[Mkguild] Healing Wounds in Arabarb (21 of ?)

[C. Matthias]

Healing Wounds in Arabarb
By Charles Matthias


Lindsey felt cold stone beneath him. He groaned as sensation came 
back to his body. Everything felt cold and hard. He tried to lift a 
hand to his head but something held back his wrists. And ankles.

He opened his eyes.

The room was dark but for a single lantern positioned next to a 
closed wooden door. The room was no more than ten feet long and six 
feet wide, perhaps a servant's sleeping chambers at one time, but now 
completely empty apart for himself and another figure crouching on 
the far end. The other figure was man-sized and dressed in fine furs 
that cloaked most of his form. However, the tail that gently swayed 
back and forth across the stone floor was clearly his own. The tips 
of his ears were pointed, while down his back descended long, waxen 
hair a blend of black and gray.

Another of Gmork's puppies perhaps? Either that, or judging by the 
quality of the fur, this was Gmork himself. Lindsey stayed absolutely 
still. His captor was turned away from him still. Best not to let him 
know that he was awake yet.

He looked down at his hands and legs and could see that manacles were 
on each and attached by a chain to a ring imbedded in the floor. They 
were old and clearly in poor shape. As a boy he probably could not 
break them, but as a man he could easily rend them and gain his freedom.

He took one last look at the one he supposed to be Gmork and 
satisfied that he was not paying attention, tried to trigger the 
spell Jessica had given him to return to adulthood. She had assured 
him he'd know how and that the effects would be instantaneous, but 
simply issuing a mental command to his body accomplished nothing. He 
tried imagining his shape flowing back into the body of a grown man 
just like Charles had described the way he'd shifted from taur form 
and back. Still nothing.

His heart trembled with sudden and growing anxiety. Nothing he tried 
seemed to make even one new hair grow let alone return him to his 
adult self. His hands began to shake with a horrifying fear. He 
closed his eyes and forced himself to be still as best he could, but 
still he heard the chain begin to rattle in his trembling.

"I removed the spell that would return you to adulthood," the other 
figure said in a guttural voice. His eyes popped open and he saw the 
crouching figure turn about. His legs were misshapen as if they were 
halfway between a man and animal Keeper who walked on his toes. His 
face was mostly human in structure, though with pronounced jaw, a 
wide, flat nose, and dark tear marks along each corner. When the 
lantern flickered across his eyes, Lindsey could see that they were a 
soft gold in hue, the irises swollen like those of an animal.

He smiled and revealed long, jaundiced canines. "You are stuck as a 
child, Andrig. The spell keeping you a child grows in strength each 
day. If nothing is done, you will think, you will feel, and you will 
act more like a boy each day until you cannot even remember being a 
man. And what is more, a boy who can never age, a boy who can never 
grow up or be anything more than a boy. I think the Baron will find 
you a very welcome plaything for his bed then."

Lindsey listened in horror and shook, trying to move as far away as 
the chains would allow. "No!" he stammered and then with sheer force 
of will, mastered his trembling. "No! I will not be his plaything or 
yours. Gmork!"

He smiled and bowed his head. "You know me. I am flattered. But, you 
are in no position to object to anything the Baron or I wish. No one 
will rescue you. Even now, your allies are being arrested. How else 
do you think we know your name, Andrig?"

He hadn't quite realized it the first time, but now Lindsey felt a 
shudder of fear. If they knew the name he'd assumed, that meant that 
at least one of his friends had been captured. Lindsey narrowed his 
eyes and tried to look as fierce as possible as he crouched there; 
the chains were far too short for him to even crouch. "But have you 
captured them all? I have more than one."

Gmork laughed. "Of course you do. You are from Metamor. But that is a 
very long way from here. They cannot help you. Your allies in 
Fjellvidden cannot help you. Unless you wish to be the Baron's 
plaything for the rest of your life, and be a frightened and beaten, 
and broken child for that entire life, then you are going to tell me 
everything I want to know."

Lindsey shuddered as he remembered the powerful Calephas standing 
over him, pushing that cup of wine into his hands. The tiger Keeper, 
still with claws and fangs, yet a broken being and no more than a 
slave. Is that the end destined for him? He'd rather have died at 
Marzac then to end up like that.

