07/08/06:

                Woke up this morning in a room of one of the dorms on campus. Mitchell had insisted we stay the night; "It's the least I can do," he'd said. Whatever had woken me had also woken the rest of the gang and we all ended up leaving the dorm just in time to see a long column of Aztlan prisoners being marched out to the athletic fields accompanied by Mitchell's men, all armed to the teeth.

                Mitchell was on his way to fields when he spotted us and waived a 'good morning'. We joined him and Olivia informed him that we'd be heading back to the Lake today and then on to Las Vegas. Mitchell nodded and asked if we ever came back this way, would we check in on him? We assured him we would do that.

                He started to head to the athletic fields again, then suddenly stopped and turned to Olivia and I. "Would be willing to do a big favor for me?" he asked. "What kind of favor?" I asked warily, not wanting to get roped into another romantic encounter. I breathed a lot easier when Mitchell replied, "Would you be willing to do some of those truth spells of yours?" "Of course!" we said "No problem."

                "I need to question these prisoners, and it could take awhile, would you be willing to stay one more day?" "Anything to help." "As long as we get some breakfast," Olivia said.

                He thanked us, sent someone to get the breakfast, and continued on to the fields. "I am hoping to avoid any kind of mob justice by doing this publicly," he told us. "And it looks like I get to be the judge."

                "Well that kind of goes along with being Mayor, "Olivia said. Then she nudged him in the ribs, (okay it was more like his hip) and asked, "So. How were those harem girls?"

                He got a big, dirty grin and just sighed, "Hmmmmmmmmmmm."

                "Well, be nice," I said, "and don't tease Dallas too much about it."

                Out on the fields there were people waiting. Civilians - what was left on the citizens of Yuma. A small podium had been built with some chairs and a desk and the flag of the city of Yuma was flying over it. Mitchell stepped onto the podium and stood behind the desk, he gestured to Olivia and I to join him and be seated. He turned and shushed the crowd. When they were quiet he said to the prisoners before him, "You will be given the chance to step forward and confess your crimes. To apologize and to receive your punishment. After the punishment is complete you will then be given the opportunity to join the community of Yuma."

                He asked Olivia, "What do you need to make this work?"

                "They have to actually speak if I'm to determine whether they are lying or not."

                Mitchell thought for a moment, nodded and stood again, "We will begin the questioning with the matter of rape. Are any of you guilty of this crime? You will each answer 'yea' or 'nay'." He started at one end of the line and worked his way thru it. When he got to the first liar, Olivia stopped him and Mitchell had the man pulled out of line. "These ladies here with me will know if you speak the truth, so there is no point in lying to me."

                He started up again, and several other men admitted their guilt, Mitchell had them pulled out, but held separate from the first man. When everyone in the line had had their turn Mitchell returned to the man who had lied and gave him one more chance. He took it and confessed this time. Mitchell nodded to his men and he was taken to the larger group of confessed rapists.

                Then Mitchell started all over with another question, then another. Soon there were several groups of men on the field, grouped by severity or number of crimes committed. There was one group of those guilty of the severest of crimes and Mitchell took up a machete that he'd had leaning against the desk and walked out to them. One by one he beheaded each one of them.

                Then he approached the group of rapists and asked the gathered populace, "You were the people wronged here. Rape seems to have been quite pervasive. These men must be punished; what do you propose I do with them?"

                There was some muttering and a few cries of, "Kill them." Then a young woman stood. She said that she'd been one of the girls forced to 'service' Ramirez's men, "And I probably have more to complain about than any of you. I say, put 'em to hard labor. Make them be productive and serve our community."

                There was a murmur of agreement to that. Another woman stood and asked, "Balls. Why can't we have their balls?"

                Olivia said, "Because they make ugly earrings."

                There was actually some laughter to that. One of the prisoners stepped forward and said, "I'm sorry. What I did was wrong. I know that saying that doesn't make it any better, but please, I beg you, don't mutilate me."

                Olivia asked, "Mitchell, what about any pregnancies caused by these men." He thought for a moment and said, "We'll deal with them as we learn about them." Then he turned back to the populace, "So - your decision?"

