
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
ON QUEST FROM ALBION
  by Jack Hillman
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

  The queen sat on her throne in the dim hall, looking out over 
the heads of the gathered nobles and their consorts. Guards stood 
at intervals around the floor and on the balcony overlooking the 
audience hall, weapons ready, even though no one had threatened 
a king or queen in this hall for centuries.
     
  She shifted in her seat and looked up eagerly as she spied the 
Count entering the hall from the rear with his wizard in tow. They 
came straight for the throne and everyone in the hall turned to 
watch, voices hushed in quiet speculation of the announcement sure 
to come.

  "My queen, it is done," said the Count as he reached the throne 
and bowed deeply. The wizard stood quietly, wrapped in robes and 
hood, no inch of skin showing. The hood dropped in a slight bow the 
queen as the Count spoke but made no other indication.

  "How soon can you begin your search?" she asked eagerly, leaning 
forward in a most unregal manner. Her crown shifted and she had to 
grab with a free hand before it fell to the floor.

  "At once, if it is your wish, my queen," the Count replied. He 
stood straight with a military manner only heightened by the sword 
at his side.
  
  "Yes. Go. Now. It is my command." The queen spoke so quickly she 
stumbled over her words.

  The Count bowed, turned and began to retrace his steps to the far 
door, the wizard once more at his heels.

  "My lord," the queen called before the Count could reach the end 
of the hall.

  The Count stopped and turned to the queen, bowing again as he 
faced her. He looked in her eyes and everyone in the room could feel 
the power between them as he waited. The wizard was again a statue in 
robes.

  "Should you succeed in your quest, there will be a barony in it for 
you. Our new land will need someone to watch over it as we consolidate 
our power again."

  The Count straightened and bowed very carefully.

  "I will not fail you, my queen. Neither you nor our people will 
have to endure another month in these dreary halls. Once again, we 
will walk the forests of our homeland and feel it's sun on our 
faces."

  He turned and left the hall, the wizard behind him. The others 
gathered, watching, began to talk among themselves, speculating on 
the meaning of the Count's words.

  "My people," said the queen, standing in front of the throne. "Our 
exile is at an end. We return from Albion!"

                               *  *  *

  The rain exploded over the valley in a wave of water cascading 
down the sides of the hills and filling every depression to 
overflowing. Lightning ripped the sky apart and saturated every rock 
and tree will energy. Wind smashed against the hillsides with enough 
force the rip boulders from their age old resting places and fling 
them across the valley. Branches danced frenetically, whipping and 
weaving as if a giant basketmaker had gone berserk.

  Oddly, the storm seemed to seek one particular spot in the valley 
and center its most violent efforts at that one place. Again and 
again, lightning flashed, until the very earth glowed with the power 
flowing through the ground. Energy streaked again and again, bolt 
after bolt, until the ionization was a incandescent bridge from the 
ground to the sky.

  Then, as the storm finally began to abate, as if it had finally 
accomplished what it had set out to do, a strange mutation began 
at the center of the energy field. A deep green glow began to form 
in the depression blasted in to the hillside. As the storm moved 
further away and the ground continued to be soaked by the driving 
rain that surrounded the eye of the conflagration, a form appeared 
in the hillside, blending into the grasses left standing and becoming 
almost invisible. When the storm finally passed beyond the valley and 
the night descended on the recently chaotic scene, the glow deepened 
and changed until it became a solid substance: a door set into the 
hill.

  Night slowly ebbed away, the effects of the storm slipping into 
the dim memory of the unchanging earth. As the sun began to rise over 
the edge of the far end of the valley and birds began to sing to the 
new day, the placid scene was disturbed by a tremendous screeching of 
metal against metal.

     The door began to open.

                               *  *  *

  Dan rolled his chair out onto the deck, looking for any damage 
from last night's storm. The roof seemed to have held up fine but 
the tall birches at the end of the property were snapped off down 
to the ground. He'd have to call the Barstow boys from up the road 
and have the fallen trunks cut up for firewood. Birches looked nice 
but they never seemed to have the strength needed to stand a storm, 
Dan mused. Kind of like some of my friends, he thought to himself.

