[Mkguild] Hands Free

[Stealth]

Bit of a stand alone with hints to my main cycle.

Hands Free
Copyright (c) 2009 Michael Nastov


	The animal sat on his haunches, rolling his shoulders after a long
trip from the north. ...it seemed like a good idea at the time but he
managed to hitch a ride on a log raft and now he was several hours
late on his return, ugh.

	Seeing as it more or less didn’t matter anymore, he took his time to
restore circulation to his body and unhinge his stiff joints. The
backpack with a small amount of garrets, also, some cookies, sat next
to him on the boardwalk. The cheetah sighed and nosed at the pack, he
couldn’t be bothered becoming a morph currently but he wanted a
cookie, they smelt very nice.

	Twould’ seem the only threats up north weren’t lutins, but when one
takes a b-line through the Glen en rout back from the Outpost they’d
be liable to endure an attack by a savage, frightful, ...baking-tray
wielding hedgehog.

	Technically they shouldn’t even have any taste for the carnivore yet
he wanted to devour them, they smelt that good. As the feline nosed at
his backpack his ears suddenly perked to a subtle ‘meep’.

	He turned his head and looked about, eventually spotting a small,
blue dragon cavorting about on some crates. The little reptilian waved
as he danced about. Stealth cocked his head. How’d he get there?
Gornul probably spotted the cat from the air and swung in to say hi.

	Stealth took one of the pack’s straps in his maw; perhaps the
dragonet would want a cookie. As the cheetah lazily walked over he saw
Gornul flail about suddenly before he meeped again, much louder and
then fell into one of the crates. A moment later, without even
noticing the draconic element, someone placed a board over the crate
and nailed it shut!

	‘Gornul!’ The feline chirped after dropping his pack. ‘Damn this
throat!’ He chirped some more at the dock workers. A wolverine holding
the crate looked up at the distant cheetah, paused and shrugged then
continued working, placing the crate into a wagon which was then
shoved further back behind another crate and another, and more on top
until the wagon was full.

	The cheetah was already running at full speed down the pier, he was
going to shift and tell them or jump in the path of the departing
wagon or something, anything but then he ran head long into an
equi-taur.

	“Watch it!” The six limbed mule shouted to the floored feline.

	Stealth scurried back to his feet and found a large carriage in his
way, being pulled by the taur. He hissed and risked weaving in between
the wheels. On the other side he found a score of wagons carting away
their wares. Some of them were heading north to the keep, others into
Euper and more still were heading further north, even into the Giant
Downs!

	‘Shit, shit, shit!’ The feline scurried from wagon to wagon in the
immediate vicinity, sniffing at their contents until he gave up and
sat on the spot in a distressed haze, looking about frantically.

	At first he thought he was imagining things but suddenly the cheetah
saw an image in his head, it was a small peek hole looking out from a
dark place and wherever it was it was moving.

	‘Gornul!’ He chirped, ‘yes, keep that up.’ With renewed energy the
cat scurried to his feet. The image was getting faint but as he began
running north it got stronger, okay, his friend is heading north... he
just past a house made of timber... that could be anywhere!

	Stealth hissed again, running at full speed north he began making
desperate comparisons between the sights from his own eyes and those
of the images being fed to him.

	Merchants gasped, even squealed when the cheetah leaped up onto their
carriage to inspect their wares. One even shouted “You again!” but
just as quickly as he’d arrived, he leaped back down and was already
half way to the next one in sight but there was no sign of the dragon.
To make matters worse, the images were becoming weak again...

	Stealth sat on his haunches to catch his breath. By this time he’d
long since cleared the docks and Euper. The feline found himself
somewhere between Euper and the Lower Ward but to the west of the
winding path that connected them. He sniffed at the air and perked his
ears, hoping to detect the slightest whiff of scales or the faint
‘meep’ of the dragonet.

	The carriages were splitting up and the mental image was growing ever
weaker, the only clue was long grass and there was long grass
everywhere!

	Suddenly, with the change in the wind direction Stealth caught the
scent of a reptile and bolted in that direction. He weakly leaped into
the back of the carriage, all the recent running to date taking it’s
toll. In his fatigue and haste the feline stumbled over the crates and
fell onto the driver. The carriage driver screamed and flailed about,
reaching for a sheathed sword. The cheetah all but sat on him and
unintentionally prevented the man from moving – both with his position
and his intimidating stare.

