[Mkguild] Dire Disillusion

[Stealth]

Been stalled for a year, finally got around to finishing it.

Dire Disillusion
Copyright (c) 2009-10 Michael Nastov


	The little fox scurried back and forth several times. The Longs who
were present looked about and scratched their heads and otherwise
remained silent. Misha continued to scurry about on his four paws,
whimpering and whining. He idly began chewing on things and rolling on
his back in frustration.

	“Just relax and try to focus.” The armoured dire cheetah said to the
red fox scampering about his forelegs.

	Misha nipped at the cheetah’s metallic paw, looking for one of the
openings in the metal plates.

	Stealth narrowed his gaze. The dire animal raised his massive paw and
pinned the vulpine in place with little effort.

	Misha began to flail, whimper and bark but it did him no good. The
little fox was firmly wedged though he still tried to vent his
frustration on the feline by gnawing on his metal claws.

	“Not this again!” Caroline barked.

	The fox yipped and cowered slightly.

	Carol pointed at the fox, “Out of here, you! Shoo!”

	Misha looked up at the otter with big, adorable eyes and wagged his
tail slightly.

	“Out! Get some fresh air and stop chewing on the carpet.” She ordered.

	Stealth looked about uncomfortably and then craned his neck down. He
surprised everyone by taking Misha into his maw like a kit. The fox
pouted and whimpered, flailed and growled as the giant feline
gradually carried him out of Long Hall.

------

	Misha stoped squirming and whimpering by the time they reached the
Keep proper. Stealth gently lowered the fox to the ground in a small
secluded garden and sat on his haunches. Misha remained silent; the
vulpine had his head turned down in a pout.

	“Remember how long it took you to become a taur?” The feline asked,
“And what about those people who can’t become taurs?”

	Misha chuffed at the cat and turned his head away to the side.

	Stealth nosed at the vulpine.

	Misha sighed and closed his eyes, beginning to grow. When he was
finished he still stood on four legs but had a morphic upper half.

	“I can have this,” He said, motioning to himself, “But not without
this...” He motioned to his upper half. “I’m so... close!”

	Stealth shifted to taur form, his new armour coated every part of his
form and buckled slightly. “I’m sorry.” He said with folded ears.

	“It’s not your fault. It’s just that it’s” he paused. “Frustrating. I
mean the curses CAN be controlled; I’ve done it, I’ve seen it, it CAN
be done. No, this isn’t supposed to happen, I’m doing something wrong,
something. I just don’t know what, I’m sure of it!”

	“Misha.” The cheetah began, “don’t take this the wrong way but...”

	The scout looked up, “Oh?”

	“Well,” Stealth scratched his head, minding the metal claws, “Look at
it figuratively; you’re a fox. Not a prey animal, not a cold blooded
reptile, not a woman or a child, a fox. And that’s damn good right
there, don’t you think?”

	“I suppose...”

	“You’re a Long scout, a LONG. Also you fight with an ancient weapon
possessed with a powerful spirit...”

	Misha nodded slowly, “Hmm.”

	Stealth continued in a soft voice, “You’re a noble, you were raised
in opulence and had advantages most others could only dream of.”

	“Correct. I wanted for nothing but I’ve worked hard too.”

	“Yes, of your own free choosing and you did have a good head start...
you still get your way often.” The feline blinked, “Or is that it?”

	Misha shook his head, “You think I’m that petty? You think I just
want to get my way?!”

	Stealth cringed, “I think you’re... lucky is all.”

	“I know I’ve had privilege, but pain too, too much, and I worked for
where I am today.” He said coldly.

	Stealth’s eyes narrowed, “Everyone has painful memories and works hard.”

	“Stop.” The fox suddenly said, “Let’s just stop this. I just need
time to think.”

	The feline nodded, “We’re pent up, we have energy to spare at that.”
Stealth pointed up at a hole in the curtain wall.

	“The flume, what about it?”

	“I don’t want too many people to see me in this... It’s kinda
embarrassing...” The feline mumbled.”

