<html> <body> And part 7.  I do love rats! Metamor Keep: Investigating Calamity By Charles Matthias <x-tab>         </x-tab>“It is time,” the mage said.  The other standing at his side lifted hands that felt through the air to the little spell placed on the priest’s nighttime food.  All the city slept soundly but for the Caial patrols, the prostitutes, and their patrons.  Here near the Ecclesia Cathedral there was none to observe them. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The waning moon would not rise for another few hours and even then its feeble light would not disclose them.  The stars were bright in the sky, but they could barely bring silhouette’s into relief let alone reveal their activity.  The two mages smiled to each other as the great work of justice began. <x-tab>        </x-tab>They had a small wagon just long enough for a single person to be laid inside that could be drawn by any labourer.  He would draw it himself, while his friend who’d been there to interrogate the trio from Yesulam would keep watch over the priest to ensure he didn’t stir. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The priest is getting up now. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Boots remained inside to make sure that they could disengage should one of the others awake.  It was risky what they attempted but they were prepared.  As one of Demarest’s dogs, he knew the Caial patrol routes in advance.  Unless one of them deviated, a possibility that they could not discount, they would deliver the priest into the blind man’s hands without being accosted by another living soul.  But first they needed to get him out of the Cardinal’s palace. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Keep an eye on him, Boots.  Where is he now? <x-tab>        </x-tab>He has put on his robes.  A pause.  He’s opening his door and stepping out. <x-tab>        </x-tab>And the others? <x-tab>        </x-tab> Still asleep.  <x-tab>        </x-tab>“The others are sleeping,” he told his companion. “So far so good.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>His companion said nothing, concentrating on the task of moving Akaleth in his sleep.  Boots followed after and sent a mental squeak of alarm only once.  The priest bumped his toe on some carpet.  He’s fine now.  Nobody is stirring. <x-tab>        </x-tab>He rubbed his hands together and gritted his teeth.  The cold night air made his breath mist and fingers numb.  His ears were already beginning to hurt.  There’d be a frost in the morning, not unusual for this time of the year, but not common either.  But at least it would dull the blind man’s reflexes not at all. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Boots’s next report made both of them breath easier. He’s moving to the side door now.  The house is still quiet. <x-tab>        </x-tab>His companion’s concentration increased, sweat springing up across a narrowed brow even in the midnight chill.  And then the small servant’s door creaked open and a figure stepped through.  The mage could see that it was the priest even in the starlight.  Boots scampered out after him and immediately ran toward his master.  The mage bent down and retrieved the rat who curled around his neck affectionately.  He gently stroked his thumb down the rodent’s back. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The priests’s face was slack as if he were still sleeping.  He turned and closed the door and then stumbled toward the wagon.  His companion threw open the burlap tarp and the priest crawled inside.  Another flick of the wrist and the tarp covered the priest completely. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Let’s go,” his companion said softly, casting a wary glance around. “I do not like being in this neighbourhood.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>He grabbed the poles at the front of the wagon and with a lift, starting pulling them down out of the shadow of the Ecclesia cathedral.  “We’ll be there shortly and then justice will be sated.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Where is there?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>He smiled as Boots’s whiskers twitched and tickled his neck. “Why the Gauntlet of course!” ---------- <x-tab>         </x-tab>Kashin woke a moment before Sir Czestadt opened his door.  Nor was Czestadt being quiet about it.  He should have woken even earlier.  He had no time to chide himself as the Yesbearn knight was on him and shaking his shoulder firmly. “Get up!  Father Akaleth is missing.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>He blinked the last of his sleep from his eyes and the scarred face blurred into focus. “What?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Father Akaleth is not in his room nor anywhere else in the palace.” Czestadt leaned back and his frown deepened.  He held a lantern in one hand and its twisting light made the Yesbearn flicker in and out of shadow. “I think something happened to him.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Could he have gone to the cathedral to pray?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“I doubt it.  He took his robe but not his boots.” His eyes narrowed. “And the cathedral is locked.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin was out of the soft bed and into his clothes a moment later.  Czestadt handed him his buckler and blade and a second lantern and then the two of them were out in the hall only a minute after the Yesbearn’s intrusion. “We’ll need to warn his eminence.  