[Mkguild] The Harvest Festival (6b/20)

[Hallan Mirayas]

   Cope was out of ideas, though, and his fellow Rhinos were avoiding him j=
ust in case
he got one. The giraffe taur, who had most likely been one of the few to
already learn the taur form, galloped forward. He tilted his neck down in
preparation, not only intent on defeating the die ball but in the same moti=
on
all but ending the game.  At least the
Bears knew what to expect this time, and even though they were up against a
taur =96 one sizable taur at that =96 the situation could have been a lot w=
orse;
had the polar and panda bears become beartaurs it would have been a
catastrophe.

 =


   Kershaw rubbed the
emerging bruise on his shoulder.  It hadn't
occurred from contact in a clash but from when he fell on the hard dirt dur=
ing
a 'human' pyramid attempt. 'My claws for a field of grass', the red panda
thought, and then turned his attention to the gazelle on his right, Mell, B=
ell,
Well or something, who appeared to be weaving an imaginary object.

 =


   Fell casually
walked forward and stood before the approaching monstrous giraffe, the taur
signaling the Blue Bears' impending defeat. Everyone else just watched.  Th=
e gazelle patently finished whatever it was
he was doing and looked up from the taur to the ball. The giraffe drew his =
neck
back, starting to swing just as Fell tossed an invisible rope in the direct=
ion
of the taur's target and pulled.

 =


   The ball shifted
down and just barely out of the way, and the giraffe taur swung with an aud=
ible
'whoosh', hitting nothing but air.

 =


   Every one of the
Blue Bears laughed as Fell reeled in his prize=85 but something was wrong: =
it
wouldn't move any further. He tugged again, then gritted his teeth and stra=
ined
to move it. And move it did =96 the other way.

 =


   Slowly at first,
then faster, it began to drag him, and he gave an animalistic cry of terror=
 as the
magical strands plucked him off the ground. Fell suddenly felt a large obje=
ct
clamp around his hooves.  With one great
paw, Meredith held him in place =96 at least at first =96 then the Long Sco=
ut, too,
started to feel his foot paws drag.

 =


   His fellow Longs
held him down, and soon more Blue players joined in to bring the gazelle ba=
ck
to the earth. Eventually even Red players joined the tug-o-war and tried to
tame the ball. It wouldn't budge, the players wouldn't give in, and eventua=
lly
the ball began to compress under the pressure of the struggle=85

 =


   The massive 'BANG!'
with which it ended was heard all the way to the Keep itself

 =


      The Die-Ball,
now defeated (or did it defeat them?) withered to the ground as a useless
inanimate pile of rune-covered leather.  The
players stood around and scratched their heads. An AR approached the deflat=
ed
ball and began to inspect it. The former ball had a huge rupture along one =
side
that would have taken a considerable amount of force to achieve.

 =


   The youthful 'Rhino'
picked up its remains, and then moved forward at a slow pace. The Bears
flinched at this, causing the child to become swift and evasive, and it was=
 on
once again. The two teams fought over the pile of leather, their faces show=
ing a
mix of determination and confusion.  Mostly
confusion.

 =


   DeMule slammed his
hoof-like fist on the bench, "Stop! Stop, you idiots! That ball is no
longer in play!"

 =


   A small mouse
keeper far above cursed himself at going too far in teasing the players with
his little levitation stunt. 'Luckily, I was prepared for this,' Kindle tho=
ught
to himself while he dug out a spare Die-Ball. The rodent-mage tossed the
replacement from his place high up in the stands.

 =


   The Castellan
caught the ball with one hand and cleared his throat. "The ball has been
caught, play will re-commence when I throw it back in=85"

 =


   Everyone gathered
close to the side-line at the centre and tried to gain some height over each
other. Jack reached back and threw it in, past the throng and into the hand=
s of
=85the giraffe taur.