	He looked at the REPTILE for a moment before sighing and jumping back
to the ground. The lead was false, he was tired and the mental images
finally flickered out.

	As the cat journeyed back down the path to retrace his steps he
looked for the next carriage down and pondered a new tactic. Stealth
sniffed at the air some more, not for dragon scales or whatever but
for something else entirely.

	... And there is it. It was faint but it was there – the sharp scent
of fruit. Smelt like peaches but only just. With some effort he
managed to find a bearing on the fruit and headed southwest down a
sparsely used road.

	After fifteen minutes of travel, Stealth arrived... in the middle of
nowhere. The scent was gone along with the images. Even the tracks
were faint but he was on a path and it headed in only one direction.
He had nothing more to go on so he pressed onward, ever anxious.

	It looked like a mirage but there was a house at the end of the path,
also, a single carriage heading away from the residence and toward the
cat. Stealth ran directly at the advancing wagon but quickly stoped
and decided instead to hide in the long grass and wait, just in case
the driver got the wrong idea about the intrusion, thus far he’d been
lucky to avoid a short sword to the guts...

	It felt like forever but soon enough the carriage passed by and the
cheetah hopped in the back. He cringed but was unsurprised to find it
empty, at the very least though it would make finding his quarry
easier as there was only one place for him to be. IF he was in this
carriage to begin with, but then again he noticed the driver kept
mumbling to himself something about ‘the images’ in a frightful
tone...

	The house was no humble cottage. It was practically a palace!
Surrounding the house, many old growth trees gave it privacy and broke
up the monotony of the grazing lands and provided shade for the well
maintained gardens. When he got close, Stealth decided it best to
actually live up to his name and crouched low, using the large trees
for cover as he approached the back door.

	The cheetah found the door open, it looked like a service door as it
was very large and hosted many servants moving crates inside. He
gasped when he saw an image appear in his head but then sighed in
relief, Gornul is here! Judging by the image – a room with shelves, he
was already indoors.

	Stealth sat down on his haunches and pondered. Why doesn’t he just
become a taur, walk up to them and tell them about the dragon? He was
about to do just that when he saw the carriage parked near the stables
and then he felt real fear. He’s seen it before, the pattern, the
inlay and the heraldry.

	That was the carriage he perched on when he lost his mind and took a
dump on that lizard guy. This is his house. Come to think of it the
location was familiar in that it matched the directions of a job he’d
failed to complete, on the same day to the same person!

	Stealth cringed and shivered. He can not show himself here, he won’t!
 The feline paced back and forth in the bushes, as he did so the
images flashed heatedly in his mind.

	‘I’m coming, little buddy.’ He thought with a grimace.

	The cat snuck back around to the front which in contrast looked
peaceful and clear. Forcing his reservations to the back of his head,
the feline shifted to his humanoid form and hurried to the front door.

	‘I’m wearing a fur coat, I’m not really naked...’ he thought over and over.

	The door was locked but with a bit of less-then-gentle persuasion he
coaxed it open.

	‘Forced entry,’ he cringed, ‘I just committed a crime...’

	The naked trespasser pressed on. He was in a lavish hallway with
thick draperies and a wonderfully lush rug under his feet. Huh, fox
furs... lots of fox furs went into it. As he ran his toes through the
warm fur a door latch opened on the far side of the hallway. Stealth
instinctively jumped into a side room and waited for whomever to pass
by. When the threat was gone he sat up from the floor and gawked in
terror at the sight of a lizard morph staring back at him.

	It took some gruelling moments before the feline relaxed enough to
realise that the morph wasn’t moving at all. He thought the reptilian
was glaring at him in anger but, no, he was fixed firmly in place.
Stealth stood up slowly and cautiously walked around the figure who
became thinner and thinner the further the cat walked. It was a
painting.

	Besides the relief and embarrassment from his error, the cheetah took
the time to be amazed by the quality of detail that went into the
portrait, not only in the form staring back at him but the entire wall
seemed to be a painted illusion, making the room look far bigger then
it really was and it was already quite big!

	Stealth re-entered the hallway but quickly darted back into the room
when he heard more movement. The courier looked about and pondered for
a moment and then he returned to the painted wall to inspect it. There
were other objects – ones made to blend into the image like a large
painting on the ‘far’ wall that turned out to be just a foot in front
of his muzzle and far smaller then it appeared. With a bit more
scrutinising he found a small door, a door that looked big in the
image but was really quite small but real nonetheless.

