[Vfw-times] MK Pennance and Retribution, part 7 of 8

[Oren Otter]

Chapter 7
Evil destroyed

	Felice was enjoying herself immensely.  Being a woman, she had never been
expected to raise a weapon against her foe, but now that it had become
necessary to d so, she found that she actually liked the action and the
danger.  Of course, impaling a few of the people who had killed her family
didn't do a thing to dampen her spirits.
	Samantha and Saulius seemed likewise energized.  The years each of them
had spent in their respective self-imposed seclusion had made them seem
un-knightly in the past.  Samantha had spent become sedate and apathetic,
and Saulius had been alternately brooding and delusional.  Being here in
the heat of battle brought back a fire to the eyes of the woman and the rat
that seemed inextinguishable.
	While the knights and guards dealt with the swarms of Stranders, and the
Hipocci nullified any sort of magical attack, Rupert gained entrance to
Mist Ocean's hold by knocking on the door and opening it in one fluid
motion.  After having its security spell disabled, it seemed little match
for the hand of a great ape.
	Rupert pondered this as he dispatched a pair of alarmed servants who met
him from inside.  The Strand seemed rather ill-prepared against an attack
from people who were naturally immune to magic.  But of course.  He had
heard it said that the purpose of Hipocc was to contain the Stranders, not
to destroy them.  Hipocc had no reason to attack the Stranders on their own
turf.  Consequently, such an attack was never anticipated.  Especially not
a combined attack of Hipocci and keepers.  It seemed more likely that the
people of Devil's Strand built defenses against each other.  This notion
was reinforced by the fact that Rupert had never seen a less organized
fighting force in his life than the one he was facing.
	As he pushed on into the citidel, Rupert heard Felice questioning one of
the supposed guards.  "Where is my father?" she yelled.  "Where is Nerr?"
	"Go to..."
	In the spirit of cooperation, Rupert picked up the recalcitrant Strander
by the back of his head and growled low at him.
	"The vision room!  Just outside the meditation chamber!  Down this hall,
last door on the inner wall!"
	As a reward for his services, Rupert let the man live.  At least until Kaj
got to him.
	The door to the meditation chamber proved to be as stubborn as the first,
which meant that it went down with a ward and a single strike.  As soon as
they entered the room, all eyes fell upon the child caged in the corner.
	It was Saulius who picked the child up.  His rodentian face reflected the
full horror that he felt as he hefted the boy's featherweight body and felt
his ribs through his skin.
	"Give him here." said Felice.  "You need your hands for fighting."
	"Verily I say thee, that the fiends who hath inflicted such hunger and
pain upon yon babe shalt not be suffered to live!"
	After handing the child to Felice, the rat charged into the next room.
Samantha was right behind him.  However, their righteous rage would go
unsatisfied.  The room held only a reflecting pool and a large, blood
stained cross.
	"Where is he?" Felice said, not knowing that she was speaking out loud.
	"There!" said Johnathan, pointing her sword at the reflecting pool.  An
image of the bloodied Nerr was showing in the pool.
	"Where?" cried Felice as she and her companions crowded around the pool.
Their proximity broke the spell, and the pool became nothing but ordinary
water.
	Felice swore under her breath.
	"It was definitely outside." said Kilix.  "Looked like it might have been
in the town."
	"Oh no!" cried Naomi.  "They're going to sacrifice him for their spell!"

