"I hate them." Those were the words that pounded in his brain as he walked forth, his feet heard hitting against the surface. It was a feeling in him that was so similar, but hard to describe.

Though he was physical free, his soul felt incarcerated in the power of darkness. Manipulated and utilized by his narcissistic personality that occasionally came to the forefront during combats. Yet now he was incarcerated in a combat with himself, which meant that he had lost all hope of light.

He had been beckoned, and taken in the hands of Adra, which was once a nightmare, but now a dream that had successfully became reality.

"They will bow to me." He murmured repeatidally under his voice, attempting to remind himself that this was all for the better and without a speck of flaws.

But he knew somewhere inside of him that this was wrong.

--------------------

D'Artagnan chose this time to interject, never withdrawing his suave smile,"...a rescue mission, I'd be glad to volunteer my services as a swordsman... and a gentleman..."

Kronos turned to D'Artagnan,"The odds are greatly stacked against our favor..."

D'Artagnan now passed his gaze in the direction of Eirianna,"...I love a good challenge... when the prize is fair..." He said, as he focused his attention back to Kronos...

"Very well, you will be party to the reinforcements... they shall fill you in, for time is of the essence..."

Kronos approached the black unicorn, gracefully taking himself on to the beautiful creature...

He waited for Eirianna to do the same, and follow his lead toward the castle of Taunderon...

[ 02-17-2003 01:44 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kronos ]

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Then she stepped aside from him, bowing slightly as if honoring him and then allowing him to take from the bar well before she did. As he seated himself she only then took her own small plate then sat across from him. She took a small fruit from the plate and bit into it, then turned her eyes once more to Talasti.

"Tell me..." she started, "What do you know of the One Ring?"

Then she fell silent, waiting for his reply.

--------------------

"I know that it is a powerful ring that could bring back tranquility if used without darkness." He said, feeling a sense of calmness and light come through his mouth that hadn't been since his entrance into the castle.

Yes, I do know very little, but through her I will know all of it. He thought to himself, a smile growing upon his kind face.

--------------------

The Steward knows I left Rivendell...and he knows I'm in Taunderon. he thought. Why would he only send one guardsman?

He stepped forward, then placed his hands behind his back to hide the wrist bands.

"D'Artagnan, I am Arandil of...Rivendell." he said. "I and the Elves are preparing to advance on the kingdom of Taunderon, now held by the King's advisor, Adra Slavonic. Unfortunately, she seems to be a powerful sorceress in service of Mordor. Only recently have the Taunderon people shown aggression to the Elves, and orcs have been seen marching into the castle walls."

"We are going to rescue an elf in Taunderon, who has been blamed for the King's death. Our assault needs to be silent. Kronos and Eirianna will lead the first group, and all of three of us will lead the second as reinforcements. We move in on their signal."

Before the young man could respond, Arandil spun around and walked towards his horse. There was much he had to think about, and he would do so as he rode to Taunderon...

--------------------

Arandil's introduction was enough to bring his attention back to the events surrounding him...

It wasn't so much that he was now speaking, but it was what he was saying...

D'Artagnan was mightily wooed by the graces of Eirianna, but he was no fool...

In being wooed, he failed in his attempt to establish acquaintances...

He never did give his name...

Yet this Arandil knew it, doubtful that one from Rivendell would know the name of D'Artagnan...

That meant one of two things...

Arandil was lying, or D'Artagnan had already made acquaintances with he...

Either way, D'Artagnan had the upper hand... breathing but a word of distrust now would negate that power...

Taking one last look at Arandil's slowly departing form, D'Artagnan took upon his trusted steed...

"Rest will have to wait, my friend..." he whispered to the tired beast, as the three slowly trotted toward the castle of Taunderon...

--------------------

As the whole of the company filed inside the courtyard, they extended their lines so that it was four rows deep. There the orcs waited for their next command...

Ulfhak smiled as he climbed down from the top of the wall to converse with the orc captain. "Grishnuk!" he called. "How fairs the army?"

Grishnuk approached him, flanked by the flagbearer. "The siege weapons are done, my lord. We have also sent raiding parties out to nearby villages..."

