us alone if we leave them alone.  Coins aren't on either side; a few of them might try to give you trouble, but they're mostly show.  Show them you mean business and they will leave you alone.  Hearts are allies; we don't have too many of these, yet, but we hope to have a suit of them before too much longer."               Lois nodded.  Using cards to keep track of your enemies was certainly a novelty, but it did seem to be a good method.  He didn't have much trouble remembering things; a little familiarity with the cards, and he would know who was who without much difficulty.               "So, we're out here mainly for intelligence work?"               "At the moment," Alex confirmed.  "As I said, there are some priority targets.  I'll go over some of the important one with you sometime later this evening.  At any rate, I will want to use your skills every now and then, if you feel comfortable doing so in your new form."               "I might need a little refresher.  I'll take a run around the fortress a little bit, see how well my stealth works in this form.  I don't anticipate any trouble though, so you should be able to count on me."               "All right, good."  Alex looked him up and down and sighed.  "I didn't give you much of a response when you came out with the fact that you were an assassin last night.  I want to be clear; I am not going to treat you any different on this patrol than if you were any other rookie.  My men will be my first choices for most missions, but that will be because I'm still figuring out the extent of your skills, not because of what your employment was before you came here.  Once we're out there, we're all in danger.  Add distrust to our list of handicaps, and we're already well on our way to failure.  I won't let that happen to us."               "The same goes for me," Gerard said, breaking his silence for the first time since their meal.  He nodded, perhaps a little stiffly, to Lois.  "I can't say I will never have a second thought about you, but all I've seen of you so far is a strong man with a good work ethic.  Do remember, however, I'm fighting for a lot more than just myself.  If you go after me or anyone I know, I will not hesitate to kill you on the spot."               "Aren't you the reassuring one?" Lucy commented.  She couldn't hold back a girlish giggle at Gerard's words, but she managed to regain her composure before she completely lost her poise.  "I'm in no hurry to die either; I'll work with you too," she finally managed for her own part.               "All right, Lois.  We're agreed.  You're part of this patrol, and as such now partake in all of the responsibilities, dangers, and quirks that make us who we are," Alex announced.  Lois felt Gerard's heavy hand thump him across his shoulder a few times, and he managed a lopsided smile as he looked back at the large man.  Lois had to admit, it was the first time he had let his guard down this much in a long time.  It felt really good.               "Welcome to the club, mate," Alex said.  He held out a paw, giving a full smile for the first time since they had met in the ring.  Lois shook his paw, and returned the smile with full force.  Lucy managed to squeeze between the two of them next, and gave Lois' hand one strong pump before stepping aside to shake the feeling back into her hand.               "If you're going to get some practice done in your new form, I would suggest starting immediately," Alex said.  "I will want an hour or two before we get some rest tonight to review some details."  He pulled the case of cards partially from the pouch and gestured to it with his other hand.  Lois nodded.               "I'll take a quick run and be back here in about half an hour.  Will that work?"               "Sounds like a plan to me.  Better get moving, we're already almost out of sunlight."               Lois didn't hesitate any further.  As soon as the door was open, he darted out, scanning the halls for cover as he started his run.  Inside the room, the three regulars watched him go, smiles widening as they surveyed the scene.               "I see the two of you performed admirably," Alex commented drily.               "Are you kidding?  His attention was glued to you the whole time.  I could have covered him from head to toe in fur dye and he wouldn't have noticed."  Gerard wiped some of the black dye on his armor.               "I think I prefer what you did.  Turning him black isn't hardly as funny as watching him running down the hall with a target painted on the back of his head."  Alex sighted along an imaginary bow and mimicked a shot at the man just as he rounded the far corner.               "Don't forget my work," Lucy said.  "A target is nice, but I want to see his face when he realizes that I tied a bow to his tail while he was watching you.  If he's that observant as an assassin, I think we can all rest easy."               "As long as we let someone monologue to him, we'll be fine," Alex agreed.  He finally let his smile fade a little bit.  "Well, that means he's officially one of us.  Best get used to it; if we do a good job and George follows his usual tendencies, we could be seeing a lot more of his as we move along."               The two others nodded.  None of the three felt completely comfortable with their new member, but the words they had spoken were true.  If they didn't trust one of their partners, they would be better off if they didn't leave Outpost.  Trusting an assassin could be deadly, but the alternative could be even more dangerous. !DSPAM:4dec53d8194071226415657! </body> </html>