"Oh look at all the toys!" Sofie exclaimed, pointing. Emma jumped up and down but couldn't see where her sister pointed. Barrick leaned over and hefted the five year old on his shoulder.
Kendrick turned and had to jump to see past the tables of trinkets and souvenirs from the southern lands. In the next street, a southern merchant had erected a huge pavilion filled with little wooden toys. "I don't think we can buy anything," he pointed out. "We need to save our money for dinner."
"But Kendrick!" Sofie begged. "Can't we look?"
"Yeah, I wanna look at the toys," Emma whined.
"Emma, remember your diction," Brigitt reminded.
The little girl nodded, scuffed her shoe, and with lowered eyes repeated herself. "I want to look at the toys, Kendrick."
Kendrick nodded his earless head and did his best to smile. "Okay, we can go look at the toys. But if you start begging me to buy anything, we'll leave."
Barrick rolled his eyes and patted his brother gently on the shoulder. "Good luck sticking to that one."
The pavilion was stretched canvas held up by several poles and illuminated with witchlights. Tables ran in aisles each stacked with a profusion of wooden toys, and stuffed dolls. The wooden toys consisted of painted soldiers, many of them done as animals to look like Keepers, little wagons, hoops, mock swords, and even a few game boards with finely sculpted pieces. Several other Keepers were browsing the pavilion, including a mischief of familiar rats.
As soon as they arrived, Emma and Sofie darted over to the animal dolls and began picking them up and playing with them a little before putting them back exactly where they found them. Brigitt sighed, and followed after them, "I'll keep them from breaking anything," he said, leaving Barrick and Kendrick by the wagons and swords.
Barrick picked up one of the fake swords and it nearly disappeared in his massive paw. "I remember we used to play soldier when we were little."
"Back in Ellcaran," Kendrick replied. He hefted one as well, faintly smiling. "Rodrick tried to teach us both." His long claws made wielding the sword awkward, and after a few experimental swings, he set it back on the table. "I don't think that's going to be my weapon."
Barrick laughed, a deep rumbling sound that resounded in his belly. "Mine either. You should see the sword the Castellan makes me use. It's bigger than you are."
"Most things are bigger than I am. Well, except them." He gestured to the rats, one of whom eyed him meaningfully. There were five rats walking the store, one of whom was dressed in a knightly tabard, while the other four were in more common clothes. The knight he knew to be Sir Saulius — and the tabard had been made with Urseil cloth! He knew the other four as well, even if they didn't buy from his father.
"Let's go see what they're up to," Kendrick suggested, and started walking around the tables. The white furred Elliot turned at his approach and grinned, showing off his huge incisors. A thoroughly gnawed chewstick stuck out of his belt loop.
"Kendrick! Your father let you run around today did he?"
"I minded the store so well yesterday, Father has entrusted me with showing my siblings around the festival. What are you five doing here?"
Elliot gestured at the tables. "Buying toys! You know Charles, right?" Kendrick nodded. The former Head of the Writer's Guild had always been a welcome customer at his father's shop. "Well, he was sent south on some dangerous mission, leaving his wife and five children all alone in Glen Avery. We're buying some toys for the little ones. Kind of hoping that we'll have the time to go visit her soon and spend a week up there with her."
"That's very nice of you," Barrick rumbled from behind Kendrick. "I thought he was only married this year. How does he have five kids already?"
Sir Saulius turned and joined Elliot while the other three rats continued selecting toys. Saulius had several figurines in his paws, a few of them rats, "The children of my squire and Lady Kimberly wert born as rats, and like rats, born as a litter. 'Twas a wonderful night to be there with good Charles while his children wert born." The knight stood a little taller and Elliot began to snicker. "'Twill be good for them to see that 'tis no bad thing to be a rat. 'Tis an honour instead!"
Kendrick chuckled a bit, a quirky smile creasing his triangular head. "Right, right. Lots of very nice toys here. I hope whoever brought all of this makes enough to risk returning."
Elliot rubbed his paws together. He alone of the five rats did not have any toys in his arms. Instead, the money pouch hung from his hip. "I hope that the merchant decides to stay. I hate giving money to foreigners, but it's for Charles and Lady Kimberly. I can bend my principles for them."
Barrick tapped Kendrick on the shoulder. "It looks like Emma is trying to race off in a wagon. Excuse me."
Kendrick turned and watched Sofie pushing a wagon, inside of which sat Emma squealing in delight. Brigitt ran after them, and now so did Barrick. A man dressed in plain clothes with greying beard and hair shouted after them — the merchant, Kendrick guessed.
"Erick!" Julian called, "Tell me what you think of this one!"
Sir Saulius inclined his head to Kendrick, "Give my regards to thy father, good Kendrick." The knight turned around, long tail swishing back and forth, and walked over to where Julian held up a toy figurine of a ballista.
