7. What are friends for?

Hank and Bobby finally arrived at the last trees of the forest and left them behind.

"Oh my god, there's Dracula's daughter also again!" Eric said.

The others turned around and saw Sheila getting closer to them.

"Shouldn't we rather run away again?" Eric asked.
But none of the others moved.
"Anyway, I would be in favour of it..." Eric meant and gulped.

Sheila was quite close to them. She just arrived at the last trees, when they suddenly heard a sort of hiss and shortly after that an angry and painfully growl from Sheila.

"What was that?" Diana asked sceptically.

Sheila stood on the path that led into and out of the forest, only a few steps away from them. But she didn't follow them any longer. Sheila took a step forwards and crashed apparently into an invisible wall.

"Um, I guess, this has something to do with magic..." Presto considered.

"Don't tell us, you have something to do with that!" Eric replied.

"Nah, I don't! I doubt that my Hat is able to do such a thing, anyhow not yet...
I guess, Sheila's stopped by a magical wall or such a thing.
You need quite a lot of magic to produce something like that..." Presto explained.

"Does that mean that this wall or whatever this is, is holding Sheila and also the other poor souls up? And 'cause they can't leave the forest for that reason, they're lost and imprisoned in the forest for ever, ain't they?" Bobby asked quietly and watched his sister hitting the wall, but always flinching with a hiss.

"I'm afraid so..." Presto admitted.

"We... we have to do something... we simply can't leave her... here..."

"But what should we do, Bobby?" Hank asked wearily.

"I don't know! But we have to do something! I don't wanna leave my sister here behind by no means..."

"It's also difficult for us but we can't do anything, Bobby. Please understand it!" Diana said.

Bobby turned around, hit his Club on the ground and grumbled, "No, you simply won't do anything! You really wanna leave her here to her fate, huh?"

"Bobby, she ain't your sister any more. This there ain't our Sheila, our Thief, any more!
That's only a heartless bloodthirsty monster now.
Have you forgotten how she's attacked me?
She wanted to drink my blood, she wanted to kill me.
And she would do it now as well, if she only could.
She would kill everyone of us, just without batting an eye. She would kill all of us cruely and without repentance, 'cause she doesn't know us any more.
She would kill you, too, Barbarian!" Eric tried to convince Bobby.

Sheila took a few steps back and tried to defeat the invisible barrier at another spot.

"Don't you understand that we have to help her?" Bobby asked, without listening to Eric, while he watched his sister desperately.
"Maybe we can get her out of the forest somehow again. When we could pull her out... maybe this curse or whatever rest up on her, would disappear...
Maybe she needs our help with that, 'cause she can't get out of the forest by herself..." Bobby considered.

And before the others could reply something to it, Bobby rushed into the forest to his sister.

"Oh shit!" Hank murmured.

"Bobby, come back! Are you nuts? She's gonna kill you!" Presto yelled behind the youngest, but the young boy wouldn't be stopped in any case by his friends.

He would help his sister, no matter what!

Even if he usually didn't take a particularly interest that his sister always was worried about him, but he was feeling a tender love between siblings, which drove him to help his sister.

"C'mon!" Hank told the others and he followed Bobby.

The boy was already expected by a quite hungry Sheila. Bobby walked up to Sheila a bit fearful.

"Sheila... please, you have to remember me! Remember, please!"

But of course Sheila didn't recognize her brother and wanted to attack him. But in this moment, when she wanted to jump upon him, Bobby yielded back fearfully, so that she missed him and fell with an angry growl on the ground. There the other friends arrived at them and came to help Bobby.
Presto and Eric held Sheila's wrists tight.
Diana took Bobby's shoulders and held on to him to prevent him from running to his sister again.
While Presto and Eric had trouble to hold Sheila tight, who defended herself very much, Hank drew his Bow and fired one of his magical arrows.
The arrow surrounded Sheila and tied her up with that. Sheila hissed angry.

"I'm sorry, Sheila. But that's only for your own safety!" Hank explained with a sad expression.

"What are we gonna do with her now, Hank?" Diana asked.

Hank turned around to face her. With that he caught sight of Bobby, who looked at his sister with tears in the eyes.
It hurt Hank deep in the heart to see the boy so desperate and sad like that and he wanted to do everything that he would be cheerful again.
And he also wanted to do everything to help Sheila.

"I... just don't know! How did you think you could help her, Bobby?" Hank turned to Bobby.

After a short hesitation the Barbarian answered in slightly sobs, "I... I simply wanted to... take her out of... the forest... 'cause... 'cause I thought she... she can't get... out of it by... herself and maybe... needs help with it... but..."

"It's ok, Bobby. You're a good boy!" Hank comforted him and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Well, why shouldn't we carry out Bobby's idea?" he turned then to the others.

"You mean we should drag her along out of the forest, only to give her an opportunity to attack us there in gratitude for it, so to speak? Oh no, count me out! This idea is sheer suicide!" Eric lifted his hands repulsing.

"But it's quite hard for her to liberate herself. My arrow holds her tight.
Or do you perhaps have another idea, Eric? I guess not.
And I definitely ain't gonna leave her here! Well?"

Eric groaned and shook his head.
"But don't say later that I wouldn't have warned you!" he added grimly.

"Well then, come on!" Hank said and turned around for leaving. He put an arm around Bobby's shoulder and pulled him with him.

Presto and Eric held Sheila's arms tight and pulled her to her legs. Sheila commented that with a hiss. Her eyes sparkled in a shining red again.

"Look out of her teeth!" Presto said to Eric, while they pulled the strongly defending Sheila to the exit of the forest.

"Of course. I don't wanna come into closer contact with these teeth anyway." Eric returned.

Diana walked behind them to secure that nothing and nobody followed them.

While he was pushed to the direction of the exit by Hank, Bobby often looked back at his sister worried.

In the meantime, both the Ranger and the Barbarian arrived at the exit and waited for the others, hoping Sheila wouldn't bounce off of the invisible magical barrier again.

When Eric and Presto crossed the boundary of the forest with Sheila they sensed a slightly jolt.
Eric threw a wondering glance to Presto. But Presto only shrugged.
There they already feared that their plan wouldn't work. But as soon as they crossed the boundary Sheila sank to the ground.
Even the both boys couldn't stop her from falling

There she kept on lying unmoved.

"Sheila!!" Bobby shouted and wanted to rush to her but Hank held him back.

The friends watched the lifeless person on the ground suspiciously; both curious and worried at the same time what all this was supposed to mean and if this was rather a good or a bad sign.

So they all stared at the lifeless girl on the ground.