Myth Stakes
Disclaimer: I own nothing you think I don't. 'Owning is an illusion. The illusion is our reality. Where is the ambiguity in this? It's over there, in a box. So, if the ambiguity's in the box, where is the truth? Is the truth the ambiguity? Or is the truth, as Hanncock observed, in the box? No, there's no room, the ambiguity's put on weight. So where is the truth? Vacationing in the Florida Keys. And the ambiguity? Suffering from closterphobia. The truth and ambiguity are also illusions then, I suppose." --REAL quote from Monty Python's Flying Circus. ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nearest bar please, Jim..."
--Pope John Paul the second
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aazh's gaze leveled on Philloniel. "You got yourself in deep this time, didn't you Phil?" he finally asked. Phil nodded slowly.
"So, will you guys help me out on this?"
Aazh grinned. "I'm only helping because I owe you. And because you're offering to pay us a ridiculous sum of money. Of course, when the job is evaluated the job is really worth that much money. After all, we want to come out of it alive, and with a decent reward, don't we?"
Philloniel grinned back. "Now there's the Aazh I know." he chuckled, "Well, be off with you then. And good luck!"
Everyone turned to leave but me. I had my gaze levely on Philloniel, and he looked back at me, equally calm. However, i could see mild curiosity blooming on his features as he asked me what was wrong. I scowled as I answered.
"Prince Philloneil, I'm suprised my colleges didn't mention something that happened on the way here. You see, a bowman tried to take out my apprentice." I could see horror spreading over Philloniel's face as I continued. I also felt Aazh walking up behind me, but I went on regardless. "I was assured that it wasn't one of your men because the arrow would have been enchanted and my spell wouldn't have stopped it. However, I fail to understand one thing. If it wasn't you, who was it?"
Aazh put his hand on my shoulder. I glanced back at him, and he actually seemed alright. Not mad at me at least. Philloniel was leaning forward in his chair, and looked up at Aazh, confusion etched over his features. Confusion mingled with fear.
"Is this true Aazh?"
"Yes. I believe we can both deduce who it was."
Philloneil and my partner stared levely at each other. "Genzo." They stated in unison. Aazh smiled grimly. "We'll be on our guard. You watch out yourself Philloneil. That cousin of yours is more blood thirsty than a Deveel is gold thirsty." he noted. Philloneil nodded.
"Take care of yourselves, and good luck."
As we walked out of the castle, the first thing I did was put a force shield around us. It was no problem keeping it up, because the force lines were plentiful in this dimension. Actually, with the ammount of power the Wiccens had at their disposal I was surprised that so few seemed to be interested in magic. Aazh looked over at me.
"Well Kid, I have a very good idea as to how we are going to go about finding Finch and Fara. The tricky part will be convincing them to come back with us. Hey, Massha?" Aazh rounded to my apprentice.
"Yeah Green and Scaly?"
"Do you have that ring, the one that helps you track people?"
"Of course!" Massha waggled the appropriate finger.
Aazh grinned and drew something out of his pocket. it was a small pendant on a silver chain. The pendant had a red gem in the middle that seemed to make light dance through its center.
"Use your ring to find the true owner of this." Aazh stated, "Fara'll be wanting it back when we find her."
I glanced over at Aazh. "So you know both the people involved?" I asked. Aazh looked over at me. He took a while to answer-- the look on his face read that he was thinking, not about his answer, but about something that had happened with the people we were talking about.
"Yes, I do. Quite well." he answered finally, "Fara and Finch are old aquaintences. And I'm sure Fara won't fight me--Finch might though. He's pretty good in the magic department, kid."
"Oh." I answered, lacking anything better to say.
"Hey, don't worry about it Skeeve!" Tanda said suddenly from my left, "I've got you covered!"
"Yeah Skeeve, and behind her there's me." Massha added from my right. Guido and Nunzio nodded. "Yeah, an' you've got us two backing ya up also, Boss." Guido supplied helpfully. Aazh grinned. "Hey, what about me?" he asked. Chumley nodded in agreement. "Yes Skeeve, where brute strength is involved, count me in for some action!" he smiled.
I turned to the gang, smiling in a relieved way. "Hey, thanks guys." I said. Aazh grinned.
"Hey, that's the least you deserve. Besides, I suppose we all need to make sure we have a reason we shouldn't run away right about now."
Somehow this statement didn't make me feel any better. Tanda pulled out the D-hopper. I looked at her.
"What do we need that for?"
Tanda grinned, looking over at Massha.
"Well, you gave me the idea a while back. Remember, using the D-hopper to travel to different places in the same dimension? Well, if we hold that ring and the D-hopper close enough, the ring sets the coardinates on the D-hopper magickally. Which means..." Tanda's eyes glittered, "We'll end up where Finch and Fara are!"
I blinked. Twice.
"Wow." I noted. Tanda held the ring close to the D-hopper, and she was right. The dials began spinning, landing on coardinates for, yes, definatly somewhere in Wicc! There was a flash of light and my surroundings reformed themselves.
