* * * EARTH – OFF THE HORN OF AFRICA * * *

A swarm of small snakes emerged from the waves under the feeble light of the new moon. After a brief hesitation they moved inland towards the big camp. They easily slipped through the wire fence surrounding if.

Down on the beach four brown rats swam ashore. They shook themselves roughly dry and followed in the wake of the snakes. Once in the semi permanent encampment they sought out their targets.

In a relatively comfortable shack the rats found the man they were seeking. They shimmered taking on the shape of humanoids. Their specialist interrogator grew to his full height of one meter sixty. With a few swift gestures and a muttered incantation he hit the sleeping man with his mind spell.

While their colleague was maintaining his spell, the other three jumped onto the bed and started whispering questions into the man’s ears and recording the answers.

After they were satisfied the three resumed their rat forms while the interrogator inspected their victim. “Huh, he was weak. This was just too easy.” Then he too resumed his rat form.

The four left the shack seeking their other target while the small snakes with their potent paralytic venom sought out any active patrols.

* * *

The commander of the small party of mercenaries watched through his night vision binoculars as the African coast approached. The boat they were on was idling along quietly. They were almost half an hour early, and everything was quiet.

They all were a bit apprehensive due to the stories of the gigantic aggressive sea serpents that had been sighted several times in the vicinity. But they were being well paid.

He had been impressed with the sleek patrol boat and it’s small but highly professional crew. The only one of the crew who spoke any English was the helmsman, and he spoke with what the commander thought was a thick Russian accent. Though he was fairly sure they were not speaking Russian amongst themselves.

The equipment they had been offered as a bonus was all cutting edge US mil spec stuff. Even so Rice was ready to cut and run. He honestly didn’t see how their paymaster would be able to take out the terrorist cum pirate training camp.

Then Rice spotted something unexpected, he stiffened and swung his binoculars to scan the sky over the camp. ‘What the hell is that? It’s alive! And about the size of a small plane.’

“Fuck!” exclaimed Gus, his second in command, just as the creature dived and unleashed lightning on the sleeping camp. “What the fuck!” exclaimed Gus.

Rice and his men stared as six of those flying things rained down lightning and magic on the hapless camp. And if that was not enough eight gigantic serpents came ashore, with riders, and smashed their way into the camp, blasting away with what looked like magic and lasers.

Rice jerked when their frequency hopping secure radio spoke with the voice and accent of their paymaster. “Hey general. Time for you to move in, the prisoners are in two locations. The first is the possibility marked ‘B’ on the chart. The second is the building just to the north of ‘C’.”

“On our way. Will those snakes recognise us as friendlies?”

“Da.”

Their boat surged towards the shore and stopped in an unnaturally calm patch of water near the shore. The crew lowered a gangplank onto the damp sand. Rice led his men ashore, they all watched apprehensively as one of the serpents moved past them and re-entered the sea. The woman riding it had a sheathed sword and strange looking weapon slung over her shoulder. She gave them a thumbs up as she went past.

The second serpent they came across had two people casting magic on it. It looked like it had taken a RPG hit but the horrendous wound was visibly closing. Then they reached their first destination. They found three sleeping hostages and three dead guards. It looked like they’d been stabbed where they lay.

Rice sent half his men carrying the sleeping hostages back to the boat while he led the rest of his men to the second location. There they found four more scared hostages. And one empty cell.

“Calm down, we’re here to free you. We have a boat down by the shore.”

“How are we going to get there through the camp,” asked a dirty bushy bearded middle-aged man. “And who were those sword wielding savages that came and fetched the Jacobsons?”

“Never mind, we have to hurry.” And with that Rice and his men rushed the former hostages down to their boat. When they passed the spot the wounded serpent had been all that was left were tracks and a patch of burnt ground where the blood had lain.

The unnatural calm patch of sea vanished as they headed away from the shore. Rice watched the skies with apprehension as two pairs of those lightning producing creatures maintained top cover for them. He didn’t take his eyes off them until they left and dropped down to land on the sea before diving under the surface.

Only then did he try his radio.

“The hostages want to know what happened to the Jacobsons.”

“They are on their way home. The boss wasn’t amused that Murad dared touch one of her people.”

* * * PARTHIA – MARKOWITZ * * *

Things had improved after the military had arrived, late as usual. The captain had passed him a briefcase. The contents were not very reassuring but they sort of made sense. He and the agents under him were now officially on paid leave. He understood it as a technicality to cover them as FBI agents outside the territory of the US. Then there was a letter of credit and twenty small gold and one hundred silver coins.

He resigned himself to becoming a tag along. But he would keep his eyes open.

