Rowsta Canyon. The noise and confusion, dead and dying kandar and zughru. Blood and gore of both races mingle as the battle rages around him. Kolath is cornered by a pair of half-visible giant zughru, and feels his sword cut through flesh of one of them. As the first zughru falls, it's face changes, no longer human, but kandar. The second zughru has become a human woman. She's a wizard, and summons up an avalanche to bury Kolath. Rocks tumble from the canyon walls to bury him under a mountain of stone. Only it's not stone, it's polished wood. All goes black. * * * * * Kolath wakes in the darkness. Slowly the surroundings begin to come into focus. He's in a cold damp cell that he realises is the barracks punishment block. And his head hurts. The Legionnaire's mouth is as dry as dirt, and his mind raced ahead to the mid-morning gleyr of which he is so fond. The tall Kandar's hand finds the edge of the bed, and he rolls his legs over coming upright in the process. The musty stink teases his nose, and for a moment Kolath fancies himself buried in some cave until his eyes focus on the vertical stripes that solidify into bars. The soldier jumps to his feet drawing his durvork only to find the scabbard gone, his knives too. "Guard!" he bellows, "Guard!" He kicks the bars once, twice, thrice. Then he realizes the true horror of it all .., his boots are scuffed. "Arrrrgggh!!!" The roar echoes up and down the corridor. "He's raving again", says a disembodied voice from further down the corridor, out of Kolath's sight. "The blow to the head has raddled him", says another voice. "Never been right since Rowsta", says the first voice again. Kolath hears the sound of approaching footsteps. "What is it this time?", says the Legionnaire on guard duty. Kolath recognises him now, Iovuis d'n Lanar, not one of his men. Kolath orders, "I am Tavonoleyr Kolath Polyn d'n Miralath a'r Surene of the Fifth Legion. Open this cell at once and bring me my weapons." He studies the Legionnaire, "I know you soldier. Who is your commander?" "I know who you are", he replies, "And I know why you're here. Sorry, I can't do what you ask. I don't know whether you deserve to be here or not; that's for the Legion Court to decide". "What are you babbling about." Kolath paces in a circle, "Send word to Nir-Urileyr Kavarluis d'n Ersath. He'll get me out of here. ... Well, don't just stand there. Be on your way!" "He knows you're here", he replies, "You know why you're here too, don't you? Or has the blow to the head confused you?". "Impossible, he assigned me to train the new recruits just yesterday. What time is it anyway?" He reaches up to touch his head, "I'm certainly not ... OOWW!" His hand comes away spotted with specks of blood clot, "What's this! What's going on here? Speak up, soldier, what's happening here. I've been attacked." -- Tim Hall, timjh (at) compuserve.com * http://www.kalyr.com "Divide by cucumber error: Please reinstall universe and reboot"