"Oh," Gmork added with the nonchalance of an afterthought, "the Baron 
has not touched you in his special way. It was a promise I exacted 
from him for your benefit. Tell me what I wish to know, and I will 
make sure that you never see his bed again."

"And become your slave instead?" Lindsey sneered and spat on the 
ground. "I will see you both dead."

Gmork stood a little taller and his face pressed out into a beastly 
snout as he growled and his jowls flecked with spittle. "No my boy, 
you will do as I say! Do not believe you are the only one who will 
suffer consequences for refusing me!" He turned to the door and 
opened it, his hand swollen with claws. "Bring them!" He said to 
somebody waiting outside.

The hall outside the small room had more light and for a moment Gmork 
was illuminated by it. Lindsey could see that the fur cloaks he bore 
were fashioned from the hides of wolves. So too did his snout and 
tail appear, as well as the particular colors of his hair. Whatever 
Gmork truly was, he seemed to have some affinity for the shape of the wolf.

And whoever he spoke to must also because Lindsey heard the familiar 
staccato of claws on stone as the figure scuttled away and returned a 
moment later followed by boots and very familiar squawking voices.

Gmork smiled as another misshapen man entered the small room to take 
up a position next to the door, while in filed three familiar birds. 
Quoddy the gull and Machias the puffin were both shackled with rope 
around their legs to keep them from moving quickly, while the third 
which must be Lubec the Cormorant was let free. The way he looked at 
Gmork made Lindsey's stomach turn. It was not in fear, but in 
complete and utter adoration. Lastly came a pair of soldiers with the 
elderly Strom between them. They pushed the shepherd to his knees and 
stood just outside the door waiting.

"Oh my master, I brought them like you said!" Lubec crowed as he 
spread his long neck down on the ground in obeisance. Quoddy and 
Machias exchanged fearful glances with Lindsey as the mage leaned 
over their brother and began to stroke the back of his neck with one 
paw-hand. Spittle drizzled from the side of his jaw to land on the bird's head.

"Very good, my pet. Very good." He leaned back up and gestured to the 
wall. "Now wait there with your brothers."

"Will you help them serve you too, Master?" Lubec asked as he quickly 
pushed himself against the wall as ordered.

"I may do that. It's all up to Andrig." Gmork turned back to him and 
let the snow fade some from his face. But the dark nose remained, and 
it quivered as dark golden eyes bore down on him. "The choice of what 
happens to your friends is up to you, Andrig. Tell me all I want to 
know, and I will let them go. Even the Cormorant." That suggestion 
made Lubec's eyes wild with sudden anxiety. "But only if you answer 
my questions."

Lindsey scowled but said nothing. He put his legs beneath him and 
rose to a crouch, propping his rear against the cold wall. It was all 
he could manage, but at least he wasn't laying on the floor anymore.

At seeing no response, Gmork pulled a small brass bauble from the 
folds of his cloaks and rolled it back and forth in one hand. He 
tapped his claws against it with each swirl. "How many allies do you 
have in Fjellvidden?" Lindsey said nothing, doing his best not to 
look at any of the birds or at Strom. How well he recalled the 
torture that the Marquis had made them endure. He wasn't going to be 
broken like this.

Unperturbed at the lack of response, Gmork asked, "Did Metamor send 
anyone else to aid you? How did one of their mages unlock the secret 
to giving you another Curse? What do you know of me and of the Baron?"

Still Lindsey remained silent. Gmork chuckled so suddenly that it 
that made his heart jump. "I do not expect you to answer so simply. 
Your allies are here, but you do not understand what I can do to 
them. I think you need to witness this to know that telling me what I 
want is truly the only way to save them."

"Touch them and I'll make you regret it," Lindsey said in his darkest 
voice possible. Coming form a boy's throat, it sounded petulant 
rather than threatening. Despite himself, he couldn't help but feel 
very small and weak.

Gmork turned his head to one side and wagged his tail. "You? You will 
make me? Regret? I have not regretted in a long time." With only 
three steps Gmork was bending over Lindsey, his jaws brushing through 
Lindsey's red hair as meaty hand stroked down one cheek until a claw 
pressed painfully beneath his chin without breaking the skin. "You my 
little boy, will regret a great many things if you do not start 
telling me what I want to know."

