Chapter four. Please don't sue!...Yep that's about it.
So, once again, the trio was soon trudging through the thick foilege. No one had said a word since they had left, but Dot didn't mind a bit. Aside from the cold bite of the morning air, the scenery was beautifull. All around, the trees sparkeled as the morning sun glistened off the rain drops. Early morning birds sang their magical song, and Dot found herslf wondering if they had somehow stepped into some cheap Disney movie.
Dot's thoughts were interupted as she ran into Yakko, who had stopped for some reason, and landed on her bottom.
'Oh, great. Now my skirt's all wet!' she thought angerly to herself. Just to make herself feel better, she grabed her brother's tail and pulled herself up. Yakko let out a startled yelp and cringed. He spun around and shot Dot a deadly glare. She just folded her arms and stuck her toung out. Yakko sighed, rolled his eyes, and pointed infront of him.
"Look." he instructed. Dot did just that, and saw a bit of salvation.
There, in the middle of the forest, was a small village of sorts. No houses, just rows of tents and a few fires burning here and there. A few people were out and about, going about their daily busness.
"Well, sibs. Shall we introduce ourselves?" Yakko sugested with a smirk. Wakko and Dot smiled wide and nodded. But before they could take a step foward, one of the villagers spotted them, dropped the pile of sticks he had been carrying, and took of running in the other direction. Soon, the whole village was quiet and all it's inhabitants were hideing in their tents.
"Wow! And they don't even know us yet!" said Wakko.
'Or maybe they do...' Yakko thought, amused.
"Well, now what?" Dot asked. As if in responce, and all at once, the villagers came chargeing out of their tents, carring sharpened sticks, spears, and even a few guns.
"Uh, I would say that "run" would be a good bet!" Yakko responded, and found that Dot and Wakko had already taken off.
So, back through the woods they ran, the villagers on their heels.
"What did we do!" Wakko called to his siblings.
"I...don't know! Just keep running!" responded Dot. Unfortunelty, soon after that, they came face-to-face with a rock wall.
"Oh, great. Why am I not surprised!" Yelled Yakko. With nogthing left to do, they spun around to face the villagers. The man that seemed to be leading the mob, pointed a spear at Yakko.
"Whoa, whoa! Listen, buddy, I don't know what you think we did, but you've got the wrong guys-" Yakko tried to reason. The whole mob gasped and stepped back.
"You- you can speak!" the leader asked in disbelief.
"...Don't encourage him." replied Dot.
"They speak!" came another villager's statment from somewhere in the crowd.
"Yea! And we can play dead and roll over, too! Wanna see?" Wakko responded. The leader eyed Yakko suspicicously, still refusing to lower his weapon.
"Where did you learn to speak, beast?" he demanded. Yakko was taken aback.
"Beast? We're not beasts! I will have you know we are perfectly normal vertically-challenged pre-adults!" snapped Yakko, then looked over at Wakko, who was now trying to fit a rock up his nose.
"Well...the word "normal" being used loosly, ofcorse." Yakko added.
"Have they not fully changed yet?" came yet another villager's voice. This only surprised Yakko for a second.
"Changed? Whoa-ho, no! We've alwase looked like this!" replied Yakko. The leader just looked at him, a blank look on his face. The crowed began to whisper amungst themselves.
"They can't be wherewolves! Look at them!" called another random villager.
"Wherewolves! How dare you! I swear, a person sees one kid with a tail and floppy ears, and they go jumping to conclusions..." Dot snapped at no one in particular. This seemed to calm the crowed down a bit, however, and for once, Yakko was glad for his sister's short temper. The leader at last lowered his weapon.
"We are sorry, furry childen. Please, follow me back to the village. I don't know how much protection we can provide for you, but you;re welcome to stay for awhile if you want." then he looked around and added,
"Besides...it's not safe for anyone, little alone children to be out here alone..." So, the siblings agreed, and they all headed back to the village.
The sun had finally fallen behind the horizon, and Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, along with half the village, sat around the largest bonfire any of them had ever seen. No one said a word, and even Yakko, for the first time in his life, had nothing to say. It was the leader who broke the eerie silence.
"My name...well, you can call me Chris...I...suppose we should tell you kids about our little problem.." he started. Recieveing only silence from them, he decided to continue.
