From: aaron@space.ualberta.ca (Aaron Humphrey)
Subject: [R] Shade[Cote d'Azur]: Shadow Fighting
Reply-To: aaron@space.ualberta.ca
Organization: University Of Alberta, Edmonton Canada
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL6]
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 15:08:59 GMT

ADMIN: Apologies if this shows up twice, but Morgan "The Dreamer" Broman, for
whom this is being posted, has yet to see the previous posting of the article.
So I'm trying again...please bear with me.

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[R]	As he looks over the heads of the advancing pirates Shade notices that
	the Captain is moving over to the passenger ship...

	"So..I'll have to take these three out then..."

	With a high-pitched scream the Dark One charges the three men, the 
	flames of the runesword lick out towards them...
	Suddenly the entire ship rocks as if it had hit something underwater,
	almost at the same time the mast catches fire.

	"By the Old Ones...what was that..."

	Shade quickly drops the first pirate with a quick cut to his leg. While
	the others start to circle their fallen friend Shade leaps over him
	and makes a rush towards the upper deck.
	A man standing there obviously working some kind of magic is rudely in-
	terrupted by a black dagger sailing through the air and bouncing off
	some kind of energyfield...

	"...damn...a shield spell...well now it's broken anyway..."

	...as he reaches the top of the stairs he whirls around and smashes the
	hilt of the Runesword into the face of the first pirate, at the same
	time he feels a searing pain in his left leg...without looking down the
	Dark One kills the second pirate with a vicious sweep of his blade.
	The pirate rolls down the stairs with a howling scream.

	There being no more pirates close enough to make any difference, the
	Dark One turns towards the Sorcerer on the upper deck...

	"...pain...got to do something....concentrate on the pain...use it
	 for focus...control..."

	Shade can feel darkness closing in, he concentrates on the pain in his
	leg and focuses on the Mage...

	"...concentrate..."

	...green flames envelope the Dark One, his red ruby flares...the sword
	is just humming softly...
	By now the Sorcerer has realized the danger posed by the Dark One...he
	turns within his magic circle and starts to chant.
	Around the Dark Ones body a shape is emerging...it slowly takes on a
	human shape, armed with a sword and a round shield...green flames sur-
	rounds it. The pirate mage summons a creature of darkness, covered in
	black slime...it slowly advances on the green warrior, claws stretched
	out...
	As the black slimemonster reaches the green warrior, the warrior slash-
	es down with his sword...nothing seems to happen, the sword slices
	through the mudcreature seemingly without doing any damage at all...
	But when the claws of the demon reach the warrior they rip a large
	part of his armour apart, leaving deep cuts in the warrior's body.
	The warrior now starts to circle, being careful to stay away from the
	claws of the demon. The slower mudcreature lumbers after him trying
	to grasp his shield.
	Cold sweat is breaking out on the Dark One's forehead,  the ruby in his
	ear is pulsating...the pirate-mage's veins stand out on his forehead.

	"...weapons won't hurt him...have to find...an alternative way to fight
	 his demon...mud...earth and water...WATER..."

	The green warrior slowly backs off towards the railing...then he seems
	to be caught by the dark creature and they both fall...into the sea...

	There is silence for a few seconds then the pirate-mage slowly crumbles
	to the deck...the Dark One, who is bleeding quite badly from the leg-
	wound stumbles down towards the slanting lower deck and slowly limps
	over to the railing. He sheats his Runesword and raises his arms to the
	sky, nobody comes close, they just stare...

	-Chushana, bringer of Dreams, help thy servant...

	The Dark One feels darkness closing in...it feels good...it's so quiet.
	They see him slowly fold over the railing to slip down into the dark
	sea below.....

--
HP   : Morgan "the Dreamer" Broman			mabr@sweden.hp.com
SCA  : Morgan deGrey
APD-I: Shade
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	What is life, but a sequence of fragments of time put
	together in a random fashion, to create eternity...

	[R] Shade
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Nothing stated here is an official statement by the Hewlett-Packard Corp.

--
---Alfvaen(Canadian SF Quasi-Activist)
"It's not my fault.  The orchestra has disappeared."
   ---Hector Berlioz
Current Album--Rush:A Show of Hands
Current Read--Alexandre Dumas:The Three Musketeers