[Mkguild] First Steps (14/?)

[Nathan Pfaunmiller]

Well, here's my next part at long last.  I'm looking for confirmation
from Misha and Hallan (maybe) about the use of their characters, but
the content and effect of the story should remain the same if I have
to alter some dialogue, so I'll still post it here.

-LurkingWolf

______________________

	Lois walked slowly down the halls of the inner Keep, dragging his
steps intentionally and taking his time to get back to his room.  It
had been nearly two weeks since he had last seen Paula for training,
but he kept on going to the training area to be certain she didn’t
appear.  Honestly, taking some extra time to train himself in his new
body was worthwhile.  He had been able to transition with relative
ease between his forms, but still needed practice to return to the
level he had maintained for the better part of his career.  It was an
unlikely goal in all honesty; the years of abuse he had taken might
have been erased by the Curse in some part, but he was getting older.
More and more, he was forced to shift his focus to sharpening the
mental aspect of his combat style.  Physically, it was unlikely that
he would be able to keep his current skill level for very long.

	He continued his slow march through the hallways without any
intention of rushing, when he was suddenly interrupted.  It was so
sudden, in fact, that he swore it came from nowhere.  One moment he
was certain that he was alone in the endless, twisting halls.  The
next, a strange creature stepped out of the shadows in front of him,
stopping with one forepaw still raised above the ground to glance back
at him uncertainly.

	It was metal, or so it appeared at a glance.  Closer inspection made
him doubt that assessment, however.  One thing was certain; whatever
it was, it was shaped into the form of a fox, down to the way that it
set its paw slowly back onto the stone before sitting on its haunches
and cocking its head towards him.  He could even swear that the sides
rose and fell with the creature’s breath, even though there was no
logical reason why a construct of metal would need to breathe.

	Slowly, even as the two of them exchanged matching glances, Lois
remembered that he had briefly encountered mentions of such things in
his studies. He forgot what they were called, but rumor had it that a
school of magery had specifically studied the art of building
creatures from metal and animating them using a variety of techniques,
both mechanical and magical.  He had been enthralled by the concept
once, but his lack of magical skill left it nothing more than an
interesting fantasy.  However, despite his fantasies about the
creatures he had once read about, he had never expected any of them to
be so lifelike.

	“Take the red pill.”

	Lois blinked; he had also not expected a creature that seemed to be
nothing but a metallic fox to speak with him.  Even if he had expected
it, he probably wouldn’t have envisioned anything quite so vague or
hard to understand.

	“Excuse me?” he asked slowly.  “What red pill?”

	“Ask the god of dreams to show you how deep the rabbit hole goes,”
the fox replied.

	Lois just stared at the fox now.  Clearly, talking was getting him
nowhere.  He had no dealing with the Lothanasi gods, and even if he
had he was unlikely to ask Nocturna about some fantastic rabbit hole.
As he stared, however, he continued to marvel at the construction.  He
had never seen anything so realistically fashioned to look like an
animal, even in still form.  It must have taken a genius to put it all
together.

	“Wait…”  Lois felt an idea beginning to form in his mind, even as he
turned his gaze to the animal’s hind leg.  It flexed and moved
flawlessly even in so simple a pose as a sitting posture.  The pieces
were joined together with mechanical joints that somehow perfectly
simulated the movement that a real fox would have in those same
places.

	“Who built you?” he asked, his mind already racing with ideas.

	“Many hands, many eyes, many years…  All gone now in all but memory.”

	Lois sighed, shaking his head and running one of his pawlike hands
through the longer fur that now served him for hair.  He had been
hoping that there was some well-hidden automaton mage residing in the
Keep that he could ask for suggestions.  It seemed that his hoped
would not be so easily realized, however.

	The fox cocked its head for a moment more, and then jumped back to
all four paws in excitement, eerily lifelike eyes glittering as they
stared past Lois and on down the hall.  “Papa!”  In a rush of movement
that somehow managed to make no sound at all, the mechanical fox was
past the ermine.  Lois turned and watched as the mechanical fox jumped
gleefully on his hind legs, pawing at the chest of the Keeper that had
emerged from another nearby hallway, though where that hallway went,
or whether it was the same hallway now as it was a moment before was
uncertain.

	The Keeper in question was a fox, dressed as casually as any military
man in a constantly war torn region ever was.  Lois recognized the
crossed box and axe over a green field that was patched to one
shoulder of the man’s clothing, but only in so much as it commanded
the respect of other Keepers he had observed when another bearing that
symbol had passed him previously.  Even without the patch, Lois knew
that the man before him was a formidable warrior who had seen his
share of battles.  He was missing the better part of one ear, and as
he raised a hand to pet the mechanical fox that was greeting him like
an excited puppy, Lois spotted several missing fingers as well.

