Metamor Keep -- First and Last
By Christian O'kane & Wolf

Part 5

Two figures met in darkness and passed information. "I understand how dangerous he is but I'm not backing off and I do have enough people to handle him," one figure said.

"I trust your abilities and judgement, but I still worry," the second figure answered.

"You have any new information, any clues from the battle?" the first asked.

"One thing," came the reply. "When he was challenged by a cavalry patrol in the name of Duke Thomas he replied, 'I, Primarch Bolva do not recognize that barbarian weakling."

"Primarch. That's a Suielman title," the first person commented.

"True," the second commented. "But it's been used many times over the years. Mostly by would be empire builders."

The first speaker didn't answer at once, but pondered for a moment. "Still that is an interesting fact, Phil. When I told him I was a scout he called me a Patarini. That's the Suielman word for bandit or scout."

"Another Suielman word. This gets more interesting every moment Misha," Phil commented.

"What is he?" the Misha asked.

He can be one of three things, Misha," Phil said. "One, he can be styling himself after the old Suielman mages. There's been a recent increase in interest in the empire. A lot of people are trying to revive the old Suielman methods and ideas. Two, he could be delusional and think he is a Suielman mage." Phil paused. The final option was too outlandish to state openly.

Misha finished for the rabbit. "Three, he really could be a Suielman mage and over a thousand years old."

****************************************************************

"So, what do you think Bolva, Holivar or whatever name he's using, really is?" Matthias asked.

Misha shrugged. "He certainly knows a lot about the Suielman empire and automatons."

"What do we know about the empire automatons and the mages who built them?" Matthias asked.

"I've only been able to uncover a small amount of information on them. There was an officially recognized magic order that specialized in automatons and other mechanicals called the Order of Amber. It was very small and seemed to have just completely disappeared one day. No one knows why. None of the orders books or scrolls have ever been found."

"Are you sure?" Rickkter asked. "Is Phil's information right? I mean it could just be coincidence that he used those Suielman words. "It's considered fashionable in some places to use Suielman words to show how smart and learned you are."

Misha shook his head. "Phil wouldn't have contacted my by mind spell if he didn't think his information was right. Besides he's going to do more investigation on the subject."

"So, this mage came to collect your mechanical toy," Rickkter commented.

Misha fixed the raccoon with a cold stare. "Madog is not anyone's toy. He is a free willed person."

"Let's not get into that argument again," Matthias interceded. "Where do you think he'll go?" he asked, changing the subject.

"With the mountains on either side, he has two choices for getting away; north or south," Rickkter said.

"North will take him into Nasoj's territory, south will take him into the Midlands. Neither will be particularly friendly to him," Misha commented.

"Who says Nasoj won't be friendly to him?" Matthias asks. "Maybe he's working with Nasoj."

"Somehow I don't see Bolva sharing power with anyone especially Nasoj," the fox commented.

Rickkter nodded. "Agreed. His only real option is to head south."

The rat shook his head in disagreement. "If he heads south he has to go through over half the valley to get to safety. He'll have to fight every step of the way. But if he heads north he can disappear into the wilds of the north lands without any trouble."

Misha shook his head. "Not necessarily. There's no way of knowing just how the lutins will greet him. With someone that powerful they're just as likely to make him leader as try to kill him. Either way, we'll find out soon enough. He's been headed east so far, he has to turn eventually or try to climb the mountains," Misha explained.

"Can he climb them?" Matthias asked.

Misha shook his head. "No, there's nothing beyond those mountains, except more mountains. Nothing, no cities, no towns, not even much in the way of wildlife."

"Like I said we'll find out soon enough. Let's get going, we can't let him get too far ahead," Misha ordered, and hoisting his pack, started to walk. The others quickly followed.

*****************************************

It has had many names over the years, The Gray Column, The Standing Stone, the Stone sentry, but lately it was known as The Guardian. The tall stone column was just as Bolva had left it the night before. They found what they were looking for on the back of the monument. There hastily drawn in chalk was a line of symbols.

"Ok Matt, oh scout in training. Tell me what they say," Misha said pointing to the chalk marks.

