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

Part 7

Misha leaned heavily against a rock and then collapsed to the ground. Caroline knelt next to the love of her life and examined him. All of the fur on his muzzle and hands was burnt off and the skin below was burned. Both legs of his armor were blackened and even melted in some areas. Of his boots, the only traces were charred lumps on the bottom of his paws.

"Great Maker!" Rickkter exclaimed. "How did you managed to get this far with burns so bad? I'm surprised that shock hasn't set in yet."

Misha looked at him with a scorched face. "Whisper helped," he said and patted the head of his axe. "That and a lot of adrenaline."

Caroline reached out and gingerly caressed the blackened muzzle. Misha flinched in pain and she withdrew. He reached out and took her hand. "I'm fine, I look worse then I feel."

"Let's get these pants off and see what your legs look like," Rickkter commanded. Getting them off wasn't easy, with the heat many of the links had fused together and didn't move easily. As they pulled the mail away some of the charred flesh beneath came with it. Misha yelped in pain as the skin pulled off. He turned his head to the side and looked around to try and take his mind off of the pain. He found Madog sitting next to him, looking worried.

"You all right Papa?" the automaton asked in a worried voice.

"I'll be fine," he replied. He noticed the dent in Madog's head and carefully traced the outline with his finger. "Wow, that's going to take me a week to hammer out."

Rickkter placed his hands on the vulpine's burned legs and closed his eyes. From the raccoon's cold hands Misha felt a sudden warmth spread out and envelope his whole body. After a moment the warmth faded and Rickkter removed his hands and sat down next to his injured friend.

The raccoon's healing spell had done its job well. The worst of Misha's wounds were gone, replaced by scares or lessor wounds. He looked at his friend who was sitting next to him, exhausted. Behind him he could see Matthias struggling to bandage his arm. "Honey, could you go help Matt?" he said and pointed to the rat. She gave him a questioning look, and he answered

her unasked question. "I'm find, please go help him."

Misha looked at Rickkter, the mage was slumped down, seemingly asleep. "Are you all right?"

The raccoon snapped his eyes open and blinked them several times, dispelling the dazed look he had. "Just tired, I suppose. I used a lot of my power in that fight. A night's rest and I'll be fine."

"I hope so. We still have a long walk back home."

"I have a question about what happened?" Caroline asked as she bandaged the Sondecki's arm.

Matthias chuckled. "Just one?"

"What did happen down there?" she asked. "Who was Bolva? What was Bolva and who was that other person? Was he an automaton like Bolva and Madog?"

"Alpha and Omega, First and Last," Madog answered cryptically.

"What?" She asked.

"Alpha and Omega," the automaton repeated.

Misha chuckled, "That's from the scriptures."

"It is?" Rickkter commented.

"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the First and the Last," Misha said quoting from the scriptures.

"What does that mean?" Matthias asked.

"Bolva want Omega, so I get Omega," Madog said. "He want to put his soul in Omega. He not know Omega already have a soul." The metal fox laughed, "but he find out quick enough."

"The Amber order created two human shaped automatons," Misha explained. "Bolva was the first, and Omega was the last one."

"Bolva was an Amber mage," Caroline commented. "Remember, Madog said the other's took away his sash. That means he had to have been a member."

"The souls they used in the two were fellow Amber mages," Rickkter added. "But in Bolva's case things went wrong."

"He wasn't after the library, he was after Omega. Why? He already had an automaton body," Misha asked.

Rickkter shrugged. "Who knows? Maybe Omega's body was more powerful than his body."

"What happened to the rest of the Amber Mages? And where does Madog fit in?" Caroline asked.

Madog shifted uneasily for a moment before speaking. "He want bigger, better body, he want the great magic in it, but others say no. They take his sash and kick him out of order. Bolva leave, but he come back with many, many lutins and they attack." The fox paused, when he spoke again it was in a very quiet voice. "Big battle, we kill many, but Taroshi overrun anyway. Bolva have palace but he can't get treasures or library. He attack, dig, plot, scream and have temper tantrum but spells keep him out."

Rickkter shook his head in disgust. "An entire order of magic wiped out by one man's lust for power."

"I wish I could have gotten a better look at Omega," Misha said wistfully.

Matthias stiffened. "I think you'll get your wish."

A shadow fell over Misha and he looked up into the face of an automaton. Misha held his breath as he looked at the tall, black colored, mechanical man. This person was almost six feet tall and was covered in a black metal, Misha assumed to be steel or maybe some sort of alloy. Two bright pinpoints of light in the face mask marked his eyes. If he didn't know better Misha could

have easily mistaken this person for a man in armor. For a heart stopping moment he thought it was Bolva, but Bolva would have attacked instead of just standing there. It was the other automaton; the one Madog called Omega. Misha struggled to stand up, but as soon as he moved his legs a wave of searing pain made him yelp and sit back down.

The tall figure knelt in front of Misha and with surprising tenderness touched the vulpine's damaged legs. "Noo shootie fana, felo mala perow," the mechanical man said in a soft and gentle voice.

"What did he say?" Matt asked.

Misha shrugged. "I don't know, I don't speak Suielman."

"He say hold still, he help you," Madog explained.

Suddenly a great cool feeling swept through Misha's body, starting with his toes and working its way up to his head. All the pain vanished from his body and he felt invigorated. Looking at his legs Misha saw that all traces of the burns were gone, no wounds or ugly scars, even his fur had regrown.

"He completely healed you," Caroline said in awe.

The vulpine grabbed his healer and hugged the metal body tightly. "Thank you."

"Ve lurana," Madog translated. Omega simply bowed in response.

"A real live amber mage," Rickkter said quietly. "This is fantastic. The knowledge and magic he must possess."

