[Child of the 7th Age]

The ship slid out of the Great River into the choppy waters of the Bay. It bobbed and nodded as the wind blew out of the East.
As the vessel spun around, the sails flailed, and Khelak went to help Pio and Veritas hold them tight against the force of the gale. It was just enough of a storm to have everyone on board chilled and damp.

Child's stomach was bobbing up and down along with the deck of the vessel. She decided to go back to her cabin and lay down. She unlocked the door. With the dark shadows from the storm obscuring the sun, her bunk and table were outlined in an eerie half light. Child came inside, shaking from the cold of the storm and lit a single candle. She threw a warm cloak over her shoulders. Shadows could be seen along the opposite wall.

She looked up in sudden bewilderment and shock for directly in front of her a strange shape loomed. The shadow itself took the form of some creature. Images of Orcs and corrupted Men competed inside her head.

This, then, was the intruder. Child pulled out the dagger that was still belted around her waist from an episode of gutting fish just that morning. She whirled around faster than she thought possible to face the unwanted shape. Her small closet door had been flung open to reveal something inside the darkness.

Her heart pounding, Child lunged forward with her blade, a small but determined bundle of energy intent on injuring whatever unwanted creature lay hidden in the darkness. And then, with an intensity and deftness that surprised even herself, she came to a halt in mid-thrust. For standing in front of her, or rather huddled into a ball, was something which she could not have imagined even in a dream.

[ July 15, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]