[Mkguild] STORY -- Lessons in Motherhood (1/~15)

[Christof M. Bradford]

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Greetings, Guildies!  I have here the first chapter of my first MK story.  I
have to thank MattyRat for his invaluable help with the characterization of
Jessica and Weyden.

As always with my work, criticism is welcome so that I may improve my skills.

Sections that are marked with slashes are meant to be /italic/, while those
behind asterisks are *bold*.

STORY START ---->

Metamor Keep: Lessons in Motherhood

Chapter One

Though Summer's official start was still a few weeks away, the day was
lovely and warm even into the lands on the outskirts of Glen Avery.  At the
village's southern edge glimmered a small lake fed from the mountains before
passing into the small river that trailed the western edge of the valley.
Here, in a glade beside the lake beneath the Sun, two hawks, one banded with
red and the other with feathers of purest black, relaxed together after
their long flight from Metamor.  Between them lay a basket with sweetmeats
and other tidbits that they'd brought to share.  A soft blanket covered the
grass and the few stones allowing them to recline comfortably.

After the calamitous events in Metamor in recent weeks on top of all that
they'd endured in the year before, taking this little picnic away from the
city was just one small step in regaining their balance.  The two hawks,
husband Weyden and wife Jessica, knew this was only the first of many such
escapes for them in the coming months.  And as they reclined, eating bits of
jerked mutton and the occasional morsel of fruit, both of them felt the
weight of worry leaving them.

They spoke little.  And by common consent, they said nothing of what had
come to pass in their lives.  Only the beauty of the land, each other, the
weather, and the tastiness of the food passed between them.  That and some
of the new jokes that Weyden had learned from his long-time friend and
fellow soldier Larssen the giraffe.  It never ceased to amaze Jessica the
breadth of humor available to a Metamorian thanks to the curses.

And so it was that the two were laughing and completely at ease when a large
raven dropped down from the sheltering redwoods framing the lake and landed
between them on the cloth blanket.  The raven, a creature of coal black
feather and beak, hopped in place until it faced the startled Jessica.
Ice-blue corvid eyes stared with avian fixation into Jessica's golden eyes.

Both hawks stared in surprise at the raven.  After several seconds, Weyden
lifted one wing to shoo the creature away, laughing and cawing the whole
while. "Brave little fella isn't he?"

Jessica lifted one wing to bid Weyden leave the raven alone.  The way the
bird stared at them fascinated her.  It hopped to one side to avoid Weyden's
feathers, cawed twice and croaked out a word, "Big."  It hopped over to the
plate of jerked mutton and croaked out "Yums.  Thanks," as it grabbed a
large piece of jerky in its beak and took to wing.  It flew toward the tall
trees that enshrouded Glen Avery.

Weyden stopped with his wing outstretched and blinked. "That's no raven."

All levity gone, Jessica leapt to her talons and chased after the raven,
golden eyes wide and bright. "We have to stop it!  It could be a spy!"
Weyden broke free of his stupor and followed her, shrinking into a more
beastly form with each step until his wings spread and he took to the air
after the raven.  Jessica's talons clawed through the grass and pine needles
for only a few seconds longer.  Together the two hawks beat their wings
against the air, the black corvid shape darting into the wood before them.

As they darted back and forth through the tall sentinels that surrounded the
Glen, Jessica pondered what this raven might be.  It's behavior seemed
typical of its species, yet it had spoken to them and thanked them after
sampling their food.  And now it let them on a merry chase through the Glen.
 Jessica could see several beastly heads turn to watch the three birds sail
overhead.  Yet, despite the raven's advantage in size and the hawk's
difficulty in navigating through the tightly spaced forest, they never had
any trouble keeping pace with it.  If this was a spy, Jessica reflected, it
was a very poor one indeed.  But if not a spy, then what could it be?

The raven led them north of the Glen a short ways until they entered a
shadowed grove populated by mouldering stones and the dead remnants of
fallen trees.  The Patildor graveyard.  Jessica's heart clenched tight as
the raven landed on one such stone.  The blackbird transferred the meat from
beak to talons and loudly cawed "Grave mine, but not dead!" The raven
repeated this even after Weyden and Jessica landed and shifted back to their
most humanoid forms.

The simple stone marker read; *Margaret, Daughter of Kephas and Ruth,  Died
during Battle of Three Gates CR 699, After Seeing Only Fourteen Summers*.

"Margaret," Jessica murmured through her beak.  To the little raven she
asked, "Is that your name?  Margaret?"

Weyden blinked but said nothing.  He stepped to the side so as to catch the
raven should it fly away again.

