"Attention passengers, we will be landing at Heathrow in 20 minutes. Please return to your seats and place them in the upright, locked position. Also, you will notice that the captain has turned on the Fasten Seat belt sign. Thank you."

The plane banked left over cloudy, mist covered Britain.

"After the peculiar ending to the failed extraction a week ago* I called Shaydra, a friend of mine in London who's into magic and all that shit. I'm not really sure if she can help me understand what happened, but at the least it will be nice to see her again."

*Last issue- ed.

She got out of the cab in front of a large Victorian style house. She walked up the sculpted pathway to the front door and pulled the bell cord. A few minutes later, a man in a nice black tux opened the door. He was tall and fairly old- mid-sixties.

As she walks up the path, a cloaked figure with the hood drawn up watches her. When she enters the building, pan in towards this man. We see that his eyes are silver, his hair white. He stares at the building, then sighs and walks off.

"Can I help you?" the butler asked, looking with some distaste at the ripped jeans and black T-shirt Tayariel was wearing.

"I'm here to see Shaydra. She's expecting me," Tayariel answered coolly.

"Come in, madam. Right this way," he said. He led Tay through the large, vaulted entranceway and through an arch to the right. The room they entered was a large, opulent sitting room. A fireplace was set into the wall on the left, with pictures of long dead people above the mantle. The furniture was large and heavy, stained a dark brown and the sofas and chairs were upholstered in a rich blue. A long, low coffee table sat in front of the sofa in the center of the room, facing the fireplace. Two chairs flanked it. The butler left her standing there and Tayariel tossed her small carry-on bag into the nearest chair, then plopped down on the sofa. A minute later her friend came in and Tay got up to greet her.

"Jessica! How are you?" called Shaydra in a sing-song voice, embracing Tayariel.

"I'm fine, Shaydra, and you?" returned Tayariel, pulling from the hug gently.

"I'm wonderful, dear, wonderful. Please, make yourself at home. I'll send for tea. James," she said to the butler, "Bring us some tea, please." He bowed slightly and left the room. Shaydra sat down on the sofa next to Tayariel.

"Shaydra, I no longer go by Jessica," Tayariel began.

"I knew it wouldn't last forever," Shaydra laughed. "What are you now?"

"Tayariel." Shaydra's face grew very serious suddenly. "What is it?"

"That name," Shaydra said solemnly, "Where did you hear it? Why did you choose it?"

"I didn't really, it just came to me one day. Why? What's wrong?"

"That is the Old Tongue, Jess. 'Tayariel' means 'Blade'... sort of. It doesn't translate easily- or very well." James returned with a silver tea set and placed it before them. Shaydra dismissed him with a wave of her hand and he left the room, shutting the doors behind him.

"So what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing- it's just that I don't often hear the Old Tongue outside of my work. It... startled me. Anyway- what brings you to England? You sounded troubled on the phone."

"Well, part of it has to do with my new name. Mind if I smoke in here?"

"No, go ahead."

"Well, it's like this..." Tayariel began, lighting a cigarette.

For this bit, just vary perspectives on them taking, sometimes do a facial, sometimes from the view of the fireplace, sometimes from behind, what ever you want.

"A couple weeks ago, I was hired by a company to break into a rival company's research building and kidnap an employee. I was part of a team of five people that went in, and I'm the only one who made it out. I made it out with the person I was sent in for, and we were hiding in an alley a couple blocks away. They found us. They shouldn't have been able to, but they did. And then, this guy who found us, shot the kidnapped in front of the rival company's owner. He then commanded to owner like the man was nothing and the owner left. When we were alone, I began to draw a dagger and his eyes started glowing green. Chains appeared on my wrists and I couldn't move. Then some other guy appears and his eyes are glowing too, red this time. The green eyed guy blasts him with something and red-eyes blocks with a glowing red shield. Then, from the other end of the alley, a blast of blue light hit green-eyes. I run down the alley and the chains turn to mist. As I'm climbing up a fire escape, someone with glowing blue eyes helps me up, then jumps down. They were GLOWING, Shaydra! And blasting each other with their bare hands! I have no idea what all this is about, but I thought you could help, I don't know why."

Shaydra stood and walked to the fireplace, staring at the ashes.

"You were right, to come here. I can help you. I don't know why they were there, but the men with glowing eyes were corporate Mages."

"Wizards?" Tayariel asked, disbelieving.

"No, Mages. One of them might have been a Wizard, but it sounds more like Mages to me," Shaydra said, looking back to Tayariel. "You had best put aside your disbelief, Tayariel. Refusing to accept what is out there can kill you. They were Mages, and they were fighting with magic. That means spells, incantations, and all the rest. You're lucky. Had one of the real masters found you, nothing could have stopped them. Corporate Mages are talented young amateurs for the most part. Why did they want you?"

"What makes you think they wanted me?"

"They killed the one you kidnapped, then put you in chains. Why you?"

"I don't know. I'm not a wizard. Magic isn't even real."

"Oh, it's real all right. You know that I'm 'into all this weird shit' as you said when I left the States so long ago, so you came to me. And now you aren't even going to listen to me?"

"OK, I'm sorry. Magic's real."

"Right. That's how they found you too, the Mage found your life forces and used that to trace you to your hiding place. He could track you all across the world once getting that trail, so if he shows up here, I'll deal with him. I don't mean to brag, but I'm probably one of the most powerful people on the planet right now."

