"Gaunt, what do you think?"

Lykopis was holding a massive mace with a four foot chain. She backed away from Gaunt and swung hard. The small figure of Michealangelo's David standing on the bookcase was smashed to bits.

Gaunt looked slightly amused. "I think that moment has just captured the essence of your personality."

Lykopis looked at the weapon. "You think it is too big?"

The two were in the armory. Some women spend hours trying on different pairs of shoes. True to her nature, Lykopis was trying to figure out what weapons to bring along on this new mission.

"What about that dagger?"

"The one with the green handle amd the snake carving?" Lykopis stuck her tongue out. "Impossible. I stole it from a Chinese witch about twenty-five hundred years ago. She put a curse on it, so I avoid using it whenever possible."

"What's the curse?"

Lykopis winced. "Snakes start spilling out of the mouth."

Gaunt raised an eyebrow. "And that's how they die? Sounds like a decent weapon to me."

Lykopis shook her head. "No, you do not understand. She cursed whoever uses the dagger. I got into a bar fight once and had to hide behind some barrels because I was spitting up cobras and asps."

"I see." Gaunt took another look at the knife. "It's still impressive. I'll take if off your hands, if you want."

Lykopis handed the dagger to Gaunt. He placed it in his sleeve, where it disappeared into the Shadowlands that Edmund Gaunt controlled. "You have no idea how long I have wanted to get rid of that thing." She turned her attention back to the weapons. "Too big...too small...too old..."

Gaunt took a long look at the weapons littered on the floor. "It must be some small comfort that your skills are so diverse."

Lykopis nodded. "Yes. I do wish we have a mission one of these days when we need an archer, though." She laughed to herself for a moment. "Though I suppose they are a little antique for us. Perhaps one of these days I will aquire a laser-guilded crossbow."

"An archer? You prefer the bow?" Lykopis nodded. "I had no idea that's what you liked. You always use swords--"

"Yes. They are, I admit, more practical. And anyways, I have not used a bow in years. I had a bow -- a wonderful bow -- but I lost it years ago. You should have seen it, Edmund. I shattered the skull of an extinct antelope and strung it with the gut. That was back when I believed that weapons made from animals retained the spirit of the animal." Lykopis laughed. "That was a long time ago. Anyways, in one of my journeys, I managed to lose it."

Gaunt picked up a discarded musket and bayonette. "How?"

"I --" Lykopis's face drew a blank. During that skirmish in Arabia? The war in Tibet? While hunting buffalo? When? WHEN? "I...I do not know. I cannot remember." Lykopis turned to Gaunt. "How sad I forgot something so important. The bow meant so much to me."

"Lykopis and Gaunt, you have two minutes," rang Penny's voice over the intercom.

Lykopis realized she was stepping on some of the weapons she had tossed onto the floor. "Hello, what do we have hear?"

Gaunt looked at the items on the floor. "Surely you're not bringing that."

"What? Does it look to flashy? Besides, I wanted somethings small enough to fit under my clothing."

Gaunt was not amused. Or if he was, he was doing a very good job of not showing it. "Still, how, pray, do you expect to fight with a bullwhip and a Bowie knife?"