As Lina and Amelia trekked back to meet up with Gourry and Zelgadis, the wind started to pick up. By the time they reached the inn, a blizzard was upon them.
"Great, just great! No way we can travel in this!" Lina made her way inside, tugging Amelia along.
"Hey Lina, where were you?" Gourry looked up from where he had been sitting.
"I ran in to a bit of trouble." Lina glanced down to Amelia, but then continued on. "We won't be able to leave as soon as I wanted to. There's a nasty blizzard out there."
"Great, so now what do we do?" Zelgadis sighed. (He was sitting near Gourry, watching the supplies they had just bought.)
"Hey, I'm not against a warm bed for the night." Lina winked. "Who knows how long it'll be before the next one?"
Lina went to the main desk to reserve rooms for the night, then the group went to their respective rooms to settle in before dinnertime.
As Lina arranged her room to her liking, Amelia nudged her leg to get her attention. When Lina stopped to look at her, Amelia whined, trying to explain her earlier actions.
"Amelia, save it for when I don't have to guess everything you're trying to tell me. And don't worry, I'm sure you had a very good reason to do what you did. Just don't do it again, especially if you're not with us. You've got to be careful now, especially since you aren't exactly human." Lina hated to scold, but even she knew she couldn't protect Amelia from everything.
Amelia sighed. She didn't need the reminder...
"Cheer up, this won't last forever. We're close to finding how to cure you, and after that it'll be a snap!" Lina smiled.
Amelia wagged her tail. It was times like these that she was glad to have such a great friend - even if Lina did have many flaws.
After looking about the room for a moment, Lina clapped her hands together, as if to knock off any dust that may have been there. "Okay, things are in order here. What say we go get some dinner?"
Amelia barked out happily. Food was always a good thing!
By morning the storm had finally stopped, and Lina was eager to get moving.
"But Lina, why do we have to leave so soon?" Gourry asked.
"Because, the sooner we find this person we're looking for, the sooner we'll be done with this quest. I'm sure you agree, right Amelia?" Lina looked back, alarmed that she couldn't see the wolf anywhere. "Amelia?"
Said wolf suddenly broke through the snow before plunging back in again.
"I don't think it was such a good idea to leave when the snow is so deep." Zelgadis groaned as he fought through the waist-high snow.
"Yeah, well, too bad! We can't wait any longer!" Lina also struggled to get through.
"It's not really so bad." Gourry replied.
"Again, not all of us have long legs like you, Gourry." Lina groaned.
The four continued to trudge on throughout the day as best as they could. Just as the sun sank low in the sky...
"Say Lina, how are we supposed to find this place?" Gourry asked.
"Well..." Lina paused. "I don't know, actually. I'm thinking we'll find something out of the ordinary."
"Like that?" Gourry pointed up in the sky.
"Don't do that, Gourry!" After the initial shock, Lina followed Gourry's gaze. "What's that?"
"It's too far for me to see well, but it looks fairly large." Zelgadis commented.
Amelia just looked on in bewilderment. She couldn't see nearly as far as her companions to even know what they were talking about. Although, she did hear the flapping of wings, but that could just be birds, she reasoned.
"Let's get a closer look!" Lina scampered down the mountain.
"Whatever it was, it went into those trees." Gourry pointed out.
"Yes, but that looks more promising." Zelgadis motioned to a small column of rising smoke.
"I think we found what we were looking for." Lina grinned. "Now come on!"
Lina's suspicions proved correct, for the smoke was coming from the chimney of a house. A rather large house, but a house nonetheless.
"Are we going in, or aren't we?" Zelgadis didn't care to stand outside gaping at the house.
Amelia wagged her tail, then pulled forward on the leash.
"Hey, wait up!" Lina and Gourry stopped gaping to catch up. As they neared the door, Lina turned to Gourry and Zelgadis. "Now, let me handle this."
Gourry and Zelgadis obliged and let Lina go in front of them. Lina knocked on the door.
"Anybody home?" Lina called.
The door opened a crack. "What business do you have here?" a feminine voice asked.
"We were sent here by... (What was his name? Oh!) Lee. He told us you could help us." Lina replied.
