Chapter Six: A Secret Revealed
"Have you seen Lupine in the last two hours?"Papa Smurf worriedly asked Gutsy. " I saw him running around in the village a while ago and then I heard him howl…I haven't seen him since," said Gutsy to a very frantic Papa Smurf as he begged each of the village members to tell him something about Lupine's disappearance. He had a terrible feeling that it had something to do with the riddle that he had so diligently been trying to solve, and he felt that he had once more failed in his duty to protect his own child. "That's ALL? There truly is no more?" he begged Gutsy, but the Smurf just shook his head. "Sorry, that's it. That's probably all everyone else knows either; we weren't really paying too much attention to him."
"Okay…" sighed Papa, completely white in the face and very anxious for the wolfish Smurf. He had no clue as to where Lupine had disappeared to, and yet he knew that if he didn't rescue him soon, he would probably perish. He couldn't let that happen; he tried to force down his sheer panic and think about the riddle and its meaning. The blood of a blue wolf, from a pack whose name sounds like a star, his essence shall revive the dead, whether for near or from afar...He spun those words around in his head so many times that he thought he would collapse from the dizziness. Still he thought; knowing that the riddle held the only answer to Lupine's whereabouts and his captor.
He had been puzzling for a full five minutes when suddenly the answer hit him like a slap in the face: Lupine's blood was what he needed to make the potion! He slapped his forehead; scolding himself for not thinking of it earlier. Of course; it all made sense now. Lupine was definitely a "blue wolf", and his pack's name, Aluraris, did sound faintly like Polaris, the North Star. Papa wasn't sure whether it was only Lupine whose blood could bring the dead to life, or whether there were others of his kind whose blood could do the same, but that wasn't important now.
All that was important now was getting Lupine out of the clutches of whoever could be holding him now; they must've smurfnapped him for use of his blood. And there was only one person in the world who might take him for that purpose: Gargamel. "Come on, my little Smurfs; I've finally found out where Lupine is. Follow me; we've got to save him!" barked Papa, and the whole village scurried after the determined little elder with questioning looks on their blue faces.
"But Papa, how did you-"started Smurfette, but Papa hushed her with a wave of his hand and continued on. "No time to be asking questions, Smurfette; we've got to hurry before Lupine….gets worse…" trailed off Papa, his heart thudding in horror at a terrifying image he was getting in his mind. "What do you mean, 'gets worse'? Is he hurt?" asked Wild, his heart pounding at the thought of what might be happening to his brother.
"No, but he's very…BAD. I won't say more than that; come on, we're here! Let's go in one at a time; I'll go last, Brainy will go first. No questions. GO!" ordered Papa as the Smurfs halted in front of Gargamel's castle; their knees knocking and their teeth chattering at the task ahead. "Yes, Papa Smurf; will do!" Brainy saluted before he gulped and slowly began to climb the walls; reminding himself not to look down at each step as the Smurfs below stared up at him anxiously, as if he were their only source of hope for the situation.
…..
When Lupine came to his senses, Gargamel was leaning over him; putting some kind of nasty tube into his arm and chuckling happily. "Ah, little Smurf…I am so glad that my cat's hypnotism worked this once. You don't realize how powerful you really ARE…and once your blood starts flowing….why then…THEN…" grinned the evil villain, lost in happy thought as he finished his dirty work and stepped back to watch Lupine.
"BLOOD?! What the Smurf are you doing to me?!" yelped Lupine, but he didn't have to wait very long for the answer: The tube in his arm was draining his blood from a large cut in his arm that Gargamel must've made when he was asleep; sucking the blood through three other tubes until they plopped into flasks set underneath them. Lupine began to feel lightheaded almost immediately, and uncontrolled panic surged in his veins. He forced himself to calm down; he knew that levelheadedness was the only way he could survive, and panic would get him nowhere.
