Writers round table

[GWiz]

But it was gone in moments, he just flicked the had back down over his eyes and leaned against Debbie. It was a toss up whether it was to annoy me or because she provided a nice pillow.

   You know, I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of fights that I’ve started. Not that I haven’t been in a lot of them, just that fighting hurts, and because I’m not really very good at it, fighting usually hurts ME. However, I was getting pretty sick of this run-around bullshit. Plus, I was tired of being the only one NOT in the loop. PLUS, I was pretty sure that Andre was goading me by using Debbie for a head rest.
Debbie I liked. Reza could still be useful, information-wise. But he of the perpetually annoying fedora? Didn’t know him, and I wasn’t in the mood to get cozy.
   “Andre,” I said, pulling the lightsaber out and lighting it off. “Say goodbye to yer hat rack, mister, ‘cause I’m save the hangman some work!”
        As I drew back to strike, several things happened at once. Debbie screamed “NOOOO!” and lunged for my legs. Reza also screamed “NOOOO!” and lunged her lovely chocolate body in between Andre and my blade, and Andre screamed “NOOOO!” (with a satisfying look of terror on his face, I might add) and cringed as far back into the corner of the chopper as he could.  Of course, all this action had some unintended consequences. Debbie succeeded in tackling me, and as I fell backwards, the lightsaber blade arced into the ceiling and generally made mechanical spaghetti of some Very Important Flight Controls. Of course, I smacked my head on the door behind me, which gained some ventilation, courtesy of the lightsaber. Debbie’s momentum carried her into the same door, which she bounced from and into the cockpit, creating somewhat of a critical control issue with the pilot, who was just coming to grips with a wounded aircraft.
Andre, in his haste to place distance between us, succeeded in popping the door on his side of the aircraft open, which created somewhat of a draft, and Reza? Out the door she went.
   I sat up, looked around, and turned off the lightsaber. So much for the way of the Jedi.

[seradhe]

   I sat up, looked around, and turned off the lightsaber. So much for the way of the Jedi.

    Andre managed to tug his side door shut, looking at me like one would look at a crazy man (which, given the consequences, might be appropriate). "what in the high courtiers name do you think you're doing!?" he screamed over the roar of wind. surprisingly, even in the maelstrom of the broken blades and speeding wind, his hat stayed perfectly on his head. "I may be dead already, but not by some scrawny earth boy!"
    Debbie stumbled from the cockpit, rubbing her head and looking around "where's Reza?" she asked in a slightly dazed voice. I could only gape. I mean, how does a guy tell his ex-girlfriend that his lawyer-guardian-guide-type-person had fallen out of the halicopter due to one brash move. Several small croaks left my throat as I attempted such a feat.
    Luckily, I didn't have to say anything, because the next thing we new the pilot pushed his way past Debbie and turned to look at us all. "She's left the 'copter, and if you want to live, I suggest the same." he said, clinging to the open doors edge with two arms as a third buckled a parachute on. Before any of us could say anything he was gone, already a speck against the rapidly approaching trees. Further below, I could see a smaller point, Reza, falling fast.
    I had no clue what I was thinking (which seems to be a common theme with me). BUt I found myself Grabbing Debbie by her wrist and Andre by his hat. "c'mon" I said, voice cracking ha;fway through the manly growl.
    And I did the obvious next dumb thing... I jumped.

[Qualapec]

And I did the obvious next dumb thing... I jumped.

What was I thinking? Right about then I didn't know. Perhaps it was as if some external force was controlling my actions. More likely it was because Andre's semi-insanity had worn off on me. The first step off the aircraft brought with it the thought that I may very well have lost my marbles. Too many birds had landed on my antenna. My Happy Meal was short of fries.

Whatever illusions I might have had of being able to hold on to Debbie or Andre disapeared quickly. I lost control over my body as I spiraled to the multi-colored oblivion beneath me. I don't know what it was, but the wind ripped them from my hands, my white knuckled grip suddenly found nothing to hold on to. Around and around I spun as I seemed to constantly leave behind my internal organs. My brain was being smushed against the back of my skull by cyntrifical force.

