The light, the light...who put out the lights? Tomi moaned and lifted a hand to feel the huge lump on his scalp. Okay...so it was a bump. He'd live. At least he hadn't been unconscious for long. Or he didn't think so. Well, how can you tell? You were unconcious.

"Oh, shut up," Tomi growled. He tried to move his arms and legs to be sure they were all intact. Funny, there was something caught on his armor. "What the--?" It was a strip of leather. Now how did that happen? He thought he spoke out loud but apparently not. No one answered. Then again, how could anyone know what he was talking about? It was still pitch dark inside. He tried to feebly to remove whatever it was, but his head hurt too much to put any effort into it. Oh, to heck with it. He'd remove it later.

Lights flared behind his eyes and he squeezed them tighter shut. In seconds a familiar voice shrieked, "Tomi-boyo! 'Bout time ya showed up to grace us with yer presence!" It was Caile, the Kash Bowl patroness...sounded like she'd been off hanging around those Celts again. Good thing he'd come back before she put on a kilt. Celtic women were pretty enough, but nothing beat those Mesopotamian clothes. She said something about Carthage and his elephant that he didn't catch....perhaps because there was quite a bit of stifled laughter coming from Apil's corner.

Something brushed his cheek and Tomi shrank back slightly, expecting another ceramic missile. When nothing untoward happened, he opened his eyes.

At first he wasn't sure if it was Scipio Africanus staring him in the face or a Mesopotamian demon. What do Meso demons look like? Like Scipio Africanus, apparently...or he looked like them. Then Tomi's brain steadied and he realized what it was. His eyes widened; he froze; his mouth dropped open. No....no it wasn't real. The thing pecked his cheek again. The last straw.

The Kash Bowl is home to many legends. Stories that have been told over and over again for centuries. Wild hamsters and makeovers for men. None of them top the list like The Night Tomilcar Screamed. He opened his mouth and for a few seconds the patrons thought no sound would come out. But he was just building up steam and when he let go, the windows of the Kash Bowl shattered. The jars of kash lining the bar broke and the kash flowed onto the floor like water. Apil fell weeping to his knees under the counter while free kash poured down his throat.

The ostrich screeched. The scream went on. The ostrich flapped its wings and shot out the door. That's when Tomi found out what the leather strap caught on his armor was......