Date:         Wed, 13 Nov 1996 04:37:17 +0000
From: Christopher Vaughan <space.cowboy@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject:      INT: Lancomb's Adventure

Reserved:
        Lancomb
        Aderyn
        Sanchez
        Mr. Norman
        Tony Madsen
Raini Maddens:
        Lyriss
        Mathen

        They had been on the road for two days, and Lancomb was becoming
restless.  His legs all ached from his nightly workouts, and his wings felt
like they were tied up in tighter knots than Madona's lover during any
particular session of love-making.  He was forced to stay stuffed-up in a
cold, baren trailer all day as the rig rumbled over the uneven highways
between Kansas and San Diego.  His tail was folded up beneath him, and
usually went numb within an hour of their starting on the road for the day.
The ceiling of the trailer was black and oily from his breath, and a thick
smog of dragon-smoke hung heavy just at his eye level.
        Still, Lancomb did not complain.  Something about Lyriss appealed to
his sense of chivalry.  Funny, he thought, how people always said it was the
knights who were chivalrous.  When he was a younger dragon he had watched
knights perpetrate any number of atrocities while he had yet to see a dragon
raise a single talon to harm another who was not deserving of punishment.
        Yet, the knights, through their cruel and unethical behavior, had
won.  The victors write the histories, and the vanquished are left to fade
into the obscurity of forgotten truths.
        "Lancomb?"
        The dragon looked up.  His reveries had gone on, virtually unbroken,
since they left Russel before dawn on Monday.  Now he shook off his
travel-lethargy and put on a brave face.
        "Yes, Lyriss?"
        She looked at him through the back window of the semi's cab.  He
peered out through the small, sliding port at the front of the trailer.
Through most of the trip it was closed to prevent diesel fumes from being
sucked into the trailer.  Not that diesel would bother him, much.  Actually,
the slight high the fumes would give him might be distracting. He was
abstaining as a way of disciplining himself.
        "Everything all right back there?"
        "Of course."
        "Are you reading?"  Lyriss waved a hand in front of her face as the
diesel fumes began to irritate her throat.
        Lancomb looked back at the crates of his books, as well as Sanchez'
effects, which they had quickly crated up before leaving.  The books were in
disarray, so that Lancomb wouldn't have been able to find his favorites even
if he could see well enough to read them.  He had thought about using his
flame to light the trailer, but he was afraid he would burn up the wooden
trailer - or - worse yet - the book.
        "I'm not in the mood to read," he lied.  "I'm just enjoying the
ride.  How are you?"
        "Fine."
        "Is it time for you to sleep, now?"
        "Yes."
        Mathen, Lyriss and Sanchez were sharing the driving duties, and
taking turns in the sleeper.  Lyriss, who had been spending her nights
helping Lancomb work out, was sleeping in the morning.
        "Well, you need your sleep.  Good night, Lyriss."
        She blew him a kiss.  "Good night, Lancomb."
        He smiled bravely as she closed the port to the trailer.  Then, he
lay his head down and suffered, silently.

        Behind them, no one noticed the black sedan which had been following
them since they left Russel on Monday morning...
_____________________________
Chris Vaughan           space.cowboy@worldnet.att.net