                It was unanimous, hard labor. Mitchell nodded and signaled for his men to take them away. But a girl, a young girl, hesitantly stepped forward. Mitchell told his men to stop and turned to the girl; "Yes?" she didn't speak. "Is there something you wanted to say?" he asked and she nodded her head.

                He waved her aside and knelt down to her level, she whispered something and pointed to one of the men. Mitchell turned to see whom she was pointing too. She whispered some more. All Olivia and I could catch was "more than once" and "always the youngest". Mitchell thanked her and she retreated back into the crowd. Mitchell came back to the podium and we could feel his anger. He ordered his men to line the rapists up once again. He said to them, "Okay. We're going to go thru this again. Have any of you ever assaulted anyone under the age of……..16? Yea or nay."

                One guy fell to his knees and begged for mercy, "I was just going along with the others. I didn't know how to stop it. Everybody else was doing it!!! Mitchell had his men pull him aside. One man suddenly turned and ran. Two of Mitchell's men opened fire and didn't stop until they had emptied their clips into his twitching body.

                One man steadfastly refused to answer the question - he even had the gall to invoke his "5th Amendment right to protection from self-incrimination"! I was just sickened. I stood and said to Mitchell, "Let me have this one."

                "Have you ever done anything like this before?" he asked. I was upset, thinking he was going to stop me, but told him, "No, I haven't"

                He stood, picked up the machete again and said, "Well then, let me give you a few tips on technique." Some of his men moved in to restrain the man.

                Mitchell was showing me the best swing when a man stepped forward from the crowd, carrying a long sword. He approached us and said, "Mr. Mayor, ma'am, may I? He presented the sword to me and told me it was a dai-katana. It was huge! It was easily six feet long (almost a foot more than me!). I couldn't even unsheathe it; he had to do it for me.

                He stepped behind me to show me how to hold it and swing it; it was so different from my sword. He asked me, "Have you ever played softball?"

                "Yes."

                "It's just like swinging at a big, slow, arched softball pitch. Swing around, thru, and up." He had me practice a couple times and proclaimed me ready.

                By that time Mitchell's men had produced a collar and chains to stake the man to the field. He was blubbering and crying, and when the man who'd given me the katana stepped up with a marking pen to mark the perfect place on the mans neck, the screaming began.

                The man capped the pen, grabbed the screamer by the hair and told him, "You lived your life as an animal; try to die with a little dignity." With that he stepped back and gave me one piece more piece of advice: "Don't hit the collar."

                I swung just like he'd showed me and the head went flying and hit the grass with a satisfying thud. Several members of the audience called out "FORE!" as the head went rolling across the grass. I bent to clean the katana on the rapist's clothes, but the owner stopped me and handed me a piece of white silk. I used it to wipe the blade, and with thanks I returned the blade to him. He nodded to me, "Not bad, but the head shouldn't bounce that much." He sheathed the blade and stepped back.

                Three men stepped forward to confess their guilt. One of them said, "Please, I confess, she was 14. But I gave her food and I didn't abuse her." Boos and hisses were filling the air when a teenaged girl stepped from the crowd and waved for our attention. "I beg for leniency. He was really nice to me. He didn't hurt me at all. I did it to feed my family." Olivia confirmed that both were speaking the truth. Mitchell gestured for the man to stand, "I sentence you to hard labor until she reaches her 18th birthday."

                The second man was defiant; "You'll get no trophy for your wall from me." He turned and began to walk slowly away. Olivia dropped him with a single shot to the head.

                The third was carrying on horribly and begging for mercy. Mitchell shook his head and the man with the katana showed me the proper way to behead someone.

Mitchell turned to the rest of the criminals; "Those of you who remain may step forward, one at a time, confess your crimes, and ask for clemency. If it is granted you will complete five years of hard labor. At the end of that time you will be permitted to apply for the right to enter the community you labored for."

                Olivia and I noticed there was one group of men, who had separated themselves from the rest. Olivia pointed to them and said, "Let's talk to them first." Mitchell had them brought forward.

