Credit to ObeliskX for coming up with the basic story idea, some edits, and a whole lot of story suggestions. I hope you like this last chapter and if there is anything you'd like to see edited, please let me know. ;)
Fiona and Aiden had discovered a chance to perhaps transform themselves back into their original forms. That is, they had reason to hope for Aiden to be a male and Fiona to be a female again, as the siblings had been at birth. To do so, all they required was a certain stone and the help of a master craftsman. The aid of their craftsman seemed certain, but the acquisition of the stone was not so sure. Yet, it was good news they had to share with the rest of their fellow transformed adventurers. So, Aiden and Fiona made their way back to the Adventurer's Tavern.
"Well, there's the table where everyone's supposed to be," Fiona announced with firm severity. "I see Nadia! But where are Godric and Anwen? My instructions were clear!"
"I dunno," Aiden responded spritely. "Let's go talk to Nadia." Aiden sauntered across the tavern floor, swinging her hips jauntily. Many of the men in the tavern stopped drinking their ale to gawk and stare at her hindquarters. Fiona's mouth wrinkled up in disgust at the antics of her former brother and slapped herself in the forehead.
"Aiden!" she hissed. "Stop that! Remember you are a noble born of the Unicorn Duchy! Not a hussy working in a tavern nearest her father's farm."
"Sorry," Aiden shrugged. "All my time with succubus in Sheog must have rubbed off on me."
"Well, keep that up and you will call an inquisition down on you from a head priest."
"Nah!" said Aiden swinging his hand down in disagreement and tilting her head with a jaunty smile. "There are no priests of Elwrath, here. We're in wizard territory, remember! And they have a little more fun than the 'ol empire. Nobody will mind."
"Well, I mind," said Fiona still covering her eyes. She then looked away from Aiden and approached their friend, Nadia.
"Brave and knowledgeable mage, Nadia, please tell me you have discovered a cure for our transformation," said Fiona, still coldly furious at her former brother.
"Not at all," said Nadia heaving a sigh deep with regret. Two tears leaked out of the corner of her eye. "What is to become of me? I can not let Cyrus see me like this. What will become of our marriage? We must find a way to reverse this spell!" said Nadia staring through her hands which had become those of an attractive young male mage.
"Don't despair, Nadia!" said Fiona with a faint smile. "Aiden and I have good news for you! There is a chance we might be cured by restoring the gate and entering it a second time. But only if certain conditions are met. Let us tell you the tale of today's exploits," stated Fiona with immense delight.
"So," said Nadia clasping her hands against her chest, pressed close to her heart, as Fiona finished her tale. "We must find the stone the merchant has in his possession and bring it to the owner of the workshop."
"Exactly," said Aiden. If she had a succubus' tail she would have whipped it for emphasis. But making do, her body shaped itself into an undulating curve as she snapped her fingers. "We do that, and we'll be back to normal in no time!"
"Please let it be no time!" said Fiona covering her face again. "Don't you care that men are looking at you?" she scolded Aiden. But Aiden looked across the room, deep in thought but without remorse.
"Well, actually, since I'm a girl it's a buzz to see someone hot and bothered for me. Now I know why Jezebeth was always hanging over me. The power and exhilaration of the female body. The curves! The untamed estrogen!"
"That's it," said Fiona. "I'm calling it a night! Nadia, please keep an eye on my brother for me. Please?" said the former noblewoman looking sick.
"Finally!" said Aiden when Fiona had paid for a room and gone upstairs. "Boy or girl, my siblings are all prudes."
"Actually, Aiden, that's not the case," said Nadia. She blushed and fidgeted.
"I'll say it's not!" said Varkas suddenly appearing before them with three mugs in hand. "Aiden, is that really you?! By Elwrath! It's a good thing your father is already in the grave or news of this would send him there! I nearly had an attack of faint heart, myself."
"Woof!" said Varkas' trusty hound in perfect agreement.
"Varkas?" asked Aiden. "How in the name of the dragon gods did you get to the Silver Cities?"
