Story name: Hunt
Author: Charles Matthias
Publication date: May 17, 1999 (on TSA-List)
Date: Late June (less than a week after the Summer Festival), 706 CR
Location: Metamor Keep (Deaf Mule Inn, Long House)
Overview
Misha tests Charles's stealth and evasion around the Keep. They discover an amazing gift from the Keep.
Summary
One morning, Misha proposes a game of hide-and-seek to Charles to test his stealth and evasion abilities. Morph form is not allowed; they will have to remain in animal form, and they will have to remain within the Keep itself. The goal for Charles is to evade capture before nightfall. And so Charles hides as a rat atop one of the Keep's tapestries, searching for a crack to slip into. To his surprise, Misha appears below him, sniffing along the wall where Charles had just been. Charles desperately hops to another tapestry, but a bulb clatters to the ground and alerts Misha. Charles continues to scurry and leap across tapestries and stone ledges while Misha can do nothing but yip and whine from below. Charles finds and slips inside a crack, and Misha, though disappointed, knows Charles won't remain hidden for long.
Charles finds the crack much deeper than he thought; a sense of claustrophobia comes over him, and Charles gives himself over more and more to his animal instincts. Not even the Song of the Sondecki can hold his mind together. He is tempted to go further into the darkness to be a rat forever, but familiar scents and sounds refill his consciousness.
He emerges near a table beside the pool tables at the Deaf Mule Inn. Michael, Lindsey, and Lance are there, talking about their recent work with the Timber Crews with Zhypar, Tallis, Nahum, and Copernicus. Copernicus offers to start a game of pool, and everyone groans. Only Zhypar is willing to accept the offer. As they set up, the back door opens and Misha steps in. Avoiding the crack, and knowing he could never open the front door, Charles scans the room, and sees a fireplace and a chimney on the far wall past the pool tables. He makes a dash for the fireplace, and Misha quickly charges after him, knocking over chairs, tables, and people to reach him. Charles is stopped briefly by a boot on his tail and a falling chair, while Misha is grabbed and tackled by several Keepers. Charles manages to escape again, and Misha is dragged back in.
Misha changes to his morph form and apologizes to everyone. Donny is upset at the broken furniture, and orders Misha to pay it off by working in the kitchen.
Charles emerges from the chimney and re-enters the Keep near the kitchens. He hopes to see Kimberly, but instead a state dinner is being prepared. Thalberg enters to inspect the food, and soon after Kimberly enters with a loaf of fresh bread from Gregor. Thalberg wanders off and Charles climbs from the upper shelves to meet Kimberly. His visit delights her, and after some tender pettings, he leaps off to find another hiding place.
Charles waits in the hallway outside the Ducal chambers, watching as the guards change and the partially-changed Yonson leaves the Duke's chambers. As late afternoon arrives, Misha arrives and quickly spots him. Charles scampers along a ridge on the wall, which stops at a door to a storage closet. Charles rushes inside and dodges the pursuing fox's attacks, as a servant panics at their roughhousing. Charles traps Misha under a stack of linens and charges out of the room and into the room opposite. Despite its beautiful interior, he ignores it and heads to a slightly open door, Misha breaking free and charging after him. Inside is a Sondecki training room, with an altar and an angel statue. By instinct, Matthias taps the Sondecki into the angel's left ankle. When Misha follows, a trap activates, and the statue moves and grabs Misha, pinning him with its wings.
Misha is forced to admit defeat, while Charles finally realizes where he is: an exact replica of the Sondecki training room in Sondeshara where he grew up. Freeing Misha, the two explore the hall and the adjoining rooms, finding the pantries stocked with fresh food, the armory with weapons, and the offices with writing supplies. The doors and windows have enough defenses to withstand a siege. Both gradually realize what a great gift that the Keep has given them: Charles now has a room to train Garigan in, and Misha has a new headquarters for the Long Scouts. Taking out some wine and some mugs, they have a toast to Metamor Keep.
Characters
Main characters:
- Charles Matthias: A rat morph, a Sondecki, and a new recruit to the Long Scouts.
- Misha: A fox morph and the head of the Long Scouts. He is training Charles Matthias.
