Title: My third silly story (anyone who cares)
Posted By: Arik_Korpin
Posted On: 5/29/99 11:31:17 AM
OOC: *shudders* I am a not English or grammar wizard, so bear with me. *s*
The Wheel of Time turns, etc.
************
Arik Korpin stretched his arms wide and yawned as he woke up outside his Study, in the Black Tower Halls for a change. The sun shone through the high arched windows and hit him in the middle of his face... Some of the Soldiers were hurrying past him with a worried glance now and then, carrying their stuff including books, nets, and frying-pans. A rooster crowed from high upstairs.
He could feel something strange lying all over him and he had this... mysterious subflavor of chicken in his mouth... and in addition, he felt awfully warm besides from the sun. He had had another dream, which this time had consisted of him being a bird, running wildly from Aes Sedai in filmy dresses waving with forks and knives. It made no sense, as did nothing else in Silly Stories™... Now, where did that thought come from for example...?
He rubbed the sleep out of his tired, redlined eyes, grabbing for his black blanket to drag himself up for a new daring day. Suddenly, without warning, he was face to face with a dreadful, beaked monster. It stared fiercely at him, cackled horribly and started to peck his hands as he grabbed for an egg mistakenly. Surreal pain flushed through him and the screech could be heard for miles away...
"Señor! I heard your scream!" Consuela, Arik's handy maid came to his rescue as always. That was the reason why she was handy.
"Oh Creator! No more chickens for you! Your mental health!"
The chicken leaped away when Consuela ran closer. Folding her skirts neatly, she bent down to pick up the eggs, and laid them in a knitted basket she carried with her all the time. One would never know when one found use of it here in the Black Tower.
In the meantime, Arik was trying to creep backwards up against the wall, face drawn from fear. Concerned, the maid took a peek at his eyes with a small flashlight, pushing up both of his lids to see if there was anything that showed signs of insanity or freshly squeezed madness.
She found nothing more than the usual... His pupils were divided by a sinuous line, the half black, and the other half white. Was it a sign of deriving foolishness subsequent from chickens or was it heavy mint abuse? Or could it be something completely different...?
"I believe they started to fumigate the rooms just in time... One more day, Señor, and you would have gone minty fresh! Is there any way I can help at all...?"
His eyes hit back and forth, twisted in a loop, tied a knot, continued inwards, and settled as he slowly straightened himself and produced a block of yellowish paper, together with a feather pen. It was slightly unbearable, but it helped him in some way. The writing did; it dimmed the effect of the feather-fright as good as therapy, whatever that was.
"I think that I... will write another story..." He sighed, forgetting himself for a moment as he put the pen tip in his mouth. Consuela laid a soothing hand on his shoulder to prevent fulminating hyperventilation.
"No, Señor! Look what happened the last time! That left you wearing this cloak! Now what will happen if you go once more? You ate the notes, so I understand if you do not remember it, but what I tell you is true! There will only be more pain and suffering!"
"The notes...were tasty... which is more than I can say about the rest of the food around here. But I cannot hide any longer... There MUST be another story. Then, and only then, will I find true peace... Plus, it would only be cool with a trilogy!" He gave a wide grin, and it deepened as a chicken leapt up on his shoulders.
"Oh dear... I doubt that strongly, Señor... Very strongly..."
*******************
Standing in front of the Gates of the White Tower, Arik could hear a strange voice in his head. It told him fervently that this was not the right thing to do; that this was a trap and that he would regret it for the rest of his life... Like if it wasn't doomed anyway...
He knew there were many in the Black Tower who had roommates, but he just had his Voice. This was fair enough; they shared the same interests and had their amount of fights, just like real roommates. The difference was that their conflicts seemed to draw a wider audience than the others, meaning wider in the sense of more. True enough, there were those Soldiers who had a sweet tooth for chocolate eggs with egg liqueur, but those were more reserved people. Strange eggs...