                One man led them and explained that they had been mercenaries who'd been 'pressed' into service by General Ramirez. "We were conscripted against our will and forced to swear our obedience on the lives of the few female members of the group. They were taken as hostages to ensure our continued 'loyalty' and we haven't seen them since."

                Olivia verified that he was being truthful and Mitchell asked for the names of the missing people and had his clerk check for them on any lists they had found. There was no record of them.

                "We were told that they'd be kept with the 'entertainment' woman."

                A few of the women spoke up to say that they had never seen them. Mitchell asked Olivia and I, "Ladies, is there something you can do to locate them?" I asked if they had anything that belonged to them, photos preferably. They produced a photo that they were in and Olivia followed me to a quiet corner of the fields to help me. Turns out her help wasn't needed this time. The women were all at Martinez Lake, in that 'special' section they'd put aside for the gays and lesbians.

                I relayed the information to their friends, who were much relieved. One of the men looked baffled and said, "But, Francis and Sayyida aren't gay! I'm pretty sure Ruth isn't either. What the Hell are they doing there?" One of the other guys said, "As opposed to being gang raped by this bunch?" The confused guy thought it over (I could see the hamsters working overtime on the wheel) and then said, "So, they were just pretending?" The second guy looked at us and shook his head. "Yeah, Chuck, they were playing pretend." The other guys were rolling their eyes. The leader shushed them and said, "If we might be allowed, we would like to go to the Lake, find them and move on." Mitchell nodded and said, "We'll talk later. Go get your things from the barracks." As they left, Mitchell called out to them, "Please think about coming back, or at least staying at Martinez Lake. I'd like to discuss a contract with you." The leader hesitated for a moment before saying "We'll discuss it once we have our people back."

                Then it was time to 'interview' the people who had confessed to things like looting, theft, minor assaults, and intimidation. Olivia told Mitchell, "Ask them all if they've omitted anything." One of the men flat out refused to answer. I pointed to the body of the man I had beheaded and asked, "Didn't that teach you anything?" He was silent.

                Olivia asked, "Why will you not answer?"

                "That is my secret."

                Olivia did a magic to see if there was anything magical about him while I was doing another to see if he was evil. I detected some minor evil, but that was all.

                Mitchell was more direct, "Fine, so take your secret to your grave." With a single swipe of the machete, his head was gone.

                Eventually the only people left to be judged were the real dredges - you know the type. Not guilty of any serious crimes but only because they were too lazy or incompetent to commit them. Most had alcohol or drug problems. I'm glad I didn't have to decide what to do with them. Mitchell thought for awhile and finally addressed them; "The punishment for your crimes will be flogging until you fall. You will then receive two days to recover, then you will be given a work assignment."

                "And I warn you now - screw up just once in the next year and I'll simply have you shot." He turned to the populace and asked, "Is there anything else that needs to be brought before the court? No? Very well, we are adjourned for today. Thank you all for your attendance."

                He thanked Olivia and I for our help and invited us to join him for lunch back at his new office. While we were eating he asked when we'd be leaving. We thanked him for his hospitality and assistance over the past few days, but we would be leaving as soon as we got everything packed up.

                After we finished, he helped us gather our supplies and get Scooby refueled. While we worked, Olivia gave him a few bits of advice; things we'd learned while getting the Kingdom established, the Gospel according to Machiavelli, that sort of thing. When we finished, he again thanked us and said, "Well, got to get back to work. Y'all come back now, you hear?" We assured him we would, and he headed back to his office.

                Sari came to see us off and asked if we would do her a favor. She had two letters she needed delivered one to Colonel Edwards and one to the Rabbi. We promised her we'd take care of them. The mercenaries had loaded their belongings on top of Velma and the ones who would not fit inside strapped themselves to the top, also. Mitchell hadn't been able to talk them into staying. I had to giggle a little bit; Velma looked like one of those clown cars in the circus. Heavily armed clowns, though…

                We got to the Lake about 2:00 and were greeted by Colonel Edwards. He took a look around and asked, "Where's Sari? Is she okay?" We assured him that she was fine and explained that she had found some of her men and they were going to stay in Yuma and help rebuild there. He asked about the mercenaries and we told him their story.

