From: intraphase@gmail.com

Iguanna Hagawanna was drawn away from his vexation with the
Bhagda warrior wondering what great calamity would unfold in the fleeting glance of his eyes as this tender young Great City woman was about to be rundown and slain by this mad rider who had spirited on to the bridge from
the shoreline tracks of the Countryside and was now hurtling at bone crushing speed toward the delicate Dark Eyed Lady from the Great City. Bhagda’s attention was riveted also as his warrior instincts alerted to the presence of the speeding rider crossing the bridge on the southern side reserved for traffics of The Other direction. He knew in silence it was too late, what would

be, would be; and as time slowed he watched the pending cataclysm.


High above on the hillside of the Great City and old mandarin Warlord
watch from his seventh floor balcony through a long spectacled double lensed brass tripod Seers Glass.
The evil Y-Clang watched as the riders momentum ceased and the
beautiful Dark Eyed Lady leaned forward to cushion herself against a possible impact. The jade pendant rocked delicately forward once and then gently bounced

backwards against the Dark Eyed Lady’s small soft breasts and then bounced and
a second time and in a darting arc flew free of its silver hook into the dark folds of the now stopped riders shirt that was tucked tightly into his black soft cotton pants held close to his body by a wide leather belt that was cinched so tightly it was enough to impede his breathing.
The rider made a brief eye contact with The Dark Eyed lady
while pulling his inner shirt upward and fluffing his out outer grey short coat. Seeming flustered yet relieved. Y-Clang studied the area below the riders feet as he remounted the bicycle and began to peddle away across the wrong side of the bridge. As the riders speed increased Y-Clang knew that if the pendant fell now it would tumble between the roadway plankings into the river and be swept away as it should be if the exchange was unsuccessful and that the fine rice paper with its message of importance would quickly dissolve after an hour and its inks blur the very instant it touched the water. Once Y-Clang had watched the exchange and the pendant used had fallen square on the center of a plank and evil Y-Clang had kicked it to the safety of the rushing waters below. The aging mandarin Warlord who always watched nervously from high above had paid him the equivalent of ten thousand tolls because of his relief after having watched the exchange falter from his high porch up on the hill of the Great City even knocking over his Seers Glass in the wave of panic that had swept his aging mind only to be finally relieved when the lovely Dark Eyed Lady had returned and reported that indeed evil Tolltaker Y-Clang had spotted the fallen pendant and kicked it to the safety of the rushing river below.
The rider had cleared the bridge and was speeding high into the hills of the Great City as Y-Clang breathed a heavy exhale and composed his mind. It was necessary that he never know precisely when this drama would occur so that he could muster his best pretenses and casual flourishes.
Secretly in his heart he cared not what the outcome of the exchange
might be although he enjoyed spending the extra monies granted from the mandarin Warlord from a failed exchange on the bridge and a pendant kicked into the river on more drinking and whoring and cockfights in the back alleys of the Great City he sometimes wondered if such things were good for his health and he would always swear an oath to the evil river spirits to limit his debauchery and spend more money on his many children after a night of such recklessness.




Cry-Chang-E Chorus

What is this fleeting occurrence on the Bridge of Silence.
Why do the crossers of the bridge seem so flustered and drawn.



The Dark Eyed Lady had resumed her pace across the Bridge of Silence with a serene and peaceful aplomb. As the Bhagda Temple warrior returned to
his normal perception the adrenalin rush of witnessing the near calamity hit and he crossed to the southern side of the bridge addressing the Dark Eyed Lady directly as they crossed that portion of the small bridge.


"Madame, this is ridiculous, how dare that hurtling madman proceed across the bridge in the wrong direction and almost bludgeon a fair lady with his recklessness."

The Dark Eyed Lady with a gentle yet icy stare looked deep into the eyes
of the Bhagda warrior and continued across the bridge to the Countryside disappearing into the throngs that were awaiting the mornings official opening of the bridge to the heavy carriage traffic that was the stock and trade of the mighty four woven steel pillared edifice of travel.

