Date: Mon, 13 Nov 2000 10:16:34 -0500 (EST)
From: Rune Therain <mist_dark@yahoo.ca>
Subject: Harbingers: part 14

It's finally out and I have my hot little hands (though they're often cold
enough to freeze anything they touch) on a copy of "Winter's Heart."  I
haven't started it yet, but once I finish the Eye of the World, I'll start
in on it.  For all of those who've no idea what I'm babbling out, I'm
talking about the Wheel of Time by Robert Jordan.  I strongly recommend it
for anyone who really loves reading fantasy.  It's long, but it's worth it.

Now for things actually related to my story.  I always thank the people who
send me e- mails in this part, and I truly do enjoy hearing from you guys.
I love getting feedback on what I'm writing.  It gives me a warm fuzzy
feeling inside that has nothing to do with what I had for supper the night
before.  Let me know what you think.  The good and the bad.  You can reach
me at either Mist_dark@yahoo.ca or Mist_dark@hotmail.com I check both.
Special thanks go to Kenitra, Shade, Aeoros, Di (haven't heard from you in
a bit), Hamado, Phoenix, Dax and Matt.  Any of course anyone else that's
e-mailed me.

This story in no way is supposed t6o reflect the sexuality of the members
of Nsync.  If they're gay it's none of my business.  If you're too young in
your area, or it's illegal to be reading this, leave.  If homosexual themes
offend you leave as well.  Parts of this story are based off the RPG Rifts.
All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books.

Now on with the story.  Until next time, Rune


PART FOURTEEN


	Mala giggled at something that Chris whispered in her ear and Maria
made a gagging noise.  Chris and the thief had grown very close to each
other during the trip from where she'd found him to England.  They'd been
especially close during the voyage from Africa.  The two were constantly
seen with each other and if they weren't side by side, you only had to look
a few feet away to find the other.  Most of the crew was surprised at how
quickly they took to each other.  The voyage had lasted less then a week.
The ship was good and the weather had been more then favourable.

	Chris grinned in the moonlight and whispered something else to
Mala.  The thief giggled again.  Maria stopped and turned to face them.

	"That's enough.  If I hear one more mushy remark out of either of
you I'm going to throttle you both."  She looked them both in the eye to
make sure they understood her.  "I've been hearing every word you've
whispered to her Chris, and so has Brian.  We both have incredible hearing
and I'd rather not have to listen to this.  I'm happy that you're in love.
I really am, but give it a rest."

	"Sounds like someone's jealous," Chris smirked.

	"The only saving grace to your relationship is that it isn't a
tortured love like Tristram and Isuelt's.  And that isn't much comfort."

	Mala arched an eyebrow at the vampire.  "We'll behave for now.
Though I'm not making any promises about later."

	The vampire sighed and turned back to their trek through the woods.
"At least that's something," she muttered under her breath.  Brian had a
slight smile on his face, but he didn't say anything.

	"How far are we from the castle?"  Mala asked.

	Maria studied the sky for a moment through the trees.  "About three
hours I think.  At the pace we're moving we'll get there before sunrise."

	"I wonder what the guys will think when we bring you back," Chris
wondered aloud.  "They haven't seen you in a while.  I think Lance will
especially want to talk to you."

	"I'm looking forward to seeing them too," Maria admitted.  "It's
been far to long."

	"Too bad you won't be seeing anyone this night," a disembodied
voice said.  "This night or any other."

	"Who said that?"  Mala asked.  She scanned the forest, but couldn't
see anyone among the trees.

	"Get off the horses," Brian said.  "If they bolt they'll hurt
themselves and you.  Try to keep them calm."

	Mala and Chris dismounted quickly.  The thief took the horses and
tethered them to a nearby tree.  Maria and Brian were both scanning the
forest.  Brian had his bow ready, the string was pulled back ready for one
of his arrows.

	The ground rippled in front of them.  It appeared as if something
was flowing out of the earth.  Moss and leaves flaked off the humanoid
figure.  The construct stood over ten feet tall and a stone robe covered
its body.  In the dim light the robe appeared to be made of a bluish stone.
The features of the face were hidden behind the hood of the robe.  A
greenish gem glowed in the construct's forehead.

	"What are the odds of this thing being friendly?"  Chris asked to
no one in particular.

	"Small," the construct said.  "Very small.  You will die this
night."