"Have we been seen?" Ulfhak asked. The orc shook his head.

"No...but we have seen elves disappear into the woods...and not far from here we caught the scent of Man."

Ulfhak nodded, grinding his teeth as he planned. "Daylight is starting to fade...disperse your men onto the walls and the waterways. We suspect an attack here..." he looked up at the Keep.

"Soon."

In a chain of grunts and growls, the orcs broke formation to attend their new patrol jobs. Many of the human guards were disgusted by their arrival, and some were frightened by their presence in Taunderon. Ulfhak began to walk towards the Keep...

Let us see what the sorceress is planning...

--------------------

Kronos stopped on the outskirts of the Taunderon territory...

"We must walk the remainder of the excursion..." He said, dismounting quickly and gracefully landing upon the tips of his feet...

"Your presence here is more than the happenstance of your stealth... furthermore, that of your girth..."

Kronos unstrapped his cloak, so that it would now hold both he and Eirianna within it's enchantment...

He approached the Daughter of the Moon,"...Forgive me M'lady..." Kronos said as he took the liberty of absorbing her into his grasp...

Without another moments haste, he strode quickly for the castle of Taunderon...

Invisible to the naked eye...

Not long after...

Within the walls of Taunderon, Kronos surveyed the area in search of two human guards astray from the rest...

It didn't take them long to find such, and disrobe them as well...

Now, as Eirianna and Kronos came from the deep interior of the castle draped in the clothing of the enemy, they slowly made their way through the human guards... quietly dispatching one after the other...

The masses of Orcs, yet not all that were expected, were now in view...

The time for reinforcements had arrived...

Taking up the horn Kronos had seized from the guard, he began to belt out 3 distinct notes...

The sign had been given...

In one swift motion, Kronos took upon his swords in one hand and his cloak of invisibility in the other...

"I cannot in good conscious have you be seen, M'lady..." Kronos said, as he tossed Eirianna his cloak...

Waiting for no one, Kronos approached the horde of Orcs... simply disappearing among the masses...

[ 02-20-2003 01:44 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kronos ]

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...which was exactly the massed amount of enemy they now faced: they, two lone and highly daring elven.

Two, one most brave and stout-hearted... and the other not lacking in abilities and resourcefulness herself. The frown on her lovely features vanished as inspiration struck. She glanced upward, noting indeed that night had fallen and that the moon was above them in its ripe fullness.

And she herself was the Daughter of the Moon....

"Kronos!" she dared risk giving away her position by crying out in a loud voice. "Seek high ground!"

Then she whirled, the cloak flying about her, and proceeded to do just that herself. Soon she found herself upon a battlement of the castle, looking down into the courtyard where the orcs flailed amidst themselves, striving to find the elven prince who slipped here and there between them like a pale ghost, leaving orc after orc dead in his wake, a single arrow expertly sending it to its final rest. There in the distance, orcs were lining the river and tributaries of the waterways leading into Taunderon, waiting there to claim as their victims any who dared try to sneak in via the tunnels as had her party earlier.

She smiled grimly, her eyes taking on the hue of a tornado-spawning cloud.

Then she threw back her head, raising her arms to the moon above, and cried unto it in her magickal elven tongue.

"Father of Night, heed my cry! Gather up the waters as is your wont, and wreak havoc upon those who wouldst kill me and mine!"

Quite suddenly, although of course it didn't vary from where it silently orbited the earth, the Moon seemed to grow in immensity. Something of an otherness seemed to stretch forth from it, as it reached down in response to that beckoning to do what the moon indeed does... and has been doing since it first orbited earth and earth first had its seas:

It created tides, quite naturally in those seas. But now it was called upon to act in a specific manner... and it did not fail to heed that call. It sent all its great heaving forces down, down, down... pinpointing a particular river and its particular tributaries, coiling up all those waters into one immense and quivering bulge that towered nearly a mile high...

... which it then let free with a mighty, resounding roar.

The waters rebounded with a thunderous crash into Taunderon, easily overflooding into the courtyard where orcs were sent smashing willy-nilly, the water cascading up underneath the helms they wore to easily drown them. Many who were not lucky enough to drown outright found themselves shattered and broken, limbs smashed beyond recognition, let alone use. And along the banks of the waterways the story was the same, only here it was against trees instead of stone walls that the orcs were smashed and drowned against.

