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Mon Jun 21 02:55:29 CDT 2004
time without meeting any more resistance. It wasn't until he saw the
corridor blocked by a large wooden table and he was challenged by an unseen
voice.
"Who goes there?"
"Rickkter," he replied as he noticed several crossbows aimed at him.
"Come in," the voice returned, the relief plain to hear.
Walking slowly he moved past the guards and into the hall beyond. "Welcome to
Long house," came a voice, drifting down from above.
Looking up he saw Baldwin, who had been perched atop a beam in the
particularly high ceiling of the hall. The condor was eyeing him carefully.
"Looks like you've been through some tough times."
The racoon just nodded in agreement. "Now have things been here?"
"Quiet and boring," was the answer from above. Rickkter could sympathise with
him. Being a bird with a large wingspan was prefect when fighting outside but
in the tight corridors of the keep it was deadly. With a blizzard blowing
outside the bird could do little else but sit and wait in the only room large
enough to allow him to fly.
"Rickkter!" shouted a voice that he recognized as Misha's. Rickkter was about
to return the greeting only to be scooped up and crushed in an enthusiastic
bear hug by the leader of the Longs. The fox spun him around a few times
before setting him back on the ground.
"Good to see you, too, Misha," wuffed the raccoon.
"So tell me, what happened to you? Were did you go? I know that Kayla has
been worried sick over you."
"Let's just say that is a very long story. It's also not that easy to kill
me." Rickkter reached up and started scratching out some the blood that was
caking the fur under his chin. "I'm glad that you're still among the living,
also. How goes the fight?"
"Mixed," the fox answered as they started to walk towards the entrance
door to Long house. "We're holding on in a few key places, but the Lutins
just keep coming. Between my own men and the various refugee groups we've
come across, we estimate we've killed a few hundred by this point."
Rickkter sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Tell me about it. We still
have yet to find their main camp, though I can't imagine it'll be very hard."
In a moment they passed through the two doors of the entrance and into Long
House itself.
The warrior-mage nodded as closed the last door behind him. "Someplace
central, large, easily defendable. Lots of exits, preferably some to the
outside. I can think of several such places already."
"So can I. And the they hold them all." The fox looked on as Rick picked
at the congealed blood. "Can't you ever manage to keep clean?"
"Killing's a messy business and I wish I could." He winced as he pulled at
a clot that had gathered in his cheek fur.
"I bet you've been causing all sorts of havoc. Been a serious thorn in
Nasoj's side."
"I'm not a thorn in his side. I'm a whole cactus up his ass!" Rickkter
responded with a shout.
"When I was human I could just wipe it off with some water," The racoon
commented as he tried to pull more blood and gore out of his fur. "Now I have
to scrub it out. I don't suppose you have somewhere where I could do that, do
you?"
"Rest assured, we do. The Long House has full facilities to outlast a siege,
remember?" Misha started to walk away. "And we've had to put them into full
use. We've been flooded with refugees from town and all over the Keep itself.
We've had somewhere close to two hundred so far with the odd small group
trickling in. We're keeping them mostly in the Long Hall, a few in Back Hall,
the rest wherever they find space."
"Back Hall?" Rick asked with a smirk. "Damn, you have a real knack for catchy
names for this place, Misha."
"Har har, very funny," said the fox as he guided his raccoon friend to the
back of the compound, picking their way around the huddled masses. "You
should keep that look a might longer, as there are some people I want you to
talk to. They're tough, not easily intimidated. They're also mercenaries, a
people you're all too familiar with. I can tell you right now that if I
didn't know you Rick, I'd be frightened by the way you look right now."
"Comforting thought."
"Well, they haven't cracked yet, so I thought that you could have a few words
with them would get them talking. I figured that anyone crazy enough to
attack George is someone you should be able to relate to. George managed to
get some basic information out of them but they failed to mention the
Moranasi."
Rickkter grunted, folding his arms over his chest and putting on a very ugly
expression. "Let's do it then."
Misha grabbed Rick's elbow forestalling the raccoon. "Before you go in there,
there are some things I need to tell you. First is that Wessex is dead."
"Dead? How?"
"I don't have the details. Matthias left me a note, telling me that the mage
was killed by a Shrieker."
The bloodied raccoon visibly started, his ears flattening against his skull
and his eyes showing the whites. "A Shrieker? Here in the Keep?" Rickkter
said, his voice full of surprise. "Impossible! And how? What do you mean
Matthias left you a note?"
"We found the rat's room completely smashed and this note." He handed Rick
the hastily scrawled piece of parchment.
Rick snatched it from his hand and quickly scanned the contents. "Glen Avery?
