Who left the dimensional door open?

Recycle time ...

Weekly pickup from Teddy Kennedy's house? ;-)

It's in the Alps somewhere. I can't remember.

Good Morning Kathy... Now that's a load of................... recyclables..

Do any birfday celebrating last night, Gran? ;-)

Yep.. a little bit. Went out to dinner and had lots of shrimp and other fish.. I love peel-n-eat shrimp. ;)

LOL - thanks for the bloviator smak.

It just started snowing again. :-(

Oh I'm so sorry... It's quite nice here for a change. ;)

Well, did you get all you ask for yesterday?

That pic of the river is spooky.Like a flood about to happen.Figures you'd get a pic like that.You are twisted ;-)

Gee, ACe, have you been working with Photoshop, to do some airbrushing? Or, you just hanging out at the "other" sites now??

Why are you sorry? Have you done your snow dance lately??

Hopefully it's warm enough there to get out and play...

Amazing what one lil rickshaw will carry!

Cold winds coming your way! Once it touches that hot air mass permanently over DC, expect a big dump ;-)

expect a big dump

May it land on Hitlery's head. ;-)

Loddie, If you ever wanted to maroon somebody on an island, Have I got the place for you.

James Bond Island, Thailand.

Cheers

Oh yeah, Sarah. That girl from Joe Millionaire.
Seems she was in Bondage and foot fetish porn films before becomeing a 'sales rep'.

YES!

I'd try and push that island over onto someone, myself.
Then again, fortify it and put a welcome mat out that says, "Go away. IRS Agents chained in basement."
Or some other variation.
"..or I'll release the IRS agents."
"..Or I'll release the alligators."
or some other such.

"Love and hate. Get it wrong. She cut me right back down to size. Sleep the day, let it fade. Who was there to take your place? No-one knows, never will. Mostly me, but mostly you. Do you say? Do you do? When it all comes down.." - Bush 'Comedown'
"Lay down, the threat is real. When his sight goes red again." - Chevelle 'The Red'
"All your metal armor drags me down. Nothing hurts like your mouth." - Bush 'Mouth'

The door to Arselen's room opened quietly and shut, apparently by itself. Something crossed the floor to where the Queen was laying in her fitful forced sleep. She was fighting against it as hard as she could, but Karsh's command to rest was too strong, for the moment.
Something took shape next to Arselen's bed. A striking feminine face peered out from a white cloak at an astonishingly similar face laying on the bed.
Arsivath did wander as the rest of her kin did.
Her mouth curled into a smile as she smoothed Arselen's hair back from her face. She murmered something to the sleeping Queen, and sat down next to her. Then she reached into her white tunic and pulled out a round blue stone on a chain. It was the mate stone to the one Karsh had given Arselen. It had been lost when Arsivath perished, or so it had seemed at the time. She clipped it around the Queen's neck, as gently as one tucks in a child at night. Then she smiled, and turned to go. But fate plays tricks on the unwary.
Instead of leaving, something happened that made her stay and revealed her presence to at least one other.
Arselen sat up suddenly, and Arsivath fell to her knees, at the same time. The screams from both were ear splitting. Karsh had just discovered Balk'el's sword sticking out of his chest. And they had both felt it.
Outsidethe Keep, the Archon was flying backwards.
Inside the Keep, things were going form bad to worse. Arselen was clutching her chest, as was Arsivath. There was blood on Arselen's hand, dripping in runnels from the flat of her palm. She leaned over painfully, gasping for breath, and came face to face with what looked like.. Herself.
On the walls outside, Abilene spun about. Something wasn't right. Or, at least not right in the sense that something was different.
"Arsivath?" Abilene ran as fast as her spectral legs could move.
"Where are you going? What? Gath'nrick!!" Rathe turned from his spot on the wall and ran after her. His cursing was heard throughout the Keep.
Eerily similar eyes framed by brownish red hair stared into each other for a few moments, until Abilene rushed through a wall. Then the surprise was broken by panic. Abilene looked at the one person she'd never guessed she'd see again, in wandering form or the afterlife, and wondered how she'd gotten here without anyone knowing.
....she wanders paths unseen by me...
Karsh's words, spoken in thought, came back to mind. She'd never guessed that he'd meant it like that. And she'd never foreseen it either.
She felt as if she'd been blindsided, and somehow that fact angered her slightly.
"What, How, Why are You here?" Abilene sounded defensive. Arsivath looked as if the question had wounded her, as if she'd just been rejected by her own.
"He's hurt. He needs help." her answer. Her eyebrows were up, and her eyes were fearful. She knew that her former betrothed was undead and pretty resilient as well, but she feared for his safety. And she'd been trying to make things almost normal for him ever since he'd been recalled to the service of the Throne. Only now, he'd been hurt in such a way that she couldn't hide her presence from everyone.
...paths unseen...
Abilene couldn't put her finger on why that bothered her. It seemed... unnatural.
Arselen finally, wearily, looked at her hand and gasped. She then looked at the stone that Karsh had given her. Blood was dripping from it and running down her chest. Her corset was reddened down the front. Arselen grasped the stone in her hands, and tears came to her eyes.
"No!" Abilene and Arsivathboth yelled. For some reason, their gut instict was to keep her form crying on the stone...

