Wanted Man

While Muld tries to slip away from Westmark, Syndi searches for him.

30.

Wanted Man

 

“Good morning, I wonder if I could speak to you for a few moments?”  

The young teenaged clerk looked up, his annoyed expression draining away into a pleasantly surprised grin when he saw the gorgeous redheaded elven woman standing across the counter smiling at him.

“Good morning, ma’am, what can I do for you?”

“I am looking for a friend of mine that disappeared.   I wonder if you might have seen him?   He’s an elf, tall and rather thin, dark hair and brown eyes.   He may have been wearing a green tunic and pants that were probably quite dirty.   He may have acted somewhat odd.   I think he may have been looking for clothing and maybe camping items for a long journey.”

The boy’s eyes flashed for an instant, then grew quickly guarded, as he mumbled, “I haven’t seen him.”

Syndi knew immediately that he had.    She lowered her gaze and gave him a slight smile as if she was just happy to be talking to such a handsome young man.

“Oh that is too bad.”  She purred, “I was hoping that you could help me.    I guess I’ll go on; thank you for your time, it has been nice talking to you.”

She gave him her best bedroom look, which caused the boy to flush an almost comical beet red.   He licked his dry lips as she slowly turned toward the door.

“Um… could you, uh, give me his description again, ma’am?”

She turned back around, smiling suggestively and leaning in close to him, while casually letting her robe slip open slightly to reveal her latest sorceress outfit.    He took a long glance at her cleavage and she knew she had him.   He was almost panting as he looked at her.

“I think I saw him.”  He said.

“But I haven’t repeated his description.”  She said flirtatiously, staring into his eyes.   

“That’s okay… I, um, just remembered.”

“Wonderful!    When did he come in?”

“Last night, just before closing.   He looked like a tramp, but he paid in gold.   My… um… my girlfriend… er… well, a girl who is my friend, not actually my girlfriend, we’re just friends but we’re not dating or nothing-“

“So what did this girl see or hear?”  She gently pushed him along.

“Well, she was talking to him while I got his order - he wanted clothing suitable for travelling.    He even bought a backpack.   Anyway, Rose was talking to him and he told her he was a murderer that didn’t even know how many people he had killed.   He said he was getting out of town as quickly as possible.”

“Did he tell her which direction he was going?”

“No, but we’re close to the east gate.”

“Yes, you are.    Was anyone with him?”

“No, he was by himself, but he seemed very nervous and kept looking at the door.   I guess the city guards were looking for him.”

“A lot of people are.   But he isn’t a murderer, he’s just emotionally sick.”

“So he’s that wizard that disappeared?”

“Something like that, yes.”

“Do you know him well?”

“Very well.”  The beautiful elven girl smiled.

“Is he your brother or something?”

“Something like that.    If he comes back in here, will you please contact the city guard and let them know.   They’ll contact me.”

“Um… ma’am, can I ask you what your name is?”

“My name is Syndi.”

“You’re an elf.”

“Very observant of you!” She laughed at the boy’s awkwardness, “Yes, I’m a Losasidhe elf.”

“Oh!   Like Queen Eioldth was!”

Syndi’s smile turned rather sad, “Yes, just like her.   She was my sister.”

The boy’s mouth popped open.   “Her sister?   T-Then you’re-“

“I’m just an elven girl looking for a close friend.”

“Is he your boyfriend?”   The teen blurted out.

“Something like that,”  She repeated, “Thank you for your help, young man, you’ve been very helpful.”

“Come again!”  He called after her as she turned and hurried out of the shop.

 

***

 

Something cold tickling his nose made Muld come awake, to find a small stray dog sniffing him.      As soon as he stirred, the dog took off running, but he had managed to wake up the exhausted Practical Magician.     The sun had been up for some time and Muld sat up, stretching stiff muscles as he yawned.     Pulling out his pocket watch, he was alarmed to see that it was 10 o’clock.   

He had planned to awake at dawn and start out on his journey.

“Late again,” He said to himself, pulling his boots on and stuffing his cloak into his empty backpack.   

“How stupid of me - I should have bought food and a canteen,”   He said to himself, wondering how far it was to the next village and if they would have a shop that could help him.

 

Shouldering the backpack, he started off down the road eastward.    Alone again, he thought, and this seemed especially grim to him, but necessary, with the blood on his hands.