	It opened easily and the stench of coal and soot hit his nose. It was
an access door to the manor’s chimneys and crawl spaces. There was
just enough room for him to squeeze in and then drop about two feet
below the floor. The crawl space was surprisingly warm from perhaps
several hearths somewhere in the other parts of the house but it was
also thankfully clear of soot though still far from immaculate.

	Besides the scent of smoke, Stealth could detect cooked food and,
when he stopped crawling and grunting, he could hear the crackle of
meat. The sounds and smells gave him the energy to press on until he
arrived at a dead end. From a strained glance through the floor boards
the cheetah summarised he’d reached the kitchen.

	Stealth crawled about on his back for a few minutes and eventually
found what looked like a panel. It was fixed in place and either
hadn’t been opened in some time or it needed a special tool to open.
The feline began to push on the boards... he didn’t have much room to
move so it was almost impossible to get any leverage. Trying hard with
both his palms, knees and even his head he eventually nudged a corner
up by about five millimetres.

	He tried to push it some more but it wouldn’t budge from the pressure
applied by his hands so he pushed with his head instead. Stealth
grunted and cursed as his ear was squished under the pressure though
he did his best to tilt and keep it protected he just didn’t have
enough room to move but eventually he pried a single board free and
desperately forced it up. The cat cringed when the board very audibly
snapped in two. He desperately forced the other panels off and pulled
himself out.

	A bemused servant wearily entered the room and gave it a cursory
sweep. He found the floor damaged and foot paws belonging to a morph
leading away about two or so feet at which point they disappeared. The
man grimaced... he’d need to report this. He also wanted to leave lest
he encounter a hostile intruder.

	From the cupboard, Stealth released his breath. A good thing the
servant was a human with dull senses. He stepped out of the closet,
dirty feet marring the floor... crawling to the cupboard on his knees
and wrists did seem silly and not to mention uncomfortable but it
worked, now where was Gornul?!

	Stealth looked around the kitchen in vain but soon another image
appeared in his head. The same obscured view as always but this time
there was no natural light in the image, just an oil lamp or a candle
or something. The cheetah looked around, finding a door near one of
the exiting passageways. Not knowing where else to look he opened it
and found a monster pile of crates and barrels.

	“How the hell am I supposed to find him here?” He whispered.

	His question was answered by a fresh image, it was the same one as
last time but now the lighting looked a tad different, thanks to the
open door. Stealth casually walked around the room, not really trying
to find the right crate but just focusing on the constantly changing
image. He grinned when the image depicted him, from the view of the
crate. Stealth turned his head down, now the image was of him looking
down at the crate – he was looking back at himself!

	Quickly snatching up an implement from the door, he pried open the
crate to find a little dragon nestled within a pile of seeds and half
eaten peaches.

	“Have fun?”

	Gornul waved and burped. His head then slumped back to rest on a
peach with little fang marks in its flesh. The only part of the dragon
that wasn’t prostrate in rest was his large, disjointed belly. Stealth
scooped up the little reptile and placed him over his shoulder with
one hand holding him in place. Gornul meeped weakly and had a nap.

	At that moment the cheetah could hear several footsteps down the hall
and getting louder. He decided there wasn’t enough time to leave the
room without being spotted. Stealth gently closed the door and began
to move crates in front of it. When he was satisfied that it was
secure enough to keep unwanted wards out yet flexible enough to remove
them and escape the room he slowly stepped back and waited...

	Gornul fidgeted about, having some sort of draconian dream. Stealth
took a breath and continued listening at the door. The sounds didn’t
fade away, rather it sounded like whoever was out there had begun work
to repair the damage and mop the floor.

	Frustrated, the feline looked about the room for other options. He
could hear a faint whistling coming from the ceiling and climbed some
crates to inspect it. There was a trap door, why did the house have so
many trap doors let alone ones that didn’t work? Because sure enough
this one didn’t budge, there was only a gap about the width of a fist.

	Ever weary of the sounds outside the door, Stealth poked Gornul’s
head and tried to coax the dragon awake. The little reptile tried to
ignore him and instead nuzzled into the cat’s fur. Stealth persisted
and continued poking his claw tip on the dragon’s tiny head. Gornul
eventually got disgruntled enough to turn his head and attempt to bite
the claw. Then he tried to bat it away but he was at least awake now.

