Date: Tue, 13 Feb 2001 11:54:46 -0500 (EST) From: Rune Therain <mist_dark@yahoo.ca> Subject: Powers of the mind: 6 I'm back. Sorry about the delay with this one. I forgot to write the author's notes on Thursday and then didn't go to school on Friday (Hey, I'm allowed one or two days where I decide I don't want to school. Besides I only missed one class). I would have done it on Sunday night, but I had a hellish night at work (Surprise there. You'd think I'd have learned and found another job, but I guess I enjoy it on some bizarre level.). So that's why I didn't get it up until now. I haven't started the seventh chapter yet, but I might do that later tonight. I'm sort of dreading Wednesday. Despite the fact it's the lover's day, I'm going to hate it. A. I don't have a lover. And B. I have to work. (I won't go into the details. It'd be too painful for us all). As a result of Wednesday (there is a point to this tangent) Chapter 7 will be delayed. Not sure by how long. Okay I'm done feeling sorry for myself. Actually I'm not, but I won't make you listen to it anymore. As usual I want to thank everyone that's e-mailed me. I think I got back to you all, but I'll have to check. Special thanks to Kenitra, Shade, Aeoros, Gavalin (closer this time?), Apples, Mirage and Dax. And just in case you thought I forgot you, Casey. As well as David, thanks for your help. If you want to drop me a line (and trust me I won't be upset if you do) you can reach me at one of two addresses. Mist_dark@hotmail.com or Mist_dark@yahoo.ca I check both. This story is in now way supposed to reflect anything about the members of the group Nsync. If you are too young, or it's illegal in you area, please leave. If homosexual themes offend you, please leave as well. Parts of this story are based off the RPG Rifts. All trademarks belong to Kevin Siembieda and Palladium books. I'm going to go see if I can start chapter seven now. Or I might get some other work done. Let me know what you think. Until next time, Rune CHAPTER SIX "I'm positive this is the spot Joey," Makyla assured the psychic. "We just have to wait for a little while." "What's going to happen?" Sandy asked. They'd been in the same clearing for over three hours, nothing had happened yet. "And when is it going to happen?" "Have patience," Nathaniel told the boy. "Why don't you help me set up lunch? We may be here for a while and some food might do us some good." "Sure." The boy skipped over to the priest and the two of them began preparing the meal. It wouldn't be anything extravagant, but it would keep them occupied for a while. "So what happens when you get the staff?" Joey asked. "Then we go deal with the Summoner," Makyla told him. "Or at least I will. You don't have to come along if you don't want to." "We'll come along," he said just a tad to quickly. He blushed when the warlock arched an eyebrow. "What I mean is that we're going to deal with the Summoner anyway. So we might as well go together." A smile crossed her lips. "Joey may I ask you a question?" "Sure." "Do you find me attractive?" Joey nearly swallowed his tongue. "What?" "I'm a forward woman," Makyla told him. "I rarely stick to what society expects of me. I'm attracted to you and want to know if the feelings are mutual. I won't be upset if you aren't attracted to me." "Well..I.." Joey closed his mouth and tried to think for a moment. "I.." He stopped again. "If you aren't just say so," Makyla said calmly. "It's a simple question." "Yes," Joey got out after a moment. "Yes what? Yes you like me? Or, yes it's a simple question?" "The first one," Joey said. "I do find you attractive." He was pleased he'd been able to regain his ability to speak in coherent sentences. "That's good to know," she said simply. "That's it?" He asked. "You ask if I like you and I say I do and then you just leave it hanging there?" "What else is there to say? I like you and you like me. We can continue developing our relationship over our journey and see if it works out. If it does we'll have to see what happens then." "Okay then," Joey said. What she said made sense. They'd just have to take it one step at a time. "You know Sandy will probably go with me when this is all over, right?" She nodded. "I figured as much. If you're trying to see if that'll scare me off, it won't. Sandy's a good kid." "I know," Joey said. "But part of me wishes that I'd never had to meet him. That way his parents wouldn't be dead and he wouldn't have this revenge complex happening." "The odds are the Summoner still would have killed his parents and then Sandy too. The man doesn't seem overly stable from what I've heard." She stopped talking and closed her eyes. She held up a hand to silence