What has happened before:  Ranma and his friends have been
living in a magical world for the last ten years, having
been de-aged to six-year-old initially.  The entire crew
have grown up living with the curses and Ranma (now known
as Raeni) is a well-adjusted, powerful teenager.  He/she
search for his friends to gather them for a future
confrontation.

Last time, Raeni and Uerris (once known as Ukyou)
encountered a part of the force that had captured Uerris'
father.  The enemy were defeated soundly.  With the enemy
leader apparently injured and on the defensive, the two
now hope to get some solid answers.

Sword and Sorcery
Chapter 14

by D.Fire
phongb9@idt.net

	Although both the sorceress and the ranger hurried to
the place of the voice, neither took for granted the fact
that Raeni had managed to hit something, or someone.  For
all either knew, the mysterious ringleader could be faking
it, just to lull the two into lowering their guard.

	As Raeni moved farther away from the fire, the only
source of light in the clearing, she slowed her pace
accordingly, caution in the forefront of her mind.  She
had only read of the Order of Night in shadowed legends
when she had perused the magnificent library of her dead
mentor.  From what little she knew (the tomes only
obliquely hinted at the existence of the Order), she
surmised that the Assassin-Mage guild imposed a hellish
training on the poor children that they snatched off the
street.  A stealthy killer trained from early childhood. 
Raeni shuddered to think of what manner of beast such an
upbringing would create.  In fact, in the darkness before
her, most probably one awaited her.

	Uerris trailed Raeni more slowly, keeping an
increasing distance between her and the mage.  This
circumstance was planned for, when she and the sorceress
had made impromptu strategies when they had been back at
the house.  The idea was simple.  When both were fairly
sure that they faced the assassin, one would take point. 
Since Raeni charged off into the darkness first, Uerris
assumed that the mage would be point.  The secondary,
herself, would follow more slowly but would keep a
reasonable distance, just in case the killer planned an
attack that could take both of them out at once.  Neither
she nor Raeni knew of assassins' tricks, so this plan
seemed safest.

	Uerris hoped that it was enough.  If both she and
mage failed, she hoped that her mother would be able to
avenge her death with the mob that she guessed was forming
back at the village right at this moment.  Uerris realized
that the tiniest mistake would result in her death or the
death of the one who was fast becoming dear to her heart,
a heart that leapt to her throat upon seeing the mage
suddenly come to stop.  Raeni looked like she was ...
hitting herself on the forehead?

	Raeni braked to a sudden standstill and slapped a
hand to her brow.  She turned and gave a sheepish look to
Uerris.  'Baka!  Baka!  What am I thinking?'  she muttered
silently to herself.  She peered into darkness before her.
'Darkness is my enemy and his friend.  Well, assassin,
say good-bye to your ally!'  With a whispered warning to
the girl following her, Raeni held up one hand before her
and concentrated.  She incanted in a low voice, "Light,
bind thyself to my command, Aveni Mirus Benali."

	For a few seconds, nothing happened.  Then, slowly at
first, light began spreading, starting centered from her
hand.

	Uerris didn't catch the mage's whispered warning. 
The sound of her heart quickly beating had drowned out any
other sound that might have entered her ears.  She
regained her composure and her loud thumping slowed when
she saw Raeni acting ... normally, as if normal could be a
word easily applied to the young red-head.  

	Uerris missed the invocation but wonderingly observed
its result.  She watched as the volume of the light pushed
outward from the sorceress' upheld hand.  

	Initially a small sphere, the light forced the
darkness away, ballooning unevenly, with short tendrils of
light leading the way.  When the light approached her own
position, Uerris almost winced at its life-like movements,
but the edge rushed upon and by her before she could react
and spread out behind her like wildfire unchained.  The
ranger whirled around and caught sight of the light, a
curtain separating darkness from light proceeding off into
the distance.  She watched enthralled until she could no
longer distinguish the magic-made day from the night.

