[Mkguild] "Three of White and Red" (1/2)

[Kendo Virmir]

Ooops... has it been three months again?

TEN?! GAH!!!

I wrote more nonsense involving talking animals... if anyone is
interested. ;)  Critiques are welcome and appreciated, but not
required.  Italics indicated like _this_.

Enjoy!

----

"Three of White and Red"
by Virmir

Part 1



Vincent brushed the snow off his cloak, frustration furrowing his
brow.  He just couldn't take it anymore. "You know why we're here,
don't you?"

"... Huh?" The giant hornet, Kayser, snapped out of his zone-out and
regarded the hyena crouched across from him.

Vincent pushed his pointer-clawtip into his palm. "Think about it.  He
sets the two us out here alone," he whispered, his ear twitching at a
fleck of snow before continuing. "There's a lutin camp out there.  He
knows it.  He says so..."

"Uh huh..."

"Why do you think he wants us to stay put?" Vincent asked as he
clenched his teeth, the cloud of his breath swirling about his muzzle
in frustration.

Kayser's antennae fell from their perked position. "'Cause he wants us
to make sure they don't move, like he says?"

Vincent's gaze lowered to the snow. "Maybe..."  Suddenly his ears
folded and he lunged from his seated position at the giant hornet, who
barely had time to react.  He grabbed Kayser by the edges of his cloak
and stared into his big red bug-eyes.  "Or maybe it's a trap!"  He
whispered through clenched teeth.  "Think about it, Kay!  Think about
it!!"

"Gah!!" Kayser dropped his jerky as the hyena shook him.  "Quit it!  Quit it!"

"What if he _wants_ us to think they're in camp?!  What if they're
coming this way right now?!  What if he's in cahoots with the lutins,
Kay?  What if he's gonna off us 'cause we know too much?  What if?!"

He fell back against the tree, eyes wide as he ran a claw through his
headfur.  "By the gods... it all makes sense.  If he's a deadra, then
the lutins would worship him.  That means he's got an army... No
wait-- what if he an' Nasoj..."

"You're a moron..."

"What was that?"

Kayser fell to all six appendages and began rummaging through the snow
for his dropped rations. "Nothing."

Vincent shifted his eyes and stroked the fur under his chin.  "I'm
goin' in."  He stood, hefting his huge broadsword over his shoulder.

"You're... what?!"  Kayser jumped to his hind legs, but teetered in
the heavy snow and fell down to the middle set.  "But Virmir said not
to move until he and Vale--"

"Shh!" Vincent slid around the tree. "Stop making so much noise."

Kayser clicked his mandibles in irritation, then anxiously looked
around the snow-laden forest.  Sighing audibly, he took up his spear
with his upper right hand and trotted after his squadmate.

----

Father was stroking his box again.

He did that often when he was alone.  His bony clawed fingers gently
brushing the edges, tracing the simple cracks and lines wrought upon
the tiny crate by age.  The dull metal edging glimmered in the
candlelight. She had no idea what was in the box.  And she knew better
than to ask.

He remained crouched over the object for a time as she watched from
the doorway, his pristine white robes spilling upon the floor.  She
remembered a time they enchanted her, those shimmering robes.  She
watched the brilliant flame dance upon the edges remembering how they
once mystified.  She folded her arms under her own.  They no longer
had that power now that they were also hers.

"Lucile, enter."

Her heart sank at his smooth voice, startling her from her
contemplation.  He rose with a grace that betrayed his age, his white
hair swaying as he turned.  She stepped forward meekly.  She was no
longer a young woman, yet still she stood before him timid and afraid.
 This was how it always would be.

"I take it you've not heard from your brother?"

She shook her head as she gazed upon the ground.  "No, father."

He paused to stroke his chin and the light beard that almost seemed to
shift in length with his hands.  "If he does not arrive shortly, I
fear it may be just the two of us out there..."

She gulped, sweat gathering upon her brow.

"Though you could use the experience, my dear."   He grinned at the
last words.  The rasping of toeclaws against stone interrupted his
next sentence and his gaze drifted to the doorway behind Lucile.
"Grav, come."

The short lizard-man simply stood in the doorway, blinking as
confusion filled his brow.  "What is wrong with him?" Lucile asked in
a whisper.

"Your brother's spell is wearing off... Come!"  Father's voice grew
harsh.  "Come here!"

The ebony-robed lizard stepped forward meekly, but stopped short as
soon as his tail cleared the doorway.  "Not... master...?"  In his
claws he held a luminescent blue object against his chest.

