Gav leapt gracefully to his feet. "Oh...so you think you can get away from an Elvin king in the woods? I move through the forests like a fish through water, dear. I'm afraid that this pickle is destined to be eaten by my sexy bride."

Des had not counted on that and it did give her pause in her steps. She stopped and planted both fists on shapely hips as she eyed him up. "Drop the weapon or face my wrath oh Great and Mighty High Elvin King of the Forest!" She called out to him with a twinkle in her eyes and grin upon lush lips. Of course she was referring to the hated pickle here, and for good measure she now spread her arms wide while pretending to be a Goddess that could call down upon him some kind of magical retribution in return should he chose to not heed her dire warning.

"Oh ho! So, my wife would pull down fire from heaven on her sweet husband, huh?! Well....," he bit off half the pickle and dropped the other half, "mayhaps a pickle kiss is just the thing you need!" He started to come at her, his cobalt blue eyes shining with mirth, his hair dancing on his shoulders in the slight breeze.

"Eeep! Not the dreaded weapon of death and destruction by a pickle kiss!" Doing her best not to laugh but failing as chuckles sounded in the cool depths of the forest where they lingered Des spun on a heel and took off running down the first game trail she spotted. She had no worry about her beloved husband keeping up with her at all. She knew that Gav could indeed move like the wind through the forest should he chose to but she was having far too much fun darting and weaving in between the huge trees that were large enough they had most likely stood silent sentinels for centuries. Perhaps they had even in their younger days watched as another loving couple played beneath their spreading branches yet had no way to tell of the things they had borne witness to.

Gavilean grinned as he followed her soundlessly on the game trail, sometimes darting to a tree that she was about to turn to. He would then slip around the far side of the tree and give her a chance to get ahead, for he sure loved looking at her beautiful bottom as she would run through the trees and around rock outcroppings. "You're not going to get away, my love! You are doomed for a pickle kiss!"

Des was so busy laughing and playfully calling taunts back to her beloved husband that as she rounded a bend in the trail she wasn't watching where she was going. She was paying more attention to trying to figure out which tree Gavilean would show up leaning against waiting for her at next then what was around the corner. Her first warning that all was not well was the low growl that had her head snapping around to see where it came from. Des gasped and skidded to a halt in the middle of the path where it intersected a second. There stood a wolf and it wasn't one that looked like a shape shifter to her, but she wasn't sure so she stood very still right where she was and kept her gaze upon the beast that was now snarling at her.

"Ummm... Babe? I know ya are right here somewhere close by. I have a tiny little problem here. Just a small one. Nothing to really worry about I'm thinking but ya might want to come this direction pretty fast!!!"

Gavilean had been intending to hide on Des and let her think that she had managed to escape him and his pickle kiss. He was away on the other side of a large outcropping of granite that had risen up in the midst of the trees, when something did not feel right to him. His Elvin senses peaked and the little hairs on the back of his neck stood up He climbed the outcropping, and on the opposite side, about twenty feet away, he saw a giant wood wolf poised on the rock, staring at Des, drool dripping from its mouth. There wasn't a moment to spare. "Haarrghhh!" Gav shouted to get the wolf's attention as he withdrew the Elvin sword that Des had given him.

As soon as Gav had the animal's attention Des went for her concealed daggers in a smooth motion that she had done hundreds of times before, it was second nature to come up with one in each hand ready to defend or fight herself. Her gaze went up to where the retired Warlord was with sword at the ready and her breath caught in throat as fear for him rose up only to be pushed back down as she glanced back to the salivating beast.

"Be careful Love mine! There might be more of them. Don't they travel in packs?" That had her looking for some high ground of her own and just there was a branch that she could reach so she quickly shoved her daggers back into her waistband and climbed up several feet from the path.

No sooner had Des mentioned the wood wolves traveling in packs when Gavilean caught a glimpse of one to his left and another coming up behind him. They were huge; at least half again the size of a normal wood wolf.

They attacked at the same time, as if coordinated by some foreign intelligence. The two beasts, each nearly 200 pounds, hit the Lord of Westridge at the same time. The three-inch fangs of the beast to the rear of Gavilean hit at his hamstring, while the wolf to his left went right for his throat. The charge came with such force that the king?s leg and head were literally ripped from his body.