"Don't listen to him," Quoddy squawked before he was pecked in the 
shoulder by his brother Lubec.

"Listen to him!" Lubec added with an adoration bordering on worship.

Gmork forced Lindsey to look into his face for several long seconds. 
His snout pressed out ever so slightly, a long red tongue breaking 
between thin, dark lips and framed between long canines as gold and 
green eyes held him with an insouciant hunger. "Watch me, little one."

Swiftly, the mage spun back around and loped on all fours to the 
shepherd who was on hands and knees with long beard brushing the 
floor. Gmork licked his face and the man pressed back away from him 
before being kicked forward again by the puppy. The puppy was even 
more beastly than Gmork, featuring the ears of a wolf and long gangly 
arms ending in stumpy, clawed fingers. These he pressed into the 
shepherd's back to hold him in place.

Gmork set the bauble down in front of Strom and then looked back at 
Lindsey. "This man I suspect you only met a few days ago. But your 
fellow Metamorians are truly your friends. Watch what I do with this 
one, and know that I will do it to the silly birds if you do not 
answer my questions."

"Don't tell him anything!" Strom said with a gasp.

"Interesting," Gmork said with a little laugh followed by a growl. 
"You will beg for that and it will tear out his heart. Look at me. 
Look at me!" Strom, struggled against the words, but his head lifted, 
and his pale eyes were transfixed by the mage's domineering gaze. 
"Very good. Do not look away. But keep your eyes on mine, and your 
ears trained to my voice."

Strom tried to turn aside, but his head was held fast as if it were 
placed in a vice. His lips quivered and his teeth gnashed, but no 
matter how he moved his muscles, the eyes remained open. Beneath him, 
the little bauble began to glow very faintly. Lindsey looked between 
the bauble, the shepherd, and the disfigured mage in growing horror. 
Against the wall Lubec flapped his wings in obvious delight.

Gmork continued speaking in his half-growl half almost conversational 
lilt. "You will speak only when I ask you something. Do you 
understand. Tell me if you understand."

"I..." Strom's lips moved and his tongue moved with it, though each 
word drew forth like a stone passing through the bladder. "I understand."

"Good. That is very good." Gmork spoke slowly as his muzzle retracted 
back into his face until he almost looked human. "I'm very pleased 
that you understand. That is good. You should always listen to my 
voice and obey what I tell you. Now, what is your name?"

His hands balled into fists, and as the light swelled inside the 
bauble, he blurted, "Strom! Strom son of Galan son of Gaard."

"Well, Strom son of Galan son of Gaard, you offer me more than I ask 
for." He leaned forward and wrapped the man's chin in one hand. 
"Thank you. Be judicious in this, Strom. I ask what I want for a 
reason. Does it matter whose son you are? Does it matter to you truly 
whose son you are? Is not my voice enough?"

He shuddered some and tried to look away, but could not tear himself 
from those vibrant eyes and that slithering voice that growled as 
deep as a bear's and was as silken as wine. With the most weak of 
voices, mewling like a lost calf, Strom uttered a word that felt like 
a knife in Lindsey's stomach. "Aye!"

"You want to obey me, don't you?"

"Aye!"

"It is your every desire. Let go the fear, my little man. Let it go." 
Gmork stroked him down the back of the head and smiled once more. 
"Let it go. I am all you need."

Strom swallowed, the callow cheeks turning upward into a hopeful 
smile, eyes filling with the same look of adoration that consumed the 
Cormorant. And at his feet, the bauble glowed brightly, shining like 
a jewel. Gmork licked the man's face with his long red tongue again 
and continued to stroke his gray hair back. "Do you love me, Strom?"

"Aye, I do!"

Gmork crouched lower and wiped the palm of his hands across the 
flagstones. He held them up to the shepherd and with sublime 
sweetness said, "Then clean my hands as a cat might."