I really needed a parachute right then.

My progress was suddenly halted by a harsh harness that seemed to have wrapped iteself around my torso (and a particularly painful wraparound in my groin area, brought to my attention by the sudden harsh stop. I don't know what happened after that, my mind and eyes went dark.

I dreampt about a playground. From way back when I was a little kid. When all I was concerned about was getting that girl with the pretty ponytail to notice me by jumping off the swing when it was at its highest point. So I swung on the swing, back and forth, back and forth. Trying to get to that point by pumping my legs and pushing with the two downward forces in order to survive the upward climb. Above me the swing chains squeaked against the swingset.

These thoughts eased the transition to my very pain filled waking life. Only I wasn't in a playground. The girl I was trying to impress was nowhere in sight. And I was not on the swingset. I was dangling from parachute cords that had gotten tangled up in the branches above me. There was creaking, only it wasn't the squeak of metal on metal. More like the strain of cords or branches that were threatening to break and drop me the rest of the 15 or 20 feet between me and solid ground.

"You're one stupid son of a bitch aren't you?" The mocking tone came from the branches above me. Andre. How had he survived?

My heart lurched. Had Debbie survived? "Where's Debbie?" I slurred up at him.

He shrugged his shoulders, "I don't know. But she's probably around. We have serious skills instead of just luck."

I blinked up at him, only one eye responded, the other was so swollen that it wouldn't move, "How the heck did your hat manage to stay on through all of that?" I figured my observational skills were rather good considering what I'd just been through.

"Enchantment," He replied, "I have half a mind to leave you there."

"Then why don't you?" I let my head loll back downward, tired of craning my neck to look up at him.

"Mostly because I'm unarmed, and this forest really isn't that friendly. Unless you consider a close quarters night was a giant vampiric leech friendly."

"Hell," I said back, "Maybe that would take care of the stupid virgin requirement. Cummon, man. Help me out."

He grinned a crocodelian smile, "Fine, oh ye of little thought." He pulled out a small knife, and within moments sliced the ropes that held me up."

[GWiz]

He grinned a crocodelian smile, "Fine, oh ye of little thought." He pulled out a small knife, and within moments sliced the ropes that held me up."

   I started to mention something about the drop, but the malicious grin on Andre’s face stopped me. I suppose that since I did try to kill him, he was probably exacting a little revenge, and probably less than what I deserve. Which did not lessen the severity with which I cussed him out when the glutes hit the mud. It hurt like hell. I was furiously rubbing the sting out of my behind when Andre glided down from his perch and made a perfect landing next to me.
   “Thanks,” I said.
   “It was the least I could do after you destroyed our transportation, lost our companions, and lost the damn Key!”
   “The Key? What key? I don’t know jack about a key?” Once again, Andre had displayed a real talent for pissing me off.
   Right then, I felt tremendous pressure on my shoulders. I was spun around and Andre was suddenly in my face, so close that I was under the brim of his hat. His green eyes were suddenly glowing with an eerie orange light. In a very quiet, very scary voice he said, “The lightsaber IS THE KEY, you dolt!”
   I squirmed against his grip, until I realized that he wasn’t touching me. At all. “Oooookay. Sorry. Nobody told me! I’m a little out of my league here and no…”
   “A little out of your league,” he sneered. “A little….boy, you have NO idea how out of your league you truly are.” The unseen force gripping me by the shoulders forced me away from Andre, and deposited me once again ass first in the mud. Crap, I thought, I’m ruining the tissue passing for my pants. I stood up and made a futile attempt to brush myself off as Andre pulled his hat down over his now normal eyes again and crossed his arms over his chest; I was sure he was glaring at me with contempt. So without a word, I turned and marched into the forest, looking for signs of the broken chopper, Debbie, Reza, or the lightsaber, and not necessarily in that order. All the while I was wondering: If Andre could manipulate me physically, levitate, and do some generally cool magic stuff, why the hell was he so scared when I was gonna chop his head off? The lightsaber was indeed a formidable weapon, but I’m not exactly Luke Freakin’ Skywalker with the damn thing, and unless Andre’s instincts for self-preservation were astronomically slow, and I didn’t think they were, he should have been able to put up SOME sort of defense, shouldn’t he? Then again, maybe not.

