[Mkguild] First Steps (7/?)

[Nathan Pfaunmiller]

Here's the oft-delayed next part of my story.

-LurkingWolf

____________________

	Andwyn was not used to being disturbed without some prior warning.
Whenever a summons was sent from the Duke, he could expect to be
informed of its imminent arrival as much as an hour before it arrived.
 Other messages would often be brought to his attention by one of his
spies several hours before the actual copy reached him.  His men all
knew how to approach him, and their help keeping him warned made it
easier for Andwyn to function as a nocturnal creature in a world of
busy days.

	It was, however, the messages that arrived without warning that were
the most interesting, even if they were annoying.

	The urgent knocking on his chamber door brought him awake from his
sleep.  He glared at the door, beady eyes trying to bore holes through
the wood.  He was no mage, however, at least not of the stripe that
could burn doors by staring at them.  When the knocks came again, he
loosed his grip on the wooden beam and glided smoothly to the floor.
He called out to the intruder to wait for a bit, and then set about
disarming the few traps he kept around himself before unlocking the
door and letting the person in.

	He blinked into the glaring sunlight.  On a good day, his eyes were
good enough that he could go about his business with almost no
difficulty, with shrewd observation skills making up for any loss of
vision suffered as a result of the Curse.  Bright lights, however,
simply washed his vision out after several hours of waiting in the
dark.  In a place that moved like the Keep, it was sort of impossible
to pick and choose what sort of light greeted him outside of his door.
 In this case, it may as well have been sunlight.

	“Please, step inside,” he said wearily.  He could barely see who it
was; all he could tell was that they were short.  Whoever they were,
they stepped inside the door quickly when bidden, and turned to face
him as he closed the door.

	Andwyn could see his visitor far more clearly now.  It was a young
girl, likely regressed if her selection of tools and wardrobe was
anything to go by.  She looked like a trapped, in fact, if one that
had not come by much success in recent days.  Her clothes were scuffed
more than a day’s work should cause, even in this rugged terrain.
Likely she had not been able to pay for a repair recently.

	“Master Andwyn?” she asked.  She was somewhat out of breath.
Whatever had happened was of some urgency.  He spied the scroll stuck
haphazardly into a leather pouch she carried with her, and quickly
snatched it out before she could react, rolling it out carefully in
front of him.  The addition of wings to his arms made such common
things a chore at times, but he had enough experience to get things
done by now.

	The girl turned on him, opening her mouth as though she would
protest.  Andwyn spoke first.  “Andwyn will do.  If you are allowed to
enter, you are enough of a friend to take that liberty.  If you were
an enemy, you would have died on your way here.”  She held her speech,
sighing as he breezed through the message quickly.  His face was hard
to read, even to those who had some experience with him, but she
seemed to have some idea of what Andwyn was thinking, as she spoke up
while he read.

	“This message was given to me by a Keeper outside of the walls.  My
father and I are trappers beyond the walls of the major cities, and we
range further than most on a regular basis.  This man crept up on me;
he scared me half to death, and not just because he was silent.”

	“So, Julian has become a Moondog,” Andwyn mused, continuing on
through the message.  “Last I heard, he had still yet to be Cursed…”

	“So this is a recent occurrence?” the girl asked.  “I thought you
employed him simply because he wouldn’t be able to live around others
in that form.”

	Andwyn shook his head, but allowed himself a quiet chuckle.  “Well,
not before.  Now, however, I cannot see how he would be opposed to the
idea.  He needs an occupation, after all, something to do beyond
simply living out there by himself.  Maybe he could get one of the
lutin shamans to take him as their own in his feral form…”

	“Sir!” the girl shouted.  Her young voice did nothing to keep her
from sounding intimidating.  “That man has suffered a fate worse than
you or I can imagine!  He cannot even be in someone’s presence without
them panicking!  How can you just stand there and talk about him like
he is some tool to be used in your little war?”

	“Ma’am, I admire your spirit, but there is more to this war than you
ever see yourself,” the bat replied without a hint of regret.  “I have
been Cursed with a form that is not made for sunlight.  I spend my
days in dark rooms when I can, and in the darkest corner whenever
matters of importance demand my attention elsewhere.  In the vast
scheme of things, I am, as you said, a tool.  I am Lord Thomas’ eyes
and ears.  I can operate more efficiently at night than some men can
during the day, but I can never live the life that others can enjoy.
Even if I forced myself to spend more time out in the day, people
would simply look at me with derision because of what I do.

	“All of that to say this: despite how much inconvenience it causes
me, despite the life I will never have, I know that I have saved the
same people who look at me like some sort of a monster countless
times.  I am a means to an end, and that end suits me fine.”

	The girl shook her head, but said nothing as the bat finished the message.

	“Well, at any rate, it seems that our friend is less interested in
that sort of work than I had hoped.  He wants to seek asylum in the
city if we can find a way to make it possible.”  He turned to look at
the girl, and gave an amused smile.  “Why I am telling you this is a
good question in and of itself, but there is no harm in you knowing
that.  In fact, it might be best for you to be in the loop as much as
possible.  I may need to send a response to him, and you know better
than I do where you might find him.”

	“What should I do?” she asked.

	Andwyn moved to the other side of the room and took a pouch of coins
from inside a dresser.  He threw it towards her, satisfied when she
caught it without any trouble.  “I would like you to stay in the area.
 You might need to find a room, or we might finish before tonight.
That all depends on the Duke’s schedule for the day.  Regardless, the
money is yours to keep; consider it payment for running our messages
for the day.”

	The girl bowed her head and thanked him quickly, then retreated from
the room and disappeared into the shifting halls of the Keep.  Andwyn
readied himself as well, and followed after her a moment later.  He
turned the same corner as she had, but she was nowhere to be seen
despite the length of the connecting corridor.  The bat ignored this
triviality and continued on.  Lord Thomas would likely be busy, and
Andwyn would not interrupt him for something like this, but he needed
to secure an audience as soon as possible, and that meant that he
needed to make contact with appropriate speed, and since his network
had not picked the messenger up before she arrived, he assumed that
they would not be ahead of him here either.  He would have to fill
that security crack later.  For now, he had other business.