[Mkguild] Long Distance Part 4

[Stealth]

Yay, they're getting past the size limit.

The courier stopped at the door of the workshop, not knowing if he had to
knock or not seeing as he didn't know whether it was a home or a store. He
knocked on the door.



            "Come in!" A scraggily voice answered.



            He rolled the muffin in his palm and opened the door. The cat
courier entered a large, poorly lit area and looked about. Tall beams
reached into the dark ceiling, they were simple logs and the walls and
support beams above looked to be no different. The building seemed much like
a warehouse though broken up with panels and instead of crates it held
tables and shelves crammed with tools and gears of all sizes. The room
smelled strongly of metal and oil, even outside he could long smell it
before arriving.



            "You must be here for your payment. You remember that much I
see."



            The cat turned on his feet and found a small mouse man standing
behind him. The morph had a pair of glasses that looked to be modified to
include extra lenses that could be moved and adjusted.



            "Yes sir, actually I was also wondering if you could tell me
something about who sent you the parts."



            The mouse looked at him for a moment, "Do you remember how much
payment you were to take?"



            The cat looked at the mouse for another moment, "If I receive
the incorrect amount I'm sure I'll discover that upon returning to the
keep..."



            After a moment the mouse laughed, "Smart Lad, you lost your
memories but not your brains I see." He trudged over to a small crate next
to a forge. It was a small forge, sitting there cold and dark. He'd seen
something similar somewhere... The watchmaker opened his chest and moved
some coins into a small pouch.



            "I never did expect these parts to arrive at all..." He said
over the sound of metal clinking into the pouch. "You're interested to know
who sold me the gears?" He said and finished filling the pouch.



            "Aye, I was told they came from a Keep called Metamor..." He
pondered, "He's some sort of watchmaker like yourself?"



            The mouse trudged back to the cat and handed over the small
pouch, "A watchmaker? Perhaps, but he has a very different reputation."



            The feline took the offered pouch with his free hand and
attached it to his belt. "What reputation?" He finally decided to eat the
pastry he'd been holding. His palm began to sweat from holding it.
Unfortunately his padded hands were one of the few places he had sweat
glands...



            "Of the vague stories I've heard this far out from the keep, one
is about an odd fox... never thought I'd need to call on him or that he'd
come through." The rodent shook his head.



            "What's his reputation?" The cat asked and took another bite out
of his muffin.



            "Folk call him an axe wielding maniac."



            The cheetah pondered but drew nothing. "What's his name again?"



            "Brightleaf... no, he's known as Misha."



            The feline looked at the baked good for a moment then his hand
clenched and crushed it as his eyes widened. "Misha! ...The fox taur guy!!!"



            "Taur?" The mouse cocked his head, "Hey, you're getting crumbs
on the floor."



            "Sorry, say I don't suppose I could smell those gears?" The cat
asked.



            The mouse shrugged and walked over to his workbench. He lifted
up a very small part to the cat who sniffed it.



            Yes, the scent did belong to the bouncy foxtaur. It even smelled
like the room where the fox wrapped up the parts. He remembered heading out
of the room. There was a table with a map...



            "Lad? Are you okay?" The watchmaker asked. "What's a taur?"



            "I... sorry, I need to go. Thank you for your help." He said and
left the workshop.



            The rodent sighed and grabbed a broom to sweep up the crumbs.



--------------------------



            The cheetah walked quickly back to the mage's home past people
preparing for the night's festivities. He sensed there was a matter of
urgency that needed his attention but he didn't know why. The feline entered
the man's house without knocking and practically snuck right up on him.



            "Atherlney?"



            The mage jumped in his chair, "Son! Don't you know how to knock,
why the stealth?"



            "Atherlney." Someone in the doorway interrupted, "We'll need you
soon to help us with the spells for the show." The creature looked like some
tall grazing animal.



            "I'll be right with you, Offa." He answered and turned back to
the cheetah again.



            "What... was that guy?" The cat asked.



            "He's an oryx I believe, why?" The man furrowed his eyebrows.



            The cat just thought for a long moment, 'oryx... my name is
Orix... No I hate that name...' He looked back to the mage again. "What did
you say I did just before?"



            "That you don't knock?"



            "No! The other thing." He pestered.



            "Ah, why were you using stealth?" Atherlney recited.



            The cheetah grinned. "My name is Stealth."



            "That's your name? ...are you sure?"



            "Yes! My name is Stealth! Now where's my armour?"



            Looking perplexed, the man pointed with his quill toward the
discarded pile in the corner.



            Stealth rushed to the pile and carefully scanned each plate of
metal and fabric. He soon found what he was looking for. On a side sheet
that would have covered his left fore leg, he could see a clear graze in the
metal. "Atherlney! What would cause damage like this?"



