[My rider,] Wyndamenth clicked.

++ What is it? ++

[Dalanth's rider wishes to talk to you.] Ash immediately had a
strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. 

++ Mind telling me why? ++

A pause, then, [Dalanth's rider says that he is going to speak for 
you at the hearing. He wants to meet with you and talk about what 
he is going to say.]

++ Oh, that makes sense. I can't be so visible as to find him, 
not today. I want to meet outside the warren. ++

[Dalanth asks where.]

Ash pondered. ++ There was a cave, where most of the warren's tithe
was hidden. I like that place. Do they know of it? ++

[They do. When do you wish to meet?]

++ I'll be there when he looks for me. I want to talk before the...
funeral. ++

Ash stood, and suddenly Laya was beside him. He looked at her.
"Where are you going?" he asked teasingly. 

"If you think that you're going anywhere without me, you're 
crazy."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Tahlaya."

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

The breeze was stiff, ruffling his hair; he winced against the 
dust blown in his face. Beside him, Avid gave a strange growl, as
if unsure as to what threatened him. Wyndamenth swung her head
down to him.

[I'm starting to get a good idea of what he's trying to say. 
What's wrong?]

++ I'm not sure. He's not sure. Watch the perimeter, please, while
Tahlaya and I go inside. ++

He led a few steps inside, then lit a lantern by the door; what 
he saw next made him catch his breath, his pulse throbbing painfully
in his throat. 

"Laya," he gasped, "it's a trap. We have to go. Now."

"What is it, Ash? What-" Her eyes widened as she took in the scene.

Blood covered the stone wall. Black, dried blood. Words had been
inscribed in the blood in a neat hand, the inscription standing 
out in the whitish stone underneath. 

It was his handwriting.

<Human,> it read, <if you are reading this, then our tastes are
much alike. Are you really suprised? I remember this place. I 
can appreciate the defensibility of it, but you and I both love 
to digress.>

<Yes, human, I live. And I know you, better than you know yourself.
Fear me, human. When the night is alive and you are alone and your
own dark terrors hold you frozen, I will come for you. I and my
brethren will come and we will take you. We will destroy you.
I don't know how you survived, but the knowledge has come to me. 
Don't bother to ask how. You know what I can do, what I am capable
of. Be assured that the reality is far worse than your 
imagination.>

<I will come for you, human. Be ready.>

"Who did that?" Tahlaya breathed.

"The wraith. It knew that I would eventually come here. It anticipated
me coming here."

"Why didn't it set a trap?"

"Because it's showing off. It wants me to sweat a little." He 
pointed to the wall, proud that his hand didn't tremble. "That's
why I should live, if not for any other reason. It's worried, too. 
It knows that I know it better than any other living thing. I 
know what it can do, and probably even wht it *will* do. I can
stop it."

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

Just a wrench in the works...






Allen Veazey
wolf@dbtech.net

"In this world without quiet corners, there can be no easy escapes
from history, from hullabaloo, from terrible, unquiet fuss."
                        ==Salman Rushdie