Chapter 17: Things That Go Bump in the Night...
             -----------------------------------------------

The group was exhausted, and their recent encounter with Rhiannion hadn't
helped a bit.  Cecil and Kain hadn't slept for over 24 hours, and lola
was still getting used to this adventuring stuff.  So when they stopped
running, they looked for a safe place to camp...it was dawn.
        "Kain, what about over there...there seems to be a nice
outcroppping of rocks that would surround us and shield us from view."
        "Looks good to me, Cecil, but then, right now, a bed of Cactrot
needles would look good to me."
        Lola just shrugged...it really didn't matter to her as long as
she was free of Rhiannion.
        The three walked over to the alcove, and were joyed to find a
single pine tree had shed its needle to give them all a comfortable bed
on which to sleep.
        "Cereb," Cecil spoke to his helm, "Keep a scan up for anything
unusual...I don't want to be suprised by that Rhiannion guy again."
        "Very well, Paladin."
        With that Cecil found a nice spot near the tree and offered Lola
a somewhat more private spot on the other side of a boudler from he and Kain.
        The trio was soon out cold.
*********
        Arran watched from afar, very afar.  HE had sensed the one called
Cerebratan almost too late, and he wasn't about to let that one know he,
Arran, was near.
        It had been a long time since the two had meet.  At the time,
millenia before, Arran had been a great warrior in the service of the
warlord Garland.  That master had sent him to personsally dispatch the
five warriors who had come from Lefein, city of the elves.  The five
warriors were powerful, but they had lacked the orbs neccessary to defeat
his master, so Arran figured the task would be simple.  And when he
finally meet the five 'Light Warriors', as they called themselves, the
ensuing battle went not as planned.
        First, Arran tried to slay the one called Cerebratan by ambush, but
that warrior had been ready for Arran, an instead withdrew to the shadow world
to do battle.  Cerebratan was welled versed in shadowworld battle, and
Arran had no such skills, so Cerebratan pummeled Arran with many hits
before the warrior drew on the powers of Chaos, his ultimate master.
This had been where things became interesting.
        Arran grew in power and gained magical abilities with the
infusion of chaos.  Cerebratan was ripped from the shadow world and
thrown into his body where he lay in a coma for days.  There were only
four warriors left now, and Arran was not to relent.  One of the
warriors, Arthurian was his name, cast some sort of spell toprotect the
party, but Arran impaled Arthurian, making a near fatal wound.
Murcreties, much faster than Arran, had been able to get behind the now
massive beast and stab it in the back, yet the wound was frivilous.
Stunned, Murcreties was sent flying by a massive kick from Arran.
        The beast then swung around to see Salvatar and Guardian mounting
another foolish offensive.  From his mouth issued forth a noxious gas
with felled the two brave warriors before they could respond.  They five
had been laid to waste by Arran.
        At his master's command, Arran brought the still living body back
to Garland. who planned to turn them into servants, but as he showed his
master the days fruitage, guardian shook off the effects of the gas,
pulled his sword, and while Arran was still unawares, cleaved the now
human beast's head off.
        What happened after that, Arran knew not.
********
        Waking from his daydream, Arran watch the warriors sleep from a
distance.  He started to devise a plan the would rid himself of the three
spirits who protected the Paladin...