I looked around. We were standing in the middle of a rather dingy looking bar. The waiter looked over at us.
"Would you like to order a drink?" he asked politely. I shook my head. "We're here on buis--"
"Drinks?! Of course! We'd love to order drinks!" Aazh exclaimed, cutting me off and boxing my ears, a fair warning that I should be keeping my mouth shut.
We sat down and began ordering. Aazh looked over the wine menu to me.
"Check for auras. Without a doubt it'll be fara and Finch--they're known to well to walk around without disguises." he whispered. I nodded and began looking at everyone in the room. My eyes fell on a young girl--another Wiccen, about 12 years old. She had an aura. I poked Aazh and pointed to her. Aazh smiled. "Good job kid. Just watch her for a little bit. See that bat?" he whispered again. I looked back over at the girl. Yes, there was a bat on her shoulder--which suddenly struck an idea in my head. I scaned the bat for a aura and yes, it had one. Aazh nodded. "Finch." he whispered. "Just watch them for a little bit..."
So I did. It got interesting almost immediatly. The bat, which looked more like a little ball of black fuzz with wings, began zooming around and around Fara's head. She was visibly getting ticked off. "Quit it." she grumbled, "You're drawing attention to us." The bat squeaked, and flew around some more. "I said quit it!!!" Fara shouted. I saw her close her eyes for concentration quickly, and a patch of the bat's fur caught on fire. The bat let out a loud squeak and dived head first into a tankard of beer. Fara snickered. The bat crawled out of the tankard. If bats could glare, this would be the mother of them all. The bat squeaked again. This time it latched itself onto the back of Fara's shirt and began pulling her out the door. The battle went as follows--
"Hey you little--let me go!! I'm not done with my beer yet!!"
"Squeak squeak!!"
"I don't care!! You're the one who started it anyways!!"
"Squeak squeak!!!"
"Did too!!"
At this point the bat--quite strong, as I had noticed it's ablity to drag Fara out although she was about 50 times his size while he was in this form, had managed to drag Fara out the door. Aazh stood up and started after them, and the rest of us followed suit.
We walked out the door, and spotted Fara and the bat. They both stopped dead at the sight of Aazh. The bat actually fell out of the air. Fara made a move to catch him but rethought it and pulled back at the last moment, so the bat fell on his head. He let out a squeak of indignance.
"A-Aazh..?!" Fara stuttered, "W-what are you doing here?!"
Disclaimer: I own nothing you think I don't. 'Owning is an illusion. The illusion is our reality. Where is the ambiguity in this? It's over there, in a box. So, if the ambiguity's in the box, where is the truth? Is the truth the ambiguity? Or is the truth, as Hanncock observed, in the box? No, there's no room, the ambiguity's put on weight. So where is the truth? Vacationing in the Florida Keys. And the ambiguity? Suffering from closterphobia. The truth and ambiguity are also illusions then, I suppose." --REAL quote from Monty Python's Flying Circus. ^^
~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Nearest bar please, Jim..."
--Pope John Paul the second
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Aazh's gaze leveled on Philloniel. "You got yourself in deep this time, didn't you Phil?" he finally asked. Phil nodded slowly.
"So, will you guys help me out on this?"
Aazh grinned. "I'm only helping because I owe you. And because you're offering to pay us a ridiculous sum of money. Of course, when the job is evaluated the job is really worth that much money. After all, we want to come out of it alive, and with a decent reward, don't we?"
Philloniel grinned back. "Now there's the Aazh I know." he chuckled, "Well, be off with you then. And good luck!"
Everyone turned to leave but me. I had my gaze levely on Philloniel, and he looked back at me, equally calm. However, i could see mild curiosity blooming on his features as he asked me what was wrong. I scowled as I answered.
"Prince Philloneil, I'm suprised my colleges didn't mention something that happened on the way here. You see, a bowman tried to take out my apprentice." I could see horror spreading over Philloniel's face as I continued. I also felt Aazh walking up behind me, but I went on regardless. "I was assured that it wasn't one of your men because the arrow would have been enchanted and my spell wouldn't have stopped it. However, I fail to understand one thing. If it wasn't you, who was it?"
Aazh put his hand on my shoulder. I glanced back at him, and he actually seemed alright. Not mad at me at least. Philloniel was leaning forward in his chair, and looked up at Aazh, confusion etched over his features. Confusion mingled with fear.
"Is this true Aazh?"
"Yes. I believe we can both deduce who it was."
Philloneil and my partner stared levely at each other. "Genzo." They stated in unison. Aazh smiled grimly. "We'll be on our guard. You watch out yourself Philloneil. That cousin of yours is more blood thirsty than a Deveel is gold thirsty." he noted. Philloneil nodded.
"Take care of yourselves, and good luck."