[meg_evonne]

"I’m not exactly Luke Freakin’ Skywalker with the damn thing, and unless Andre’s instincts for self-preservation were astronomically slow, and I didn’t think they were, he should have been able to put up SOME sort of defense, shouldn’t he? Then again, maybe not."   Again I forget to post the last line.   BTW--do we have a title  Virgin King of the Universe?   


I heard Andre following me in the brush, neither of us was very stealthy but in this jungle that probably wasn't possible.  We hadn't gone far when I felt my heart try to yank itself out of me through my back.  Angry I turned on Andre behind me.

"Stop it!" Now my heart was being yanked out of my chest.  It hurt, a lot.

"Stop what?" Andre replied and actually had the audacity to look innocent.

Another yank and I was pulled past him.  This time it hurt bad enough that I fell to my knees.  Something was dripping from my nose.  I reached up and touched it.  When I pulled it away my hand was covered in blood.  Another yank pulled me a good 20 feet through the underbrush of the jungle. That time I didn't even try to stand up and I collapsed into the ferns at my feet.  My body felt like it was winched in a giant's Indian rope burn and thought my eyes were going to pop out.

I heard was Andre racing through the underbrush to me.  He leaned over me looking concerned.  Something sort of wrapped me up, like I was inside a web cocoon.  The pain abated slightly, my heart was still crushing against my chest.  Andre must have picked me up in his arms because I no longer felt the dirt beneath me.  In fact I didn't hear the underbrush sounds either, even though we were moving fast, almost like flying.  Every so often I would groan and I thought Andre changed direction until my groans indicated the pain was less. 

Then, well frankly, I fainted and the pain did stop.  At least I hoped I fainted, as I slipped into unconsciousness I had the unpleasant thought that maybe I was dying.  'Great' twice in one day.  That's probably a record.

[Qualapec]

Then, well frankly, I fainted and the pain did stop.  At least I hoped I fainted, as I slipped into unconsciousness I had the unpleasant thought that maybe I was dying.  'Great' twice in one day.  That's probably a record.

I drifted in that haze for a while. When I finally came back to reality everything, and I mean everything hurt. I hurt in places that I didn't even know could hurt. My hurts had hurts. I dragged in a few shaky breaths and tried to open my eyes. This time they both opened. It seemed as though someone had been nice enough to release the pressure in my swollen eye.

A fire was cracking at the air not too far from me. Beyond that Andre was leaning against a large tree trunk. He might have been sleeping, but based off what I'd seen the last 24 hours I doubted he ever slept. "Andre...Hey! Andre." The words came out of my sore throat and brought with them their own discomforts. "Andre?"

"Don't move," He commanded lazily from under his hat. "The poison will spread quicker."

My heart rate quickened, "WHAT!!!"

"You've been poisoned. Don't move.  Is that a hard concept for you to grasp?" He sat up and one of his bones popped. "A Wraith Spider attacked you because you have higher levels of spiritual energy than I do. It poisoned you to break down the bonds between body and soul."

At my questioning look he continued.

"It means 'kill you' in dummy talk. Essencially...only worse then death. The spider eats your soul after the deterioration of your body, so you don't have to worry about the afterlife."

Upon hearing this I forced myself perfectly still, "So what do we do?"