anything that Joey said. "It's here." She stood and walked toward Nathaniel and Sandy. She walked past them to the far end of the clearing. When she got there she stopped and turned around. Her eyes were still closed. "Be quiet. I'm about to attract an awful lot of attention." Nathaniel moved Sandy away from the small fire they'd built. Phixt scuttled after them. They went over to where Joey and Makyla had been talking moments before. "Do you know what she's going to do?" Nathaniel asked. Joey shook his head. "Not really. But she's probably going to get her staff." The ground shook violently. "Maybe we shouldn't be standing right here." He mentally willed the three of them into the air. Phixt had already climbed up Sandy's leg and rested on his shoulder. All four of them were watching the woman controlling the earth. Makyla was unaffected by the quake. She bowed her head while she placed her hands together. Slowly she drew them apart and the ground split in response. A fissure started at her feet and snaked out across the clearing. If Joey hadn't lifted them off the ground they would have been standing right where the fissure stopped. A rush of warm air escaped from the earth through the newly formed crack. The earth warlock stopped pulling her hands apart and rotated the wrists so they were facing palm up. With a deliberately slow movement she raised them upward. A shape appeared in the depths of the fissure. It grew closer the higher Makyla raised her arms. When it got close enough Joey could see that it was a statue of some sort, though it was still to far away to make out any details. The statue was carved to resemble a robed man. It faced Makyla, but they could see that it was an impressive looking man. He held a gray staff in his hands. The warlock walked forward slowly until her feet touched the edge of the fissure. She reached out and took the staff from the statue's hands. When she'd removed it the statue sunk back into the earth and the fissure closed behind it. When it'd closed completely there was barely any sign that the earth had been split open. "I think we should get ready," she said after a moment. "For what?" Sandy asked. "Whatever the Summoner sends our way." "Master," the Drow shouted as he ran into the Summoner's study. "The warlock is causing an earthquake." The elf skittered to a stop and crushed a spider under foot in the process. "Kill her," the Summoner snapped. "Send whatever is necessary, but do it now. I want her dead." "The psychic and a priest are with her. And so is the boy." "I don't care. If I have to lose the boy in the process it will be worth it. If she is causing earthquakes then she is too much of a threat to leave unattended." The Drow nodded. "I will send your forces immediately." The dark elf fled the study as quickly as he'd entered it. His master would be furious if the warlock wasn't dead within the hour. The Summoner watched his minion leave the room. A smile crossed his face for a moment as he thought about how so many would cower in fear of him shortly. The smile left his face when he saw another spider. They were all over the place lately. The summer before had been unusually warm and humid. The spiders had thrived and apparently had laid more then the usual number of eggs. The results were apparent this year. Though the numbers within his home had increased dramatically over the last few days. He killed the arachnid before returning to his reading. He had barely finished a page when the Archfiend entered the room. "I have returned as you requested." The shadowy creature seemed less then thrilled to have successfully completed its master's request. "How many did you bring with you?" "An even hundred," the Archfiend responded. "It is all that I can control at any one time. Even after I hand the reins of command to you I won't be able to control any more." "A hundred will be enough," the Summoner assured the Archfiend. "That will put me within two hundred creatures of the goal." The creature closed its red eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. It didn't want to say something that would anger the mage. If it came to a fight the Archfiend could easily win, except that it was currently unable to raise a hand against its master. The mage could torture it for days and it wouldn't even be able to defend itself. "When do you wish me to give you control of them?" "I will deal with that later this evening," the mage told his minion. "I don't have the time right now. For now have them riding this place of spiders." "Spiders?" "There are hundreds of them all over. I don't want to have them crawling over everything. Most of them are poisonous, though they haven't bitten anyone