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Act IV: Of Imps And Lions

Come the following morning, Duffy packed us some fresh venison and beef jerky. Then, Shane, Luke and I bid Duffy goodbye and headed back towards Giannitsa to the south. All during the trip, I pondered over what Duffy had said about the Chess horror stories. He had even divulged a few of the stories he had heard. Listening to some of these stories pissed me off. I wasn't happy about the tales that were being spread around about Chess. But I had to give Duffy the benefit of the doubt; these stories might be based on fact. I had no way of knowing how good the other agents of Chess were. Their actions may warrant these tales of terror. I kept my thoughts to myself.

In Giannitsa, we retrieved our transport and drove to Thessaloniki. Once we had arrived at the airport, Shane announced that we were to part company once again. That sort of bothered me. But he was a Marine. He had to go where they shipped him. Luke and I bid him farewell and we boarded the private jet enroute to Athens. Luke and I chatted casually on the trip back. Neither of us understood the purpose behind this mission. We met with Duffy and got his story. Then, we were to let him be and return to Athens. That was a mission? I began to think that Danath Gaul needed Luke and I out of the way while something major was taking place.

We had been gone for about a week on this trip. Our jet landed in Athens and we caught a transport back to Chess headquarters. We filed our report and handed it in to Danath Gaul. Danath processed them in the usual way. Luke and I headed back to our room. When we got to the door, we were met by a female Elite. She explained that because we were no longer Pawns, we were being moved into the officers quarters. That made sense to the two of us, but we really liked the room we had as Pawns. Luke and I followed the Elite out of one building and into another.

Luke and I now had connecting rooms. And these rooms were easily twice the size of the Pawn's bedrooms. I had no idea what I would do with all the extra space. Each pair of bedrooms had their own living rooms, while each individual bedroom had their own bathroom. That was fine by me. I hit the shower immediately. I could hear Luke doing the same. Not that we were really dirty, but we had just gotten back from a mission, so a shower was in order.

Over the next few days, Luke and I conducted separate activities. I spent my time attending refresher courses and studying in the Chess library. When I wasn't studying, I was working at the marina. There was one scooner that I was quite fond of and I worked on that boat the most. After a week's time, Danath Gaul surprised me late one evening as I was taking down the sails aboard the scooner.

"I am quite pleased that you take such good care of this boat."

I glanced up and grinned. By now, I didn't jump a mile whenever Danath just showed up.

"What do you want, Danath?"

He folded his arms over his chest and relaxed on one leg. He gave me a perplexing look.

"Do I have to want something whenever I come to see you?"

I grinned again.

"Not always, but usually... whenever you show up, it's because you have a job that needs an agent. Are you going to tell me that you're only here now to admire the work I've done on this scooner?"

He unfolded his arms and smiled.

"I am going to have to change my tactics. You're right; there is a mission that's come up. You don't have to accept this one, but every mission helps your score towards another promotion."

I finished with the sails and stepped off the scooner to the dock where he was standing.

"I don't have to accept it, but you know I won't say no, either. And for the record, I'm not doing this for the promotions; I am doing this because I sort of dislike being idle with nothing to do. Call it a Tanner thing. Now... what is the mission?"

Danath actually laughed. That surprised me. Shane must be rubbing off on Danath, or something like that. Seeing Danath laugh is spookier than being chased by Ys O'dora. A laughing Chess Master is not a good sign, usually.

"This time, you're going solo."

That also made me blink my eyes in surprise. Danath almost always insisted upon having Chess agents partner with someone. This was either a very delicate mission, meaning that it was near dull and boring, or it wasn't very dangerous.

"Solo? Me?"

Danath nodded his head.

"I would have allowed Luke to go with you on this one, but a Black Bishop asked Luke to accompany him on a mission as of yesterday. So, you'll be doing this one solo. It's not life threatening, from what we know, so you should be able to do this. Now, as for where you're going... You'll catch a private jet from Athens to Tabuk, Tabuk, Saudi Arabia. Once there, you'll report to our bunker and acquire a transport jeep. You'll drive southeast to Al Ahdar. In Al Ahdar, a local by the name of Yaseel will give you further instructions. Make sure you pack accordingly, Jansen. Good luck."

I nodded my head and watched Danath walk back up the marina to the Chess complex. So, I was being sent to Saudi Arabia by myself this time. This seemed odd that I was being sent solo. Maybe Danath wanted to see how I could handle being on my own for a change. At any rate, it gave me something to do. I proceeded back to the headquarters to make preparations for this mission.