Elliot nodded and stepped a bit closer to Kendrick, reached into his money pouch, and pulled out a few coins. "Here, that should be enough for the wagon. Bring the change with you later."
"Later?" Kendrick asked, heart trembling because he knew what that meant.
"Yes. There's a wine merchant from Braasem who is selling very cheap wine for very exorbitant prices two streets over. We certainly don't need his business here at Metamor. He's staying at the Shoeshine Inn. Ten suns will be enough."
Kendrick frowned and nodded. "Anywhere special?"
"The usual place." Elliot grinned and patted him on the shoulder. "Have fun at the Festival!"
Kendrick nodded and sauntered over to the distraught merchant. He waved the money in the man's face for several seconds before catching his attention. "I think we'll be buying the wagon."
"Hiya, cutie!"
Drift spun, grabbed Alexis mid-tackle, and whirled round to dissipate her momentum. "Hey, gorgeous," he replied, kissing her warmly.
"Aww… I miss the dinner plate eyes," Alexis pouted as she wrapped him in her wings, under his arms. She snuggled him close, backing him against the cart full of tin cups the samoyed had been pushing, and tucked her head under his chin with a wistful sigh. "Oh, well." She grinned and tweaked his rump. "I guess I'll just have to suffer in fluffy luxury."
Blushing vividly, and with an embarrassed (but not unappreciative) smile, Drift said, "Um, Alex, people are watching." His fingers twitched on her shoulders, as if not quite sure whether to wrap her close or nudge her back.
Alexis moved her leg from between his and stepped back just enough to get Drift's ears to stop flitting around. "Oops," she replied with an impish smirk, unabashed.
Drift's tail swished, and he leaned down to kiss her, touching her nose with the tip of his tongue. "Thank you. You know how I feel."
Heaving a long sigh of resignation, Alexis ruffled her clawtips through Drift's thick neckfur. "Yes, yes, I know. I still say you're being silly." Drift kissed her again, and she smiled. "Okay, handsome, bribe accepted. And you can't blame a girl for trying, with such an obvious temptation." She toyed with his fur a bit more before asking, "Have you given any thought to my offer?"
"Yes, I have. Thank you, but the answer's still no. Finding my father's killer is my duty, not yours. If you come across any information, tell me, but I don't want you hunting him yourself."
Alexis shook her head with a resigned sigh. "You proud, stubborn man. What am I going to do with you?" She shook her head again and let him go. "You be careful at the talent show tonight. You promised me a dance at Misha's party, and you can't do that if you wind up in the infirmary again."
Drift nuzzled her nose and smiled. "Don't worry, love. I've already taken care of it: I picked up a potion from Pascal yesterday, just for that purpose. You have fun shopping, and I'll see you tonight." He watched her walk until she was out of sight, a lopsided, dreamy grin on his face, before self-consciously adjusting his rumpled tunic and pushing the cart down the street. As he passed a rain barrel, he fished a cup out of the cart and dipped out a cold cupful, dumping it on his head. "Whew." He hung the cup off the side of the cart to dry, shook the water off, and then broke into a smile as he patted his chest pocket, making sure of the precious item inside. "Yes. Tonight will be perfect."
Xavier looked up from a thin accounting ledger when Drift approached. Noting the water dripping from the samoyed's head fur, he nudged Wolfram… who promptly started laughing. "Alexis again?" the black leopard asked over the ram's laughter.
"Yeah." Drift stowed the cart of cups in the back of the stall, and then flumped down in a chair. "Sweet Yahshua. I'm never going to make it to the wedding."
The ram snickered. "I told you. You should wear that ring-"
"No, Wolfram."
"It'd keep you nice and cool down-"
"No, Wolfram."
"Leave him be, Wolfram," Xavier said, rolling his eyes at the ram's ribald humor and returning his attention to the ledger. "It is his choice, and his standards."
"Just ask her, Drift," Wolfram advised, dropping the teasing. "Save yourself the torture."
"That's the plan," the samoyed said with a smile.
"When?"
Drift's smile widened. "Tonight."
Both black-furred Keepers looked up from their work, startled. Xavier's pen dropped unnoticed onto the ledger and left a shapeless blot of ink. The leopard finally replied after a long moment. "You're kidding."
Drift leaned back in his chair, grinning wider still, arms crossing behind his head. "Tonight. On stage, after my act. I already have the ring in my pocket."
Wolfram laughed his approval. "It's about time! Now, don't just sit there, show us the ring!"
With a shake of his head, Drift replied, "No. You'll see it when everybody
else does."