                "Good," he said, "I could use some good men around here."

                The leader shook his head and said, "No sir, we're just here to pick up a few of our people and move on. But we would be willing to stay for a short time and work, in return for some vehicles to get us out of here."

                "What about Vegas?" I asked. "The people there always looking for trained fighters."

                They had a quick huddle and made a decision, "What would you take in trade for a ride up there?" We were just about to say, "Nothing." When the group's quartermaster pulled out two sealed bottles of Bacardi Dark.

                So Olivia and I 'discussed' their offer and said, "Well, okay, we guess we'll accept that."

                The quartermaster handed over the bottles, "For a minute there I was afraid you were going to ask for more." We turned and saw Leo giving us a real 'look'.

                We gave them directions to where they'd find their compatriots and Olivia and I went to check on Mitzi. We found her at the cantina. Caesar was good to his word and they've already got electricity. Mitzi was watching the TV in the cantina (cartoons from Vegas), with her head poked thru a window, the rest of her outside, and her tail wagging away! Once inside, I asked the proprietors if their crop had been any good.

                "Any good? Are you kidding? Come and see." The kitchen was filled with baskets and boxes of produce. They pointed to one corner and said, "That's what we set aside to plant, just like you told us. Will you do that 'thing' again?"

                "Sure," I said, "But before I do, I was told there was a priest of Corellon here. Is that true?" They told me it was and were I might find him. I headed over to the improvised temple he was setting up and introduced myself. I explained that I was about to help out the guys at the cantina - but he'd already heard about what I'd done yesterday. I asked if he would like to learn the Blessing; he was very interested.

                So, back to the cantina. Olivia volunteered to help and soon the five of us had everything planted. One of them men approached me and said, "What about this? Do you think it'll grow?" He had a small piece of sugar cane.

                "I have no idea," I said. "But the worst that can happen is that it doesn't - let's give it a try." As I planted it, I gave it its very own special Blessing, just in case.

                Then Olivia showed me something and whispered, "Let's put some of this in with the rest." It was some pot seeds.

                The Halfling saw what she had and said, "No! Put it over here, all by its self."

                We were done and we were filthy! They told us to go down to the lake; there was an area set aside for bathing. So we went to get cleaned up. While we were doing that Olivia asked me, all sweetness and light, "Are you waiting until we get back to Vegas for your big date with Leo or do you need Scooby for the night?"

                I told her I thought it best to wait 'til we got back to Vegas.

                Fortunately, Mitzi saved me. She came to ask if she could ride with us to Kingman. "I've never been there before." We didn't see why not, so sure she could come with us.

                After a mighty fine dinner in the cantina Olivia decided to take her motorcycle for a spin. She was delighted to find out that it just skims across water. Kind of like a hovercraft - it was pretty cool. She flew back in and Mitzi asked for a ride. She changed to her little girl form and the two of them took off. We could hear Mitzi laughing and yelling for Olivia to go faster. "I can't fly this fast!" she said."

                Finally Olivia brought her back in and told her she'd better get to bed, we'd be leaving early in the morning. Then I went to find Brenda, and asked what her plans were. She and her friend had seen some of the programs from Vegas and decided that it sounded like fun, so they decided to go to Vegas as well. I told them we'd be going in the morning, and that they should pack their things and meet us right after breakfast.

                Then, back to the barracks and we all hit the sack.

07/09/06

                We had breakfast in the cantina this morning and Colonel Edwards was there to wish us luck and to thank us again. The mercenaries had taken the opportunity to rig some more straps on Velma, both for themselves and for their gear. It also looked like they'd done some trading with the Lake residents. Velma looked like a convention of hairy bag ladies. We said our last goodbyes and moved out, me driving Velma and Olivia behind me driving Scooby. It works out better that way; Scooby's turret can shoot over top of Velma with several feet to spare.

                We were on the road outside of Quartzite, AZ when Velma suddenly started to slow down and then to 'buck'. I was frantically trying to keep control, but the treads were losing power and the engine was choking. Olivia radioed and asked, "What's the problem, why are you slowing down?"

