"Zo atz e la nah?"
"Vwee eed tsu faid a ay tsu el Amelia."
"Ahtsu re gaing oo too?"
"Eel gaw tsu ze awntahns."
"Awtahns?"
"Ah, ycantraupsu ter."
"Exactly. They will know more than we do on how to help Amelia."
Amelia's ears perked up. Up until now she had been sleeping soundly, but the sound of people talking had woken her. She began to open her eyes when something tickled her nose, causing her to sneeze.
"What was that?" she thought.
Amelia opened her eyes fully to see a campfire with three figures sitting around it. -At least, that's what she thought she saw. She felt almost as if she were in a fog. She moved to rub her eyes hoping to clear her vision but was very surprised to see two paws instead of hands!
Amelia bolted upright. Something definitely was not right! She looked at herself, noticing the swishing tail -that must have been what tickled her nose-, four legs, not to mention fur covering her from head to foot.
"What's going on?" Amelia tried to say but a whine came out instead.
"Please let this be a dream." Amelia attempted to walk, but got all tripped having four legs, then managed to get herself tangled up in the leash. She fought to get free with little success.
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis, hearing the commotion, got up to investigate.
"Amelia, calm down. What's gotten into you?" Lina asked, not really expecting an answer.
Amelia looked up to see who was speaking to her. She was confused at first because she couldn't tell who was talking to her, but then recognized Lina's voice.
"What happened to me?" Amelia could only bark in response.
"Hold on, Amelia, we'll get you straightened out." Lina said.
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis untangled Amelia, then watched as she sat up and looked about in confusion.
"What happened?" Amelia barked again.
"Hey Lina, I think she's trying to speak!" Gourry said.
"I can hear, Gourry. Too bad I can't understand her. Wait!" Lina knelt down. "Amelia, do you know me?"
"You're Lina! And Gourry! And...Zelgadis?" Amelia barked back, somewhat excitedly.
Lina shook her head. "So much for that idea. This is going to be harder than I thought."
"Oh no, they can't understand me at all! There must be something I...there!" Amelia reached out for a stick lying nearby, trying to pick it up with her paws. When that failed, she picked it up in her mouth. "Yuck! Bad idea! But it's the only way."
"I told you all of your fussing would ruin her. Now she wants to play fetch!" Zelgadis groaned.
"Hey, I didn't ask you!" Lina spat.
Amelia, meanwhile, began to drag the stick through the dirt.
"Hey, look! L...I...N...A!" She spelled your name, Lina." Gourry noted.
"Amelia, you're finally back!" Lina breathed a sigh of relief.
Amelia wagged her tail and woofed in response. Then, being startled by her own voice, began to write in the dirt some more.
"...dog? Are you asking about yourself?" Lina asked.
Amelia wagged her tail in response.
"Close, but actually, you're a wolf." Lina noticed Amelia's ears droop. "All I know is that two men are behind it. Next time I catch one of them I'll show no mercy! I'll make him talk!"
Amelia hung her head. Why were people always after her and her family? Wait! What if this was another relation's crazy scheme to assume the throne? What about... Amelia wrote more.
"Da..ddy. Actually, I haven't heard anything from Seyruun. I'm sure Phil is fine." Lina lied, but she had no way of knowing if anything had happened to Prince Phil, nor did she want to upset Amelia more.
"Wait! Amelia, what's the last thing you remember?" Lina asked.
"Pain." Gourry read.
Zelgadis cringed. "...what kind of pain?" Zelgadis asked, hoping it didn't pertain to him.
In response, Amelia spat out the stick, then tucked her head under her front paws.
"A head ache?" Gourry guessed.
"She must mean when she first changed into a werewolf!" Lina replied.
Zelgadis breathed a sigh of relief.
Suddenly Amelia let out a huge yawn.
"Good idea, Amelia, We have to set out early so we should get some sleep. Did you have any other questions?" Lina asked.
Amelia shook her head from side to side, fighting another yawn.
"All right then, let's hit the sack! And don't worry Amelia, we will get to the bottom of this." Lina said.
"You've got to love the mountain air! It's so invigorating!" Gourry beamed, a spring to his step.
"At least it would be if we were in the mountains." Lina responded.
"Well they aren't too far off. We'd get there sooner if you would walk faster, Lina." Gourry said.
"Gourry..." Lina clenched her fist in irritation, "...not all of us are blessed with longs legs like yours."
"Well Zelgadis is about the same height as you, and he's keeping a good pace!" Gourry responded.