Strom pressed his face into those hands with an eagerness Lindsey had 
never seen in the man even when he was tending his sheep. His tongue 
ran across each thick fingers and the palms with assiduous care and 
exuberant desire. At each curved claw he licked so firmly that they 
would tear into his tongue. And then he'd lick more gently to sweep 
up the droplets of blood he'd left behind. Lindsey lowered his head, 
too sick to watch anymore as the man he'd only started to know and 
had begun thinking of as a sort of uncle became a pet to this monster.

"Very, very good, little Strom. I am pleased." Gmork withdrew his 
hands and picked up the glowing bauble. "Andrig, is something wrong?"

"You vile monster!" Lindsey snarled, lurching forward against his 
chains before they yanked him back. "You monster!"

The pup holding Strom down growled through a beastly snout and his 
tail went stiff behind him. Gmork waved him still and then shook his 
head in disappointment. "Do not say such things about me. You are 
upsetting my son." He then lifted the bauble and held it up so that 
Lindsey could see it. "Whatever will Strom had, whatever thoughts, 
hopes, dreams, prayers, all of that, all that makes him who he is, is 
now mine. He lives only to do exactly as I wish and has no other 
desire or love. Lubec, my little bird, is the same. Shall I make his 
brothers mine too?"

Quoddy and Machias stared in horror at their brother and Strom, and 
then looked to Lindsey fearfully. They were overwhelmed and could not 
think clearly. Lindsey closed his eyes to them and gritted his teeth. 
"I will not give you anything!"

"I can do more than make them my slaves," Gmork said as if announcing 
that it would rain that evening. He turned back to Strom and let his 
snout protrude again. "Strom, would you like me to tear out your 
stomach and feast on your innards while you are still alive?"

Strom quivered and with one hand scratched at the cloaks he still 
wore in order to expose his stomach. "Oh, my master, please do so! I 
want you to feast on me!"

Gmork licked the man's face again, more slowly this time, before 
leaning back and casting a sideward glance at Lindsey. "I will do so, 
only if Andrig does not tell me anything. If he stays silent, I will 
feast on you. But, if he begins to speak, if he begins to answer my 
questions, I'm afraid I will have to let you live for now and will 
need to sustain myself with the flesh of a simple animal. The forest 
is full of them, it will not be hard. But I am so looking forward to 
eating you. I want to delight in the look of exquisite joy on your 
face as you watch your innards slide down my gullet, and your blood 
smearing my snout and arms. Your last breaths will be like sweetest 
perfume to me, Strom. But, it will only happen if Andrig does not 
answer my questions. What do you say to that?"

Lindsey had listened dumbfounded at every word drooling from the 
mage's tongue. Facing Marzac he'd had to endure such vile temptations 
and evils that even the memory of it would bring on nightmares that 
would take days to dispel. But each of his temptations then had been 
to power, to sensuality, to defeating his enemies. Never had it been 
to such raw beastly hunger as this.

And to his horror, Strom turned to him, with the most pitiful agony 
in his eyes as he bewailed and begged the boy, "Oh, Andrig! Please, 
don't tell my master anything! If you do he won't eat me! Tell him 
nothing! Nothing!"

Lindsey doubled over and vomited as he fought back sobs.

"Now, Strom," Gmork said with a faintly stern command, "we must give 
him a chance to answer. It wouldn't be fair to start feasting while 
he is still retching." And while Strom whined his desire to die, 
Lindsey managed to back away on hands and knees from his vomit and 
cower in a ball. He was too scared to even think of looking at the 
monster anymore.

But Gmork would not leave him alone. He walked over to him in his 
crouch, and looked at him with those hideous gold-green eyes that 
seemed almost to glow in the darkness. "Well, Andrig? What will it 
be? How many other allies do you have? Where are they? What does 
Metamor know of us? Answer whichever one you wish."

Lindsey licked his lips, glanced at the birds and Strom, and 
whimpered. "You have all my friends!"

Gmork shook his head. "I know there are at least two more. Your aunt 
Elizabaeg for instance, and your older brother. Chellag is his name I believe."

Lindsey snapped his head up, body still. "How..."

The beast smiled and Lindsey curled back into a ball. "So there's at 
least two more of you. Where is your aunt and your older brother?"

Lindsey began to weep.

