All right, this is the last part of Link 1. I'll be taking a few days'
break before I continue into the second Link. Hopefully it will not be
more than a week before I have enough of a buffer to be confident in
continuing.
-LurkingWolf
___
With a deep breath, Lucy smiled to Balrog and then moved to retrieve the
cage from the table in the corner.The room was beginning to gain a
subtle chill, as the scrawl that occupied the center of the room had
kept anyone from refueling the fire.It had kept the room's temperature
up for quite a while, but the embers were slowly dying, and the
temperature was falling as a result.It would be bearable for quite a
while, thankfully, and if all went well they would be finished long
before they became desperate for a coat.
Lucy took the cage and stepped lightly towards the center of the room,
avoiding even the tightest of weaves with precise steps and a masterful
eye for detail.As she reached the center she opened the cage and
released the ermine into the innermost circle.After being trapped for so
long, the creature quickly jumped at the opportunity to leave the wooden
bars, only to find himself restrained to the bounds of the chalk
circle.He made his displeasure extraordinarily clear to the mages who
had fashioned this new prison, but any attempts to resist were turned
away until the weasel stopped his escape attempt and stood watching the
larger creatures at their work.
Balrog had finished his inspection well before Lucy returned to the
border of the enchantment.The lutin stood with his arms crossed,
watching as the young mage carefully placed the cage against a wall.She
looked at the weaves that they had built, and at the ermine they would
be working to restore.She knew what had to be done; it was the task of
doing it that intimidated her.
"Shall we begin?" Balrog asked.
Lucy nodded."Follow my lead," she said.
She stepped into another circle of chalk that had been sketched on the
floor's surface.She was not trapped as the ermine was in his own circle,
but the two arcs had similar properties to protect against unwanted
magic.Balrog walked calmly to the opposite side, stepping into a third
shape that was identical in form and function to Lucy's own.
Once the lutin had set his feet and taken a deep breath, the girl mage
raised her hands before her and began to slowly feed magic into the
spell.The lines of chalk began to glow with their own light from her
side, and the same light crept towards the center from where Balrog was
standing.The feral animal in the center watched this in confusion,
making quiet sounds as it watched the enchantment begin its work.Only
when he began to rise up into the air at the command of an unseen force
did he react, and that was only a brief panic.The magic soon pacified
him, and he hung unmoving before the mages on either side.
"All right, let's take a look at that Curse."
Lucy allowed her vision to turn to things unseen, and she could see the
strands of magic that surrounded Lois before her.Unlike her inspections
over the past day, however, she now saw the lines in much greater
detail, enlarged and projected before her as a function of the
enchantment that Balrog had helped her draw.
"We must be careful," she cautioned."Make no attempt to change the
Curse.I will show you where we need to work."
Indeed, rather than attempting to untangle the hopeless knot that was
the spell known as Metamor's Curse, the two mages needed to move the
threads of magic in ways that were already possible within the
parameters of that Curse.Lucy carefully waved her fingers in the air
before her, slowly finding the avenue they would be using.Once she found
it, she used the enchantment to make the location clear to Balrog.
"There."A clear blue aura shone between several threads of magic,
centered around one particular chord that was only barely distinct from
its many nearby brothers.After a few moments of hesitation, another glow
appeared near her point of focus, its green color distinguishing it as
the lutin's work.
"There?"
Lucy waited, making absolutely certain that the lutin was in the right
place.She needn't have doubted his precision, as he had flawlessly
picked out the strand despite the sea of others in its area.With a small
effort of magic, Lucy willed the enchantment to magnify the area a
little more.
"Very good.All right, here is what we have to do."She slowly and
carefully described the process they were about to attempt.While, as she
had said before, she did not think that the spell had been attempted
before, she was nearly certain that it came down to little more than
moving a door on its hinges.The Curse was designed to be changeable in
this way.
The only problem was that, with Lois' will set against their progress,
she anticipated that it would be more like forcing a locked door whose
hinges had been fused by a blast of heat, and less like turning a knob
and pushing a door open.
Balrog listened to her description of the attempt silently, neither
seeming confused nor indicating understanding until she had concluded
her explanation.As she finished however, she heard him take a deep breath.
"I understand.I am ready to begin when you are," he said.
"Very well.Do what I do, and be careful not to touch anything apart from
the strands I mentioned."Lucy took a deep breath.She did not worry about
her own safety; both of them were putting enough power into the
enchantment that the safeties would have no trouble turning back almost
any backlash.She worried most about would happen to Lois if their
efforts failed.She steeled herself; she was not about to let that happen.
With a rapid burst of motion, Lucy focused all of the power at her
command into shifting Lois' form.Less than a second after she had
started, Balrog drove his own will into the same effort as both mages
braced for the resistance that they would meet.
The analogy of the door seemed even more apt in the next moment.That is,
if that door had been made of tissue that had been soaked for hours in
alcohol and then set aflame before two bulls charged through it.The
startling lack of resistance that met their efforts sent Lucy physically
stumbling from the exaggerated gesture she had used to direct the
magic.Her foot scuffed through one of the chalk lines, thoroughly
breaking it, and the enchantment collapsed.
