[Cynthia's apartment]
> She turned from the mirror and walked back out to the main room of the
> apartment.  From the closet she took her riding jacket and put it on. 
> She grabbed her quarter staff and walked out of the apartment into the
> sunlight.

Cynthia walked over to where Syren was dozing, and banged the end of her
staff against the ground.  The platinum queen opened her eyes and looked
up at her human.

*Get up.  We're leaving,* Cynthia thought.

<Where are we going?> Syren asked.

*We have to go look for something.*

<Wait, does S'lomon know that you aren't in bed resting?  Should I tell
him?>

*No.  You will tell no one that we are departing.*

Syren stood and waited patiently while Cynthia saddled her.  The Cynthia
mounted her and the queen lept into the sky.  She flew a short distance
to the west and teleported away.

***
[Dreamscape]

"Aargh!" Cynthia cried out and fell to her knees.

Vanessa rushed over and put her arm around her daughter, "What is it
dearest?"

"I don't know," Cynthia panted.  Her hands were pressed against the
sides of her head as if she were trying to prevent her brain from
exploding.

Vanessa nodded, "He's trying to make you remember something.  Can you
tell what it is?"

"No.  I don't know," she squeeled in pain, "I'm seeing a mountain.  Well
weathered.  There's a ledge near the bottom.  It looks familiar."

"Have you been there?"

Cynthia sighed deeply, and visibly relaxed, "Yes.  When we were first
surveying the area around Cleft.  It isn't far from the warren.  Why
would he want a picture of that mountain?"

"Probably because we're teleporting there."

"So he can forcibly extract memories from my brain while I sit here
helpless.  I hate this," Cynthia said in frustration.

"Perhaps not," Vanessa said, "If he can get information from you, then
maybe you can get it from him."

"You think so?"

"I think you have to try."

***
[Cave near Lake Isle]

>  Swish, thunk, she hit the spider dead on. L'cas gasped but hadn't a
> scratch on him, but such was not the case with the spider-there wasn't
> much left of it.

J'rrid strode over and picked up Katrina's dagger.  He wiped the spider
oose off on his pant leg, and held the dagger out to Katrina hilt
first.  She took the dagger from him and sheathed it.

"Nice throw," he said.

"Thank you," she replied.

He turned to L'cas, "Do me a favor and watch out for spiders.  Next time
I'll encourage her to miss."

"Uh, sure J'rrid," he replied.

"Let's go people," J'rrid called out, "We've got more tunnels to
search."

He led the way back to the fork and called a 5 minute halt while he
checked on the other groups via his dragon.  He stood silently
conferring with Shaithos, and when he was done, he motioned for the
others to follow and he headed down the left fork.

The passage curved in a wide arc to the right, but had relatively few
branches leading from it.  The group walked for almost 15 minutes before
J'rrid held up his hand to signal a halt.

The group stood for almost a minute before J'rrid turned to Katrina and
said, "Do you hear that?"

She nodded, "It sounds like moving water."

"Yeah," he replied, "Come on."

He led them quickly down the passage, and the sound of the water grew
louder with each passing step.  Soon the passage widened out and they
found themselves standing on a wide ledge overlooking an underground
stream.  The stream had cut a chasm across the passage 20 feet deep and
15 feet wide.  The water churned across the rocks at the bottom of the
chasm.

J'rrid stood looking across at the passage on the other side.  Getting
across would be difficult, but did they even need to?

"Take a look at this," Katrina called out.

J'rrid walked over to where she was kneeling near the edge of the ledge
a few feet away.  Next to her was a 2" diameter steel spike sticking a
few inches out of the rock.  Another one was located a few feet farther
downstream.  They were fairly cleen and new looking.  "I wonder how
those got there," he said.

***
[Cleft Dining Hall]

M'yer put his pencil down.  "You made two stupid errors," he said
smugly.

"Yeah?  Well, you made three," P'ker replied.

"The important thing is that now our answers match.  I guess we should
go tell Brisse the good news," M'yer suggested.

"That's why we're here," P'ker agreed as he began gathering up his
equipment.

Sarina stood leaning against the doorway to the kitchen watching them
head from the dining hall.

"An odd pair, eh?" one of the cooks commented.

"They are indeed.  I'd say they're living proof that people who are
really smart are somewhat crazy," Sarina replied.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well just look at the way they bicker with one another.  No sane person
could stand it."

***
[West of Cleft]

Syren flew through the broad valley relishing the feeling of the
mountain air rushing past her body.  It felt good to be flying.  It
always felt good to be flying.