	* * *

		Forest was patrolling the town square for trouble.  Back and forth he
paced.  Every so often, his patrol would take him past the fertility
statue.  He didn't usually pay attention to the thing, but on this last
sweep, he noticed something odd.  The statue depicted more than a dozen
animal spirits engaged in overt sexual activity, anatomically correct and
in full color.  His eyes scanned the tiger, the fox, the wolf, the rabbit,
the deer, the otter... the otter was wearing a Hipocci uniform.
	Instantly, Forest turned and began jogging away.  A moment later, his head
exploded.
	"I'm getting better." said Jesse.
	Charles was having difficulty holding down his last meal.  "The man's
head... you..."
	"I didn't mean to make such a mess.  Are you ready?"
	"I'm ready.  Gornul?"
	The dragon nodded and looked to Oren.
	"I'm ready.  Phil?"
	The rabbit gulped and shook his head.  "No, but let's get it over with."
	The sky overhead was darkening quickly.  Already, the first stars were
showing, though they were quickly being blotted out by an unnatural cloud
cover.
	"Keep your eyes open for Stranders." said Oren.  Glancing about to make
sure all was clear, he went out and started drawing designs on the ground
with his claw.  Each design was a cancellation rune.  Together, they would
form a barrier which would prevent unwanted magic from passing through.
	"Now," said Oren.  Gornul, you must follow my finger exactly.  I can't
make this circle spell, but you can, using your projection."
	The dragon obeyed.  The spell was a simple one, requiring little
concentration on his part.  The circle would take any energy directed at it
and channel it inward.
	"All right." said Oren.  "Jesse, you start."
	The roo said his spell aloud this time.  He wanted to make absolutely
certain that there were no mistakes.  A missile flew from his hand.  As it
entered the circle, it seemed to pick up speed, racing for the center.  The
ball of light exploded, but silently turned inward, changing to a roiling
mass of ceaseless explosion and implosion.  Another missile followed it,
followed by a third and a fourth.
	All was going according to plan.  Then Nerr arrived.
	He was bloody and bruised, barely recognizable as human.  His nearly dead
body was being hauled along between two Stranders
	Who were accompanied by about fifty others.

	* * *

	The darkness in Metamor Keep was more than oppressive.  The shell who had
enveloped Danielle had taken a sort of chaotic command over the horde of
darklings.  She was now systematically going through the Keep,
extinguishing every conceivable form of visible light.  With every flame
that met its death, the invaders grew stronger.  And where the light was
too intense for the darkmen or nightbeasts, the darkfires would come,
absorbing the light into their ebony black flames.
	Sandfur was a brave and unusually quiet Long scout.  However, after seeing
one of his companions possessed and the other scarred for life, some of the
quietness was leaving him.
	In order to have a ready source of light with him, Sandfur had impressed
Qualin into service.  As the dragon clung to his shoulder, the scout raced
about after the darkmen and recited in a steady stream of babble the story
of just how he had come to be half raccoon, half child.
	The situation seemed almost hopeless.  Just as Sandfur managed to douse a
darkfire with Ye's special foam, half a dozen darkmen surrounded him.
Behind them stood a black shell, filled with the awesome form of Og, the
knight from the east.
	"Og!" Sandfur whispered.
	"Og is no more." said the shell.  "All that he was is now part of me."
	"Stay back!  I have a dragon!"
	The Og-shell laughed.  "That's not a dragon.  THIS is a dragon!"  With
that, he called up a second shell.  This one had definitely overtaken the
body of a full-sized dragon, though which one, he could not say.  Sandfur
shook.  If the firebreathers were not safe, who was?  Sandfur looked to the
tower where Qualin's family had recently moved in.
	Then he got an idea.
	The raccoon boy barreled out between two darkmen, the fur on his arms
freezing and crumbling as he came in contact with their icy hides.  The
enemy seemed quite bewildered.
	"After him, you faceless idiots!" bellowed the Og-shell.

	* * *

	Desuka had pulled the wagons into a circle just in case trouble came.  He
was not disappointed.  The lutins had appeared suddenly and viciously.
Desuka, however, met the attack with equal viciousness.  As his fur changed
to deep, deep red, so did the world around him.  A blood rage so astounding
came upon the panda that even the Keepers and Hipocci were deathly afraid.
Light tended to the wounded, which were many.  With her medical skill, she
managed to fend death off completely.  There were no losses among the "good
guys".
	Unfortunately, the same could be said of the lutins.  When one became
unable to fight or was about to go down, another rushed in to defend him
and take his place.  Though Desuka, and later Blake and Shamgar, fought
ferociously, the situation was deadlocked.