Xavier and Wolfram shared a dubious glance before advancing in unison on their
friend. Ignoring the dog-man's protests, Wolfram caught Drift in a headlock
with the swiftness of long practice, while Xavier rifled through the samoyed's
pockets. "Ah, here we-" The leopard cut off with a sharp whistle of
admiration through loosely closed teeth and held the ring up for the ram to
see. "Look at this, Wolfram," he said, impressed.
"Wow, Xav. Now I know where all the money from that canteen order went. Any bets on whether she'll still be able to fly with those rocks weighing her down?"
"No takers here," the leopard replied, turning the silver ring to see the morning light sparkle in the deep blue sapphire embedded in it. His eyes widened as, within the gem, a six-pointed star gleamed in the sunlight. Even the two small diamonds flanking that gem did not diminish its beauty. "How did you get that star to appear in it, Drift? I've never seen the like."
"Let me go and give me back my ring, or they'll never find the bodies!" Drift threatened from under Wolfram's arm, futilely flailing his arms in a struggle to get loose. "I know where you both sleep!" He coughed and pulled on Wolfram's wrist, trying to pry the arm from around his neck. "And for mercy's sake, Wolfram, would it kill you to bathe every once in a while? What were you doing, wrestling a-"
"Excuse me?" asked a voice from the booth's window.
Kendrick was fortunate that in addition to the wine merchant from Braasem, there were several booths of games suitable for Emma and Sofie to play two streets from the toy seller. On the way over, Emma rode in the wagon they'd bought, except when she wanted to pull it along. She kept Kendrick's ridiculous charcoal portrait inside, though she was very careful not to smudge it when she rode.
When they reached the street with the wine merchant, Kendrick immediately turned his sisters towards the two booths opposite. The first was run by an equine Keeper he didn't recognize, and featured wooden rings that were to be tossed over narrow mugs and tankards. The object was to have the ring land around one of the mugs. He charged only a single copper to play, but would pay a silver to anyone who could make a ring.
The second booth was run by a woman who was probably a Keeper too judging by her buxom appearance. She invited them to attempt to toss coins onto tiny glass platters. She had a collection of toys arrayed around the table, and anyone who could do it was given one of their choice.
Kendrick gave the girls ten coppers each, and wished them luck. He would be
very surprised if either of them won anything. He remembered playing such games
in Ellcaran and almost never winning anything. Those Keepers were going to win
far more than they lost, but so long as the money stayed in the Valley, like
Elliot the rat, he didn't mind.
While Barrick and Brigitt cheered his sisters on, Kendrick cast his studious
gaze upon the wine merchant. How he wished his eyesight was better, as he had
to squint the whole time to make out any details.
The merchant was an older man with long grey beard, and he dressed after the fashion of a southerner. His voice was deep and melodious, and he invited all to sample his choicest of wines. Kendrick listened for a bit, noting the wine he offered as a sample, and the wines he actually sold. He was not surprised to learn that he'd sold out of his sample wine. Most likely, it was the only decent wine in his collection, and probably not even his.
Kendrick patted Barrick on the arm and said, "I'm going to try some of that merchant's wine. I can't get the scent out of my nose."
Barrick nodded. "I'll keep an eye on the girls."
Kendrick waddled over on his short legs, long tail curling behind him. The
merchant didn't notice him at first, too busy scamming a dog out of his money.
The hound handed over a full sun for a pair of bottles. Kendrick tapped his
claws together, watching the merchant slip the money beneath his robes. His
money pouch jangled with the coins.
Kendrick glanced quickly at the booth. Apart from the row of wine casks, he
didn't see much else there. No sign of a money chest. With his toe claws, he
prodded underneath the cloth railing at the front of the booth. He walked around,
feeling dirt and the slats holding the stand up, and then he found it. He traced
the bottom of one foot over the money chest, feeling the iron frame and wooden
side walls. It was a type commonly used throughout the Midlands.
"Is there something I can do for you, good sir?" the merchant asked, noticing him for the first time. "Would you care for a bottle of the finest wine of Braasem? Not a one of these is less than five years old, fermented from the finest peaches and pears that Braasem has to offer. A delicacy that will be soon gracing the table of your very own Duke Thomas Hassan I wager!"
Kendrick seriously doubted that, and even considered smirking. But he didn't
know if this charlatan had been to Metamor before. It was easy to fool newcomers,
but after a few days, even the foreign merchants started to learn what his facial
expressions meant.
Instead, he did his best to sound impressed. "Truly, your wine is of such
quality? I thought wines were made only with grapes."
The merchant smiled that inviting grin he'd seen a hundred times on others of his ilk. Though everything about the man looked refined and expensive, Kendrick could see the inferior weave in his clothes, and even noted a few loose threads hidden in the folds. Here was a man robbing foolish Keepers blind. He was surprised that Elliot had only asked for ten suns.
