"Did I warn you to keep the kitchen clean??!!!!"
"Yes sir, " the scared servant rattled..."I took care to tend the scraps.
I made sure milord, all was clean..."
"Then explain the rat in the living quarters!!!!!" His voice exploded
and all the staff hunkered down as to escape his eye.
"Look, kiddo,,," he struggled to regain his temper. Emotions were his
weapons, and tearing this lil pup to pieces would only bring temporary
joy. "you are working
hard at keeping the vermin out. But , something has been missed..�
Something has made it past you. Find a way to correct it, or I will find
another to replace you"
"Yes milord," The young man bolted for the door, eager to mend the
error.
Ice walked away and up the stairs to the bar of the Drunken Rhino. He
sat� at his favorite table, giving him a view of the whole bar. "Rats
.............hmmmmm.........maybe"
"That would be evil of even you , my brother..."Kenta said as he sat
two mugs of mead down on the table.
"Learning to think around corners has its advantages...."
�-----------------------------
"At the door, the two cloth golhems muttered low so not to be heard.
"They are thinking again,, I can smell it from here"
"Shush Reno, before I clot your fuzzy head. Anyways, Ermot will tell
us tonight after everyone is gone."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Angry mutters filled the Laughing Rhino.� Kenta listened intently.�
Usually this type of talk led to valuable info, or fights. "Rheno, Rhinehold;
stand ready"
"sure thing boss" they answered in unison.
"all our gold going into the castle, plus levies.....it isnt right I
tell� you" the tired farmer agrued loudly.
"I'm telling you, the bloody rebels are taking it all"
"and I'm telling you they ain't, otherwise why give us back any of
it? Hell if it wasnt' for the Dark Lady's men, I would have the coppers
to buy the� worst drink in this
place.....that's if� Squire Ice would part with the stuff."
the other man shudders just thinking of the bottle labeled "try me"
sitting in plain view on the bar.....
"so then where is the money? the rebels say that there hasn't been
a shipment� of hard cash seized yet.� Every other thing you could
imagine....weapons,� food, armor;
even furniture and clothes, but not a lot of cash.
============================================================
rain fell thick in the woods.......
"dammit if I gotta wait much longer, I'll be smelling wet wool forever.
How are we suppost to ambush them if they smell us comming from a mile
away?"
"keep quiet...somethings comming"
out of the gloom a cloaked horseman rode......and reigned in at a fork
in the road.
"a rode less traveled is the one straight through" he intoned with
bright flash of light, a doorway opened......headed straight into a distant
city.
in the light, it was impossible to hide....as the caracvan rode through,�
bowstrings twanged and two bandits lay dead for the ravens to eat.....
the wolf shook his head sadly, he had enjoyed watching the bandits scurry
around in his woods, patheticaly tring to hide from the four legs and tin
cans....he had
enjoyed their banter....but now the master would need to know.
The wagons were getting in, and two good men lay dead in the forrest.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shatter and I walk back into my tower both laughing.
"You're evil, Change."
"Well I wasn't the one who attacked first."
"We'll you said, "Go get her, Shatter."
"True, I did. Didn't I?
"Yes."
"MEWORR!!"
"WHAT! Oh hi Jester." My pet cabbit just showed up with a scroll. A scroll?
"Well I gotta go, Change. Bye."
"Good Journey, Shatter."
I pick up the scroll.
"Thank you Jester."
He meow and wanders off
The scroll reads
Changeling
Your skills in your profession have been considered highly dubious. Somehow thou you always end up closest to your target. How you manage that is beyond us.
Anyway we have need of your services.� A certain person needs
to be removed from their current position and we would like you� to do this.
We will pay well.
Your Mysterious Client
Hmm, a riddle? I'm seeing a game in this.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deep inside the castle, down where no human had ventured in years, beneath
the darkest holding cell, below the murkiest sinkhole, where light never
ventured, an
elite force crawled thru the cracks and crevices, searching
their way thru the blackness to their goal. Quite and content to be
in the filth that flowed into these places, they hurried on. Pits of sewage
and rivers of stale water
could not deter these hunters of the night. Their leader pressed foward,
his goal set and his resolve undaunted. Ahead of the secret force, and
grate of iron closed off
a tunnel . Their bodies fanned out to form a line . One by one they
squeezed thru , head , then shoulders, then bodies to journey beyond.�
Slowly , they made their
way to the dungeons of the lowest levels. Travel by these paths was
the only way to gain this advantage .One by one they entered� the
different prison holds,
searching out their positions as directed by their leader.
