[Mkguild] The Journeys Begin chapter 2

[joeschoder2 at charter.net]

Here is the second chapter, finally.


The Journeys Begin
Chapter 2
By: Joseph Schoder Jr.


January 3, 707 CR


Ashley walked up the well traveled road, joining the sparse morning traffic into Metamor Keep.  The sun had just risen over the mountains and the snow was glittering like a thousand diamonds.  It had been over a week since Christmas, when the army of Nasoj had been driven out of the Keep for the second time in seven years.  Many parts of the Keep were still in shambles, but at least things were getting back to some semblance of normalcy.  When she reached the massive gates, the guard looked her over and in a rather bored voice asked her purpose in Metamor.

“Ashley of Mycransburg, I’m here for the day to meet a friend.”

She made it through the gates and into the Keep proper, stopping for a moment in the square to get her bearings.  In any other castle in the world, finding one person without advance notice would be nearly impossible.  But Metamor wasn’t any castle.

Ashley just started walking, focusing in her mind on the childish face of her friend Ben.  After about a half-hour she was inside, walking aimlessly through a hallway when she came to a four way intersection.  About to take a direction at random she stopped as she heard the echo of running feet.

Looking to the left she saw a young boy bounding around a corner and heading in her direction.  He looked perhaps thirteen years old, with unruly brown curls and a slightly freckled face, in his hand was a rolled piece of parchment.

As he ran toward her his face brightened with recognition.  Not slowing, his voice taking the same pace as his feet he said, “Hi Ash!  Sorry can’t stop right now gotta deliver this fast!”

As he flashed past her she turned and ran to catch up to him.  Ben was one of the Keep’s messengers, the job of running through the Keep all day being one of the only jobs that could hold his now youthful attention for any length of time.

In a few moments her longer stride had taken her alongside him, He looked over at her, his running stride never breaking.  “So how have you been?  Good to see you survived that whole mess, what are you doing in Metamor?  Sorry I can’t stop but I have to deliver this right now.”

Before she could respond to any of his rapid-fire questions he came to an abrupt stop in front of a heavy wooden door.  He knocked loudly twice and it was opened almost immediately.  He handed the parchment to the woman standing in the doorway saying, “Message for patrol master George from the Duke.  I’m supposed to wait for a response.”

The woman nodded slightly and closed the door.  Ashley’s eyes widened, “What’s that all about?”

Ben was bouncing on his feet while he waited, “I don’t know I just deliver them I don’t usually have to read them.”

“Ben, I want you to come back to Mycransburg with me.”

Slowing down for one of the few times in his life Ben looked at her, “Ash you know I have nothing to go back to there.  I’ve got a good life here at the Keep, a home, after all these years you can’t see that?”

“What?  Ben I’ve never had a problem with you not coming back to live in Mycransburg.  Whatever gave you that idea?”

Looking rather confused Ben started bouncing again, “Well, you haven’t come to visit since I moved here, I just thought you were mad that I didn’t stay.  And now you just show up and ask me to come back...”

“I don’t mean for good, I just need you to come back with me for a few days.  I have a small problem that I need your help to solve.”

Any reply the diminutive messenger would have made was cut off as the door was opened again and the woman handed Ben another letter.  Before the door was fully closed he was off down the corridor, Ashley only a few steps behind.

Without looking back Ben spoke up, “I’ve never turned you down before, I’m not about to start now.  Meet me at the main gate a little after the noon bell, I’ll help you in any way I can.”

Slowing to a stop Ben turned to face her, “Um... no offense, but the Duke’s guards might take exception to you following me into his chambers.”

Looking around, Ashley noticed the hall had become far more opulent, there were bright tapestries lining the walls and the floor was carpeted in red.  “Oh, well I’ll see you at noon then.”


**************************



The sun had set by the time the two entered Mycransburg.  Ben started heading toward Ashley’s house, which was on the outskirts, before he noticed that she was still heading into the town.  Confused he said, “Where are we going?”

“To the mansion.”

“Oh... Why?”

“I’ll tell you when we’re past the town.”

As they came in sight of the mansion Ashley slowed to a stop.

Ben turned and asked, “So are you going to tell me why we came all the way out here?”

“Yes, before we get there you need to know that there is a tribe of Lutins in the mansion, and Dire Wolves.”

Ben’s brow furrowed as he looked around, then he spoke, confused, “When you say Lutins and wolves, you mean dead ones... Right?”

“No.”

“Then... The Longs and a troop of the Duke’s Knights are hiding in the forest just waiting for your signal?”

“No, no one knows about them but us.”

“You can’t be suggesting that we fight them alone?!”

Ashley sighed with resignation, “We aren’t going to fight them Ben, I invited them to stay here.”

Ben stood for almost a minute, staring at her with his mouth opening and closing, as if he were trying to speak but couldn’t.

He finally regained his voice, yelling softly as if suddenly worried about being overheard, “By Eli, Ashley you’re harboring the enemy!  The last person who did that was that otter... Oren I think it was.”

At her blank look he added, “You know, he built that lighthouse outside the Keep.  He brought just one Lutin to the Keep, a half-Lutin at that.  He was thrown in the dungeons and put on trial, they were talking about executing him!”

“I never heard about that.”

“It was a closed trial, no one knows about it.”

“Then how do you?”

“Well... someone has to be there to carry messages back and forth.”

“So you were eavesdropping.”

“No, it wasn’t me.  I heard about it from another runner.  You’d never believe some of the things we hear Ashley, now stop changing the subject.  That was one Lutin, you brought an entire tribe?!”

