The next day, they found themselves outside the gates of a village named 
Courdins.

Upon nearing the gates, Justin looked around at the varied and (relatively) 
strange make up of the party and asked, "Is it wise for us to enter this town?  
Maybe we should just send someone in to scout about.  I don't know if the 
inhabitants would take well to a drake-riding boy and a unicorn.  If no one 
else feels up to the task I'd be willing to enter the town and poke about, and 
I might be able to find out if anyone matching Crystal's description has been 
seen lately, and maybe get any supplies we might need without risking too much 
notice or a fracas similar to the last incident."

Justin paused and looked at his dirtied black shirt and pants and his modern 
looking boots and a dismayed look came across his face as he said, "Actually I 
don't look particularly forgettable in my current attire either...I wonder...." 

A sly smile flashed across his face and he looked in Maura's direction and 
said, "Maura, I have an idea, but I think I probably will need your help.  Do 
you think it would be possible for me to change my clothes, using magic?  I 
wouldn't want to try if there was a high risk that I'd accidently destroy them, 
or something like that, nor would I want to be too ambitious, like trying to 
change them into a completely different material, like leather or metal armor, 
or something like that.  Just to take the existing fabric and change it's style 
and color, and maybe clean it up a bit in the process to create a new look, 
which would fit in more.  I suppose this could also be done by illusion but I 
haven't really learned any of that from you yet.  And if you were to do it I'd 
fear that if I were to get too far away or if something were to happen, that 
might cause a problem.  Changing the style of this backpack might not be a bad 
idea either.  What do you think, am I up to it?"

Maura glanced at Justin's uniform and considered.  "Yes I think it would be
possible, and I could touch up at a distance any details that need illusion."

With that reminder, she suddenly realized her own completely unorthodox
appearance (blue!) and without warning her tan hair and human skin snapped
into place.  "Do you think that reconnaissance would be a good idea, Jonah?"

Before she could get an answer, Maura felt the Unicorn nudge her hand.  A
brief picture of Jodie flashed through her mind, followed by one of the town.
"I think that there will be news, actually.  The Unicorn sensed some connection
with Crystal and this town, though I could not be sure what.  Jonah?"

"I think I remember this place... Yes!"  exclaimed Xyranthes before Jonah could 
respond. "This is where I first meet Jodie.  She was just a young girl at the 
time, and I had just arrived, but I definately remember this place."

Picking up a small peice of wood, the cleric began to quickly wittle out a 
deer.  "Most people remember my deer dolls. In fact Jodi still has the first 
deer I made."

Handing the deer to Justin, Xyranthes continued. "If you still want to do a 
solo reconnaissance then take this. I'm still fairly popular around there, and 
this is sort of a trademark of mine."

Maura gazed at Xyranthes with some excitement.  "That's wonderful.  Jonah, do
you think Justin should explore?"

Jonah had looked up when Maura first asked him about reconnaissance, but 
waited when the Unicorn communicated with her.  He then looked back excitedly 
when she announced what the Unicorn had communicated, and had been about to 
answer when Xyranthes began reminiscing.

Once the cleric was finished, Jonah looked astounded, but at the same time 
thoughtful.  "Wow, and you know her too," he commented, glancing at Xyranthes.  
Then he shook his head.  "Well, if you're popular around here, then we 
shouldn't have any worries about going into this town.  Just a little bit of 
illusion to hide the really strange ones," he glanced significantly at Maura 
and the Unicorn, "and we should be fine."

A few illusions were put up, and the group entered the town.  Maura had 
already put up her illusion at the outskirts of the city, and it didn't take 
much to make a Unicorn's horn disappear.  Horses caused no comment.  Justin 
altered his costume slightly; Maura stood by and put on a few finishing 
illusory touches.

People were all over -- most paused in what they were doing to greet Xyranthes 
fondly.  As soon as they spotted him, several children flocked over, asking 
loudly if he had any trinkets for them.  Maura was delighted to see the 
familiarity and kindness with which all the townspeople treated Xyranthes, 
and the children running around demanding toys were a constant pleasure.

Soon, the group made their way to the local Inn, intending to rent some 
rooms.  Upon entering, they were spotted by a short man with dark hair, 
large muscles, and a deep tan, who greeted Xyranthes fondly.  He introduced 
himself to the rest as Dmitri, and it turned out that he and Xyranthes were 
old acquaintances.  In fact, Dmitri turned out to be a member of the town 
council, and an influential figure in the town.

Dmitri brought the group to his farmstead, and invited them to stay the night.  

"We have some room in the house, and there are some decent lofts in the barn."  
Maura was desighted about having a real place to stay for the night -- as nice 
as the inn was, Dmitri's home was without doubt nicer.

Dmitri and his wife provided a nice, homecooked meal, then the group retired for 
some rest in the afternoon.  When Dmitri and his wife questioned travelling at 
night, Maura apologized for herself as the invalid of the group and said that 
she had a sensitivity to light and heat hereditary in her family.  Dmitri and 
his wife still looked somewhat puzzled, but accepted the explanation, and Maura 
was relieved that they asked no further questions.  

In the evening, the group traded some stories with Dmitri and his family, 
then set off again as the farmers settled in for the night, explaining that 
they were on an urgent quest.  When in the solitude of their room, Maura 
sighed heavily and was asleep almost before she lay down.  No one could wake 
her for several hours.  In fact, even the illusions she had manufactured 
shifted a little, though they did not give way completely.  However, she 
seemed her old self when she woke for the night's travel and was willing, even 
eager, to start the next leg of the trip which would end near Behre.  The 
eagerness had something to do with being able to drop the illusions, though it 
was not the sole reason.

From this point, Jonah announced that they had to turn south, as their route 
then led past the city of Trantor, to the southern foothills near Behre.

The group traveled southward for three more nights before they arrived at 
Trantor.  Over the course of that last night, Jonah began recognizing the 
surroundings as places he knew while growing up under Shard's care.

"I don't recommend going into Trantor at all," he commented as the city came 
into view.  "The people there really dislike Drakes.  There are a lot of wild 
Drakes in this area -- Shard was even one of them, once upon a time," Jonah 
said, scratching his companion above the eye ridges, "and they get into the 
livestock from time to time."  Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, 
"They don't really take well to strangers of the Human variety, either."

So the party camped out in the woods nearby that day, moving on in the 
evening.  They camped again the next day, and traveled again that night.  
They camped again, then set off again, and about midway through that 
evening's travel, they arrived at Behre.

"Since the town's closed up for the night," Jonah said, "we may as well set 
up camp for the rest of the night.  We're probably going to want to do our 
investigating during the daytime, so we should get some shuteye while we 
can."

As they travelled, Maura talked less and less.  She still taught magic when
Justin wanted, and kept in touch with the Unicorn who confirmed Jonah's
direction.  But mostly she just sat on her mount with her head bowed at night.
During the day while they rested, she was again unwakeable.  She followed
others' opinions silently, as when Jonah spoke about Trantor, and smiled a
little when they camped near Behre.  The Unicorn was giving messages of
contentment.

The group set up camp outside Behre's city wall, in an area they discovered 
that seemed to be set aside for that purpose.  Jonah recalled that the town 
was a popular crossroads where merchants and others from Almaisaryn traded 
with folks from other kingdoms to the south.

In the morning, when the city's gates opened, the group entered to find 
some breakfast.  (Traveling provisions were fine, especially the way 
Xyranthes was able to prepare -- and enhance -- them, but by that point, 
everyone was in the mood for a properly cooked meal.  Especially one cooked 
by SOMEONE ELSE.)

"I don't think we need to worry about too much illusion," Jonah commented 
as they headed into the city.  "Remove a horn, make you," he looked at 
Maura, "look human, and we should be fine.  The people here like Drakes, 
so Shard should be no problem, and plenty of foreigners stop by, so 
Justin's outfit wouldn't have drawn too much attention, even if he hadn't 
permanently altered it."

Maura assumed her human guise with, apparently, a little effort and the
Unicorn horn disappeared.

"So, how should we start?" Jonah began, after they had finished eating, 
and were still sitting in the tavern.  "I think I can find the spot where 
I last saw her, but what if she isn't still here?  Anyone have any ideas 
for tracking her down?"

