Warlock's Lair
by Gren Remoz (gren@bk.ru / http://www.outfoxed.net/~gren)
Copyright (C) 2002 Gren Remoz.

---- ----

	Josh pulled his sword from where it had landed in the chest of the evil
warlock. The blade had become stained with the red blood of the warlock
showing that, in the end, even such as he was still mortal.
	"I have, upon this day, slain you! The evils you have perpetrated on the
people, and on my beloved, have been avenged!" Josh shouted, brandishing his
sword.
	"I shall have the final word!" The warlock said, choking on his own blood
between the words. He held his hand out, and started chanting;

	    "Earth that surrounds,
	    And holds all life near,
	    Ever flowing, changing,
	    Waters of life,
	    Your power to my hand,
	    My curse to this one,

	The warlock gestured towards Julie, who was standing away from the battle.

	    "Torn from her own,
	    As fitting should be,
	    To avenge a death,
	    Ere right or wrong,
	    Do this now,
	    As I intend!"

	With the final word, a ball of light appeared in the warlock's hand, then
vanished. He collapsed, as though the spell had taken the last of his
strength.
	"Why must you who be so villainous speak at such length when at last I
slay you?" Josh asked the warlock's corpse. He looked up to his beloved Julie,
but found her missing from where she stood!
	His gaze drifted around the room, wondering where she might have gone,
until at long last it found her body upon the floor where she had been.
	Josh dropped the still bloody sword and ran towards his betrothed.
	"Are you hurt?" He asked as he ran. Reaching her body, he took her hand.
It had become as cold as the stone on which he knelt. He brought the hand to
his lips and kissed it.
	"Three more days, and we would have been together. To have you torn from
me now..." Josh left the sentence hanging, staring at the cold body of his
beloved.
	As he watched, it convulsed. There was a flash of warmth through the hand
he still held. Looking up from his sorrow, he gazed upon the now more animate
body, watching it as it convulsed.
	Julie's knee jerked into Josh's leg, causing him to fall on her writhing
body.
	"Rargh!" She screamed. It was a sound that nearly tore Josh's soul in two.
	"I am sorry for the fall, my beloved," He said, "But your knee-"
	He was interrupted by Julie as she screamed once more. Josh held her hand
tighter, "Hold on, my beloved, think of all the wonderful times we've had
together. Think of all the ancient caverns we've discovered." Josh paused,
thinking about that for a moment. He looked around at the earthen walls around
them, "Um, something else maybe. Think of all the wonderful meals we've eaten
in the king's hall."
	There was no sign that she understood his words, or even heard him at all.
	Suddenly Julie grabbed his hand and held it tight. Her grip was stronger
than Josh remembered it having ever been before. She screamed again and he
heard the sound of bones breaking. Julie coughed and some blood dribbled from
her mouth. Still, her grip tightened and Josh was afraid that if she didn't
let up his hand would break.
	Just as suddenly as she had started convulsing, she became limp. Her grip
lost all its pressure and her hands fell to the ground.
	Had she died, after so much pain and torture? How could this be? What was
he supposed to tell his lord, the King?
	As he stared at her corpse, he noticed that her limbs where growing. Not
longer, but thicker, as though gaining muscle mass as quickly as anyone could
desire. Within a couple minutes, she appeared to have even more than himself,
and he had spent a lifetime training with his sword (which was by no means
light).
	As he watched, her skin seemed to almost liquify. Her very bones seemed to
be shifting position. Her breasts collapsed, becoming smaller (though he was
thankful they didn't disappear). She absently rolled onto her side, and a pair
of limbs thrust out of her back and through her shirt. Long finger-like
extensions unfolding, showing that these were, in fact, wings. Her ears
shifted, becoming pointed. Her head trembled and a snout thrust itself out of
her face. The hair on her head grew out and gained a distinct resembluance of
a thick mane. It extended further down, the roots of her hair going so far as
her neck. Josh reached out to touch her hand, but froze when he saw that her
little finger and her ring finger were merging. Short claws grew from where
there had once been fingernails. The light shoes she wore burst apart as her
feet shifted. They now had only three toes on the end, each with a sharp
looking claw. Another single claw grew from her heel.
	There was the sound of tearing cloth, and Josh looked to see that the
crotch of her loose pants had been torn apart by a growing tail. That seemed
to be the end of the changes, however, as her body stopped changing, Her skin
