Part 6 of Dominion of the Hyacinth!
---------
Kayla and Rickkter arrived at the gates of Lake Barnhardt around
mid-morning and were disappointed to discover that there was no one
there waiting for them. The road had been easy with a few patrols and
numerous merchants heading from Metamor to Barnhardt and back but no
one they thought could be involved in whatever scheme had roused them
that morning. Rickkter even asked one of the guards standing watch at
the gatehouse but they didn't even know what he was talking about.
And so they settled in to wait on the other side of the road from the
gatehouse and the massive curtain wall that protected the city from
attack. To their north homestead and farmland had been cultivated for
several acres, which meant that they could see along the road in
either direction a good distance. Along the shore of the lake
numerous wharves and fishermen operated. To the south the mountains
rose up dramatically on the other side of the lake, providing good
nesting grounds for hawks, eagles, and if Cerulean was to be believed
a dragon or two. The city stood between them and the castle, and from
within they could hear the sounds of shopkeepers, smithies, farriers,
and all sorts conducting their daily business. Archers and pikemen
stood post on the high city walls, but after a cursory inspection of
the raccoon and skunk, now returned to staring off into the distance
or sleeping.
Rickkter dismounted after only a few minutes to stretch his legs and
back. He even drew out his Sondeshike and gave it a few twirls to
loosen his muscles. Kayla watched him while reviewing the letter
she'd received that morning, but otherwise remained comfortably
perched in the saddle while her horse munched on the grass sprouting
beside the road. If there was anything more to be learned from the
letter, the skunk could not see it.
But being on horseback she did see the trio of friends coming down
the road from the north before Rickkter did. As soon as she saw who
they were there was no doubt in her mind that they had come to Lake
Barnhardt for the same reason they had. With a broad smile, she stood
a little in the stirrups and waved her arm. "Ho, Muri! Charles!
James! Over here!"
Rickkter stopped his practice as soon as she moved, and his face
darkened briefly before he turned aside and put the Sondeshike away.
He climbed back into the saddle and nudged the horse out onto the
road. "So I wanted them too? Muri I understand, he's a very helpful
fellow. But James and that rat?"
"Charles, you mean?"
"Aye, the rat."
"Charles?" Kayla's eye ridges began to arch.
The raccoon sighed and nodded. "Aye, Charles."
"Well, what if it is about Marzac?" Kayla suggested. "We'd want them
here for anything to do with that place."
Rickkter grunted as he and Kayla walked their horses down the road to
meet the trio passing through the northern lakeland fields. The trio
noticed them a moment later and picked up their pace. A minute later
they slowed until the five of them were all side by side. James, the
only one of them not riding, lifted his head as high as he could,
eyes expectantly fixed on Rickkter.
The raccoon wasted no time dancing around the obvious and the
irritating. "I take it you all received letters this morning?"
"With your script signing our names," Murikeer added with a nod. "Or
so I thought."
"It is my script," Rickkter replied with a nod and a scowl. "But I
don't remember writing it."
"That's odd," James couldn't help but say. "If you didn't write our
names then maybe it isn't Andwyn's handwriting in the letter either."
"It is his," Kayla assured them. "I have read his handwriting for a
long time now and I could never mistake it for another. I was hoping
one of you might know why we are here."
"We were hoping the same of you," Murikeer replied, a faint churr
whispering beneath his words. "Do you not know?"
Rickkter sighed and dug his claws into the palm of one hand. "Nay. I
know neither why we are here nor why my hand signed our names. Only
that it must be very important. And, what is more, if it is we who
are here, it may have something to do with Marzac. What it could be I
can't imagine." He narrowed his green eyes as he peered at the rat.
"Unless you are falling under its corruption."
"I am not," the rat replied without looking at the raccoon. "If I
were, do you think I would have come here into your power?"
"If it really is Marzac," Murikeer noted with a thoughtful moue
stretching his muzzle, "then Jessica should be here too. Where is she?"