  The chair shifted as something pushed against it.

  "Murphy, you old scoundrel," Dan said as he picked up the white cat 
and dropped him into his lap, "Where were you last night for all the 
fireworks?"

  The cat looked up at the man, rose and brushed his head against the 
bearded chin and dropped into the lap to begin his morning cleaning.

  "Okay, be that way," the man said and turned back to the house. 
"Let's get to work. I have a deadline to meet today."

  He wheeled the chair through the door and pushed it closed behind 
him, the glass giving a view of the yard and the forest beyond. The 
cat jumped down to the carpet. Dan rolled up to the desk and threw 
the master switch. With a hum of power the entire wall came to life. 
A computer occupied the main space in front of him, complete with 
full color monitor, laser printer, modem, speaker phone and a fax 
machine. 

  As a freelance writer, he had found good use for all these at one 
time or another and could now afford to keep them on hand rather than 
run out to use someone else's facilities. His library of CD-ROM's 
were filed along side the computer, in easy reach if he needed 
anything for reference. The rest of the wall was taken up by a full 
blown television and stereo unit that included three VCR's, a disc 
player, cassette player, eight track and a turntable. He occasionally 
found background material in odd formats and it helped to have the 
equipment on hand to play it himself. He even had an optical scanner 
made a part of the computer system along with a microfiche reader 
attachment.

  "Okay, Murphy. I need ideas. Help me out." He looked at the cat.

  Murphy rolled over on his side.

  "A lot of good you are," Dan said as he rummaged through the desk 
drawer. He found a package of cat treats and dug one out, tossing 
it to the cat. Murphy came to life, rolled over and grabbed the 
treat, gobbling it down as if he hadn't eaten for a week.

  "Okay, you've been paid. Now give with the ideas. I need a story 
line for that magazine article."

  Murphy looked confused.

  "You know, the one where they need a cutsie little story to go 
with their feature on environmental awareness. You think, while I 
finish setting up."

  When Dan finished setting up the format for his article, he looked 
back at the cat. Sometime during the night, a mouse had gotten in and 
Murphy was amusing himself chasing the hapless creature around the 
room. Dan reached for the mouse.

  "Let him go, Murph. We don't need any new pets in here."

  Quickly the cat grabbed the rodent by its tail and moved away. 
In an almost regal manner, he walked across the room and out the cat 
door built into the wall. 

  Dan watched the byplay and a light went off in his head.

  "Right! The jobs that pets do keeping the house free of unwanted 
visitors. Thanks, Murph," he yelled to the cat, now flat on the deck 
watching the mouse that had dropped over the side into the grass.

  Five hours later he finished sending the article by modem to the 
editor. As the modem beeped to acknowledge receipt, Dan shifted back 
in the chair and stretched. He enjoyed the challenge of writing, but 
sometimes it was a real pain. He smiled at his own pun and turned 
toward the door to check on the weather. He still needed to arrange 
for the cleanup of his back yard.

  Looking out over the yard he realized he had visitors. Standing at 
the edge of the treeline were two figures. Dan opened the door and 
rolled out onto the deck. 

  "May I help you," he shouted across the yard. The two stood 
conferring in the shadow of the trees as if they didn't hear him.

  "I said, may I help you," he shouted again, checking the panic 
button on the frame of the chair. These two looked different somehow 
and he had a feeling he may need extra help to handle them. Sometimes 
it paid to have a direct hookup to the police department.

  The two figures moved away from the trees and started across the 
yard. The shorter figure was wrapped in a hooded robe of some sort 
and totally indistinguishable. But it was the taller figure that 
captured Dan's attention. He wore a hooded cape with the hood thrown 
back in the sun. Where the cape slipped as he walked, Dan could make 
out a costume that looked like tunic and tights. As the two drew 
closer, Dan caught the gleam of mail at throat and cuff and, of all 
things, a sword and dirk belted over the tunic. 

  Two more refugees from the local renaissance festival lost in 
the woods, he though at first. But something about the costume struck 
a note with Dan. It looked just a little too good to be something 
from one of the local medieval groups. The cut of the tunic was 
slightly different than normal and the quality of the cloth was like 
something from a museum.  