As the merchant proceeded to explain to Kendrick things he already knew about wine, and some things he knew were simply fanciful, Kendrick nodded eagerly, trying his best to look impressed. After a minute of bravado, it was time to hook his fish. "Really?" Kendrick said. "Well, I don't know. Do you think I could taste some first?"
"Of course. I have a bottle open already. Let me pour you a little sip that you might savor its refined palette."
The bottle was half-empty, but its shade was slightly darker than the rest of the wines. He suspected it was at least ten years older than anything else this merchant sold. The merchant poured a mouthful into a small cup, and then handed the cup to Kendrick. Taking it carefully in his paws, he lifted it to his snout and slurped it with his tongue. The merchant didn't even flinch.
The wine had a heady aroma of peaches, but it was only after letting it settle in his throat did he notice the blend of plum and pear mixed in. It burned all the way down, and he was left with the flavor of too ripe peaches as an aftertaste. Smooth, with only a hint of bitterness, Kendrick judged it to be an excellent wine. At least this charlatan knew what a good wine was, he had to give him that.
Kendrick nodded and passed it back. "That was most excellent. Anyone tasting that will surely want more. Tell me, do you have any of that flavor available?"
The merchant gestured at the rest of his wares. "I have many more flavors available, each as exquisite as what you just sampled. Of this, I fear it is my last, but I will return next year with more."
He rubbed his claws together and then shook his head, the plate-like scales on his back rasping against his shirt. "I really want that flavor. Surely you have more of that somewhere."
"Sadly, I fear not. But this brand here has a similar blend of peach and pear. I'm sure you will find it even more to your taste."
"Nae, thank you though. I must decline. I want what you offered me to drink."
The merchant's lips pulled down in a frown. "But this is very close."
"I'd need to taste it to be sure."
"You cannot expect me to open any bottle you wish to taste! I can only open them if you pay."
Kendrick knew that was reasonable, but if this were an honest merchant, he wouldn't offer a sample wine he didn't intend to sell. So he smiled and stepped back. "Thank you, good sir, but I must decline. Eli go with you."
The merchant continued to scowl, but as soon as Kendrick had turned around, the man resumed trying to lure others more foolish than he.
When he came back to his family, he found Sofie jumping up and down. The woman handed her a plush bear with buttons for eyes. She hugged it and showed it first to Barrick, and then to Kendrick. "I did it! I did it! Look what I won!"
"I want to win too!" Emma complained, her lips turned down in a pout.
Kendrick laughed and patted her on the shoulder. "There are plenty of other contests left. Let's go see what we can find, shall we? Here, climb in the wagon and I'll push you along." That cheered her up.
Together, they continued down the street, Sofie hugging her bear, Emma hugging her knees and shouting, "Faster! Faster, Kendrick!" Behind them, Barrick and Brigitt laughed.
"Hey, be on our team, uh, excuse me, um, would you like to- Um, hello? Who would like to… Ugh…" Okay, Michael wasn't too good at this. Utilizing the combination of red and black fur along with his yellow skin had seemed like a good way to draw attention to his cause yet it didn't suffice. If only Lindsey were here to give him a boost.
A whitish furry hand clasped the large rodent on the shoulder and guided him back, "Here let me try." Stealth moved forward and tried to make himself look big. "…Hey! Be on our team! Hey you! Be on our team!" He boldly called out.
He was still invisible to the crowd; perhaps his natural camouflage was doing its job. "Come on! Be on our team!"
"No." A festival goer answered without breaking their stride. Suddenly
the cheetah lit up in delight and saw another of his kind, the ONLY other of
his kind that he knew of.
"Edmund!" He said in excitement.
"Greetings, Stealth!" The Paladin knight walked up to him with a reddish wolf in tow. "Stealth, you know Bridgette." He indicated to the maned wolf.
"Ha ll o, Ste-alth," she said in strained terms and smiled.
"It is nice to see you again, milady." He bowed. "You look lovely in that dress."
"Thannk you," Bridgette said. The fox-like wolf was dressed in a nice dress of blue cloth, trimmed with white lace.
The cheetah smiled and turned to his kin. "Edmund, will you be on our team?"
Stealth wasn't actually in charge of his side, much less the game. It was poorly arranged, and people who wanted to play after learning of the match were left to attempt drafting friends and passers by for their needed numbers.
"No, I cannot play." The knight shook his head.
Stealth just stared at the cheetah in dejection.
"I am sorry Stealth, but my order forbids playing games such as these," Edmund explained sympathetically.
"I understand," Stealth answered impassively. "Will you be watching?"
Both the feline and canine nodded. "Of course! We will be sitting in the stands cheering you on!"
Stealth nodded with a small smile. "Good, have fun… and wish me luck."
Edmund patted his friend firmly on the shoulder. "Good luck!"
"Go oout there… aaand w, w-in Ste-alth!" Bridgette added.
