Chapter III
I don't really know how long I was in that crate but it was a fair amount of time. I really didn't sleep all that well when I was laying there so I spent most of my time meditating on my current situation. As the time passed I even managed to get in touch with a part of myself that I thought I had lost many months before.
He looked at me with his pale grey-blue eyes and softly asked, “How long have you been seeking me Adon?”
I looked at him slowly and finally responded “Oberon I have been seeking your pressence since I thought I lost you more than half a year ago.”
“Adon you no longer need me anymore. Has not the last few months been proof of that?”
“Oberon I've made mistakes since you left me, mistakes that have nearly cost me my very soul.”
“But you kept your soul and have grown stronger since I became part of you.”
“Oberon I have missed your counsel and there were plenty of times where I could have used it.”
“Adon even though you desired it you did well enough on your own. For instance now you are no longer doing things out of a desire to simply earn money but instead for friends, and family, and honour.”
I looked down at my feet for a moment before I looked up again. He continued to look at with his steady blue-grey eyes before he finally said, “Adon I can't guide you for the rest of your life, you must learn to make choices on your own, and furthermore you must learn to stick with those choices.”
I managed to nod slowly though I was still doubtful of what he was telling me.
“Adon I may not see you very often anymore but I still watch over you and care for you from afar.”
I nodded slowly and then was about to say something when I became aware of something thumping on the lid of the crate that I was hiding in.
“Wake up Oberon I can't get the lid of this crate off all by myself.” I heard Misha's muffled voice coming through the heavy wood of the crate say.
I opened my eyes and put my hands up against the lid and pushes as much as my cramped arms could manage.
The lid of the crate moved grudgingly under our combined strength. Until finally it was lying on the floor beside the crate that I had occupied for however long it had taken us to reach this place. This place, it seemed, was darker then the Caves of Parenteir and wetter then the stinking swamps of Gretchor with only a single torch providing any kind of illumination and it was pretty feeble at that.
“We're here Oberon you can get out now.” The dim form of Misha said.
I tried to stand up but buckled to my knees as my legs refused to support my weight due to cramps that felt like my muscles had been tied into ten kinds of knots with a god's own sewing needle. I growled loudly as both of my legs protested my movements.
“Oberon this isn't the Deaf Mule. There are guards around we have to keep quiet.”
“Sorry Misha but my legs are tied more knots then a galleon's rigging.”
“They're cramped! You've been shoved, tightly, into that box for the past two days.” He said and helped me lean against the crate.
I growled again as I leaned against the crate, as my abused muscles protested my movements.
“Oberon... Not so bloody loud. We don't need some guard coming in here wondering what all of this noise is.”
I nodded slowly and began to massage my right calf gently with my hands. This wasn't the first time that I had ever gotten myself so cramped up that I couldn't stand.
Can you please hurry it up. I don't really want to be here any longer then we have to be in case some over-curious guard comes here and decides to look into this storage room.”
“I am doing what I can Misha but getting cramps out of stiff muscles takes time.”
“What can I do to help to speed this up.” the fox asked me.
I looked up into his green eyes and finally said, “If you don't mind can you please try and get the knots out of my left calf while attend to my right leg.”
Misha nodded and crouched down and began to massage the heavily knotted muscles of my left calf with his strong hands.
After a few minutes I managed to stand up without feeling any pain. I wrapped dark cloak around myself and pulled up the hood to conceal my face. Even then I knew that I would not be all that hard to spot for someone who was really looking.
“We're in a food larder deep underground.” Misha explained to me as he looked me over with his bright green eyes.
“Well I'd best be prepared.” I pulled one of my throwing knives from its sheath and looked at the dark coloured metal and lightly shook my head. I didn't like seeing all of my fine work obscured by some kind of dye.
Misha chuckled. “Now that we are here lets go find out exactly where we are in this place and then get to our target and dispose of him.”
“Agreed. I would prefer that we get in, and out as quickly as possible.
“Um Oberon exactly how are we gonna get out?” Misha asked me calmly.
“I turned to face him and grinned. “I really have to think on that Misha, but it may get a little hairy when we leave, and there is a good chance that we will have to do so in a hurry.”
“All right. Are you ready to go? We have a big castle to search...without being seen.”
“As ready as I'll ever be Misha. Though you will be a lot easier to forget then I ever will be now. I am simply too huge to sneak around every day like I used to be. When I was human I was one of most inconspicuous men that you would ever meet and yet now...”
“Well its dark outside so that should count for something. Just keep to the shadow and that should help us out a lot.”
I nodded before I said, “At least we don't have great bloody boots on our feet. I can already hear a guard coming down the left corridor about thirty feet away. His tromping will drown out his hearing.”
“I hear him too! Being part animal does have its advantages,” Misha said.
I nodded “Yeah and these feet,” I pointed down at one of my large digitgrade foot-paws. “, make sneaking... easy.”
“We need to let that guard pass before we can leave this larder.”
I nodded. “I concur with you Misha on that fact. I am, after all, a veteran of more than a few assassinations.”
“I know that Oberon.” Misha answered. “I am pretty good at sneaking around too.”
For the rest of the night we dodged patrols by ducking into vacant rooms occupied by nothing but skinny rats and busy spiders.
Finally I managed to ask Misha “This castle seems to be half deserted. Where is everybody?”
“Dead mostly. They've lost a lot of people in the recent fighting, though there have also been a fair number of desertions recently as well.”
“Well this castle is about to lose at least one more resident.
Misha nodded. “Oberon that also includes anyone else who I think needs killing, or gets in our way when we are leaving.”
I grinned menacingly before I peeked out of the room that we were currently hiding in. “Damn that guard down the hall won't move. Perhaps we will need to eliminate him.”
Misha looked out the door at the guard before he shook his head. “He'll be missed before we carry out our objective. We'll need some kind of distraction.”
I looked at the guard again and then came up with a novel idea. “Misha do you think that you could possibly make me look something like an ogre or a troll?”
