[Night fall - Cynthia and Trevor's apartment]

Cynthia peered out through the small gap between the door frame and the
door.  Trevor was sitting by the fire reading.  She had been in the
bedroom, changing.  There had been other times when she had gone into
the bedroom to change, and then emerged to find Trevor gaze at her in
admiration and wonder.  She was burning with curiosity to see what his
reaction would be this time.

She opened the door and stepped through with a slight jingle.  The fire
reflected off the polished steel of her breast plate.  As she crossed
the room, the links of her mail skirt sounded like a chorous of bells.
She stopped and put her helmet on a table near the door.

Trevor looked up from his book and his mouth dropped open.  His jaw
worked a few times before he managed to speak, "Why are you dressed like
that?"

"Because I'm going out," Cynthia replied.

"With C'aranth?" Trevor inquired with a hint of panic in his voice.

"Not exactly," she replied, "I'm going with Dan'yar to keep an eye on
C'aranth.  C'aranth tends to be a bit over confident, and someone needs
to be availible to help out if things go wrong."

"We didn't discuss this at the meeting earlier."

"You're right, we didn't.  If we had, C'aranth would have insisted that
it would be a waste of time for us to watch his back.  I really didn't
want to go through that, so I talked to Dan'yar about going anyway."

"Who's going with you?" Trevor asked.

"Dan'yar, Lonnie and Far'rin.  I almost asked Meena to go along, but I
don't want Far'rin too distracted."

"She's also got to get Amberylle prepared for her return to the living
in the morning."

Cynthia nodded, "It's quite an elegant plan.  I'm a bit surprised that
C'aranth agreed to it."

"Why?"

"He's often not one for taking the subtle approach.  He'll go in under
the cover of darkness and bring back Vorbis and Serina.  Then half of
Alpha wing will deliver Amberylle in the morning to announce that her
husband is under arrest and she's in charge," Cynthia replied.

"If everything goes according to the plan, no one gets hurt."

"Which will dissappoint C'aranth, I'm sure, but I'm hoping for his
dissapointment."

Trevor stood up and crossed the room.  He put his arms around her and
drew her close while making a face.

"What's the matter?" Cynthia asked.

"I prefer you soft to hard."

"My lips aren't armored."

"You're right."

They kissed deeply and passionately.  After a moment their lips parted
and Cynthia said, "I've got to go."

They stepped apart and Cynthia took her short sword from the closet.
She belted it on, picked up her helmet and blew Trevor a kiss before
walking out the door.

Cynthia crossed the ledge to where her queen was waiting for her, {Have
they left yet?}

*Bohoc teleported from the Warren about 10 minutes ago,* Syren replied.

{More than enough time for them to settle in and do a little scouting
before going after Vorbis.  Let's go meet the others.}

Syren's head turned to look at Trissana, *Triss reminded us to be
careful.*

{Tell her we will be,} Cynthia replied as she swung up into the saddle.

Syren launched herself from the ledge and climbed up through the Cleft.
Three dragons launched themselves from the upper green and rose to join
her.

Shinner uplled alongside the queen.  "I must be crazy to let you do
this," Dan'yar yelled across to her.

"We're just going to watch.  If C'aranth gets into trouble, his pride
might prevent him from calling for help," Cynthia replied.

"You have no such pride on C'aranth's behalf," Dan'yar yelled again,
"but I still think this is crazy."

"Then we'd better go before you change my mind."

An instant later, the four dragons dissapeared from the sky above Cleft.

****
[Over Vorbis' camp]

The moon was a thin sliver hanging in the eastern sky, and it cast very
little light on the ground below.  From the altitude that they appeared
at, the riders could see several fires spread through the camp, and
tents were clearly visible around the fires.  As they spiraled lower,
they coud see more tents in the relative darkness farther from the
fires.  It was in the darkness that C'aranth, Renata, Katrina and
Anadahar would be most effective.

{Can you see them?} Cynthia asked Syren.

The queen atared into the darkness for a moment, as if straining to see,
*Yes, I see C'aranth coming out of Vorbis' tent, and he's alone.*

NRPG:
Darren: Excellent twist!!  So who killed Vorbis?  Does anyone care?  I
really liked it.

Kris B, Arlene, John and Darren: You've got lots of opportunity to get
into trouble on the ground, and now you've got some back-up.  The more,
the merrier, I suppose.

Kris G: I wonder how Vorbis being dead is going to affect Lady
Amberylle's triumphant return?

Last week's house hunting trip was a success.  We're buying a 2-story in
a nice neighborhood.  I'm really excited about the entire thing.  I'll
keep you posted about the move.

Respectfully submitted,
Warrenlady Cynthia - Cleft Warren
Alton Reich
--
    Alton & Elizabeth Reich
     alton.reich@snet.net
"Love is born with solar flares / From two magnetic poles /
It moves toward a higher plane / Where two halves make two wholes"
-- Rush, The Speed of Love




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