David & 'Lyssa Ch. 05

Lady shadow tried to maintain a solemn mien, but she her smile kept sneaking up on her lips.

Shana knocked politely on the parlor door. "Excuse me Mistress, General Darial reports that the grounds and mansion are clear of bog mimics."

"Is there any report on our casualties?" 'Lyssa asked.

Shana nodded briskly. "We have confirmed 30 of our staff and visitors slain, and twice that number wounded. 14 missing and unaccounted for. The enemy dead in the house proper is over 70. And on the grounds outside almost 400."

Lady Shadow excused herself to set several of her mountain tigers on patrol with the giants. They would smell out any encroaching bog mimics or other enemies and deal with them. The giants would provide powerful backup in case the tigers ran into something even they could not handle.

Since the tigers were over 6 feet high at the shoulder and weighed over a ton, there was little that they could not handle without aid. When the giants saw the big cats, they were dubious at first, until they found out that the mountain tigers had human level intelligence and were perfectly capable of holding their own in conversation as well as in battle.

Another thing a bored giant guard discovered was that mountain tigers are fanatic chess players and would discuss the game for hours given the chance.

Prissy was getting impatient sitting by Mad Tom's fireplace sipping tea.

"As much as I enjoy your company," Prissy said, "I'm getting worried about my husband and the rest of my family."

Tom opened the oven door and pulled out a plate of cookies. "Everyone is safe and sound my dear." He said. "Would you like a cookie or three?"

Prissy started to reply with some heat, then the tempting odors of the hot cookies reached her nose and her resolve melted away. "Ummm, I guess one or two wouldn't hurt..."

"I understand that there's a small matter of another missing child to deal with?" Tom said as he seated himself next to Prissy. She sighed with guilty pleasure as she bit into a steaming cookie. Then she started to explain about Lady Shadow's missing cub.

When she finished, Mad Tom stood up. "I think it's high time I met this lady." Prissy stood up and took Tom's hand as he led her to the front door of the hut. She reached out and snagged a handful of warm cookies from the plate on the table. Mad, the old hermit might be, but he was a hell of a baker! Tom opened the door to the hut and stepped through. Prissy was munching on a cookie as she passed through the door. It took her a moment to realize that she was now standing in the main foyer of the mansion. She spun to ask Tom how he had done that. The old hermit smiled and placed a finger across her lips gently. "Shh, You know I hate questions like that." Prissy opened her mouth to say something anyway. Tom stuffed another cookie into her mouth with an impish grin. "One of the two foolproof ways known to shut a woman up."

Swallowing to clear her mouth, Prissy managed to choke out, "And what, pray tell, is the other way?" Tom cackled laughter, "You're married, and so the other method doesn't apply here."

Prissy gave the old hermit an exasperated look. "Come on," she said.

Prissy left Tom seated comfortable in the parlor then went looking for her co-wives and their guest. The first room that she looked into contained a pair of very messily dead bodies. Prissy spun on her heel and raced back to the parlor. Slamming the door closed behind her, Prissy called upon all the defensive magic she still commanded. "Stay calm and stay put," she ordered Tom." Something is very wrong here, and we may be in a lot of trouble." "Calm yourself. The battle is long over." Said Tom indulgently.

"Piss on that." Said Prissy grimly. "There's fresh corpses in the next room, and I wanna make she we ain't next on the agenda."

The door to the parlor opened suddenly, and Prissy damn near fried 'Lyssa and Lady Shadow out of sheer reflex. She would have toasted them had not Tom exerted his will just the slightest bit and deflected the energy bolt just enough to pass between the newcomers to impact on the opposite wall of the hallway behind them.

'Lyssa and Lady Shadow dove for the floor when the deadly energy bolt flickered past their ears. "Damnit Prissy, what are you trying to do?" yelled 'Lyssa. Lady Shadow's face showed

why she was as much feared as respected. Her lips were wrinkled back in a soundless snarl and her hears were flat back against her skull. Her tail was lashing and the claws had emerged almost 2 inches long from her fingertips.

'Lyssa looked over at her guest wryly. "Sorry about that. You remember Prissy? My co-wife? She's just a tad bit excitable sometimes."

Gradually, Lady Shadow calmed down. Glaring at Prissy for a long moment, she then walked over to the sideboard. "Do you have any wine in here? If she's going to be tossing lightning around, I want to have a few drinks in me first."

Prissy walked slowly over to Lady Shadow. "I'm sorry, I really am. I just saw those dead bodies in the other room, and I panicked. What's been going on here anyway?"

