Eleven || Inhuman

Back in town, they separated again. Mint wandered off immediately, saying that she needed to do some planning, and so the onus of reporting what had happened fell squarely to Rue.

He did not much relish the thought, but it had to be done, and perhaps Klaus would have an idea for how to approach Mel and get the cube back. At the least he would be pleased to hear that Elroy had been right about the Relic under the lake.

He headed back toward the Adler house and was just about to open the door when he heard a voice; "Rue!"

He pulled his hand back and turned, and was almost immediately thrown back into the wall when Elena crashed into him. He just barely kept his balance and looked down, confounded, to see her gripping the edges of his shirt and looking straight up at him. The rims of her eyes were slightly pink.

"Elena," he said, both acknowledging her and bringing himself to the present. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"You gotta help," she said quickly, tugging lightly at his shirt. "I can't find Terence!"

"Terence?" He didn't know a Terence. Was that a dog or a cat that lived in town? Some kind of animal, surely.

"H-he's one of the Poppul Purrels. He comes to town to shop every couple of days and today is the day he's supposed to be here but it's getting really late and I haven't seen him and–"

"Woah, wait," he said. "What's a Poppul Purrel?"

Elena let go of Rue and took a step back, sniffling.

"They're these– they're the little guys that help Fancy Mel," she said. "S-she sends Terence out to do her grocery shopping and I like to help him out but the market's about to close for the day and it's gonna get dark and I haven't seen him and I think something mighta happened."

It was a bit much to process, but slowly Rue realized what she was talking about. "Okay, okay," he said. "Just calm down. Nobody in town saw him?"

She shook her head.

"All right. Are you sure he's supposed to be here today?"

She nodded. "He comes on the same days, and I always ask him if he's gonna be here again, and he said yes he was."

"Well, maybe we can..." He hesitated; he did not relish the thought. "Maybe we can go to Mel's atelier and ask around. Tomorrow. He probably had something important to do for Mel and just couldn't make it to town."

"But– but what if he's the forest? What if he's hurt? He'll get eaten!"

He wanted to protest, but realized quickly that it might well be true.

"Okay," he said. "Let's check the forest. But, Elena," he said quickly. "Mint and I just came back from Mel's atelier. We didn't see anything along the way that looks like a... a Poppul Purrel." The word felt strange on his tongue, and made him feel patently ridiculous.

"But he can't be far off the path," Elena said. "Come on, we gotta go find him!"

And she took off for the forest gate.

Rue looked over his shoulder, to the door to Klaus' house and reasoned that if he didn't follow Elena, she would be out that door in the darkening forest anyway. He sighed and ran after her, catching up just before she was actually out the gate. "Slow down," he said. "I'm coming."

She looked over her shoulder and smiled. "I'm so glad," she said. "I was really worried, but I knew if I could find your or Mint you'd be able to handle anything out in the forest." Assured that he was following, she started down the path.

"That's..." He faltered slightly, a little surprised. "That's very flattering."

"Dad said you guys went down into the mines and fought bandits and dragons!"

"That's..." He faltered again, then chuckled. "Close enough." He looked to Elena. "When do you usually expect, um, Terence to come into town?"

"The evening," Elena said. "He usually comes in about an hour before the market closes. He has a little cart to carry everything. I help him look through the stock and get some of the bigger things into the cart."

"That's quite nice of you," Rue said. "Do you know why she sends one of her... her helpers to do the shopping, instead of coming in for herself?"

"Mom n' Dad say she used to," Elena said. "Before I was born. She didn't have the Poppul Purrels back then so she came by herself, but after she brought them in she started sending them out to do errands. Marco says they're trying to pay back a debt."

"Marco?"

"One of the boys in town," Elena said, a bit flippantly. "His grandmother is Mrs. Cartha."

"I see." Rue thought about what Elena had been saying. "What kind of debt?"

"Marco says the Poppul Purrels used to live somewhere else, somewhere way different, but they were kicked out of their homes and forced to hide. He says Mel found them and offered to let them live near her home, and taught them how to speak English 'cause they didn't know how. They're still learning, but Terence speaks really good English 'cause he's had to learn to talk to the shopkeepers. You'll like him." At which point she seemed to suddenly remember that were looking for him, and she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled; "TER-ENCE!"