"Hey! Are you implying I'm short!" Zelgadis snapped.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Lina glared at Zelgadis.
Zelgadis turned away from the two, feigning indifference. "I'm not getting involved."
"I didn't mean anything by it, Lina. Really." Gourry smiled innocently at Lina.
"To prove it you're paying for dinner tonight." Lina smiled not so innocently back.
"But Lina, you carry all of the money!" Gourry wailed.
"You should have thought of that before you spoke." Lina grinned.
Gourry hung his head in defeat, and the group continued walking on. By early evening they reached the foothills. (There were no towns in sight -which meant no restaurants- but Gourry decided not to share this fact with Lina.)
"So, what are we going to do about food?" Gourry asked.
"Don't know. I didn't think about the possibility of there not being a town nearby." Lina sighed.
"You could go hunting." Zelgadis offered.
"Let's see, and our weapons of choice are swords, and magic. Swords are only really effective against large prey, which I've not seen, and the last time I used magic it charred all of my fish. I was really looking forward to that meal, too!" Lina replied.
"So what are we going to do?" Gourry asked again.
"Unless something comes along, we'll have to do some foraging." Lina answered.
"Let's go then." Zelgadis said.
So the group wandered about. Lina and Gourry looked around a meadow, while Zelgadis and Amelia ventured into some nearby trees.
"Nothing but wood here, and that's not edible. Let's go back and look elsewhere, all right Amelia? Amelia?" Zelgadis looked down.
The leashed wolf was quietly sniffing about the area. She paused for a moment, then dashed into the underbrush! Zelgadis hadn't been expecting the sudden tug, and lost his grip on the leash.
"Amelia, no! Come back!" Zelgadis dashed after her, wondering what caused her to run off so suddenly.
Just ahead Zelgadis watched Amelia zig and zag wildly. At first he didn't know what to make of it, until he saw the smaller shape just ahead of Amelia. A rabbit! This could be a good opportunity to have a decent meal. Zelgadis continued chasing after the two, easily keeping up.
Amelia was totally caught up in the moment. Food was fleeing, but she had to catch it! ...if only it would slow down. Amelia finally gained on the rabbit, and lunged forward to nab it. Instead she got a kick in the face, which caused her to stumble and crash to the ground. The rabbit also lost it's footing, which sent it sprawling head over heels.
Now was his chance! Zelgadis quickly reached out and grabbed the rabbit as it got to it's feet. Not wanting to be caught, the rabbit kicked out at Zelgadis with it's strong hind legs. Zelgadis quickly remedied this by breaking the rabbit's neck. He then retraced his steps back to Amelia.
Having recovered from her fall, Amelia sat panting, trying to catch her breath. She could hear Zelgadis returning so she sat up and waited.
"Great job, Amelia. Now we'll get some peace and quiet from a certain sorceress."
Amelia wagged her tail and yipped in response.
Zelgadis and Amelia finally arrived back at the camp site.
"There you two are! What were you doing?" Lina scolded.
"Getting dinner." Zelgadis held up his quarry.
"Wow, you did better than we did! All we found were some mushrooms. Are you sure these are edible, Lina?" Gourry didn't look so sure.
"Of course! You learn a lot about these things when you're on the road. Hey Zel, bring that over! It's been a while since I had rabbit stew." Lina grinned in hunger.
"Here." Zelgadis passed off the rabbit to Lina.
"This is going to be so wonderful! Now then, here you are, Gourry." Lina in turn passed it off to Gourry.
"What do you want me to do with it?" Gourry asked.
"Gut it, clean it, prepare it for stew of course." Lina replied.
"All I've got is my sword. Can I borrow your dagger at least?" Gourry looked to Lina.
"Oh, sure." Lina pulled out her dagger. "Here you go. Just don't break it, I've had that dagger for a long time."
"I'll treat it as my own." Gourry smiled.
"Glad to hear it." Lina smiled back. She then looked down to see Amelia happily wagging her tail. "What are you so happy about?"
Amelia yipped, looked to Gourry, then back to Lina.
"Ah! You must be as happy about the food as I am!" Lina winked.
Amelia stopped cold, giving Lina a quizzical look. Body language was too overrated...
The meal was over, and the sky continued to grow darker, so the group set up camp for the night. Amelia was eager to help, but quickly found herself tethered to a stake. She whined in protest.
"Sorry Amelia, but we can't risk you getting lost again." Lina replied.
Amelia's ears drooped as she plopped down near the dying campfire.
"I'll make it up to you, promise." Lina patted her on the head then went back to work.
