Date:         Sun, 10 Nov 1996 03:23:42 -0600
From: RainiMadden <rainim@CONCENTRIC.NET>
Subject:      INT: Lancomb's Adventure

Reserved:
        Lancomb
        Aderyn
        Sanchez
        Mr. Norman
        Tony Madsen
Raini Madden:
        Lyriss
        Mathen


     "Stop it, Mathen," Lyriss admonished her brother.
     "Lyriss, look at him. There's no way he's gonna make it to Kyreeter
Island!"
     She looked up into the dragon's yellow eyes adoringly. "He will if
he says he will."
     "Childreen," Sanchez began. "You weell..."
     "We had to rent an 18-wheeler just to move *him*!" Mathen insisted.
"This is never gonna work. Let's go. I'm taking you home."
     Lyriss glared at Mathen as he trudged toward her. She pulled her arm
from his grasp as he tried to get her to move. "No! I'm not going home to
die!" she yelled just before she started coughing again.
     "I...I'm sorry, Lyriss," Mathen said as he put his arms around her
to steady her.
     She pushed away and walked over to stand by Lancomb. The dragon sat
down during the discussion and his stomach bulged in front of him. Lyriss
wrapped her arms as far around the bulge that she could. "He's at least
going to try to help," she whispered. "That's more than any of the
doctors ever did." Then, she looked up at the dragon's smoking snout and
blinking eyes, tears rimming her own blue eyes, "I believe in him."
     Lancomb tilted his head. "You do, don't you."
     "Aw, man," Mathen said as he kicked at the dirt and strode toward
the rig.
     Sanchez followed the boy. "What ees wrong?"
     "I'm so stupid," he mumbled in reply. "Here I can't stand to see her
suffer...and now...now I've given her some lame hope."
     "I theenk you need to calm down, boy," Sanchez said. "Lancomb has
'elped many peoples over the years."
     Mathen sighed and looked at the tall Spaniard. "Let's be realistic.
Okay? There's no way he'll be able to help us get to that island."
     "But he theenks he can...and your sister theenks he can...so maybe
he can, eh?"
     Mathen's look hardened. "She'll be dead by the time he loses enough
weight to fly anywhere!"
     Sanchez shrugged. "We cannot preedict such theengs...but at least,
she weell be happy beeleeving in Lancomb."
     The boy sighed and started to walk away. "I need to take a walk.
I'll be back in a little while."
     "Don't go too far," Sanchez called after him. "Weell be ready to
leave soon."
     Mathen waved his hand to Sanchez and walked down the road. He loved
Lyriss as much as any brother would a sister, probably more, since Lyriss
had practically raised him through the orphanage and several uncaring
foster homes. Now, she was going to die.
     At first, he only felt sorry for himself...that he was going to have
to go back to another home until he turned eighteen. Then, it hit him
that he would be losing his best friend, his Lyriss, forever. He became
desperate when the doctors told her that they could follow the usual
program for leukemia patients, but it wouldn't help.
     He heard the men talk about the dragon and he jumped at it. He
forced Lyriss to believe him and run away with him to this flat,
god-forsaken countryside to find the dragon.
     Tears burned his eyes as he thought about the false hope he'd just
given her. _How could I be so stupid!_ he thought to himself.
     He stopped in the middle of the road, buried his face in his hands
and wept.