For hours he walked, passing from time to time wagons and travelers, but none seemed to pay any particular notice of him as they went about their daily business.   Time and again he wondered what Syndi was doing right then, and the further he walked, the more he found himself longing to see her.

But he knew that was not possible; he had to leave her behind with the rest of his past.

It just seemed impossible to him.

In late afternoon an airship streaked overhead, heading east.

“Probably going to King’s Reach,”  Muld said to himself.   That was his planned destination, though he really didn’t know why or what job he would do once he arrived there.

But he had a week to figure that out.

It was early evening when he reached Pattinton, a fair sized village that was a stopping off place for those travelling on foot from Westmark.   He didn’t really want to stay in the town’s inn, for there was certain to be people travelling from Westmark that might have heard about the ‘missing magician’ and would recognize him.

But just outside of town was a large pond that the locals swam in during the summer months.    Several children and teens were playing in the water, so he didn’t stop, but followed the stream that fed the pond a little ways into the thinly wooded hills until he came to a site that looked as if it had been used several times as a campsite.

It was next to the stream, where the current was a bit stronger and the water somewhat deeper.

Without hesitation, he made camp there.   Someone had stacked a small pile of dry wood nearby and there was a place where several campfires had previously been lit.     Muld piled the wood there and used a fire cantrip to light it, though he really didn’t know why, as he didn’t have any food and it certainly wasn't cold now.

His stomach grumbled terribly as he took off his Feather Fall boots and soaked his feet in the cool stream.

The sun was about halfway set and he was debating slipping into town to buy something to eat, when suddenly the smell of roasted chicken drifted over to him from out of nowhere.

His mouth watered at the smell, but he was puzzled at how he could smell something so wonderful with no-one around.

He didn’t have long to wonder, for in the dim light he saw someone slowly following the stream toward him, carrying a large tray of food in the growing twilight.   The trees hid a clear view, though.

Muld jumped to his feet, perplexed at the surreal feel of it.   The hair on the back of his neck stood up as the shadowy figure paused a moment and then emerged into view.

“I thought you’d probably be hungry after walking alone all day.”   It was Syndi, dressed in a red wizard's robe and holding a tray with roasted chicken and potatoes, still steaming.

“Are you real?”  He asked at last, staring at her in disbelief for a few moments while wondering if his tormented mind had generated an illusion of the beautiful girl.

She smiled sadly and went over to a fallen log and sat down, with the tray on her lap.    “Come eat something, Muld and talk to me, please.”

He went over to her and sat down beside her.   Seeing her was more wonderful than the smell of the food.   He wanted to tell her how glad he was to see her and how terribly he’d missed her, but instead he just asked, “How did you find me?”

“It wasn’t easy.    Detective work, I guess you’d say.   I got a break this morning when I found the clothing shop where you bought your clothes.”

“How’d you know I’d go east?”

She shrugged, breaking off a piece of chicken and handing it to him, which he hungrily took from her.   “I just knew.”

“But you caught up with me.”

“You can thank King Eleazar for that.   He ordered an airship to take me to Pattinton, and I came down in a hovering life boat.   I was waiting for you in the inn, but then I felt that you wouldn’t stay there, but would find some place outside of town.   So I asked a few locals and they all mentioned this place, as sometimes beggars use it.   They suggested that I go there and see.   So I just bought some food and came out here.   I knew I’d find you.”

“Yeah, you found me.”

“Muld, why’d you hide from everyone?”  She asked gently, her hand on his arm.

“Syndi, some pirates were waiting for me when I went back to the guild building.    They were there to steal the cannons and I think one of them was Hobnail himself.    Like a fool, I took it upon myself to try to trick them.”

“How?”  She asked, eating some chicken as he talked.

He explained about his ploy to destroy the airship and how he escaped with the Feather Fall boots.   But as he neared the end of his tale, he grew more upset, passionately describing how the unseen second airship had thrown catapult stones into Westmark until it too was destroyed.

He hesitated to tell her about what he’d seen when he’d gone to the sites where the catapult stones had landed, but he needed her to understand.

He started off hesitantly, but it began to rush out of him and he told her every horrifying detail until she was weeping along side him.    

He didn’t know how she could possibly understand so easily, but he accepted her embrace and comfort.    For several minutes they sat there sniffling and clearing their throats, letting the images fade.