Gavilean nodded against Des' head and just held her a bit longer. He was so angry with himself for taking their picnic in a strange forest so casually. He should have been more aware of what was going on around him. They should never have been surprised by the wolves.

"Yes, my love, I've not been here either, and I should have been more careful. Do you really think that wolf was trying to keep us separated? I suppose it's possible. It was like they were setting a trap for us."

Des shivered slightly in his embrace then shook her head slowly. "I don't know for sure Babe but it was just so strange that one minute it was just the one here on the path then suddenly there were the two up there attackin' ya like they knew what they was doin'... " Her voice trailed off into a shriek as both hands grabbed wildly for his shirt. The navy blue eyes locked on his face were again filled with a mixture of horror, disbelief and sheer terror as the ground beneath her feet began to shift.

"I think I should have just had that pickle kiss, Babe!" She swayed to and fro as the dirt path buckled then started to open beneath where they stood.

Once again the land had caught him by surprise. At first he thought that Des was slipping down to look at his leg, or to pick something up; then he realized that this was something out of their control. Des was being sucked into the earth, and he wasn't about to let her be taken away. He grasped her forearms with his hands to keep her from being swallowed by the land, then felt his own feet losing their ability to resist the pull.

"I've got you, Des!!" He wasn't about to let go, yet he immediately realized that there was nothing he could do - magic or otherwise - to keep them from being swallowed up. If they were going to die, it would be in each other's arms.

She caught hold of his wrists and clung for dear life - literally. Her mouth, nose, and eyes filling with dirt as they were pulled downward together. Her only real coherent thought was how much she loved him and that at least they were together. "I love you Gav!"

Through the earth they were sucked for what seemed like forever as her lungs began to burn for lack of air and her head to swim as blackness closed over her, yet still she held onto her beloved husband's wrists for as long as she still had the strength and conscious thought to control muscles.

Gavilean would not release Des even if a mountain fell upon them. They would die together. The strange thought came to him that no one would every know what happened to them. It would forever be a mystery throughout Rhy'Din and Westridge, around which a legend would be built. He wondered what story would circulate throughout the land as a proclaimed fact. He could do nothing to save her as blackness swallowed them. Once again he had failed to protect his wife. How could he be so ineffective with the one he loved so much? He would die with that question searing his mind.

Gavilean laid there in the darkness of strange dreams as strength slowly returned to his body. He had no idea how long it had been since they had been in the sunlight of a beautiful afternoon. He awoke with a cough and could feel Des' body against him. Were they dead? Were they in a grave? Is this the land of the shades? He opened his eyes to the yellow glow of the fire and saw the ceiling of a cave. "Des?"

Tera lifted her head and brushed the hair back from his shoulder as she rose up on one elbow to gaze down upon his handsome features with hope lighting her navy blue eyes. Her voice was soft and loving, "Love mine...? I have been so worried." She leaned forward to kiss his lips tenderly, a sharing to reaffirm that they both were still alive, more gentle and loving than passionate.

He smiled at the kiss and spoke weakly, "If this is the afterlife, love, I think I'm going to like it." His hand brushed lovingly over her cheek, wiping off a smudge of dirt and pushing back her hair. "If it's not the afterlife, then do me a favor. Next time I offer you a pickle, just stick it in my Elvin ear. Okay?"

Des couldn't help but chuckle quietly as a little smile curved into place. He could make even the worst of circumstances seem not to terrible when they were together. She loved him so very much and was so relieved that he was able to joke about their dire situation. That enabled her to calm down and let go of the panic that had been threatening when she had awoke and found him unconscious with no way to tell for certain if he would ever again awaken.

Des tilted her head into the caress to her cheek then eased back and sat upright again, stifling another groan as muscles that had been abused protested the effort. "I have an idea Babe. We shall make a royal proclamation that anyone caught with pickles shall be hanged by the neck until they are dead." She darted a grin to him over her shoulder.

Gav smiled at her suggestion as he put his hands behind himself and pushed himself into a sitting position. "That should be a definite discouragement to pickle eating, although the cucumber growers might revolt on us." He took a good look around for the first time and said the obvious. "Well, looks like we're in a cave."