"Thank you. Have fun you two," the cat replied with a gracious smile, and watched them leave with a soft sigh.
Meanwhile, a large and burly assortment of morphs gathered nearby. Even the TG's and AR's among them looked big. They were busy tearing up red cloths into smaller strips to tie around their arms. A huge lioness and a bull were helping each other tie up their armbands, while in front of them a broad panda adjusted his bandana. Further off, a group of AR's stood around draped in red; they looked like a gang. Behind the crowd, a giraffe gracefully rose to his full height.
It frustrated the cheetah to no end; how many people have willingly been taken by the Curse, yet wouldn't join their team!
Stealth turned around to inspect the blue team. A familiar gazelle and TG
were of course present. Then there were some tiny looking AR's and respectably
sized TG's of both gender, a chubby looking tabby and some rodents- one of whom
had plaid-patterned fur and a huge, flat yellow tail. The rest were mostly rats.
They were so small…
"He he he! I told you to join us!" came a taunt from someone on the
other team. Who called out and who was it directed at?
"Lance! Your side is soft! Just you wait and see!" Michael shouted back.
"Oh no! Are your little friends gonna throw their chew sticks at us?" the Moose retorted.
The beaver slammed his tail on the ground. "We're gonna stomp you!"
Stealth ran a hand through the fur on his head and turned away from the little battle of woodcutters.
"Who wants to be on our team?!" His call was answered only by a faint jingling in the festival's clamor. The cat's head moved about as one would expect to see from a curious feline.
"Anyone?" He could hear no offers from takers, just the same sounds and that odd jingling getting louder. Frustration gave way to despair and then back to frustration. 'And where the hell is that jingling coming from?' he thought.
"Right here! Surely you heard me coming!" a voice behind him answered.
The cat turned to his right and saw a huge brown, lop-eared bunny fully accessorized with bells. 'Whoa, bunny! Where'd he come from?' Stealth thought; something about a giant bunny sneaking up from behind unsettled him.
Padraic was looking very smart in his doublet. It suited the festival, but
his clothes and other 'accessories' looked entirely inappropriate for the game.
The rabbit was accompanied by a red raccoon or a panda or something and…
Now we're talking, a bear!
"My fellow Longs and I would like to join your team," the rabbit stated.
He was very proud to say it: 'Longs'.
"…oh! Um, yeah, great!" 'Whoa, nice.' The cat had a sudden morale boost.
The rabbit smiled and continued. "I am Padraic, this is Kershaw," he motioned to the red whatsit, "and this is Meredith." He indicated to the bear on his left.
"Well, it's nice to meet you, and it's great to have you here!" The cheetah indicated his own friends, "this is Alex and that guy over there is Fell." Stealth pointed to the woman and gazelle in turn. "Oh, and this here is Michael of the timber crews."
Everyone nearby quickly shook hands, or paws, except for the bear and the beaver who clasped paws yet didn't seem to let go for some reason; they were just staring at each other with some sort of determination until the beaver relented and clasped his yellow paw.
The cheetah soon blushed under his fur as curiosity gave way to politeness. "Say, um, Kershaw, you're gonna hate me for asking this, but what are you?" Stealth asked timidly, though he might as well get this out of the way now.
"Huh? Oh, I am a red panda. You haven't heard of them?" the Long explained, showing no hint of annoyance.
"Oh, um, oh yeah, I remember now, I just wasn't sure." Stealth looked at the ground.
The red panda changed the subject. "So what is going on here? How do you play this game?" Though he had some idea, it was still somewhat vague.
The cheetah perked up. "It's very straightforward; you just take the ball and get it to the other side of the field to score a point."
"Heh, yeah 'just'…" Fell added in mocking tones, and crossed his arms.
"Yeah, 'just' is right; get the ball to me and I'm gone!" Stealth retorted defensively to the gazelle's implication of the game being more difficult than the cheetah had made it seem.
"And if the other team gets it?" Padraic asked.
"Then you just tackle them; give them a bear hug and throw them to the ground. If they drop the ball, then pick it up and run. If you get in trouble, throw it to someone else," Stealth instructed.
"Is that dangerous?" Padraic asked again. Though he was sure of himself, the rabbit still wondered at the level of injury one would expect. Not as much as the sword jousting matches at least.
"With those bells it is. You'll have to take them off. Also, before we begin play, everyone who has claws will need to wrap them in cloth so they don't injure anyone." Stealth instructed again.
"Bleh! Blue paws!" the beaver complained in jest.
"Very well." Padraic said, and began to remove the bells from his ears. "Where should I put them?"
"Just over there. The Castellan is in charge of this match and will have your possessions stored till the end of the game." Stealth pointed to DeMule, who stood on the sidelines near the middle of the field. "And before you ask, I'm pretty sure the bells will be safe."
