<html> <body> Metamor Keep: Divine Travails of Rats by Charles Matthias and Ryx Pars VI: Acceptio (i) The First Hour of Sunday, May 13, 708 CR Charles Matthias sat upright. His tail pinched beneath him as he shifted on a pallet with a warm quilt covering both legs and tail and bunched together in his lap. Beside him lay the marten Malger also beginning to stir from sleep. A candle that had burned almost to a nub and a censer long-since spent were positioned on the floor between them. The familiar granite walls of the caves beneath Glen Avery and the faint aroma of wine surrounded them. Reclining with a startled expression before the single door in the storage chamber was the fox Misanthe. “Sir Matthias! Are you all right. You look...” Charles stared for a moment at the brown fur of his arms, turning them over and over again seeing only the familiar color of his fur. There was no more black; no more shadow. Satisfied, he pushed the quilts off, laughing as he did. “I'm back! I'm back, I'm back!” Once free he jumped to his feet and ran through the door. Misanthe did not even have enough time to try and stop him. Behind him he heard Malger's voice cry out, “Let him go. He's free!” There was barely enough light for even a rat to find his way in the caves, but Charles ran down the hall, up the two sets of carved stairs, and then through the main decanting hall and the tuns. The whisker-curling aroma of fermenting mash curdled his nose for only a pair of seconds before he was out into the night and angling out of the wind from the rancid mélange. The Glen was dark and the air was cold. His arms wrapped about one another as he ran and chastened himself for leaving his cloak behind. But no recrimination could last in such excitement. The rat barreled down the hillside to the Glen commons and continued running east until he saw a familiar tree. A dim light shone in one of the windows for his children, but not enough to have woken them. No light shone from the main level or from his bedroom. But there was a light emanating from the stables around the far side of the tree. Standing watch outside was a figure he well knew. “James!” Charles cried when he saw his donkey friend. The donkey's ears had turned at the sound of his running and now he turned his head as well. His muzzle stretched into a grin and he brayed right back. “Charles! It's over! I felt it! It's over!” The two friends clasped arms and hugged tight, laughing a delight too great to be contained. Charles tightened his grip and nodded when at last he could speak. “It is over, my friend. Marzac is gone forever. You felt it?” James nodded, ears lifted high, and then thumped his chest and tapped his head. “Just a moment ago. It felt like some great weight had lifted from me. I could breathe again. I knew it had to be over. I didn't know why, but I knew that had to be it. You did it, Charles. You beat it too!” “I almost failed... but... is Kimberly...” James tossed his head at the stables and let go of the rat's shoulders. “With Murikeer. Go.” Charles needed no further incentive. He rushed through the open doorway and was greeted by a rearing Malicon to his right, and an excited skunk at his left. Murikeer looked the rat over once and then let out a long breath. “It is good to have you back, Charles.” He said nothing more as he took a step back and allowed the rat to see who reclined behind him. Draped in the green tendrils and purple blossoms of his vine was a lady rat with soft tan fur and eyes shut tight. Her hands were pressed tight about a familiar purple stone as her jowls moved with words repeated over and over again. Charles felt his heart pound at his chest like a prisoner beating down his cell door. With tender steps he came and knelt before her, gently pressing his fingers to her cheeks. “My love, my Lady. I am here. You have saved me.” Kimberly lifted her head, eyes opening. Full of intense anxiety, they quivered as if not quite believing what they saw. “Charles?” Her hands lowered the stone to her chest and then reached up to touch his face. They brushed behind his whiskers, and then up beneath his eyes. He could feel them stumble over the scar around his right eye before descending through the thicker ruff at his cheeks. Her eyes danced over his face, unable to settle until centered upon his own. Charles slid his hands down to her shoulders where the vine slipped from her and wrapped about his wrists. “I am here, my Lady. You saved me. I love you.” Their eyes locked and the fear held within hers finally broke. “It is you, Charles! I love you!” She thrust herself forward into his arms, her snout pressing against his neck, he arms wrapped tightly about his back. The vine and stone pressed between them but Charles felt no discomfort. He held his wife tight in his arms as she sobbed her relief. “Is it... over?” He nuzzled one of her ears. “It is over. Marzac is gone forever.” The vine slipped from around Kimberly to embrace Charles. He smiled at it but said nothing as it pressed down his back beneath his tunic. He felt a warmth as the root found its place once more in the flesh above his tail. He could almost imagine it expressing relief and joy like his friends. He whispered in his mind to it and knew that his voice had been heard. I missed you too, my friend! Forgive me for not trusting you. They held each other tight for several minutes even after Kimberly regained her composure. He could hear Murikeer and James conversing quietly outside the stables joined by both Malger and Misanthe. Within the stables his pony Malicon was scraping his hoof against the stall to get the rat's attention. All of them needed his love and gratitude as well and he would give it. Impatient, Malicon gave a snort and redoubled his efforts to jab his hoof through the wood of the stall. Charles and Kimberly shifted where they knelt and turned their heads to regard the roan. They laughed as one and then Kimberly nuzzled her husband's snout one time more. “I love you. I have been so afraid for you.” He felt a brief wave of guilt touch him and his smile faded. “For how long, my lady? How long have I terrified you?” She leaned back, her smile broad enough to put a gap between her incisors. “Not long. Do not think of it, my knight. I have you back and that's all that matters.” She tapped his nose with one finger as she slipped free of his embrace. “Now you tell your horse you love him before he breaks his stall down.” Charles laughed and sighed, a sense of pain lingering