	“Oh?”

	“You know...”

	“Ah... I’m confused.” Misha answered.

	“I want to sneak out that way!”

	“Ah! ...That armour will break if you climb up there.” The fox intoned..

	“A muffin.” Stealth answered.

	“Muffin?” Misha asked confused.

	“If it doesn’t break while I’m up there, you owe me a muffin and tea
at your Inn.”

	“You’re on!” The foxtaur exclaimed. “And if I’m right, you’re buying
me a snack AND paying for the damage to the flume!”

------

	“Now here’s a good place for a run.” Misha said excitedly.

	“Misha... that’s a town, we passed a whole field back there!” The
cheetahtaur said.

	“Yup, I owe you tea, remember? And I choose this town!” He answered
with a wag of the tail, “Keep up now,” He said with a sly grin, “I’m
going to find a place I like, and if you can’t keep pace I’ll be
enjoying your warm meal. Deal?”

	“Huh?” He spluttered, “Now wait a minute!”

	“Deal!” The foxtaur barked and took off into the village.

	“Misha, that wasn’t the deal!” The cat cried out, “You damn little thing!”

----------

	It was another quiet morning in the hamlet. The fog began to lift
though the air was still thick with smoke from any number of hearths.
And just like any other day a mad foxtaur bounded through the narrow
streets. Moments later a panting cheetahtaur ran past, darting into a
tight alley after the fox.

	“I’ve had enough to drink.”

	“I saw that too!” A feline said.

	The man reached over and took away his wife’s whisky bottle. “You’ve
had enough too!”

	Misha bound happily through the tight alleyways, he’d been down them
several times but each time took a different route to throw off his
feline companion. He came to a halt when he heard a loud thud behind
him followed by cursing.

	The fox scout trotted around the building, as it was easier than
trying to turn in the tight alley. He found a mess of gold and silver
coloured metal strewn about.

	“Ack! What happened?!”

	“It ran out of mana again.” The feline said bluntly, trying to
collect the now heavy pieces.

	“Again?” Misha asked as he tried to get a better look in the narrow passage.

	“If I don’t move around too much it’s fine but when I’m active it falls off.”

	“I see,” The vulpine nodded, “I’ll borrow a cart to take it back to
the Mages at the Keep.”

	“Misha, No!” The feline pouted, “They’ll never give it back!”

	“We’ll just see about that, now just wait here, I’ll fetch a cart.”

	“But”

	“Stay!” The Long ordered, “I’m fetching a cart.”

	Misha found a sturdy enough cart, no one was using it... no one was
around. He borrowed it and tied the reins to his flanks. His ears
perked to the feint sounds that only his ears could detect. Something
was wrong, something in the alley where his friend was. The foxtaur
hastily unfastened the reins and scurried towards the narrow alley!

----------

	“Can you hear me? Can you see this?” A strange voice asked.

	“ohhhhhhh, what?”

	“Follow my finger...” The voice ordered.

	“No, stop before I puke...” Stealth moaned.

	“Do you remember what happened? I found you out cold.” The voice, he
now realised to belong to Misha, asked.

	“My head hurts... where... where am...”

	“You’re in a safe place, a barn!”

	“A barn? Are we hiding out? Misha, do you have a sordid past with
this place or something?”

	The fox shook his head, “No! I couldn’t find, well, anyone. And this
place is warm, cosy and... well, and abandoned.”

	Grasping his head Stealth looked about, “Where’s the suit?”

	“Ah...” Misha said softly, “It’s been stolen.”

	“Who stole it?” The feline asked, his ear visibly squashed under his hand.

	“Some guy with more greed then common sense.” The vulpine said,
heading to the window.

	“What was his name?” Stealth asked dizzily.

	“Guy.” Misha answered.

	“...guy?”

	“And his first name was Some.” The taur shifted to anthro form and
looked out the window, “I don’t know who stole it and I didn’t see
anyone by the time I arrived... but I will find them. Wait here and
rest.” He ordered and shifted once more to full form.