Fading!    The realization hit him like a fist in his face.    The release of telling Syndi what he’d seen had done something wonderful - the image of the dead child was slightly faded in his mind.   It was still there; a nightmare from the past, something terrible that had happened, but now, finally, something that was over.   

They ate in silence for a while, the lovely girl sitting close to him and reassuring him merely by her presence.

“You can’t blame yourself, you know,”  She finally said.

“I can’t help it.    I was cocky and my cockiness has hurt people and killed as well.”

“Muld, it wasn’t you that launched those catapult stones.   Those pirates have been raiding and pillaging for some time.   They kill whoever they want to.    Hundreds of people have died at their hands, and most of them died before you intervened.     If you had not got involved, do you really think that they would have ceased doing what they had been doing for months?   Of course not!   They would have kept it up until somebody stopped them.    You were that person.”

“Perhaps, but it cost people their lives.    Innocent people, like that child.    I could have picked a better place to fight them, Syndi.    Somewhere that no one would get hurt.”

“Muld, criminals don’t play by rules.   They don’t select battlefields or fair fights.   They’re cowards that live by surprise.  You did all that you could to stop them.   You didn’t know about the second airship.”

“It still doesn’t make me feel less responsible.”

“Well, think of it this way;   a handful of people died due to that second airship, but hundreds of people that would have died due to raids and attacks in the future were saved, due to your heroic action.”

Muld looked down at his hands, “I’m no hero, Syndi.”

“Aren’t you?    You’ve destroyed most of Hobnail’s pirate fleet.   You may have killed him too.   You saved my parents from dying from poison, and you figured out a way to remove the curse on Jeevy.”

“How is she?   Are her babies alright?   Is the curse gone?”

Syndi’s face shined in the campfire light, “Muld, she is fine!   It was a hard childbirth, but she is overjoyed.    She has three beautiful identical daughters!    Twins are rare amongst my people, Muld, and triplets are unheard of!   They all are healthy.”

“Good, thank Yesh for that.”

She squeezed his arm, “Muld, Jeevy has given each baby a bit of your name, and King Aedric’s as well.    One girl is Mulaeda, another is Aedzil and the third is Mozdriae.”

Muld frowned, “Those poor girls!”

“They’re not bad names!   Jeevy and my brother insisted.   Muld, you are a hero to them!”

Muld shook his head, “It doesn’t make-up for the problems I’ve already caused.    I’ve even messed up your life.    If you’d never met me, you’d not have been in danger and your relationship with your mother would probably be better.”

Syndi snorted, “Oh, I doubt that!    If I hadn’t met you, I’d be miserable and lonely, Muld.    You made my life much better.    And if I’d not met you, then Jeevy’s curse would probably still be upon her and she might not have lived, or else her daughters would have died.”

“Well, look at what has happened to us now.    We have an odd emotional bond that has complicated things.”

“It hasn’t complicated anything as far as I’m concerned,”  Syndi replied, looking at him in the eyes, “Nothing has changed.”

“Nothing has changed?!  Syndi, you can’t be serious!   You are bonded to me in some crazy Elven thing and that is going to really mess up your life.     How will you find a husband when you are bonded emotionally with me?”

Syndi shrugged, “That isn’t that hard; any man who wants to court me has to be approved by you.   We’ll get to know him and if you like him and think he’s good enough for me, then I’ll go with him.”

Muld looked at her incredulously, “You can’t be serious!”

She held his stare for a few seconds, and then burst into laughter, patting his back in sympathy.   “Muld, you think far too much!   You worry about everything and try to define everything in very precise order.    Everything has to be clearly understood and labeled.    You don’t like any uncertainty or any mystery.”

“Syndi, this whole Aleiryid thing is serious!    You can’t make light of it!   I have to know where I stand and what is expected of me.”

“Muld, I’ve been told that many times Aleiryid begins when two elven children are very young.    They are drawn to each other and they are always a boy and a girl.    But at that young age, they just bond as extremely close friends.    They play together and spend all of their time together.    They experience life together and as they age, those years of closeness changes into wonderful new ways.”

“Yes, I know this, but-“

“Muld, if I was a human, I would be a young teenaged girl and you would be only a handful of years older than I am.     Among our people, we are considered very young adults, but that is due to our years of living rather than complete physical maturity.”

“So?”