  As the two approached the deck, Dan spoke again.

  "May I help you," he asked, watching them closely.

  "Perhaps," said the tall one, throwing back the cloak from his 
shoulders. "Could you direct us to the nearest center of learning?"

  "Excuse me?" was Dan's reply.

  "A monastery, perhaps, or even a cloister of learned men," the tall 
figure continued, trying to make himself understood.

  "What are you looking for?" Dan asked, perplexed. "There are a lot 
of different types of 'learning centers' these days."

  "My, that does complicate things," the man said to himself as 
much as to Dan. He turned to his companion and in a voice too low 
for Dan to hear, discussed the problem. With a nod to the shrouded 
figure he turned back to Dan.

  "We seek an old treasure that was lost long ago. My...family, 
has given me the quest to return what was once ours to it's proper 
owners."

  "Quest. Right. That would explain the medieval costumes. And I 
suppose this is your faithful companion, Tonto?"

  The man looked at him in confusion. "Tonto? My servant's name 
is Thook. And I am called Baraz." He bowed to Dan with a sweeping 
gesture. "We are at your service."

  "Okay, have it your way. My name is Dan. Maybe if you told me 
what you're looking for I might be able to point you in the right 
direction. I have links to some of the major library computers in 
the country and can find just about anything."

  "Ah, a scholar," cried Baraz. "We are lucky to have found you. 
Lead us to your books and we will show you what we seek."

  Dan felt uneasy about letting these two into his house but they 
seemed to be only mildly crazy. Besides, it was a good way to break 
the mood after an afternoon of writing.

  "Come on up the steps at the side and we'll go in here. My work 
station is just inside." As Dan rolled back to the door and into the 
house, he missed the look that passed between the two as they noted 
his chair. He rolled beside the door and pushed it shut as the two 
entered. They looked around in open curiosity.

  "I see no books here," said Baraz cautiously. "Are they in another 
part of the dwelling?"

  "Everything we need is right here," said Dan as he pulled up in 
front of the desk. "Just let me access the library network first 
and we'll see what we can find." He started typing rapidly on the 
keyboard, unaware of the looks Baraz gave him behind his back. "Okay, 
can you describe what you need to find?"

  Baraz looked skeptical. "You expect to find our treasure without 
opening a single book or scroll. You must be a wizard to have all 
these strange trappings in your house but no wizard keeps everything 
in his head."

  Dan turned to look at him.

  "I tell you what, I won't make cracks about how you dress and what 
you spend your time doing and you don't tell me how to do my job, 
comprendez-vous?"

  Baraz jerked at the tone and his hand reached towards the hilt of 
his sword. He stopped, however, as Thook touched his arm with a hand 
that never left the robe and gave a quick shake of the head. The 
warrior stood, closing his eyes, and visibly relaxed. 

  "Forgive me, my friend," said Baraz, extending his hand. "I have 
been away from people too long and I forget my manners."

  Dan waived away the hand and turned back to the computer, 
watching their reflection in the chrome edge of an instrument 
casing. "No sweat. Now what was it you were looking for?"

  Baraz tensed again as the hand was ignored, but with a look to 
his servant, he continued. "We seek two items, actually. Two rather 
special gemstones."

  "This is starting to sound familiar," Dan said to himself. To 
Baraz he said, "Let me guess, the gems came from the Holy Grail?"

  "You are a wizard!" exclaimed Baraz, backing away. "How did you 
know of our quest?"

  "Aw, come on , guys," Dan spouted, angrily. "The Grail has been 
the object of quests for the last two thousand years. Couldn't you 
come up with anything more original than that?" He spun away from 
the desk and faced the two. "I'm afraid joke time is over. You'll 
have to leave now." He started for the door.

  "I think not," said a voice behind him. Dan turned quickly, 
reaching for the panic button. But he never completed his move. He 
felt a strange weakness wash over him and he collapsed in the chair. 
Only the seatbelt saved him from falling out and even so he felt one 
of his "visitors" grab him as the chair overbalanced. He felt a 
strange warmth at his forehead and on his wrists just as he drifted 
off into blackness.

