[Mkguild] Divine Travails of Rats - Pars III. Descensum (j)

[C. Matthias]

Metamor Keep: Divine Travails of Rats
by Charles Matthias and Ryx

Pars III: Descensum

(j)


Tuesday, May 8, 708 CR



It was midday before a pair of wagons arrived 
from Metamor bearing his companions on the 
journey to Marzac. In addition to Jessica and 
Kayla there was Rickkter whose expression at 
being carted for five hours was as sour as swamp 
water, and another skunk whose expression 
couldn't have been happier. In fact, Charles 
recalled, he had never seen the archer Berchem 
with as broad and genuine a smile as he bore now on his return home.

Charles, James, and Garigan met them in the 
commons. The rat smiled and waved as they rode 
in. James waved as well until he saw Berchem; the 
donkey then scowled and crossed his arms. “Too bad, they fixed him.”

“You know he'll never go near Baerle again,” Charles chided gently.

“That doesn't mean I have to like him.” James dug 
one hoof in the soft earth. “Or forgive him.”

“You don't want to be the jealous man the bell tried to make you either.”

James lowered his ears at the rebuke, but after a 
moment to stew he began to nod his head. “In 
sooth.” And then more quietly he muttered, “He'd better not join us.”

Berchem and Rickkter took the lead on the horse 
drawing each wagon while Jessica and Kayla rushed 
to greet them. The hawk's golden eyes sparkled 
with delight and she enfolded the rat and then 
the donkey within her wings, beak rubbing against 
their snouts in a warmth that she did not usually 
express. “It is so good to see you both again! I 
cannot tell you how much I owe you both. These 
last few days... it is like I am newly hatched!”

Charles laughed as he picked out a black feather 
that had caught in his mail shirt. “I do not 
believe you were hatched a first time.” Both Garigan and Kayla chuckled.

“How are you doing, Charles?” Kayla asked as she gave him a quick embrace.

“I am feeling all right. It is good to have my 
friends here in the Glen for once! Now you know 
what James and I feel like every other Tuesday having to trek down to Metamor.”

Kayla cast a glance at the raccoon leading a 
horse and wagon toward the Mountain Hearth. “And 
poor Rick has to return in a few hours! It's why 
we opted for two wagons. Jessica and I plan to 
stay the night and return in the morning. Where's Murikeer?”

“At the Mountain Hearth seeing to a private room 
for us to meet. We should join him there once we're ready.”

Berchem angled along the commons so that he came 
a short distance from them. His smile faded some 
when he saw the donkey, but he quickly returned 
his glance to the rat. “Sir Charles, I have you 
and James to thank as well for my rescue from my own stupidity.”

“All gratitude should go to Weyden,” Charles 
replied with a shake of his head. “In sooth we did very little that day.”

“He has my gratitude and more. As do you both. 
Forgive me for what I have ever said about either 
of you.” The skunk lifted his gaze to James and 
his eyelids lowered in shame. “And anything I 
ever said about Baerle.” He grimaced and cast his 
eye down. “Or did to her.” His long, 
monochromatic tail danced behind his head a 
moment, assaulting them with the faintest whiff 
of his potent musk. “Sir Charles, where might I 
find Baron Avery? I wish to return to service 
here; I expected to see him on our arrival.”

“Baron Avery is up north in Hareford discussing 
defense of the northern woods and the Gateway 
with Nestorius and Sir Dupré. He should be 
returning late tomorrow or Thursday morning if it rains again.”

Berchem nodded. “Jessica, Kayla, I will secure 
the wagon and horse and then I will journey to 
Hareford myself. Thank you for allowing me to accompany you back.”

Jessica extended a wing toward him even though he 
was well out of reach. “It was our pleasure, 
Berchem. Travel safely and may all the gods smile 
on you.” The skunk smiled, nodded his head to 
them, and continued after the raccoon.