"Who's keeping watch tonight?" Zelgadis asked.
"I wouldn't worry about it. Nobody's around for miles, and besides, we've got our very own guard dog to warn us should there be otherwise." Lina winked.
"Well, good night then Lina, Zel." Gourry crawled into his bedroll and was sound asleep in minutes.
"He must be tired." Zelgadis noted.
"Looks to be that way." Lina yawned. "As am I. See ya in the morning." and with that, Lina also got into her bedroll and went to sleep.
Zelgadis, left with no one to talk to, looked to Amelia. Her head was facing away from him, but he could see by her chest rhythmically rising and falling that she was also asleep. Zelgadis got into his bedroll and looked up into the night sky.
"It looks like there will be a full moon tomorrow, provided the clouds go away so we can see it." he said to no one in particular. Zelgadis gazed at the stars for a while longer before sleep finally claimed him.
The dying fire finally went out, surrounding the campsite in darkness. All was silent. Too silent. Amelia was lightly dozing...
"Psst!"
Amelia's ears perked up, and she opened her eyes, surveying the area.
"Psst!"
There! Amelia saw a dark shape in the partial moonlight, about ten feet away. The shape began to advance toward her. Amelia sat up, ready to alert her companions.
"Wait, I mean you no harm!" the shape whispered.
"Then what are you doing here?" Amelia growled back.
"I've come to free you, of course."
"Did...do you understand me?" Amelia asked.
"Of course. Now do you want my help, or not?"
"Yes, please." Amelia answered.
The shape quietly moved nearer. Amelia noticed the shape was very wolf-like, but not quite. A werewolf, perhaps? Amelia hoped so, as she wanted to regain her human form as soon as possible!
"Just a sec, and I'll have you out of there." The shape pulled the stake out of the ground as quietly as possible. "There! Let's go!"
Amelia followed after, somewhat surprised that no one had stirred. After they were a fair distance away, the shape stopped.
"All right, we should be safe now."
"Er, thank you, Mister..." Amelia trailed off.
"Oh, silly me! My name is Lee!"
"Thank you, Mr. Lee. My name is Amelia." Amelia replied.
Just then the cloud obscuring the moonlight passed, finally revealing Amelia's rescuer. Lee was in fact a werewolf.
"Thank goodness!" Amelia wagged her tail. "We've been looking for someone like you, Mr. Lee!"
"We?"
"Yes, my friends and I. They were who you 'saved' me from." Amelia grinned.
"You call humans that would tie you up friends? And what do they want with me?" Lee sounded skeptical.
"They're trying to right a wrong, although they are being a bit overprotective. You see, I'm not supposed to be like this. I'm supposed to be human, too! We were hoping you might have some idea on how to reverse this." Amelia replied.
"Just my luck. It's always the pretty ones, too." Lee sighed.
"Ah, thank you." Amelia stammered.
"As for helping you, I've got no idea. However, there is someone on the other side of the mountains who just might. I stop by there every year when I travel that way. (Got to follow the game, you know.) She's a really nice lady." Lee said.
"Thank you, that's much more than we've had to go on." Amelia smiled.
"Aw, Lee's got himself a girlfriend?"
Amelia whirled around to see a hulking werewolf standing over her. He leered at her.
"You've got good taste. How's about I take her off your paws?" The werewolf grinned.
"Not this time, Bayne!" Lee put himself between Bayne and Amelia. "Amelia, get out of here! Run!"
Amelia stepped back, not sure what to do.
"You've got a lot of guts to stand up to me. Not that it'll do you any good!" Bayne launched himself at Lee, knocking him to the ground.
"RUN!!" Lee howled.
Amelia took off like a shot! She ran as fast as she could back to the campsite, but was stopped short by a sharp tug on her collar. Amelia looked back to see the stake still tied to her leash, now ensnared in some tree roots. Amelia tugged on the leash, but it wouldn't budge. Just as she started tugging the stake loose with her teeth, she heard Bayne approach.
"You can run, but I'll still catch ya!" Bayne bellowed. Seeing his prey, Bayne pounced at Amelia.
Amelia let out a cry of alarm.
No, the beginning wasn't meant to sound like the Sims, (I just realized that now as I typed it up!) I was actually having fun distorting English. You ought to be able to figure out what's being said if you say it out loud, and slowly. (If not, it's nothing too important. Just the three discussing where to go.) As for the cliffhanger, I could have continued with the next part, but I wanted to put up what I have. Everything is already written out though, I just need to type it all up. I'll try and have the next part up by next week or so.