Whatever is happening cannot be good.  Can you follow him?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Like a hound.” <x-tab>        </x-tab> “Good.  You find his trail, and I’ll warn the Cardinal.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“No Caial.” Czestadt’s expression was both grave and dismissive. “I do not trust them to protect Father Akaleth.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“We cannot ignore them.  But I will ask for a short indulgence.  If we can bring him back quietly, it will be for the better.  Go, I’ll join your shortly.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>The two men moved quickly through the dark halls, their focus singular and of one mind.  Above all else, they had to find Father Akaleth. ---------- <x-tab>         </x-tab>“They know the Questioner is missing,” his companion said quietly in the darkness. <x-tab>        </x-tab>They entering Carpenter’s Way and so far they had not been disturbed.  It would not be long until they reached the Gauntlet.  But would it be long enough to accomplish what had to be done?  He wasn’t certain.  This was one of the possibilities he’d considered.  What abilities they had to track their movements were unknown to either of them, but there was no sense assuming they had none.  They were superlative warriors and could not be discounted on any account. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“We must assume the worst and that they will have no difficulty following our trail.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“How?” his companion asked. “We’ve left no tracks, and the streets are stone.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“I do not know.  But I do know that to assume otherwise is folly.” He licked his lips which were chapping. “Do you know what they are doing, the warriors that is?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“They’ve both left the palace.  I set a ward to warn us of that.  I do not know where they are anymore though.  I did not wish to arouse suspicion by casting too much magic.  Keeping this foul priest still is taxing enough.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>He did his best to smile but it was lost in the darkness. “It will not be for much longer.”  Boots kept close to his neck as he leaned forward and pulled harder.  The freshly oiled wheels rolled with ease across the stone pavement, echoing no louder than their whispers.  The road wound through shops, smithies, and depots for the woodworkers.  The scent of horse and fresh lumber dominated. <x-tab>        </x-tab>It was too dark to see them, they were too quiet to hear unless one were on top of them, and the smell was too raucous to notice them.  How then could any follow them?  Boots had no ideas either. ---------- <x-tab>         </x-tab>The lanterns bobbed in the air like spectral ghosts hovering over a murky swamp.  Kashin and Czestadt trailed noiselessly down the streets.  At each intersection they would stop and Czestadt would both inspect the ground and turn this way and that until he pointed and they continued on their way.  They never once backtracked. <x-tab>        </x-tab>At the first turn they made, Kashin had wondered why the Yesbearn was so certain.  Czestadt grunted and replied between breaths, “He is my charge.  I can feel him and his passage as if he were a sword himself.” He then tapped his nose with a finger. “And I can smell magic about him.  I’ve never forgotten that peculiar bouquet after my years with the Kankoran.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin nodded, having felt slightly unsettled in his gut ever since they left the Cardinal’s palace. “Then somebody has come to take him.  But to where and to what purpose?” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Not a good one,” Czestadt replied, and that was the last either of them said.  They could only hope and pray that they would not be too late. ---------- <x-tab>         </x-tab>With a choked whisper of relief, he brought the wagon out of Merdslow and into the Gauntlet itself.  The border between a Rebuilder and Follower neighbourhood, it had been the site of four riots in the last dozen years.  It was travelled only by necessity and only by the desperate. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The road itself was wide enough for wagons to pass with ease or for merchants to set up stalls and hawk their wares.  But none ever did.  The road was as empty as a Questioner’s heart, or so he’d always felt.  It was not even a site for refuse; only the remnants of snow lined the shadowed corners beneath awnings and the scattered detritus of Autumn’s foliage they covered littered the stone road.  And though there were houses from one end to the other with only a few lonely alleys emptying in the street, there was neither door nor window looking upon the street.  Of all the places in Marigund there was none more abandoned than the Gauntlet. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Where’s the blind man?” his companion asked. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“The third alley.  We leave the wagon at the second and we can watch from the first.” As if from instinctual fear of the darkness that subsumed everything in the Gauntlet, he drew the wagon cautiously and without his earlier haste.  It was thirty paces to the first alley which disappeared between two homes into a black hole.  