The wood plate had the rice like substance that grew wild around here,
with a thick green sauce.  Small pieces of meet sat to one side with a
piece of flat bread.  C'aranth had followed the old man up to the camp,
which was just a nomad tent and fire set under the cover of some trees. 
>From the looks of the camp he had been here for some time, it had a lived
in feel while being very neat.  

	The man had taken the trappings off the horse and set it to grazing on the
tough grass near by.  He had brushed it down looking over it fondly.  That
is when C'aranth had noticed there were no horses here.  It was strange to
see a nomad without a horse.

	He let the man care for the horse, he was probably just as lost as
C'aranth was, got separated from his tribe and then his horse died, had to
make do with living here.  Just his luck he would find the only nomad with
no idea how to get anyplace.  Well this was topping off his day.

	The sun had set and the evening light was still thick in the sky.  The
heat from the day was cooling to almost bearable and the bugs came out to
do a little feasting of their own.  C'aranth scooped up some of the rice
and sauce with his bread, as was the nomad way without cutlery.  He bit in.

	There are certain levels of pain, and among them are pains induced by
spices.  Some of the spices that the earth makes are not intended for human
consumption, because they will tear your mouth out, and dissolve your
insides to goo. This little man has concocted a sauce that included all of
them on the earth.

	C'aranth coughed, his mouth igniting with the flames of hell it's self. 
The little man smiled at C'aranth and nodded, his crooked teeth baring the
yellow stains of the years of eating this foul stuff.  But he seemed to
find it humorous that C'aranth had reacted in such a violent behavior.

	He swallowed the bit, knowing he would feel the burn again.  Then tried
the meat, it was small bite size pieces cooked on a stick.  It was very
good, tasted like chicken but with a stringier constancy.  He smiled
holding up the meat.

	The man nodded and smiled back, holding up his meat. C'aranth finished off
his meal in silence with the old man, swallowing down the food.  He
wondered if it would be an insult to not clean his plate, and so he
consumed it all, but refused seconds.

	The sky stretched out over him as the night came; the stars seemed to have
a different light.  He sat listening to the water, his thoughts drifting to
another time under the stars.  The feel of Ranata's breath against his
skin, her hair tickling slightly at his ear.  He sighed at the thought he
would miss it.  There was no stopping what was ahead, and there was no
going back.

	He could never return to what he was.  Being at the warren was just
misguiding him-self; he was just what Andahar had called him, an
ex-dragonrider.  And his uselessness with the wraith attack was just more
proof.  He kicked at the dirt sending some into the fire; the small
burnable particles ignited making a little firework show.  

	He lay back against his saddle.  His thought went out to Renata, he was
sure she was in a warm bed, and she should have has a good meal.  It
bothered him that he would worry about her.  He was sure she could manage,
and if she didn't, well she would die with honor.  But he still felt odd
when he thought about life without her.

	He had lived this long without her, why should having her leave now affect
him.  She was out on her first flight and he was fretting like a mother
over her.  It made him feel small and stupid.

	"My father once said, 'A woman will turn your world upside down, and you
will laugh all the while.'  Well, I am not laughing, but I am not stopping
it either."

	C'aranth stirred the fire with the tip of his boot.  "It is like I cannot
stop her from invading my thoughts.  I feel the breeze and think about how
she smells.  Or I hear a bird and think about her laugh.  

	"But it is her touch that has really burned itself into my mind.  Just the
feel of her, warm and next to me."  C'aranth looked where she would lay if
she was to be here.  "She ties her hair back with some cloth when she
sleeps, at least the few times we slept together.  But it always came
free."  He sighed softly.

	"You know as I was sitting in the water with Nikol, and he told me that I
shouldn't forget, I wanted to believe him.  I really did.  But here I am,
wandering again.  Does she need a man like me, sick in the mind and
hollowed out."  He looked down at his hand.

 	"Nikol was right, I do have a sickness."  The small man had pulled out a
pipe and lit it, a blue stream of smoke meandered out of it as he watched
C'aranth.  "You don't understand a word I am saying do you?"

*******************************************************

	Vorbis looked up from the girl to General Tarkan who was just walking into
his tent.  She was young about five years younger than Amberylle, and she
was quite smitten when he had invited her to have dinner with him.  They
always were.

	Tarkan closed the tent behind him and looked at the girl.  Tarkan, being
of military background, found that asking permission to enter a tent was a
bit daft as it was never done on a campaign, why should he do it here. 
Tarkan stood and waited while the girl scampered behind one of the screens
to dress, women were another thing you didn't take on a campaign.

	Vorbis laced up his trousers and walked to get himself some wine leaving
his shirt on the carpets set over the ground.  "What is the word Tarkan?"

	"Two weeks if we push.  The skiffs will be able to carry six to eight men
and their equipment.  I would not suggest taking the settlers down the
river, and I really don't agree with sending the soldiers."  He stood rigid
looking at Vorbis.

	Vorbis swallowed some of the wine.  "I want to establish ourselves as
quick as we can.  They will land and use the wood from the boats to·"

	"Skiffs sir, they are not boats."  Tarkan corrected, he was a man who
liked exactness.

	Vorbis eyes the man who was almost twenty years his senior and could break
him in two without breaking a sweat, and thought better of berating him for
his interruption.  "The Skiffs will be used to start the hold.  I want it
secure against attack by the time we have the settlers there.  We will camp
here until the boa· skiffs are launched.  Then we will start down the
canyon again."

	The girl stepped out from behind the screen adjusting her corset.  "And
what of Lady Amberylle?" Tarkan commented while looking at the woman

	"I am sure she and Davyd can handle themselves at the warren.  Do send a
messenger with a note explaining the situation to Davyd.  He will want to
know."  Vorbis poured another glass of wine and offered it to the young
lady.  "Anything else Tarkan?"

	"Nothing else, sir."

	"Good then, sleep well."  Vorbis lead the girl into the back section of
the tent that was walled off with hanging rugs.

	Tarkan growled as he stepped out of the tent.  He didn't mind Vorbis
having women, he had been unfaithful a few times in his life, it can get
lonely when your fighting a month from home not knowing if you will make it
back.  But what really bothered him is that Vorbis would send twenty men
down this devil of a river when the rafters they had with them said he
would never run it.  Oh, it could be done, he said, but you would be sure
to lose more than half of what you sent down.  And so Vorbis figured it
would take at least ten men to set up a hold so we should send twenty.

	He was supposed to support him, but he didn't have to stand by and watch
him kill people.  The skiff was the best idea, small, hard and
maneuverable.  The men had the best chance in those.

	Tarkan walked to the ridge and looked down.  The Mare crashed and churned,
white water ripping over rocks buried under the deep cold water.  He
wondered how many other places Vorbis would fill with dead bodies.

	Tarkan clinched his fists and walked back to his tent to work on two
letters, one to go south, the other to go north.

Darren Hunter
korzad@lgcy.com

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Heart Disease. Family Medicine.  ADD.  Arthritis. Asthma.  Neuroscience.
Hundreds of expert human guides to lead you through thousands of topics. 
Explore The Mining Co. http://offers.egroups.com/click/195/0

eGroup home: http://www.eGroups.com/list/cleft-warren
Free Web-based e-mail groups by eGroups.com