Her voice was swallowed by the gathering shadows. She bit her lip.

"We're hardly out of town," Rue said. "He's probably further down the path."

She nodded, and they continued, Elena periodically shouting into the undergrowth while Rue scanned the vicinity. Admittedly, his mind was not entirely on the task at hand; he was pretty well convinced that Elena had gotten the day wrong or the visit was stalled. He was still mulling over what Elena had said about the little creatures, the Poppul Purrels. If they were from somewhere else, it certainly explained why they stood out so much against Mel's unique trappings. Although, for all the other moving parts around the atelier – animate mushrooms and puffy birds and those little tree-dwelling imps – they had only seen one Poppul Purrel. Given how at odds they were with the rest of the environment, they should have stood out. Keeping away from strangers?

He froze. There was another sound in the forest, another voice, somewhere off the trail.

Elena was already a few feet ahead, drawing a deep breath to start again. "Te–"

Rue caught her shoulder. She jumped slightly, but cut herself off and wheeled to look at him. He looked out into the forest, then back to her, indicating that she should keep quiet. Then he released her shoulder and – slowly, silently – stepped off the path and into the forest itself. He moved carefully, although judging by the raucous conversation he probably did not need to be particularly stealthy. It grew louder, and he continued to move closer until he saw something up ahead. He gave himself two seconds to make sense of it, then ducked down, pressing up against a tree trunk and behind a patch of brush. He made sure they hadn't seen him, listening for any change in the conversation, but there was none. Then, finally, he twisted, shoving some branches aside, and looked through the rough hole he had opened in the brush.

There were two figures there. The first – tall and lanky, heavily tanned, bare-chested and marked here and there by tattoos – was leaning against a far tree, casually picking dirt out from his fingernails with a dingy dagger, a small bag of coins at his feet. The second – almost a direct opposite of the first, short and rotund – was sitting on the ground a little ways away, leaning up against another tree. He held a rope in his hand, which snaked across the forest floor, passed under a slightly damaged wooden cart, and was tied to the ankle of a small, red-haired creature, lying unmoving on its side.

Rue gritted his teeth.

"I dunno how much we'll make," the short one was saying. "How much y'think he can do? Way too short."

"Y'ever see the stuff them arts-o-cats collect?" said the taller one. "Ain't never seen a midget looks like this before. Somebody'll buy 'im just to say they did."

"I hope he goes to a good home," the other said wistfully. "Oi, Blood, we could sell 'im to a circus or summat! They'd appreciate 'im!"

The other one, Blood, grinned toothily and chuckled deep in his throat. "Oh yeah," he said slowly. "That ain't a bad idea, Smokey. Dress 'im up in some leaves, sell 'im as a savage native. Cannibal dwarf! Hah! We sell 'em a story, too, that'll jack up the price." He kicked the coin-purse sitting at his feet. "His little contribution here'll get 'im a nice place, don't you worry, bro."

"Y'got plans for your half, then?"

Blood laughed. "Eatin'! Find somethin' expensive and stuff it in my face." He sent Smokey a sidelong look. "But I bet you got the same idea."

"Eh-heh. You know me too good, bro."

Rue pulled back slightly, hissing an expletive under his breath, and nearly turned all the way around before he realized Elena was sitting right behind him. He jumped, bit down a yelp, and stared at her, breathing quickly.

"Elena," he whispered. "You should–"

"I hear them," she said. "They– they have Terence, don't they?"

Rue looked over his shoulder, clenched his fist, looked up to her. "Yeah," he said finally. "Yeah, they do."

"You're... you're gonna get him back. Right?"

"Of course."

He turned to face them, reaching for his side, his hand searching for the handle of the sword that, he quickly found it, was not there.

He looked down and realized that he was unarmed; he had left the gladius back in Klaus' house, he hadn't even thought to bring it with him.

Well, nothing else for it.

He looked back to Elena. "Elena," he said quietly, "I'm about to do something strange. Whatever you see, do not make a sound. Do you understand?"

