Belfair crept away from the castle of the lovely Queen Sinthee and her lazy mate Dorvad, past the kindly Fird of Kornor, mingling on the street with the commoners. She disguised her beauty as an old man, a ragged peasant, and no one paid heed as she carefully moved up the narrow pathway until she finally reached the edge of the cliff and sighted the spot where Jership the Terrible had secured his line. The rope was taut with his evil weight and she could hear his movements as he carefully climbed down the sheer wall to his ice-bound lair below. Cautiously she moved forward, allowing herself a peek at this amalgam of evil, this seducer of virgins, who had so ravaged her body. She recalled with bitterness how he'd plied her with potion, falsely igniting her deep seeded passions until there was no turning back from his rampant lust. Now, she knew, he'd never let her alone. Now that he'd tasted the fires that burned in her voluptuous body, no other woman could ever so satisfy him. He'd be obsessed with her, stalk her to the ends of the galaxy as long as he lived. As long as he lived. Slowly she extracted the knife she'd found and with her long and lovely fingers began to methodically cut away at the line. Again, she stole a look below and this time, he glanced up at her, a questioning look on his handsome yet ugly face. He tried to crawl upward toward her, but she just smiled down and doffed her beggar's hood so he'd recognize her. Panic slowly crossed his craven countenance. There was a moment of realization as he understood her brave actions, and then a snap as the line let loose and he tumbled backwards like some mortally wounded game bird shot from the sky, arms outstretched, scream muffled in his mask. Belfair watched, a sneering smile painted on her beautiful face, revenge was hers, as Jership the Terrible crashed in a bloody heap on the rocks below. Her laugh echoed down the rocky canyons of Zzz as the essence of abomination breathed his bloody last below her.

The two men were seated in the parlor as Dean finished reading the photocopied paper.

"Where did you get this? Did you just swipe it from Gladys?"

"It's just a copy I made. I didn't take the original. It was sort of lying around when I was dusting her room. She'd left to clean out some restaurant for lunch. Besides, it's evidence," Fred added. Dean didn't bother to mention certain rules of evidence that looked askance at pilfered items. Fred continued. "Gives a whole new dimension to poetic license, don't it? Didn't much like the guy, did she?"




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