"Ah, seekers of knowledge, welcome!" The door opened the rest of the way to reveal a tall robed woman. "I am Thisbe, caretaker of this place. Please, step inside." She stepped aside as the group came in.
"So how may I assist you?" Thisbe asked.
"Actually, we were hoping you could help our friend here. You see-" Lina was cut off as Thisbe walked right past her.
"What a marvelous piece of work you are! Were you born this way?" Thisbe poked and prodded Zelgadis.
Zelgadis backed away. "Cut it out! And no, I was cursed." He glowered at the memory.
"Whoever did it was a master craftsman. Where's my notebook?" Thisbe looked about, totally oblivious to the others.
"He's not the one I was talking about!" Lina cried. She didn't appreciate being ignored.
Thisbe looked to Lina, as if noticing her for the first time. "Oh? Who, then? Surely not the swordsman..."
Gourry backed away. "Lina.." he wailed quietly.
"It's all right, Gourry. As I was saying, our friend here," Lina pulled Amelia out from behind Zelgadis, "has come about a serious predicament."
Thisbe glanced at Amelia. "You don't say. Heydu, I need your assistance out here!"
What looked to be a wingless scaled bat hopped off of a nearby bookshelf, notebook in hand, and scampered up to Thisbe.
"Now then, be a good lad and take note of this." Thisbe knelt down in front of Amelia, but directed her questions to Lina. "So what happened?"
"Well, she was infected by a werewolf at some point, of which I'm not sure, but when we took her to a healer he botched things up." Lina answered as best she could.
Thisbe gasped out loud. "You mean she was human?" She looked over Amelia, checking in her ears, eyes, nose, mouth, etc. (Much to Amelia's dismay!)
"Yes, we're hoping to find a way to regain her humanity."
"Unfortunately, if you were to try and cure her now, you would only kill her. Maybe if you found an infected human..." Thisbe got lost in thought.
"We did! Uh, sort of." Gourry responded.
"What was that?" Thisbe asked.
"What Gourry was trying to say is that she has been infected, er, again. It happened when we met Lee." Lina said.
"Surely Lee didn't?" Thisbe looked horrified.
"No, it was some bandit-turned-werewolf. He got what was coming to him though." Lina grinned.
Thisbe breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad to hear it. That one was always such a brute! Now then, were there any adverse effects?"
"Yes, she got seriously ill right after. She's still a bit feverish." Lina said.
"You didn't heal her with magic, did you?" Thisbe questioned.
"What? Well yeah, she had a gaping wound that couldn't be ignored." Lina hated being put on the spot.
"Would that make a difference?" Zelgadis wondered.
"Absolutely. While you're speeding up the healing process, if there are any foreign bodies, such as bacteria, viruses, and whatnot, you speed up their reproduction as well." Thisbe stated matter of factly.
Lina and Zelgadis looked at each other in astonishment.
"In any case, it may have actually helped you." Thisbe said. "All right, that's complete. Are you getting all of this, Heydu?"
Heydu gave a thumbs up and continued writing.
"So what do you think? Can she be helped?" Zelgadis asked.
Thisbe met Zelgadis' gaze. "This isn't heard of, but I think there's hope for her. Now where did I put that book?"
Heydu lept to a bookcase, pulled out a book, and brought it back to Thisbe.
"Why thank you, Heydu! Now then..." Thisbe flipped through the book, Heydu perched on her shoulder, looking as well. "Ah! There. Now then, it says you need Wolfsbane to kill a werewolf, but I think it would also be very effective in purging the wolf from her body."
Gourry smiled. "Great! ...but where do we get it?"
"It naturally grows in most forested areas. It's too cold up here, but you ought to be able to find it in the lower lands." Thisbe continued to look in the book.
"Then that's where we're headed!" Lina replied.
Thisbe looked up, a serious expression on her face. "I must caution you. Should you give her too much, or at the wrong time, it could be fatal."
Everybody visibly paled.
"How will we know how much to give her, or when?" Zelgadis asked.
"That I can't help you on. I imagine the best time to give it to her is when she's not in the form of a wolf. Oh, what a great opportunity to gain new knowledge!" Thisbe practically squealed out in excitement.