She nodded, and pressed her fists against her mouth to prove it. Rue exhaled, nodded, and slipped fully behind the tree. He considered the plan of attack, decided, concentrated, and released.

Blue light engulfed him, and with it the chill of magic, sweeping across and through him, tying itself into different but not unfamiliar patterns. Central core of a body, thinning out to a long finned tail. No arms or legs, just fine, almost feathery fins, echoes of the crest running the length of his spine. Ludicrously simple morphology, designed for effectively swimming through the air.

He twisted around, felt out for energy, let instinct kick in. He didn't know how to command magic threads consciously, but the pollywog did, and it wrapped him in a gentle breeze and bolstered him up until he was hovering a few feet off the ground, gently twisting fins and tail to keep steady.

He twisted in the air, flicked his tail, drifted out toward the brush, and dove down to peer through the hole again. The tall one with the dagger was picking up the change-purse; the short one was starting to stand, rudely yanking the rope behind him. They were setting off soon, then. Just in time.

He moved up, sailed lazily over the bush, and made a slow, roundabout pattern toward Smokey. They didn't notice at first, and he hadn't expected them to; pollywogs were among the most prolific little monsters on the planet, and seeing one out in the middle of the forest was nothing unusual.

Although after a few seconds Smokey did stop his rough yanking of the little Poppul Purrel and turn his attention to Rue. "Ey, bro," he said. "We got company."

"S'just a Pollywog, you yutz," Blood said. "C'mon. Tie 'im up proper and stuff him in the cart. He ain't gonna wake up soon, but if he does I don't wanna deal with it."

"R-right, boss."

He started to walk toward Terence, rolling up the rope in his hand as he did so. Rue gave a quick little snap of his tail and set himself zipping over to Smokey, coiling up near his head and looking over his shoulder. Smokey shot him a glance and started to hesitate, slow down, stop.

"What're you doing?" Blood growled.

"S'weird," Smokey said, a faint tremor in his voice. "The-the Pollywog ain't leavin' me alone."

"They prolly feed the damn things back in town," Blood said. "Shoo it or stab it."

"Eh, right. Ah..." He waved his hand up near Rue's face. "Go away," he said. "Get."

There were a number of things that many people never bothered to learn about the monsters that inhabited the outskirts of their living space. For instance, many people would toss scraps outside of a village and attract pollywogs to the free food. They were dreadfully easy to feed, and had a notable ability to eat quite a number of things that could potentially be edible. They tended to shy away from a lot of plant matter, however, for a very simple reason.

In the wild, pollywogs were opportunistic carnivorous scavengers.

And they had the teeth for it.

Smokey screamed and dropped the rope, desperately whipping his hands in front of him. Rue tried to hold on, digging his teeth into Smokey's skin, but he couldn't counter the bandit's flailing and wound up being flung himself, hitting the ground and rolling to a stop several feet away. He was briefly dazed, and his mouth filled with the taste of copper.

"What the hell!" Blood screamed. "Smokey! What'd I say 'bout killin' it?"

"Bit me!" Smokey hollered. "I'm bleedin' bad, boss!"

Rue shook himself and drifted upward again. Even from his distance and angle, he could see Smokey's glove was visibly darkening, excess blood dribbling onto the ground. The other bandit was already running up to him, drawing his dagger back from its sheath.

"All right, ya little bastard, you're mine!"

A few seconds before Blood reached him, Rue fixed on another thought, hit the ground, and was awash in blue light, and a split second later Blood crashed into the ground, massive feline claws pressing into his chest, a saber-fanged muzzle inches from his face.

"Smokey!" he yelled. His voice was cracking. "Get your fat ass over here and help me!"

"I'm tryin', bro!" he cried. Smokey was trying to wrap something around his bleeding hand, hurriedly and badly, and hearing Blood's scream he was simultaneously trying to reach for his own knife. Awkwardly, though; Rue had injured his dominant hand.

