[Mkguild] I'm new at this

[DANIEL MICHALEK]

AAt the advice of Skylos I am posting the story this way as well. Here
it is.






Changing Fortunes
Chip’ang Koniko trudged in silence beside the caravan wagonas it rolled
over the rough dirt road. He wondered whether anything interestingwould
happen soon. Ever since that Lutin attack on his troupe of
performingacrobats had mercilessly slaughtered everyone he had ever held
dear, he hadfound it necessary to find other means of supporting
himself. This meant thathe basically had to default to a common
occupation: mercenary. He was employedby a wealthy merchant to help
guard his caravan from bandits and Lutins, so righthe couldn’t afford to
be lost in that dreadful stupor of misery that engulfedhim whenever he
thought of home. 
Heh. Home. Just on the road living between performances atany town they
came across, his home was a group of wagons that carried hisfellow
acrobats and other performers and their equipment. Not that it was
hisreal home, for the acrobat had a rough and sad childhood. He had been
orphanedat a few years of age by a plague that struck the land of his
birth of which henever learned the name, and killed his parents, even
when they fled many milesaway to a bustling port city. They had barely
been able to secure passageacross the sea when they succumbed to the
disease. The captain of the ship onwhich they had booked their passage
felt sorry for the jet black-haired andslant-eyed boy and promised to
take Cheep on the voyage anyway and find him ahome with some friends he
had over there. There the captain brought young Chip’ang.He had almost
nothing to carry as his parents had impoverished themselves withtheir
travels and left him with the clothes he wore and nothing else but
asmall jade monkey statue. The captain’s friends showed great delight at
addinga fourth child to their household, but Cheep quickly learned that
theirenthusiasm was insincere; he was treated almost as a slave, and
given aworkload several times larger than that of his adopted brothers.
All in thehouse treated him with condescension, usually giving him
another task everytime they happened to see him. He cried himself to
sleep at the injustice ofit, but he was never granted a reprieve, and
the kind old captain who had beenso kind had left soon after seeing him
here and could not help him.
He lived this way miserably for several years, all the whilegaining
skill at avoiding certain people, even to the extent of climbing
housesand trees and diving through windows to escape. From a sneak
thief, one of thefew people who would actually talk to him, he learned
to pick locks. Thisknowledge he traded for allowing him to rob the house
he stayed in (as he hadno love for its other occupants, and the man had
come creeping through thecellar where he slept on a rough straw mat,
almost tripping over the boy insurprise and giving himself away. The boy
just looked at him and wondered howhe had gotten in. The man stared
back, and eventually he arrived at theprevious arrangement after seeing
that Cheep was treated terribly and probablydidn’t deserve to be here.
His life changed drastically one day when he heard news of agroup of
people who made their living traveling and entertaining people withtheir
skills at acrobatics and music, and that they were in his village! He
managedto finish the chores required to keep his adopted father from
beating him andsneaked off quickly to see them and what they did. After
watching them practicetheir trade from the shadows of an alley,
completely mesmerized by the thingsthey did, he began to wonder if he
could do these things too. And so when hereturned home just barely in
time to avoid a beating for being late, he triedto teach himself to
tumble just like these performers did. He had just gottenthe hang of
cartwheels when his adoptive father saw him cavorting about in thegrass
and gave him a sound beating and a warning not to do such idiotic
things.Even if he was an idiot, he shouldn’t act like it. With only a
few tears, hewaited until he left aperformers to teachhim to tumble. Entertained themselves at the request
to teach this scrawnyyouth, the performers agreed. He was thin and
flexible, already having a goodamount of agility from the darting into
shadows to avoid his cruel family, so theacrobats were impressed at the
speed at which he picked up tricks. One of them,a tall young man named
Borin, asked him about his family and learned withhorror at the
conditions he had been staying in. He asked him if he wanted tojoin them
and leave his pitiful excuse for a life behind. Eyes wide and
jawdropped, the boy enthusiastically said yes once he recovered from the
shock athis sudden good fortune.
The next day as the performers left the town, Cheep was withthem, along
with a small leather pouch full of coins he had found when hepicked the
lock on his father’s strongbox. He had taken a couple handfuls ofcoin as
recompense for six years of labor and felt no guilt for the theft. Hehad
run away before, so he knew his father would be positively seething
withrage when he came to beat him in the morning when his chores were
discoveredundone. He left a false clue trail that led to the woods so
his father wouldhopefully give up and assume he had been killed by wild
animals and eventuallyforget about him. But none of that mattered much
anymore: Cheep was finally free! He wriggled in delight beneath
theactual blanket he had been given by the performers, unable to sleep
even thoughexhausted. 
Over the next few years, Chip’ang Koniko learned the ways ofthe
performing acrobat: all their flips, tumbles, juggling, and swinging
fromtall frames they set up wherever they went, as well as mastering
certain skillsto defend their valuables from bandits. He learned to
fight with his bare handsand feet, utilizing force through his limbs to
sunder wooden boards as well asstrike with dizzying speed. He was
trained to attack and defend with a longwooden staff, as well as a
curious weapon: a pair of short wooden staves heldtogether at the ends
with an equally short piece of leather cord; these were callednunchukas.
He excelled in learninganything anybody had to teach him, especially
Borin, and quickly becameliterate and showed prodigious skill at making
rhymes and puns. It was the happiesttime of his life. Sure, there were
the occasional stupid bandits who didn’thave a clue who they were
dealing with until they woke up a few hours later,caravan gone, almost
naked and hogtied, with welts and bruises covering theirbodies. But
overall, life was good. Performing tricks and saying funny thingsto
entertain people brought him a kind of satisfaction he had never
evendreamed of before.
And then one day it all ended. They had just left the lastvillage a
couple of days ago and were now travelling north on a dirt road thatcut
through the woods. They heard tales warning them of the monsters
thatinhabited the woods to the north and even the mountains. They quite
simplydidn’t believe them. Most though the rumors were caused by some
clever banditswho painted themselves green to incite shock to give them
an advantage, butnone of them expected anything like the Lutins. The
first warning Cheep had wasa wicked-looking arrow flying out of the
trees and impaling the throat of theman that had acted as both elder
brother and father to the young man since hewas eight. Borin couldn’t
even cry out before his eyes widened and he slumpeddown in his seat on
the wagon, breathing his last even as his life drained awaybefore
Cheep’s eyes. Cheep gaped in horror that quickly turned to fear and
thenrage at any who could be so sneaky as to remain undetected and so
cruel as tostrike down his brother in such a cowardly way. The other
performers soonshouted in alarm and pulled out their staffs and
nunchukas and a few throwingstars. The attackers who soon poured into
sight were not mere bandits, or even green-painted clever bandits, but
short,squatty, green-skinned,vile-smelling, blade wielding monsters that
were only shaped sort of likehumans, but wore patchy furarmor and shouted in their courselanguage through tusklike fangs that
protruded from their lower laws as theyrushed upon the stunned
performers and attacked with a beastly rage.
Cheep had his nunchukas outseconds after all this had happened and
joined his fellow acrobats in the fray,whipping the two-piece weapon
about in vicious arcs, deflecting dull bronzeswords and bone daggers and
cracking these malicious monsters on the head andelsewhere, snapping
bones under the force of this new emotion of rage. TheLutins no longer
had the element of surprise, and quickly found that these fiercehumans
with their odd weapons were a force to be reckoned with; they
foundthemselves almost evenly matched, even with the numbers in their
favor. Lutinafter Lutin found themselves with shattered arms and wrists,
unable to hold aweapon any longer and screaming in agony until silenced
by another blow to thehead. The humans were not unscathed, however;
after the initial arrow killedBorin, they had lost two more to arrows
and six to the Lutins’ jagged bladesdipped in some manner of foulness.
Cheep and four other performers had survivedthe initial onslaught, but
they couldn’t keep fighting like this for muchlonger; the Lutins seemed
to never tire; another man was felled and quicklybeheaded by the
remaining Lutins. Then they heard a noise back in the distance;another
caravan, this one a well-guarded trader’s, was coming up the path and
adozen of the hired swords ran to help the dwindling troupe of acrobats.
Theircoming was almost too late, however; Cheep’s three living
companions had becometwo, and then one, before the guards arrived to
help. Their numbers made the sevenor so living Lutins flee into the
woods. Cheep looked at the guards with exhaustionand agony and he
collapsed to the ground. All went dark.
 