Wave after wave sloshed back and forth, churning in a wild and frothing mixture of water and stone and orc and wagon and guard and weapon and whatever else happened to be in the path of its fury. And when that water finally abated, and sank back into the riverbanks from which it had come, it was to reveal a nearly completely decimated army.

Perhaps 100 orcs yet remained alive... and of those, a mere handful were entirely unbroken.

Atop the battlement, Eirianna raised her eyes in thanks to the Moon. Then she lowered her arms, wrapped the cloak more tightly about her, and hurried off to see if she could find where Kronos had secreted himself, hoping with all her heart that he yet lived.

--------------------

"Kronos!" Eirianna dared risk giving away her position by crying out in a loud voice. "Seek high ground!"

Heeding the Daughter of the Moon's warning, Kronos swiftly exited the horde of Orcs...

Approaching the castle wall, Kronos took up his bow and fired off five mithril arrows into the stone bricks...

These arrows were strategically aligned as a make shift step ladder...

Kronos was but a blur, as he reached his peek... seeming to float up these steps of mithril, he leapt onto a large crested drape that lie upon each wall of Taunderon...

Climbing to the top of the castle wall, Kronos had successfully escaped his early demise...

He now look down upon the gruesome site of broken and beaten Orcs with his blue elven hawkeyes... searching for the one he knew he could not possibly see...

So... he simply stood atop the wall, his right leg propped up on it's side, as he leaned upon it peering arbitrarily among the crowd of Orcs...

His hair slightly skewed from it's normally tight fashion, and his deep breaths for that of an elf were all that would take notice upon him... as he continued to search for the one called Eirianna...

[ 02-20-2003 03:06 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kronos ]

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...and she saw him, standing some 100 yards from her, one foot rested upon the edge of the castle wall as he peered fearlessly down into the ruined havoc left in the wake of the flood she sent. Her heart leapt; if she could see him, so could other eyes...

...and those other eyes undoubtedly would be filled with fury.

Without further thought, she simply turned and raced toward him, leaping fallen stones here and there, for the rage of the waters had crested this high at times, toppling the crenellations from the top of the wall in a random patchwork which made her going a little rough. But of elven stock was she, and sure of foot; it was but the work of short moments before she drew herself up to a breathless halt beside Kronos.

He turned his head to look at her.

"And now, in the midst of those who yet would seek us ill, I cannot in fair mind let them find you, brave warrior," she said softly, holding out one cloak-draped arm, and thus inviting Kronos to share with her the embrace of its invisibility. Perhaps then, they could depart to where their reinforcements were fast approaching, to lay their follow-up onslaught against the pitiful remnants of the once-mighty orc army.

[ 02-20-2003 03:03 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Eirianna ]

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Once Kronos felt their safety under the light of Moon was enough, they disrobed the cloak...

Luckily they did so, as the group of reinforcements came striding by, or they might have become pavement beneath the onslaught of the beasts hooved feet...

Although, this did not stop two of the three horses from bucking their riders from their backs...

Feileacan the only one not thrown, due to her prowess as an Elf, dismounted and checked on the downed men...

Finding no injuries, the men and the female elf approached Kronos and Eirianna...

Looks of confusion on their faces...

"We must fall back, regroup..." Was all Kronos said...

[ 02-20-2003 03:36 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kronos ]

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But...what of the guards...?

He quickly ran back and remounted his horse, then rode through the gateway into Taunderon. He slowed down his mount so that he could see the bodies on the wet, soggy ground clearly. Many were orcs, some were squirming in pain, but there were the guardsmen as well.

Arandil hated the orcs, but the sight of his fellow Men lying dead on the ground, helpless to the onslaught that overcame them, sickened him deeply.

"So...this is the cost for one elf? The lives of a hundred men?" he asked no one. He looked up at the Keep.

He searched for a reason, ANY reason, to reassure himself that somehow they deserved to die. Was it because they were forced servants to the sorceress? Was it their small, petty anger towards the elves?