She nodded to him as she also looked around where they had ended up. "Yup, and from what I saw when I was looking for them stones, there are different tunnels all connected up down here too. I found one that had the prettiest crystals in it Babe. They were glowing but they didn't give off any heat so I didn't bring any of them back."

He listened to her speak, and then nodded with understanding. "You saw sun crystals, Des. Some call them fire stones, but as you say, they don't give off heat, so sun crystal is probably a better name. We can really use those." He began to try to slowly stand. Any other time he would have used magic for light, but right now he didn't have the strength. "Do you remember where they are?"

Immediately she was there with an arm around his waist to help him to his feet as best she could being much shorter and smaller than he was of stature. "Here Babe, be careful. I'm not so sure ya should be getting up just yet. Ya were out for a while and ya have used up a lot of your strength." Slender brows were drawn down into a slight frown of concern as she tried to catch his gaze with her own to reassure herself of his condition.

"They were just down this here tunnel and then one turn to the left along there. I used a thread like my Daddy taught me so as not to get lost in here when I took off."

She was right, he shouldn't be moving, yet he couldn't just lay there. "We can't waste time for me to recover, Des. We've got to get out of here. I hate to say this, but we may not be the only ones in these tunnels."

What she said made sense but he didn't like it. "Des! Please...I'd rather see you take the crystal and run."

"And I love you and want both of us to get out of here alive." She placed her palm against his cheek and leaned up on tip toe to kiss him lovingly with a tender smile. "We can do this Gav. I know that we can. We are strong together. Nothing can defeat our will."

His lips pressed together in frustration. "Okay...but as soon as you loosen the crystal, run like hell for the opening. Okay?"

"I promise. Which opening are we going out of, Babe?" She glanced toward the ceiling to judge which crystal would be the closest to where they were going and where the best place to strike it would be to bring it down in one blow as she certainly didn't want to hang around any longer than they had to in this place.

He looked at the three openings. His Elvin senses peaked but he couldn't be sure. The middle of the three "felt" the best. "That one, love; over there." He pointed to the one in the middle. "Try to dislodge at least a 3" crystal."

Des nodded to him and unbuckled her belt then slid it free of the loops. Flicking the latch she uncoiled the deadly weapon and stepped away from the wall making sure her boots made no sound on the floor. Slowly at first, she began to swing the thin metallic weapon around herself in circle that widened as it picked up speed. The tip was a razor sharp triangular point that whirled around her in a protective figure eight formation as she continued to move across the floor toward the crystal she had targeted.

Concentrating all her attention upon keeping the weapon moving fluidly she increased the speed until it was a blur around her slender form then suddenly sent it shooting upwards to collide with one of the sun crystals where it attached to the ceiling, dislodging it neatly from its resting place.

Gavilean had followed behind her, giving her enough room to swing her wushu weapon while watching their rear. He trusted Des completely, and he knew that in his weakened state, she was much more likely to succeed than he was. He watched and saw her release the triangle-bladed weapon at the ceiling. It was like lightning crashing, and the crystal fell. Gav was there to catch it before it hit the stone floor.

Immediately they could hear a scratching sound of spiders being awakened and scurrying across the ceiling.

In the same smooth motion she drew the cord back through her hand until the weapon was once more close as she spun to face the scurrying sounds with her free hand resting on her beloved husband's back. "Run Babe! I'm with you!" she called out to Gav just as she caught sight of the first huge cave spider. "Oh Lordy be Babe, they are ugly!"

They were indeed ugly. They were as large as a good size pie plate, but their legs extended for three feet in all directions, providing excellent grip upon cave walls and ceilings. Their bodies looked like they were covered in black steel wool but with longer, sharper points sticking out like spikes. They had two sets of eyes. The first were huge and used only when walking in dark cave areas. The second were much smaller and were the only ones open when they were in the parts of the cave lighted with sun crystals. The long legs carried them at a remarkable speed across the cave.

"I'm going, Des! Hurry!! Stay right behind me!" He raced as fast as his hurt body would take him for the darkness of the middle opening.

Des scrambled backwards, protecting his back as Gav took the precious sun crystal, while the spiders advanced on them. The faint whirring sound of her weapon as she sent it in carefully timed and aimed arcs out to chop off those long legs lost in the scurrying noise of the arachnids. She smiled with glee as a few of the spiders got caught by the razor sharp triangle blade at the end of the cord and were stilled forever as they fell in halves to the packed earthen floor. "Babe they can be killed at least!"

