[Mkguild] MK Story - Past Present and Future part 8

[christian okane]

Here is part 6


************



   Reluctantly the group made its way back across the walkway and left the
vast hallways and it's mysterious contents behind. Soon they found
themselves back at the intersection.

   "Now which direction?" Caroline asked.

   "Let's pay a visit to Bolva and see if our unwanted guest is still in his
cage," Misha answered.

   A short distance down the corridor brought them to a large stone door
which was covered with intricate shapes and runes. Misha knew what some were
and recognized others as being the same as on the door back on the surface.

   The fox scout touched the stone door in three specific spots he knew
would unlock it without damaging himself or the door. Quickly but silently
the massive stone door swung open. An unexpected surprise greeted them; the
sound of soft music slowly drifted out from the room beyond.

   "Am I hearing Orlov's famous, slow symphony?" Rickkter said, surprised.

   "Yes you are," came a voice from inside the room. "As played by the great
Orlov himself over seventy years ago."

   "I see you've managed to survive," Misha said in a cold tone.

   "Yes I have," Bolva responded. "Now come inside and close the door,
you're letting in a draft," he said sarcastically.


   Misha paused for a moment to check that his companions were ready. He
hefted his axe, aware that the great power in it would be needed if there
was another fight with Bolva. The four Keepers stepped through the door. He
found himself on in a large room with an arching roof overhead. In front of
them was a soft, white line on the floor that ran in a semicircle from one
side of the door to the other. It enclosed an area just large enough for the
four of them to stand comfortably.

   "Don't cross or even touch the white line," Misha said. "The magic
imprisoning Bolva covers the whole room and its limits are the walls and
that line."

   The raccoon pointed to the line on the floor. "That's new. It wasn't
there the last time."

   "An addition by Madog and Omega," Misha explained.

   "Are you sure Bolva can't break through?" Charles asked.

   "If he could," Rickkter commented. "He would have escaped long ago."

   "Agreed," Misha added. "But be ready anyway."

   Standing in the center of the floor twenty feet from them was a person.
The figure was six feet tall and dressed in full plate mail armor that was
colored black except for the silver decorations inlayed into the
breastplate. The helmet had a face plate was a stylize rendition of a human
face, complete with nose and mouth. To most people this figure would just be
a normal person in stylized, over decorative armor but Misha knew better.
Beneath all that metal plate and there was no flesh and blood. It was
completely filled with automata, mechanical & magical gearing and rods. The
soul that drove all that had once been in a human, flesh and blood form but
had given that up for this body of metal centuries ago. Only a year ago it
had tried to take over Madog and kill Misha. That Bolva had failed was only
due to the efforts of Madog and the same Keepers that were here now.

   The figure was standing in the center of the room studying them "You've
come to see your prisoner?" Bolva asked harshly. "Why? Bored of ignoring
me?"

   "The world did go on without you," Misha commented calmly. "Life
continued. There were many things that kept me busy. We even fought off
another invasion."

   Bolva spun around and looked intently at the keeper. "Another? What
happened?" He asked in concerned tones.

   "They attacked on Yule tide this last year," Misha answered. "We drove
them off and killed a huge number of them."

   "We lost a lot of people," Caroline added somberly.

   "And a lot more were hurt or crippled," Charles said.

   The automaton shook his head slowly. "Some things never change," he said
sadly. "The lutins never stop attacking."

   "Everything changes eventually," Misha commented. "We've had some
tentative contacts with several lutin chieftains. Peaceful contacts," he
emphasized.

   "Peaceful?" Bolva asked dubiously.

   "Peaceful!" The fox confirmed. "He wants a peaceful coexistence and an
alliance with Metamor."

   "Do you believe him?" The automation asked.

   Caroline shrugged. "There is more to it than just wanting to live
peacefully but it's a start."

   "And Metamor finally has some peaceful contact with lutins," Misha said.

   "I find that difficult to believe," the automaton responded coldly. "It
must be a deception."

   "You could be right but we must take any opportunity for peace. We cannot
keep fighting the Lutins forever," Charles said. "This could herald a big
change for Metamor and the Giantdowns."

   Bolva stared at the rat intently. "You have all changed, especially you,"
he said and pointed to Charles. "You have much stone magic about you. The
vine is an interesting addition."