	“But...” Stealth mumbled.

	A bark from the fox ended any more discussion, he then leaped onto
the windowsill and then out into the street.

----------

	Even in his diminutive form Misha still stood out in such a small
place but it was better than nothing as he in fact had nothing; no
clothing or coins, nothing! He dare not walk around nude and a taur
was next to useless in a hamlet with such tight alleys. And there was
no time to send for help lest the trail go cold, speaking of which his
nose was close to the ground so he could better track the bandits.
	
	His ears perked at the sound of metal on wood, lots of metal on wood
and there was no blacksmith in this little town.

	The little vulpine scurried under a broken door into a small
courtyard. There was an open door leading to what looked like a
stable, or a building which had once been.

	“Look at it! Look at it! Gold and silver, enough to get us out of
this hole!” a voice said, quietly but with great excitement.

	“Enough to buy this hole and the rest of the county, brother!”

	Misha perched among some crates and observed. They were both human so
they couldn’t hear or smell him and they were also young; perhaps
teenagers. They were far from hardened combatants.

	Even so, the scout was unarmed... he looked about for a way to change
that. He scanned for some loose wood, something of use in his hiding
place but there was nothing, save the crates.

	He looked up again to spot something alarming; the plates of armour
were glowing slightly to one of the siblings’ slow chant. The girl
knew magic and that was probably why they were able to get away so
quickly with such a heavy and cumbersome treasure.

	But perhaps, just perhaps, she didn’t know offensive magic or they
would have done something more creative then whacking the cat over the
head with a blunt object. Like Misha she might only know practical
magic. It mattered little as his options were limited, however he
mused his plan would suffice nonetheless...

----------

	The most terrifying shriek echoed through the warehouse. It was like
the ghost of a sick woman casting a curse on the world. From the
shadows a naked fox man ran at the thieves with a crate held high in
both hands.

	The young mage fell backward in stunned terror. She threw up an arm
and swang in the attacker's direction. A slew of metal shards cast
themselves on the vulpine. He ducked and weaved and swore each time
one hit. They slowly flew back and forth around their target as they
gradually piled up on him until he could no longer move under the
weight, he fell to the floor battered and bruised.

	Misha snarled and rose from the pile of metal. He lost his focus
however, when he could feel something soft between his toes...

	“What?!” Misha yelled as the shards of metal softened and coursed
upward. It pooled around his hand and trickled up his arm. The fox
fell back with the blob of liquid metal following and consuming him in
its mass.

	It was difficult to see the fox at all for many moments but the
silver metal began to grow a shade darker, the gold changed its hue
into something a blood red. A quadruped entity began to emerge, too
large for a fox but it had no humanoid form at it’s fore.

	The metal hardened on what looked to be a sizable beast. Crimson
plates covered its torso, black it’s extremities.

	“I have a bit of a temper... when one of my friends has been
wronged...” The DIRE Fox growled at the would-be crooks.

	“We’re not scared of you...” The boy, presumably sibling, shouted,
“big dog just needs a big stick.”

	“Fox! And this fox bites HARD!” He barked and pounced.

	They both evaded the large fox then ran at his flanks. Misha leaped
back and turned his attention to the girl, who he hoped to be the only
magical wielder of the two.

	She placed a support beam between herself and the beast and raised
her hand up to him; Misha suddenly felt his armour buckle and ripple
on his back, as if it were about to be torn off.

	The fox blindly leaped forward, alarmed at the sensation the suit was
giving him. His head slammed into the beam, sending some debris
trickling down from the roof. After shaking his head he felt something
grapple his armoured ears (albeit only one contained an ear).

	Feeling trapped he quickly rolled over and heard a loud yelp when his
attacker landed underneath him. This time the same ripple went through
his armour and a portion was torn free!

	“Get off my brother!” The mage said in exasperation, holding out her
arm once more.

