"Hello! Anybody home?" Lina called out.
She and Gourry had entered the local healer's shop, hoping that he was still awake.
A man carrying a small oil lamp walked into the entryway. "Yes, who is it? Do you have any idea what time it is?"
"Yes, and I'm sorry sir. We're having a bit of an emergency." Lina replied.
The healer lit more lamps in the room, effectively lighting it. He looked at the trio.
"Sorry, but I'm no vet. You'll have to take your dog elsewhere."
"Dog?!" Lina grit her teeth. "But sir, you don't understand. My friend here was infected by a werewolf. We're hoping you can help her."
"Of course! Bring her this way." The healer led Lina and Gourry into his office, and indicated for Gourry to place Amelia in a chair.
After Gourry had done so the healer began to bind Amelia to the chair with a rope.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Lina questioned.
"Restraining her. I'd hate for her to come to until I was ready, wouldn't you?"
"Yeah, I suppose..." Lina mumbled.
"Now then, before I begin... With the cost of time, labor, and supplies, the cost is going to be 450 gold."
"What?! That can't be right!" Lina gasped.
"I'm sorry Miss, but it is, and you'll have to pay before I can begin treatment. Clinical procedures, you see."
Lina grudgingly took out the amount and gave it to the healer.
"Thank you! Now this is going to take some time, so you might want to do something else for a while. I hear the restaurant down the street is having an All-You-Can-Eat buffet tonight."
Both Lina and Gourry's eyes lit up.
"All right, food!" Lina glared at the healer. "Just don't pull any funny stuff, or I'll have to punish you. Come on, Gourry!"
"I'm way ahead of you, Lina!" Gourry raced out the door.
"Hey! Gourry! Come back here!" Lina chased after him.
The healer chuckled to himself. "Well, that was easy enough. Those men really did their homework. As for my patient..."
The healer took a short strong piece of rope and wrapped it around Amelia's muzzle. He then secured it behind her head. As he was working, Amelia groggily came to.
"Awake, are you? No matter. I'll have you fixed up in a moment."
He walked over to a set of drawers, opened the bottom one, and after digging about for a moment, pulled out a vial.
"I have this made up special, just for you. I don't know who you are, but you definitely rubbed somebody the wrong way."
Amelia, still somewhat disoriented, looked at the stranger in fear.
"Now then, no reason to fear me -yet." And with that, he forced the vial into Amelia's mouth. He then forced her head back, making her swallow the contents.
Amelia tried to thrash about, but she could hardly move with the constraints. And then she was overtaken with pain again.
The healer smiled with glee. "My hypothesis was true! If you can remove the wolf from a Were, why not the man? ...or woman, in this case."
As the healer gloated, Amelia's body again went through a transformation, but instead of regaining her human form, she became a full wolf.
"Hmm, interesting how the eyes remained blue. I'll have to make note of that. Now then, time to instill some fear into you!"
He took out a dagger and proceeded to slash his clothing, nicking himself as well.
"Don't worry, you won't remember your life as a human after tonight!" The healer then slashed through Amelia's binds, freeing her from the chair. He then kicked at her, taking full advantage of her inability to move.
"Get up, you pathetic cur!"
Amelia slowly got to her four feet, and clumsily hobbled about, trying to dodge the crazed man's attacks.
"That's right, run from me!" He moved to a door and opened it, revealing the street outside.
Amelia saw her chance at freedom from the crazy, and lept for the door.
"Help! Someone help me! A wolf...attacked me!" The healer hollered out the door.
Fellow villagers, woken by the shouting, looked out to see their healer ragged and bleeding, and a wolf leaving the scene of the crime. Just as the healer had hoped, the villagers gave chase, throwing anything they could at the foul creature!
"Did you hear? Some rabid wolf nearly killed Doctor Zucker!"
"What? Is he all right?"
"Barely. They've sent out a search party to kill the wolf! Come on!"
Lina looked up from her meal. "Why don't I like the sound of that?"
"Hey Lina, wasn't that the name of the guy we left Amelia with?"
Lina looked at Gourry in shock. "Come on, Gourry!"
Lina and Gourry ran from the restaurant and out into the chaos of the streets. Lina stopped the nearest villager.
"What happened? What's going on?"
"Some crazed wolf attacked Doctor Zucker. Sorry to run, but I'm going to be the one to kill it!" And with that, the villager dashed off.
Lina also dashed off, but to the building she had left Amelia in.
"Please no, please no, please no!"
As Lina entered the building, she saw the good doctor, and what was left of his office. Lina ran to him.
"What happened?"
"Th-that beast attacked me! Why, I'm lucky to be alive, what with how she tore out of her binds!" The healer raved.
"This can't be happening! Please, somebody tell me this isn't happening!" Lina moaned.
"Hey Lina, look at this!" Gourry said.
"What, Gourry?"
