This is the last section in the "Prologue" to this story. The main
action begins tomorrow!
Healing Wounds in Arabarb
By Charles Matthias
February 14, 708 CR
On the third day out, Lubec the cormorant finally reached the
headwaters of the Arabas river. They drove through the lowest lying
hills and out past a small port village nestled at the bottom of a
series of bluffs. The harbors were all encased in ice and he could
see nobody about. There were several birds, but not as many as he was
used to seeing. Smoke rose from the chimneys and there were a few
lanterns lit inside homes. Somebody lived here at least.
Lubec circled down past the bluffs until he rested on a thatch roof
that smelled faintly of pitch. The boats frozen into the harbor were
fishing and crabbing boats. He could see a few cages left on the
docks now coated in ice. The village would be patrolled, and he saw
boots marring the snow on every wooden and dirt road.
A lighthouse stood overlooking both village and sea from the bluff
behind him, but nobody had been in there either. That didn't surprise
him as the day was relatively clear in all directions. The sun was
even shining a wan light very low in the sky. He'd heard it said that
in the summer the sun would stay in the sky almost all day long this
far north. He was very grateful that it was almost two months past
the winter solstice. He would have hated to have been here when the
sun didn't shine at all!
It took him a few minutes to find the post at the southernmost dock
with small bucket hanging off a metal hook. Lubec spread his wings
and flew to the post; it was slick with ice and he nearly fell over
the other end before his webbed feet managed to get a grip. The
bucket was small, only big enough to hold a few lures and never any
fish. Lubec pondered how he was to move it from the northern hook to
the southern for several minutes before he settled on just picking it
up in his beak. It wouldn't do to try to assume anything other than
animal shape here.
Still, it took him a few dozen tries before he was able to pry the
bucket loose from the ice and ease it over the top of the hook. Once
he was certain of his grip, it was only a matter of turning around
and dropping the bucket over the other end. He really hoped that
nobody was watching who shouldn't be. His behavior had been rather
unusual for a bird.
Once the bucket was in place on the southern hook, he jumped into the
air and flew back to the village. He found a nice hearth to perch on.
The smoke did an excellent job of warming him, although the aroma of
cooked fish carried by the smoke reminded him that he hadn't eaten
yet. But there was nothing to do about that. He settled down in the
warmth and waited.
It wasn't until the sun had set an hour later that he saw a fishermen
come out of one of the houses, he made sure to mark which one, and
walk down the pier. The man, swarthy with braided beard and garbed in
a seal-skin cloak, picked up the bucket and placed it back on the
northern hook. He then made a show of checking the boats and testing
the ice. He took at least ten minutes, Lubec reckoned, before heading
back inside and easing open a window.
That was all the signal the cormorant needed. He glided from his
perch and angled himself through the air until he settled on the
window sill. The room beyond was small but warm, brightly light by
fire over which a teapot was steeping. A small table was pushed
against the wall on top of which was a cutting board, and various
hooks and knives suitable to a fishermen. A cot covered in bear-skin
furs occupied the corner nearest the hearth. The man sat at the table
working on a bundle of ropes. He turned and nodded to the bird, eyes
wide. "It has been many months since I've heard from Metamor," he
said in a rough but quiet voice.
Lubec hopped into the room while the man shut the window. He latched
both that and the front door. Pulling aside his cot, he lifted a
small patch of wood and revealed a little cache in which Lubec could
hide. "In case the patrols come," he added softly.
Lubec, seeing that it was safe, shifted into his most human form and
stretched out his wings. It had been three days since he'd last
changed and it felt good to be bigger again. "I'm just glad you're
still here. I was beginning to worry that you'd been caught. I
wouldn't have known what to do then."
The man nodded his head and turned to the pot. "I'm brewing some tea.
I thought you might like something to warm your insides as well."
"Aye, thank you!" Lubec hopped onto the table and settled down in an
avian haunch. "How go things in Arabarb? We've heard nothing for months."
His contact checked the steeping pot first, then poured two cups of
steaming tea. He stirred both for several seconds while he pondered
his response. "Things are... difficult. That usurper sends his
patrols around every few days just to remind us he's still in charge."