He looked at me and seemed to be lost in thought for a moment before his ear perked up and he gave a little grin “We could do that. Cover you in some green dye and give you a terrible stink. The less observant guards wouldn't know the difference.”
“Where will we get something that smells as ripe as an Ogre Misha? As I recall they can be quite overwhelming from close range.”
“A few rooms back I thought I smelled somthing that smelled similar do an ogre. Perhaps in there you might be able to find something that will suit our purpose. Few people get close enough to a troll for any kind of close examination. We really just need to cover you up with something like a robe.”
I nodded slowly as I remembered how badly trolls stank. “Misha I can tell you right now that I will not enjoy this. Trolls and ogres smell like they've died, been buried, then later exhumed, and reanimated.”
“Well I am open to a less smelly idea. If you have one.” The fox countered me by saying.
I thought about it for several minutes before I shook my head. “Not really.” I conceded.
“All right. Now let’s get started turning you green.” Misha said before picking a small jar of green dye out of his pack.
“How is this stuff going to work over my existing black dye?”
“Well Oberon it is a special formula of dark green that Pascal made for us. It will show through. Trust me I've been using it for years and I know what it can do.”
“Well my dye is a new formulation that Pascal sold me the day before we left the Keep.” I closed my eyes at the memory of applying it, with the help of the most enchanting woman in the entire Keep.
I felt a tap on my nose. “Keep your mind here kitty.” Misha ordered “We can get into real trouble here if you lose track of where you are and what you are supposed to be doing.”
“Sorry I was just thinking about the wonderful lady that helped me apply this dye. Just the thought of her is... heaven. Right now I wish that I could be with her watching the sun set in her glorious grey eyes.”
Misha nodded in response. “I know, but right now keep your mind on what we are doing here and now. I need you to concentrate; I can't do this all alone.”
I nodded slowly before I finally stated, “She is one of the two reasons I fight now.”
Misha nodded after I said that. “We all have a similar reason Oberon. I include myself in that group.”
I nodded again as the off us backtracked to the room the Misha remembered as having a particularly strong odour. I looked into the room and wrinkled my nose at the stench coming from the room. It smelled like something had died in there. “Misha you think that we can find something in there that can aid us in our disguise?”
“Just find whatever is in that room that is making that god-awful stench and grab it.” Misha said with one of his hands covering his sensitive nose. I nodded grimly, and at great risk to my nose, I stepped into the room in question. In the far corner of the room was a large mound of rags from which the stench emanated. On the very top of the pile was something that resembled a large black cloak. I grabbed the cloak and shook several piles of; the gods only knew what, off of if before I fled the room, though as an afterthought I also grabbed a massive sheathed great-sword from the wall in passing.
As soon as I got back out into the hallway Misha wrinkled his nose and said “Pull the hood over your head. Try not to speak too coherently and grunt a lot.”
I nodded and then looked down at the sheathed sword in my hand and drew the blade from the scabbard expecting to see a blade rusty from years of neglect and ill treatment. Instead I was thunderstruck when the blade that I drew forth from the scabbard glimmered in the faint light of a nearby torch. Even more surprisingly I felt a faint pulse of magical energy in the weapon. “Misha what do you make of this sword?”
“Where did you get that thing?” He asked me as he examined the weapon carefully, being sure not to touch it.”
“In that room that stank like several things died in it.” I answered jerking my thumb over my shoulder to indicate the room that I had recently vacated.
He leaned in closer to look at the weapon and noted several runes that were inscribed on the blade. “That is definitely NOT made by any lutin, and it is too old to be something that was made under Nasoj's rule.” He looked at it again and pondered the weapon before he looked up into my eyes “Could it perhaps be something that an elf made?”
“Misha how should I know?” I stayed away from the lands of the elves during my sojourn in the Midlands. I really wanted nothing to do with people that were inherently magical in nature.”
Misha nodded before I asked him
“Misha do you want this sword, since I already have enough of my own?”
“Me? Oberon that sword is only slightly shorter then I am! I would be lucky if I was able to carry it, never mind use it!”
I shrugged my shoulders and slung the great-sword crossways across my back. As soon as I had the weapons comfortably settled across my back, with some hesitation I wrapped myself in the stinking black robe that I had purloined. “How do I look Misha?”
“Perfect. And what is even better is the fact that you smell TERRIBLE. Now you have got to remember to grunt a lot.”
I nodded before I looked down at Misha's axe pointedly before I said, “Misha now we really must do something to hide your weapons. After all this disguise will not work at all if you appear to be still armed.”
Misha looked at me and then down at his axe. “Can you hide it under your robe?”
“I should be able to. That is if she will tolerate my touch. After all I am not at all like you Misha.”
“She should, though you should try not to get too friendly with her. She can be touchy at times.”
“Well I hope that she can tolerate the presence of the Claw in such close proximity to her.”
“You should try and keep them as far apart as possible.”
“I agree Misha that would be a prudent course of action.” I stated before I put my hand on his shoulder. “If you need her at any point in time don't hesitate to tell me.”
“Oberon if I need here I can call her to me in mere moments.”
“I think I understand.” I told him before I put my hand out and he placed the haft of his black axe in my outstretched hand. In that instant a portal seemed to open up in my mind and I was flooded with strange images, obscure places, and alien feelings.
Misha looked up into my wide staring eyes for several moments. “Oberon...” he started to say before he falls silent. Finally after a minute he looked down at the axe in my right hand and softly said, “Be kind to him My Lady.”
After what seemed like ages the strange presence in my head began to pull back and flow from my consciousness like water from a sieve. When I finally could move again I looked at Misha. “Misha this axe is a very special weapon. In all of my life I have only ever felt one other remotely like her, and I carry that weapon at my side all of the time.”
“I would be surprised if you did my friend. Nothing like her has been made in more than two millennia. You should be honoured that she let you touch her mind.”