James scuffed a hoof and glowered after him until 
Garigan nudged him in the ribs. The donkey brayed 
in surprise, and then turned to their friends and 
stammered, “Well, um, I'm sure Master Muri has a 
room prepared for us. You must be, uh, famished 
after your trip. Master Jurmas makes excellent 
food and should have some prepared too.”

Kayla laughed and gave the embarrassed donkey a 
hug. “Lead on then. It is good to be together again.”

As they walked Charles cast a sidelong glance at 
the glowering raccoon. “Rick, why didn't you mask 
him?” He asked in a quiet aside when they were 
closer. Rickkter glanced up with a twitch of his 
ears and one eyebrow. “His scent?” Charles cupped 
his paw over his nose, the acrid scent still 
hung, subtly in the air. The raccoon's eyes glinted with pure mischief.

“What, you think I didn't?” His ringed tail 
twitched and flicked and the gleam of sharp teeth 
flashed past the gray and black fur of his 
muzzle. “At least, for our benefit, if a little 
does get past the spell now and then.”

Charles blinked as he stewed on that for a 
moment. “You masked him for us, but not himself?”

Rickkter shook his head. “Nope. He can stew in 
his own stink, as far as I care. At least until 
he's far, far downwind and the spell fades.”

----------

While the extensive caverns in which Lars brewed 
his many beers, ales, and wines were more fitting 
for clandestine encounters, there were a few 
private rooms in the Mountain Hearth that were 
far more comfortable, well-lit, warm, and easier 
to find. Murikeer, who was very good friends with 
the proprietor of the Inn, and James who worked 
for him a few days a week, had no trouble 
arranging for the use of the most private. They 
had only to shutter the windows and cast a few 
incantations to keep their words from falling on idle ears.

James and Jurmas brought platters of food for 
them to enjoy; once the clopping of Jurmas' 
cloven hooves receded down the hall, Rickkter 
shut the door and barred it with a quick spell. 
“There, now we won't be disturbed.” The raccoon 
glowered at the rat who sat down in the center of 
the long table and sampled a wedge of cheese. 
“So, what's this I hear about you showing signs of Marzac?”

It was a misunderstanding.

“It was a misunderstanding,” Charles began after 
setting the sharp cheddar down on his plate. 
Garigan sat next to him on his right with a warm 
concern in his face. James stood on the other 
side of the table passing out plates and bowls 
for everyone. Jessica perched next to him and 
across from Garigan, while Kayla sat on the other 
side. Murikeer reclined at the rat's left with a 
warm biscuit in his paws, which his one eye 
studied in between glances at Charles.

And a mistake on your part.

“And a mistake on my part,” Charles continued 
with a long sigh. “Yesterday, James and I were 
exploring the Narrows, the strip of land between 
the Glen and the Lakeland that is my fief. While 
there we encountered a young lamb and no sign of 
any shepherd. I dismounted, drew my sword, and 
proceeded to frightened the creature.”

You hoped to alert the shepherd with its cries 
and to teach it never to leave its flock again.

Charles grimaced at the look of shock in both 
Jessica and Kayla's eyes. Rickkter narrowed his 
while Murikeer merely twitched the tip of his 
striped tail. “I hoped to alert the shepherd with 
its cries, which is exactly what happened. I also 
hoped to frighten it enough that it would learn 
never to leave its flock again. That remains to be seen.”

“Seems like an effective tactic to me,” Rickkter 
mused with a grunt. Kayla jabbed him in the side with a claw.

“That's a horrible thing to do to a poor little lamb!”

“Lambs that wander away get eaten. He's lucky it 
was Charles who found him and not some wolf pack.”

“I said the same thing yesterday,” Charles noted.

Murikeer grinned, little fangs revealed beneath 
his jowls. “Is the world coming to an end or did 
you two just agree about something?”

The raccoon grimaced but made no rejoinder. “I am 
merely saying that it does not sound as if this 
is enough to conclude Charles is under the sway 
of Marzac.” His eyes narrowed as he turned on 
Charles. “But it is enough to give us pause. 
Threatening a lamb, no matter how good for it, 
does not seem your way, O rat knight.”