As we walked out of the castle, the first thing I did was put a force shield around us. It was no problem keeping it up, because the force lines were plentiful in this dimension. Actually, with the ammount of power the Wiccens had at their disposal I was surprised that so few seemed to be interested in magic. Aazh looked over at me.
"Well Kid, I have a very good idea as to how we are going to go about finding Finch and Fara. The tricky part will be convincing them to come back with us. Hey, Massha?" Aazh rounded to my apprentice.
"Yeah Green and Scaly?"
"Do you have that ring, the one that helps you track people?"
"Of course!" Massha waggled the appropriate finger.
Aazh grinned and drew something out of his pocket. it was a small pendant on a silver chain. The pendant had a red gem in the middle that seemed to make light dance through its center.
"Use your ring to find the true owner of this." Aazh stated, "Fara'll be wanting it back when we find her."
I glanced over at Aazh. "So you know both the people involved?" I asked. Aazh looked over at me. He took a while to answer-- the look on his face read that he was thinking, not about his answer, but about something that had happened with the people we were talking about.
"Yes, I do. Quite well." he answered finally, "Fara and Finch are old aquaintences. And I'm sure Fara won't fight me--Finch might though. He's pretty good in the magic department, kid."
"Oh." I answered, lacking anything better to say.
"Hey, don't worry about it Skeeve!" Tanda said suddenly from my left, "I've got you covered!"
"Yeah Skeeve, and behind her there's me." Massha added from my right. Guido and Nunzio nodded. "Yeah, an' you've got us two backing ya up also, Boss." Guido supplied helpfully. Aazh grinned. "Hey, what about me?" he asked. Chumley nodded in agreement. "Yes Skeeve, where brute strength is involved, count me in for some action!" he smiled.
I turned to the gang, smiling in a relieved way. "Hey, thanks guys." I said. Aazh grinned.
"Hey, that's the least you deserve. Besides, I suppose we all need to make sure we have a reason we shouldn't run away right about now."
Somehow this statement didn't make me feel any better. Tanda pulled out the D-hopper. I looked at her.
"What do we need that for?"
Tanda grinned, looking over at Massha.
"Well, you gave me the idea a while back. Remember, using the D-hopper to travel to different places in the same dimension? Well, if we hold that ring and the D-hopper close enough, the ring sets the coardinates on the D-hopper magickally. Which means..." Tanda's eyes glittered, "We'll end up where Finch and Fara are!"
I blinked. Twice.
"Wow." I noted. Tanda held the ring close to the D-hopper, and she was right. The dials began spinning, landing on coardinates for, yes, definatly somewhere in Wicc! There was a flash of light and my surroundings reformed themselves.
I looked around. We were standing in the middle of a rather dingy looking bar. The waiter looked over at us.
"Would you like to order a drink?" he asked politely. I shook my head. "We're here on buis--"
"Drinks?! Of course! We'd love to order drinks!" Aazh exclaimed, cutting me off and boxing my ears, a fair warning that I should be keeping my mouth shut.
We sat down and began ordering. Aazh looked over the wine menu to me.
"Check for auras. Without a doubt it'll be fara and Finch--they're known to well to walk around without disguises." he whispered. I nodded and began looking at everyone in the room. My eyes fell on a young girl--another Wiccen, about 12 years old. She had an aura. I poked Aazh and pointed to her. Aazh smiled. "Good job kid. Just watch her for a little bit. See that bat?" he whispered again. I looked back over at the girl. Yes, there was a bat on her shoulder--which suddenly struck an idea in my head. I scaned the bat for a aura and yes, it had one. Aazh nodded. "Finch." he whispered. "Just watch them for a little bit..."
So I did. It got interesting almost immediatly. The bat, which looked more like a little ball of black fuzz with wings, began zooming around and around Fara's head. She was visibly getting ticked off. "Quit it." she grumbled, "You're drawing attention to us." The bat squeaked, and flew around some more. "I said quit it!!!" Fara shouted. I saw her close her eyes for concentration quickly, and a patch of the bat's fur caught on fire. The bat let out a loud squeak and dived head first into a tankard of beer. Fara snickered. The bat crawled out of the tankard. If bats could glare, this would be the mother of them all. The bat squeaked again. This time it latched itself onto the back of Fara's shirt and began pulling her out the door. The battle went as follows--
"Hey you little--let me go!! I'm not done with my beer yet!!"
"Squeak squeak!!"
"I don't care!! You're the one who started it anyways!!"
"Squeak squeak!!!"
"Did too!!"
At this point the bat--quite strong, as I had noticed it's ablity to drag Fara out although she was about 50 times his size while he was in this form, had managed to drag Fara out the door. Aazh stood up and started after them, and the rest of us followed suit.
We walked out the door, and spotted Fara and the bat. They both stopped dead at the sight of Aazh. The bat actually fell out of the air. Fara made a move to catch him but rethought it and pulled back at the last moment, so the bat fell on his head. He let out a squeak of indignance.
"A-Aazh..?!" Fara stuttered, "W-what are you doing here?!"