Cheep woke up in a small bed of furs on a pallet in a movingwagon. The
large man sitting on a bench next to him with a lantern noticed
hisstirring, and said, “Ah, you’re awake. I was afraid you wouldn’t make
it. I’msorry your friends didn’t. The other one you were fighting with
didn’t survive;I think he was hit with a poisoned blade. We buried them
where they were whileyou were out. Your wagons were all burned and
nothing salvageable was foundexcept what you were carrying. But enough
bad news. You need to rest still, andwe’ll be in Sathmore by tomorrow. I
don’t know where you were planning on going,but the boss won’t feed you
for free if you decide to travel with us for awhile. I’ve bandaged your
wounds, so you should be fine but for a few scars.”
Cheep sat up and winced, noticing all the strips of linenwrapped around
injuries on his arms, legs, and chest.
“What were those things?”
“You mean to tell me you came all the way out here anddidn’t know about
the Lutins? I’m surprised you were able to defend yourselvesat all. You
should have brought at least a dozen more armed men with you if
youwanted to travel this far north. They must have attacked because of
your smallgroup.”
Cheep got up and sat by the fire with the massive guard.
“We were used to fighting off bandits in varying numbers;they aren’t
usually well trained. Those… Lutins… well, I don’t think they
weretrained either, but they had stealth; and strength, especially for
their size.I’ve never seen anything like them before. They aren’t…
human, are they?”
“Heck no, Lutins are no more human than you are a tree. Theyare vicious
little buggers, let me tell you.”
“So I gathered. Now what?”
“We drop you off in Sathmore and hopefully you can find yourway wherever
you’re going from there.”
“But I don’t know anyone or anything in Sathmore; I’m fromthe south.
Well, I sort of am. I don’t really have a home or any place to go.We
were just traveling performers. They were all the family I had.”
“Well, sorry to hear that, but the only way you’re staying withus is if
the boss hires you or something. He may be kind, but he doesn’t
takehitchhikers. Can you fight? Wait, that’s a dumb question; I saw you
myself, takingon at least three of those dang Lutins at a time. I’ll put
in a good word foryou if you like.”
“I… I guess I could do that. That would be very kind of you.I… I think I
need to be alone for a while. I… miss Borin…” He looked away witha
pained expression. “My best friend. He was killed first, too. Got hit
with anarrow in the throat. Of all the ways to die…”
Cheep continued mumbling to himself as he slumped back downto the
pallet.
“Poor kid.”
 

When dawn came, the man found Cheep curled up in fetalposition, looking
as if he had been weeping. He shook him to wake him, and toldhim the
caravan would be leaving in a half-hour and he had best be ready
totravel soon.
“I will be ready. Crying won’t do me any good now. Where ismy pack?”
“Right here. I kept it for you.”
“Thanks… it’s all I have left of my family… real and thisone.”
“Where are you from?”
“I don’t even know. My parents died when I was only six, andall I have
of them is this little monkey. I was shipped across some sea and
wasforced to live with cruel people who treated me like a slave until I
escaped.Since then I have lived with my friends and brothers, these
fellow performers…but now they’re gone too.”
“Hmm. I used to be performer like you. Then I took an arrowto the knee.”
“Really? What did you do?”
“I used to dance, for a local group of entertainers in myvillage. Then
raiders came to our village. We fought back, but the price washigh. A
quarter of the village was dead. So, I did the only thing I could
tosupport myself after I healed: serve as a guard for a caravan. The
boss pays uswell, so I have no complaints. My knee still hurts some
mornings though.”
“You? Dance?! … Imean, I’m sorry… I guess our stories aren’t that
different though, are they?”
“I guess not. But you still need to talk to the boss to seeif you can do
the same.”
At that, Cheep decided he would go talk to the merchant. Hewas the only
one in command of his life now. True, there were no cruel
mastersanymore, but he had no real friends and only this one
acquaintance here. Hedecided it was probably better to move on than to
brood over what he wishedwould have happened, because the past was
unchangeable. The future, however,was like putty: it had only as much
potential as he gave it. So he walked up tothe lavishly dressed fat man
on the lead wagon and declared his intentions.
“Ho ho ho, so you think you want to help protect mymerchandise? What
makes me think I can trust you? Can you even fight?”
Cheep huffed. “I thought I’d already been through this. Ihave nothing
left. No home, no family, no friends, and the only possession Ihave is a
little jade monkey statue. I know several styles of fighting and
amwilling to bet I can best any of your men in single combat. This is my
onlyhope. I have no life.”
“Ah, don’t be so uptight, lad. I just want to know what useyou would be
to me. I know very little of you at this point. Hmmm… Interestingthought
though… How’s about this: you can fight Kag and if you win, you have
ajob. I pay guards three silver a day. Deal?”
“Kag?”
“You spent all that time with him and never even learned hisname? Hrm,
well, I guess it doesn’t matter that much. Do we have a deal ornot?”
“Deal.”
“Fabulous! I’ll get things ready.”
The fat man drew a big circle in the dirt with sticks andwaited as the
two combatants prepared.
“So… your name is Kag?
“Short for Kagmer. Kagmer Quarr. Nice to meet you.”
“Uhh… Chip’ang Koniko. Likewise, I guess. You want to useweapons or just
hands?”
“Either would be fine. I’m already pretty confident you’dwin by
maneuverability if I used my sword, but I’ll leave it up to you.”
“You’re just trying to be nice.”
The man pulled his claymore from the gigantic sheath on hisback. It was
taller than Cheep by at least a foot and wider and thicker thanhis open
hand, with a mirror-polished silver blade and black leather
handgrips.Cheep blinked in surprise, not having noticed something so
huge before onlybecause it was behind an even larger man.
“Fists then?”
The man resheathed his gargantuan weapon.
“Fine.”
 

Cheep and Kag stood at opposite edges of the circle andfaced each other
after removing all weapons and armor, each getting into hisown unique
fighting stance as the other men stood around outside the circle
talkingand laughing. Most of them had made bets on who would be the
winner and theywere all in a good mood, both at the prospect of some
entertainment and fromthe libations they were pouring down their
throats. The merchant yelledcautions of not drinking in excess at them,
but for the most part they justlaughed heartily and ignored him once his
back was turned as they continuedcheering for their favored contestant.
The merchant gave up and stood at theedge of the circle and acted as
judge, declaring that the first to admit defeatwould lose.
The two challengers shifted to the left and right, trying todetermine
what the other was capable of and what they would do. Kag was simplya
wall of muscle and bone, towering over other men and especially
Cheep,probably outweighing him by at least double or even triple. Cheep
was a lithe, agilefighter who bounced back and forth on the balls of his
feet to distract hisopponent and mask his intentions of motion. The
cheers grew in volume androwdiness as Kag finally made a pass at Cheep.
He easily avoided it, turning acartwheel and ending up behind Kag for a
moment before he turned to block anattack he expected. It came, but not
the way he thought: Cheep launched himselfinto the air and flipped once
before landing balanced on his opponent’s head,who brought his arms up
in surprise and tried to knock him down, but Cheep wastoo fast. He once
again leapt, this time from a precarious balance atop thegiant’s head,
and struck him in the back with a fist as he landed back on theground. 
Kag didn’t seem to have been fazed at all by the blow, eventhough it
would have easily felled a smaller man in pain, so Cheep wasmomentarily
frozen in shock that he could just take that kind of punishment. This
gave Kag the advantage, as hewas just now getting the hang of Cheep’s
speed and could follow his movementsnow. He struck out with a quick but
weak punch (at least for him) this timeCheep was unable to recover in
time to dodge it; he flew back a couple of feetand landed on his back in
the dirt. He quickly shook his head to clear it andgot back up;
thankfully his opponent was not really trying to win, or he wouldhave
taken more advantage of the opening and pummeled him down further. Kag
lethim get his balance back before closing the distance between them
once again.Cheep decided it would be wise to change his strategy at this
point; therewould be no quick, easy victory against this juggernaut.
Instead of going formore powerful attacks and leaving himself open
afterward, he threw many littlejabs at weaker points, trying to wear him
down. Then he remembered vaguelysomething about a knee injury and
decided to save time and energy by attackinghis leg joints. Kag had not
expected to fight this young combatant and soonrealized his mistake in
mentioning his knee when he noticed that Cheep ceasedall other attacks
and concentrated on hitting his legs to try to drop him. Hetried to
swing in wide arcs to make him back off, but it was no use. The
lithefighter simply dodged around the massive arms being swung at him
and struckagain. And again. Finally, he dodged one last time around
another ofincreasingly desperate and ineffective swings and delivered a
roundhouse kickto the back of Kag’s knee. 
Kag grunted in pain as his leg buckled and he toppled to theground. He
was barely able to break his fall before Cheep’s hand came down in
aswift chop and tapped his throat just hard enough to make him cough
hard and showthat the blow could easily have broken his neck if Cheep
had had thatintention.
Kag smiled even while rubbing his throat as he sat up ankid. Not bad at all. I submit.” The men cheered, and somegroaned as they
fished out their wallets to pay their comrades and scowled attheir bad
luck. The remaining wine quickly disappeared as the men
reluctantlyreturned to their duties now that the entertainment was over.
The smilingtrader made his way over to Cheep, who stood there unsure of
what to do next. 
“It looks like you now have a job, young man,” the rotundretailer said,
extending his hand.
“Thank you, sir. Are you sure you’re alright, Kag?” Cheepsaid as he
shook the man’s hand.
“Fine, fine. Just need to get my bearings back.” Kagmassaged his bum
knee as he slowly got to his feet. “You sure know how to packa wallop.
Just how do you do that, anyway?
“It’s all in your head. You just sort of imagine that theobstacle is
just thick mush, and you need to continue driving through it… andstuff…
Actually it’s more complicated than that, but I can’t explain it
verywell. Sorry.”
The heavy man interrupted. “Well, that’s all fine and good,but you two
need to get cleaned up and back to the wagons. You both have dutiesto
attend to now, so I expect your full efforts at everything I tell you to
do.Kag, would you find – what was your name, lad? Cheep? – find Cheep
some armorand a sword and show him the business? Good to have you, lad.
We’ll be leavingfor Sathmore bright and early tomorrow morning, and
after that on to Metamor.”
“Metamor? Where’s that?”
“Oh, dear. Not just Lutins, but now Metamor is unheard of? How did you
make it this far north? Anyway,Metamor. I should give you a proper
warning before we get there, as you may bea bit, well… unsettled at the
sightof the Metamorians, or Keepers, as they call themselves. They have…
well, some unusualcharacteristics, shall we say.”
“How do you mean?”
“Well, how can I put this?... I guess I could just tell thewhole story.
A few years back, there was this wizard-“
“A wizard? Those actually exist?”
“Don’t interrupt, lad. Yes, a wizard, named Nasoj. Thisparticular one
was, and still is, quite evil. He tried to take the castle atMetamor by
storming it with an army of Lutins and other monsters, like trollsand
ogres and-“
“You-”
“Don’t interrupt! -and even some evil human mages. He castthree curses
on the three gates of the Keep in the hopes of getting rid of allthe
human defenders by turning them into a bimbo, a baby, or an animal. And
itworked too. But only for a short time. You see, Metamor had wizards of
its own,who were frantically trying to undo the curses as their soldiers
dropped to theground in piles of clothing and armor, to all fours or
paws or just on theground in a very inappropriate manner indeed. They
only half-succeeded, meaningthe cursed humans were either very young, or
switched genders, or became part-humanpart-animal things who often found
themselves with new built-in weapons likesharp teeth and claws. Nasoj’s
forces were beaten, driven back into the Giantdownsby a lot of
odd-looking soldiers in ill-fitting clothes, and Metamor won thebattle!
Ha ha. But at a high price: many had died, and those that survived
hadnew bodies they needed to get used to, as well as many dead to bury
and many homesto rebuild. Also, it seems that the Curses stuck to the
land; now, anyone thatstays in the valley too long is struck by the
Curse, which will turn them intoone of the three forms. They are still
human on the inside if not the outside,but most people outside the
valley think they are demons or something. Theycan’t seem to accept the
idea of a fox-man, or a beauty who used to be male, ora child who will
never grow up. So I will warn you, try not to be too freakedout when you
see them. They are just normal people that have had something
veryunusual happen to them. They do not appreciate being treated as
freaks.”
“Umm… wow. You know, if I hadn’t been attacked and nearlykilled by what
I thought was a myth in the last couple days, I’d probably thinkyou were
pulling my leg. But I can see you’re completely serious… Just… wow…Now I
can’t wait to see them.”
“I think you’ll still gape and gawk and look quite funny whenyou see
them. But now, on to Sathmore!”
The venture into Sathmore was relatively uneventful, but themerchant had
apparently made a good deal of money, as he paid the guards abonus and
let them go off for the night in shifts. They were quite pleased
withthis arrangement, but Cheep didn’t understand how the man could keep
his men inline enough for them to be any use. When he asked his employer
about it, hechuckled and replied, “Well you see, it’s like this: I’ve
been doing this foryears. I have had dozens of different men in my
employ, and if I’ve learnedanything about people this whole time, it’s
that men tend to be more loyal to anemployer who will treat them well.
Let me ask you this: would you be morelikely to want to defend a
friend,who is your beneficiary, or some stingy old miser who only gives
you your insufficientwages unwillingly because he needs you badly?”
“I think I understand. I have never really had wages before;I always
sort of lived meal to meal, letting others deal with money. It’s kindof
troublesome. I assume you mean that three silver a day is more than what
mostpeople I could work for would give me?”
“I try not to make assumptions about people I know nothingabout; it’s
bad for business. But I think you are right. Anyway, I really amglad to
have you.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“No need for the sir. You can call me
Vardemertigantrufalmorandaman.That’s short for-” He glanced at the
confused look of incredulity on Cheep’s faceand then burst out laughing.
“Ha ha ha ha! Ho ho! Hee hee hee. I got you there!The look on your face-
Aha ha ha!”
Cheep just stared at him until he regained his composure.Still wiping
tears of mirth from his eyes, the pudgy purveyor of goods looked backat
him and giggled, “You don’t seem to think that was all that funny. My
nameis really Mortimer Stumpleton. You can call me Morty. Or Volde Mort,
if forsome reason that strikes your fancy.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. It’s another joke. Just call me Morty.”
“Okay then, Morty. Thank you for the generosity.”
“You’re quite welcome. Let’s beoff then.”
 