 =


   Once again, the
situation seemed hopeless. The taur had been standing and waiting patiently=
 at
the back of the crowd, and he now had a clear path to the blue goal, not th=
at
he really needed to worry about anyone bringing him down. Suddenly a brown
lop-eared bunny ran out and leaped straight up in the giraffe's path. Padra=
ic
grappled the ball, placed his large feet on the taur's chest for stability =
and
yanked the ball out of the Red player's hooves.

 =


   He propelled
himself off the taur, made a back flip and dropped gracefully to the ground,
and then ran underneath the giraffe taur. He had lots of room, yet the taur=
's
limbs were still close enough that the lop eared Long decided to boot the b=
all
forward so he could jab the pressure points of the fore legs and then the h=
ind
legs. As Padraic cleared the tail and took up the ball once more, the tower=
ing
taur cried out and collapsed to his knees. Fortunately he didn't fall onto =
the
players in front of him yet the multi-limbed morph still created a massive
barrier for his fellow Rhinos.

 =


   Padraic ran out of
room to move and slid under the polar bear trying to block his path.  With =
that maneuver, he lost all momentum and
passed the ball to Meredith. Meredith did what he does best; act like a rag=
ing
bear. The Long tore up anything in front of him and advanced, leaving a pil=
e of
dazed Reds in his wake. That is until two other bears, a bull, and three ot=
her
big, tough people finally tackled him.

 =


   But with all eyes
focused on the fallen brown bear he managed to roll-pass to Hector who soon
passed to Julian, then Goldmark, to Elliot, and finally to Sir Saulius. The
proud knight of the Steppe ran under a few legs (a weak point of having so =
many
large morphs on the Rhino team) but then got in trouble when he ran under C=
ope
and failed to clear the lizard's thick tail. =

Like anyone in the game who'd been holding the ball for too long, he
gathered too much attention and had to resort to a fighting retreat, pushing
people back who tried to take him on and attempt to steal his 'maiden'.  Th=
e rat fought hard to break through but he
simply couldn't get past the defense and with every attempt to weave his way
around an opponent he just lost more and more ground. Ack! He was doing the=
 Red
team's job for them!

 =


   The rodent looked
around and glimpsed at a suitable candidate.  "You there! Spotted one! Have=
 at thee!"
he shouted and threw the ball at Stealth, who caught it and gulped.

He instinctively took off- the feline instinct to chase a
moving object hadn't been triggered. =

Instead, the cheetah took flight to evade a charging lioness, a creature
that his instincts remembered killing other predators to eliminate competit=
ion.

 =


   Stealth failed to
clear the throng and ran straight into the thick of it! AR upon TG upon mor=
ph
came at him. The cat darted, weaved, ducked, dodged, spun, and slid before =
he
even realized the situation. He felt alone in a sea of red yet he cleared t=
he
worst of it=85 and then he remembered the taur.

 =


   The giraffe already
appeared in front and quickly headed towards the cheetah. The mammoth creat=
ure
had been decked out in blood red bands all over his taur-body, since the la=
st
play and appeared very menacing as he approached. He swung his neck down at=
 the
cheetah, a move that had to be against the rules, but Stealth managed to ro=
ll
out of the way and kept going. The taur tried again, this time attacking fr=
om
the side.

 =


   Stealth soon found
himself trapped between a rock and a hard place. The sidelines loomed close=
 on
one side, while the giraffe thundered close on the other.  He tried to run =
underneath the taur but the
huge galloping strides of the hooved creature made that far too dangerous to
attempt, coming from the side. Suddenly the large Red player cried out and =
lost
balance as Meredith grappled his sizeable torso and brought the tall-as-a-t=
ree
taur to the ground, eliciting the cry of "TIMBER!" from another of
the Blues.

 =


   Away from the
fleeing feline and standing before the falling giraffe, Michael felt the ti=
nge
of deja vu. The beaver stood unmoving as the towering creature fell toward =
him.
At the last moment, he stepped out of the way while the giraffe and bear
crashed to the ground.  "Not this
time," he said with a grin.