"Perhaps she is on her way?" James suggested. "Maybe she's the one
who knows why we're here. We should wait for her."
Rickkter frowned. "Of all of us, she is the only one who can fly; if
she received a note like we did than she should have been here first.
And if this is about Marzac and she is missing... well I think you
can draw your own conclusions."
The moment of disquiet that idea brought persisted only a short
while. When they spoke again they all agreed to wait and so the five
of them walked at a steady pace down the road until they were
opposite the gatehouse again. This time they all dismounted to let
their steeds relax while they stretched and spoke quietly of their
hopes for the Summer and the year beyond. Their eyes ever watched for
familiar faces, but for two candlemarks all they saw were merchants
and townsfolk coming and going from the gates to the wharves and the
roads beyond. None accosted them and most gave them a wide berth as
they passed. Rickkter was considering sending somebody into town to
buy them all food when James caught sight of a hawk in the sky.
"Is that Jessica up there?" They all followed the donkey's arm into
the cloudless sky. They could see the bird but something seemed
strange. Kayla was the first to note it.
"Jessica's feathers are black. That hawk looks like any other hawk
I've ever seen."
"It could be Weyden," James suggested.
"It might even be a normal hawk nesting in the those mountains,"
Charles noted with a shrug of his shoulders.
Rickkter shook his head. "He's circling and descending. I think
that's a Keeper."
"It's definitely Weyden," Murikeer pointed down the southeastern road
at a group of soldiers, two of which were giraffes. "His patrol squad
is coming up the road."
All five of their heads turned to the four soldiers making their way
up the road at a steady foot-speed. Only the youth was riding on a
horse, the two giraffes and the ram were on hoof. The male giraffe
noticed them first and gestured for his friends to see. Both Kayla
and Murikeer waved in their direction. By the time that the hawk had
landed, all of them had gathered on the side of the road outside
Barnhardt's iron gates.
"Waiting for someone?" The ram Dallar asked as his yellow eyes surveyed them.
"As a matter of fact, we are," Rickkter replied with narrowed eyes.
"Good," Dallar sighed with relief. "So what are our orders?"
"What do you mean?"
"I thought you would have our orders. You're the ones we were sent to
meet are you not?"
Rickkter ground his teeth together as Kayla and the others shifted
uncomfortably back and forth. "None of us know what this is about. I
was hoping one of you might."
The ram backed up a pace, his face cringing in a scowl. "We were
hoping you would know!"
"Does anyone know?" Rickkter snapped. What fool's errand had they
been sent on? His ire was tempered only by the sudden worry that this
had been a trap.
"I know. Beehive."
All of them turned as one toward the red-feathered hawk standing next
the pack-laden horses. Stunned by this admission and the password
revealed in their orders, Rickkter could only open and shut his snout
as words escaped him. Dallar finally broke the sudden silence with a
bluster of his own. "You know? Then why didn't you say something in
Tarrelton, or better yet this morning when we left Metamor?"
"I couldn't," Weyden replied with an apologetic nod of his head
toward his superior officer. He stretched his wings over one of the
knapsacks and undid the laces. "I could only admit that I knew why we
had been sent here when Rickkter arrived. He's the only one who can
vouch for me."
All eyes turned to the raccoon who held up his paws and shook his
head. "I have no idea what he's talking about! I am as much in the
dark as the rest of you! Weyden, explain yourself!"
The hawk flipped open the knapsack and after glancing through the
contents withdrew a folded piece of parchment much larger than their
letters. He walked stiffly, head bobbing back and forth, to the
raccoon and offered the parchment to him. "No, Rickkter. You will explain it."
With an almost petulant flick of his wrist, the raccoon snatched the
parchment from the hawk's wing-claws and began to read. Within a few
seconds Rickkter's irritation vanished in a sudden spasm of terror.