                               *  *  *

  Dan woke with a splitting headache.

  This was not surprising considering he was seated in his chair 
in front of the computer with his head resting on the edge of the 
keyboard. The corner of the keyboard was pressed into one temple 
and his searching hand found a definite imprint.

  "I could probably read the key from the skin impression," mused 
the writer. "At least they left me my computer wall. But what did 
they take?" He turned to check out the rest of the house, glancing 
at the monitor as he moved. He stopped, confused. There was a strange 
logo on the screen, one he had never seen before. As he stared at the 
screen, trying to make some sense of the information, he glanced down 
at his hands. Embedded in the skin on the back of each wrist, just 
past the joint, was a glowing gem. 

  The weird green glow hurt his eyes to look at for very long. He 
ran his fingers over the gems, receiving a slight shock at first but 
gradually feeling the slippery smoothness of stone with a warmth that 
was almost repulsive. He wiped his hand across his forehead as he 
broke out in a sweat and discovered another of the stones set just 
above the bridge of his nose, between the eyes.

  "Oh shit," Dan said, barely controlling the terror that was 
rising in him, "Stephen King strikes again." He headed for the 
bathroom to find a mirror but as he turned into the hallway, he 
stopped. Facing him was the tall stranger, Baraz, holding a double-
bitted ax from Dan's collection.
  
  "You have excellent taste, my friend," the tall figure stated, 
spinning the ax in his hands to test the balance. He walked past 
into the room. "But I must admit I am puzzled by the materials used 
in some of these weapons. This is much too light to be iron and too 
heavy for tin. What do you call it?"

  The gem on his forehead gave a tug and Dan found himself 
compelled to answer the man. "It's a steel alloy. Some magnesium, 
cobalt, a little special carbon and steel. The process is fairly 
new."

  "Indeed," came the reply. "I find no reluctance to touch this 
metal and it compares most favorably with my own smith's work. I 
must take the formula back with me. Or better still, you may teach 
my smith directly when he comes through."

  "Comes through what?" Dan wanted to ask, but seemed to be 
prevented by something. "What did you do to me?" That question was 
permitted, apparently.

  "I required your cooperation," Baraz answered, swinging the ax 
loosely by the haft. "I had my servant place Controls on you to aid 
in my search." He gestured at the gems on Dan's wrists. " Your 
efforts were most productive. Thook has gone to check on several 
items we have uncovered as a result of your work."

  "What exactly are your looking for?" Dan asked, another permitted 
question.

  "As I said previously: two gemstones." Baraz moved past the 
chair and over to the door, looking out over the lawn. He had his 
back to Dan as he looked out into space, toying with the ax. "The 
gems have some very special properties that will permit my people to 
accomplish something they have been working on for many years." He 
turned back to Dan, twirling the ax in his hands. "According to your 
enquiries, the gems are part of a specially grown formation by one of 
your sorcerers. Something called a  cold laser."

  "You want laser crystals?" Dan exclaimed. "This has got to be the 
strangest quest I ever heard of! I thought you were some escapee 
from a sword and sorcery movie!"

  Baraz whipped the ax through the air, the edge of the blade 
resting under Dan's chin when it stopped. "I could easily dispense 
with you, but that would require another tool in your place. You will 
answer my questions quickly and completely and I may let you live. 
Otherwise, I will have Thook turn you into something less that the 
half-man you are now."

  Dan's temper snapped. With arms strengthened by years of 
propelling himself in the chair, he grabbed the haft of the ax, 
reversed his grip and swung at Baraz. Only the tall man's quickness 
and the hidden mail saved him from having his stomach ripped open 
like his tunic. Spinning the ax in his fist, Dan wrapped Baraz's 
tunic in the blade and pulled himself closer. As Dan reached for an 
arm or leg to give himself leverage, Baraz pulled a medallion from 
beneath his tunic and Dan collapsed as the gems on his wrists and 
forehead glowed in that sickly green light.