solidified once more, but into a coat of short, dark fur that completely
covered her body.
	If it had been anyone else, Josh might have been able to see the body in a
more positive light. It did have good built in weaponry, and more muscle than
he'd seen on a living creature. Admittedly, if it had been someone else, he
probably would have been in terror of deadly-looking monster, but this was his
beautiful, beloved Julie that had undergone this horrifying transformation.
Nothing could change his everlasting love for her. All the loves he had had
before were nothing next to her radiant beauty (former radiant beauty, he
thought glumly), or her seemingly endless knowledge and wisdom. He had met no
one that brought him so much pleasure in the night, even though they were
still dressed.
	As it was, he was horrified at the change that had stolen her beauty. The
warlock's final strike at indeed been a potent one.
	When Julie moaned the darkness seemed to fade away. Despite the horror and
the pain she had lived! She opened her eyes to reveal narrow, cat-like pupils.
	"What happened?" She asked, speaking slowly and as though she was having
trouble with the words. Indeed, she seemed to have gained an accent of sorts,
"Everything looks so different. What did that bastard warlock do to me?"
	"We're still in the warlock's lair, my love. As he died, he cast a foul
curse upon you to avenge his death. Do you feel alright?"
	"I don't feel any different. Rather sore, perhaps, but nothing more."
	"That is good at least." Josh said. He held on of her hands and moved it
to where she could see it.
	Upon seeing her hand, Julie gasped, "By the seventy gods!" She cried.
"This is a horrendous curse! We must get to the Court Wizard immediately." She
was immediately on her feet. Grabbing Josh's arm she started for the door.
	"We might want to delay that slightly," He said.
	"Why?"
	"That curse has ruined your clothes."
	Julie looked down at herself and sighed. She looked around the room. After
a moment she pointed to the warlock's corpse.
	"Get me his clothes." She said.
	"But, but they are a man's clothing. An evil man, at that."
	"Would you rather that every monster we pass in those halls gets a chance
to ogle me?"
	"You are, as usually, right." Josh said, "You make the hidden seem
obvious." Josh brought the corpse to were Julie stood.
	Julie sat next to it and pulled off the vest. Despite a slight bloodstain
and hole in the back, it was in surprisingly good shape. The warlock had
managed to avoid being hit through most of the fight.
	Setting the vest to the side, she started to remove the warlock's shirt.
	"Wait!" Josh cried, "You can't do that!"
	"Why not?" Julie asked.
	"How could I let you see something as awful as the naked body of an evil
man who was run through with my sword?"
	"You could try counting the bricks on the wall behind you. That would
probably do it."
	"Pardon?"
	"I've seen much worse before. Trust me. A naked corpse isn't something I'm
worried about."
	"But this stranger has, well, had a soul darker than the darkest night! He
did things that would make strong men quake in their boots. Only because of my
love for you could I brave the horrible dangers in these caverns."
	"Actually, it probably had more to do with how much you know about what
the warlock did."
	"Oh?"
	"Yes." Julie tried to put the warlock's shirt on, but it got caught on her
wings. She looked over her shoulder and gasped.
	"I have wings!" She extended her wings, then pulled them tight against her
back then extended them again. "Amazing." Pulling them against her back, she
put the shirt over them, making them seem to disappear.
	"You also have a tail." Josh added, trying to be helpful.
	Julie looked behind herself, "I'm going to need to use a mirror when we
get back to the castle," she said, "and an awful lot of shampoo."
	There was silence for a moment, then Julie stood up, wearing the warlock's
clothing. With the warlock's decorative clothing, she looked more like a man
than the woman Josh knew her to be. In fact, she looked rather like a warlock.
	"Let's go. Lead the way."
	Josh looked at his feet, "I have failed," he said weakly.
	"What's wrong?"
	"For all my haste, I have forgotten the way out!"
	"You didn't mark it as you came down?"
	"Such details were far from my mind. My only thought was your safety."
	"Touching. You should start paying attention to the little details. Mind
the small things, and the big ones take care of themselves." Julie put her
hands in the pockets of the vest she wore. Josh heard her say something
quietly, but was unable to make it out. She pulled one of her hands back out
of the vest holding a set of keys. "Well, these should make things easier,"
she said, "I would think that their would be a door around here somewhere. It
simply wouldn't be practical for the warlock to have gone through all those