"Yes, Des...they can, but hurry! One bite will paralyze a person!" He reached the opening and turned with his own Elvin sword drawn. "Come! Hurry!"

"Eeep!!!" That was all it took. She no longer cared that her weapon was dropping them very effectively as it sang through the air of the cavern. Des glanced to make sure that her beloved husband had reached safety then spun in a deadly dance cutting down the nearest spiders and ran for the tunnel where he waited for her. "Let's go!"

When he was sure that they were safe from the cave spiders he turned and ran for the first fifty yards then stopped. "I have to rest a minute," he said while trying to catch his breath. "Besides, you don't want to travel too quickly through a cave. . . too many dangers." He leaned back against the wall and slid down.

Des had coiled up her weapon as she ran beside him. It felt strange to be able to keep up with him and brought home to her again just how off kilter things really were. She eased down beside him and drew one of her daggers then carefully sheathed her belt weapon in its place. "It is okay Babe. We will find our way out of here. I have faith in us."

She really did trust that they would get through this, although she honestly had no idea how they were going to manage it since at the moment things were definitely looking exceedingly grim. It was hard to stay positive but she knew that if she gave up hope then that would be the beginning of the end for certain, so she was going to stay positive for as long as possible. She rested her head against his shoulder and put an arm around his waist. "I love you Gavilean Starfare. You are all that matters to me. As long as we are together then I am happy."

He was thinking that he was holding her back and that she should go on alone, but then she said those words and he knew he'd never get her to leave him behind. "I just need a minute, darlin'. We'll get out of here. I've been in worse situations than this, baby." He was trying to lift her spirits, but in reality he had no idea where they were going, other than that this tunnel felt right.

She smiled and rubbed her cheek to his shoulder. "We will just rest here for a little while then we will go on and see what there is to see up ahead there. Who knows Babe, there may be some underground pickle fields up there just waitin' to be discovered."

He laughed and kissed her cheek as she rested on his chest. "I love you, sweetheart. Forever and always and two days. And we're getting out of this."

They continued and turned left around a bend, and as they did, the wall took on a red glow and the heat increased rapidly. "We've got fire up ahead, darlin'. Let's look." He knew that if there was a fire, there would also be an updraft, an opening higher up.

Des couldn't help but grin to that while nodding, and then looked forward and moved ahead at his side and blinked at what she saw. "Oh Lordy be. Would ya look at that Babe. It ain't no snake, that is for sure." She didn't put her daggers away though as she was far too busy as her gaze rose upwards along the molten wall of rock that was on one side of them. The heat that radiated from it had her unconsciously tugging at her torn and dirty shirt as perspiration started to dot the surface of her skin.

Gav took the lead and they approached the molten wall. There eyes followed the flow and that?s when they noticed that the majority of the heat was coming from a wide crevice in the floor of a large open cavern. Gav walked to the edge and looked down. It must have been a five hundred foot drop to the flow of molten material at the bottom. Sweat was pouring off of him as he looked around for a way up.

"This heat has to be exiting from someplace, love." Then he saw it - an opening in the ceiling to some other level of the cavern. "There it is, darlin'. We just got to get up there, and unfortunately the way up seems to be on the other side of this crevice." He looked down this side of the crevice within the cavern and saw a narrow stone bridge that spanned the crevice. "I hate caves."

Des gasped as she saw just how narrow that stone bridge was and just how high above the molten lave flow it was to boot. "Oh, no. You have got to be kidding me, Babe. There has got to be another way around this here thing." But there wasn't and she knew it, and no amount of wishing would make another way appear. She was so afraid of heights that her palms were already sweating along with the rest of her body. "Well I guess standing here isn't going to get us over there is it love mine?" She put on a smile for man that she loved more than anything, then nodded to him as though to say it was okay and headed toward the bridge warily.

If they needed any encouragement to get across the stone bridge, they were about to get it. A small group of three Cave Trolls appeared at the other end of the cavern, but on their side of the crevice. Gavilean sensed them and turned to look. "Baby, I think we better hurry. . . .I mean...really hurry!"

