Chapter 2

That'd occurred the night before. They'd gone home and slept normally, as if nothing had happened, but at dawn, Tarrant awoke feeling very ill. He'd only just made it to the washroom to throw up.

Alice had heard him, and had come to comfort him, rubbing his back and pulling his hair back while he vomited.

When he was finally done, she helped him rest against the bathtub, and got him some water. He was sweating profusely, and looked very sick.

"This has to be the work of the witch doctor."

Tarrant shook his head slightly, "No... no, I just had some bad tea, or something..." he suddenly paled again, and moved to throw up some more.

Alice sighed, and continued to rub his back.

The rest of the day had been much of the same, but as the afternoon came on, Tarrant began to feel dizzy as well.

He was still ignoring Alice's pleas to go back to the doctor, but he kept getting sick. Finally, she'd had enough.

"Tarrant, if you're not going to go back to the man who cast the spell, then we must find out exactly what is going on from somewhere else, and how to treat it."

Tarrant frowned, "I guess that makes sense."

They'd ended up going to see Absolem. They figured if anyone might have any idea what was going on, it might be him.

And, of course, the blue caterpillar was less than helpful. He laughed when he first heard of Tarrant's predicament, essentially telling him that he had deserved what he'd gotten. He'd then suggested that the couple speak to Mirana.

Happy to see her friends, Mirana immediately made time to talk to them, leading them to a room far down the hallway so that they could speak in private.

"So," Mirana began, watching as Alice shut the door. "What's happened? Hatter, why do you look so ill?"

Tarrant was sitting on an overstuffed chair, arms wrapped around his stomach. It was taking all of his effort not to vomit right then and there.

"He's been sick all day, and I think a witch doctor caused it!" Alice explained, taking a seat next to her husband. "He can't keep anything down at all and he's been having these dizzy spells, but we don't know what's wrong."

"Hmm. And what about this witch doctor? Where did you meet him?"

Alice described the events of the previous evening, telling her exactly where they met the group in the woods and what they looked like.

"That sounds like the Wahya clan. They inhabit the woods near the crystal caves. You mentioned that there was a purple fire?"

"Yes, a purple fire with light blue smoke. I've never seen it before."

"That's one of their trademarks, for lack of better words. They practice a nature based religion, but possess powerful magic. Poor Hatter must've really made them angry to have them cast a spell on him. Usually they are quite peaceful."

"They seemed annoyed."

Mirana nodded. "Do you recall what the spell was?"

Alice shook her head, "All I remember was the word 'gravidanza'."

Mirana's eyes got big. "Are... are you sure?" She stood, and began scurrying over to the book shelves that lined the room.

"Yes. Why? Is it bad?"

Mirana searched around for another second, then pulled a large, leather bound book out. She flipped it open.

"Well... it means 'pregnancy'. And if I'm right... yes, according to this, the spell lasts two weeks."

"I don't understand."

"Tarrant is going to go through all of the stages of pregnancy during the next two weeks, at the end of which he will give birth to a child. If he's throwing up, then he's started experiencing it already!"

"But... but he's a man! How can he give birth?! Isn't there a way to stop it?"

Mirana shook her head 'no'. "Regretfully, there's nothing that can be done. Once the spell is started, it cannot be stopped. He'll just have to go through it."

"But... how?!"

"His body will accommodate the baby. The main point of it is to make the person it's cast on as uncomfortable as possible, and to humiliate them. That in mind, Tarrant here can expect to experience all of the worst symptoms of pregnancy. Every day and a half will count as a month, equaling nine months in two weeks."

"Great."

The conversation was interrupted by Tarrant, who had begun to retch onto the carpet.