He nearly stumbled backward, the parchment clutched in his paws and
yet held as far from him as possible as if it were some vile monster
trying to consume him. Kayla and Murikeer rushed to his side to
steady him, while Charles, James, and Dallar all reached for their weapons.
Steadied, Rickkter folded the letter and shook his head, gasping for
breath. He cast a worried glance toward the city, and then nodded to
his friends. "It is all right. I am all right. But Weyden's right. I
can vouch for him. I can explain this."
"How?" James asked.
Rickkter lifted the parchment. "Because I wrote every one of these
words yesterday and I don't remember a single one."
"How is that possible?"
Rickkter glanced at the rat, curious if he would remember. Charles
blinked at the sudden scrutiny and wrinkled his whiskers. "Somebody
made you forget?"
"And it has happened before. Last year. Dallar's squad would know of it."
Charles nodded lost in thought, and then his eyes widened and he
gasped a single word. "Hyacinth!"
"Aye," Rickkter said as he waved the parchment in the air. "There's a
new one. Let me finish reading and I will tell you what I knew
yesterday. I hope there's some explanation for why we were brought
here this way."
"I can tell you that," Weyden replied. "If you knew why you were
coming here, you would forget and never make it. It's why you had
Andwyn's couriers deliver the orders. Not even Andwyn knows why the
messages were sent, only that it was important."
"And apparently I had something to do with it," Rickkter noted with a
grim smile. He read the remainder of the parchment while everyone
else waited patiently, eyes warily noting the country-side. But those
eyes grew bored in the few minutes it took for the raccoon to finish
reading. When he finally folded the parchment again, he glanced at
his friends and Dallar's men and frowned. "Does anyone know why we're here?"
"We were hoping you could tell us," Dallar noted with a caprine bleat.
"I already did," Rickkter replied with a snort. "Or at least part of
it. That hyacinth works fast."
"Hyacinth!" Charles exclaimed, his placid face filling with alarm. "Where?"
"Here in Lake Barnhardt. Probably atop the barracks where it couldn't
be seen except for the castle towers and the sky." Rickkter's eyes
narrowed. "It is making us forget everything connected to it. We only
know it exists as long as we fixate on it. Become distracted and it
all vanishes like a puff of smoke on the wind."
"Why would there be a hyacinth here?" Charles asked, edging closer,
eying the parchment as if he wished to snatch it from the raccoon and
read it himself. He probably did.
"Because Jessica planted it here. The corruption of Marzac is taking her."
"No!" Kayla gasped and put her paws to her snout. James and the rat
grimaced with sudden determination. Murikeer glanced at the sky, his
gaze growing distant in that peculiar way common to mage sight.
"Hyacinths are just flowers," Maud said with a bemused expression on
her long snout. "Why are you all so worried about this one?"
"Hyacinths, if properly prepared, can be used to store magical power
like a reservoir stores water. That alone is dangerous enough in the
wrong hands. But what makes hyacinths so special is that they can
also be used to make everyone in some area forget things that the
planter wants them to forget. In this case, the hyacinth is making us
forget everything about itself and anything connected to it. And that
means anyone Jessica has transformed against their will. Weyden knows
of one person but there are probably several more. The only thing
that isn't explained here is why Weyden can remember these things but
the rest of us cannot."
"Probably because he's Jessica's husband," James suggested. "I did
everything the bell wanted until it asked me to hurt somebody I loved
more than myself."
"Vissarion tried to make me think I was helping you, Rick. Maybe
Jessica has shielded Weyden from the hyacinth's power."
Rick nodded and then glanced at the parchment again. "Whatever the
reason, we need to move fast to destroy this thing. Once we destroy
the hyacinth we can worry about freeing Jessica. But with that
hyacinth still in the ground we'll never reach her. Weyden, please
lead us there. I will read the letter and remind us on the way what
we're doing here. Murikeer? Do you see anything?"