'Fall back, regroup' Arandil recalled Kronos' words.

As he continued to stare at the Keep, his words repeated inside his mind. They began to fade away, as whispers from a hundred voices overwhelmed them. Each voice repeated the same thing over and over again...

"No." Arandil said quietly. He dismounted from the horse yet again, then unsheathed his sword. The ranger approached the doorway into the Keep...

--------------------

At length she started, alarm rising to engulf her.

"What does he think he is doing?" she cried, turning to Kronos now that the man had disappeared entirely from view. "All we have risked... all we have gained, to even the balance of that against we fight... all for nothing now? Now he too risks himself in capture by those few of the enemy who yet remain alive? Can he not see what use his station might be in the light of the bigger picture; can he not see that larger image at all?

"Why does he ignore your order, why does he do this?"

Scrabbling in her pouch, she withdrew her mushroom cap, made another motion above it with swift grace, and stared intently into its tiny depths. There the image of Arandil was revealed, dismounting, sword in hand, striding into the veritable den of the dragon.

She turned eyes widened in shock and alarm to Kronos and D'artagnan, sweeping them both with her gaze.

"He must be stopped; he must not be captured. The Darkness must not have pawn of both Man and Elven in its grasp; oh how insidious is the misty, coiling hand with which it strives to clutch dominion over all of Middle Earth!"

With that she said no more, but whirled away from the others and uttered that same peculiar keening whistle. From the darkness surrounding them, the stamp of hoofbeats came into their ears, and Gorfynt came leaping forward, to stand snorting and pawing.

"The time for boldness is now, my friends, while the enemy is lost and befuddled in its extremity!" Saying thus, she leaped astride the unicorn and sent her heels into his side. Gorfynt reared slightly, then took off, his pounding feet carrying her quickly and surely to the very gates she had just left. It was only then that she realized she yet held the cloak of invisibility in her hand, having been in the mere action of disrobing from it when Arandil made his unexpectedly foolhardy move.

Skirling that cloak about her, making sure that something of it touched Gorfynt's hide, she clucked him on through the gates, the pair of them simply disappearing, now safely hidden from view of any eyes which would seek them, be they of magickal or mortal origin.

--------------------

Throughout all of this, the orc's face had grown redder and redder, and his claws dug deep into the wooden frame of the window.

He knew what would come next; whatever survivors Taunderon had will mount a defense inside the building...and would rout if they were still fighting the same being that devastated them outside.

Unless I am with them.

Ulfhak gripped his sword tighter, then dashed out of the room to reach the staircase leading to the bottom...

I will meet them head on...and they will pay dearly for what they had done to me!

The thought of screams, blood, and gore pleased Ulfhak momentarily before his rage overtook him.

--------------------

"Go, my dear friend," she whispered softly as with a quick motion she tore a piece of the cloak of invisibility from its hem. One quick movement more, and that bit was firmly skewered upon Gorfynt's spiraled horn.

"Go, and find a place to remain in hiding, to await my calling. For where I go there is not room enough for your dancing hooves, my friend; I would place you not in harm's way by requesting you carry me into a place in which you would have no turning room.

"This bit of elven magick will keep you hidden from all eyes. I shall call you when I need you again."

With that she wrapped her slender arms about Gorfynt's muscular neck, losing herself in the sweet scent of his hide and hair of his mane as she hugged him. Then, stepping back, she gave him an encouraging little slap on the shoulder, turned, and headed off on the footsteps a moth might take toward the doorway into the Keep...

...which gaped open like the veritable jaws of doom, eager to devour her. She tiptoed along, quietly unslinging her bow and placing an arrow to its string, ever ready to do her part, as she crept unseen through that doorway and along the dismally dark passageway beyond it, following the sounds of booted footsteps she heard in the distance ahead of her.

Soon she had come into sight of Arandil, who stood, sword in hand, looking about himself as though pondering what action would be best to take at that point. And the fact that he was clearly debating some sort of action was not what sent chills coursing up and down Eirianna's spine.

It was the grimly determined look which blazed in his eyes... and indeed, the fact that she couldn't really determine just who it was toward which that look of fire was directed.

--------------------

They rode into the castle, Kronos ever watchful for archers on the wall...