	“Gornul,” The cat whispered, “I need you to enter that gap and look
for a latch or something, open it up so we can get out of here.”

	He couldn’t tell if the dragon actually agreed or not but he stuffed
him into the gap and waited. Stealth’s right ear perked to the
dragonet scurrying about in the darkness while his left perked to the
activity outside the door. Suddenly a soft grinding could be heard
overhead and without any further warning the door fell on the
cheetah’s head.

	Stealth cursed in silent pain and looked up to see the dragon
standing on the edge of the void, waving.

	“Wait there.” Stealth whispered and returned to the door at ground
level, his forehead still throbbing.

	He removed the crates, though it was a risk he wanted to make his
presence less conspicuous then it already was and a storeroom locked
from the inside wouldn’t help. Once the door was clear he hurried back
to the opening in the ceiling and with the power of fear-adrenalin,
attempted to boost himself up. First his hands grappled the edges and
then he swung his legs up and gradually rose while his head lay back
and his long tail still tickled the crates below.

	Eventually he slid his body up, fully horizontal with the ceiling
cavity, save his tail. A sudden chill ran up his side and his hackles
rose when Stealth felt something GRASP his tail! Looking down in
silent alarm, he found his tail being firmly held by a rat.

	Not a rat morph but a rat-rat, a household pest finishing what Gornul
had started... Stealth sighed in relief and hissed at the rodent, it
promptly squeaked and scurried into a little hole in the wall. With
his tail free, Stealth twisted his body about, reeling in the
extremity and turning to face the opening. He reached out and grasped
faintly at the door which he pulled up and into place before
resecuring the latch. He didn’t dare rest on the door for fear of it
giving way but he continued to roll until he was clear of it.

	After the better half of an hour spent silently and painstakingly
crawling in the ceiling cavity, Stealth eventually gave up on finding
a way out. Perhaps there was only one way IN... he slumped on the
dusty boards and gasped when another image appeared in his head. It
looked like another access point for the ceiling but where? He
question was answered by a big, inconspicuous arrow.

	Following the apparent baring, Stealth continued to stifle sneezes
and silently grumble until he found his way to Gornul. The little
dragon had no trouble traversing the cavity, save having to lug around
his bloated belly...

	The cheetah released the latch, not realising where exactly the door
was but he realised soon enough when Gornul meeped in alarm as the
ground underneath him gave way. Stealth reached out and grabbed the
dragon in his fist, prompting Gornul to burp but otherwise avoid
falling to the floor below, and it was just as well as the floor below
was a large bath!

	Stealth groaned and pulled the door shut once more. He should have
realised he was over a body of water from the smell but his nose was
too clogged with dust! Suddenly Gornul poked him and pointed to a
light source about a five minute crawl away... he eventually covered
the distance and this time found another opening facing up, not down.
It lead out to the floor above.

	It took some time to open the trap door and even more to climb out.
When the cheetah finally climbed out and closed the trap again, he
looked around to find himself in a bedroom, not all that grand –
perhaps a guest room. His dragon friend perched on the bed, looking
comfy and waiting patently.

	Stealth quickly went over to the door and cautiously opened it, he
was greeted with the sight of a hallway, stretching about fifty feet
down to where it presumably ended with a staircase, also, he could
hear people talking at the end of it.

	“Hell with this!” He grumbled after closing the door, “We’re gonna
jump!” the feline walked over to the window and pulled open the
curtains and then the windowpanes.

	“Ready, little buddy?” He asked and was answered by Gornul gliding
effortlessly out the window and perching on a tree branch.

	Stealth ear drooped, “Oh, right, I forgot you can do that.” He
shifted to full form and climbed up onto the windowsill. Balancing his
hind feet on the ledge and his fore paws on the outer wall, the cat
hesitated for a moment while he maintained and adjusted his balance
and then leaped to the ground.

	He was lucky to jump and land in an area full of dense foliage as it
made it harder to spot his escape though he remained convinced that
someone had seen him. It didn’t matter anymore, he and Gornul were
free. The dragon landed on the cheetah’s back as he sprinted away from
the building and put as much distance between it and himself as he
could.

	Somewhere down the road, the feline ran out of steam and collapsed in
a heap. The dragon hopped off his back and landed before Stealth’s
panting muzzle.

	He eventually became a morph and still laying prostrate said, “I lost
it, three garrets in that pack... I dropped it at the docks. I’m never
going to see it again.” He whimpered tiredly.