traps, after all."
	"Why didn't we look for it before?"
	"I would have thought you'd have marked your trail. The warlock's exit
will probably have one or two really big traps instead of the hundreds of
little traps in that labyrinth."
	"Wouldn't we be further off to go for the little traps? They won't hurt so
much if we set them off."
	"We're far more likely to set off one out of a hundred traps than one out
of two."
	"Oh." Josh said.
	Julie looked around for a moment. "Since I don't see a door, it will
probably be hidden. Look around for a keyhole, or something of that nature."
	Josh walked to the nearest wall and started examining it in detail. He
looked over ever stone, every grain of dirt composing that segment of wall,
looking at every speck of dust as though it held the answers to all life's
questions.
	"Josh," Julie said from somewhere behind him, "Could you search faster?
The keyhole is going to be fairly large, after all."
	"You mean like that?" Josh said, pointing at a largish hole in the wall.
	"Why didn't you mention it earlier?"
	"I hadn't got that far."
	Julie sighed, then inserted one of the warlock's keys. She turned it
slowly and a door-sized piece of the earthen wall swung out, revealing a
rectangle of absolute darkness.
	"Is it a magic portal?" Josh asked wonderingly. He reached out towards it,
pushing his hand into it.
	"You shouldn't do that. You have no idea what's in there."
	Josh pulled his hand back holding an object from the other side of the
darkness. It was a broom.
	"I didn't know that warlocks rode brooms." Josh said.
	"That's because they don't. He probably used it to sweep the floor. That
is what they are normally used for, after all."
	"Oh. I guess this is the wrong door."
	"I think it might be a magic keyhole. The effects are probably different
depending on which key is used."
	"How is it," Josh asked, "that you know so much?"
	"I spend a lot of time in the library, reading."
	"Oh."
	Julie put the next key in the lock and turned it. Another door, next to
the first, swung open. Once again Josh reached into the darkness. This time he
jumped backwards, grabbing his sword. Not being able to find it in its sheath,
Josh remembered that he had dropped it before he ran to Julie. He dived for
it, then quickly stood, holding the blade steadily before him. He crouched
slightly, ready for whatever manner of monster might step from the darkness.
	"I felt the hide of a ferocious, vicious, bloodthirsty monster in there!"
	A moment passed.
	Then another.
	"Why hasn't the monster attacked yet?" Julie asked, sounding rather
cynical about it. Stepping in front of the darkness, she reached inside and
pulled out a long fur coat. She threw it at Josh, where it landed on his sword
and weighed it down. "Sure don't make ferocious, vicious, bloodthirsty
monsters like they used to, eh?"
	Josh relaxed his muscles, allowing the point of the sword to droop to the
floor. The fur coat slide off onto the floor.
	Julie put the next key in the lock and turn it. A flight of arrows flew
across the middle of the room, not coming close to either Josh or Julie.
	"Was that one of the traps?" Josh asked.
	"I doubt it. If it was a trap the arrows would probably have been aimed
over here."
	Josh decided that there was no more danger for the moment and slid the
sword into its sheathe.
	He watched as Julie put the next key in the lock and turned it. This
action was followed by a deep rumbling far below them.
	"That does not sound good." Josh said.
	The floor shook and some of the stones lifted upwards slightly, as though
something were pressing against the bottom. Some of them exploded out wards,
throwing pieces of rock around the room. Josh drew once more his sword and
held it securely before him.
	"By the greatest of gods," Josh shouted, "what force could cause such a
thing!"
	Only moments later a large segment of the floor exploded and threw Josh
and Julie away from each other. A large serpent-like monster rose from the
newly formed pit and gazed at each in turn.
	"At long last," it said with slow, measured words, "that godless bastard
has provided what he promised for my service; a female. But first," The
serpent turned to where Josh was picking himself back up off the ground. He
reached for his sword as the serpent pulled itself further from the ground,
revealing a pair of large, taloned hands. It picked Josh hold and held him
close to its mouth.
	"You would be a nuisance." It said, "So I shall end your pitiful life now.
In years to come, the tattered remains of your soul shall be thankful for
this." With that, the serpent dropped Josh into the pit.
	He grasped at the edges as he fell, but was unable to get a grip. After
one particularly bad attempt, he knocked himself backwards and hit his head on
the wall of the pit. After that the world just faded away, and he fell limply
into the darkness.

