From: conner@qucis.queensu.ca (Mike Conner)
Subject: [Djinn]: One day till the mouth of the canyon ...
Organization: Computing & Information Science, Queen's University at Kingston
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 23:17:55 GMT


Morning came far to soon for our adventurers as the sun penetrated the 
depths of the canyon.

Although they took turns at watch, sleep was not an easy thing to come by.
Chalmers had the last watch as morning broke.  Raven wanted to be with
him but he insisted that she get her rest.  Meriden and Jester were both
still sound asleep as a strange but colourful bird began to chirp in a
nearby tree.

The canyon did not sport much vegetation, what did grow kept mainly to the
banks of the small creek which meandered down towards the canyon bottom.

Chalmers had been examining one of his many devices, a term given to them
by Raven, this one fit neatly in the palm of his hand.  The creature that
had bestowed these devices to him told Chalmers that this one could tell
him when he was near one of the blue crystals, similar to the one embedded
in Chalmers' pendant.  The creature told Chalmers that the crystal in the
pendant was empty of power but that he should use it as a reference when
searching for others.  

"This device will begin to *BEEP* when you are near a deposit of blue
crystal" the creature told Chalmers, "when you have located the deposit,
remove it from its holding, it will separate into smaller pieces,
these will supply power to the weapons I have given you". 

The creature had shown Chalmers how to replace the empty crystals with
new ones and had promised him that the weapons would last for years once
the crystals were replaced.  Several of Chalmers' weapons were indicating
that the crystals inside them were almost empty.  They had small red disks
disks on them the blinked on and off.  This worried Chalmers, although
he was quite adept at sword handling he had grown quite accustom to the
use of the extendible spear, but without new crystals his weapons would be 
useless.

Meriden was the first to poke his head out of the tent he shared with Jester.
"Seems like a good time for some hot tea" said Meriden as he brought the
fire back to life.  "An excellent idea!" Chalmers responded, putting the
crystal locator back in the pocket of his heavy wool tunic.

As the pleasant smell penetrated Jester's tent, it did not take long before
he was wrapping his hands around a cup of Meriden's hot tea.  The sun was
just above the horizon, barely visible from their position in the canyon, when
a stirring sound came from Raven's tent.  "Someone bring me a cup of what
is in that pot, it smells divine" Raven demanded.  Chalmers, quite amazed 
that Raven was up so early in the morning, scooped up some of Meriden's tea
and brought it to Raven's tent.  

As Chalmers poked his head inside the tent he was greeted by a passionate kiss
from Raven.  "I missed you beside me last night Chalmers, it was very cold
without you." spoke Raven, softly so that only Chalmers could hear.  
"Promise me we will be together tonight!" Raven whispered into Chalmers' ear,
sending small shivers down his spine almost spilling the hot tea.
"I promise, we will have reached the mouth of the canyon by nightfall,
that is were the Desert of Lindsey begins." Chalmers explained. "I'm told
that there are many ledges that offer far greater protection than the open
space we are in now. Only a few wards will be needed to alert us if we are
intruded upon, a watch will not be necessary." With that Raven took the hot
tea from Chalmers, kissed him again, and pulled the warm fur blankets back
around her naked body.  "I will be up once I finish my tea, I promise" 
Raven said with a slight chuckle.  Chalmers just smiled and went back to the
fire to join Meriden and Jester.

:)
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