The
Tunnel's Inn
Date: 6/27/2000
From: Tigs
The three warriors stood side by side by side watching the magician. He was flanked by the Valkery and the Fairy Queen. For an age no one moved. The bards recorded the momentous occasion as an ice age and a half passed around them all.
The left warrior was smaller and darker than the other two. His brown hair kept falling into his dark brown eyes. He was known as Silence the Assasain. No one ever crossed him and lived to tell about it. Yet the magician had.
Silence had brought the rains down upon the Magician's home. Finicky as he was the Magician had been appalled at the floods that had raged over his homelands. His people were now weak and sickly. The Magician (who mirrored his people) looked as tho' to be the Valkery's next gift to Vahlhalla.
The mid warrior was a typical burly bronzed and blond Norseman. He was fond of telling others his adventures. He claimed to have traveled out of Midgard and to the stars. No one believed that one could travel amongst the stars or the space that surrounded Midgard in such a short time as a day.
Of the three warriors the one to the right--the one in front of the Fairy Quinn--was the most dangerous. His dark form shifted constantly. It was whispered he slid between the worlds. It was well known he had once been in the lands of the Faene. For her part the Fairy Queen seemed unruffled by him. In fact, she whispered a name that made him shudder.
Finally there was the Valkery. Her long blonde hair was confined by a strip of leather. Her ice blue eyes were unforgiving as she raked the three warriors and found them wanting.
Still they waited.
Finally the Bard came out of the inn, "Are you ladies going to let them finish the pissing contest or are you gonna drag them in? Table's free now."
"Come seeker of Tam Lin's shadow," the Fairy Queen beckoned the dark shifting warrior. Against his will he followed her like a sinner doing pennance for an ill he didn't know he'd committed.
The Valkery shrugged an motioned the burly Norseman to follow her into the Inn. He spat in her direction before finding himself flat on his back--the position he claimed to prefer his women in. Distinctly uncomfortable, especially with the snickers of the locals following him he rose and tried to saunter in after the Valkery.
This left only the Magician and the Assassain. Silence motioned politely for the Magician to preceed him. Sardonically the Magician smiled. A rune of warding protected his slight form. The Assasain was not fooled. He recognized the whipcord strength hidden by the Magicians voluminous robes.
Once inside the Inn the six looked around in various shades of awe. The Bard sat in a corner tuning his intrument. The edge of his saber peeked out of his pack. Those who are wont to collect stories often had to protect themselves from sharing their work.
The table closest to the fire hosted a myriad of mercs. A most dangerous woman seemed to control them all. Silence raised an eyebrow in surprise. It had been whispered that all the folks in the Inn had been killed by one of the Norseman's schemes. Of course this woman's body had been conspicuously missing--it didn't explain the others being alive though.
A Hunter and his mate (it was said that she was from the Abysmal Plains) sat in a far corner. They were curiously ambivelent about the six. His mate watched the Fairy Queen disappear with some small satisfaction. The Fairy Queen hadn't been meant for this battle. Soon enough others entered the Inn. A Juggler and his traveling companion the Prophet. They both had a knack for dropping their repsective balls (no pun or slight intended) into the wrong stew pots often enough to offend warriors and scholars alike. The Juggler was said to hold the record at seventy nine small white balls. The Prophet scanned the crowd before finding a group that might listen to his tales. The bard grunted and fingered his saber lightly at the unintentional competition. The Prophet was otherworldly and it wouldn't do to harm him.
A Scholar stuck his foot out and tripped the Juggler. Before the two could fight a tiger loped in and sat between them. Neither would harm the tiger, they knew her mistress would kill them with (they both shuddered slightly) kindness. The partner of the tiger trainer, called only Bred (many thought it was for the way she did her hair, but a few knew it was for another reason) called the tiger and eyed the Scholar and the Juggler. They wouldn't offend her for all the world.
The Chef and the Inn Keeper came around to all the tables. Patrons kept their eyes from rolling while the chef meandered on (he could go on forever about food). His wife the Inn Keeper drifted in and out never staying long, just instering a comment or a reply. She most often replied to the Cook.
The Cook and the Inn Keeper passed the table nearest the kitchen. A Noble woman fed her prized pooch tidbits from her own meal. The Inn Keeper "tsked" as next to the Noble Woman a young man seemed to be brooding. His gray robes marked him as a Storm Caller. Another scholar seemed to be nodding enthusiastically at everything said by anyone around him. Every once in awhile the entire table would burst into peals of laughter as he swept his hand through his tuft and commented accuratly on the others spread throughout the room. The Noble woman's traveling companion was whispering to the man next to her. He blushed each time her fan whisked a miniature whirlwind into existence. He kept counting his 62 coins as though a thief would snatch them at any moment.
