"Ugh..." Amelia came to, again surrounded by darkness. She shivered, realizing she was all wet. She wasn't sure why she wasn't in the mansion anymore, but she had a sneaking suspicion. Unless of course she had been tossed into a basement, but she didn't think so. Basements had their own dank smell, to be sure, but there was just something distinctive about caves.
She cast a light spell, just to be sure, and felt a bit of relief when she saw the cave walls around her. Everything was just as she had left it, aside from one thing. "Mister Zelgadis?" Amelia called out into the darkness.
She sat, straightening out her messy hair and wet clothing, but didn't hear any response. Something moved, just out of her line of sight. Amelia squinted in the dim light, making out the erratic movement of the tip of a tail.
Zelgadis was here, and by the looks of it, distressed.
Amelia stood up and walked quietly to his side. Zelgadis was turned away from her, his head resting on the ground. Amelia could hear him whimpering quietly. She reached out her hand and gently placed it on his shoulder.
Zelgadis started in surprise, quickly turning to face the threat. When he saw Amelia, he visibly calmed down. He sighed in discontent.
"What's wrong?" Amelia felt at a loss. She was well aware that he was unable to verbally communicate, and she knew he would have to be upset about being even less human than before, but she didn't know what else to say.
Zelgadis turned away and sighed again, but after a moment revealed his forearms.
Amelia gasped. His...er...hands were shredded and bleeding. She felt herself slipping in to shock to see so much blood, but she willed herself to stay calm. She closed her eyes to calm her emotions so she could cast a Recovery spell. Then, spell at the ready, she healed both of his clawed hands until there was no indication of them ever being badly wounded in the first place.
Amelia sat down, still a bit shaken. "You got hurt helping me." Amelia turned her gaze to the opposite wall. She had come out here to help, not be a hindrance. But then, it seemed whenever she crossed paths with Zelgadis he ended up saving her. Even heroines were in need of saving every now and again...
Amelia looked back at Zelgadis, who was looking worriedly back at her. "I'm sorry, Mister Zelgadis, today just didn't work out how I thought it would at all. From volunteering to rid the village of a monster, only to find you're the monster, to being captured by some insane chimera maker!" Amelia lowered her raised fists. "...thank you."
Zelgadis blinked and made a slight humming sound.
"Thank you for looking out for me." Amelia smiled, but played with her hands in awkward nervousness. True he had first attacked and captured her, but now wasn't the time to bring that up.
The two sat in silence for a time. Zelgadis reflecting on whatever was on his mind (Amelia wish she knew), and Amelia pondering what to do next. If she went to confront that man again, no doubt he would take control of Zelgadis and use him against her again. Maybe if they had some help they might be able to bring that man to justice...
"That's it!" Amelia shot up to her feet, startling Zelgadis. She looked eagerly at him. "We can go to the village and get help! Surely they'll see what a horrible man he is and gladly help us bring him to justice?" Amelia pumped her fists up and down in excitement.
Zelgadis made a gagging sound and what she could have sworn was a disgusted look.
"What, do you think they wouldn't help? Aside from that, what else can we do? We already tried facing him by ourselves, and although I'm not really sure what happened, it didn't go well." Amelia gave Zelgadis a stern look. "We can't just camp out in this cave forever, Mister Zelgadis."
Zelgadis grumbled in annoyance, then got to his feet. He lifted his left foreleg and held it out, gesturing for Amelia to lead the way.
"You never went to the village, did you?" Amelia bit on her thumb, remembering Zelgadis was in the habit of avoiding civilization when traveling alone. "Okay, then follow me..."
(Off to town we go...)
It was getting late in the day before Amelia and Zelgadis sighted the village farther down the road. Zelgadis started to fidget more than usual, continuously glancing back to the trees not far off the road. He finally stopped following Amelia and sulked off into the trees, peering back out at his confused companion.
