Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 05:15:44 +0000
From: Michael Offutt <kavrik@hotmail.com>
Subject: The Assassin's Apprentice Chapter 18-Gay Science Fiction

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      "The Assassin's Apprentice" is told in first person present tense and
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                                    *****

                                  Chapter 18

      I kick the first guy as hard as I can in the groin.

      Despite his armor, he doubles over and trips up the others who are
mere inches behind him.  I jerk my katana from its sheath, holding it
before me with the tip pointed at the carpet. My blade is anointed with
caasak, and the light from the fire gleams from the edge.

      One guard regains his footing and pushes past his comrades. He swings
at me with reserved strokes, clearly uncertain as to how he'll fare against
me despite the fact that I'm diminutive in comparison. He measures his
stance; it's a bit too controlled.  I'm able to take advantage of his lack
in judgment.

      I slice up and cleave his hand neatly from the wrist.  A second
later, the poison reaches his heart. A guttural, primal gasp escapes his
throat, his face contorts, and blood gushes from his amputated limb.  One
last breath and death claims him.  But where he falls, two more men rise.
They grimace and hold their weapons menacingly in front of them.

      I gnash my teeth and back up a step, carrying all of my weight
forward on the balls of my slender feet. Behind me, Talen cries out but
manages to knee the man he's fighting hard in the gut. I want to aid him,
but it's taking all my concentration to keep us from getting overrun.

      The smoke from the fire fills the hall with a haze and stings my
eyes.

      "Tethyr's teeth," I swear, and then spit into the fire with
contempt. "This sure went to shit in a hurry."

      Behind me, I hear Talen drop his opponent.  In a second, my best
friend leaps into action at my left elbow.

      "Sorry, chum," he states, clearly winded and somewhat hurt.

      "You okay to continue?" I ask.

      He nods. "Do I honestly have a choice?"

      I suppose he's right on that.  He pulls his shirt over his mouth to
block out some of the smoke.

      The two men lunge forward.

      At the last second, I drop below their weapons and knock both sets of
feet out from under them.  Talen grapples one, knees him multiple times in
the stomach, and finally tosses him backward using the soles of his boots.
The guard does a tuck and roll but ends up catching fire. He cries out,
stamping the flames with his hands when Talen slices his throat open with a
dagger.

      As for my opponent, I kill him with a single punch. It's quick and to
the throat as hard as I can. His eyes roll up into his head and just like
that, it's over.

      "Kian, watch out!"

      I look up to see a shadow right in front of my face.  I fall back,
hoping my armor will save me. I feel a blade pierce my shoulder, scraping
over bone.  My eyes water from the pain, and I pray it isn't poisoned.
Suddenly, Talen's there. He kicks my attacker in the head, sending him
crashing into a curio cabinet.  A piece of glass comes loose and cuts a
gash in his face from eyebrow to upper lip.

      Swift as a striking adder, Talen grips the handle of the knife
embedded in my shoulder and yanks it out.  A long ribbon of blood drips
from the end. "Can you move your hand?" he asks.

      I try but fail. I look at him; worry filling every corner of my face.

      Talen chews on this for a moment. "All right, let's get out of the
smoke. Stay on the staircase while I investigate. If the smoke gets to be
too much, follow me down."

      "Don't be ridiculous.  I'm fine," I push myself to my feet, trying to
center myself.  I'm wobbly at first but it's only shock, and not pain or
poison.  My blood drips from the hole in my armor; I look closer and see
that I got struck in one of the joints where the breastplate and the
pauldrons overlap.  My attacker had excellent aim.

      I give myself a few seconds and then start down the corridor, Talen
at my side and ready to catch me if he senses that I might need it.

      "Thanks, by the way," I say to him. "You saved my life."

      "That's what friends do."

      I love him so much.

      We creep down the stairs, moving cautiously. I slip into the room to
take a look around, and I spy a figure close to the bar. But it's difficult
to make out any facial details.

      "Stop," a voice orders.  I realize the figure is speaking directly to
me, and she's also apparently female.

      "You can see me?" I ask.

      "Quite," she replies. "Does that surprise you? Are you some master of
stealth?"

      I rise up cautiously to take a better look.  Afterall, this is
unfamiliar territory.

      Talen on the other hand leaps from the stairwell and onto a table
with the grace of a long- tailed monkey

      "You might as well leave," she declares to both of us. "I don't
necessarily want to kill you, though I should, since you slew my
hirelings."