"I was the traveling companion of an old friend of ours, Lady Anwen. When we got to the top of the wizard's tower, I stopped to rest and by the time I had gathered wind into my chest, Anwen and all of you had gone. Cyrus is ballistic. He was so frantic for his bride to be that I set out to find her. But I found this fellow instead!" said Varkas gesturing to the transformed Nadia. He shook his head sadly.
"I really don't want to break it to Cyrus. So I agreed with Sir Nadia here, to bring back a note instead and act as message bearer until this thing sorts out. For the time being, anyway."
"Woof! Woof!" said Varkas' pet hound wagging his tail and drooling on Aiden's shoe. The female picked up her foot delicately and shifted it away from the stinky, messy dog. She wrinkled her nose in distaste.
"Well, we do have a plan now to transform ourselves back. It's risky and not guaranteed, but it's a shot."
"I am so glad!" Nadia repeated herself. "I wish to find the merchant we must do business with tonight! Except for one thing…" Nadia said lowering her head and blushing modestly, too embarrassed to speak her thoughts out loud. Finally she voiced three words out loud. "Your brother Godric."
"What about my brother? I mean, sister?" Aiden prompted. She tapped her toes against the tavern foot impatiently and leant against her hip as she glared at Nadia, willing her to speak more.
"It's like this, Sir.. I mean Lady Aiden," Varkas said, tugging attention away from the blushing Nadia. "Your older brother and Lady Anwen have this… thing for one another. Don't yell at me about it!" said Varkas holding his hands up in the air in surrender. "I only know it's true. When the two of them returned to the tavern, they said the mages promised to study them to find a cure but that it'd take years. So the next thing I knew, Anwen had rented the largest room in the tavern for the two of them and they went straight away up into it. When they finally came down they reeked of liquor. Then when Nadia came in the front door, they bolted out the rear one. They're somewhere in the Silver City, but it's anyone's guess where!"
"We have to find them!" said Aiden clenching her fists. "The gateway might not reverse the spell on us if all of us aren't using the gate like last time! The gatekeeper said it was because we overloaded the crystal with all of our combined powers! That is why we switched! The magic of all of us was too much for the gate crystal!"
"Ah! I'm such a fool!" said Nadia holding her forehead in her hands. "Of course! Stabilization of energy fields and load limits! It's basic magic theory! I can't believe I did not stop to think!"
"None of us did, mage," said Aiden mildly. "Don't beat yourself up for it. Chaos happens. All we can do about it try to keep it governed as best as we can. Speaking of which, Varkas. We really should catch Anwen and my darling 'sister' Godric. Will you come with me?"
"I would, yes." said the knight ruffling his dog's head and frowning slightly.
"Very well!" said Nadia taking a spyglass out of her pocket. "Varkas, get me a map! From anyone you can!"
"Yes, lady," said the knight as nobly as he could, circumstances being what they were. Varkas went to go speak to a knot of wayfarers in the tavern's corner and exchanged a piece of gold with them. It was not long before the steel-clothed knight slowly strode back to them across the tavern floor.
"Here. I have hired the map for a few minutes at the cost of a few drinks. I must return it to them when I am done. If you need it for longer, you should have a copy made."
"No need!" said Nadia pulling something out of her pocket. It flashed a brief reflection of the lamplight of tavern's interior. "This will not take long! Look!" said she placing a small circle of glass mounted in a metal frame against the parchment. Then she pointed. A splotch of shimmering light glimmered on the yellow parchment. It was there that they should look. A few minutes later, Aiden, Varkas, and Nadia had walked to the open-air market a few streets' distance from the tavern. Over the din of the crowd and amongst the vaporous smells of cooked food for sale, they spotted their missing companions lurking among the booths.
"Sir Anwen! A word with you!" Nadia called across the crowd. Godric and Anwen both grimaced then walked closer.
"Yes? Do you wish to say something?" Godric said nervously, her now female voice fluttering like a bird's.
"A whole lot of somethings!" Aiden sneered crossing her arms. "Just what do you think you are doing, Godric? You're not acting like yourself. Or a noble of the Unicorn Duchy."
"We've found a way to reverse the transformation," said Nadia cutting through the conversation. But the atmosphere only grew more tense with her revelation.