Outside, Karsh was still using two swords at once. The Archon was backing up, losing ground. Karsh turned slightly, letting a slash bounce off his mailed shoulders, then quick as a snake drove both swords into the Archon.
"Doesn't feel so pleasant, does it?" Karsh twisted both swords. The Archon choked a bit, and began laughing.
"You forgot someone." his voice was slightly gravelly from pain, and the fact that one sword was through a lung. Karsh dropped him and spun out of the way. Balk'el couldn't stop his attack in time and speared the Archon with a javelin. He then had instant retribution for his attempt at attacking in the form of Karsh's two swords slamming him in the chest. Only one cut him. The other still felt like a club, a club being swung by a giant.
"Care to try that again?" Karsh bowed slightly, swords raised like the front legs of a predatory insect. Balk'el wasn't foolish enough to try it again. But the Archon was. He stepped forward only to get tossed backwards instantly, Balk'el felt like an invisible hand tried to squash him, the Archon again felt a nasty stinging sensation as lightning tore through him. Balk'el tried to stand up, and was driven back to his knees under the weight of Karsh's fury.
Karsh had his hand outstretched towards Balk'el, his fingers spread wide, and was merely thinking of making him squirm.
"You've...never.... dared to do...this before!" Balk'el gasped. He'd assumed that the prohibition on Karsh destroying him meant he couldn't
use the gift on him. He appeared to be wrong.
"Didn't know you cared." Karsh sent him backwards, painfully. Then he turned his brutal attention on teh Archon, who was trying to crawl to his sword. The Archon noticed Karsh's intent, methodically slow murderous walk and started an incun in an attempt to stop him. He spoke faster as Karsh got closer, culminating in a hysterical high pitched shriek. Karsh stepped on the Archon's sword and readied his swords.
"Which one do you like better? This one?" he held out his sigil of kingship, the sword of the Eternal, and raised an eyebrow, "Or this one? I made it myself, remember? I carried it when I was the Captain of the Southern Marches."
The Archon finished his incun and sent a green colored flame at Karsh. Karsh suddenly gasped and grabbed his chest, falling backwards as the green hued flame flew past his head.
What had just happened? Karsh wondered at that. It felt as if his heart had just jumped in his chest. Almost like it was trying to beat.
Quickly, he blasted the Archon away from him with some unseen rending power.
Balk'el had his own problems. His own legs were standing over him, tapping a foot. He wondered how long it was going to be before his legs ran away from him.
"Stop mimicking my face, Balk'int!" Karsh insulted Balk'el as he walked past. Karsh's voice was gargling, as if his throat was choked with blood. Or phlegm. He hadn't honestly felt that in such a long time. He gagged and spit before turning towards the Archon again.

A very cool island - thanks.

"When wealth is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, all is lost."

"The stupid neither forgive nor forget; the naive forgive and forget; the wise forgive but do not forget."

"Isn't the hardest thing in life knowing which bridges to cross and which to burn?"

"If quitters never win and winners never quit, who is the fool that said 'quit while you are ahead'?