	Uerris abruptly spun back, the deadly business at
hand forcing itself back into the fore of her mind. 
Fortunately for her, nothing untoward had happened in the
span of her enraptured state.  Raeni had lowered her hand
and steadily stared in the direction in which she was
stalking.

	The ranger followed the sorceress' gaze, stepping
back when she tracked its target.  Located several trees
behind the perimeter of the clearing, a perfect sphere of
gray flickered in and out of existence.  Between flickers,
Uerris could see the mage's shaft of conjured flame
piercing through the chest of a cloaked figure, which she
assumed was the mysterious assassin.

	The drow, or dark elf, shook uncontrollably, pinned
to the tree like a bug in a entomologist's grotesque
collection.  Little wisps of white hair escaped from under
his hood to dance macabrely with the rhythm of his
shaking.  The sphere of gray winked out of existence for
one last time, and the elf stilled.

	For a long moment, both girls thought that Raeni's
magical javelin had finished him off.  What happened next
was startling.  Reality suddenly blurred around the drow
as he sank backwards into the tree.  He did not leap off
the branch or move in any physically possible way.  The
assassin simply shifted backwards as though the solid body
of the tree had not held him there mere moments before.

	Once far enough away from the twisted tree, the elf
floated slowly to the ground.  One hand was held to his
chest, covering the expected wound, but when the hand
dropped, the girls could see that the wound had stopped
bleeding, although blood darkened his already black
overcloak.

	The figure gasped, "Very good, mage."  His voice
barely reached the two girls.  Mellifluous overtones
flowed throughout his speech, and he spoke with an almost
hypnotizing tongue.  "I did not think anybody could catch
me off guard like that.  My name is Daved, ladies."

	The elf bowed with courtly manners, seemingly
according them with honors.  He continued, "It has been
hundreds of years since I have met someone of your
caliber.  Of course, I killed them."  He flashed into
motion in a blink of an eye.  Daved flowed through the
woods, not even seeming to touch the ground.  As he
retreated from the stunned pair, the elf taunted over his
shoulder, "Follow me, if you dare!"

	The spear of fire remained in its position, its flame
quietly crackling into the silent woods.  Raeni and Uerris
quickly followed the elf into the forest.

	***

	The chase had continued for several minutes when the
pursuers noticed a change in their quarry.  Daved no
longer sped in a straight line in leading the hunters. 
They had managed to pull within twenty paces of the elf
when he started bobbing and weaving through the trees.

	Raeni was perplexed.  She watched as the elf jumped
down to the ground at several points, to only hop back to
the treetops soon after.

	The mage was so distracted by the elf's movements,
that she almost missed the thin line of black hanging
before her.  Not knowing what it was, she desperately
dodged.  Because she was vaulting through the air at the
time, she had no choice but to try to shift her weight and
hope it would be enough.  With delicate timing, she
forward-flipped over the black string, landing gracelessly
on the floor of the forest.

	Uerris rushed to Raeni's side, asking, "What's wrong,
Raeni?  Why'd you stop like that?"

	Raeni shook her head.  "I'm not too sure, Uerris.  I
thought I saw something blocking my way."  She peered
upward and pointed.  "See that?"

	Only by squinting, did Uerris distinguish the
unnatural black string from the rest of the forest.  Where
the string merged with the dark night, she could not find
it at all.  Uerris searched on the ground and found a
rock.  She threw it with pin-point accuracy at what she
supposed was their obstacle and watched shocked as the
rock was cleanly split in two on contact with the wire. 
"Um.  You almost hit THAT?"  She turned to Raeni.

	Raeni clutched her middle in sympathetic pain and
nodded.  "Man, we gotta avoid his little trapped area. 
That stuff's sharp!"  The elf, by this time, was almost
out of sight.  Raeni quickly decided., "I'll follow his
path from the treetops.  Uerris, you try to get around
this area from the ground.  I should be all right if I
follow his path exactly."