They left Sathmore after restocking supplies and set out onwhat ended up
being a terribly boring trip. Absolutely nothing happened excepttravel
and the standard eating, drinking, guarding, sleeping, and walking.Cheep
did not know it was possible to be that bored, while Kag just took it
instride like he did everything. The others responded to the boredom in
a varietyof ways ranging from moping to filing the time with course
jesting and singingrude songs. Morty occupied himself the whole time by
taking inventory on hisgoods, counting his gold, and making plans for
trading at Metamor and further.Days and weeks passed in the same
fashion, and Cheep reasoned that Kag had beenright about the size thing:
The Lutins must not have attacked because they hadsuch a large group of
obviously armed men. After the two-month long extremelyboring trip, they
finally passed a sign warning them that the land they wereentering was
cursed, which had a depiction of a fox, a human infant, and awoman of
generous proportions. Soon their caravan was stopped by a small groupof
soldiers who looked to be scouts; the most noticeable thing about them
wasthat they were all amazon-like women, the most beautiful Cheep had
ever seen.Kag noticed his expression and told him, “They used to be men,
you know.” Hischeeks flushed a bright red as he stopped staring at the
female warriors andlooked around awkwardly. The amazons asked the men at
the head of the caravanwhere they were headed, and they replied they
were going to Metamor to trade.The women tried to convince them that
they were going the wrong way, and thatthey didn’t want to continue down
this road, until Morty spoke up.
“Good afternoon, ladies. I appreciate your efforts, but Ialready know
what to expect at Metamor. I know you are trying to dissuade usfbeing surprised at the animal people and spreading rumors of demons,
andthat you used to be men. Now, will you permit us to continue on to
Metamor? Iwould like to spend as little time traveling and as much time
trading aspossible while in range of the curse.”
The amazons looked surprised for a second, and then relaxed.“You know
you can only stay for a week before risking the curse, right?”
“Yes, we know, and we plan to leave the area as soon as weneed to. Being
changed isn’t so much of a curse in my opinion as it isinteresting, but
most folks further south would disagree, making business verydifficult.”
“All right then, you may go. Euper is only a couple of milesup the road,
and the Keep is just a few beyond that.”
“Thank you.”
The convoy started moving again,Cheep’s interest growing as they drew
closer to the cities he was told werefilled with animal people. He
looked about eagerly, and when they finally camein sight of the gates,
his eyes were not disappointed. He saw an ox man pushinga wheelbarrow
full of firewood, who was greeted as he passed by an eagle womanwho was
tending a small garden. The second thing he noticed was the smell.
Hesneezed at the sheer power of it: astrong mixture of various animal
musks and excrement. The he noticed that thestreets were all dirt- or
worse. A window opened on the second floor of a shopand a llama woman
called out “Ware below!” and dumped a bucket of foul-lookingand
-smelling liquid onto the roadway. Thankfully, his caravan was
travellingin the middle of the street and they were not in danger of
being splashed bythe vile liquid. They moved through Euper, stopping at
a couple of shops tosupply the shops with raw materials Morty had been
contracted to bring them.They eventually left the city and got back onto
the road leading to MetamorKeep. Cheep cleared his nose of all the
unsavory odors left as they breathedclean air again. They travelled
across some fields and through more woods,eventually coming nearing the
final clearing that contained the Keep andsurrounding structures. As
they rounded the last bend and the Keep came intoview, Cheep and a few
of the other men gasped in awe at the beauty andmagnificence of it. The
sun was just beginning to set as they rolled up to thegates, creating a
long shadow that stretched miles from the Keep to the east. Theguards
let them pass after they explained their intentions and showed
theirgoods, and they rolled into Keeptowne just as the marketplace was
starting toclose up for the day.
 

They arrived at a sturdy-looking inn and made arrangementsfor spending
the next few days there. The weary travelers, both the men and
thehorses, were eager to rest. The men all sat at tables in and ordered
theirfavorite meals as Morty saw that the horses were stabled and fed.
Cheep askedthe waitress, a girl who looked about ten years old, what was
on the menu. Shereplied, well, we’ve got stew that everyone seems to
like, and you can get itwith or without meat. My daughter is turning out
to be quite the cook.”
Cheep looked confused. “Your daughter? How-”
The girl laughed. “You’re new here, aren’t you? I may notlook it, but
I’m old enough to be your grandma. The whole ‘age-regressed’
thingisn’t so bad, even when you have to get used to people mistaking
you for a realchild all the time. Yes, I am the owner here, and I have a
daughter who doesthe cooking. She used to be my son.”
Cheep just sat dumbstruck for a while, and then looked upwhen she
cleared her throat and said “Oh yeah, I was ordering stew, right?
Withmeat, please.”
“Got it. It will be right out.”
Cheep and Kag and the other hired men enjoyed the hot,savory stew as
they talked and laughed, and some quaffed steins of ale. 
“And then he said, ‘That was my sister!’”
Cheep’s eyes widened and he blushed amid the raucouslaughter emanating
from the other guards as the bawdy joke. Kag looked at
himsympathetically and said, “Yeah, sorry about them. You get used to it
after awhile.” Cheep nodded and still looked embarrassed. He had never
been friendswith anyone inclined to that sort of behavior before, and
still couldn’t helpbut be shocked at it. After most of the guards were
getting sleepy and a fewwere slightly inebriated, they started heading
off to their assigned quartersto sleep for the night. 
While inside the city, Morty didn’t need the full complementof guards to
watch the wagons the whole time, so he let them go off and
enjoythemselves, spending their wages as they saw fit, though
occasionally they tooka shift or two to help Morty with his goods. Cheep
followed Kag around, and ashe had been to Metamor once before, he knew
his way around to some degree. Forthe most part, Cheep studied the vast
diversity of people’s forms, especiallythe animal morphs. He had never
imagined anything like it, and he eventuallybuilt up the courage to ask
one giraffe man he saw what it was like.
“What’s it like? Being a giraffe, you mean? Not as differentas you might
think. I mean, yes, I have to eat more vegetables than I used to,and
food takes longer to get to my stomach, and doorways are sometimes
aproblem, but it’s not bad. I kind of like being able to see above the
crowd allthe time.”
“What was it like to change? I mean, did it hurt orwhatever?”
“No, I just woke up one morning with yellow fur and spots, andthe next I
was taller and my neck was longer, and a few days later I was as yousee
me now. No pain, just, well, weirdness. That my body was changing.”
“Cool. I hope I didn’t offend you or whatever by asking.”
“No problem. I meet people newto Metamor all the time. Don’t worry about
it.”
 