yet, I don't want to take the chance." The Summoner looked at the Archfiend. "It shouldn't take you very long to do it." "Of course Master." "Here they come," Nathaniel said as he pointed to the sky with one clawed finger. A dark cloud moved through the air toward the clearing. It was impossible to see what creatures made up the cloud, but there were a number of them. Joey closed his eyes and scanned the surrounding jungle. "There are a lot of them in the jungle too. We'd better get ready for this one." He pulled Sandy close to him. "Stay close to me." Sandy moved in closer to Joey's side while Nathaniel positioned himself to the psychic's back. Makyla stood with her back against their shoulders. Her staff was raised in a battle position. This is how the first creature found them. The first creature was a goblin named Horm. Horm didn't want to be here, but the Master insisted. Horm was very surprised to have been the first one to find the creatures he was sent after. In fact, Horm had been hoping to be the last one to arrive on the scene, that way he wouldn't have to fight at all. Unfortunately Horm was the first one to find them. He just stood there and stared in fear at these people. Horm wasn't very brave as goblins go, and hoped that they wouldn't notice him. "Why is it just standing there?" Sandy whispered to Joey. "I don't know," he whispered back. "How many more are out there?" Nathaniel asked just as quietly. "Fifty." Joey said. He phrased it as a question. "Maybe more, maybe less. I'm can't get an exact number." Makyla sighed and adjusted her stance. "Well we'd better get ready for this. That cloud is about to land." A crashing noise could be heard from the jungle. "And our other guests are about to arrive." Another ten goblins came crashing into the clearing. Horm managed to avoid being trampled. The new goblins were far more confident then their earlier counterpart had been, due to their increased numbers. Behind them was a largish troll wielding what looked like a small tree. "I guess I'm on air duty," Joey said. "Looks like it," Nathaniel said. The cloud of fliers was thankfully composed of only two types of creatures. Gargoyles and avian elves. As an added bonus the cloud wasn't nearly as large as it first appeared. There were only about ten creatures total rather then the thirty or forty that it first looked liked. Following on the troll's heels was a dark haired woman dressed in an elaborate gray silk gown. Her eyes flashed yellow and several wolves filtered out of the jungle around her. And not your general run of the mill wolves either. They were much larger then the average wolf, but not as large as a werewolf. A rustling sound announced the arrival of another group of creatures. They were coming in so that only Nathaniel could see them dead on. Two Nagas gracefully entered the clearing. One, the male, was wielding a sword in one hand and a shield was worn on the other. The female Naga held a bow with an arrow knocked. "This isn't good," Sandy asked. His voice was steady, but his hand was clamped tightly to Joey's leg. "Is it?" "Not really," Joey admitted. "But we'll get out of it." By now the fliers were circling overhead. They were simply taking stock of the situation. None of the creatures in the clearing really wanted to fight, but all of them would because their master had ordered them to do so. It was the wolf lady that initiated the attack. With a command that seemed more like a growl then anything else her wolves surged forward. "Got them," Makyla shouted. She slammed the end of her staff against the ground. A wall of earth shot up in front of the wolves. The alpha barely managed to stop his charge before he running into the wall. The sword baring Naga slid forward and Nathaniel moved to engage it. since he was immune to all poisons the snakeman's venom didn't worry him. He parried the first blow of the sword and countered quickly. The Naga was a superb fighter and easily brought his shield to block the stroke. Joey held Sandy close to his side while scanning the sky. None of the creatures seemed to have any abnormally high resistances to a psionic attack. He knocked three of the gargoyles and two of the elves out of the sky in short order. They fell to the ground in a dazed heap. They were low enough to the ground to avoid anything but bruises in the fall. The goblins had been suitably impressed by Makyla's wall and seemed very reluctant to move against the warlock. They were even less inclined when the wall she had created changed its shape to surround the wolves. The canines howled in annoyance at being caged, but didn't try very hard to leave their confines. The woman bowed her head and stepped