[LMB] SP: TSK: Beguilement Chapter 4

[Tzivia Adler]

From: "Victoria L'Ecuyer" <vlecuyer at ksu.edu>
> Chapter 4
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> ... Dag returns to being a cool  headed hunter. it's ... it's 
> relief-causing.
>
dag worried that the patrollers are seriously understaffed, so the sweep 
riders miss places either from going fast to cover more ground, or slow and 
careful and missing sections.  Not enough lakewalkers alive to patroll, or 
just not enough lakewalkers willing to patrol?  either way, does the 
question get adressed later in this book?  there seem to be plenty of 
farmers, why not plenty of lakewalkers?

> Dag notices that the two mudmen are started from a fox and a rabbit. Fawns 
> attacker in chapter 3 is from a raccoon. I think I know where the local 
> wild life from chapter 2 went.

it is interesting that the mud-men trade thier animal sense of smell for 
human fingers and speech (or the malice traded it for them.  otherwise they 
would have smelled dag watching htem.  so - if these were early efforts, 
would new, impoved models retain animal smell?
also a few animals transfomred would not account for an area-wide loss, 
unless you count the stew-pot :)   i thought the animals were gone bec the 
malice is killing the ground/earth.  (have to separate those to words, this 
book:) ) no grass = no rabbits or other herbivores, which leads to no foxes 
or other predators.

>While Dag is scouting and dithering over whether to get reinforcements
while crawling over the dead ground, dag's groundsense, which he mostly shut 
down so the malice won't sense him, seems to be in pain from contact with 
hte malice's aura.  how does he sens the malice if the malice can't sense 
him?  is this like flying under the radar?  can the malice drain groundsense 
from a distance, as it can from the earth, in a spreading circle?

teh messy bandit camp is nearly empty.  could the patrollers be after the 
same bandits, and will they track them back?  cavalry to the rescue! 
somehow i don't htink so.  poor dag, he's on his own again, but not too late 
this time - maybe.

mini data dump:  baby malices are non mobile (what -exactly- does sessile 
mean?  paging someone w/a better dictionary than mine!)   and clumsy when 
they start to move.  sharing knives come in pairs, and made of bone - a gift 
from dead patrollers.  'one for you and one for me.'  i assume -that- 
interesting tease will be thoroughly explained!

scout or report?  if he goes in and dies, it will be harder for everyone 
else.  one assumes the emeny would learn from dag.  also, quite 
incidentally, dag would be dead, which would annoy him a little bit :) does 
this guy have an incomplete death wish?  he's almost as bad as ingrey.

> Fawn is hauled on scene by mudmen. ... Dag rushes in, all heroic.
>
the malice can use fawn to molt? how?  the description of the malice is 
absolutely creepy!



> I like the fight.  <snip fight sequence>
>
me, too.  adn fawn caught the knifes!  good for her.  she put both into the 
malice.  the first didn't help, the second broke and the malice fell apart. 
hte mudmen fighting dag run away, like troops w/no officer.

teh whole knife startles dag.  fawn says 'its not my fault' a la ivan :). 
but she has a point:  people withhold info from 'mere females' and then 
complain when said females make mistakes based on lack of data.

> Aftermaths: Dag finds the newly primed blade uncomfortable. Both Fawn and 
> Dag are giddy with success.
i think dag is light-headed with severe lack of sleep, and also adrenaline 
drain.  no one left to fight, everything is crashing down on him.  he should 
not be held responsible for any foolishness just now :)  but its fun to 
watch him babble.  he probly doesn't, often.

> fawn's miscarriage starts signaling the baby's death/lost ground.
>
and i wonder how she will deal with that?  she was all ready to be 
responsible, and a good mom.  to play the hand she's dealt.  now she's back 
to being a young girl, doesn't need ehr lies about widowhood and 'twenty'. 
what will she do now?

sweet afternote:  dag keeps trying to use his missing left hand, and 
watching forget adn remember that its missing hurts fawn worse than her own 
assorted bruises (including semi-strangulation, don't forget)

>  My favorite bit of the whole chapter summarized...
>
> Fawn: Which one of the knives do I use? (grabs) You gave me two!
> Dag: The pointy end goes in first! (fights mudmen) Argh!
> Fawn: Well, duh! (grabs one, stabs, looses knife) Darn! (grabs the other, 
> stabs again, knife shatters) Ooops! (malice/blight boggle dies). What now?
> Dag: (catches breath, collects stray bits of himself) We get the heck out 
> of Dodge. [*] [^]
> Fawn: Sounds good.
>
*snicker* nice summary!
ziviya
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Checked by AVG Free Edition.
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