He figured that he should probably try and call for help first, and so with desperate hope surging in his veins, he threw back his head and let out a loud howl. "Oh, would you be QUIET?!" snorted Gargamel, rolling his eyes in annoyance. "Azrael, get me that muzzle, would you? This howling is giving me a headache and it's sure to alert the others; if they're even nearby. I mean, who would want to save a smelly stray like this?!" he said as Azrael leapt up onto the table that Lupine was sitting on and wrapped a muzzle around his snout before he could blink.
Lupine felt incredibly insulted at this undignified treatment and tried to howl through the gag, but the only noise he could make was a muffled, plaintive squeak. He gave Gargamel a death-glare and swore that as soon as he was out of this horrible machine that he would defeat Gargamel once and for all; perhaps even kill him.
His amulet started to pulse; matching his racing heartbeat, and he remembered what had happened the last time it had started to glow. If he used the amulet's power, perhaps he'd become strong enough to rip the tube out of his arm and break through the muzzle; perhaps he could even fulfill his promise of trying to get rid of Gargamel right away! He shut his eyes and concentrated on the potent rage that he felt; trying to tap into the source of the amulet as best he could.
He felt the familiar angry power of the amulet surge through him; making him feel as strong as a million dragons. Triumph flooded through him, and he tried to tear the tube out of his arm with his free hand. However, as soon as his claws touched the tube, a terrible electric shock tore through him; stunning him and knocking him backwards. He had to blink a good couple of times before his vision cleared, and when he had recovered sufficiently, the amulet's power had drained from him and he felt weaker than before.
"Don't ever try and use YOUR pathetic magic against MINE, you hear me?" smirked Gargamel as his mocking eyes glared malevolently at Lupine. "THAT'S a lesson that you should've learned a long time ago; now, I'm afraid you're going to have to learn it the hard-" But he never got to finish his sentence, because a wild scream interrupted him and tore through the air like a spear being thrown. It was so powerful that Lupine had to fold his ears against his head for the fear of going deaf; it was so strong that it half-knocked Gargamel out and he collapsed to the floor; his hands clamped over his ears feebly as he tried to block out the stunning sound.
"LUPINE! WE'RE COMING TO GET YOU, BROTHER! HANG IN THERE!" shouted the voice that had performed the superhuman scream, and Lupine saw to his relief and delight that Wild was soaring through the air like a flying squirrel towards him; landing neatly on his feet next to Lupine and looking shocked and concerned when he saw how weak Lupine looked. "Are you okay, Lupine?! What happened to you?!" exclaimed Wild as he started to undo the muzzle's clasp, his eyes wide and his jaw hitting the ground somewhere around the center of the earth.
As soon as Wild had gotten the muzzle off his face, Lupine spilled the story of how he had gotten captured; everyone had caught up to them by now and their eyes were wide as he told the tale of his smurfnapping. When he was finished, everyone was giving him looks of pity and he was feeling rather faint. "Lupine, are you all right? You look really pale," asked Papa in concern; his brow furrowing anxiously as he looked at Lupine. "I-I'm just fine," Lupine tried to reassure him, but when he tried to take a step forward, his legs buckled beneath him and he saw stars dancing before his eyes.
"LUPINE! What's wrong?" exclaimed Leafette as Lupine shook his head and sat up; trying to recover from the vertigo attack. "I…I'm very d-dizzy…m-must be the b-blood loss," stammered Lupine weakly, trying to get to his feet again, but he got that lightheaded feeling all over again and he was forced to return to his sitting position. "I'm so sorry about that, Lupine; you're going to have to rest until you can walk again," said Papa softly, glancing around to find an object that they could use as a stretcher for Lupine. "It's all my fault that you've gotten into this situation really; if I'd just solved that riddle sooner and realized that your blood was the ingredient to reviving the dead, then Gargamel wouldn't have kidnapped you…I suppose that he wants to use it in his experiments to turn everyday metals into gold; he IS an alchemist after all…"
"Wh-wh-WHAT?!" gasped Lupine, falling backwards as he got even dizzier. "He w-wants my BLOOD for his EXPERIMENTS in ALCHEMY?! My BLOOD can RAISE the DEAD?!" "Yes; I'm not sure whether it's you in particular or if others of your kind can do it with their blood too; however, the riddle seems to be referring to the former, as it did mention Aluraris' name in it." Lupine was so shocked at this point that he thought that he might actually faint. His head was spinning as he ran Papa's words in his head over and over again: His blood could raise the dead; Gargamel was an alchemist who thought his blood could turn metal into gold; there might possibly be others of his kind whose blood could do the same thing. It was too much for him at the moment; it was overwhelming and too incredible to believe.
