[Mkguild] Healing Wounds in Arabarb (62 of 62)

[C. Matthias]

Final part!  Wow, this story got quite a bit longer than I had 
originally intended, introduced more characters than I expected, 
spawned more plotlines than I had planned, and seems to have given 
some really cool ideas to a few folk.  Thank you to all for reading 
and enjoying the tale.  Big thanks to Amiga for is typo report on 
each section.  And big thanks to Hallan and Christof for being my 
beta readers.  You guys really helped me keep in focus.

Healing Wounds in Arabarb
By Charles Matthias


April 30, CR 708


"That's it!" Pharcellus shouted as he reclined in the meadow south of 
Fjellvidden. Numerous children had gathered and were climbing on his 
back and tail, as well as over his paws and marveling at the size of 
his claws. In just two weeks since Calephas's death so many families 
had come out of hiding to return to the city that stood at Arabarb's 
center and was now free. There were a few mothers who watched their 
children anxiously as they played with the large dragon, but 
Pharcellus was gentle and enjoyed delighting them, just as he had 
done once for Lhindesaeg and Andrig.

But most of his attention was on his brother Lindsey as he learned to 
use his wings and body to conquer the air. The small gray-scale 
swooped across the field with his wings spread wide, eyes bright as 
he kept aloft and managed to bank in slow circles. He was still a 
little clumsy with getting into the sky, and while his landings were 
definitely improving they still made Pharcellus wince. But over all 
Lindsey took to dragonhood very well.

"Now tilt your head first and the rest of your body will follow as 
you turn," Pharcellus boomed as he watched Lindsey struggle to 
tighten his circles. "And don't turn in the same direction for too 
long. You will get dizzy!"

Above him Lindsey laughed and twisted his neck in the opposite 
direction. Muscle by muscle the rest of his body swiveled about until 
he began making figure-eights in the sky. "How's that?" Lindsey 
shouted back with a brief gust of flame from his snout.

"Excellent!" Pharcellus called back with real joy. How he longed to 
be up there in the sky with him, but his wing still needed another 
two weeks to heal. The local healers along with the wood mage Harald, 
after tending to the many wounded and killed in the battle two weeks 
past had turned to dragon and asked him rather politely what he would 
need to mend the tear in his wing. The broth of herbs he'd instructed 
them to prepare had taken a little while, especially since they had 
to make a couple gallons of it and not just a bowl as they were used 
to, but it had soothed the tenderness of his flesh and lifted the 
specter of pain that had clung to him ever since his horrible landing 
through the trees. The other cuts he'd suffered, even those given him 
by Gmork, had all healed and only a few scars remained to show where 
they'd once been. When his scales molted next, even those would be gone.

He ought probably tell Lindsey that molting came much more frequently 
to young dragons, just one more reason they rarely ventured from 
their mountain homes until they had gained their first maturity. A 
rumbling laugh echoed in his chest as he thought on his little 
brother facing that humbling ordeal for the first time.

 From behind him he could smell a familiar pair approaching. They had 
just come out of the city gates and their heads were tilted up to the 
sky to watch the young dragon stretch his wings. "How is he doing?" 
Alfwig asked. His beard was in a proper braid again, and his scraggly 
hair tamed. He still wore the same suit of mail and surcoat that the 
Lutin had saved for him. Beside him Elizabaeg approached, dressed in 
more feminine garb, but even she had a sword still.

The walls of Fjellvidden had been repaired quickly, and the gaping 
hole in the castle wall as nearly sealed, though until they could 
gain control of a quarry the work would have to be done by stealing 
from stone elsewhere. They could all hear the sounds of soldiers 
training inside the city walls with bow, axe, sword, and spear. 
Gerhard, Jarl, and the other commanders were readying for their first 
sally to free the ports downstream that they might have complete 
control over the Arabas. And when they left, Alfwig and Elizabaeg 
would go with them.

Not a single human could rest in Arabarb until all of the land was 
free. The armor and the swords were proof of that.

Still, it was reassuring to have them visit frequently every day to 
check up on their dragon son. Pharcellus opened his snout in a smile 
and said, "He is doing much better than I did at his age, but don't 
tell him I said so."

"I heard that!" Lindsey shouted down to him as he swept over head.

"No you didn't!" Pharcellus shouted back.

Lindsey laughed and swept on across the field, beating with his wings 
in exuberant joy. Pharcellus laughed with him and then turned back to 
the two humans he'd always seen as a sort of extra father and mother. 
"How long before the first sally?"