Minor characters:
- Michael: A beaver morph, part of the Timber Crews. He is much more broad-shouldered since Charles last saw him. Charles especially misses his company.
- Michael still enjoys a variety of foods, including fish and meat. He eats some roast chicken at the Deaf Mule.
- Lindsey: A male gendermorph, part of the Timber Crews. A muscular man, he helps hold down Misha in the Deaf Mule.
- During their conversation, Lindsey whispers something to Zhypar, who twirls his thick red beard in response.
- Lance: A moose morph, part of the Timber Crews. He helps hold down Misha in the Deaf Mule.
- His antlers are currently covered in velvet.
- Tallis: A rat morph, newest Headmaster of the Writer's Guild.
- He eats some freshly baked bread.
- Nahum: A fox morph, member of the Writer's Guild.
- He eats some beef and drinks fresh apple cider.
- Copernicus: A lizard morph, a friend with several of the writers. Misha runs into him, and sends him backwards into a table.
- Zhypar Habakkuk: A kangaroo morph, a Headmaster of the Writer's Guild. He is astonished by the scene in the Deaf Mule, to Charles's delight.
- Donny: Proprietor of the Deaf Mule, a bull morph. After Misha broke two of his chairs, he makes Misha work in the kitchen. Misha only spent an hour there and has not fully paid off his debt.
- Thalberg: The Keep Steward. He is fond of state dinners, and personally inspects the food in the kitchens.
- He is dressed casually in a short red robe and jerkin.
- An ibis servant in the storeroom. He panics as the two morphs run through the fragile supplies, but is audibly relieved when nothing is broken.
Cameo:
- Kee: The Keep messenger.
- Rupert: Phil's bodyguard, a gorilla morph.
- Yonson: The Keep ambassador from Marzac, an animal morph of some kind.
- It was less than a week that Charles last saw him
- His eyes have turned completely golden brown. His blond hair has turned grayish-brown. His feet have started to change, and a tail is starting to grow.
- Instead of his blue robes, he wears a simple pearl gray doublet and hose, and a surcoat with Marzac's heraldry.
Referenced:
- Chief Tathom: Head of the Timber Crews, a bull morph.
- Nasoj: The enemy of the Keep.
- Wessex: A Keep mage with several apprentices.
- Phil: A friend of Matthias, a Headmaster of the Writer's Guild, a rabbit morph.
- Gregor: The Keep baker.
- Posti: The late Prime Minister. Discussions are underway for choosing his successor.
- Madog: A fox automaton. He damaged a statue of a Duke a while ago.
Locations
- The Long House makes its first appearance here, though it is not named as such yet.
- The long hall is the central room of the Long House. It is wide, the size of the throne room, with a high ceiling and chandeliers. The floor is covered with a chartreuse carpet with a Pyralian swirl pattern. There are two fireplaces on either side, with tapestries, torches in sconces, and doors to other rooms along each wall. Overlooking the hall are balconies with ornate stained glass windows, accessed by an oak-banistered stairwell. The windows are a facade; there is a hallway alongside these windows, with two sets of narrow windows to the outside, one to let in sunlight for the windows, the other for archers. There is also an alcove for holding boiling oil.
- The front door can be securely locked from the inside to withstand a possible attack. The outside is marked with an unknown heraldry.
- Also part of the Long House are various rooms, each adjoining the main hall:
- A Sondecki training room, the exact copy of Charles's Sondecki training room. The walls and floor are made from smooth yellow clay, with no imperfections in their surfaces. On one wall are shuttered windows to the outside. There is a hearth on the far wall, with a black Sondecki banner hanging over it. Opposite the windows is a broad granite altar, on which sits a statue of an angel with open upraised arms. Behind the altar are cases of long wooden poles, daggers, and inoffensive weapons.
- The angel is actually a trap, activated by using the Sondecki on the angel's left ankle. It will grab and imprison anyone who is not Sondecki. It can be deactivated to release its captive by using the Sondeck in her right ankle.
- Touching the altar is deadly to anyone who does not possess the Sondeck. Artifacts holy to the Sondecki are normally placed here for their protection.
- Pantries, kitchens, and meat rooms, each fully stocked with salted meats, vats of butter and flour, supplies of nuts and eggs, and casks of ale and water and milk.
