The night seemed to stretch on into eternity, but finally daylight streaked through the darkness. Amelia gave a small cry of joy, but was cut off by the burning pain. With the Sun's arrival, the Moon's light was diminished, and with it the curse. Amelia welcomed the change as she was nearly frozen, but also feared it. She wasn't sure how intact she would be the next time.
The burning pain finally gone, Amelia curled up as tight as she could to keep in as much warmth as possible, then slipped off into unconsciousness...
As she slept, she dreamed that she was free, dashing through the snow. At first she was alone, but she was quickly joined by other wolves who howled in joy at her arrival. She too was overjoyed to see them, and followed them away from her prison, and deep into the mountains, their howls resounding in the hills.
Amelia finally woke up, yawned, and looked out of her prison (knocking down the snow wall so she could so so.) She could still hear howling faintly. She shook her head to fully wake up. She was startled to realize that she could still hear howling, and even worse, it was getting closer!
Amelia crept out of her doghouse and looked about, only then noticing how dark it was out. She looked to the main house, fearing that Chet might hear. So far the house was dark. Amelia gave a small sigh of relief, turning back to where she had last heard the wolves.
Three shadows came into view, quickly making their way right to her! Amelia decided to take action.
"Please, if you value your lives, come no closer!" She barked.
The three wolves stopped in their tracks and looked to each other in confusion. The middle one then took charge and approached Amelia.
"Were you the one we heard howling?" he asked.
"Yes, I was. I didn't think I'd get a response though." Amelia answered a bit sheepishly.
"What else were we to do? You sounded as if you were in trouble, so we came to see if we could help." The leader walked over to her doghouse, and sniffed at the chain binding her to it.
"Please, leave it be! If he finds out that I escaped...and should my friends come and not find me..." Amelia's ears drooped.
"Any human that would treat a creature like this should be punished." The leader replied, growling.
"Yeah, let's take out some of his calves!" One of the other wolves spoke up.
"Idiot, they're too protected! We should go after the chickens instead." Grinned the other.
"No, you can't! He'll only kill you if you do!" Amelia cried out in fright.
The leader growled at the other two to be quiet. "Please forgive them, they are still young, and have never encountered this human before." He glanced at the house and snarled.
"You do, don't you?" Amelia asked.
"All too well. He killed my mother while I was still young. He got my father after he went seeking vengeance." The leader stated.
Amelia could only gasp in horror. "Then why did you come here?"
"As I said, we heard a distress call, and came to see what we could do. We'd not leave one of our own to die here. I wouldn't mind hurting him as he has me..."
"I'm grateful to you, but you can't sacrifice yourself like this. He'll wake soon, and I'd not want your death on my head. You should leave while you can." Amelia replied. "And should you die, what will become of your pack?"
"We're already starving as is." stated one of the wolves.
"Silence! We didn't come here to burden her with our problems!" The leader snapped, then turned back to face Amelia. "Would you truly want to stay here until you die? The human has a reputation of killing his guards more often than keeping them. I'm surprised that you still live, despite how long it's been since we first heard you."
"No, I do not plan on dying here! My friends will come for me, I just know it!" Amelia tried to sound hopeful.
"We didn't see any other wolves around, Ma'am." replied a wolf.
"Oh, well, they aren't wolves. They're humans." Amelia saw the strange look the other wolves gave her. "Er, good humans! I was taken from them by force; they must be worried sick about me."
"Say, we did see three humans a day ago." replied the other wolf.
"Where?" Amelia nearly tackled the poor pup in her excitement.
"Up over those hills," he motioned behind him, "but they were going to other direction."
"Oh no, Miss Lina..." Amelia whined.
The leader's ears perked up. "Lina? As in Lina Inverse?"
"THE Lina Inverse?" chorused the other two in wonder.
"Yes, but how do you know of her?" Amelia replied, a bit mystified by their reaction.
"Shortly before I gained control over my pack, we were captured by humans. Bandits, she called them. They used us to gain control over those they robbed, against our will. When I thought all was lost, Lina Inverse came and freed us from our enslavers!" The leader replied.