"Oh is that so?" said Anwen tightening a draped hand's hold around Godric's waist. Then, the tension on Answen's face snapping, the elf knocked his shoulder into Godric's.
"Run!" Anwen hollered. Picking up her skirts, Godric and Anwen ran away down the street, hand in hand. Aiden gaped after them.
"What in the name of the dragon gods has gotten into my brother?"
"Sister," Varkas corrected.
"Yes, sister," Aiden grumbled. "Fiona isn't going to like this!"
"They're getting away!" said Nadia pointing. Her face had taken on a desperate, predatory look. "Let's get them!"
"Very well," said Varkas. He looked downward at his hound companion and whistled to it.
"Find Anwen!" Varkas commanded.
"Woof!" replied his pet hound. It wagged its tail, then lowered its head to the ground before him. The hound trotted forward, whipping his tail back and forth as he went. Varkas, Aiden, and Nadia followed it in pursuit.
"Ah-ha!" said Nadia with delight when they cornered Anwen and Godric in a courtyard with high stone walls. "We've got you now! Surrender and come back to the tavern with us!"
"Never!" said Godric pulling out his, now her sword to defend herself with.
"Really, old friend, come to your senses!" said Varkas pulling out his own battle blade to defend himself with. Godric made a few chops, then overbalanced a bit and stumbled back against Anwen.
"Wow, fighting is so much harder all of a sudden. I feel top-heavy."
"It's the breasts, beloved," said Anwen catching Godric's shoulder on either side. Godric sheathed the sword and they turned to run again. But this time, Anwen surprised them all by leaping to catch the top of the nearest wall. Anwen then yanked himself up to its top. Crouched, Anwen lowered a hand to yank Godric up. Godric scrabbled up the wall, pulled along by Anwen's hand and digging her boots against the wall stones.
"Damn that elf!" Nadia sputtered. "She'll ruin everything between Cyrus me! We can't let them escape!" A bit of magic appeared between the mage's hands. Aiden gulped.
"Eh, don't forget we are trying to get my sister and our dear friend back alive, alright?"
"Oh, yeah," Nadia apologized. "Sorry!"
"It's okay!" said Nadia suddenly. "All we need a is another map!" They borrowed one from a friendly traveling merchant this time.
"There!" said Nadia pointing to a magical glimmer on the parchment. They hurried over to the place on the map only to find a bucket of paint and some abandoned paintbrushes.
"What's this?" Nadia huffed.
"Looks like graffiti to me!" said Aiden leaning over the bucket. As she did so her, breasts popped forward and Varkas and Nadia both coughed, looked away from the display.
"Elwrath, give me strength!" Varkas muttered to himself.
"Woof?" his dog asked.
"A whole lot of woof!" said Varkas patting his friend's head.
"Woof, woof!" the hound dog commented happily.
"I have no idea what you and the dog are saying about me, but I'll take it as a compliment," said Aiden. "Now what are we going to do about this?" She pointed at the wall where the words "Anwen and Godric were here," were painted in bright letters. "Wait until the liquor wears off, maybe?"
"We MUST find them!" Nadia disagreed firmly. She pulled out the map and the magical eyeglass again. "There! They've slipped down to the docks!"
As Nadia had predicted by magical means, they did find Anwen and Godric by the waterside, but the two had swiped a little rowing fishing boat and were far out into the river.
"Nah-nah-nah!" shouted Anwen waving a row overhead in taunt.
"Godric, be reasonable!" Aiden shouted. "You can't go back to the the Griffin Empire looking like that! Unless you want to forfeit your title to Fiona here!" But the golden-haired, now-female knight lifted her nose up into the air with a sniff.
"We could borrow that boat," Varkas suggested helpfully. They found a leaky little rowboat and did their best to keep up the escapees, but the best they could do was tail them down the river to a garrison on the edge of a marsh. Grounding themselves at last, they knocked on the broad gate to the fortress.
"Hello? Anwen! Godric! We know you're in there!" Nadia ground-out, very annoyed. "Come out!" Anwen and Godric appeared on the rampart.
"Never!" the two shouted throwing rotten vegetables at their former companions. Nadia was livid.
