They passed a pair of doors marked "Vehicle Bay," and a sign further down.They passed a pair of doors marked "Vehicle Bay," and a sign further down. Nickolai paused to read it. This is a private residence. Any individual or group of individuals who do not immediately leave when asked to do so will be forcibly ejected without restraint on the part of the residents. "Standard privacy warning for larger compounds," Furry said. "But we could get in trouble, and I don't like the sound of that," Nickolai replied. "If they ask us to leave and we don't, then they shoot us," she said, shrugging. "So if they ask us to leave, we leave. Sounds simple to me." Nickolai gulped as he realized that he was trusting her to take him into a situation where everybody usually carried a weapon of some sort. And that they were perfectly willing to use them on him. They walked down a little further, and after another hour a light appeared in front of them. "The light at the end of the tunnel," Furry said. She smiled. "Could be an oncoming Dragon." Nickolai gave her a quick glance. "Just kidding." "Uh huh," he said, smiling. Inside he felt his stomach knotting in nervousness; for a people who could live forever, Pendorians seemed to take life pretty casually. It frightened him to be this close to what a lot of people, especially Terrans, regarded as the center of the universe. Castle Shardik. They reached the opening, which led out into a large bowl-shaped lagoon cut into the side of Marbletop. To his right a waterfall fell from the stream... what was it called? He struggled with the memory. Marblerun River, the only geological item visible on Marbletop. The waterfall dropped into one end of the lagoon, which filled most of the bottom of the bowl. The sand at the edge of the lagoon was white, blending into thick tropical vegetation that ran about three-quarters up the sides of the bowl. Above the center of the lagoon, hovering in the air with no visible means of support, at a height of about ten meters, hung Castle Shardik. It was a cube apparently made of yellow sandstone, interspersed almost equally with glass. |