Alya of the Knife

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 10670

~~Bloody, blimey, blast!!!~~ thought Lord Fred. ~~travel some thirty days on horseback, camp in the spooked Shreken, find the cave, now there're two entrances, kill the damnable beast and now get stuck in a bloody pit with a huntress aiming a pig-sticker at me!!~~

The woman above was a sight to look at. Her short blond hair was pulled tight across her brow with a tan cloth, her breeches were taught against her muscled form, and her shirt (which looked to have been white at one time) was now brown with dirt and mud. One arm was bandaged in a reddish- brown rag, the other was holding a crossbow aimed directly at Fred. She just stared at him, and she was blocking the only way out of the pit.

Fred couldn't do much at that moment; he had devised a man-made stretcher so he could take Velus to his lands and get him looked at, this was strapped around his chest leaving his arms free, yet still he held the burden of his young companion. Lord Fred put his hands up in a gesture of peace. "Greetings." he said. "My friend is ill and I must take him from this place. May I pass?"

The woman continued to stare at him but did not speak.

"I say," continued Fred. "He is wounded, the dragon caused this, we must go."

The woman still did not speak. Fred began to wonder if she was a minion of the dragon. If she was, his life would be worth little to her. He spoke again: "There is only death here, even the dragon lives no longer. If you wish to add my body to the slain what would you gain?"

The woman eyed Fred with new interest and smiled. "Spoken like a true gambler, stranger! Would you then throw dice for the spark in your liver?"

Fred was caught off guard by that comment. In his land the life force was seen as residing in the lungs, he had heard of others who saw it in the heart or even the brain, but the liver...that meant this woman was from the south. "The breath of my life is strong within me," he said to her. "Why waste it? Let me out, for my sake and that of my friend. Then we may speak of dice and other games."

"Well said for a man," she answered. Without turning her crossbow, she moved, clearing the way for Fred to rise and pull Velus. When he was up and out he looked at the woman. "My name is Fred," he said.

"And mine is Alya, Alya of the Knife."

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6/24/2000 9:50:27 PM

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