[Mkguild] The Memories of Bone Part 4

[Chris]

Here is part 4!

 

 

   It wasn’t hard to find their prey. A few minutes of walking the
museum, following the sounds and scents led them to the Hall of Gems and
Jewelry. Standing out front were two men dressed in armor made of ragged
leather and carrying swords and shields. Morven noted they seemed more
interested in prying the gold leaf off of a nearby statue then they did
with standing guard.

 

   Albion ended their inattention the hard way. One of the men took a
javelin in the back and the second had mere seconds to register his
companion’s death before the lion-man beheaded him. After carefully
moving the bodies out of the way the two felines made their way inside.
“See,” Albion said as he retrieved his javelin. “You can never have too
many weapons.”

 

   Row upon row of display cases filled the hall in front of them and
each case held some valuable or beautiful gem or piece of jewelry. There
were a dozen people scattered around the room in groups of one or two.
All seemed more interested in removing the contents of a display than in
their surroundings.

 

   “That’s stupid. They should stay together and stay alert,” Morven
thought to himself and he felt the feline spirit agree. “It makes
killing them easier.”

 

   Morven noticed a man standing close to him who was hunched over a
display case examining the jewelry inside. He seemed oblivious to
everything else around him.

 

   Without a word or a sign to Albion Morven moved slowly and silently
towards the man. He crept forward on padded paws that made no more sound
then a whisper. Morven  felt the sharp mind of the feline take control,
moving with all the instincts, skill and knowledge of the stalk. 

 

   When he was within five feet he gathered his muscles and sprang. He
felt the rush of exaltation as his body slammed into the man and his
claws tore through flesh and muscle. His massive teeth sank deep into
the man’s flesh as they fell to the floor. The coppery smell of blood
filled his nose. The feline spread his legs on either side of the man
and landed on his paws with the corpse beneath him. He froze and waited
silently as sensitive ears flicked about listening for the slightest
clue that his strike had been heard. Nothing.

 

   After several long moments he relaxed and let the body drop to the
marble floor. Morven stepped to the side to avoid the large pool of
blood that was forming under the corpse.

 

   Morven looked around and spotted Albion nearby. He was crouched low
to the floor and was slowly creeping towards a group of three people
crowded around a particularly large display case.

 

   He paid the lion no heed and concentrated on a woman who stood
nearby. The tough, plate mail armor she was wearing would normally have
been be too hard for his teeth to puncture but his steel teeth would
easily do it and get to the soft flesh beneath.

 

   Morven heard her before the woman’s scent came to him. It was the
faint sounds of footfalls on the granite floor that came to his
sensitive ears warning of her approach. The massive cat spun around and
found himself staring at a nocked bow that was aimed straight at him.
The wielder of the bow was familiar.

 

   “It’s that female again!” the feline spirit exclaimed. It was. Morven
recognized her as the same woman they had ambushed before and who had
put an arrow into his side. He let out a guttural growl as he laid his
ears flat and narrowed his eyes. He crouched low to the floor and
started stalking towards the woman. She could probably put an arrow into
him before he pounced but Morven would make certain she never shot a
second one.

 

   "My, what big teeth you have," she said, her expression calm as she
backed away, keeping an arrow trained on his right eye. "But I've
already danced with you once and I don't have time for an encore. Maybe
next time, cat."

 

   Amazed, the feline watched the woman quietly make her way through the
displays and to the door. In moments she had vanished from sight.

 

   “What?” the feline spirit asked. “No fight?”

 

   “She’s not the leader of these bandits. I want the one who planned
and led this attack. And she didn’t want to fight us. She already had
what she wanted.” Morven explained. “There was a pouch on her belt that
was probably filled with gems and other treasures. So why should she
fight us?”

 

   “Gems, yuck – too hard to eat,” the feline in his body answered.

 

   “Gems have their uses. We won’t have to fight her again!”

 

 

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

 

 

   The sabertooth padded quietly over to where Albion was wiping the
blood off of his sword on the tunic of a headless corpse. The sharp
coppery smell of blood filled his nostrils.

 

   “Now what?” Morven ask in a whisper.

 

   A spear came flying through the air and Albion dodged it and the
missiles deadly point skimmed harmlessly past his waist.

 

   “We’ve been spotted,” the lion shouted. He pulled out a javelin and
threw it across the room. It’s sharp point sank into the chest of a man
who was about to throw another spear.

 

   No time for subtle strategies now. Albion drew his massive two handed
sword and snarled. “CHARGE!”

 

   The cave lion charged straight at the largest group but Morven didn’t
follow. The feline spirit had a better idea. Stepping backward he
slipped out of sight of the battle and started moving amidst the cases
and tables of the hall. Each movement no matter how small was made with
the utmost care that no sound was heard.

