[Mkguild] Bearing the Wolf-Touched (2 of 4)

[C. Matthias]

Part 2 of 4.

Metamor Keep: Bearing the Wolf-Touched
by Charles Matthias


May 16, 708 CR


They found a third of the Glen had gathered by 
the lake to welcome the dragons. Baron Avery was 
there with Angus the badger at his side holding a 
conversation with the larger of the two dragons. 
The two Avery boys were straddling the same 
dragon's back and pretending they were soaring 
through the sky; another dozen Glen children 
scampered about his long tail and toes, or 
cavorted with the younger dragon who kept his 
wings tucked in tight as he pranced about the 
shore. Charles beamed on seeing his own children among them.

As they rode out of the woods and came into view, 
the younger dragon lifted its head and in a voice 
both familiar and strange, cried out, “Charles! James!”

James, ears lifted high, broke into a warm smile 
as he beheld the dragon. With a braying laugh, he 
murmured, “It's Lindsey. He really is a dragon!”

Charles took a deep breath and waved his arm as 
they approached. Behind the youthful dragon he 
saw his wife anxiously observe their children 
scampering over a creature almost big enough to 
swallow them whole. She met his gaze and the 
tension in her eyes eased. “Lindsey? Is that 
you?” Charles called out. He drew back the reins, 
bringing his pony Malicon to a stop a dozen paces 
from either dragon. Malicon stomped his hooves, 
as did the horses his friends rode, all wary in 
the presence of such large reptiles.

The gray-scaled dragon bobbed his head and spread 
his jaws in a wide-smile. “It is! How do I look?”

Charles could only stare and stammer until he 
chuckled. With a bemused smile stretching his 
snout, the rat spread his arms wide and nodded. 
“You look magnificent; you make a very handsome 
dragon, Lindsey. I never... never would have 
guessed it. Are you still a child?”

Lindsey turned his head toward Pharcellus whose 
purple-flecked golden eyes cast between the Lord 
of the Glen and his younger brother. When he 
glanced back he bore an expression none of them 
could discern. “Not as Jessica made me, no. When 
I became a dragon I was only half this size! A 
day before we left Fjellvidden, Jessica's spell 
shattered and I swelled in size; thankfully I 
wasn't flying or I know I would have crashed. 
Pharcellus tells me I am as big as a dragon my 
age would be, so,” he seemed to shrug his wings, “here I am!”

James blinked, nostrils wide with a smile, as he 
slipped down from his mount. “As old as you were as a man?”

“More or less,” Lindsey admitted, a shifting of 
his chest suggesting a dragon's shrug. He lowered 
his neck and gave little Baerle a lick behind the 
ears. She squeaked and scampered into her mother's arms.

Garigan took the reins of all three steeds while 
Charles and James approached with swift step. 
Lindsey leaned back on his haunches – long tail 
tripping a few Glen children who laughed and 
tumbled back to their feet only to try and jump 
the dragon's tail as it swung past again – and 
spread his arms wide. He was large enough both 
rat and donkey could hug him at the same time without bumping snouts.

Warmth filled his vermilion-touched gray scales. 
Smooth along his neck and shoulders, Charles held 
tight with joy at the reunion. Lindsey's head 
bent down and he could feel the underside of the 
dragon's jaws touching his back. While the rat 
had ridden dragons in the past, and had savored 
slipping the bonds of earth to touch the face of 
the heavens themselves, he had never actually 
hugged a dragon as a man hugs his dearest 
companions. His heart trembled and he felt a 
subtler transport no less profound than the 
embrace of sky, perhaps even moreso.

A little voice broke his hold, though it only 
made his heart grow. “Dada! I play with dragon!”

He let go of Lindsey and turned to pick up his 
daughter Bernadette who stared at him bright eyed 
and unafraid. “Would you like to give the dragon a kiss on the nose?”

Bernadette's whiskers backed against her snout 
and her tail curled against his arm and side. 
James laughed while his two boys tugged on the 
rat's tabard begging their turn. Lindsey blinked 
and tried to smile at the little rat without 
revealing any fangs; it was an awkward expression 
at best but it made Bernadette giggle. Charles 
lifted her gentle and sure, while Lindsey leaned 
his snout forward until she could reach. Her nose 
touched the narrow snout where the nostrils 
flared and then she giggled again, her whiskers twitching all over.

