This letter is delivered by page to anyone who will receive it.

?We the members of Lawful Citizens demanding Protection issue this statement:

The legal system in Rhy?Din is a joke. We demand fair protection when going about our daily business. Until we get what we demand, we will continue our attack on every legal business in the city!

We?ve already taken out the Warehouse of DCH, and a local affiliate of theirs. Our next strike will be directed at more officious places where our legal system is most lacking and failing to hold up to their duties.

We won?t stop until we see a better organized police force out on the streets taking care of law abiding citizens like ourselves!

Signed
LCdP?

Hearing Amal?s footsteps approaching the Editor?s office door she quickly begins to stuff random papers into the cubbyholes on her desk. At the question she pauses though and intrigued she hops to her feet and moves over to her taking the letter in question and reads it then blinks.

?These here people say they is law abiding citizens Boss? That just don?t make no sense to me. I ain?t never heard nothing about them. I did hear tell of them there fires over in Dockside where G is Baron. He has been having a heck of time over there lately. Ain?t nobody has been able to prove nothing about who has been doin? all the burning that has been happening over there though.?

The cowgirl hands her the letter back with a shake of her head and apologetic smile. ?I don?t think I am the one for this here Boss. I got me some really good contacts but they ain?t been able to tell me nothin? bout them there fires over in that area. And I?m thinking from the sounds of this here letter these here people might be involved. Maybe one of the others got contacts that are in the know about this here letter and this here group of people. Boy Toy!?

Des glanced around the office in search of Brian to see if he was in at the moment because surely he might have some information to offer Amal. Then she looked back to their Editor-in-chief who always had her finger on the pluse of the city from where she sat in her glass walled office.

"What about the Prince? What's his name again? I ain't seen him yet to meet him which is my own fault. I have been busy and I will correct that Boss honest just as soon as I can track him down!"

She gave her a sheepish grin because she had been busy sitting and drooling over her husband across the way while waiting for someone to come in and give her a story for the paper instead of making an effort to get to know their newest addition to the staff.

Gavilean was putting film in his camera when he noticed Des looking at him from over in her desk. He gave her a wink an blew a kiss to his lovely bride. He still couldn't believe that he was so blessed to have just a beautiful, sexy woman for his wife.

He slipped the camera into his camera bag, slug it over his shoulder and walked into Des' desk. He saw Amal and Des talking. He gave Des a kiss on the cheek and asked, "Hey, love...what's going on here?"

He received the letter from Amal and read it.

"Well, they've got a point here. Yeah, this makes a LOT of sense." He rolled his eyes. "They are going to attack every legal business in the city until the 'Lawful Citizens' get protection when going about their daily business." He laughed and handed the letter back. "Why don't the Lawful Citizens try to do things lawfully? Or, hell, just put that effort into helping the police instead of attacking other lawful business? Anyway, Chief, I think I'll try to get some pictures and maybe get their input on suggestions on what they'd like to see happen for their protection, and how much they'd be willing to pay for it."

"Des, love...you want to meet for lunch?"

Brian blinked in surprise as one of his favourite words were spoken aloud more than once. Yes it was "Lunch" and it sounded good. Noting the grin rom Amal, Brian tossed his new and quite awesome looking stetson hat, a Des original mind you, into the arena.

"Lunch? Gav is taking us to lunch? I knew there was a reason Des loved him so much, cause he takes care of us all!"

The Cowgirl Queen of Westridge blinked and blinked again at the bravest, and best of the very best, Bounty Hunter Assassin in all of RhyDin as he began talking about protecting cake shoppes instead of going after these so-called law abiding citizens that were obviously breaking the law by taking out what appeared to be law abiding businesses.

Okay so she wasn?t so sure DCH was a law abiding business but right now she had what she thought was a take-no-prisoners Boy Toy more worried about his supply of cake than getting to the bottom of this potentially Pulitzer prize winning story.

And on top of that he mentioned the very female she had thought was plotting and planning to possibly kidnap him, Kerri, as now being one of the ?good guys?. Oh, how things changed when one was on their honeymoon and only came to town in the dead of night for short visits, to check their recording devices for juicy gossip for the paper, and to work.

Fast as could be she snagged a newspaper boy and sent him out to hunt down the Prince so that she could meet him and he could get himself back into the office to help break this story wide open for the faithful readers of the best news paper in RhyDin, The Oracle.

Then her oh-so-scrumptious husband came on over and she tipped her cheek for his kiss with a radiant smile to him. She let the letter speak for itself rather than trying to answer his question as it was just too complicated and she really had no clue what was going on just yet.

As their Editor-in-chief mentioned the word ?terrorists? she frowned. She was just plumb tired of always being threatened by this person or that creature-ish thing and was ready to stop asking names and taking prisoners. It was time to just get down to business in her opinion.

