<HTML>    Sorry for the long delay between parts but we are finally on a roll again! There will be no further delays! I hope :)    Chris Okane    The Lurking Fox *********** Some time later David looked up and Rick and shook his antennae in his version of a ironic laugh. "Well, doesn't look like you have much choice about stepping in the dead now, do you?" The entire corridor was covered in them. Rather there were only ten bodies, their contents were just spread over the whole of the walls, floor, and ceiling of the hallway. "Your room I assume?" "Indeed," Rick muttered, drawing his sword. He stepped gingerly towards the nearest lump of goo and bones of the floor. He gave it a cursory examination before using his sword to lift up what turned out to be a belt with a scabbard attached. "Looks like this fit a human mercenary." He dropped it back onto the pile with a wet squish. "There are five more here like that. He definitely had friends with him." Moving up a little, he examined a much smaller pile. This time he extracted a small pouch with the end of his sword. "Hello, there." He took it off the end of the sword and opened it. "Looks like this was once a Lutin shaman. A very experienced one, too, from the look of things," he observed, jiggling the bag. "That would mean--" and his gaze finally fell on the pile just beyond the ring near the door "-- that that was the mage." Tiptoeing through the congealed blood he repeated his procedure with the shaman, removing a pouch and amulet in the case of the mage. "Yeah, looks like these boys were sent after me, alright," Rick muttered as he pawed through the pouch and made his way back to David. "Lots of things here for spell countering, poison spell casting, defensive spells, things to take down shields. Oh, yes. Our boy was well prepared." "So what happened?" Rick looked up. "Easy. They never expected that the merest touching of the magic would set it off. It's kind of like petting a rabid wolverine. Only you don't realize that fact until it's busy chewing your arm off." "Well, be thankful you had then in place then." David nodded towards a rather spread out pile of flesh and what once was tawny fur. "Have you ever heard of a kurenk'n?" "You know, I was wondering what that was..." Rick muttered, following David's gaze. "You can tell me about it inside." "We have kurenk'n in my homeland," David explained, passing through Rick's antechamber, "and I've heard they still run wild up north. They look like regular felines, something like a cougar, but with almost bat ears and teeth like a shark. Simply put, they were bead to kill magic users. They sense spells and can evade them to some extent, and they're totally invisible to magic sight. Seems Nasoj was *quite* intent on doing away with you." Rickkter shuddered. "You're right. Definitely not something for me to tangle with." He shucked off his fox skin cloak and tossed it over the couch, never breaking his stride towards his book case. "Now David, how are you with light-manipulation and room-effect spells?" The two mages made short work of it, Rick describing exactly what he needed the ant to do, pulling off and marking various book from the shelf. They ended up with a small stack of books and a pair of scrolls, all of which the raccoon bundled into a leather carrying pouch. "Now David, are you certain you can handle yourself on the way back?" "I have my magic," the ant replied, "and I have this." Using his second pair of arms, he extracted the two parts of his staff from beneath the heavy overcoat. Rickkter nodded back at him. "Yes, I think that'll work. I just need to get a few more things of my own." Naturally, the first thing Rickkter did was to lose the remnants of his formal attire. The jacket and shirt he was wearing would need major tailoring if they were ever to be wearable again, the chain mail he had managed to toss on over it having done just as much damage as the actual battle itself. The sewer and the running battles to and in town had pretty much taken care of his good pants and boots. Each were deposited in separate piles on his bedroom floor as he extracted something more wearable from his wardrobe. "Ah," he sighed, patting the hard leather and fine-linked mail of his fresh armour. "It's amazing how much better a fresh set of cloths can make a man feel, don't you agree?" David had taken a seat near one of Rick's windows and was looking out into the blizzards that raged outside. Where before the raccoon had only his dress cloths and some mail under a borrowed greatcoat, now he was much more suited to battle. His shirt had been replaced by a simple cotton undershirt under a hard leather vest, over which was a fine-linked mail shirt. Over that, he wore a black leather coat that reached just down to the top of his tail. The dress pants were exchanged for leather ones with plate over the thighs and high black leather boots. A pair of metal wrist guards poked from beneath his jacket as well. As Rick had come out from the bedroom, he was fastening a wide leather belt hung with several large pouches. About the only thing he had retained were his swords. "Right. Let me get a few more things and we'll go." A series of thumps caused David and Rick to both snap around and look at the door. Two more thumps followed in quick succession. "Okay, what the hell was that?" David asked, holding the staff defensively before him. Rick hissed a curse between his teeth as he wrenched open the doors on his personal armoury and began pulling out a bandoleer of daggers, a pair of wicked looking knives, and one small sword with a thigh sheath. "That would be company." He paused, his head turned towards the door, looking for all the world as though he were sniffing at the air. "Looks like someone noticed our coming in. The spells got another three soldiers, but the mage is smarter this time. She's staying well out of range." Rick stuffed them all into a backpack from the bottom of his armoury and quickly slung it. "Come on, let's go." "Where? Out with her?" "Hell no." Rick opened a small door near the apartment's windows. "We're going up." The circular stairwell led the two into a very ornately appointed apartment. "Wow. Where are we?" David asked as he gaped. Rickkter never broke his stride towards the door. "My apprentice, Muri's room. Kyia certainly made this room ostentatious, didn't she?" A single huge casement window was set directly opposite the door, and planters were arranged along the walls, the tips of a few leaves poking through the soil. The apartments was quite large, the receiving area passing as the dining and entertaining area as well. In the centre there sat a large, ornate stone table that looks to be quite old. There were chairs to match, equally old. In the centre of the main room was a couch, two massive reading chairs and several small book tables clustered around an intricate and ancient tapestry of some obscure scene. "I'll say," David muttered before he followed Rick out the door. The two were greeted by a draft of cold, icy air causing them to hold their arms up to protect their faces. "Okay, this looks like Kyia has given you a way home," Rick shouted over to David. "Get to the temple, set things up just as we discussed. I should be back in two hours. If I'm not back in three, don't sweat it. If I'm not back in four... well, take a really well prepared squad over to the Long House and do things there. And..." He winced a bit. "Break it to Kayla as best you're able." "I certainly hope it doesn't come to that." "Same here. She'll be pissed!" David clicked his mandibles in a parody of a chuckle. "I'll be sure to keep that in mind." Wrapping his outer garments tight, he moved at a jog out into the blowing snow." Rickkter looked back down the hallway of almost endless doors and flicking torches. He fingered the hilt of his sword. "Let's hope you make things as easy for me, Kyia. *********************************** </HTML>