Amelia was rather put off by Thisbe actions, and slowly crept over to hide behind Lina.
"Now then, was there anything else I could help you with?" Thisbe smiled.
"No, act-" Lina was again cut off, but this time by loud shrieks and squawks coming from outside.
"Oh, those two again! If you'll excuse me, I've got to attend to my pet Gryphons. Feel free to stay here for the night." Thisbe then dashed off to another part of the house.
"Hey thanks!" Gourry called.
Lina and Zelgadis shared a look. What kind of person kept Gryphons as pets?"
Later that evening after Thisbe had gone to bed, Lina, Zelgadis, and Gourry were browsing through the vast library of books.(Thisbe's personal collection!) Amelia looked on.
"Ah...so this is what that plant looks like." Lina held up her book and pointed to a picture.
"That looks kind of like Zelgadis' hood." Gourry noted.
"...that's one way to remember it, Gourry." Lina turned to Zelgadis. "Find anything yet, Zel?"
"No, it's always the same thing over and over: 'A Chimera is a three headed beast.'" Zelgadis glared at the book he was reading.
"How is that supposed to help Amelia?" Lina asked.
Amelia barked at Lina, then looked back to Zelgadis, wagging her tail.
"See, Amelia says I'm justified to pursue my own interests." Zelgadis smirked at Lina.
"Did you actually understand her just now?" Gourry looked at Zelgadis in awe.
"No, it just seemed like what she would say." Zelgadis admitted.
The group went back to reading.
"Well this looks promising." Gourry cut in.
"What is it?" Lina and Zelgadis both looked to Gourry to go on.
"It says that werewolves can change form at will."
Lina glanced at Amelia. "You hear that, Amelia?"
Amelia heard it. She immediately willed herself to change back into her human form.
"Wait, there's more! It says that any human that is cursed with ly...lycanthropy can lose their reason the longer they are cursed. What's that mean?" Gourry asked.
"It means that they would lose their sense of right and wrong, who they are, and even possibly what they were." Lina frowned.
This broke Amelia's concentration. She looked worriedly at Lina and whimpered.
"Relax Amelia, that's not going to happen to you. I think that's enough of the books for one night! Let's hit the sack." Lina closed her book.
Amelia wagged her tail happily, then bounded off to where they had laid out their bedrolls.
"That may be what I said, but I'm worried." Lina spoke quietly to Gourry and Zelgadis.
"You don't think Amelia will lose her sense of reason, do you?" Zelgadis asked.
"Not yet, but she's showing signs that she's getting used to being a wolf. We need to find that Wolfsbane, and fast!"
The gang all slept soundly, despite having a hard floor underneath them. All was quiet...
And then Amelia heard it.
It was fairly quiet, nothing to be alarmed by, and yet her senses were screaming! Amelia quietly got up from the floor and sniffed about. There was just a hint of something in the air, but it definitely left a trail. Amelia followed the scent...
...right to Lina's pack. At first Amelia was puzzled by this, until she heard the soft squeaking and sounds of gnawing coming from within the pack.
Lina had carelessly tossed her pack to the floor earlier, and the flap that usually covered the top was laying alongside, leaving the top opening exposed. Amelia took the opportunity to stick her head inside. She couldn't see anything, but she could smell the small thing inside, and from all the noise it was making, it knew she was there and blocking it's escape!
Without even thinking Amelia snapped her jaws into the small creature and pulled it out of the pack. She was about to eat it when she realized just what she had done! Horrified, she spat it out of her mouth and skittered back to where the others were still fast asleep.
Amelia was really beginning to frighten herself.
"Ugh! Nothing like hard floors to make you stiff!" Lina sat up and stretched, trying to get the crick out of her neck.
"It was much better than sleeping outside." Gourry replied.
"True."
"And don't forget, you were the one who left that town so fast. We were lucky that Thisbe is so hospitable." Zelgadis commented.
"Yeah yeah, I hear you. I just wish I had something to eat before we head back out." Lina sighed.
"Isn't that what you have the pack for?" Gourry asked.