Cave trolls were large, but they were not fast. They were about a hundred yards away and lumbering toward their prey with clubs in their hands.

Des tilted her head to the side inquisitively as suddenly Gav was in a hurry to get across the extremely narrow and very unsafe looking bridge. A little huff escaped as she spun on a heel to face him and give him a little piece of her mind about rushing her across this obstacle, one that she was not looking forward to facing and that she was doing her best to overcome her fear of. Then she caught sight of the trolls coming at them. "Ack! Babe! Trolls!" She froze in place with an arm outstretched pointing at the grey skinned creatures.

Des crawled over to sit beside Gav as she waited to catch her breath. She was exhausted, every muscle screaming a protest at the rough treatment her body has been through for the last Goddess only knew how many hours or even days.

She too felt that surely this place was different. The air here was cooler and it was lighter. They didn't need their crystal to see each other and their surroundings anymore but the prickling on her skin was no longer just the itch from the dirt and perspiration now it felt like it did when there was magic being worked around her. "Babe do ya feel that? I think something that we haven't seen yet is just up ahead. We better be careful still."

Gavilean touched Des' shoulder and then pushed himself to his knees and was quick to stand to his feet, sword in his hand. He nodded to her that he did indeed feel the magic. The Elves were very tuned to magic and what he felt was loud and clear. He reached down for her hand. "We better be very careful, baby. I'm not sure of the danger, but there is far more power here than down in the tunnels."

She nodded her agreement as she took his hand and got back to her feet. She swayed once but straightened her spine and brought her body back under her control to stand at her beloved husband's side ready to face down any danger together. She would not be weak and leave him to face it alone whatever it may be no matter the trials they had already faced.

Her will was much stronger than that and she would overcome this. Des drew a dagger from her boot and took her Whusu weapon in the other as she faced toward where the light was coming from. Then before she could speak the source of the power they could feel was in the cave with them.

Facing them, regally seated, was a white Spirit Tiger calmly regarding the couple with amber eyes that appeared to see into their very souls. He, for there was no mistaking the male aura around the powerful being, regarded them for several moments but it was clear that he posed no physical threat.

It was only a searching he did as though weighing and measuring their worthiness for something that only he knew the answer to. Des stood quietly and relaxed beneath the inspection feeling that there was no harm meant by the Spirit in their attention.

Gavilean felt the sense of awe and the sense of no immediate physical threat. He also realized that should the Spirit Tiger wish them hurt or dead, their weapons would have little effect in warding that off. He sheathed his sword and looked to Des to reassure her that their best choice right now, being totally exhausted, was to be submissive.

The High Elfin king took a step forward and bowed slowly to the Spirit Tiger. His voice was soft but firm, "We, the King and Queen of the land of Westridge, humbly stand before you in peace, begging your forgiveness for our unintended intrusion."

Des gasped as she looked every which way trying to take it all in at once. "Babe! Look at this place. Isn't it beautiful!"

Gavilean stood there and took in all that was happening. "Yes, Des. It....is." He was slowly walking around, moving to the waterfall when he was suddenly stopped by some sort of force field. "Something is preventing us from getting any further, Des. The way out is blocked by a magic that is incredibly powerful."

He turned back toward Des and the colorful squares on the wall. "These words and symbols must mean something. I don't recognize the symbols. Look at these dragon pictures. They're beautiful." Each had a picture of a dragon that was slightly different, and each had a different color.

She was wandering around looking at all the beautifully crafted illustrations of the dragons. Her steps slightly dragging now that it appeared the physical danger was over and she didn't need to put up a front. "Mmhhmm Babe. All these here stones must have to do with that riddle and they must be our way out. But what the heck is a bow that never shot a dragon? I thought dragonslayers used lances to shoot dragons not bows." She was slightly confused as she ran her fingers over one of the blue dragons tracing the artwork before moving on to do the same to one of the purple ones.

"Sometimes they have these very large bows that shoot large shafts at dragons as they fly overhead. Maybe it's referring to that." He walked and around and began to press on the stones. "They seem to give a little. I wonder if we have to press them in a certain way?"

"That would make sense Babe like a code of some kind but where we can find the code? Maybe it is written on the floor here in these here words or symbols?" She started searching out the words the tiger had said on the words that were written on the stones on the floor but couldn't find the word 'bow' anywhere. All the others were there in one language or another she knew but not that one particular word.