Blood was thrashing under Rue's claws, trying to bring his dagger up to slash at him, and Rue only just yanked himself backward as an errant blow brought the dagger dangerously close to his throat. Blood pressed the advantage, torquing his upper body forward, and Rue had to lunge off of him to avoid a head-butt to the chest. He landed on all fours, digging into the earth to bring himself to a full strop, and Blood flipped himself back to his feet. He was breathing hard, and his chest was starting to ooze little rivulets of blood, but the sword was in his hand and his eyes were blazing.

"I don't know what the hell is going on," he snarled, "but I ain't lettin' you outta here alive!"

Blood lunged. Rue shoved off the ground with his forelegs, called up another thought, and with another blaze of light he was using his momentum to propel himself backward, beating a set of feathered wings to carry him well out of Blood's path and up to the tree branches.

"B-Blood," Smokey called, his voice fully quavering now. "This ain't normal."

Blood shot him a glare. "Naw, you think!"

A second of distraction. Rue angled himself, folded his wings, and plummeted. Blood looked back up in time to see the hawk explode into blue, its form giving way to the mottled red-brown of an oversized fire lizard. By the expression on his face, he hadn't realized quite what was happening until he was already on the ground, hopelessly winded.

"Smokey," he gasped, the word hardly more than a burst of air.

Rue whipped around to face Smokey, who still stood a few paces away, immobilized by indecision, and helped him to make up his mind by letting loose a burst of flame in his direction. Smokey shrieked and took off into the forest, his blood-slicked knife hitting the ground where he had been standing.

Blood moaned and shut his eyes. "Useless," he grumbled.

Rue leaned forward, pressing his weight onto Blood's chest. Blood inhaled sharply, and Rue released and pulled back, then jumped off of him. He took a few heavy steps away, toward the knife, and released his form, reverting back to himself. Human again – and possessed of opposable thumbs – he reached down and picked up the knife Smokey had dropped, then proceeded to wipe the blade off on the fallen leaves.

Then he stood up, turned, and saw Blood was staggering back to his feet.

Rue looked at him, and said, "Please leave."

Blood bared his teeth and took a quivering step toward him. "That was some fancy fightin', freak," he snarled. "But I ain't done yet. I– urgh." His hand pressed up against his side. "Shee... g-got an old injury actin' up." He waved his knife somewhat listlessly in Rue's direction. "Lucky fer you, or I'd–"

"I'm not going to ask again."

Blood took a step forward and winced.

"Take your damn midget," he snapped. "I'm not gonna forget this!"

Without further comment or another glance back, Blood spun and left, heading deeper into the forest, where Smokey had gone.

Rue waited until he was certain he could hear or see no more of the man, and then looked over to the brush and trees. "They're gone," he said. "It's safe." He heard a rustle from nearby, but didn't turn to look at Elena; he walked straight to the Poppul Purrel and used the knife to slice through the rope knot around his leg. He checked for any other bindings and, finding none, hurled the knife into the forest. It was bad karma.

"Is he okay?" Elena asked.

"He's still breathing. Unconscious, though," Rue said. He ran his hand through the Poppul Purrel's hair and drew it back. Coagulated blood; they must have struck him over the head. It spread over a fair swath of the Poppul Purrel's head, but had mostly dried. Probably a glancing blow, then; lots of area, little depth. Or at least he hoped so.

He reached into his pouch and pulled out a strip of white cloth, similar to the one he wore around his forehead. He wrapped it around the Poppul Purrels head, trying to keep it tight without hurting too much. Once the makeshift bandage was secured, Rue lifted the Poppul Purrel and propped it over his shoulder.

"I can't really do anything else," Rue admitted. "We need to get him back to Mel."

Elena was standing on tip-toe, craning her neck to try and see Terence better. "Is he gonna be okay?"

"Of course," Rue said. "Mel can make him good as new, right?"

Elena beamed. "Right!"

"Could you get the money pouch?" When she'd retrieved it, he added, "And... do you know how to get there? I got kind of turned around."

"Mm-hmm. I'll lead you to her."

And she turned and marched. She didn't bother leading them back toward the path, instead cutting through the woods in the direction of Mel's atelier. The sky was growing dark, but Elena seemed surprisingly practiced, easily leading them through the thickening forest. He could see more light up ahead, streaming through a broad opening in the trees, and realized it was probably the edge of Mel's demesne.

