[Mkguild] The Illusive Chain: Coincidence (11/?)

[Azariah Wolf]

-LurkingWolf

___

<i>March 7, 708 CR</i>

Julian was woken in the morning by an insistent tugging.At first he 
thought that someone was physically pulling on him, but as he slowly 
recovered his consciousness he recognized a distinct feeling that was 
slowly becoming familiar, that of his bond to Lucy being stretched to 
its utter limits.

As he expected, the young mage's bunk was empty, and seemed to have been 
that way for some time.Groaning, he managed to slide off of the bed that 
had been provided in the barracks' common rest area.The cracks in the 
windows, all shut against the winter chill, still confirmed to him 
exactly what he suspected.The sun was still several hours from its own 
waking.The moondog shook his head and ran his fingers through the fur at 
the top of his head as though he still had human hair.How someone so 
young could bear to sleep so little and survive was well beyond his 
understanding.

It took him little time to prepare himself for the day.Years with the 
wizard Nasoj had drilled discipline through his skull like a 
well-rehearsed catechism.Whether it was to gain favor with his 
superiors, or to seek opportunities to assassinate the man he claimed to 
serve, he had always taken pains to make brutal efficiency his most 
noteworthy trait.He never should have bothered; it was rumored that the 
dark wizard never slept.Even if that claim was false, his rest was taken 
behind magically sealed doors, doubtlessly leading to more and more 
numerous and sinister traps to fell those who managed to step beyond.

He took a moment to be certain of where the bond led, but his initial 
guess was accurate.She had returned to the room where the ermine 
assassin would be kept until they discovered a way to reverse the spell 
that now bound him.

Or, perhaps, until they admitted that there was no solution.

He shook his head.Cynicism was too easy a trait to cultivate in the 
company of the Keep's enemies.While he sometimes regretted the 
circumstances that had forced his abandonment of that post, he never 
once regretted the opportunity to live amongst friends again.

The door to the room was shut fast when he arrived, and Julian rapped on 
the wooden surface twice to alert Lucy to his presence.He could not 
detect any movement on the far end of the bond they shared, so he gently 
pushed the door open and slipped inside.

The room was a little chilly after the stove had been left cold for the 
night, but the chill was quickly being banished by the fire.Lucy had 
already prepared for the day, it seemed.

The mage herself was standing at the table in the center of the room.She 
glanced up casually to observe who was entering, but it seemed that she 
had already determined the answer using their mutual bond.She turned 
back to the cage on the table shortly, watching its small inhabitant 
sniffing about warily.

"I realized after last night that we forgot to find food for him 
yesterday," she explained before Julian had ample opportunity to ask why 
she had returned at such an hour."Thankfully I know a few things about 
what ermines eat, and the average Keeper's diet is varied enough that 
finding something that he can safely eat was little trouble."

Julian nodded and watched the trapped creature for a few moments.It 
seemed that the ermine was wary of being handed food without having to 
hunt for it, but he was slowly beginning to gravitate towards the food 
out of desperate hunger.

"Don't treat him too much like a pet, or he might come to you expecting 
food even after we bring him back," he cautioned with a touch of sarcasm.

Lucy side and shook her head softly."Please, do not even joke about 
that," she muttered."I know you were not at the Keep at the time of the 
Curse's original casting, but after witnessing it myself, I find it 
difficult to tolerate even honest jokes regarding it."

Julian placed a paw on her shoulder to comfort her."I am sorry for 
upsetting you," he apologized.

"You couldn't have known without living through it," she responded in a 
low whisper."The curse was meant to be the final blow to the Keep before 
Her defenses could even be fully brought to bear, and as such it was 
intended to be very, very final.Nasoj is not one of those fools who 
stands above his enemy and gloats as they die to give them an 
opportunity to kill him with their last breath.Should anyone under his 
command try to do such a thing, I am certain that he would impale them 
both with the same spear."

"You credit him with the quality of mercy," Julian said with some 
chagrin."With what I know of him, the two would beg for something so 
kind as a spear before they breathed their last."

Lucy hissed bitterly."When the Curse struck, the effect was instant.For 
a few brief moments I was aware enough to be confused.Then, 
nothing.There was nothing but oblivion as I became an outcast in my own 
body, forced to lie and wail as a babe while unfathomable chaos unfolded 
about me.With the defenders gone, Nasoj's horde began to overrun the walls.

"We all know the story from there; the countercurse was forged and the 
defenders fought back with all of their desperation and rage until the 
day was won.Many stories are hidden in those few words, but in the end I 
found myself thrust into an entirely new world."She paused for a moment 
before continuing."In the early days there were many stories about what 
the Curse could do, and of the limits of the countercurse were barely 
understood.Whispers suggested that some were never saved by the 
counterspell.Some said that some Keepers had left and wandered the 
forests and mere beasts, others lost in Kyia's halls as strangers in 
their own bodies, a few more weeping in nurseries...Never did I 
determine if there was any truth to it, but with no chance of 
recognizing his face, it was a week until I found my father."

Julian winced."I am sorry to hear that.At least you did find him at the 
end of it all."

Lucy nodded."Yet there are others who were not so fortunate," she 
admitted with evident sorrow."Those who died in the battle could tell no 
one who they were.There are unmarked graves by the hundred to their 
memory, but many still do not know what became of their loved ones in 
those days.Some even still hope in those terrifying old rumors, thinking 
that perhaps their loved ones wander about the forests in ignorance of 
their pasts, perhaps to be awakened at the end by the return of some 
lost memory."

"Could the Curse truly do that?" Julian asked.

Lucy shrugged."The exact nature of the interplay between curse and 
countercurse is unclear to me.The tangle of their weaves is so complex 
that I have heard it said that even the pantheon would have difficulty 
unbinding it.Is it possible that there are those who have remained fully 
Cursed?Perhaps, but I have never seen one myself."

"Are you certain?" Julian asked.Lucy began to answer, but then followed 
the moondog's eyes to the cage at the center of the table.The 
realization of what he was saying struck her like a boulder from the 
sling of a trebuchet.

"No mark of outside magic besides the Curse and countercurse, and yet he 
remains an animal...That makes sense!"She danced about the table, 
shifting her vision to see the magic that bound the former assassin.She 
saw nothing that she had not seen on the day before, but now at last the 
pieces seemed to be falling into place.

She quickly refocused her vision on the physical world."If this is the 
case, no amount of prodding will reveal any anomalies in the magic that 
binds him," she explained."We need to start approaching this from 
another angle.Do you think you can find Balrog?"

Julian nodded."As I understood, his entire patrol is resting in the 
common bunking area.They should be easy enough to find; Balrog at least 
is distinctive enough to be very recognizable."


"Go find him.I don't know exactly how to handle this, and the more 
magically-inclined minds we can fit in the same room, the more 
informative our discussion may become."

Julian did not wait for her to say anything more.He quickly departed 
from the room in search of the human mage, while Lucy began to rummage 
about in her pack in search of something.The moondog was correct in his 
conclusion; he was able to find Balrog with very little delay.The bunks 
in the barracks were actually quite empty with so many deployed to 
secure the valley during the time of the quarantine.
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