But before he could pass out, Gargamel got to his feet and glared around himself; looking for the person who was guilty of stunning him. As soon as he set eyes on the crowd of Smurfs surrounding Lupine, he knew exactly who it was that had stunned him. "I'LL GET YOU, YOU FOUL LITTLE SMURFS! AND THE FURRY ONE TOO!" he yelled as he sent a blast of blue magic straight at the Smurfs. They screamed and scuttled away; managing to avoid the lightning-fast blast. But Lupine was too weak and dazed to move, and he was unable to avoid the beam. "LUUPIIIINNNEE!" Lupine heard Papa scream as the searing bolt hit him. "TAKE OFF THAT AMULET AND THROW IT INTO THE AIR; CHANT THE WOLF INCANTATION AND LET THE NECKLACE DO THE REST!"
Luckily, Lupine knew the exact words of the Wolf Incantation; it was in an old story that his pack had told him and all the younger wolves many, many times; so many times that he had memorized the words by heart. As the pain of getting struck threatened to overwhelm him completely, he tore the amulet off his neck, tossed it into the air, and chanted:
Wolf of the sun, wolf of the moon, wolf of star and fire,
Turn me into strongest of your kin; my heart's blazing desire.
On the night when the moon turns blue and all the creatures stir to life,
Turn me into the legendary Wolf of the Blue Moon, no matter what danger or strife,
O Amulet of earth and sky, do the impossible tonight;
Turn me into the blue-est yet,
One who shines with stone-light.
Suddenly, the amulet began to glow, and it began to spin like some mad halo in the air above Lupine's head; glowing with blue light that got stronger and stronger the faster it spun. Eventually, it was twirling so fast that all you could see of it was a blue blur, which oddly looked like a wolf's wagging tail. It started to float down through the air and within a few moments had landed upon Lupine's neck once again; as if it had never levitated in the first place.
Powerful magic, which Lupine had never experienced before or since, flooded through his body; pleasant and painful at the same time. He couldn't take any more pressure in his weakened state; he let out a yip of pain and shock and began to slide into a faint. At the same time, he was conscious of a power rising in his being; warm and flowing like a hot spring. He felt his tail lengthening; his body becoming muscular; his legs stretching out to increase his height. He shut his eyes and his mind went black.
…..
When Lupine opened his eyes again, he was in a completely different form. He was a blue-gray wolf with a glowing blue symbol on his left shoulder that strongly resembled the carving on the amulet, which was also shining bright. At first he felt frightened, but some source of inner power soothed him and he realized that he was still himself; he was just in a different form and he knew that the amulet could return him to his normal self if he liked.
But now wasn't the time to think of how to turn back; now was the time for revenge and the time to save his family from getting captured and possibly removing their number one threat forever. Strength surging in his veins, Lupine growled and lunged for Gargamel; his eyes flashing with righteous rage and his silver claws gleaming in the dim light of the castle. Gargamel let out a scream as Lupine tore through his robe and clawed him in the chest; his teeth sinking into his neck and his tail swishing like a tree in the wind.