They would not trust you anyway. You are the only 
one who has not been corrupted. They expect it of you.

“I'm the only one here, of those of us who 
journeyed south, who hasn't felt Marzac's touch,” 
Charles pointed out as he picked bits of cheese 
loose from the wedge. He rolled a morsel the size 
of a knuckle back and forth between his claws. 
“Anything I do, any lapse of judgment I make, any 
of it, is going to be suspicious. Maybe I just made the wrong decision.”

“Perhaps,” Jessica said with a slow nod. She 
offered Kayla an avian smile when the skunk cut 
free a bit of freshly cooked salted beef and set 
it on her plate. “But we have to be sure. We've all felt what Marzac did.”

“Most of us,” James corrected.

“Most of us, aye. We felt it. We know how 
horrible it truly is. It's going to poison your 
mind against us and everyone else close to you. I 
know I didn't trust any of you by the end; I 
thought I knew better and yet I still fought when 
you tried to stop me. If Marzac is corrupting 
you, then it will convince you that we cannot be 
trusted. Please, Charles. Trust us.”

She's right. Tell them everything.

Charles popped the cheese in his snout and 
nodded. “You're right. And that means first I 
need to apologize to you, James.” He turned to 
the donkey and gripped his shoulder with a warm, 
humble smile. “I was irritated by your concern 
the other day. I thought you were being overly 
nosy and suspicious of me and I let it get the 
better of me. Please forgive me. You were just trying to protect me.”

James's ears lifted in surprise, and then lowered 
a little to either side, dark eyes relaxing in 
delight. His supple lips spread with aplomb and 
he gripped the rat's shoulder in his hoof-like 
hands. “Forgiven, Sir Charles. I am honored to be 
your friend. You were there for me when Marzac 
tore my soul apart. I'm here for you.”

“Thank you.” He tightened his grip and then 
turned back to the rest. “I suppose I should say 
that there is a weight on my heart that has not 
gone away ever since we returned. My boy Ladero. 
He was a Sondecki like Garigan and I, and I told 
you all many times on our journey to Marzac how 
much I looked forward to training him in the 
years ahead. But I am not alone in suffering. My 
wife still weeps for him too. The night we 
returned she wept for him. It is... it is a terrible thing to lose a son.”

He felt a tear dripping down his cheeks. He 
rubbed them with his sleeve. “Forgive me.”

Kayla stretched out one arm and laid her paw on 
his. “We understand, Charles. It is terrible.”

“Is it tempting you?” Rickkter asked, his eyes 
focused on him and at the same time turned elsewhere. “Your dead son, that is.”

Charles shrugged. “Trying to undo his death is 
exactly what Marzac would want me to do. I cannot change the past.”

You have said enough to assure them. Let them debate amongst themselves.

The rat took a deep breath and then picked up the 
wedge of cheese. “Well, that's all I can think to 
say. Have you been studying me magically?” This 
he asked of both Murikeer and Rickkter.

The skunk nodded, his snout set in an unpleasant 
moue. “Studying and finding nothing.”

“We saw nothing on anyone else either,” Rickkter 
pointed out. “It doesn't mean anything.”

Charles ate the cheese quietly as the mages 
discussed ways they might test for the taint of 
Marzac. Both Jessica and Kayla offered their 
opinions on what the taint felt like while they 
had suffered it. Charles listened carefully to 
their description of a presence that had 
inhabited them, one that counseled at first and 
then controlled them so that they surrendered 
their very will to that other. Kayla shuddered as 
she recounted the voice of the dead dragon calmly 
and with a faux warmth that had seemed so real at 
the time persuaded her to give up more and more 
control of her own body until she was a prisoner 
of the dragon within a cocoon of scaly flesh 
taking her life from her. Jessica admitted that 
it wasn't until the very end that she realized 
that the hyacinth itself was talking to her and 
guiding her steps; the more she relied on it, the 
more she did exactly what it wanted.

