[Vfw-times] (no subject)

[COkane8116 at aol.com]

* * *

"Ok, time for your first lesson," Misha said calmly.
"Ready?"

Cutter nodded solemnly. "Yes." He felt self conscious about
standing naked in front of the Long scout but it didn't seem
to bother Misha who was naked from the waist down.

"Changing into a taur is not so much a new power as it is
learning how to manipulate an old one, the Curse itself. All
animal morph keepers have two forms; human and animal. A
taur is simply a mix of the two," Misha commented.

"So if a 'taur is an intermediary form, why were you the
first one to discover it? Keepers have been experimenting
with the curse right after the Battle of the Seven Gates. If
changing is so easy, how come you're the first one who could
do it?"

"Because no one thought that a 'taur form was even
possible," Misha replied, dancing a little to the side on
his four legs. "Everyone knows from legends that centaurs
were once a real race. And, even from the beginning, people
have realized that the curse does not change people into
other intelligent species." He waved his paw in the air
dismissively. "As for it turning people into dragons, I
think that was the fault of Cerulean's magic getting mixed
in with things. But what I am getting at, is that since
people knew that centaurs were something that the curse
could not transform people into, no one ever tried to assume
a form like it. As I told you, it was only blind luck that
it happened to me. But since then, though, I've come to
realize that anyone can do it."

Cutter folded his arms before him, grimacing and letting out
a small growl of distrust as he shook his head.

"Okay, try this," said Misha, clasping his paws before him.
He knew his own vulpine behavior well enough to recognize
Cutter was close to giving in. "Ever notice how some keepers
have opposable thumbs and some don't like Wanderer? How some
can see in color like before the change and yet others are
colorblind like animals? It's all in your mind," the scout
explained. "It's all a matter of how the individual person
sees themselves. Wanderer expected to be like a normal wolf
and have no thumbs. So he doesn't have any."

"In your mind form a picture of yourself as you are now,"
Misha ordered. "Now in your mind imagine yourself as a
foxtaur, a powerful, healthy, and muscular taur with four
legs bulging with muscles. Now picture you body changing
into that perfect four legged form."

As Misha spoke Cutter just let the words flow over him only
half listening to words. Instead he concentrated on the rise
and fall of the scouts voice and letting his mind wander to
his body. Once clean and whole his was now able to barely
hobble along, his leg ripped and torn in a bitter fight. He
couldn't let think upon that and this thoughts drifted to
the form Misha was talking about a fox centaur, strong,
powerful and straight legged. With FOUR legs it did not
matter that one was twisted and crippled. He could move
about easily without the need of that hated cane.

Suddenly his skin and muscles seemed to ripple and distort.
His tail moved backwards seemingly of it's own accord as his
torso below the waist extended backwards, lengthening
horizontally, growing thicker, more powerful. Two new,
healthy legs grew outward from this bigger body to support
it. After a long time his body stopped changing and growing
and seemed to settle down to its new form.

His first thought was that the pain was gone. For the first
time is weeks his leg no longer throbbed with pain.

He didn't know where it came from, wasn't even conscious of
it coming on, but all of a sudden Cutter realized he was
laughing to himself. It was only a soft chuckling, but it
left like the first time he had laughed in years. Even the
missing part of his tail, a difference he could feel in the
now rapidly wagging appendage, didn't seem to bother him any
more.

Misha smiled back at his fellow fox, his own tail tracing
lazy arcs behind him.

"This is... extraordinary," the librarian muttered to
himself, as he tried to lean and bend to the side to look at
his once injured leg. Alas he was not used to balancing a
body on four legs as opposed to two and began to list
dangerously to one side. With a loud yelp Cutter's legs
folded up under him, dumping the foxtaur unceremoniously
onto his rump on the floor.

This time it was Misha who broke into uncontrollable
laughter. "That's... not quite how you do it," he chuckled
as he pranced over to Cutter. The librarian had flopped
around a few moments, trying to control his suddenly very
long body, but had finally managed to arrange himself with
all four feet on the floor. Extending a paw, Misha told him,
"Let me help you up."

Fox just looked at the proffered paw for a few moments
before sneaking a quick glance up at Misha. He hesitated a
moment longer before clasping Misha about the wrist.

"Okay, that's good," Misha replied, a slight smile tilting
his whiskers. "Now, just concentrate on doing this one step
at a time. Put your front paws down and try to stand as you
would normally."

Cutter looked down at his sprawled out body a moment before
putting pressure on his front paws and lifting himself up.

"Okay, good. Now do the back ones."

Fox's back end came up quicker, the tail flicking around a
bit quicker. "I think I might be getting better at this,"
Cutter admitted with a smirk.

Misha yipped affirmative. "Well, we'll see. I want you to
try walking again, only this time don't think about it as
much. This body knows how it works, it does not need you
telling it how to do things. Just walk like you walked in
your non-morphic form."

Cutter nodded, letting out a quick wuff before taking a few
hesitant steps. The more he took the more confident he
became and the wider the smile on his muzzle became. Having
reached the end of the room he turned around and began to
trot along the walls, eventually working his way up to a
slow run. Misha was just about to call out for him to be
careful when Cutter tried to make too sharp a turn. His
heavy taur rear end didn't come around quite as quick as his
front and his rear paws lost purchase, causing the foxtaur
to go into a skid across the stone floor, his front claws
clattering for purchase.

Misha was quick to go over to his friend to offer
assistance, but Cutter had managed to get to his feet before
the other foxtaur even got close. "I have to remember this
body is a little heavier than what I'm used to," Cutter
observed as he brushed some dust off of his leg fur.