 =


   Meanwhile, realizing
that he would no longer be troubled by a monstrous taur, the cheetah took t=
he
morale boost and turned it into speed as he entered a wave of Red stragglers
close to their goal line. The opposition prepared a reception for the tiring
morph. Stealthy scanned the defense and out of desperation tried for a tiny
gap=85 he just slipped through. Now the cheetah had a clear path all the wa=
y to
the goal, and the opposition couldn't catch up.

 =


   He crossed the line
and dropped to the dirt in exhaustion, holding the Die-Ball in a clenched h=
and
on the ground no less. With just two or three minutes to the hourly bell th=
at
would signal the end of the game, the Rhino's simply couldn't have caught u=
p to
even things out. Spectators and players waited till the bell tolled to rele=
ase
their breath all the same.

 =


   Jack just had to
shout out one last time, "Ehem, uhum, grunt! Okay, the score! Rhinos one,
Bears two! =85The winners!" He pointed in the general direction of the
winning team and coughed a bit.  People
cheered. Those on the field and up in the stands celebrated the odd experie=
nce.
The Duke rose from his seat, scratched his head, and applauded the two team=
s'
performance. It had been a hasty and somewhat unofficial match so there wou=
ld
be no need for a follow up ceremony.

 =


   "I WON!"
Misha shouted for all to hear.

 =


   "Yeah, just
two to one," the morph sitting beside the fox mumbled.

 =


   Misha rose above
his friend and bared his fangs. "It was a spectacular victory. It was a mom=
entous
victory. The bards will sing of it for ages hence! And now for your part=85"

 =


   "Now?" the
wolverine asked.

 =


   "Now what?"
Jenn asked as she looked from the fox to her husband. "Did you two make
another silly bet?"

 =


   "It's not a
silly bet, and YES right now," Misha answered the two wolverines.

 =


   Andre dropped to
his knees =96 not an easy motion given the wolverine's disability. "My
armies of blood have been vanquished!!!" he shouted to the sky, fists
clenched and shaking. "The tyrannical taurs shall walk all over us!"
He stood up and announced to the spectators as well as those on the field, =
"I
am but a dog to serve my master; Misha Brightleaf, ruler of the known world=
!!!"

 =


   All noise ceased. All
eyes were on Misha's friend, the wolverine morph who for some reason had ju=
st
made a fool of himself.

 =


   "TAURS RULE!!"
Misha shouted. "But I am a merciful ruler. So your punishment is to buy
lunch for us all." The fox and the wolverine solemnly shook hands and then
sat back down, ignoring the stares of the crowd throughout.

 =


   Jenn and Caroline
shook their heads in amazement. "Sometimes I worry about you two,"
Jenn said.

 =


   "I always
worry about these two," Caroline added.

 =


   Players began to
remove their team colors and disperse from the field. Meredith gave his son=
 and
daughters a big bear hug and kissed his wife. Fell and his friend, Alex tri=
ed
to give each other noogies. Michael basked in the defeat of his fellow
woodcutters Lance and the chief=85 but mostly Lance. The Keep's resident mi=
schief
of rats attempted to boost Brennar the tabby in some sort of miniature body
surf while Kindle, the small mouse got his ball back from Stealth, the big =
cat.
Padraic left in pursuit of his bells.  Kershaw
just shook his head and laughed.

 =


   Stealth was shaking
hands with the other players when he heard a familiar jingle.  "Heh, hello =
Pad=85 raic?" The cheetah
turned after exchanging praise and pleasantries with the lioness. Instead of
the expected rabbit, though, he found himself face to face with an ocelot
holding some pouches.

 =


   "There are my
bells!" the brown bunny said and took the offered pouch from the smaller ca=
t.

 =


   "Elisha got
our possessions back from DeMule," Meredith pointed out, placing an arm
around his wife.