                "Don't ask me - I've got it floored!" I shouted into the radio. "I'm pulling over!" Engine temperature was starting to redline, but the oil pressure gauge looked fine. I got off the road and turned the engine off. I had gotten out and around to the front when Scooby pulled up to a stop behind Velma. Pretty soon we were all standing in front of Velma looking at it. I asked Dallas, "So, what's wrong with it?" He just shrugged. "Hey, I just drive 'em. I don't know what makes 'em go."

                We all looked at Leo, who also shrugged. "My job is killing people and blowing shit up! Don't ask me!"

                "Should I call AAA?" I asked.

                Alfred stepped up, fumbled around and found the latch to open the 'hood'.

                We were impressed.

                Then he stuck his hand in and fiddled with something. He stepped back and had a real big, real dirty looking - something. It looked like a Baskin-Robbins ice cream container.

                We were very impressed.

                "The air filter is clogged. Can you clean it, Olivia?"

                She pulled on a minor magic and after tapping the filter on the ground a time or two to loosen the dirt, it was all clean. He put it back in and asked me to try starting it up.

                First try! Vroom - vroom! He closed the hood and everybody loaded back up.

                After I pulled back onto the road I radioed Scooby, "So Alfred, how did you know what to do?"

                "Saw it on The History Channel. During Desert Storm, the troops would have to stop and do that regularly. Every half-hour, sometimes. Bradleys weren't designed for desert warfare."

                Just a few minutes later we passed Quartzite and saw acres and acres of burnt out RV's and mobile homes. It looked as if some of them had been moved into defensive circles, but to no avail. There wasn't a thing moving - nothing - not even birds. It was horrible. We didn't stop, even though Dallas thought we might want to loot some spare parts for Scooby.

                We were nearing the California border at Parker (we decided to avoid the whole Lake Havasu City area and get to Kingman by way of Needles) when we spotted a roadblock at the river crossing. It was well organized and defended. They had busses buried up to their windows with gun barrels visible thru them. Lots of other vehicles, all with thick armor welded onto them, lined the road.

                To top it all off, on each side of the road (and currently pointed in our direction!) were two pieces of field artillery. As we approached, a couple of the armored vehicles they had blocking the road backed up to let us onto the bridge.

                A man wearing a Tribal Police uniform signaled for me to stop, which I did. He 'knocked' on the drivers' hatch. I opened it and he greeted me. I saw that Olivia had stepped out of Scooby and was walking up to join us. He nodded to both of us and said, "Welcome to the Colorado Reservation river crossing. Are you trading or seeking employment?"

                "Well, neither actually."

                "Well, I'm here to collect the toll. I'm going to have to insist that everyone exit both vehicles."

                "Why?"

                "So we can conduct a search for contraband."

                Olivia asked, "Wait, what's the toll?"

                "I hate to say it, but it depends," he said.

                "And just what do you consider contraband? Why don't you tell us, and we'll decide if we should turn around and go another way," I said.

                He gestured to his people and said, "I can't allow you to do that." And some men appeared and rolled out some of those 'tire killer' chains the state patrol used to use behind Scooby.

                The man looked at the mercenaries on top of Velma and said, "For them - one weapon or ten rounds of ammo per person."

                The quartermaster produced another bottle, "How about this tequila?"

                "Okay, that plus three rounds per person."

                Olivia said, "And how much for a diplomatic group?"

                I groaned and thought to myself, "Oh no! We're gonna get soaked!"

                He finished looking thru Scooby and Velma, "Well, I see no obvious trade goods. 1,000 chips. Per person."

                Alfred had joined us and grabbed the man's hand to shake it, "Deal!" he said and dug the chips out of a pack. As he was accepting them, the man realized whom he was dealing with. Alfred saw the light go on and said, "Too late! We had a deal."

                He told me to get Velma started and Olivia to get Scooby ready, then told the man, "We have put up with this farce long enough. Now, let us over the bridge or the Azrael that's escorting us will destroy every last one of you."

                "It was a pleasure doing business with you, sir," was all the man said.