And it was another fifty paces before they reached the second alley.  The third was even further beyond and barely visible to their night eyes.  <x-tab>        </x-tab>He curled one hand around Boots and et the rat down on the lip of the wagon.  Wait here and keep watch, friend.  We’ll be in yon alley if there is trouble. <x-tab>        </x-tab>I will tell you all that happens, Master! <x-tab>        </x-tab>I know.  Keep out of harm’s way.  There’s fresh potato bread waiting for you back home when we’re finished. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Boots squeaked in delight and rubbed his paws over his snout.  The mage gently stroked down his back, and then together with his companion rushed back to the first alley.  Once enveloped by the sheltering blackness, he whispered to the other, “Let the priest wake up.  Once he stirs my friend will come and see to his proper departure.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“My spell is done.  He should wake any moment now.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Good.” His ears strained to hear the vain struggles of the priest, but also the feared interruption of the warriors.  Nothing yet.  He tensed and pulled his cloak tightly about his shoulders as they waited. ---------- <x-tab>         </x-tab>It was cold.  Akaleth pulled his feet up closer to his body, and then realized that aside from the cold, he was laying on wood and not the mattress at the Cardinal’s palace.  That and it smelled... musty like dried earth.  Where was he and how did he get there? <x-tab>        </x-tab>The Questioner lifted one hand and felt heavy burlap.  He searched along the burlap until he found and edge and slid it across his body.  He sat up and looked around.  Above him he could see innumerable stars framed by a row of buildings on either side.  In two directions he saw the street open up, otherwise he was in darkness with only the faintest of light to illuminate the centre of the street.  None of the houses along the street had windows, a fact that he found both curious and distressing. <x-tab>        </x-tab>His feet felt numb and he ran his fingers through the toes checking for frostbite.  They were still pliable, but they were definitely in need of coverings.  At least he was wearing his robe.  It was thick enough to handle desert nights.  Still, he’d need to find shelter soon.  He was still in the city, but where? <x-tab>        </x-tab>Sitting in a one-man wagon in a street with no windows or doors.  He glanced down both directions and saw that one way was quicker and so settled on following that road.  He lowered his head and offered a quick prayer of deliverance to Eli and then scrambled out of the wagon. <x-tab>        </x-tab>He’d gone no more than five paces when he heard a tapping behind him.  The Questioner paused, turned, and marvelled as he could see the faint silhouette of a man walking toward him from the other direction.  He had a cane that he tapped along the road as he walked.  Akaleth wondered if he was blind or if it were merely too dark for him to see.  Either way, he would be more likely to know where they were and perhaps give him directions back to the palace. <x-tab>        </x-tab>He started to take a step back when a chill not born of the night gripped him.  He had not even come close to answering the question how he’d come to be here.  The wagon, the burlap covering, no shoes, and a street with no windows or doors in the dead of night.  This was arranged and not to his benefit. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Akaleth turned toward the end of the street and took a quick pace, casting furtive glanced behind him.  The blind man moved with surprising alacrity; the tapping drew nearer with each step.  His mind raced nearly as fast as his heart.  What could he do?  His life was clearly in jeopardy so he could use his light, but should he?  If the man was blind already, it would do nothing.  But could it alert help?  What if that was what his enemies intended and as soon as he used the light it would be the signal for other attackers to come?  And what of Czestadt and Kashin?  Where were they? <x-tab>        </x-tab>Was he going to die? <x-tab>        </x-tab>Akaleth quickened his pace, and to his horror realized that the man was still nearing him.  Even at a dead run he wouldn’t reach the end of the street before that tapping was at his back.  He had to take a chance. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Stretching his right hand upward light spread above, bathing the entire street in a warm yellow glow.  The tapping behind him continued.  His breath was heavy, and his limbs sore from laying in the wagon and the cold.  He stubbed his toe on a loose rock and nearly tumbled to the ground, flailing his arms wildly to keep his balance and forward momentum.  Only seconds remained to him. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Eli, if I am to die, receive me in thy merciful embrace.  Forgive me my sins. <x-tab>        </x-tab>And then two blessed figures charged down the street, their dark faces illumined and glowing.  Czestadt already had a sword in hand, while Kashin drew his after discarding his lantern. “Father, watch out!” Czestadt shouted as he flung his sword into the air. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Akaleth dived to the ground, but the sword clattered off the thin air a good fifteen feet in front of the priest.  The figure stalking at him rushed forward, cane waving back and forth with reckless abandon.  