Cynthia had her execute a tight turn to the right.  Syren flew toward a
mountain sitting atop a rise on the north side of the valley.  It cast a
long shadow across the valley and up the mountain on the other side. 
Syren landed and Cynthia dismounted quickly.

Cynthia walked a fer steps toward the mountain.  She raised her head to
look at the peak, shading her eyes from the sun when she looked up.

>From the air he spotted her. But something was wrong. Gone was the beautiful
> long dark hair he'd always like on her. It now looked as if someone had took
> a knife and just began whacking away at it.
> 
> He gave Voger the order to land next to the Queen.
> 
> <Jamble and Futdanlith's riders want to know what you found?> Voger's
> thoughts entered his mind. <I have told them that Syren and her rider are
> here. They want to know why the Queen is here with no one with her?>
> 
> <<I don't know Vog,>> the young man replied as he dismounted and began
> walking towards her. His blue eyes moved swiftly around the area
> checking things out. He didn't want something to jump out at him. <<Do you
> sense anyone else in the area buddy?>>
> 
> <No! Only the two of you and the Queen's rider.>Voger told him. <But I'm
> sensing something else. Something ...I can't tell what.>
> 
> <<What do you mean?>>
> 
> <I'm not sure, but I don't think I like it.>
> 
> "M'lady?" My'kel called out her name as he approached her. "Is everything
> all right?"
> 
> She turned around to look at him at the sound of his voice. The look in her
> eyes was strange. It was as if she didn't recognize him. But that couldn't
> be right, he thought. Cynthia had known him practically all his life.
> 
> "Are you all right?" he ask as he came to stand before her....
> 

***
[Dreamscape]

The pain came again, only this time Cynthia was ready.  She had been
watching in her bowl of water and knew who was with her.

"Don't let him take it," Vanessa encouraged.

Cynthia clenched her teeth, "I won't," she hissed.

Then the pain was gone.

"Did he get it?" Vanessa asked.

"I don't think so."

***
[Cliff]

Cynthia's knees appeared to buckle for the briefest moment.  She had to
plant the end of her quarter staff on the ground to remain upright.

My'kel stepped forward to help her, "M'lady..."

"Stay away from me," Cynthia lashed out with the quarterstaff.

My'kel didn't expect the blow which hit him squarely in the chest.  He
stumbled backwards and fell in the dirt.

He rose slowly and said, "Maybe I should have Voger contact the warren
and send someone to help you?"

"No, you should not.  You should leave."

"But, M'lady?"

Cynthia snarled like a cornered cat and came toward him swiftly.  My'kel
lept backwards and avoided her first blow, but her second scored
painfully on his arm.  He drew his dagger from his belt and tried to
defend himself, but the quarter staff gave Cynthia far superior reach. 
She pressed and he was forced to give ground.

Both Syren and Voger were alarmed at what was unfolding before them, but
neither wanted to act for fear of hurting their riders.  They did the
ony thing they could and contacted the dragons at the warren.

Cynthia scored blow after blow.  My'kel's arms ached and he had a
laceration on his temple.  He knew she was forcing him toward the edge
of the ledge.  Maybe if he turned and ran away from her he could circle
around to Voger, he thought.

My'kel began to turn when Cynthia hit him again.  He lost his ballance
and stumbled forward.  He fell hard to the ground and rolled forward,
and over the edge.  He screamed the entire way down.

Cynthia turned and sprinted past to shocked dragons toward a cave at the
base of the mountain.

NRPG:
This one has been percolating for about a week (like since the last
one).  Hope you like it as much as I liked writing it.

Lyn: I'll leave the nature of the good news up to you.  Is Tymor bigger
than Beryth?  Inquiring minds want to know.

Kris:  As my friend Gary Mayer once said to my other friend Rich Parker,
"Nice shooting Tex."  Now lets see you get across that gorge.

Barb:  I couldn't have written a better set up myself.  BTW, he's not
dead yet.

Holly:  As we say here in DL, Tag.  FYI, My'kel needs to linger a bit. 
He's got some things to say before he expires.

As a note for all you newbies who haven't read Cynthia's bio yet (shame
on you the Warrenlady's should be the first you read), Vanessa is her
mother.  She's also been dead for 17 years.

Respectfully submitted,
Warrenlady Cynthia - Cleft Warren
Alton Reich 
-- 
			Alton & Elizabeth Reich
			  alton.reich@snet.net
"Ani l'dodi, v'dodi li - I am my beloved's and my beloved is mine"
--The Song of Songs