"That does it!" she sputtered shaking a fist. "We'll get you out of there by force then!"
"You and what army?" asked Anwen.
"We'll be back by dawn tomorrow!" Nadia promised. "You'll see!"
After a fitful night in the tavern, the next day Nadia was back as she had threatened. She had recruited an army of gremlins and a few djinns. She had also brought with her Fiona, and the peeved sibling had resurrected an entire graveyard outside the city to be her skeleton warriors. Both of the former women were ready to slap sense into Godric by whatever means necessary.
"Give up!" Fiona and Nadia both shouted across the marsh.
"No!" Anwen and Godric snouted back, sticking their tongues out and making faces at Fiona and Nadia. Varkas and Aiden could only watch as the battle began. The garrison Anwen and Godric had holed themselves up in was stocked with a wide assortment of wild creatures who chewed and stung and fireballed Fiona and Nadia's small army to shreds.
"That does it!" said Fiona casting a high-level spell to summon a liche. The undead ghost drifted through the ranks of combatants and cast a ghostly chain around the Godric and Anwen so that they were bound.
"Ah-ha!" said Fiona triumphantly as her ghost delivered its prisoners to her. "We've got you now!"
"Aw, come on, Fiona!" pleaded Anwen. "Do you really want to stand in the way of love?"
"Love?" Fiona remarked. "The only love I know about is poor Nadia who WAS going to get married to Cyrus in a few months. She needs to transform back into a woman to pursue her dream of being a wife and you two are not going to interfere with that!"
"The merchant is waiting!" Nadia declared ruthlessly. Fiona and Nadia dragged their to prisoners along with them.
The merchant which the gate manufacturer had spoken of as indeed as rich as he had suggested. More so even. His home and place of business was a palace more ostentatious than any other in the Silver Cities, including that of its regent. Camels and donkey-pulled carts laden with goods streamed in and out the luxurious warehouse gates. Middlemen merchants came and went with important sealed parchments. But one of the guards acknowledged Nadia when she arrived at the metal gate with all of her fellow transformed companions.
"Mage Nadia," said the man sniffing and swishing his whiskers from side to side as though stifling a sneeze or a laugh. "My master himself is waiting to speak to you on your desired purchase. It is a costly material you seek, so he is going to make the negotiations himself. I will guide you to him."
"Rats!" said Aiden looking wistfully at the slightly humbler warehouse where most of the merchant's guests were heading and towards the grand and costly palace which shone with a gold leaf and magic gemstone vanished roof, studded on the gable ends with statues of wizard summons holding real rubies. "It bodes less well for us this way! What if he decides he needs a new southern wing? Or a gambling vacation to the Dwarves' Bear Races?"
"Don't give up!" Nadia pleaded. But Fiona swept on ahead, looking grimmer than ever.
Soon, they came to what might honestly be said to be a throne room for the great merchant. The broad, dome-roofed hall was elaborately painted with blue and green nature murals and strewn with pillows and other costly textiles. Beside a magically sustained hearth, a magic rug larger than Nadia's scratched itself on the ear by fireside like a sleepy dog. Aiden stared at it. But she stared, too, and the five hundred pound overweight man who sat in the center of a feast spread out on a long, low wooden table.
"Honored customers!" said Gedoin the merchant. "Mage Nadia. You are still interested in the Yarbil Stone as we discussed? Then sit, sit, and we will sign a contract for your payment!"
"I wish to read the contract, yes!" Nadia protested. "You did not set a price when last we met."
"I have thought long and hard on what I want, and I have recorded my asking price on the contract," said the man. "Although it is negotiable. I might take goods instead if you are short, or you may take out a line of credit with me and pay the interest."
"Interest?!" sputtered Aiden rushing forward to take the scroll of parchment from Nadia's hand and rolling it open. "What could he be asking? Oh my!" Aiden's jaw dropped. Nadia's did too.
"What are you two looking at?" Fiona uttered. "You look as if you've seen your own ghost. Oh!" Fiona's eyes widened, too, at the number. She covered her mouth with one hand. "But it would take all the resources of several kingdoms to buy!"