	"I see what you mean about fighting wherever you go," Mala said.
"You're practically a magnet for it."

	The night lit up momentarily when Brian loosed one of his arrows at
the golem's face.  The creature wasn't stunned in the slightest.  It moved
forward with both speed and grace that defied its appearance.  It shouldn't
have been able to move that quickly.  It moved as if it were alive.  It
grabbed Brian in its left hand and threw him into a tree.  The blonde
slumped to the ground, stunned.

	Chris covered himself in flames as Maria shrieked at the golem.
She climbed up its back trying to tear hunks of stone out.  Though she
could climb it, her fingers passed right through the stone when she tried
to rip it out.  The same thing happened when she punched and kicked it.
The golem laughed at her futile efforts.

	"I came prepared for you vampire.  You cannot harm me.  Quit
wasting your time."  It swatted Maria from his back.  She rolled to her
feet and charged it again.  The golem concentrated on taunting Maria while
the others prepared their own attacks.

	Chris quickly discovered that his flames were as useless as Maria's
attacks had been.  Anything that didn't pass right through the cursed
thing, were simply ignored.  He couldn't hurt it.

	"I've got an idea Chris," Mala whispered to him.  Make sure I can
get up his back, but don't hit me while I'm getting there."

	He nodded and aimed another blast of flames at the golem's head.
The construct ignored Maria for a moment and turned its attention to Chris.
"Foolish," it told him.  "You were going to live a few minutes longer, but
you'll die first now I think."

	Chris shrugged and threw a few more bolts of fire at the creature's
head.  He stopped when he saw Mala creep up over the golem's head.  The
thief raised a dagger above her head and stabbed it into the gem.

	Green light bathed everything within a hundred feet.  The golem's
cries were mixed with screams of pain from Mala.  White streaks of energy
covered both of them.  The golem writhed in pain while the focus that gave
it life was destroyed.  Mala screamed in pain as the magical backlash
coursed through her body.  Cracks appeared along the stone of the construct
moments before it crumbled into dust.  Mala collapsed next to it.

	"MALA!" Chris screamed at her when he got his voice back.  His
flames were extinguished by the time he slid down next to her.  He cradled
her in his arms while Maria tended to Brian.  "Mala," he whispered softly.
"Wake up hon, please wake up."

	"Is she alive?"  Brian asked.

	"Yes," Maria said.  "Barely, but she's alive."

	"Are you sure?"  Chris asked.  tears were streaming down his face.
"I don't want to lose her.  I just found her."

	"She's alive for now," Maria assured him.  "I can smell her blood
and it's still alive.  Though I'm not sure how long she'll live.  We have
to get her to the castle.  Someone there might be able to help her."

	"How are we going to get there in time?"  Chris asked.  His voice
displayed the distraction he felt.  "The horses ran off during the fight."

	"I'll carry her," Maria said.  "Brian can carry you.  We'll get
there faster that way."  She carefully removed the thief from Chris' arms.
"We have to get moving."  She didn't wait for him to respond.  Instead she
bolted into the forest in the direction they had been heading.

	"Let's go," Brian told him.  The servant had slung his bow over his
shoulder again.  He easily scooped Chris up and raced after Maria.









	"Sing for me Siren," Calypso whispered to JC.

They sat in front of the fireplace in the main hall.  Everyone else had
tactfully left the two of them alone.  Evelyn was giving Joey lessons of
some sort.  Justin and Pyre had gone off again, most likely to plot the
death of Yesena.  Even David was out of the castle.  He had to laugh about
the way they had all changed their sleeping patterns.  They rarely were
completely active during the day.

"What do you want to hear?"  He asked he just as quietly.

"The magic of your voice," she told him.  "Weave an illusion for me."

A wistful smile crossed his face.  "Alright.  Give me a minute to compose
this."  He closed his eyes and formed the image and feelings in his mind.
He hummed quietly to himself for a moment before he began to sing the song.

The quiet wind invaded the hall as the first notes left his mouth.  The
sound of lapping water followed right on its heels.  Calypso watched Josh
without saying a word.  Slowly the two sounds implanted themselves firmly
in the room.  The floor they were sitting on rippled softly.  The
shapeshifter looked down and saw that the floor was not only moving, but
had changed colour as well.  They were both sitting on water that moved
slightly in the wind.  The walls and ceiling faded away with the furniture.
A darkened sky replaced them.