	* * *

	"I'll hold these guys off!" said Oren.  You four finish the mix!"
	"You can't possibly..." Charles called.
	"I have to!"
	Six Stranders rushed forward, only to be silenced a moment later as they
came to a halt.  Oren smiled, amazed that one skinny otter could be so
intimidating.  Then he felt ape breath on the back of his neck.  "Felice?"
he said, without looking back.
	"I'm here." his sister's voice answered.
	"Everyone okay?"
	"No casualties."
	"Let's rescue Dad."
	Trusting in his allies to guard his back, Charles added his magic to the
mix.  Streams of physical force poured from him, mixing with Jesse's stream
of missiles.  The constantly roiling explosions became smaller, tighter,
more intense.  "Your turn, Phil." 
	There was no response.
	Charles turned to see his friend trembling, paralyzed with fear.
	"Phil!"  Charles cried.  "Phil, snap out of it!  We need you!"
	The rabbit only stared and shook.
	"Please, Phil!  You were right!  We need you!  Come on, Phil, don't drift
out on us, now!"
	Rupert dropped the Strander which he was swinging over his head.  Phil was
here?  But how?  He had seen him leave on the caravan.  Ignoring these
questions, the gorilla strode across the battlefield to his employer.
	"Grunt?" said Rupert.
	Phil looked up.
	With absolute calm, Rupert put his hand on Phil's back and gestured to the
magic circle.  He had no idea what was going on in there, but he knew that
Phil was playing a necessary part in it.  He would do his best to help his
master do his duty, as any devoted servant would.
	"I... I can't remember... is it..."
	"LAKEEPO!" shouted Oren.
	After that first word, the rest of the spell came to the forefront of
Phil's memory.  He spoke the words softly, but their power was undiminished
with volume.  As he finished the litany, a stream of fire shot from his
fingers into the circle.
	The three powers intertwined within the circle.  The force generated by
the sondek compacted the fire, which intensified the explosions, which fed
the sondek's force.  Even when all three of the Keepers stopped feeding
their power into the circle, the ball of energy continued to grow.
		Oren was determined to get to his father, but Nerr always seemed to be
maddeningly just out of reach.  There was always one more Strander between
the two of them.  At last, it looked like he was going to make it through.
	Then IT arived.
	It was vaguely similar to an otter, but with the bulk of a polar bear and
the tail of a dolphin, along with other parts that didn't even belong on a
mammal.  It roared, shaking the otter to his bones.

	* * *

	Mist Ocean congratulated herself on her cleverness.  Events were unfolding
just as she had planned.  The Hipocci were all preoccupied over in Devil's
Strand, and the bumbling lutins were out of the way, leaving her and her
company of elite mages to perform the spellcasting right here in the
remains of Hipocc.
	No one would look for them here.  There would be peace enough for the work
to come.  The darkness was total.  Only a magic spell allowed them all to
see.  A sacrifice would not be necessary.  There was power enough to be
harnessed from the past slaughter which had taken place on this very spot.
Soon, the moment would be just right.
	Demons swarmed about the place where Mist ocean stood, their presence foul
and malicious.  They brought news that the Keep was nearing a state of
total darkness, and that the time for casting would soon be upon them.

	* * *

	Oren was taking a beating.  So was anyone who tried to come to his aid.
The blue creature seemed to be getting bigger and stronger with each
passing minute.  His skin became like that of a shark.  His talons were
like a gryphon's, and getting longer.  Oren lay on the ground, the beast
looming over him, ready for the killing strike.
	A rib tore through the creature's skin.
	Howling in pain, the thing leapt back.  A second bone shot from it's elbow.
	As everyone watched in fascination and horror, the creature's mutating
body continued to tear itself apart.
	Oren almost didn't see the others running.  He stared at the body of the
creature until Rupert shoved him forward.
	"What?"
	Oren looked back to see that the fireball was expanding beyond the
boundaries of the circle.  Without a second word, he broke into a panicked
run.  He looked back just long enough to see the fearsome beast be consumed
by the growing ball of flame.

	* * *

	With darkmen hot on his heels, Sandfur bounded up the stairs of the
Lighthouse.  Up and up he went, heedless of the tiring muscles in his legs.  
	On the top floor, he saw what he wanted.  A circular pit sat in the middle
of the room, filled with wood and charcoal.  Above it sat an odd-looking
machine.  Misha had built the thing in his shop, working from an idea that
had lodged in his brain.  Even he didn't know what its purpose was, but
Sandfur knew.
	It all fit together.
	Oren built this tower, and he didn't know why.
	Misha built this machine, and he didn't know why.
	Bradfox brought it up here, and s'he didn't know why.
	The dragons moved into the top level of the tower, and they didn't know why.
	It was all for this one moment.