I twitched my ears and then slowly bowed to the massive black axe that I still held in my hands. Finally when I felt that I had been sufficiently polite to the weapon in my hands I swiftly slung it in the middle of my back from the two cross-belts that I was wearing behind my back. With that taken care of I closed my eyes and mentally adjusted my entire being before I gave a grunting command to Misha. “Move you feet you animal!”
My friend looked up at me and then drooped his ear, lowered his head, and started moving forward in the most pathetic manner possible.
I began tromping on the rough stone floor as much as I could, though it was not all the pleasant on my foot-paws. As we moved past the guard he looked at me for a second and then waved one of his hands in front of his face and grimaced before pointing his finger down the hall after I had grunted a barely intelligible question.”
The whole while Misha kept himself silent and in character as until we rounded the next corner.
I flung my hood back as soon as we were no longer visible to the guard and tried to clear the stench of the awful garment from my sensitive feline nose.
“That went well.” Misha said as he became himself once more. He paused and looked at me for a moment. “Are you all right?”
“The stench of this robe is....overpowering and it is making me a little nauseous.”
The fox tapped his own nose lightly. “This vulpine nose of mine is just as sensitive as yours my friend. And I have to say that that smell is absolutely terrible. Can you please get rid of that robe now please.”
I pulled the robe off and let it drop to the floor and then came to a realization. “Misha I hate this reeking thing, but what if we need to use that particular disguise again?”
“Do you seriously want to carry that thing around with you?”
“Well we might need it again.”
“In that case try sticking it in a backpack or a bag of some kind. That just might lessen the smell to the point where it is tolerable.”
I nodded my head and with a flip of my black dyed tail ducked into another abandoned room for a few minutes. I returned with the stinking robe now securely wrapped in an oilskin bundle. “How's this?”
The fox sniffed at the bundle for a moment before he nodded his head. “Good I can hardly smell it now.”
I grinned at him slightly. “Much to the relief of both of our noses.”
“Well let’s get a move on. We have a long way to go.”
I nodded in assent before I followed him down the dimly lit hall.
Several hours, and maybe four or five checkpoints later I leaned against a wall and paused for a moment. I shook my head in an attempt to keep the fatigue that I was feeling from overcoming me. I had not slept properly in... a while.
Misha turned and looked at me and then asked, “Are you all right?”
“Yeah I am just a little tired.”
“You want to find a place to rest for a few hours?”
I nodded gratefully at the question. “Misha I may be strong, tough, and very durable, but even I have limits. As far as I can tell right now it seems that I've reached one of those limits. I need to rest soon or I will be no good in anyway if we get into a fight.”
He nodded. “We can find an abandoned room somewhere in this pile of a castle and get a few hours of sleep.”
After a couple minutes of concerted searching I located a huge room with a mouldering four poster bed in one corner and a threadbare carpet on the floor beside. The rest of the furniture in the room was similarly dilapidated, like it hadn't been cared for in years. “How does this look Misha?”
“It looks good Oberon. We'll stretch out on the floor. I would stay away from that mouldering pile of a bed. There's no telling what kind of nasty critters have made their home in it.”
I absently nodded as I pulled off my weapons and my clothes before I shifted to my full form. I did not want to sleep on the floor in my normal form since I would probably get some right awful sore spots on my body. I located a comfortable spot on the floor and curled up with my tail placed over my nose.
“Keep your weapons close,” The fox ordered me. “I'll wake you up in roughly four hours, and then I'll sleep.”
I opened one eye at Misha and then held up one of my huge forepaws and unsheathed all four of my two and a half inch long claws from the toes for him to see.
He seemed to nod in understanding, even when I was in my full form I was formidably armed. For instance my teeth are larger than some people's knives, and my sheer mass is also a powerful weapon. Misha sat down on a rickety chair and softly whispered, “Sleep” in a tone that conveyed the fact that it was an order.
I sighed slowly retracted my claws and placed my head on my outstretched forelegs and closed my eyes.
I felt something shaking my shoulder. I opened my eyes blearily and looked up at Misha's cool green eyes.
“Wakey, wakey Oberon.” The fox said. “My turn to get some sleep.”
I nodded my large head and then stretched out in a manner that only a feline could duplicate before I returned to my normal form and got dressed and armed. “Misha it might be a good idea if you could sleep in your full form just like I did. It is so much more relaxing, given the fact that we have to sleep on this cold hard floor.”
He shook his head. “My natural form is too small to be of any use in a fight.” he answered. “Besides I'm used to sleeping on the floor.” With that said he stretched out on the floor and was asleep in moments.
I folded myself into a chair and drew the Claw from his scabbard and began talking to him in the silence of our minds. His awareness, as strange and unusual as it was, helped to keep me awake for the next four hours. In fact when it came time to wake Misha I felt as though I had just had full night's rest.
I gently shook my friend’s shoulder and he was awake in moments his eyes flying open and his hand groping for his axe Whisper. As soon as he was aware that it was only me shaking his shoulder his ear dropped a little and he said, “That didn’t last very long.”
“Misha you slept for four hours, and probably would have slept for four more if I had let you.”
He sat up and stretched. “I guess that it will have to do for now.”
I stood up and sheathed the Claw before I picked up my kit and slung it on my back. “Which way now sir?”
Misha looked around getting his bearings before he ordered, “Up the hall to the right my friend.”
I looked the indicated direction and nodded before I began to follow the hall.
Several hours later, and numerous encounters with castle guards later we came upon a set of doors that had two humans in elaborate armour guarding them.
“I guess it is time for me to get into the smelly suit again eh Misha?”
He shook his head. “You might as well get rid of that thing now Oberon, it won’t fool these guards.”
“Thank the gods for that. The last time I wore that thing I nearly lost my breakfast, not that it was much of a breakfast anyways.” I dumped the oilcloth sack that contained the stinking thing in a nearby room before I considered the two guards, “Misha how do you propose to get past these guards if we aren’t going to try and trick our way past them?”