“So, since we are still physically young, why don’t we just enjoy the mental and emotional bonding like most young elven children do when going through this?    You’re trying to rush through it, and we don’t have to do that.   Honestly, I haven’t reached the physical level of bonding yet.   I’m a bit young for that, though I know I don’t look like it.”

Muld sighed in frustration, “I know, Syndi, I really do.    I forget it sometimes because you certainly look much more mature than you really are.    Sometimes the body outstrips the mind.”

“Exactly!    My mind hasn’t reached that level yet.”

“Yeah, I understand that.”  He said, rubbing his forehead.

“But you’re older than I am.   So you have reached that level of physical attraction, haven’t you?”

He nodded, “Yes, and it seems to be growing stronger each day.”

“Well, good, that is actually a very good thing.   You see, I think you can actually help me by lusting after me.”

He looked over at her, “What?   How in the world could that help you?   It’s not safe.”

“Oh, I’m not worried.    You see, Alleania has been telling Allea and me that as sorceresses, we need to provoke men to lust after us so that we can use the Qi that this lust generates to give us power to cast our spells.     Now that has really bothered me, because I don’t like a bunch of men staring at me like that.”

“That is quite understandable.”

“But having you look at me that way is different, especially now that we are bonded together.    Muld, I can feel the power that is generated sometimes when you look at me.     You are - in a sense- empowering me when you are looking lustfully like that.   So I want you to keep doing that.   In fact, I’m going to do all that I can to keep you looking at me that way.”

“That’s ridiculous, Syndi!   You mentioned using me as a power source before, and that is crazy!”

“No it isn’t.    Aleiryid arousal is much more intense than regular lust and so by having you desiring me, I don’t have to go around and try to generate it with strangers.   You are keeping me safe that way.”

“Safe.” Muld snorted, “You aren’t safe from me, though.”

Syndi smiled knowingly, “Oh, I’m not worried.   You won’t take advantage of me.    You’d drive yourself insane rather than do that.    If you ever did try, I could stop you, since you’d generate enough Qi for me to use powerful spells.”

“Syndi, that is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard.   You really want me to look at you that way?”

“Absolutely.”

“It will wear me completely out.    I’ll go insane.”

“No you won’t, I won’t let it destroy you.”

“So I’ll just be your fuel source?”

“For the time being, yes.     But it will give us time to grow closer and I’ll have an advantage in learning spells under Alleania.”

“Well, if it helps you…”

“It will help both of us; you’ll see.   Just relax and let’s just see what happens, okay?    I’ve never had a close friend before, Muld, and now I am bonded closely with you and it is wonderful.    You are exactly what I want in a friend - you are intelligent and witty.”

He noticed how she avoided any mention of any physical attribute that she found attractive.    He couldn’t help but feel that would be a huge problem for them later on.    Not that he blamed her, for he certainly wasn’t the rugged, heroic type.    But he would never be like that, and if she did not find him physically attractive, their Aleiryid bond would be incomplete and probably grow stale.

But she wasn’t leaving him any choice.   She was using him for her own means and probably didn’t realize how one sided it was.   Oh, his mind and soul was overjoyed at the thought of being with her, but his flesh was weak and it would grow weaker and weaker over time.     Even if he did resist his urges, after a while, he would grow bitter at being unable to satisfy them.   

Would he grow to hate her for that?   

But he knew that she’d just tell him to wait and see what happens, and clearly she wasn’t going to let him slip away from her.

So he had to comply.

 

They ate in silence for a few minutes, and then Muld asked, “What about the others?  Are they in town or on the airship that you came in?”

“You mean our guild members?   They are scattered to the four winds, checking out the other roads outside of Westmark, just in case I was wrong.     The airship had to sail on to King’s Reach, so it is gone too.”

“You’d have been stranded here if I weren’t here.”

“I wasn’t worried.   But now we’re stranded together.”

“I was planning on camping out here tonight.”

“Yeah, I can see that.    Apparently it is a very well known camping spot, for everyone I asked told me about it and strongly suggested that I go see if you were there.   They suggested that I stake it out if you weren’t there when I arrived.    It was really odd how insistent they were.   But Pattinton is a very odd town.”

“Really?   How is it odd?   I haven’t been in town yet.”

“Well, it is obviously a farming community - a hub for the farmers to bring their produce and livestock and a place to get supplies.    But everyone seems somewhat reserved when they are talking to you.   Even at the Inn, everyone seemed like they were watching me and talking about me.”