	Misha snarled but then squirmed when he was restrained by the neck
and punched in the unprotected spot on his ribs! He jabbed his still
struggling attacker with a steel clawed paw and then bat away his
sister as the bare patch was gradually covered again in flowing metal.

	No sooner had he gotten the upper hand several crates fell on him and
they tried to trap him again. Adrenalin and brute strength won out and
he freed himself once more. And then it started again...

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

	“Truce?” She said as he stood over her, and her brother stood above
him with yet another crate.

	“Truce...” Misha answered.

	She crawled out from underneath and rested against the wall. Her
brother let go of the vulpine’s neck and Misha paced back a bit so
they were both in view.

	“Who are you, tell me your names, the both of you.” The dire fox ordered.

	Neither of them said anything and just looked at each other.

	“You WILL cooperate or are you content with shackles?” He growled.

	“You’ll lock us up anyway.” The boy countered.

	“That’s up to you,” Misha shot back, “Tell me who you are and why you
stole from my friend.”

	“This town’s a hole! And you have plenty of gold... axe wielding...”
He mumbled and then went silent.

	Misha barked and they both covered their ears, “What? What was that?!
If HALF the steaming stories were true you’d both be dead now and I’d
be feasting on your innards!” He took a deep breath, “You kids have
talent and resolve, it’s a shame to see that wasted.”

	“That’s why we want out of this town.”

	“I wasn’t talking about the town, I meant rotting in the dungeons...”

	“Please, Master Brightleaf, forgive us... my name is Solena and this
is my sister Falkner. We’ve got no prospects, we’ve got nothing here.”

	“Tomorrow you will go to the keep. Someone will be waiting there when
you arrive.” When he saw their reaction he continued, “This does not
concern the Watch, I want you to be evaluated.”

	“Evaluated for what...?” Falkner asked nervously.

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

	“Wha?” The feline spluttered. He was no longer grasping his head but
still resting in the hay.

	Stealth got a good long look at the very odd animal sporting very odd armour.

	“Surprise!” Misha yipped and tail wagged, “Do you like my new form,
oh, I found your toy.”

	The feline grasped his head again, “What... did you do to it...”

	“Silly cat, I retrieved it!” He said as he approached, “I think it likes me.”

	Stealth reached out and batted the fox, he missed the nose and his
hand instead landed on the vulpine’s fore paw.

	As soon as they touched, Misha felt a surge of warmth and his armour
coating began to sag and ripple. His tail shed itself of the plating,
then one by one they folded and gathered. It pooled around his forepaw
and spilled up the cheetah’s arm. As the last of it drained from the
vulpine’s limb, the metal faded from its crimson and jet black, back
to silver and gold as it coursed onto the feline.

	Stealth fell back in a heap from the weight but maintained his grip
on the fox as he shifted and grew. When the metal finally found form
and substance Stealth regained his footing and stood on three paws,
the forth still grasping that of the fox.

	“You can let go now, Misha.” Said the cheetah.

	“Ok.” He answered and placed the new bare pad on the ground, “My paws
are still larger.”

	“So what happened?” Stealth asked.

	“Well, I turned into a... into this.” He motioned himself with a paw,
“And I took care of those thieves.”

	“What, did you kill them or something? Were they big? Tough?” The
cheetah asked, changing his form into something more humanoid now that
he was no longer bare.

	“Ah...” Misha answered, shifting into a foxtaur, relieved to find
that he could still do so. “I let them go.”

	Stealth just looked at him, “But...”

	“But... they’ll show up tomorrow morning in the Training Hall!” The
foxtaur said cheerfully.

	“I see.” The cheetah answered, “And you believe that.”

	“Well they’ve nothing to do and nothing to eat here, I’ve given them
an offer and we could use their skills; one of them can use magic and
they kept me at bay until I had to talk it out!”

	“Yep” Stealth said.

	“They’ll show!” Misha insisted.

	“Sure.” Stealth said.

	"And if they don’t; well I found them once I can do it again," Misha
commented. “Hmmm” he mused and rubbed his chin, “I still owe you
tea... want to increase the bet? If you’re right I need to buy you an
entire banquet but if they show up tomorrow you have to polish all the
armour in Long House with a tooth brush!”