“We’re going to have to kill them.”
I absently nodded my head as I drew the great-sword that was slung across my back. “Do you want me to be in front or would you rather be in front?”
“What would prefer?”
I looked at Misha for a moment before I considered the issue myself. “Well Misha you have been in and around these things for longer than I have so you might have a few ideas that I haven’t come up with. But on the other hand this is one of the things that I was trained to deal with in my youth.”
“Then by all means take the lead here Oberon.”
“In that case I would request that you hang back a bit because I am NOT going to pull my slashes one bit.”
Misha nodded and began to string his longbow, the very same longbow that I had given to him several months before. “In that case I will stick to my bow to start.”
“I understand sir.” I replied before I closed my eyes and gathered my energy for the coming attack. When I opened my eyes I was focussed on the job at hand.
With a sudden violent move I sprang out from behind cover and let loose a window rattling roar.
The two guards froze in their metal boots, just like I had intended them to do before they both reached down for the swords sheathed at their hips. By then it was too late and I was already upon them. A powerful slash from the great-sword in my hand-paws and they were both laying on the smooth stone floor in two pieces.
I stood over the four pieces of the two guards and grinned at Misha in a rather feral manner. “That was fun.”
“It was also a little noisy Oberon, but it was fun.” He said. “Now let’s get inside before some curious guard comes to investigate what all that noise was about.”
“Well my noise did work didn’t it?” I asked rhetorically as I forced one of the two doors open with a single healthy shove.
“True!” He said as he nocked an arrow before looking into the room beyond the door for the man that we were here to kill.
Just as I ducked through the door a crimson flash of lightening blasted through the air where I had been and hit an unoffending rock wall to detonate with a harsh bang.
I growled out several curses in my native tongue before I finally elucidated, “MAGIC! It always has to be some damned Mage that I have to kill.”
“Oberon stop yakking and start hacking. The sooner this thing is dead the sooner we can get out of this place.” Misha shouted at me as he shot several arrows in the dim corners of the room. “Come out and die like a man you coward.” He yelled into the room.
The response was immediate and dangerous. A single massive bolt of white hot energy flashed through the air towards me. I was barely able to deflect it into a nearby wall where it blew an unoffending statue into gravel.
“Watch it Misha those blasts that he is hurling around are kind of dangerous.”
“I noticed that Oberon.” Misha shouted as he flung himself on the floor to avoid yet another massive crimson lightning bolt.
“From where I stood I could smell the odour of singed fur from my friend’s back. “Misha did you see where that came from?”
For an answer Misha shot an arrow into a different corner of the room where a tangle of furniture and decorations rested.
“Misha is that where you think he…”
A massive bolt of white hot energy lanced out of the corner towards Misha as I rolled on the stone floor and threw two of my throwing knives into the mess of furniture.
Once again Misha only just managed to dodge the bolt of energy by rolling on the floor. “Won’t this guy just up and die on us already?”
“Misha it is never that easy.” I retorted before making an observation, “Be careful those bolts he’s throwing around could quite easily kill you.”
“I’ve noticed that,” The fox said. He put away his bow and drew his massive black battleaxe. “Let’s kill him fast before he throws more at us.”
“I agree.” I said before I put away the elven great-sword and drew the Claw. “Do you think that any mage in the world can face off against two people wielding runic weapons and survive?”
Misha shook his head shortly before he sniffed the air. “Where is he?”
“I think that he’s in that corner where all of that energy was coming from, but that could’ve been simple misdirection. This room stinks so bad that I can’t figure out where he is with my nose.”
Misha motioned to me to step further away from him as we started to stalk towards the corner.
I held my sword in front of me in case the mage tried to attack again.
Misha shook his head and then stepped forward boldly, “No time for being careful now my friend, we need him dead.”
I nodded and advanced into the corner where all of the raw energy had been coming from. All that I was able to find was a slight splash of blood on the grey stones. A few inches from the blood splatter was one of my two throwing knives, its blade darkened by the blood. “Misha it appears that I marked him.”
“Yup, it seems that way.” The fox answered. “But he’s no longer here. He’s slipped out of the room through some secret door.”
I looked intently at the grey stones of the floor marking where our quarry had gone to. I took a moment to finally spot the clue that I was looking for, it seemed that half a blood drop had vanished under one of the nearby walls. “Misha I think I found the door that our prey used here. Can you find the trigger that opens this door?”
Misha looked where I indicated and hefted his axe a couple of times before he smashed through the false wall as if he was cutting through paper. Beyond the rubble of the door there was a dark passage that seemed to lead into the heart of the castle. “Door open.”
I rolled my eyes at Misha and commented, “She isn’t a subtle weapon that’s for sure.”, before I looked down the dark passage beyond the rubble. After a moment I stepped into it, and over a couple of unusual looking paving stones. “Watch those stones Misha, I have a very good idea of what they are.”
The fox nodded and stepped lightly over the stones that I had so carefully avoided. “So do I. I’ve seen them before.”
I chuckled lightly. “Now this is where my feline eyes come in handy, eh Misha? I asked as I made my slow careful way along the narrow twisting passage. Several times I could actually smell some of the more unpleasant traps.
“Yup, they certainly do, though my own vulpine eyes are also pretty good in the dark.”
I didn’t really respond as I stepped over a stone that I knew activated a trap that would drop the two of us down into the latrines.
Finally I reached a wall that blocked any further progress, obviously the passage had terminated and this was the door that led out of the tunnel. “Misha now it is my turn to do something that is NOT subtle.” I stated before I methodically demolished the offending wall in our way with a few well placed swings of the Claw.
Misha chuckled at that. “Stealth has its place, but so does being decisive.”
“Misha I am good at being decisive. I am the kind of warrior that you sent into a situation when you want some major havoc dealt out.” I stated as I stepped out into the room beyond.