"Where does he get men willing to serve him?"
The contact set the cup of tea on the table next to Lubec and then
took a seat at the other end, cradling his cup in his hands and
blowing on the edge. "The greedy bullies are always happy to join
him. Many do so because they think it's the only way to keep their
families safe. His soldiers are a mixed bag. A few of them help us in
the resistance, but it's getting more and more dangerous for them to
stay hidden."
"Because of Gmork?" Lubec asked as he moved to sip the tea. It was
still too hot so he blew on it instead. The aroma was unfamiliar.
"Mostly. That blackguard has a way of finding out your loyalties. He
and his puppies as folk call them. Not to their face, but..."
Lubec dipped his beak into the tea and drank. "Why puppies? That
doesn't sound scary."
The man set his cup down and chuckled. "You'll learn soon enough. How
many has Metamor sent? Are they prepared to topple Calephas at last?"
Lubec lifted his head and shook his beak. "Not yet. They want us to
reestablish contact with you first. Then... then we'll... we'll see."
A wave of dizziness hit him and he blinked several times. The man and
the room swam before him. "I... I... was just... supposed...
supposed." Lubec struggled to hold the thought but the world spun
around him until all was black.
----
He awoke to find himself in complete darkness. He could hear the
creak of oars and the splashing of water. He struggled briefly, but
his body felt as heavy as lead. Somebody laughed with a rather
guttural voice. And then a weary exhaustion claimed him again.
----
Lubec awoke next to find he was hanging upside down with rope tied
around his legs like he was a chicken to be plucked. He tried to
stretch his wings but they too were bound. His heart skipped in fear
and he tried to open his beak, but it too was held shut by tight
ropes. He glimpsed a figure watching him from nearby. It looked
vaguely like a man, though the eyes were golden and there were flecks
of dark gray fur around what might have been a slightly protruding
jaw. And his ears looked pointed too and covered in tufts of the same fur.
"Awake?" it asked in growling tones. "Not yet!" Hands tipped with
claws traced a sigil in the air and Lubec knew no more.
----
The next time he awoke he was standing upright with ropes drawn over
his legs, wings and beak. He could hear the sound of water somewhere
nearby, but it didn't feel like they were on a boat anymore. He was
in a small chamber fashioned from dark stone with only a single
wooden door leading out. Very clearly a cell.
Lubec felt very weak but at least he was awake. He struggled against
his bindings for a moment but they were all too tight. He couldn't
even bend his neck far enough to pry at the robes around his middle
with his beak.
Somehow his contact must have been compromised. The tea had been
poisoned somehow, and now he was in the hands of Calephas. His heart
beat prayers filled with fearful pleas for deliverance. A single tear
streamed from his eye, but he would allow himself only one. He'd
known this might happen. Prayers offered, it was now up to him to
find that opportunity for a miracle that Father Hough had once preached about.
He wasn't going to escape tied up like this, so the first order of
business was in getting out of his bonds. Since he couldn't reach
them with his beak or the little claws on his feet, perhaps he might
be able to partially shift into a more human form. Yet what had once
been effortless, now seemed an impossible task! No matter how hard he
concentrated on growing fingers or getting taller, he simply could
not make his body alter even a single feather or scale.
His attempts grew more panicked until a silken voice echoed through
the doorway, "My spell prevents you from changing, Metamorian." Lubec
instantly knew this to be true and he cowered back as far as his
bindings would allow.
The door opened and in stepped a hunched figure who walked as if his
legs were deformed. Nevertheless he dressed in fine clothes well
suited to the north. The fur lining all of his cloaks looked like
wolf fur. His face was squat with pronounced jaw and deep set eyes
with dark tear marks in the corner along his nose. His long hair was
waxen and a frosty blend of black and gray. He couldn't see the color
of the man's eyes.
A second figure entered, this one the strange man-thing he'd seen on
the ship when he last awoke. This one carried a lantern in one clawed
hand, and in the other a dark bauble. The hunched man took the
lantern and hung it on a black hook just inside the doorway. The
bauble he rolled about in his palm. "You have done well," he said to
the man-thing, and gently stroked his free hand down the other's
head. The strange beast's face seemed to stretch with soft fur, nose
darkening and flattening along the top until the visage resembled
more an animal than a man. "Go tell Calephas that I will be done soon
with this one. He'll want to be here when this one is ready to speak."