Gmork waited several seconds before grabbing Lindsey by the hair and 
yanking his head up. "Open your eyes and watch!" Lindsey stared, too 
frightened to disobey. Strom stared hopefully at Gmork, and Lubec 
stared with raw envy at Strom. Quoddy and Machias were both struck 
dumb with their own fear.

Gmork nodded his head once, and the pup began to smile wide, his 
snout becoming even longer and fangs fiercer. His hands pressed down 
into Strom's back until the claws drew blood, raking it into rivulets 
right through the cloaks. Strom gasped and fell to his side, at which 
point the pup buried his head int the man's belly. Blood fountained, 
and the shepherd gasped in anguish, "Master... it was to be you..."

The pup quickly disemboweled him with his fangs. Strom's intestines 
spilled across the flagstones as blood drenched the pup's fur-coated 
arms and face. Machias squawked and tried to break free, but Lubec 
held him down with his wings. The two soldiers averted their gaze. 
Lindsey screamed. Gmork laughed and drooled.

Strom's body stopped quivering a moment later while the pup lapped up 
the blood as it oozed free from the now empty cavity between the 
shepherd's waist and chest.

Gmork ran one meaty hand down the back of Lindsey's head and showed 
him the bauble. The bright glow flickered for a moment before winking 
out. The room felt even colder than before. In a low growl, Gmork 
promised, "And that is what will happen to the birds one by one until 
you begin telling me the truth."

Lindsey covered his head with his hands and tried to push the 
deformed man away. His heart ached and his chest heaved with sobs and 
nausea. In his mind he could hear question after bewildered question 
bounce back and forth. How could anyone do such a thing? What hope 
did he have of Gmork letting them go even if he did answer the 
questions? How could this creature have such power over the minds of 
others? How would he ever free Arabarb now?

And then, in the voice of long dead Zhypar, one last question came to 
him. If Gmork could do that to Strom and to Lubec, why hadn't he done 
it to him?

That question stuck in his mind and fought through all the fear and 
all the childish emotions. It quickened what remained of his strength 
ad marshaled the scattered remnants of his will. He straightened his 
head, murmured a prayer for dead Strom, and then glowered back at 
Gmork. "Answer me this, Gmork. Why haven't you done this to me? You 
want answers, why not steal my will as you stole Strom's and Lubec's, 
and however many others you've taken?"

Gmork glared at him suddenly, and took a step back from him. He said nothing.

"There's some reason you haven't done this to me, Gmork," Lindsey 
continued, feeling strength and contempt return with each word. "Does 
that sick fishguts Calephas want me for something? Or can you not 
touch me at all? Is it some limit to your magic? You wouldn't go 
through this charade if not for some reason!"

Gmork pursed his lips for one moment before turning to the Cormorant. 
"Lubec, come forward." The Cormorant did so eagerly, even while both 
Machias and Quoddy tried to hold him back. But he slipped free of 
their grasp and was soon standing before the crouching figure, 
keeping himself just small enough in stature so that he could look up 
at his master.

Lindsey didn't like where that was going so shouted, "I've been 
touched by magic you could only dream of! I've been to Marzac!"

"Lubec would you lay your neck in my..." Gmork's ears turned and then 
with it his head. For the first time, his eyes were wide with 
surprise. "Marzac?" And then he mastered himself and snorted. "Never 
heard of it."

"You are a very poor liar, Gmork."

Gmork snarled, revealing canine molars beneath his jowls. "We already 
know that you are! You tell me this is all that you have when I know 
your aunt and older brother, if that is who they really are, are in 
the city with you! Lubec is mine, and you do not think I know 
everything his brothers unwittingly told him?" He barked a laugh and 
his ears covered themselves with fur to lay back against his head, 
tail lifting in anger. "And you think to fool me with so vain a tale 
as Marzac? You are an idiot!"

"I was there," Lindsey insisted. "I was there when Yajakali himself 
attempted to turn time backwards! I saw his death! I saw that place 
go up in flames that rivaled the sun! I saw it, Gmork! I've been to 
Marzac. You cannot touch that!"

"Yajakali?" Gmork let the word roll across his tongue as if it were a 
morsel of food he'd never before tasted. "The last time I heard that 
name, Nasoj had one of his least brilliant ideas. Oh little liar, how 
did you learn of it?"