"I am your master's master.  We have been through this..."  Father's
icy tone only caused the confused lizard to shrink back.  "Blast.  He
must be fixed.  Where is your brother?"

Lucile clasped her hands before her chest.  "He said he was coming..."

"Give that to me."  Father's attention turned back to the lizard, who
blinked as if the command were spoken in some exotic language. "NOW!"

Grav flinched, then slowly held the blue crystal before his muzzle,
hands shaking.  His eyes widened as if he saw his claws for the first
time.  Then he brought them to his snout and prodded it in a panic.
"No... no..."

"Give me the crystal!"

The lizard jumped so violently the crystal tumbled out of his hands.
Lucile made a dive for it, but it shattered upon the floor inches from
her grasp.  She sat upon the floor wide-eyed as a cerulean mist rose
from the shards.

Oh no... it escaped... A soul...

She quickly rose to her feet as a figure formed before her.  The mist
congealed to a humanoid form, a translucent glowing young woman
shorter than her with eyes just as frightened as Lucile's.

Then her skin fell off.

It fell off in chunks, dissipating in starry specks of light as they
shattered upon the floor.  Bone and sinew revealed themselves and the
former woman glared upon Lucile with empty glowing eyes.

Lucile tried to scream.  Tried to run.  But she was utterly paralyzed.
 By the will of the skeleton-thing, or by her own fear she did not
know, but she could not move at all.

_Show it your hatred._

Father's words rang in her ears.  They were so clear she wasn't sure
if he had just spoken them or if she merely recalled the phrase
forever etched in her memory. She never was convinced hatred was the
correct way to call her power.  But father was never wrong.

She thrust her hands forward and tried to _hate_ it.  But how could
she?  She was scared to death!  The skeleton-thing lumbered forward,
mouth gaping as it posed to pounce upon her.  But the air was so dry!
Come on!  _Come on!_

Finally she felt the moisture come to her.  It congealed around her
fingertips, swirling and obeying.  More and more rushed to her
command.  Almost!  The creature lunged and she let loose an intense
blast of bone-chilling cold, icy knives slicing the air--

--and glancing right off the skeleton.

"Wha-- what?!"

Her spell did nothing to the thing but cause it to stumble back half a
step.  It recovered instantly and grabbed for Lucile's robe.

Then it stopped, mouth gaping.  Tendrils of blackness bound its bones
like rope.  Behind, Father stood with one hand outstretched and
fingers splayed.  The skeleton-thing bellowed with the fury of a
Shrieker as Father clenched his fist.  The blackness utterly engulfed
it, crunching its bones like dried leaves before it burst in a
thousand specs of light.

Father lowered his hand.  "There will be no afterlife for that one."

Absolutely nothing remained of the spirit.

Lucile fell to her knees, heart nearly escaping her chest from fear.
Father slid his eyes toward the cowering lizard in the corner of the
room. "You..."

Grav shivered uncontrollably, thick tail twisting around his legs.
Frantically looking side-to-side, he spied the doorway and made a
break for it, clumsily tripping over his robes as he ran.

Ten paces from his goal his head exploded and the remains of his body
fell flat on the ground.

----

"That is... the ugliest lutin I have ever seen in my entire life..."

"Where?  Where?"  Kayser whispered, poking his head out of the bush.
Though his compound eyes provided a wider range of sight, distances
had become blurry since his change.  All he could make out was a sort
of brown blob shape seated on a throne in the middle of camp.  The
rest of the lutins seemed standard fare-- little green men about his
size.

"Get down!" Vincent hissed, grabbing the giant insect's head and
pushing him back under the frosty foliage. "Geez!  They'll see you
with your goofy antennas sticking up like that!"

Kayser clicked his mandibles as he futilely pushed up against the
hyena's massive hand.  "The plural of antenna is _antennae_."

Vincent scowled as he looked past the thin veil of snow that laced the
bushy hiding spot. "It's like... some kinda _super lutin_ or
something.  Look at how bloated he is!  Disgusting..."

"We need to get out of here..."

"We should kill it."

Kayser slapped his forehead with his middle-right hand. "We should
find our squad leader and report it... Since when are you so brave
anyway?"

"Brave?  Just _look_ at the size of my sword!"  Vincent grabbed the
mammoth chunk of metal strapped to his back and began to unsheathe it.

Kayser held out all four hands.  "Okay!  Okay!!"

"Look, Kay... if you wanna go back and report to _authority_ and
_establishment_ about stuff _they_ already know and are hiding from
us, go right ahead.  Just don't come crying to me when the government
decides we all need to convert to deadra-worshipism and _you_ were too
big a wussy to do anything about it."

"I-- wait, what?"