"Come to think of it, where the hell is David?" 'Lyssa asked suddenly.

"I don't know," Prissy said helplessly. "We gated out of here together, but I ended up in front of Tom's cabin instead of in the Great Hall. And David wasn't with me. I've spent the ' last hour or so since then sitting in Tom's kitchen." "Hour or so?" exclaimed Lady Shadow. "But you left almost a week ago!"

Prissy turned to Tom to demand an explanation. But when she opened her mouth to speak, Tom lifted a finger and she suddenly found herself with another mouthful of cookie.

Tom rose to his feet facing Lady Shadow. "I am honored to meet you Milady," he said with a deep bow in her direction. I understand you have a question to ask me."

Tom looked over at 'Lyssa, "Settle down pretty lady, the others are just fine for now." He turned back to the ruler of the mountain domain. "And what is your question?"

"My only offspring was stolen from me from her crib while she was just a cub. I know she is alive from the warmth of the amulet I always carry. But I have searched for her for centuries and found no true trace of her or her abductors."

"And what is it you would know?" Tom asked.

"How I can find her. And where." Lady Shadow asked without much hope. She had been disappointed so often in the past.

"As to where she is," said Tom, "That's easy. She is in an underground vault. How to find her, you have been looking in the wrong places. You have been looking for someone who wanted to harm her or to cause you difficulty. The being that took your cub fancies itself to be a collector. And of course, to a collector, pristine condition is a primary consideration."

Lady Shadow sat down hard in one of the chairs next to Tom. Her knees wouldn't hold her anymore and her stomach was churning. Was it possible that she was at the end of her search after all this time? She hardly dared let herself hope.

Prissy stood beside Lady Shadow's chair and stroked the back of the cat lady's head and lightly scratched her behind the ears. Lady Shadow unconsciously leaned into the caress and relaxed ever so slightly.

"Retrieving your cub won't be easy," warned Tom. "Like most collectors, this being guards its treasures jealously and fiercely."

"Just tell me where." Lady Shadow said. "And I will find her though Hell itself may stand between us."

'Lyssa came over and knelt by Lady Shadow's feet. "And my husband and all of us will aid you."

Tom chuckled. "Too many of you go and the cub will be lost forever. All that are needed are three."

"And which three?" asked 'Lyssa. "Why, Lady Shadow, David, and the delightful Staffet of course."

"But David and Bitsy aren't here!" said Prissy plaintively.

"They'll be along shortly I'd expect." Replied Tom. Then the old hermit leaned back in his chair and started snoring.

Jenny woke up early. She felt strangely crowded in the bed. She looked over and saw David curled up to her side. She looked down at her feet; Staffet was coiled up on the floor at the foot of the bed in her dragon body. She had her head resting on the mattress by Jenny's toes.

When Bitsy felt Jenny move, she woke instantly and shifted back to human form. "Mommy!" she cried as she piled onto the bed to hug Jenny.

All the commotion woke David up. "Hi Honey." he said. Bitsy was bouncing all over the bed, making getting anything more than a brief kiss impossible. David swatted Bitsy on the rump as he climbed out of bed. "Take it easy Squirt. Don't get her too tired out so soon."

"I won't daddy." Bitsy said. She settled down and lay next to Jenny and wrapped her arms around her. "I'm glad you're OK." She said.

"I'm just fine." Jenny said as she hugged Bitsy. "Now scoot, I have to use the toilet."

Bitsy wriggled off the bed. "OK, I'll use the box in the gym." Bitsy shifted to Dragon form and went into the attached gym where the curtained sandbox still waited from her previous visits

Jenny used the toilet, then stepped into the shower as David climbed out. He collected a kiss in passing, and then dressed to fix breakfast.

As they ate, David filled them in on his little adventures. Jenny filled David in on what Bitsy had missed.

"We had better get back right she said when they were done eating.

David opened the door to the apartment arid stepped directly into the parlor. "HI Uncle Tom!" Bitsy squealed as soon as she caught sight of the old hermit.

'Lyssa and Prissy were crowding around David in a flurry of welcome.

Lady Shadow looked wistfully at the reunion. No one had greeted her like that since her mate had died.

Then she looked down in surprise. Bitsy had locked her arms around her waist. "Don't worry, I'm here for you too." Bitsy said. •

Lady Shadow wrapped her arms around Bitsy's head and hugged the girl to her. Gods! How she'd missed this!

