<html> <body> 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 </body> </html>