Over the next few days, Cheep saw most of the shops inKeeptowne,
including a jeweler’s run by a badger, a glassblower’s run by
anelephant, a bakery run by a capybara (that had bread that smelled
moredelicious than any food he could remember, and he wound up spending
large partof his wages there), and many others that sold everything
imaginable. He wasenjoying himself immensely, and a grin of delight
crossed his face as he saw agroup of people dressed in bright
multicolored clothing (that seemed to be madeof nothing but patches, but
looked cheerful nonetheless) who were entertainingthe crowd by juggling
small wooden balls and doing all sorts of tricks. Somewere flipping and
tumbling, some were twisting their bodies into positions hehad not
previously thought possible, and one was dancing in a way that made
himblush again when he saw her. A strange but happy melody floated
across theentire square from a group of the performers who played flutes
and drums andother musical instruments. Kag noticed his interest and
offered, “Those are theMagyars. I don’t know if I’ve heard of them
coming to Metamor before, but theyare a sort of nomadic people who live
in wagons and perform for people in thevillages they visit to earn their
living. Come to think of it, they live quitea bit like what you did
before signing on with Morty. Only they have thereputation of stealing
what they feel they deserve from the towns that don’tgive them enough.”
Cheep looked on with interest, and wandered closer. At onepoint, a ball
thrown erratically by mistake flew straight for his head, and ifhe
managed to catch it before it gave him a black eye only because of
histraining with the acrobats. The Magyar who had thrown it apologized
for the accidentand complimented him on his reflexes as Cheep tossed the
ball back to him.Cheep’s eyes started to tear up at the thought of his
old friends who he wouldnever see again. He shook his head and tried to
think of something else. Nowthe Magyars’ juggling became more intense,
balls flying from one juggler toanother and another and then back. The
balls flew high into the air at times,almost lost to sight against the
blindingly bright background of the summersky, only to be caught by a
skillful hand and sent elsewhere at dizzying speed.The crowd oohed and
ahhed at the spectacle, which gradually grew more and moreimpressive at
the display of such ability until at sthejugglers caught the balls at once, some with two or three balls in
one hand,the music drew to the end, and the performance was over.
Cheers rose from the crowd as they applauded, and all theMagyars bowed.
Cheep and Kag tossed a few coins at the tip cloth on the groundin the
middle of the entertainers and made their way back to peruse a few
moreshops before returning to the inn they were staying at. When they
arrived justbefore dusk, the merchant met them outside and told them
that they should beready to leave before the end of the next day. 
“Before we go, you really should see the Keep proper. It isnot something
that should be missed.”
“That sounds great. It looks magnificent even from adistance. I can’t
wait to see it up close.”
“That’s not even the most interesting part. I would tellyou, but it’s
easier to show than explain and I want it to be a surpriseanyway.”
“What is?”
“It’s a surprise. If I told you, it wouldn’t be. Now go tosleep. You’ll
see it soon enough and we have a long trip ahead of us.”
The next morning Kag and Cheep walked through Keeptowne,this time
ignoring most of the vendors, although stopping to get some breakfastat
the bakery run by the capybara whose name they learned was Gregor. They
toldthe tabby cat morph at the counter to give their complements to the
baker andheaded off to the castle.
Cheep gazed in wonder at the sheer scale of the structure;he had to look
almost straight up to see the top, even before he got near thedoors. To
his disappointment, Kag led him inside almost immediately. 
“What is in here that is more interesting than the outside?”Cheep asked
as they walked through the entry chamber and down a long hallway ofgrey
and singularly unimpressive stone.
“You’ll see.”
“Hrmph.”
They walked and walked, and eventually, Cheep noticed thatthey had been
going down the same straight hallway for quite some time.
“How long is this hallway? It seems like we should be on theother side
of the castle by now, and there haven’t been any rooms or
connectinghallways. This is a weird building.”
“You’re right, this is a long and boring hallway. In fact,if it didn’t
move, we would have been outside the castle walls about tenminutes ago.”
“I’m sorry, did you just say move? And connect that word toa hallway in
a huge stone castle? Are you okay?”
“I’m completely serious. The passages move. There is no setway to get
anywhere except focus on the place and keep moving; the only reasonwe
seem to have been in a long hallway is that you were following me and
Ifocused on long, empty hallways. Now think of the library or something
and seewhat happens as we keep walking.”
“You are so joking. I am not falling for this. There is noway.”
“Have I ever lied to you or tried to trick you before?”
“I… no, I guess not. But that is just unbelievable!”
“Just try it. Focus on some place or some person and theKeep will take
you there. That is, if she likes you.”
“Likes me? The castle is alive now? And female?”
“No, but there is a nymph named Kyia who supposedly controlsthe whole
place. There are only a lucky few who have had the privilege ofseeing
her and talking to her.”
“Okay, now I know you’ve lost it.”
“Just focus on something.”
“The Duke’s chambers.”
“All right then. Let’s see what happens.”
They only had to walk for another minute before they noticeda large
elaborate door ahead on the left with a pair of armed guards standingat
either side.
“No way.”
“Way.”
Cheep approached one of the guards. “Hey, can I go throughthis door?”
The guard, who was a wolf morph, gruffly responded, “TheDuke is not
available for audience at the moment. You can only see him by
appointment,though if you have some pressing concern, you can send a
message to theSteward.”
“No freaking way.”
“Way.”
“I’m sorry, what?”
“I was just demonstrating the Keep’s variable geometry to myfriend here.
He is new to Metamor,” explained Kag with a smirk.
“Ah. Carry on then, but no loitering around here or we’llhave to escort
you outside.”
“That won’t be a problem. Thank you for your time.”
With that he continued down the hallway, Cheep followingwith a look of
utter disbelief still hanging on his face.
“No freaking way.”
“How about you try finding something else? The mess hall,maybe. I’m
getting hungry.”
They continued walking, though now the passageway hadoccasional turns
and doors. Finally, they stopped in front of a large doorwayfrom which
was emanating the smells of cooked meat and other foods. They paidthe
bored-looking turtle morph standing at the door and entered. They saw
alarge room with tables all over the floor, set largely into two groups,
soonrecognizable as being for carnivores and herbivores, designated by
the largeplatters of meat on one group of tables and of fresh fruits and
vegetables onthe other. They saw animal morphs classifiable as omnivores
and normal-lookinghumans at both sets of tables, displaying that the
segregation was out ofdietary necessity and not prejudice. Cheep had
always enjoyed a good rabbitstew, but he was also partial to oranges. He
headed over to the herbivoretables, partially in the hopes of finding
some of a singularly odd fruit he hadtasted only once but enjoyed
immensely at an exotic fruit vendor’s stand a fewyears back. He never
learned the name, but the fruits were bright yellow andcurved rather
than round, and had a thick peel that you removed before eatingthe soft,
succulent inner flesh. He spied a bunch of the unique fruit on one ofthe
platters and eagerly made his way to the table and snatched one up
beforeeven sitting down, excitement radiating from his face. 
“Somebody like bananas, it seems,” remarked a rabbit morph inleather
armor who was nibbling on a carrot.
“You’re one to talk, Mr. Carrot Breath!” countered a jovialcow morph,
who was chewing a mouthful of grass.
“Shut up!”
The cow just laughed and continued chewing.
“So these are called ‘bananas’?” asked Cheep, who hadalready peeled his
and was happily chewing his third bite.
“You didn’t know? Though I guess these aren’t commoneverywhere. Where
are you from, kid?”
“I don’t know, somewhere down south. Well, sort of. I grewup there.
Orphaned from someplace across a sea, but I don’t know where. I
don’thave a happy past.”
“Sorry to hear that. I’m Padraic, by the way. Sorry aboutearlier, you
just had a look on your face that was highly amusing.”
“No worries.”
Cheep and his massive companion enjoyed various and sundrydelectable
plants and plant-based foods before washing up at a nearby basin
andheading out again. Down the hallway they walked, this time thinking
ofeverything they could imagine and seeing it and more appear as they
continuedtraveling through the Keep. They stopped at several shops built
into the Keep,including a smithy operated by a huge white tiger morph.
They saw his weaponsfor sale and Cheep saw a particularly ornate set of
five-sided throwing stars.He practically drooled at their beauty, but he
held back, knowing they wouldonly be worth his coin if they were of good
weapon quality.
“Are these balanced, or just wall decorations? I can feelthat they are
sharp,” he said as he fingered the edge of one.
The tiger looked indignant, almost furious. “Are youquestioning my
honor? I only make weapons of the highest quality. To questiontheir
merit is to insult my honor.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, that’s not what I meant at all. Imean no dishonor
or insult. I just wanted to know if these are as useful asthey are
pretty.”
“I can assure you they are perfectly balanced and they willfly true and
retain their sharpness longer than any others you can find in
thiscountry.”
With that the tiger picked up a star and expertly threw itinto the exact
middle of a wooden dummy’s head about thirty feet away.
“Can I try?” Cheep asked.
“I suppose you can, but be veryCheep smiled and turned the small bladed weapon over in hishands to get
a feel for the weight. He flipped it back and forth between his handsa
few times, and threw it in much the same way as the tiger had with
similarresults, only the star was embedded in the dummy’s throat.
“Very nice. I apologize for and offence I may havecommunicated, intended
or otherwise How much are these?”
“I can accept no less than seven gold suns for the set.”
Cheep took out his money pouch and counted the remains ofhis money. He
had enough for the set of shuriken and only a few coppers more.He
breathed a sigh of relief and passed the coins to the tiger, who had an
amusedlook on his face.
“I think he was expecting you to haggle,” Kag said.
“Oh.”
Cheep looked up hopefully at the tiger, who simply shruggedand deposited
the coins into a strongbox behind a counter.
“Whoops. I guess I know for nexttime.” Cheep said disappointedly as he
walked out. Kag smiled sympathetically.
 