He was just about to bite Gargamel again when he felt a small, cool hand on his paw and he suddenly found himself lying on his back like a pup with Papa Smurf looking into his eyes as if he were scolding a naughty child. "No, Lupine; don't kill him," said Papa firmly as he placed a hand on Lupine's own chest and kept the struggling wolf from getting to his feet. "But he's evil! He'll always try to kill you! We have to kill HIM before he kills US!" squeaked Lupine; feeling disgraced as he lay there on his back and got pinned to the ground by a Smurf older than he was and yet had the same strength. "No; that's not the way things happen and that's not what I want my little Smurfs to be thinking," said Papa calmly; his blue eyes shining with depth and wisdom. "Just because he has performed such evil to us does not mean we return the same evil back. We will escape and defend ourselves as we must, but we still treat him fairly, even though he does not do the same unto us."
Lupine nodded as the full impact of Papa's words sank through his brain; the old Smurf was absolutely right. Even though a part of him still howled for vengeance and simmered with a wild death-rage, he knew in his heart that he could not do what that part of him wanted to do; not only did he not want to make Papa mad, but if Gargamel was dead, then life would be boring and there would be no problems; nothing to fight again; no chances for heroic bravery again. Besides, Lupine could sense that Gargamel's cat had some light within him; perhaps he'd show him some sense one day, if he ever got up the guts to do it.
"Good for you, Lupine; that's all very wise what you're thinking and I'm certain that you're not going to go through with your plot of killing him. You may go now," smiled Papa, allowing Lupine to get to his feet and join the escaping Smurfs that were swarming out the window at just that moment. "How'd you know that I wasn't going to go through with it?" gasped Lupine as he helped the old Smurf climb through the window before scampering out himself; his heart thumping in terror when he remembered his previous fall and fervently hoping that that wouldn't happen again this time. "Oh, I forgot to tell you that when you touch the wearer of the amulet when they are using its power, you can hear their thoughts," explained Papa as he put a foot on steady ground and watched as Lupine put his paws on the earth safely once more and scuttled after the fleeing Smurfs with him.
"I'm not sure if I like that or not," admitted Lupine as he ran swiftly through the night; he had been in Gargamel's castle longer than he thought and it was nearly midnight now. "Don't worry; I promise not to shake your paw or anything when you're wearing the amulet," laughed Papa, and Lupine howled along with him. "You too, wise guy," grinned Lupine, skidding to slow his speed when he saw Leafette in the crowd. She was still beautiful, after all, and he was still in love with her. "Oh, Lupine; you're so beautiful," she breathed as she looked at the wolf's handsome, glowing form. "I think I like you even better as a wolf than as a Smurf; you're so incredible…."
"Th-thanks; you look prettier too in the moonlight," panted Lupine; his tail drooping between his legs and his face as close to a blush as a wolf's face can possibly be. "Especially your h-hair…it looks g-gorgeous…" "You're so romantic, Lupine; you know that?" smiled Leafette; winking at Lupine and making his cheeks feel like they were on fire. "Th-" Lupine started to stammer back, but suddenly he felt something whack him in the behind and he tumbled head over heels through the forest until he banged into a tree and stopped there.
He shakily got to his feet, breathing heavily, and glanced to his right to see a steep cliff dropping off to unimaginable depths below; it if hadn't been for the tree, he would've fallen to his death for sure. "Lupine! What happened there?" called Papa, hurrying up to the wolf-turned Smurf with an anxious look in his old eyes. "I-I don't know…I must've tripped or something," fibbed Lupine, glancing through the thick tree cover for the culprit. He thought he saw a pair of green eyes flicker in the bushes for a moment; but then they faded away and all was calm in the night once again.
Papa raised an eyebrow at Lupine as if he didn't quite believe him, but he nodded in satisfaction and backed away; glancing all around himself as if he felt that he was being watched. Lupine couldn't blame him for being wary; he got the same feeling that Papa had and could feel the fur prickling on the back of his neck as he sniffed the night air to check for signs of an enemy watching them through the cover of the forest trees. "S-something's watching us," whimpered Clumsy fearfully, backing away into the crowd and trying to hide behind Brainy.