"It'd only cost all the treasures of the Sylvan, Humans, and Wizards combined!" Aiden muttered narrowing his eyes at the wicked merchant.
"But there is only one stone such as you are seeking," the merchant countered. "Thus, it is immensely valuable."
"It's only a material stone!" Aiden lashed out angrily.
"And it is the only means by which Nadia may reverse her transformation. And who are you?" the greedy merchant sniffed.
"A friend," Aiden tossed nonchalantly. The merchant's eyes glimmered with greedy inspiration.
"Well, if the price tag is too steep for you, then how about this? The price shall be 100,000 gold, paid over the next thirty years, and this young red-head for my harem. She seems like an agreeable addition to my collection."
"What?!" Everyone shouted.
"Fine, I agree to the conditions!" Nadia shouted back, sending everyone into a new round of shock.
"Now hold on just a minute!" said Aiden. "I'm not willing to agree to that! No way!" But Fiona's eyes glimmered hard.
"May I speak to you for a minute alone, dear sister?" Fiona uttered. He shoved Aiden into a large closet but it was the skeletal hand of a wraith that pulled the wardroom door closed. When Aiden stumbled out of the closet a few minutes later, she was very pale.
"Very well," mumbled Aiden. "We'll go with Nadia's plan."
"Excellent!" said the sleazy merchant while Anwen and Godric glared daggers at Fiona and Nadia.
"At last!" said Fiona as they left the palace of Gedoin the Merchant. "Soon I won't be bothered by girls looking at me in a perverted way!" She shivered.
"But you are a male," Varkas noted. "And more, you have agreed to sell your own sister! Does that not strike your conscience?" Nadia and Fiona locked eyes with one another.
"No!" both agreed with a sniff. "We can help Aiden escape as soon as we get the Yarbil Stone. If he's transformed back into a male, there's no way Gedoin will want to stay married." The two snickered.
"Indeed," said Varkas, his throat deep with moral disappointment.
So it was that a wedding day for poor, miserable Aiden was arranged with a great deal of fanfare. The gate to Gedoin's Palace was opened to accommodate guests from all over the city and every inch of his courtyards packed with outdoor entertainers and their audience. Everyone could get a piece of bread and honey to eat or a cup of tea or camel's milk, but inside the palace itself they were making roasted peacock in fig sauce.
"I hate this!" Aiden whine rearranging her wedding veil. "Why couldn't Gedoin turn out to be someone young and sexy?"
"Ill luck?" Godric suggested mildly. "I do not agree to this wedding, either, Aiden! Anwen and I don't want the stone! At the very least, I need for them to hold off transforming us for a bit."
"How long?" said Aiden raising an eyebrow curiously.
"About nine more months," Godric uttered seriously.
"For the love of! Elwrath, save me!" said Aiden lifting her eyes. "Or actually, Varkas! You over there! Yes, you!" said Aiden pointing.
"Me?" asked the knight looking around to see if anyone was watching.
"Yes, you!" Aiden said wagging a finger at him. "You're supposed to be a noble knight and all that! What happened to saving a lady in distress?"
"You… you're right," said Varkas taking off his helm and kneeling to kiss Aiden's hand. "Made by magic or not, a lady is a lady still. And I would be no true knight at all if I left you to suffer your brothers' evil designs."
"Yes!" Aiden agreed, her eyes sparkling in triumph.
When the wedding procession began, Varkas was mysteriously nowhere to be seen. Aiden continued to whine loudly even as she marched down the aisle. Godric and Anwen had been let free of their ropes for the occasion, but they both did not seem inclined to run. Instead, the two shared a conspiratorial wink.
"Oh beloved brothers!" said Godric at last. "Anwen here has a question!"
"Yes!" Anwen declared over the wedding gathering. "Before you give your beloved sister away, it might be wise to make sure that Gedoin has made good on his part of the wedding dowry. He should hand over the Yarbel Stone."
"I have the stone, here!" said the sleezy merchant gesturing for two blue djinn to unwrap a tall box wrapped like a present. As the sides to the box were lowered to fall away, Anwen approached the stone.
