From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn
Subject: [MI] Alfvaen[Gaps]: Initiates And Decoys
Date: 16 Oct 92 02:52:33 GMT
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]


Batobo led the way through the Gaps, followed by Alfvaen, Delmara, Little Rat,
and Queriche.  The imp was following a trail of scent that, they hoped, would
lead them to Elstree.

All of them were wary as they walked through the dark passages lit only by the
torch Queriche carried.  They could hear numerous rustlings down side
passages, and sometimes large shadows of tiny creatures leapt out at them as
they rounded corners.  "We shouldn't run into anything big," Alfvaen
whispered.  "If they want to keep this route open at all, then they can't trap
it without injuring themselves."

"Maybe they don't intend to use it again," Queriche said, in a normal voice,
that echoed through the passage.  "And they could always set up their own
ambush.  But they may not even know that we're coming this way."

"Well, they do now," Alfvean hissed, annoyed.  "Quieter, please."  Just then,
they heard a slap and splash of water, and he yelped, whirling to face the
sound.  "What the hell was that?"

"T-croc," Little Rat said.  "Big ugly scaly things, Mr. Elfman.  But it's
swimmin' away."

"Wonderful," Alfvaen said under his breath.

They continued onward, expecting danger from every shadow and behind every
corner.  But nothing menaced them, apart from a feral cat that hissed in their
faces as they startled it from its lair.

Then they arrived at a blank wall.  Batobo sniffed up and down it.  "The path
continues through here, master.  I swear it does."

"A secret door, then," Alfvaen muttered.  He felt carefully along the wall,
until he found a crack.  He followed it around with his fingers, and then
stepped back, satisfied.  Now he could see the outline of the door, although
the others still couldn't.

This could take hours, searching for this thing, he thought.  Elstree might
not have that much time.  Luckily, he had a shortcut.  He did know some magic,
after all.  Milteanas' teaching hadn't been totally in vain, and one or two
spells came in very handy in his line of work...

He started speaking in a soft voice, which gradually seemed to get louder in
the quite of the Gaps.  Then he stopped and rapped once on the wall.  The door
clicked and opened silently for them.  Batobo instantly leapt through to pick
up the trail once more.  "After you," Alfvaen said sardonically.  They followed
the path for a while more.

Then Alfvaen stopped them.  "Quiet."  He listened.  "I hear voices, from
ahead.  Batobo, can you go forward unseen, along the trail?  Find the owners
of those voices, and then return unseen to me and tell of what you have seen. 
Go."

"Yes, master," the imp said, flying up to the ceiling of the tunnel, where it
disappeared in darkness.  The others waited impatiently.

***

Noctu sat in his Shrine.  All was in readiness for the sacrifice, except for a
few visitors who had not yet arrived.  He sensed the nervousness of his two
guards.  Natural enough, even if they didn't know that he planned for them to
die.

Then he felt something trip his wards.  He inspected the trace curiously.  Not
a human or elven trace.  Something darker.  Something extraplanar.  So the
girl's allies had more help than he had suspected.  Still easily dealt with. 
He ran a caressing hand down the side of Elstree's face, which remained
impassive.  "Soon, my dear," he said.  He waited for the flies to walk into
his trap.

***

Batobo returned after a few minutes.  "The voices are from two humans, one
male and one female."

"Do they wear the symbol of the Demon Spiders?"

Batobo nodded.

"Lead us as close as you can to them without them seeing us."  Batobo set off
once more down the corridor, the rest of the party following quietly.

Or as quietly as they could.  Delmara was not used to sneaking around in dark
tunnels.  Especially dark tunnels that have not been maintained for some
while.  She stepped on a loose brick, which slid away beneath her feet,
causing her to wrench her ankle.  The brick made far more noise in being
dislodged than any of them wanted to.

They've heard us now for sure, Alfvaen thought.  Time for a diversion.  He
bent down and whispered in Little Rat's ear.

***

Sangudo stood nervously in front of the entrance to the Shrine.  Noctu was one
damned scary guy to work for, he thought.  When he'd first talked to Shatoc,
he'd heard the stories, but not believed them.  So he'd joined up with the
Spiders.  Now he was guarding the Shrine, and sweating.  They'd said he'd have
to be initiated soon in the ways of the Demon Queen.

He turned to look at his watch partner.  At least there was one thing to make
this shift bearable.  Clivia was a damn fine-looking woman, even dressed in
shapeless black like she was.  One day he'd have to see what she looked like
wearing nothing at all...

"Hey, asshole," she said.  "Keep your mind on the job."

He averted his eyes hastily.  Clivia had joined as recently as he, but she had
a lot more experience than he did.  She'd been in Stiletto before joining
here, and she toyed absently with the weapon that was the symbol of her trade.

He saw a slight movement on the ceiling.  "What was that?" he whispered.

"What?"

"I saw something, on the ceiling."

"Probably a bat.  'th'Queen, Sangudo, you're sure jumpy.  You've got an
overactive imagination, is all."