As they made their way out of the Keep proper and back intotown before
the market closed and they would be on their way again, Cheepsighed, and
said, “I kind of wish I could stay here. Guarding may pay fairlywell,
but it’s so boring. There is so much to do and see here. I don’t think
Iwould even mind being an animal, as long as it wasn’t a reptile or
something.”
They heard a commotion on the street behind them, and asthey turned,
they noticed that it followed a coyote morph sprinting past themtoward
the gates. After he passed, Kag was able to make out the words of one
ofthe people who ran down the street gibbering, a look of wild terror in
his eyes.Kag’s curiosity turned to fear and he stiffened as the words
sent a chill downhis spine.
“Plague! We’re all gonna die!” the donkey morph was nowrunning on all
fours, his words becoming brays. “Baaaaa-HAW! HEE HAWW!” 
Kag looked at Cheep, who didn’t know what to think or how torespond, and
said, “Well, my friend, it appears that you may get your wish.”
“What?”
“If there really is Plague here, they will have toquarantine the city.
It’s not worth the risk of spreading, even if it killsevery last soul
here.”
Cheep looked horrified. “I heard of Plague once before, whenmy old slave
drivers told me what happened to my real parents. They apparentlyhad
heard this secondhand and couldn’t tell me any more, unfortunately.”
They made their way through the still mostly oblivious crowdtoward the
gates, which were, sure enough, oddly closed. There was a small
butgrowing crowd of caravans and other travelers trying to leave the
city, but theguards would let no one through. They tried to find Morty
and his caravan, butthey had apparently just made it through the gates
before they were closed. Thetwo exchanged worried looks. They heard a
commotion behind them and saw ayellow flag being raised on one of the
towers of the castle.
“Okaaaay… so now what?” Cheep asked after they had overcometheir initial
shock of being quarantined and made their way back toward theKeep.
“I guess we make arrangements for a long-term stay. That,and try to
avoid the Plague.”
“Ah.”
 

They entered the Keep again, this time focusing on theSteward in the
hopes that he would not be too busy to help them. They found hisoffice
after only a few dozen steps. There was already a short line outside
hisdoor. They joined it and waited. The line quickly grew behind them as
theynoticed that the passage behind them now connected to several
differentcorridors from which streamed numerous people.
They waited for the Steward to finish with the person infront of them
and walked into his office. The alligator morph was obviouslyoverwhelmed
and a bit irritable.
“Before you ask, no, you can’t leave. It doesn’t matter whatyou have to
do or how long you have been here or who is waiting outside thegates.
They will have to wait, and NO ONE is leaving. Now, how can I help you?”
“We weren’t actually going to ask to leave. We know the cityis uquarantine. We just wanted to know if you can help us find a place
tostay. I have a bit of money left, but my friend here doesn’t, and we
can’tafford to stay at inns for more than a couple of days. We need
something more long-term.”
“Ah, well, that’s a different issue. I apologize for being abit rude,
but I have my claws full at the moment, as I’m sure you can imagine.I’m
sure we can find you something suitable. What can you do? To clarify,
whattrade do you practice?”
“We were caravan guards, but my friend here is also anacrobat. What jobs
would be available to us?”
“Well, certainly the Watch, but you may prefer to be scouts.You will
want to report to George if the latter is true, the Watch office ifthe
former.”
“Thank you. Where can we stay?”
“The Keep has been making a lot of new doors recently, butwe can
probably arrange temporary housing until you find yours.”
“Making?” Cheep stared at the alligator incredulously.
“Oh, you must be new here. Yes, Kyia makes new doors andtheir
accompanying rooms appear sometimes, whenever she knows someone will
bestaying here permanently. They are usually custom made to their
designatedoccupant.”
“Thank you.”
“NEXT!”
 

Cheep felt like his head was spinning with all the crazythings he had
seen this week. First, talking animal-men. Then women who weren’twomen,
but men, and children who were grandparents. Then, a castle with
movingcorridors, haunted by a mysterious being who apparently had a
mischievous senseof humor. The prospect of a quiet room with a bed was
growing more and moreappealing. As they walked down the shifting
hallways once again, Kag drew to ahalt in front of a large wooden door.
“I’d say we have the favor of the Lady Kyia.”
“What makes you say that?”
“This door has our names on it.”
“Oh. Really?”
“You can’t read?”
“Not very well. I actually don’t know how to write my ownname.”
“Ah. Well, shall we explore it?”
Cheep nodded and Kag opened the large ironbound door.Through this they
found a wide room with a table and two chairs, one very largeand
sturdy-looking, the other smaller, but both with a large unusual hole
inthe back at the level of the seat. There was also a food cabinet as
well as afireplace and cozy hearth, with a door on either side of the
room that led totheir respective bedrooms. Kag assumed the one with the
large arched doorwaywas his, even though he couldn’t imagine why it
would need to be so wide evenif it was custom-fit for him. Cheep’s door
was smaller and innocuous, but theroom beyond was bizarre to say the
least. The bed, if you could call it that,was a sort of hammock with a
mattress in it, and the wooden closet was normalenough, but the first
thing Cheep noticed was that EVERYTHING was at least sixfeet off the
ground! There were ladders all over the walls, and wooden beamsthat
stretched across the room from each of the room’s features to the
others,closer to high ceiling than the floor. He looked on in wonder,
glad that he hadlong ago lost his fear of heights since this was
apparently to be his room. Hewould have to climb to get to anything! He
already felt tired at the notion.
Kag fared better, but everything seemed so much bigger andsturdier than
necessary. The bed was as wide as he was tall, although just afoot off
the ground, and seemed to have a solid wood base instead of legs likethe
beds he was used to. There was another chair like the one in the main
roomthat was of average height, but looked as though it were designed to
bear anelephant instead of a man. 
They reconvened in the living room, and Cheep asked “Weren’tthese rooms
supposed to be custom designed for the person who was to live inthem?”
“Yes.”
“Then why the heck is everything above my head??”
“I don’t know, but I expect it had something to do with theCurse. I
think I heard someone say that they thought their room was weird
untilthey changed. Maybe Kyia has designed them to fit our Cursed forms.
They seemto be animals.”
Cheep looked scared for a moment. “Do you think it“I have no idea. It is different for different people. Somepeople change
quickly, some slowly. I heard of a beaver who took almost twomonths to
finish changing. Some report a painful change, while others say itfeels
like breathing, only different.”
“I wonder what I will become.”
“Well, judging from yourchambers, I would say something that is a good
climber. But I don’t knowanimals that well. I expect to become something
really big. Well, something biggerand heavier than I am now, I mean.
Everything in my room is heavy-duty.”
“Hmmm. I guess all we can do nowis wait.”
“Yep, I agree. Although weshould talk to this George in the morning, or
whatever the other place was.”
“Okay. Good night, I guess.”
“Good night.”
Kag yawned as he loped back tohis room, and Cheep looked a bit annoyed
at the prospect of having to climbthat high into bed. He decided to just
make the best of things, and climbed aladder on the nearest wall. From
this, he had to walk across a narrow beamstretching across the room
until it intersected with another one at rightangles, and balanced along
this one until he came to the hammock.
“One of these days, I’m going toseriously injure myself doing this!” he
remarked as he dropped into thecomfortable bed.
 