Muld smiled, “I’m sure they were, my dear.”

“No, not like that, exactly.    I can’t explain it, but I felt rather uneasy there.     And the inn!    They closed down the bar and stopped serving food at sundown!   Whoever heard of an inn doing that?    Everyone was looking outside rather anxiously as if tracking the sun.     I was told several times that the town closes down at sunset and that it was against the law to be out in the street after dark.”

“It sounds like they need some street lights,”  Muld mused.

“I don’t know, Muld, there is something very odd about the town.   Have you heard anything about it?”

“I know that Pattinton is the largest producer of corn in Marksylvania and they are known for producing abundant crops even in lean years.    I heard that they don’t let strangers into their corn fields either -to protect their growth secrets, I’d guess.”

“When the airship was about to drop me off, I got a birds-eye view of the area (when I could look without panicking about the height).    They practice sort of a co-op farm.     They have probably a thousand acres northwest of town, on a huge plateau that looks like it would be perfect for farming.    But  though it is on that plateau, they have an earth wall all around the field, and on top of the wall they put a wooden palisade all the way around, complete with periodic watch towers and only one road leading to it.   That would have taken a long time to construct, and seems a bit much to protect corn.”

“That sounds more like a prison.”

“I thought so too.    But I saw the corn - it is about time to harvest it, from the looks of it.   The only entrance is a long earthen ramp that leads up into the fields through a double wide gate facing the town and it is guarded like a castle gatehouse.”

“Maybe they’re afraid of thieves.”   Muld suggested.

“They’re extremely paranoid about something.     And I also saw something else odd - inside the walls, circling all around the acreage are barns - all connected together and all without windows and with just the type of door you'd find on a small house,  leading into each one.     If this was for storing the corn or for equipment, wouldn’t the doorways be larger?”

“You’d think so.     You said that these buildings are all the way around the acreage?”

“As far as I could tell.    They didn’t seem tall enough for barns either, they were more the size of large storage sheds.”

“Maybe they hold grain.”

“Maybe… but it was very odd and I got a very uneasy feeling about it.”

“Were there workers out in the fields?”

“No!”  Syndi exclaimed, “That was the other crazy thing!   We arrived in late afternoon, but it was not evening yet, and though the corn looks ready to be harvested, there was absolutely nobody that I could see, in the fields.    There were ‘guards’ in the watchtowers that were tracking the airship as we flew over, but other than that, I saw no one working there.   Muld, I’m not a farmer, but I do know that there should have been workers doing something out there - getting things ready for harvesting time.”

“Did you ask anyone in town about it?”

“No, I was too focused on finding you.    Something strange is going on here, Muld, I can just feel it.”

“Well, that does sound very peculiar.   A field that large would take a lot of workers and I can’t imagine why they’d put a barrier around it with only one entrance - that would make harvesting very tough.    This town isn’t very large, so where are all the field laborers?”

“I think the town people know.    They’re hiding something, and if they need to hide it, then that probably means it is something illegal.”

“You are sure that it was all corn that was being grown?”

“It looked like it to me, yeah.    I saw it from above, and I didn’t see anything in the middle of the field but acre after acre of ripe corn.”

“Well, surely some of King Eleazar’s officials inspect the fields from time to time.    The corn they grow here is shipped all over the kingdom and I believe that they export some of it.”

Syndi nodded, “My father imports corn from Marksylvania, so I’d say that it probably comes from here.”

“Well, what can we do?”

“Investigate!   Where’s your sense of adventure, Muld?”

“If the whole town is involved in something criminal, it could be very dangerous to us.”

“So what do you suggest that we do?”

“Wait until morning and report it as soon as we can to the royal officials in Westmark.”

Syndi looked at him for a moment, then said, “You weren’t planning on returning to Westmark, were you?”

“Originally, no I wasn’t.”

“What about the Practical Magician’s Guild?”

“They’d find someone to run it.”

“But why leave, Muld?”  

“I don’t know… maybe I just felt lost.   I don’t know, I just didn’t feel like I belonged there.”

“But you were doing so well!   You were a celebrity in town!”

“Whoopee.   Obviously I’m too immature and insecure to handle celebrity status.    It all came too fast, Syndi.    I just had to get away before I really screwed something up.”