Why is he going there?"
"I don't know," the vulpine replied in an angry voice. "But Garigan is from
there. Perhaps he has some sort of plan in mind."
"Great, just great. Can you do something about it?"
"No," was the curt answer. "While the storm has lessened, we still have no
communications with the rest of the valley. But I can tell you that when this
is over I'm going to get some answers from that rodent."
"If we're still alive."
Misha gurred deeply and took Rickkter to the Long House's cells where he
removed his key ring, jingling it in the lock to get the door open. The cell
was much as Rick had expected, a small stone enclosure with a pair of cots,
each containing a prisoner. His paw unconsciously removed the knife at his
waist, taking a loose but firm grip on it.
Teria sat up with a worried look on her face. For Ferwig, that could mean
only one thing, the raccoon was a mage. But if that were true, he was a mage
who looked to have just finished using tooth and claw to take apart an enemy.
He made note that this raccoon was not someone he would want to cross in the
future.
"So these are the two that tried to attack George?"
"Yes. He was the muscle, she was the magic."
"Good combination," observed Rickkter. There was something in that voice,
the accent that tickled at Ferwig's memory. "Though I can see not good
enough. That old jackal still has a few surprises up his sleeve."
"He got lucky," spat Ferwig.
"The muscle, I assume," said Rickkter as he turned his bloody grin away
from the woman. The way the fur down his chin was all matted red made Teria
barely able to suppress her shudder and she was thankful that her two captors
were looking at Ferwig.
The new raccoon looked around the room once more. "Are all your cells
magically shielded?"
"Yes," said Misha, keeping a careful eye on Ferwig and his hand on the
hilt of his long sword.
"Good thing. Few people are more dangerous than a cornered mage."
***************
Some time later
"So are we done here, Rickkter?" Misha asked.
"Yeah, I'm finished with these two. Let's go." The two started out of the
cell, past Ferwig, only to be stopped when the assassin called out to them.
"Rickkter? You the same Rickkter that was involved in the palace coup in
Teradale in 704?"
The raccoon frowned and looked at the fighter. "Yes, why?"
"Because I was there," Ferwig responded. "Part of the bodyguard defending
the baron."
A look of puzzlement overcame Rickkter's features a moment before his eyes
lit up as he realized the truth of whom he was speaking with. "Oh yes! I
remember you now," Rickkter replied and punched the fighter in the jaw
sending him sprawling on the floor. "Now we're even." The mage turned and
left the cell, shaking his paw. The door slammed shut behind him and Misha.
"What the hell was that about?" the fox demanded.
"Just a score from the past," Rick explained as he flexed his paw. "They
were mercenaries, just like me. Alas, they had little respect for authority,
specifically mine." He would have explained more, but Allart came up and
interrupted them.
"I'm glad you're here Rickkter. We need your expertise in magic, but you
need to come to the chapel."
The raccoon sighed and leaned his neck to the side, producing a loud
crick. "My work is never done, it seems. Let me clean up and we'll head out."
"Did you learn anything from those two?" The young looking Keeper asked
and nodded towards the cell door where the two mercenaries were.
Rickkter shook his head, "No." He said sounding surprised.
"Nothing we don't already know," the fox interjected. "I doubt they know
anything about the Moranasi."
"They were just hired help. Why bother with them when we have that slave.
She HAS to know what we need to know," Allart countered.
Misha nodded in agreement. "Allart. I want to get that Moranasi prisoner
moved to the temple so that Raven can speak with her as soon as possible.
Tell everyone we'll be moving out in 30 minutes. First we'll head over to the
chapel to get Meredith and check on Lisa and that werewolf bite. Then we will
head to the Lightbringer temple. We'll all meet in Long Hall."
Allart saluted and went off to relay orders.
"First a Moranasi prisoner," Rick said incredulously. "Now a werewolf.
Damn, Misha, you do throw a hell of a party!"