They had met each other a couple of years ago, Arik and his Voice, when he had come to the Tower for the very first time after learning of his sickly tainted abilities. The Voice, or Hector, as his name was, had been there several years already. In the beginning, he had not been lucky finding a suiting apartment; all were taken. Then, when he met Arik, he had insisted to pay rent once every other month, but like the nice guy Arik was, he offered a room for free. From that day on, they had been very close friends...
"Arik...? Señor, are you feeling well? You don't look like it... Ah, I knew this was a bad idea all alo... What?! Oh, that is a disgusting thing for you to say!"
"But... But... Consuela, that was not me! It was my Voice! I mean... in my head! See?"
Arik knocked his head to produce a hollow sound and exclaimed an "Ouch!"
"See? He doesn't like that all too well!"
"Very funny of you, Señor... But that is not the way it works!"
"It works for me that way...!"
He ran after Consuela as she entered the White Tower with small but quick steps. He felt uneasy... That was part because of his new cloak, which the maid had found in a local shop somewhere. It had a cool imprint, saying 'Darth Asha'man', though it did not help to think about that nor the heron marked collar...
Also, there was something about the White Tower that seemed to bring vague bad-bad memories... If he only hadn't knocked his head so hard in the walls all the time... Aahh.... There was... something... filmy...
Consuela herself wore a nice red filmy dress with pearl stitches. She had stated that it was to turn the attention away from Arik's cloak. Not to her dress, but simply away from them. There was nothing unusual with filmy dresses in the Tower; either of them. Although everyone know servants and maids hunger for public attention and would do anything just to get a pic taken...
"Look, Señor!" She pointed at an enormous placard with heavy black writings, nailed to the shiny Walls of the Halls, just inside the Gates, more precisely the left Wall, five inches beneath halfway up to the high Roof. "Refund Sales! At the Library! I have to go there, Señor! I have to! It is so... uhm... neat! They serve Mint Beverages, with umbrellas... Umbrellas, Señor!" She shook him violently. "And they have these teeny tiny chocolates... Oh, and they've got lots of meaningful books! Yes! Yes, many books..."
"Oh, um... Okaaay... But don't stay too long... This place, you know... There is s..."
"Yes! Refund Sales! Bye bye!"
As she ran down the Floor of the Halls, her pink shopping bag flew behind her. Then she disappeared up a Stair. Arik decided to look around a bit and he let out a little squeak of distress along the way to match his mood.
In a nearby corner, three NPC novices were sitting, their full attention on something Arik could not see clearly. Once in a while, they were gasping audibly, having that shocked look in their eyes as if they had just found the Amyrlin herself being a pudding fraud. Feeble attempts at quelling the noises they made were rather unavailing nevertheless, the same as one would expect by someone finding out the Amyrlin herself was a pudding fraud...
Serafelle, the Head of the Brown sisters was just descending from a clear white Stair, graciously, when she caught sight of the novices. There was no real problem to understand. She had not slept for days. Her hair was completely tangled and the choice of footwear; bunny slippers, was a certain sign in the White Tower of sleeplessness...
The novices, who all got up from the Floor very quickly to welcome and scrape before Serafelle, concealed whatever it was they had been attentive at earlier behind their back, apparently looking as innocent as they could manage to be. One of them even heaved her eyebrows in a simple manner to show a fake, clueless nature to what was supposed to be so wrong.
"You three there! You are hiding something from me! Let me see it right now!"
The girls made an effort not to giggle, and pressed themselves against the Wall. But Serafelle was famous for her scent for bad books; mainly because they reeked of Cheese 'n' Mint (which is a COMPLETELY different story) and swirled one of the novices around to snatch a book the young girl was holding in her hands away.
The Brown's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she discovered which book it was...
