Okay, here’s the first little sneak-peek into “Maldene II:  Mysteries Of Olde”.  Just a little scene taken from the pages of Chapter One.  As they say, I hope you enjoy the show…

Flash of flaming steel, rapid thump of fist crunching through bone.  Cry of triumph, twinkle of silvery-blue eyes, a blur whirling past one opponent after another.  Mid-rise sun shining down upon fresh blood as it flies about through the air.



"Come on," Eldar called out as he slammed aside a man examining a small blade, "let a person through!"

He raised his flaming sharp Evolin sword at the next one in front of him, a battle-scarred warrior who raised his own sword up in defense, thrusting it up to block Eldar's own blow.  Unfortunately the warrior's blade was but of normal steel, while Eldar's sword of flame tore through it, reducing it to a multitude of metal droplets scattered upon the winds.  Eldar rushed by, to finally reach his objective.

He leaned up against the booth's front counter, taking a moment or two to catch his breath as, with a flick of his wrist, his sword vanished from sight.

"My good shop-keeper," he smiled with a light toss of his silvery hair, "I'll take that one over there."

The grizzled old man inside the small booth nodded noncommittally, turned on heel, and walked to the back wall and its display of weapons.

"Do you have anyidea," Eldar said conversationally, "how many crowds you attracted with this one-rise sale of yours?  Every mercenary in town must be coming here."

"Thereareeasier ways of getting to the front of the line, you know."

Eldar turned to see Lindel now suddenly standing beside him, the other elf's hair shining golden in the sunlight, his ever-present bow slung over his shoulder.

Eldar looked down at his own recently blood-stained tunic and compared it to Lindel's clean one.  He then looked back at the line behind him.  They were in a large open courtyard of a town's business-district, a small multitude of open-air cloth and wood shops clustering about the larger wooden structures of the district.  The square was full of shoppers and vendors all in the midst of their shopping and selling activities, but now all stopped almost in mid-step as they looked as one over at Eldar.  Arrayed in front of the small booth in front of which Eldar and Lindel now stood, was the line, perhaps twenty men deep, which had apparently formed while each awaited his turn as customer at the same booth.

But, perhaps what the crowd actually stared at was the swath that Eldar had left as he'd fought his way to the front of the line. A ragged chorus of groans, cries of pain, and muttered curses were the only sound that greeted the ears as Eldar looked down the line of bodies.  Men tossed aside with still-burning slashes across their sides, some fallen to their knees as they tended large purpling bruises, one man in obvious pain nursing a twisted ankle, another one further down gasping for air from a punch to the throat.  It was an open scar cut through the crowd, with twenty assorted men tossed to either side, all leading up to the booth with the sign hanging overhead that read 'Tabor's Weapons- SALE',the booth being in front of a more stable larger structure whose sign read 'Tabor's Weapon Shop'.

"Well," Eldar shrugged, "I just wanted to be the first one to the sale.  It's not like I killedany of them."

"Eldar, do you know what the words responsibleor over-killmean?"

"Hmm," Eldar got a thoughtful look on his face. "No, I don't thinkso..."

Lindel shook his head as the shop-keeper brought up the chosen weapon.  Eldar flashed out a quick smile to the crowd, which then found reason to stop gawking and continue on about their business.  Eldar turned to examine the small weapon that the shop-keeper held wrapped in silk.

"Besides, I just wanted to make sure I got here in time to buy it," Eldar said as he gazed down, "it's the perfect present."

"What makes you think that?" Lindel asked.

"Simple; I had Sheil-Bor(h) perform a vision about where I could find the best present for the kid, and he told me here.  Oh, he'll love it."

Held within the cloth was a single long dagger, its handle made of curved pearl and carved with stylized designs of great beasts on it, the blade reaching out almost a full foot to its curved white tip, its edge catching the sunlight in a small rainbow.

"So," Lindel said, "you had Sheil-Bor(h) pick out the present foryou."

"No, of course not," Eldar corrected. "I already knew that I wanted to get Kilgar a nice dagger, I just asked Sheil-Bor(h) where I might find the best made one available.  Sabu is then going to help me put a few spells on it and I'm going to add a touch of alchemy to it.  By the time we're finished, it'll not only lookbeautiful, but it'll be the best knife he's ever owned.  You know how he and his Destir attitude is: it has to function in battle before he'll even look at it."

"Well, it doeshave a certain deadly salÿe to it," Lindel admitted.  "And you're right; the first thing he'll do is test it out in battle."

"Good balance," Eldar said, hefting it in one hand.  "How much?"

"Seven gold," the old shop-keeper's grizzled voice came back.

"Sold," Eldar fished out a pouch and reached in it for some coins.  "Wrap it up nice and carefully."

As the shop-keeper carefully wrapped up the blade in its silk, Eldar looked at Lindel, mild puzzlement on his face.

"Say, how did youmake it to the front of this line?"

"I just came around from the other side of the booth and cut in front," Lindel shrugged, "less of a blood bath that way."

Eldar frowned a bit as he thought this over, handing the coins to the old man in exchange for the silk bundle.  Then he suddenly broke into a smile.

"Yeah, but myway was more fun!"

They turned and walked back down the double-aisle of wounded, Eldar holding his bundle and smiling to each in turn as they cringed back away from him.

"You just don't like to do things the simple way, do you?" Lindel  asked.

"Now where would the fun be in that?"