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I heard it before I actually saw it. From high in the sky came the fluttering sound of a nametag in the wind. I ran toward it and saw it falling down into the tall grasses near a pond. By the time I got to the area where it landed, I was out of breath and somewhat sweaty. Nonetheless, I scrambled around in the tall grasses for a while, cursing the fact that they were taller than me and made finding things not too much fun. Then I remembered that I could float, smacked my right ear (where the burns were healing nicely), and floated above the grass. I kept getting blown downwind and over a small hilltop, but eventually I found the nametag. It read: "Viper".

"This is an important clue!" I declared. I looked up at the sky, but saw nothing unusual. Just clouds, a sun, some birds, and flying bugs (dragonflies, I think). "I must return to camp and tell the others."

I found a wild boar sleeping on the muddy bank of the pond. I Poof-Fooped onto his back. As I had hoped, it woke him up and made him want to run really fast. All I had to do was aim him in the direction I wanted to go and I'd be back at the camp before long. He had trouble learning how to steer, but I knew a few tricks and soon had him trying to escape in the right direction.

A tree with a chest. Wow, maybe there's something precious in the chest . If you don't mind I go and search for it ? Are you coming with me or do you stay with the group Hypathia? I never found a treasure in my life . This would be great, the brave woman looking for a treasure . "Aye aye , I am going to look for it" I cried to the other and gathered all my stuff together and ran to Dqueene ."Do you have any idea were I have to look for the treasure " ?I asked her.In my mind the chest became a golden box filled with jewels and precious stones and I would find it .

"No problem DQueene, I'll go and scout the next 10 miles"

So I took off and I went scouting. "not to high, so that I can see enough and not too low so that I won't be in any immediate danger.. if any".

I went forth and back, left and right but it all seemed very calm to me... wait !! What was that? I saw something far far in front of me. too far to reach in 1 flight but with 2-3 stops I could get there. It blinked as if something shiny lay there, reflecting the sun.

I went back to the group to report all that I have seen......

Riding on fhe back of a stampeding boar seemed like a good idea at the time, but my backside was arguing with me about it now. "No problem," I thought, "I'll just jump off and walk the rest of the way."

Unfortunately, the boar was moving so fast that the rest of my body began arguing that they would get hurt during the "jumping off" phase of my plan, or soon therafter in the "trying to skid to a stop" phase that would surely ensue.

During the argument, I found myself wondering who was in charge of things. Eventually, my backside yelled louder than any other part of me, so I let go of the boar and hoped for the best. As luck would have it, briar patches look leafy and soft from a distance, but don't quite feel so friendly when you're up close and freefalling. It occured to me that I should hit my ear and try to float past the briars. That worked well for a short while, and in fact I slowed down a bit due to wind drag. I would have eventually slowed enough to enter the realm of controlled flight, if it wasn't for a large tree that jumped in front of me and blocked my deceleration lane.

At least all of my body parts were in agreement about things now. Ouch! <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepey.gif" alt="" />

After waking from my involunatary nap I took my bearings and walked back to the camp.

"Kiya? Do you have any tea that's good for a full-body concussion?" I collapsed by the fire.

I rushed up to the little bundle collapsed near the fire and had a look - after a brief inspection, I was relieved and waved to the others:
"There's nothing wrong with him, his backside and head are very hard, not even a lump showing, he's just looking for attention.."
I grabbed the little sturdy body, mumbled in his ear:
"Ok, I'll carry you a while - you male b-a-b-y, but I'm going to drop you into the next brook with piercy stones if you don't wake up fast."
I flung him over my shoulder and shouted to the leading group:
"Come on, we should get moving, why don't we just carry that damn chest Polgara has found with us and follow Lynn's traces? Gheez, if we keep up our slow pace and discussing, Lynn will probably be digested history in some orc's belly."