Lindsey snorted. "I told you the truth."

Gmork grabbed him by the hair again, yanking so that it actually 
hurt, the first time Gmork had actually physically hurt him. "Even if 
you are not lying to me, you are still a fool! You cannot stop 
anything I am doing, Andrig. You cannot stop it. So you try to tempt 
me with rumors of a magical power that I have no hope, nor any other 
mage living or dead, of controlling!"

He tossed Lindsey's head back and stomped away, falling into a low 
crouch next to Strom's head. The pup was still greedily feeding off 
his flesh and had yanked out some of the rib bones to gnaw on. "Do 
you know that Nasoj himself once thought it a bold idea to send mages 
to the Chateau to steal one of Yajakali's artifacts? Most of his 
mages didn't even know what the place was. I knew. And a few others. 
And we assured him that he was courting his own death with this plan. 
It's the only time I have ever seen Nasoj give up a plan."

A look of profound bitterness crossed Gmork's features. He looked 
down at his pup for a moment and ever so tenderly stroked his lupine 
ears. He did this for several seconds before turning one eye toward 
Lindsey. "There is still a great deal of the man in you, Andrig. I 
grant you that. Your plan to impersonate a child and murder Calephas 
in his bed when he tried to rape you was inspired. It might have even 
worked if you hadn't trusted one of my pets."

After one last stroke of the pup's ear, Gmork took a step toward 
Lindsey and growled low. "You have managed to make me angry. You have 
distracted me. Enjoy this little victory. It is the last one you 
shall ever have over me." He then snapped with such violence that 
Lindsey jumped back. "Lubec! Here!"

The Cormorant waddled as fast as he could to the deformed man's side. 
"I am here, my master!"

"Do you want to see your brothers call me master?"

"Oh, aye! With all my heart!"

"And do you want them to feed my hunger, to sustain my flesh with their own?"

Lubec nodded and squawked, "I want my flesh to feed you too!"

"It will my little bird. But, wouldn't you rather watch your brothers 
feed me, knowing that they go before you and will welcome you in my 
gullet when your time comes? And it will come soon. Wouldn't you rather that?"

The Cormorant flapped his wings with avian delight. "Oh, aye, my 
master! Please help them yearn to feed you!"

"I will." He cast a sidelong glance at Lindsey and then said, "But 
first you have to choose. Which of your brothers do you want to feed me first?"

Lubec turned around and looked at his brothers who stared in horror 
and shook their heads. A black wing lifted and gestured at the 
seagull. "Quoddy! He's my older brother, master. He has always led us 
well. And I want him to lead us into you."

"Quoddy it is then," Gmork removed the bauble from his cloak and 
started toward the bird when a noise outside in the hall arrested 
him. He lifted his ears, even as the pup stood up from his meal to 
peer out into the hall. "It sounds as if we are going to have more 
guests." He gestured to one of the guards. "Move that body into the 
corner and make some room." The guard was quick to comply, averting 
his eyes the entire time

It took Lindsey a moment more to discern the noise that Gmork's 
sensitive ears picked up. Boots. Several people were coming down the 
hall. Into the doorway stepped a Lutin carrying a guisarme, but he 
was apparently only the escort. Following him was a mustached soldier 
and a very familiar red-haired young man.

Lindsey leaped forward against the chains and before he realized what 
he was doing, shouted, "Chellag!"

Pharcellus smiled to him briefly, before his eyes took in the scene 
before him in the room. But it was not he who reacted first and in 
such a surprising and violent manner. Gmork turned his head to greet 
his newest prisoner and then jumped backward, arms thrust before him 
curling with shards of ice. A single word erupted from his throat 
like the worst curse he could imagine. "Dragon!"

Pharcellus's body swelled in proportion, his head stretching out into 
vicious jaws and a long neck covered in scales. Men screamed in 
horror as the rest of him swelled outward and into the hall, their 
screams cut short as their bodies were crushed between the dragon and 
the wall. The soldier who'd brought him, jumped out of the way into 
the room, while the Lutin fell back into the hall opposite the 
dragon's bulk and stared in wide-eyed wonder.

