Chapter Thirty-seven
The group picked their way carefully along the path Kitty led them through. They had already managed to gain quite a collection, but still the brunette was frowning. Lockheed, sitting with the bottom part of his body sprawled across her shoulders and his head resting on hers, knew exactly what she was thinking. If they couldn't find Chong just the right ingredients, he couldn't make the raptors taste as delicious as he managed to, and there was still something missing, something that was required for one of Kitty's favorite dishes.
It was then that she spied what she was looking for, and her brown eyes lit up enthusiastically. She darted over to where it was growing just off the side of the road and began examining the broccoli. "Here's some broccoli, guys!"
"Euuw! Yuck!" Wolverine was quick to voice his opinion. "We already have enough greens!"
"Nonsense!" Elizabeth said as she hurried over to help Kitty. "There is no such thing as enough greens. They help your body."
"Besides, this is going to taste great when Chong cooks it!" Kitty exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear as though broccoli was the best thing imaginable.
Wolverine shook his head and grimaced. There wasn't any way anybody was going to get that stuff down him! "Help yaself, ladies, but don't get more than you're gonna eat 'cause I'm not eatin' the stuff."
Joxer had been standing off to the side, following the conversation and not taking part. He hoped they didn't expect him to eat any of that broccoli. Gabrielle had been trying to fork it down him and Xena for years, and they had not even been able to get Xena's adopted horse in Tortuga to eat any.
Autolycus had been known to eat some strange things, but broccoli had never been on his list and yet here was Elizabeth exclaiming over it like it was a crown jewel. He started slipping further and further behind, hoping she wasn't about to make him eat some of it. He knew if she asked, he'd have to pretend he was eating it, because he wouldn't want to upset the little darling.
Kurt had eaten Chong's cooking with the broccoli before, and he had rather enjoyed the dish. He kept his opinion to himself, his quick eyes darting around, trying to find some surprise he could award Kitty with and perhaps get that gleam back in her eyes. He knew she was still pissed off at him, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what he had said or done wrong to her.
It was then that he spotted some lovely orange flowers. He could hear the women talking, but he kept slipping closer and closer to the flowers. Once he got next to them, he saw that they were not only orange but also red. They grew in profusion, and he leaned down and began to pick Kitty a bouquet. He looked up when he heard some one come beside him and saw that it was Autolycus and Joxer.
Joxer lifted one to sniff. They smelled wonderful! They reminded him of something, but he didn't know what. He continued to pick flowers, hoping to gain a bouquet to surprise Phoebe with when he returned to the house. He was still having a very hard time with her. She was just so determined, and it was getting harder and harder to tell her no. What did she think he was made of -- stone? Maybe he should go ahead and partake of her luscious beauty? But then she'd only grow tired of him, tell him to get lost, and he'd be on his own again. Poor, pitiful me! he told himself.
He began to feel quite drowsy and tried to dash the sleep from his eyes. Well, maybe, just a minute, I can sit. I've got enough flowers. I can go back with the other guys when they get theirs. Joxer did not realize that the other guys were nowhere near him nor did he hear their snores as they greeted his ears because his own snores were added to theirs.
Kitty had been busily picking broccoli when Lockheed had cooed urgently to her. She'd looked up in the direction he was pointing just in time to see Kurt fall out. She'd frozen in fear until Gabrielle spoke to her. "Kitty, what is it?" When she didn't immediately answer, the blonde called her again, "Kitty?"
Kitty blinked, forcing herself back. "Stay here," she murmured. Then leaping to her feet, she ran, phasing straight through the other women and rushing to the flowerbed. She ignored Joxer and Autolycus, heading immediately for Kurt, but when she reached him, her heart nearly stopped. Lockheed roared at the sight, and Kitty blanched. "Oh Gods!"
The others, having noticed that Joxer and Autolycus had also fallen out, had followed. Gabrielle and Elizabeth were just falling on their knees next to Joxer and Autolycus when Kitty yelled out, "DON'T! DON'T TOUCH THEM! BACK AWAY, AND STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"
Elizabeth looked at the brunette as if she'd gone daft. "What?"
"STAY AWAY FROM THEM!"
"They're our friends!" Gabrielle informed her. "We're not going to abandon them!"