“James,” Rickkter said as he chased a bit of beef 
around his plate with his knife. “You are closer 
to Charles than any of us. Is there anything you 
have seen him particularly attached to lately? Is 
there something he cannot give up?”

The donkey pondered that while the rat kept quiet 
and unobtrusive. But his friend could only shake 
his head and then shrug. “I cannot think of 
anything, but he's never been very attached to 
anything except his family and the vine.”

“Where is the vine?” Kayla asked, noting for the 
first time that its curling leaves were not poking out of his tunic.

“Against one wall of the stables,” Charles relied 
after swallowing a sip of mead. “My stables that is.”

“When was the last time you had the vine on you?”

He frowned and tapped his chin with his claws. 
“At least two weeks ago. I thought about bringing 
it with me a couple days ago, but I thought it 
best to leave it where it is lest it act as a 
focus for Marzac's taint like Rick's swords, 
James's bell, and the hyacinth were.”

“And your family?” Rickkter pressed.

“I visited Ladero's grave this morning. The first 
time I have done that in a couple of weeks too. 
And as for my wife and my other children, I would die to protect them.”

They asked him a few more questions about his 
family. The raccoon posed the most impertinent 
questions but with the threat of Marzac hanging 
over his head Charles was not going to object to 
them. He did his best to answer how he felt and 
the longer the conversation lasted the more at 
ease his friends appeared to become. Both Kayla 
and Jessica looked uncomfortable with some of 
Rickkter's questions, and even Garigan simmered 
at their implications. Eventually Murikeer held up one paw and shook his head.

“I think that's enough. We aren't going to learn anything more today.”

Rickkter bobbed his head a few times and then 
skewered the last of the beef with his knife. His 
eyes narrowed as he sniffed the morsel a few 
times. “I'm satisfied anyway. I don't think the 
corruption has a hold of you yet, Charles. But 
that doesn't mean we let our guard down. It could come at any time.”

“Agreed,” Jessica squawked, her eyes intent as 
she studied the rat. “I don't see any of the 
darkness on you, certainly not what I saw in 
myself in those final moments before we destroyed 
the hyacinth. If it is there, it is quiet.”

That is good. But if you start hearing voices you will alert them.

“That is good,” Charles said with a relieved 
smile. “But if I start hearing voices I will 
alert you all!” He sighed and shook his head. “I 
don't want to suffer what you each endured.”

“I didn't really know I was hearing a voice 
speaking to me until the end,” Jessica cautioned. 
“It could already be speaking to you and you might not even realize it.”

They ought to be able to magically see that by now if it were truly happening.

“You ought to be able to magically see that by 
now if it was truly happening,” Charles replied 
with a slight shrug. “But maybe even there Marzac 
can hide.” He put the last of the cheese in his 
mouth, chewed with his molars, swallowed, and 
chased it all with a long draught of mead. “Well, 
what are we to do about it? Rather, what do you 
intend to do about it? I think the best thing for 
me to do is to continue with my duties as if nothing were amiss.”

“And it probably is,” Rickkter agreed though he 
could not dislodge the grimace on his snout. “As 
for the rest of us... James, Garigan, Murikeer, 
you are closest and I hope you'll keep an eye on 
the rat – Ow!” He glared at Kayla who'd jabbed 
him in the side before continuing, “Keep an eye 
on Charles and let the rest of us know if he does 
anything out of character. I have only a little 
time left before I must return to Metamor. Muri, 
if you do not mind, I would rather enjoy a brief 
tour of your new home on my way out.”

Murikeer blinked and rose from the table. “I'd be happy to show you, Rick.”

Together the skunk and raccoon left the room, 
with the Kankoran casting a meaningful glance 
over his shoulder at the rat. Kayla chased after 
him a moment to give him a little kiss on the 
cheek before the two embraced. Once the two mages 
had left and Kayla returned to her place, Charles 
leaned back a little on the bench with a smile. 
“So, is there any news of our other friends?”


----------

May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,

Charles Matthias
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