----- ----- -----

	Julie watched, horrified, as Josh was dropped into the pit. Once it had
dropped Josh, the large serpent turned and gazed lewdly at Julie.
	"What shall we do?" It said.
	Julie stood and started running for the door. The creature slowly reached
out towards her. It moved so slowly, however, that Julie had no difficulty
avoiding its grasp. The door was small enough that the monster would be unable
to reach her once she got through it. It reached for her again. She changed
direction and ran unseeing into the creature's other hand. It didn't try to
hold on to her, instead it seemed satisfied just to scrap its claws against
her. After that it released her. She ran over to the wall. Leaning against it,
she tried to catch her breath.
	Surely she wasn't exhausted already? She hadn't thought she run that much.
She looked at the serpent-creature which was looming over her, seeming content
to simply watch her.
	Was her exhaustion perhaps caused by the creature's claws? She wondered
what other effects the claws would have (if indeed that was what was causing
her exhaustion).
	While she was leaning against the wall, she could feel her joints start to
stiffen. Once she noticed this, she pushed herself from the wall, toward
Josh's sword, which still laid upon the ground. The creature grabbed her
before she was even halfway. It held her before one of its eyes. It seemed to
be evaluating her for something.
	"You will do." It said. Then it dropped her on the stone floor and turned
away. Julie forced her joints, which seemed almost solid now, to move and she
reached for the sword. She managed to grab it just before she collapsed to the
ground. She had drawn the blade next to her before her arms froze totally.
	Julie noticed something out of the corner of her eye. With any luck, it
would be Josh. She tried to turn her head to see what was. This proved
unneedful, as it simply walked into her view.
	Seeing it stand before her, looking at her as though evaluating a side of
meat, made Julie strain against her frozen joints even more.
	Standing before her, leaving a wake of darkness behind it wherever it
walked, was a creature mentioned only in the oldest of the ancient books.
Scholars had thought them totally destroyed thousands upon thousands of years
ago. The creature before her was a Demon, capable of such destruction and
torment as no sane, nondemonic mind could comprehend.
	"And what do we have here?" The demon's word were spoken quickly, harshly
and quietly although it seemed that they would still carry to the ends of the
earth.
	"A female, as the warlock did promise." The serpent replied.
	"Fool." The demon snorted, "The warlock had no intention of ending your
service. He would then need nothing female." The demon walked over to Julie
and looked down at her. It seemed to take in her form, indeed, her very
essence with its empty eyes.
	"A constructed monster?" It muttered, "Why would the warlock do this?" The
demon turned to the serpent, "How long has she been paralyzed?"
	"You should know by now that I have no time."
	The demon shook its head and walked over to the warlock's body. He looked
down on it.
	"You were a fool," the demon told the corpse. "Why would you bring someone
here? Now of all times?" The demon pressed his fingers against the side of the
corpse's neck. "He's definitely dead." The demon took the fur coat that had
still been laying on the floor and placed it over the warlock's body.
	During this, the stiffness in Julie's joints had started dissipating. She
was able sit up, though it was still difficult.
	The demon turned sharply towards Julie, "I thought I heard something," he
said. "The paralyzation is wearing off. And here I was hoping we could have
some fun before we killed her."
	"I could reinject her." The serpent offered.
	"As a constructed monster she'll quickly become immune to any toxin. One
chance is all you get. I'm going to have to kill her, there is no other way
about it. I can animate her corpse afterwards, if you like, and it will seem
quite alive for hours before any decay sets in."
	"If you must."
	"Hey!" Julie said, struggling to stand.
	The demon turned to face her. A look of concentration came over him. He
pointed towards Julie with one hand, and he cupped the other as though holding
something. He began to chant, and as he did a ball of energy started to appear
in his cupped hand.

	    "Fires that bind,
	    Flames that burn all eternal,
	    Earth that waits,
	    And outlasts all of time,
	    Your powers I do call,
	    And by the power that binds,
	    And through all of time,
	    Claim the one--!"