"You ninny; get out there and face that wolf or whatever like a MAN," hissed Brainy in annoyance; pushing Clumsy out in front of him and making everybody gasp. "BRAI-NY!" hissed Smurfette, waggling her finger in annoyance at him. "I can't believe you DID that to poor Clums-oh NO!" Clumsy had fallen backwards and had caused a twig to crunch loudly, and now the Smurfs were aware of a presence of a thick evil permeating the air; stalking all around them and cackling in delight at their apparent and tangible fear.
"All right, my little Smurfs; let's try to stay calm and not freak out about thi-" started Papa Smurf calmly, but before he could finish, Clumsy let out a wild scream and Gargamel and his cat darted out of the bushes; snickering and jumping straight for the unprotected Smurfs. "RUUUUN! IT'S GARGAMEL; WE'RE DOOOOMED!" screamed Blue dramatically, and everyone began to flee into the depths of the night; panting and running as fast as they could with beating hearts and racing minds; wondering how on earth Gargamel had caught up to them and trying to block out the sinking suspicion that they were utterly and completely doomed; never to see the light of day ever again.
"EVERYONE TRY AND STAY CALM! IF WE PANIC, WE'LL BE DOOMED!" shouted Blue, as if that would help things to get any better than they were already. "GREAT ADVICE, BLUE; JUST WHAT I NEEDED!" snapped Grouchy as he managed to avoid getting scratched by Azrael's claws by a hair's-breadth. "AS IF I ALREADY DIDN'T KNOW THAT IT'S ESSENTIAL NOT TO PANIC IN THE PRESENCE OF A SUPER-DANGEROUS SORCERER AND HIS FISH-BRAINED PET KITTY CAT…" "JUST BE QUIET, GROUCHY! WE'LL MAKE IT; I ASSURE YOU!" called Poet, trying to look on the bright side of things as usual. "YEAH; POET'S RIGHT! WE'VE ALWAYS MADE IT OUT SO FAR AND WE ALWAYS W-" Clumsy started to agree, but just then he lost his footing and fell headlong down a hill; screaming as he tumbled down the steep slope.
"Just great; that nut ALWAYS ruins everything," muttered Grouchy as he raced with the others after Clumsy; checking back behind him every so often to make sure that Gargamel and Azrael were at a far enough distance. "He's NOT a nut; he's just clumsy, Grouchy!" said Lupine, his heart thumping and his tongue panting as he loped ahead of the group. "Grouchy's a bit of a nut himself," muttered Gutsy as the group finally caught up with Clumsy-and gasped when they all saw the state he was in.
Clumsy was lying on the ground next to a sharp rock; whimpering and squirming in pain. The rock had blood splattered all over the top, which was as jagged as an arrow's point, and Clumsy's head was covered in blood too. "What on Smurf happened to you, you poor thing?" asked Smurfette worriedly as she helped the shaking Smurf to his feet. "I-I just w-whammed into s-something r-really sharp, and then I hit m-my head and it h-hurt s-so b-b-b-bad…" gasped Clumsy, putting a hand to his head and trying hard not to cry. "Owwww…the pain….ten times w-worse than a bee s-sting…"
"Hush now, Clumsy; I'll get your head all fixed up when we get out of here, I promise," soothed Papa, putting a finger to his lips and glancing around the chilly darkness of the night for Gargamel and his cat. "But in the meantime, you should probably try and keep quiet; try and cover that cut up with your hat if you can…" "But my hat's pure WHITE! Blood shows up really well against a white background!" hissed Clumsy, blushing bright red in the face and backing away into the crowd in embarrassment. "What am I supposed to do?! Change my hat color or something?!"
"Well, perhaps I can-" Tailor began to suggest, but just then, Gargamel appeared in front of them and started to aim another blast at the Smurfs. This time, there was no escape; the beam was coming too fast and there wasn't any way to dodge it. "NO! You WON'T do this to my family!" yipped Lupine, his eyes shining blue fire as he shoved everyone away from the blast and valiantly leaped into the beam himself. There was a loud gasp as the blast pushed Lupine over a cliff, and then there was silence. Lupine had just risked his life for the Smurfs, and now he was gone forever.