	“Hmmm...” The feline mused, “You know what, I believe you; they’ll show.”

	“Oh?” The vulpine’s ear drooped.

	“Sorry, Misha, there’s just no way I’m falling for that, not today.
Now you still owe me tea! There has to be a tavern here somewhere in
this town.”

	“Ah... you do realise I’m naked?”

	“Yeah, so?” Stealth asked in mild irritation.

	“Well I remembered I don’t have any money... why do you think I left
you in a barn? But as I OWN the Jolly Collie paying for a meal there
is not a problem. And they do have few sets of my clothes there,” the
fox explained. “I keep a little apartment there.”

	They began to walk out slowly but then Stealth halted, “Wait a
minute, I just realised something... is this normal?”

	“What?” Asked the fox.

	“This... you know, this.” Answered the cheetah.

	“What?” Misha persisted.

	“Everything! You know, you hiding me in a barn, and you’re naked, and
stuff... won’t people ask questions or something?”

	“Well as a foxtaur I don’t need to wear any clothes.” Misha
commented, “Or I could dye myself pink and people will just brush it
off as another of the Crazy Longs’ practical jokes.”

	As the fox spoke, Stealth’s armour buckled and fell to the floor once
more. “No. No, I am not having a good day.” The feline mumbled.

	“That’s okay, I’ll fetch the cart again, wait here!” Misha answered cheerfully.

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

	It was dark by the time they entered the walls of Euper and then the
Jolly Collie. To their surprise some of the Longs were waiting in the
courtyard.

	“Stop just here...” Misha whispered.

	Before Stealth could answer, the vulpine had shed his humanoid
portion and had become nothing more than a giant fox pulling a cart
behind him.

	When they did enter the courtyard the three Longs, Danielle, Finbar
and of course Caroline looked somewhere between alarmed and confused.

	“Stealth! Where is... what is...?” The otter stuttered, looking at
the big fox. "Misha? Is that Misha?"

	"Yup!" The dire fox said with a wag of the tail.

	Caroline stormed up to him and pulled his snout up by the whiskers,
"What happened to you?! What did you do!?!?" She demanded in alarm.

	"I just changed a little. Well maybe a lot!" He winced.

	“Misha, you’re... bigger!” Danielle exclaimed.

	"Bigger huh? Did you make EVERYTHING bigger?"

	Misha growled at the ferret.

	“Or do you just have more fleas and need a bigger food dish?”

	 “Well where have you been all day? We waited hours and went to look
for you!” She said loudly.

	“Ah, Stealth took me to...” The fox began.

	“Where did you take him?!” The irate otter demanded from the cheetah.

	“Hey now!” Stealth yipped, “Misha raced me to some little town and my
stuff got stolen” He answered with his hands raised.

	“Why were his things stolen?!” Caroline asked Misha.

	“But I got it back! Pretty good for fighting naked, if you ask me.”

	"Naked? What, naked as in morph form naked?” Danielle asked.

	“You fought naked?” Caroline reiterated.

	“Well, yes, I did.” He said softly, “The strangest things can aid you
in battle.” The fox commented.

	“Yup.” Finbar agreed, “His little thing flops about and slaps people.”

	Danielle grabbed the ferret by his ear, twisted it and pulled him
quickly from the courtyard.

	Misha tilted his head and looked up with as much affection he could
muster; a trait he’d seen Madog perform countless times, “Love, let’s
discuss this over a nice hot bath upstairs, actually, forget the
talk.”

	“Right the FIRST time...” She said and pulled him indoors, by the ear.

	Misha yelped and whimpered as he trotted at a fast pace, a heavy cart
still lumbering along behind him.

	“...So yeah, I’ll just leave that with you...” Stealth called out
before turning and disappearing out the main gate.


Dire Disillusion
Copyright (c) 2009 Michael Nastov



-- 
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