Justin looked thoughtfully at his nearly empty mug of beer and said, "I 
suppose we could ask around town trying to find out if anyone has seen 
anyone matching that description.  We probably wouldn't want to make to 
big of a deal out of it, so as not to draw too much attention to 
ourselves.  I can't think of any other way to start out unless we just 
wander around aimlessly trying to guess where she might have gone.  Does 
anyone have a better idea?"

Surprisingly, when Justin finished, Maura replied -- it was the first time 
she had spoken in at least a day, and her voice was grainy.  "Both ideas are 
good.  Jonah should try to find where he met her last and we should 
unobtrusively ask for information regarding her.  I know--"  Maura paused 
suddenly and shut her eyes for a moment, but continued, "I think, that is, 
that the Unicorn will make Herself of use.  She will, as She always has,
let me know if we are turning in a wrong direction or following a wrong guide.
She shares Jodie's mind."  That said, Maura moistened her face and throat
again, drank a little water which made her cough, and resumed silence, looking
away from the group almost as if not there.

Jonah watched Maura for a moment, with a slightly concerned look on his face.  
Then he shook his head as if to clear it.  "Okay, then.  I would almost 
recommend that we split up -- with Justin and Xyranthes asking around town, 
and me and Maura trying to find the spot where Jodie and I were separated -- 
but I'm not sure that would be a good idea," he said, only barely glancing 
in Maura's direction, "'cause I think we'll need all of us together when we 
go out into the hills."  Something in his voice made it seem that, while that 
was *A* reason, it wasn't the only one he had in mind.

"So," he continued without pause, "why don't we head out there first, while 
we're all still rested.  Then, if we don't come up with anything there, we 
can do some checking around in town, and see what we can find.  Does that 
sound good?"

Maura snapped out of her stupor long enough to give a brief nod, but then she
looked away again, far away in the distance.  It would have appeared as if she
were intentionally ignoring the others, except that she shook her head, and
shook it again, then rubbed her eyes as if she couldn't help her own lethargy.

Jonah's eyes lingered on Maura for a few moments, though she was oblivious.  
He then looked to the others and, not hearing any objections, mounted up 
and led the group out of the tavern.

The party made their way across the town, and then exited through the 
southern gate.  A rode wound its way through the hilly terrain ahead, 
and mountains could be faintly seen in the distance.

"Up that way," Jonah explained as they began walking down the road, 
"are the mountains that separate this kingdom from the countries to 
the south."  He then looked around a bit, with an exhilarated expression 
on his face.

"I hadn't really remembered much about this area before you guys showed 
up," he said.  "But now that we're here, I sure do recognize it."  He 
paused a moment, thinking.  "It's probably about time to tell the rest 
of you as much as I can remember about all this.  I've told you some, 
but not everything."

Taking a breath, he began.  "My; well, our -- me and Jodie, that is..."  
He shook his head.  "Hold on.  Confused myself for a moment."  He grinned, 
then started over.

"Okay, OUR parents were traveling merchants, as I believe most of you 
know by now.  We rarely stayed in one place for any length of time, so 
when we had a week's layover in Behre, back when I was about five or six, 
we jumped at the opportunity."

"We packed up a picnic lunch one day, and took off for the foothills 
near the mountains.  It was a perfect day: lots of sun, but not too hot 
to run around and play," he said with a fond smile.  "We set up under 
a tree on one of the hills for lunch, then Jodie and I ransacked most of 
the countryside."

"At one point, we started playing something along the lines of 'Hide and 
Seek'.  She went to hide, while I waited.  Then I went after her, but 
had no idea where she had gone.  I ended up wandering into the more 
heavily wooded area, thinking she might have climbed a tree or something."

"I was just walking along when the ground gave way under my feet, and 
I fell into the insect nest.  I must have hung there for an hour or so -- 
or it might just have felt like it -- when along came Shard.  He pulled 
me out, and carried me to his lair.  I can only guess that Jodie and 
ma & pa searched the area for me, and eventually gave up when they 
couldn't find me."

"Now, I'm guessing Jodie would have come back here when she was trying 
to seach for me -- as it's the last place we were together -- on the 
chance there was some sort of clue.  That's pretty much why I wanted to 
come here too.  But I think we will have an advantage: magic.  We 
should be able to pick up something magically -- some echo of her, 
perhaps, that would indicate where she went from there.  Then we can 
follow it."

Jonah then pointed.  "There it is!" he exclaimed, and spurred Shard to 
a run.  The boy and Drake raced off the road, across several hills, 
coming to a stop atop one of the taller hills.  That hill was adorned 
with a beautiful tree, with wide-spread branches that afforded plenty of 
shade.

As the rest of the group caught up, Jonah turned and said, "This is the 
place!  Now, how can we sense her presence..."

"Well Maura," Xyranthes said, "why don't you and I try sensing for her.  
Justin and Jonah, with your new found powers, you could also try, 
although I don't know how efficient magic will be. Jodie's essence might 
have dissipated by know, but we will never know till we try."

And so Xyranthes closed his eyes, letting his senses drift.

Justin looked a little perplexed for a minute, then an odd expression 
crossed his face, and he shrugged.  After shrugging, he opened up his 
backpack and pulled out a wooden diamond with jewels on it.  He then 
examined the diamond closely, holding it in one hand and the amulet in 
another, looking for any kind of information which could be useful: a 
fingerprint, a bit of hair, anything with DNA strands in it.

However, before he had a chance to find anything, Maura opened her eyes 
again -- with an effort -- and snapped at Xyranthes.

"Yes, I'll try, I'll try, just leave me alone.  Why shouldn't I?  I mean, 
Jodie was my friend too, however the Captain over there acts about having 
a monopoly on her!"  Her arm identified Jonah as the one she had called, 
"Captain," but she didn't notice that she had called him by the name under 
which she had known him before.  A faint look of surprise did cross her 
face when she realized how angrily she had spoken.  She reached out a hand 
in apology, then laid the other on the neck of the Unicorn and concentrated.  
She swayed a little, and the next moment fell from the Unicorn.

As Maura fell, Xyranthes snapped out of the shock he had entered into from 
Maura's out of character snappish retort.  Quickly, the old Cleric dove 
under Maura to cushion her fall.  With a soft thud, Maura landed atop 
Xyranthes' lower back.  A sickening pop was heard, and a moan of pain 
escaped the Cleric's clenched teeth.  As tears of pain formed in the corner 
of Xyranthes eyes, he gasped, "Please get her off."

Maura was still conscious when she landed on Xyranthes, however, and 
uttered a sound of disbelief.  Then at his request, she endeavored to raise 
herself off, but did not succeed, for she had begun to tremble violently.

Jonah had been sitting on Shard a few yards away, watching everything 
with a shocked look.  When Xyranthes had recommended sensing via magic, 
he had considered for a moment, then noticed Justin pull something out.  
Then Maura snapped at Xyranthes, interrupting, which shocked Jonah even 
more than Xyranthes.  As Maura fell, and Xyranthes broke her fall, the 
boy's expression changed from shock to full-fledged alarm.

When Maura failed to move herself, he spurred Shard over to them.  Then, 
wrapping one arm around Shard's torso, he took Maura's hand with the 
other and signaled Shard to retreat, thus pulling Maura off Xyranthes, 
but not upright.

Once she was sitting beside the Cleric, Jonah slipped to the ground.  
He turned to Justin and said, "Can you help Xyranthes?"  Then he turned 
back to Maura.  "Are you alright?"

Justin cut short his search without having been able to detect anything, and 
came to Xyranthes' side.  He asked Xyranthes, "Are you OK?" and looked him 
over, massaging his back to see if there was any serious damage.  "You've got 
to watch yourself at your age.  I know that if I was even slightly close to 
being 500 years old such a move as that would probably be fatal."

Xyranthes moaned.  "No, no, its all right, nothings broken, its just a slipped 
disk.  Ahha. Wait, Justin,... can you ...urrg... get the blue vial with the 
label, 'feverfew' out of... ack... my backpack, please?"  As requested, Justin 
looked through Xyranthes' backpack, retrieved the vial, and handed it to him.

After making sure that Xyranthes was okay, Justin looked around on his own, 
looking for any kinds of physical clues which might have been left behind.  
Having broken off his attempt to use magic to search, he did not feel strong 
enough to attempt to start over.