He grabbed a stick and poked the fire. A log fell from the top, sending a flurry of sparks into the dark sky. "We, or more acurately, I have two choices. I could either make the one-day trek to the King's palace," he motioned with his hand, "That way. Which would provide you with immediate healer attention, but not so healthy for me. Or I could make a break for the small town of Marshwood in that direction. It's four days away and by then your brain would be equal to swiss cheese or you'd be dead. Their healer isn't worth much either. But my life would extend beyond the next couple of days."

A classic him or me situation, huh? I had no illusions of surviving on my own in this forest in my current state, and from the way he was talking it seemed it was only going to get worse. I couldn't navigate this place for the life of me. My survival depended almost entirely on him and whether or not he wanted to take the plunge. Literally. "Can't you just drop me off?" I asked, "You have some magic. Can't you just...fly away?"

He pulled back his sleeve. A ruby bracelette glinted in the firelight. "Because of this. Once I get within 30 feet our dear friend Reza or the King's guards it activates and my magic is useless."

So that's why he hadn't lifted a metaphysical finger to stop me when I tried to kill him. So, that wasn't an option for him either. He sat there, on the other side of our make-shift camp and I couldn't tell which direction the gears in that blond head were turning. It seemed as though he was actually considering both options. Why? How could my survival be more beneficial to him than his own survival? Did it have to do with his wife? The Emporor's New Concubine? Then again, who knew except Andre and the hat?

[GWiz]

BTW--do we have a title  Virgin King of the Universe?   

Like "Grand Poobah of the Multiverse", "His Imminently Imminent Imminence", and "His Royal High-Handedness", "Virgin King of the Universe" is a title only in Joey's mind..........

[GWiz]

How could my survival be more beneficial to him than his own survival? Did it have to do with his wife? The Emporor's New Concubine? Then again, who knew except Andre and the hat?

   “Does it come off?”
Andre did not reply. He was staring off into the distance to the left, as if listening intently. I didn’t turn my head and look; it hurt too much. I asked the question again.
   “What?” he replied as his reverie broke. He scowled down at me like I’d interrupted something important.
   “I said, ‘does it come off’?”
   “Does what come off?”
   “The bracelet, you imbecile! Can you get it off somehow?” I managed to check my rising impatience. So far, rash action and heated words hadn’t really done me much good. See? I was learning.
   “If I could get it off, don’t you think I’d have done so by now?” His head swiveled to the left again. I could see him getting tense as his hands clenched until his fingertips turned white.
   “What is it?” I asked.
   “Quiet, you fool!” he whispered out of the side of his mouth. “Someone’s coming.” He slowly backed up until he was out of my sight. My eyes roamed my immediate surroundings; purple, green, and brown trees and grass, a hodgepodge of color set against what seemed to be a fairly normal sky. I heard something or someone off to the left, but again winced in pain as I tried to turn my head to follow the sound. I gotta say, I was scared; Andre, pain in the patookus he might be, was at least companionship and I wasn’t exactly at my fighting best here. I sat there shivering with fear when the bushes just above my head parted, and Debbie’s smiling face appeared.
   “Well, hello there, handsome! You look a little….” The happy expression on her face faded to one of concern. “What’s happened?”
   “Spider bite.” I replied.
   “That sucks.” She said with a grin. “Lookee what I found.” She was waving my lightsaber over my face.

[meg_evonne]

"Great." Even as I uttered the sarcastic words, I felt the warmth of peace and lack of pain settling on my body.  The lightsabre, the key, whatever was making me feel better.  I vowed it would never leave my side again.  i reached out for it and drew it down under the blanket with me as I lay near the fire.  Andre was watching me closely and he must have seen the pain leave my body.  He shook his head back and forth in the negative and threw a stick he had been holding into the fire. 

"Debbie, have you see evidence of Reza?" he asked.

"No father, I have not." 

[Qualapec]

"No father, I have not."

Okay, I'll admit it, I've choked on a lot of things. Brocholii when I was little, a TV dinner when I was ten, brocholii again when I was fifteen closely followed by roast beef a couple months later (a very bad choking year for me), and on the night I turned 21 I inhaled some vodka which limited my breathing and hurt like Dante's inferno.

