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The Marraketh Connection
"The Warding"
Author: Theseus, VRDET

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	Calculus stopped walking and surveyed the area. "Ok. This 
looks good."
	Theseus dropped his pack and looked around. It seemed as 
good a choice as any. The ground was fairly flat, and they were 
behind a small hill just out of sight of the tower.
	Calc turned to him. "Have you ever set up a campsite 
before?"
	Theseus smiled. He probably wouldn't remember if he had, 
"Not to my knowledge, no."
	Calc nodded, "All right, let's get started. First we have 
to clear the ground of debris."
	After clearing the ground they began setting up the 
tents. They were almost finished when Theseus noticed a small 
black rock half-buried in the ground with the point sticking up. 
He dug it out and was about to throw it to the side when a 
strange feeling crept over him. Without really meaning to he 
muttered something under his breath, although he didn't 
understand what the words meant, and closed his hand over the 
rock. He winced as he felt the sharp point digging into the flesh 
of his palm. A moment later a single drop of blood seeped from 
between his fingers. Time seemed to slow as the drop fell to the 
ground. As it hit, the ground appeared to ripple and a strange 
bluish dome appeared overhead. The dome seemed to extend about 
two hundred yards in every direction, evenly covering the 
campsite. Then, as abruptly as it had appeared, it vanished.
	Theseus blinked. "Wow... Calc, did you see that?"
	Calculus looked over at him. "See what?"
	Theseus dropped the rock and looked at his hand. 
Amazingly, there was no blood. There wasn't even a scratch.
	Theseus paused for a moment, "Nothing. Forget about it."
	Calc gave him an odd look, "You ok, man?"
	"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Let's just finish up." Theseus 
cast one last look at the sky then went back to work.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Theseus was putting his things in his tent when he felt 
an uncomfortable sensation. "Wait... something's not right."
	Calculus turned to him, "What?"
	Theseus was getting really worried, "Look, it's hard to 
explain. Just follow me. I think it's Maru."
	He turned and ran up the hill with Calc following him. 
Maru had collapsed there and a section of the blue dome had 
reappeared where he assumed she had crossed. It flickered for a 
moment then vanished.
	Calc looked at the spot where it had been. "What the hell 
was that?"
	Theseus looked down at Maru. "I'm not sure. A barrier or 
something, I think. I'm surprised she made it through."
	"A barrier? What are you talking about?"
	Theseus frowned, "I think I accidentally did it earlier."
	"Accidentally? How the hell do you do something like that 
accidentally?"
	"Look, I..."
	"Hey!" Theseus and Calc both looked down. It was Maru.
	"Oh, hi Maru," Theseus said.
	"What are you two doing?" Maru asked. "There's an army 
around here, something's going to hear you."
	"Army?"
	Maru sat up and told them about the watchtower. "Red 
suspects that there may be an army around here. I was supposed to 
come back and warn you, but I must have fallen asleep or 
something."
	Theseus winced, "You didn't fall asleep."
	Maru raised her eyebrows, "What are you talking about?"
	Theseus explained about the spell.
	Maruchan sighed. "So, your spell thought I was a sponge,
and put me in another dimension."
	"Kinda..."
	"But it's gone now right?"
	Theseus smiled at her. "Want to walk through again and 
find out?"
	Maru gave him a dirty look.
	"Sorry..."
	"You should be." Maru grinned slightly, "I thought I was 
in hell."
	Theseus paused for a moment. "Well... now that you 
mention it..."
	"Thes?"
	"Yeah?"
	"You'd better tell me exactly what you did."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	After repeatedly apologizing to Maru, Theseus got her to 
tell them about what happened with the barrier. She had just 
finished when Brynhild walked up.
	"Does anyone know where Red is?" she asked.
	Maru shrugged. "I figured he'd some back with you. What 
can I say?" Bryn looked worried.
	"Great... so Red is out there, alone, possibly with a 
hostile army around? This is not a good situation."
	Theseus considered commenting at this point but decided 
against it.
	Calc just nodded. "I think you're right. It's dangerous 
to leave him out there. We should organize a search party. 
Brynhild, Maruchan, you were out there with him on the watchtower 
scouting... you two go. While you're at it, take Theseus with 
you, just in case."
	Maru nodded, "Let's go."
	Theseus sighed and grabbed his stuff, and the three of 
them went off to find Red. He considered making the argument that 
one person fell well within the limit of acceptable losses, but 
after the incident with Maru it would probably just get him into 
deeper trouble.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

	Theseus surveyed the spongin army before him. His 
"acceptable losses" argument was beginning to sound better and 
better.
	He turned to the Maru and Bryn, "Either of you have any 
idea what to do about these people? Not to mention where Red is?"
	Brynhild spoke up, "Red's around here, I'm sure of it. 
His magic aura is stronger here, so strong he must be in the 
area. If we get some time to search, I'll be able to give you an 
exact location... and I have an idea on how to distract the 
armies." She paused for a moment. "Anyway, I don't know if Red 
has tried this, but I figured we can rig up an illusionary 
distraction. Nothing small, though - a full Jihaddi army, to 
confuse them completely. If we have it coming in the right 
direction, it won't draw attention to us... or to the real camp! 
It'll probably give us time to rescue Red as well..."
	It sounded like a reasonable idea. If she could pull it 
off.
	Theseus nodded, "Do it."
	Bryn cast her spell, and Theseus watched as row after row 
of illusionary Jihaddi soldiers appeared. That would make the 
bastards think, he mused.
	A moment later Bryn turned around and smiled. "Red... 
he's in that direction," she said, and pointed to her right.
	Bryn led them toward a bush. She said something about his 
aura emanating from there.
	Theseus walked over, "Is he conscious?" He kicked it to 
see for himself.
	Bryn walked over, "Well he didn't cry out. It must be 
him."
	Her voice was enough to get a reaction.
	"Bryn?"
	Theseus didn't know what had happened, but Red's voice 
was really weak.
	Bryn answered, "Yeah, it's me. Get up. They're looking 
for you at the camp, and we don't have time for any games."
	Red moaned a reply, "I... can't... too tired... give me 
two minutes?"
	Bryn frowned a moment before conceding, "All right. But 
only two."
	About two minutes later, from what Theseus could tell, 
Red hopped to his feet and they began their long walk back to 
camp.