I, Sim

I need a little advice, please. The font I'm looking at right now says Verdana, size 2. Because it looks so small on my screen I've been setting my story posts to Verdana, size 3. Today, however, when I was visiting my relative and showing her the webpage and my story (after working on taxes ) I was surprised to see that my postings on her screen, in font size 3, looked annoyingly huge and like they were in boldface even though I'm not setting them to boldface.

So this chapter I just added I left in font size 2.

I suppose it depends on how individual computers are set up but I'm curious. Is font size 3 unnecessary? I'd be happy to leave it smaller. My eyes aren't THAT bad.

 

I kind of liked it size 3, caught my attention more and it is a little easier to read. It also sets it apart from the other comments on the page, so that when quickly scanning to see if you've posted more it just popped out.

 

Thanks, Shana. I'll keep it that way then.

 

I like the bigger text, too. I don't use it in my story but it looks fine to me.

Ooh, a succubus. This gets more and more interesting ...

 

I use size 2. Sometimes I have to retype the last line, but size 2 is just easier for me.

 

My sleep was restless and full of strange dreams. I fought the monster again and again. Then peace enclosed me at last, and the shadows called to me. I climbed the long stairs up the mountain and faced her across a pit of fire. I knew I was in bed asleep, and yet...I was also with her on the mountain...

I awoke the next morning soaked in sweat, shaken and not quite remembering what had happened the night before. I'd have to ask Harcourt what we'd had to drink at dinner. I didn't want any more of it.

 

Eep!

 

Ooh....yes, a succubus. I was like, "Oh yeah," when SBW mentioned it. I always loved the idea of incubi and succubi...the dark side is always intriguing, I suppose.

 

When Harcourt saw me he said, You do not look well. Have you caught an infection?

Who cooked these? I sat down at the table and started eating pancakes. There were plates loaded with pancakes in front of every chair even though he and I were alone in the room.

Your face is fevered.

Last night, Harcourt, you said she had magic. I thought science was your gig. And I thought the two didnt mix.

Sometimes it is easier to use the term magic in order to inspire great caution in someone who is not a student of the sciences.

I glared at him, Dont patronize me, Harcourt.

You must be very careful of these creatures. We are in a different world, now. It is their world and they are in control here. I have deduced the existence of an engine inside the mountain, generating a magnetic field which she is able to control, bend, and shape. I am not sure of the mechanism yet by which she is able to control this force. He smiled a little, Could be magic. However, if I am able to get a short amount of time in the building on top of the mountain perhaps I can learn what I need to know.

Can she control us with this engine?

No. But she controls what surrounds us, which has almost the same effect.

Then how did she I shook my head at the dreams I only vaguely remembered. Forget it. I chewed on the pancakes, staring at the plate in front of me.

I am asking that you meet with this woman and talk to her for awhile this morning. If she is occupied with you then I can go up the mountain unobserved.

What are you going to do up there?

Set a trap. It will be our only chance to escape. Will you meet with her?

Before I answered him I thought of Kate. Kate, I hope you can forgive me for all this. Maybe I shouldnt tell you about it. Or should I? Some secrets can eat away at your insides. Stop, I told myself. Youll never see her again if you dont escape this place. All I could do was hope that Harcourts trap worked.

I nodded agreement to his plan just as the door opened and the cowboy came in, not really looking like a cowboy anymore. Didnt matter. He walked like a cowboy.

And he talked like one. Go wash up. Were going to meet the Queen now.

Harcourt was on his feet immediately. I moved more slowly but both of us were ready within ten minutes.

We followed the cowboy through the rocks and around the base of the mountain to a building of stone that we had probably passed the night before. There was a paved courtyard surrounded by a high fence, and then a door reinforced with black metal. Beyond that lay a dark room and another door. Something stirred in the dark and I looked around but couldnt see anything beyond the light of a single candle. The cowboy opened the next door.

There was plenty of light in that room. Enough to see the girl seated at a small table, reading. She looked up as Harcourt came forward. She didnt move for a second, then she was on her feet and in his arms. The cowboy and I walked outside, leaving them alone.

 

They werent allowed much time together. The cowboy gave them about fifteen minutes then went back inside and came out with my anxious friend walking ahead of him.

He pushed Harcourt aside and said to me, The High Priestess wants to see you in the temple.

What temple?

That one, he pointed up. Lets go. She will not be kept waiting.

At the foot of the steps I stopped and faced my escort, about to object, even to fight. Then I saw Harcourts face and accepted the inevitable. Mustnt forget the plan. As I climbed I wondered how he intended to check out the top of the mountain if it was full of people, like me, the Priestess and the cowboy.

By the time we got to the top I was way out of breath. Bad news, I thought. Probably all those years sitting in a prison cell. Then I caught sight of the High Priestess, the same woman Id met the night before. She waved me forward. The place looked familiar and I knew why. My dreams. So Id have to ask Harcourt. If it was just a dream then why did I remember the fire pit in the floor?

You have rested, she said.

Not very well.

Then I will see that you have a better bed for tonight. She wiggled a couple of fingers at the cowboy and he disappeared back down the steps.

You are a strong man, she leaned close, smiling. I can hear your heart.

It was all those stairs, I said. Her perfume was strange but I liked it. She laughed. I started feeling a little fuzzy in the head.

Come, she said. Take my hand.

There was a door in the wall and she led me through it to a bedroom on the other side. Uh oh. I was not liking this at all. Conversation, Harcourt said. Thats all that I had to do. Keep her talking.

I see a chess board, I said. Im good at chess. Beat everyone where I come from. How about a game?

Not at the moment.

How long have you lived here? Nice room. Could use a few more lights and another window, in my opinion. Too dark for my tastes.