   The rat smiled and nodded slowly. "Aye, it is."

   "Interesting," the automaton said in reply. "Been a long time since I've
seen someone with such control of stone magic. The vine, that I've not seen
before."

   Charles looked at the vine which was still entwined around his waist and
chest. "It is a good friend."

   Bolva looked at Misha closely for a moment. "You have changed as well.
You've been working Automata recently," he announced with a trace of
emotion.

   "Yes," Misha said flatly in reply. "Yes I have."

   The automaton laughed. "You answered without truly explaining anything.
Spoken like a true automaton mage."

   "Thank you," the fox said. "I think. I finally have the time to explore
Automaton magic and I've been doing that recently."

   The automaton nodded. "Good. Very good. Have you discovered anything
interesting?"

   "No, nothing yet," Misha lied carefully. "But I've only just started."

   "So why did you come here?" Bolva asked. "Certainly not to inform me of
the latest gossip."

   The fox nodded slowly. "I've neglected the Automata side of myself and
now I finally have the time to explore these ruins and see what the Amber
order was actually like."

   "The members of the Amber order were fools! Silly, narrow minded, petty
fools," Bolva growled. "All that knowledge and power and what did they do
with it? Nothing. NOTHING! They sat in that monstrous old fortress and did
nothing."

   "Why?" Misha asked.

   Bolva shrugged. "I don't know. I never understood their thinking. They
seemed content to simply hide on this mountain top and horde all that
knowledge. Like a dragon hording gold in some dark cave. They could have
done so much. I had so many great ideas for doing things. Things that would
have made great changes. Even a few automaton could have made the empire
great again. No enemy could stand against them. We could have taken over all
of the Giantdowns. Can you imagine what just one or two automatons could
have done when the lutins invaded in 150? The valley wouldn't have been
overrun and empire destroyed," Bolva said angrily. "So much lost because of
their paranoia. So much."

   "Some things must be kept secret," Rickkter said. "And never see the
light of day."

   "Agreed," Misha agreed. "But too much secrecy can be worse. How much has
been lost because needed information was horded and kept away from those who
needed it."

   "What did all that secrecy and hoarding get them?" the automaton snarled
bitterly. "It got the knowledge of Automata lost and the fortress
destroyed."

   "You destroyed this place and the order," Charles said calmly.

   The automaton looked at the rat. "Did I? The order had been decaying for
a long time before I joined," he said as he waved his hand back and forth.
"They were so busy with secrecy and hoarding knowledge that they lost sight
of the idea of passing on that knowledge to the next generation. I was the
only person to join the order in twenty three years. Before that it was
thirty years."

   "Why didn't you try to restore the order afterward? After the fortress
had fallen?" The rat asked.

   "Restore what?" the automaton responded. "All seven of the orders members
but myself were dead. Omega was sealed off and the orders library was gone.
Rather than see that knowledge spread outside their small group they hid
it."

   "The order hid the library?" Misha asked and leaned closer. "I though
Vernosa did that when he found Madog."

   Bolva laughed. "That narrow minded idiot? He had such potential, such an
intellect and yet so small a mind. All he could think of doing was using
Madog to make himself the duke. He was a fool like all the members of the
order. All the knowledge of a thousand years of automata gone."

   "Not gone," Misha responded. "Just lost. And what's lost can be found. If
you know where to look."

   Bolva turned and stared at Misha intently. "You know something," he said
in a hoarse whisper.

   "We filthy animals do manage a little intelligent thought occasionally,"
Misha said sarcastically.

   The automaton wagged a metal finger at Misha. "I never called any of you
filthy animals. And what have you been thinking of?"

   "Well, knowing the orders paranoia and mania for secrecy the library
would never been in any land controlled by the empire but they would still
want it relatively close. Since the empire controlled everything east, west
and south of here that leaves only one place; north in the Giantdowns," the
fox explained smugly.

   "Only?" Bolva asked. "The Giantdowns is larger than all of the Midlands."

   "True but I think it must be in the southern Giantdowns." Misha
countered. "That would place it out of the empires reach but still
relatively close to this fortress."

   "That does give us a smaller area to search," Rickkter said. "Something
less than the entire known world."

   "To find it we only have to make our way past Nasoj and a half million
Lutins." Caroline commented sarcastically.