I went to bed early and awoke around 3:00 A.M. I gathered my prepacked bags and water containers, then headed over to the airport to catch my private jet to Saudi Arabia. During my three hour flight to Tabuk, it dawned on me that Danath had not told me what I would be facing. This struck me as odd. He only said that the mission was not life threatening to me. I began wondering if I wasn't being set up for something that could be more dangerous than Danath thought. I again kept these thoughts to myself.

My jet landed in Tabuk and I headed over to the local Chess bunker to get a jeep. The local Chess contacts here were far nicer than most of the others I had encountered in other places. I guess the Arabian contacts were just better people than most of the others. I got my jeep and loaded up my provisions. Then, I was on my way to Al Ahdar to the southeast.

I arrived in the late afternoon. It was a nice place as far as small villages went. Either that, or I arrived in the wrong place. It only took me twenty-four minutes to locate Yaseel. Yaseel turned out to be a local teenager, roughly twelve to thirteen years old, with medium-length black hair, deep blue eyes and darkly tanned skin. He wore sandals and an off-white tunic and hooded cloak. Yaseel joined me in my jeep, and directed me to drive west to his camp near some caves in the Harrat al-'Uwairid foothills near the northern end of the al-Higaz mountain range. We arrived in his camp as the sun was setting.

Yaseel offered to share his tent with me. In return, I offered to share what food and drink I brought along with me. Yaseel thanked me and led me into his tent. Inside the very large tent, I saw two donkeys longing near the back of the tent, a dromedary camel lounging an another area of the tent. Two hounds were also here in the tent. Yaseel greeted each of them in Arabian, then invited me to break bread with him. I gladly did so.

After the meal ended, I glanced around the tent at all the animals. Yaseel was walking around to each one, making sure each were fed. I also checked out each of the animals, one by one. When I got to the hounds, I noticed that one of them had a tooth filling. This intrigued me as animals are not generally given fillings. The hound turned his gaze up at me and nudged my hand. The hound seemed to be trying to tell me something. But I didn't speak dog.

After the feeding of the animals, I got undressed to get comfortable for the night.

"Yaseel? I noticed that one of your hounds has a tooth filling. Seeing that canines rarely ever get that type of dental work, how did this hound get a tooth filling?"

Yaseel was also getting undressed. My question slowed his progress.

"You noticed. I thought you might. Chess would not send a non-observant agent. The hound was once a friend of mine. A human."

That got my attention. I looked at the hound again. The hound nodded his head, then relaxed on his spot once again.

"How'd he get like that? Were all these animals once humans?"

Yaseel lay his head on a soft pillow, and slowly gazed at me.

"Yes. They were all human once. How they got that way is why I called for your help. You see, the caves near here are haunted by a strange tiny creature that softly laughs. When you hear the laugh, someone is getting enspelled. I haven't seen the creature myself, but I know it is only a matter of time before I end up like my friends."

I huh'ed. This was pretty hard to believe. But the animals seemed to be the evidence. I kept looking at the hound, who in return was looking back at me. His eyes were so deep. That was sort of spooky. But he was such an adorable hound.

"A tiny laughing creature with magical powers."

That sounded so familiar. I tried hard to remember why. I knew I had read about them somewhere. As I was trying to remember, the hound got up and moved over and lay right beside me. I petted him gently while trying to remember what it was that I had read. I was soon asleep after that.

When I awoke the following morning, the hound was nuzzling my face with his nose. I smiled at him and scritched him behind the ears and down along his neck. His tongue lolled out and he panted as I scritched him. Then, I remembered that he was once human and I blushed a bit. I looked to the hound gently, and nuzzled him back, whispering,

"You can lead me to the creature, can't you?"

The hound slowly nodded his head. Then, the hound gently tugged on my shorts a little, and pointed his nose toward the tent opening. I took this to mean that the hound wanted me to follow him. So, I got up while Yaseel still slept and followed the hound out of the tent. He led me to the closest cave entrance and slowly entered, leading me all the while.

The hound kept me in sight at all times as he led me deeper into the twisting caves. Then, he stopped at what appeared to be a sudden drop off. Yet, there was something over the edge lighting up this portion of the cave. I crept up beside the hound and peered over the edge. Over the edge, about fifteen feet down, there was a cavern lit with glowing orbs. And playing together amidst all the orbs of light, there were several six-inch tall goat-headed naked humanoids, with three-fingered hands and cloven hooves. They were covered in a fine scales all over their naked bodies, they had leathery wings as long as their bodies, and they had long scaley prehensile tails. The were well-endowed, like an adult would be, yet their voices and dispositions were almost childlike.

