<HTML> Here is Part 9b ***************** "DEREK! The ceremonies are starting Right Now! Your parents aren't going to let you come out anymore if you miss them!" Derek keeps quiet, hunched underneath a barrel, making his two snowballs. This has *always* been his favorite part of the game. Sure, any loser can be King of the Snowfields here, but He's something special. Not only can he throw and run and dodge, he can also hide. Derek is going to be a REAL warrior when he grows up, he knows it. This is just his practice session. "DEREK!" The voice is Much louder now. Jono must be able to track down his scent; he's going to be in contact soon. "Here we go!" Derek thinks to himself... then he Leaps out from behind the barrel, instantly spotting Jono and another Keeper right there as he lands. He hurls both snowballs, catching both Keepers in the head. Glorious! "Got you BOTH" Derek cries in joy. He's a real warrior! Jo gets to the door, pulls at the handle. Locked, of course. Jono doesn't want anything stolen by any of the passersby. She reaches into her pocket, fumbles with the keys to try to find the right one. She keeps one eye almost absentmindedly on the party down there... there's something odd about them; they're moving quickly, but not going down the hall then she sees one of them fall down. Tripped? * * * "Both?" Jono thinks. "I didn't ask Kevin to accompany me." "Derek! C'mon, we need to hurry, or we're going to be Really late!" He then turns towards the Keeper apparently behind him. "I'm quite sorry, sir, he's a bit of a-" * * * "Finally!" Jo inserts the key, twists and unlocks the door. "Okay, everyone inside!" Then she glances up at the party. "Why are they heading towards us? Aren't the halls in the opposite dir-" * * * The exact same thought hits both Jono and Joanne at the exact same time. "That's not a Keeper!" And right then, as if in endorsement of the whole scenario, just to show they're not hallucinating, the alarm bells start to ring. *** 12/24 - 8p.m. "We honor you, O Lord of Creation! We lift you up, O Father of All! Maker of Man and Earth and the Heavens, Oh, Most High God, now answer our call!" The acolytes sang beautifully, sweetly, as they lifted up the song of praise to the Iluvatar. Raven looked on with satisfaction at the choir's performance, both those who sang and the musicians who accompanied them. Letting her eyes drift to the audience, Raven saw that they, too, were moved by the hymn, each person's gaze fixed on the singers behind the altar. There was no question, she thought: Celine's idea to include music in tonight's program had been simply brilliant. Music penetrated the heart, touching the innermost parts of a person in a way few other things could. She would have to thank Father Hough someday for giving them the idea. If he survives. Raven frowned at the thought, another wave of something entirely too much like fear washing over her. For all Kyia's power, even she could not predict when Nasoj's army would attack. With the Prime Minister warned, there was nothing left to do but wait to see how the lots fell. Kyia, if any have left their arms within the alcove in the vestibule, please see that they can reach them when the temple doors are closed. She thought fervently as she bowed her head to the music, And the same for those in the Chapel, she added as well. Despite their theological differences she counted the young Paltidor and his flock as much her friends as those who crowded her own temple. Raven hated that. This feeling of powerlessness, of knowing what was about to happen and being unable to stop it, sickened her more than anything else she could think of. Forcing such thoughts from her mind, Raven stepped up to the altar again as the acolytes finished their hymn. She applauded for them, the audience following in kind, and Celine flashed her a smile as the singers returned to their positions at the front and back of the temple. Raven waited for them to be seated before speaking. "I would like to close this ceremony tonight with a time of personal worship," she said. "Since the All-Father, in his infinite wisdom, has chosen not to reveal himself to the priesthood, it may be that the best way for us to approach him is as individuals. Our musicians are going to continue playing now, and I encourage all of you to spend this time in prayer and meditation on the glorious mystery of the most high god." She motioned to the players, and they began a new tune -- quiet, thoughtful, and reverent, the music filled the hall as men, women and children bowed their heads to pray. Thirty-five seconds later, the alarum sounded. ** 12/24 - 8p.m. "Omnes gentes plaudite, Jucenes dum sumus, Gaudeamus ingitur..." Rickkter hung off Misha's shoulder, breaking the song and holding his side with his free hand as he contorted in laughter. "No, no, no! You've got it all wrong. You need to roll the r's." The raccoon had been trying to teach a group of the Longs some of the old drinking songs he knew. Of course none of them knew the languages Rick did, and the translations of the songs tended to lack the same punch. "What you said instead was... well I don't think it would be physically possible to do that to yourself!" The rest of the group continued to laugh. "Never underestimate people here, Rick," chided Kershaw. "After all, I've seen some of the female felines here do some really amazing contortions." His muzzle contorted in a smirk. "Though I won't tell you where." The rest of the chorus roared, Finbar almost falling over when he went to take a drink of his ale. That caused the rest to laugh harder and almost join him. They did eventually laugh themselves out. "Okay, okay, one more time," said Rickkter, wiping at his eyes. "And remember it's ingitur, with an rrrr. From the top." The chorus never had the chance to resume as a horrendous clatter of metal on stone caused everyone in the Long Hall to turn to the door. Madog practically flew in through the door, digging his claws into the flagstone to stop himself. Every single pair of mobile ears in the room went flat against their owners skulls, those that could not do so were covered by their owner's hands from the horrible screech caused by the mechanical fox's aluminal claws carving furrows in the floor. He stopped right before Misha, sitting down on his haunches and thumping his tail on the ground in a very aggravated fashion. "Argh, Madog!" growled