******
The Marraketh Connection
"Paranoia and Moonlight"
Author: Maruchan, VRDET
******

	The tower loomed before them, a pillar of shadow against 
the dark luminescence of twilight. The three troopers -- Red 
Paladin, Brynhild, and Maruchan -- approached in the darkness 
opposite the rays of the moon.

	Maruchan followed the other two troopers silently. 
Normally, they would have been talking -- or fighting -- but 
there was a sense of urgency and concern around the small group. 
Besides, they *were* on a mission.

	Red stopped the other two. "The guard's out there," he 
whispered. "Wait here. I'll Shadowslip[tm] and try to find a way 
in." Maruchan nodded, although she knew that he couldn't see her 
very well.

	"Where are you...?" Brynhild cried. Maruchan hissed 
slightly in surprise and motioned for Brynhild to take out her 
weapon. There was no sign of the guard, but neither was willing 
to take the chance of being found without a means of defense. It 
made a picturesque scene: moonlight, a mysterious tower, and 
paranoid troopers, clutching Vibro-Sporks.

	Red returned, managing to escape his companions' Sporks. 
He shrugged. "No go. We'll have to go through the front door." He 
sighed. "There are only two spongin on duty, but they're scared 
of the dark I guess. The place is so lit up there's no chance of 
me Shadowslipping[tm] in there."

	"OK," Brynhild said, "I have an idea. You need to climb 
up and distract one of the spongin to get him the window. Use one 
of those X-Card thingies, whatever makes sense to you. Meanwhile, 
the rest of us can waltz in and take the other by surprise."

	"Not great, but it's a start. Give me about 30 second to 
grapple up, k?" He started up the side of the tower, while the 
other two went around to the entrance.

	The guard at the entrance was a textbook sponge clutching 
a plushie dinosaur -- not the wyrm minion they had expected. 
Maruchan tapped Brynhild on the shoulder. "You take down the 
guard," she whispered, "I'll back you up if you need it." 
Brynhild nodded. There was no need for both of them to jump out, 
perhaps attracting extra attention, Maru thought. There was no 
telling how many more spongin were hidden in the area.

        The guard looked defenseless, and was. Brynhild and 
Maruchan carried him to a clump of grass and hid him as well as 
they could. At that moment, a loud explosion echoed at the top of 
the tower, and Red came running down the stairs towards them.

        "All right, we finished off the guards," Maruchan 
commented. "What now?"

        "We wait," stated Red. "Wait for the next attack." He 
sent up a magical signal beacon to show the main group that the 
area had been secured.

        "You have a point," Brynhild commented. "This was way too 
easy. If they knew we were coming, which they almost certainly 
do, why would they leave such a skeleton crew of guards? There 
must be some heavier troops coming."

        Red nodded solemnly. "And maybe they did. Let me go scout 
it out." He disappeared again. It was a few minutes before he 
reappeared. "I think we have company," he reported in a worried 
tone of voice.

        "Damnit! I knew this felt like a trap!" Brynhild 
exclaimed frustratedly.

	"It's OK. I have a plan. Maru, you go back to camp and 
tell Calculus to prepare for an attack. They're about two miles 
away, but they're moving fast, so tell him to be ready for a 
fight within the hour. Meanwhile, I have some surprises to 
prepare." Abruptly, he was gone again, leaving his companions 
staring at each other confusedly.

	Brynhild was the first to speak. "Don't worry about me... 
I'll just hold the fort until Red comes back. Believe me, I have 
ways of getting out of trouble if anyone finds me. Go!" Maruchan 
nodded and disappeared into the darkness as well, leaving Bryn on 
her own.

******

	Maru wished she had paid more attention in Phys Ed the 
day they had watched the "How To Improve Your Speed" video. 
Instead, she had fallen asleep until a leak in the ceiling had 
forced her to wake up. Today, all she remembered was that the 
video host wanted her to buy his supplementary book.

	[Keep running,] she told herself, [and you'll make it. 
Eventually.]

******

	By now, Maru was almost completely exhausted from running 
and had slowed to a walk. [Where *did* those guys go off to?] she 
grumbled to herself. [I know I left them somewhere around 
here...]

	[Dammit, I shouldn't have been running so long.] She 
collapsed into the grass with her water canteen and closed her 
eyes. [Wherever Calc and Thes are, they'll just have to wait.] 
With this thought, Maru decided to show complete disregard for 
their and her own safety.

	As if to reprimand her for her apathy, the wind picked up 
and began blowing quite hard, giving her a sudden chill. Maru 
rolled over onto her stomach and buried her head in the grass.

	She could hear, faintly, the sound of rattling. She 
lifted her head to look for its origin, but found that she could 
not see anything. Slightly annoyed, she put her head back down. 
The darkness advanced and pulled her in.

-TBC-