A Scripta

Dusty Angel watched him again. Longbow meant nothing to him, no more than meat. She smiled and sighed softly. Father would like him. Mother... she smiled even broader. Mother wouldn't let me go that easily.

He turned and walked away, and Angel was close enough to see his eyes - brown, angry. Disgusted.

She got up from her perch in the doorway, when she felt something cold nearby. "[Dashaway of my blood]," whispered the wind.

Angel waited until the group was out of earshot before she spat, "Kay!"

"[Demon summoner! Face the wing'ed night!]" Fading into sight was a young man with white hair, not unlike the man she was watching, but much, much younger with bright blue eyes. He wore the simple Arctican soldier's uniform - thin blue metal with some paint symbolizing his slight rank. "Face you demon - say where?"

"Kay, I'm working." She tipped back her black cowboy hat.

"Quiet quiescence."

Angel shook her head. Ever since being injected with the puberty enhancing drug all male Arcticans were required to take, her brother, who was called the Arctican equivalent of Winelord (because of his amazing capacity for all sorts of mind-altering ingestibles), had taken it and - ironically - lost his mind. Sometimes he was understandable. Most times he wasn't.

"Kay."

He waved his hand up and down in the direction of where her quarry went. "Bubble time, no, yes?"

She sighed. Why did they let him out? Probably because they couldn't stand him back home and hoped he would be found dead in a ditch somewhere. There was a Terran saying, "God takes care of children and fools."

"Next bubble," he said, and started following them.

"Kay!" She made herself invisible and followed him. The people he walked with were all in gray and lighter gray, except he had bright green accents - and Kay was heading right for him. He had pulled out a dagger and was within fifty yards when Dusty tackled him.

The two of them faded out of their invisibility as the group of men turned. He rolled her over, she rolled him over. He kicked her up, but not very hard - hard enough for the tail of her coat to fly over her head and her hips to tilt up, so the entire group had a clear and unobscured view under her miniskirt.

They only saw a white patch, before Kay shoved her sideways, she fell flat on her back in the ashes. With a laugh, Kay disappeared before her eyes.

The wind was knocked out of her, and her skirt had hiked up much higher than normal, almost all the way up to her hips. The men were grinning at her. She stood up, bent over and reached down for her hat, giving the men a view of how high her miniskirt had gone, and what enticements lay underneath. A couple of them started toward her.

She drew her sword quickly and held it against the two of them. She grinned broadly at them. "Sorry, sugah." She looked beyond them to the white haired man. "This heah package is for him."

He folded his arms across his chest and regarded her. She still hadn't fixed her skirt, and it rode up even higher so that a bare few inches covered her nether regions. His eyes went slowly from there, up to her slightly parted jacket showing just the smallest hint of what lay beneath that...

She grinned, turning invisible. He stared at the spot she had been, then turned to the other men. He took two steps, then felt something sharp poke him in five places at his butt and squeeze. He whirled around but heard the tinkling giggle on the wind, then saw the glimpse of a brown coat as the girl disappeared.