I prefer the dark.

You should probably get more sun, then. The sun gives you vitamins somehow. Im not sure how it works. Harcourt would know. Hes a walking encyclopedia of information. You could really use someone like him around here, let me tell you. Wait, Maam! Thats not a good idea. Ive been sick. Got a fever. You dont want to get too close.

Too late. She was stronger than she looked. More than that, never in a thousand years would I have expected to have to fight off a beautiful woman. I tried. You dont believe me? I wouldnt believe me either if I hadnt been there.

It gets worse, though. Something happened to her. One minute Ive got a gorgeous if slightly peculiar woman smooching me and the next minute I found myself in the arms of a dead thing. A skeleton. I was out of there like a bat out of...you figure it out.

Harcourt, I thought as I ran down the steps, I hope youve done what you had to do because I have my limits.

 

I was going to get working on my game to further my own story but had to check and see if you'd posted, and you had! Yeah! I'm going to need a thesaurus to come up with better words for this than amazing, and oooh.

But for now, this is amazing, and oooh, I can't wait to find out what happens next.

I'm so glad Alka was happy to see Harcourt. I was worried about that. But how will they escape? And what's with the creepy priestess ...

 

I'm on my toes here. Also, could you post a close-up of Alka? So far I've only seen her hair and dress...

 

A couple of better pictures of Alka. Sorry, but I didn't realize I hadn't gotten a very good full face picture posted. I'm so used to seeing her myself. Sure hope her little round face passes inspection. I should have more pictures of her later, anyway.

Lots of snow here--the heavy wet stuff. Could mess up my electricity. Off to bed and hoping for the best.

 

It's alright. And she's beautiful, don't worry.

 

I'll say. She's gorgeous!

 

I went back to the dining room and sat down. The plates of food had been cleared away. There were no cupboards where I mightve found something to drink so I didnt bother looking for one. A couple of book shelves held a few dusty covers but the only fingers to have touched them in years belonged to spiders. I put my head on the table and rested.

Harcourt showed up a few minutes later.

You do not look well, he said. That was old business. I wanted to discuss new business.

Did you get it done?

Yes.

Good. Whats the plan, exactly?

When the lightening comes through, and they are distracted, then we leave. We do not hesitate, we do not take anything with us.

Lightening? There was a time not very long ago when I would have demanded more details, as in how he expected to control lightening, but I wasnt myself lately. Two days in the desert and fighting a couple of stinking skeletons had taken its toll.

Even so, I wanted more assurances. We leave and go for the desert? With no guides?

I made careful study of the stars and the point at which the sun rose and set as we came here. I will be able to navigate and find the path back to the villagers and the sea. He radiated confidence. He usually did.

That woman you wanted me to talk to, I said, is not normal. She changed into...something.

I am truly sorry, he shook his head. I found a panel in the temple and tested some of the controls. This action must have interfered with her holographic projection.

Her hollow what?

Holographic projection is inadequate to describe what has been accomplished here, because it is more than light that she projects. She has projected even substance. It is remarkable. Tactile and olfactory sensations. It is as real flesh.

Not any more.

But yes. She has been restored. She is probably not even aware that you saw her without the projection.

Dont bet on it. I left real fast. And I wasnt too polite about it. In the meantime, Im going to go rest up. Its not going to be an easy night.

 

I dragged myself off to the beds beyond the dining room, found mine and stretched out for nap.

It seemed like only a minute later that the cowboy was yelling in my ear to get cleaned up for the wedding.

What wedding? I rubbed a hand down my face and looked over at the window. It was dark. Id slept all day and I still felt like Id been run over by a truck.

I dressed in the outfit that someone had tossed over the foot of the bed. It was stiff and hot and not good for escaping across a desert.

I met Harcourt at the foot of the stairs to the temple. He was wearing a ridiculous crown. Alka was there, too, also crowned. And a couple of other strange fellows who were hard to figure out in the dim light. The two traders whod come with us across the desert were not there. But the cowboy was. Our small party climbed the steps to the temple.

The stars and moon were bright. I didnt see a single cloud. It wasnt looking good for lightening and as I climbed closer to the temple I opened and closed my fists, my thoughts grim.

Inside, standing on the other side of the fire pit, the High Priestess was wearing her normal body again and had a big smile on her face. Another of her odd minions stood nearby.

Alka and Harcourt were escorted to the very lip of the fire pit and made to face each other. The High Priestess raised her arms and wailed out gibberish, turned and bowed at the happy red mask on the wall behind her, then told Harcourt to hold Alkas hands. He did, with no hesitation, and whispered something to the nervous girl.

I glanced at the guardian near me, clenching my fists. If he dared move toward them hed find himself going headfirst into that pit even if I had to go with him.

 

The lightening struck! It hit smack in front of the stone alter, setting the carpet ablaze, and with it, the High Priestess. The guardians were useless, jumping around, screaming, doing nothing to help their boss. As Harcourt, Alka and I headed fast for the steps, I looked back and saw a robed, skeletal form hovering over them all.

I didnt look back again. We ran down the steps, through the dead town and out into the desert.

 

There's been a lot of fire in Errol and Harcourt's story. It's easy to set them now with those things that came with Nightlife. A word of advice--don't put one on a rug. Took me by surprise. I had to exit the game without saving a couple of times because everyone was catching fire except the High Priestess. I think I'll stop playing with fire now.

 

Oh my god this is getting so exciting! I didn't know Harcourt had it in him. That'll show those murderous ghouls.

The pictures are amazing as always, Lynet. I can only imagine the patience and planning that went into them.

Now all they have to do is find the mirrors. Why am I guessing that won't be a piece of cake?