"'The Joy of Being Aes Sedai'! My Creator! This book is NOT for little novices like you! Light and flaming Light! You must surely be punished for this! And you must swear..." she ripped the book in two, receiving a satisfied look to her eyes, sickly mixed with a touch of sadness for one second, but then she was serious again... "... swear, that you will NEVER... EVER... reveal the content of this book to other novices! Do you even understand what you have done at all? This is sealed to the Ring, and only to the Ring! And I am not making the rules here, so no one really knows! So confusing... Oh, what shall I ever do with you three?" she groaned. "Oh no, oh no... Not that... But Light, I have no other choice..."
She reached her hand down one of her pockets and when it came up again, her palm held forward three authentically made rings, three small Great Serpents symbolizing time and eternity without end. Glistening like a spark, much the same way Lanfir's eyes did after another successful bonding, the reflection was overwhelming. The white clad girls looked like they had been taking too many happy drugs... They jumped around, waving grandly and shouting that they would choose the Green™ Ajah.
Arik still heard Serafelle cursing as he rounded another Corner...
A peculiar looking woman, whom Arik would not have identified as the slightly wacky Silver Sedai had it not been for the blue silk dress, for once not a filmy one, closed the door behind her as she left a room. She looked fairly disturbed, but there were these things on her back... It seemed to be a pair of wings. They had been roughly cut out from weekly newspapers, then glued to her with glue...
"Happy day, happy day... La la... What...? STOP THERE, REBEL SCUM!"
She had caught eye of Arik in his cloak and was moving threateningly towards him, like a lion prepared to attack its prey... Or an Amyrlin prepared to eat pudding.
"What? Rebel scum? But this is a Sith™ cloak!"
Silver stopped short for a moment. "Oh... But... It sounded so cool and I have always wanted to say that... Well, anyway... Can I call you evil thingy?"
"Sure, but... I mean... NO! This is not my cloak! See!" He turned around, revealing the 'Darth Asha'man' imprint. "My maid bought it at this crappy shop! I have no idea why!"
"Hmm... You sound really familiar, you know... Are you sure you are not a..."
"Trust me, I am not... If you would please excuse me now." He walked past her, with an arrogant appearance mainly for no particular reason...
"Wait! Do you want to go fly? It is really fun when it works! Have to work on that though... You wouldn't happen to have a starship by any chance?!?"
But Arik had already put his mind on something else... There seemed to be lots of commercials hanging around on Walls in this part of the Tower. Such were: 'Join the Shadow, receive a Forsaken-Of-Your-Choice-Pin for free'... and then of course the phone number... or 'The Chicken Keg. We Feed You' That one made Arik retch intensely, with a not so soon recovery. 'Game of the Houses, complete with board, dices, chips and 50 NEW questions'... Yeah, right...
In addition, many posters also decorated this section, and they all seemed to have the same message... 'Life Time O' Fun this way'. Well, he had to admit, it made him curious... They had these neat little arrows also, so he decided to follow...
Rounding another one of the poster-marked Corners, he saw the most eccentric thing he had ever seen in the span of two fully self-written Silly Stories™, except for some minor exceptions... Of course.
Far down the hall, it seemed like almost every last one of the Green™ Ajah Members were gathered, whispering and giggling amongst themselves. A huge banner spread itself from one end of the Hall to the other and it read 'Once-In-A-Lifetime-Experiences Here' in big mint letters.
There had been built something with the appearance of a primitive box, just tall enough to house one person at a time, and there were fences, barb wires and surveillance cameras (web-cams) all over the place, most likely delivered to them by the Tower Safety Rental team. And in front of this box, a long row of men stood, holding their queue tickets while being waited on by Aes Sedai in various filmy dresses.
A blonde woman stood in the middle of it all, pen behind her ear, shouting up numbers from a long list. She looked casually smart, but in between she couldn't help herself laughing. Arik decided to walk over and see what the fuss was all about...
"Leane...? Where is Leane...? Oh, there you are, dear... Let us see now... Did you by chance take client thirty-seven? Good, good... You can have number forty-six then... Yes, I know you can't wait, dear... F... Yes, just be patient now! FORTY-SIX! YOUR TURN! Ok, next! Ciara, didn't I tell you not to sneak in line?!? Geez, some never learn... Ok, I'll let you in this time, but that's the last one for you now... What? No, you can't have the leftovers... We are decent women, remember? We don't go by such simple methods..."