"She's a hero to us!" yipped a wolf happily.
Amelia wagged her tail happily. No doubt Lina had attacked the bandits for their loot, not for mistreating nature, but she wasn't about to say anything!
"You travel with her?" asked the other.
"Yes, she's a very good friend of mine." Amelia replied.
"Surely we cannot leave a friend of Lina Inverse's to a fate such as this!" The leader barked.
"You don't have to, if you bring her here!" Amelia said.
"How'd we do that? She can't understand us." whined a wolf.
"Actually, you won't have to talk to her." Amelia ducked into the doghouse and came out with her letter. She set it in front of the leader. "Just give this to her."
The leader sniffed at the collar/letter, then picked it up in his teeth. "We will do so at once! Come, you two." The leader, realizing he was alone, looked about.
Amelia too looked to see where the others had gone, then spied them behind her doghouse, digging in the snow. "What are you doing?"
"Something's in here. It smells good!" replied the first.
"Yeah, and our pack hasn't been able to find much food the past month." whined the second.
Of course! They had found where Amelia buried the 'food' Chet gave her each night.
"What are you two up to? We have a job to do!" The leader barked.
"Sir, I'm very grateful for you doing this for me. If this food can help your pack, please take it with you." Amelia smiled.
"All right!" The two wolves uncovered their prize and dug in.
"But what will you eat?" the leader asked.
"I'll manage, especially if you direct Miss Lina and my friends here as soon as possible." Amelia replied.
"You truly are as great as Lina Inverse." the leader bowed to Amelia, then shoved the younger wolves away from the food. "Know your manners!" he barked.
Amelia sat back and watched as they ate, and after bidding them farewell, watched as they disappeared into the surrounding forest. She yearned to go with them, but dreaded that if she did, she may never regain her humanity. Amelia crawled back into her doghouse, waiting for the hour that she would see her friends again.
"I hate traveling in snow, it's so easy to get lost." Lina complained.
"At least we don't have to starve." Gourry tore into his rations.
"Not yet, but we'll have to head back to town eventually." Lina replied.
Zelgadis sat and sipped his rapidly cooling mug of tea. He looked out into the surrounding forest, nearly dropping his drink. "Lina!"
"Huh?" Lina turned and saw it too. Wolves were approaching.
"What do you think they want? We don't have any food for them." Gourry shook his now empty food sack.
"Hey, you were supposed to save some of that!" Lina smacked Gourry.
"Lina, they're getting closer." Zelgadis tried to bring Lina back to the present dilemma.
"What should we do?" Gourry asked.
Lina watched the approaching trio. As they got nearer, two of the wolves stopped, leaving the third to continue on by itself. Lina noticed it was carrying something in it's mouth. "Hey, that looks like..."
"Lina?" Zelgadis asked.
"Relax guys, I'll handle this." Lina stood and took a few steps away from her traveling companions, and toward the wolf.
When he was five feet away, the wolf dropped what he was carrying onto the snow, then rejoined his companions.
Lina continued to watch the wolf as she stepped forward and picked up what had been dropped. She looked at it and gasped.
"What is it, Lina?" Zelgadis asked, still keeping a wary eye on the wolves.
"It's Amelia's collar. There's something here." Lina pulled out the parchment. "Help, I'm trapped. Come soon. Amelia." Lina read. "You found Amelia?" Lina looked to the wolves.
The leader met gazes with Lina, then turned and looked to where he had come from.
"Guys, I know where Amelia is. Come on!"
Gourry and Zelgadis quickly packed up, and stood next to Lina.
Lina looked back to the wolf. "Thank you."
The wolf bowed low, then motioned to his companions. The three then melted back into the forest.
"That was weird." Zelgadis commented.
"Yes, I'll have to ask Amelia about it later. Now come on!" Lina took off down the path indicated, followed shortly by Gourry and Zelgadis.
"Is that it?" Gourry asked.