      I try moving a little closer.

      "Keep your distance," she warns. "Or you'll be living out the rest of
your existence on moon dust."

      Talen jumps off the table, and she gestures with her left hand. Talen
looks at me helplessly, his feet suspended off the ground.

      "Put him down," I tell her.

      "No," she says.  "I won't."

      There's a moment of silence as I once again consider my options. It's
been a long time since a girl told me no for anything.

      "What's the matter?" she asks me. "A woman never said no to you
before?"

      Blast...can she read my mind? I think to myself.

      I set my jaw.

      Slowly, I loosen one of my throwing knives. She watches me, and I
watch her. It's like we're playing at a childish game of "who blinks
first." I think she suspects something; truthfully she'd be stupid not to
and this girl doesn't look stupid. I grab the hilt and throw. The blade
sails through the air and strikes home. However, my jaw drops when it
bounces harmlessly away from her body.

      That's impossible. I should have killed her.

      She gestures, speaks a word of command, and a halo of blue light
surrounds her fingertips.  Two small globes of incandescent light thump me
in the chest. I feel an immediate burning sensation and am sent sprawling
across the room. The blow dazes and confuses me for almost half a
minute. The girl settles on top of my chest, pinning me to the floor with
her knees and places a cold blade to my throat.  She jerks my mask from my
sweaty face and studies me a moment.

      Her eyes soften.  "Oh," she says, biting her lip. "Milbar, why does
he have to be so cute?  You're awfully young to be a trained killer."

      I blink but I don't want to move for fear she'll slice my Adam's
apple in two.

      "Wait, I know you," she says. "You're that boy I saw many months back
while I paid respects to the dead on Cemetery Hill. Hah. I never forget a
face," she says proudly, "especially one that looks like yours."

      The memories flood back to me.  For a woman, she's the most beautiful
creature of her kind I've ever seen.  It leaves me conflicted because my
heart really belongs to Talen, who's the most beautiful BOY I've ever
seen. But I can't control the lust in my dick. I part my lips, drawn in by
her face which is steeped in detail.  She's got violet eyes and a long set
of double lashes.  Her skin's the pale cream color I desire, and her
lips...well, let's just say they're the color of spring roses. Her hair's a
dark lustrous mane, long enough that I could wind it around my fist and
take control of her if breeding doggie style. The ends are frosted with
unusual highlights of wavy gold, and whatever she's done to it makes it
curl about her ears and throat like ivy on a trellis.

      "Why're you staring at me?" she asks.

      "I-I'm sorry," I manage to stammer out.  "I-It's just that you're the
loveliest girl I've seen in a long time."

      That didn't sound chauvinist, did it? I hope not. I can't be creepy
here. My life literally depends on it.

      "What?  Here I am ready to kill you and all you can do is say that?
Couldn't you at least beg for mercy or something like that?" She chews on
her lower lip as if considering something unpleasant. "Would you beg if I
cut your friend's balls off?"

      "P-Please don't do that," I beg.

      "Leave my goolies out of this," Talen says.

      She stares at me and sees the wetness in my eyes.  "Oh...he's THAT
kind of friend," she states. "Don't worry...I won't hurt him. You certainly
have made things squiffy--I've no idea what to do with you."

      "What?"

      "You heard me. But you like girls too, eh?" She tosses a look at
Talen. "I suppose he's attractive," she says. "I can see the appeal. Who's
the uke between you two?"

      "Uke?" I ask. "I'm not familiar with that term."

      She smiles. "It's definitely not you, but I sense you're not the one
in charge. So strange."

      "Um...thanks for the compliment," Talen replies, "but can you let me
go? I don't like being stuck in the air like this."

      "Please let us go," I echo, "a-and maybe I'll tell you my name if you
tell me yours."

      "I'm not about to tell you my name! And why would I want to know
yours?"

      "I'm Kian," I say without hesitating.  "Kian Lightfoot. I know you
wanted to know it."

      Talen face palms. "Never tell them your name."

      She considers Talen's words for just a moment, but never lets up on
the knife to my throat.  "My name's Angelaria. There...now what, Kian? It
seems we're on a first-name basis."