Out of instinct, and a shout in my mind from the Claw I dodged to the right almost as soon as my feet hit the flagstones of the hall. As luck would have it I twisted the right way for the blast of red lightning to glance off of my left chest-plate and blow a nearby chair into kindling.
I watched as Misha dove through the opening that I had carved with my sword, tumbling to one side. “I HATE dealing with mages.”
“You and me both.” I answered as I ducked down and batted a few flickers of flames from my armour.
“You all right?” The fox asked me looking around.
“Yeah. I got a little singed, but I am fine. My armour took most of that blast, and deflected the rest. Now let’s go hunt ourselves a mage…preferably before he cooks us in our armour like ants under a magnifying glass.”
Misha almost casually caught a lightning bolt on the blade of his axe sending it flying harmlessly into the ceiling where it detonated with a loud crack.
I saw Misha with his axe and shook my head before I stood up swinging my sword in an arc that caught another bolt of pure energy, sending it into a stack of iron bound chests. The chests exploded violently sending gold and gemstones of almost incalculable value flying through the air as expensive missiles that rattled off of my armour like rain off of a tile roof.
Misha hefted his axe. “Let’s end this now before he gets some help.” He said before he started moving towards the mage.
“I would agree to that on principal Misha, I HATE mages.” I elucidated as I caught up to Misha, batting the odd lightning bolt out of the air with the Claw as I ran.
In desperation the man jerked a slim little sabre from the scabbard that he wore at his side and held it in front of him in a clumsy guard. I saw that and altered my aim slightly trusting in the Claw to take care of the rest. My trust was well founded as the Claw sheared through the raised sabre without even slowing down before shearing through the dark mage with equal ease.
“That was fast, but messy.” Misha observed.
I nodded with a feral grin on my face. “Now comes the fun part, getting out of this place and back home with our pelts intact.”
“You consider that fun?” He asked before he looked around the room. “Is there anything that you want here? It appears that he has some good treasures in here.”
“Yeah Misha I was thinking that those diamonds, that he was blowing around like so many pebbles on a sandy beach, would fetch a nice price at home. If you would grab a few while I collect some other trophies that would be much appreciated.”
“All right, but we have a long way to go, so don’t weigh yourself down with too much treasure.”
I understand sir, I just wanted something that is small, lightweight, and very valuable, and hence diamonds fit the bill exactly. As for the other stuff, well I need to collect my trophy…for my necklaces.”
“Trophies?” The fox asked me as he scooped up a large number of the glittering clear gems from the floor.
I simply rattled the necklace of lutin thumbs that I was wearing around my neck as I used my dagger to remove the former mage’s right thumb.
“All right. When you’re done with his manicure, check the rest of him for anything important.”
I grimly nodded as I shuffled through the upper half of the bisected mage for any valuable loot before I touched the heavy medallion that he had been wearing around his neck.
I was instantly transported out of my body, and through the castle to a small chamber that housed an absolutely massive diamond on a plinth in the middle of the room. The feeling I got from the giant gemstone was that of a malevolent evil that was almost waiting for me to get too close to it. I recoiled from that evil and pulled back against it, throwing all of my considerable abilities against the webs that it was throwing around me. However, as hard as I fought I could feel that slowly, ever so slowly, I was losing this battle and being drawn towards the stone like a stick in a whirlpool.
An age later I was joined by a presence that I was very familiar with. “Misha?” I thought as I felt his presence beside me. “Go back…Before you too are caught in this evil thing’s trap. We cannot resist this evil, even together.”
“I brought along some help,” The fox’s presence explained. "Whisper, AND a friend of yours.”
I felt myself grin before the powerful presence of my sword joined me in my hand-paw. I used the sword to begin swinging through the webs that the evil thing was throwing out at us.
All four of use bent our hearts and souls in trying to escape this terrible trap, but we still were not having any success, though we were no longer falling inwards towards the diamond that housed the evil presence.
Suddenly we were joined by a fifth presence who’s power staggered me in it scope and intensity.
“Who’s that?” Misha’s presence asked. “Where did you come from?”
“Oh yon good stranger my name is Karrom Cheletoranahk and I once served as your friend Adon Naharel’s Soul Guide.”
“You are his soul guide?” The fox’s spirit exclaimed
“Yes I am. My father, the divine Cheletor, sent me here…to get this most excellent servant of his divine touch out from this place of deep evil…before he falls prey to it like a fly in a spiders web.”
The fox nodded his head slowly, obviously impressed at my soul guide’s arrival. “Let’s get free of this place.”
“My father would want us to do more than simply escape this place of evil, he would desire that we destroy it…completely, lest it trap some other unfortunate soul in its twisted evil.”
“And how do you propose we do that?”
I looked at Misha’s ethereal form and replied, “Misha we will have to concentrate our strength on that thing until it reveals its true nature…then we will have to kill it.” I said slowly “That is normally the way we Kelmar deal with a problem like this.”
“All right any idea what we are facing? Some kind of demon?”
“I would think so my good vulpine . Let me take the lead, I have more power then you. Adon will follow me with his great weapon, and you can take up the rear.” Karrom pronounced.
The ethereal fox nodded. “All right.” He hefted his axe in his paws. “I am always ready for a good fight.”
“This will be a very good fight then.” Karrom replied before he drew what seemed to be a sword of pure light before he began swinging it at the webs of pure darkness that were coming from the diamond.
Just behind me Misha began lashing out with his axe against the dark threads as they tried to swarm us under from behind.
I also swung my weapon gouging great rents in the writhing things with the Claw relishing the feel of the finely worked leather against the palms of my hand-paws. I followed my guide down towards the malevolent beauty of the massive gem in the middle of the room. “Misha why does it always have to be that something so beautiful is so dangerous?”
The fox shrugged behind me as he fought. “That is always the way of things it seems.”
I simply nodded as I fended off another streamer of absolute darkness with my sword.