"A few days maybe," Alfwig relied. "The dogs are out spying for us 
and should be back soon. We've enough men now to defend the city 
against a force twice what Calephas kept here. But it will be such a 
long time before we can truly go home."

Pharcellus cast a quick glance toward the middle of the meadow where 
in the midst tall grasses that hid his beastly features sat Jerome. 
The Sondecki spent most of his days in meditation saying nothing at 
all to anyone except Lindsey from whom he accepted food and 
companionship. He never spoke of Gmork and thankfully they never 
heard word of that monster from anyone else either. But to 
Pharcellus's surprise, Jerome wasn't meditating just then. Instead, 
he tilted back his head, wolf ears laying flat against his skull, and 
watched with wide-eyed wonder at Lindsey as the young dragon banked 
and swirled through the air.

"When we can," Pharcellus said, "I know we will be back to help."

Alfwig lifted a hand and Elizabaeg joined him in shaking her head. 
"You don't need to promise, Pharcellus. I know you both will. Thank 
you for being a brother to our son. We aren't afraid for him anymore."

Pharcellus craned his neck and looked at Lindsey. How different he 
now was from when they started this journey together almost a month 
ago. Was there anything but joy in his draconic countenance? He 
rumbled and sighed happily, glancing once at a pair of children who 
were measuring one of his toe claws with their hands and failing to 
encompass it, before turning back to Alfwig and Elizabaeg. "I'm not 
afraid for him anymore either."

Lindsey swooped down toward them, and then frantically beat this 
wings to keep from crashing into the ground or into his parents. At 
the last second he managed to stumble to a stop, planting his chest 
and neck against the ground with a whump. He rose up onto all fours 
and stretched himself out with a gasp.

Pharcellus's eyes narrowed in whimsy as Eizabaeg rushed forward to 
see if her son had injured himself. "Well," he added to Alfwig who 
stood by shaking his head and laughing, "maybe his landings I'm still 
afraid of."

----------

Dark greens suffused the forest, thick with cobwebs, mushrooms, and 
drenched in moss that clung to the base of each tree that struggled 
to reach for the light that set so quickly even in the summer months. 
Ivy tangled the limbs and each tree nestled close together, their 
faces knotted and twisted as they competed one with another for every 
mote of ground, trickle of water, and shaft of light.

Through this constricted wood loped four creatures. Three of them 
were wolves, while the fourth was clearly more a man, though his 
limbs were sufficiently lupine that he was able to maintain the same 
pace. This one's ears were pointed and covered in a soft tan fur, 
which stretched down in a thin line along his spine which erupted in 
a short tail. The rest of his chest was still human and mostly white 
from a life lived away from the sun. His face was distended in as 
light snout, with dark nose and riveting blue eyes that had banished 
all white. A long red tongue poked from between cleft lips as he panted.

The alpha wolf, of gray fur peppered with black, came to a stop in a 
grove of stone coated in lichen and crawling with fungi. He tilted 
back his head and howled. The others joined him.

After his long bay, he stood on his hind legs, his chest and arms 
swelling to human proportions, even if his head remained beastly in 
guise. The others shifted in the same way, as into the darkened 
sepulchral grove walked a tall woman with long black hair, white 
skin, dressed in black jerkin, tunic, leggings and boots suited to a 
woodsman, though of a quality beyond their means. Her eyes were lost 
in the shadows of her face, but the peppered wolf now standing like a 
man knew they were as black as her hair.

"Mother," he said with a bow of his head. "It is good to see you again."

"Gmork," she said through thin lips with an amused sigh, "I see you 
have a new body again. Did things not work so well for you in Arabarb 
as you thought?"

"I made a mistake that cost me one of my pups, Mother; another has 
become a prodigal, but I hope he will return in time." The one who 
was mostly still human pressed close to him, blue eyes wide in fright 
as he stared at the woman. Gmork ran a comforting paw down his 
youngest pup's back. "Your traitorous servant Calephas is dead."

"That one only served himself, and now he will suffer the same fate 
that all who serve only themselves do." The woman looked over his 
pups quickly and then returned her gaze to Gmork and her hands folded 
before her atop a sword he hadn't seen a moment ago. "And you know I 
do not like it when you call me 'Mother', Gmork."

He smiled his jowls and bowed his head. "It is how I think of you. It 
is how I show my gratitude for all that you have given me."

This did not move her. "If you wish to be grateful, Gmork, use my name."

Gmork allowed his smile to reveal all of his fangs. "As you wish, my 
Lady Lilith!"

----------

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

Charles Matthias


!DSPAM:4def3be2265391804284693!