Wolverine looked at each of the men but did not move nearer. He sniffed the air but could pick up nothing on it except the heady scent of flowers. He didn't know what was going on or why Kitty was freaking. All he knew was that three guys, who minutes before had been awake and talking, were now asleep and covered with orange blotches. "Kitty, what's wrong? Do ya know what's caused our friends to fall out? Why don't ya want us to touch 'em?"
Kitty was shaking. Her eyes had returned to Kurt, but now she looked up at the others with tears in her brown eyes. "It's a disease," she told them. "Incurable. Incredibly infectious. You have to get away from them now!"
"We're not leaving them!" Gabrielle exclaimed. "We'll find something that will cure them! I'll look for herbs, but even if we can't find one that'll work, the Sorceresses . . . "
"No!" Kitty cut her off. "I knew a healer before. She couldn't save them, and she died of it herself!"
Wolverine took a step closer to Kitty. "There's got to be a cure fer it. All we have to do is go after the Sorceresses. Don't touch 'em in the meantime so it don't spread, an' we can get help. We can't just let them lie there sleepin' till they die."
Kitty knew they wouldn't. They'd sleep for days but then awaken even worse. It would be like that, time and again, until they finally passed. She also knew that any thought of helping them was pointless. There was no way. Celina and Katrina couldn't do anything that Illyana hadn't been able to. "You're not listening!"
"We are," Elizabeth spoke gently, "but we can't just leave them!"
Kitty shook, tears spilling from her eyes. "There's no way to save them! I can't watch this happen again! I can't!" She broke into a run and quickly vanished into the forest.
Wolverine took one look at Elizabeth and then at Kitty's retreating form. "I'm goin' after her. Stay here, an' don't touch 'em."
Elizabeth nodded, her head trembling, even as Gabrielle spoke. "He's right. You stay here and let him bring Kitty back, and I'll fetch the Lewises."
Wolverine chased after Kitty, and although he was extremely fast, he had a difficult time in catching her. When he finally caught up with her, she was hugging a tree and crying. He reached out, pulled her into his arms, and patted her on the back. "I'm sorry, Kitty, but without tryin' everythin', we can't just give up on 'em."
She nodded even as she trembled in his arms. Lockheed cooed reassuringly from where he had moved to Wolverine's back, his little talon reaching out to pat her hair. He didn't know what to do to help her, but he knew all too well why she was hurting. "I know you can't, Wolverine, but I can't just stand there and watch everybody die! I can't do that again!" she wailed through sobs.
"We don't plan on lettin' 'em die, darlin'. We got enough Witches back up at the house. Maybe some o' 'em know a cure? Is this how you lost some o' yer people? What was the cause, or did ya ever figure it out?"
"It . . . was a fever. We never knew what started it . . just that they . . . started falling out by it. Illyana tried her best, but she couldn't heal them. No one could. It's not possible. Believe me, I looked in every port I could. It's a . . . a slow disease, and I saw them . . . I watched them just . . . just fall apart until they . . . they died."
"So it didn't happen here?"
She shook her head. "My first ship. The Midnight Runner. Piotr was my First Mate, and Illyana . . . She went with us too, helped us pick the rest of the crew. He . . . He was my first husband, my . . . my first love, and she . . . was my best friend. I couldn't save them, Wolverine, and you can't save the others. It's not possible. I know. I tried everything, and nothing . . . nothing worked! I caused so many deaths by . . . by people trying to help when . . . they couldn't."
"These are our friends, Kitty, an' just like you, we can't stand idly by an' not do something. We need ta go ta the house, an' ask if anybody has heard o' it. There's always a chance that some one has a cure or knows o' a cure. We can't move 'em, so some one has to watch. Can 'Heed do that?"
"N-No," she whispered, pulling away from him. "You don't understand," she told him again, her tear-filled eyes searching his for a way to make him realize how impossible curing them was. "Right now . . . Elizabeth's in danger. We all are. Just . . . Just being around them for that one m-minute could be it. You don't have to touch them. You just have to be around them. That's all it takes. The . . . The only reason why we didn't die the first time was . . . was because we stayed phased."
The memories of the times she'd ached to reach out to Piotr and Illyana and comfort them but had not let herself pained her the most, and her tears increased. "We . . . We watched, and we did . . . we did what we could. We didn't want to spread the disease, and it was only . . . only by staying phased that we could still go on land. That was the only way we had of possibly getting any other help, and it didn't work. Your Sorceresses . . . Your Witches . . . They won't be able to help, and if they try . . . they'll die."