Lindsey patiently waited as Charles lifted his 
two sons in turn so they could give him a kiss on 
the nose too. Kimberly brought Baerle and after 
her brothers had their turn, handed her to 
Charles for one more dragon's kiss. His children 
had not even had all of their turns before other 
Glen children began begging a similar boon from 
their curious parents. But Lindsey lowered 
himself back to all fours and sidled next to the 
rat. “There is a reason we came here to the Glen 
first, Charles. You're the only one who might be 
able to help him.” Lindsey stared off into the 
woods near where they stood and the rat followed his gaze.

He knew the pose before he recognized the 
distorted face; easily mistaken for a Follower at 
prayer, the figure was bent over hands clasped 
together over his chest, one a fist and the other 
a cup to hold it, while a placid detachment ruled 
the lines of the face and the stress of the 
muscles. It was the pose of a Sondecki seeking and exploring their Calm.

It was his childhood friend Jerome Krabbe.

And yet it was not.

Jerome did not sport triangular, black-furred 
ears, nor did he possess a long, lustrous black 
tail. His friend did not stand upon four-toed 
paws with legs shaped like a dog's haunches, nor 
were his arms covered in patches of fur with 
fingers ending in claws. And his fellow Sondecki 
did not have a cleft lip with long red tongue 
dangling between fangs befitting a beast.

And yet, this was Jerome. The vision Ba'al had 
shown Charles had been true, at least as to this 
dreadful metamorphosis the vile thing called 
Gmork had wrought. His heart fell from its 
elation as he stepped from the dragon's side toward his childhood friend.

“Garigan, attend me please,” Charles said, never 
letting his eyes waver. The cry of children fell 
behind him; the murmuring words of Lord Avery and 
the booming reply of Pharcellus were lost amidst 
the forest din. He felt the ferret's presence at 
his right side as a stirring against his whiskers 
and a green-clad, gray-furred shape at the edge 
of his vision. The creature in its Calm was all 
he could truly see. No other Glenner dared approach.

His tongue moved, and with it sprang forth the 
Song of the Sondeck. Its contours were joined by 
Garigan only a second later, and they lifted 
their paws across the loam, roots, and stubble 
toward the beast in Calm. Jerome's ears turned at 
the sound, and his face distended, nose darkening 
as a snout stretched forward. In only seconds the 
face of his friend dissolved into a black-furred 
wolf's head. Touches of silver gave the beastly 
visage an aura of nobility, but it was still not 
the face of a Keeper. Charles knew several wolf 
Keepers both at Metamor and the Glen, but there 
were subtle differences in the brow, the position 
of the eyes, the width of the cheeks and 
thickness of the neck all lacking in the Sondecki.

The wolf tilted back its head and howled with 
them the Song of the Sondeck. Charles watched the 
rest of his friend's body dwindle inside the 
tattered remnants of his robe. Arms lowered 
before him as fingers drew backward, paws 
pressing into the hard earth a moment later. His 
chest barreled outward even as it shrank and 
coated itself in the same silvery-black fur 
adorning his face. The robe melted into his now 
lupine shape until no trace of the man remained.

Two Keepers and a wolf, all Sondeckis, sang 
together the ancient song heedless of whoever 
might listen. And as they sang, both Charles and 
Garigan studied their friend. Unlike more 
conventional mages, neither possessed mage-sight; 
the ability of either Jessica or Murikeer to 
manipulate the threads of magic as a weaver 
worked the threads of cloth was beyond them or 
any Sondecki. Rather they could sense the Sondeck 
as a presence within which they extended past 
their flesh as they willed. The curses of Metamor 
had touched the Sondeck only subtly; Charles had 
needed to find a new Calm, but with only a little 
practice had recovered all of his former 
abilities. What they felt in Jerome was much different.

To the very core of his being the Sondeck itself 
had been corrupted. What should have seemed to 
them as the flesh within flesh was the pelt of a 
wild animal. The refined touch of a human finger 
was the sharp prick of a claw. There was nothing 
human remaining in Jerome's Sondeck.

Charles felt his heart tighten even within the 
beauty they shared; little wonder Jerome had become a wolf to howl the Song.

The rat leaned toward his friend, reaching out a 
hand to touch him on the shoulder – physical 
contact would allow him to pry deeper than mere 
projection alone. His fingers brushed fur...