back into the trees. She didn't seem to be a fighter and once her wolves were removed from the battle she was probably defenseless. Through the entire battle the troll and female Naga just watched things progress. At one point the troll nudged the goblins to attack Joey when he was distracted. They reluctantly crept toward him, but Sandy noticed their attack. Makyla reopened the fissure that had been made earlier. The goblins couldn't make their way across the barrier, and didn't seem remotely upset about it. After she'd cut off the wolves and the goblins Makyla turned her attention to the remaining Naga. The snakewoman had raised her bow to loose and arrow at Joey. The warlock stepped between the two and parried the arrow with her staff. It had taken her years to learn her various combat abilities, but she was glad for them now. Closing in on the Naga Makyla brought them to bare. Very few earth warlock spells could be used in combat, and they were almost all useless in close combat. Disgusted at the way the fight was going, the troll decided to step in. The remaining fliers were being held back at a distance by the psychic. The warlock had cut out the wolf matron and the goblins. If he could kill at least one of them he would be rewarded by the master. The boy was an easy target, but that wouldn't bring him any glory. The psychic would though. A few large strides took the troll over the fissure that had stopped the goblins. He brought his club back and struck the psychic before anyone could react. His aim was off and he barely caught the top of the man's head. The man still dropped to the ground in a daze. He wasn't dead, his aim had been to far off for that, but he wouldn't be able to recover in time. "NO," Sandy shouted. He leapt from the spot that he'd been standing on when the troll had attacked. His arms wrapped themselves around the brute's arm. Sandy's weight didn't distract the troll. Sandy's transformation did. A ripple flooded across the boy's skin. Jet black fur sprouted in its wake. His ears pointed and shifted to the top of his head while a tail grew from the base of his spine. The most important change, at least in the troll's mind, was the boy's claws. Twenty of them. Ten on his fingers and one on each toe. They were all razor sharp and easily sliced through his flesh. Trolls have very thick skin and only the sharpest of weapons will puncture it. All twenty of Sandy's claws broke the skin. The troll roared in pain and whipped his arms over his head trying to shake the boy off. All he succeeded in doing was shifting Sandy's position. The boy slid down the arm and latched on to the troll's back. He raked his claws over every inch of skin that he could touch. He was rewarded with the trashing of the troll trying to dislodge him. The troll spun in a circle. Sandy hadn't been expecting this and suddenly found himself on the troll's chest. Now that the creature had easier access to him the boy knew he was in trouble. The creature whapped its chest in an attempt to remove the annoyance. It partially succeeded. Its left fist caught the edge of Sandy's shoulder and a slight crunching sound was audible to both Sandy and the troll. Letting go of the troll's neck Sandy slid to the ground. Making sure to leave a trail of blood behind him as he slid. Once on the ground he rolled between the troll's legs and tried to figure out what to do when the brute turned around. As it turned out, Sandy didn't have to worry about what to do next. Joey had recovered by this point. He had actually recovered almost immediately, but was slightly shocked at Sandy's transformation. Not upset, just a bit surprised that the idea had never crossed his mind. He had read the boy's aura and hadn't noticed that little piece of information. Setting all of that aside he attacked the troll. Since it was distracted by the many deep scratches all over its body, Joey had no trouble disabling it. He was very thankful that trolls didn't seem to posses the remarkable regenerative abilities that legend had given them. Feeling slightly guilty he ripped every nerve in the troll's body with a few mental stabs. The creature hit the ground, growing fear was starting to take over as it fell. Not wishing to be cruel Joey put it to sleep. He reacted too quickly and had permanently damaged the nervous system. The troll would suffocate within minutes, there was no need to torture it. When Joey got to his feet the fight was almost over. The goblins had been completely demoralized by the troll's death, and much to Horm's satisfaction, had fled. The remaining fliers had gathered their unconscious partners and fled as swiftly as they'd come. Nathaniel and Makyla had backed the two