"Then we're all contaminated," Wolverine told her, "an' none o' us can go back to the house or we'll contaminate the rest o' 'em." It figures, he thought to himself. I finally find the life I want wit' the woman I want, an' now I'm gonna die! "Somehow we have ta get a message ta the house, an' since none o' us can return, how can we do it?"
Kitty was surprised but relieved that he'd finally started listening to her. If they were to die, at least they would not cause the others to follow their same path. "Do you have any telepaths?" she asked.
"Yes, but I don't have the powers ta reach 'em."
She shook her head. "They have the power. Who are they?"
"Katrina an' Celina Lewis an' Tom Ballard."
Kitty tried to place the names with their faces. "The cat-"
He nodded. "The catpeople."
"Okay. Hopefully, they'll have an ear out." She took to the air and floated there with her legs crossed and her eyes shut. She concentrated on the three, hoping some one would sense her and speak to her.
Logan watched his daughter, marveling at her ability to handle any situation that cropped up, even one that scared her like this one did. He leaned back against a tree to wait for her and hoped that she made contact.
When the others had left her, Elizabeth had found herself gazing down at Autolycus. She'd stayed like that, praying and hoping for his recovery, for a while but could no longer stand it. She reached out, grasped his muscular shoulders, and shook him. "Autolycus! Autolycus," she cried, "you've got to wake up!"
She continued to shake him, calling his name repeatedly, but nothing seemed capable of bringing a response from him. In desperation, she slapped him, but still he didn't move. "You've got to wake up!" Her mind was whirling and her heart hammering as her tears finally began to fall. This couldn't be happening! He could not be dieing! She bent over him, holding him close to her body and shaking with her sobs.
The air shimmered, and two strangers appeared. They looked at the three men on the ground in the field of flowers. "I thought we destroyed these a long time ago?" the wizard said to his friend.
"We did," the bald man replied, "but they have grown again."
The stranger's voices startled Elizabeth. She looked up but did not move from Autolycus. "Who . . . Who are you?" They were not as strange as the catpeople or the Demons but were certainly among the stranger beings she'd seen. The tall man was dressed in long, flowing robes and a pointed cap, and a pair of spectacles shaped in crescent moons were perched atop his nose. His companion floated in a wheelchair.
"We must destroy them again." It was then that the bald man took notice of the girl holding a sleeping male. "What's your name, woman?"
"E-Elizabeth." She decided to let their identities go in hopes that they might be able to help Autolycus and the others. "Can you help them?"
The wizard nodded and produced a vial from his pocket. "Give each of them a sip of this. It will restore them to their normal selves. These flowers must go. They are very poisonous, and although they will not kill, they will make you sleep."
Elizabeth frowned in confusion. "But Kitty said -- "
"Yes," the bald man replied, "I know the girl fears that they are the same as a fever she encountered before, but they are not. You can tell her, when she returns, that the beginning signs are simply the same. What she knew was a fever; this is caused by nothing but the flowers."
"Tell Captain Sparrow that he will have guests for lunch." With that, the wizard held the vial out toward Elizabeth, waiting for her to take it.
Elizabeth took the vial, but her eyes did not move from the two men and she kept a protective arm around Autolycus. "May I ask," she attempted a second time, "who to tell him to expect?"
"He wouldn't know our names," the bald man told her, "but we will introduce ourselves at lunch. Just tell him friends."
While the bald man had been talking, the wizard had pulled a wand from somewhere inside his robes and began a spell on the flowers. As he finished speaking in an odd language that Elizabeth had never heard before, the two men looked at each other, nodded, and vanished. The flowers shrank back into the ground, and Elizabeth stared at the area they had just been in.
Finally managing to overcome her shock, Elizabeth turned her attention back to the vial. She eyed the strange liquid warily. Could she trust it? The men had appeared nice enough, but they'd came out of nowhere and had never even given her a name. Still, they had done away with the flowers, and if they were right, what did she have to lose? Besides, she remembered, the bald one had known about Kitty, and they'd even spoken about Jack. He must know of them, she decided, and she'd just have to wait to find out more about them. The important thing was seeing if the medicine -- potion? she wondered -- worked.