"Good, I hope they will be." He removed all the round metallic objects, then the jewels he was wearing and placed them in his coin pouch, removing it too. "Here, hold this please," the bunny instructed, and threw the coin pouch the small distance to the cheetah.
The cheetah weighed the pouch in his hands and thought about its contents; while it had been open he had seen that many of the coins were suns and garrets rather than shillings and moons. And then there were those jewels. He hoped nothing would happen to them and wished it had been that easy to convince others to part with their belongings; Saulius had insisted on wearing armor. In the end it took his friends, the other rats, to convince him not to.
Stealth looked up again and saw Padraic had removed his doublet as well as the shirt underneath and had them folded. The cheetah's eyes widened; Padraic was built! The beaver probably wouldn't have been happy to know that now he had a clear rival to his muscular status.
After handing back the pouch, directly to the rabbit's paw lest a thief snatch it, Meredith stepped forward. "Here, let me take that," he offered, and took them, along with his and Kershaw's possessions. He had no trouble holding the pile as he lumbered over to the Castellan.
The crowd roared while the little mouse-morph made his way onto the field. In his paws he held an interesting looking object. If a ball could have all its round edges cleaved off, or a gambler's dice given many, many more sides, this was it. And each side was decorated with magical runes…
The two teams, each made up of around thirty people, did stretching exercises
in preparation. Each team member had either an armband or a bandana with their
team's color, red or blue. Of course, that meant nothing to the many color blind
Metamorians…
"Now remember, when you get the ball, just run! Run as fast as you bloody
well can!" the cheetah told the nearby gazelle and girl. Like him, they
had blue arm bands. Rugger the dragon morph was neither with them nor on the
other team nor playing in any of the other Festival games due to his wings;
like a bad back they continue to cause him trouble. They never fully healed.
"You don't need to tell us." Fell pointed out, amused by the big cat. The gazelle, unlike his team mates, wasn't all that ambitious; he was just there to have fun.
"Just so long as you remember and don't waste time showing off," Stealth reminded. He watched intently as the small rodent worked on the spell to activate the multisided die-like ball.
"I think we'll just leave the running to you and work on keeping the hordes off your back," Alex offered.
"Whatever works for you." 'Come on mouse guy, what's the hold up?' he thought as a deer morph obstructed his view.
The deer's bandanna wrapped around his head just under the antlers. Those too were wrapped up, like fragile heirlooms wrapped for storage. "Okay! Listen up!" he shouted. "We don't have much time for this so pay attention. We'll get a bunch of big guys under the ball and one of them will throw up a little guy to get the ball. The little guy will throw the ball as close to the goal as possible, then a not so big and not so little guy will take it and run like hell. And remember, the ball actually has to make contact with the ground while you're still holding it, you got that?" The deer-man must have been one of the few who seemed to have a proper grasp of the rules and strategies for the game.
There were a few mumbles of acknowledgment from the team members but after the deer's cold hard glare he managed to get a roar out of them.
It was finally time; the ball levitated just over five meters in the air. Somehow they had to get it down, and then get it to the other end of the field past lots of huge psyched up Keepers.
"Alright!" shouted Jack DeMule, "In this, the first game of an age old tradition we've revived, we have here assembled the 'Red… Rhinos'!" The crowd roared. "Versus the group who will be known as the 'Blue Bagels'!" The crowd roared again, this time with laughter.
The cheetah slapped his palm to his face. "Brenner, you dumb arse, why the hell did you tell them that!? We're supposed to be the 'Blue Bear's!'"
The tabby cat shrunk, feeling a thousand eye's on him. "I- I- But I didn't mean that! I was talking about something else!"
"Hey!" an anonymous voice shouted out.
Brenner's ears went flat as he cowered.
"Hey! You stupid mule!" the voice continued.
The tabby opened his eyes and looked over to the crowd, feeling surprise and
relief.
"They're the Bears! The 'Blue Bears!!!" a crippled dragon shouted
from the stands over the noise. Brenner let out a sigh of relief.
DeMule glared at the draconian lout, yet conceded. "So be it, the Bagels have been transformed into Bears!" And with that, he walked off the field.
Alex let out a barking laugh and patted the tabby cat on the back. "For the record, has anyone tried one of Brenner's bagels? If they don't poison you, then they're hard enough to throw and kill someone."
"Hey! I thought you liked my pastries!" Brenner protested. "I see you buying the muffins I make."
Alex looked up and scratched her head. "Oh, yeah, well, um…"
"It's time!" the cheetah shouted, interrupting the two. Off to the side, DeMule held up a whistle to his muzzle and blew. Like two waves bursting through opposing flood walls, the two teams rushed at each other. Blue and red kicked up a considerable amount of dust as they crammed into the centre of the field. Both teams seemed to have picked a similar strategy, and strange looking pyramids of people began to build up as, collapsing as their builders lost their balance, just to get back up and try again.