The beast was swift in it's delivery of Kronos and D'Artagnan to the entrance where both Eirianna and Arandil had admitted...

D'Artagnan unsheathed his rapier, held it high toward the heavens, then brought it back to his chest...

Kronos was impeded from moving past D'Artagnan for there was an arm obstructing the Elf...

"All for one?" D'Artagnan asked impartially...

"And... one for all..." Kronos simply retorted...

D'Artagnan took his arm from where it rested backhand against Kronos' chest...

Kronos did not wait for anything more, as he disappeared into the aperture...

D'Artagnan nodded to himself, a smile emerging from his features,"I like it..." he then strode to catch up with Kronos... a wise decision, indeed...

[ 02-26-2003 12:39 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Kronos ]

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It was then he came into his mind.

He couldn't move, nor breathe, nor blink. The night sky ripped itself apart as fire pierced through it...flowing downward until it stopped in front of Arandil.

The fire did not engulf him...it retreated itself until a crevice began to form in the middle. It grew wider and wider...until he realized that this manifestation was a great, lidless eye of fire.

The fire drowned out all things in Arandil's view, consuming his whole vision. Then he heard his voice.

"Isildur..."

The name echoed in his ears...and in a flash, the Eye dissipated in front of him. Arandil could see the Keep and the sky again...but only barely as he fell onto one knee.

He felt the water returning to his dry eyes, and shut them as he tried to catch his breath. In the distance, he heard neighing from a horse. Though he did not see her, Arandil knew it was Eirianna.

One side of him immediately told him to tell her what happened...that they should leave as swiftly as possible...

But the other...the other side said they must breach the Keep. For the sorceress knows the fate of his brother...and to come this far only to turn back would be foolish.

Besides, the elf had did most of the damage to Taunderon anyway...

Staring into the ground, the ranger made his choice...

"There..." he coughed before he continued. "are no guards outside. They, and all the orcs, retreated into the Keep...we must press out advantage..."

--------------------

"True, the guards may be deeper inside, my friend... but we cannot rush in mindlessly. Many have dropped, but there are yet enough remaining to give us battle. We daren't go in each alone, but must combine what small force we have and use cunning and stealth to achieve our goal of rescuing the young Talasti."

She paused a moment, breathing lightly into his ear. Then she continued.

"The sorceress already has one of the elven in her clutches, and appears to be misleading Men into believing we are the murderers of their King. Arandil, we cannot let her take you as well; what dire purpose would she strive for, who would she use you to manipulate? Turn Man against Man? Taunderon against Gondor? There is much on the side of darkness she could use you for..."

Suddenly she stopped, aware of the fact that there was more truth in her words than she thought. For although she couldn't sense exactly what it meant, she could feel a certain... darkness hovering over this strong ranger like a stormcloud hovering over a Keep.

She frowned, catching her lip in her teeth. Then she rummaged in her bag, and drew out a small silvery item. It was an amulet of the full moon.

"Here, take this," she said softly, pressing it into the ranger's hand. "There is a shadow over you... but this will serve to protect you from the darkness which strives to claim us all. The light of the full moon is bright; may it bathe you in its strength."

She then dared place an arm about the ranger, so the cloak enveloped them both, blinking his form into invisibility as she pulled lightly against him, moving them away from where they had been standing and into another, now unknown, position. There she paused, and waited to see if his next actions would bespeak his understanding of the sense within her words or not.

[ 02-22-2003 12:53 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Eirianna ]

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...and not because of the many deaths of the orcs and the possible deaths of Taunderon citizens...

...but rather for the orcs’ failure...

...and the sense of something else entirely. For not many had the power to call upon the waters for their aid...

...except perhaps the elves.
Was this the work of She who would dare defy the Sorceress’s own dark powers, for she HAD been enroute to Taunderon to rescue Talasti by Adra’s last knowledge...

Adra’s face contorted into a look of complete disgust, and she turned her dark senses outward, calling upon the night to aid her quest in finding this one...

...but to no avail. Yet she did find one, one whom she was most interested in...

...Him, the one whom she had lost, the Heir to the Gondor throne...