"A lot heavier, you now weigh almost half a ton and are the
size of a horse. You have to take that into account.
Maneuvering into tight places is a lot harder but with a
body this big comes one advantage - Power and speed."

And what power!!! Cutter could feel his new body rippling
with muscles. Each step was with a firmness and easy that he
had forgotten since that dreadful Yuletide attack. A room
that had taken him minutes to cross took mere seconds. No
longer did he have to spend long painful hours moving at a
slow pace. He found himself slowly walking around the room
at a faster and faster pace. But the empty room that had
once felt so large now too close and confining. In the
smallest fraction of a moment he had crossed the room and
was through the door and into the hallway beyond. The whole
way he was picking up speed. He could feel the power in his
new body. Now he wanted to find out about its speed!

* * *

The new taurs path was easy to follow with Kyias help. The
corridors shifted and moved around Misha so he could follow
the faint tracks of the librarian. The tracks took him up
and down passages, over great, arched bridges spanning snow
covered courtyard and through rooms and hall filled only
with silence and dust. He passed through a larger courtyard
busy with workers who were rebuilding shattered and burnt
out walls. He found a spot where Cutter had leapt over a
tall wagon, clearing it with easy. Amused he followed the
trail back into the dark stonework of the Keep and down
another corridor.

Suddenly Misha found himself back in that quiet little
courtyard that they had discovered before. But this
beautiful little place was no longer silent, instead he
could here the sound of someone softly weeping. He followed
the sound and found his friend collapsed into a heap upon
the ground under the stark, bare branches of a birch tree.
It's white trunk and limbs looking like the bare bones of
some grotesque creature.

"Are you all right Fox?" Misha asked softly.

All he got in reply was silence.

Misha looked at Cutter for a moment then spoke. "Who was
killed? Someone close?"

The librarians head whipped around and he looked at Misha
with shock and surprise. "How do you know?"

"I know the look," the scout explained. "I've lost too many
friends myself not to recognize it."

Cutter didn't answer at first but just stared into space at
some spot only he could see. "The woman I loved died."

"How did she die?" Misha asked in a soft voice. He didn't
want to intrude in the vulpine's grief but he knew that
Cutter had to let it out. Having such emotion bottled up in
him would only eat him up. As it was the librarian looked to
be close to suicide. Misha knew the signs of that all too
well.

"I killed her."

Misha looked closely at his friend hoping that it had been
some cruel joke but all he saw was pain and grief. He mean
every word, literally. "She was one of those who went after
the Duke?"

Cutter gave a shallow nod in agreement.

"My God." He put his arm around Cutters shoulders and hugged
him tight. It was all he could of to do.

* * *

Sir Edmund walked stood in the doorway to the chapel. His
mind was finally at peace. He never doubted his decision to
remain at Metamor but he couldn't help but worry about what
the curse would change him into. The idea of being trapped
in the form of a child worried him. How could he fight if he
was as week as a young boy? And what if he became a woman?
He tried to understand what it would be like to be a woman
but he just couldn't. As a woman he could still fight - he'd
known a few tough fighters who were female and wasn't as
lioness more powerful then a lion? That left him one great
worry - if he did become an animal what would it be? There
was thousands of different species in the world and in his
short time here at Metamor he'd already seen hundreds of
different types. Some species that no one had seen before!

How bad could it be to become an animal person that which
the Keepers call them morphs? He'd still have be an adult
and male and he'd have the addition of whatever the animal
gave him. He could be as swift as a cheetah, or strong as a
bull (literally), or the endurance and ferocity of a wolf.
Maybe even a griffin, like the one that topped his families
coat of arms. That would hardly feel odd or strange. He
could only hope that he gained that part of the curse.

"Good morning Sir Edmund," a voice said behind him.

Turning to the sound of the voice laid eyes upon a scene
that made him doubt his sanity. The two creatures before him
reminded him vaguely of the centaurs of legend but only in
the general shape. Instead of the beautiful combination of
man and horse these creatures seemed to be some terrible mix
of fox and centaur.

"How are you doing today?" the one asked in a voice Edmund
recognized. This fox centaur had one ear missing and part of
one hand bandaged. With a start he recognized it was
Misha!!! Instead of the scouts normal two legged form he now
had a four legs! FOUR!

"Sir Edmund, I'd like you to meet Metamors great librarian
Foxeris," the strange looking Misha pointed to the other Fox
centaur with him who gave a short bow.

"Cutter, this is Sir Edmund Delacot, a paladin of the faith
who has decided to stay and help rebuild the Keep."

The paladin found himself returning the bow automatically.

"Not worried about the curse?" asked the second taur.

"A brave knight like him?" Misha answered. "I'm sure he'll
become some powerful creature like a leopard or a lion."

"Then you must be eagerly awaiting the change."

As the two talked the continued to trot towards Edmund at a
leisurely pace till they we're even with him. Their massive
forms towered over him as they moved passed one on either
side of him.

It was with great relief that they soon moved away and down
the hall their tremendous forms moving with surprising
speed. It wasn't till they had passed out of sight with a
brief wave of the hand from Misha that Edmund spoke. "I WAS
looking forward it." Suddenly being a woman didn't seem so
bad.

-----

This story is copyright 2003 by Fox Cutter and Christian
O'Kane, hardcopy reprints limited to one a person, all other
rights reserved. This story may not be distributed for a fee
except by permission of the authors, and this copyright
notice may not be removed.

*****************

   I hope you enjoy this and feel free to send comments and suggests to us! I 
really wish to thank Deranged Kitsune who helped me with this and all my 
stories.

    Chris & Foxeris
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