... a bahro stone.

I looked up at Zedd, said, "What? How'd this get in here? It wasn't there when I went to sleep. You been punching through me sack, Zedd."

"Ha, aha, aha," laughing like a bag man who'd just stolen second made me want to bop him a good 'un.

"Okay, just the short one," I smirked. "What are we supposed to do with this? If my memory still serves me right, all these bahro stones lead to dead ends, so how's this going to help us?"

He just laughed harder and harder. So I cranked up the rachet on me old foot and kicked him below the chin. Not enough to hurt, just enough to smart a little and get him to listening.

"What you go and do that fer, huh?" he looked at me like I'd just killed his dog. "Okay, if your going to be that way about it, it was J'bilan D'n'k, the elder you met last night. He wanted you to have it for making him laugh so much. It's a ticket back to Ae'gura, but one that puts you smack in the middle of Tokatah Alley. It's not a trick."

"But what about our mission? Aren't we going to the island? What about this place, can't we do a little looking around? There's so much to explore, I just don't want to go home, not yet."

"But we got to Wiz, there's no other way; and , besides we got to get our book, remember?"

Sure I remember, we put the linking book he'd found in a safe hiding place because we were not sure enough about it to know if it were safe or not.

Zedd looked more thoughtful now when he said, "I see you remember now. Well, I found out who that book was made by, and what its true purpose is. So now we got to go back, so we can finish our journey for Yeesha. That book holds the key to the freedom of the bahro, and the destruction of the cavern. A secret was buried in that age, and we got to go dig it up before its too late..."

Secrets, destruction, freedom.... hmm. Here we go again....

--- more to come ----

_________________
Earthwizard - KI # 01555592 - The Ageless Explorer's Hood
D'ni Digest | AoG | Guild of Cartographers

"What, you got to be kidding!!!" I was more than exasperated, I was downright pizzled....

"Now don't get you're hackles all bent out of shape, I mean it's not as difficult and dangerous as you think." Zedd said reassuringly to me.


But I wasn't taking it laying down, no sir'ee, "So why didn't she go get the dang blang thing herself, if it was so important? Why should we be the ones to put our necks on the line for Yeesha? What about her buddies, the bahro? They look like their pretty tough hombres to me, why can't they come with us just to play it safe?" I was more that exasperated, I was fed up with plots, designs, secrets; just more and more mystery piles on top me poor head to deal with.

"Come on, Wiz," Zedd sounded anxious, yet persevering. "We can do this, we got the right stuff. You're a crafty ole devil you got a mind to, and you know we can sneak in there and get that little artifact before this 'Destroyer' will even know we've been there."

Zedd always did make the impossible sound like a nice little jaunt to the park and back with a passle of toys to play with on the way, but I wasn't going to let down on this one, nope, I'd a feeling things were not going to go just like he'd have them this time. My feelings were that, as usual, I'd be the guinea pig to lure this 'Destroyer' away from his lair while Zedd did his diry work retrieving the magickal book Yeesha had lost to him in their final confrontation. O me o my oooo... what will I do?

Shall I go? Shall I stay? I sometimes wish I had someone out there to tell me what to do.... does anyone out there in the blue skys know what I should do next? Please help me....


---- more to come ---

p. s. feel free to interact and help Wiz and Zedd on their adventure into the Age of the Destroyer.... they'll need all the help they can get...

_________________
Earthwizard - KI # 01555592 - The Ageless Explorer's Hood
D'ni Digest | AoG | Guild of Cartographers

earthwizard wrote:

"What, you got to be kidding!!!" I was more than exasperated, I was downright pizzled....

Again? And so early in the day, too...

Well, they could go back to the city, settle down, raise families, take up knitting...

Oh go on, you know they want to really.

sounds like you got to go to me, Yeesha needs help and has called upon you to help her. (or have you already gone and gotten yourself into trouble)

She must trust in you or perhaps there is something within you that will allow you to complete the task.
I'm sure the detroyer has protected the book from Yeesha and the bahro, but not the average explorer.

Beside ya always have your trusty Relto book {You do have one right)
with you if it get to deep for ya Relto out......if not ya really need to have a talk with Yeesha

_________________
Seek the Path of Light.....Enter a New Beginning.

"Oh, alright Zedd," I said with a little meaness I didn't really feel, but just so he'd know I was'nt in any humor to be fraggled this morning. "I'll go on your fragging mystery tour, but don't expect me to be the one to run the gauntlet for ya when this fellow - What's his name? - Mr. Destroyer ( and what kind of name is that, anyway?) decides to cook yer goose. No sir'ee, not this old boy, I've had it with all these mystery tours and treasure hunts in which we never find treasure, but always find trouble..."