 =


   "Is that a
good idea? Holding all that stuff on your own with pickpockets about, I mea=
n?"
the cheetah asked.

 =


   "No one would
harm family or friends of the Longs!" Kershaw chipped in.

 =


   "Remember,
that includes you and your friends now," Elisha said, and offered a paw.

 =


   The cheetah blushed,
and then took the offered paw and introduced himself. "I'm Stealth.  It's n=
ice to meet you." With that, the
two felines shook hands, clasping at the wrist for the sake of Elisha's
retractable claws.

 =


   "'Stealth',
hmm? We'll need to work on that too," she added.

 =


   "Huh? What?"
The cat appeared perplexed.

 =


   "You should
have a much nicer name=85 like say, Michael," she offered.

 =


   "Ugh."
The cheetah liked his name.

 =


    "You weren't too stealthy out there,"
Padraic added while sorting out his clothing.

 =


    "Well I hardly needed to be,"
Stealth pointed out, a tad grumpily.

 =


   The ocelot giggled
and looked up at an approaching morph. The cheetah caught her gaze and turn=
ed
around to see a lumbering dragon. "Oh, this is Rugger," he said,
answering Elisha's unasked question, but he didn't add the fact that the
reptilian morph had been out of commission for the game.

 =


   Rugger took her paw.
"Tis a pleasure, Milady."

 =


   Stealth turned from
the small ensemble and saw two more figures approach from the stands. Now t=
hat
the game ended in their favor, the previous disappointment faded away.

 =


    "Very well done, my friend!" Edmund
called out as he approached with a female reddish wolf.

 =


    "Thanks, Ed." He smiled tiredly.

 =


    "You won=85 without cheating!" the
Knight joked.

 =


   Stealth glared but
smiled back. "That we did."

 =


    "N-nice game, I had=85 fun," the woman
piped as best she could.

 =


    "Thank you, Bridgette. I'm glad you did,"
he answered politely.

 =


   Stealth felt that
with another cheetah on their team, the now disbanded Blues could have rack=
ed
up the goals. He kept that thought to himself, though, respecting his frien=
d's
oaths even if he didn't understand them. =

Besides, Bridgette needed Edmund far more. And beyond all that, having
Edmund onboard would have diminished his final victory!

 =


    "You didn't need my help," the
Knight said softly and patted him on the back. "You did well out there,
all of you!" Edmund turned to the small throng. He knew the Longs and
Stealth's friends, so Kershaw just made brief introductions for him and
Bridgette to Elisha.

 =


   Then the red panda
finished by finally introducing the ocelot to the woman and gazelle, "=85And
Alex, Fell, and, oh=85" The plaid beaver had already left the field along
with the other lumberjacks.  So had the
tabby.

 =


   Indeed, most of the
players had left the grounds, which were already being prepared for other
games. The three Longs, their family and new and old friends began talking
between themselves as they left along with other small groups.

 =


   Stealth began to
walk away too when he heard someone call out to him. "Stealthy,"
Padraic said, getting his attention.  The
rabbit was half distracted while trying to get the bells on his ears on rig=
ht,
but continued, "There's a big party tonight in Long Hall, why don't you
come by? I'll tell the boss you're coming."

 =


   "Uh, thank
you." He felt very humbled and grateful for the invite, but what was 'Long
Hall'? =85That's where the Longs mingled, he guessed.

 =


   "I hope to see
you there. It starts at seven, and dress nice!" Padraic added, and fumbled
with his shirt as he walked away.

 =


   The cheetah stood
there for the moment and reflected on the whole experience of the past hour
when he heard another call out.

 =


   "Hey cat! Why
are you still on the grounds?" an AR or a real child asked. A bunch of
them began to set something up on what used to be open, level ground.

 =


   "Thou mayest
wish to follow me and take thy leave of the field, lest thee wishes to
participate in the next contest!" Sir Saulius instructed Stealth. With
that, the cat left with the rats.






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