He sighed.  "I guess."  He was beginning to wish he'd apprenticed himself like
his father had wanted.

Then they both heard a sharp cracking sound, brick on stone.  "On th'other
hand..." Clivia said, sheathing her stiletto and bringing her crossbow into a
ready position.  "You sure didn't imagine that."

There was near-silence for a few moments, then a child's voice said, "Help! 
Sommun help!"

Sangudo relaxed.  "Just a kid.  Whaddaya want, kid?"

"I's walkin' in da Gaps, an' I's lost.  Da floor slipped, and I hurt my foot.
Mebbe's broken.  Help!  I's just a kid, but I c'n do somefin for ya."

"Just wait, I'll go see," Sangudo said.

"You crazy, 'Gudo?  That could be a trap.  'Sides, even if it ain't, why not
just let the kneebiter die?"

"She called for help.  And maybe she can help us.  Low City kids know lots. 
You wanna go check with Noctu to see what he wants us to do?"  Clivia didn't
answer.  "Okay, then.  Gimme a torch."  He drew his sword and took the torch
in his other hand.

Sangudo went around the corner, and there was the kid.  It didn't look like a
Low City kid--it had been freshly bathed and was wearing clean, if worn,
clothes.  But it was definitely injured--it was sitting down on the stones and
holding one ankle in obvious pain.  A brick was dislodged near its injured
foot.  So maybe it wasn't a Low City kid--some uptown kid that fell into the
sewers and got lost.  Probably from just across the Arcade.  "Where's it hurt,
kid?" he asked, bending down.

"There," she said, bringing up a dagger and slicing him down the side of his
face.  He screamed in pain, dropping his sword and nearly the torch as well.
Then a knife landed in his neck and he slumped to the ground, dead.

"'Th'Queen," Clivia said.  Damn, damn, damn.  It would have to be her shift
when they got invaded.  Noctu'd sworn nobody could find this place.  It could
all be part of the initiation--a fake attack, Sangudo not really dead.  But
she really doubted that.  She cocked her crossbow and stood silently, aiming
at the corner.  She could still see the light of Sangudo's torch--no, there,
it went out, but there was another torch coming down the hallway.  Then a
shape leapt out at her and she fired a bolt into Sangudo's corpse as it flew
into the wall.  She dropped her crossbow--no time to reload--and pulled out
her stiletto.

When the first living form came around the corner, she was standing there at
ready.  A dagger came towards her, but she dodged and it hit the stone wall
behind her with a dull clink, bounced off and dropped to the floor.  She ran
at the thrower with her stiletto, but he parried with another dagger.  Two
more shapes came into her field of vision, and she knew she was beaten, but
she fought on.  She put her back to the wall, but the butt of a spear came at
her head and she dropped to the ground, unconscious.

***

"Well, we can only hope that they didn't hear that guy's scream."  Little
Rat's cut had been unexpectedly vicious.  Alfvaen had to keep reminding
himself that this child had grown up under much different conditions than he
had.  Delmara briefly checked the woman Queriche had knocked out.  "Will she
live?"

Delmara nodded.  "I'd say tie her up, if we have time, or kill her."

"Tie her up," Alfvaen said, and Queriche flipped her over, tying her hands
behind her back in a fisherman's knot.

When he was done, nobody had yet come out to bother them.  "I guess nobody
heard us.  Well, then--let's go in."  The door the two had been guarding
looked simple enough, but he took some extra time to check for traps anyway. 
He pronounced it safe, and opened it.

Beyond was a small room.  The door on the other side was black with a silver
spiderweb on it.  <Lassiviren?>

<I see it.  A shrine of the Demon Queen.  Here is where the sacrifice would
take place.  If it hasn't already.>

<Would it have?  Is there an optimum timing for these things?>

<No, not really.  But custom dictates that the sacrifice should be prolonged
as much as necessary, and if possible done in the manner of a spider--
injection of venom, and then draining of fluids.  So we may have a chance, if
Noctu is not in a hurry.  On the other hand, he may be waiting for you.  Who
knows.>

<What?  Why would he be waiting for me?>

No response.

<Any special wards we should be wary of?>

<It varies with the circumstances.  Since uninitiates were standing guard, I'd
say not.  Usually it'd be warded against them, but if initiates are in short
supply, then that might be unwise.>

<So you don't think there's any wards on the door.>

<Yes.  Now, wouldn't you like to get on with this while your beloved Elstree
still has some fluids left?>

<Why, Lassiviren, I didn't know you cared.>

"Okay, let's go," Alfvaen said, opening the door to the shrine...

--
---Alfvaen(Canadian SF Quasi-Activist)
"Does it ever seem like the brain disorders you have just aren't enough to keep
 you amused anymore?"  --Dr. Strychnine
Current Album--Kid Creole & The Coconuts:I, Too, Have Seen The Woods
Current Read--Charles de Lint:Drink Down The Moon
Newsgroups: alt.pub.dragons-inn