Chapter 26: Curses!  Foiled Again...
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     They decided to leave first thing in the morning.  Mobliz was not far
by boat; they would probably reach it later that same day.  The trip passed
mostly in silence, as Akfek said nothing at all.  Sascha suspected that he
probably had a hell of a hangover; she was pretty sure he'd been drinking
all last night.  She sighed absently.  She'd never been able to figure out
the attraction that ale held for men.  She herself couldn't stand the taste
of the vile stuff.

     They reached their destination shortly after noon, and anchored the
boat just out of sight of the town itself.

     "There is the possibility that more than one message was sent," he
said, the first words he'd spoken all day, "and that its intended recipient
is already here.  We do not want to draw attention to ourselves... yet."
Sascha agreed, and they departed.

     When they entered the ruined settlement, they could hear voices from
one of the buildings.

     "He was sick for almost a week before you came.  I don't know how..."

     "This doesn't look good," muttered Akfek, glowering at the house.

     "We should check it out," whispered Sascha.  "I'll go in."

     "Why you?" he asked somewhat incredulously.

     "Because," she retorted, winking at him, "I'm cuter!"  She removed her
cape and weapons, and put them in Akfek's pack.  She then took off her
headband, and shook out her hair.  "Voila!" she exclaimed.  "Instant
farmgirl!"  Akfek smiled slowly.  He withdrew into the shadows, out of
sight.  Sascha took this as a vote of confidence.  She approached the
building.  She knocked on the door, and it swung open. Inside, she could
see four people: a young couple, a blond man sitting on a bed, and another
man talking to them.

     "He really doesn't remember _anything_?" the latter asked.

     "No, Cecil," the woman replied.

     'Damn,' thought Sascha, taking in the situation.  This was not good,
not good at all.  She had recognized one of the men from etchings in a
history book: Cecil the Paladin.  There was no chance of getting that other
warrior now...

     It was at this point that Cecil noticed the interloper.  "Can I help
you, my lady?" he asked, looking her over.

     "I'm supposed to visit my uncle Jed in Tzen," she replied in her best
hick accent, "but I'm *sniff!* lost!"

     "Well, you're not _too_ far away," put in the woman, and she proceeded
to give Sascha directions.  Meanwhile, Cecil was still looking at Sascha
intently, making her extremely uncomfortable.  'He knows something's up,'
she thought.  Her mental powers were giving her an _extremely_ bad vibe.
She noticed that he was carrying some kind of orb.  She could sense its
magical energy.  She wondered what it was for...  Sascha wanted out of here
more than anything right now.  Then she realized that the woman had
finished speaking.

     "Thank you _sooooo_ much," she replied, with a big goofy smile.  She
then turned and left.  She could still feel the Paladin's gaze on her.  As
soon as the door was closed behind her, she ran to where Akfek was
concealed in the shadows.

     "Well?" he inquired.

     "We have to get out of here," she said, pulling her things from the
pack.  "Unless we want to change our minds about drawing attention to
ourselves.  I just saw Cecil the Paladin."  Akfek nodded grimly.  It would
not do to have a confrontation just now.

     "Let's go," he said.  Sascha re-armed herself, put her cape back on,
and fixed her hair almost as quickly as Captain Janeway.  The two walked
briskly out of Mobliz.