Path: usenet.ee.pdx.edu!cs.uoregon.edu!news.uoregon.edu!inquo!vyzynz!news1.cris.com!news2.acs.oakland.edu!news.tacom.army.mil!ulowell.uml.edu!wang!news.kei.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!in2.uu.net!not-for-mail From: guido@hp67.rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de (Guido Roessling) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.archives Subject: STORY: Qelrik part 91 Followup-To: rec.games.frp.misc Date: 7 Feb 1996 11:14:12 -0500 Organization: TH Darmstadt Lines: 174 Sender: smm@uunet.uu.net Approved: smm@uunet.uu.net Distribution: world Message-ID: <4faj4k$50g@rodan.UU.NET> NNTP-Posting-Host: rodan.uu.net The Temptation ============== Dahlarin made it to Fox's side within an instant of her hitting the ground. He knelt beside her, and grabbed her shoulder, turning her to face upward. Her eyes were closed and her face was pale. Thinking quickly, he gently brushed back her hair from her neck and checked for a pulse. He felt a brief moment of alarm when he didn't find one. Calling upon all the powers of discipline his magic had taught him, he took a couple of deep breaths, and listened more carefully with his fingertips. Sure enough, her pulse was there, but faint and rapid. He brushed his silver hair back from his face, and leaned toward her mouth, listening for her breathing. It was there too, but shallow and light. She was alive, but barely. Although Dahlarin knew a little of medical practices, he was no expert by far. "PERCY!!", he called out as loudly as he dared. His voice echoed in the cavernous ruins and Growler raised his head questioningly from his vigil. Dahlarin winced at the way his voice seemed to echo on and on. If there was anything else in these caverns besides them, it would surely hear him. Hearing no response from Percy, Dahlarin returned to his examination of Fox. He ran his fingers along the stitches on her cheek. No discolouring. Dahlarin knew only a little of poisons, but he knew enough that the entry point of a poison with this drastic of an effect would be discoloured or swollen. The wound was neither. ^Use it...^, a voice whispered ever so softly. Dahlarin jumped and whirled around, but nobody was near. A low, whispering chuckle was the only response. "Damn you!", Dahlarin breathed to himself. "I did not summon you!" ^Yesss.^, the voice replied softly, then paused. ^You did.^ Silence settled over the cavern, and Dahlarin quickly returned his attention to Fox. Carefully, he raised her eyelid and looked into her unseeing eyes. She was unconscious, possibly in a coma. Beyond that he could tell nothing, but he noticed uneasily that his hand was beginning to shake. ^You know what to do.^, the voice stated firmly, no longer a whisper. ^Your friend will not return in time.^ The voice paused, letting the effect sink in as Dahlarin tried in vain to block the voice that only he could hear. ^She will DIE!^ "She WON'T!", Dahlarin replied forcefully, his voice echoing unexpectedly in the chamber. ^But you don't know that for sure... unless you use it.^, the voice said as it slowly faded into the distance. ^Use it^, echoed in his mind in a parody of the voice. ^use it....^ Dahlarin cast a quick spell, his hand jerking firmly in the movements of the spell, as if forcing it not to shake. A beam of light that only he could see flashed down the corridor that Percy had exited by. After a moment, the beam vanished. "Percy's nowhere near.", he said despondently to himself. Though he could not hear it, he knew the voice was laughing. Willing himself to the inevitable, he began drawing from the power around him, within him, within all of his companions nearby. In the centre of the cavern, the fire dimmed slightly and became more smoky. Dahlarin sat cross-legged beside Fox, unmoving, his head down and his hair obscuring his face. Clenching his eyes shut he concentrated. The flow of power came surprisingly easy, surprising especially considering he had not practised these arts for nearly a decade. Long ago, he had vowed never to use them again... the dark arts of necromancy. Only seconds had passed when he raised his head and placed his hands palm down on Fox. His silver hand he place over her heart, and his other he placed over her throat. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at her, looked _into_ her. If anyone at this moment were to look into his eyes, they would see eyes that were almost all pupil, making them look like a bottomless black void. Through these eyes he saw Fox for only a brief instant, before being jolted out of the spell like receiving a forceful slap across the face. "Gods!", he breathed, feeling all the blood drain from his face. His eyes immediately returned to normal, but he continued staring into space. He shook his head slowly, unable to speak. He looked back down at Fox, and quickly and reflexively drew his hands off of her, as if loathe to touch her. Hesitantly, he touched her again with his good hand, gently running his hand across her jaw. "It can't be... the spell says she's...", he shivered involuntarily. "...she's dead!". For a moment he watched her chest move slowly as she breathed. "No, not dead.", he reflected, viewing in his mind what he had seen. "Dead, but alive... yet not undead." He gazed at her for a moment. "I don't understand!", he whispered fiercely at her, as if she would answer him. "It's still not the problem.", he mused, analyzing what he had seen, "It's not related to her collapsing. It's her natural state... if it could be called natural. No. It's in her head. Some sort of exhaustion. It's almost like...", he trailed off for a moment. At that, he heard Percy coming back down the corridor, obviously hurrying. In a moment, Percy entered the chamber in a flurry of colours. He shot a quick puzzled glance at the fire, but his attention immediately returned to Dahlarin and Fox. "I say! What's all the hubbub about? You shouted loud enough to wake the dead, what?" He opened his mouth to continue, but immediately shut it upon reaching Fox's prone figure. "Goodness!", he exclaimed, "She take a tumble now, did she?" Without waiting for an answer, Percy quickly and thoroughly examined Fox. Dahlarin watched without saying a word. "Dear me! Do you know what happened there old chap? Looks like she's gone and tuckered herself all out, what? She's not just sleeping though, I'd say. Looks like she's gone and put herself right into a coma! Don't see that very often now, do we!" Percy glanced up at Dahlarin for a moment, and they both locked gazes for a moment. 'He knows!', Dahlarin thought for a moment, then dismissed the thought. There was no way Percy could know. He heard himself talking, as if from a distance. "Looks like her mind has shut down. It's some sort of spell exhaustion. Mages get it if they overextend themselves in casting. It can get pretty serious. Still, I don't remember her casting any spells... but she did mention she was a far-seer, or far-senser or something. Maybe that's relevant.", he suggested hopefully. Dahlarin felt himself drifting slightly, and willed himself back to the present. Yes, it was serious all right, and he should know. He was on the verge of it himself. He had to get sleep, and soon. "She may come out of it on her own. Sometimes they do that. I say we give it a few hours and see. If she doesn't come out of it by then...", he paused for a moment and collected his thoughts. 'Then what', he thought to himself. 'We sit around for a few more days and wait for her to starve to death in the coma?'. He shook his head. "Then we'll have to find someone who can help her. If we could get to a major city I might be able to find help through a mage's guild, but there's small hope of finding one way out here." Dahlarin leaned back against the wall of the cavern, only to realize he was sitting a good twenty feet away from it. As he tried to catch himself from falling backward, he found Percy supporting him, though how Percy got behind him so fast he could never tell. "Easy there chap! You're going to end up in a fix like her in a minute. Lay down over here.", he carefully guided Dahlarin to the bedroll Dahlarin had laid out earlier. "That's it. Don't you worry about Fox, I'll take care of it in a jiffy! She'll likely be up and about before you are! Sleep now.", he ordered. And Dahlarin willingly obeyed. -- Guido Roessling dida@pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de guido@rbg.informatik.th-darmstadt.de http://www.pu.informatik.th-darmstadt.de/dida/welcome.html -------------------------------------- Do not follow me, I might not lead. Do not lead me, I might not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.