"You are a putrid strutting rooster of shame to your temple and a curse upon your ancestors who scream every time you cross this bridge and awaken the evil water sprites and spirits who would rise up and smite you into the whirling vortexes of the river below if it were not for the horrible greed and avarice of our most depraved citizen evil Tolltaker Y-Clang"
" Calm yourself Iguanna oh noble Soothsayer and protector of this lowly bridge which you grace with your enlightened presence"

As the Bhagda temple warrior passed the tollbooth Y-Clang looked deep into Iguana’s eyes wondering what vision he had seen as the Dark Eyed Lady passed that caused him to return to this world with such erratic and volatile angers so unlike his usual disrespectful contempt of all bridge crossers regardless of their station and position in Bheeg Fuhken Dheel province and its outlying districts that surrounded the Great City.

"Your toll is payed today and all this week and I shall be honor bound
to fight you Bhagda warrior if you dare to toss a coin from your sacred
purse at this filthy madman who sits here pretending at prophecies and Seeing while defiling the crossers of this bridge and tempting the wraths of the great glacial gods who rule above the icy blue froths of the mountain and could sweep us from this world with the dropping of a yellowed toenail upon our head."

The Bhagda temple warrior was quickly swept by these trite
machinations from his feelings of action caused by the near tragedy on the bridge and the relief caused him to smile broadly at both Y-Clang and Iguanna as he passed the tollbooth relieved at the exhaustive protestations of Y-Clang and the glassy eyed look that was coming and going in Soothsayers eyes.


" I shall humbly concede to you evil Tolltaker and with hold my customary contribution to Great Seer Iguanna Hagawanna for I would not want to cause upset between those who are fated to a life of the bridge."

After passing the tollbooth Bhagda reached inside his black silk jacket with the elaborate double gold dragons embroidered across each shoulder and gently closed the hasp on the hand carved ornamental rosewood box that held the
two precision balanced throwing knives he would have drawn and used to execute Y-Clang and Iguanna if they had tried to stop the rare transfer of messages on the bridge. Other warriors would secure the safe travel of the secret messages to the highest Towered Escarpment that lay at the very peak of the Great City.

Carved into the twenty natural black rock spires that soared another five hundred feet above the Great City into the eternal winds of the upper regions was a small out porch with a supporting arch that looped back into the rocky spires. Only from this twenty spired tea cup shaped escarpment could a similar twenty spire formation be seen on the across the way on the Countryside of the Raging River over which had been built the always steady Bridge of Silence.

The Two Tea Cups were twenty foot thick natural volcanic rock black walls that rose and then were carved by the wind into twenty pillars that held a final thick hollowed stone with eight windows carved out to the the size and width of a child’s finger so as to keep out the swift rage of the raucous winds
that howled during the night as the mountain air swept southward yet still permit complete observation of the Great City and the tea cups identical
twin counterpart in the high mountain region across the way high above the secret Temple of Bhagda in the Countryside of the Raging River.

To enjoy the panoramic vistas in an unencumbered way during the
daylight hours when the winds had slowed to an invigorating breeze the two northern porches had been added to each twenty spired stalactite that held
its hollowed rock in place lending an air of dignity to the two stone cups that were rumored to be always occupied by some unknown presence that
very few spoke openly about even Y-Clang and Iguanna. Many speculated upon
the subject in the privacy of their own thoughts or in conversation with friends or trusted acquaintances. These speculations were a secret form
of social ritual in that even mentioning the taboo subject was a sign of
trust to the person spoken too.



"Evil Tolltaker Y-Clang hand me my rice papers and dip my
pen in the bottle of ink so that I might transcribe this vision
which I have recently glimpsed as the Dark Eyed Lady passed"

" Noble Soothsayer your command is my call to service but
I must remind you that your visions have come so frequently that I
fear the ink bottles level is growing low. Shall you allow me to replace it before tomorrow’s morning"

" Yes evil Tolltaker Y-Clang I shall permit your vermin
ridden whoring gambling depraved mind besotted with the debaucheries of cheap rice wine to perform an act of service to me. But make sure it is indigo
black with no dry chunks or feeble resins from the ink maker for this is serious work transcribing such fleeting glimpses of prophecy"

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: www.darkrealms.ca (1:229/2)