David finally broke away from his wives and approached Mad Tom. "What brings you here?"

"Just another small quest for you to deal with." The hermit said.

David shook his head wearily. "One damn thing after another."

Shana called them into the dining room for dinner.

"So how do we deal with this collector?" David asked Tom.

"Simple," replied the old hermit. "You kill it."

"And how do we kill it?" David asked.

"That's entirely up to you." chuckled Tom.

Lady Shadow spoke up then to forestall a grouchy response from David. "Exactly where is this collector located? And, is my cub with him?"

"Your offspring is concealed in a crystal cylinder located next to his other treasures in his vault. She is suspended on display, but is unharmed. Although she has aged slightly since her acquisition."

"So how are we supposed to get into this 'collectors' vault?" David asked reasonably.

"The entrance to the collectors underground cavern is through that door there." Tom indicated a door in the wall that hadn't been there an instant before.

David narrowed his eyes. That little trick should have used an amazing amount of power, but he hadn't felt the slightest tingle of magic in use.

Lady Shadow started up from her chair to go charging through the door. She sat down again however; as an unseen hand pressed her firmly back into her seat. "Don't act like a kitten." Tom scolded. "Your cub has waited this many centuries. She will last at least until we finish eating."

Lady Shadow subsided with bad grace, not that she had a lot of choice.

Bitsy finally finished eating, then she asked to be excused so that she could get her dagger and change clothes in her room. 'Lyssa nodded her permission, and Bitsy made the round of the table, giving each person there a kiss. When she had gone, Tom lit his pipe. "David, you will need all the cunning that you developed as a mercenary to defeat the collector. Don't be fooled by outward shape. Lady Shadow, to you falls the task of slipping unseen through all of the collectors traps while it is distracted by David."

"And what role will Staffet play?" asked 'Lyssa in a dangerously soft voice.

"She will have to defeat the guardians of the vault while Lady Shadow recovers her daughter." Tom explained.

"Will they all be OK?" Jenny asked.

"That remains to be seen." Tom replied.

Sometime during the ensuing discussion, the mad old hermit vanished from his chair. It was several minutes before his absence was noticed.

Bitsy came back to the dining room dressed in her jeans, a long sleeved mesh-mail shirt over a 'Dragons Rule' t-shirt, and her usual sneakers. Her dagger was sheathed at her right side, and her amulet shone softly through the mesh sleeve of her armor shirt. "I'm ready!" she said.

David pushed his chair back, stood up, and kissed each of his wives in turn. "Please try to stay out of trouble this time," he said, only half jokingly.

'Lyssa hugged Lady Shadow. "If anyone can get your daughter back, my Beloved can."

David linked his belt to Bitsy's with a piece of nylon rope. He then tied another rope from his belt to a loop around Lady Shadow's waist. "Stay close, do what I say, when I say, without questions, and we just might all live through this."

I am not accustomed to following orders," said Lady Shadow with a smile. "However for this matter, I place myself under your command."

"OK," David told his team, "here is what I want to happen if at all possible." The trio huddled briefly with their heads close together. When they straightened up, Lady Shadow made a bow in David's direction. "You must be part cat." was all she said.

David opened the door in the wall and stepped through accompanied by the other two.

When the door closed behind David and the others, it vanished as if it had never existed. And in a very real sense, its existence hadn't truly happened at all.

"All we can do now is wait." Prissy said.

"I hate waiting." grumbled 'Lyssa and Jenny in such perfect unison that all three women started laughing.

David and the others found themselves facing a cave entrance leading into a hillside near a

forest. David loosed the rope that linked them together. "Everyone stay loose and stay about

3 feet apart. Keep levitation spells s syllable away from activation in case of trap doors

etc."

"I don't have a levitation spell." Said Lady Shadow.

David took her hand in his, noticing a gold band around one finger. "I'll put one on the ring. It will-be a one shot spell, but all you'll have to do is will it to activate."

Bitsy followed the flow of her father's magic, refining and strengthening it.

"Thank you Milord." Lady Shadow said softly.

"Let's go." David ordered. He took point, with Bitsy behind him and Lady Shadow trailing. There was no ambient light in the cave, but David1 s enchanted hand gifted him with vision that saw into the infrared. This was one of the unexpected side effects caused by the stoned efforts of crystal and Ruby, the cave dweller twins now living in David's world. He made up his mind to sit down when he had the chance and explore the powers and abilities of his artificial hand.