I have never, I repeat, never, choked on my own tongue. Hearing Debbie proclaim the obnoxious man in a hat her father made me inhale so fast that the sudden rush of air pulled my tongue along for the ride, effectively blocking my airway. I lay there a little bit and coughed really hard. The harsh movements sent new flows of hurt through me, which quickly vanished under the painkilling spell of the lightsabre. All of this before I very eloquently said, "You're his! So...the concubine in the palace is your mom. But...he's not that much older than me, and I'm thirty and you're thirty...so how?" I blathered on uncontrollably for a few moments.

Debbie sighed, "We're magic touched. Mages. It's what makes us not human enough to wield the Wildflower. And our lifespans and appearence of youth are enhanced according to our power. I'm actually closer to 70. Andre's almost 200."

I noticed that she tended to call him Andre instead of proclaiming him her sperm doner. Why had she bothered to tell me now?

The answer came simply, to prevent a repeat of the incident on the helicopter. Oops.

Andre was looking at her as if annoyed. It was odd. They acted more like partners in crime then father and daughter. Yet again he fiddled with his hat, "The Wildflower has power. It can take his pain away but it won't stop the poison."

Debbie glanced at me, then back at Andre, "So it was a wraith spider?" After Andre nodded she swore something in another language that I was certain one would not utter in a friendly setting. "He needs a healer."

"I know, Debyone. But in case you haven't noticed a stroll into the King's palace will be very, very short. For us. He gets to be the King's little lapdog. We get a vertical drop to the spiritual plain!"

Debbie looked away, then back at me. "Andre, if he dies there will be nothing to stop the Emperor. He's just going to continue to advance, and rape and pillage and control. Did you see those people in prison outpost? What the Imperial Guard did to them? It's going to be like that until someone has the power to stand up to him." She motioned to me, "Unfortunately this weak willed, simple minded, pasty skinned jerk is probably the only one who has the power."

I wasn't even going to reward that with a response...mostly because most of it was true. I had not had a tan in a very long time and I was admittedly weak willed. And based off my actions in the helecopter I was a bit of a jerk. But I was most certainly not simple minded.

Andre leaned against the tree as he contemplated what Debbie had said. "Fine. Here's what's going to happen. I'm going to take the simpleton to the King's palace. You're going to flee to Marshwood before we run into Reza again. I have a friend there who can take the shackle off. After that just lay low in some backwater world until the heats off. That way your little hero here survives and there's someone to go on if this all blows up in our faces, think you can handle that?"

He spoke of it so cavalierly. You'd think he was organizing a family camping trip rather than offering up his life. The true weight of what he said showed only in the way Debbie responded to it. Her face twisted into a shape somewhere between sadness, amazement and anguish. They stayed like that, staring at each other for a long time.

"Hey, don't I have a say in this?" I called up.

"No!" They both snapped, breaking their eye contact. When Debbie's face turned to me I saw fresh streaks of wet down to her jawline.

Damnit.

I always hated to see her cry.

[GWiz]

I always hated to see her cry.

   Being left out of conversations happens to me all the time. Being left out of conversations taking place around me, about me, happens all the time too. But it was getting really old. I’d been forced into a situation that I knew nothing about, didn’t ask for, and was being led blindly through. While Debbie and Daddy dearest held a private conference a little ways off, I started pondering just whose interest I was serving. Could it be that, as had been portrayed so far, the dynamic duo intent on sending me to the King wasn’t necessarily looking out for my best interests? Debbie had been a friend, even a good friend, for only a little while, but as was so obvious now, held back a lot about who and what she was. Maybe they really were criminals, and the only way to save themselves was to somehow use me and the Wildflower to exact some measure of revenge before they met the noose. The only one who’d given me answers was Reza. Not that I had much reason to trust her, either.
   Face it, I told myself, I can only rely on me. I finally made the effort to stand, which was a lot less painful than I thought it would be. I still felt like the Sunday game ball on Monday morning. I glanced at Debbie and Andre, who were watching me intently, as if they expected me to rush them with the lightsaber. Which I briefly thought about, then discarded as a bad idea, in a long line of bad ideas that got me here in the first place. But I stared at the Wildflower for a moment, just to let them stew for a moment, then said, “How long have I got?”