In the meantime, Maura was shaking so hard now that when she tried to speak 
her teeth struck together, but she managed to say, "Captain?  This was -- 
before..."  Then her trembling prevented her speaking.  Though Maura had never 
cried in the human fashion, to express emotion, water began to seep from the 
corners of her eyes, from her gills, from her skin itself.  In about three 
minutes, she was damp all over: her clothing clung to her.  When her entire 
body was wet, the trembling stopped, but Maura's eyes seemed no longer to 
focus and she swallowed again and again.  After a moment, she tried to speak, 
but her mouth was so dry she could not.  She took a deep breath, and in the 
sigh that followed came the syllable, "Dry."  She seemed to have gained a 
little strength from the moisture on her skin and pulled herself to a 
half-sitting position.  "Dry."

Holding up his hands, Jonah started to say something, then stopped.  He looked 
over at Justin and Xyranthes, but they were busy tending to Xyranthes' back.  
He looked back at Maura, who was glistening but unable to speak.

"Water," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else.  His alarm began to 
grow -- Maura obviously needed help, and he was about the only one who could 
help at the moment, but he couldn't see how.  There were no springs nearby, 
and even if there were, he'd have to climb onto Shard, ride over, find some 
way to carry the water, then bring it back -- all of which would take too 
long for his likes.

Then he took a deep breath and tried to focus.  He then looked around again, 
this time appraisingly rather than frantically.  Aside from Justin & Xyranthes, 
Shard and the Unicorn, the only thing nearby was the tree at the top of the 
hill, about ten feet away.  He stared at the tree for half a moment, and a 
minute grin appeared on his face.

Jonah then crawled around behind Maura and put his left arm around her torso.  
He put his other arm around Shard, and urged the Drake forward, pulling Maura 
into the shade of the tree.  That decreased the risk of further dehydration, 
but next he had to get her some water.

"Forgive me," he said, and reached into her bags.  He found her water bag and 
looked inside.  Unfortunately, it had been several days since the last time 
the group had found a spring, and the water level in the bag was relatively 
low.

Then Jonah looked up at the tree suddenly as an idea struck him.  He put 
one hand against the tree's bark and closed his eyes, concentrating.  For a 
moment, nothing seemed to happen.  Then a drop of water fell from one of 
the tree's leaves.  Then another.  Then several more, until the area under 
the tree looked like the middle of a spring shower.

Jonah opened his eyes, thrilled that his attempt at magic worked so well.  
Then he looked down, as if something caught his attention.  Maura -- who 
was starting to look considerably better -- also seemed to notice it.

At that moment, one of the gemstones on Justin's wooden diamond let out 
a flash of light, at the very same moment that Jonah and Maura both fainted.

Justin, at this point, had been walking around the perimeter of the area, 
looking around.  After seeing that Xyranthes was OK and that Jonah was 
attending to Maura's needs he became focused on searching for clues, 
without much luck, when he noticed that the tree under which Jonah and 
Maura were located had started to produce rain.  Realizing at that point 
that the situation with Maura must be fairly serious, since Jonah seemed 
to have resorted to an unorthodox strategy in helping her, he temporarily 
abandoned his search to head back to the tree to see how she was doing and 
if there was anything he could do.  As he started to walk back toward the 
tree, he saw Jonah and Maura suddenly go limp, and simultaneously a gem in 
the object in his hand which he had tried to use to find a trace of Crystal 
earlier inexplicably flashed.

At that point, Justin stopped walking and ran to the tree to see if Jonah 
and Maura were OK, and upon seeing that they had meerely fainted, he 
turned to Xyranthes and said, "Xyranthes, I have an odd feeling about 
this.  It seems to me that somehow the flashing of the gem on this item, 
which by the way was a gift to me from Crystal, and Jonah and Maura's 
fainting are linked.  Do you have any way of confirming this?  And also, 
do you have any smelling salts in your vast array of supplies?  Otherwise 
we'll have to wait for them to wake-up or slap them or something.  
They've already had water thrown on them, so I don't think that will work."

"Smelling salts. Hmm, aha, here we are." Xyranthes pulled two vials of smelling
salts out of a pocket in his robe, and handed one to Justin.

"As to the connection with the fainting, the crystal and Jodie, let me check."
Xyranthes said, and closed his eyes. After a few minutes his eyes flew open.

"Dear heavens and elements that be! You're quite right, Jodie was clearly
involved. Hurry we must wake them and hear what they saw."

Xyranthes was about to wave the vial under Maura's nose, but she was already 
beginning to stir.

As Justin spoke, Maura sighed and opened her eyes, and they were bright with
excitement.  Though she was still very weak, it was the liveliest she had
looked in months, and she tried to speak.  The water from the tree was still
dripping from her head and arms, and she only managed for a moment or two to
make slight sounds like a wounded kitten.  She leaned over away from Jonah
and, putting her face to the ground, sipped some water that had collected in
some fallen leaves.  She then sat halfway up and this time succeeded in
speaking, without noticing Jonah had also fainted, "Justin.  Did the Captain
see her?  Did you and...and him?  She was here."  Maura pointed at Xyranthes,
apparently not being able to think of his name. Swallowing hard, she seemed to
try to say something else, finally producing, "Is he--the wizard--all right?" 

On seeing that Maura had become conscious, Justin whirled and knelt near 
her.  He then answered her questions.  "Er, by 'the captain' I gather you 
mean Jonah, and by 'her' I assume you mean Crystal.  I really don't know if 
he saw her.  Perhaps he'll be able to tell us once he's conscious again, 
as both of you passed out at the same time.  As for either Xyranthes or 
myself seeing her, speaking for myself I have to say 'no.'  I did get an 
odd feeling as if she, or some part of her was somehow present, and a gem 
on this piece which she made," Justin holding out the wooden diamond, 
"sparkled eerily at the exact moment that you and Jonah fainted.  As far 
as Xyranthes is concerned, he can speak for himself, but I think he's 
feeling much better now.  I, personally, am more concerned about your 
health than his at the moment.  Do you need anything, more water perhaps, 
or something else?"

When Justin turned to her, Maura sank back a little against the tree and then
said, as if from far away: "Yes, Crystal was here.  She knows this place, but
she... was older than when I knew her last."  Then she seemed to come back a
little and noticed how concerned Justin looked.  For the first time in months,
Maura's face took on an expression close to an emotion--she had been dull and
vague for so long--but now she looked sad.  She said, however, "Yes, Justin, I
have a little water left in one of the bags and I do need it.  I am sorry--you
are not an errand boy, I know, but I can't move far right now.  Could you get
it?"  And she pointed to the bags still tied over the back of the Unicorn.  

* * * * *

Justin went to the Unicorn and, being very careful as to avoid physical
contact with the animal, retrieved the water bags and brought them to
Maura.  Maura looked up in deep gratitude, then opened one.  She gave a slight 
exclamation when she saw how little water was actually in it, but with a sigh 
began to rub her face and throat as was her habit.  

At that point, Jonah began to stir.  He murmered, "Gem," then opened his eyes.  
After a moment of disorientation, he began to focus, and sat up.  Seeing 
Justin and Xyranthes paying such careful attention to Maura, he suddenly 
remembered what had been going on.  Turning to her, he asked, "Are you 
alright?"  (Which was starting to become the phrase of the day.)

Maura started slightly and turned toward him.  "Captain!  No, wait.  I'm 
sorry... that's not right.  It's... Jonah?  Jonah, I'm sorry.  It's, it's... 
just me.  And, I am--better for now.  We can talk about that later.  Justin is 
getting my water bags."  As suddenly as Jonah had remembered what had been 
going on, Maura responded to Jonah's whispered word "Gem."  "Jonah!  She was 
here.  Crystal was here--or was she?  Perhaps I just imagined...no!  You must 
have seen her, because you just said 'Gem'.  Jonah, do you know where she is 
now?"  

Jonah had opened his mouth to say something after Maura's comment about the 
water bags, but stopped short as she reacted (somewhat delayed) to his earlier 
murmering.  When she asked if he knew where Crystal was now, he looked 
befuddled.