Turning back to Autolycus, Elizabeth took him more fully in her arms. She uncapped the vial and began attempting to get the vial's mouth between his lips. That wasn't working, however, and upon quickly realizing that, she tried another method. She dipped just a taste onto her fingertip, then began attempting to work her finger into his mouth.
Seconds later, Autolycus' eyes flashed open. "What am I doing on the ground?" he asked Elizabeth. He didn't know why she was holding him so tightly, but he sure wasn't going to ask her for fear she'd dump him back on the ground.
"Thank goodness!" Elizabeth cried. She hugged him tightly and, without thinking, began sprinkling the side of his face with kisses.
Autolycus thought that whatever put him on the ground was a good thing because at least now he was enjoying her kisses. He moved his face slightly so that her next kiss landed on his lips. He kissed her gently as he did not want to frighten her.
Elizabeth's heart had nearly stopped beating when she'd realized that her mouth had connected with Autolycus, but his taste was so sweet that she could not help herself. She began to return his kiss in full.
Kitty had to fight to concentrate, but her face never showed the strain of her thoughts. She kept her outward appearance calm, but inside she was trembling and still crying.
Lockheed knew that but also knew that he had to refrain from comforting her for movement might distract her from her purpose. With his heart being torn in two by his incapability to be able to reassure his best friend, the dragon gently removed himself from her shoulders and flew back to Wolverine. He perched in a branch not far over his head and joined him in watching Kitty.
Come on, Pryde. You can do this. You have to do this. Even if we die . . . At least, this time, there won't be more. You won't cause any more deaths. She silenced the sob that rose within her heart.
Concentrate, she commanded herself. Just like Ray taught you. Where has that girl gotten to? She sighed inwardly. I'll never know now. That's enough! CONCENTRATE!
Kitty still had trouble tearing her thoughts away from Kurt and Wolverine and the knowledge that she'd soon lose both though she'd just found her father and would never know if Kurt and she could have stood a chance despite his Priesthood, but eventually she managed to concentrate enough. She tried focusing on the women at first, but when that didn't work, she moved her mind to the orange catman.
Meanwhile, back in the house, Tom was in deep conversation with Meesy when he felt some one seeking him. "Somebody wants something," he murmured to Meesy and closed his eyes, concentrating in turn. He was surprised to discover that it was Kitty Pryde hoping and praying for a communication with him. Kitty, he asked in concern, what is it?
Tom, I . . . We won't be coming back to the house.
What! Tom's brow creased, and his fur ruffled.
We ran into . . . into a disease. It's lethal and too infectious. There's no cure for it. We can not come back.
That's nonsense!
No, it's not! Kitty cried. Look. You're a telepath. Read my mind.
Tom did just that and watched as Kitty remembered seeing Kurt fall and the scene that had played out when she'd seen what was on him. Then she revealed her earlier memories to him, showing him how she'd lost Piotr, Illyana, and every one else on the Midnight Runner. There were tears in both their eyes by the time she took him to the point where she and Lockheed had been the last survivors and they had burned the ship.
There . . . There has to be a cure, Tom spoke at last.
There isn't. I wish there was, but you saw for yourself. I looked everywhere. It isn't curable.
Tom said nothing at first. He could tell she was just as stubborn as his beloved Katrina. All right, he spoke at last. I'll tell the others.
And you'll make sure they stay safe, that they won't come after us?
He took a deep breath and crossed his tail over his ankle. Of course. We can stay in touch this way, so that if there's a change . . .
There won't be, Kitty tried to tell him, but Tom was gone before she could answer him. She opened her tear-filled eyes to look across at Wolverine and Lockheed. "Tom knows."
"Then Jack will know soon. I hope he'll take care o' his new sisters since I won't be there to take care o' 'em." He was having trouble resigning himself to dying. He was too much of a fighter and always had been, but if Kitty said there wasn't any hope, he believed her and, besides that, he could smell the truth on her. "Come. Walk with me, Kitty. We'll go back an' break the news to Elizabeth. She's not gonna take it too good. I don't have anythin' against the girl. She's a fine, brave lass. She just wasn't right fer Will."
Kitty nodded as she fell into step beside him. She reached up and touched his shoulder gently even as Lockheed settled on her own. "I'm sorry," she told him, "but, at least, this way, we won't cause the others to die."
"That's true enough, but when Jack finds out, he won't stay away. I know my boy. He'll be here an' bringin' the Sorceresses with him even though I know ya told Tom to stay away."
"He will," Kitty told him confidently. "I . . . I showed him that part of my past. He knows what will happen if they come, and he wouldn't want that to happen to the rest of his family."
"Ya mean ya actually got that crazy spacecat to agree with ya an' to say that he'd keep everybody away?"
She nodded. "He saw everything I know about the disease, Wolverine, and he . . . When telepaths see things like that, they also feel the emotions."
"I guarantee ya that bugger had somethin' crossed on him. That won't keep him away. Pain o' his own death won't keep him away. They'll come. We need to move somewhere an' hide, so they can't find us."
She nodded. "We can't risk the chance of your being right about him, and if they won't protect themselves from us, then we have to protect them."
"That we'll do, Kitty, girl." They continued on their way back to Elizabeth.
Gabrielle had started running down the path, but when she had began to slow, she'd also started realizing that she was lost. She didn't know what had happened, how she'd gotten confused when she'd thought she'd paid such careful attention to the path, but she hadn't slowed for long. She was soon back to sprinting, desperately trying to figure out where she'd lost the path at. Her mind was too focused on Joxer and what would happen to him if she couldn't find the right herb or get the Sorceresses back in time that she wasn't paying close enough attention to what she was walking on.
Suddenly, she fell, but as she fell in what she'd at first thought to be mud, she sunk quickly. Her green eyes shot wide. It wasn't mud but quicksand! She tried not to panic, but as she realized that Xena was way too far away to save her and she did not have her bo staff, she started to do just that. Still, she fought to calm herself and think. She tried calling for help, but nothing answered her. She looked around and could see nothing to use at first. Then she realized that there was a vine hanging just high enough that it was barely out of her reach.
Thinking quickly, Gabrielle fetched one of her sais. As she squirmed to reach it, however, she sank even more. Finally managing to get it out of the quicksand, she eyed her surroundings again. She'd seen Xena use her chakram countless times in similar maneuvers. Surely she could use her sai? She had to at least try.
With that thought in mind, Gabrielle threw her sai. It bounced from tree to tree, zipped over her head, and then finally thudded into the branch that the vine was hanging from. Her hands were waiting, and she grabbed hold to the vine as it dipped just enough. She pulled it and then began swinging on it.
Finally, she managed to escape the quicksand, but the buoyancy sent her spiraling through the air. She landed hard on a thick branch, one leg to either side. Pain shot through her groin, and she nearly fell off the branch but managed to grasp it just in time while still moaning.
Tom had barely paused even long enough to yell to Morph that they were needed and to grab the cubs and come before running out of the room. Meesy and Wolfie followed hot on his heels as he raced for Delvira's room. He didn't even bother with the steps but instead slid down the railing. When he saw her door coming into sight, he started to shout for Katrina but was stopped with a roar. He paused and looked at Zora, who faced him angrily, her tail cutting swiftly through the air. "I've got to get in there!"
She roared again, informing him that he was not getting in the room. Tom walked forward, heading for the room. "I have to get in there," he repeated. "It's a matter of life or death." Zora stood in his way, and he glared down at her. "You're not keeping from my wife!"
When she roared again, telling him that she was, the windows rattled, and the others around them knew what was about to happen. They tried to stop them, but the two ignored their warnings. Tom persisted in attempting to walk past Zora, but she swatted him, her massive paw swiping his legs out from under him. He started to scramble to his feet, but as she moved in to stop him again, his hand shot out, striking her. She roared and slapped him with another paw.
"Zora!" Vang roared from behind her. "Leave him be!"
For a change, she bothered with the English language though still in morph. "I will if he'll stop trying to get in there! You know what they're doing, Vang; they can't be interrupted!"
"They have to be!"
"There's no telling what'll happen if you do!"
"It's only Duty Boy -- " Tom started.
Zora roared, her wild, green eyes flashing at him, but before she could start in on him, Meesy's calm voice attempted an explanation. "Actually, Tom, that is where you are wrong. They are working a spell on the boy, and as such, there's no telling where they might be at this time. You wouldn't want to risk trapping them in Frederic's mind."
"But I have to get in there!"
"You can't," Vang told him. "Not yet."
"What's wrong, any way?" Morph asked.
"They're dying."
"Who's dying, mon?"
"Wolverine, Gabrielle, Elizabeth . . . The entire group that went after the food."
Prue heard Vang roar and thought she was being called. "I'll just go down and get that," she told Paige. "I'll take the kids with me." Taking the hand of each child, she began the long descent down the stairs.
Paige looked at Carl. "I've gotta go," she told him. "I can't let her face Auntie 'Ro by herself. I know the others'll come, but we need a united front."
Carl looked at her. "What in the world did Prue do?"
"It's a long story," Paige told him. "I'll tell you later."
Carl looked at the Goblins. "They are tied up."
"They could get loose."
"Good point. I'll stay here."
Paige nodded, kissed him one more time, and rushed after Prue.
When Prue reached the area outside of Delvira's door, she was surprised to see so many people gathered there. "I thought you called me, Vang? These other ones are ahead of me?"
"They need to be now, Prue," he told her gently, "unless your case is a matter of life or death?"
"It could be," she told him. "It involves Delvira's husband."
Tom looked at her. "What about Jareth?"
"He's been taken prisoner by something, and some of their Goblins have gone absolutely nuts. They attacked Carl and me, but they're tied up now."
Morph rubbed his head. "Great. Just what we needed," he announced with a grin.
"We're going to need two teams," Tom observed.
Morph nodded. "I'll go get the Captain."
"Be . . . sensitive," Tom said with a concerned face.
Morph nodded. "I know when to cut the jokes, Tom; you guys taught me that."
Tom nodded and sighed as he watched Morph headed up the stairs. His eyes turned back to Prue and Paige, and he noticed that Piper and Phoebe were also approaching. "How do you know Jareth was taken prisoner?" he asked.
"I . . . saw it."
Tom looked at the young woman in surprise. "You have visions?"
"I . . . guess."
Piper put a hand on her sister's shoulder. "We just came into our powers today."
Tom nodded in thought, and his tail twitched. "So what exactly happened?"
Phoebe began to tell him about her vision.
Jack was sitting on the bed, brushing Will's hair. He loved running his fingers through his thick curls, and Will enjoyed his touch as much as he enjoyed touching him. They heard a knock on the door. Jack got up, reluctantly handing the brush to Will even as he brushed his lips against Will's. "Guess I'd better get that. Duty calling." He hummed a little tune to himself as he walked to the door.
Morph was standing with a serious face on the other side of the door when Jack opened it. "Jack . . . We have a situation."
"Just one?" Jack teased him. "Usually, we have a whole slew of those. Come in, Morph."
Morph stepped into the room, but for once, he did not grin at Jack's usual joke. "Jack, you . . . You might want to sit down."
Jack grew serious and sat down beside Will. "Go ahead and tell me. What's happened?" He stilled himself, expecting the worst.
"Jareth's been kidnapped. At least, the Halliwells think so for some reason, but the real problem is . . . " His solemn brown eyes met Jack's. "The group that went hunting for food ran into something, a . . . a disease. Kitty contacted Tom so I don't know all the exact details, but . . . They're not coming home, Jack. They're . . . They're dying."
"That can't be!" Jack shook his head in disbelief. Nothing as simple as a disease could kill his old man! "She must be mistaken. We'll go after them."
"Tom said she showed him a time when she'd ran into it before. She's tried many things, but none of it's ever worked. Hopefully . . . Hopefully Celina and Katrina can heal them, but they may not be able to."
"Crystal," Will spoke softly. "Even if the Sorceresses can't, her crystal might be able to."
"Let's get downstairs so we can get a group. Crys will be in the kitchen, Will. If you don't mind, will you get her? Bring her back to Delvira's room."
Will nodded. "I will." He looked deep into Jack's eyes and reached out to stroke his cheek in a soft, reassuring caress. "We'll find a way to save them, Jack."
"We have to, Will. I can't lose him now."
"You won't," Will vowed.
Morph cleared his throat. "Captain, it, hum, it sounds like we're going to need two groups. Maybe I should wake the others?"
"I doubt if they're asleep. Just knock on the door and tell them to be downstairs in five minutes."
Morph nodded, and they ran from the room, going in their separate directions.
To Be Continued . . .