Smiling wickedly then and totally ignoring Talasti, she reached out with her dark powers for the Ranger Arandil, and began to feel him respond...

...when suddenly he too seemed to disappear from her influence. Only with the greatest effort did she refrain from snarling aloud; with greater effort she turned an icy blue gaze to young Talasti. “They come for you now, to stop you from gaining the wealth of power you would have with me, from gaining the wealth of power you can have over them. Now is your chance to defy all which they try to do to you, my young friend.”

Then she turned to her crystal, where the only two visible intruders swam into clear focus...

...an elf, and a man who were even now entering the castle. Adra frowned darkly, pondering her next move. She turned her icy blue eyes to Talasti then, smiling wickedly, pointing to the crystal and the image therein. “We have no need to fear these impudent fools,” she said darkly, her smile broadening even more sadistically. Then she extended her right hand above the crystal, closing her eyes and throwing back her head, calling upon the shadows of the night to aid her once more. Around the twosome...

...as well as the intruding Feileacan...

...gathered a horde of demons at the Sorceress’s command whereupon they began to crowd and claw their unsuspecting prey with unrelenting eagerness...

[ 02-22-2003 11:51 PM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by Adra Slavonic ]

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In it's wake was one additional man, and one fewer horde of demons...

The newcomer now had 3 pairs of eyes pinned on his white essence...

Kronos the only one to recognize the man in white,"Landi, it is you..." He said, a smile coming to his face as he rushed toward the wizard...

Greeting Landi as if he was a long lost friend,"Where are the others?" Kronos asked...

Landi wasn't quite sure what he was talking about, he answered that the man Kronos knew was no more...

D'Artagnan was amazed as well,"What kind of magic was that, old man?" he said, grateful of the rescue...

"It wasn't me... it was the resurgence of life that thwarted the evil... Now, if someone would be so kind as to tell me the year, I will be on my way..." The old man finished...

[ 02-23-2003 01:20 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by LandiTheWhite ]

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"Thank you, my Lady. Your words have made me see the foolishness behind my actions...and the ways to avoid such similar mistakes." he said.

No more than a few moments passed that new events swirled about them. Though he did not see it through the cloak, the ranger could hear the arrival of a new presence on the grounds...and the cold shiver going down his spine fromi t.

A bright light flashed in front of him suddenly, and he heard the words of an old man. The ranger looked to Eirianna as to what to do next...

--------------------

"Come," she breathed into his ear, her voice the whisper of a butterfly's wings. "Let us rejoin the others, and plan quickly the second phase of our attack. For now is the time to strike, but again, we must be in unity when we do."

With that she quietly but insistently drew him back to the place where the wall about the city had crumbled, and stealthily crept out of it, all the while making certain the cloak was about them both. A peculiar whistle from her full lips, and the pounding of Gorfynt's wild hooves soon sounded in their ears. As he came up to stand nearby, she quickly threw the cloak back that she could mount him. Turning she held a hand out to Arandil.

"Quickly, now; come!" she urged him, then taking the hand he reached out to her and assisting him to a seat on Gorfynt's broad back behind her. She then wrapped the cloak of invisibility about them both, making certain something of it touched the unicorn's hide in protection, and with a light cluck pressed the creature into motion.

Gorfynt needed no further direction. He snorted, tossed his head, and reared. Performing a flawless one hundred eighty degree turn on his hind legs, he came down in motion, and soon had left the walls of Taunderon behind.

It wasn't long until he came upon the others, where he came to a grinding halt, all four hooves digging into the soft, loamy earth. He snorted while Eirianna flicked the cloak back, revealing themselves to the elf, the man, and the wizard, the latter whom she cocked her head toward in curiosity but a curiosity well tempered with sudden knowledge....

--------------------

A young man of chivalry, D'Artagnan approached Gorfynt holding his arms out to steady Eirianna's dismount...

Arandil dismounted from the beautiful beast's rear... D'Artagnan, arms ready, awaited Eirianna to show her intentions... for he knew an Elf woman could handle such things, he couldn't help but lend a hand to a lady...

[ 02-27-2003 12:22 AM: Message edited 1 time, lastly by D'Artagnan ]

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