Kashin ran toward him with the Yesbearn close on his heels.  At the exact spot where Czestadt’s blade had bounced harmlessly away, Kashin jumped and drove in a twisting screw with sole arm outstretched.  A brilliant blue wall of energy crackled and then disintegrated with a thunderous report. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Voices cried from all around in the houses on either side.  The blind man slowed to a confused standstill, turning his head from side to side.  Akaleth lay completely still and held his breath.  A moment later Kashin crashed to the ground, barely getting his feet and arm down in time to keep his head from smacking into the fitted stones.  His sword fell from his grip and clattered away into one of the snow banks. <x-tab>        </x-tab>But Czestadt was on the blind man in a second.  He swung heavily with his reclaimed sword, which the blind man deflected with a riposte of his cane and a step to the side.  The sword that could slice through both wood and stone in the former Kankoran’s hands was balked by that cane.  His surprise was doubled when the blind man slipped around behind him and smacked the cane across his back with the force of a horse’s kick.  Czestadt fell forward, almost on top of Akaleth and scrambled to the side to avoid another strike. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Akaleth could see the blind man now.  He was dressed in warm but loose clothing with a hood covering his face offering holes only for his nose and mouth.  Little throwing knives fashioned from glass were looped around his belt far enough apart not to touch each other.  One of these he grabbed with consummate skill and flung it at the retreating Czestadt.  The knife tumbled end over end and would ave imbedded in the knight’s back but for a quick twist of his body.  The glass dagger shattered against the ground after slicing across Czestadt’s ribs leaving a bright red gash along his left side. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin climbed to his feet and ran toward the man unarmed.  A second glass dagger was flung at him.  The Yeshuel skipped a step and caught the blade by the handle.  He flipped it into his hand and made a feint.  The blind man dodged backward, as Kashin pushed him relentlessly.  Akaleth could hear in the distance several armoured men running in their direction as well as the shouts of the people whose slumber had been interrupted.  But his eyes stayed on the two fighters, ducking and weaving against each other, neither managing to spill blood. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Even though this man was intent on killing them, Akaleth was impressed by his skill.  He’d rarely seen any who could move as fast as either Kashin or Czestadt, and yet this man was clearly blind.  And in that, he marvelled, was Kashin’s advantage.  As Kashin drove the blind man backward with quick thrusts of the glass dagger, it dawned on the Questioner that the blind man had forgotten where he’d fallen and lay.  He tensed for the moment of contact. <x-tab>        </x-tab>And then the blind man’s leg hit him in the side as he dodged another blow.  He overbalanced and that was all Kashin needed to slam his arm into his chest and drive him to the ground.  Czestadt came at him from the other side and after a quick kick to the chest, grabbed him by the shoulders and hurled him at the nearest wall.  Most of the blind man’s daggers shattered on impact, as he fell to the ground.  A muffled squeak pierced the air as he fell. <x-tab>        </x-tab>And then a man’s voice in terror cried, “Boots!” From out of the alley a good fifteen paces away ran a man in warm woolens and cloak.  His face, ashen white, and hair, a lanky brown, were sweating as he pushed the blind man aside.  Beneath him was a black rat with white paws that could not make most of them work anymore. “No, my Boots!” he cried, tears streaming from his face as he pushed the rat against his cheek. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The blind man struggled to get to his bearings again but was quickly pressed against the wall with Czestadt’s sword point at his throat.  Teeth grit in frustration but he didn’t move.  Kashin bent over Akaleth but the priest waved him off.  His eyes were for this new figure alone. <x-tab>        </x-tab>He must have been involved in this conspiracy to kill him, there was no other explanation for his presence and for hiding in a dark alley.  But seeing him weep over a rat stirred the priest in a way he’d not expected.  Before he quite realized what he was doing, Akaleth had risen and crouched at the weeping man’s side. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Let me,” he said, compassion filling him.  He could not help but think of Father Felsah and that dog Rakka.  The man blinked and flinched from Akaleth’s touch, but he had nowhere to go.  Akaleth put his hand on the rat’s back and felt it twisted and broken.  The animal would not live long. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Light suffused them both.  Warmth unbidden sprang forth, and Akaleth felt a love greater than any he’d ever known pour through him like a torrent through floodgates.  This little rat, beloved friend to the weeping man, was made by Eli.  For love of the man, Akaleth had been given this grace.  He shared it with tears in his own eyes. <x-tab>        </x-tab>The man blinked, the sudden agony in his face falling away to wonder. “You healed him.  You healed Boots.”  