Jaws snapped shut, spit flashing in the air, 
golden eyes bonfires in the night of Jerome's 
black fur. The attack had been so swift the rat 
still stared in shock even after the thunder-clap 
of those snapping jaws faded into echoes. Garigan 
had his arm around the rat's shoulder, having 
yanked him back as fast as the strike had come.

The Song cut short, Charles gasped, his voice 
choking in his throat, “Jerome! It is I! Charles!”

The wolf stared back, silent for a single moment, 
fangs glimmering beneath stretched jowls, before 
recognition came. The eyes closed and the snout 
shrank back. Paws stretched to fingers, the robe 
collapsed out from the black fur, and the posture 
shifted upright. The almost-man sat upon beastly 
haunches, head hanging low, and wept. “Charles,” 
the voice was Jerome's; at least it had not changed. “Charles, help me.”

“I must touch you. Will the beast strike?”

“I am the beast, Charles. I will not strike.” 
Jerome closed his eyes, pressing a tear from 
each, and the faint lines of a Sondecki seeking their Calm returned.

Both Charles and Garigan took a deep breath and 
the ferret let his master's arm go. Charles 
smiled thanks to him and then stepped closer. 
There was an exposed patch of human flesh at the 
base of Jerome's neck; the Sondecki robe, had it 
not been in tatters, would have covered it. 
Charles took a deep breath and then laid his palm 
down. Jerome's ears lifted and his tail 
straightened, but he otherwise kept still.

He felt deeper.

Darkness surrounded him. He crouched on a floor 
of dank stone and a bad air lingered, poisoning 
his lungs. The bitter taste of iron was fresh on 
his tongue. Something approached, awkward as it crawled on all fours.

He felt a breathless rush through the forest; fir 
and pine pressed close on either side, their 
branches brushing his sides, needless scattering and catching in his fur.

Good sand shifted beneath his feet, warm with the afternoon sun.

His limbs turned and twisted in the practiced 
ease of many years; his breath came in controlled 
intervals, each timed with every lifting and setting of his arms.

His body stretched as he propelled through the 
cold air, arms before him ready to greet and grip 
the earth to push him into his next bound.

A face peered out of the woods, eyes golden, fur 
gray, with an arm outstretched clutching a 
faintly glimmering bauble. The jowls curled back 
in a smile, and the jaws stretched wide, reaching 
for him. A long, slavering red tongue flecked spittle across bone-white fangs.

Charles yanked his arm from Jerome's shoulder and 
realized he was trembling. Garigan had his arm 
about his shoulders trying to still him. The 
rat's tail lashed and thumped against the ground 
as he collapsed into a heap, long toes splaying 
inches from Jerome's haunches. The mostly-wolf 
Sondecki kept still for several seconds more, 
before a man-like visage drew back the snout and 
regarded the rodent with at first a hopeful 
glance; but this decayed into one of sullen 
remorse. He averted his gaze and whimpered.

“Master, are you well?” Garigan asked; a subtle 
power flowed from the ferret's paws and into the 
rat's arms, calming his quivering muscles.

Charles could offer no answer. Transfixed by what 
had been his friend but now was wolf-beast he 
felt a horror. In the space of not quite three 
months this deformation had been perpetrated. 
Somewhere beneath the fur, the fangs, the claws, 
and the madness was the man. Either whatever 
powers Gmork had were not able to efface it 
completely, or Gmork had not finished what he'd begun.

Neither mattered for Charles; he could do nothing for Jerome in any case.

“Master?”

Charles sighed and shook his head, before lifting 
an eye toward the ferret. “Nay, Garigan. I am not 
well. Jerome needs Sondecki healers and I know 
not of the art. His very Sondeck has been 
corrupted. There is no one – not a single soul – 
in all of Galendor who can restore him.”

If Jerome was disturbed by the rat's words there 
was no sign. His furred ears remained alert but 
did not turn to catch their words. His eyes were 
closed and did not tremble. What was left of the 
snout continued to whimper but nothing more.

The rat's heart clenched as he remembered what 
another Sondecki had told him from the doorstep of Heaven.

But very soon you will have the chance to aid two 
who suffer greatly. One of those you have already 
met on your journey. The other is a dear friend 
we both know. When he comes to you, the time will 
have arrived for you to set aright the wound that 
broke us all. You will know it, never fear.