	"Wait, Raeni!" shouted Uerris as she caught onto
Raeni's arm.  Taking out a dagger, she tossed it,
following the trajectory of the rock before.  This time,
the string was the one cleanly cut from its encounter, and
it fell slowly to the ground.  "It's just like string. 
Use a dagger to cut it."

	Raeni nodded in agreement and hopped once more to the
tree tops.  She tried to recall the various jumps and
ascensions the dark master had performed but quickly gave
up that tactic as a lost cause.  She would never be able
to follow him exactly.  Her best hope would be to carry a
weapon in front of her and cut through any dangerous wires
in her way.

	Pulling together her determination, Raeni retrieved
her two-handed blade from its normal resting place in a
sub-dimension.  It would be more cumbersome to jump while
carrying the thing, but it seemed like a necessary
sacrifice.  She looked ahead and saw Daved's quickly
retreating back.  'Damn!  I can barely see that morbid
cloak of his!'  Not wasting any more time, she followed
him directly, trusting to her own keen sight and lightning
reflexes to keep herself safe.

	Uerris, meanwhile, copied the movements of the mage
perched above her.  She pulled her long sword from the
scabbard at her side and proceeded to follow the hooded
assassin from the ground.

	Her mind had been churning over the past several
minutes while she wondered where her father was.  If what
she had examined back in the clearing wasn't her father,
then the young healer had no idea where he could be. 
There was no doubt, however, that the assassin had somehow
waylaid the old ranger.  What she had examined had
duplicated her father down to the flecks of white in his
beard.

	Uerris reasoned that in order for that to happen, the
assassin must have had intimate knowledge of her missing
parent.  Uerris gritted her teeth as she gathered her
resolve to catch the miscreant and pound any information
about her father out of him.

	***

	Daved had simply disappeared.  Raeni knew he was
around here somewhere, but he had managed to elude her
senses.  She and Uerris had followed him to this section
of the woods and had cut the distance between them when
the elf had vanished.

	Both she and the ranger had immediately ground to a
halt, her stopping at the next available perch while
Uerris skidded to a stop.  Although neither spoke, both
realized the implication.  The assassin was setting up an
ambush.  

	Raeni pulled out some daggers and waved a hand over
them, muttering, "Seek thy prey, Latus Iridem."  The
daggers floated up from her hand and stayed there, waiting
for her mental call.  Although she hated to put another in
danger, she had a better view from up here, so she
reluctantly waved Uerris forward while she commanded the
floating arsenal to follow the girl from above.

	Uerris had no objections to being the bait, since her
stake in finding and subduing the killer outweighed the
mage's.  The elf held her father somewhere, and unless
they caught him, the old ranger was as good as dead.  

	'But what if Father is already dead?' her fear spoke
from the back of her mind.  Uerris ruthlessly pushed the
thought away.  'He can't be!' she screamed back
internally.  Her strong father couldn't be dead!  

	Images flashed through the ranger's mind as she
recalled the details of her happy childhood, with Father's
presence firmly in her memories.  Again, Uerris gritted
her teeth, forcing away the tears that threatened to spill
down her face.  'I can't break down now!  Not with the
death-merchant hidden Palamus knows where!'

	Uerris squashed her impending grief and focused on
the present, slowly prowling through the forest.  She
tried her best to watch from all directions for any
possible attack.

	Uerris faced the direction in which she had seen the
deadly elf before he had mysteriously disappeared.  Her
eyes scanned the forest, searching for any discrepancies. 
Had the elf used invisibility, or was he lurking around
the next tree, waiting to pounce on her?

	Although she knew Raeni watched from above, she did
not take her guardian for granted.  The assassin that
faced them could be the single-most deadly being she had
ever met in her life.

	The healer's heart pounded loudly in her ears and
threatened to overwhelm her other senses while an
uncomfortable dryness settled in her mouth.  Not a single
sound reached her ears, not from the killer, nor from the
forest.  'The fauna of the woods must be terribly
disturbed.'  The realization suddenly hit her.  'The night
creatures blinded and fearful of the unnatural day, while
the day creatures are probably scared of the lighted
night.'