  "One bite only do you get, mangy cur," Baraz said as he tried 
to straighten his tunic, now well ripped in the struggle. "If my 
servant has found what we need, your services will no longer be 
required. It will please me to see you reduced to some less pleasant 
form of life. Why your people let cripples like you live is merely 
another sign of their need for our guidance once more." Baraz kicked 
the chair, throwing Dan to the floor. He turned and walked from the 
room, ignoring the whimpering form struggling to rise. As Baraz 
turned the corner, Dan collapsed into unconsciousness.

                               *  *  *

  Dan woke with a feeling of coolness across his face, accented 
by the pinpoint of warmth in the strange gem in his forehead. He 
opened his eyes and looked up into the greenest eyes he had ever 
seen. This was not too difficult since he had never seen green eyes 
before. But these had to be the greenest eyes of anyone in at least 
this state if not the country. A cool cloth was once again wiped 
down the side of his face as he lay there and he realized the green 
eyes were attached to a beautiful woman.

  "Please don't take this the wrong way," he stated calmly, "But who 
the hell are you?"

  "I am Thook," the woman answered, leaning back on her heels. Dan 
now noticed the hood of the robe thrown back and the sleeves drawn up 
to expose her hands and face for the first time. Dan looked into the 
green eyes again and shook his head in an effort to keep from falling 
inside the green pools. He barely made it.

  As he sat up, Thook rolled his chair closer and moved to help him 
into it.

  "No, thanks," Dan stated, a little sharply, "I'm used to this." 
He pulled the chair around and flipped up the foot rests, putting his 
back to the chair after setting the wheel locks. He twisted, grabbing 
the upper frame and levered himself into the seat in a well practiced 
move. He settled his balance and fastened the belt to hold himself in 
place. Thook watched him carefully and nodded as he looked up at her.

  "You are a warrior," she stated , emphatically.

  "Was a warrior," he corrected. He gestured at the withered legs. 
"You can't fight if you can't walk."

  She leaned over and touched his chest, her eyes staring into his. 
"Here, you are a warrior. A warrior's heart beats until it is 
stopped. You do not stop easily."

  Dan smiled crookedly. "My mama always did say I was a stubborn 
cus. She was right too."

  "I need your help," Thook said, looking down at him.

  Dan glanced at the gems on his wrists. "Seems to me, you're 
holding all the cards. I'll do what you want, no matter what I 
think."

  "Those are Controlled by the Count, not me. I need your willing 
assistance, not the result of some spell driven actions." Thook 
opened the throat of her robe, exposing a similar gem at the top of 
her sternum. "He Controls me as well."

  "If he pulls your strings, why are you telling me this? It 
seems more like he keeps you quiet all the time."

  "Baraz Controls my actions, not my thoughts. At the moment, he 
is after the gems you found in your strange machine. If he finds 
them and uses them properly, he will bring through the members of 
the Queen's court and put all your people under his rule. They will 
succeed now where they failed five hundred years ago, as you count 
time."

  Dan just looked at her. "You've got to be joking. People have 
been trying to take over the world for centuries. No one has pulled 
it off yet. And Americans don't take kindly to someone try to rule 
over them. That's why we started this country in the first place."

  Thook nodded. "I know your people well. They were the hardest to 
control while in Britain and were the reason Baraz and his people 
were forced out of their homelands and into Albion. They have never 
forgiven you for that."

  "You make it sound like something that happened recently," Dan 
commented. My ancestors haven't lived in Britain for the last two 
hundred years and they were peaceful people for centuries before 
that." 

  Thook laughed harshly. "Your peaceful people were the hardest 
fighters the Roman Empire had ever met. It took years of effort 
and intermarriage before there was sufficient peace to return some 
of the legions to Rome. The efficient Roman war machine put it's 
shield walls up against a people who were willing to build walls of 
dead bodies for their fellow warriors to climb over." She smiled 
down at him. "How can an enemy such as that ever be wholly 
defeated?"

  Dan nodded in agreement. "Okay, what do you want me to do?"