They woke the next morning bright and early, the sun streamingin through
previously unnoticed windows. Cheep stretched as he rose, notingthat he
felt more limber and flexible than normal. Kag rose from his giganticbed
without noticing any difference. As he buckled on his massive claymore,
henoticed that the strap buckled in the next hole down from the one that
normallyfit, the one with the deep crease in the leather. He concluded
that the cursemust have started setting in already, and continued
getting ready. Cheep metKag in their shared living room and they went to
the mess hall to get breakfastbefore trying to find George. Kag noticed
that the beef shank he ate tastedless flavorful than it normally would,
but the fruit tasted better.
They left the mess hall and focused on finding this Georgeperson who was
apparently in charge of something and could give them a job.They didn’t
know what to look for, but Cheep noticed a door that he was surethey had
passed at least twice and pointed it out. Kag opened the doorcautiously,
wondering whether he was intruding. There was a small anteroom witha
reception desk, at which sat a particularly beautiful woman who looked
to bea secretary.
“Excuse me, but we were looking for George?”
A loud belch was heard from the connected office beyond, anda slightly
mangy jackal morph walked out, scratching himself in a
veryunprofessional way.
“You found him. What can I do for you?”
Cheep stared at him, finding it difficult to believe thatthis unkempt
being was a leader, military or otherwise.
“We need jobs. We were told to talk to you about joining thescouts, I
think?”
“That’s right. We’ll see. What training do you have? I cansee the sword
on your back, big guy, but do you know how to use it?”
Kag spoke up first. “We were just employed as caravan guardsfor a choosy
merchant before being stuck here. I have killed about thirty-fiveLutins
with my blade. But I assume you would want to test us before making
adecision.”
“You got that right. How about you? I don’t see a sword onyou. What do
you fight with?”
Cheep was only a little bit nervous now. “I can fight withmy bare hands,
staffs, nunchukas, and throwing blades. I don’t know how manyLutins I
killed; I only heard of them a few months ago, and fought a wholebunch
of them when my troupe was attacked. But I have disarmed and knocked
outat least two dozen bandits who tried to attack me before that.”
“Interesting. What exactly is a nunchuka?”
Cheep pulled his out and held them out for George to see.
“Well, I guess we should headoff to the practice rooms to see just how
well you can fight. Come on. Terry,cancel all my appointments for this
morning.”
 

He led them back through the Keep to a large courtyard wherea large
number of humans of various ages and animal morphs practiced andsparred.
Apparently not everyone was too scared of the Plague to go about
theirnormal business. George tapped a feline morph who was practicing
archery asthey passed and motioned for him to follow. 
They neared a series of rings painted onto the floor, someof which
contained pairs of sparring humans and morphs. 
“You, skinny kid, what was your name?”
“Chip’ang Koniko, sir. Most people call me Cheep.”
“Some barmaids call me that. But that’s a different story.And you?”
“Kagmer Quarr. Kag for short.”
“Charmed, I’m sure. Anyways, you can’t practice with realblades. Grab
some practice swords and get your tails back here ASAP.”
“We don’t have tails.”
“Not yet anyways. Move it!”
They each quickly found a wooden weapon appropriate fortheir size in the
racks against one wall and returned to where the jackal stoodwaiting.
“All right, Cheap, or whatever, you will be sparring withAlex here.
Don’t go easy on him.” 
Cheep was unsure of to whom he had addressed this lastcommand.
“Can I use my nunchukas?”
“Not this round. Go!”
Cheep was caught off guard by the sudden ferocity the catmorph displayed
as he whipped across the circle and disarmed him with onestroke, and
then poked him in the chest with the blunt tip of the sword.
“I win.”
“Again!” George barked. “And this time keep a grip on yourweapon!”
Even though he was ready for it, he still didn’t last longagainst the
obviously skilled cat, who had no trouble delivering multiplewould-be
killing blows with the wooden weapon.
George sighed. “Well, you’re obviously worthless with asword. How about
those Nun-chuckers or whatever they were? Try it with those.”
This time the cat was caught off guard as the now-confidentyouth stood
his ground and remained motionless until he swung the blade at him.The
nunchukas spun once and cracked loudly as they deflected the blow.
Thefeline attacked again, this time trying to fake his motions and get
in a blowaround his defenses. Again the nunchukas flipped and this time
impacted thegrip of the wooden sword in the cat’s paw. Alex almost
dropped his practicesword at the shock and pain of the hit, but shook it
off and flew into a seriesof successive quick strikes. Blow after blow
was simply deflected as Alexrealized that Cheep was simply in his
element and was trying to wear him down. Hechanged strategies again, now
trying to hit lower to make him protect his legsso he could attack his
vitals again. Once again, the expertly wielded nunchukasprevailed and
left no opening for the wooden sword. Cheep saw Alex’sfrustration and
decided to finally press the attack. He spun the weapon aroundhis body
in curious arcs and lashed out at the swordsman. Alex had no shield,but
would have found it difficult to defend himself even if he had one. He
wasonly able to block a few strikes from the unorthodox weapon before
Cheepmanaged to wrap the cord connecting the two halves of his weapon
around Alex’spractice blade and he jerked backward. The cat tried to
maintain his grip onthe sword, but he was pulled forward and Cheep
dropped him to the stone floorwith a chop to the back as he tried
unsuccessfully to regain his balance.
“Very interesting. It seems you really do know how to usethose. Next?”
George called out.
Alex shook his dizzy head as he tried to get up. Cheephelped him up, and
he asked, “Can I at least have a little break first?”
“Yeah sure. Just hurry it up. I don’t have all day.”
The cat massaged his neck as he rested against the wall.“Wow, that was
some pretty impressive stuff back there.”
“Thank you. I saw that you are used to fighting people withswords, and
that you’re good at it, but you’ve just never seen my kind ofweapon
before.”
“Yeah, something like that.”
He got back up and entered the circle once more, this timeto face the
hulking Kag.
“Seriously. I should get extra pay for this.” Alex remarked.
The two combatants faced off, one with a standard woodenlongsword, the
other with a practice claymore that looked like it was made outof a
trimmed-down fence post.
Alex shook his head and rushed toward his opponent, intenton winning
quickly so he could go relax for the rest of the day in the bathsand try
to soothe his sore body. Kag swung a feint at him, gauging hisreactions
to see what he would do. Alex dodged the halfhearted blow and
pressedforward, trying to get in a ‘killing’ blow and end the match. The
big mansurprised him with his skill as he dropped his hands lower
quickly blocking theexpert thrust with the hand guard of his practice
sword. He then swung theblade around again and drove through the cat’s
block, knocking him backwards onhis tail. Alex winced in pain and
scowled at how his day was turning out. Hegot up again to finish the
match and be done, no longer caring whether or nothe won. He slashed
almost blindly at every exposed part of Kag’s body he could,landing many
of his blows but eventually getting hit again, this time makinghim
stagger backward instead of falling. He once again shook his
head,frustrated that his hits weren’t having any effect on the towering
swordsman.He didn’t even show pain. Alex charged one last time before
the huge woodensword swung around in a wide arc and shattered his own
blade in two, notstopping there but plowing into his chest once again,
driving the air from hislungs and knocking him to the floor one more
time.
“That’s it… wheeze… I’m done. Get somebody else to test yourrecruits.”
If he noticed the cat’s attitude, George didn’t show it.
He got up with difficulty and limped off for the baths,muttering
something about a broken mirror.
“It seems you can handle yourself in a fight. But if thathad been a real
sword, you would be cut to ribbons.”
“I’m more used to fighting groups of attackers; I usuallyjust chop them
while their focus is on something else. I can only block alittle, so I
wear heavy armor to keep the blades off.”
“I suppose that works. I guess I could take you both on.”
“Thank you, sir.”
“Whatever. Show up here Monday morning for your training andmore
instructions and stuff.”
As they started to leave the practice rooms, they noticed thetiger morph
Cheep had bought his throwing stars from approaching.
“I saw your fight, and I was wondering how strong you are,”he said to
Kag. “I would like to challenge you to a wrestling match.”
“Sounds interesting.” Kag said. “When?”
“Now. Over there.” The huge tiger pointed to a large ring onthe floor
with a smaller ring in the center.
“Okay.”
They prepared for another sort of combat as Cheep watched. Kagstripped
out of his armor and weapon, and the tiger removed everything except
aloincloth and hand and foot wraps for the his sharp claws, and faced
each otherat opposite edges of the smaller circle. Kag got into his
wrestling stance,crouched halfway to make for a low center of gravity,
hands out but elbows into prevent being grabbed, head up. The white
tiger shifted into a similarstance, modified for his altered anatomy.
All of a sudden the huge felinelunged at Kag’s feet, trying to use his
legs as a lever to bring him down tothe floor. Kag saw the attack
coming, however, and jumped, sending his feetstraight out behind him and
grabbing the tiger’s head and shoulders with hisarms as he passed
underneath him. The tiger obviously did not expect the man tobe able to
dodge his grab so easily, and was pinned underneath the man’sprodigious
weight for a few second before snarling and forcing his limbs
down,lifting the man off the ground completely. Kag spun around behind
the tiger’shead and gripped his head again from underneath the furred
arms, catching the felinein a full nelson. The tiger snarled again and
thrashed about furiously,breaking the man’s grip and almost throwing him
off completely, but Kag held onand changed holds, this time catching the
tigers head and one leg between hisarms in a cradle, with the tiger’s
back on the floor. The tiger morph surprisedthe man this time with his
sheer strength, which Kag had never encounteredbefore. He was definitely
stronger than Kag, but he could tell the tiger wasstarting to get tired.
If he could keep on him for a little while longer hewould have him. The
tiger broke the man’s hold again and leaped across thecircle before he
could be grabbed again, breathing hard as he prepared for
hiscounterattack. He leapt back at the man again, knocking him to the
ground witha fierce growl. Kag was expecting it, and shifted his weight
so the tigerdidn’t land directly on top of him; he quickly squirmed out
from underneath andpounced back on the tiger morph, who tried to reach
back and grab him, but onlysucceeded in giving the man a handle to grab
as he was put in a half-nelson.The man used the big cat’s arm as a lever
to turn him on his back and pin him.The tiger tried to break the hold
again, but he was spent.
“That would be match,” Kag said with a grin, letting thetiger man up
once he conceded defeat.
“I suppose you are right,” the tiger said with a scowl. “Iused to have
more endurance, but this tiger body is built for short bursts ofstrength
and speed, not marathons.”
“Sooo… any chance you are going to give back a little ofthat extra gold
I gave you for those stars?” Cheep broke in.
“They are still worth what you paid, even if you might haveargued the
price down. I do not really need the money; I get enough from myother
work so that I make extra weapons simply because I enjoy it. I
chargeonly a little more than the high quality materials I use cost me.”
“Oh. It was just a thought,” Cheep said sheepishly.
 