Madog whispered something to Omega and the tall automaton shook his head and said something in reply. "He no mage," Madog said in translation. "He asked to guard new automaton, so he guard it from best place; Inside!"

"If he's not a mage, how did he heal me? That takes powerful magic," Misha asked. He watched as the metal fox translated. Omega touched a hand to his chest, and spoke in reply to Madog.

"He not sure," Madog answered. "But mages but something inside body when they make it. Powerful magic jewel, he just use it to help you. It also help him to defeat Bolva. Jewel's magic more powerful than Bolva's."

"Must be a very powerful artifact," Rickkter commented.

"What was it called?" Matthias asked.

Madog shook his head. "He not remember many things. Still a little confused."

"That's understandable," Caroline commented. "What's his name?"

Madog spoke to Omega. The human automaton shrugged it's metal shoulders. "He not remember," the metal fox translated.

"I guess for the moment we'll have to call him Omega," Misha said. The fox extended his left hand. "Omega, my name is Misha Brightleaf. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Misha waited as his metal vulpine friend translated and received a reply. Omega smiled, showing steel teeth and took the Long Scouts hand and shook it in greeting. "He say thank you for your greeting and he would be proud to call you all friends. He also ask what are you? You not animal or human?"

"What are you?" Rickkter said.

"He guard just like me," the metal fox answered.

"What are you two guarding?" Rickkter asked.

"We guard Mages, and palace, and treasures, and library," Madog answered.

"Library?" Misha asked.

Madog nodded. "Yes, wizards have big library, many books and scrolls."

"You mean the Amber orders complete library?" Rickkter asked.

"Can you take us to the library?" Misha asked.

"Sure! Follow me. It this way," Madog answered and took off into the ruins. Everyone had to run to keep up.

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

They found the library behind no less then four warded doors that opened when Madog approached them. What greeted behind the final door was fantastic. The four keepers and the two automations stood at the top of an elegant staircase that descended a story to the main floor. A balcony ringed the room at the same level they were on and walkways branched off running in all directions. All this had been revealed when a barking command from Madog caused the innumerable mage lights on the ceiling to come to life.

Rickkter and Misha, despite exhaustion and recently healed injuries were the first ones to charge down the steps. Misha was actually laughing as he ran into the forest of shelves, the thoughts of what they could possibly contain running through his mind.

He was half way down the first shelf when it struck him. Turning around twice to make sure, he was horrified to see that it was empty. He darted down the next row, finding the same thing. As was the row next to it, and the one after that. He threw his fists into the air and howled at the misfortune.

"NO!" he shouted. "This isn't fair!"

"What?" asked Carol, running up with Matt, Madog and Omega.

"This!" Misha cried, motioning to the empty shelves. "It's empty, they're all empty. Not a single book or scroll remains. How could this happen?" He pounded his fists on an empty shelf in rage.

The sound of laughter made the five of them turn and look up to the top of the shelves. Rickkter hopped from an adjacent one to the one just over them. He had apparently scrambled up there to get a look at the rest of the library.

"We're all forgetting something," said the raccoon as he rested his elbows on his knees. "Vernosa. It seems he recovered more than Madog from these ruins."

It took a few seconds for the revelation to fully sink in, but when it did, Misha groaned and slumped back against the opposite shelf. "That's right. Damn, that's right. He did recover Madog from these ruins..."

"... and he had resources to repair him. That's where the library went."

"That thieving noble," swore Misha. "Not only did he have the money and the resources to move all this, he also had the time! And he beat us here by several centuries!"

"Why didn't you stop him?" asked Caroline, looking up at Omega.

"He not awake then," Madog explained. "Mages put him into new body but he not awake up before big attack."

Caroline frowned. "So who was supposed to watch the library?"

Madog's ear wilted and his tail curled in close. "Me," he said sounding almost ashamed.

"What?" asked Misha.

"I guard here," explained Madog. His voice seemed far away, as if struggling to remember. "You watch fortress Malabrinum, they tell me. During big battle, when all others dead I hide in library. Bolva not get past spell guarding door."

Rick had climbed down from his shelf and was standing with the others. "So what happened?" he asked.

"I... badly hurt, not able to walk, only crawl, so I wait for someone to find me. I hope Omega wake up, but he sleep till today, when I wake him up." Madog stopped talking and walked to the bottom of the great staircase. "I lay here," he said and tapped the tile floor with a paw, "long time, not know how long. I alone many years, then I sleep. After long time a tall man come. He

find me and wake me up. He promise to fix and clean me, so I let him. I sorry Papa. I not know he take library."

Misha reached out and scritched the mechanical fox behind the ears before standing up. "That's all right, Madog. It's not your fault. We might as well head back to Metamor then. There's nothing here for us now."

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

The sun was a golden glow cutting the western peeks of the mountains as Misha stopped to look back at the mountain fortress. The keepers were spread out a little along the path, with Rickkter, Carol, Omega and Madog in the lead with Charles and himself bringing up the rear.

The rat noticed the fox had stopped, so he too turned back. "What are you thinking about, Misha?"

The sun caused him to turn back to his friend. "I was just wondering if it was all worth it. How we came so close to getting the library, only to find that Vernosa had beaten us to it." He made his way to where the rat was waiting for him and then they both continued down. "At least Omega will permit small expeditions from the keep, as long as he can oversee them. I think that Jon will have a field day here. And then there is the matter of the unknown treasure..."

"Well, not exactly treasure," said Charles, trailing off cryptically.

"Oh, what do you mean?"

"If you had listened to what Madog was saying, you would have noticed that he said treasureS, not treasure," explained the rat as he smiled coyly. "Treasures. Plural."

Misha spared the ancient stronghold one last look. It might not be as empty as he suspected....

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