David1s enhanced vision detected several booby traps on the ceiling, walls and floor of the cave in time for him to either disarm or lead his charges past without tripping them. In this manner, they made their way several miles under the surface. Bitsy was now in her natural dragon form, the better to see, hear, and smell out the guardians of the vault. They knew they were getting closer to their goal as Lady Shadow's amulet grew warmer as she approached her cub's resting place.

"Thieves!" boomed a voice from a side passage.

"Go for it!" David hissed to his companions. Bitsy and Lady Shadow slipped past David as he turned to confront he 'collector'.

"You have come to plunder my treasures! But I will kill you before you can even take the sight of them with you!"

"Lots of talk for a spook afraid to show itself." David sneered. He wasn't feeling nearly as confident as he sounded.

"Those who see me, perish soon afterward." The voice came from closer at hand, yet David could not see anything even with his augmented vision.

"I just want to be left alone." Whined the voice. "Why can't you all just leave me alone?"

David's artificial hand shot out to the side of him, fingers rigidly extended, and his arm straight and the elbow locked. David stared at his errant arm. This wasn't HIS idea!

His arm and hand flared bright as it had when he had faced the undead in the other dimension. The glow outlined a small humanoid form with his hand embedded in its head. Something told David that as long as he held his hand in place, the 'collector' was powerless. The rest was up to Lady Shadow and Staffet. All they had to do was to follow his plan...

Bitsy shifted form to whisper in Lady Shadow's ear. "Get on my back when I change form again, I will refold my wings to hide your outline. That way they can't see you and won't even know you're around until it's too late. " Bitsy stepped back and shifted back to dragon form. Bitsy unfolded her wings slightly as Lady Shadow slipped onto her back and lay down along the young dragon's spine. Bitsy refolded her wings to drape over Lady Shadow while leaving space between the wings and her body unobstructed so that Lady Shadow could slip down on either side unseen. Bitsy used a small levitation spell to raise her just a few inches above the floor, holding her forelegs and hind legs trail straight back instead of dangling, and

stretching her body slightly lengthwise, Bitsy had plenty of clearance on the sides, above, and, most importantly, below her. Bitsy pushed with her mind, gliding silently and easily 6 inches from the floor, thus avoiding pressure sensitive traps etc. But her inexperience showed when she zipped around a corner without checking it first. She felt the tripwire before she saw it. And of course, by then it was too late. Alarm bells and gongs sounded and light flared from previously dead torches on the walls. Bitsy sped up, hoping to get to the vault before the guards had a chance to react. Around another bend, Bitsy ran full speed into a large group of creatures blocking the entrance to a huge cavernous room. Bitsy didn't feel Lady Shadow leave her back, but she did catch a glimpse of her stealthy form entering the display cavern.

Bitsy roared in pain and anger as a critter looking somewhat like a hyperthyroid rabbit bit her on the tail. She whirled and bit once, half of the overgrown bunny disappeared. Bitsy swallowed and reached out with a foreleg, talons spread wide to rake the belly of a humanoid nearly the size of Tuck. Leaving its intestines in a steaming pile at its feet, the semi-giant collapsed. Then Bitsy was too busy biting, clawing, and flaming everything within reach to keep track of anything else but the next foe.

Finally all was still. Bitsy stood alone amid dismembered corpses and piles of internal organs. She swayed on her feet wearily. While most of the blood covering her scales was the enemy's, a good deal of it was flowing from her own wounds. Bitsy's head ached abominably where a club wielding ogre type had landed one blow to the top of her skull before being burned in half by her fiery breath. She took a deep breath and winced, feeling broken ribs grating under her scaly hide.

Then she entered the vault. Lady Shadow was seated on a diamond large enough to have bought many nations if properly cut and sold. There were bodies and blood everywhere. Lady Shadow saw Bitsy and managed to stand. The cat lady held her hand pressed to her side. Blood seeped between her fingers and down her hip. "I guess I wasn't fast enough this time." Lady Shadow rasped. "My daughter is over here." Leaning on Bitsy, Lady Shadow made her way over to a series of crystal pillars, each holding a young creature. There were representatives of about 20 species trapped in the crystals. "How do we get them out?" asked Bitsy. "Let's get them out of here first, we'll worry about getting them out of their crystals later. Bitsy made Lady Shadow sit nearby and relax. Then she used the strength of her dragon body to shift the pillars until they all touched. Lady Shadow crawled painfully up on Bitsy's back once more. Bitsy wrapped her body and tail around the pillars as best she could, then triggered her escape amulet, willing Lady Shadow and the children to come with her.