<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> </head> <body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000"> -LurkingWolf --- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> The news that Alex brought upon his return did not surprise Lucy, but she gave a sigh and a shake of the head regardless. She was worried for several reasons; Lois was certainly not himself, and she was worried about what might happen to him or what he might do. The effects of the magic also concerned her. It should have been impossible for a spell, regardless of the power behind it, to have lingering effects such as this once it had run its course. She wanted to investigate further, but her opportunity would have to wait.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A part of her simply hoped that she would have that opportunity.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> She passed the word on the Julian, who seemed unsurprised by the development. Although neither of them felt comfortable doing so, they left Lois where he was, giving him only a brief word to explain where they were going.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog had left a few minutes before, and the ermine now rested alone in his chambers. Based on the state of the sheets when they spoke with him, Lucy suspected that his efforts had been in vain thus far. He met the announcement with little verbal reaction, but his body language spoke volumes. He seemed to deflate, whatever little energy he had shown before seeming to fade in an instant. She wanted to say something to comfort him, but every thought that entered her mind just seemed empty, or even harmful. He offered to see them off, and none of them could find a reason to disallow the request.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> A few hours later, the ermine stood by the gate as his companions gathered to leave. With only three of them present it looked to be a very small patrol, but every person present was confident that they would be safe in the company of the others. They were more worried about the ermine that they would be leaving behind.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Alex clapped a paw on his shoulder in encouragement while the other two took a less familiar approach to saying their farewells. Lois stood by the gate and watched them leave. The ermine almost seemed to disappear into the robe he wore, though whether it was due to a defeated posture or to the robe being borrowed and poorly fitted was unclear. What was clear was that he was certainly uncertain about his path moving forward.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Thankfully, Balrog arrived shortly after the rest of them, and stood by Lois as he watched his patrol depart. They were in no rush, and so the two waited for some time as they continued to move further off.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I can see this is hitting you hard,” Balrog said quietly. He softly placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. The ermine tensed for a moment, but he allowed the intrusion without comment.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois nodded once he had relaxed a bit more. “Of the three of them, only Lucy is truly familiar to me. That said, I feel a definite familiarity with both of the others, and aside from you are the only ones who seem to be making an active effort to ensure my recovery.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The disguised lutin nodded compassionately. “Unfortunately, I cannot do much in their absence. I do not trust myself to tamper with such difficult magic, at least not where failure could bring harm to a friend. I will still study it and try to understand it as much as I can, but I will wait until help arrives before attempting anything on my own.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I appreciate your concern for my safety, but if you have any possibility of undoing what has been done, please attempt it immediately.” Lois’ voice was subdued, but it was clearly kept low out of concerted effort and not of apathy. “I cannot bear this ignorance for much longer; if there is any way I can be rid of it, I would hazard the risks most willingly.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “As the one mage between us, I will evaluate the risks. If I determine that the chances of success outweigh the risks, I will attempt it.” He held up one of his large hands to forestall protests. “I know that you want to recover your memory as quickly as possible, but foolhardiness is only inviting worse complications.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois sighed heavily, his eyes still following the course that the trio of Keepers was taking away from Outpost. “Thank you,” he said quietly. “I need someone to make certain that I do not do anything foolish while they are gone. I am nervous, I am tense… I just want to take some action instead of waiting here, expecting the worst to happen.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog nodded his understanding slowly. “Perhaps it would be a profitable venture to see if you recall any of your combat training?” To Lois’ questioning glance he continued, “If you expect the worst to happen, you should prepare for it as well. Vincent Lois is a formidable fighter, but we have established that you have trouble thinking of yourself as that man. It would be profitable to be certain that you can at least emulate some degree of his skill on the field.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> His friend considered for a few moments, turning back to watch his retreating fellows. His left hand scratched at his right absently, and he lowered his gaze to glance at those vicious scars. How had he first acquired them, he wondered? Were there more to come if he continued to fight?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> And if he refused to continue, what would happen to him?<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> His mind swayed back and forth several times before he finally settled himself on his decision. When he did, he turned back to Balrog. “I believe that some training would be time well spent,” he determined. “You will have to lead the way.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog managed a laugh. “Of course! This way.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> After a last glance back at Alex, Lucy, and Julian, Lois followed Balrog through the streets of Hareford. The larger man seemed to know his way through their tangled maze well enough, and it took them very little time to arrive back in the barracks. Once there, the two of them took a brief stop by the armory to see if they could find something that Lois would be able to use.