                The barricades were rolled away and we crossed the river.

                The going was getting harder and harder, with more cars stalled or wrecked on the road. We were spending more time off the road than on it.

                I had just gotten Velma past a particularly large mess when Olivia radioed me; Scooby was stuck. So I backed Velma up as close as I could, in case we needed to use it to haul Scooby out of something.

                When I walked back to see what was up - it wasn't good. There was a big piece of rebar sticking up from the dirt, thru one of the tires and into the wheelwell armor.

                We all took turns and after about an hour, we had dug down to the piece of concrete that the rebar was planted in. It took some work, but we were finally able to get the rebar removed. Once that was done, Olivia and I worked together on a magic to mend the tire. When we were done, Scooby's air compressor took over. While we were waiting for the tire to re-inflate we took a break and had lunch. We were back on the road by about 2:00.

                An hour or so later we came across a group of people. There were about 20 of them, adults and a few children. They were on foot and had some horses and even a camel laden with trade goods and pulling a travois with more goods. I pulled over and stopped, as did Olivia. We got out to see what they might have. I noticed that one travois was carrying an elderly man who didn't look so good. When I got close enough I could see he was injured. There was a partially healed gunshot wound in one leg. I asked for his permission and when he agreed, I healed it for him.

                When I turned back to the group, I noticed that they had completely abandoned any pretense of trading and were flat out begging, claiming that their children were starving and we 'had' to give them food.

                Looking at them, you could see that they were hungry, yes - but starving - no. I was thinking that I was willing to create some food for them, to keep them going and I was about to speak up when Olivia asked them if they had any barrels she could fill with water for them.

                Suddenly, there was a gunshot. We turned to see that one of the mercenaries up on Velma had fired a warning shot, "Those kids were trying to get inside," he explained. "Keep your distance from the vehicles," another yelled at the people.

                Things were about to get out of control. Olivia and I were trying to explain to the people that we were willing to help them if they would just be patient, when we heard a couple of them whispering something about, "There aren't that many, we can take 'em."

                "You had better get that idea right out of your heads," Olivia said.

                "But you have so much and we have so little. You have to give us something."

                "We most certainly do not have to give you anything," Olivia said

                "We have 'all this' because we earned it. We fought for it," I said.

                We were stopped by the sound of the turret on Scooby being moved. Then Dallas said, "You had your chance. These fine ladies were going to help you and you threatened them. So, now you'll take what we give you and you'll like it. Or we'll solve all your problems - forever."

                "Would you two ladies please move out of firing range?" he asked.

                We scurried back to the vehicles, Alfred and Leo were signaling for us to get in and move out. As we pulled away Dallas yelled to the group, "If you make it to Vegas stop by the Bellagio! Toodles!"

                As I drove I was very upset; we had done nothing to help those people.

                But we had tried, and they had threatened to take everything.

                We tried.

                As evening neared we saw signs that we were approaching Needles. As we got closer the road got worse and worse.

                It was full dark when we hit the Needles city limits. Even in the dark we could see that there was nothing left. What wasn't looted was burned. On the far edge of the city we saw some signs of life. A building, sitting off by itself had lights burning inside of it. Torches lit the outside and a large sign identified it as a bar. They had taken wrecked cars, stacked them and formed a stockade around the building. There were armed guards at the 'gate'.

                We just kept on rolling. When we were past Needles Olivia radioed, "We're all for driving straight on thru to Kingman. How about you guys?"

                We agreed and I pulled over long enough to have Alfred run a small bottle of the Go-Juice up to me, in case I needed it.

                We were approaching the Colorado River again, heading back into Arizona, when we came across another barricaded river crossing.

                There were a lot of small fires and torches burning for light. As I approached they rolled something out into the road, something small - maybe wheeled pallets? They had something on them so I stopped. One of the mercenaries had a pair of binoculars and told me that there were landmines on them. I radioed Olivia to tell her.

                From the 'camp' on one side of the road, a man approached. He was filthy and when I opened the hatch to talk to him I discovered that he smelled as bad as he looked.