Cheep and Kag stopped by the baths on their way to theirmidday meal,
washing off all the sweat and grime from exercise, and offeredsympathy
to Alex, who they saw already sprawled out in one of the larger
tubs,moaning from his aches and bruises. He assured them that it was all
right, andhe was having a bad day anyways, so he didn’t really blame
them. They left andonce again went to the mess hall, enjoying more
fruits and vegetables (Kagnoticed the meat was even blander than before,
and the fruit tasted evenbetter). Cheep ate several more bananas, still
the most delectable fruit he hadever tasted. They finished their meal
and left, heading for the Market again tosee more things in town and see
how people were reacting to the quarantine.
They noticed that some of the shops were closed up tight,signs posted
outside declaring that they would remain closed until furthernotice.
Most shops were open still, either ignorant of the Plague threat
orapathetic toward it. Most people had not seen any victims, but had
simply heardthat there was Plague. Many of these were terrified at the
idea and barricadedthemselves indoors to try to last it out. The guards
had their hands fulltrying to prevent mass panic from the terrified
citizens, so Cheep and Kag madetheir way back to the Keep to find ways
to occupy their time. On the way, theypassed what appeared to be a small
tailor shop, but it looked a bit dilapidated.Unsure of what to expect,
they walked up to a window and looked in. 
“What are you lookin’ at?” an irascible gopher’s face poppedup right in
front of Cheep’s. He gave a startled cry and fell backwards. Kagremained
stoic, but helped Cheep back to his feet.
“Sorry, we were just curious what was in here. It lookedopen, but we
didn’t see anybody.”
“I’m not just anybody. I happen to be the best tailoranywhere! I can
make clothing for anybody and anything. I just haven’t had muchbusiness
since I got here, and haven’t bothered much to keep up ‘pearances.”
“Oh. Sorry to bother you. We’ll be going now.”
“Now wait just a goldang’ minute there, where do you thinkyou’re goin’?
Yer’ gonna need new duds soon, anybody who has eyes can seethat.”
“What are you talking about?” Cheep asked?
“What, you think the Curse changes yer clothes, too? Youmust be dumber
than you look.”“How long you been here? Long enough to start changin’, thatmuch is fer
sure.”
“How can you tell?”
“Lookit the back a’ yer hand.”
Cheep glanced down skeptically, but to his surprise, theback of his hand
was hairier than normal. In fact, it looked to be growing alayer of
golden brown fur.
“I see you weren’t expectin’ that. Ha ha!” The gopherlaughed.
“What am I turning into? Can you tell?” Cheep askedhopefully.
“I happen to be one of the best here at recongnizin’species, so I can
tell you that,well, let’s see… you seem to be turning into some sort a’
monkey.”
“A monkey.” Cheep suddenly thought of a coincidence: hecarried a small
jade monkey statue in his pack.
“That’s right. And you, big fella. You look like you’re wearin’yer
little brother’s clothes. You notice any changes?”
“Just the size so far.” Kag scratched his nose, which oddlyitched.
“What’s with the nose- Ohhhhh, ha ha ha ha! I think I knowwhat you are!”
“What?”
“Lookit his nose!”
“My nose? What does it look like?”
Cheep looked and noticed a single thick black hair growingoddly out of
the tip of Kag’s nose growing upward.
“That’s weird. What does that hair mean?”
“That ain’t just any hair, it looks like the beginnin’s of ahorn!”
“A horn?” Kag asked. “What creature has a horn on its nose?”
“Well, there’s a couple of them here already, so you can askthem if you
like, but if I remember the name rightly it’s Ry-nose-a-ris, orsomethin’
like that. We just call ‘em rhinos, though. Big, tough, grey
fellas.Thick skin and muscles an’ stuff.”
“Hmmm… I think that would suit me fine…” said Kag, lookingthoughtful.
“It better, ‘cause you sure ain’t gettin’ anything else!Once the change
starts, you can’t stop it or change it or nothin’.”
“So why are you so interested in us?” Cheep questioned,looking
suspiciously at the gopher.
“Well, as you may have noticed, you is both changin’ shape.You are
prob’ly both gonna get tails, and you need to get yer clothes
alteredto ‘comma-date yer new shapes. This big fella here may need all
new ones,dependin’ on how much bigger he gits. You fellas is the first
in a while to notjust walk by my shop with dis-gust. There is just too
much rude folk in thisworld…” the gopher trailed off and began a
rambling tirade on the times.
“So you want to make us new clothes? Or at least make ourclothes
continue to fit?”
The gopher looked up from his tirade. “Why’d you think atailor would
grab you off the street?”
“Oh. That makes sense. We should probably wait until wefinish changing,
though, right?”
“A’course! You think I’m stupid, or swindling, or what?”
“No, neither… I guess we’ll seeyouagainsoonBye!” Cheepstarted to walk
away anxiously. Kag followed.
“You better!” the gopher shouted after them.
 

The next few days were met with little enthusiasm. They hadnot started
work yet, and Kagmer’s wallet was almost empty, so Cheep wentlooking for
something to do for free. 
Cheep was walking down a street in the market section oftown. He watched
the odd people as he went, chuckling at the sight of an angrytoddler
giving a big bear morph a lecture on appropriate behavior as the
bearcowered, flinching at the harsh words. He passed a seedy-looking
booth run byan equally seedy-looking human merchant, who appeared to be
selling cheapjewelry for quality prices. Cheep paid him almost no
attention, but turned atthe sound of the man’s honey-smooth voice
assuring a customer that the talismanshe was considering was pure gold,
and magical as well. Cheep watched thegullible bird woman drinking in
the man’s words, a look of adoration in hereyes. He approached the booth
again, and the man looked at him and smiledbroadly.
“Good afternoon, sir! You look like a fellow who knows abargain when he
sees one! Just look at this cloak pin, it suit you perfectly.For you, I
will offer it for a measly two gold!”
Cheep had been skeptical, but now he was downrightdisgusted. He decided
to play along for a bit, though, and see if he could dosomething about
this greasy vendor.
“Hmm, shiny. What’s it made of?” Cheep asked, trying tosound interested
and not-so-bright.
“It may look like ordinary silver, but this fantastic baublehappens to
be made of mithril! Only the finest for such a fine customer,” theman
oozed.
“Oh, so it’s scratch-proof! That’s great. So you won’t mindif I scrape
at it with a piece of steel,” he said, pulling one of his ornateshuriken
off the cord tied around his belt.
“Oh no! I mean, there’s no need, I, I can assure you that-Wait!”
But Cheep had already gouged a furrow a quarter inch deep inthe pin,
which had only a thin layer of polished silver on top of the brass itwas
made of. Cheep gazed at the spluttering merchant with a look of utter
contempt.The bird woman looked at the pin in shock, and then at the
trinket peddler withspite and humphed as she turned and stalked away.
“I will give you one chance to stop lying to your customersbefore I turn
you in to the Watch.”
“Lying? What? I, but I, I, I didn’t know! The person whosold it to me,
he-”
“That’s it.” Cheep started to walk away.
“No! I’m sorry! I’ll do anything, don’t tell on me!”
“Anything?” Cheep raised one eyebrow.
“Yes!”
At this point, everyone on the street had stopped whateverthey had been
doing and were watching the confrontation unfold.
“Give back all the money you gouged from people already andsell your
cheap trinkets for what they are really worth, instead of trying totake
advantage of people’s ignorance. This pin is worth maybe two coppers.”
“Three.”
“Whatever. Deal?”
“Can’t we just- I mean- you…” the man sighed, defeated.“Deal.”
Cheep smiled to himself for a job well done as he returnedto the Keep,
thinking of the people he just saved from being ripped off. Hewalked
along dreamily, imagining being rewarded for his efforts with bananas.
“Look out!”
Cheep turned just in time to see a runaway cart full ofrutabagas rolling
down a hill toward him at a startling speed. He tried to leapout of the
way, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
“Oh grea-” WHAM! Splat. Cheep was thrown five feet andlanded face-first
into a mud puddle, sprawling on the ground. The vixen who hadbeen
chasing the cart ran up to him with a concerned expression on her face.
“Are you okay?”
Cheep groaned as he extracted himself from the mud and gotto his feet.
“Owwwwwww.” He moaned.
She stood twisting her hair nervously. “I am sooo sorry. I’mso sorry.
Um, here, let me help you up.” 
“Ow.”
The girl pulled him to his feet.
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I’m fine, just give me a minute. Ow.” He winced, rubbinghis side where
the cart had struck him.
“Umm, thanks for stopping my cart. That must have reallyhurt.” She
commented sympathetically.
“Yeah, don’t mention it.” Cheep’s mood had gone from good toterrible in
one fell swoop.
Cheep scraped as some mud off his skin and clothes, realizinghe badly
needed a wash, picked up his belongings, and trudged back to his
room.Kag was reclining at the table, reading a book. He looked up and
noticed amud-encrusted figure standing in the doorway who did not look
particularly happy.
“What happened to you? Decide to have some fun in the mud?”Kag laughed.
Cheep was not amused. “No. For your information, Isacrificed my body for
a cartful of rutabagas. Now I’m somebody’s hero. I’mgoing to get a bath.”
With that he dumped his pack and grabbed a towel beforeslamming the door
on his way out.
“I have got to hear this one,” Kag said as he shook his headand resumed
reading his book.
He scratched his nose again,feeling the rapidly growing thick hair on
his nose. It was now about an inchlong and an eighth of that in width,
and he could feel another similar onestarting to grow above the first.
His skin started to lose its color, too, henoticed, as well as getting
thicker. He wondered how long it would take tocomplete the change.
 