In the center of the circle, a humanoid ermine also collapsed where an
animal had been hovering a moment before.The reaction to the magic was
so instantaneous that even Balrog, who managed to keep his focus on the
ermine throughout, failed to notice any transition.One moment Lois was
an animal, the next he had returned to his most humanoid form.
"Lois!" the lutin yelled, suddenly feeling very relieved.
The ermine, clad only in his fur, jerked as soon as he struck the
floor.He had thankfully been only a few inches from the ground, but the
fall was jarring nonetheless.The white-furred man looked around in a
hasty circle, giving Balrog only a glimpse of his panicked eyes before
jumping up to four paws.
"No!"The ermine slammed into the off-balance girl that separated him
from the door, thankfully taking no time to more thoroughly deal with
her as he passed.He slammed bodily into the portal, seeming to
completely forget how doors were operated in the heat of the moment.The
wood of the door stood solid against his lunge, however, and he turned,
wild-eyed, to stare at the lutin who rapidly closed on him.
"You can't keep me here!I will escape!"He dove straight at Balrog's
gut.The lutin absorbed the ermine's momentum, using it to lock his
friend's head in a secure, but harmless position.He dropped to one knee,
intent on letting the confused man tire himself out before he finally
released him.
Lucy groggily rolled up onto her side and shook her head to clear it,
looking up to see Balrog holding Lois in a headlock.She climbed back to
her feet and scrambled over to kneel beside Lois.
"It's all right, calm down!" she shouted.
"You can't make me one of you!" he replied deliriously.He drove a
stinging jab into Balrog's shoulder, but the stout man took it in stride
and simply trapped his arm before a second strike could follow.Lucy
grimaced, but she allowed a spell to take form in her right hand and
touched Lois with it gently.He quickly stopped struggling and relaxed,
the spell literally taking all of the fight out of him.
A moment later, the door burst open.Julian took the lead, and he took
only a moment to survey the scene before acting.He threw his open palm
towards Balrog, knocking the lutin sprawling onto his back and forcing
him to release his grip on Lois.Before he could continue, Lucy met him
halfway.
"Don't hurt him!" she demanded.When he attempted to elbow past her and
continue his onslaught, the girl caught his arm and kicked his knee out
from under him in a surprising display of speed and dexterity.Julian
even lost his grip on his freshly-drawn blade in shock from her attack,
and the fallen moondog prevented the two men following him from entering
and acting too hastily themselves.
A few moments later, Lois' unconscious form had been set back on the
table, a loose robe appropriated from the barracks for his use.Julian
stood rubbing his shoulder in discomfort, while the rest of the group
discussed what had happened.
"It seems that our theory was perhaps even truer than we had originally
anticipated," Lucy explained."There was nothing holding him in feral
form, not a single thing.I thought he would at least be willing himself
to remain an ermine, but I doubt even that was true.There was no
resistance to the shift, not even from the Curse itself."
"What happened afterwards?" Julian asked.
"I am not certain," Lucy admitted."Lois was agitated for some reason.He
seemed to think that we were attempting to hold him prisoner."She ran a
hand through her hair as she tried to decipher the events."He was
yelling at us, saying that we wouldn't turn him into one of us."
"Maybe he doesn't even realize that he is Cursed," Alex suggested.
"I do not know how that is possible, but then again I am also still
trying to figure out exactly why he was still an animal for nearly two
days," Lucy admitted ruefully.
"One thing seems certain at least; he no longer thinks that he is an
ermine," Balrog noted.Although the moondog Keeper's spell had knocked
him flat on his back, there was no harmful aspect to it, since Julian
had been attempting to protect Lois while knocking back his perceived
attacker.The lutin had recreated his illusion from before, and now stood
seeming more human than any of them but Lucy."While confusing, his
actions after our spell succeeded were clearly taken by a man, not an
animal."
Alex smiled."At least that is good news.Perhaps he was merely confused
by the sudden change."
"That is a certain possibility," Lucy confirmed.
"So, what do we do with him now?" Julian asked.
"First, I'd say he deserves a more comfortable place to rest," Lucy
suggested."It would also be wise to keep him under guard in case he
becomes violent again.Balrog seems more than capable in that regard."
"While I certainly appreciate his help, I think I would be more
comfortable leaving him under the charge of one of our patrolmen," Alex
said."As much as anything, I simply feel that seeing a familiar face
when he awakes may do him some good."
Balrog started to protest that Lois would know his face, but he was
forced to admit even to himself that they had met perhaps twice in the
last ten years.While Lois was new to Metamor, his patrol would still be
more familiar to him now than the lutin would.
"Lucy would be the most logical candidate, in that case," Balrog
conceded."She can use magic to restrain him if he attacks."
Alex nodded."Unless you have any objection to the idea?"Lucy shook her
head to his question, and her commander continued."Very well,
then.Julian.Nathan, could you go see if the barracks has any private
rooms available?If not, see if there is a cushion that can lend us at
least.I don't want Lois to wake up still thinking he's a prisoner
somewhere."
While their ranks were effectively identical, the black wolf had no
argument against the lynx's suggestion.He nodded and pushed through the
door with no hesitation.The hardest part of their task was now
done.Hopefully Dupré would not see that fact as a reason to immediately
assign them all to border patrols.
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