<HTML> 12/27 - 4pm Charles was finishing off the stew that Baerle had brought for him when a trio of figures collected outside the doorway.  The opossum was still sitting in her chair next to him, holding onto his mazer of mead while he spooned the beef and potatoes into his muzzle, heartily enjoying the warm flavours of both.  At first he objected to Baerle's assistance in holding his mazer while he ate, but she pointed out that he had nowhere to set it down, and might spill it, so he begrudgingly took her help. Yet as he gazed up and saw his fellow Sondeckis standing there, white powder washed clean from their faces, he could not help but set his plate down upon the quilts before him and call out in delight, "Jerome!  Krenek!  Garigan!  I'm so glad to see you all, and well!  Please, come in, I'm just finishing my breakfast." Jerome laughed slightly as he passed beneath the aperture. "It's actually closer to dusk than dawn, but we just heard that you've come to, so thought to welcome you back to the world of the living." Charles then turned to the opossum, her eyes watching his companions with a bit of uncertainty, as if she was about to order them out and insist that the rat need rest.  Yet his gaze caught her attention and she held out the mazer for him thinking, or hoping, that he wanted another drink. His request caused her face to droop slightly, but only slightly. "Baerle, do you mind excusing us while we talk?  I'll be fine, I assure you." She nodded then and set the mazer on the floor next to his robes and other belongings.  "I'll be back to check on you in a little bit though." Her eyes then went to Garigan, the only other animal morph in the room. "Be sure that he doesn't get out of that bed.  He is very weak right now, and should not be moved.  Don't let him tell you he is fine, because he isn't." Garigan nodded at that, offering the flustered opossum his word that he would keep Charles in bed, with rope, if need be.  Baerle looked back at Matthias with her hazel eyes once as she rose from the chair, patting his shoulder with one calming paw, and then lithely walked from the room, the click of her toe claws upon the stone receding into the distance.  Zagrosek watched her leave, his own eyes curious though he did not immediately speak.  Instead he came in and dragged two more chairs into the room with him, setting them down beside the bed. When they were all sitting around their friend, Charles said again, even as he leaned back up on his pillow and grimacing at the ache in his chest, "I'm very glad to see you three here.  Baerle told me that you made it out unharmed, but it is still nice to know it with my own eyes." Garigan whistled through the gap in his front teeth as he chuckled. "I imagine Baerle has told you a good number of things recently.  I hadn't believed it at first when these two told me what you and she had been doing together on that trek." Matthias blinked, his cheeks growing hot as his ears backed. "I don't know what you are talking about!" Zagrosek shook his head as he suppressed a chuckle. "Oh come now, Charles, don't tell me you haven't noticed the way she is flirting with you.  She obviously has her eyes set on you, and is trying to woo you.  And you've been making it very easy for her." "Oh come now," the rat groused. "I already have my Lady Kimberly, why in the world would I be interested in this opossum?" "I didn't say you were, but she is very much interested in you," Zagrosek winked back at him. "She insisted that she be assigned to watch over you while you recover, you know." Though he didn't want to admit it, he could see that mischievous grin as Lady Avery consented to let her sit at his side.  But, as he'd known her for barely a day, she was probably just the flirtatious sort, hardly worth worrying about. "Never mind about Baerle," Charles finally said, putting the last few bites of the meat into his mouth before he handed his plate to Jerome, who set it on the floor.  After chewing down the luscious morsels, he added, "I want to know what's been going on." "We have Calephas as a prisoner," Garigan said, quite elated. "Turned in by his own men too, if you can believe that." Charles nodded then, even as Jerome handed him his mazer.  Drinking the last of the warm mead he wiped his muzzle upon the fur of his upper arm and handed the wooden decanter back to his friend. "Yes, Baerle told me all of that.  Has he been interrogated yet?" "Earlier in the day, aye." Garigan continued, his tongue pressing at the place where his two front teeth had once been, only to find the scarred gums. "We didn't get much out of him though.  But it looks like Nasoj may be at Metamor himself." Charles blinked in surprise. "Now that is important! If it's true-" "If it's true," Garigan finished, "we may be able to end our troubles once and for all.  Lord Avery and the rest are discussing the particulars of it all now.  