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The utter lack of anything that would fit the changed ermine was a harsh reminder that they were not in Metamor, where Kyia’s assistance could aid such a search. It also reminded the ermine of the extent of his most recent change. While a serviceable tunic could be found to adequately fit his upper body, there was none long enough to cover his lengthened body the entire way to the waist. This would have been a permissible inconvenience as they meant only to drill forms and fisticuffs and did not require much protection; it was the search for fitting trousers that hampered their efforts. Lois’ legs were likely the part of his body most altered by the fetish stone and its lingering effects. They seemed almost entirely feral in all but length and a few barely-noticeable changes in the structure of the joints that permitted comfortable bipedal motion. While Keepers had been afflicted by the Curse in many different ways, their search suggested that there others afflicted as severely as himself were few and far between.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> After some search, they were finally saved by the nature of the Curse itself. Upon asking for some help from one of the few guards who still remained amidst the full-scale deployment, they were directed to another section of the armory that had been set aside for animal-Cursed Keepers who wished to test their feral forms in combat. It seemed that a few of those so inclined, while willing to battle in the shape of animals, were less willing to do so while completely nude, despite how odd a clothed animal might look. Here they met with some more success, although they were still unable to find something completely suited for Lois’ shape. Still, they were able to find something that fit the changed hip structure and knee shape that he now bore, even though it was a little loose-fitting. At the very least, it fit to some degree.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> As the two of them stood opposite each other within the ring, Balrog winced with an unpleasant moue. The clothing the ermine wore was meant to be worn under armor, not alone. On the shirt he wore, several oddly-patterned stains showed where a soldier had once used it with an improperly-cleaned coat of links. The article of clothing also ended several inches too high, showing nearly a handbreadth of Lois’ snowy white fur. The pants they had chosen were clean enough to suggest that they might have never seen serious use, but the way they billowed out around the ermine’s legs suggested that they had been made for a predator with a powerful build, not an ermine with the athletic build that his companion bore. Tied at the hocks to prevent interference with his paws, they nonetheless assisted the shirt in making him look like some sort of clown as he struggled with the poor fit.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Are you certain that you can fight in that?” Balrog asked.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois sighed. “As much as I would prefer not to, experience suggests that I will not find anything better fitted to my form. I must be able to fight like this; there is no better option.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> His friend nodded slowly, but his expression made it clear that the proposition made him unhappy. “You need to see a tailor at earliest opportunity,” he concluded. “You need to get your armor refitted.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I am not going to be like this forever!” Lois snapped. He gave a quiet churr, which he cut off with a conscious effort before stalking a few steps in a small arc across from the larger man. When he continued, his voice was once again subdued. “I will find a way to become human again; I have no need to have my clothing tailored.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “No man who has suffered the Curse as you have has ever successfully returned to human form,” Balrog cautioned.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Then I will be the first,” Lois declared. His glare gave no place for argument.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog sighed and shook his head. “The armor you brought here is not the only armor you own. You could safely have it tailored to serve you while you are temporarily afflicted with this form, and then continue using your other armor when you have escaped the Curse’s grasp.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “We are here to test if any of my combat prowess remains. Let us begin that task and cease these useless discussions.” He retraced his earlier arc, returning to a position directly in front of his friend and taking on a loose combat stance.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog frowned at his friend’s attempt at evasion, but he was pleased to note the competence that his friend’s stance showed. “It seems that you do remember something about combat, at least,” he concluded. Lois ignored him, adjusting his stance slightly. He seemed somewhat uncomfortable, although it was not clear whether it was because he did not recall how to fight from the stance, or whether the changes to his physique made it difficult. Whatever the case might have been Balrog moved forward and began to test his friend with a series of soft strikes.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> While more suited to wrestling an opponent, the lutin was no stranger to fisticuffs. His strikes were confident and precise, but easily slow enough that a trained fighter should have had little trouble facing them. The ermine, however, did little to truly defend against them and instead absorbed them, taking the full force of the blows on his forearms and wrists. Before long he stepped away, shaking out his arms with a pained growl.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “You need to deflect the blows away from yourself,” Balrog suggested. Lois nodded slowly, but said nothing to the lutin. Instead he grumbled to himself, shaking his head again and again as he thought through what had happened.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I know what I should be doing! I can remember it; I have been remembering it since I stepped into this ring!” He stretched his right arm, massaging the muscles of his forearm gently as he tried to relieve the pain that permeated them. “I can remember how to fight, but I can’t seem to actually do it.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog scratched his chin, playing with the twin forks of his braided beard. “So your mind remembers what you should do, but your body does not?” Lois nodded his agreement to the assessment. “You lack the instincts, then, the practice. A man may see a master perform a certain technique a million times over, but if he is then asked to do it himself, he will fail utterly.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I do not suppose that an afternoon of practice is enough to develop the required instincts?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “No, but perhaps it might be enough to revive the instincts that are already there,” Balrog suggested. He smiled. “Are you ready to go again?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois gave a pained sigh, but nodded. “I am ready whenever you are.