The wound... broke us all. All... Ladero, Krenek, 
Jerome, and Charles. They had arrived in 
Sondeshara at same time as children and had 
progressed through the ranks together. All had 
remarked on their deep friendship It lasted until 
the day Charles fled never to return.

Never.

His claws pressed into his palms and his tail 
twisted beneath him where he sat. Had he a 
chewstick between his incisors he would have bit 
it in two. Charles pushed himself back to his 
feet and thrust his tail behind him. For one 
moment he felt a terrible fear, the same fear 
which had kept him running for years and what 
drove him to hide at Metamor; this fear made him 
a rat, gave him whiskers, fur and a tail. This 
fear drove Krenek in search of him where he fell 
into the hands of Marzac. This fear kept him away 
when Ladero was slain. This fear made him lie to 
the man who needed him now when he'd finally been 
found and who had put his own place in the 
Sondecki Order at risk to protect him.

The time had arrived for him to set right this 
wound. Charles intended to never return. Now he must never fear.

“Garigan, please stay with Jerome. I must speak 
to my wife.” The ferret nodded, eyes widening for 
a moment before a hardness filled them. He 
stepped closer to the beast-man and crouched at 
his side, a gray cloud passing before a black storm.

Charles emerged from the forest to find little 
had changed. Children romped around the dragons 
who kept still aside from an occasional nudge 
with snout and tail to keep little claws or fangs 
from harming their wings. Glenner parents watched 
closely though their anxiety had long since 
passed; these were friendly and gentle dragons. 
Many younger Glen scouts also stood close by, 
each eager to touch the dragons once they saw an 
opening. Charles forced a smile to his snout as 
he was greeted by many friends with whom he'd 
served; he stopped only to address the dragons.

“Lindsey, Pharcellus,” their heads swung toward 
him, large eyes bright and focused. He felt an 
involuntary shudder echo through his fur. “Thank 
you for bringing my friend here. You were right; 
I know what must be done. Please stay with him 
for now as he still needs your help too.”

“We have already vowed not to leave him until we 
know he will...,” Pharcellus began before one of 
the Avery boys jumped and grabbed him around the 
neck, yanking his head back down. The dragon 
responded by belching a cloud of smoke at the young squirrel.

“Until he will be well,” Lindsey finished for his 
older brother. “He is our friend too, Charles. Never fear.”

He smiled and half-turned so he could see his 
wife among the other parents watching. Never 
fear. He stepped toward her and put a hand upon 
her wrist. Her eyes met his, uncertain. One hand 
reached up to the purple stone at her neck. 
“Milady, there is something I must tell you. Let 
us take a walk around the lake.”

He offered his arm. She slipped her hand through 
and together they passed out of the crowd and 
began a quiet walk, the chorus of Spring and the 
rippling of the water covering their whispered voices.

----------

“Sondeshara!” Kimberly exclaimed, one hand 
clutching at the stone as her step carried her a 
half-step to her husband's side. Up till then 
they had pressed so close even their tails 
brushed across each other with their stride; the 
sudden separation brought a chill to his fur. 
“It's so far away! I.. I cannot even imagine how 
far it must be! Charles, my Charles, why do you have to go there?”

“The only people in all the world who have the 
ability to heal Jerome are there, my Lady.” He 
stopped and turned, grasping her hands in his and 
pressing them tight. There was an apology in his 
voice, but firmness too. His eyes found hers and 
kept them, trembling little things in need of 
warmth and assurance. “There are three choices 
before us. If we all remain here, Jerome is 
doomed to be a beastly slave to a monster for the 
rest of his days. I cannot leave him to such a 
terrible fate! I will not! His only hope is at 
Sondeshara; there he will have Sondecki healers 
who understand how to mend his wounds. Either I 
accompany him to Sondeshara or I send him on 
alone. Either way I will end up in Sondeshara.”

Kimberly shook her head, fighting to draw back 
her hands. “Nay, how can it be? My Charles, how will it be?”

“Jerome was sent by the Sondeckis to find me and 
bring me back. He choose not to and has gone into 
hiding of his own. And now it cost him dearly. If 
I were to send him to Sondeshara alone the other 
Sondeckis would learn from him where I am anyway. 
One night, months, a year or more from now, they 
would come here and steal me away with none the 
wiser. You would wake to an empty bed with no 
trail to hunt. I would spend the rest of my days 
in Sondeshara a prisoner; we would never see each other again.”