"I... um...  well, I'm not sure," he said, stumbling on the words at first.  
"Yes, I did see something a moment ago.  It must have been another vision, but 
I somehow doubt She," he glanced at the Unicorn, "had anything to do with it.  
It must have been my sudden magic use...  Maybe interacting with some of your 
inherent magic..."  He trailed off, lost in thought for a moment.  Then he 
snapped back, as he realized he really hadn't answered Maura's questions.

"Yes, in my vision, I saw Jodie.  I hardly recognized her -- I haven't seen 
her since I was about four years old, after all -- but I just somehow KNEW it 
was her.  I think she was sitting right here."  He pointed at the tree.  "She 
was crying, then someone startled her."  He stopped to think again.  "I think 
she was here at some point -- probably when she was looking for me.  Justin," 
he said, turning toward the soldier, "it was about two years ago that she left 
you to go searching, yes?"

Justin replied, "Yeah.  It was about that long ago."

"Okay, then she would have to have been here recently.  Maybe someone in town 
remembers her..."  He thought for a moment again, then turned back to Maura.

"Oh, by the way, in case you were wondering," he said.  "The reason I said, 
'Gem,' is because that's the name she went by in our previous lifetime.  And 
since that's really most of the memories I have of her, I keep slipping back 
into it by accident."

When Jonah had finished talking, Maura's eyes were shining again and she said
quickly, "Well, then she may still be near, or at least someone in Behre might
know where she is.  The vision, Jodie's age, and your diamond flashing,
Justin, all confirm it.  We have to find out before whatever or whoever it is
gets away."  Apparently forgetting her own weakness momentarily, Maura
reclosed the water bag and attempted to stand, only to fall heavily back
against the tree.  A word escaped her that no one else recognized--she
explained she had verbalized a swear word from her former language--odd since
she and her race had primarily communicated telepathically.  The meaning was
equal to "Damn!"  Then she continued: "I am so pathetic now: we are so close
and I can't even stand up.  We are a beautiful group, except for you, Justin.
Jonah can't walk, I can't right now, and Xyranthes has thrown out his back."
Her eyes sparkled now with impatience.

Justin had been anxiously listening to everything which Jonah and Maura said
about what they saw.  When they were finished, he mentioned that, at the same 
time that they fainted, a gem on his wooden diamond, which was made by Crystal, 
flashed.

Then he smiled wryly, "Well I suppose I could find some way to incapacitate 
myself and we could all just lie around by this copse of trees for a few days 
while we recover.  Otherwise, I suppose I could try to help out.  You need 
lots of water, right?  I could go out and try to find some, though it might 
take a while.  I suppose, theoretically, given what I've practiced with magic 
I could try to make some, but I don't know how much I could produce and how 
much energy I have left.  All I'd have to do would be to knock some hydrogen 
atoms up against some oxygen atoms, and we'd have water, but I think I'm more 
in the mood for a nice walk at the moment.  Is there anything anyone would 
like to advise or anything anyone else needs?"

Maura looked gratefully at Justin.  "I would appreciate that extremely,
Justin.  Maybe we can discuss the next step when you return."

* * * * *

Jonah looked at the ground for a moment, thinking.  Then he looked back 
up at Justin and said, "I think I remember there being a stream near 
here.  That would probably be a good place to get water.  Unfortunately, 
I don't think I could tell you where it is, but I think I might be able 
to find it again if I came along."

Then he glanced from Xyranthes to Maura.  "If you two don't mind us 
leaving you on your own for a moment..."

Justin replied, "That sounds a lot better than me wandering around this 
place aimlessly looking for a source of water.  As soon as you're ready, 
let's be headed out."  Justin then grabbed as many as the empty water 
bottles as he could carry or load into his backpack and waited for Jonah to 
be ready to leave so they could head out in search of water.

"Leaving us?" Xyranthes said. "Oh no, I don't think that would be a problem. 
I think the feverfew is finally working, soon I'll have enough presence of mind 
to work out this slipped disk.  You two go get some water before there's more 
hassle than anything else."

The Cleric smiled, and waved them on their way, even though his eyes were rimmed
with pain.

Maura nodded at Jonah and Justin, "Don't worry, I will not be going anywhere."
Then, with a wry smile, she added, "I promise."

Jonah pulled himself up onto Shard's back, and he and Justin headed down the 
hill again.

* * * * *

As soon as they were gone, Maura turned to Xyranthes.  

"Is there anything I can do to help you, if I can?  I mean, I am weak but I'm 
not fainting."  After a pause, she considered, "You know, this has happened 
before.  These sick spells--I had forgotten, but this is not new."  She waited 
to hear if she could help, or if he had any thoughts.

"Actualy my dear," Xyranthes replied, "now that they're gone, I was about to 
ask you the same."

Maura's face set into grim lines at the question: "Do you mean, is there
anything you can do to help me?"  She sighed and leaned back against the tree,
looking weary again.  Her eyes were far away as she replied, "It's funny that
our friendship started this way, and is getting close to ending this way, too.
Do you remember that I told you about Vulcan--the desert planet I visited--and
how the heat made me ill eventually and drove me away?  Well, the odd thing is
that I had periodical seizures on Vulcan--similar to the ones now--until I had
to leave.  None were as serious as the one that happened today, though.  Do
you know what happens to my race when they get old?  Very old, I mean.  Almost
1000?"  She leaned forward and looked into his eyes.  "What happens, even
underwater, is that their bodies stop being able to produce or process enough
water to keep them healthy.  Do you see?"  She looked her most serious.  "What
happened to me today should only happen to people much much older than I am.
I guess this means--well, I am slowly dehydrating, despite my efforts."
Sighing a little again, she leaned back against the tree.  "So--it would be
hard to help me, Xyranthes, my dear friend.  I am dying, I guess.  I will not
be able to sustain another seizure.  I will hold out, I pray, until we find
Jodie again.  I think I have the strength.  You can help me with that,
Xyranthes.  But the only way to help me permanently would be to return me to
my planet, and that--" she smiled wryly--"that is, of course, impossible.  I
hope I can help you and us all, the quest, in any way--before it is too late."
She smiled again, but her eyes were terribly sad as she looked for his
response.

Sighing, Xyranthes stood, and slowly pulled out a Draca. The Draca looked like 
an ordinary dagger, but with a clear glass sphere in the bottom of the pommel.
Looking sadly at the blade, the cleric sighed one last time, and opened his
right wrist.  As the blood began to flow, the Draca drew the fluid into
itself, the sphere slowly glowing.  The skin around the cleric's face began to
yellow, turning brittle, the eyes sank inwards. Pain flared across the cleric's 
wizened old vissage, and tears formed at the corners of the eyes.

Just as the sphere on the pommel turned a deep crimson red, a sudden flare of
light shot from the draca into Maura's heart. The crimson glow engulfed the
sea elf, washing out her illusion for a few seconds.  Xyranthes began to
cough.  Finally, the life transfer was complete.  Xyranthes closed his eyes, 
and tottered slightly.  Slowly, the color returned to his cheeks, and the 
dryness faded slighty.  Still weak from the slipped disk, and now the life 
transfer, the cleric began to shake slightly.  Teeth chattering, and face 
flushed, the cleric explained what he just did.

"MMMAuuura, ttthe lllliffe trannnsfer is a giffft that I can do once a
yyyyyear.  Yyy....you now have about half ooooofffff my life in you.  SSSSStupid
thing iiiiissss its not ppermanennnnnnnnt. Whhhaiiitt whhhillllle I cooolll
offfffffff..."

Closing his eyes, like all the times before when performing spells, the cleric
huddled in the sun.  Rocking slowly, the cleric wrapped his arms about himself.

After seveal long minutes, the cleric lurched to his feet, and staggered back 
to Maura.  "The warm feeling you experiance is part of my life force coursing 
through your veins.  Since I'm much more warmblooded than you, it might be 
slightly ncomfortable, but no serious side effects will ever occur, that's part 
of the magic. I hate blood magic, but it was the only thing I could think of."

"Blood Magic is outlawed in Aezia because of the nasty side effects that can 
happen to the sender. The Draca was originaly used as a Capital Punishment 
device. It takes the life energies from one person and transfers to to another.  
The Othies made the bloody things, and used them quite liberaly, forcing their 
death row prisoners to give their life to those who could not survive on their 
own.  Clever idea, but its realy nasty way to die."