Nagas back to back. If the two snakepeople didn't leave quickly, they probably wouldn't live. "Enough," a male voice said. The voice was soft, but carried such power that everyone stopped what they were doing to see who had said it. A black robed figure had appeared. His features were hidden behind the hood of the robe. Behind him stood two black winged humanoids. They were both dressed in tight black shirts and pants, both wore their long hair pulled away from their faces and each wielded a spear. They had pale skin and wore an odd looking face guard. The face guard wrapped around their head like a circlet and then part of it ran downward across their temples to cover their cheekbones. "Selvar?" Joey asked. "Yes Joseph," the man said. The clearing darkened as a few clouds moved to cover the sun. After the clearing had dropped in brightness Selvar pulled back his hood. The elf's beauty was as radiant now as it was when he and Joey had first met. "I am afraid I am here on business." "Um," Makyla said. "I don't mean to be rude, but who are you?" "A friend," Selvar said. "I would say more, but I do not have the time." He pointed at the Nagas. "I have use of their services. I would ask that you not kill them." "Them?" Makyla asked. "They just tried to kill us." "True child," the Guardian admitted. "But they have done so against their will. Which brings me to the other reason I have come. The Summoner must die." A feral gleam ran through Sandy's feline eyes. "And he will," the boy whispered. Selvar leveled his piercing gaze on Sandy. "Do you truly wish to have a man's blood on your hands?" "He killed my parents," Sandy spat. He winced slightly when he moved his shoulder. "I know child," Selvar said sadly. "But revenge is a very lonely road to walk down. And anger will rob you of your soul. Be careful how you avenge your parents." "What else?" Joey asked. "You didn't come here to tell us that the Summoner has to die. You're far to busy for that." "Clever as always," Selvar complimented. "You must be careful in how you slay this mage. You must first sever the link between him and his minions. To do otherwise is to condemn them all to death." "You mean they'll all die if we kill him right now?" Makyla asked in disbelief. "All of them?" The Guardian nodded. "Yes. Find the link and destroy it. Then he can safely be slain." "I don't suppose you'd tell us where or how to find it, would you?" Joey asked. He held up his hand when Selvar opened his mouth to refuse. "I know, you've interfered enough as it is. But could you answer one question?" "That would depend on the question," Selvar smiled. "What's with your friends there? I thought Pyre was your big protector." "Lance has Pyre and Justin off on an errand. I make do with what I have." Selvar gestured at the two winged people flanking him. "Besides they need to learn their jobs. It has been eons since anyone has used dark angels as protectors. They are well suited to the task." Joey shrugged. "Sure. Anything else? I don't mean to rush you off or anything, but you've got to be busy and we've got a power hungry mage on the loose." "Just one last thing." He moved toward Sandy. He laid a hand on his shoulder and smiled faintly when the boy flinched at the contact. A ripple ran through Sandy's body and he reverted to his human shape. When the Guardian removed his hand Sandy flexed his shoulder and seemed surprised that he could move it so easily. "Thanks," he muttered quietly. "You are perfectly welcome," Selvar said. He made a gesture at the stone wall encasing the wolves. It melted back into the earth. The alpha wolf moved toward the Guardian and licked his hand before leading the other wolves into the trees. "They were only following orders," he explained. "No need to punish them for that." "I've never seen a wolf act like that," Nathaniel said. "They'll obey commands, if forced. But I've never seen them act like a pet." A wry smile touched Selvar's lips. "All creatures respect death." He motioned for the Nagas to come to him. When the snakepeople where just off to his left he looked back to Joey and the others. "Take care my friends. You have a difficult road ahead of you." He caught Sandy's eyes. "Your parents love you child. Never forget that." His green eyes took in Makyla and seemed to read her soul. The smile returned to his lips. "The elemental powers do seem to entice him." The Guardian pulled his hood back up as the clouds moved away from the sun and the clearing suddenly became much brighter. He nodded to the group once and the five of them vanished. There was no flash of light, or smoke, or gust of wind. They were just gone. TBC So..what did you think? Come on..let me know. Please?