"These ropes were cut, but not by any teeth or claws I know about. See how cleanly they were sliced?" Gourry held up some rope.
"Yes, it looks like a knife was used." Lina glared at the healer. "Something tells me you're lying."
"What! Preposterous! Why, the very idea..." The healer stammered.
"Save it, old man. Either tell us the truth, or I'll make you tell it." Lina readied a Fire Ball in her hands.
The healer's persona totally changed. "I'm sorry! They put me up to it! I didn't want to do it, but they gave me so much money I couldn't refuse!"
"Is that so? Who put you up to this?"
"Two men, but they were working for somebody else! I'm sorry, but that's all I know! Please, don't hurt me!" The healer wailed.
"All right, but where's my money?" Lina asked.
"Here, it's right here!" The healer removed his money pouch and gave it to Lina.
"And where's the money you were bribed with?"
"You can't have that! It's mine!"
"Considering what you've done to my friend, consider losing it over losing your life. Now where is it?!"
The healer pointed frantically to a bookcase. "It's up there! Please don't hurt me!"
"Gourry, get the bag." Lina ordered.
"Got it." Gourry reached up and took to bulging sack of coins.
Lina took the money from Gourry, then glared at the healer. "You're pathetic. " She then turned back to Gourry. "Let's get out of here before the villagers succeed!"
As Lina and Gourry dashed back into the forest, two men approached the healer.
"You weren't supposed to reveal anything, old man. Now we'll deal with you my way!"
An agonized scream rang out into the night air, shortly followed by an explosion.
"I am going to be so dead! Oh why did this have to happen?" Lina yelled in frustration.
"Well, I heard somebody talking about how despised wolves are in that village, and didn't you see all of the trophies in the restaurant?" Gourry replied.
"No Gourry, I was too busy eating. Why didn't you say anything?"
"It didn't seem important at the time."
Lina shot Gourry a dirty look. "So are we going the right way, oh Master Tracker?"
"Well, those are wolf tracks, and considering all of the people who came through here earlier, I'd have to say yes."
Lina and Gourry continued running through the forest, until Lina threw up her arms in exasperation.
"This is taking too long! C'mere, Gourry!" Lina grabbed onto Gourry's arm.
"Raywing!" Lina shouted, then took to the air.
Gourry was less than happy with the situation. "Ah! Lina, what was wrong with running? We can't follow the trail from up here!"
"We don't have to. Look." Lina pointed near the horizon.
"Those villagers sure don't give up. What are we going to do, Lina?"
"For now, hope that they don't get to Amelia."
"Lina, what if they do get to her before us?"
"I'd rather not think about it." (Amelia, don't get yourself killed!)
Amelia was confused. Things had been going well enough earlier, but then something happened. The more she thought of it, the less she could remember. There had been two people, friends if her failing memory was correct, but she couldn't recall who they were, or where they were now. The only constant at this point was the mob chasing after her, but try as she might, she was having difficulty running.
The running itself wasn't so bad, it just felt wrong. She had tried to get up on her hind legs, but then she would fall, and that only brought the mob closer. So she ran on four legs as best as she could, despite how wrong it felt.
She continued running, for how long she couldn't tell. Eventually her legs began to tire, until finally her legs collapsed out from under her, sending her sprawling to the forest floor! She cringed, waiting for the mob to overtake her.
....silence. The forest was completely silent. Not a human voice could be heard, nor any torch lights seen.
Exhaustion finally caught up with her, and Amelia fell into a deep sleep.
"I think we're getting close, Lina. These tracks are fresh."
"Good, I'm about ready to drop."
Amelia's ears perked up, bringing her to full alert. They were still after her! She got up on her tired legs and continued her mad dash into the forest.
A moment later Lina and Gourry came into the small clearing.
"Look there! It looks like we just missed her." Gourry pointed to a small area of flattened grass.
"What, she was sleeping this whole time?"
"Uh...yes?"
"That's it! I am too tired to take another step!" Lina collapsed onto the ground.
"What, you're going to sleep right on the ground?" Gourry asked.
"Unless you feel like getting all of our gear that we left behind, this place looks as good as a large feather bed to me right now." Lina yawned. "So tired..." Lina curled up in her cape and went to sleep.
"Oh, okay." Gourry shrugged, then propped himself against a tree. He was snoring softly within minutes.
Notes for this chapter? How about the fact that I am lousy at coming up with new names! Zucker is actually German for sugar (Zoo-ker), and while the doctor sure didn't have a sweet disposition, I always thought Zucker sounded cool. (And Umgebung is too long!) ^_- Sure he must have been nice enough to have such respect from the villagers, but even those with the best intentions can be swayed, as we saw.
Also, for any that might be suspicious, wolves are actually NOT a favorite animal of mine. (I'm partial to felines, cougars especially.) It just fit for this idea, so I ran with it. I'm hoping that I can finally put all those years of reading about various animals to good use. (If not, I'm having fun trying, anyway!)