            The mage got up from his chair and walked over to Stealth. He
saw the mark that the cat pointed to and brushed his hand over it. "It looks
to be from an arrow."



            The cheetah nodded and closed his eyes, "I remember a barn... a
hayloft. There were people below talking." He looked at the mage, "I think
this town is going to be attacked."



            Atherlney raised his eyes and grabbed the cheetah by the
shoulders, "When?"



            He shook his head sadly, "I don't know, I think they were
scouting out your defences."



            The man nodded, "They tried to stop you..." He brushed his hand
on the cheetah's forehead.



            "Is it too late?" Stealth asked with apprehension.



            The mage headed to the door, "You haven't been here that long so
perhaps not." He closed the door behind him and broke out into a run.



            For the moment Stealth didn't know what else to do so he sat
there with the armour. He could remember training how to fight with many
different people. He hoped he wouldn't need to remember the lessons...



--------------------------



            The otter sat in the fox's lap. They looked tenderly at each
other and occasionally shared a kiss or a lick on the muzzle.



            "Mmm." The otter murmured affectionately and gazed into her
love's gray eyes.



            "Oh?" The fox asked innocently.



            Caroline blinked, "MMMmm..." She repeated.



            "Oh!" Misha grasped, "Mmm." He answered.



            Carol sighed, 'men'. She nuzzled his muzzle with hers, "You know
what I'd like to do?" She asked lustfully.



            "Tell me, oh so sweet." He said, mesmerised by her charms.



            The mischievous otteress whispered something into the fox's ear
and he blushed. They shared a small but meaningful kiss-



            'THUD'



            The pair blinked at the desk in front of them. A dead animal lay
on Misha's reports. Beyond it, Madog stood reared up against the desk where
a visitor would be. The metal fox wagged his tail and looked at the engaged
couple.



            Neither of them said anything for a long moment but just stared
at the metallic fox. "Madog..." Misha eventually said, "What is... this?"



            "Food!" He answered happily.



            The romantic moment quite gone, Caroline rose from the fox's lap
and stood off to his side where she gawked at the automation and the...
'Food' he'd brought. It looked like a ferret with a mangled neck.



            "Where did you get this?" Misha asked as he stared at the dead
ferret.



            "Gift!" Madog answered eagerly, "Gift from sphinx!"



            "Who?" Misha scratched his head fur.



            Caroline shook her head and looked at Misha while he in turn
looked at her in bewilderment.



            "Poppa eat?" Madog asked with child like innocence.



            At that moment Carol stepped in and picked up the carcass by the
tip of it's tail, "I'll take care of this..." She offered and held it with
her arm out to full length...



            "Cook food!" The automation said and watched her.



            Caroline flinched and power walked out of the office just as a
page ran past her and up to the door.



            "The patrol master is here to see you sir!" The boy said.



            Misha looked up from Madog at the news, "huh?"



            "Sir, I said reports have come in from the south of raiders."
The boy repeated.



            Misha blinked. Madog was gone =96 he didn't perform a vanishing
trick, rather he'd never entered the room and neither had Caroline.



            "Oh! What news do they have, what happened?" He asked with
concern and forgot about the daydream he'd been having about Madog and his
'gift' from a few months ago.



--------------------------



            Dusk settled upon the hamlet though none of the festivities
begun. The ornaments and the benches were arranged but no one would pay them
heed. The people of Terreth barred their doors and windows. Many of them hid
while others stood sentinel in the town square and on rooftops with weapons
at the ready.



            The animal morphs were the first to hear it, galloping off to
the west. A large number of galloping horses somewhere in the distance
approached ever closer. Bright nocturnal eyes reflected in the torch light
as Terrethers looked about with unease and clenched their swords and axes
tighter.



            "Let's kill those lights." The town's scout leader said in a
voice just above a whisper, "I want everyone behind a bench."



            People scattered about and repeated the order to others, dowsing
the flames and tipping tables on their sides for cover. Archers on roofs
notched their arrows and crouched low against the tiles. Stealth crouched
low next to Atherlney and the mayor. The cheetah had donned borrowed armour
and a sword though they insisted that he stay with the mage for safety. The
cat looked about and noticed that as far as he could tell, everyone had a
proper and maintained weapon. Not a one of them was holding a pitchfork or
hoe. Metamor must indeed be a dangerous place if people are so organised for
war.



            Stealth blinked and realised his colour vision began to
extinguish with the torchlight, though it was the case for everyone in poor
lighting, the rest of his vision remained; the feline could still see quite
well despite the encroaching darkness... it seemed normal but something told
him it was not so for a normal human.