"There's not much else around here except trees, so looks like we made it. I don't see any sign of Amelia though, do you?" Lina peeked out of the forest and into the farm in the clearing.
"Let's get closer." Zelgadis urged.
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis made their way out of the forest and into the clearing...
As Lina exited the trees, she was startled by a furry blur rushing straight at her. Lina also noticed said blur was attached to a chain, and sure enough, the chain grew taught, stopping the blur in it's tracks. No longer moving, it didn't take Lina long to figure out what had dashed out at her.
"Amelia!" Lina exclaimed.
"Amelia?" Zelgadis couldn't believe his eyes. The creature looked too bedraggled up to be Amelia..
"It has to be, but she looks pretty beat up." Lina replied.
They ran to the gasping creature's side who, sure enough, was Amelia.
"Amelia! We looked everywhere for you! We-phew, you need a bath." Lina plugged her nose in disgust.
Amelia happily barked in reply, her tail wagging so hard it looked like it would fall off.
"Hey, what's all the racket?"
Lina, Gourry, and Zelgadis looked to see a large man standing on the porch of the house. Amelia growled silently at him.
"I see now." Lina got an evil grin, then quickly donned a more pathetic look as she dashed up to the man. "Oh thank you, thank you, kind sir!" Lina teared up a bit, just for effect. "I've been looking everywhere for my poor stolen puppy!" Lina sniffled.
"What? Stolen? But..." Chet tried to sort himself out.
"Yes, some big bad man stole her from me!" Lina was really wailing now, then turned joyful. "Thank you so much for finding and taking care of her!"
Chet glanced nervously at Lina. "Uh, it was no trouble, little girl."
Lina frowned at that, but quickly covered it up with a cheesy smile. "I'll be taking my puppy now. She needs some serious loving after going through that awful experience!"
"But what'll I do to keep wolves off of my property?" This was too much for Chet to process!
Lina gasped in fright at the thought. "Wolves, sir? I haven't seen or heard any of those awful beats around here at all!"
Chet scratched his chin thoughtfully. "It has been quiet, but I figured that mutt was doing her job."
Lina frowned in disgust. She glanced back to see if Gourry and Zelgadis were done freeing Amelia, then smiled, seeing them waiting for her. "Thanks again, sir! We'll be going now!" Lina took off back into the forest, followed by Gourry, Zelgadis, and Amelia.
"Wait!"
Too late. Chet scratched his head as he watched the four run off. "Strange city folk..."
Amelia had been "talking" non-stop since her rescue, glad to be back among her friends.
"It's okay, we missed you too!" Lina ruffled Amelia's fur.
Gourry and Zelgadis smiled. Now that the group was back together they could finally continue their journey.
"So Lina, where to now?" Gourry asked.
"Back to town, of course! We've got to clean up, eat good food, and get rested so we can finally end this!" Lina pointed her finger skyward in a dramatic fashion.
Amelia barked in agreement. She would definitely appreciate good food again!
They spent the rest of the day trekking back to town, arriving just after sunset.
"We've been here too long; I'm beginning to think of it as home." Lina laughed to herself.
"Lina, you don't really want to settle here, do you?" Gourry asked in a serious tone.
Lina waved it off. "No way! It's too small of a town. Not nearly enough going on to keep me happy."
"Not to mention the food..." Zelgadis baited Lina.
"Don't even get me started! Sure it's good enough to be edible, but I couldn't live off of it forever! I have very refined tastes." Lina winked.
"It tastes just fine to me." Gourry commented.
"You really need to get out more." Lina sighed.
Just then the inn came into view.
"Ah, home away from home. Time to go unthaw ourselves, eh guys?" Lina grinned. She couldn't wait to leave the cold behind.
"We get to eat too, right?" Gourry nearly pleaded.
"Of course! But first I'm going to give you a bath." Lina pointed at Amelia. "No offense, but you'd spoil my appetite."
Amelia flattened her ears back, but let the comment slide.
The group finally entered the inn, and made their way to their rooms.