[meg_evonne]

"If you lay flat and don't move maybe another hour or two.  If you want to be an idiot kid and try to stand up like you are now, or walking around---about five minutes, if you are lucky."

I trusted his comment and slowly lowered to the ground again.  Still I had the Wildflower and apparently that entailed a great deal of power, enough to stop the Emporer if I believed.  If I really needed something....

"You guys need to get out of here, because I'm going to start hoping really hard for some of the Imperial Forces to come by to get me to a healer."

"What a minute kid."  Andre started forward.

Debbie stopped him, a hand on his shoulder.   "He's right.  We need to get out of here."  She stepped over to me and knelt down, touching my face gently.  "When they heal you, He will try to win you to his side and have you to fight Him.  He will use anything and anyone to get what He wants.  There is more at stake than you can imagine, but for now you must understand that if you work with Him--your earth that you know will be over.  Think, don't act without thinking out your options."  She lowered her lips to my forehead, kissing it gently, and then started to pull back.  I wouldn't put up with it and my hand took her by the neck and pulled her back.  Our lips touched for a brief moment but Andre was suddenly there pulling her back-away from me. 

"Enough of that.  Let's go."  They faded into the forest, literally faded.  It was freaky. 

I looked at the lightsabre and wondered what I was supposed to say to it.  i finally tried, "Get me to a healer."  No bear minions showed up, instead I faded as well.  When I re-materialized I was laying outside a stone hut positioned outside a giant stone fortess, complete with a smelly moat.  They didn't tell you that the moat was the septic system when you read fairy tales.

I groaned at sudden pain in my stomach.  The poison was doing its bit.  I picked up the lightsabre and knocked on the wood door.  I heard footsteps from within.  I looked up again at the fortress.  I was on my own.  No Andre, no Debbie.  I supposed Reza might be inside there, but even if she was I needed to do this on my own.  The stakes were too high to gamble on anyone else.

The door creaked open.

[GWiz]

The door creaked open.

   It was black, black, black inside the doorway. I peered inside but couldn’t see anything. A disembodied voice lilted from inside.
   “Come in, come in. What ails the young master?” It was a beautiful voice, soft and smooth. I hesitated for a moment, and then another cramp gripped my insides like a vice. I considered firing up my trusty lightsaber, Wildflower. I started giggling. My trusty blade, Wildflower! My trusty steed, Silver! I giggled furiously as I stepped over the threshold, unable to help myself. The minute I crossed into the hut, the world around me changed.
   I was standing in a small, cozy  room. Soft light from what seemed hundreds of miniature hanging globes lit the interior like glowing motes of stardust. The room was dominated by a huge wooden table placed directly in the center of the room, surrounded on the floor by a spiraling line of sigils and runes radiating from the base of the table all the way to the walls. My eyes were drawn to some movement off to the side.
   My host was absolutely stunning. She was all woman, from the waist up. Beautiful firebrand hair caught up in a bun, lovely smooth skin the green-blue color of a stormy sea. Her four breasts were covered (if you can call it that) with a diaphanous material that closely matched the color of her hair, and complemented the bright green fur that covered the rest of her body. I was thinking caterpillar. Ten, maybe twelve segments composed her lower half, each with its own set of double jointed legs. She flowed towards me, red eyes glowing brightly.
   “Injured, young master? Are you hurt? D’Vaisa can help you, to be sure.”
   “Spider,” I slurred, unable to control the now copious amounts of saliva streaming from the corners of my mouth. Which got me to giggling again, which caused even more cramping. I moaned in pain and dropped to my knees, which put me about face to face with my lovely doctor.
   “I can help, young master!” She lifted me as easily as a child might lift a doll and flowed to the table. “Up you go! We have little time, so please lie still, young master.” She raised herself up, each segment lifting from the floor until she stood on five pairs of legs, and gently laid me on the table. I smiled, drooled and doubled up with the now excruciating pain coursing through every inch of my body. The healer left my sight for a moment and then returned, carrying a vial of orange, glowing liquid. She pulled the stopper and raised it to my lips. It burned its way down my throat as I lay convulsing on the table, and then the world dimmed, went dark, and the sound of the healer’s chanting slowly faded away as I passed out.