The skunk's one eye gazed heavenward so resolutely that he had to be
shaken to wake him from his stupor. After spluttering incoherently
for a moment the skunk came to his senses and Rickkter asked him
again. "I saw... I saw magic flowing into Lake Barnhardt as if it
were a river about to pour over the top of a waterfall. I don't know
what it was, but it was... beautiful in a terrible way."
"It was a hyacinth, I'll tell you more on the way. Now come."
Dallar's company had more questions, but Weyden assured them of
everything that Rickkter related about the hyacinth and his former
adventure. Larssen remembered the hyacinth that Yonson had brought
with them to Metamor two years ago, but neither Van nor Maud could
recall anything about it. Maud did openly wonder what would happen to
her once they destroyed the hyacinth but Larssen assured her that he
loved her no matter whether she was giraffe or human. Van muttered an
indiscreet remark suggesting something about their compatibility
which earned him a smack across the back of the head from Kayla and
uncomfortable chuckles from Dallar and Rickkter.
But even ribald humor could not keep the raccoon from reviewing the
letter every few seconds as they walked through the gates of Lake
Barnhardt and down the stone-paved main street of the city. Several
townsfolk greeted Dallar and his friends in delight, but the ram
politely informed each that they had to report for now but would be
delighted to share an ale or two with them later. This satisfied all
but one persistent shrew who complained about the injustices they had
suffered at the hands of Glenners and that only Dallar and his men
had shown the fortitude or possessed the stature necessary to redress
the wrongs they suffered. This continued for nearly half a minute
before Rickkter growled at them, bared his fangs and let bolts of
energy crackle between his ear tips. The sight of that blue fire and
every strand of the raccoon's fur standing on end was enough to
convince the shrew to seek justice elsewhere.
"You all were rather popular here," Murikeer noted drily to the ram
as Rickkter continued his recitation on the evils of hyacinths and
Jessica's complicity in planting one in Lake Barnhardt, a fact that
made Kayla's heart skip a beat every time she heard it.
Weyden led them to the barracks which were situated near the castle
and on the southern edge of the city overlooking one of the principal
civic squares. Upon arrival, Rickkter turned to his former student.
"You know, we could just have you open a sink-hole beneath the
building, collapse it in on itself, and be done with this whole
business right here and now."
Murikeer chuffed, used to his former teacher making suggestions he
hoped were only half-serious. "I think the local soldiery may take
issue with that, especially those inside at the time."
"True," Rickkter concurred, looking up at the crenelated roofline.
"Still, we can keep that as a reserve option in case this does not work out."
The guards at the barracks recognized Dallar and let him and his
entourage in without question, assuring Charles and the others that
their mounts would be given oats and a stall with fresh hay to rest.
Warily, the ten stepped into the barracks and headed for the stairs
to the second floor. There were two floors, each of which had high
ceilings which made it easy for the larger Keepers such as Larssen
and Maud to move around with ease. For smaller Keepers like Charles
and Van the place felt immense but they were both accustomed to such things.
On the second floor landing they met one of the Captains of
Barnhardt, Naomi of the archers. The red-haired woman was surprised
to see them, but smiled to each of Dallar's company. "Oh, Captain
Dallar! We didn't expect to see you or your men so soon in Lake
Barnhardt again! What brings you back here?"
"We have to fix something Jessica left behind her," Dallar replied
with a quick glance at Rickkter who nodded back. "Our friends are
here to help us. We need access to the roof."
Naomi's weathered and dimpled face furrowed anxiously. "Will you need help?"
"We might. Best you don't interfere for now. We'll call down if we need you."
Naomi nodded and gestured to a corridor on her left. "This way. The
ladder is right over here. But Bertrand was on the roof two days ago
to clean it and he didn't see anything unusual."
"He wouldn't have," Rickkter noted in dark tones. "Let's keep moving.
I'm having trouble remembering why I'm here."