	Uerris passed a large oak tree but, seeing no danger,
moved on.  With her back facing the tree, she did not
notice the largish shadow creeping from a hole near the
trunk of the tree.  It slid out silently and approached
the girl on the ground.  

	A pace away from the unsuspecting Uerris, the inky
blackness suddenly reared back, a dagger-like shape
forming from its mass.  Before it could strike, however, a
dagger from above slammed into the seething darkness. 
Immediately following that, three other daggers zoomed in
from above and plunged themselves into the black spot.

	The noise from Raeni's attack alerted Uerris and she
spun around in time to see the shadow coalesce into a
solid shape.

	Using battle reactions a decade old, Uerris reached
across her front, her hand seeking a spatula from the
bandolier normally strapped across her chest but the hand
came up empty.  'Spatula?!' she wondered frantically. 
'Why am I reaching for a kitchen utensil?'  

	Any further questions would have to wait as the shape
surged from the ground, forming roughly into a biped
humanoid.  Uerris jumped up and backwards, away from her
malformed assailant, and managed to land safely on a perch
on a tree ten paces above the ground.  The
ranger-in-training quickly pulled the bow from her back,
notched an arrow, and let it fly.

	The shape below moved before the arrow could embed
itself in its flesh.  The assassin, as the firm shape
finally revealed, jumped almost directly up in avoiding
the projectile, but was smashed into a tree as Raeni's
flying jumpkick nailed him on the chest.  Raeni rebounded
from her attack and landed firmly on her feet while the
assassin managed a controlled tumble to the ground.

	The cowled elf hissed, "So you see through another of
my tricks!"  After getting to his feet, Daved pulled
several daggers from his body.  He sneered, "If these had
been my daggers, you would have killed me.  Let me return
the favor!"  In quick succession, he launched the bloodied
blades back at their owner

	The red-head would have none of it.  "Why, thank
you," Raeni bantered while she swatted the flying blades
down, "but you're too kind.  You needn't be so
enthusiastic on my account!"  The girl closed in for
close-combat with her sword in one hand.

	The hooded elf stood his ground and retrieved his own
daggers from the folds of his cloak, and calmly waited for
the mage's attack.  He almost laughed at the ludicrous
sight before him, but he was well warned of the girl's
fighting prowess from the previous encounter with the
mercenaries he had hired.

	Uerris, meanwhile, waited for a clear shot at the
assassin.  She cursed silently as she saw her friend close
in on the elf.  'With Raeni this close to him, any shot I
make might hit her!'

	At first, it did not seem like an even battle.  Raeni
seemed to barely block the deadly dance of daggers
targeting her, but the way she manipulated the sword in
her hand amazed Uerris.

	Again and again, the young sorceress seemed to move
the impromptu shield barely in time to meet the deadly
movement of the opposing daggers.  Raeni wielded the sword
with the grace of a fencer, and the movement of the sword
mirrored the actions of a rapier, not a weapon that
outmassed such a delicate blade by tenfold.

	The heavy blade held in Raeni's left hand was not
being used for offense, and so far, she had only been
blocking her enemy's attacks.  After several seconds of
clashing steel, Raeni finally brought her right hand into
play.

	The mage smiled viciously at her opponent as she
realized that although the elf was skilled, she was
better.  In no time, seemingly, Raeni landed several solid
blows on her enemy, striking randomly at the chest,
forearms, and legs.

	As each blow hit, Daved's concentration was
systematically broken.  Soon enough, it became evident
that it was all the elf could do to ward off most of
Raeni's punches and jabs.

	They came together a final time as Raeni managed to
snag both of her opponent's daggers on the blade of her
sword.  With a flick of her wrist, her enemy's weapons
were pulled from his hands, but before he could pull away,
she pulled back her right hand and slammed it into his
gut, causing him to vomit some blood onto her shirt.