***********************************
End part 64
--part1_a5.201d329f.2956c94e_boundary
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>From that point onwards the journey was a swift one and Rickkter made good time without meeting any more resistance. It wasn't until he saw the corridor blocked by a large wooden table and he was challenged by an unseen voice.<BR>
<BR>
"Who goes there?"<BR>
<BR>
"Rickkter," he replied as he noticed several crossbows aimed at him.<BR>
<BR>
"Come in," the voice returned, the relief plain to hear.<BR>
<BR>
Walking slowly he moved past the guards and into the hall beyond. "Welcome to Long house," came a voice, drifting down from above.<BR>
<BR>
Looking up he saw Baldwin, who had been perched atop a beam in the particularly high ceiling of the hall. The condor was eyeing him carefully. "Looks like you've been through some tough times."<BR>
<BR>
The racoon just nodded in agreement. "Now have things been here?"<BR>
<BR>
"Quiet and boring," was the answer from above. Rickkter could sympathise with him. Being a bird with a large wingspan was prefect when fighting outside but in the tight corridors of the keep it was deadly. With a blizzard blowing outside the bird could do little else but sit and wait in the only room large enough to allow him to fly. <BR>
<BR>
"Rickkter!" shouted a voice that he recognized as Misha's. Rickkter was about to return the greeting only to be scooped up and crushed in an enthusiastic bear hug by the leader of the Longs. The fox spun him around a few times before setting him back on the ground.<BR>
<BR>
"Good to see you, too, Misha," wuffed the raccoon.<BR>
<BR>
"So tell me, what happened to you? Were did you go? I know that Kayla has been worried sick over you."<BR>
<BR>
"Let's just say that is a very long story. It's also not that easy to kill me." Rickkter reached up and started scratching out some the blood that was caking the fur under his chin. "I'm glad that you're still among the living, also. How goes the fight?"<BR>
<BR>
"Mixed," the fox answered as they started to walk towards the entrance door to Long house. "We're holding on in a few key places, but the Lutins just keep coming. Between my own men and the various refugee groups we've come across, we estimate we've killed a few hundred by this point."<BR>
<BR>
Rickkter sucked in a breath through his teeth. "Tell me about it. We still have yet to find their main camp, though I can't imagine it'll be very hard." In a moment they passed through the two doors of the entrance and into Long House itself.<BR>
<BR>
The warrior-mage nodded as closed the last door behind him. "Someplace central, large, easily defendable. Lots of exits, preferably some to the outside. I can think of several such places already."<BR>
<BR>
"So can I. And the they hold them all." The fox looked on as Rick picked at the congealed blood. "Can't you ever manage to keep clean?"<BR>
<BR>
"Killing's a messy business and I wish I could." He winced as he pulled at a clot that had gathered in his cheek fur.<BR>
<BR>
"I bet you've been causing all sorts of havoc. Been a serious thorn in Nasoj's side."<BR>
<BR>
"I'm not a thorn in his side. I'm a whole cactus up his ass!" Rickkter responded with a shout.<BR>
<BR>
"When I was human I could just wipe it off with some water," The racoon commented as he tried to pull more blood and gore out of his fur. "Now I have to scrub it out. I don't suppose you have somewhere where I could do that, do you?"<BR>
<BR>
"Rest assured, we do. The Long House has full facilities to outlast a siege, remember?" Misha started to walk away. "And we've had to put them into full use. We've been flooded with refugees from town and all over the Keep itself. We've had somewhere close to two hundred so far with the odd small group trickling in. We're keeping them mostly in the Long Hall, a few in Back Hall, the rest wherever they find space."<BR>
<BR>
"Back Hall?" Rick asked with a smirk. "Damn, you have a real knack for catchy names for this place, Misha."<BR>
<BR>
"Har har, very funny," said the fox as he guided his raccoon friend to the back of the compound, picking their way around the huddled masses. "You should keep that look a might longer, as there are some people I want you to talk to. They're tough, not easily intimidated. They're also mercenaries, a people you're all too familiar with. I can tell you right now that if I didn't know you Rick, I'd be frightened by the way you look right now."<BR>
<BR>
"Comforting thought."<BR>
<BR>
"Well, they haven't cracked yet, so I thought that you could have a few words with them would get them talking. I figured that anyone crazy enough to attack George is someone you should be able to relate to. George managed to get some basic information out of them but they failed to mention the Moranasi."<BR>
<BR>
Rickkter grunted, folding his arms over his chest and putting on a very ugly expression. "Let's do it then."<BR>
<BR>
Misha grabbed Rick's elbow forestalling the raccoon. "Before you go in there, there are some things I need to tell you. First is that Wessex is dead."<BR>
<BR>
"Dead? How?"<BR>
<BR>
"I don't have the details. Matthias left me a note, telling me that the mage was killed by a Shrieker."<BR>
<BR>