   "Nasoj?" Bolva asked. "Hasn't someone killed that petty dictator yet?"

   "Not yet," the fox responded. "Many have tried but all failed."

   "So far," the automaton added. "Such petty little minds come and go
quickly."

   "Not quickly enough," Charles commented.

   "And when they do go they take a lot of good people with them," Rickkter
commented sharply.

   "All too true," Bolva added. "They leave massive destruction and death in
their wake."

   A sudden thought occurred to Misha. Bolva had seen civilization rise and
fall several times. He had witnessed the Seuilman empire at its height and
then watched helplessly as it had been destroyed so suddenly and totally.
Now he was witnessing it rise again. But there were so many similarities
between then and now. People in the valley guarding the Midlands against
attack. Forgotten or reviled by the very people they were protecting. Would
it come crashing down again? It was a frightening question.

   The fox was silent for a moment. "What do you know of the Dragon wars?"
He asked trying to change the course of the conversation.

   "Beyond what the most itinerant bard would know?" The automaton
questioned. "Little. I know that at one time automatons controlled a good
portion of the Giantdowns but only briefly. It was one reason this fortress
was placed here close to the Giantdowns. The order did extensive research
into it but were hampered by the lutins. We did create a list of some of the
countless automaton used in the war. Even created a basic history of the war
itself. Most places could only be explored at risk of being revealed," Bolva
explained with disgust in his voice. "And the order wouldn't even tolerate
that little risk."

   "So the Giantdowns was never extensively searched for Automata?" Misha
asked sounding casual but the fast movement of his tail betrayed excitement.
A fact noted by the Keepers but missed by Bolva.

   "No," Bolva responded. "I did make several journeys to Lom Shi'Un. I
spent all my time fending off Lutins, giants, dragons and other creatures.
The Lom Shi' Un themselves were most persistent in trying to keep me out of
the most promising areas. So I was never able to explore the Giantdowns
fully. Have you?"

   The fox shook his head. "No, but things are changing in the north."

   "Things never change in the north," Bolva countered. "It was a howling
wilderness filled with homicidal Lutins and giants then and it still is!"

   "Don't insult the Lutins too much," Misha commented. "They did what no
one was able to do; destroy the Seuilman empire."

   Bolva nodded slowly. "True. Does the possibility they might again unite
and overrun the Midlands worry you?"

   "Of course!" Misha responded. "What of you?"

   "I've seen what they did to this valley in 150," Bolva explained. "I do
not wish to see it again."

   "In that we can all agree," Charles said.


************************
  

   Nestorius slowly stood up and shook his head to clear away the confusion.
All around him was darkness. The only light came from a hole far above him.
It allowed a thin gray light to illuminate the area around him. The last
thing he remembered was standing on the arena floor and then suddenly
falling. Nest spoke a single word and a small ball of light appeared on the
tip of his tail illuminating his surroundings. The feline mage found himself
standing in a high ceilinged hall lined with tall columns, walls and
archways of brick. Where ever he looked all the lion saw was dark, brick
lined passageways running in all directions. He realized that he was in the
vast complex of rooms under the arena. The floor of the arena must have
given way under his weight.

   The hole he had fallen through was way too high for him to reach so he
had no choice but to explore the complex and look for a way up. There had to
be stairways leading above ground. The problem was finding them.

   He had to let his two friends know that he was still alive and conscious
but simply shouting wouldn't work at this distance. Nestorius took a deep
breath, tilted his head back and let loose with a deep, primal roar! A roar
that came from deep down that spoke of the primal power of a predator!

   His roar echoed endlessly in the maze of tunnels, bouncing back and forth
until they returned to the lion mage from all directions. Finally the last
roar faded away leaving Nestorius in the silent darkness. Then suddenly from
behind him he heard a single snarl and he realized that not all the ghosts
here were human.


******************


   Stealth had to place each paw carefully. The stairs were steep and each
step was covered with the dirt and roots of a several centuries of neglect.
He kept one hand on the stone wall on his left and the other tightly wrapped
around the hilt of his sword. In front of him he could see his friend
Edmund. The paladin was moving as cautiously as he was. The only thing
pushing back the darkness was the thin light from stone in his left hand.