      "Well then, Angelaria, I'm at your mercy. I'm going to ask that you
stay thy murderous hand and spare my life." I look at her softly. I can
feel my heart beating in my throat, and I'm desperately thirsty.  But
despite all this, I want to reach up and touch her mahogany locks with the
side of my hand. "I give you my word that I won't harm you." As an
afterthought, I look over at Talen who's still suspended in midair and
think: I probably should fear her more than she fears me. Still I say, "He
won't harm you either. That's a promise."

      She laughs.

      "Harm me? You think a lot of yourself, don't you? You two kids could
hardly accomplish that." She smiles then and pricks me with the edge of the
knife. "This is my job, and I'm not going to fail at it. It's not every day
a girl gets to make a name for herself, and it took quite a bit of
wrangling to get this opportunity.  Do you understand?"

      "Yes," I whisper. "But you're already going to fail.  Can't you smell
the smoke? Soon, the building's going to burn down."

      She wrinkles her brow in disdain. "So your friends outside didn't set
the fire?"

      "No.  But we can leave."

      "Oh pooh!" she screams, frustrated.  "I finally make it away from
home, and I mess up on my first job.  I should kill you just for that!"

      I look up at her with wonderment, watching her eyes move over my face
and my body.  "What should I do with you?" she asks herself again. "You
remind me of something...what race are you?"

      "Still my heart or let me live."  I slowly move my hand up to touch
hers.  Her skin looks soft and smooth.

      "You're good," she compliments me.  She looks over her shoulder at
Talen. "Hold onto this one, lad. He's a keeper."

      Talen scowls at her. "Don't give me relationship advice."

      Angelaria removes the knife from my throat and helps me to my feet.
I'm surprised to discover that she's shorter than myself, but by only an
inch. I stand six feet, so that makes her tall for a woman.

      "Are you two done flirting now?" Talen asks.

      Angelaria regards him once and then releases him with a wave of her
hand. Almost instantly, he crashes to the floor in a loud WHOMP.

      I walk over to him and assist him to his feet. I notice the smoke is
now drifting across the ceiling.

      "Let me get my cat," Angelaria declares, "I'll be just a moment."

      She runs into the next room and returns with a small black kitten. It
has around its neck a platinum necklace set with small diamonds. She tosses
me the keys to the main door, which I pass unto Talen.  My shoulder's
aching now, and I'm still bleeding. Some of the sensation's returned, and I
feel a wetness leave a trail down my chest and arm.

      Talen unlocks the door, and we emerge from the burning building into
the night. Angelaria follows us out holding her kitten safely in the crook
of one arm. A crowd starts to form outside the Cup and the Dragon and the
fire bell tolls calling for all able-bodied men and women to draw buckets
from the well.

      What a mess I've made of tonight, I think to myself.

      Once safely away from the scene of the crime, I search for a well
that isn't being used. I find one nestled in a courtyard of one of the
richer districts in town. It's surrounded by nice dwellings sheathed in
expensive marble and is hedged-in by flowering vines riding low wooden
fences.  I can see the fire from here too as it shoots sparks upward into
the clear star-filled sky.

      "You owe me for this one, Kian," Angelaria says. "I was going to get
paid ten percent of what that elven ale sold for. Now that it's gone, we
won't ever know what that ten percent was. So, I plan on staying with you
until I've determined that I've made it back. Do we understand each other?"

      I groan and fall to the ground, my back against the raised wall of
the well. I'm starting to get light headed.

      "What's wrong with him?" she asks Talen.

      He looks at her and says, "In the fight, he got stabbed fairly deep
in the shoulder. It must be more serious than I'd thought." Talen's face
looks pale and drawn with worry.

      "I'm fine," I say weakly to him. He grips my hand and squeezes it.

      She crouches next to me and starts pulling at my killsuit. "Help me
get this off him. I want to have a look at the wound."

      Talen obliges.

      Together, they remove the top half of my suit. Angelaria mutters
something and a light appears in her hand. It floats up and hovers above
her right shoulder.  "You're right," she states, "the wound is quite
deep. Draw me some water out of the well, please."

      Talen reaches over, grasps the bucket, and lowers it into the
water. He also wipes tears from his eyes, but I can tell he's fighting as
hard as he can not to show emotion. A moment later, he raises it brimming
with cool water, and then loosens it from the hook.  She tears a piece of
cloth away from her robe and wets it, applying the cool compress to my
cut. In this manner, she cleans the wound. Finally, she removes a bottle
from one of her packs. It's a strange-looking thing made of smoky crystal
in the shape of a dragon.