"Of course, master," the strange creature bowed and closed the door
behind him as he left. Could that have been one of the Gmork puppies?
There at the end his face had assumed a wolf-like cast. And if so,
was this hunched man the Gmork?
"Ah, Metamorian, it is good to see more of your kind here in Arabarb.
We thought you'd given up on us." The hunched man smiled and
approaching, set the bauble two feet in front of Lubec. "But you do
care for your neighbors to the north, do you not?"
Lubec hesitated, but slowly began to nod. There was something in the
Gmork's voice that passed not just through his ears, but through
every fiber of his being. It was almost exhausting listening to him.
"But you come here under false pretenses. You think to liberate the
people from Calephas's rule. A foolish and impossible quest." Gmork
crossed his oddly shaped legs and sat down facing him. His smile
showed sharp teeth. "You are a foolish bird. Foolish and fit for plucking."
Lubec shuddered and blinked, trying desperately to hold onto the
training he'd been given in Metamor before each of his journeys to
the south. Back then the thought of capture hadn't been taken too
seriously. But now it had happened and he couldn't keep his mind
clear. Every word from Gmork bombarded his thoughts like a hammer
against glass.
"You really don't know what you've gotten yourself into. A little
bird in a world too big for him. Too big. And you too small. The
first person you meet is our ally. All of Arabarb is our ally.
Because all of Arabarb trusts us to know what is best for them. You
should too if you want to live. Do you want to live, little bird?
Come on now. Nod your head."
Lubec had never felt smaller in all his life. The Gmork gazed at him
with a predatory hunger that only exacerbated the effect his words
had. He wanted to crouch and fold in on himself until he was nothing
more than a chick newly hatched. But the command was strong and he
found his head bobbing up and down on his neck.
"Good. You know how to take orders. Were you ordered to come here to
spy on us? Nod your head if you did so." Lubec nodded again. Gmork
smiled anew, eyes briefly glancing down at the bauble. Lubec looked
down as well. There was a faint glow in the small sphere, like a
whisper of yellow light, the first spark that sets a fire to blaze.
"So Metamor is interested in us again. It was Metamor that sent you?
The Duke himself. Nod for me foolish bird. You need to be told what
to do, and you need to obey. You need to obey me. Your life depends
on it. Did that horse send you here to spy on us? And his bat friend?"
Lubec nodded, no longer even attempting to resist. He couldn't hear
or think of anything except what Gmork said. The light in the bauble
continued to grow. He was captivated by it.
"Good. It is so easy to obey me, isn't it? You know that is what you
wish to do. You want too listen to my voice and do as I say. Foolish
birds like you know they must obey those smarter, bigger, wiser, and
more powerful than they. I am all those things. Listen to my words,
bird. Listed to me. Will you do as I say?"
Lubec struggled one last time, but then like a branch snapping, all
will left him. He nodded, eagerly this time, a growing sensation, a
conviction, they everything Gmork said was unvarnished and impeccable truth.
"Good. You are not so foolish then. Now, you who come to my home, you
do so not to spy for Metamor anymore. No, you came because you wished
to serve me. You delight in serving me. Your every wish, every
desire, every thought is given in service to me. Is this not so?"
The bauble now glowed brightly enough to illuminate the floor and
walls of the cell. Lubec's black feathers glistened in its ambiance.
His eyes pulsed with adoration of the hunched man, his master, and he
nodded eagerly, bewailing the bindings that kept him from prostrating
himself on the ground and cawing his profusion of gratitude for being
allowed to serve.
The Gmork rose and picked the bauble up from the floor. Inside
swirled an eddy of golden light. He turned it around in his twisted
hands and smiled, fangs gleaming behind thin lips. "Oh, you are
precious. Here, you no longer need those." He reached out his other
and pulled the bindings about his beak loose.
"Oh thank you, master!" Lubec cried, his voice so birdlike and
offensive in his ears.