   After what seemed to be an eternity the stairs ended and the two found
themselves standing in a small brick lined room. The walls were close in
making the area cramped but the ceiling soared up into the darkness.
Wherever Stealth looked he saw arches and doorways leading off into the
darkness. "This place is a labyrinth. We could easily get lost down here."

   "We'll need to go carefully." Edmund waved his lantern off to the left.
"The hole Nest fell through was that way."
 

****************


   "I see that you've repaired most of the damage you had," Misha said.

   "Yes," Bolva responded harshly. "In spite of your attempts to destroy me
I survived."

   "You tried to kill all of us," Caroline snarled. "Healing is easy for
you. If a part is broken you just take it out a replace it. For those of us
who are still flesh and blood it's not so simple. Healing takes a lot of
time. And some wounds never do heal completely."

   Bolva was silent for a moment. "Are you going to do anything to me?"
Bolva asked. "Or just leave me here to rust?"

   "I'm honestly not sure what to do with you," Misha answered. "You're
ultimate punishment rests with the one you kidnapped."

   "Kidnapped?"Bolva asked, surprised. "You mean Malabrinum? He is just a
guard. A mere pet."

   "No he isn't," Misha countered with a snarl. "He's a person with a soul
and he has rights like any other person."

   "For a mere pet," Rickkter said calmly. "He tricked and outwitted you
quite well."

   "Yes he did!" Bolva said. "Amazing and surprising."

   "Madog is always surprising me in one way or another," Misha responded.

   Bolva gave a short laugh. "He certainly surprised me. No longer is he the
simple automaton I remember."

   "Answer me one question. You tried to kill me, without even truly
learning who I was." Misha said harshly. "Why?"

   "I assumed you were just an ignorant pretender like Vernosa," Bolva said
slowly. "That was a mistake. I should have pursued a more peaceful method of
contact."

   "We all have regrets about our past actions," Rickkter said calmly.

   "That doesn't make what you did any less a crime," Charles snapped.

   "No," Bolva said softly. "No it doesn't."

   "That's all you have to say?" Caroline asked with a mixture of anger and
surprise.

   "What else is there to say?" Bolva said softly. "No words can take back
the acts I did. Sometimes I think that my human soul has changed to a cold
and hard thing, just like the body that houses it."

   "Perhaps," Caroline said softly. "But perhaps not. Maybe you've locked
yourself away from the world of the living for too long. Maybe you've been
obsessed with the Amber order for too long. You should stop thinking about
the past and start thinking about the future."

   Bolva didn't answer but stood there silently. "So what will happen to
me?" He asked changing the subject.

   "I don't know," Misha responded. "I'll talk it over with the Duke and
with Madog."

   "So more waiting," Bolva commented simply.

 Misha reached into a satchel and pulled out a book. "In the mean time
here's something to keep you occupied."  He tossed the book towards the
automaton. There was a faint flare of light as the object passed through the
shield.

   The automaton easily caught the book with his metallic hands. The book
had a fine leather cover but no writing on it. Bolva opened the book and
found all the pages blank. "This book is empty."

   "Then fill it," Misha responded calmly and turned his back to the metal
figure and walked towards the exit.

   "With what?" Bolva answered.

   The fox stopped but didn't turn around. "You keep telling me how you're
angry at the order for hording their information and refusing to share it
with everyone," Misha said without facing Bolva. "Yet, you've been hording
information yourself."

   "Me? Hording?" The automaton asked, surprised and angry.

   "All that you yourself know," the fox explained in a surprisingly soft
tone. "All the automata knowledge locked up in that metal brain of yours.
Have you ever shared it with anyone else?"

   Bolva looked at them. The surprise plain to see on his metal face.
"Shared it? With who? None were worthy of the knowledge."

   Misha turned around slowly to stare at the ancient, metal man. "So you
kept it to yourself," Misha walked straight towards Bolva and stopped mere
inches from the barrier. Less than two finger widths separated him from the
automaton. The magical barrier was a faint shimmer in the air that made
Misha's fur stand on end. "Just like the Amber order. Have you even written
anything you know down?" He pointed to the book which was still clutched in
the metal man's hands. "You fill that book with that knowledge. You share
that and I'll see what becomes of you and automata." Then he spun around and
quickly left the room and it's prisoner behind.


End part 6


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