"Stay here and feed till you see the hairless one. Then do your best." Ermot scurried away to find the dove in the cage. "Boy will she be surprised," he mused.
The rats he left behind began to find their nooks that would be thier
home for a few days. Rats had a way of surviving on the smallest things.
--------------------------------------------------------
Tanara slept , for a change. Covers draped over her body clung to her
shape. Breaths of air whispered into the night. Ermot crawled toward her
, quite as a mouse,
allthough he was a rat , a stuffed rat at that,. Being a cloth golhem
had its advantages. No clicking of toe nails on the floor to give away
his position. With a quick hop
he ascended the huge bed where she lay. He nuzzeled up close to her
, and as he had hoped, she drew him close and snuggeled. "ahhhhhhhh ..."
Larin had told him to get close and see what Tanara was up to. wow
would he be surprised.
---------------------------------------------------------
"I said tell that ugly retard that I am here to kill him. Ask him if
he wants it by blade or by magic"
" SIEZE HIM !!!!!" shouted the gate guard. A rush of soldiers took
hold of� the scragly man with a funny hat ..bright yellow with a dark
band.
" I said take me to him, not throw me at him ,, " the fellow cackeled.
His laughter rattled the guards holding him.
----------------------------------------------------------
"Thats what I said sir. He claims to be here to kill you" Sean wasnt sure that telling the king about the crazed man was a good idea.,
" What idiot would send a man to kill me and announce it???" McFadden
was ready for sleep after the day he had had. Fools all over the kingdom
were ranting at
him and about him. Being King had its low points. Only one good
thing had come of the day . Maybe now his guard would learn teamwork
with the new recruits. Their price was high, but well worth it." Look ,
I'm going to sleep ,
keep the moron in the cells till I can figure out this mess. "
==============================
"You mean the King wont even come to see me, even after you told him
what I said. ?"
"No, any fool that would claim to be an assassin aloud deserves to
sweat it out in the dark. "
Sean tossed the candle to the floor...." And pray that the rats dont
nibble yout limbs off. I hear they are bad this week, "
" You may regret that pup, for even the walls have ears in your dreams
. "
Sean turned back at the "pup " comment, but dismissed it as a fools
words,,
" One, Two, threee, fourrr, fiveeee sixxx sven............."
------------------------------------------------
Darkness settled into the castle as all took their leave... Sean climbed
into bed , ready for the rest. His arm settled over his bed partner , only
to feel a furry clump .
The explosion from deep within the castle shook him to the floor, as
well as his mate. Her screaming at the fuzzy white clump in her hands was
nerve shaking, despite
the shaking of the floor . " What the bloody hell was that?"
" Sir ,, sir??? are you awake?" called the servant from outside the
door.
" I have to go. but I will be back "
" umm um ok" tanara told him as she stared at the lil white mess in
her hands.
=================
" Sir .,,all that was heard was the prisoner counting,, them the cell
block exploded,, and down the halls, other smaller blasts erupted. Reports
are coming in from all
over the keep"
" What the hell was it??; Is the prisoner still in the cell?":
" No sir," he told sean '" He was the one that started the explosion,
It was him, He blew up/ "
"WHAT???"
" Yes sir, and two other guards said that the rats poped as well, Delvon
said he saw a rat burst into flames while pilfering food from cell block
AA23."
" So the moron was a wizard, But why waste a wizard to blow up a cell
block??';
" Excuse me sir??'
" Nothing' sean hurried back to see the king, Thing were getting more
and more complicated , and a hell of alot closer to home.
++=======
"wasnt a clu clone,,, maybe a wizard clone,,, he didnt tell you?"
" No ermot ,, he didnt tell me any of this....."
" Well tanara , you know he wont tell you everything if it serves his
purpose."
�
