Declarations of Allegiance - Part VII

he celebration lasted well into the next day. Sometime after midmorning, while the amazingly sober Misha was drinking his blackberry wine that Charles had bought him, the rat saw Garigan leave, an odd look across his face.

Charles watched him leave, and then patted Lance on the shoulder as he extracted himself from his seat. "Excuse me."

The moose shifted about, his hooves clattering on the stone floor. "Of course! Where are you going?"

"To get some air, I'll be back."

Misha looked a bit disappointed as he indicated his wine. "But I haven't finished telling you about how good this tastes!"

Charles laughed. "I'm sure it is wonderful. I'll be back shortly, and you can tell me then."

Outside the cave is was a bright day, with nary a cloud in sight. Birds chirped and sang in the upper branches, and the boughs themselves swayed back and forth in the gentle winds. Charles could see Garigan standing over by the wagons that the troops had come in. The rat called out, "Hello, my friend! What is wrong?"

Garigan waited for the rat to approach before snapping back. "Nothing's wrong. I just want to be alone."

"Why is that?" Charles leaned against the wagon his paws gently stroking a dull breastplate.

"I said I wanted to be alone!" Garigan snarled at him between his teeth.

Charles calmly appraised him, noting the way the ferret tensed with each word. "Do you really want to be mad at me?"

Garigan's glare dropped for a moment, to be replaced by a look of surprise. "What?"

"You don't like being filled with anger all the time do you?"

The ferret turned away, his sinuous body curling against the wagon side. "No, I don't."

"But you cannot help it can you?"

"What do you want?" Garigan asked stormily, turning to face the rat again, his eyes aflame.

"I just want to help you," Charles replied, holding out his hands meekly. "If I told you a way you might be able to control that anger, would you try it?" The greyish figure sighed pensively for a moment, and then nodded. "Good. Now I want you to close your eyes and think about your heart."

"My heart?"

"Yes, now close your eyes and do that. Here, hold my paw," Charles held out one paw, and Garigan took it in his own. Charles could feel the tension in that flesh. And he knew that he was almost certainly right about the ferret as well. "Now, close your eyes and think about your heart."

Garigan did so, his face still twisted with the anger he could not keep down. "Okay, now what?"

"Put everything you know in your heart. Take it all, even the anger, and take it with you to your heart. Imagine that your heart is inside a hand. Once you have everything in there, close up that hand. Now mark the hand. You choose the mark. Once you do that, open the hand again, and release everything you put there. Do you understand?"

Garigan nodded, and a look of intense concentration filled his face. Charles watched him, ignoring all else for what seemed several minutes till all of the anger evaporated at once. Garigan opened his eyes, and looked curiously at Charles. "How did you that?"

"Do what?"

"Make my anger go away?"

Charles smiled. "You did that, Garigan. What mark did you chose?"

"A sword, why?"

The rat took a deep breath, and exhaled slowly. "I know it is true, but I find it very hard to believe that it could happen this far north."

"What? What are you talking about?" The ferret asked in confusion.

Charles picked up the breast plate and handed it to Garigan. "Can you bend that with your hands?"

Garigan laughed derisively. "Nobody could do that!"

"Try it."

The ferret nodded, and bent at the metal, but of course, it did not even warp slightly. Finally, after a few moments of intense exertion, he handed it back to Matthias. "That is some of the strongest metal we have, of course I cannot bend it!"

Charles calmly took the breast plate in his hands, and without so much as a grunt, pulled the ends of the sheet together. The ferret stared at him in complete shock. "How did you do that?"

"Through much practice. I have an inate magical ability to control physical force. In the Southlands, there is a group of mages who spend their lives learning and utilizing this power for the betterment of all society. I was once a member in good standing before I came to Metamor. We were called Sondeckis." It was the first time Charles could remember saying the word aloud in years.

"Sondeckis?"

"Yes. And the only reason I have told you any of this is because you possess the Sondeck too. I'd suspected since I met you, but I wasn't sure till you told me that the mark you used was a sword. A Sondecki will always use either a sword or a shield," Matthias replied proudly.

"I'm a mage?"