Gavilean was pressing the pictures of the dragons in different orders. "Nothing. I don't know the solution, sweetheart. I've got to think. There is a key! The Spirit Tiger said, 'The bow that has never shot a dragon holds the key'. The bow holds the key. The bow also holds an arrow. An arrow could be a key!"

Gavilean looked from the rainbow to the dragons and back, noticing that the rainbow was beginning to fade as the sun moved higher in the sky. It was then that he realized that they had been up all night long and it was now morning. "Des, remember the rainbow colors! See how it goes from a deep purple to blue to yellow to green to red. There is a pattern going from the inside of the bow to the outside. These dragons all have different colors. What if we pressed the stones in the order of the rainbow?"

Des glanced from the stones to Gav and back again then she nodded slowly as it all seemed to be making sense. "Yeah! All the colors of the dragon crystal stones with arrows pointing to them Babe! I think ya are right. Let's do it!" She pressed all the colors in the correct order that she was closest to then waited for him to press the ones by him. Her heart was pounding and palms were sweating as hope sprang to life. "Okay your turn love mine."

He picked up from where she left off. She had pressed the black dragon, the blue, and then the gold. Gav whispered the colors as he pressed the stones: "Green. . . red . . ." He looked at the other two, the silver and the white. "Black is no color, but white is a mixture of all colors. Thulin Nel had once told me that." So he pushed the silver dragon next, and then finally - the white.

Des ran over to stand beside her beloved husband as suddenly there were numerous scrapping noises with the shifting of all the colored dragon stones in sync. The beautifully illustrated crystalline stones swung outwards as though on invisible hinges as the final stone was pressed in the correct order. All was completely silent within the cavern as even the sound of the waterfall seemed to no longer be able to be heard now that the riddle had been unraveled.

Until the beating of tiny wings and the cheerful chirping of brightly colored dragonettes surrounded the exhausted couple in a myriad of sights and sounds where before there had been the total silence of cautious watchfulness that had held them so many times on this journey. As the newly released acrobatic fliers dipped and soared about the cavern the volume of the waterfall splashing at the entrance increased to a roaring much louder than before.

The Pine Path

The path was like a three-foot wide floor of a tunnel that was cut through the midst of solid pine. The scent was magnificent, and pine needles cushioned their steps. The needles also made the path slippery; and if they were to slide off the path, the treed side of the mountain dropped off so rapidly that it would be doubtful that even if they survived the fall by being caught by a tree trunk or root, that they would once again be able to climb their way back to the path.

For the next several hours they continued their walk along the narrow canopied path, occasionally getting glimpses of the magnificently lush mountain valley that they had emerged into. They had been struggling to survive for over 24 hours when the path came to an open space, and they couldn?t believe their eyes what lay before them.

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Set into the side of the mountain was something that looked like a dwelling or temple, or perhaps both. Gav smiled at Des, ?Look, darling. Perhaps there are people there who can help us.?

With new hope sprang new energy, and they picked up their pace, following the path that was now more exposed to the open sky and the view around them. It was then that they noticed that the dragonettes had departed. They had evidently done their job in guiding them to the mountainside retreat, and then left. Perhaps it was a ?thank you? for setting them free, or perhaps it was their 'assignment'.

Then dirt and rock path became wider and flatter as they drew near the buildings that were set into the side of the mountain. The Starfares could now walk side-by-side, holding hands and helping each other along. Their feet hurt, their bodies ached, and their stomachs were complaining for lack of anything to do for so long; but they continued to press forward.

Discovering Food

It had been a day and a half without sleep or food. The last meal they had was upon their picnic blanket, and that seemed like it must have been weeks ago. Finding the kitchen in this hillside dwelling brought hope once again that food would be found - something, anything. They entered the small kitchen and opened an old cupboard next to the sink and found it filled cans of stew, packages of jerky, coffee beans, flour, sugar, and other staples. In the refrigerator was a large round cheese that was sealed in red wax. There were bottles of wine lying upon their sides and packaged beef and pork, and a container of brown eggs. Gavilean smiled at Des and winked, "You hungry?"