The bloodied raccoon visibly started, his ears flattening against his skull and his eyes showing the whites. "A Shrieker? Here in the Keep?" Rickkter said, his voice full of surprise. "Impossible! And how? What do you mean Matthias left you a note?"<BR>
<BR>
"We found the rat's room completely smashed and this note." He handed Rick the hastily scrawled piece of parchment. <BR>
<BR>
Rick snatched it from his hand and quickly scanned the contents. "Glen Avery? Why is he going there?"<BR>
<BR>
"I don't know," the vulpine replied in an angry voice. "But Garigan is from there. Perhaps he has some sort of plan in mind."<BR>
<BR>
"Great, just great. Can you do something about it?"<BR>
<BR>
"No," was the curt answer. "While the storm has lessened, we still have no communications with the rest of the valley. But I can tell you that when this is over I'm going to get some answers from that rodent."<BR>
<BR>
"If we're still alive."<BR>
<BR>
Misha gurred deeply and took Rickkter to the Long House's cells where he removed his key ring, jingling it in the lock to get the door open. The cell was much as Rick had expected, a small stone enclosure with a pair of cots, each containing a prisoner. His paw unconsciously removed the knife at his waist, taking a loose but firm grip on it. <BR>
<BR>
Teria sat up with a worried look on her face. For Ferwig, that could mean only one thing, the raccoon was a mage. But if that were true, he was a mage who looked to have just finished using tooth and claw to take apart an enemy. He made note that this raccoon was not someone he would want to cross in the future.<BR>
<BR>
"So these are the two that tried to attack George?"<BR>
<BR>
"Yes. He was the muscle, she was the magic."<BR>
<BR>
"Good combination," observed Rickkter. There was something in that voice, the accent that tickled at Ferwig's memory. "Though I can see not good enough. That old jackal still has a few surprises up his sleeve."<BR>
<BR>
"He got lucky," spat Ferwig.<BR>
<BR>
"The muscle, I assume," said Rickkter as he turned his bloody grin away from the woman. The way the fur down his chin was all matted red made Teria barely able to suppress her shudder and she was thankful that her two captors were looking at Ferwig.<BR>
<BR>
The new raccoon looked around the room once more. "Are all your cells magically shielded?"<BR>
<BR>
"Yes," said Misha, keeping a careful eye on Ferwig and his hand on the hilt of his long sword.<BR>
<BR>
"Good thing. Few people are more dangerous than a cornered mage."<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
***************<BR>
Some time later<BR>
<BR>
"So are we done here, Rickkter?" Misha asked.<BR>
<BR>
"Yeah, I'm finished with these two. Let's go." The two started out of the cell, past Ferwig, only to be stopped when the assassin called out to them.<BR>
<BR>
"Rickkter? You the same Rickkter that was involved in the palace coup in Teradale in 704?"<BR>
<BR>
The raccoon frowned and looked at the fighter. "Yes, why?"<BR>
<BR>
"Because I was there," Ferwig responded. "Part of the bodyguard defending the baron."<BR>
<BR>
A look of puzzlement overcame Rickkter's features a moment before his eyes lit up as he realized the truth of whom he was speaking with. "Oh yes! I remember you now," Rickkter replied and punched the fighter in the jaw sending him sprawling on the floor. "Now we're even." The mage turned and left the cell, shaking his paw. The door slammed shut behind him and Misha.<BR>
<BR>
"What the hell was that about?" the fox demanded.<BR>
<BR>
"Just a score from the past," Rick explained as he flexed his paw. "They were mercenaries, just like me. Alas, they had little respect for authority, specifically mine." He would have explained more, but Allart came up and interrupted them.<BR>
<BR>
"I'm glad you're here Rickkter. We need your expertise in magic, but you need to come to the chapel."<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
The raccoon sighed and leaned his neck to the side, producing a loud crick. "My work is never done, it seems. Let me clean up and we'll head out."<BR>
<BR>
"Did you learn anything from those two?" The young looking Keeper asked and nodded towards the cell door where the two mercenaries were.<BR>
<BR>
Rickkter shook his head, "No." He said sounding surprised.<BR>
<BR>
"Nothing we don't already know," the fox interjected. "I doubt they know anything about the Moranasi."<BR>
<BR>
"They were just hired help. Why bother with them when we have that slave. She HAS to know what we need to know," Allart countered.<BR>
<BR>
Misha nodded in agreement. "Allart. I want to get that Moranasi prisoner moved to the temple so that Raven can speak with her as soon as possible. Tell everyone we'll be moving out in 30 minutes. First we'll head over to the chapel to get Meredith and check on Lisa and that werewolf bite. Then we will head to the Lightbringer temple. We'll all meet in Long Hall."<BR>
<BR>
Allart saluted and went off to relay orders.<BR>
<BR>
"First a Moranasi prisoner," Rick said incredulously. "Now a werewolf. Damn, Misha, you do throw a hell of a party!"<BR>
<BR>
***********************************<BR>
<BR>
End part 64</FONT></HTML>
--part1_a5.201d329f.2956c94e_boundary--
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