"Shhhh!" Vincent scowled as he shuffled through the bushes, tiptoeing
to the next tree. "If you don't stop, they're gonna hear us!"

----

"Father, who is it that seeks to destroy us?  I thought the Keepers
lived to the south."  Lucile wrapped her cloak about her thin frame
more as a force of habit than anything else.  The swirling snow seemed
more comforting than cold since Father helped her find herself.  It
was one beneficial effect of her Power, at least.

Father also seemed unaffected by the chill wind, but then again, few
things affected him.  He angled his head back towards her and grinned
mischievously.  "Her name is Lilith.  She... tends to dabble in things
undead."

Lucile gulped.  "Undead?"

"Pay it no mind, child," he said, waving his hand.  "Few of those sort
would dare walk these grounds.  Just do as I've said, and we shall
prevail."

She nodded and trudged through the snow to stand by her father's side.
 The narrow snow-swept valley ahead seemed quiet enough. "Why does she
hate you?"

Father chuckled once.  "Why, she is madly in love with me," he said as
he stroked his beard.  Lucile only blinked as her mouth dropped.
"What?  I am an extremely charming and desirable individual."  He
grinned and bore his canines, but then his expression grew dour and
distant. "She thinks I owe her a boon."

"A boon?  What did she do for you?"

"Nothing."  He snared and looked at the valley. "She assumes her
minion aided me in my escape from Nasoj.  However, she is incorrect.
I intend to correct her misguided assumption after we are finished
down south.  But for now, we must swat her flies."

Lucile turned her gaze back to the passage where Father said they
would come.  The name Lilith didn't ring a bell, but the thought of
sorceress who dabbled in undeath frightened her.

On the other hand, so did Father.

"Well, the both of you look _cheery_."

Lucile's heart skipped a beat at the voice appearing from nowhere.
She spun around and glared at Melface, who stood in the snow wrapped
in gray furs, arms folded and a scowl transgressing the side of his
face.  No tracks led to his position in the snow.  "_Must_ you lead us
to the most _abysmal_ spot on the continent, Father?"

Father was much slower to turn, and looked upon his son with disdain.
"Where are your robes?"

"I gave them to my nephew, remember?"  He trudged in between the two
of them, nearly pushing Lucile over, then stood to take in the
freezing valley ahead in disgust.  "Don't tell me you're growing
senile in your old age..." he added with a wink and a grin.

"Watch your mouth, or I may remove it."

Melface opened his mouth to retort, then promptly shut it, blinking
twice.  Instead he huddled in his furs, shivering.  "It is so blasting
cold... what in blazes did you call me for?"  His ears elongated and
slivery fur spread across his face.

"Nephew...?  What do you mean your nephew?"  Lucile interrupted. "My
son... you know where my son is?"

Melface grinned.  "Father, you haven't told her?  You really are one
evil son of a--"

"Silence!"  Father stepped forward and glowered over Melface, who
literally shrunk a few inches in his shadow.  He turned his gaze back
to the wide-eyed Lucile.  "My dear, it is for another time.  I will
explain it when we return."

Lucile knew not to question Father, so merely bit her lip.  "Yes,
father..."  Her son?  They found him?

Father took a moment to glower at the both of them to ensure they had
nothing more to say.  After a long pause to assert his dominance, he
resumed his calm demeanor. "Our _guests_ are rounding the ridge. It
should be obvious why I summoned you."

"Ahhh..."  Melface placed a clawed hand over his heart.  His body had
continued to change. He was fully anthro now, looking much warmer as
his bushy tail flicked in the breeze.  "Are they really _deadra_ like
you say?  Oooh... I do wonder what they taste like."  He licked his
chops.

"Servants.  I said they were servants.  Deadra do not simply walk this
plane in large groups without repercussions.  Humans likely, though it
is best we are prepared."

Melface frowned.  "You need _all_ of us for humans?"  He turned his
head towards the frozen valley, a moue crossing his muzzle before he
exploded in laughter.  "Humans!  Hah!"

Father leaned over Melface once more. "You wish to heckle me _again_, child?"

Melface did not cower this time.  Instead he displayed all his teeth
in a wicked grin, folding his ears back as he looked right back into
his father's eyes. "I will kill them all myself."

"You will make a fool of me."

"Nonsense!"  Melface spread his arms wide, then did a perfect back
flip.  His form shrank in the air and he landed on four paws on top of
the snow, his weight no longer enough to break it.  "You doubt my
strength dear Father," he said as he flicked his black-tipped tail
about, "I will show you my Power.  I will prove myself to you."

With that, the small animal was gone.  As if it had never been.
Father sighed.  "Reckless."