Des pushed the messy tangle of hair back over her shoulder and out of eyes that felt full of grit from lack of sleep as she fought off exhaustion while her stomach growled loudly in the silence of the pristine yet somehow welcoming kitchen of the small abode upon catching sight of the food. "Most definitely that is a yes Babe!"

She chuckled warmly while making a dive for the round of cheese and then started looking around for a knife because it would be very bad manners to just stuff it into her mouth and start gnawing on the wax to get to the actual cheese even though she was hungry enough to do that very thing.

Gav had laughed and opened a draw and found the knives and eating utensils. "Here they are, baby." He pulled out one of the large cans of stew and used the kitchen can opener to remove the lid. "Des, the label says 'stew' but it's filled with pickles!" He gave her a teasing look through the hair that was in front of his face.

?Eeeep!? Des darted to the opposite side of the kitchen from her beloved husband and the can before she even took a look at it after of course she had snagged the knife from the drawer leaned up again the counter heedlessly chopping off chunks of the red wax from her wheel of cheese with little sounds of impending delight much like one might expect to hear in the bedroom as the cheese was exposed and she took her first bite of food in what seemed like forever. ?Mmmmm... oooohhhh.... yyyeeesss.... ssssooooo... goooood.?

Gavilean emptied the stew in a pot and put it on the stove. Then went and pulled out a bottle of wine, uncorked it, and poured two glasses on the kitchen table where he sat and waiting for the stew to heat up. He closed his eyes and had a smile of relief. "I don't know what this place is, Des, but it's a god send, that's for sure. Who would build something like this in a place that is nearly impossible to reach?"

She moved over to stand beside him and offered him part of the cheese as well knowing he had to be just as hungry as she was and there were no pickles in sight after all. She shook her head slowly while reaching for a glass of wine to take a drink. "I don't know either, Babe, but I am very thankful that we figured out that riddle and found this place. It really is lovely here. So peaceful and almost like it had just been waiting for us or something don't ya think?"

He took the offering of cheese and quickly devoured it, followed by a long drink of the wine. "Yes, it is peaceful. No doubt about that." He went to the window and looked outside. The buildings were perched on the side of a cliff, 2700 feet above the floor of the valley, where the only sounds would be the murmurs of the wind, and trickle of water that would run through the earth and come out from the side of the cliff purified and cold. "Do you suppose that Spirit Tiger had something to do with this? Those dragonettes actually led us here. That was too obvious to be coincidental."

"I am certain of it," she said.

She took her glass of wine and joined him at the window. The view was truly magnificent, a balm to the spirit and if one were so inclined perhaps even a gateway to inner knowledge and strength. "This has such a feeling of being a place of learning to me Babe. Ancient knowledge here just waiting to be shared if one is willing to learn wouldn't ya say? I wonder if that Tiger has something to do with that?"

He put his arm around Des' shoulders as they gazed out the window at the rapidly darkening mountain terrain. "I think you're right, Des. This was set up as a school of some type and then abandoned. From what the Tiger had said, I think he was just looking for those who would be worthy to be here; and, perhaps lead it." He went to the stove, took off the hot stew and put it into two bowls. Then got spoons and brought it all to the table. He lit the gas lamps in the kitchen. "After we eat, maybe we can find a bath and bed. I'm dirty and exhausted."

She rested her head on his chest as they gazed out the window and smiled as she thought about all the things that could be learned in a place like this then turned with him away from the scenic view as he went toward the stove. Des seated herself at the table as he placed the bowls down. "I am so tired I'm afraid I may fall asleep in the bathtub love mine but I am so filthy that I just want to get clean again and sleep for a week! Thank ya for fixing the stew Babe." She sliced some more cheese for them to have with it and divided it between them then took up her spoon and ate their meal.

The meal filled them and dishes were left for morning chores. They put out the gas lamps and walked up a staircase with a candle they found. The entire top floor of that residence building was an open living area with Turkish wool carpets, a large 4-posted bed, closest and dressers and a opening to a bath area. The most amazing part of the upper room was the expanse of windows that went from the bedroom to bath and provided view that was like looked like you were in a next 2,700 feet above the valley floor. Gavilean lit a gas lamp and put out the candle. He lit another gas lamp in the bathroom and turned on the gas water heater. "Do you believe this place, Des!"