"Whoa!" a hamster shouted as he was thrown up into the sky. The small rodent reached out frantically for something to grab onto before his fall was broken by a pile of hands and paws. He was soon back on the ground, where he stayed.
Eventually someone managed to reach the ball, only to have it brush off their hand and float just off to the side… Padraic had a go next: he tried to grab the ball and would have caught it, but it moved out of the way! The ball floated to one of the boundaries and rebounded off an invisible wall back into the field, much like a billiard ball would in a game of pool.
The piles quickly crumbled and moved off after it. Another player jumped to get the ball, a feline of some sort, making use of his form to get the height required after leaping from a giraffe's head. Yet even though he got the right direction and height to pounce it, the ball just dodged lower and zigzagged out of the way.
The field became quiet and the dust began to settle. The cheer and excitement had been replaced with frustration and disbelief as both teams just stood there and stared at it with slack-jawed-muzzles.
"Well that was fun," Fell commented.
"Let's go get drunk now," Michael added.
"Come on! Get the ball, you sods! Don't just gawk at it!!!" DeMule
shouted.
Up in the stands, a young mouse pointed a finger in thin air, making slow movements
with it. Kindle smirked in satisfaction. 'My master would be proud!'
Up in the sky, revolving slowly, each rune-covered side shone in the autumn sun and dipped into the shade again as the ball turned like a pointy moon. There it stayed, directed by Kindle, teasingly mocking the players. Cope looked around his surroundings. His teammates were huge like him, but it made no difference now. What is a reptile to do? A small hedgehog nearby adjusted his blue bandanna and some of the wrapping covering his quills. He stretched and looked up at Cope. The lizard looked back at him and smiled as an idea formed.
"Yaaaaaaaaaaa!" A blue ball of rolled-up hedgehog flew up and knocked the game ball from its orbit. The spell broken, the ball dropped without any further trouble and oth sides, as well as the crowd, roared back to life. The game had finally, truly begun.
Cope felt very satisfied, even though he hadn't been the one to take the ball. That honour went to Goldmark; the little rat somehow rose above all the confusion of the massive dust cloud to grab the ball long before it hit the ground. "Yoink!" he'd said as he plucked it from the sky, just as quickly disappearing into that cloud, probably already winding his way past all the hooves, boots, and paws.
But it didn't matter to the great lizard. 'This is a lot like pool, we can't lose!' he thought and tried to remove the dust from his eyes.
'Yeah! Goldmark is unstoppable! He's invincible! He's powe-' "Omph!" '…caught.' With a single mammoth paw, a black bear-morph had pinned the rodent to the ground. With the other paw, she claimed the ball and then tossed it some distance to a teammate in a far less congested part of the field.
Lance saluted a hoof-like hand to the panda and took off. The moose soon found himself trapped between two TG's in front and his fellow lumberjack, the beaver, closing in from behind. He threw the ball to his left, at the ground. It rebounded underneath an opposing team player and landed in the waiting hands of a Red TG.
She quickly passed the ball further to the left where a leopard caught it. He made haste like the ball was his kill and hustled to keep it out of the greedy grasp of scavengers. The feline easily closed in on the goal line, but if he had not been so focused on that goal he would have heard the stomping hooves from behind. Two arms wrapped around his chest, and the tackling 'Blue Bear' shifted his weight to the side and dropped to the ground, taking the Red player with him.
With a thud, the two morphs hit the ground and the ball rolled well away from the big cat's paws. It was snatched up by Kershaw, who booted it far off to the other end of the field, a safe distance from the Blue goal line. Fell and his teammates had stopped the Red Rhinos from scoring. And a leopard had been brought down by a gazelle…
Somewhere down at the other end, the ball hit the ground. With most people now closer to the Blue line, it took a moment or two for someone to scamper back and snatch up the multi-sided ball. The AR who did passed to Chief Tathom who passed to someone else along the line and the ball continued its journey this way on a moving diamond shaped course until it found its way back to Tathom.
The bull weaved and twisted through the mass of blue and red, evading every attempted tackle. However, if they couldn't stop him they could slow him down; out of nowhere, Sir Saulius appeared and latched on to the Red player, soon joined by Elliot, Hector, Julian, and of course Goldmark. It looked like some sort of horror scene; The Chief was being swarmed by rats! They eventually brought him down.
Sir Saulius, like the noble knight that he is, rescuing a fair maiden, retrieved the game ball from the large bovine. But, like the rat that he also is, stealing some cheese, he scurried away with his fellow rats before getting stomped.
Meredith stretched out his massive ursine arms and charged forward, knocking down any foolish enough to stand in his way. The mischief of rats followed close in his wake, passing the ball between them as they moved. However it soon became obvious they couldn't continue that way for much longer; with resistance pilling up around the small advancing force, Hector made the decision to roll the ball under the enemy horde and hope for the best.