Lucile could do naught but sigh in relief.  Maybe if her brother
handled it, she would not have to be involved after all.  Then again,
Melface's abilities terrified her as much as Father's...

----

"Are you ready?"

Kayser gulped and nodded.   This was about as close as they could
get... from here on, they'd be exposed in the open.  Surrounded by
lutins...  He peered around the tent flap to get one more look at the
blurry thing as it sat in its throne.  Blast his eyesight!  He
wondered what this _super lutin_ looked like.

"Okay, one more time," Vincent clenched his humungous sword, drawn and
at the ready. "I rush out, chop off the _super lutin's_ head.  Bam!
All the lutins around go crazy without their leader.  Then you rush
in, grab his head and flap yer goofy insect wings and fly it above me,
shouting 'All hail Lord Dokorath, God of War!' over and over again.
Now the lutins, being _pure evil_, instantly cower at the mention of
_any_ god what-so-ever.  And the fact that you're flying _proves_ we
have mystical powers beyond their control.  So they instantly run
away.  Or start groveling.  Either way, we take the head and beat it."

"Why do _I_ have to carry the head?  And why do you keep calling me goofy?"

"Geez, Kay!  Do you want to get us caught?!  Stop asking so many questions!"

"Sorry..."

"And make sure not to get any blood on me."

"Yeah..."

Vincent stood, clutching his sword at his side.  "All right, this is
it...   They'll make us famous, you know, once we expose this whole
conspiracy."

"Wait, don't you think--"

"Charge!!" the striped hyena bellowed as he darted out of his hiding
spot, raising his sword to the heavens.  Kayser sighed then followed,
falling to four legs and brandishing his spear in his upper set of
hands.  Vincent had cleared half the distance through the snowy camp
before the startled lutins snapped to attention.  He braced himself
for a wide cleave just as the creature sitting on the throne turned
its head.

"Hey, guys!"

Vincent and Kayser stopped dead in their tracks, eyes wide,
sputtering... "R-Rufus?!"

The portly warthog hobbled to his hooves, decked out in
lutin-shamanistic garbs.  Furs, feathers, animal bones, paint
markings... "What're you all doin' 'ere?" He said with a wide grin,
extending his arms to offer a hug.

Vincent's jaw dropped.  "Uhhh..."

"Keeper!  Keeper! Eeeee!"  The lutins rushed around, surrounding the
trio and sticking the two would-be attackers with little spears.
"Keeper!"

Rufus held out his hands, flailing them in arcs. "Wait!  They're okay!
 These are my friends!"  He indicated the hyena and hornet morphs,
repeating the word with slow emphasis. "Friends!"

Vincent finally recovered enough to gasp, then pointed a clawtip in
Rufus' face.  "You!  You're the evil mastermind!  It was YOU all
along!"

Rufus scratched the short tuft of fur between his ears. "Uh..."

Kayser squeezed in-between the two. "Rufus, WHY are you leading a
horde of lutins into the heart of Metamor?"

"Hold on guys!"  The warthog waved his hands.  "These are good lutins!
 They saved me!"

Vincent folded his ears and gulped as the lutins began circling them,
chanting, "Keeper!  Keeper!  Kill!  Kill!"

Rufus bent over and waged a finger in front of one of the little green
creatures' face, as if scolding a young dog. "No!  Bad!  BAD!"

"Do-laki mana keen!" the lutin snapped back.

"Mani ki-niki!  Keeper!  Kill!" another one screamed.

"Kill!" the chorus sounded.

"Wait!"  Rufus threw his hands into the air.  "Do'lana mana hiki!"

Dead silence engulfed the camp.

"Do'lana mana hiki?" a smaller lutin ventured.

"Do'lana mana hiki!"  A chorus of chanting began.  The lutins
abandoned their posts and began running around the camp gleefully.
"Do'lana mana hiki!"

Vincent's jaw dropped.  "What in blazes did you just tell them?"

Several wooden kegs fell at the keepers' feet.  "I don't know!" Rufus
said, grinning.  He bent over and grabbed one of the kegs.  "Whenever
I say that, they start passin' out beer!"

The hyena's mouth trembled wordlessly for a moment as he watched the
little green men tap the kegs and pass out mugs filled to the brim
with frosty ale, the keepers not made an exception.  Taking his mug he
hugged Rufus vigorously.  "I'm sooo glad to see you're alive!"


-- 
- Kendo Virmir
http://crimsonflagcomic.com -- My webcomic!
http://virmir.com -- Some of my stories!
http://metamorkeep.com -- Metamor Keep Archives