 

   To one side he heard the sounds of a great fight. The ringing of
metal on metal, the grunts of people exerting themselves and the snarls
and roar of a cave lion. It took several minutes of careful and steady
movement but finally he was where he wanted to be. Morven stepped around
a display case and a battle was playing out in front of him.

 

   Albion was standing in the center of an open area that had many
smashed and overturned cases and shelves. Also scattered on the floor
were a half dozen dead or dying people. The lion himself was surrounded
by seven men and women, all heavily armed. All the attackers were
looking only at Albion. None had seen the sabertooth.

 

   Albion’s massive sword swept like a scythe cutting grain and cut one
man in half, the two parts of his body tumbling in different directions.
The lion grabbed another man by the neck and picked him completely off
the ground. Then almost casually flung the man twenty feet. His body hit
a stone column with a sickening crunch and then fell to the floor
unmoving.

 

   A ball of white, crackling with lightening flashed from next to
another column and raced towards Albion. The ball hit the blade of the
massive sword and just seemed to shrink into it and disappear.

 

   The feline fighter laughed as he dodged the swords and spears that
were aimed at him. “I love this sword!” he shouted and let loose with a
loud roar that seemed to shake the rafters.

 

   Morven focused his sight on a man who was trying to jab Albion with a
massive spear. There were others but he was the closest.

 

   The sabertooth exploded into motion, his powerful muscles sending his
feline body racing across the floor. When he was some ten feet from his
prey Morven launched himself into the air and his massive feline body
slammed hard into the mans back.

 

   The man fell forward onto the floor with the feline on top. Morven
closed his jaws around the man’s throat and blood sprayed in all
directions. He ignored the man’s gurgling shrieks and screams as he bit
down. His teeth ran into resistance and he bit harder. There was a loud
crack of bones shattering and the sounds like meat being cut. Suddenly
the mans head separated from his body and rolled across the floor
splashing blood everywhere. The feline spit out the bone and flesh that
had been the mans throat and looked around for something else to kill.

 

   Albion was standing alone, surrounded by the dead and dying who lay
scattered about.

 

   The two heard a voice chanting and turned to the sound. Standing some
twenty feet away was a man, whose tall, thin body and pointed ears spoke
of elven heritage. Unlike the others he had no weapons or armor. Instead
he was wearing a rather plain, homespun-looking shirt and pants. The
man’s voiced faded away to silence as he realized he was alone.

 

   Albion pointed a massive, clawed paw at the mage. “DINNER!”

 

   The mage turned away from the two and leapt outward like he was
diving into a pool of water instead of onto a hard, stone floor. In the
instant he was airborne the mans body seemed to blur and a cheetah
landed on the floor with its legs already pumping. In a moment the
cheetah was a dozen feet away and accelerating!

 

 

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

 

 

   The cheetah sprinted down the corridor trying to escape his pursuers.
Trenvar began to regret using the form of a cheetah. The feline body had
speed but little endurance. Already he was feeling winded and he slowed
to a trot and then a walk. He was long past the rooms with the fine art
and he found himself walking amidst the mounted skeletons of long
extinct animals. When they had first entered this vast museum he had
paid little attention to this place after all dusty old skeletons
weren’t worth as much money as the gems and magic in the other rooms.
But those two felines he was trying to escape had shown him their worth.
He had no idea how they had been created but undoubtedly they had been
inspired by these ancient bones.

 

   The feline stopped in front of a display and looked up at the large
skeleton mounted there. He stepped up to the skeleton and gently placed
his hand on the massive skull. “I like this one,” he thought quietly to
himself. The ancient skeletons had again inspired someone.  

 

   Trenvar was no flesh mage like Morven but he certainly had several
spells at the ready capable of reshaping flesh and bone and he began
casting the most powerful of them.

 

   The magic burst to life instantly and enveloped the mage completely.
The spell ran down his hand and into the massive skeleton. It would not
use the bones themselves but the magic did seek out the patterns locked
deep inside them, copying them for use on the mans flesh and bones.

 

   As the spell began reforming him and ribbonlets of flesh started
melting and reshaping and redefining themselves as muscle, hide and fur,
he broke out into a bout of manic laughter and he heard a voice he
wasn’t sure was his own ask, "What are YOU laughing at?”

 

 

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

 

 

   “DON’T LET HIM GET AWAY!” Albion shouted.

 

   “HUNGRY! HUNGRY! HUNGRY!”

 

   The two felines raced down the corridor and ran into the hall at a
dead run. Seconds later they retreated back out into the hallway with
their eyes riveted on the creature in front of them.

 

   Gone was the man. This hyena like creature stood 5 feet tall at the
shoulder, was almost ten feet long and weighed over half a ton. It’s
lips pulled back in a deep, guttural snarl revealing jaws filled with an
impressive array of large, sharp teeth. What impressed Morven most was
that it was so big that he had to look up to see into the creature’s
eyes.