The raven flicked its head back and forth between them but at Jessica's
question it stopped cawing.  It lowered its head to the tombstone, touched
the stone with its beak, and then gazed at Jessica.  The black hawk took a
tentative step forward and peered with her magic sight.  There could be no
denying the black smear that was the Curse.

Jessica let out a long breath. "She's a Keeper."

"A Keeper?" Weyden asked. "Then why doesn't she change?"

"She's probably forgotten how," Jessica replied.  She leaned a little closer
to the raven and squawked, "Is your name Margaret?"

The raven bobbed her head, "Margaret? Yes.  Yes, I'm Margaret.  Not dead,
I'm not dea. . ."   Her words gave way to a screeching caw as she screamed
her denial of mortality.  Margaret shook her head, "I'm alive, yes.  But I'm
a bird, not a girl.  Why?"

"Eight years ago," Jessica said, the breath stilled in her voice as the
agony of this poor girl's predicament settled into her mind, "an evil wizard
came out of the wastes in the north and in an alliance with dark powers,
cast a curse upon this valley.  Everyone in it was changed in some way.
Those like we three the curse tried to turn us into simple animals.  But the
mages of Metamor cast a powerful counter-curse which restored a portion of
our humanity to us.  It's why you can still think and talk, Margaret.  It is
the curse that has made you into a bird.  Something must have driven your
mind into retreat all these years.  But you aren't dead.  You are like us.
You don't have to be a simple raven anymore.  The curses made you this way,
but they're just a spell.  You are still you deep inside.  The curses have
just made you look like a bird.  Do you understand?"

Margaret bobbed her head and blinked her piercing blue eyes. "A curse made
me a bird.  Yes!  Yes!"

"That's right," Jessica coaxed.  A sense of relief settled into her.
Perhaps this poor girl could be brought back into the world of men. "You are
still a girl even if you look like a bird."

"So, how do you do it?" Margaret waved her right wing at the pair of hawks.

"Do what, Margaret?" Jessica asked in reply.

"Go from big to small, and back to big again."  The raven cocked her head
and stared at Jessica for a brief moment before she blinked and croaked a
small corvid laugh.  "Oh, oh!  I see how it's done now.  Simple really."

Jessica felt something brush against her aura.  At first, the sensation was
like  downy feathers tickling her.  The soft tickling soon gave way to the
pain of sharp talons /pulling/ at her.  She could feel her body shrinking
and the Hawk pressing against her mind as she began to change into the feral
form against her will.

Foreign thoughts and memories, not of her or the Hawk, seeped into Jessica's
mind.  /Why are my eggs always empty?  They're after me now!  Gotta run.
No!  Gotta fly!/

Her mother pushed her into the wardrobe, "Maggie, no matter what happens,
don't make a sound!  If you're quiet, they won't know you're there, and they
won't hurt you."

"But what about you, Mom?!"

"Shh, I'll be fine, now shush."  She said, closing the door.

Margaret clamped her hands over her face as she heard the room's door
crashing open, and the gibbering laughter of Them.  Mom started to scream,
but her cries were quickly reduced to a wet gurgling cough.  /Don't scream,
don't breathe.  They they'll go away if they don't hear me.  Eli, Yashua,
please don't let them find me,/ she prayed, her eyes squeezed shut in terror.

The harsh laughter of the monsters who invaded her home, which was
accompanied by a wet slapping sound, went on and on.  "It's all stiff and
cold now, no more fun to be had here."

"She was fun while she lasted, though.  Let's go, I want some of the gold in
that keep."  Several pairs of booted feet tromped out of the room.

Margaret sighed and cracked opened the wardrobe's door for a peek.  /They're
gone.  Thank you, Yashua./  She stepped outside of the wardrobe and saw her
mother lying in the center of a bloody pool on the floor.  Her dress was
ripped in shreds, while her throat and belly were sliced open.  Lifeless
eyes stared up at the ceiling from a face frozen in the agony of her death.

"Mom. . ?"

Jessica struggled back to awareness of the present.  Weyden had his wings
around her, pleading with her to come back.  Some-one was torturing a
blackbird, because she could hear the choked sobbing caws.  The raven,
Margaret!  What did she do, and /how/ did she do it?

"Mo-mommy?"  Margaret cawed.  The raven had obviously learned how to shift,
because she was now only slightly smaller than Weyden, and taloned fingers
could be seen coming out from the last joint of her wings.  "I'm sorry that
I hurt you, Mommy.  Please don't go away," she cawed piteously to Jessica.
Her posture, from droopy tail feathers to a beak that was pressed against
her breast, showed a bird that was both deeply afraid and contrite.




<---- STOP STORY

- --
I have an old tome.  A tome bound of flesh and scribed in blood.  It
holds many secrets, secrets for you to reveal.
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