Chapter 8: In Which a Plan is Formed

"Are you sure you put enough cloudberry oil in that?" Lukas asked as he mixed his own concoction.

"Of course I did, you git." Arthur snapped offended that the youngest member of their magic group was questioning his ability to get a simple mixture correct. "It should be done any minute now. It's already starting to turn to its silver color."

Peeking into the pot, the Norwegian saw the grey metallic liquid. "Do you know what all you're going to put it on?"

"I figured the axe and maybe some of the crossbow arrows." Arthur shrugged. "We just need to slow it down long enough to cast the spell."

"It might not hurt to do the bear taps as well." Lukas pointed out. "That could be a good back up, just in case. It would definitely slow it down."

Arthur nodded and blew out his flame but continued to stir the mixture. "Vlad, Alfred, Mathias. Come over here. We need to come up with a plan, as to how we are going to do this."

The trio joined Arthur at the broken down table. In the dust Vlad drew a vague map of the area from the cabin to just past the summoning area. All four of them leaned in to inspect the dust map, Arthur still mixing away.

"We have to get the creature back to the area where it was summoned." He pointed at the spot where the silver wood tree was. "This is where we have to do the ritual in order for us to send it back to its proper place."

"What does it matter if it gets sent back to the right place?" Alfred asked.

Arthur took a pause on his mixing to whack his younger friend. "You idiot. If we don't do it right, it could send the bloody beast to the town. That would be a million times worse."

"Ow." Al grimaced, rubbing his head. "Okay. Okay. I get it."

"Couldn't we just chase it into the area?" Mathias asked.

Vlad shook his head. "It chases us. Not the other way around. Any other ideas?"

There was a hush between the four as they tried to form a plan to get the beast into the proper place. After a few minutes Arthur looked up from the pan of liquid silver and said, "I think I have it, but Alfred won't like it."

"Why don't you think I'll like it?" Al asked curiously, peering at the Brit from behind his glasses.

Arthur frowned. "We have to use Matthew as bait."

"Absolutely not!" The American yelled as he stood up. "He couldn't defend himself and look at his leg…"

"Al, sit down," Mathias pulled his friend back into the chair. "Hear him out first. I don't think he would put Mattie into any danger unless it was our only choice."

"Right ," Arthur nodded. "Plus he won't be in any real danger because there will be at least three of us there to rescue him. Also, we have the silver now, so we are more prepared this time."

It was a long minute before Alfred sighed in defeat. "I don't like it but Mattie should really be the one to decide."

"Okay, let's go ask Matthew and start preparing the weapons and traps." Arthur got up from his seat and headed for the Canadian.

(LB)

"Deep breath," Lukas said, "And you can squeeze Gilbert's arm as hard as you need to."

"But I don't want to hurt him," Matthew said in between breaths.

"Oh. You won't." The Norwegian smiled. "The spell he's under makes it to where he really can't feel anything."

"Will he be like this forever?" The injured blond frowned as he eyed his friend.

Lukas paused and looked into Gilbert's eyes. "Nope. I'd say maybe a half hour to an hour; he should be back to normal."

Matthew had noticed that the albino had stopped struggling to break free. Maybe that was a sign that it was already starting to wear off as far as Matthew was concerned.

"Ready?" Lukas asked as he took off the cloth that had been protecting the other teen's wound. It still looked nasty but at least there were no streaks coming from it. Mattie nodded and took a deep breath as instructed. Lukas put a thick layer of the stitching salve over the opening. Sucking in his breath and squeezing Gilbert's arm, Matthew bit back the urge to scream. After the initial pain of contact, the pain began to numb.

Propping himself up, the Canadian could see that the skin had starting to close up. Aside from the numbness, there was a strange tingling feeling. "It feels weird. Like bugs are crawling under my skin." He commented.

"Good, that means it is working." The magical blond approved.

"Will I be healed up soon then?"

"You should be healed completely in a week or so. You might be able to walk on it in three or four days."

"Not tonight?" Matthew stared at the other teen. Disappointment was creeping across his face. "I thought I would be able to walk it tonight."

Lukas shook his head. "Not with as bad as that was. It's a slow magic mainly used to quickly heal cuts. You were injured with a gash to the bone. It can do skin quickly. Muscles and veins and nerves take longer."

Matthew frowned for a second but then changed his mind. "Thank you, Lukas."

"It's no biggie. At least I don't mess this magic up."

"Do you think we're going to get out of here?"

Lukas peered over at the others, who were head their way. "Looks like we're about to find out."

The group joined them and they examined Matthew. "Is he completely healed?" The Canadian's brother asked hopefully.

"No." Lukas answered. "It takes time, just like it takes time for any regular wound to heal."

"He said it will be a few days before I can walk again, but it's already not hurting much anymore." This statement seemed to be the truth because the color had started to return to the teen's face.

"Good." Arthur said handing the pan of liquid silver off to Vlad. "We've come up with a plan but we need your permission to execute it, Matthew."

"Why me?" The Canadian looked utterly confused. No one usually asked his permission for anything, so he figured it must be important.

Arthur and eh others took turns explaining the steps to the plan and Matthew's role in it. Unfortunately, Matthew could see no other possible way either.

"I'll do it." He agreed, gulping back his fears.

"Now you don't have to…" Alfred began to say before being interrupted by his brother.

"No, I want to. So far I've been nothing but a burden to everyone tonight, I want to help." The conviction in his eyes was visible to the entire group. "But if I die, I'm going to haunt all you butts."

This caused the groups to laugh and everyone told him they would keep him safe.

"By the time we're done getting everything ready," Vlad explained. "Gil should be snapped out of his issue."

"If you're going to do this, I should probably bind and splint your leg. Even though it isn't broken it could use the extra support." Lukas said heading for the door.

"I'll come with you to get the sticks," Mathias announced.

"I don't need your help." The feisty Norwegian snapped.

"Coming anyway."