"I feel much better now. You must be a miraculous healer, O Great Kiya." I made myself weightless (hiccup) but Kiya had a firm grip on me. Warmly cradled in her arms, I felt like taking another nap, but I couldn't. I had an important clue to share with the group about our missing comrade, Viper.

I whispered to Kiya, "I found Viper's nametag. It fluttered down from the sky. I think maybe a group of ominous clouds might have kidnapped him and are planning something dastardly to do with him."

Not one to resist urges, I stuck my left thumb in my mouth and began innocently sucking on it.

I started following the trail the Orcs had left when taking Lynn. She hadn't made it easy for them, it was obvious from all the scuff marks. In one place, it looked like she had actually gotten away and run a few feet before they captured her again.

I looked up and saw Viper returning...

I whispered back: "Thanks for the info... and would you mind taking that thumb out of your mouth? It just looks silly... I guess, you're okay again.."
And dropped him to the ground. As he lay down there, I noticed an impish glance in his eyes, in the sense of: Gotcha.
I informed the others about BeeGee's news and hurried up to follow DQueene, who seemed quite good on finding further tracks.
Nero was behind me, a silent shadow, taking care. Then I remembered my magic mirror and took it out of my satchel, I suddenly noticed little gems around the frame and accidently hit one: the picture changed. The focus became smaller, as if a bird was viewing the landscape from above. I saw the castle, and the wood surrounding it - I even saw small dots moving around in the picture: us.
"Hey, have a look here, this mirror is incredible... We can make a shortcut and go a bit northeast to reach the castle quicker."
The party rushed up to me and crowded around the mirror. BeeGee grabbed for it, hit another gem by accident and the picture changed again: His own image.
"Aw, you darn imp, can't you keep your paws to yourself? Now, let me see, how can I adjust it.. " I fumbled at all gems and achieved a caleidoscope of pictures rushing by, until...

I tried keeping up with all the images flowing by in the mirror Kiya was holding. It seemed to be able to show us different views of our world and of ourselves; but, just then, I noticed a picture that was similar to the one we had rushed up to see before the imp had hit the other gem.

I yelled, "Stop." It was almost as if the mirror heard me, because that's just what it did. It stopped on the picture I thought we needed to see. This one seemed to show us as we were in the first picture, but we were little green dots. What had caught my attention; however, were two separate groups of red dots, coming from the direction we had just come from, and converging on our current location.

I looked at everyone, "I think those are trouble. We either plan an ambush for them, although it looks like there are 15 or more, or we run like hell in the direction Kiya said we could use as a shortcut to Lynn. I vote we run and see if they follow."

I looked at everyone, "I'll do whatever you want, just hurry and decide. They look like they're traveling fast."

"i'll vote for running" i said
"there's no way we can beat so many, with just the few of us"
"you guys just go ahead, nero and I will follow, trying to cover your backs. Or does someone has a better plan?"

I looked at DQueene, with a gaping mouth:
"My... dear - we have no time to vote... Look at what we are now, we've gotta run, no chance to survive... Come on, all of you, down that cove and try to keep quiet. Hurry up, all of you..."
Holding the mirror in my hand I started to run and could see one little green dot on the mirror's picture starting to separate from the other ones. I stumbled on, feverishly on the lookout for a cave or something where we could hide and thankfully heard at least a part of the group panting behind me.
"Nero, where are you?"
"I'm right behind you, Kiya, now take care of the mirror and the path ín front of you. No use in getting panicky."
"Ah, yes, this is the right time to start a discussion with me," I groaned and then... I wasn't sure if my eyes were deceiving me: I suddenly spotted a tiny cave opening, pretty well hidden behind bushes, just a tiny dark green spot on the mirror - I looked over my shoulder: DQueene, Jvb, Nero and fluttering BeeGee were behind me, the others seemed a bit farer away.
"Hey, quick, there's a cave..." I rushed to the bushes, pushed them aside and fled into the dark - hoping the enemies would not spot my comrades and they could make it here as well.
I was out of breath, no wonder, my sportive activities had been merely throwing books around. After a while my eyes became accustomed to the dark and I saw several shadows: Nero was one of them.