As number 46, whom by the way was wearing a yellow shirt and black breeches for those particularly interested, entered the box, Morgan Sedai hurried behind it. A faint shout which seemed to be 'For the Sake of the Light. No, no, for the Sake of the Light... Argh!', could be heard and then Morgan stepped out from the box, looking really satisfied with herself. Leane, who came out of nowhere leaped on her, and they started to fight over something Arik could not understand what was...
Mudwrestling! "Will you just shut up!?"
The next man was already on his way in, the poor fool, as Lanfir, who was the Aes Sedai in charge, started to look Arik up and down with a Green Glint™ to her eyes...
"My..." she said with a devious smile... "We've never had visits from a real Sith™ Lord before... What an honor it would be if you will please take a ticket and step into the line..." She had major problems holding her hands away from him... "There are... grapes in it for you, you know..."
"Uhm... I... I...I think I have to go now... I just found I had something else to do..." He turned, but she took a hold of him.
"Why? No, you are staying right here with us..." A pair of cuffs locked themselves around his wrists... Oh, I remember this!
"Light, no! I haven't got time for this!"
"Wait, dearie!!! Drat! I have to remember next time... One on his wrist, one on mine... One on his, one on mine... Why do I keep forgetting that...?"
He got away just in time before she managed to throw herself all over him, as if a bad matter of repetition. There was more trouble ahead though, as he heard a deeper, darker and pudding muffled voice in front of him...
"Mauly, there you are, dear!" The Amyrlin stomped over to him; the Halls shook from the restrain and drew him close to her, while whispering,
"I have received orders from our... " She looked around, going once, going twice..."... Master... Ah, you know who I mean... He says that the enemy is on the break of defeat and that we can launch our attacks tonight... You are to return to the Star Destroyer and report to your Commander. MWAHAHAHAHA! I can picture the sweet squadrons of TIE Interceptors now, blowing everything to..."
"I... can... hardly... breathe...! No.... air....! OOF!"
The Amyrlin threw him from her tight bosom death grip into the Wall and gave him one of those Amyrlinish stares she always performed whenever she wanted to.
"Dear, you sound different... Have you eaten too many Mint cupcakes? And what's up with the cuffs? Which both remind me, where are those..."
"Actually, I'm..."
"What!? Again!? I cannot believe it! This is the third time Lanfir holds those stupid Bonding Contests™!"
Hands on hips, she had just discovered Lanfir and the Gang...
"I know they are Green™, but there IS almost always a limit! Right, dear?"
"Bonding Contests...?"
"...™, Yup... I don't know exactly how they work... The last one who passes out wins or something like that at least..."
She shook her head, licked clean a plastic spoon and shouted for Lanfir to meet in her study at 10PM sharp. Lanfir pretended she did not hear, only to upset the Mother even more...
"WELL, I'VE NEVER!!! Does she think I wave around with this feathery boa for zilch?! Mauly, dear, see if you can't use some of those dark evil powers of yours on that shameless woman... Mauly? Oh, and where IS my High pudding anyways?"
Arik fled down the quite obviously vivid Halls of the White Tower. He had to try to find Consuela and get out of there before he bumped into anyone else. There were no limits as to what might happen next... He wanted to visit Siuan, but he knew she would freak out if she saw his hair, or the cuffs for that sake. Too many thoughts were rushing through his head for him to channel them off... The cuffs, that was...
Strangely enough, the Halls seemed to get darker the further he ran. Cute little lamps, hanging from the Ceiling, had vanished at the last Junctures and arched windows giving off bright sunlight along with them. No novices rumbled the Halls around here. A pair of Doors slid up not far in front of him, making a swishing sound.
Flanked by two men in bright white armor, a man of shadow stepped out. In slashing contrast to his guards, for that was what Arik thought they might be, the man was wearing black armor, like never seen before.