"Well...ya see, about one-hundred years ago-"
"One hundered years! How old are you, mister?" Dot interupted. Chris, not yet knowing the three kids, took it seroisly.
"No, no, no! This story has been passed down from generation to generation...my father told it to me, his father told it to him...you got it?"
"Oooohhh...so it was your grandpa who was really really old." Dot said.
"No!...Just...never mind. Can I continue? Please!" Chris fumed.
"Sure. Tell it all night, if ya want. We love story time!" Yakko chimed. The man shook his head; he had forgotten how annoying kids could be.
"Alright...one-hundred years ago, a curse was put upon this land. They say it all started when a group of travelers from the East came upon a tribe liveing right here. The tribe, called the Phoolendu, was a peace-loveing one, but they were also very gulible. They quickly brought in the weary travlers, but only to be decieved when the men turned around and killed the whole tribe, and tried to claim the land for their own. What they did not know, however, was that the Phoolendu was also a tribe of magic. Upon his deathbed, they say the leader of the tribe put a horrable curse upon the land and thoes who had decieved them. The men never got to claim their newly-won land, for they began to change...into hideouse dog-beasts!...Or, what we call today, Werewolves..." as he ended his story, a wolf cried far off into the woods. The sibs just stared at him for awhile.
"So?...What's you point? You said it yourself! That happened a hundered years ago!" Dot argued.
"Yes...and to this day, thoes beasts have been cursed to gaurd this land...They kill whoever they can, even if you excape the clutches of one,...if your bit..." Chris lowered his gaze to the ground and sadly shook his head. This grabbed the siblings' attention.
"W-what happends if you get bit?" Wakko asked the question Yakko and Dot were affraid to. When he saw the terrafied look on the kid's face, Chris began to worry.
"Child...were you..." he was cut off when he noticed for the first time that Wakko's arm was bandaged and in a sling. Chris' eyes grew wide and his breath caught in his throught.
"You..." he said, pointing to Wakko and slowley standing up. Wakko, by this point, was shakeing.
"You must die..." said Chris. In seconds, Wakko was surrounded by five men, five spears pointed at his throught. All he could do was sit there and tightly shut his eyes. He couldn't even drop anvils on them; when a toon loses their show, and begin to be forgottin, their "powers" also fade. His trusty mallet trick still worked, but he needed both hands for that.
Yakko to the rescue.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Look, pal. We didn't come here so you could off our brother. Sooo...how bout a game of chess instead?" Yakko recited, jumping up and pulling a few men away from his brother.
"No! You don't understand! If he lives, he will change! They will come for him!" Chris stressed, his face was contorted in pure fright. It was Dot's turn to try.
"Please, mister! He's our brother! Pleeaase don't take him away from us!" she cried, hugging the Chris' leg and sobbing. He looked down and into her big, wet, pitafull eyes, and his heart melted. How could a creature of this world, be so...cute! He inwardly scolded himself for the choice he was about to make.
"Ooooh! Stop crying, please! Okay, alright...listen...you three can stay the night. But only if you promice to leave, first thing in the morning, and never return! Don't even come within one-thousand miles from this place, got it?" he asked. He was trying very hard to ingnor the probability that they wouldn't even make it out of the area, before the wolves tore them appart. They were just kids, afterall. But atleast this way, he wouldn't have the kid's blood on his hands.
"Okay! Thaankyou mister!" Dot chirped, completely fine now.
"Yea, fine. We didn't wanna live here anyway!" Yakko teased.
Yakko and Wakko had already turned in for the night, and were already snoring inside the small tent they were all meant to share. Dot, however, had decided to take one last walk around the village before trying to sleep. Very few people were out now, and only a few low fires crackled aginced the cool night air. She sighed and stopped outside the largest tent, and listened closely. She could just make out a conversation between Chris and someone elce.
"I don't care! Come morning, I want the infected one dead!" Dot gasped and before she realized it, she was running back to her brother's tent.
She bursted into the tent, gasping for air. Spotting Wakko's sleepingbag, she ripped it open...only to find it empty. Wakko was gone.
Dun-dun-duuuun!...end of chapter four.
Oh! And if yur wondering, "Phoolendu" means "full moon". Make of it what you will :)