Amelia stopped in her tracks, but didn't follow Zelgadis off the road. She knew well enough why he was hiding in the safety of the trees. She glanced nervously back at the nearby village. "So...umm...I guess I'll go ahead then. You'll stay nearby, right?"
Zelgadis nodded then disappeared into the brush. Amelia could still see his shape moving along through the forest, keeping pace with her on the road. As she entered the village, the locals all stopped what they were doing and gathered around her.
"You're alive!" The man Amelia had originally encountered looked at her in shock. "I thought for sure that beast would've gotten you...what happened?"
Amelia scowled. "He's not the real threat. Did you know there is an evil man north of here? He takes unsuspecting people and experiments on them!"
The villagers all looked nervously at each other, but didn't say anything.
Amelia took their silence as confusion. "Such evil men that would attack a peace-loving girl such as myself need to be punished! I cannot do it alone, but if we band together we...can..." Amelia stopped as she saw the villagers visibly pale as they backed away. She glanced behind, thinking perhaps Zelgadis had come in to view, but nothing was there. She turned back to the still retreating crowd. "What is it?"
"Y-you say he got to you?" The villagers all started to pick up their shovels, axes, and various other tools of their trade.
"Yes...but I escaped. What are you doing?" Amelia's righteous wrath wavered to be replaced with a feeling of dread.
A man held up his pickax as if to protect himself. "Leave, and never come back!"
Amelia backed away in fright. "What are you doing? Why are you doing this? I..." Amelia was suddenly overtaken with pain.
The crowd all watched in terror as Amelia sprouted huge wings and a long tail. One man that actually had a sword turned to his fellows. "Quickly, we have to kill it before it changes completely!"
The crowd all surged forward, bearing their makeshift weapons and beating ferociously on the prone girl. Amelia did her best to fend them off, but there were far too many! "Stop! Please! I won't hurt you!" She dodged the man with the sword, but screamed out in pain as another's pitchfork pierced into her side.
"Leave her alone!" There was suddenly a terrible roar, and a large figure landed right in the middle of the mob. Zelgadis, with his wings unfurled, bared teeth, and lashing tail was a sight to behold. Those that weren't knocked aside by his massive tail and wicked claws fled as fast as they could. Zelgadis scooped Amelia off of the ground and hefted her onto his back. "Hang on, Amelia!"
Battered, bruised, and even bleeding, Amelia wrapped one arm around Zelgadis' neck, and clung to one of the spikes on his back with the other. Zelgadis then dashed away as fast as he could, before the villagers could regroup and attack him as well.
"Mister Zelgadis, they..."
"They knew, I know. I heard the whole thing. And then they attacked you! I should have killed them all." Zelgadis growled as he continued running.
Amelia felt hot tears of betrayal sting her eyes. "How could they do that? I didn't do anything to them."
Zelgadis growled, "That's what people are like. They fear anything different."
Amelia buried her head in Zelgadis' neck, tightening her grip so she wouldn't fall. "I'm sorry if I ever did that to you, Mister Zelgadis."
Zelgadis ran on in silence.
Amelia lifted her head back up. "Mister Zelgadis?"
"I heard you, Amelia. Just...just worry about holding on for now. We'll be lucky if they don't send out search parties to find us."
Amelia nodded, knowing they still had a ways to go before they reached the safety of the cave. Hopefully none of the villagers knew of its existence. While she thought, her hands began to sting. She grit her teeth and watched as her fingers lengthened, and claws sprouted from their tips.
Zelgadis could hear Amelia's distress. "We'll be there soon, just hold on. We'll make it!" He then picked up the pace, just in case she couldn't.
It felt like forever before they finally reached the cave. Zelgadis plunged in without even slowing down, only coming to a stop when he reached the cavern at the end. He then lowered the shoulder Amelia was clinging to so that she could get off without further injuring herself.