"We'll see you two later." Lina waved to Gourry and Zelgadis, then headed down the hall to the bath house.
"So now what?" Gourry turned to Zelgadis.
"We may as well follow suit. It was rather cold out there." Zelgadis replied.
The two men ambled down to their end of the bath house as well, ready to leave the day behind them.
"Now hold still, Amelia, I'm just taking some extra precaution." Lina, clad in only a towel, tied a small cord around Amelia's muzzle so she couldn't open her mouth.
Amelia tried to struggle, but Lina was too quick! Her jaw now immobile, Amelia could only whine her distress at being treated in such a way.
Lina ignored her. "Now then, time to move on!" Lina picked up a bucket of warm water and poured it over Amelia until she was soaking wet. "Ugh, that's awful! Just what did that guy make you sleep in? Never mind, let's just undo it."
Lina took some shampoo and slathered it all over the drenched wolf. She then began to lather it up.
"Dang, I can feel your ribs poking out! Didn't he feed you anything?"
Amelia started to wretch just thinking about it, but was able to regain her composure.
"If it's that bad, I'd rather not know! Don't worry, we'll have you good as new." Lina dumped another bucket of water over Amelia to rinse her off.
"Ugh, the smell's still there! I'm going to need more shampoo..."
"Why is it girls take so long to clean up? Is there some unwritten rule?" Gourry sighed, drumming his fingers on the table in boredom.
Zelgadis snapped to attention. "Oh, did you say something?"
Gourry looked to see what had been distracting Zelgadis, and smiled. "Looking at the local girls?"
Zelgadis blushed in embarrassment. "No, of course not. That waitress just keeps looking at me. I was just nervous, that's all."
"About what? It looks like she's smiling at you to me." Gourry replied.
"Exactly! Why can't she mind her own business?" Zelgadis crossed his arms in a huff.
"Probably because it's not everyday someone as...exotic as you comes through town." Lina grinned. She and Amelia had just come down to join the others for dinner.
"Lina!" Gourry smiled.
"Lina?" Zelgadis choked.
"Seriously though, if she knew what a jerk you were you can bet she wouldn't give you a second glance." Lina winked.
"Gee, how thoughtful you are." Zelgadis slumped down in his seat in a sulk.
"Hey, just giving you the female perspective." Lina sat down next to Gourry. "Right, Amelia?"
Amelia didn't respond. Instead she padded over to Zelgadis' side, and nudged him with her nose. When he looked down at her, she wagged her tail happily.
"You really need to stop sticking up for him." Lina sighed.
"Just goes to show not all women think alike." Zelgadis smirked. He pat Amelia gently on the head.
The waitress finally came around to their table. "Are you all ready to order?"
"You bet! I'll take the A meal, double portions." Lina grinned hungrily.
Amelia propped her front feet on the table's edge so she could see over it.
"Oh miss, please keep your dog off the table! We want to keep up a good reputation." The waitress shooed Amelia off the table.
Amelia gave the waitress a hurt look, but dropped back down to the floor.
Lina paused for a moment (still busily looking at the menu), but then continued. "Oh, and bring out an order of salad as well."
"B meal for me, double portions as well!" Gourry called out.
The waitress scribbled quickly on her note pad to keep up. "And you, sir?"
"An order of chicken is fine for me, and some tea would be nice." Zelgadis gazed at his menu, not making eye contact with the waitress.
"Of course, sir. I'll get it ready for you now." The waitress caught Zelgadis glancing at her and gave him a quick wink, then retreated to the kitchen.
"Yeah, she likes you." Gourry stated matter-of-fact.
"Too bad you'll have to break her heart when we leave, eh Zel?" Lina elbowed Zelgadis jokingly.
"Just leave me alone." Zelgadis pouted.
Amelia just stared at the door the waitress had gone through. She lay her ears back and growled softly.
"I'll be glad to get out of this place to somewhere warmer." Lina shivered.
"Where are we going to go, anyway?" Zelgadis asked.