There was an angry chittering noise from inside of the get before a wave of darkness burst form from the gem. The wave first burst forth before coalescing into the form of a giant spider of absolute darkness. The diamond formed the spider’s bloated rear end while legs of darkness emerged from its black body. It eight malevolent eyes glowed a smokey red colour and it demanded, “Wwhhhooo dddaaarrreeesss!!”
Misha slashed at the spider with his massive axe. “You talk too much!”
“I will eat your souls and take your bodies as my own, like I did with my last host.”
“Why do they always chatter on like that?” The fox asked as he lashed out at the monster. “Why can’t they just fight?”
“I don’t really know Misha.” I said as I slashed at one of the monster’s legs.
“Perhaps it’s a character flaw that they have… Too many people have the gift of the gab,” Misha said as the fight got even more intensive.
“That’s for sure.” I replied as I stabbed at one of the monster’s glossy red eyes in an attempt to get the monsters attention focussed on me and Misha while Karrom edged his way around the monster. He was trying to reach a position so that he could jab his sword of light into the diamond that formed the heart of the thing.
As I did so my vulpine friend lunged forward swinging his axe in a tight deadly figure eight pattern in front of his body.
“You’re good with that axe Misha.” I commented as I jabbed at the spider’s eyes with the Claw once again.
“Thank you, your skills with that sword are also pretty good.”
I gave a feral grin before I jabbed at yet another on the of the spider-creature’s eyes. This time I was rewarded with a chittering scream of agony as the ethereal blade of my sword sank into the crimson orb like a stick into a pool of quicksand.
As the creature screamed Misha slashed at it with the axe, removing one of its legs. “Is it dead now? After all you stuck your sword in its head.”
“Not hardly Misha in order for it to be truly dead that gem…” There was a loud crash and a scream from the spider creature as Karrom brought his sword of light down onto the diamond shattering it like a fine crystal wine goblet. “Now it is dead Misha.”
“Finally!” The fox said as he rested the head of his ethereal axe near his feet. “Now how in Eli’s name are we supposed to get out of this place?”
Karrom turned and looked at him for a moment before he said, “I shall now return your souls to their proper vessels. Take care of each other, and Oberon be careful with yourself my son….” I thought about the last thing that he had said before I opened my eyes and tasted the cold stone floor of the hall where we had killed that spider monster’s pawn.
“Well?” I heard Misha ask from where he was sitting close to me. “How do you feel?”
I groaned. “I feel like I just got hit on the head with a heavy-weight trebuchet stone.”
“You are lucky to be alive after that Oberon.”
I nodded my head and pulled myself to me feet. “I really don’t like magic Misha.” I commented before I saw the broken amulet around the dead mage’s neck. “Poor man, I wonder what he would have been like if he hadn’t been under the domination of that demon thing in the diamond.”
Misha shrugged. “No telling now.”
I chuckled. “Yeah. After all it is kind of hard to put two halves of a man back together… unless you happen to know any necromancers that would be willing to help us.”
“Search the corpse. We might find something useful.”
“Other than that amulet that I located?”
“Yes. He might’ve been carrying something useful like other magical items.”
“Ok, but you search the lower half of him.”
“Yuck,” The fox commented. “He’s got nothing useful in this half of his body. Even the shoes that he has on are cheap, gaudy but really cheap.”
“As far as I can tell from what I am seeing here the only thing that he had of any value was that amulet…then again with this great hall here full of wealth, who needs to walk around wearing ostentatious wealth on his person?”
“True. Now let’s get out of this place. And Oberon beware of what you touch. Stick to the coins alright; no more jewellery.”
I nodded absently as I picked up a few more diamonds before cramming them into an almost overfull pouch on my belt. “Misha I think I’ve had about my fill of loot for…”
BOOM…BOOM…BOOM! There was a loud banging at the heavy door at one end of the hall.
“Uh Misha I think that we are going to have more pressing concerns then how rich we can make ourselves as soon as that door collapses.”
“We appear to have some company, and then want in here in the worst possible way.”
I nodded slowly before I stood up fully and drew the great-sword that was slung across my back. “I guess we have to educate these ones, eh Misha?”
Misha hefted his massive black battle-axe. “I think it is time to do some serious killing.”
I nodded in agreement as the hammering on the door grew stronger and the wood started to crack and splinter. “We may end up fighting back to back, especially if they try to swarm us under.”
The fox nodded. “It wouldn’t be the first time that I’ve fought that way.”
As he said that the door tumbled into the great hall with a crash of broken timbers. Following the pieces of the door were a dozen or more heavily armed, and armoured, men who brandished a large assortment of weapons.
I swung my great-sword in a limbering up move before I took it in both of my hand-paws before giving vent to a brutally loud roar that shook the windows in their frames.
Right beside me Misha let out a loud and eerie yowl! Before rushing at the men his axe swinging in a low deadly swing.
I joined him in his dash and together we hit the guards with a thunderous crash.
I roared again as I swung my great-sword at one man who was armed with a wicked looking axe. I didn’t even alter my swing as my sword swung through his arm, shoulder, and chest sheering a great bloody gash in his body and sending an errant arm flying through the air. Beside me I heard another man scream out in a manner that told me that he had just been dealt a lethal blow.
Over the next few minutes Misha and I didn’t really do a whole lot of yakking, instead we concentrated on the business of killing anyone who got within reach of our weapons. Never the less the guards were steadily forcing us back. No matter how skilled the two of us were we simply couldn’t overcome the sheer number that our enemies possessed.
“Misha we have to find a way out or there won’t be enough left of us to bury when they get done with us.”
“They have to run out of guards some time.”
As Misha said that I heard a truly horrific sound coming from beyond the shattered remains of the hall door. There were growls, screams, and the sounds of bones breaking like wet, rotten twigs. “Misha I hope that isn’t a troll I hear.”
The human guards around the door scattered leaving the two of us defending ourselves against what few guards were left surrounding us.