  "I believe that, together, we can find a way to release the 
Control jewels. You should not have been able to attack the count 
as you did. The Control should have frozen your limbs at the 
thought of any rebellion."

  "I did find it hard to move," Dan commented. "Almost as if 
something was holding me back."

  Thook nodded. "That was the Control. I believe this chair contains 
enough cold iron to offset the jewels."

  "Well, its just an old stainless steel job I use around the house." 
Dan stopped and looked carefully at the girl. 

  "Cold iron?" he asked. "You mean, like in elves and fairies and 
stuff?"

  Thook nodded. "Baraz is an elf, of course."

  "Now I know I'm in the Twilight Zone," Dan complained to himself. 
"What about you? Are you an elf?"

  "No, I am human, mostly. Five hundred years ago, all the 
Eldrich Races passed from your world into another world called 
Albion," Thook said. Your people, mated to the Roman invaders, had 
learned the use of iron and steel from their southern brothers. Until 
then, all they had were bronze and wood, no threat to the Sidhe. But 
with iron and steel, man began to claim the land for themselves, 
driving out the magic and, with it, the elves and all the other fey 
races. For a while, the Sidhe could come back and forth at limited 
intervals and in a few places."

  "Fairy rings!" Dan exclaimed.

  "So they were called," Thook commented, nodding. "In a relatively 
short time, all the fairy rings were closed by cold iron and the 
Sidhe were trapped on the other side of the Veil of Oberon with their 
human servants. They have been trying to find a way back ever since."

  "And old high and mighty has a way to open the door."

  "Correct," came the answer. "Baraz has found a way to use the 
properties of the crystals to bend reality enough to open a doorway 
and keep it open for use by the Queen and her court. Albion is a cold 
and dank prison and has been for most of the time the Sidhe have been 
there. The magic was used up quickly and at that point the entire land 
fell into eternal twilight."

  "I thought elves preferred the night, or at least twilight?" Dan 
asked.

  "For some things, yes. But these are Light Elves. They must walk 
in the sun to be fully in their power."

  "Then the count will be even more dangerous since he now has 
sunlight to work with. And that explains the laser crystals."

  Thook nodded. "You are correct. But he will grow to his full 
power slowly due to the time spent out of the sun's light. If we 
act quickly, we may have a chance."

  "What do we need to do?" Dan asked.

  Thook considered the question. "Of greatest importance, we must 
prevent him from opening the doorway. If the Sidhe return to this 
world, you are all lost."

  "Well," Dan commented, "I'm not fully sold on that one, yet. But 
he'll definitely cause some problems."

  "If we can get the medallion from his grasp, we can break the 
Control and have a better chance of defeating him. We must divert 
him and remove the medallion from his neck. Then we must destroy the 
crystals he will have with him and imprison him, if possible."

  "That part, I think I can handle," Dan said with assurance. "What 
would it do to him to be imprisoned inside a cold iron cage?"

  "Even without touching the iron, to be completely surrounded 
would quickly drain the power from him. He would drift from this 
world back to Albion." Thook looked at Dan with an intent expression 
as a thought hit her. "Without my help he would be unable to cross 
back over into this world. It was my powers that pierced the walls. 
His was the plan for the doorway, but he has to be in this world to 
open the portal."

  "Okay," Dan said, "I know how to put him in an iron cage. All 
we have to do is nab him when he gets back." Dan turned and headed 
into one of the side rooms from the hallway. "Hang on a minute. I 
need something from in here," he called over his shoulder. When he 
returned, he was holding a three foot length of chain with a weight 
at each end. He showed it to Thook.

  "This is a manriki. It's an antique so the chain has more iron in 
it than any of the modern ones will. Will this hold him?"

  Thook touched the chain and closed her eyes. When she opened 
them, she smiled. "Excellent. This will hold him powerless if can be 
wrapped around his hands or feet."

  "No problem," Dan said. "When is he coming back?"

  "At this point, I would expect him at any time."

  Dan looked worried for a moment. "Are you sure he'll come back to 
the house before he tries to open the gateway?"

  "Yes," the sorceress replied calmly. "He needs my power to make 
this easy for him. He could do it himself, but he prefers to use my 
strength rather than his own."