He started laughing, slightly hysterical, “There won’t even be a trial, when the Duke finds out about this he’ll be so mad flames will shoot out of his nose and burn you to a crisp on the spot.”

Ashley took his youthful head in her hands rather forcefully, “Ben! Calm down.”

She continued, “Ben, what does it say in the Canticle of Eli, in the book of Luke, the sixth chapter...”

He looked at her blankly.  Ashley shook her head, “I know you know Ben, tell me.”

He dropped his head, thinking, then speaking slowly he recited grudgingly, “Love your enemies, and do good to those who hate you... Be merciful as the Father is merciful, judge not least ye be judged, forgive and ye shall be forgiven.”

He looked back up, “This isn’t fair Ash, they’re Lutins!”

“And does Yashua’s lesson not apply to them?  If life was fair we would already be allied with them, and Nasoj would have been dead long ago and this curse would never have existed.” 

Ben smiled weakly, “And you would have been able to follow your vocation, and enter the priesthood.”

Ben was still for nearly a minute, emotions storming over his face, but finally he came to a decision, “Fine... I suppose if Yashua could forgive those who killed him, even as he died on the tree...  I guess I could forgive the Lutins who saved my best friend.”

Smiling Ashley continued toward the ruin.

As they stepped among the ruins of the mansion they heard a low growl coming from behind them.  Ben turned swiftly and only Ashley’s hand gripping his arm stopped him from drawing his sword.  “Allies, remember?” 

Ashley called into the darkness, “Hello... It’s just me and my friend Ben, nothing to worry about.”

Ben’s sharp intake of breath was heard as a huge form strode from the darkness.  The wolf had dark gray fur, with a black mane down its back.

Ashley was racking her brain trying to remember its name when she noticed there weren’t any Lutins around.  The only rider-less wolf she remembered was... “Keenscent, right?”

The wolf looked surprised as it moved closer to sniff both of them.  Ben cringed back as the wet, black nose touched him, but he held his ground.

With an annoyed growl the wolf stalked back into the shadows.  As the wolf disappeared, Ben let out the breath he had been holding.  

Ashley walked deeper into the ruin, Ben staying so close that he was nearly stepping on her heels.

Carefully picking her way through the debris Ashley quickly came to a fallen wall with a heavy wooden door set in it.  To the casual observer it would seem perfectly fine, but on closer inspection one would see that it had been dragged there from elsewhere in the ruin.

Ashley opened the door, revealing a stairway leading to the depths of the mansion.  Light flickered up from the depths as they started down, Ben carefully closing the large door above him.

When they reached the floor they were in a small, square room with doors on three walls and the stairway behind them.  There was a cloaked figure seated at a small table with a candle burning in the center.  Ben started as the figure lifted its head to reveal the green skinned face of a Lutin.  This time at least he was able to stop himself from drawing his sword without Ashley reminding him.

Another head lifted from behind the table, a medium sized dire with light, red/grey fur.

Stepping up to the table, Ashley said, “Hello, could you tell me where Sasiv is?”

“Chief Sasiv take most of tribe North.  Zaxz lead until they return.” The Lutin pointed to the left door, “He in there.”

As she opened the door a strange sound reached her ears.  Stepping into the large room she saw a fire blazing in the hearth, with two Lutins nearby.  She recognized Zaxz laying against his wolf, whose ears were half again as large as her hand.  The other Lutin had his back to the wall with a black and grey furred wolf curled nearby.  It was from the Lutins that the sound was coming, they were both holding white flutes that seemed to be roughly carved from dried bone. 

The melody was low, almost mournful, and as she listened it rose, simple harmonies adding to its depth and color.  As the pitch reached higher and higher the wolf at Zaxz’s back raised his head and added his howl in perfect dissonance to the flutes’ haunting melody.  As Large-ears ran out of breath, his howl ended, and both Lutins lowered their flutes.

The second wolf, seeing the two humans, let out a soft bark.  The other three turned, Zaxz rose to his feet, returning the flute to a pouch on his belt.

Ashley walked farther into the room, bringing Ben to her side, “Greetings Zaxz, this is Ben, my friend.”

“Greetings Ashley, and Ben, friend of Ashley.”

Ashley pointed to the pouch with the bone flute, “What was that song you were playing, it was beautiful.” 

A look of loss crossed over the Lutin’s face, it was strange as neither of the Keepers had ever seen such an expression on a Lutin before.  “It is the song of past.  It is how Holder of past tell of Wolf Riders’ past.  But the Holder died at Keep.  Only Seeker of past live now, he not come to Keep, he stay with tribe.  But Seeker not ready to be Holder, much of our past is lost with Holder.”

There was nothing she could say to that, so Ashley moved to sit by the fire, Ben still staying close by her side.  “We need to talk about what to do next.”

Zaxz pointed to the corner of the room, Ashley could see a pile of carved tree branches, each one with a white cloth tied to one end, “Keepers give us one as sign of our promise to not harm, we make more so Keepers know we remember promise.”

Ashley smiled, “It is a good start, but let’s talk about...”
	
***********************

It was nearing midnight when Ben and Ashley finally left to return to the village.  Ben was unusually quiet for most of the walk.  As they neared Ashley’s home he turned to her and said, “I’ve never even imagined that a Lutin could make music like that.  I never thought that a Lutin could do anything but kill and destroy.  I’m sorry Ash.”

“Sorry, why?”

“When you first told me that you asked Lutins to stay here, I thought, for a moment that you might be a traitor.  But you were right, to let them stay.”