Arik fell to his knees with folded hands. You do that a lot, don't you? "Creator, the prophecies were true! The Dark One has returned! Only the Light can spare us now! Howl and cry, howl and cry!"
The man tilted his head and spoke with a voice so that it sounded as if he were having problems breathing properly. Of course, it was logical... The dust must really gather in a prison after so many years.
"What an odd little man you are... Wearing that cloak, I could almost have mistaken you for being a Sith™ Lord, had it not been for the lousy resemblance... Damnit, I knew I shouldn't have let the helmsman drink that last bottle! Tell me where we are and you may go. And call me master! Such failures will only bring you pain!"
His hand rose, forming a grip. Arik could feel his throat tighten together. Still, the dark figure looked dissatisfied and puzzled, as if he had just thrown a piece of meat to a hungry lion and the lion refused to even look at it... Or a glob of pudding to an Amyrlin, it went for the same thing...
"The force is strong in you... Do you by any chance know a con man named Luke Skywalker? We were keeping him hostage, but he escaped. I mean to make him regret it... Besides, I have a shocking and important message for him!!!"
"Luke?" Arik raised an eyebrow and the black armored man nodded approvingly.
"And his sister, Leia... " Suddenly he growled. "But do not tell him that!! It is a secret he has yet to learn!"
"O....kay... I didn't know Luke had such a corny last name or even a sister... Would you care to take mine instead? See, if you follow the Hall to its end and turn left? She's supposed to be there, only, watch out for..."
"ENOUGH! You do know Luke, do you?"
"Sure, he's a member of the Black Tower and so am I! But why would you want...?"
"The Black Tower?" The man rubbed a hand along his metal plate. "Have the great Jedi built themselves another Council? Can it be...? Or has he kept something from me, the scrimpy old man!" Lowering the feeble hand, dressed in a... spiffy black glove, he abruptly held a rod of light, a light brighter than bright (and man was that bright) in his hand.
Arik gasped, and literally groveled at the floor, taking enough advantage of the situation to eat s'mores from it at the same time. "The Light have mercy, the Dragon Reborn has been defeated and the Black Man wields Callandor! The Creator shelter us and..."
"What are you babbling about?" He coughed, and the light disappeared. "I do not have the nerves for such fools as yourself! You said you were of this Black Tower! So take me to your master!!! Which I am, but your other master... Get the idea?"
The guards marched forth and removed his cuffs with a method most intricately done, by rays of solid light. Arik touched his wrists, and looked disbelievingly up at them. "A machine that makes balefire! Light and more light!" Another one of those ter'angreals...
The black man, as Arik liked (well, not liked, but preferred... well... not... Ah, anyways) to call him, barked a laugh, then flung himself into some serious coughing attacks. "It is not... Light... but.... the Dark... Ah, take him... away!"
Arm in arm, which reminded him of the annual Sunday dance with his sister home in Caemlyn, though more pleasant in a way, the guards took him away, heading for wherever he led them, and that was straight for the Green™ Ajah's Bonding Contest shack....
*********************
Lanfir was getting tired of reading names off a list, while all of her fellow Sisters were striding around, singing or chanting bonding-psalms, sipping their tea or other intoxicating drinks and stepping in and out of a big box. Two of the Sisters were still rolling on the floor, trying to home more punches at one another. Around them in a ring stood several of their newly appointed warders, unsure of what to make of the situation. Lanfir quickly handed them a free 'bonding-facts-and-false brochure' each, but that only seemed to deepen their frowns.
Leaned against a Wall, five other sisters were swinging a big bottle of mint tonic around in circles, telling coarse jokes and laughing raucously at them.
Yveva had managed to get tangled in with the Greens™ somehow. She had specified her astonishment over the ritual called bonding, and decided that she wanted to study it more carefully. Lanfir could have sworn she had seen Yveva inside that hut like thing more than once today, but the woman showed no obvious signs of it. Until then, Lanfir had nothing to directly confront her with.