A slow grin appeared as getting together for lunch was mentioned and she slipped an arm around her beloved?s waist as she tipped her chin up to show that grin and mischievous sparkle in navy blues to him. ?Yup, I?d say that my Babe is going to take us all to lunch y?all. He can afford it and I do believe it would be right nice if we all met to see what we have come up with so far this morning.?

Then the door opened and in rushed a stranger but as he spoke she realized who it must be and she turned to him with a warm smile. ?Howdy Darlin?! My name is Des. You must be that new guy that I done sent that newsboy out after. What was your name again cause I am very sorry but I done forgot.? She blushed slightly and offered her hand to the Prince.

His idea of a nice, intimate, romantic lunch with Des was squelched as fast as the word "lunch" was spoken. It looked like it was going to be one of those "Staff Lunches", but that was okay because they were always fun, and with Chief there, they didn't have to worry about getting back to the office.

"Okay, I'll buy. What are all of you in the mood for? RhyDin Sushi? The Dragon's Wok? The Elf and Ant Bar has a nice selection of salads and sandwiches, and a real hot waitress..." He caught himself. "I mean real hot soup without a wait. That's all I was trying to say."

He looked at Des and gave her a wink. Then taking Des' hand he said, "Let's go gang. Snooze ya lose!"

She placed her slightly work roughened hand in his and gave the Prince?s hand a firm shake with a warm smile to him then stepped back to her husband?s side and slipped her hand in his with a soft smile tipped up to the retired Warlord.

?Pleasure to meet ya Ranba. Yup, this sure enough is the King of Westridge but that don?t matter none right now cause we got this here big story that we is working on for the paper. We are all going out to lunch and is gonna talk about it so come on let?s be goin? so we can get there before the noon time crowds be there.?

Des couldn?t help but wonder how the Prince of Molmol had heard of her husband so she asked, ?By the way just how have you heard of my husband, Ranba? Do we have some kind of treaty with y?all?s country or something like that??

A glance was sent to Amal and Brian both inquisitively wondering if either of them would have an idea about the new reporter and how they gained their information.

Snugged up to her husband?s side she grinned to Ranba and located the letter in question then offered it to him. ?This here is what we are all trying to get to the bottom of. Have you heard of this group operating around town yet Darlin???

She paused in her speaking to give him time to read the letter they had received. But she couldn't help herself as the bartender inside started talking again almost immediately. "I am real sorry to hear about your father and y'all being at war. I do hope that your side wins in whatever is goin' on."

Then she tried shutting up again only to fail as something else came to mind. "Yup! Most everyone knows my husband. I am very proud of him as he was the one hundredth Warlord in the Duel of Swords but mostly he is the man that I love more than anything else in the whole entire multi-verse and so that makes him extremely special Darlin'. I can see why you would have heard of him around town so soon after gettin' here."

She smiled radiantly again to Prince Ranba as one more time her mouth quit moving.

Every lesson in proper social etiquette Miss Partinger had spent weeks drilling into the cowgirl Queen?s brain flew out the window at the mention of signing a treaty and Ranba got a deer-in-the-headlights look from Des.

What to do she had no clue so what she did was simple. She snuggled closer to her beloved husband and kept her mouth shut for once and did her best to erase the panic from her face and put a warm smile back on for him.

The Queen voted that the King could decide whether or not a new treaty was going to be signed with any countries because Her Majesty?s forte was meeting new people, tending bar, calling duels, being a reporter, starting bar room brawls, and being His Majesty?s wife.

This was beyond her capabilities and she knew it, she thought, maybe, perhaps, it might be, at least she was pretty sure it was.

Brian! She captured onto his voice and found her own with another bright smile. She nodded to him. ?Your rope Darlin is it? Hmm.. Last time I seen it was laying over by the water cooler.?

That was when Gav, Sharon, and Phydra had all been gathered around it visiting.

Brian nodded to the Boss and grinned, and as quickly as a Mithra on caffine, everyone's favourite "Boy Toy" was off and runnin' down the hall to that haven of liquification, also know as the Water Cooler, also know simply as "Dave".

No rope...

"Aw man..! Damn it, I know I had it here. I mean it should have had the cowbell too! How the hell could I have lost it."

Brian was rather fond of that rope, as it was a very little known fact that Brian was a huge fan of old 80's and 70's pro wresting, or wrastlin' to you educated type. And the Texas bull rope match was one of his favourites, so he had a rope and bell and used em as such. Brian had two idols from this Era, "Dirty" Dick Murdock, and Dusty "The American Dream" Rhodes, who were some of the toughest and funniest men you ever saw, be the fight staged or real, they were soldiers none the less.

So anyways, back story ended and back to the here and now. NO rope!
So Brian searched the area around "Dave", and Nada! Zip! Still no rope.
Thus began the epic tale of the "Fellowship of the Cowbell" but for trademarked reasons we will simply call it "The Quest for the Rope" as Brian ventured from Office to Office in search.