[Qualapec]

It burned its way down my throat as I lay convulsing on the table, and then the world dimmed, went dark, and the sound of the healer’s chanting slowly faded away as I passed out.

I woke up to see the beautiful Reza by my bedside, reading an old book in a text I didn't recognize. "Hey," I said through a dry mouth, "How did you survive the fall?"

She didn't look up from the book right away, she read until the end of the paragraph before putting it down and adressing me, "The pilot caught me as we fell. You're very lucky to be alive, it's good you made it here on time."

"Yep, that's me Lukcy McLuckster." I replied with something short of lightning intelligence.

Reza smiled, for the first time he noticed clusters of small scratches on her face and hands. Clearly from trapsing around the jungle. "You are very fortunate. You've slept for two of your days, the healers feared you might not waken. But they were...you know, encouraged by the King."

"You mean threatened."

"That too. But now that you live them and their families will be showered with riches and praises." She shifted from her seat and moved over to the bed I lay in. She sat on the edge and purposely placed a hand at a place high enough on the thigh to effect subconcious, but low enough to appear friendly, "As soon as you are well you will begin your service of the King. You will hold a most honorable position in his court." She scooched up towards me just a little bit further, so did the hand. "However, if you want to gain his favor immediately I want you to tell us something that will help the King secure his power against the Emperor."

I tried not to focus on her coveiniently placed hand. "Yeah, what would that be?"

She leaned in close, really close. So that I could have tilted my head and kissed her. Her lips came right next to my ear as the grip on my thigh tightened.

"I want you to tell me where Andre and Debyone Ursula are."

Her words sent chills down my spine that quelled the rising heat south of the equator.

[Kristine]

"I want you to tell me where Andre and Debyone Ursula are."

Her words sent chills down my spine that quelled the rising heat south of the equator.

Playing stupid wasn't hard, "I have no idea - I fell out of a helicopter, was bit by a poisonous spider and I've been unconscious for 2 days."  I said, telling myself it wasn't a complete lie - I couldn't be sure they were going in the direction they had said they would go, "Can I have some water please."

Reza moved back to pour a glass of rose colored liquid from a pitcher on the table next to my head.  She put her hand under my head to help me drink it.

"This will help you get your strength back." She said, looking at me like someone might look at a pet who had been frightened and hiding under the couch.  I was both relieved and supremely frustrated that I seemed to be so far over my head in things, that pity looked comforting to me.

"My Lord, He's awake." she called to someone in the next room.

I heard the healers many footed step followed by someone else. He had clear aquamarine colored almond shaped eyes with the kind of black hair that looked almost blue.  He was well built with a mother of pearl iridescent skin tone.  He was beautiful and radiated a power and confidence that made me want to join his army and follow this man into battle.

"I am glad to see you are alright." he said smiling gently, "I've been waiting for you."

I had a sudden realization that the light saber was on a table on the other side of the room.  Not that I needed it right now, only it was like it had tapped me on the shoulder in my mind.  When I concentrated on it and looked at him I could see that the smile was an act, and though the power that radiated from him was real, it was manipulative and calculating.  The man embodied the philosophies of Machiavelli.

"how can I assist you?" I croaked.