After a few minutes, Elena slowed down and fell in step alongside Rue. "Hey, um..." She fidgeted a bit, her hands coiling around the hem of her dress, before the words finally came to her. "You– you weren't gonna kill him, right?"

"The bandit?" Rue asked. "No. But I had to scare them badly enough that they wouldn't think about doing that again."

"I've never seen them before," she said. "They aren't from around here."

"They didn't seem to be."

Elena was quiet for a moment, then started up carefully. "That, um... that thing you did. With the monsters."

Reflexively, his grip on Terence tightened. "Yeah?" He had to work to keep his voice tight and level.

"That was really cool."

And he laughed, a sudden release of tension, all of it directed at himself. What else had he really been expecting? "Your dad said the same thing." More or less.

"Where'd you learn to do that? I've never seen that before!"

Yeah, Klaus had said that, too.

"It's... hard to explain."

"Hmm." She frowned to herself, brow furrowed, clearly deep in thought.

The trees around them thinned out, then stopped altogether, giving way to the spun-sugar grass that ringed Mel's atelier. It had looked absurd earlier in the day, but sunset painted it differently, the pale landscape burning red and gold, lanced with lengthening shadows.

They started off across the field, although Rue could navigate from that point so Elena did not need to. While they walked, Rue checked on the bandage. The exterior was still clean, so at least blood hadn't starting seeping through, although he had to be careful when he moved it; he felt Terence shudder when he pressed too hard on the wound.

"Are you a monster?"

It took Rue a couple of seconds to realize that Elena was addressing him. He looked over his shoulder. "Excuse me?"

"Well, I mean, I've never heard'a people being able to do that," she said. "I don't think even Fancy Mel can do that, and she's shown me a lot of neat magic. So I guess... is that what it is? You're a monster and you can turn into a person?"

"Oh. No, I don't– no."

"Drat," she muttered, snapping her fingers. "I thought I had it."

"That's not a bad guess."

"Hmph."

Elena didn't have much more of an opportunity to guess, though; they had just about arrived at Mel's house. Rue nodded to the structure. "Can you get the door?" he asked, and Elena obliged, slipping ahead and knocking, prompting the musical sound to ring through the air. When it cleared, Mel called from inside – "Door's open!" – and Elena entered, with Rue following just behind. Elena held open the door for him, and when she shut it behind them Mel appeared in a flurry of lace and color, standing in the doorway.

"Elena!" she said brightly. "I wasn't expecting to see you so late. What brings– Terence!"

She crossed the room before Rue could even cognize that she had moved and was almost on top of him in an instant. He flinched back, but Mel seemed oblivious to him even standing there; without any acknowledgment of him she took Terence out of his arms and quickly retreated, straight through the dining room and into the back of the house. Elena gave chase, and Rue, after giving himself a few seconds to process what had happened, followed shortly.

Mel had set herself up in her bedroom and laid Terence on his back on top of her surprisingly mundane bed, his head tilted so she could get a good look at the damage. She was looking him over, searching him for additional injuries – other bruises or cuts, broken bones, visible edema that would warn her about internal damage – but after a few minutes of examination she exhaled and relaxed. She walked to the opposite side of the bed, knelt down next to him, and slowly removed the cloth around his head. It came away spackled in red, but the bleeding seemed to have entirely stopped.

"I can take him from here," Mel said. "Thank you." At that, she whistled, and the two little bat-like creatures from before zipped into the room. She addressed them directly –"I need you to bring me warm water and a damp cloth," – and then made a motion to send them along their way. Then she looked at Elena and Rue. "What happened?"

Elena quickly relayed what had happened to Mel, about her realizing Terence was gone and finding him in the company of bandits. Mel's expression darkened slightly as she listened, and when Elena was done she sighed heavily and shook her head. "Picking a fight with a Poppul Purrel," she said. "How cowardly." She nodded to Elena. "Thank you. I might not have realized until too late."

Elena smiled, but shook her head. "I couldn't have helped. Rue was the one who fought them off."

Mel's turned her attention on him. "I guess so," she said. "Then I owe you a great deal of thanks, too."

"It was nothing," he said quickly.