The rat examined the symbols carefully. "The top one is Caroline's personal symbol; a daisy. The numbers below that are the date and time she was here, which was late last night. The bottom line says that her target, which was Bolva, headed . . . " the rat paused and peered closer at the marks. "That can't be right," he said confused. " This says he headed east, into the mountains."

The fox looked over his shoulders and stared at the marks. "That's exactly what they say."

"His trail leads to the east," Rickkter called from his a spot about twenty yards west of the stone. "He is headed for the mountains."

Misha looked to the east at the mountains looming large in the distance. They were thought to be uninhabitable, a wasteland of rock, snow, and ice.

"Maybe it's a trick, he'll turn later on and skirt the mountains," the rat suggested.

"That's a possibility. I don't see what else he could do," fox replied.

"We'll need rope and climbing gear, just in case," Rickkter suggested.

The fox patted his backpack. "We have that covered. Two hundred feet of rope, pitons, loops, and two hammers."

"You come fully equipped," Rickkter said with a smirk.

"I hope he turns," Matthias commented. "I don't relish climbing those mountains."

He didn't turn. His tracks led straight east, towards the mountains.

"He's making no attempt to hide his tracks," Misha said as they trailed Bolva. "It's like he doesn't care if we follow him or not."

"Why should he care?" the raccoon commented without slowing his pace. "We haven't been able to stop him yet."

After an hour the rolling hills of the valley gave way to the steady slope of the mountains. It was easy at first as the grade was gentle, but it quickly got steeper, and steeper. Still Bolva's path led forward without deviation. Finally they came upon a small grove of trees resting at the bottom of a massive landslide. It was perfect place for an ambush.

The trio knelt a short distance away and carefully checked for any sign of an ambush. The wind shifted and the faint trace of a familiar scent came to Misha's nostrils. Suddenly he stood up and let out a loud yowl. A moment later a figure rose from the brush and came forward. It was Caroline.

The fox and the otter embraced. "Any problems?" he asked.

"Nope. He came straight here. He didn't encounter anyone and he didn't stop. Just one strange thing though, He discarded this," Caroline said holding up Bolva's red robe.

"Why did he get rid of that?" Misha asked.

"He no longer needed the disguise, after all he has what he wants, Madog," Rickkter commented.

"But why wear it in the first place? What did he have to hide?" the fox asked, but no one had the answer.

"Do I want to know where Bolva went?" Matthias asked in a small voice.

"No," the otter answered curtly.

"Where did he go?" Rickkter asked.

"I'll give you one guess," Caroline said, staring up the near vertical slope of the landslide.

"You've got to be kidding," the raccoon said in a disbelieving tone of voice.

"I wish," the otter answered.

****************************************************************

Dusk found the foursome over a thousand feet up, perched on a ledge, exhausted. It had been a long, difficult climb, made all the harder by the loose rock and dirt. At points it had been so steep that they had to crawl hand over hand up the slope.

Misha flopped down against a stone, panting, trying to recover his breath. "We'll stop here for the night," he said through pants.

"Doesn't Bolva ever stop?" Caroline asked as she sat down next to her lover.

"It doesn't seem so, his tracks still continue upward, along this ledge," Rickkter commented as he calmly sat on a small boulder. "But it looks as if he did pause here for a moment."

Matthias sat on the stones opposite Rickkter, just out of arms reach of the raccoon. "Can we afford to stop?"

"No choice. Climbing at night is too dangerous. Even Bolva will have to stop for the night," Caroline explained.

"Agreed," the vulpine added. "Besides it's getting too dark to follow his tracks. We'll take turns on guard duty, Me first, then Matt, Caroline and Rick in that order."

Dinner was cold trail rations eaten in silence and darkness. Then everyone settled in for a long night.

*******************************************************************

Breakfast the next morning was eaten in the quiet of the dawn. Rickkter was seated opposite Misha eating a rather bland trail ration. Suddenly the raccoon tilted his head to one side and looked at Misha with a confused expression. "What are you resting against?" he asked the fox.

Confused, Misha looked behind him at the stone he had been relaxing against. It was the same stone that he had slept against during the night. The rock was old, weathered and was missing large pieces but there was no doubting what is was; a Suielman milestone.

Caroline stood up and looked around. "This isn't a ledge, it's an empire road!"

Forward to Part 6
Back to Part 4

Return to Metamor Page