	Gornul projected an image of himself trying to eat a gold coin,
failing and then throwing it away.

	“I know it’s just gold but it wasn’t my gold...” Stealth cringed,
“And now I’m a criminal. I broke into a house.”

	Gornul projected an image of himself trapped in a tower and a cheetah
with wings swinging down to rescue him.

	“Thanks...”

	The dragon nuzzled his nose and suddenly took of, flying far away in
a matter of seconds...

	Stealth was stunned. He suddenly felt very afraid and alone. Lying
prostrate didn’t help his mood. He eventually forced himself to his
feet, remembering his nudity he became an animal again and walked
slowly on his four paws back to the keep.

	When he arrived at the crossroads between the Lower Ward and Euper,
Stealth could easily hear the noise from the logs he’d hitched a ride
on now making their way one at a time through the flume to be devoured
by several saws. Strangely the very same image appeared in his mind.
Why? Gornul wants him to go to the flume? Well the cheetah currently
had dozens of gold to pay off so he couldn’t care less where he
wandered.

	Stealth lazily followed the small canal that lead from the docks to a
large warehouse constructed out of solid timber. The sound of saws and
axes hacking away at logs sent him to fold his ears but the cat
entered and sat on his haunches just inside the entrance.

	He moved when a bull scolded him for taking up the road but otherwise
remained where he was. Suddenly a weight on his head startled him,
Stealth yelped and flailed about and then a small, blue creature with
wings fell in between his forepaws.

	“Take that thing out of here.” Someone said.

	Stealth looked up. The cat saw a deer scolding him... with everything
that had happened this day the feline had had just about enough. He
shifted and became a cheetah taur.

	The taured-cheetah hissed loudly and stared down the taller creature,
“Enough.” He said in a deep growl, “Go back to work and get out of my
sight.”

	The deer scoffed and was about to say something when he suddenly
looked wide eyed and scampered off. Stealth grinned, was he really
that intimidating?

	Stealth reached down and plucked up Gornul from the ground, placing
him on his taur back when he heard someone call out his name.

	“Stealth!” the figure waved a muscular arm with something held in the hand.

	The cheetah taur gawked at first and then chuckled in relief when the
plaid beaver came even with him and handed over his backpack.

	“Thank you!” He said and opened the pack to check its contents. It
was all there! Even the cookies and they still smelt great! “Where did
you find it?”

	The beaver smiled and adjusted his pose, his muscles rippling under
his plaid fur. “It was just here, on the pier. I saw it in my head!”

	The cheetah nodded, “Yeah, I see where this is going.”

	“Aye, I went to the place and found your little friend trying to drag
it by himself. He told me some other stuff in weird pictures but I
eventually figured it out.”

	“Yeah, those pictures...” The feline agreed.

	Gornul sagged at the conversation.

	The rodent and feline both suddenly jumped and gasped for no apparent reason.

	“What was that for?!” Mike asked.

	“Ah...” Stealth panted after the frightful flash in their heads went
away, “I don’t think he likes us talking about him behind his back or
more accurately behind my back.” He fished the dragonet out from his
back fur and held him out, “Okay, it’s not that hard to understand
your language.” Stealth conceded.

	“And it’s not weird... sorry.” Michael finished.

	Gornul nodded in satisfaction and projected a nicer image of the
three of them looking plaid and engaged in a group hug, it made the
cat groan and the beaver laugh.

	“Wait, when I scared away that guy just now...” Stealth asked and
looked meaningfully at the reptile for an answer.

	Gornul favoured him with a mischievous grin and projected an image of
a slaughter house, a deer hung up and being dismantled with all its
blood oozing on the floor. Not that bad for a predator, actually quite
nice but for the prey animal involved to see that in his head must
have been nothing short of terrifying...

	Stealth sighed, so he’s not that scary. Bah. His pout was interrupted
when the dragon sitting in his left hand began nosing at the pack held
in his right hand.

	“Those cookies do smell nice...” Michael said.

	Gornul ‘meeped’ his agreement and tried to bury his head further into the bag.

	“Okay, friends, I’d be more then happy to share this treat with you,”
He shoved Gornul fully into the backpack, the dragon made a muffled,
angry meep and flailed about as the cat continued, “Now let’s have at
the menacing dragon’s hoard.”


Hands Free
Copyright (c) 2009 Michael Nastov