The Cleric shivered once more before continuing.

"Using on yourself is dangerous, because it can knock you unconsious, yet
still drain your life energy."

"I found this draca when I was a little boy, climbing some hills near the
Hadi/Gondor border. I knew what it was, and what it could do, so I hid it. I
thought it might come in handy someday, and it looks like it did."

Moving closer to Maura, Xyranthes continued.

"Maura, I don't know what will happen, after all your not from my world, but
usualy when someone uses a Draca, the life of the one is tied to another. On
Aezia, if the person doesn't die when transfering their life, the life of the
two is linked, and when one dies, the other will die with them. Maybe its only
the way magic works on Aezia, or maybe its just the way Esstarra, goddess of
life wills it, but we might be linked."

As the blood-colored wave of magic swept over and penetrated her heart, Maura
actually gave a cry and covered her face with her hands.  Her body began to
shake uncontrollably again and she huddled at the foot of the tree.  Slowly,
slowly the trembling stopped and she lay for moments in an inert heap.  
When she did recover, her first motion was to uncover her face.  She saw
Xyranthes immediately, looking as old and weak as ever she had seen him--a
look so close to death that she was terrified that he had done something
unwarranted and drastic for her.  A cry of pain was echoing in her mind,
though she was sure she had heard no corporeal cry besides her own.  However,
the cold that radiated from him kept her against the tree, as she gingerly
pulled herself back to a sitting position.  

When at last the cold subsided, she reached his side before she remembered she
was too weak to stand.  And then realized she had stood, and walked.  She was
uncomfortably warm--in fact, as she laid her fingers on her own wrist, her
skin was literally pulsating and throbbing with unaccustomed heat.  She
realized in the back of her mind that Xyranthes had been speaking, telling her
what he had done and about the deadly magic he had employed, and she laid her
head on his shoulder, tears running down her face.

"Xyranthes, my friend," she said when she could speak again.  "Xyranthes, you
fool--you beloved fool.  You should not have done it--all I ever needed was
strength to see Jodie again.  That was all--that was all.  Why do you do this?
Now you have given me strength, yes, but at what cost?  I am a stranger to you
and your magic--there is no guarantee I will yet survive this illness, and now
if I die, you--"  She could not continue, and suddenly realized that she had
been crying, like a human.  "The link.  It is there.  I am doing things alien
to my race."  

Xyranthes, weak as he was, was experiencing some surprise, for he could 
feel her words, her gratitude, and her concern in his mind as or even before
she spoke.  It was a facet of the link he mentioned which no one could have
predicted--thanks to Maura's being originally of a telepathic race, Xyranthes
became able to feel as she felt and know her thoughts to some degree, and she, 
as shown by the pain she had felt in her mind when he drained his life, could feel
and know his.

Finally the flood of emotion slowed and Maura took one of the still-cool and
old hands in both of hers.  "Xyranthes, my friend, thank-you.  I thank you,
and survive long or no, you have done me a service no one else has.  Do not
think because I protested I was ungrateful--I do not think you would think it,
for" (and she looked clearly into his eyes) "you know my mind now.  You have
given me the sure gift of seeing Jodie again, and I am well again.  At least
for now.  You are now my beloved, as few people have been.  The link, and more
besides.  I hope you are blessed for this.  My beloved."  With those last
words, she traced his face with her webbed fingers and rested her head on his
shoulder again.  

Xyranthes brushes away her tears, and notices he's been crying himself.
"Look at us, if the others return, they'll really wonder about us." 
Still smiling, the cleric stroked his hand over Maura's head, weaving a small
illusion of hair as he did so. He appeared to be getting stronger, the link to
magic aiding in strengthening him. 

While the two leaned against the tree, a small red fox, grinning as always, popped
up from his nearby burrow. Creating a small bit of meat, Xyranthes held the
meat out for the fox. Timidly, the fox inched up to the morsel of food. The old
cleric sent out comfort, clam and compasionate emotions, a gift from his link
to Maura. The fox, with a quick dart, snapped the meat from the cleric's
outstretched hand, and trotted a few feet away.

Once the fox swallowed the meat, Xyranthes created two more pieces,
holding one out to Maura. 

"Back home, I used to feed the foxes and wolves near my cottage, durring the
long dry years when game was scarce. That's why I healed the wolves back at the
river. They where only hungry, and I haven't seen any of the normal game
abouts.  Maura, would you like to feed him. He should be very hungary, with
three or four pups to take care of."

Maura eagerly took the piece of meat and extended it to the fox herself,
together with the calm feelings, and hoped he would take it.  As she waited, she
spoke quietly--not to disturb the fox, but because there was something she was
thinking about: "Xyranthes, do you notice how warm my skin is?  It really is
something of a miracle that magic didn't kill me before it lent me its
strength.  Your strength."

"It's not that odd realy," Xyranthes replied.  "The draka was designed to heal, 
and alters the life force of one being temporarily, so that the healing can 
work. You body's temprature should retun to your normal state soon. It'll just 
take longer before the magic adjusts itself a few times."

Maura paused, and the fox edged nearer.  "And you are using effects of my 
illusion.  You can probably sense my worry."  She tugged on a piece of her 
hair, showing the illusion.  "I am worried about the other aspects of this 
link--I am sure neither of us knows in detail what they are, between our races.  
I mean, they could be more remote because we ARE of separate races.  On the 
other hand, we are both strongly magical which seems to have already and 
probably will continue to strengthen our link."  She looked at him deeply once 
more.  "And it has been a long time since I have been close to anyone."

"I'm afraid of the link as well," Xyranthes admitted. "I'm not sure about some 
of the aspects that are occuring, or whether or not some of the parts of the 
link will exist here.  In Aezia, magic is goverened by a being know as 
Vicksra, but she has no power here, so what realy will happen is unknown. Maybe 
only one of us will die, maybe none."

"At present there is too much that shouldn't happen. Vicksra set up certain
laws to govern the Draka's effects and powers, but, well, I can't realy
explain it. I'm not a Philosopher."

* * * * *

When Jonah and Justin got outside of seeing/hearing range of the tree where 
Maura and Xyranthes were waiting, Jonah turned to Justin with a concerned look 
on his face.

"I have to confess," he said, "I'm actually pretty sure I know exactly where 
that stream is, and might have been able to give you directions, but I wanted 
to talk a bit.  Alone."  He paused for a moment.

"I'm starting to get kind-of concerned about Maura," he continued.  "She seems 
to be having some sort of problem.  These fainting spells -- which seem to be 
getting worse, her recent irritability, and so forth.  Now, I'm no doctor, but 
there's obviously something not right.  I'm just not sure if she's ever going 
to say anything about it, or if we're going to have to take action ourselves."

Justin replied, "I think you're right.  Maura hasn't been doing well
lately and it's starting to be a real problem.  If each time we're making
some progress she passes out and slows us down, it's going to take us a
long time to find Crystal.  But what can we do?  If she knows what's wrong
but won't say it, how can we get her to tell us?  And if she doesn't know
what's wrong how can we discover it?  I don't think we know much about her
biology.  For all we know this could be some sort of natural process, like
adolescence, PMS, or menopause, which has been aggravated by the dry
conditions she is experiencing.  Do you have any ideas as to what we might
be able to do?"

"Unfortunately, no," Jonah replied, then pointed ahead.  "Oh, there's the 
stream."

As Justin refilled Maura's water bags, Jonah continued.

"Like I said, I really don't have any good ideas about what we could 
actually do to help her," he said.  "I guess what I'm thinking is 
whether we should confront her about this or let her tell us herself."

"Assuming it is something serious, waiting for her to say something could 
be too late.  But confronting her about it could be awkward, since -- 
from what I remember of her from the life I first met her in (which was 
a LONG time ago, from both her perspective and mine) -- she can be kind-of 
excitable.  I don't know how she'd react."

"But I can't just go on, letting her deteriorate, and not do something..."

Justin replied, "I know what you mean, but I don't know how we can deal 
with it nicely.  We can either confront her directly, try to get her to 
discuss it by bugging her about it, or leave it to reach a critical point 
for her to address the issue on her own time.  Since you know her best 
and think that confrontation would likely get her overly excited, that 
route probably wouldn't be the best unless the other two are unlikely to 
work.  I also don't like the idea of leaving her to bring it up, because 
by that point, if we could do something, we may not be able to anymore.  