"Well, gee, Nadia! I don't know as much about magic as you! But that doesn't look like a Yarbel Stone to me!" Anwen said grinning maniacally with suppressed laughter.
"Let me see!" said Nadia snatching the stone up into her hand. A bit of magic swirled up from her hand into the rock to test it. Nadia watched with wide, stunned eyes as the white, dull stone shattered into particles of dust at her touch.
"Gedoin!" Nadia glowered, her hands fisted. "You have cheated us!"
"Not I, Great Mage!" said the merchant cowering in case the angry mage fireballed him to death. "Some one must have stolen the real Yarbil Stone!"
"And destroyed it!" said Varkas stepping boldly through the crowd. "I could not let such innocents as Lady Nadia suffer because of selfishness and greed."
"My hero!" said Aiden leaping up into Varkas' arms before the knight boosted her up onto a horse. They fled.
"Wow, we should do that, too!" said Anwen. "But I don't see any horses. Do mind if we ride this camel instead?" Anwen asked Godric.
"Hm. It will do!" Godric agreed before being boosted up onto a saddle on the lumpy animal.
"Into the sunset!" said Anwen with glee pointing to the faraway horizon. He slapped the camel's reins and they followed Varka's and Nadia's lead in fleeing the Silver Cities. As Godric and Anwen disappeared into the desert sunset, Nadia broke out into tears.
"Oh! That's it! We're finished!" the mage lamented.
"This is terrible!" said Fiona opening her bag and taking a mirror a green glowing surface instead of glass and real skulls embedded in the silver back.
"Markel! Markel!" Fiona called into the mirror before the necromancer replied. Then his arrogant, yet witty voice came resonating their the powerful artifact of necromancy.
"What ails you, Fiona? Some rare illness? That tiresome bore of a prince?"
"No, worse!" said Fiona, her cheeks bright red with anger. "There was an accident of magic and, well… I hate to say it friend… it is humiliating, but… I have been transformed into a man! I will never become Queen of the Griffin Empire now!"
"Oh is that all?" said the handsome, black-locked, still alive-for-the-moment necromancer. "In that case you can marry me instead of your prince."
"What?!" Fiona gaped. "But I'm a male, didn't you hear me? I'm not the woman you admired."
"I've always admired your for your mind and spirit, dear Fiona!" Markel corrected. "Undead or living. Female or male. My offer for you to remain in Heresh stays the same. Besides," continued the necromancer. "Have you ever heard of fortune-telling? Sure you'll be queen, but if you stay in canon, then in a few years I'll lose my mind and you'll be a skull used as a cool-looking prop during villian scenes. Better to be gay and alive than irrevocably dead."
"Well," said Fiona thinking it over. "Maybe."
"And your friend that mage, Nadia there!" said Markel. "I've been looking these things over and I'm always right. You know I am. If she marries Cyrus, she'll die of childbirth in a few years. This way, she can become the ruler of the Silver Cities instead of snooty old Cyrus. For everyone it's a win-win. Except the delightfully down-to-earth son she might have had. But no matter! Trust me, it's better for everyone this way! So what do you say, hm? Will you come back to Heresh? For me?"
"Well," said Fiona folding at last. "Very well! I will come to study more necromancy in Heresh."
"I can hardly wait!" said Markel smiling that cunning smile that predated his now hopefully averted supervillain years. But if not, now Fiona and Markel could be supervillians together.
"Well!" said Fiona putting away her magic mirror. "What will you do, Nadia?" the noblewoman asked her friend the mage.
"Enter the university, I guess," said Nadia. "Drown my woes in ale? Break it to Cyrus?" Nadia patted her on the back.
"You heard Markel!" said Fiona. "Perhaps this IS all for the best. I had my fortune read, too, once you know? And it said my son by Griffin would be turned into a vampire lord and the entire Griffin Empire would perish with him. At least now that won't happen. Children are ill-fated for you, too! Let's buy you a three-tailed fox sprite instead. You can name it and brush it and teach it low-level spells!"
"Sounds great!" said Nadia smiling as they strolled off to the busy mage market. "Can I get one in pink?"
"Only if I get one in purple!" replied Fiona, feeling pleasantly optimistic about the whole thing. The end.