  "Good." Dan hooked the manriki on the back of the chair and 
adjusted a flat packet under the inside of his left leg. "Now we 
wait." He set the wheel locks on the chair.

  For the next two hours, the two allies waited for the return of 
the count. Murphy walked in through the pet door and took one look 
at Dan, sniffing as he walked off down the hallway after his evening 
meal. Suddenly, they heard a screech that could only come from an 
injured cat and Murph came rushing back into the room and out again 
through his private doorway. Baraz appeared from the hallway.

  "The vermin you permit in your homes is another lesson we must 
teach you, I see," the meticulous creature said as he brushed at the 
snags in his hose. He had replaced his tunic in some fashion with 
another tunic of similar style.

  Dan gestured at the pouch on the count's belt with his left hand 
as his right snaked around the chair for the chain. "You found what 
you needed, I presume," he said.

  "Correct," the count answered. "And you have lost your usefulness."

  The count was reaching for the medallion as Dan pulled the chain 
free of the chair and slipped one weight into his hand. Baraz was 
ready when Dan tried to throw the chain and the sudden Control was 
like a net falling over the man. But at that same instant, Thook 
shook both hands free of the robe that had covered her head and hands 
once again, and a bar of light flashed out to strike the count full 
in the face. Baraz jerked back, Dan fell free of the Control and the 
chain whipped across the room to wrap firmly around the elf's ankles.

  Baraz screamed as the iron shackle tangled his feet and threw 
him to the floor. He reached for the weights to pull it free but 
smoke puffed out as his skin burned from the touch of the iron. As he 
screamed in frustration, a look of hate entered his eyes and he fixed 
Dan with a glare that could have fried the paint on the wall. Baraz 
reached for the medallion with his less burned hand only to scream 
again as a metal spike appeared, tacking the hand to his chest. The 
other hand reached and was tacked as well and Dan sat holding the 
third spike of the set he had hidden under his leg, ready for the 
next move.
     
  "Get the medallion," he said to Thook.

  The sorceress moved closer to Baraz, who was tossing on the 
floor in agony as the iron chain and steel spikes burned the skin 
they touched. She ripped the medallion from the elf's neck and 
dropped it to the floor. Using the butt of the ax Dan had dropped 
earlier, she smashed the medallion to dust and Dan felt a flash of 
heat at wrist and forehead. He looked at the back of his wrists and 
found the green crystals gone, leaving scars where they had been. 
Reaching under the chair arm, he pushed the panic button. Within a 
minute, a small light lit on one side of the work station and began 
to blink.

  "The cavalry's on the way," Dan said to the sorceress, who was 
rubbing at the scar on her chest. "How long can he stay in that iron 
cell before he fades away?"

  Baraz screamed as he heard the punishment he was to face. Dan 
rolled over and tugged the elf's sword free of it's scabbard, laying 
it across his knees.

  "A few hours at most," Thook answered.

  "Then he'll never make it to arraignment," Dan commented to 
himself.

                               *  *  *

  Two hours later the police were gone, taking Baraz with them. 
They hadn't fully bought Dan's story of helping a strange girl being 
chased by some kook with a sword. But the guy had been lying inside 
Dan's house and the scars on Dan's forehead and wrist gave evidence 
of some kind of struggle. Plus the fact that Dan knew the two 
patrolmen well. They knew Dan could take care of himself in a fight 
but didn't spread that fact around.

  Thook was sitting on the sofa in the living room when Dan rolled 
in, stopping in front of her. She raised her head from the cushion 
at the back and looked Dan in the eye.

  "Now what?" Dan asked, returning the solid gaze.

  Thook smiled.

Copyright 1994 Jack Hillman, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
John is a freelance writer, who has been published in BLOODREAMS, 
ONCE UPON A WORLD, and GATEWAYS. He writes a bimonthly SF/F column 
published in THE MAGAZINE of SHAREFICTION, and his book reviews appear 
in POPULAR FICTION NEWS. As a contributing editor to ON THE RISK, he 
keeps track of "life."
=====================================================================
                                             