Therefore, she had laid the devious plan of getting Yveva really, really drunk. Soon enough, men were bound to start stumbling around and they would have to be the unlucky ones...
The Head of the Green Ajah was in deep thoughts and barely lifted her head as the Sith™ Lord and three strangely armored men came walking along the Hall towards her. Turning around to hide it, she sprayed herself gently with half a bottle Eau de Mint and met them with a smile.
"Well hello there, stranger.... I see you returned and brought a few fr..."
"Are you a Jedi Knight?"
The figure dressed all in black metallic armor spoke with a deep clear voice, but at the same time as if he was getting insufficient supplies of air. His personal guards, for that was what she thought they must be, pointed at her with some mysterious devices. Yveva was also looking at them with interest.
"Whatever it is I am", she said with a teasing purse to her lips, "It is not a knight... Oh, and... Oops! Seems we are closed for today! I'll just make the last arrangements..."
The black man was just firming his hand into another grip when he got a strange look to his face, even for one wearing a mask. The Guards were looking warily at Lanfir, but surprising shock soon replaced the smile on her face, before she fainted...
"She was very well a Jedi Knight and strong in the force is she...I feel... different..."
"Oh, you're just one of a crowd, I'm sure of it." Arik replied. "But now that we have that clear..."
"No! You promised to show me Luke and Luke you will find for me!" He drew his breath. "Now I will teach him the way he was born to learn......... What are you gasping for?"
"Hm..? Oh! Nothing... I just found it strange without the laughter... But I enjoy a good change!"
********************
Luke sat sprawled in his straw-weaved chair, mind he only had a normal study. Taking off his reading glasses to muse over what he had just been reading, he stolidly sipped a glass of water. If that duck needed money, why didn't he just ask his uncle? Intrigues... Weren't they something for themselves...
"Luke..."
He embraced the True Source, ready to hurl a shower of fire at whoever had spoken his name. No one... there was only him... Alone...
"Luke...!"
This time, a faint, white-bearded man stood in front of him, his arms folded into the wide sleeves of his brownish cloak. His eyes shone with confidence, as did his voice.
"Luke... The Force, Luke! Use... the Force!"
"Uh... the Force?"
"Oh..." His voice stumbled. "Aren't you Luke Skywalker then?"
"Are you from the World of Dreams or something?" Luke asked with awe and expectation.
"Sorry, sorry..." His accent was unfamiliar, perhaps a man from the lands beyond the Waste... "I made a wrong turn somewhere and now the boy is on his own... STUPID, STUPID me! I should never have died trying to save a scanting budget anyway! Now look what I've done! I'll just be out of here right away..."
The door slammed open, and Arik was the first to stumble in, horror filling his eyes, feathers filling his mouth. Right in front of him, beneath his face, one of Luke's pocket books lay. It held a picture of a talking duck. Arik wanted to scream.
A man, or whatever, wearing a shining pitch-black armor, used him for a welcoming mat and looked around as he made his entrance. His guards followed behind. When he noticed the old man, he raised his voice.
"You! You were always the greater fool, Obi-Wan... You cannot save the boy from his destiny! Now I shall destroy you... Well..."
The old man spat. "Vader! I should have known you were behind all of this. But I will not let the boy succumb to temptation like you did! It is you who will pay for your deeds..."
"And who will stop me, Obi-Wan? Not you, the dead goat! No..." He turned to Luke and reached out a black-gloved hand, defiance filling his mask. "Come, Luke. Your true destiny awaits you! I... am... your..."
"Hold it! Hold it, hold it, hold it..." Luke rose from the chair, and put himself as a living shield between the two bickering men... at least one of them was a man. The other was a... hybrid? Anyway, he regretted it a bit. "First of all, as you pointed out, I am NOT Luke Skywalker, the one you are looking for. Right?
"Right." Obi-Wan said. "Wrong", the black armored man said. They looked at each other. Obi-Wan opened his mouth to speak.
"STOP!" Arik shouted from his place underneath the black armored feet. Oh, yes, just get me out of this mess!