"Oh yeah, my pack! I've gotten too used to not planning ahead." Lina admitted sheepishly.
"Some consider that a character flaw." Zelgadis noted.
"Shut up! I didn't ask you." Lina stuck her tongue out at Zelgadis.
"Hey Amelia, you can't sleep forever." Gourry poked at the wolf.
Amelia just looked at Gourry, then looked away. "Human, I'm human!"
Lina got up and moved to her pack, only to shriek out loud.
Gourry shot up, followed by Zelgadis. "What is it, what's the matter?" Gourry asked.
Lina blushed in embarrassment. "Sorry, it just took me by surprise." Lina looked at the little carcass by her pack.
"Don't worry Lina, that little mouse is dead." Gourry smiled.
"How reassuring." Lina rolled her eyes.
"Whatever got it sure did a good job of mutilating it. See, the head's nearly severed." Gourry pointed out.
Lina clutched her stomach in disgust. "Thank you for that, really." Lina smacked Gourry on the head. "What's wrong with you? Do you think I wanted to know that?!"
"Ouch! Sorry!"
Just then Thisbe stepped into the room. "What's all the fuss about?"
"Lina got scared by a mouse." Gourry replied.
"I wasn't scared by it, it just startled me!" Lina elbowed Gourry.
"Oh, we get invaded by mice about this time every year. I really ought to get a cat." Thisbe knelt down and picked up the little body. "Then again...Heydu! Have you decided to be my pest control?"
Heydu shook it's head "no" but then sniffed at the mouse. It sat in thought for a moment before pointing at Amelia.
"Excellent observation, Heydu. After all, wolves will prey on mice." Thisbe stated.
"She's not a wolf! ...not a normal one, anyway." Lina sighed.
Thisbe looked gravelly at Lina. "You must cure her soon, that is all I can say."
"Yes, Lina, we should be on our way." Zelgadis said.
"No breakfast yet again... Not that I could stomach it anyway!" Lina snapped at Gourry.
"I said I was sorry." Gourry shrugged in defeat.
Lina turned back to Thisbe. "Thank you so much for the information and again for letting us crash here for the night."
"Anything for seekers of knowledge. I wish you victory in your search." Thisbe smiled back at Lina.
"Thanks, we'll probably need it." Lina and the others packed up and headed out the door.
"Whoa, look at all the snow!" Gourry looked dumbfounded.
"We should go before it snows any more." Zelgadis said.
"Thanks again, Thisbe, you were a real help." Lina waved good-bye.
Thisbe waved back until the group was out of sight. then turned to a figure hiding in the shadows.
"You could have said "Hello", you know."
For any who were curious, Thisbe was the very first character I ever rolled up in Dungeons and Dragons. Her claim to fame was that she was a Thebestan (or a mage who wandered the world in search of new knowledge.) And yes, her name was inspired by the Shakespearian play I was reading in school at the time (Much Ado About Nothing, the part when the workermen put on a play for the nobility) because I am terrible at coming up with new names. She specialized in studying animals (monsters included), and before our campaign died, she had come to own two Gryphon eggs and two Wyvern eggs. (The Gryphons made it in to this story, sort of. Gourry saw one flying.)
Heydu is a Homonculous, or assistant that is usually made from the mage's blood (as seen in the Slayers OVA's when Diol makes all of the Naga copies). Unlike a familiar it has the same intelligence as it's master (in this case, Thisbe), and is more of an assistant. As the D&D book put it, the mage could have a homonculous assistant AND a familiar. I just made up the name Heydu for this story. Back in the day I took German, and du means 'you', so I'd often say "Hey, du!" (I still don't know the German word for hey, but at this point I don't care.)
Also, the figure Thisbe was talking to at the end was her traveling companion, Nulldrin. (An oddity in himself as he is part Dark elf and Wood elf. He tends to keep to himself though.) I really just ought to post up the background story I had to write for Thisbe...
As for reviews...thanks again! Maybe someday I can have a dog of my own so I can have fond memories as well! (As for kids, I grew up in a neighborhood full of them, and quite a few weren't very nice to the neighbor's dog. I don't think it's possible to live in any area free of mean kids.) o_O;;;