“You’re a blood-thirsty little witch aren’t you?” remarked Sterling with a questioning glance at Tuculcha. As the Swordsman, the Swamp Witch and the Monk walked over to the helpless Drow Warrioress, the Dark Elf said, “Incidentally, we really don’t need to kill Deathsinger—at least not like this! My guess is that when we free Gareth, she and the rest of the Regulators are going to die or be transformed in much the same way that the Swamp will. So, for the time being, just knock her out and tie her to a tree.”Arriving at the pile of vines on the ground, Sterling knelt down and asked Ral, “What is this thing? And where are Spud, Heidi, and Psilo?”
“The answer to all of the above is : I don’t know, Kage Domo,” replied the Monk, carefully poking the vines with a stick. Realizing that the vegetation was not animate, Ral placed his hand on the cocoon and said, “But I do know this, there’s something alive in this thing, it has a regular heartbeat. You know, this might be the way the Swamp creates the Regulators, they just pop out of a pod and attack people like those aliens did in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’.”
“Maybe,” replied the Drow Swordsman thoughtfully. “But the Regulators only add to their numbers when we add to ours. So unless somebody new came to the Swamp since we left camp, I really don’t think that’s the case. Still, to be on the safe side, I’ll cut it open and we’ll get a look-see. If it’s a pod person, face hugger, or other undesirable that we don’t want to deal with, we’ll take it out!”
“Gotcha!” answered Ral, readying himself for what may emerge from the vines.
Drawing forth Evenflow, Sterling carefully and skillfully sliced open the cocoon. A greenish gas spewed forth from the opening the Dark Elf made to reveal a sleeping Knight, who had clearly seen better days.
“Good Lord, it’s Heidi!” remarked the Drow Swordsman waving the noxious gas away. “Ral, give me a hand!” Grabbing the girl and moving her away from the cocoon, the two men resettled the Knight on the ground. “Christ! It looks like somebody tap-danced on her face! Heidi, wake up! Can you hear me, wake up!”
When the Knight did not respond, the Swordsman resorted to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to revive her, “Come on, Heidi! Speak to me! Wake up!”
A Point To Ponder
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