Cheep scrubbed at the caked mud on his body with a brush hehad bought
after discovering his personal Curse. He looked at the fur again,and
noticed that it was growing lightly on his entire body except the palms
ofhis hands and the soles of his feet. These were getting darker, he
noticed, andinstead of having stubbly facial hair, he had a thin coat of
golden brown furon his whole face. His pink skin was still showing
through, but he could almostwatch it fade as the fur grew thicker. He
was distracted from watching his skinchange by a sudden spiky tingling
sensation coming from his backside. He feltalong his backbone until he
came to a knobby protrusion that had certainlynever been there before.
It was observably growing longer, and sitting on thestone bench in the
recessed bath he was soon able to pull the tip of it abovethe surface of
the warm water. He stared at the odd thing in his hand: his tail. It
even sounded weird as he said it in his mind. Cheep watched it
elongatewith an uncomfortable feeling of pressure coming from the end of
his spine,which he realized was becoming his tail, and then continued
scrubbing off thedirt until all the solid pieces were off him. He
drained the tub, refilling itwith clean, fresh, hot water, and then got
back in to soak for a while. It feltheavenly. He began thinking of all
the things he could do with a tail until theheat started making him
drowsy. 
Cheep suddenly jerked up, splashing water onto the coldstone floor when
he realized that he had fallen asleep in the tub. His skinfelt all
wrinkly, and he got up and dried himself the best he could, not
reallyknowing what to do now that he had a full coat of fur. His tail
now reached theground, and he realized that his arms had gotten longer
while his body hadshrunk a bit. He put his clothes back on, which were
only partially dry, andnoticed that they were too loose and too short
now. On top of that, he nowneeded a tail hole in his pants. Only having
a single pair made himapprehensive about it, but he reasoned that they
would need fixing anyways andwent ahead and cut a hole on the back just
below the beltline. This satisfiedhim reasonably well, and after
managing to feed his tail through the hole, hecinched up his belt tight
enough to keep his pants up and made his way out ofthe private booth,
through the public baths, and back to his chambers. By thetime he got
there, it was late and he could hear his friend snoring loudlyalready
from the room across from his. He suppressed his curiosity about
Kag’schanges and sat down in front of the fire that was left burning
in thefireplace. He added a few more sticks and pulled off his damp
clothes,spreading them on the stone to dry.
“I should go back to see thatgopher guy tomorrow,” he thought as he
stretched and groomed his fur, which wasstill rather damp. “I needed to
get a few more sets of clothes anyway.”
He had barely noticed how drowsyhe was before he fell asleep again.
 

Kagmer woke in the night to a pain in his midsection. Hecleared the fog
from his mind and tried to discern the source of thediscomfort. He got
up and realized that his trousers were extremely tight. Hefumbled around
until he found a candle and lit it with some effort. He removedthe
offending garment with difficulty, noticing that his legs were much
thickerthan before, and his feet were shorter and wider. His skin was
now a lightgrey, much thicker and tougher than before, and the skin on
his back wasstarting to fold and form armor-like plates. He looked at
his hands andrealized why lighting the lamp had been so difficult. His
fingers had sort of‘melted’ together in two places and he now had two
wide fingers and a thumb oneach hand.  He reached up to his headwhen he
noticed something in the middle of his field of view and felt that
hisskull had changed drastically, elongating forward and down. His hair
and beard hadbeen shortening for a few days now and were almost
completely gone, nose (which was now a snout) hadgrown much larger, as had the smaller
one behind it. His ears flicked insurprise, and as he felt them move he
was even more surprised. His ears hadgrown longer and more pointed and
shifted to the top of his head, sticking outat angles. He set the lamp
down on the dresser and noticed that there was now amirror on the wall.
Apparently Kyia had wanted him to see his new form. Hegazed at the
unfamiliar figure in the mirror, opening and closing his mouth
andturning his ears. He flexed his arms, noting that the muscles were
even harderand thicker than before; his arms were now as thick as his
head used to be. Ashe turned about, he noticed a tail hanging from his
backside. It was small andropelike with a hairy tassel at the end, but
the tail would not bother him much,Kag decided. He lifted one foot into
the light and saw that his boots wouldnever fit again; his three-toed
feet were built broad and heavy just like therest of his body. He was
glad he didn’t wear much to sleep in, or he would havetorn out of it
like the light shirt he had worn that was in tatters around
hisshoulders, or possibly have been injured as he grew. He felt himself
growingstill, but he felt very tired; he got back in his bed, which
didn’t seem so biganymore, and went back to sleep.
He woke to the sound of a bird singing so loudly it soundedlike it was
perched right in front of his ear, and opened his eyes to seebright
sunlight streaming readily in through the window.
“SHAAADDUUUUUP!!!!” an irritated voice shouted fromsomewhere outside his
window, presumably from another person leaning outtheirs. The deafening
birdsong stopped.
“Well excuuuuuuse me,” a chirpy sounding voice said. “It’ssuch a
beautiful morning, I couldn’t help but sing. You could use a little
morecheerfulness in your life, anyways.”
“In the wild, cats eat birds. Restrain your instincts or I
may‘conveniently’ lose control of mine,” the first voice growled.
“Sheesh. Sorry.”
“Some of us like to sleep in the morning and not become deaf.”
Kag smirked as he rose and stretched his new, unfamiliarbody. He looked
down and realized he would need to find something to wear, atleast
something temporary to wear to the tailor’s shop. He found that his
cloakthat was more than big enough before now just covered his back and
shoulders,so he wrapped a sheet around his waist. He could no longer
wear boots, but thethick pads on the bottoms of his almost circular feet
protected him from rocksand other things normally uncomfortable to step
on barefoot. He tried walkingback and forth in his room a few times,
noting that his new feet were very differentand that walking normally
would take some practice. He fell down once and wobbleda few more times
before mastering moving in his new body sufficiently andheading out for
the day.
He opened the door to his room to discover a naked monkeycurled up
asleep on a small pile of clothes in front of the cold fireplace.
Herealized that Cheep must have finished changing as well, but left him
alone towake whenever he would. For now, he gathered all his old clothes
into a sackand slung it across his wide back, headed to the tailor shop
owned by thecrotchety gopher he and Cheep had met previously. He walked
up to the door and thumpedon it with a meaty fist. After waiting a
minute with no response, he knockedagain, this time eliciting a string
of curses from the occupant.
 “What do you want?”the gopher scowled, and then looked up at the
hulking figure dressed solely ina white loincloth who filled up most of
the doorway. 
“I came back to get my clothes refitted,” Kag replied calmlyas he held
out the bag of clothes.
“Oh, you’re that big guy who came here a few days ago,aren’tcha? With a
skinny little fella who was turnin’ into a monkey? Anyways, acustomer!
Great! Come right in.” The gopher’s irritation turned to pleasure atthe
prospect of business and non-hostile company.
Kag squeezed through the doorway, ducking his huge head toavhis larger horn on the frame. It was slightly difficult, as itwas now
about a foot and a half long and increased his overall height
significantly.He looked around the cluttered shop, strewn about with
scraps and bolts ofcloth on racks and the floor, pairs of shears, and a
few measuring tapes. Thebrown rodent dumped Kag’s clothes out of the
sack onto a table and sortedthrough them. 
“I can’t use any of this. You sure did a lot of growin’,that’s fer sure.
Tell ya what, I can buy yer old clothes from ya and apply thatmoney to
new ones, but that’s all I can do. Whadda ya say?”
“How much would a couple of sets of normal clothes cost?”
“Depends on the material. Yer gonna need som’n sturdy, so withwhat you
got here, I would say prob’ly about, oh, say five silver. ‘Cause Ilike
you.” The gopher left off the bit about needing business badly.
Kag agreed and let the gopherrun his tape all over him, watching as he
scurried around and wrote figures ona sheet of parchment that had been
lying on the floor. The furry tailorfinished taking his measurements and
told him to come back in the afternoon topick up his new clothes. The
rhino thanked him and left.
 

He returned to his house to see that Cheep was up, looking himselfover
in a mirror, and he greeted him as he came in.
“So I’m a monkey. Cool.”
Cheep opened the door to his previously disliked room andwalked in.
“This makes so much more sense now,” he commented, swinginghimself up to
the higher beams with startling ease.
He made his way over to one wall with the wardrobe andpulled the jade
monkey statue out of his pack.
“I think this might turn out to be pretty fun after all,”Cheep said,
placing the figure on his dresser and smiling.



















---
Hi, I'm new to the MK universe, and I thought I'd try my hand at
writing. Here is my first story, and if anyone has advice, comments,
constructive criticism, or corrections, I would much appreciate getting
it.
Thanks!
Killer Narwhal











!DSPAM:4f6bde67237622129214278!