* * * PARTHIA – ROY ANDERSON * * *

Roy was up with the dawn. He watched with interest as the gates swung open and the local guards established themselves. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed their biologist pass the female agent a pair of sneakers. He gained the impression that the woman had made a friend for life with that gesture.

His nose told him that Barcolton did not pay as much attention to sanitation as Maalea Two. It was surprisingly easy to enter the town. All that was required was the payment of the modest toll and they were in. There was the relatively broad well-paved road that led from the gates and over the bridge into the main part of town. With the exception of the trade road the town looked chaotic and unplanned. There was a large market surrounded by booth like shops on the other side of the river. The river itself on the downstream side of the bridge was lined with docks, and full of barges and small boats, and even a couple of small galleys.

Roy kept an eye on his companions, trying to measure their competence. Looked like the weakest link was Markowitz. Simply because the man seemed determined to disbelieve anything that ran counter to his previous experience. The padre was obviously ill at ease. He looked lost, adrift. But at least he was military and had training to fall back on. The marine biologist who was named Cas had to be dragged away from the two fish stalls in the market.

Just over an hour later they were all installed on a reasonably comfortable riverboat and heading downstream. Roy grinned as he remembered how the captain had handled Markowitz. Markowitz had wanted to remain in town to look around, but the captain, very sensibly had decided that they had better await their ride in Suz. Just in case their ride’s master was disinclined to wait around for them.

He sat next to Cas. “Hi, I’m Roy. Do you mind if I ask a question.”

Cas looked at him with a faint air of resignation. “Go ahead.”

“I noticed, while we were at Barcolton, how some of the locals seemed wary when they saw that brooch you are wearing. Can you tell me what it is and what it means?”

Cas snorted in surprise as she fingered the brooch in question, a leaping dolphin superimposed on a coiled something in silver. “That is not the question I was expecting. It was in the envelope Claire handed me on the moon. The note from Mary only said it would help me with some people and to wear it somewhere discreet, but where it could be seen.”

Roy blinked, surprised. “Mary, as in Mary, Tyrant of the Isles?”

Cas’ eyes narrowed. “Well Mary is headstrong.”

* * *

Suz was smaller than Barcolton by about a third. Its walls were far more impressive. It lay on the south bank of the estuary. The estuary itself was large and had the potential to be a good port. To Roy’s eye the water looked shallow and would need dredging to meet its true potential.

As they were waiting to disembark Roy noted captain Shultz speaking with the riverboat’s master. As they shuffled towards the gangplank he overheard:

“... if the Alessandrina’s Glory has arrived. I know she’s not due for two days yet but.”

“Tomcat is due in two days? I’ve got to tell...” said their boat’s master excitedly.

“How do I find out...”

“You had best ask at Ocidon’s Gift, it’s an inn, or at the Lazy Cat. Another inn. I’ve got to tell the wife to lock up the girls...”

And then Roy was on the gangplank and heading for the dock. He joined the others while they waited for captain Shultz.

“Hey man, how come you have no packs? You were issued a load just like us.”

Roy looked at his fellow corporal and grinned. “You guys haven’t figured out about these storage rings yet have you? The pendants we were issued were the smallest I’ve seen, and yet if you’re careful it can handle a lot of stuff. This ring,” Roy tapped the plain gold ring on his hand, “I bought from MagiTech. I’ve stored everything in it. Everything and it still has room to spare.”

“How man, mine’s full and I haven’t put much in it?”

“Look it takes items. So instead of storing a shirt, bundle all your clothes in a bag and store that. It will still count as one item. Unless the bag is too big then it will count as two. It is a case of trial and error.”

* * * EARTH – ARENA OF BLOOD * * *

Frog and Angel talked with the assorted collection of agents, law enforcement people and representatives of the nearby town of Houma. They were both tired of the endless round robin of talks and Frog had had to demonstrate how his avatar was dismissed if it tried to leave his domain.

Angel used the Dungeon Exchange to keep every other dungeon and proto-dungeon on Earth informed. All in all it looked like there would be much happening in adapting and creating laws to regulate the situation. Frog could see a lot of lawyers getting rich soon.

Frog watched most of his visitors leave. Overall he was satisfied, it looked that there would be the near constant presence of sheriffs department on his doorstep. And he had managed to convince the people present that they had no right to go deeper in his dungeon than the rooms he designated as safe rooms. At least without due cause and a valid search warrant.

Angel was in her usual perch, sitting on his shoulder. “Why did you react like you did when Mary offered to lend you her new lawyer?”

“Because Angel, well Perry Mason is a fictional lawyer. And if he was to turn up, god knows what would happen.”

“I think we are going to find out. I think she was quite serious.”