      "This may sting," she cautions.

      Talen grips me by the shoulder as she sterilizes the tender flesh.
It feels like she's probing my cut with a hot needle.  "Do you have to be
so brutal?" I ask from between clenched teeth.

      "Some assassin," she muses, "A little cut and you start whining. Did
you breast feed until you were ten?"

      "I'm not whining. I'm complaining. Little kids whine."

      "I'm sorry," she says, "I didn't realize you're a man. Men can grow
hair on their chest."

      Talen winces.  "I felt that one, my friend."

      "It's going to need stitches.  You'll have a bit of a scar after it's
done.  Maybe you can make stories up about it.  Tell people that you got it
in a war or something.  After all, men do fight wars don't they?"

      She pulls out her needle and thread and prepares to sew the cut
closed.  As often as she needs to, she pauses to sterilize the area with
the strange liquid in the smoky bottle. I begin to think that she enjoys
this situation immensely.

      "You won't bleed to death now, at least," she snickers.

      I sit for a long moment looking at the reflection of the distant fire
in her eyes.

      "What now, boss?" Talen says, plopping next to me.  "We've kind of
made a mess of things."

      I turn my head to him and kiss him on the lips. He quickly warms to
my gesture of love and slips his tongue into my mouth.

      When I stop, he smiles and asks, "What's that for?"

      "Do I have to have a reason?" I whisper.

      Angelaria rolls her eyes.  "You two make a great couple, but
honestly, the lad's right. You seem to be in charge, Kian, and I don't want
to shackle myself to you forever. What's the plan to get me my ten
percent?"

      "We could go back to the guild," I offer.

      "No thanks," Talen says. "Nicky's due any day now, and she's been
sharpening knives every single time I say your name. She doesn't want me
hanging out with you anymore, but I don't care that she's carrying my
baby. I don't love her."

      "Does she hate me?" I ask.

      "Probably more than you'd like to know. I think she knows
we're...lovers. She can't handle that, and I think if we go back, I might
wake up genderless. She's also stringing Gage along in case I don't want to
be her baby daddy.  If she doesn't castrate me, he'll probably want a piece
of me sooner or later."

      "Nice," Angelaria mutters to herself. "Don't you accept any
responsibility?"

      Talen looks at her through one corner of his eye. "Was I talking to
you?" he asks. "I don't seem to recall talking to you. I was talking to my
boyfriend. Besides, I'd expect you to take her side."

      "Why?" she asks. "Because I'm a woman.  Do you have something to fear
from women, Talen?"

      Talen grips his crotch. "No, but they have something to fear from
me."

      I chuckle.

      "What?" they ask, both looking at me.

      "I was just thinking," I start to say, pausing to catch my breath,
"that we're going to be good friends."

      Angelaria looks away, her gaze trailing the night sky for shooting
stars.  "I'm sorry," she states, "I guess I'm just being defensive. But,
hearing you talk about that poor girl just reminds me of swine that treated
their wives like shit back at home."

      Talen's smile becomes a flat line. Finally, he attempts an
apology. Angelaria accepts it, even though it comes out rather ham-fisted.
After all, it's harder for guys to admit when they're wrong.

      "What's the definition of a queer dragon?" Talen asks me.

      "I don't know, Talen.  What's the definition of a queer dragon?" I
ask.

      "Someone who likes girls more than money."

      Angelaria looks at him.  "That was poor," she says.

      "But you thought it was funny, didn't you?" Talen asks her.

      She cracks a smile. "No, of course not."

      He nods. "Sure, you didn't."

      We all laugh then, and we stay outside until the suns rise. A storm
is rolling-in off the ocean: a good thing since the fire from the Cup and
the Dragon is not contained and now threatens an entire quarter of the
city. We're tired and hungry. Talen suggests we leave Clothol for a while.

      "We won't be as popular at the guild if half the town goes up in
flames."

      "There IS that," I say, voice heavy with melancholy.

      "Where should we go?" Angelaria asks. "I've got all my belongings
here." She picks up her kitten and coos softly in its ear.  I can hear it
purring.

      "What's its name?" I ask.

      She holds it aloft.  "I call her Verrr. She seems to answer to it so
I assume that she agrees with it. Cats hate to be called names that they
don't like. Isn't that right, Verrr?" she asks, rubbing her nose against
the kitten's fur.