"But, Zedd," he interrupted me like a man who knew more than men could know, saying, "we're not going alone."

Now that stopped me in me tracks. For once in me life I had nothing to say. I just looked at him, smiling.

"See, you're better already," Zedd laughed. "Yep, we got company on this trip, someone you'll love."

Oh no, I should've known what was coming next, but I was in a good humor even if a little tired and feeling bumrushed about the whole thing, so I went along with his little charade just to be a sport about it all. "Ok, I give," I said with more nonchalance than I was feeling. "Who is this mystery guest?"

"Why you know, Wiz, our little sister, Talia?" he said this like it was something I'd known all me life.

At the mention of her name -and what a name, too - I tried to stand up, but instead I burned me poor toes, which had been warmin' themselves on a toasty rock by the fire, where I'd been sippin' me coffee, and eating one of them fancy d'ni rolls that Jesse Lee, our Bevin Chef Meister in Residence, had fried up only a few minutes before.

(Oh! what a treat they were, too. Just like the Indian bread I used to eat as a kid up by Flagstaff, Arizona. You know the kind, dipped in hot oil, fried super thin and crsip, and filled with honey so rich your mouth floated in manna. They called them sopapillas (after the Spanish Conquistador who'd named 'em, not having a clue how to annunciate the true Havasupai name), but I called them bliss and comfort for the simple reason that with each bite I was sent to a place where real magic was not only possible but prescribed. Yummy Land.).

I roared. I screamed. I did figgle jig in circles holding me aching toes like a wounded Tasmanian devil, spinning and hopping around knocking down bookshelves, bumping into me new cookware and sending the whole shebang banging down on the stone floor that the entire hood came rushing to our alcove, where Joby, Tibby, Althea, and Markus found me making such a ruckus that they thought I'd finally gone over the edge. But instead, I finally fell into the fountain and comming up with me beard and me favorite coddlin robe all spittling and dripping wet.

(And all this because that little pipsquik, Talia, was comming along on our adventure. Of course, I didn't really have nothin' against her, no it wasn't that she hadn't been entertaining - in her way, but it was more that she was always a persistant thorn in me side, always asking a thousand questions, always combatting me with my replies, always chattering and spouting her opinions on every little thing, like she was the most gifted student any teacher's pet could be. No, it wasn't like she couldn't make me laugh, or cry as the occasion warranted; it was more like she made me feel things and remember things out of me own youth, things best left int he dark foretime of unmentionables. Yes, she was so full of energy, so full of courage in the face of danger, so full of curiosity and ... and... newness; yes, that's the right word.... newness, she was full of it, full of that magic of life that so few still have, the feeling that all the world before her was an open adventure and each day was the first day of that adventure. Oh, Talia, what a breath of fresh air.... yes, you remind me of me dear departed wife.... that was it in a nutshell. Nothing more need be said.)

I looked around me and saw that I was the center of a comedian hour without a comedian. "Oh sure, let old wizzy be the center of fun and laughter. Go on, have yer laugh, see if I care."

So I troshed me way slipping and slidding on the pavement back to me alcove where I found none other than Zedd and Talia both at the kitchen table talking and laughing, drinking me coffee and eating me rolls like nothing had happened to poor old wizzy.

What could I say? I said nothing, went to me room, slammed the door, and proceeded to sulk for a while, then showerd, trimmed me beard, put on me favorite hunting jacket, adjusted me Crawford Beret, twisted me stash of Hummer's finest, filled me tankard for the long haul, and grabbed me favorite bone pipe for those long dark evenings ahead, then I walked to the kitchen grabbed what was left of me roll, picked up me cold coffee and downed it in one shot and said, "Ok, I'm ready. Let's be off..."

--- more to come ----

_________________
Earthwizard - KI # 01555592 - The Ageless Explorer's Hood
D'ni Digest | AoG | Guild of Cartographers

looks like Zedd has been doing some talking with Talia, i bet she knows more than you think, why else would Zedd bring someone new on such an impotant journey.

_________________
Seek the Path of Light.....Enter a New Beginning.