Suddenly a massive black furred shape leapt through the door and landed close to the last two men standing in front of us. The massive wolf crushed one man when he landed on him and ripped the other’s head off like a cork from a wine bottle.
“Tchukendra!” I shouted in amazement and relief.
Misha laughed behind me as he turned around to face my canine friend. “Nicely done there Tchukendra, you came just in the nick of time.”
The big wolf shook his head slightly and gave a bell toned woof as Misha surveyed the room.
I looked at the piled up corpses that surrounded Misha and I and shook my head. “That was some serious fun, but I think we really should get moving before they can summon more guards. I don’t really feel like fighting the whole damn garrison if I don’t have to.”
“I agree Oberon. I think our best bet is the direct approach and simply race for the gate, before the garrison can close it on us.”
I nodded as I leaned down and cleaned the blade of my great-sword on a shred of cloth before I sheathed it and drew the Claw. I wanted the Claw now because it was a much handier weapon in close quarters. Once my sword was out and ready I jogged towards the broken door with Tchukedra at my side.
Misha quickly joined the two of us and directed us down the hall and directly towards the main gates of the castle
Sometime later the three of us emerged into the early morning light of a courtyard in the castle. I looked around as we trotted across the courtyard I spotted a stable with a simply massive dark grey horse standing, tied up, by the entrance of the stable. “Misha do you think you would be able to ride bareback?”
The fox nodded. “I think I can. If not I can always use my foxtaur form. That is certainly fast.”
I smiled slightly in return as I, vainly, to keep the horse from shying away from me as I tried to mount it. “Misha why is this animal so blasted skittish?”
“Oberon. You are a three hundred pound predatory cat. He thinks you want to eat him... not ride him.”
“Can you get him to calm down enough for me to be able to mount him? We really don't have time to be dancing around like this all day.”
“How? Unless you've not noticed I am also a predator, furthermore I am soaked in blood as well.” The fox countered.
I nodded. “Well in that case,” I gave a massive leap forwards and too the side, and managed to land myself, with a fair bit of pain, squarely on the horses back. I grabbed the bridle reins and quickly took control, showing the animal through my hand and leg gestures that I really meant no harm. Regardless of that I could still feel his heavy muscles shuddering under my thighs and buttocks. “Come on Misha we have to leave this place NOW!”
Misha looked at me, and then at the skittish horse and shook his head. “Oberon he's not going to calm down. If you snarl or growl he is going to bolt.”
I nodded and held out my arm for Misha to grab. “Now let’s move!”
He ignored my hand and walked around the front of the horse and patted its neck before he came around the other side and leapt up onto its back behind me. “Well then let’s go.”
I said nothing and simply put my heals to the horses flanks and he leaped into motion sending great sparks flying from his hooves as he charged out of the stable with Tchkendra at his side.
As we rounded a corner and came within view of the main gates both of us saw the two men who were guarding the gates desperately trying to close the gates and trap us inside the castle
“Run them down!” Misha shouted in my ear. “We have a ton of galloping horseflesh on our side. They either move, or get run over.”
I grinned in a menacing fashion as the two men jumped out of the way at the last moment before we thundered through the gate with Tchukendra close on our heels.
As we left the castle behind I distinctly heard the sound of a large bell being rung inside of the Keep.
“Well Misha now the whole garrison there knows what we did. We'll be dodging lutins from here all the way to the damn Giant's Dike.”
“Oberon we got rid of a major threat to our home so therefore the risks we are taking now are worth it. I just hope that we can get home to enjoy that safety.”
“I hear you there Misha.” I replied as I steered our massive steed off of the road and into the trackless forests on out beyond the road.
Several hours later we reached a very familiar elm tree. In fact it was the very same elm tree where we had cached our extra equipment only a few days before.
I looked back at my companion and said, “Misha can you please get off first and try and hang onto Tchukendra? Because when I get off of this big horse he is gonna bolt for his life.”
The fox jumped down lightly from the horse and wrapped his arms around Tchukedra's neck before stating, “No horse flesh for you today.”
Tchukendra grumbled lightly in his throat before he sat down on his haunches.
Once I was sure that Misha had a firm grip on Tchukedra I flexed my legs and leapt off of the horse, landing lightly a good three feet away from him.
The massive animal reared once and then bolted for the trees like he'd just been stung in the hindquarters by a wasp.
“Thank you Misha. I really didn't want to hurt that horse after he gave us such an invaluable service.”
The fox nodded. “Agreed. Besides that big horse will leave a track that even the dumbest lutin will be able to follow. The people from that castle back there will follow him for days instead of trying to follow our trail. That will give us some time to escape this region. Perhaps we will be able to reach the Giant's Dike without too much trouble.”
“Misha that is a little much to hope for at this point in the game. For now I just hope that they don't get to close to us when we finally have to stop to get some rest. In any case let’s just collect our things and get out of here.”
Misha simply nodded and began digging up the cache. The first thing that came to light was the canvas covering our things.
When we have collected our things, and I had arranged my weapons and equipment to suit my tastes we struck out in the direction of home.
Chapter IV
Over the next week we dodged random lutin patrols, though we soon found out that some of these patrols were not really all that random.
We were hiding out in a small patch of thorn bushes when small group of lutins passed our hiding spot. A lutin with wildly ornamental clothing harshly growled. “They be in this area.”
Another lutin looked at the first lutins and asked, “Who they?”
“They Longs who killed Nasoj favourite general. Nasoj want their head on platter.”
“Why we hunt Longs. They KILL lutins who hunt them. They hunt us normally.”
“You no need to ask why we hunt Longs. You only need to listen and obey me, or you want me to stick sword in you and see how far your entrails extend.”
The second lutin shook his head and stepped away from the lutin with the facy clothing.
With much care I silently signed to Misha. “This sounds like trouble.”
Misha nodded slowly and carefully. “I've seen this on more than one occasion, but right now is not the time to discuss it.”
“I agree sir. The less we say now the safer we will be.”