"That leaves only a middle option.  I suppose this would work by our, 
you, me, and Xyranthes, asking if she feels ok, if she needs more water, 
if she needs anything, and the like to a point of driving her to 
distraction.  Perhaps, if we kept asking her about her well-being without 
asking specific, pointed questions she would eventually feel it better to 
tell us what the problem is, if any, than continually having everyone 
else ask her if she's feeling ok.  It's also possible this plan could 
backfire even worse than direct confrontation, since I don't know her as 
well as you do.  What do you think?"

"Well, I'd say," Jonah began to reply, but was interrupted when the pair 
heard a *FWIP* from the nearby forest.  Jonah grabbed at his neck where 
a large dart was sticking out of his flesh.  "Ow," he said, then began to 
wobble.  A moment later, he slumped over and fell off of Shard's back.

By this point, another *FWIP* came from the underbrush, and another dart 
hit Justin.  Through sheer luck, it hit his belt and did not manage to 
penetrate as far as his flesh.  Pulling the dart out, he was able to tell 
there was some sort of liquid oozing out of the tip.

Shard placed himself between Jonah's now-inert body and the direction 
from which the darts came, hissing into the brush.

Not happy about the rather rude assault, and also wanting to grab the 
attention of Maura and Xyranthes for help, Justin pulled out his Luger, 
fired a shot into the brush -- roughly in the direction in which Shard was 
hissing.  He wasn't so concerned with actually hitting whatever was there, 
but rather to scare the thing out of it's wits so that maybe it would go 
away, giving him some time to deal with the situation; and to let Maura and 
Xyranthes know that all was not well in Mudville, and if it is at all 
possible they should move in his direction quick.

After firing the shot, Justin then hid behind Shard, by Jonah's body.  He 
removed the dart sticking in the boy's neck and felt his pulse, which seemed 
strong enough.   He kept watching for signs of movement in the brush, though.  
He put his gun back in place, and took out the survival knife, anticipating 
that this thing might try a more direct attack, since its dart failed.  He 
decided not to go into the brush, figuring that it would be better to wait 
for reinforcements, and that if these things ran off, Shard would probably 
be able to follow them by smell, since it appeared he could detect them by 
smell or a similar sense.

For a moment, nothing happened.  Then Justin heard another *FWIP* from the 
underbrush, and another dart came out of the woods.

Feeling a sting on his shoulder, he reached over and tried to pull out the dart 
as soon as he could, before losing consciousness.  Then he figured, since his 
knife was already out, he should cut his shoulder with the knife, trying to 
bleed out the poison like he would do if he had been bitten by a rattlesnake in 
Montana.  This managed to bleed out most of the syrum, but Justin did start 
feeling somewhat woozy.

Then Maura and Xyranthes burst onto the scene.

* * * * *

"Maura, is that what I think it is?"  queried the cleric.

Maura's now-human face paled visibly.  "Yes it is.  Danger.  We have to go."
Xyranthes quickly got to his feet.  Maura grabbed her bag of stuff and climbed 
onto the Unicorn.  Xyranthes left his stuff, and then the both ran toward 
Shard's sending.

Xyranthes saw Maura riding the unicorn, stopped, waved Maura further on, and 
looks around for any bugs or small woodland animals.  He saw plenty of bugs -- 
ants, flies, etc.  No small animals were in sight, though.

As Xyranthes spied a nearby ant, he weaved yet another complex spell, again 
enlarging a creature of this world. The Ant struggled slightly, but gave up as 
Xyranthes' mind took brief control.  He masked the ant with an Illusion, 
turning it into a fierce brown... thing, with six legs.

Right after this, the two of them heard a sharp crack in the distance.  If 
they didn't know better, they'd have said it was a sharp crack of thunder.  
However, they were able to recognize it as a gunshot.

Maura spurred the Unicorn in the direction, while Xyranthes tried to steady the 
ant's histerics.  He finally gave up and took over the insect's mind, urging it 
toward the gunshot.

The Unicorn and ant rushed into the woods, and eventually narrowed in on a 
clearing.  In the clearing was a small stream, plus Jonah, Shard, and Justin.  
Jonah was lying on the ground, with Shard standing over him.  Justin was 
kneeling behind Shard, working on his arm.

Maura looked around to see if she could identify the person who shot or was 
shot at.  Xyranthes scanned the surrounding area, before heading over to Shard.  
Neither of them saw any other people in the area, but Xyranthes began to get a 
weird sensation of being watched.

"Look out for darts!!" Justin warned.

Maura dove off the Unicorn with an agility which shocked everyone shockable, 
remembering her previous condition.

"Darts? Who's shooting?"  called out Xyranthes, crouching lower on his Ant.

"I don't know.  They're hiding," Justin replied.

Maura pulled out the medical device from her bag as she headed over to Jonah 
and Justin.  She sensed someone there, but saw no one.

"I shot into the brush hoping to scare them away, maybe hit them, and to 
attract your attention," Justin explained.  "It appears I accomplished only the 
latter," he added, holding his bleeding shoulder and fighting artificial 
fatigue.

Xyranthes extended his mind and tried to sense any motion in the surrounding 
area, but sensed nothing.

Maura scanned Jonah and Justin and looked at the tricorder.  She detected a 
mild toxin in both Jonah and Justin's systems.  It wasn't fatal, just would 
render someone unconscious.  Obviously, that was what happened to Jonah.  
Justin must have managed to get most of it out before it took effect.

She called out to the woods, "I know you are there.  Who are you?"

"Maura, can you make that thing pick up life signs per chance?" Xyranthes 
said, pointing to the scanner.

"Xyranthes, can you heal them?  There is a poison in their systems," Maura 
said.  "The scanner is for diseases, not life signs," she added.

"Drat, Maybe I'll try something else," the cleric said.  Then, sliding off the 
Ant, Xyranthes scurried over to the two men.  Touching each, he attempted to 
detoxify them both.  He seemed successful, as Justin ceased feeling woozy, and 
Jonah began to stir.

"Thanks Xyranthes," Justin said.  "I wonder who is attacking us.  We were just 
talking and then Jonah got hit by a dart."

Maura began energetically--more than she had been in months--searching the 
surrounding woods for anyone with her mind.  Meanwhile, Xyranthes attempted to 
detect any patterend sounds, like heartbeats or breathing, using a more 
powerful spell to amplify hearing.

"So they made a pre-emptive strike?" Xyranthes asked.  Maura held her head -- 
apparently she was slightly affected by X's spell of hearing.

Justin nodded.  "It certainly wasn't provoked."

"You're sure you did nothing to provoke anyone?" Xyranthes asked.  "That's not 
very freindly of somebody."

Maura and Xyranthes continued to probe the woods.  At first, neither of them 
sensed anything.  Then, suddenly, they both got a sense of movement in the 
direction from which the darts had come.

"Get down!" Maura cried, diving to the ground herself.

"Hold, we know your there, show yourself!" commanded Xyranthes.

However, after a moment's confusion, they realized that whatever was moving was 
moving AWAY.

"Ant, chase him." Commanded Xyranthes, and the ant scurried away.

Maura slowly rose to her knees and looked at Jonah again.  "Jonah, could Shard 
possibly chase this guy?"

Jonah was only beginning to get a bearing on what's going on.  Maura touched 
his head and he realized that her skin was warm, almost hot!  Yet her eyes were 
brighter than they have been since he met her.

Jonah burbled for a moment, then looked at Shard.  The Drake looked back for a 
moment, then turned and bounded into the woods, after the ant.

"Is everybody OK?" Xyranthes asked, concern tinging his voice.

"I think we're okay now," Justin replied, "thanks largely to the fact you got 
here."

Jonah looked at Maura for a moment.  "It that you, or me?" he asked.

"Its a long story, but well, Maura its your life, you tell it," Xyranthes said.

Maura sighed, "Well, me."

"Oh, good.  Well, that is..." Jonah trailed off.

"Maura, are you ok?  You look warm?" Justin asked.