We don't have the forces to single-handedly destroy the flanks, but we certainly can harass them." The rat nodded approvingly at that, and then looked over at the two humans. "And so, do you plan to stay for this final fight?  I don't know just how many days you have been with us already yet, my accident has made me lose count." "By dawn tomorrow we will have been here in the Valley for four full days." Jerome replied, certain. "We are going to stay the duration, though it is our hope that this siege is resolved in the next two days, otherwise, we will most likely be stuck here with the two of you." Zagrosek shifted in his seat a bit, leaning forward ever so slightly. "I can think of worse fates than to be ever at the side of friends." His eyes then strayed down to the white bandages wrapped firmly about the rat's chest. "Did you really manage to break four of your ribs?" Charles nodded then, resisting the temptation to feel his chest, as that always filled him with an intense throbbing. "They're mending now at least.  I'm glad to see that you three came out unscathed." Jerome rubbed the back of his head slightly. "Well, not completely unscathed.  I woke up several hours after the fight with the worst headache ever.  Here, look at this bruise." The broad man turned around, showing him a swollen scalp, and purplish lines all across the back of his neck. "You'd think I'd dyed it, it's so colourful." Wincing, Matthias turned to the other two, "And how did you fare?" Garigan shrugged, "I wasn't down in the chasm, remember?  All I got was Lutin blood on my fur.  That stuff is such a pain sometimes to wash out." "Just a few minor bruises," Zagrosek added, shrugging. "How long do you think you'll be in bed?" "Well, I'm not moving today," Charles said, grunting as his chest drove the point home, his ribs creaking beneath the bandages. "I don't want to be kept here in this bed like an invalid while the rest of you risk your lives for Metamor." "I'm afraid you don't have much choice," Zagrosek pointed out, rifling his fingers through his black hair. "Breaking four ribs is not the sort of thing you just walk away from, even with the help of magic." "But, I-" Charles stopped and sighed, leaning back against the pillow, one ear pinned  under his head. "I don't want to be helpless." Jerome chuckled softly, and gave him a warm smile. "You aren't helpless, Charles.  You never have been.  I'm willing to wager that you can still punch anybody sneaking into this room while lying in that bed." The rat nodded sourly as he lay there, breathing shallowly, to keep his chest from groaning against the bandages. "It just doesn't feel right for me to be stuck here, while you are fighting for my home.  I can't explain it any better than that." The three of them shook their heads as if in unison, though Garigan spoke for them. "You don't have to, Charles.  We know precisely what you mean.  I felt exactly the same way when I first heard about the attack; I was willing to walk into the face of death to save my own people, my home.  Metamor Keep is your home, just as Glen Avery is mine, and you have every right to wish that you could be there to drive out those Lutins and plunge a dagger in Nasoj's black heart." Garigan smiled then, a lopsided grin that showed off his missing teeth. "Besides, in another few days, you will be right as rain again.  And then you can go back to your love, and everything will be all right once more." Charles smiled weakly at that, though stronger than before. "I do miss her.  I hope she is all right." "You said yourself she was in the Chapel, and there are many competent fighters there.  I'm sure she's safe." Garigan assured him, his voice confidant.  "I just don't know," Charles admitted.  The thought of her being hurt, and possibly dead, was a frighteningly real one to him.  He did not wish to imagine what they could have done to her, for he also feared the rage it would unleash in his chest.  Yet the shame that burgeoned there instead came from the fact that no matter what had happened, if anything, there was nothing that he could do about!  He could not protect her, he could not soothe her wounds and her heart, nor could he avenge her should the terrible occur.  That was the true source of his woe. "Look," Zagrosek cut in, "we've all been injured at one time or another, have we not?  It happens to the best of us, and when it does, we just have to live with it.  I would rather have you at my side than a hundred men, Charles, but the truth is, you can barely sit up in that bed, let alone wield your Sondeshike." The rat sighed disconsolately then, slipping back within the warm covers, resting his paws on the lip of the quilt.  No matter how much he hated to admit it, they were right, all of them, Zagrosek, Baerle, Garigan, Jerome; they all knew that he had to rest in this bed until he was well enough to leave.  And, much to his chagrin, he knew it too, no matter how much he wished to deny it, or worm his way around it.  No circumlocution would mend his bones and restore his muscles.  