A couple sat at a table along the wall. They seemed so immersed in each other that the rest of the world and the Inn didn't exist. She kept toying with his upper lip and giggling. At their table a lone figure sat and seemed to fight the urge to throw the dinner he'd eaten up onto the floor. He kept trying to get the wheezing woman beside him into a conversation. Every time he mentioned his bank she just wheezed and coughed all the more.
At the last table sat a Russian woman. She steadily downed vodka and it seemed to affect her not at all. She muttered about aliens, vampires and impossible jobs. The five (for the Fairy Queen had dissapeared) neared her. She was the one they sought. Only she could finish their story and free them from exile. She only laughed maniacally at their approach. She seemed to find their dilemma as humorous as her own.
____________________________________________________________
The author apologizes for not including descriptions of all the esteemed members of this community, but it is late and she has run out of creativity. Please do not feel slighted if you do not recognize yourself. Perhaps you are not looking closely enough.
ktf
Tigsps. Would you like another installment or should I leave them begging the exiled Queen (she's from Tula not Faene).
©Tigs 2000
Woohooo!!
This is wonderful!!
Date: 6/27/2000
From: JessieMallory
I love it, and yes please more, more, more.
Jess
jessiemallory@yahoo.com
A
guess of posters in the story...
Date: 6/27/2000
From: Sabre_Edge
I think I see:
Qball79
TemporalFlux
JorgeCis
Vortex62
HunterD_Raven
Stoker_Chick
HurriKain
The Bard with the Sabre is interesting ;)
and the Tiger is not a coincidence.E-mail me Tigs if you don't want to reveal it here, I'd like to know if I'm right.
I think it's me but the paragraph with the 62 coins was kinda hard to follow. I know Tex is in there, I just don't know which one exactly.
Keep posting it :)
More
gesses (Semi-SPLRS here and Above)
Date: 6/27/2000
From: Sabre_Edge
More searching reveals:
Brand S (S the Great)
SpaceTime
DarkSlider
Mychand
dellyone
references to BWII
possibly Spaz and SarahI'd name the characters but I don't want to ruin it for others.
Let me know Tigs, this is fun :)
Another
installment please!!
Date: 6/27/2000
From: Yeontoo
Dear Tigs,
I've studied it. (wow)
Do I see...
Tigs
Slider Sarah
dellyone
Southern Slider
Spaz 119
Britslider
SpaceTime
Darkslider
Brand S
SL4ever
Hurrikain
Sabre_Edge
QBall79
Blinker
TemporalFlux
Chaser9
Mychand
Vortex62
JorgeCisNow, this is only a guess :)
Blessings,
Yeontoo
Nicely
done. More, please!
Date: 6/27/2000
From: EustiSlider
Don't ask me to guess who's who. I was a thrid of the way into it before I even realized that the characters were supposed to be us. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and this story must continue.
--Eusti
It's "valkyrie" [END]
Date: 6/27/2000
From: SpaceTime
.
Me
Likie!
Date: 6/27/2000
From: SL4ever
This is very creative! :-P I'll have another serving please. Serve it up hot and pretty.
<applauds
for several minutes>
Date: 6/27/2000
From: dellyone
WhooHooo, Tigs. That was wonderful. How about another installment please with strawberries and coolwhip? I'd love to read another one. So this was the other direction you were talking about? Awesome. :D :D :D :D :D :D
My guesses of the ones I could figure out:
Aelita
Blinker
weeeezr
Yeontoo
Sabre_Edge
Brand S
HunterD
Stoker_chick
SpaceTime
darkslider
Tigs
Mychand
Vortex62
QBall79
SouthernSlider
Slider_Sarah
EustiSlider
TemporalFlux
BritSlider
spaz119
HurriKain
SL4ever
dellyoneYes, I also saw references for Beret War II also.
dellyone
Woohoo!!
Date: 6/27/2000
From: KittenBrat
Loverly.
KittenBrat
P.S. Your go on the storygame.
Tigs..
Date: 6/27/2000
From: darkslider
This is STUNNING WORK.
I'm curious as to the motivation of my "alter-ego". This intrigues me, as I seem to follow in pennance for a sin I am unaware of. I wonder what this "sin" is....
And thank you for the compliments and allowing me to be within this superb story!!Please continue!
-darkslider
Oh,
please do...
Date: 6/27/2000
From: SouthernSlider
continue. Methinks this could get even better than it already is. Some are so obvious, while others require a bit of thinking. You are sooooo good.
SS
:o)
Date: 6/27/2000
From: Mychand
Please do go on...this is very good!
My :o)
Original URL http://www.scifi.com/bboard/browse.cgi/1/5/545/21688
Nominated by EustiSlider