Currently, the small creatures were simply playing with one another. They took no notice of the hound and I up on the overlook. I suddenly knew what they were. Imps. Wizards and witches often summoned them to do tasks for them, then they would disappear back to where they were summoned from. Somehow, I got the feeling that this place was not their normal home. But they were so carefree, that they didn't seem to mind where they were.

The hound nuzzled my side and glanced over his shoulder. That bothered me. I too looked over my shoulder. Floating there was an imp. He had a smile on his muzzle. He landed and hugged both the hound's neck, then mine. Then, he sat between us and spoke.

"You're a new face."

I had to carefully measure my words so I didn't upset the little guy.

"I'm new around here. I was told about one of you guys that plays mean tricks on people who only want to be friends."

The imp tilted his head then nodded his head.

"Oh yeah. He doesn't play nice anymore. He used to be fun like the rest of us. Then, he disappeared for awhile. When he showed back up, he had a glowing thing around his neck and was talking all mean and stuff. Then, he said that he was going to make his own zoo. After that, he laughed and moved into his own cave. We try to avoid going there. But we go anyway."

I hummed.

"So, he's got a glowing thing around his neck that is forcing him to not play nice anymore?"

The imp smiled and nodded his head.

"You come to make him be nice again?"

I smiled and petted the imp's head. He felt pretty scaly, though very slick and warm.

"I'll make you a deal. If I get the bad thing off his neck, will you change all my animal friends back into humans? Pretty please?"

The imp thought on that for a moment. Then, he grinned and petted me back.

"You play with us for a whole day and you got a deal. We'll change your friends back into humans... after you get rid of bad neck thing. Deal?"

I smiled and shook his cute paw.

"A deal. Now, how do I find this used-to-be-fun imp friend of yours?"

The imp hugged me tightly and sat on my shoulder, wrapping his tail around my neck.

"I show you. Then, you get bad thing off of him, we change all your friends back, and you play with us for a whole day."

The imp led the hound and I back through the caves and into another cave. Then, we went a bit further, until we reached a cave that opened up into a larger cavern. In the center of this cavern, there was an imp wearing a glowing red collar around his neck. The imp did not look fun at all. Fortunately, he was asleep. That made things easier.

I charged into the chamber towards the imp. My approach woke him up, but he wasn't fast enough to cast any spells, as I clasped one hand over his muzzle and the other around his neck, with his body pressed to my own chest. He felt hot and sticky against my skin. He struggled fiercely to get free. He extended his wings and wrapped his tail around my genitals and squeezed them.

I winced, but kept to the task at hand... removing this collar. The imp kept trying to get loose, but I never relented my grip. I knew if I let go, I'd end up as some kind of animal or worse... I kept working at the collar, until I was finally rewarded with a small clicking sound and the collar came off his neck in my hand. At the moment, I released him. But he forgot to unwrap his tail from my genitals and fell flat on his tummy, panting raggedly.

I whewed as I looked at the glowing collar. Whoever made this knew their craft. Unfortunately, whoever made this was now my enemy. I really hated people that forced other people to do their bidding through coersion. I put the collar into a nearby pouch and secured the pouch to my waist. Then, I looked to the imp that was lying on his tummy. He slowly turned over and smiled. His former childlike disposition had returned. I turned my head to the imp on my shoulder.

"I kept my promise, my friend. Now please... change all my animal friends back into their former human selves."

The imp nodded his head and kissed my nose.

"And afterward, you play with all of us for a whole day. Right?"

I grinned and tickled the imp's tummy.

"That's what I promised."

And so, the imps escorted the hound and I back out of the caves to the tent. The hound entered the tent, then the imps cast the release spell upon the whole tent. In other words, everyone who had been changed magically were restored to their original forms. Yaseel emerged from the tent and saw the two imps sitting on my shoulder. He hesitated, at first, then thanked me for my help. Then, I told Yaseel that I was going to be out here for a few days to keep a promise I had made to the imps. Yaseel told me that he would await my return in the tent.

The following twenty-four hours were spent in the imp's cavern. I was their guest and I played all manner of games with them. The time seemed to extend past the original twenty-four hours, as I found myself enjoying their company more and more. However, on the third morning, the imps all suddenly reminded me that it was time for me to go. They all had a semi serious look upon their muzzles. It was almost as if someone powerful had told them that I should be allowed to leave.

The one imp who befriended me originally escorted me out to the entrance of the caves. Before he left, I kissed him on the muzzle and told him that as long as he was good, he could pop in and visit me whenever he liked. No matter where I was. That perked the imp up and he hugged me tightly, nipping my neck in the process. It stung a little, but he explained that he needed a small taste of me in order for him to be able to find me later, no matter where I was. Then, he departed back into the caves and I headed back over to Yaseel's tent.