"Running sounds like fun" I said as I tried to run. I had forgotten that I was weightless, so my feet could not get any traction on the ground. I'm sure that I looked funny with my legs running as fast as they could, but my body standing perfectly still above them.

I quickly regained my weight (puccih!) and left a long narrow dust cloud in my wake as I raced off in precisely the wrong direction. Thankfully, DQueene's hand grabbed me by my unburnt ear, lifted me up and set me down facing in the right direction.

That's when I realized that I had raced right past the cave Kiya ducked into. It took me about half a kilometer to screech to a stop, kneedeep in a small river.

[color:"yellow"]Poof![/color] I waded out of the river, shook myself dry, and tiptoed back to the cave, where [color:"pink"]Foop![/color] I appeared behind Kiya.

Rushing into the darkness of the cave was hazardous I knew, there could be as many dangers inside as out - but that's where Kiya and Nero had gone so I was too. I noticed that Polgara had stayed with me as I entered the cave opening.

It was really dark, but I noticed that my eyes actually felt 'better' in the soothing darkness in the cave. Remembering the way the sun had hurt my eyes when I had first awakened and that I'd had to somehow guard my eyes from the blazing sun, I thought about adjusting them again (hopefully they would learn to do this on their own soon).

I opened my eyes and looked around: "Wow, I can see." Indeed I could see, not quite the same as outside, more muted colors and things but still quite clearly. I quickly scanned the cave to make sure we hadn't disturbed any prior residents. The smell was musty and slightly sour and although I could see that while the cave was empty now, it might not be for long. There were bones and odds and ends in a burrow near the back of the cave. Walking back toward the burrow I also saw a small box that looked like it had been bashed against the cave wall a few times in an attempt to open it.

I whispered, "Hey guys, Look what I've found."

I went overto DQuenne.. "hmm interesting. Does anyone know how to pick a lock??"

I was glad to see Viper was safe and sound. I had searched for him and found only his nametag. That's why it took a second for his question to sink through my thick skull.

"I can pick locks." I humbly professed. "I even have a set of lockpicks. See?" I withdrew my lockpicks from my Bag of Tricks.

"If DQueene will permit me, I will attempt to open the box."

DQueene handed me the box with a cautioning glance from beneath one of her eyebrows. As I took it from her hand, I carefully inspected it for tricks and traps.

"Looks simple enough," I announced. "Now, everybody, stand back just in case it blows up."

I quickly stepped back several paces and watched the imp perform his 'magic' on the box, wondering what would be inside when he opened it up...

[color:"yellow"]Click![/color] The simple lock on the box opened easily.

"It's okay, I think you can safely open it now." I said as I handed the box back to DQueene. That's when I noticed that all eyes had been focused on me. For the first time since we woke up tied to trees, everyone in the group was paying attention to me.

I felt like I had won some kind of victory, and decided to reward their surrender with a gracious bow and a grateful grin. I'm sure I blushed. At least, I think it's blushing when an imp turns bright yellow with green splotches.

"show off" I murmered between my teath in a teasing way

I took a step forward to peer into the little chest when the ground gave way...
"OOOOOUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCCCHHHHHHHHHH." I looked up and saw several faces looking down at me.
"Aw, I'm all right, no need to worry - just a few broken bones here and there, nothing vital," I grumbled. Rubbing my hurting backside I took a look around and noticed a small corridor leading northeast - at least I hoped it was northeast and started to crawl...
"Yuck, this must have been an old sewer pipe," I thought and kept on crawling, trying to ignore my fantasies about what had been gushing through here all the centuries. Drawing a tiny firespark rune, I was able to take a glimpse at the stone walls and saw a coat of arms engraved.
Wow! Probably a way to the castle? I crawled backwards as soon as I could and called up to the group:
"Is anyone interested in getting me out of here? I've made an important discovery!"