Both of the soldiers in the room quailed in fear at the sight of a 
dragon suddenly within the castle walls and staring very angrily at 
them. Machias and Quoddy ran toward Pharcellus only to turn back to 
Lindsey who was still chained to the floor. He shouted at them to 
run, but his words were lost of the roar of what happened next.

The ice coating Gmork's arms exploded in a rain of biting sleet that 
drove back at Pharcellus's head. It sliced against his skin so that 
he put one massive clawed hand in front of his face to shield his 
eyes. Little rivulets of blood splattered from cuts in his neck, one 
of them landing in the pup's face. The pup yowled in agony and thrust 
himself at Pharcellus with bolts of lightning erupting from his arms. 
These cascaded off of Pharcellus's hide harmlessly unlike Gmork's missiles.

Pharcellus slammed his free hand against the pup, pressing him into 
the wall, and then raked his claws so quickly across his chest and 
neck that the pup spat blood as his chest erupted in a crimson rose. 
His head deformed into a long snout that yipped once before tilting 
to the side and tearing free of the body.

Gmork screamed in fury and the ice missiles became veritable javelins 
that ripped into Pharcellus's neck. The dragon yanked his head back 
out of the doorway, even as the entrance was completely coated in ice 
shards that shattered with the sound of thunderclaps. Lindsey pressed 
his hands to his head, even as the walls rumbled with the dragon backing away.

In a rage even more apoplectic, Gmork chased after the dragon before 
he and the Lutin jumped back into the room to avoid a plume of flame. 
But Gmork was after him again, firing bolts of energy so bright that 
Lindsey had to look away. Shouts and screams echoed and the dragon 
smashed the walls on either side so heavily that Lindsey could hear 
stones falling through the tumult. But the walls of his room remained stable.

Inside the room the first to recover was the Lutin who pressed the 
tip of the guisarme to Lindsey's neck and with a wide-eyed stare, the 
little green monster asked, "You know that dragon?"

Lindsey snorted in disgust at the little creature. "All my life."

The Lutin lowered the weapon and snarled at the three soldiers. "Help Gmork!"

But before any of the three could react, Gmork was back inside the 
doorway. He rounded on Lubec who trembled in one corner. "Was that 
Pharcellus?" Lubec nodded quickly. "Why didn't you tell me he could 
become human?"

Lubec wailed like a whore afraid her client was going to beat her to 
death. "I didn't know! Please forgive me, master!"

"It's done," Gmork replied. "He burst through the wall and they fled 
to forests in the east. He's injured so he won't go far. Lubec, fly 
over the town and see if you can find their allies."

The cormorant's head bobbed up and down and down and then he almost 
flew out of the room in his haste to do his master's will. The 
soldiers managed to straighten themselves and look half-dignified in 
the meantime. Gmork's eye roved to them next. "You two, go to the 
Listening room and tell my other pups to meet me in the prisons 
immediately. Sergeant Cajudy, you will help me carry my son's body to 
the dungeons."

"Of course, Master mage," the mustached guard replied as he pulled 
his tunic down straight.

Gmork looked down at his pup even as the first two soldiers left. He 
stroked his paws across the bloodied face and then moved the head 
back to where it should have been attached to the body. Lindsey 
wasn't sure what was worse, seeing this creature ravenous with brutal 
hunger or apparently weeping over its child.

But the moment was brief and Gmork turned to him. His eyes were 
fierce and full of rage. "Yajgaj, escort the boy to Calephas. The 
Baron may have him now."

The Lutin peered out the doorway at whatever destruction lay out 
there and jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "What of dragon?"

"I will deal with that shortly, Lutin. Tend to your charge."

The Lutin had a small ring of keys at his belt, and with these he 
unlocked Lindsey from the ring in the floor. His hands and legs were 
still chained, but at least he could finally stand. And at least 
Pharcellus had saved Quoddy and Machias. He hoped and prayed they'd be okay.

The Lutin guided him out of the room and past the splatters of blood 
and into the ruined hallway now opened in one section to the night 
air. A shimmering curtain of light stood between them and a drop of 
at least forty feet down a sheer wall. Truly Gmork's magic was more 
powerful than he'd ever suspected.

The foul beast watched him with loathing until they were finally out 
of his sight.


----------

May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,

Charles Matthias


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