Once More, Unto the Breach

                            By:

                         Fox Cutter

    Chapter 12

"You didn't plan for anything like this did you?" I asked
Fox as we walked though the caves.

He gave me a sideways glance. "In which sense?"

"In that you came expecting to play some politics, or go
against in small army. Not any of this, having someone other
the Krege in command, or being stuck in a cave while
everyone else has to deal with it."

He nodded. "Right on all counts. I assume you've meet Salden
then?"

I nodded. "Yes, not a very pleasant man."

"I'll bet hard money that he ended the negotiations with
Draz, the same time that Krege's 'illness' started."

"Poison maybe?" I asked, starting to dig though my pockets.

"Maybe, a small dose, at least to start. By now he would
have to be getting enough to keep him ill. It would actually
need to be feed to him at this stage, I think. How would you
go about it though."

I found what I was looking for. Pulling the packet I had
snatched the night before I held it in front of Fox's face.
"How about his 'medicine'?"

He stopped, which made me stop, Jadin went on a few feet
before she noticed we were not behind her anymore.

Fox looked at the packet, then slowly took it out of my
fingers and looked inside. He folded it up and laughed. "Son
of a bitch! Sora this is perfect, if this actually _is_
poison we might be able to stop this after all." He hugged
me tight and handed the packet back.

I smiled a bit at all this attention. "It did appear to be
important."

He kissed my cheek. "Damn right. We need to double time it
now! We have to get this back to Ken so he can take a look
at."

Jadin broke in. "I think this might be of interest to you."
She said from the intersection she was standing in. He tone
was such that we had better look weather it was interesting
or not.

I relayed the message to Fox, walking over to where she
stood. She was pointing down one of the tunnels. I let my
gaze follow her finger. In the distance was a pair of what
looked like red gems hanging about four feet above the
floor. They seamed to be getting closer to us as well,
bouncing slightly.

Fox saw this too, and took in a sharp breath. He pointing
his light down the tunnel. In the distance, just shaded by
the light was a large head. The red gems were it's eyes
mounted above a massive grey muzzle, the rest of it's head
was in the same proportion.

"Do you know what that is?" Fox asked in slight awe.

The creature was getting closer. "Let me guess, horrible. Am
I wrong?"

"It's a Wyrm." He whispered.

"That thing looks hungry," Jadin said, backing away, "and I
think we're dinner."

I nodded. "Right, lets get out of here Fox."

The Wyrm put on a burst of speed. I wasn't about to wait for
Fox's answer, I turned and started to run. Jadin had the
same idea.

Suddenly I was snared by my shirt and pulled back, the color
cutting into my neck. I was pulled back into one of the
other tunnels by Fox, Jadin in his other hand.

"Never run away from anything immortal," He hissed in my
ear, "it only attracts there attention!"

Before I could respond the beast shot out of the mouth of
the tunnel, accost the one we were standing in, and into the
other side. The thing was long, fifty-feet in length, maybe
more. All in the same dark grey colour as it's face. It had
only a pair of thick fore and hind legs to move, and seamed
to do a damn good job of it.

After it finally past us by Fox let go of both of us. "What
was that?" Jadin asked me. I told her what Fox said to me.
While she puzzled over that I looked at him. "You said that
monster is immortal?"

He nodded. "Yes, and one of the few forms of life that have
ever evolved to use the folds. They've been around for
longer then any know civilization, and most worlds have them
in there history." He frowned for a second. "Even mine."

"What do we do about it?"

He dug into his pocket and pulled out his controller. "Not
much, the clostest fold is back at the castle, so we're not
taking that short-cut. I think we should just get back to
the castle. Which way do we go from here?"

I passed the question onto Jadin, and she gave me a dark
look. "Behind that thing."

Fox groaned. "I know that kind of look. We're following it
aren't we?"

I nodded.

I blew air though his teeth. "Lets hope we don't run into it
again."

We all agreed with the sentiment as we started down the same
tunnel the Wyrm had used. It lasted only a hundred yards as
the tunnel curved into a large cavern. There was half a
dozen exits in it, one of which the beasts with curled in
front of.

"Let me guess," Fox said, pointing at the blocked tunnel,
"that's our way out?"

I turned to Jadin. "The Wyrm's in the way?"

She just nodded.

"Is it the only way?"

I related the question, and Jadin nodded again.

Fox swore, his eyes drifting over the cavern. "She had
eggs." He whispered, pointing out into the cavern.

There were six eggs, lined up in two rows of three. They
where sitting in the middle of the cave, about thirty feet
away from us.