Misha as he rubbed one of his ears. "What do you think you're doing coming in here like that?!" "Na Tol, Fala sha!" the automaton shouted as he jumped up on his hind legs, turning himself around much like a real canine in an excited state would. Misha moved from under Rick's arm and grabbed Madog by the snout, settling the metal animal down. "Madog you need to speak a language that hasn't been dead for five hundred years." Madog jerked his head free and started yipping and dancing in circles once more. "I think he's been sipping too much oil," someone commented and the group laughed. "ATTACK PAPA! Lutins come now! HURRY PAPA, HURRY!" Madog said sitting down in front of the fox. All conversation in the hall dropped to silence, the eyes of all guests fixing on the metal fox were it sat on the floor. Rickkter wiped the side of his muzzle with the back of a paw and straightened up. "What?" "Lutins attack!" repeated Madog. "Big army coming, will reach the walls soon now!" Rickkter placed one finger on his head, closing his eyes as if in deep concentration. The rest of the room was humming with whispered conversation. "That's not possible. I was out in that stuff this morning and it would be suicide to march an army through it." Misha chose to ignore the raccoon. "Are you sure?" he asked, leaning down towards the automation. "How do you know this? Who told you?" "Kyia told me," Madog replied, bobbing his head. "Told Salius and me to go warn people. He go to chapel now." Misha didn't move for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. Then he turned back to Rickkter, causing the raccoon to wince. "Aw, hell no." "EVERYBODY SUIT UP!" Misha yelled at the top of his lungs. "SEEMS WE'RE GETTING UNINVITED GUESTS! I WANT BOTH TEAMS ASSEMBLED IN TEN MINUTES AND READY TO GO." The entire hall erupted in chaos as Longs and their companions broke ranks at once and scattered in every direction the fox shouted over the din. "TRIPLE THE GUARDS. I WANT TEAM LEADERS IN MY OFFICE IN FIVE MINUTES!" The hall was a mad house as keepers tried to follow the fox's orders. Through the crush of it all, Rickkter and Kayla managed to find each other. "What are you going to do?" she asked, her arms up against his chest and clenching his doublet. Rickkter ran his paw over his head, raking the fur as he looked out over the chaos. "Great maker, I have no idea." He suddenly seemed to realize Kayla was there. Rick took her by the shoulders and moved her over to a nearby wall. His face bore an expression of subdued panic as he looked down on her. "Kayla, listen: I want you to get someplace safe. Go to the Lightbringer temple. I've seen the wards on that place, it will take a lot to break in. Go now." "And what about you?" Rick was looking off over the nearly dispersed crowd. "I'm going out there. If this is true, they're going to need someone who can seek out the enemy in all this snow." He rubbed her upper arm. "Just get yourself safe, okay love?" He started to head off before she could answer. The skunk jerked him back with a quick pull on his lapels. "Damn it, Rick, I'm not going to run and hide! Last time Nasoj invaded I hid out from his armies, and this is what happened to me. That time I lost everything dear to me! I won't lose you this time." Reaching up, Rickkter tenderly stroked her cheek fur. "And I don't want to lose you, love. But I can't just sit by." He rubbed his paw through her fur a little more. "I do know something you can do then; no one besides us knows of what's coming. I want you to go around and warn anyone you come across. I don't know if they'll believe you, but they have to know. Tell them to get to the Temple or perhaps the Cathedral. Anyplace secure." He bent forward and kissed her gently. "And if you see any Lutins, if they do get through, I want you to run to one of those places as quickly as you can. I couldn't stand losing you either." Kayla cupped his paw in two of hers, pressing it to her face once more before letting go. "Okay, love. You had better get back quickly though, you hear me?" He smiled. "I will." Slipping his paw from hers, he gave her a final wave and went out the door at a quick jog. However, the smile was quick to fade. It was replaced by a slight snarl at the very notion of what he was doing. An assault in the middle of winter? Great Maker, Rick thought as he raced up a flight of stairs, perhaps Nasoj was as insane as people said he was. No other general would tolerate the loss of life any army would sustain in this kind of weather. Abruptly the sounds of panicked preparation from the Long House dropped away, and when he crested the top of the current flight of steps Rickkter found himself just down the hall from his quarters. "Thank you, Kyia." Rickkter wuffed as he opened his door. Well, at least one thing was going right for him. Once in the room the raccoon turned around several times, raking his paws through the fur on his head. The first thing to do was take care of the clothing. His claws made quick work of the buttons and laces that didn't want to come fast enough. Damn, that was going to cost to get repaired, but at that moment all he cared about was getting into his old tunic. Phet, damn that smelled, he reflected as he pulled it over his head. But old clothing was the least of his problems. Right not the biggest was the alcohol he had consumed, causing him to fumble with the catches on his mail shirt. Have another drink, you're not going anywhere for a while. Right, sure! Stupid, stupid, thrice damned little green fucking monsters have to pick yule EVE in the middle of the worst damned BLIZZARD the valley has seen in years to stage an attack! Oh, he could see this whole incident, on both sides, going right down the privy! Damn, damn, damn! Eventually he managed to get himself into some semblance of battle readiness. Sliding his katana into his scabbard, he headed out the door. He stopped and turned back from the top of the stairs to go and strengthen the wards on his quarters. Normally they would just repel intruders who got too nosey, increasing severity until reaching lethal levels. Most people would become discouraged long before they reached that point. Rickkter removed all of that. If anyone tampered the spells on his with his room now they wouldn't live long enough to realize how bad an idea that was. Then he moved on to the armory. ** End part 9b </XMP> </HTML>