 

   “What is that?” Albion asked unnerved. “There are horses smaller then
that thing!”

 

   “BIG!” Morven heard the feline spirit within him say. “Too big!” and
the sabertooth instinctively started to back away.

 

   “Hyaenodon horrendus,” Morven explained trying to keep the feline’s
rising fear in check. “Horrible hyena.”

 

   “How appropriate a name,” Albion said sarcastically. “How do we kill
it?”

 

   “Kill it? I just want to survive it!”

 

   “NOT HUNGRY! NOT HUNGRY! NOT HUNGRY!”

 

   “I don’t care if you’re hungry or not! I just hope HE’S not hungry!”
Morven answered the feline spirit.

 

   The two felines spread out each taking station on opposite sides of
the Hyaenodon. The two circled around the massive creature, dodging, and
making feints while looking for the right moment to attack. The hyena
danced, dodged and lunged with surprising speed and nimbleness for
something so large. When the hyena charged one of his attackers the
other would rush forward to attack and the canine was forced to back off
and deal with the other threat. Sometimes one or the other would connect
but none of the blows was fatal and soon all of them were bleeding from
a half dozen wounds none of them serious.

 

   This dance of blood and death continued for a long time as the three
players looked for the opening that would let them kill their enemy
without being killed themselves.

 

   Trenvar let out a deep, guttural growl that rose and fell ominously
as the Hyaenodon chanted the words for a spell. The growling ended when
he let loose a loud bark and leapt straight up about a hands span. When
his paws struck the floor there was a sound like a thunderclap and a
bright flash. A powerful lightning bolt raced out from the canine and
towards the felines.

 

   Morven leaped upwards and the bolt of lightning flashed past his paws
close enough to make his fur stand on end. The powerful bolt struck a
wall and ricocheted straight towards Albion.

 

   The fighter grunted as the massive bolt slammed into his sword, the
force of it actually pushing him back. But Spelleater did its job, and
the lion swung it in a wide arc, sending a coruscating ball of energy
back at the Hyaenodon. "Hey ugly! Catch!"

 

   The bolt caught the Hyaenodon square in the chest and sent him
stumbling backwards a few steps. A few wisps of smoke curled up from his
fur but the creature showed no other damage. “Did you really expect that
to hurt?” the creature snarled.

 

   “It was worth a try,” the lion answered.

 

   Suddenly there was the sound of metal snapping and both felines
turned to the sound instinctively.

 

   It was over thirty feet tall with massive hoof like feet and large
stout horn like a rhinoceros. It was also dead and had been for over 40
million years. Even just bones with all the flesh long gone the thing
still weighed over two tons.

 

  With a dry rattle the tremendously large skeleton stepped off the
display stand where it had stood for the last hundred years and started
towards the lion man.

 

   Albion raised his massive sword to shatter the skull of the attacking
skeleton hoping that would put it down once and for all.

 

   “Don’t you dare damage that skeleton!” Morven shrieked, interrupting
the lion. “It’s one of a kind and took us twenty years to find and
assemble!”

 

   "What am I supposed to do, then, spit on it?” Albion shouted as he
ducked a swipe of a massive skeletal paw.

 

   “I don’t care what you do,  just don’t damage it! That skeleton is
over 30 million years old!” Morven countered as he dodged the
Hyaenodon’s savage jaws.

 

   Albion snarled at the mage. “Why do all you mages think like that?”

 

   “Use Spelleater,” the sabertooth snarled.

 

   “You won’t let me!”

 

   “You fool sword swinger. Think with something besides your sword arm.
The skeleton is animated by magic,” the sabertooth answered. “So use
SPELL EATER and eat the magic.”

 

   Albion smacked the skeleton on the head with the flat of the blade
and the massive, skeleton collapsed to the ground with a loud, dry
rattle leaving a pile of harmless bones.


   "Well," Albion said, looking startled. "That was easy.”

 

   “Albion!”

 

   He turned around in time to see a massive shape charging straight at
him. "Oh, shit."

 

   The Hyaenodon slammed into the lion man and hammered him into the
wall. Spelleater was sent flying through the air and vanished from sight
as Albion slid to the floor.

 

   “Now who is dinner?” a deep and powerful voice intoned as the
carnivore towered over the still, crumpled form of the lion.

 

   Morven’s powerful feline body propelled him across the floor and
through the air. He landed on the huge hyenas back. His claws ripped
flesh as the sabertooth tried to gain a firm hold. His powerful saber
like-teeth were made for puncturing tough skin and slicing through
carotid arteries and jugular veins. They easily punctured the tough skin
and sank deeply into the tender flesh beneath.