	Raeni pulled back and watched him carefully.  She
demanded, "Where is Uerris' father?" as she narrowed her
eyes menacingly.

	The elf staggered backwards and leaned against a tree
for support.  He coughed several times before answering,
"Ha!  That old fool?  He's with whatever pitiful god he
worshipped!"

	Raeni's hand tightened on her blade while Uerris
almost released an arrow at the elf in reaction.

	"You'll never find his body.  No one but I knows
where he is!" the elf taunted the girls with an evil grin.
"And you'll never catch me!"  He started fading away, and
Raeni, fearing an imminent teleport, leapt at the cloaked
form intending to knock Daved out.

	At the last instant, the elf solidified and threw the
cloak before him in defense.  The blackness silently
swallowed Raeni before she could make a yell.

	"NOOOO!" screamed Uerris from where she crouched on a
high branch.  Furious, she rapidly filled the air with
arrows, aiming each one at the elf before her.  But Daved
reacted quicker than she anticipated, moving immediately
behind the tree he had leaned against.

	Uerris continued firing arrows down at her target,
regardless of the fact that because of the tree in the
way, she had virtually no chance of hitting him.  Anger
and grief overwhelmed her common sense.  Eventually, she
ran out of arrows.  'That's impossible,' she thought, but
sure enough, her quiver was empty.  'I loaded it with over
a hundred arrows last week!'  It didn't occur to her that
more arrows would have appeared, had she given it just a
little more time.

	Tossing aside the now useless weapon and quelling the
sobs that threatened to erupt, Uerris jumped down from her
perch and rushed at the tree behind which the elf hid. 
She neared the trunk with long sword in hand and thoughts
of death in her mind.  She wanted his death, Daved's
death, and nothing would stay her hand.  

	Again, a small voice whispered in the back of her
mind, 'What if he can bring back Raeni?'  She ignored it. 
This ... this ... monster had killed her father.  She
didn't care that it was an assassin only whispered of in
legend.  She didn't care that the thing just swallowed up
one of the most formidable fighters she had ever met.  It
must die!

	***

	A cool cloth rested on Raeni's forehead as she roused
to half-wakefulness.  'What?  Where?' was the first
thought that came to mind.  Shortly following that came a
frantic, 'The assassin!'  The last thing she remembered
was jumping at the elf and then ... falling.  No impact,
though, as far as she could recall.

	The cloak!  It had somehow pulled her in when her
foot touched it!  But that meant ...  Her eyes popped
open.  "Ucchan!" she blurted out.  Her childhood friend
was battling the killer alone!

	At first, she couldn't see anything at all, but she
soon realized that she was actually seeing something.  She
was in almost total darkness.  Above her, the sky seemed
... strange.  One moment, it had the consistency of a cave
wall.  The next, it gave the impression of endless space,
a blackness without limit.  She blinked several times as
she tried to understand what her senses told her.

	"I wouldn't do that, if I were you," came a man's
voice from off to her side.  "I've stared at the sky for
several days, now, and I don't understand it any more than
I did before I started."

	Fully alert, Raeni turned toward the voice, but in
the darkness of ... wherever she was ... she couldn't make
out any features.  Her eyes slowly began adjusting to the
dim, ambient light.  

	The level of light that reached her eyes measured
only to the brightness of the day after a new moon, but
when she looked up, no moon hung in pulsating, gray sky. 
The mage bent down low to feel the ground, since her eyes
weren't being much of a help at the moment.  At the very
least, she wanted to find out on what kind of terrain she
stood.  'Odd.  It felt mostly like broken concrete.'

	The man misinterpreted her movement and asked,
"Looking for your sword, miss?  I assume it's yours since
you came in with it.  Although, it's hard to believe.  You
don't even look like you can lift it."  The shadow shifted
slightly and a shape detached itself from the shadow and
flew at Raeni's feet.