Her whiskers flattened against her jowls and she 
wormed one hand free. She beat at his fists, her 
eyes wetting with tears. “But if you go I still will never see you again!”

“Nay, my Lady!” He caught her hand against and 
held it to his chest, pulling her in close. He 
stroked his fingers across the soft flesh of her 
ear and drank in her scent, one filled with fear. 
“You will not lose me. If I go back with Jerome, 
whatever sentence is meted out in recompense for 
abandoning the Sondeckis will be the less. But, 
aye, there is a chance I will never be allowed to 
leave Sondeshara again. I will not be parted from 
you or from our children. The only way is for you 
all to come with me to Sondeshara.”

Her jaws opened and he could see her mouthing the 
words, “Come with you...” as she stared with eyes 
as wide as any rat could offer.

“Aye. If we all go, then no matter what happens, 
we will be together.” Charles draped his arm 
behind her neck and touched his nose to hers. “I 
will not be parted from you or the children 
again. I was gone far too long to fight Marzac. I 
must take Jerome to Sondeshara. It will be a 
wonderful adventure for the children to see new 
lands. And you can learn about where I come from, 
my Lady. I can show you the beauty of the desert and its mountains.”

Kimberly's claws pressed against his chest. “But, 
Charles, this is our home! Here, the Glen. You 
want us to leave with no hope of ever coming back?”

“Want? Nay! I want to stay here for the rest of 
my life. But I cannot, you cannot ask me, to 
condemn Jerome to this fate. Did you see him, my 
Lady? We merely look like beasts. He is one. His 
only hope is to return to Sondeshara.” He 
swallowed and pulled her tight against his chest, 
snout nuzzling one ear as he whispered. “I have 
lived every day for the past ten years with the 
fear the day had come when the Sondeckis would 
find me and drag me back for punishment. The only 
hope we have of making this our home and of 
spending our lives together, my Lady, is to go to 
Sondeshara together as a family. If they see me 
come willingly, and if they see you and the 
children and what Metamor has made of us, their 
hearts will be opened to leniency.”

“Can you be so sure?”

He said nothing for a moment. Across the lake 
they could hear the laughter of the children 
including their own as they cavorted with the 
dragons. Charles turned his ears to listen for 
several seconds; the sound of the forest was 
always there around them, but now it was the 
whispering background – a mere stage upon which his children played.

His voice cut through their squeaks of delight 
with the gentlest of breaths. “I am sure it will 
help. I am not sure we will be able to return, 
but I cannot imagine the Sondeckis have fallen so 
far as to be without compassion. The man who 
drove me from them is dead and I know what he 
wanted to make of the Sondeckis was resented and 
resisted by others. I have hope, my love. I am 
not certain, but Eli did not give us certainty in 
this life. He tells us not to be afraid. I am 
more afraid of staying here than of going, my 
Lady. Our family will be safe. We will not be torn asunder again.”

Kimberly trembled against his chest for a moment 
and then slipped free. She continued the walk 
around the lake, her snout lowered, eyes lost in 
contemplation of the rocks and grass at her toes. 
Charles stayed by her side but said nothing more. 
Together they walked in silence for a few 
minutes, bringing them three-quarters of the way 
around the lake before his wife finally found words to say.

“You are not giving me a choice. There is nothing 
I can say to keep you from going to Sondeshara. 
And even if there were, if what you say of your 
friend is true, I would not say it. You are too 
good a man and I love you too much to ask you to 
abandon him. But, Charles, oh, Charles, you speak 
of a voyage dreadful and long! How will we keep 
our family safe there and back again? How will we 
help our little boy with his dreams? Will we come 
back here? I don't want to lose our home.”

“I don't want to either, but it is something we 
must risk. What we will not risk is losing each 
other. Nor will we risk harm to our son. I do 
have an idea...” Charles told her. By the time 
they made a full circuit of the lake she agreed.

Several eyes were upon them as they returned to 
the cavorting children and the friendly dragons. 
Charles smiled to James and Lindsey before 
striding to where Lord Avery and Pharcellus 
spoke. “Pharcellus, my friend, I have a little favor to ask of you.”

----------

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

Charles Matthias
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