Only time could bring back his health and his strength. "Well, then, I just hope that you three can fill my place adequately in the coming battles.  My thoughts will be with you." Garigan then gave him yet another lopsided grin, deliberately pulling back his lips to expose the raw, bright red gums where his teeth use to belong. "It could be worse, you could be missing your two front teeth like me!" Charles found himself laughing, as were the others. "Yes, but at least with you, it isn't too noticeable!  How does your mouth feel by the way?" "Much better now," Garigan shrugged, one paw reaching up to feel at the empty space in his muzzle. "It is still sore, but at least it doesn't hurt to eat any more." "Good, I don't think I want to know how awful that must have hurt." "And I think I'd like to keep my ribs in one piece!  What ever made you leave yourself so exposed like that?" Jerome chuckled dryly, shaking his head, at which the rat gave him a dirty look. "Baerle had been standing out in the open watching as the bridge tumbled down.  I grabbed her as I ran and forced her into the crevice beneath me.  I guess it hadn't been deep enough for the both of us." "And she blames you for getting yourself hurt too, I'd wager." Zagrosek added in wry amusement. Charles nodded at that, his face settling into that typical moue of annoyance. "Yes, that is what I've gathered.  I can only imagine the fit Lady Kimberly is going to throw when she finds out how badly I was hurt.  She'll probably blame it all on me too." Zagrosek laughed then; a thick throaty laugh. "That's a woman for you!  They aren't just satisfied with seeing you in pain, they have to make you feel guilty about it too!" "And then they hug you really tight and gape at how brave you were," Jerome added, his smile whimsical. "Remember that night we were walking the streets of Makor, and we ran across the lady being robbed?" Charles nodded, his own muzzle twitching with the delightful reminisce. "Ladero was on the hooligans before I'd even recovered from my drunken stupor.  And they were running as fast as they could only a few moments later.  She practically jumped in his arms if I recall, and then fussed over the cut he'd gotten." "Of course," Zagrosek cut in, "Ladero wouldn't let her touch it, which only got her more insistent." "It wasn't as amusing as when we found out she was a prostitute and was willing to repay Ladero with her trade!" Jerome put in.  Garigan's eyes went wide at that, his village innocence shining through clearly.  The ferret had heard of such people, but had never seen them, not even in Metamor, though he knew they existed in the town. "I'll never forget that," Charles murmured quietly. "His cheeks were so bright when he found out, that you could have used him to light the city block!" "I think he spent the rest of that night counting his rosary." Jerome added, laughing at the recollection. "Ladero sounds like a very good man," Garigan put in, gazing at the three black Sondeckis, his own eyes wistful. Charles nodded, his lips set firm. "Yes, he was." Then shaking the memories from his mind, he peered back at the rest, his eyes curious.  They were also tired, as a sudden sleepiness began to fill the rat.  It had given no warning, but as he lay there, head against the pillow, he knew that he must soon rest. "When do you think Lord Avery will want to act on what he got from Calephas?" "Probably tomorrow," Garigan said. "Maybe tonight.  The sooner that we can strike at Nasoj, the fewer of us have to die." "Well," Charles said, his throat dry, "Then let us sing the Song of the Sondeck one last time while we are together.  I know that you two are going to leave if this mission is successful, and you are better off not coming back to visit me again.  So, before we part again, let us share in that." Zagrosek nodded even while Jerome began to hum a note. "We shall sing," the black-haired Sondeckis declared, affirming the rat's plea.  Each finding their own place in the song the four of them joined in harmony, singing that ancient melody to the walls, letting it fill the silences of the cavern and into their bodies, bones; to fill their souls with the unifying theme of the ancient song.  Though his chest ached with each new note, Charles sang on, letting his voice rise in conjunction with theirs, to form that hymn of old, and to once more proclaim his allegiance to their mutual suzerainty.  His eyes trailed over their faces, even as he found his spirit transported upon the waves of song.  Their features were already a permanent fixture in his mind, yet the rat studied them nonetheless.  As the sound and the Sondeck filled his body and soul he wondered whether he would ever see any of them ever again.  That thought slowly faded as the somnambulant strains echoing off the walls lulled his eyelids and soon, as the last harmony resounded, the rat had drifted back into quiet sleep. **** End part 78</HTML>