 

   Trenvar rolled completely over to shake the feline loose. Morven
leapt free at the last moment just before that massive body would have
crushed him. The feline landed deftly on the floor a short distance
away.

 

   “Attack!” the feline spirit shouted.

 

   Morven felt his body rushing forward with the spirit in control. It
was an odd feeling, like he was a spectator at some sporting event, but
this seat was far closer to the events.

 

   The Hyaenodon snarled and fire licked across the rows of razor sharp
teeth.

 

   At the last second the cat deftly danced sideways and the crushing
jaws snapped shut on nothing but air. He lashed out with both front paws
raking the exposed skin leaving half a dozen open wounds along the
hyena’s side.

 

   The hyena bit down on the sabertooth’s spine and searing pained
washed over Morven making both him and the spirit cry out in agony. With
flames leaping from its jaws and washing over the felines body it easily
lifted the five hundred pound cat off the floor and shook it back and
forth. Then with a toss of its head it sent the sabertooth flying across
the room. The feline smashed into a display case sending glass, wood,
bones and blood flying in all directions.

 

   “PAIN!” the feline spirit shrieked in agony as they lay in a heap on
the floor.

 

   Morven tried to ignore the pain and concentrated on his magic. A
simple spell spoken quickly removed the pain and allowed the mage to
think more clearly. He hastily took stock of what had happened to their
body. Broken ribs, broken neck, spine crushed in two places, massive
internal injuries and second degree burns. He should have died in at
least five separate ways but wards and spells he had prepared months ago
just in case of an emergency sprang to life. The worst of the damaged
organs and other flesh in his body slowly healed as his neck and spine
quickly regained their former strength. Slowly the sabertooth got up and
stood for a moment on wobbly and unsteady legs. He stood still and let
the magic do its work healing and repairing the damage.

 

   “Next time, you give US bones of steel too,” the feline in his mind
commented.

 

   Looking up he saw Albion, a sword in each hand fighting the massive
hyena.  He noticed new wounds on both of them.

 

   The sabertooth padded slowly towards the two with the feline spirit
in control as the mage finished healing the body they shared. Strength
and power flowed through him and the cat snarled loudly.

 

   “Are you all right?” Albion asked.

 

   “Yes,” the sabertooth answered, “but next time -we- get the bones of
steel.”

 

   The massive canine suddenly whirled and charged Morven forcing the
sabertooth to backpedal frantically to keep from being killed. Albion
charged at the hyena, his sword raised high but the massive creature
spun about suddenly and charged the lion. Before Albion could react
massive jaws clamped onto the lion’s legs crushing bones and ripping
flesh and muscles.

 

   The sabertooth’s powerful muscles launched his body off the floor and
onto the giant hyenas back. His claws ripped the flesh as he tried to
sink his massive saber-like teeth into the body.  Again those powerful
jaws punctured and ripped through flesh and muscle and his mouth was
filled with warm blood pumping straight from some blood vessel.

 

   The hyena bellowed in agony and threw his body against a wall and
Morven felt immense pain rush through his whole body before his head
slammed into the wall. His feline body tumbled to the floor with a meaty
thump. This time the feline didn’t get up so quickly.

 

   “HEAL! QUICKLY!” the spirit shouted frantically in his mind.

 

   “Too tired,” Morven answered, exhausted. The wounds weren’t
life-threatening but he had used too much magic healing them the last
time. “Need some food. Need some rest.”

 

   “We helpless. HEAL!” the spirit persisted. “It attack us!”

 

   “I don’t think so,” the mage answered.

 

   No one was left standing. Albion was sitting with his back to the
wall. Both of his legs were a bloody mess. The right was bent in the
wrong place telling of broken bones. Nearby Morven lay sprawled on the
floor with both of his left legs broken along with several ribs. Blood
flowed from a dozen massive bite wounds all over his body. The Hyaenodon
was leaning against the massive leg bone of a giant elephant like
creature. His back and sides were riddled with a dozen holes made by
Morven’s teeth and his flanks ripped open by the claws. His face and
forelegs bore the marks of Albion’s swords, which lay just out of the
lions reach. No one seemed capable of even standing never mind fighting.

 

   The room was quiet for a long time before Morven broke the silence.
“Let's call it a night."


   "Sounds good to me," the Hyaenodon answered in a tired tone.

 

   "What, are you kidding? You break into my place, steal my stuff... I
feel transgressed and violated. You're not going anywhere except into a
grave!" Albion shouted.

 

   “All right,” Morven said without moving. “Go ahead. All you have to
do is stand up. I’ll lay here and watch.”

 

   Several moments of silence followed without any movement from anyone,
especially Albion.

 

   “I’ll get you next time,” the lion growled finally.

 

End of part 4


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