	The demon stopped speaking and choked for a moment. Then he fell forward.
The energy that had formed in his hand burst, incinerating his hand. Once the
demon had finished falling, Julie could see a knife in the back of its throat.
	"Are you alright?" Julie heard Josh call.
	"Yes, but not for much longer."
	Josh stepped into Julie's sight, "Could I have my sword back?"
	"You'll have to get it yourself, I can't move very much at the moment."
	"You're paralyzed?"
	"Why else would I lay here with a weapon and allow some demon to kill me.
	"I had thought you had a plan."
	"Would you hurry up and kill the other monster?" Julie said, and indeed,
the large serpent had moved during their conversation and was posed just over
Josh, ready to strike.
	"That thing? I don't think I've met anything less intelligent in my life."
Josh raised his sword, point to the ceiling, just as the serpent struck, and
it impaled itself on his sword. The end of its snout stopped only inches from
Josh's hand.
	"I think you might be right." Julie said as the serpent pulled itself off
Josh's sword and pulled itself back. After pausing a moment, as though to
think, the serpent attacked Josh from the side. Josh stepped out of its path
and brought the sword down on the serpent's neck, severing it. This resulted
in a flash flood of blood, completely soaking both him and Julie.
	"No vile fiend will I allow to harm my beloved Julie!" Josh declared,
holding his sword high, "I shall vanquish all that tries to do so with this,
my sword!"
	"Don't boast to much." Julie said, "It wasn't exactly difficult or
anything."
	"You have no idea how difficult and exhausting that battle was."
	"I'm not surprised you defeated the rataen." A voice said. Julie looked
towards where it was coming from and was surprised to see the demon standing
once more, holding the bloodied knife in its hand. "One such as myself cannot
be killed so easily! No matter what wound you cause, I will continue. The
touch of blood revives me!"
	"I have killed the serpent!" Josh said boldly to the demon, "And next I
shall defeat you who would have slain my beloved with your foul magics. First,
I shall remove your head!"
	"No mere mortal shall stand before without bowing down," the demon said,
"And no human shall escape my vengeance. I shall avenge your callus slaying of
myself!"
	"With this sword, passed down from my ancestors a thousand years ago, I
shall take the hide from your body. With that I shall make a coat, and I shall
wear it to show my dominance of you!" Josh shouted at the demon.
	"You'll be sorry you ever heard of me," the demon said, unsheathing a
slender blade, "I shall make you suffer before I allow you to die!"
	"Prepare yourself!"
	"Die, mortal!"
	Josh and the demon rushed towards each other and their blades clashed
noisily. Julie watched the battle silently for a few minutes, thinking. How
could you kill something that could apparently recover from any wound? If Josh
could deal it an incapacitating wound, they might be able to escape. That was
presuming he was able, though, and the demon would probably come after them
when it was able. It would be better to deal with it now, but how? How does
one kill the unkillable?
	Julie thought back about the demons's actions. It seemed to know a
considerable amount about what the warlock had turned her into. It was
probably pretty intelligent, then, considering she hadn't even heard of a,
what was it? It took her a moment to recall what the demon had called her. Of
a constructed monster. Then it had spoken of, what? Reanimating her corpse,
wasn't it? That would probably be with magic, so the creature could probably
do that as well. Later on it had started to cast a spell. Julie suspected that
there were only a few words left for it when Josh had slain the demon.
	"Rrrraaaggghh!" The demon cried, interrupting Julie's thoughts, "You,
you've impaled me!" It looked down at the sword in its chest. "You bastard.
You've ruined my best clothing. And you've slain me twice! I shall not let
this go unavenged." It pulled the sword out of its chest and tossed it to the
side. It swung at Josh, but he had already dived for his sword and the swing
missed.
	"I shall kill you yet, demon!" Josh shouted as he rejoined the demon in
combat.
	Julie shook her head. It did seem that the paralyzation she had suffered
was gone now, so she could move now. Still, she wasn't sure what she could do.
Julie sat up and returned to recalling the demon's actions.
	It had stopped casting the spell before it was complete because Josh had
thrown a knife into its throat. The energy in its hand had exploded then,
destroying the demon's hand with it. Looking at the demon, Julie could see
that it still didn't have a hand. How much more of the spell was there? While
she knew almost nothing about magic, she wondered if she could just put a few
more words on the end of the spell to complete it. If nothing else was needed
to cast the spell, and it had an effect like the energy had on its hand, it
would work as an ideal weapon against the demon. If not, she'd loose nothing.
	She stood and faced the demon, assuming the pose it'd had as best she
could. Concentrating on the demon and on the words as much as she could, she
began chanting the words of the spell.

