chapter 1 bye josh bierman 
copywrite whenever bye me. here gos

	tristen put her head in her hands and cried, how had it all gone 
wrong she thought, how had everything gone so horrably wrong.
	it was almost a year ago now that she and her friends had started 
out with high hopes and great dreams.  Now all that was gone, and Tristen 
was alone.  She hated being alone, that is why she had asked robby to 
come alog with her on the trip, and at his suggestion had decided to ask 
a few more friends.  the memory was very clear, that first day, early 
morning....
	Tris woke early, a good two hours before the sun, this was it, 
the day she was getting out of this dead end town.  expecting everyone to 
be asleep she dressed quitly and tiptoed across the hall to the wash room.
"tristen dear, when your done washing up, come down stais for a good 
breakfast before you go." came the wisper from down the stairs.
"Mom?"tristen said, forgetting to wisper in her suprise.
"shush tris, you'll wake the house now go wash up and we will talk over 
breakfast"
"ok"
	After washing up, tristen gathered her stuff from her room, took 
a deep breath, and headed down the stairs.  At the bottom she took a 
right into the kitchen, and was promtly acosted and nearly sufficated by 
a bear hug.
"hhhhhmom, I ..can't ...breath"tris croaked.
"oh I'm sorry dear, I just couldn't help myself, my baby is going away"
"mom we talked this over, it is the only way."
"I know, I made you breakfast and some food for you and Robby for lunch, 
now I have to get back to bed before your dad gets curious"
"bye mom"
"bye dear"
	and with that tristen was alone in the dimly lit kitchen.  She 
ate the breakfast quikly, without even tasting it, grabbed the food bag, 
and ran out the door.  "Damn I'm going to be late"tris said without 
realising she had said it out loud.
	"Actually tris" robby said, falling in to step with her "your 
right on time.  The others are just now on their way to the station."
"how do you know?"
" I got up extra early and checked on everyone, You were last."
"last huh, I'm insulted"
"don't be, the best is always saved for last."
"in that case maybe I can forgive you."
	They got to the train station just as the giant steam engine came 
in.  they sat down on a bench to talk.
	"so tris, where exactly are we going, enrute that is, to thinstread?"
	"well, we take the train from here to river's end, then a boat up 
river to sanshire, a bit of a walk from there to stanton, and then we 
ride in style, by coach to thinstread."
"all this for a little excitement."
"and money, robby, don't forget the money we are being paid to deliver 
this message, we could practically retire on it."
"yes tris and money, what does this message contain that our employer is 
willing to pay so much for it?"
"I don't know, I havn't opened it as per our agreement."
"well I don't..."
	Just then the remainder of the group showed up, cutting off the 
conversation.  All in all there were 6 of them, tris, robby, rose, Roloc, 
Cigam, and Nibur. A motly and mismatched crew to say the least, and not a 
one over 18.
"Hey guys" rose called out "whats doin?"
"see Roloc, we made it on time" Nibur said, punching the huge Roloc in 
the arm"ow, man your dangerouse even when your being passive"
"Soryy Nibur, didn't mean to hurt your hand by running into it."
The train whistle blew
"ok guys, lets go" tris said, handing out the tickets.
	They borded the last passenger car and settled in.  Cigam took 
out a book and was soon lost to the world, Nibur took out cards and was 
trying to con his friends into a game of poker or any other card game.  
Rose and Roloc, started a converation, and as usual, let it trail off and 
instead just stared into each other's eyes.
"You ever listen to them talk, tris?  It is amazing, they don't finish 
half their sentences unless they are mad at each other then they yell 
them, but other than that they understand each other without finishing 
statements, it's uncanny."
"Robby, you know them as well as I do, and for as long.  They have been 
in love with each other since they were 4 years old, My parents have been 
maried for about 35 years now, they do the same thing sometimes and when 
I asked them they said they have been doing it without noticing for years 
now."
"yeah but they are married."
"so? Those two might as well be married, they spend enough time together."
"do we?"
"robby your not making sence do we what?"
"do we speand enough timetogether to be married?"
"robby lets not discuss this, I am tired."
and with that tris turned over and promptly went to sleep.
Tris awoke to the sounds of quite conversation, it was dark out and they 
were traveling through forest.  Cigam was talking to a newcomer to the 
car. the new person was black, and wearing clothing like she had never 
seen before.  He was dressed in baggy grey pants of the finest silk, 
gathered at the ankles, or it would have been had he not been wearing low soft
boots.  He had a wide sash wound around his waist, tied at his right side,
and it was of a deep forest green, a beutifully worked sabre was pushed
through it, she briefly wondered how he had gotten it on the train,
usually weapons were not alowed.  His shirt was white silk, tucked into
his sash but came out the bottom by 2 inches and did not go into the
pants.  His head was rapped in a white silk cloth, and he had a leather
backpack, black, by his foot.  They talked in hushed tones, The man pulled
somthing from his napsack and showed it to cigam, then put it away, and
they continued to talk, tris fell asleep again.
	She awoke again but this time because the train ahd suddenly 
jerked to a halt and she had been thrown to the floor with all her 
friends.  She noticed that the newcomer was gone.  There was another 
lurch acompanied by a loud boom.
"hey tris, you have ridden these before, what was that" said a scared cigam
"It has never happened before, not on any of my trips."
	just then the back door, the one leading to the caboose, opened 
with a bang that made evryone turn with a jump.  Standing in the door was 
a man holding a sword, at first tris thought it was the same man as 
before but quickly noticed the diffarences.
The man wore the same shirt, pants, shoes, and headress as the stranger 
form before, but his sword was plain, his sash was blue, and he was white.
The newcomers icy-blue eyes scanned the car.  "Alright, listen up, no one 
moves no one gets hurt, I am not looking for you."
"who are you, what are you doing here?" demanded robby.
the man turned his gase apon the brasen robby and without worning hurled 
a fist sized ball of light that knocked robby to the other end of the 
passenger car.
"I will ask the questios here.  Who I am is of no concern of yours.  Have 
you seen any strangers here?"
Cigam piped up with a nervouse and very hasty "NO"
tris looked at him, he was lying, something she ahd thought he did not 
know how to do.
there came a whistle, like a bird call, from outside, the stranger 
nodded, and backed from the train.  after he was gone the train started 
again with a lurch.
tris ran to robby, who was grogilly looking around.
"robby are you ok?"
"I think so, what was that?"
"I don't know but next time don't be a hero"
"no problem I've learned my lesson"
turning to cogam tris asked"why did you lie?"
that got everybodies attention after all cigam had never lied before, at 
least not to anyones knowledge.
			CHAP II


later......