Kershaw came to the rescue again; he took the ball and threw it forcibly to a nearby tabby. Brennar already stood on the line, surrounded by anxious Rhinos; the feline leaped toward the goal but was caught in midair. The tabby leaned directly above the goal line; his upper body being held up by the other team. He reached his arm out and strained to touch the ball to the ground, even going as far as to lift his legs off the ground and rely on gravity, but he was just out of reach.
The other team adjusted their grip, lifted him a bit and threw him back. Meredith let out a roar and began pulling people away from his team mate. Brennar landed on his tail. Dimly aware of the bear, dazed and pained and frustrated, he still wouldn't give in; he shielded the ball and passed it on the ground to a cream paw wrapped in blue cloth. Michael threw it into the air, and despite all the paws and hands reaching out, it still fell to the ground. Over the momentary confusion that followed, everyone heard the whistle blow.
The crowd dispersed a bit, enough for people to have some room. As the dust cleared, a brown, lop-eared bunny emerged holding the large die-ball.
As Kindle returned to the field, DeMule emerged to make things official, "The score!" he shouted, "Bears, one! Rhinos, nil!"
Some in the stands cheered, others grumbled.
"Both teams will now return to their sides!" the Castellan ordered.
'Oh, great.' Cope thought, 'they're not gonna fall for that again.' He looked around at his teammates, trying to think up a plan. When he saw the giraffe, his smile returned. "Hey, you, yeah, you! Over here!" the lizard shouted. The very tall Keeper craned his neck down a bit to give Cope his attention. "Now I'm guessing you've never tried what I'm about to describe so you'd better be a quick learner…" The reptile detailed the rest of his plan in a whisper into the giraffe-man's ear.
Once again, the ball floated up and into place. Jack DeMule blew his whistle and both teams were off, determined to find a way to bring that thing down again. Just as before, they managed to get nowhere fast until something odd occurred. From the Red side, a morph rose up. Someone must have been giving him a boost. but he seemed way too high up. His legs even became visible and they didn't look quite right… It was soon apparent that no one lifted him up and his strange looking lower body was attached to something far too big to be a tail.
The Red team had a giraffe taur!
The taur reared up far above the throng, yet he still hadn't reached full height. His great neck swung around and up like a croquet stick. Using his horns, he successfully knocked the ball from the air and sent it flying toward the Blue Bear's goal line. After the sudden shock wore off- life in Metamor encouraged quick reactions- everyone desperately chased after it.
"Get it out of here! Get it out of here!" Stealth shouted, along with several other frantic Blues.
"I'm trying! Okay!? I'm trying!" Brennar shouted back.
Kershaw backed up the tabby, breathless as he ran. "This… game is really hard… and weird."
Fell swept up the ball from where it landed, and instantaneously found himself swarmed by the enemy. The gazelle proceeded to bat away those who dared try to take it. As the crowd gathered, he managed to slip it to one of the rats, quickly enough that it took a moment for people to realize he no longer possessed it. Fell held up his hands and wriggled his thick-tipped fingers to mock those grappling him.
Once again, the rats were in their element, passing between each other and evading capture. This time, however, they lacked the heavy support from before and were forced to pass it outside their circle to a cat. Stealth kicked it forward but a Red lioness batted it back toward the Blue line. She probably would have held onto it if the Curse had left her opposable thumbs. Nevertheless, to the Bears it was like having a spell deflected back at them.
Spinning to the ground, the 'die' ended up in the hands of a TG. Alex ran forward but was caught in a bear hug by an opponent who was, in fact, a polar bear. Yet she remained determined and continued to move forward… one… labored… step… at a time. As people began to gather, either to stop or help her, she finally stopped moving forward but still wouldn't go down. The large white bear raised his eye ridges in surprise and envy; this lass must have received some of the animal curse or something, he thought. Probably not, but her refusal to budge gave him a sense of pride.
Alex eventually buckled under the pressure and fell back allowing another TG on the Red team to liberate the ball. The woman quickly passed it to an AR who passed it again. It soon ended up in Lance's hooved-hands. The moose ran as fast as he could and got knocked down by a raging bear. Before hitting the ground he passed it to another morph that quickly came along side.
Chief Tathom secured it in the crook of his arm and charged! Some weary rats dived out of the way as the bull crossed the line. The large bovine tilted down to one side, he tapped the ball to the ground, sealing his triumph.
They had no need for confirmation. Much like before, some of the crowd roared and others didn't. Some on the Blue team glared at the two rats that had failed to stop the charging bull, but most had more sense.
"The score is now one all!" The castellan cleared his throat after shouting and hoped his voice wouldn't give out before the game ended.