This part here is done in the half page text style. The outer halves of the pages are both text, leaving you with a full page in the middle to work with. It'll be a picture of Prelude dancing. Remember to have her in the pose that the ballerina was in in the last picture the reader sees at the end of issue 2. Also remember that we're going to have to cut this picture down the middle, tape it to the two halves of the text, then photocopy those off to get the completed page, so don't get too emotionally attached to the picture. But don't skimp on it either (yeah, yeah, like I needed to say that. I apologize).

"Yes, I suppose you are. But I'm still here to shut you down, Shaydra," said Mrlynn. He was standing in the doorway, leaning against the wall. Mrlynn is a tall man, just over 6' with long white hair. His right eye is missing and the socket is sewn shut over it. He is wearing blue robes that have no sleeves and a deep cowl, belted at the waist. Shaydra and Tayariel whirl to face him, Shaydra from the fireplace, Tayariel from the sofa.

"Mrlynn! How did you get in here?!"

"I rang the bell. James is a very polite young man."

"Why didn't I detect you? My wards are..."

"Gone, for one thing. They were very well done though, I congratulate you. Now do we want to be civilized about this?"

"About what?"

"I'm here for the Eye, Shaydra."

"Fat chance, Old Man," Shaydra said, bringing her hands up in claws, looking almost defensive about it.

"Now, Shaydra, really. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"You can't have the eye, Mrlynn. I'll burn down England to stop you."

"That won't be necessary. If I have to I'll pull it off your dead body."

"I'm stronger than you are Mrlynn."

"Not without the power of the Eye, and I already have that blocked."

"Guess again, Old Man. The Tear is in the room." When Shaydra says this, Mrlynn's eye widens in surprise and his face gets a look of fear on it. A white blaze of energy flies from her clawed right hand. Mrlynn raises his left hand and catches it. The light shines through his fingers for a second, then are crushed out.

Mrlynn steps fully into the room, and looks piercingly at Tayariel for a second, then he looks back to Shaydra. He raises his right hand and a blast of blue energy flies towards Shaydra, who blocks with a red shield. Tayariel leaps up, a dagger in hand and jumps at Mrlynn. She is met in the air by Charisma, the force bringing them both to the ground. Light flashes between Mrlynn and Shaydra as Tayariel and Charisma scramble to their feet.

"Stay out of it, lady. Mrlynn won't hurt her anymore than necessary," Charisma says, hands raised defensively.

"Too bad I don't feel the same," Tayariel says, waving her dagger. She slashes at Charisma, probing. Charisma flinches back. In the background, Mrlynn and Shaydra face each other in front of the fireplace. There is now a fire in the fireplace, and the picture frames are all shattered.

"You really have no idea what's going on. Why don't you just stay out of it?" asked Charisma, throwing a right punch at Tayariel's face. Tayariel flinches back.

"I was in the process of finding out what is going on, girl, when you two break in and start attacking us." Another slash, to the stomach, and Charisma dodges back, bending at the waist.

"When they're done, I'm sure Mrlynn can help you," a kick to the leg, Tay twists out of the way, slashing on the return. Charisma ducks, "You're starting to piss me off."

"Well it's about fuckin' time!" Tay shouts, kicking Charisma in the stomach. Charisma hauls back her right fist and then lashes out with her left, catching Tayariel in the shoulder. Charisma's hands and feet glow a pink-purple color when they strike something. Keep this in mind through out the scene. Tay is wheeled back a bit and Charisma finishes the blow she began with her right fist, flattening Tayariel to the ground. Charisma bends and takes the dagger out of Tayariel's hand as Tayariel blinks in confusion.

Meanwhile, the battle has not gone well for Shaydra. Her nice dress is torn in a couple places and there is a bruise on her right cheek. She lashes out at Mrlynn with a lightning bolt that misses and blows a chair into gently falling feathers. Mrlynn raises his right arm and calls down a sheet of blackness that envelopes Shaydra. The cloak of blackness shatters into a thousands fragments shortly after falling around her. Charisma stands in the foreground, watching nervously. Tayariel gets up slowly and kicks Charisma in the back. The red-headed girl stumbles forward and fall on her face. Tay jumps onto her back.

"Get OFF ME!" Charisma shouts, convulsing her body and throwing Tay off. Charisma and Tay get to their feet quickly. Charisma punches Tay, who blocks, and returns the punch, which is also blocked. They punch at each other several times. Occasionally a punch will slip through, and the one who is hit grunts. They trade a few kicks which are blocked by a quickly raised knee. Their fight is interrupted when a blazing ball of energy hit Charisma, who is thrown across the room by the force of the blow. Shaydra is there, her face bruised and her nose bleeding. She grabs Tayariel by the throat and lifts her off her feet.

"Sarah!" shouts Mrlynn, looking at where Charisma landed. A shaky thumbs-up is raised from where Charisma lays behind the sofa.

"Give it to me," growls Shaydra, reaching for Tayariel's head-gem. Tayariel is struggling, but can't break the woman's grip. Her feet are dangling off the ground and she is gasping for breath. Shaydra's fingers touch the gem and a spark of blue light flashes. Shaydra curses in pain and tightens her grip. She spins, holding Tayariel's body between herself and Mrlynn, who stares in frustration.

"Let her go, Shaydra or I swear you'll die slowly," he says calmly and coldly.

"Never. The Tear is bonded to her. She must die. Then I'll have the Tear and you'll spend Eternity dying, Old Man."

Tayariel's face is turning purple, her veins standing out as she struggles in Shaydra's grip.