The rat moved again, crawling around the man’s neck and looking up at Akaleth with beady black eyes.  The man’s gaze fell to the gorund and then climbed to the blind man. “Oh what have I done!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“What have you done?” the blind man snapped. “Your orders!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“There were no orders,” he said as he stroked the rat with one finger, gaze returned in awe to Akaleth who backed away from him. “I falsified them.  It was all a lie.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Hugo you traitor!” A female voice screamed from the alleyway.  A familiar blonde marched out blue energy crawling up her arms and to her buxom chest. “That Questioner needs to die!” She lashed out with her arm and an indigo bolt leapt across the short space and struck Akaleth in the leg.  He spun in the air and sprawled across the ground. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“No!” Hugo shouted, leaping to his feet and standing between the woman and the priest. “You will not harm him!  He saved Boots.  We were wrong about him!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“He is a Questioner!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“He is not like the others!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“You and that damn rat, Hugo!  This is about our laws!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>Czestadt left his sword hanging in midair at the blind man’s neck and rushed to the priest’s side.  Akaleth’s leg was burned but not badly.  He still let Czestadt pick him up and lead him toward the end of the street.  They didn’t quite make it. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin, still gripping the glass knife, worked his way around the two mages to reach the woman.  Her face was red with fury at her fellow mage and so she didn’t seem to notice him.  He gaped when he realized he knew her. <x-tab>        </x-tab> “Diomedra!” He cried. “So that’s why you wanted to know our strengths and abilities!” She turned in surprise at hearing her name, and he slipped around behind her and pressed the knife against her neck. “No more spells.”  She screamed in rage but the energy on her arms faded away. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Hugo shook his head. “Please don’t hurt her!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“I won’t,” Kashin replied. “Unless she leaves me no choice.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“All of you!” A man’s voice shouted from the end of the street. “Put your weapons down!  This is the Caial!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>At least twenty soldiers armed with spears, bows, and lanterns stood in a solid line three deep at the end of the street.  The arrows were prepared and not a one of them was unmarked.  Czestadt and Akaleth raised their arms, and the sword pointing at the blind man’s neck fell harmlessly to the ground.  The blind man rubbed his neck and then got on the ground groping for his lost cane. <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin dropped the glass knife which shattered at their feet.  He grabbed Diomedra’s right wrist and pulled it behind her back. “Don’t even think of lying.  Or of running away.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“You Ecclesiast toad!” she spat. <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Diomedra, please,” Hugo said with agony. “I’m so sorry I involved you in this.  I will take the blame.  Let me.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>The Caial captain and his men advanced down the street and he shouted another warning, “You are all to come peacefully with us.  You are causing a disturbance and it comes to an end now.” Six of the soldiers pointed their spears at Czestadt and Akaleth who made no move to resist.  The rest continued toward, Kashin, the two mages, and the blind man.  <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Come take us,” Kashin shouted. “We’re ready to go with you.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“Not I!” Diomedra spat and stamped her boot on Kashin’s foot.  He grunted and leaned forward involuntarily.  She then smacked the back of her head against his face.  A sharp lance of pain ripped through his nose. But even as the blood drenched his face, he still had a grip on her arm and this he jerked upward.  She screamed in pain for a moment, and then fell limp in his arms. <x-tab>        </x-tab>He blinked; he hadn’t pulled that hard.  And then he saw the blind man standing next to him with the cane in one hand.  He turned his sightless face toward Kashin and then to the whimpering Hugo. “I may not have eyes, but I can see where this is going.  We’re all going with the Caial.” He scowled at Hugo. “And you better damn well have a good explanation for Demarest, dog!” <x-tab>        </x-tab>“You all better have a good explanation,” the Caial captain, a balding man in his early forties with a scarred chin declared as he approached them with another dozen soldiers. “A very good explanation.  Now move, all of you.” <x-tab>        </x-tab>Kashin made no objection, nor the blind man.  Several soldiers carried Diomedra.  Hugo held his rat Boots close as he accompanied the soldiers.  Once they left the street amidst, Akaleth glanced behind them and winked the bright beacon of light out. ---------- May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love, Charles Matthias !DSPAM:4c97e930230652612618147! </body> </html>