Xyranthes closed his eyes, trying to see through the ants eyes.  Maura noticed, 
and tried to help him.  Then she responded.

"Actually, I am better than I have been for years," she said.  "In fact, I am 
close to well.  A switch, I know--"

Right about that moment, the group heared a yell in the distance.  Maura and 
Xyranthes suddenly felt that the ant had caught whatever it was it was chasing!

Jonah turned his head in that direction.  "They got him!" he declared.  Maura 
helped him sit up.  Once upright, Jonah said, "Thanks."

"You're welcome," she responded.

<Ant bring him here, don't hurt him, gently, like a larva,>  Xyranthes 
commanded trough his link with the ant.

"Yes, they got him," he added, aloud.

"Should we chase after them, or wait for them to come back?" Justin asked.

Xyranthes tried to patch into the ant's visual cortex to see who it was it 
had been chasing.  Unfortunately, the sensory input from the ant's eyes was a 
little too alien for him to interpret quickly.  Further contact with its mind 
would give him more familiarity, but at that moment he could only tell it was 
human-shaped.

<They're coming, aren't they, Xyranthes?>  Maura asked telepathically, without 
thinking.

"Yes there bringing him here. I think we should stay here, just in case there's 
more," he responded, aloud.  Xyranthes rubbed his temples, trying to still the 
growing headache of Ant vision.

Suddenly, X got a shock through his bond with the ant.  Maura got some feedback 
as well.  It felt like touching a live electrical wire.

"Ack! What the..." Xyranthes began, just as Jonah jumped where he was sitting.  
"Something's attacking them!"

Maura jumped up.  "What was that?"

"Something new, that is!" Jonah added.

Xyranthes could tell that the ant was dead.  "Gentelmen and ladies, I think 
our freinds need us," he said, begining to move to the animals.

Maura leapt back onto the Unicorn and moved that way also.

"Ferfeck," sweared Xyranthes, and began to run faster to the site of the attack.

"Jonah, will you be okay, if I run off after this mess, or should I try to carry 
you?" Justin asked, just as Maura rode by and scooped him up onto the Unicorn's 
back.

"Thanks anyway, Justin," Jonah called.

Maura headed as fast as she could go in that direction, the Unicorn spurred by 
her anxiety.  Justin ran along at top speed, getting his knife out.  He and 
Xyranthes were quickly left behind by the galloping Unicorn.  Maura thought an 
apology to X, but was intent on catching the attacker.

"This is preposterous," Xyranthes said, looking for another bug to grab and 
carry to the seane of the attack.

Maura and Jonah quickly came upon the battle.  The ant was lying dead in the 
middle of the woods.  A large, burly man was standing next to Shard.  Both of 
them were standing against a boulder, warding a creature away.  The creature 
was like nothing either of them had seen before.  It looked like a cloud of 
blackness -- it does not seem to have any distinct shape.  It seemed to be 
trying to get to the man & Drake, but didn't seem to be able to approach within 
about five feet of them.  Shard was hissing noisily at it.

Maura was not sure whether to turn to the man or the creature... she could 
hardly make it out.

"What in the name of all the powers is that?" Xyranthes said, looking at the 
black thing.

Maura tried sensing for its mind.  She picked up something so alien it was 
almost painful.  At the same time, Xyranthes sensed PURE EVIL coming from the 
black cloud.

Maura's hands went to her head, but she grappled with the pain.

Justin was breathing heavily after running up.  "What on earth is that, and was 
it throwing darts at us or was it that guy?"

Maura turned to the man, "Who are you, and what is that?"

"My name is Revok, and I have no idea!" the man replied.

Xyranthes tried to feel if the thing bore any ill will on the group itself.  
That is, was it evil or just protecting something?  He could feel it 
concentrating mostly on the stranger, but it didn't exactly like the rest 
either.  In short, it was truly evil, but on a particular mission...

"Be Gone thing of Evil!"  Xyranthes said, waving his hands.  He also began 
preparing a spell.

Maura knew she could not fight the thing, so she confronted the man.  "Did you 
attack my friends?"  However, as Maura tried to talk to the man, the creature 
turned toward her.  It tried to lash at her, but stopped short.  The Unicorn 
whinnied.

"Look out, that thing is pure evil, I don't sugest getting near it," warned the 
cleric.  "Begone foul cloud," he called, and launched a bolt of fire at its 
center.  Maura felt Xyranthes building up energy, and lent him a portion of her 
strength.

"Certainly looks like pure evil," Justin commented, confused.  "How can someone 
fight pure evil...?"

Maura sent a mental blast at the creature, as powerful and alien as she could 
manage.  It was alien to her--she hoped to frighten it in some way, but not to 
distract Xyranthes in the process.  And she keept looking at Revok.

Xyranthes' fireball detonated within the creature.  It seemed to waver a 
moment, then turned toward him.  Then Maura's mental blast hit it, causing it to 
waver again...

"Get going, you cloud, or I'll make you rain,"  Xyranthes shouted.

Justin backed off a bit and tried to think logically about the whole thing, 
since if this was going to be won by force of pure magic, he wasn't going to do 
it, and if it wasn't, someone needed to think this through.

In response, the creature howled.  It was a haunting sound, sending shivers up 
everyone's spine.

"Go on, get going, howling isn't going to do anything," the cleric said to the 
cloud, as Maura gave a cry at the howl, and summoned her energy for another 
blast.

At that point, the creature lashed out at Xyranthes.  One 'claw' hit, and 
Xyranthes felt weak, as if the creature had drained a portion of his life force.

"Eackkk." X screamed.

Maura tried sending another mental blast at the creature, but also tried to 
divert some of her strength to help Xyranthes.

While everyone else's attention was on the cloud, and its was on everyone else, 
the man -- Revok -- took the opportunity to run.  Justin noticed, however, and 
decided to pursue.  Maura had also been looking, and cried, "Chase him!"

"No don't worry about me, lets get rid of this cloud first," Xyranthes panted. 
Regrouping his strength, he sent another firebolt the cloud's way, which seemed 
to weaken it a bit more, and Maura's mental bolt as well.  It lashed at Maura, 
but seemed like it couldn't get near the Unicorn.

Meanwhile, Justin rushed after Revok.  The man turned and attempted to strike 
Justin.  He dodged and slashed at the man's arm with his knife.  The man 
parried Justin's blow with his wrist, and -- while Justin was open -- kicked 
him in the gut.  He wasn't able to get his entire weight behind it, though, so 
Justin wasn't too hurt.

"Go back to the abbyss prepared for you, fall back to the darkness from whence 
you came," commanded Xyranthes, firing three more fire bolts at the cloud.

Maura noticed Justin's trouble and leapt from the Unicorn to help him, sending 
to the Unicorn to fight the Thing, if it could.  She saw Justin with the knife 
and said, "Justin, remember the knife."  But before she could do what she 
wanted, he was knocked down and she helped him up.  

The Unicorn snorted, and leveled its horn at the creature.  Meanwhile, 
Xyranthes' firebolts seemed to have weakened it even more.

Maura then created an illusion of a griffin on herself and, with a sigh and 
mental concentration, made it a true change, becoming a griffin.  By this 
point, the man had turned and was trying to flee again.  Maura/griffin flew and 
cut him off.

The man stopped with a gasp and turned in the other direction.  Seeing Justin 
back on his feet, he turned to the side, and tried running that way.

Justin had quickly pulled himself up, with Maura's help, in the process pulling 
his gun from his coat.  He aimed and fired and the man.

Justin's bullet grazed his shoulder, knocking him off stride.  Justin then 
stood up and ran after him.

Maura got there first, though, and grabbed him by the shoulders with her eagle 
talons, being careful not to cut in, and held him until Justin caught up.

Meanwhile, Xyranthes fired three more firebolts; the last of what he figured 
was his magic for the time being.  The fireballs weakened the creature some 
more.  He then sent a thought to Maura.

<Maura, here's how you can create a wall of air,> and transmitted the 
instructions through their link.

The unicorn moved to a position about 120 degrees around the creature from 
Xyranthes, and Shard completed the triangle on the far side.  The Unicorn 
emitted a trumpeting sound -- through its horn -- as it charged the shade.  
Shard's eyes began to glow, as he hissed and leapt at it as well.  Xyranthes 
suddenly got a feeling that he could do one more firebolt.  He sensed he should 
hit the creature at the same time as the animals.