      I stare at Talen who's rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

      "We need to get a boat.  If we're going to flee, I want to travel
south to a place called Mirimar.  It's where Constantine went," I state.

      "THE Mirimar," Angelaria corrects me.  "You need "the" in there or it
just sounds weird.  The Mirimar is a rainforest surrounding the city of
Soulwarden, sometimes called 'Thorn' by the locals. It resides in the
kingdom of Meron. The whole place is teeming with cutthroats and thieves...
your kind of people.  If your friend Constantine's gone there, he'd better
be good or he's dead already."

      "Then you're well-traveled?"

      "Do I look worldly?" She asks.  When I don't answer, she continues
with her narrative. "I've been here and there," she states. "I was born in
Sulasia... Mon Arcanos actually.  My father is over- protective, and I
finally got fed up with it. Afterall, he let my sisters go out and see the
world. I hired a ship and stopped off in several ports that dot the Morikan
Ocean-"

      "Morikan is on the other side of Wynwrayth!" Talen interrupts.

      "And Meron is not the type of place you want to go poking around in,"
she continues, staring at Talen over the bridge of her nose with those
sharp eyes. "It's no place for a small town scaredy-cat assassin and a
pretty boy uke to end up in," she says taunting Talen. "Their idea for a
country club for men revolves around tight bottoms like you, Talen. Only I
don't think you'll like their membership dues because none of them look
like Kian."

      "Shut up," Talen says, spitting. "I can protect myself."

      "I have to go there," I say. "I've to know what became of
Constantine. And I especially want to know if this legend about 'Bloodbane'
is real or not."

      "'Bloodbane'," Angelaria says, almost tripping over the word. "Is
this the sword of rogues?"

      "You've heard of it?"

      Talen looks at the both of us intently.

      A smug expression creeps across her lips. "I might have. What will
you give me if I answer your question?"

      "Stop teasing."

      "I'm not teasing.  What will you give me?"

      "What do you want?" I ask.

      She stares at Talen and then says very slowly, "a long hot kiss. If
it's good enough, I'll tell you what you want to know."

      "You fucking bitch," Talen says. "Kian, please don't kiss her. She's
playing you for a fool."

      Angelaria winks at him and then runs her fingers over my smooth
muscles.  "If you won't kiss me, I've nothing to say."

      Talen shakes his head in disgust and balls his fist.

      I lean forward parting my lips, and kiss her. We touch tongues, and I
feel her fingers move through my hair.

      When it's over, Talen won't even look me in the face, and his hands
are shaking.  "I'll get you for this," he says to Angelaria with one finger
in her face. "You're playing at fire."

      "That was a very good kiss, Kian," she gloats, leaning back.  Her cat
stares at me with wide eyes. "Don't be mad, uke," she says to Talen. "He's
still yours, for the moment."

      Talen settles in next to me almost protectively. I whisper into his
ear, "I'm yours, always. I just need to know about the sword. Forgive me."

      He nuzzles me on the neck and gently leaves a hickey on my skin.

      "'Bloodbane' is very real," she says. "It's a sword about as tall as
you are that has the ability to morph into other weapons upon command. The
whole of the hilt is covered in veins, hence its namesake. And when a
person wields it, the veins pull themselves free of the handle and insert
themselves under your skin, drawing upon your blood. It won't kill
you. Rather, it sustains you...it gives you strength.  There are other
things it can do as well, but I can't remember them all."

      I look upon her in wide-eyed amazement.

      "Two thousand years ago, 'Bloodbane' was lost in the civil war
between Sulasia and Thularum.  It's believed that a sorceress of tremendous
power who called herself Miranda spirited it away so that it could never be
used again.  Afterall, it was 'Bloodbane' that turned the tide of battle
when its wielder plunged it into the heart of the Ogavran Kor. Everyone
knows that."

      "What is the Ogavran Kor?"

      Angelaria arches one eyebrow. "The Ogavran Kor is known as the
Snowman of Vas. It's a horrible many-armed monster of gargantuan size and
sharp teeth that drip caustic venom. They're extremely magic-resistant and
possess godlike intelligence. One touch of their scaly skin," she says,
lowering her voice, "will cause flesh to rot from bone within six
minutes. Imagine how that would feel, retching at the smell of your own arm
turning yellow with gangrene and splitting open into a pus-ridden sack
filled with maggots."