“Muld, that is ridiculous!    You are the driving force behind the Guild!   You have a knack for leadership.”

“I don’t feel I have,”  Muld sighed, tossing a chicken bone onto the ground, “Anyway, it is all a moot point now.    I’ll return, since you need my help, though I’m sure I’ll be the laughing stock for weeks.   ‘The crazy magician who tried to run away!’ they’ll say.”

Syndi sat her food down and took his hands in hers.   “Muld, listen to me, okay?    I don’t need your help, I need you.”

“Yeah, I know - so you can generate Qi.”

“That is just one reason.    Didn’t you listen to me?   I told you that I value your friendship.   I need your friendship, Muld.”

He squeezed her hands, “Well, you have that, my dear.”

“But you don’t really need me, do you?”   Syndi said dejectedly.  

“You have no idea, Syndi, how much I need you,”   He blushed, looking down at his hands, “But I fear that my neediness may cause you problems, so I decided it would be best for everyone for me to just disappear.”

“That is so selfish, Muld!   Disappearing is not what is best for me!   I was going crazy worrying about you.”

“You shouldn’t have.    In time, you would have found new friends, much better than me.”

“I don’t want other friends, Muld, I want you!”   She pulled her hand free and lifted up his chin so he had to look at her.    There was more than a little magic in her eyes, but knowing of her confusion and indecision about him, it only hurt him to see that look.

 

He was struggling for something to say, when in the silence between them, they both heard with their sensitive elven ears, muffled whispers of a small group of people trying to move silently, coming up the path from the town.

Muld and Syndi glanced at each other and without a word, both jumped to their feet and quickly (but silently) slipped into the brush and overgrowth on the far end of the clearing.    Their hands found each others in the darkness of the cover of the trees and they crouched down low, peering through the twilight as suddenly eight armed men, led by a man wearing a black robe, quickly rushed into their camp site, swarming around it and poking around Muld’s backpack and the remains of their dinner.

“They were here,”  One of the men said, holding up the chicken bone Muld had discarded, “They ate some of Ben’s chicken that the foxy redhead bought.”

“Well, they’re not here now, and we didn’t pass them on the path.    They could be down at the pond, bathing or mating - we should’ve gone by there first.”   Another man commented.

“They’d have heard us.     Their stuff is here, so clearly they were coming back,”  The robed man spoke up.

“So what do we do, Tendel?    Wait?”

“No… they’re damned elves, they’d probably see us or hear us before they got back.    We’d not be able to catch them in the dark.   So far they don’t suspect anything, so we just leave and get back to work.    About midnight, when they’re asleep, we’ll return and get them.”   The robed man who was addressed as ‘Tendel’ told them.

“Well, don’t forget, Tendel, I get the girl.”

The robed man snickered, “She doesn’t look like the field worker type.”

“What difference does it make what she’s like now?    Once she’s dead and reanimated, she’ll be as good as any other zombie.”

“She’s too damned pretty to waste as a zombie.”

“So maybe I’ll keep her locked up for a while to give me some fun in the evenings.    It’s none of anybody’s business what I do with her.   I lost six of my best harvesters when that damned bum dispelled the enchantment!   So if I want to make her my sex slave, then by thunder, I will.”

“Easy, Quorick!”   Tendel replied calmly, “It wasn’t anyone’s fault.    That old wizard didn’t look like a magic user at all.    None of us suspected anything until he cast that spell.   You thought he was just a wandering transient too.   We’re lucky he didn’t have time to blast us with a stronger spell.     Zombies can be replaced.  You’ll get both of the elves, if they haven’t run off.   Do with them whatever you want, but that girl has to be a sorceress, so you’ll have to gag her if you want to keep her alive.”

“Just so I ain’t blamed if I don’t meet my quota.”

“You won’t be blamed, as long as you put that skinny guy out in the field with the others.”

“He might not be worth anything.   I ain’t seen him at all.”

“Centros watched him this afternoon - he said he’s tall and skinny - but he’ll do as a worker.”

“I’ll kill him, he’d be good zombie material.     That gorgeous redhead is material for other things!”

The men laughed rudely.

“Well, come on; we’ve got harvesting to do.   I’ll ring the bell at ten ‘til midnight and we’ll come back and hopefully get them then.”

Tendel and the others started back down the path, mumbling various obscene remarks about select areas of Syndi’s anatomy as they disappeared.