	From her crouched position, Raeni jumped back, ready
in case the offer was a ruse, but nothing untoward
happened.  She heard a metal thunk as the weapon landed
near her previous position.  Walking slowly back and
bending low, she cautiously put out a hand and felt the
handle.  Without a doubt, it was her weapon.  She picked
it up without further preamble.

	The man hissed in surprise.  "Whoa!  I can't believe
it!  Do you know the trouble I had when I first picked it
up?"  He moved slowly toward Raeni.  "Please don't be
alarmed.  I just want to come closer so you can see me."

	Raeni whipped the sword in front of her, warning the
man away.  She finally spoke, her voice a low and deadly,
"Identify yourself."  The man stopped at her request and
because her sword's length blocked any further advance. 
"Stay there!  Don't come any closer."  She raised her free
hand and chanted, "Mirus!"  A dim ball of light hovered
before her palm, just enough to allow her to see him
clearly.

	"No!  Put that light out!"  The man seemed frantic in
his demand.  "If you value our lives, put it out!"

	Startled, she allowed the light to flicker and die,
but Raeni managed to catch glimpses of the man.  The
stranger had pale green eyes under thick eyebrows and
seemed to be about middle-age.  His clothing was ragged,
and bandages covered his chest and stomach.  The urgency
of his voice seemed genuine, but she still didn't quite
trust him.  "Okay, the light's gone.  What's so important
about the darkness?"

	The man explained, "There are creatures in here with
us.  And they seem to feed off of whoever gets trapped in
here.  I've been able to fight off the last few attacks,
but they seem to be attracted to light."

	Raeni still didn't lower her sword.  "And how do I
know you aren't one of these ... creatures?" she asked
suspiciously.  "And you haven't told me your name ...
sir."  The last was added most reluctantly.  A part of her
wanted terribly to insult the man, but she reigned her
mouth in before it could do damage.  For now, the stranger
was still a possible ally.

	In the darkness, Raeni could barely make out a
movement that seemed like a shaking of his head.  With
regret lacing his voice, the man replied, "I can't give
you that assurance, but at the very least I can give you
my name.  I am Aarun."

	Silence answered him.  Seconds ticked by while Raeni
stood there stunned.  She finally demanded, "I don't
believe you.  Prove it!"

	From his shift in posture, Aarun was clearly taken
aback.  "Umm, how could I prove it to you?  I clearly
don't know you.  I would have remembered if a pretty girl
such as you came into town --"

	Raeni whipped her sword around menacingly.  "Don't!"

	The man paused, puzzled.  "Don't what?"

	Curbing an old reaction, Raeni shook her head and
growled out, "Never mind.  Name your family --  No, that
isn't any good.  Anybody can get information like that." 
Frustrated, she tapped her foot impatiently as she tried
to figure out a way to verify his statement.

	Suddenly, it came to her, and Raeni snapped her
fingers in reaction.  "I know.  Tell me what happened ten
years ago."

	"Ten years ago?  Why ... nothing happened."  The man
clearly had more to say but was unwilling to divulge a
personal secret.

	The hesitancy in the man's answer gave Raeni all the
proof she needed.  "Okay, I believe you.  You are Aarun,
Uerris' and Errin's father."

	"What?  H-how did you know?"

	Raeni bowed in response.  She grinned, although he
couldn't see it.  "Family secrets.  My specialty," she
joked.  The mage took the sword and aimed it into the
pouch at her side.  She pushed it quickly into the pouch,
expecting it to disappear into its resting place, but the
sword tore through the pouch and remained solidly in her
hand.  Because the sword had stubbornly stayed in this
plane of existence, Raeni managed to cut into her thigh. 
She hissed in pain, dropping the sword.

	Aarun, seeing something wrong, rushed to her side. 
He helped as Raeni slowly sank to the ground.  "Why did
you do that?  That seemed utterly ..." the older man
chidingly said.