"Just great….that stupid wolf ruined my plans AGAIN! I guess I'll have to go for his carcass later," muttered Gargamel, annoyed, as he teleported away in a puff of white smoke. However, the Smurfs weren't as willing to leave the scene and raced to the cliff, staring down at a clump of gray fur that was lying silently on a rock below. "Lupine….no…..I can't believe he's…it can't be true….we're all having a bad dream at the same time…" whimpered Wild, sniffling and trying to wipe his tears off his face. "I know, Wild; I know," whispered Papa, trying to gulp back a lump in his throat and feeling guiltier than ever. But Papa wasn't only mourning Lupine because of the horrible feeling that he'd failed in his duty: Now he'd never be able to revive the griffinling's mother, and he was the kind of person who hates to break a promise.
"Well….since Lupine was such a great Smurf, maybe we ought to hold a vigil here for the rest of the night to honor his memory," suggested Blue. "I agree…let's do it; he deserves it, especially since I was so awful to him recently," whispered Papa, lowering his head and putting a hand on his heart. Everyone else did the same, and for a few moments there was no sound in the night except for the wind and the rushing of a nearby river.
Halfway through the vigil, though, there was a soft whimpering and a loud rustling come from the place where Lupine had fallen. "What's that? It's Lupine! I think he's coming around!" gasped Clumsy, staring disbelievingly at the shifting pile of gray fur beneath him. "But….the fall…NOBODY could've survived it, not even a human…" whispered Papa, staring at the furry outline of Lupine below and hoping with all his heart that the impossible just might happen. After a few more painstaking moments, there was a loud howl from the pile of fur, and Lupine leapt gracefully up the side of the cliff.
"LUPINE! YOU'RE-YOU'RE ALIVE!" gasped Leafette, her eyes shining in delight as Lupine knelt down and licked her cheek eagerly. "Yeah…I have no idea how it happened, but somehow I landed in a way so that I didn't really hurt my spine….but I did get THIS…" Lupine trailed off, turning around and showing his broken tail to the others. Everyone gasped in disbelief as they stared at Lupine's bloody tail: It was twisted to the right and scraped so badly that it looked like a half-skinned wolf pelt. "Well….I guess that's better than breaking your spinal cord or something…" Poet said, trying to be optimistic as usual. "I know….it's just that my tail used to look SO nice before I got pushed off the cliff….I guess it'll always be like this now," sighed Lupine, shaking his head and beginning to trot dismally towards home. He'd always been rather fond of his tail, and he was a bit disappointed that it would be ugly forever. He knew he should be grateful that he'd survived the fall, but he still couldn't hide the fact that he now had to live forever with a tail that would never wag proudly again.
"Don't despair, Lupine; I might be able to fix it up a bit once we get home," Papa said, trying to hide his joy that he'd be able to revive the griffinling's mother after all. "Really? You can fix my tail?" yipped Lupine, perking up significantly and speeding up his pace just a little. "Yes, I might be….I can't promise that your tail will ever be completely straight again, but perhaps I can heal those nasty cuts and get your tail a little bit straighter," smiled Papa, skipping cheerily ahead of the group and eagerly wondering what the griffinling's face would look like when he got his mother back from the dead for good.
"Thanks, Papa; I thought my tail was done for!" barked Lupine, throwing back his head and howling to the glowing moon above. Lupine felt that that night was a victory in more ways than one: He had found another side of himself, he had protected his family, and now his handsome tail might get repaired after all. He howled louder, this time with more passion. Before long, the others were howling along with him; a haunting, beautiful sound that echoed through the crisp night air and seemed to say to nearby listeners, "We are one. You can't defeat us; victory is ours and will forever be."