	    "Fires that bind,
	    Flames that burn all eternal,
	    Earth that waits,
	    And outlasts all of time,"

	"No! Stop!" The demon screamed turning to face Julie. In its momentary
distraction, Josh cut off its handless arm. The demon spun around and defended
itself against Josh's onslaught while trying to work closer to Julie.

	    "Your powers I do call,
	    And by the power that binds,
	    And through all of time,
	    Claim the one before me"

	As Julie finished say the words, a ball of energy that had appeared in her
hand raised slightly then shot towards the demon. The demon dived to the
floor, but the energy altered its course and hit the demon in the middle of
its back. The demon screamed horribly before turning to ash.
	"Great." Josh said, setting the point of his sword on the ground, "Now how
am I supposed to know which of us is better?"
	"You couldn't of killed it." Julie said. "It would have taken any wound
and just stood back up. We should get out of here as soon as possible as it
is. I have no idea whether it will survive that."
	"I still would have liked to try to kill it." Josh said.
	"You couldn't have." Julie told him as she walked towards the doorway,
"I'm going to try to find a way out of here, so if you don't want left behind
I'd recommend you follow."

----- ----- -----

	Julie stopped walking and leaned against the wall of the cavern.
	"We're going to have to stop for a while," she said, "I don't think I can
keep awake much longer."
	"This cavern is admitted larger than one would expect," Josh said, "I,
myself, spent six hours reaching the villainous warlock."
	"And you knew the way through, then." Julie looked at Josh through narrow
eyes, "Next time you rescue someone, mark your path. And bring some food, as
well. I'm not sure if the creatures in here are edible."
	"I shall remember what you say. I think we're near the exit now, so just
keep going a little longer."
	"You've said that several times now, starting several hours ago."
	"I was wrong then, but now I am sure!"
	"You were sure last time. You can continue wandering around, but I need to
get some sleep." Julie laid down on the cold stone floor, and despite the
discomfort was immediately asleep.
	When she woke some time later, she could see that Josh was slumped against
the wall on the other side of the corridor and he was snoring. Julie shook his
body, but he didn't wake. He'd probably stayed up as long as he could manage
to protect her from any threats. Never mind that they had found all of three
creatures in the caverns, and those had been more scared of Julie then she had
been of them.
	She unbuckled Josh's sword belt and put it on. It had been many years
since she'd worn a sword. That was something that had bothered Josh, as well
as almost everyone else in the world. Women were not supposed to carry swords,
let alone know how to use them.
	Putting her arms around Josh's waist, she lifted him up and set him over
her shoulder. The weight pressed uncomfortable against her wings, but it was
something she could bear to get out. Looking forward, she began walking.
	About an hour later the air started to smell fresher. She could smell
flowers blooming. If she could smell the flowers, it must not be far to the
exit.
	Another couple hours later the smell had grown steadily stronger, but
there was no sign of an exit. It seemed that whatever the warlock had done to
her had increased her sense of smell manyfold.
	Following the odor for another half an hour, she came to where light was
streaming down from a hole in the ceiling. It was just out of her reach. Once
Josh woke up, however, they would be able to get out.
	How long had he managed to stay awake?
	"Wake up Josh. We can get out now." She shook him slightly and he groaned.
A few minutes later his eyes opened slightly.
	"Its bright." He said.
	"Its an exit."
	"That isn't how I got in, though."
	"Its still an exit. We can work our way home from outside."
	Josh stood, keeping his hand against the wall to help his balance. "I feel
sore. How'd we get here, anyway?"
	"You think you're sore? You've been flattening my wings for the past
several hours. It's the first time in my life that I've had sore wings, and
its not something I'd recommend to anyone."
	Josh looked up, "How we going to get out?"
	"I can hold you up high enough to climb out. Then you can reach down and
help me get far enough up to get out myself."
	"Do you know were we are?"
	"No. It shouldn't be hard to get directions, though. We're going to the
only castle for quite some distance." Julie grabbed Josh and lifted him
towards the exit. He quickly scrambled up, then reached down to help Julie get
out herself.  Before he had a chance to actually pull her up, however, she had
climbed up his arms and was sitting on the grass outside. Josh watched as she
leaned back into the grass, breathing in the fresh air.
	"What are you doing with my sword?" He asked.
	"You hardly needed it while you were sleeping."
	"Could I have it back?"
	"You can have it back as soon as we get going."