	"Get that fuel lit!" Sandfur shouted to his companion as he closed and
locked the door.  That bought him no time.  The darklings walked right
through the closed door.  Others rose through the floor.  Still others had
climbed up the tower from outside.
	Qualin had begun the fire, but he knew what was likely to happen.  The
darkfires would come forward first and subsume the fires into their black
blazes.  
	Then the machine began to turn.
	The hot air from the fire was making it move.  The bent blades on the
center wheel set into motion a sequence of gears which caused the whole
assembly to rotate slowly.  One side reflected the fire's light.  The other
side focused it into a tight beam, which began slowly sweeping over the room.
	Wherever the beam hit a darkling, the creature became contorted in agony
for the briefest of instants before it simply vanished from existence.
	The sole darkfire who had some up the tower raced to consume the light.
The concentrated beam proved to be too much for it, though. When it tried
to turn the light into heat, there was the sound of a firecracker
exploding, and all that was left of the creature were a few scattered black
fires which were quickly killed.

	* * *
	Down below, darklings shrieked in terror as light flooded through the keep.
	The Danielle shell writhed in agony as the light swept over it.  "It's all
your fault!" it screamed.  "You should have gone after the scout with the
others!"
	The shell who had enveloped Og could not reply.  It's head had ceased to
exist.  "Get off of me!  Get off of her!" the giant bellowed.
	With the next sweep of the beam, the dark shell was forced to comply.
There was nothing left to cling to the marten.

	* * *

	Mist Ocean became perplexed.  It was the middle of the night, and yet the
sun seemed to be rising, scattering the darkness which she so desperately
needed for her spell.  In fact, the rate at which the brightness was
increasing seemed beyond astronomical.  Her associates were beginning to
panic and run.  She herself turned around just in time to be taken by a
wall of flames.

	* * *

	"Move!" screamed Oren as he approached the wagon train.  "Get going!  Now!"
	After seeing the enormous fireball wich threatened to overtake the
approaching group, Desuka snapped into action.  "Drive!  Drive!" he
shouted, his red panda form still dominant.  "Help friends onto wagons and
go!  Go!  GO!"
	Kayrok stood transfixed for only a minute.  "Truce!" he cried.  "Take us
with you!  We will help you escape!"
	Desuka only answered with a nod of his head.
	Urging the smallest and slowest of his crew onto the wagons, Kayrok and
several of his fastest lutins grabbed the smallest of their enemies and ran.
	For what seemed like an eternity, the wagons raced, with the lutins
running beside them like so many dolphins escorting a ship.
	It wasn't until they were well outside the valley that the enormous
ground-based star finally stopped swelling and began to expend itself.
Panting in exhaustion, Kayrok turned to Oren and Desuka.  "You... have
saved... the lives... of many... of my men."
	"And you have saved many of ours." Oren replied.  He looked around and
took stock, noticing as he did that Kayrok did the same thing.
	"We suffered no casualties." Oren noted in amazement.
	"Nor we." replied the lutin.  The Stranders, however...
	There was no question about it.  Not a single Strander remained.  The
entire town had been vaporized in the creation of the landlocked sun.  The
entire valley had been destroyed, both Hipocc and the Strand.
	"The antimagic!" Oren cried out, suddenly.  "I didn't get the antimagic
for Ana!"
	"Not to worry."Blake chimed.  Before we set out, I suggested that everyone
stuff their pockets.  I didn't think we'd be returning to camp.  Here!"
	She tossed a vial to the otter.  Oren caught it and kissed the stopper as
though it were long lost kin.  The thought brought another concern to mind.
 "Father?"
	"Here, Son!" called a weak voice.  A hefty half-lutin carried Nerr to his
son.  "I made it out okay, thanks to your green friends."
	Oren embraced his father and wept openly.  He stood like that for ages,
only dimly aware of when Felice's arms entwined with his own.
	When at last, the embrace was broken, Kayrok stepped forward to address
the otter once again.  "Oren, son of Nerr, what I have seen here causes me
to doubt the things I have been told about keepers.  You are an honorable
enemy.  I wish you well until we meet again."
	"And you."
	As the lutins went their way, Oren turned to his companions and said the
words everyone had waited so long to hear.  "Let's go home."


-Oren the Otter
8=-3
tlhaQ biQ Ha'DIbaH
The Changing Workplace: http://www.geocities.com/duster_skunk/strips.htm