	"Ouch!  That seemed what?  Idiotic?  Stupid?  You're
right.  You don't need to spare my feelings."  Raeni
reached up to her shirt sleeve and ripped it off.  Taking
the piece of cloth, she made a makeshift bandage for her
thigh.  "Don't worry about the wound.  It's nothing."

	"Hmmf.  That nothing, you call it, seems pretty deep
to me.  Here, give me that."  Aarun took the bandage from
Raeni's hand and gently wrapped her thigh.  "Just like a
child.  You look about the same age as my daughter.  What
were you doing playing with your sword like that?"

	Raeni snapped indignantly, "I wasn't playing with
it!"  Her voice dropped to a mutter.  "Iwsnt sposed
tdtht."

	"What was that?  I didn't hear you clearly."

	"It ... Wasn't ... Supposed ... To ... Do ... That!" 
Raeni ground out each word.  More calmly she continued, "I
was putting it away.  But it didn't work."

	Aarun reached to Raeni's side and pulled the pouch
away from her belt.  "Where were you putting it?  This
pouch has seen better days.  Don't you have a scabbard
across your back for the sword?"

	"I usually store it in my pouch for holding."

	"Ah.  Oh," came the man's stunned reply.  "Well, I
don't think this pouch will be holding anything anymore." 
He poked his hand into the pouch.  It emerged through a
hole in the bottom.  "What a shame.  I've never seen a bag
of holding this small before."

	"Actually ..."  'Damn, what's the use?  For some
reason, I can't reach into any dimensional pockets at the
moment.'  "Nevermind."  It was no use showing off if you
couldn't actually show off.

	With Aarun close at hand, Raeni took a moment to
examine him.  He seemed okay physically at least.  The
bandages across his body didn't seem to be hiding any
massive wounds.  In fact, from his unencumbered movement,
she deduced that Aarun wasn't very injured at all.  She
said, "The assassin claimed that he had killed you.  But
you seem all right to me."

	Embarrassment crept into the ranger's voice as he
replied.  "No.  He came pretty close.  That elf trapped me
some time ago."  Aarun rose from location at Raeni's side
and looked of into the distance, seeing a memory from his
past.  He explained, "He caught me unawares.  Before I
knew it the elf had me tied up and in his encampment.  He
questioned me, but I wouldn't tell him.  So he ... tried
other methods."

	Raeni stood up and limped over to the man, laying a
consoling hand on his shoulder, startling him from the
terrible memories.  "It's all right," she soothed him.  "I
take it you know what he is.  Your wife told me and your
daughter about the meaning of his tattoos."  She felt
wetness dripping onto her hand.

	Silent tears coursed down the old ranger's face, and
he answered her.  "By Palamus," he sobbed, "I tried not
give him any information."  His body shuddered with
uncontrollable reaction.  His voice lowered to a whisper. 
"But in the end, he got all the information he asked for."

	"That's all right," Raeni consoled the troubled man. 
"Such a ... professional," she added with distaste evident
in her voice, "Not many can stand up to such horrible
persuasion."  Although she hadn't had any personal
experience in torture, she knew from history that it
happened.  Dredging up an old history lesson, she
continued, "Great men in history have done no more than
you.  Even the hero, Porimicus, broke in the face of
adversity."  She gently squeezed his shoulder to reassure
him.

	She suddenly jerked her hand from its position on
Aarun's shoulder and lightly shuddered.  'What am I
doing?'  It creeped her out to be so ... touchy-feelie. 
One side of her mind yammered about it while the other
half seemed strangely quiet.  Shaking off the unease, she
added jokingly, "At least you heal quickly.  These wounds
look about a week old."

	It was undignified for a man to be sniffling like he
currently was, but for some reason, Raeni thought nothing
of it.  "That's because they are about a week old."

	She stood there stunned as the import of his words
impacted on her consciousness.  She spun him around to
face her and demanded, "What?  You've been here a week
already?  But Keili said you were only missing for three
or four days!"