	Once the initial greeting between the metal fox and his papa had
ended, the Keeper looked over towards Lois with a smile that showed
significantly more pride than embarrassment.  He greeted the ermine
courteously, even as he kept one hand on the back of the mechanical
fox at his side.

	“Hello, there.   I see you’ve met Madog.  Hopefully he didn’t confuse
you too much before I showed up.”

	Lois chuckled quietly, but Madog spoke before he could say anything
for himself.

	“Silly ermine is falling down a rabbit hole with only a pipe between
him and the bottom,” he chimed cheerfully.  Lois raised his eyebrow,
but the other Keeper just laughed.

	“Don’t mind Madog.  He likes playing games with words, especially
when they confuse people.”  The feral creature waved its tail once and
gave what appeared to be a smile, as though to confirm what his papa
had said.  He rose to four paws and followed as the fox warrior
stepped closer to Lois.

	“My name is Misha.  I don’t believe we have met.”  He held out a paw
to Lois, who shook it strongly.  The fox returned the shake with equal
vigor, and Lois smiled.  This man was indeed a powerful warrior, and
one he would have to remember to respect.

	“It’s a pleasure,” Lois responded.  “I am called Vincent Lois.  I
have only recently arrived at the Keep so I assume I still have a few
people to meet before I consider myself well acquainted with the
city.”

	He noted that the fox’s expression changed slightly when he mentioned
his name, but it was not altogether negative so much as it was
curious.  It led Lois to assume that the fox was privy to some of the
information that the Keep had regarding his previous activities in the
Midlands.  At least he was not immediately suspicious of his
intentions.

	“I am curious, actually,” Lois continued.  “Where did Madog come from?”

	Misha smiled and ran his hand across the top of the fox’s head.  “I
found him in a rather dismal state of repair, but I’ve always been
interested in how things work.  It took me quite a while, but I was
able to get him put back together.”

	Lois smiled.  “Ah, I have a question, then.  What do you think the
possibility is of creating a similar mechanical limb for someone if
they lost their own leg?”

	Misha looked thoughtful, but Madog piped up in his place.  “That’s
too heavy, silly!”

	Misha nodded.  “I think Madog’s right.  It would certainly be a
worthwhile idea if it were feasible, but the materials that go into
something like this are very heavy.  There might be some possibility
of enchantments to make it less strenuous, but they would likely
require a nearly constant stream of magic to make that possible.”

	Lois grimaced.  He knew it had been too much to hope that he would be
able to do something like that, but he had still hoped to find some
way of helping Gerard.  Misha didn’t say anything for a few moments,
and Madog just sat by his side like a loyal dog.  When the
conversation stalled for several more moments, however, Misha finally
spoke up again.

	“I do have one idea, actually.  I have a friend, a tinsmith by the
name of Edward Snow.  He has a penchant for invention; if there’s
someone in the Keep that can help you find a way to make something
like this, it would be him.  His smithy is in the inner Keep, so you
should be able to find it without much trouble.”  He gave a sidelong
glance to no one in particular.  “Finding its owner, however, is
increasingly difficult.”

	Lois smiled.  “Thank you.  I’ll be certain to look for him.”

	Misha nodded and returned the smile.  “Good.  Having something like
that on his mind might do him some good.  Unfortunately, I am a busy
man, so I must take my leave.  I hope you enjoy life at the Keep,
Master Lois.”

	Lois gave his own farewell to the fox, turning to watch both Misha
and Madog walk down the hallway side by side.  It was a bit late to go
looking for the man that evening, but he knew that he would have to
make a stop there the next day.

	He returned to his room quickly, and despite his intention to sleep,
he simply could not bring himself to stay in bed for more than a few
moments without standing up with hundreds of ideas on his mind.
Finally, giving up his battle to drag himself to sleep, he sat down at
his writing desk and began to sketch out his ideas to the best of his
ability.  Every spare scrap of parchment save one was used from the
near to the far corner and on both sides, and then finally the last
page was used to build Lois’ final concept of the device he had
envisioned.  It was hardly perfect, but he could not remember ever
sketching anything that looked as close to the vision in his head as
this one did.

	With this finally done, Lois slumped back in his chair, looking at
the picture in the dim, flickering light of the lantern on the desk’s
corner.  He smiled.  Perhaps he could get Gerard back on his feet
after all.