Date: Fri, 2 Feb 1996 08:30:17 -0700 Reply-To: Hank Wyckoff Sender: Highlander TV show stories From: Hank Wyckoff Subject: NEW (7B/8) When the Veil is Lifted My apologies for cutting this chapter in two, but I'm trying to stay within the line limit. When The Veil Is Lifted (Chapter 7B of 8) -- a crossover between Highlander, Forever Knight, and the X-Files by Henry Wyckoff (wyckoff@ag.arizona.edu) Written December 1995 This selfsame man saved him and Janette from a band of mortals who had rightly accused them of being vampires. The evidence, however, was fabricated. They must have been good guessers. The mortals had cornered them with crosses and brands, but Bard had arrived on a battle stallion, his sword held aloft. He slaughtered a few of the mortals, frightening the rest of them off. "Are you injured?" asked the man in poor Italian. His accent could either be French, Breton, or Portuguese, but still sounded off. "We are not," answered LaCroix in English. "Why did you save us, if I may satisfy my curiosity." It wasn't just curiosity. The man looked naggingly familiar, and he was trying to stall him long enough for the memory to return. The man spat in the direction the mortals fled in, "Those fools tried to burn innocent people. Vampires! Wizards! They're as evil as the Devil, and burn innocents in the name of the God of Love. I helped you because there is no way you could be what they claim you are." LaCroix' eyes widened for the first time in centuries. Here was a man of reason in a world of superstition. He could have been like any number of the philosophers he remembered from the Roman Empire. "Might we have your name?" asked Janette. "Bard Lanscot, at your service." He tipped his hat to them. "Do you need a ride to the next city?" "That is most gracious of you," Janette smiled winningly. Perhaps she hoped to drink the man's blood before the hour was gone. Only, she never got around to doing it. Bard performed at the Court, playing the lute in a manner which had stunned everyone, including Janette and LaCroix. LaCroix spent the next day remembering a battle that took place many lifetimes ago. **************************************** Axer sensed a movement next to him, and saw a man with short hair sit. His memory had always been very bad because there were so many things that had happened in his life, and so many demands on his memory in an age of ever increasing information. This face came back to him through the corridors of time. "General Lucius." Axer didn't feel the telltale "buzz", so he figured the guy must have been a vampire. "So it IS you." "Believe me, I'm just as surprised to see you." "I believe you," smiled Lucius. Whatever traces of LaCroix that were there became much more recessive as the old Lucius emerged on the surface. For the first time in centuries, he seemed genuinely glad to see anyone. Axer noticed that his stomach stopped churning. The bottle of scotch became a table ornament that one ignores at first glance. "You know," he chuckled, "I can remember trying to kill you and cursing your name in my sleep for many centuries... but I'll have to say I'm glad to see you." LaCroix nodded. "Enemies make better friends than friends." "And friends make more effective enemies than enemies," finished Axer. They were silent for a moment. "I have an urge for a cigar and a glass of tea... Care to come with me to the roof?" LaCroix nodded. "It's a good night for tales..." ********************************************* *********************************************************************** ** e-mail: wyckoff@ag.arizona.edu ** homepage: http://ag.arizona.edu/~wyckoff ** My fanfics are now archived in pkzip format on my fanfic page ** at http://ag.arizona/edu/~wyckoff/fanfic.html ** Also: check out the X-files creative archive at Gossamer ******************************************************************* ** ERROR: Disc Functional -- DESTROY? ******************************************************************* =========================================================================