"No, you are not. You possess a good bit of power, or your anger would not be so great all the time. That is one of the first lessons a yellow learns, to control that anger," Charles added as he tossed aside the ruined breast plate. "You need to be trained by a Sondecki to make proper use of your powers. I would like to take you on as my pupil."

Garigan turned away from him again. "Why should I agree to that? I'll have to leave Glen Avery if I do. You certainly aren't going to stay."

"Yes, you will have to leave. But unless you get control of your power, your anger will grow and grow, till you do something that you will regret. I've shown you one way to contain it, but it won't always work, and you won't always be able to think clearly enough to employ it. Also, if you come with me and train, you will be that much more capable to protect your homeland when you are finished."

"And when will that be, ten years from now?"

"I would only ask that you stay long enough to control the anger. After that, you may leave whenever you choose to go."

The ferret kept his back to Charles, his mind clearly lost in thought. Matthias felt his whiskers standing on end again as he waited. The sun began to poke its way through the foliage overhead, casting a bit of light on the field in which they stood.

"If I go with you, I want to be able to return to the Glen if they are ever attacked."

Charles nodded quickly. "Of course, I would never dream of taking this place from you. And you must promise never to mention any of this to another. Not a word of it. Swear to me you will never speak of it to any but me."

Garigan nodded. "I swear I will never tell another soul." He then dug his hindpaws into the dirt. "But I'm still not sure about the rest. Let me think about it."

"We're going to be leaving as soon as Gornul is ready to travel. Burris said he should be all right tomorrow. So do not take too long."

Garigan nodded, and then walked off into the forest glen. Charles was left alone by the wagons. He looked at the ruined breast plate, picked it up, and then bent it back into shape again. For some reason, he felt he had to do that. Walking back to the bar to be with his friends, he felt happier than he'd had in a long time.

The ferret was not there when they left tomorrow morning. Gornul was lying in the back of the wagon draped in blankets. He slept most of the way. Misha and Charles exchanged stories about all the good times they had while they were there. Charles did not show it, but he took little joy in the trip back.

Nor did he let Phil know of his disappointment when they reported to the lapine upon arriving back, despite the fact that the prisoners they had taken were reportedly eager to talk. When it became known to him that Lady Kimberly was too busy with her own chores to come out to see him, his spirits dimmed even further. His only consolation was that nobody knew they were returning today, so it was probably just that she hadn't heard news of his arrival yet.

When he finally went back to his little hole in the wall after a week of sleeping underneath a tree, he felt as if he'd lost something special. Charles stepped into the room, and was about ready to pull of the special tunic that had been made and improved for him when he noticed something amiss. There was a door in his room.

Charles curiously walked over to it and opened it up, and saw inside another bedroom, this one of larger proportions than he could use. Looking about the dresser, desk, and bed, he saw a closet at the far end that was slightly ajar. Pulling open the door, his eyes beheld the color yellow. Every garment had yellow sewn into them, and all of them were designed for a musteline.

But the one that grabbed his attention the most was a simple robe of purest yellow, with an emblem upon the sleeve. It was of a red shield with a palm inscribed in the center. In the palm was a white sword.

Charles closed the closet without so much as a squeak, then he dashed outside, climbed to the nearest promenade, and stared wide-eyed out across Metamor. Though his sight was not good, he could see the ferret riding through the center of town upon horseback. He felt his claws dig into the stonework, and his heart was filled with joy at the sight. And then somebody touched his back with a gentle paw, and his tail felt the touch of a furry leg.

He turned about and saw the most beautiful face he could have ever envisioned. "Lady Kimberly!" he cried out as he wrapped her up in his arms, hugging her tightly. "Oh I've missed you so! I am so happy to see you!"

"I missed you too!" she replied in her song-like voice. "How was your trip?"

Charles looked back across the promenade and the fields to the solitary figure that was heading towards the castle. "It was amazing. You must come see Avery's Glen sometime. But first, I'd like to introduce you to a new friend of mine that will be staying with me for sometime. His name is Garigan."

"Well, let's go and meet him then," she smiled, her whiskers tickling the rat beneath his chin. Charles hugged her tight against his bright blue tunic that he wore with pride as he walked down the steps leading to the main courtyard, their tails entwined behind them.