Yaseel and his friends thanked me for my help and threw a small party for me. I noticed that a single hound was still in the tent. When I asked Yaseel about it, he told me that the hound that led me through the caves was him. And this hound was the Yaseel that escorted me from Al Ahdar to this camp. That made sense to me. Everyone in the camp had been enspelled. Now they had been restored. In a way, I kind of missed talking to the other Yaseel, but I enjoyed myself into the night, anyway. It was late when we all cuddled together and fell asleep.

Early the next morning, before anyone was awake, I was nuzzled awake by the Yaseel-hound. He grinned at me and licked my cheek. Then, to my surprise, he spoke.

"This will be our secret."

I blinked my eyes as I grinned and petted the hound.

"You can still talk?"

He grinned again, nodding his head.

"I am a djinni hound. As long as you keep this a secret, you and I will be friends. And... we'll talk again someday. That I promise."

I grinned and nuzzled the hound back, scritching his tummy.

"Do you grant wishes?"

The hound murred from my petting hand.

"I can. Do you have something in mind?"

I smiled and kissed his nose.

"Not currently, but I'd like to reserve one for a later date. You'll see me again on the day that I need the wish. OK?"

He nodded his head and licked my mouth.

The hound and I played together until the others began waking up. Then, we all got dressed, had a hot breakfast and then, I was given a cheerful farewell as I drove off in my jeep. I retraced my route and dropped the jeep off in Tabuk at the Chess bunker. Then, after I took a shower at the bunker itself, I went to the airport, boarded my private jet and flew the three hours back to Athens. When I arrived, I caught a transport back to Chess headquarters, and filed my report.

As Danath Gaul was reading over my report, he glanced up at me and asked where I got my "hickie" at. I blushed at that and explained that one of the imps that had agreed to help me had nipped my neck playfully. I further explained that I had it checked out by a Chess doctor at the bunker in Tabuk. Then, Danath resumed reading the report to himself. He had not dismissed me, so I remained standing where I was. Suddenly, a White Knight named Byron "the bull" Lyman entered Danath's office and asked what he was needed for. Danath glanced up at Byron, then glanced to me, as well. He sat back in his chair and folded his arms.

"Byron. You and Jansen are teaming up this time."

Byron growled a little.

"I can handle a mission by myself, Danath!"

Danath shot a look across his desk at Byron. Byron closed his mouth immediately. Danath then continued.

"You're both being flown down to Kenya. There is a construction site owned by Vulcan Industries that is being ransacked and sabotaged each and every night by some sort of creature. We at Chess have reason to believe that it might be more than just a normal creature. This creature can bend solid steel beams and leave gashing claw marks in solid stone. You'll both be armed with special ammunition as well as special outfits. This trip is classified as a dangerous mission. I need not remind you that you may need an extra set of eyes on this trip. Good luck."

Byron and I looked at each other. I knew he didn't want me along, but perhaps Byron and I could strike a deal of some sort. He looked like he might be a reasonable person. The two of us reported to the stock room for our equipment. We suited up and I noticed that the bullets were made of obsidian. When I asked Byron about it later, he would only say that it was a "cat thing". Then, I joked about taking along a supply of catnip. The joke died in my throat when I noticed that one of the supplies we were given was indeed catnip. This made me nervous.

The flight to Kenya was quiet and uneventful. Byron evidently didn't want to talk to me. I finally outright told him that I would stay out of his way once we were in Kenya. Byron nodded his head, then replied that he wasn't normally this disagreeable. He was nervous about going on a mission with a partner because a lot of partners were dying off for no apparent reason.

Our jet landed in Wajir within North Eastern Kenya. We reported to the local Chess bunker, then acquired a jeep and drove out to the construction site on the Woyamdero Plain. We were met by the head of Vulcan Industries, Cassander Vulcan himself. There was an immediate dislike between me and this Cassander Vulcan person. Something about him simply set off my "red flags" warning.

I was glad that Byron also disliked Mr. Vulcan. That made my life a little easier. Byron could vent his anger on a civilian instead of me. We spent the rest of the day checking out the site itself. While Byron was distracted, I noticed some lion tracks in the dirt and quietly followed them for a ways outside of the site's camp. Then, the tracks simply vanished. I knew we were dealing with a werelion at this point. Now I knew what the obsidian and catnip was for. I was afraid.

---

She hummed as she popped the muscles in her neck.

"Imps. It is a wonder that Jansen had not arranged for the imps to drop in on Sallee. She is the weird one. Obsidian bullets? And catnip? They must have been very paranoid back then."

She looked for her place and resumed reading Jansen's agent history.

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