When Justin finally caught up, having returned his gun to it's place, he held 
his knife to the man's throat and said, "Would you mind explaining exactly what 
is going on before I lose my patience?"

Maura was distracted, but her griffin instincts held on and so did the claws.  
She did create the wall with her mind, sending a quick query back to Xyranthes.

<Where?>

<To hold the captive, at the feet, hard to run if your feet are bound with 
air,> he replied, as the animals were about to hit the shade.  The old cleric 
drew his reserve energies and fired off one last bolt of fire into the heart of 
the cloud, just as the animals impacted the thing.

As the firebolt, Unicorn horn, and Drake jaws impacted the creature, it let out 
an intense scream of pain.  All people present were deafened for a minute.
It then dissipated.

Jonah held his ears, and Maura's eagle head screeched, as Xyranthes collapsed, 
woosy from the exertion.  He turned his atention to the animals first, seeing 
if they needed any help, but Shard had already come over to him, seeing if he 
needed any help.

"Thank you, friend drake.  I'm alright, just a bit tired, that's all," he 
reassured Shard.

The man had closed his eyes in pain when the creature died, but returned to a 
stony mask by the time the others recovered.  He seemed disinclined to cooperate, 
so Maura attempted to reach into his mind to see if she could sense anything.  
Gently, not to hurt him, but she found his mind to be strangely closed to her.  
In fact, she had never encountered a human mind with such strong telepathic 
barriers before.  It somewhat reminded her of the Vulcan, Sobek.

The man continued watching Justin scornfully - but quietly.

Maura slowly dropped the griffin guise, but kept the wall of air around Revok's 
feet so he couldn't move.

Xyranthes then noticed the stubborn captive, and began to get up.  Slowly, he 
walked to the group, with the Drake and Unicorn are at either side of him.

"He can't move, Justin.  There is a wall holding him," Maura said.

Jonah suddenly did a double-take at the man.  "Hey, I know you..."

The man exhaled slowly at Jonah's comment, then cursed under his breath.

Maura checked magically for illusion, to see if the man was not what he 
seemed.  She did not, however, find anything.

"You know, I think I can make him talk," Xyranthes said.  "Maura, can you get 
me some fig or other large leaves please?  Now, I think I have some mice and... 
Oh, Justin do you have three bowls I could borrow?"

Maura asked telepathically if Xyranthes was well enough.

"Oh, torture was one of my best subjects at the academy," Xyranthes replied 
aloud.  "I was able to crack one of the hardest cases, took thirteen hours and 
the poor man didn't survive long after, hopeful out friend here can wait out 
the pain a little."  And Xyranthes gave the man an evil look.

Maura thought out loud that that would not be necessary.

"Oh, oh well."  Xyranthes looked slightly disapointed, but once out of the 
man's line of sight, he gave everyone a smile, and sent to Maura that he was 
trying to make the man talk.

Justin called to Jonah -- loudly, so the man could hear: "If you know him, is 
he worth keeping alive after deserting us and attacking us unannounced?"

"I'm not sure," the boy replied.  "He's a bounty hunter from Almaise.  Not 
exactly a personal friend, but an acquaintance..."

"Hmm.  I wonder who he was hunting?" Justin asked by way of reply.  "If it's 
one of us, we certainly don't want him to hang around."

The man then turned to Justin.  "Alright.  If you will kindly remove the knife, 
I'll tell you what's going on."

Maura said, "It doesn't matter.  He's not going anywhere," to Justin.  "You can 
remove it."

Justin then retracted the knife enough so the man could breathe comfortably 
without worrying that, if he noded, he'll be decapitated.  The man gave Justin 
a dirty look, that he hadn't put it away entirely, but began to speak.

"Okay," he began.  "Here's the deal.  I tell you what's going on, and you let 
me go.  I appreciate your help with that -- thing -- so I won't bother you 
again."

"What did you want?" Maura asked, and the man looked at her.

"The boy," he indicated Jonah, "was right.  I am a Bounty Hunter."

He then nodded toward Justin.  "'Butch' was also right, I was hired to find one 
of you."  Maura's mouth tightened.

"Who?" she asked, at the same time as Xyranthes said, "If you wouldn't mind 
telling us who hired you, and who you are to bounty?"

"Mind nothing.  Tell us anyway," Maura said.

In reply, the man glanced pointedly at Jonah.

Jonah's eyes widened.  "Me?"  Maura paled, but tried to suppress it.

"Yeah," the bounty hunter replied.  "'The evil fire wizard, with his 
otherworldly companions...'"  Everyone could tell he was quoting, but didn't 
entirely believe it himself.

"Who hired you to find Jonah? Tell us, time grows short," the cleric said, and 
Maura folded her arms across her human-seeming chest.

"Keep your pants on, Gramps," the man spat.

"Well, you know I am otherwordly" Maura commented.  "So talk.  Did you like me 
as a griffin?"

"You know, shadows only search out those they hate," Xyranthes remarked.  "The 
Cloud you saw isn't gone. We could leave you stranded here and let it find you 
again. Would you like that young man?"

The man briefly paled at Xyranthes' threat.

"And you will address me as Xyranthes," the cleric added, looking very hard at 
the hunter.

"Whatever," he replied, then regrouped his thoughts.

"Hey, I have no idea where that thing came from," the bounty hunter protested.  
"For a moment, I was starting to believe what the High Priest told me about the 
kid's evil sorcery, but then you all came and drove it away."

"Doesn't make much sense if you all sent it after me in the first place," he 
added.

"I had nothing to do with it," Maura said.  "Did the townspeople hire you?"  
She sounded impatient, and gave a flicker of the griffin as an illusion.

"So, that old fool thought Jonah was a big dangerous fire wizard, eh?  The 
Cloud was not from us.  After all, a house divided against itself cannot 
stand. I think it was after you," Xyranthes said to Revok.

"No, SH*T, it was after me!" Revok replied.  "The only reason it didn't get me 
with the giant ant is the Drake, there!  It seemed almost afraid of the 
critter, for some reason..."

"Justine, this man thinks that poor Jonah is the evil fire wizard," Xyranthes 
said, a little mirth tinging his words.

Maura snapped her fingers in front of Revok's face to regain his attention.  He 
looked back at Maura, and his eyes scanned her down-and-up quickly.

"Remember?  I asked who hired you?" Maura said.  "Or don't you answer women's 
questions?"

"No," he replied, "but it was the High Priest."

Justin said to Jonah, "This high priest, could he be from that town you 
accidently toasted, hence the 'evil fire wizard'.

"Most likely," Jonah replied.

"But," Revok continued, "I'd answer your questions any day." And he grinned 
lasciviously.

Maura, however, looked contemptuous at the man's rudeness.  "I am not tempted 
to release him.  And yet, I remember this high priest by reputation."  Back to 
Revok: "Perhaps you preferred me as the griffin?"

"Young man, I woudn't do that again," Xyranthes warned.  "I don't like your 
attitude to the lady.  Apologize, or I might looose my temper."

"Not really," he responded to Maura.  "I don't go that way."

Maura said to Xyranthes by mind that she could deal with this, when she was 
jarred by the man's apparent familiarity with magic.

<As you wish my dear,> Xyranthes replied, mind-to-mind, <but be careful, he 
might not take you seriously.>

The man looked at Xyranthes.  "So, the lady doesn't like to be referred to as 
attractive?"

"Do you know why you can't move?"  She asked Revok.  "As for the other," she 
said to Revok, "Perhaps I am not what you think.  Would you be as interested, I 
wonder, if I were 600 plus years old?"

Revok blanched, then shook his head to clear it.

"As for what you've done to my feet," he continued, "it does make be believe 
the High Priest's claims about your magic a bit..."

"Apparently this priest still has a hang-up about your accident," Justin 
commented.  "I wonder if he has any intention of leaving us alone."

"This is the first I've heard of the Priest," Jonah said.  He then turned to 
Revok.  "Did the Priest send you after me because of the fire?"

Justin whispered to Xyranthes, "Actually he might be VERY turned off if he knew 
how old Maura is."

"We'll find out," wispered back Xyranthes.