                "The toll is one bottle of alcohol per vehicle and you have to let us siphon 20 gallons of gas."

                I had the radio open so Olivia could hear what was being said. I was hoping she was thinking what I was thinking, "That's damn cheap - Olivia can replace everything we give them."

                Connors was rummaging around for a bottle when I noticed that the creep was staring at me. I mean, he was staring at me. "What?!" I asked him.

                He grunted, "Elf."

                I grunted back at him, "Bright."

                That seemed to offend him!

                "Cough up that toll right now, and not only will we let you pass, we'll let you keep those pointy little ears," he said.

                Mistake!

                On the radio I heard Olivia tell Alfred to take the wheel. And a few moments later we all heard the sound of the gun turret being moved again. But then I heard Olivia's little familiar, Otsune, chirping, "Vulpix! Vulpix!" What had woken her up?

                Then there was a new noise. A growling. A big, deep, feel it in your stomach growling. I was looking around to see what the Hell was going on when a head appeared from behind the tents. A BIG head. It looked like, I don't know - a dinosaur? Not really a dragon, though. And it was - orange? Bright, Bronco orange!

                From the radio I heard Mitzi give a yelp that was followed by a slamming door.

                More of the beast was visible now and there was a man who seemed to be trying to get it to follow him. It stopped, perked its ears and huffed a small flame at the guy. When the smoke cleared the man was slightly charred and fell over in a faint. The beast turned to look our way, gave a little nod of his head and lay back down.

                I heard Otsune say, "He's not going to hurt us."

                The guy who'd demanded the toll yelled, "Will someone wake up the dragon?"

                Olivia yelled, "He's not going to play your game anymore and neither are we. No more ear jokes, no toll to pay, and we won't kill you all."

                There was a guy in the center of the camp. He was sitting in a beat up old Lazy Boy in front of the central fire. He waived to the guy on the bridge; "Oh, let them go!" They cleared the road and we headed across. As we crossed the bridge, I swear I saw the beast wink at us!

                Once out of the area, I called Olivia for some answers. "Okay! What was that thing?" I asked. Olivia and Otsune simultaneously identified it as a "Charizard". Whatever the Hell that means! Then I listened as Olivia tried to talk Mitzi out of the bathroom. "Mitzi, it's OK. We're past it and we're safe now. Come on out. It can't hurt you."

                "That's easy for you to say," Mitzi cried. "You've never fought one of those things."

                "You fought that before?"

                "Not that one, but another one, a bigger one."

                Finally Olivia got her to come out with a chocolate bribe.

                10:00 - we drove up to the first barricade outside of Kingman. The people manning the barricade (a barricade with electric lights!) recognized us and waived us past. We could see that almost all the old vehicles had been removed from the streets and lots of repairs had been completed while others were still being worked on.

                We passed the still-smoldering Grease Monkey and saw that Sakkara had taken Olivia's advice and had let the girls move back into the brothel. There were lights in the building were the Aztlan commander had kept his offices, so I assumed that's where Sakkara had moved to.

                We parked Scooby and Velma in the lot that had been the motor pool last time we were here. I had barely gotten Velma stopped when the mercenaries were on their way to the brothel. "Have fun storming the castle!" someone yelled.

                The rest of us were stretching our legs when Dallas said, "Well, Alfred should we get this over with?" Alfred reluctantly nodded and explained, "We have to go pay our respects to the Overlord of this territory. Why don't you all go see about getting rooms for the night while we do that?" I was just about to say that I would volunteer to spend the night in Velma, (I trust Sakkara as far as I could throw her.) when Connors said that she'd spend the night in Scooby.

                And then Rodrigo showed up.

                "So! We hear you've conquered more territory for the Pussies. Good work!"

                "No we did not!" I said.

                "We did liberate three more communities from the same group that held this place," Olivia said. "Martinez Lake, the Havasu training area and the Fort Mojave reservation, and Yuma. All three of those areas are now setting up their own forms of 'rule'."

                He actually stopped for a moment; "I used to live on that reservation."

                "So go home," I told him.

                "And Lake Havasu City, I lived there for a time, too."