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog did his best not to hold back. He hoped against hope that his friend’s combat skill would begin to click again, but the situation only got worse. Lois continued to absorb the blows’ full force, and left himself wide open for a counterattack every time he emerged from his defensive ball. It was less than an hour before Lois was sitting on a bench to one side, groaning as he tried to recover from the blows he had taken already.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog sat beside him, brushing his hands off from the dust of the fighting ring. He wondered briefly if he should have held back a bit more. Those thoughts were brief however; they needed to know what Lois remembered about fighting. Even by finding out that he remembered very little, they at least knew what their starting point was.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Seeing him try to fight also made Balrog notice a few things.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “You’re stance is too high,” he noted after a few moments of sitting in silence.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois sat up a little straighter, raising his head to glance across at his friend. “Why do you say that?”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “It isn’t that your stance is not accurate to what you remember; your body is simply longer,” the lutin clarified. “It is far easier to throw a blow to your body than it would be if you were entirely human. Throwing a blow below your waist would be the harder task.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois gave an annoyed growl, but at least he nodded in agreement. “I suppose as long as I am forced to live like this I should have the honesty to admit that fighting is useless.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I did not say that, nor did I wish to imply that it was the case,” Balrog responded, a bit sternly. “If you ask me, it would be worthwhile to fight from a more feral posture. Start from all fours, keep your body behind your claws and teeth…”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “No!” Lois suddenly stood up despite his aches, stalking away angrily. He hissed and fumed to himself, making a full orbit of the fighting ring before returning to face Balrog. “I am NOT an animal, and I will not reduce myself to the level of acting like one! That would be precisely what my enemy wanted!”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “Your enemy is dead and his spell a failure! His aim was to turn you into an animal, not to have you act like one when it serves your own purposes! He wanted you to lose everything, not to adjust to its effects and become stronger for it!” The lutin paused for a few moments to let his words sink in. “He would love for you to refuse to accept the advantages of your new situation, to focus solely on the negatives. I am not suggesting we do what your enemy wanted, I suggest we fight it!”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois shook his head. “No, I cannot.” He glanced to one side, taking a deep breath, before turning back to say more. “I am sorry, my friend, but it is not as easy as you say. I almost lost myself to this spell once; I fear that if I give it a second opportunity I will not be so fortunate.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog sighed, electing to admit defeat. He would not be convincing the ermine to change his opinion, at least not now. Lois had always been firm, which was the way friends described stubborn friends. To convince him to make any significant change in opinion was a task best left by the most cunning of diplomats. The lutin did not consider himself to be among their number, and so he did not press further.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> “I am done with this for now,” Lois declared. “Let us get something to eat, and then I wish to return to my quarters.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> His friend made no argument, and the two of them returned to the armory in silence. They took brief advantage of the small baths that the barracks offered, but the size and quality of the baths starkly reminded Balrog that they were not within the walls of Metamor. Lois had nothing to compare them with, but he was not overly inclined to linger for very long either. He seemed especially annoyed at how much water his fur managed to hold, but was thankfully able to get it dry enough in a brief period that he did not have to delay his companion for very long.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> They ate their evening meal together just as the last few rays of sun were disappearing behind the western horizon. Balrog once or twice tried to pry a word from the ermine, but Lois only ever responded in one or two words, and his gaze traced the rest of the room’s few occupants repeatedly as they sat. Balrog was uncertain as to the reason for it, but he supposed that he was either being wary of threats, or looking for a familiar face. Whichever he was seeking, he reached the end of the meal having spotted neither.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Balrog again tried to start a conversation on their way through the hall. “I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> Lois shook his head. “Balrog, I need time to think. Please just take me to my quarters and we can continue this later.”<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The lutin sighed, but nodded. Lois had little idea where to go, and so Balrog took the lead, following the hallways to the private cell that had been provided for the ermine during his recovery. Balrog said a few words of farewell, but Lois merely grunted his own before closing the door and disappearing inside.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> The mage waited outside of the door for a few moments, trying to convince himself to speak to Lois again, but he could not justify the idea. His friend needed rest, and any conversation the two could hope to share would only be made the clearer if they were both rested.<o:p></o:p> <o:p> </o:p> <span style="font-size:11.0pt;mso-bidi-font-size:10.0pt;line-height:107%; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri;mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-latin;mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman";mso-bidi-theme-font:minor-bidi; mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA">With a final shake of his head and a sigh, he left the door behind and went to rejoin the rest of his patrol. <meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"> <meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 14"> <meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 14"> <link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml">  <link rel="themeData" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_themedata.thmx"> <link rel="colorSchemeMapping" href="file:///C:%5CUsers%5CNathan%5CAppData%5CLocal%5CTemp%5Cmsohtmlclip1%5C01%5Cclip_colorschememapping.xml">  <style>  </style> </body> </html>