He paused for a second, then started to look around. "I need
a staff of some kind, about five feet long."

I glanced around, passing it onto Jadin. She just smiled and
pulled a wooden staff out from behind herself.

Fox raised an eyebrow, but gently took the staff from her,
examining it carefully. He nodded and pulled out a small
block of plastic from one of his pockets. He opened it and
pressed a few buttons inside. Then bending down he threw it
along the floor. It skidded and bounced, finally ended up
against one of the the eggs, stopping with a dull wack.

"What is that?"

I smiled. "An EMD, be carrying it around so I can spy on
Burke," he gave a sideways glance to Jadin.

He finally nodded a bit to himself. "All right, I have a
plan to get us out of here. Right now, she has eggs, and if
we entered the layer should would gladly have us to eat. So
we need some way to convince her to let us out."

"How would be planing on doing that?" I asked.

"By getting to her eggs," he said with a smile, tucking the
staff under his arm. "On my mark I want to you to run that
way." He pointed accost the cavern, it was on the far side
of the Wyrm, but still a bit to close for my taste.

"I though you said running would attract her attention?"

"It does, that's the point. While she goes after you I get
to her eggs. The rest is just negotiation of the lowest
order."

I started to protest but Fox gave me a look sharp enough to
cut me off. I finally sighed, and passed on the instructions
to Jadin, who's reaction was about the same as mine.

Fox watched the Wyrm for about ten seconds, counting slowly
to himself. Finally he turned to me. "Now," he whispered.

I pulled my wings tight and started to run, finding the
floor turning into a soft sand a few feet in. Jadin was just
a few inches away from me. Behind us came a deep bellowing
roar, and the foot falls of the Wyrm as it started after us.

Jadin speed up past me, and I tried to keep up. I could
actually feel the Wyrm's breath on the back of my neck when
a sharp crack rang though the cavern. The Wyrm stopped, it's
head twisting around the draft catching the ends of my wings
and throwing me to the ground.

"That got your attention I see." Fox called out through the
cave. Scrambling around I looked towards him. He was
standing inside the eggs, and slowly standing, the end of
the staff buried inside the shattered remains of one.

Jadin nudged me, and I gave her a translation of what Fox
said.

The Wyrm bellowed towards Fox and started to charge at him.
Fox reacted quickly pulling the staff out of one egg and
crashing it into the side of the second. The Wyrm stopped,
it's eyes focusing on the puddling yokes under her eggs.

Fox smiled at her. "Two eggs, that's all that is ever alive
out of any clutch, it's not these two. Give's you a one in
two chance of me not hitting one of your actual children."

The Wyrm back away a bit. "Sora, Jadin, work your way to the
exit."

I took Jadin's hand and started to edge my way to the tunnel
out. The Wyrm saw us and flipped and started to dive
forward.

There came a sharper and deeper crack. This time the Wyrm
screamed, turning back to face Fox. He tilted his head a
bit, pulling the staff from the remains of what had once
been a growing egg. "Oh, to bad about that. But then again,
you always kill the second born, so I've just saved you some
trouble."

The Wyrm screamed again, edging towards Fox. He slammed the
staff into one more egg, spattering it over the floor of the
cave. "Well now, two left, and only one is still alive. So
hear is the deal. My friends and I go, leave you alone, you
don't attack us or follow us. Understand?" He let the staff
hover over the pair of eggs.

The Wyrm curled back a bit, then turned it's head away from
Fox. He nodded a bit, and started to back away. Finally we
all started down the tunnel we needed to be in. Fox stopped
at the exit. "The one left is the biggest and the strongest
of the pair. I would never kill the child you would keep."

Looking over Fox's shoulder I watched as the Wyrm glared at
Fox, then slowly bent to lick at the remains of the eggs.

He nodded and started down the tunnel.

"What did you think you where doing?!" Jadin said quietly
yelling. "If you picked the wrongs eggs it would have killed
us to spite you!"

I translated for Fox. He nodded in agreement.

"I didn't just pick the eggs, I knew which one's actually
had the children in them. That's why I threw the EMD out
there. That was all planed." He frowned. "Except for killing
the one, that wasn't part of it."

I passed this onto Jadin. She seamed accepted it as she gave
Fox a quick nod as we continued down the tunnel.

-----

This story is (c) 1997 by Fox Cutter, hardcopy reprints
limited to one a person, all other rights reserved. This
story may not be distributed for a fee except by permission
of the author, and this copyright notice may not be removed.