From: Date: Mon, 1 Jun 1998 12:25:43 EDT Subject: The Aftermath. Teri woke slowly-- that sort of spiraling waking that happens when you've been out cold, or have fallen unconscious from exhaustion. A hot, sticky emergence from the darkness-- She opened one eye against the soft sunset, looked around her at the widening road. The breeze passed over her face and she nearly gagged-- it was then that she realized what was happening. That man--Roland-- he was carrying her. She squirmed in his arms, tried to tell him to let her go-- coughed against the dryness in her throat. "Be still" "Put me down," she glared at him before the pain in her head overcame her and she squeezed her eyes shut against it. "You can't walk." "What do you mean, I can't walk!! I'll walk if i want to walk--" she was whispering. Teri was afraid she wasn't sounding very convincing. "You want to walk?" he looked down at her for the first time, annoyed. Teri nodded. "Fine" He put her feet to the ground and she stood, rearranged the jacket tied around her waste-- and her legs promptly collapsed. Teri was staring with disbelief at the red-dust road while ROland laughed. She lifted her face and glared at him. "STop laughing" she felt her skin grow red with her anger... then her vision went white and she collapsed, unconscious on the road. Roland rolled his eyes and scooped her up again, throwing her over his shoulder as he walked. The town should be less than a half mile away, from what the old man had babbled before the bandits attacked. Teri was being banged against his back with every step-- and regained consciousness with dust in her mouth and the dizzying, cloying smell of sweat in her nose-- "Ugh! God you stink!" she cried, hitting his back weakly. Roland stiffened. "You dont' smell so hot yourself, kid." A small sound of indignation escaped from her-- SHE NEEDED A BATH!!! AND SOME COFFEE!!! "When are we gonna be there-- what happened to me-- the bandits... did they" Teri pressed her fingers to her temples-- she couldn't think straight. "We trounced those guys, dont' worry about it." "No-- i don't care about them-- what happened to me?" Roland chuckled. "Looks like you exploded with khef or something. Where are you from, anyway?" Teri wiggled, the blood that had rushed to her head was making her nauseated again. "Coventry. Khef? what's that?" Roland decided to wait-- he'd talk about guns and other worlds later, and answered her question. "Khef is my name for it. Other peoples have different names: chi, energy, force, magic... the list goes on forever." Teri laughed. "magic? yeah, right." "I wouldn't laugh. You almost killed the bandits AND me. Two of them were acting like they had third degree burns. Nothing like I've ever seen, but khef is used in many different ways." "I'll believe it when I see it." "Don't trust me?" he snorted, and she shrugged against his back. "Fine. Suit yourself." A billow of dust choked her again and she looked up-- a small cloud of dirt and the sound of running feet-- "Someone's coming, Roland..."