            Suddenly Stealth's ears twitched and he gazed from the amphibian
mayor to the gender morphed mage, "Atherlney..." He whispered, "Over there
to the south."



            The man nodded and signalled the scouts and archers. Many of
them turned to the area behind the stage while the rest remained watchful
over other areas. Atherlney whispered something and threw up his hands, a
number of bright blinding spheres appeared over Terreth's southern alley
where three figures on horseback blinked and shielded their eyes.



            Stealth flinched at how close the bandits had gotten, at the
very least they'd been fooled. Their horses wore thick hide around their
hooves to muffle any sound however they made plenty of sound in their
retreat.



            "Shoot the scouts!" A chinchilla atop a roof ordered. A volley
of arrows streamed down toward the fleeing bandits. At that moment several
cavalry streamed in from the west, reinforcements from the keep, they moved
through the town and along the outer area. One of the fleeing bandits took
an arrow in the back and fell in the gutter as the other two caught up with
their fellow thieves on the outskirts of the town.



            Some of the fleeing bandits were rundown by the pursuing keepers
though most rode to safety. Somewhere in the group of the failed raiding
party, their mage reflected on the poor luck he'd had earlier that day with
that bloody cat. It evaded their arrows and almost got out of range, he
didn't have time to erase the feline's memory or any such complex spell only
cast something over it's mind.



            The bandit mage had faith in his ability however; the cloud
would hold despite any interference, he was positive, and they would be able
to loot those freaks... they should have... The mage had convinced them as
such so they went ahead with the attack. Ah well, he'll just tell the master
thief it wasn't his idea, he tried to warn them...



--------------------------



            Stealth stood among the chaos of soldiers yelling and running
about. Combat had been nonexistent and he did NOT complain... The cheetah
looked about, he could see men and women on horseback charging south while
others were dragging people towards a stone structure. He soon figured that
they must be captured bandits.



            A black stallion came to a halt near the feline. Stealth rubbed
the dust from his eyes and looked up at the rider. She had a small insignia
on her cuff comprising of three swords, one facing up, the next down and the
last up. They marked her as a sergeant.



            The knight dismounted and bowed to the mayor, "Your Grace. I am
Sir Alexandra, my commander has gone ahead in pursuit of the raiding party;
I will remain here to provide your people with protection."



            "Thank you ma'am. I am mayor Caerwyn and this is our Mage,
Atherlney." The amphibious town leader returned the bow, "It's frightening
just how close we came to ruin but you've arrived with upmost haste."



            "We'd never have even suspected a thing if it weren't for our
flighty friend here." The mage chipped in and placed his hand on Stealth's
shoulder.



            Stealth's ears folded and he blushed with the mention.



            The knight turned to the cat, "You warmed these people about the
bandits?"



            The cheetah blushed more. "Yes Sir... but I didn't really have
much say in the matter, I mean, they knew I heard them so I had to get out
of there pretty quickly."



            "How exactly did you come across them?"



            "He encountered their scouts in a barn up north." Atherlney
answered for him.



            Stealth sighed, "I had a nap there... on the way to making a
delivery." He looked at his feet, feeling a tinge of guilt. "That's why I
found out."



            Mayor Caerwyn laughed, "My town saved by a nap? Then I shall
order all my people to have naps!"



            Alexandra just looked at the cheetah without emotion, "You may
think any warning raised was incidental however that is the very reason your
life was in peril and your own personal safety is paramount lest you
wouldn't be able to help anyone." The woman put a hand to her chin, "I
remember you from this morning... I'm glad we gave you a lift after all."



            "I'm sorry, I don't remember yet." Stealth said.



            "Amnesia cast over him, by the bandits. For all the good it
did." Atherlney explained, answering the woman's questioning glance.



            The cheetah began to feel embarrassed by the mage's commentary.



            Sir Alexandra nodded and turned back to the mayor, "We've been
patrolling as far as Lorland today and back up, we were on our way back
north when the call came in from the signal towers." She explained, "Many of
these troops are tired though we've been joined by fresh troops from the
keep. The rest of our original patrol continued north."



            "Well you're all welcome to stay here for the night and relax.
Our fair has been postponed up until now but we hope to get it under way."



            "Thank you mayor Caerwyn, Sir Catljin will want to discuss
security with you upon her return. We'll send out a force to deal with any
more threats this night though the regiment will stay here for the time."



            That night a large bonfire burned in the town square. The autumn
night tried to bite but it couldn't damper the villagers' fun as they ate,
drank, sung and danced with the soldiers of the keep. They had more reason
to be happy this night after driving off the band of thieves. Some of them
that didn't get sent on their way looked on from within the town's lockup.
The next day Andre's cavalry would take them back to the keep where they
would wait until their trial. In that time they would stay in the dungeons
while the curse took them...
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