My phone rang about 6:30 am, awaking me from a pleasant dream. It was Leslie, a dear friend-with-benefits. She was thinking of me, and wondered if I w...uld enjoy a visit on her way to work. She had yet to leave home, so I had about thirty minutes to prepare for her arrival and start the coffee. I leaped out of bed, straightened the bedding and plumped the pillows, quickly shaved, showered, and pulled on a pair of shorts and a T-shirt. The coffee was half brewed when Leslie knocked on the door. . Com. It estimated that the four hundred and fifty mile drive should take about nine hours. Dale wanted to get underway early and managed to luck out as far as traffic was concerned. The car was equipped with Jaguar's adaptive cruise control which automatically reduces speed when any form of radar is detected. Once out of the more congested area around Las Vegas, Dale set the cruising speed at one hundred miles an hour and was able to maintain that speed for a good share of the trip.Instead of a. "At the time the kind mage appeared, 2000 years ago, Malamon had started to make a move on the council." Azel stated, "his power grew faster than anyone had ever seen. At that time no one had any idea what he was or who he was. The balance of power had started to shift towards a dark force that grew it seemed more each day. Like your battle the other day, the kind mage didn't kill the first he fought. The man was found a day later drained of his life a dried husk was all that was left. Each one. Soon though, one could hear dry branches snapping followed by heavy steps on the frozen undergrowth and the massive, black-furred minotaur approached his rightful place. The circle grew quiet. It was amusing she thought that the rest were all surrounded by bodyguards, while it didn't seem to bother, but instead put guards to protect her. The b**st sat down, and she was ushered to stand next to it. It was far taller than her, even when sitting down and its massive axe was probably twice her.