"No," Mel said. "No, it was definitely something. Ah, thank you." She addressed the last to the bat-creatures as they returned to the room, this time with a third. Two of them were hoisting a small pail between them, sloshing about with water; the third carried the damp cloth. They settled the pail next to Mel and handed her the cloth, and then vanished right out the door again. She immediately daubed the cloth against Terence's head, cleaning the wound.

"Thank you both very much," she said.

Elena smiled broadly. "I-it's nothing!" she said. "Is there anything else we can do?"

"No, you've helped immensely." She went back to examining the Poppul Purrel. "I'll have him right as rain by tomorrow."

"Oh, good." She tugged on Rue's sleeve. "We better get back to town before it gets dark."

"Good idea." She tugged again, and he turned to follow, nodding to the witch as he left.

"Wait."

Elena stopped. Rue looked over his shoulder.

Mel wasn't looking at them, she had washed the cloth off in the water pail, drained it, and pressed it against Terence's wound again. In spite of that, though, she was plainly addressing them. "I'd actually hoped you'd come back, Rue," she said. She checked the cloth, dunked it in the pail, and looked up, locking eyes with him. "I wanted to speak to you."

"Me?" he asked. "About what?"

"Things," she responded simply. Then she looked past him. "Elena, dear, could I ask you to give us some privacy?"

"You could," she said, grinning back at Mel.

Mel smiled back. "Could you give us some privacy? She indicated the door. "Fortney and Reginald are free right now, if you'd like to see them. We won't be long."

"All right," she said, and a few seconds later the door was closing behind her.

Rue turned his attention away from the door and back to Mel. He was expecting her to say something, obviously, but when she continued to silently work on cleaning up Terence, he finally had to speak.

"Are those really their names?" he asked.

She chuckled. "I named them that," she said. "I'm not sure if they ever had the luxury of real names before. But of course that's not what I wanted to talk about."

Of course.

"Is it about the cube?" he asked.

"In a very roundabout way," she said. She lay the damp cloth down and picked up the one Rue had used, smoothing out a relatively clean side and using it to dry Terence. "What do you intend to do with the Relic?"

"That seems a little personal."

She smiled at him. "Just pragmatic," she said.

He was quiet for a few seconds, mulling over the response. He realized quickly that evasion would only prove foolish, and almost as quickly that perhaps he could use this opportunity to convince Mel to return the cube.

"Somebody very close to me was killed," he said. "I want to bring her back."

Mel stopped, brow creased, the edge of her mouth pinched into a frown. When she spoke again, her voice was laced with confusion: "Her?"

"Yes."

Mel watched him again, her gaze steady. "That's an extraordinarily dangerous proposition," she said. "Many people have tried to return the dead. It never ends well. A Relic can reshape a body, but without the soul you're left with a husk." Her gaze narrowed. "But you're already aware of that. You're not concerned."

"I'm still concerned," he said.

"But not about that," Mel said. She gripped the edge of the bed and slowly pushed herself back to her feet. "Can you tell me about her? This... woman, yes? Not a child."

"She saved my life," he said simply. "And when she needed me to save hers, I failed."

"I see." Mel closed her eyes. "Then can I ask you something else? Oh, fair warning, this is where the questions get personal."

He hesitated, but finally nodded. "Go on."

"You're not human, are you?"

"No."

She opened her eyes, blinking a few times, somewhat surprised. "Well," she said. "That was pleasantly easy."

"You've already worked it out," he said. "Why belabor the point?" He was taking the conversation in stride, or trying to, although at that moment he was finding it much harder to meet Mel's eyes.

She studied him, and slowly her expression softened. "And... you don't know anything more than that?"

He shook his head.

"I see." She walked around the bed and past Rue, out to the dining room. "Do you like tea? I have a few herbal blends."

The abruptness of the subject change caught him far more off guard than her questioning, and Rue had to take a few seconds to gather himself. "I– yes, sure."

"The kettle's still warm. Go into the kitchen and find something that sounds nice, I'll be back in a minute."

"Um..."

"I need to send Elena along," Mel said. She looked over her shoulder and gave him a warm smile. "Our talk might take longer than I thought."