"There has been... a terrible misunderstanding... I see it all so clearly now."
"You do?" Obi-Wan asked in a quizzical tone.
"No, not really that clearly... But... Ehm... Master... I don't think Luke here is the Luke you are looking for."
"He is not?" The two mysterious men said in unison. After a while the old man added: "Yes, that's right... That was what I was about to say!"
"Well, thank the Creator we got that cleared up," Luke let out a bad breath. "For a moment, I didn't know what to think! I dare bet I don't even look anything like this Luke, do I?"
"No." The armored man mumbled before turning to his opponent. "It seems we were both wrong this time, Obi-Wan. And I don't know how you got here... Well, I don't know how I got here either.... I mean to return as quickly as possible. And this time, I will reach the boy before you!"
"We'll see about that" Obi-Wan bawled before disappearing without trace.
"BURN HIM, he always gets away with that trick of his!" He turned his attention towards Arik. "And you! You will suffer for your... silliness!"
"Hey!" Arik protested. "I am not guilty of anything! How could I know he wasn't the one you were searching for??"
Vader, as his name seemed to be, stepped down to the floor and lifted Arik up by his heron-marked collar. "Now, foolish boy, I will make you wish you were never born... What the... What is that...? I can feel it in the distance..."
"That would be the taint." Arik told him. "It messes up the male half of the True Source, saidin and it's really sticky... oh, yes, and I am tainted with it."
Vader hastily released his grip, and just stood there.
"What is going on now, then?" Luke asked curiously. "The only way a man who cannot channel can feel the taint is if he were... Oh... Do you mean... Oh... To who?"
"Lanfir... Did that come as a surprise to you?"
Luke was grinning widely. "Not at all. And he sounds pretty evil too. Perhaps it'll be for the good of them both!"
******************
"More mint tea, please! I feel queasy... Not just because of the weather..."
Lanfir watched as Vader poured her a hot cup of tea, waving her big, green-plumed fan. "And bring me my slippers, I want to go for a walk in the gardens..."
"Yes, mistress Lanfir." Vader nodded, and backed away slowly while bowing.
"Uh... Go, you make me nauseous..." She waved him further away, and tried to ignore the disturbing creaking when he walked. Still his guards followed him; they had been bonded too...
"And you know what is really strange about all of this?"
Arik told Luke, enjoying the slight breeze of summer just come, sensing the sweet fragrant of nearby gardenias while relaxing in a puffy chair.
"No, tell me." Luke answered, fiddling with his sunglasses.
"That this time, for once, I got away... Nothing happened to me! Blight, I even got myself a vacation for once! Can you believe that?"
"No... not really. Hey, how does these things work?"
"Same as glasses..." Arik made sure the parasol stood steadily. He shunned the sun, really he did. Luckily he had brought some lotion. Consuela was sitting next to him, but he decided not to bother her with such simple things. After all, her test was coming up soon and she needed all the information she could get. Though only on book four, he was sure she would make it. Or hoped... truly it would be a loss if not.
"Since your... maid... seems to be busy, how would you like it if I helped you with that lotion?"
Arik grinned. "Sure, that would be..." There was something familiar with that voice... "Lanfir! I knew I shouldn't have let you out of sight! Lord, no! NO, PLEASE!"
Her hands locked threateningly around his throat, and a huge shadow covered him completely.
"I've got you now, silly boy! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!"
******************
Thus ends the saga of Arik Korpin!
No, it would be wrong to call it that... Three short stories then, or a trilogy rather...
But is it really the end of inhumanity reincarnated, or does other dangers lurch?
How will Arik escape the claws of Lanfir Sedai? And many other questions lay unanswered... Look out for the answer to that one at least; it may be more than you can handle!!!!
THE END!!!!
Arik Korpin
Soldier of the Black Tower
Bonded to Siuan Sedai of the Yellow Ajah (no, that was only a story)
DragonMinter
(and some other non-crucial things)