"Silence for now." Gmork then undid the bindings around his middle
and feet. Lubec stayed perfectly still the entire time. He did not
even move to stretch his wings without his master's permission. The
Gmork straightened until he was in his hunched position and rubbed
his chin with amusement. "Would you lay your neck between my fangs if
I asked? Answer me."
"I will do so now if you ask!"
Gmork laughed and stepped back. "No, my foolish bird, I think you
will serve us far better in other ways. One day you will satisfy my
hunger though. I promise you this. I will tear out your throat and
gorge on your entrails."
The raw and painful need to satisfy his master overwhelmed him.
"Would that they would spill out at your command, my master!"
"We shall see. Ah, Calephas is coming. Good. Answer and obey him as
you would me. Unless I say otherwise." With that he slipped the
golden bauble into his furs and stepped back to the doorway. It
opened and in stepped the puppy and a tall man dressed in
aristocratic garb. His face was lined from the bitter winters of
Arabarb and his eyes were intent and strong.
"Gmork, how is he?"
"Obedient and eager to serve," Gmork replied. "He is yours to ask, my Baron."
Baron Garadan Calephas looked at the bird and beckoned him to come
closer. Lubec waddled a few steps closer and then shifted into his
most human like form. He prostrated himself before the two he was
beholden to obey.
"Good," Calephas replied. "Do you come to spy on me? Who sent you?"
"I was sent here by Duke Thomas, Andwyn, and Misha to spy on you, my
Baron. Forgive me."
"You are forgiven, but now you must help me. Did you come alone?"
"No. My two brothers and Pharcellus came with me."
"Who are your brothers?"
"Quoddy, my older brother, and Machias my younger. They are birds
like me, my Baron."
"What kind of birds?"
"Quoddy is a gull and Machias a puffin."
"And where are they now?"
"Quoddy is contacting the resistance along the southern coasts of
your land, and Machias the northern coasts. I was to find the
resistance near the river's mouth."
Calephas stroked his chin which was festooned with rough stubble.
"And this Pharcellus?"
"He is our contact with Metamor. He's a dragon."
Gmork sucked in his breath and scowled. Calephas grinned as if he
were privy to some hilarious joke only he knew. "A dragon?
Interesting. Does anyone else know? What do they know of me?"
"I was told that Metamor has been unable to learn anything since my
master came into your service nine months ago and all their spies were killed."
Calephas laughed this time, and he was joined by Gmork. The sound of
his master's laugh filled his heart with delight. "Oh," Gmork said
with a wide grin, "they weren't all killed. I helped them come into
our service. Oh, well, the lynx was very tasty, as was that one woman
and the little boy with the freckles. But the rest are faithful
servants like you."
"We'll want you to bring your brothers into our service as well,"
Calephas said firmly. "This way we can tell Metamor whatever we want."
But Gmork shook his head. "No. They should be untouched. "
The puppy wilted some at those words, and Lubec also cringed.
Calephas looked at the Gmork with a look of confusion. "Why not?"
"They have a dragon for a contact. The dragon may be able to see that
they serve us and not Metamor. His brothers won't. Let his brothers
pass the news we wish to pass back to Metamor. Let us keep them
ignorant as long as possible until we can learn their plans or your
own come to fruition."
Calephas pondered for a moment and then began to nod. "Very well.
That seems sound. But if they should learn our defenses they will
need to be taken. I'd rather Metamor know nothing at all than to know
the truth."
Gmork nodded and turned his wonderful eyes upon Lubec. He lifted his
head eager for the words of his master. Oh he hoped they'd be
addressed to him. "Agreed. Now my little bird, it is time for you to
go back to the shore and keep in touch with our contact, the one who
brought you to us. He will tell you what you need to tell your
brothers. They are your brothers, even if they are confused. You will
give them no hint that you serve us but must make them believe you
still serve Metamor. Now, go do this. My friend here will show you the way."
Lubec faithfully followed the puppy who no longer looked quite so
wolfish out of the cell and through dark halls. He knew better than
to cast a look back at his master. He would make himself worthy of
his master's jaws one day. He sincerely hoped that his brothers would too.
----------
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
!DSPAM:4da190f013991804284693!
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