Date:         Sat, 13 Jan 1996 12:30:41 -0500
Reply-To:     shannara@TWAVE.NET
Sender:       Highlander TV show stories <HLFIC-L@PSUVM.PSU.EDU>
From:         Kim Sefcik <shannara@TWAVE.NET>
Subject:      "'Til Death Do Us Part" (Part 04/13)

CHAPTER 4

Joe's Bar
11:41pm

  Grateful to have his bike back, and be away from all the paperwork, Richie
sat at the counter in Joe's, which had just finished closing for the night.
Richie was nursing a drink when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

  "Hey, Rich, you okay?"  came a familiar, gruff voice from behind him.

  "Joe!" Richie exclaimed, whirling around to face the aging Watcher.  "When
did you get back?  I thought that you're still in Paris on that "Watcher
business"."

  "Naw, I got back in a couple of weeks ago, it, um, ended unexpectedly --"
Joe said as he limped back behind the counter, his cane making a hollow thump
on the floor of the bar.

  "Mac's okay, right?"  Richie demanded, a worried frown creasing his
forehead.

  "Oh, yea, MacLeod's fine... if it's Kalas you're worried about, that's been
taken care of." Joe said as he leaned over his account books.

  Richie nodded, "Good, the bastard deserved whatever he got..."  Richie
hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to ask his Watcher friend the question
that had been plaguing him.

  "Joe?" he finally asked.

  "Yea?"  Joe responded, not looking up from his books.

  "Joe, um, is someone out hunting?"

  "What?!"  Joe looked up sharply from his books, and the dim track lighting
highlighted the gray in his beard and hair for a moment.  "What makes you say
that Richie?"

  Richie sighed, and relayed an account of what happened to Joe.  "...and he
said the number of beheadings had *increased*," Richie finished.

  Joe looked thoughtful for a moment, "So I take it that you don't have a
sword now?"

  Richie nodded.  "Yea, but I think that Mac might have something over at the
dojo, I'm going to head on over there tonight."

  "Considering that you sensed someone earlier today, that might not be such a
bad idea." Joe put down the pen he had been fiddling with, and rubbed the
bridge of his nose,  "There's one thing that doesn't fit though... you said
that the number of beheadings had increased..."

  "Yea that's what the guy at the police station said. So? Someone's busy."

  Joe shook his head, "That seems rather unlikely.  I mean there were a lot of
beheadings to begin with, what with Mac and all.  And if there was some kind
of sudden increase in Immortal deaths, it would be all over the Watchers."

  "So what are you saying Joe?  That someone is beheading mortals?"  the
doubt dripped from Richie's voice.

  Joe sighed, "I don't want to go jumping to conclusions, but yea.  Anyway,
it sounds like it's worth looking into.  And if it *is* an Immortal doing the
beheading, I can give you an idea of who to look out for. You drop by in the
morning, and I'll tell you what I've come up with."

  Taking the hint, Richie jumped off the stool and left the Watcher to his
business.


Kim Sefcik
Watcher-in-training
Internet: shannara@twave.net
             shannara@ravenwood.com

                   | "I am Richie Ryan of the clan . . . wait,
                 /~\  can we try that again?"
     @xxxxx|  (|===============================-
        \____/\_/  "Being blind, you would wish all others blind
                   | as well." -- Cleante, "Tartuffe"
=========================================================================