Sigin Plays His Hand

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 85221

It happened without warning - Sigin, still in tiger form, leapt from the shadowy recesses across the chamber and tackled the oblivious Elaine to the cold, slimy, roach-covered ground. Before she could get off a spell in her defense or even take breath, he swept in for her ring finger and, in a show of raw physical strength, tore it right off her hand with his powerful jaws. A fountain of blood gushed forth. Elaine’s awful, wraithlike shrieking filled the chamber, shattering the crystal components within and without the machine and all throughout the lab, and forcing everyone to take cover as the shards rained down upon them.

Next, in a rather unexpected move, the tiger swallowed the still twitching finger, ring and all! “There,” he droned, licking a paw, “Now no one gets it. Playtime is over, children.”

As Elaine’s shrill wailing dwindled into something that sounded like the croaking of a toad, Sigin braced himself for the inevitable counterattack. Even without the necromancer’s ring, the dragon-fire of Minestus still raged within her heart.

Elaine levitated high into the air, then erected herself vertically to face him head on. Her entire form was covered in a multi-colored inferno, and her eyes shone like two pools of magma.

“You should be thanking me, Elaine,” Sigin responded, braving a step forward. “You’re dealing with magic beyond your powers. Your brashness will be your final undoing.”

“And your meddling will be yours!” At that she extended her arms, blasting the exposed Sigin with a swirling, tornado-like torrent of fire and magma.

That’s when things really got interesting. So many things transpired in the next few minutes that when later asked to recount this portion of their tale, every testament among the seven would differ drastically.

First, Sigin sprang forward as his entire being morphed into a massive wave of roiling water that rose to the domed ceiling, then cascaded down upon Elaine, dousing her entire body and extinguishing her flame altogether. Unfortunately, he also managed to douse everyone else in the already clammy chamber as well.

Elaine fell to the ground but quickly scrambled to her feet, sopping wet and miserable, her robes clinging tightly to her shivering body. And the flame? It was gone. Just like that. “No…it can’t be...” the words fell from her lips like a ton of bricks.

That’s when Adele appeared behind her, shaking with rage or maybe because she too was soaked through (probably a measure of both), and yanked Elaine by her long blonde hair, dragging her back down. She was on top of her in an instant, landing blow after blow to the surprised and now decidedly less- pompous Elaine. “Take that you little bitch!” she raged. “You’ve had this coming!”

Fred, who’s knightly code usually dictated his prying apart two squabbling damsels, was content to merely watch in muted fascination. He scratched his unshaven chin and, after a few seconds passed, even cracked a smile.

Astra, too, merely gaped.

Surprisingly, that’s when Exotica, armor clanking, joined the melee and began landing kicks even as the prone sorceress took a sound pummeling from Adele’s clinched fists. “Call me dull, will you!?” came her war cry.

A tall, dark figure materialized from the shadows and stood before them then. Around his bald head he wore a silver circlet that seemed to glow like a full winter’s moon against his smooth, dark skin. His long, flowing robes, too, were silver and shimmered with the same energy.

Fred, who had never seen a dark skinned person before, was somewhat taken back.

“Sigin!” shouted Adele, halting her attack.

I knew it! thought Matthias.

You know, Exotica doesn’t have a half bad idea, there. I think I might go throw in a couple well aimed shots of my own. thought Astra.

“The one and the same,” the dragon mage intoned. “And as a first order of business…”

  1. “We must burn the corpse of Belboz.”
  2. “We must get you all back to shipshape.”
  3. “I must confess a secret.”
  4. “We must flea this place at once!”
  5. “We must repair this machine!”
  6. “I’m going to have to ask you ladies to quit beating Elaine. I know that emotions are running high right now, but let’s behave ourselves. Elaine is no longer a threat.”

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1/13/2009 4:00:13 PM

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