- An armory with rows of hauberks, plate mail, halberds, mein gauche, sabers, scimitars, long bows, crossbows, and other weapons and armor.
- A smithy with a modestly-sized forge.
- A small library.
- Misha's office, near the far inglenook. It holds a desk, with an ink bottle and parchment and a quill pen ready. There is a small empty placard on the back, along with a narrow green banner with the emblem of an overlapping axe and longbow. This emblem becomes the symbol of the Long Scouts.
- Other miscellaneous offices.
- A Sondecki training room, the exact copy of Charles's Sondecki training room. The walls and floor are made from smooth yellow clay, with no imperfections in their surfaces. On one wall are shuttered windows to the outside. There is a hearth on the far wall, with a black Sondecki banner hanging over it. Opposite the windows is a broad granite altar, on which sits a statue of an angel with open upraised arms. Behind the altar are cases of long wooden poles, daggers, and inoffensive weapons.
- Charles notes that the Keep's variable geometry is not completely random — most places stay in the same general area. There are also very few cracks in its walls.
- One hallway of the Keep has at least 5 tall Kelewair tapestries hanging on iron bars, each spaced a foot apart. A stone ridge wraps near the bars around the corner of the hallway.
- This area is on the opposite side of the Keep from the Deaf Mule Inn.
- The Deaf Mule has a gambled roof. It is also adjacent to the Keep kitchens.
- There are four doorways in the Deaf Mule. The front door leads outside. It is the traditional entrance to the Deaf Mule. The back door is on the opposite wall and leads further into the Keep. It is rarely used, mostly only during a siege. The staircase to the guest rooms upstairs is beside the back door. The kitchen door is behind the counter along the side wall. The only other openings are a crack in the wall opposite the kitchens, and the fireplace.
- The hallway outside the Ducal chambers is lined with eleven marble statues of the most prominent leaders of Metamor Keep. It has thick red carpet, with placards and ornamentation along the stonework.
- The storeroom that Misha and Charles invade has a variety of extravagant gifts, seasonal decorations, and broken furniture. Among other things:
- An expensive set of fine china from Elvquelin;
- A large, old, broken grandfather clock;
- A package of gossamger linens and table cloths.
- Kelewair is a town in the Midlands, and is a well-known manufacturer of tapestries. They sold many to the Keep before the curse of Nasoj. It has a small little-travelled forest to the north, which is the subject of many legends and stories in its tapestries.
Story Connections
- Matthias is reminded of the scouting he and Misha did near Glen Avery in Declarations of Allegiance. This is also the time that the Keep gave Garigan his bedroom and Sondecki robes.
- At the time, when he was a feral rat, he was twice the size of his pure rat form, just enough to keep up with Misha.
- Matthias mentions when the Keep made the chapel, in New Beginnings.
- There is a continuity error: Snips and Snails is said to have happened several months ago, and yet Rickkter, who had only arrived less than a month ago, was present for the events.
Points of Interest
- It is a common dream of Metamorians to rebuild Metamor to its glory before the Battle of the Three Gates.
- The state dinner will include, among other foods, bechamel sauce, forcemeat, quenelles, and fresh bread.
- Long House meetings, to this point, had been held wherever they could find the space. The Long House becomes the Long Scout's official headquarters.
| < Second Cycle | Matthias's Third Cycle | Fourth Cycle > |
|---|---|---|
| Stories | Stories in yellow are not part of the cycle proper, but give important context for other stories. | |
| False Winds · Stepping Up to Destiny · Fingers in the Weave · Four on the Floor · Fireside · Hunt · Intercessor · Intersecting Correspondence · Jormugand · The Three Sides of Truth · Lawbreakers · Casualties of War · Killing Time · Legacies · Libraries · Four by Four · Liturgy of Blood · Longing · Nuptials · Relic · Wandering the Keep · Winter's First Chill · The Winter Assault | ||
| Major Characters | Charles Matthias · Garigan · Kimberly · Misha Brightleaf · Rickkter Akabaieth · Caroline · Gornul · Father Hough · Jessica · Kashin · Phil · Saulius · Thalberg · Duke Thomas · Vinsah · Wessex · Yonson · Zagrosek · Zhypar Habakkuk |
|