Amelia crumpled to the ground, whimpering in pain. Zelgadis saw that the wound in her side was still bleeding. "Amelia, I know it hurts, but you must heal yourself. You'll not get another chance."
Amelia nodded her head in reply, forcing herself into a sitting position. "Re-Recovery!" She cried weakly, trying her best to concentrate the healing where she was injured the most seriously. She even healed her very alien wings and tail, as they had been badly battered in the attack before.
Zelgadis watched over her the whole while. He also kept alert for any sound of people approaching. After a time Amelia stopped moaning in pain. "Are you okay?"
Amelia stared at her wings, willing them to move. She then did the same with her tail, staring at it curiously. "I think so. I-ar.." Amelia put her hands to her mouth, feeling her canines become extremely large. So much so it was difficult for her to talk.
"Amelia?" Zelgadis came around to face her.
"Arh, Nither 'Elgahdich, ikth kahnt tok 'igh." Amelia made an annoyed sound, but kept her mouth covered. Her canines were now reaching down below her chin. She could feel Zelgadis' gaze on her, and turned away.
Zelgadis craned his neck to try and get a better look at Amelia. "What are you doing?" When she didn't answer, he reached out and pulled her hands away.
"O!" Amelia tried to turn her head again, but Zelgadis had already seen. She met his gaze, waiting to see disgust or ridicule in his eyes. Instead he had the same serious look he always had on his face. Even with the beak and elongated face and all, the look was still the same.
"You don't need to hide from me, Amelia."
Amelia shook her head.
Zelgadis gripped one of his massive canines. "Look, Amelia, I've got them too. Mine are worse though, because they jut upward. I look stupid."
Amelia just looked at him, not sure if he was joking or not. Not wanting to try and talk, she made hand motions to indicate that he looked just fine (for a non-humanoid), and that at least his teeth were in proportion with the rest of his head. She sighed when he looked blankly at her. "Air thu igh!"
Zelgadis had to think that one over for a moment. Oh, too big... Zelgadis gave a sigh. "Amelia, I doubt you're done changing. I don't know why it's taken longer with you, but you'll not stay like this."
Amelia shuddered.
"Look, we're not going to stay like this. One way or another, we'll find a way to reverse it." Zelgadis tried to smile reassuringly at Amelia, but stopped when he saw all it did was scare her. "We should probably try and get some sleep for now. You're not going to be in any condition to leave any time soon."
Amelia nodded, then tried curling up on the ground. That didn't work too well, because then she was laying on a wing, which let her know it didn't appreciate being crushed. She then tried to lean up against the wall, but not only was it cold, she was basically sitting on her tail. Amelia stood up. And people thought it was bad when their feet fell asleep!
She glanced over to Zelgadis, who was laying on his stomach, his head nestled in his arms. At least he looked comfortable... Amelia lay down on her stomach and also tried laying her head in her arms, but her enlarged canines kept getting in the way. She finally gripped the offending teeth in her hands to keep them from touching the ground, then settled in.
It was going to be a long night...
To Be Continued...
Author's Notes: Moral of the story? If you've been subjected to crazy scientists, don't think you won't experience side effects!
This was a nice long section (compared to the norm). I didn't really want to cut it off in the middle, so I hope you all enjoyed the extended...ness of the chapter. And yeah, Amelia has issues with blood. Not nearly so bad as Gracia, but she still has her own issues with the stuff.
Also, I think I am obsessed with making people talk weird. Amelia's jaw was unable to close, so yeah, more issues... (If you need a translation, Amelia said, "I can't talk right", "NO!", and, "they're too big".)
Curious how the townsfolk reacted when they found out where Amelia had gone, isn't it? More on that later...
(And to my anonymous reviewer: makes you wonder, doesn't it. I pretty much left the incident up to the reader's imagination. As for the other question...Dorel is only human, and overestimated himself. Stinks to be him!)
Next chapter: "Mister Zelgadis!" Amelia's jaw dropped. "That's stealing!"