A dolphin leapt out of the water in the early dawn.  Another left the water
just as the first one splashed playfully back into the ocean.  The sea
creatures paid them no heed as they continued in their games.

The sky lit up along the horizon.  Pale light touched the clouds that
hovered just above the line of the ocean.  The light grew brighter and its
rays reached higher into the sky.  Touching clouds that were previously
hidden in the darkness of the fleeing night.  When she thought it couldn't
grow any brighter the sun peeked over the horizon.  It's light flooded the
surface of the ocean, pushing back the night.

Calypso stared in wonder at the sunrise that she wouldn't have been able to
see normally.  Even from a boat, she knew that this image wouldn't have
been the same.  You had to be on the surface of the water, surrounded by
nothing but the water and the air, in order to truly see this sunrise.  She
watched the colours of dawn fade from sight.  When the last one had faded
she leaned into Josh and cut off his voice with her lips.

The seascape slowly faded.  The floor stopped rippling and the walls
returned.  The dolphins disappeared beneath the hardening waves.  The light
of dawn vanished.  The sounds of the wind and waves slowly left the hall.
Several minutes after the illusion had completely disappeared Calypso
pulled back for air.

"Where did you come up with that?"

"I saw it several times after the first time I came here," Josh told her
softly.  "I guess I never forgot.  I thought I had."

"What happened to you?"  She asked.  "Where did you come from my Siren?"

"It's a long story," he told her.

"It's a long night," she countered.  "Besides I have a confession to make."

"And what would that be?"

"I love the sound of your voice," she said.  A blush flushed into her
cheeks.  "I could listen to it all the time and never get tired of it.
That sounds silly doesn't it?"

It was Josh's turn to blush.  "Actually it's sweet.  If you like my voice
so much I guess I have to tell you the story then.  It's long though, and
kind of sad at points."

"That's alright," Calypso said.  "I want to know."

Josh nodded and started to tell her.  He told her about how he had ended up
in her world.  How Ivar had rescued him and began his training as a Siren.
He told her about Fayth and Erastus.  About the Guardians, the Trinity and
the Acolytes.  He told her about his friends that she hadn't met yet, and
about the ones she wouldn't meet because they'd been killed.

The fire had died down to coals by the time he'd finished telling her
everything.  Silence filled the room when he finished the tale.  Calypso
didn't say anything, she just hugged him tightly to her.











	No one was in the Hall of Gateways when Lance teleported back.
Apparently Atropos had other things to deal with.  He shrugged and chose
another gateway.  This one was made of a shimmering silver stone.  He
thought it was metal at first, but it was a stone of some sort, though he
had no idea what kind.

	There was no hallway beyond this gateway.  Instead he stepped
directly onto a platform of some sort.  It was made of the same silver
stone that the gateway had been.  Instead of being able to walk freely in
all directions, like he'd been able to the first time, Lance knew he was
going to have to follow the winding paths that stretched out from the
platform.  The air was lit again by some unseen force.  This time he
couldn't even attribute it to the walls, there were none.  Stretching out
in all directions was blackness.  He walked to the edge of the platform,
the darkness extended far below him as well.  Tiny balls of multicoloured
light swirled in the darkness, but shed no real light of their own.

	The blonde turned in a slow circle.  He stopped when he felt the
familiar tingling sensation.  There was a pathway right before him.
shrugging his shoulders, Lance strode forward.  Like the first time the
sensation grew the further he walked.  And like last time he could sense
creatures out in the darkness.  He had no idea what they were, there were
so many of them.  But he knew there were there, if only for a moment.

	The colour of the air changed subtly as he walked.  It started out
pitch black with the tiny lights swirling.  It moved from the black to gray
to pale white before working its way back to black.  Sometimes it changed
colour drastically.  Now and again blue would appear, as would red.  Even
green took the sky for a time.  But it was mostly black, white and gray.

	The tingling sensation that was guiding Lance flared suddenly.  An
instant later he heard the voice.

	"You have come Seeker."  Lance turned to see which Guardian had
appeared.  He didn't know how, but he knew it was a Guardian.

	The newcomer wasn't any Guardian he had ever seen before.  It was a
man dressed in black and white.  His pants and shirt were practically one
piece of black cloth.  They clung to his body showing how fit he was.  His
boots and gloves were white.  His hooded cloak was also white and was
fastened by an hourglass shaped clasp.  His face was black with white
hourglass shapes painted on each cheek.  A white bandage covered his eyes.