"Me too," Larssen said, reaching one hand behind his back to rub at
his long neck.
If Naomi thought this remark odd, she didn't say so. She led them
down the passage to another open area with storage chambers on all
sides. In the front wall a ladder with broad steps rose to a latched
wooden door. Charles was the first to climb the ladder, scurrying up
with long tail dangling beneath him. He swung open the door and
hopped over the edge. Light poured into the barracks before being
blocked by his scarred face peering back down. "There's something up
here. Come on."
Kayla followed him up, and then Rickkter. Murikeer and James went
next. Dallar hoisted a shrunken Weyden with Van quick on his hooves.
Maud and Larssen waited until last, each wary that their weight might
be too much for the ladder. But it held and soon all ten stood on the
roof of the barracks.
They didn't cast about their eyes at the vista of mountains, the
splendor of the ancient castle, nor the lively sprawl of the second
largest city in Metamor Valley. Their eyes all turned as one toward
the eastern edge of the barracks and the plot of fresh ground
cultivated there. Rising up from that ground was a single flower with
bright purple blossoms stacked in little towers of lace. The
blossoms, their petals straining toward the noon-day sun, quivered in
a sudden breeze.
"So we meet again, my little friend," Rickkter sneered before folding
the parchment and tucking it into his tunic. Fire blossomed on his
paws a moment later.
----------
Jessica had enchanted a little more than a score of her feathers when
the ribbon constricted with a palpitating flash. The hawk lifted her
head and wings from the weave of magic she'd been inscribing into the
next dozen feathers, worried at the ribbon's strange behavior. Her
will stretched out and touched its silken contours allowing the image
of what was most present to it to come to life before her.
As if she perched upon its balustrade she saw the rooftop of the
barracks in Lake Barnhardt and her precious hyacinth reposing in the
warm noonday sunlight. But the hyacinth, quiet and simple in its
vegetative life, was not alone. To her surprise she saw many of her
friends assembled there warily advancing upon the purple flower. Her
husband was amongst them.
It seemed she did not have four days after all. The betrayal stung
deep but there must be an explanation for it. Clearly her friends did
not understand her purpose in using a hyacinth to give strength to
her spells. But what could she do about it?
You can defend me.
Cheered by this thought, Jessica straightened and stretched her wings
until the tips bled into ribbon around her. Her enchanted feathers
thrummed, the spells stretching outward to embrace her friends.
----------
"I don't know what defenses this has," Rickkter said as he took a few
tentative steps toward the hyacinth. "Fire worked well enough last
time. But last time it didn't know I was coming. Muri, watch my back."
Charles and James fanned out to the raccoon's left, their weapons
drawn and ready. Charles spun his Sondeshike until it was a spinning
silver disk. Larssen gripped his massive blade, keeping himself
between the hyacinth and Maud who stepped carefully behind him.
Murikeer and Kayla flanked Rickkter, with Weyden between them and
James and Dallar and Van nearer the giraffes. For several seconds the
hyacinth remained unperturbed. Now that they could see it they could
not forget it. This was the source of whatever was corrupting their
dear friend Jessica.
Rickkter extended one arm, an arc of fire lancing toward the flower
just as Murikeer lifted his arms, wincing from the pain of magic,
even as he shouted, "Look out!"
The air about the hyacinth appeared still, but as soon as the blast
of fire neared, it sprang into a violent column of spinning purple
bands, each shimmering with the varied hues of Spring as if an artist
had dropped his paints into a drain and watched them all blend
together as they were sucked into the sewers. The blast of fire
scattered into harmless ash, followed a heartbeat later by whips of
energy that erupted from the maelstrom to strike them in the chest.
Murikeer's shield cracked in front of him but held long enough for
him to see the raccoon beside him dwindle in stature until he fell
onto his tail in a rumple of clothes, reduced to nothing more than a
four or five year old child. Kayla landed in a heap next to him in a
similar state of youth. He gasped in horror as he scanned his friends
and saw that the same fate had overcome each of them; even Van who
had already been touched by the age regression curse had been
rendered a little boy with ruddy cheeks and chubby arms and legs.