	The unexpected news drove the bad memories to the
back of Aarun's mind.  "But ... that assassin captured me
three days after I left home.  That means ..."

	Raeni did the simple math.  "You've only been in here
one day, real time," she concluded.  "No wonder this place
is so odd.  We're inside a dimensional space!"  'Amazing! 
I didn't think anyone could live in a sub-dimension.  Such
possibilities!  But there's time enough for that later,'
she thought.  Aloud, she asked, "Can you show me where I
came in?  And what do you for food?  I don't think
anything edible will grow in here."

	"Well, the others have some supplies and they took
care of me when I was first thrown in here.  And I don't
know where you came in.  I saw a beam of light in the sky
that disappeared, so I came this way and found you."

	"Others?  Why didn't you tell me there were others
here?" Raeni imperiously demanded.  Pulling on Aarun's
arm, she commanded, "Take me to them.  Maybe we can work
together to get out of here."

	At once, reluctance entered Aarun's expression.  "I'm
.. not sure how you'll react to them."

	"Oh, come on.  What could they be?  Some sort of
monster?"

	"Well ... just promise me you won't do anything to
hurt them.  They've been really helpful to me, and I would
have died if they hadn't taken care of me."

	"Okay," Raeni agreed brightly.  "I promise."  She
paused as the implications sunk in.  "Wait.  They ARE
monsters?"

	"Not exactly.  But they aren't human."

	"Okay, but they're sushi if they attack me!"

	Aarun didn't know what 'sushi' was, but he answered
anyway, "Uh.  Right.  I don't think they would attack you
anyway."

	The pair traveled a short distance into the blackness
after Raeni gathered up her oversized butcher's knife. 
Aarun led the way, while Raeni trusted him to guide her
safely.  A short time later, they arrived at what appeared
to be a hole in the ground.

	"We're encamped in there."  Aarun pointed to the
hole.  "Ladies first."  He lowered his arm in expectation
of her using it as a hand hold.

	Raeni pointedly ignored the proffered arm.  "I'm
certainly no lady.  Just tell me how deep the drop is. 
I'll manage," she gruffly stated.

	Clearly puzzled at the young mage's behavior, Aarun
answered, "About the height of one and a half men. 
Please, let me help you down.  You're wounded."

	Raeni gave him a pointed glare.  "So are you. 
Although you've had a week to heal, there's no telling
what you had broken before.  So perhaps I should help YOU
down."

	"Absolutely not!  You're more recently wounded than I
am."

	"Oh you mean this?"  Raeni pointed at the bandage on
her thigh.  "I told you it's nothing."  She began untying
the knot holding the bandage together.

	"What are you doing?!  If you uncover that ..." 
Aarun's voice faded away as he gapingly took in the sight
of her wound, or in this case, nearly lack of a wound. 
Where there was once a deep gash, only an angry line
remained.  "That's ... That's impossible!"

	"It's nothing.  I already told you several times. 
Now do I help you down or what?"

	Still stunned, the old ranger stood there
open-mouthed.

	Sighing and shaking her head, Raeni took a hold of
the man's hand and grasped firmly.  Without warning, she
yanked him so that he lost his footing and held him gently
over the hole.

	"Hey!  Why did you do that?" Aarun protested.

	"Because, at the moment you seemed to be wantin' more
to gape than to climb down a hole," she answered him. 
"Now tell me when you hit the bottom."  She lowered him
slowly and extended her reach by crouching near the edge
of the hole in the ground.  Soon enough, she heard Aarun
confirm that he had reached the bottom.  

	"Okay then.  I'm handing down my sword, so watch it. 
I don't feel like skewering you."  The sword smoothly made
the transition to the underworld.  "Now stand back so I
can get down."  After another confirmation came from
below, Raeni lightly hopped down the hole, landing gently
on both feet.

	The sorceress lightly clapped away the dust on her
hands and regained possession of her sword.  "Lead on,
sirrah.  Thy monsters await," she quipped to the still
slightly bedazzled man.