	"I've never seen you before," Lance said.  He didn't fear this man.
He knew that none of the Guardians would hurt him.  But he did want to know
how this Guardian could take form when the others were barely able to hold
their realms together.  "Who are you?"

	The mysterious smile that all Guardians seemed to have mastered
appeared on his face.  "Some have called me Cronus, but most simply refer
to me as Time.  And you wish to know why I can appear as I do while my
brethren are unable to do so."

	Shock was displayed clearly on Lance's face.  "How did you know
that?"

	"It is what you want to know," Time asked.  "Isn't it?"

	"Yes," Lance said.  "But how?"

	"I can answer both simply enough."  The Guardian gestured all
around him.  "This is my realm.  Time.  This place spans all of time, and
in a sense all of space.  As such we are in all times simultaneously.  That
is why I can appear like I do.  I am battling for control over my domain at
one point in time, and I am untroubled by those worries at another point.
I have dealt with each in their own time, and am battling with them still.
Do you understand?"

	"I think so," Lance said.  "Basically you can appear like you do
because at one point in time you would have been able to do that.  But at
the same time you aren't here in physical form because you're trying to
stop time from unraveling."

	"Simply put, that is what I have said," Time told him with a smile.
"It is of course far more complicated then that, but that is what I mean."

	"Do you know how things will turn out?"  Lance asked.  "I'm
assuming you know what the future holds."

	"In most cases I do Seeker," the Guardian told him.  "But this is
not one of the cases.  I know how things will end if you succeed. And I
know how things will end if you fail.  But I do not know which future is
the one that will dominate."

	"It was worth a shot," Lance said with a grin.  "Can't blame a guy
for trying can you?"

	"No you can't," Time grinned.

	"Okay, if you don't know how things will end," Lance said after a
moment.  "Do you know who the replacement Guardian will be."

	Time nodded.  "Yes I do, but I can't tell you that Seeker.  It is
not my place to tell you.  You have to find the Guardian yourself."

	"Why?"  Lance asked.  "I mean Death said she couldn't tell me which
Guardian was going to die, but she didn't say the Guardians wouldn't be
able to tell me who their new sibling was going to be."

	"What have you learned so far on your quest Seeker," Time asked.

	A frown of confusion crossed Lance's face.  "That no matter how
permanent something seems, eventually it will end.  That life is a cycle.
Something dies and at the same time life is made.  Nothing is eternal, but
something will always replace it."

	"Do you know which Guardian has died?"  Time asked.  "Which of my
brothers and Sisters has left this world?"

	"Death I think," Lance said.

	"Why do you say that?"

	"Well at first everything I saw was related to death in some way,
but it's just a gut feeling I have.  I don't know why, but I'm absolutely
sure that it's Death."

	The smile returned to Time's face.  "You are right.  Death has
moved on.  She is the Guardian that must be replaced, but there is more
then that."

	"So I have to find the perfect replacement for Death?"  Lance
asked, more to himself then to the Guardian.  "Any helpful hints?"

	"You knew I was standing here before you turned around Seeker," the
Guardian told him.  "You knew I was standing here the same way I knew you
had entered my realm.  That feeling you get will tell you when you've come
across the new Guardian.  You know them when you see them.  Since they are
not a Guardian yet, they will still have a physical form.  But the
sensation will still be the same."

	"That's good to know," Lance said.  "And I know you probably won't
tell me this, but which realm should I look at next?"

	"You're right," Time said.  "I won't tell you.  But the next one
you visit will be very important in your journey.  You need to go now.
This realm may span all time, but until the Balance is restored I cannot
stop time.  Time still passes outside this realm.  And you've precious
little of it left."

	Lance turned to leave when he felt the hand of Time on hi shoulder.

	"Are you familiar with the tale of the Fisher King?"

	"It's about a wounded king that needs the Holy Grail to heal him."

	The Guardian nodded.  "He is dying and so is the land.  All life is
dead or dying in his realm."

	"What does this have to do with anything?"  Lanced asked.

	"You, Seeker, are the Grail."  Time said.  "And will heal both King
and Realm."


TBC.

Curious now?  I thought you might enjoy that little thing tossed in at the
end.  Let me know what you think.

Rune