                Olivia warned him to stay away from there, "It's bad news."

                "Oh? It wasn't good enough for you to be bothered with?"

                We were interrupted then (thank Corellon) by a woman. It was the gal who had helped us last time we were here by showing us to the commander's office. She introduced herself as Bunny and said, "Her Greatness welcomes you and invites you to enjoy her hospitality. She also assures you that your belongings will be watched by her security people."

                Now there was a dilemma. I didn't trust Sakkara at all, but how to decline an invitation from an Overlord?

                Connors solved the problem quite neatly; "I thank Her Greatness, but must decline. There are some religious devotionals I must attend to. They require complete privacy, so I will pass this night in one of the vehicles."

                Smooth! Silver-tongued bitch….

                She climbed into Scooby and immediately activated the security system. "Full armor of God, engaged," Scooby bellowed.

                Olivia hollered, "Um. Sylvia? I need my overnight bag?"

                "Full armor of God, disengaged." The door opened and she tossed out some bags, then she slammed the door shut again and, "Full armor of God, engaged."

                "Cool," Bunny said and led us into Sakkara's headquarters.

                We were taken to her 'audience' room where Sakkara was waiting for us. She wasn't alone; there was a Drow woman there, too. It appeared that she was trying to be discreet, but she had an aura that made her impossible to not notice.

                Sakkara greeted us and said, "I am so glad to see you again. From all reports, you have done wonders for this region by removing the threat of that rogue organization. I'm afraid I don't have much time to speak to you, other, pressing issues call me away, but my assistant, Miriam, will attend to your needs."

                And with a big show, she swept out of the room, leaving me (at least) wondering, "And what 'pressing issues' can there be at 10:00 at night in Kingman Arizona?"

                Miriam stepped forward, "Please follow me, I'll show you to your rooms."

                We followed and Olivia asked, "So how did you meet Sakkara?"

                "I introduced myself," she said, "After I walked into her room while she slept. She still hasn't discovered the route I used to get there. Anyway, I told her that she needed to hire me and she did." Olivia said something to me about the bets we'd made - who was still in the running and who wasn't. Miriam told us that just last night; someone had attempted to kill Sakkara.

                "If I may ask, how?" I said.

                "Poison. Someone laced a cup of catnip tea with strychnine and left it in her rooms. The 'assassin' didn't know that Overlords don't even like catnip. Sakkara threw the tea out the window without a second thought. But this morning, her security people found several house cats dead in the street."

                We had just turned a corner into a long hallway when Miriam suddenly grabbed Olivia, whirled around and slammed her against the wall. Olivia snarled and shoved back, pinning Miriam to the opposite wall. Startled, I pulled my handgun and pressed it against Miriam's head.

                She ignored it and asked Olivia, "Do we have a disagreement about the ownership of this city?"

                Olivia snorted, "Why would I want Kingman? I am Vizier of the Kingdom of the Outlands. I am Ambassador to Presidents, Kings and Caesar himself. I have no use for something as insignificant as this hole."

                I still had my gun to Miriam's head and was looking to Olivia for a lead. She shook her head ever so slightly at me. I slowly lowered the gun while Olivia let Miriam go.

                Miriam straightened her clothes and said, "I would rather rule in Hell…."

                Olivia interrupted her, "...than serve in Heaven, yeah yeah yeah. The consolation prize of the second-best."

                Miriam smiled at Olivia (Oh My God! I thought Olivia had a scary smile!) and said, "These are your rooms. My room is at the end of the hall. If you should need anything."

                She turned to walk away and I couldn't help myself, I said to Olivia, "She wants you, she really, really wants you!"

                Miriam stopped, turned and said, "But I'd gladly take you both." She went into her room and closed the door.

                "She's not always like that," Bunny said.

                We had forgotten that she was there!

                "What?"

                "Well, she's always a bitch, but I've never seen her like that before."

                Then she totally dismissed me and said to Olivia, "Can I get you anything?" Olivia smiled and said, "Yes. Get some refreshments. And bring them personally."

                Well, okay! I gave Olivia a wink, went into my room and closed the door.

Continued