"Down to the foothills, for starters. We need to find some Wolfsbane still." Lina replied.
"And Seyruun?" Zelgadis continued.
"I'm trying to put that off as long as possible. I don't want to be the one to break the bad news to Phil!" Lina shuddered.
"Yeah, who knows what he'll do to you?" Gourry added.
"Me? You're in on this too, Gourry!" Lina scolded.
"Oh yeah."
Lina heard the waitress returning. "Enough talk, the food's here!" Lina grinned happily waiting for the waitress to arrive.
"All right. Here's the A meal, double portions, for you miss, along with the salad," the waitress placed the order down in front of Lina, "the B meal, also double portions," she set another in front of Gourry, "and your order of chicken and tea, sir." the waitress set down Zelgadis' order and smiled at him.
Zelgadis stammered uncomfortably.
That did it! Amelia couldn't stand it any longer! No way was that human going to steal Zelgadis away! Amelia snarled as she lept between Zelgadis and the waitress. The waitress gasped in fright and fell backward onto the floor. Amelia started to advance on the fallen waitress, but Zelgadis grabbed her by the collar and held her back.
The whole thing happened in a matter of seconds.
Lina and Gourry watched on in shock, then Lina lept to her feet and to the waitress' side.
"I'm so sorry! She's just very protective of Zelgadis. I should have warned you!" Lina helped the waitress up.
"O-of course."The waitress backed away. "I'll come give you your bill l-later." The waitress dashed back into the kitchen.
Amelia continued to snarl and was all bristled up as she watched the waitress flee.
Lina stomped over angrily to Amelia. "What was that all about?"
Amelia stared right through her, still snarling.
Lina smacked Amelia across the side of her face. "Hey, I'm talking to you!"
Amelia yelped in surprise, but quickly realized Lina was standing right in front of her. She realized what she had been doing and looked sheepishly at Lina.
"That's more like it. I thought you knew better, Amelia. Even given the circumstances!" Lina scolded.
"Lina!" Gourry whispered loudly, "This isn't the place!"
Lina looked around the room to see the other patrons looking at her. "Er, sorry folks. Everything's under control!" Lina crept back to her seat.
The meal was very subdued after that. The group ate quickly, then headed up to their rooms. Needless to say, they left a very large tip!
Lina paced about her room, too mad to speak. Amelia was hiding in the corner, hoping to avoid Lina's wrath. She had the urge to bite Lina and flee, but she quickly shook that idea out of her head. That would only make things worse!
Finally Lina let out a small scream of frustration, took a deep breath, and plopped down onto her bed. "Look. I know this has got to be hard on you, but you've got to contain those wolfish habits! I understand why you did what you did down there, but you've got to stop! If you don't, you're bound to go too far, and then..." Lina slapped her hands together, "there goes your reason, and you with it!"
Lina kicked off her boots angrily, getting ready for bed. "Just remember that, Amelia. We're going to cure you, but we need you to stay in control so you'll still be here to be cured."
Amelia lowered her head, but continued to watch as Lina got into bed, then struggled to get some sleep. She knew Lina was right, these thoughts and feelings were to be avoided! ...but more and more they appealed to her. Amelia curled up in the corner and fell into a troubled sleep.
Time to keep my excuse short and sweet: pair together new video games (Golden Sun 2, and Lufia for GBA) with the dread of rewriting, and you have this chapter! (Seriously, I was avoiding the rewrite for the first part of the chapter for as long as possible! I'm just hoping it works...it's better than what it was, but I still don't like it. Oh well.)
Also one more thing for anyone who visits my web site: I just changed servers (the URL is still the same), but I haven't been able to update with the new one. I'm rather frustrated because I tried to update and was able to upload new files, but they aren't showing up. I'm hoping to figure out the problem soon, so don't think I'm ignoring you. (I'm hating not being able to update!)
As for the next chapter...it's not going to be a happy one, and things are going to continue going downhill from here. (I'm still not quite sure how this will all end, mind you.) Comments, questions, criticisms, etc. are more than welcome!