Both of us stayed quiet and proceeded to wait until our lutin friends got tired of searching the area.
The next week and a half was pretty similar in pattern since we were either dodging lutins, ambushing small groups of them out of sight of their comrades, or heading south towards home.
We were roughly a day away from the Keep, or five hours outside of the Glen when we heard shouting ahead of us, and then a piercingly loud scream that drove into my tired head like a spike of steel fresh from the forge.
“Misha that sounds like we got lutins ahead.”
“Yeah and it also sounds like there are some normal people up there as well.”
“I guess that we should go do the noble thing and save those people from the lutins.”
“You guessed right Oberon.”
I drew the claw from its scabbard and asked, “You want to lead?”
“I would be glad to Oberon.” He replied before he pulled out Whisper and charged into the bushes in front of us with a yowling war-cry.
I followed close behind him with my own roaring cry echoing off of nearby hills.”
The lutins were taken...completely by surprise as they had been focused on the enemy in front of them and had ignored the possiblity of an enemy appearing behind them.
It was short bloody work to dispatch most of the lutins. A few of the lutins took one look at us and fled, as fast as their stinking green feet could carry them. I didn't even think as I drew my bow, pulled out an arrow, and nocked it before I smoothly fired at the fleeing lutins.
“Nice shot Oberon.”
“Thanks Misha.” I replied as I watched my arrow arch into the air before plunging down on the fleeing figures pinning them to a tree like a bug on a needle. “That was a nice fight.”
“Now Oberon why don't we go and help those people out?”
“Sounds like a plan to me.”
With that said we both stepped out of the concealing trees into which the other people were still located hiding behind various small carts and hand drawn wagons.
After a moment a young man stepped out from behind one of the carts, with a drawn bow in his hands. “You come one step closer to me demons of Metamor and I will place this arrow right between your eyes.”
From the way that the weapon was trembling in his grip I knew that he really wouldn't be able to do as he said, but I could also see that he did fully intend on shooting us if we got any closer to him.
I slowly pushed back my hood to reveal my face the young man, I guessed that he wasn't much older than fourteen or fifteen.
He flinched slightly at the appearance of my face and his eyes narrowed.
Misha what are we going to do about his situation here?
“Well,” He temporized for a moment. “We can't really kill him, because after all he is only a boy, but he looks bound and determined to put that arrow through one of us at the end of the day.”
The boy looked from Misha to me and then back before, in a warbling cracking voice he said, “You demons will not come any closer to me...or my people!”
“Demon?” Misha said softly. “We're not demons, no matter what you think. Do you honestly think that you can stop both of us with just that bow boy?”
He looked at the two of us and then glanced back behind him before he finally replied, “I can shoot at least one of you before you have a chance to reach me. And, yes you are demons according the honourable priests of Ba'al.”
“Boy your are the one who's been misguided here. The priests of Ba'al are the ones who have been consorting with demons. We simply are normal people who've been changed into animals by powerful magic.”
The boy shook his head fiercely. “That kind of magic cursed by the Lord Ba'al himself.”
He was gathering himself up to say something when a small voice called out. “Where are you Sal? I can't...” The voice, I guessed it belonged to a young human female in the first decade of her life faded out and was followed by a series of small, wet, hacking coughs.
The boy turned at the sound and dropped his bow and ran for the edge of the clearing.
Misha ran after the boy calling out. “I can help you boy, and her as well.”
I didn't follow, instead I wandered around the edge of the clearing, collecting the thumbs of my kills and checking up on the other people who were part of the little group that the pathetic group of refugees. By one of the carts I found a stretcher with the figure of a grown man laid out on it.
I did a quick inspection of the man and found a large angry looking bruise on his forehead. From the appearance of the wound I could tell that it was far beyond my limited skills. I was trained to kill people, not put them back together. “Misha I found another casualty over here. He has a large bruise on his forehead. I suspect that he was hit with a sling stone.”
A short time later Misha appeared at me side, with the boy who had been aiming an arrow at us only a short time before, in tow.
“Misha this is way beyond my own meagre medical abilities. I was never really trained to put people back together, instead my training leaning in the other direction... taking them apart.”
Misha wiggled his ear at me as he leaned down and examined the head of the man on the stretcher. “This is a bad one. It looks like whatever hit him did so with a lot of force behind it.”
I slowly nodded and watched as he wound a bandage, soaked with healing salve, around the man's head. “We've got to get these people to a healer... fast.”
The boy nodded slowly and laid a hand on the injured man's arm and said, “It'll be okay Damion, we have some help now.” Once he said that he stood up again the then went out to one of the other carts and raised his boyish voice. “Kom Her Alle!”
I turned to Misha and asked, “You know that language?”
“Nope, but I do know that it is the language of those who live in the Northwestern Giantdowns. They are a tough people who've served as Nasoj's elites for decades.”
As Misha told me that information the refugees in the little convoy came out into the clearing and the boy explained to them, in his own language, what Misha had told him earlier about our home.
An older man stepped forward and roughly shouted, “Ich werde zu diesem verfluchten Platz nicht gehen und eine Tiermissbildung werden.”
For the next three minutes I listened, with only mild interest, as Misha and the boy tried to get the group of refugees to leave this place and head for the Glen. Finally they came to an agreement and we quickly herded the people into a rough collum before we all hit the road towards Glen Avery...again.
The sky was getting dark by the time we came to a worn wall in the middle of a forest clearing. I grinned as the boy asked Misha a question and my commander's response. Right now the only thing I really had any desire for was a soft warm bed, where I could sleep without any fear of being woken up in the middle of the night.
A short time later my desire was fulfilled, though first we both had to brief both Angus and Sir Salius on the current situation. Misha also had to get the two badly wounded refugees to the local healer for care. Once all of that was done I headed for one of the rooms in the in with a smile on my face. I could at last give into an the fatigue that was dragging at my bones like a stone from the very foundations of Metamor Keep itself and get some sleep.