      "Are you always this charming?" Talen asks. "Or did you have to work
at it?"

      She glares at him, stroking the fur of her cat that looks very
comfortable in her arms.

      "What is this Vas I keep hearing about? When I was in prison four
years ago, people spoke of it in whispers."

      "Slayers of Vas are a mercenary group that gets paid well by the
order of the Israfil to keep the church of Zandine safe.  Most of them are
extremely greedy, unsavory men with demonic taint running through their
veins. A few of them, however, are in it just for the money. They're the
common infantrymen of Zanda and don't have much to say in the way of
politics of the holy city.  Though a few of them are known for fanatical
loyalty to the Horsemen of Zanda and the Israfil.  Anyway, Vas is short for
Vas of Kleef.  You can see it in the sky above the moon Losyra when the sky
is especially dark. It looks just like any other star, and it's millions of
miles away. It's a different planet that's a lot colder than Wynwrayth. It
snows there constantly and the scenery is bleak, consisting mostly of snow
dunes and ice caves for the Ogavran Kor, the dreaded Horga, and the
fae-like Chaggeroth. Beneath the icy glaciers the earth is still
warm. Secret cities lie hidden there, and they are devoted to the Great
House which is ruled by the god Zandine.  They draw their heat and energy
from the thermal crust of the frozen planet and the Ogavran Kor are the
watchdogs of the ice above, keeping visitors from sniffing about on their
world."

      "That's impossible." Talen mutters. "How could they travel from that
world to this one if it's millions of miles away?"

      "Sorcery," Angelaria replies. "The resources of Mon Arcanos are vast
and ships sail through the crystal gate constantly, taking cargo to and
from Kala-Pur.  What works for Kala-Pur also works for Vas of Kleef."

      "What's Kala-Pur?" I ask.

      "Okay...Kala-Pur...it's a world that's mostly desert.  There's not a
single naturally occurring drop of water on the entire planet.  And it's
extremely close to the sun.  The heat there is stifling and will kill
anyone walking on the sands provided that you aren't killed by something
else. There are mountains on Kala-Pur, vast huge peaks of black rock rising
from the desert floor like demon's teeth.  And people...prisoners of the
Great Houses mine the mountains for a rare ore called corobidian."
Angelaria kneels next to me and fingers my killsuit. "THIS is corobidian.
It's strong and light and though it isn't magical, it's highly valuable.
If you sold it, you could retire on it for the rest of your life and live
comfortably."

      "Constantine gave that to you?" Talen gapes.

      I nod. "He said it was valuable."

      "You would be unwise to sell it.  People have ways of tracking
corobidian, and you might live to enjoy your profits or you might not. It's
far more useful to have it as armor," Angelaria pauses to think. "Haven't
you read the histories of the wars?" she asks. "Or the chronicles of the
Midnight Sun as set down by Koralayan the White?"

      "I can't read," I admit. "I was never taught to."

      "How is it that you're so well educated?" Talen asks her.

      "All girls in my family are well educated. Afterall, girls are
smarter than boys."

      I think about arguing this with her, but I quickly dismiss this idea.

      "How far is it to Meron, then?" I ask.

      She turns her eyes to the sky, allowing her hair to fall
perpendicular to the ground. This pose makes her boobs more prominent, and
I have to admit, I do notice.

      Her cat yawns and continues to purr.

      "Perhaps a month's journey by land; two weeks by sea. It's not far
really--that is--if you want to reach the coast and not venture inland.
That always takes longer."

      "It's settled then," I say. "We're going to Meron. Do you need to get
anything before we leave?"

      Talen and Angelaria both say no.

      I gather up my pack and walk into an alley to get out of my armor and
into my traveling clothes.  Occasionally, Angelaria tries to glance over
Talen's shoulder, but he makes sure to stand between her and me. When I
walk out, her eyes have darkened a bit, and she's holding her cat up on her
chest, watching me in silence.

      I shoulder my katana the way Talen wears his, hilt pointed down.

      Then, we set off for the wharf.

      Our mission: to hire a boat that will take us south and unto the
shores of Meron and the dark jungles of the Mirimar.

      And hopefully, to find Constantine so I can kill him and claim
"Bloodbane" for myself.


                                    *****

      I shall post chapter nineteen next week.