Both giraffes were a tangle of gangly limbs. Charles's Sondeshike
clattered across the rooftop until it wedged itself into the
northeast corner as the rat shrank until he barely stood taller than
his red vest. Only Weyden had been spared the reduction to childhood.
"Get them back!" Murikeer shouted at the hawk. He could say nothing
more because the tight weave of spells lashed toward him again. He
stretched his will and plucked a thread free and watched it
disintegrate into harmless cantrips that bounced from his shield
without even chipping it. He disarmed a second a moment later, but
the next five came too quick for even his skills. This was not like
his struggle against the Runecaster last year. On that terrible day
when he faced a wizard far more powerful than himself and only good
fortune saved him, he had been able to dismember her spells because
she had to craft each one right then. These incantations had been
prepared before and could be loosed faster than the flutter of a
hummingbird's wings.
They struck his shield with merciless ferocity. The first two spells
were destroyed by his shield, even if they sent cracks radiating
outward, splintering the edges like a woodsman striking a log with
his axe. The third spell cracked the shield in half, while the fourth
blasted one of the halves into incoherence. Through the remnants of
his defenses the fifth spell struck home. Murikeer gasped as the
magic passed into him, wrapping him and warping him with a tight
complex of threads that worked through the Curse like a seamstress
sewing a patch onto an old cloth.
He stumbled backward, a giddy sensation filling him as the world spun
and grew larger. His clothes entangled him as he lost his footing and
with a laugh he tumbled on the ground with a terrific and vivacious
energy. A sudden wild impulse struck him and he tackled the confused
looking sheep boy, latching his teeth onto his stubby horn. The sheep
boy bleated in surprise before rolling to his side and head-butting
the skunk with a laugh.
----------
Weyden gaped. His friends were all children, some of them struggling
to get out of the too baggy adult cloths, and others already naked
and running around the top of the barracks screaming and laughing.
His talons scraped the stone, trying to summon the old guard captain
he'd been at one time in his life to figure out what to do. But for
some reason he couldn't find him; all that was left was a frightened
husband staring at the swirling mass of light and wind that had taken
the shape of his wife's face.
"Jessica!" he cried, trembling beneath his feathers. "What have you done?"
Her voice seemed to echo as if it bounced from the mountains. "They
will all be fine. I will come there myself and set all things right.
I just could not let them harm the hyacinth. It is the key, my love.
The key to a brighter future for all of Metamor. Please keep them
safe now. I'll be there in a few hours. I love you, my Weyden."
And then the image vanished and the tower of light dispersed like a
million butterflies scattering. The hyacinth remained, the roots
strong, the stem wide, and the bounteous blossoms vibrant and open.
Weyden turned away from the plant, his chest empty, and stumbled
toward the trap door. Naomi waited at the bottom of the ladder with a
confused expression. "Is everything all right? I hear children!"
Weyden was grateful in that moment that he'd been made a hawk because
very few mammals could understand his expressions. With good fortune
she would never realize just how stricken he was. "A little mishap.
One of Jessica's old spells turned everyone else into animal
children. Can you help me get them somewhere they'll be safe. And...
they could use some clothes."
Naomi blinked in surprise but nodded, almost laughing but not quite.
"Certainly. How did that happen? And what are we to do with them?"
"Jessica's on her way from Metamor. She'll sort everything out. In
the meantime... just keep them safe and from running into the street naked."
"I'll fetch a few others to help. And some mothers to mend clothes to
fit them for now. Just keep an eye on them."
Weyden felt something with claws and a big tail jump onto his back.
He squawked and nodded, gasping for breath "I will."
----------
May He bless you and keep you in His grace and love,
Charles Matthias
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