in his heart but the overwhelming joy he felt from the final vision and from holding his wife again kept it at bay. He leaned forward to brush his snout across his wife's one last time, then climbed to his paws and walked over to his steed. The roan pony calmed as soon as he approached, snorting in satisfaction when he ran his hands down his neck. “Could you tell too, my friend? We've some good riding ahead of us, don't you fear.” The touch and his words calmed Malicon who contented himself with lipping the rat's head-fur. He patted his steed a few more times before turning to the doorway where his wife waited. Their hands slipped together and into the night they went, the witchlights illuminating the stables following behind them. A dozen paces away they saw James and Murikeer quietly conversing with Malger and Misanthe with a trio of witchlights a few feet overhead to help them see. Charles's Long Scout cloak was draped over the marten's arm. And it was he who saw the rats leave the stables first. He lifted his free arm and his muzzle creased into a welcome smile. “You forgot your cloak, Sir Matthias!” Together they joined their friends and Charles held out his left arm, the right entwined about his wife, and let the marten deposit his cloak. “Thank you, Archduke Sutt! I owe you more than I can ever say. Tell your lady that I am sorry I tried to deceive her.” Malger nodded. James frowned, ears lowering, but said nothing. The marten continued, “She knows and understands. There is another matter we should discuss, but it can wait until morning. I am sure you both wish for real sleep. I know we do! After a bit of yon brewer's wine methinks.” Charles sighed and for a moment let go his wife to give Malger a firm shake. “Thank you for your help.” He turned to Murikeer and shook the skunk's hand too. “I'm not sure all you have done, Muri, but I know you have given everything you could. Thank you. I am in your debt.” The skunk gave him a firm shake back, long monochromatic tail lashing awkwardly behind him. “Think nothing of it, Charles. Seeing you and Lady Kimberly together without fear is a debt paid.” He turned to James and they also shook hands. “Thank you for summoning everyone this last week. And thank you for helping to watch over my wife in her hour of need. Truly I can have no better friend than you.” “I owe you everything I have, Charles,” James replied as his heavy fingers pressed against the rat's forearm. “And I still owe you after breaking your jaw two months back!” The rat laughed and shook his head. “If it showed Baerle how much you care for her then it was worth it!” The donkey backed his ears in an equine blush and stammered something under his breath, tail whipping back and forth even as Murikeer chortled beneath his breath. At the last he turned to Misanthe and offered her a slight bow. “And thank you, milady, for watching over us as we dreamed. If there is more I owe you, I will repay.” The attention appeared to discomfit the slight fox and she also backed her ears. “Whatever you owe to Ma... Malger is sufficient for my sake, Sir Matthias.” Charles nodded and slipped his right arm about his wife's back again. “I must see my children now. I bid each of you good night. Malger, until tomorrow. James, let Garigan know when you see him that all is well.” “And I will let Kozaithy and Rickkter know when they arrive. We sent to fetch them hours ago!” Charles blinked and shook his head. “And apologize to both for the inconvenience I have caused them in a needless trip to Metamor and back! I will buy Rickkter something from Lars for his trouble.” The skunk favored him with a lop-sided grin. “That might begin to cover the annoyance he'll feel! Now go, be with your family and get some sleep. It's over.” “Indeed it is.” Charles and Kimberly turned and walked arm in arm around the roots of their tree. Their four friends lingered a moment longer before venturing their separate ways. James followed them a few paces back to their door but waited there as they went inside. Charles felt excitement build in him anew. The familiar scent of his home, rich in wood and in the pleasing tang of his wife and children, was enough to make him turn to the stairs from which a flickering light shown. Kimberly followed behind him a few paces to keep from stepping on his tail. The calm relief he'd felt around his friends now gave way to the energy he'd felt on rising from the dream. He rushed up the stairs so quickly that he scampered on all fours to the top. There he found Baerle sitting in the rocking chair with a single lantern hanging from a hook in the wall. The opossum turned when he reached the top and her eyes widened. “Charles, you're back! Are you...” He stood and lifted one hand to assure her. “I am well. Thank you for watching them, Baerle.” His ears lifted at the sound of a squeak from their chambers. He dashed to the doorway and pushed aside the heavy curtain. One of his wife's witchlights rushed ahead to shine within and he saw his four little rats stirring from their beds. His heart, overwhelmed by love, pushed him into the room. Before he'd taken three steps his eldest boy lifted his head and rubbed his eyes, “Dada? Did you get lost?” Charles knelt down and pulled his eldest boy up from the bed into his arms. “I did, little Charles. But now I'm found. I love you, my son!” He nuzzled the boy's dark head fur and the boy squeaked happily. His other children, hearing their voices, also climbed up from their beds. He held out his arms, and scooped each of them up one by one until he held all four of his children in very full arms. Little Baerle stuck her nose in a purple blossom poking around one of his shoulders and giggled. Bernadette nestled her head against his chest and wiggled her tail in his lap. Erick almost stood in his arms, eyes bright and curious. “Dada, you okay?” “I am now that I have you four!” He laughed and nuzzled them each, pulling their little bodies close. “I love you all, my dear ones. I love you all!” Their voices could only squeak in delight. With Kimberly at his back and his children in his arms, Charles Matthias, knight of the Glen, looked heavenward and knew his youngest son was smiling right back at him. Thank you, Eli. Thank you! Charles did not know how long he remained there holding his children in such gratitude. He only knew that it was the happiest moment of his life. ---------- May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love, Charles Matthias </body> </html>