This chapter is stupidly, ridiculously long. My apologies. This will take you from the very, very beginning of Esgalwen’s D+D adventure all the way to the half-way point of the werewolf arc. You may note the quality of the writing start to go downhill very quickly. Very quickly. No, seriously. Anyway, I’ll post Chapter 5 tomorrow at some point.

I had a lot of things to say, but I’m not going to get around to saying any of them…

I’m very full! Surprise (for me) party (for a friend). This makes me sleepy and unwilling to do any work, whether it be writing, drawing, or practicing. But I think I should finish a few things before bed…

Mannnn choir is so great. Just gonna say that right now.

EDIT: May 2013 – added a scene that introduces the three other adventurers  in a smoother fashion.

(Chapter 3)

Chapter 4

It was about four months later. Tharash had, at some point, simply stopped showing up. Valiensin had chalked it up to absent-mindedness. “Don’t be surprised if he pops in without warning just to see how you’re doing.” He himself had let her go a month previously, wishing her luck, and fortune, and safety, and success.
So it was she found herself in a small town, mostly inhabited by Halflings, looking for work. She had acquired some of the local currency, and some measure of knowledge of the continental peoples and laws and physics, and perhaps, after a month on her own but dealing with strangers every day, a very slight lessening of her shyness.
But she was running out of money, and while her hawk could feed itself, and technically she could survive by hunting, she was not really good enough to make that practical.
So she approached a sign saying “Armed Escortes Reqwired – Pleas Inqwire Heer”, not without trepidation, and saw a Halfling, arguing with a very tall, bald, and bearded human man. Nearby was the Halfling’s cart, filled with barrels and boxes, and also nearby were two other humans. One was a tall man clad all in shining armour, and the other was a red-haired woman also in armour.
“Eh?” The Halfling saw her. “You looking for a job?”
“Y-yes. You are hiring?”
“Certainly. There be nasty creatures between here and my destination… I need a few guards. But I think four will be enough.” He named a price, and Illinia agreed to it immediately. He turned back to the bald man with a pointed look, and the man also agreed to whatever his price was for him.
“Then let’s go!” the Halfling said, clambering up onto his cart and flicking the reins. His team of ponies shook their manes and began to pull.
The tall man in armour made a quick bow to Illinia. “Greetings, ma’am. My name is Torrigan, Paladin of Pelor.” He was dark-haired and rather handsome in a quiet way.
“I-I’m Illinia,” she answered, making an equally quick bow back, and then they all trotted to keep up with the cart.
“I should probably go in front,” said the paladin. “My armour will be the best protection against whatever we run into.”
“Bah, you just want to kill the most enemies,” said the tall bald man. The paladin grimaced.
“That assumes we’ll run into enemies,” said the red-haired woman. “Hi, Illinia! I’m Mira. I’m so excited you’ve joined us! I always wanted to be an elf – I was raised by elves. I even worship the Elven gods, Culann Nuthalion and Illora.” Illinia nodded, having been told that in this world, there were several different pantheons of gods who co-existed. She herself continued to hold firm to Eru, although she thought she could detect him in the local god named Heironymous. She wasn’t sure, though. “So please forgive me if I shoot you jealous looks every once in a while. I never really mastered the proper skills to really be an elf.”
Illinia was rather taken aback by such cheerful frankness, and could only stammer something incoherent in reply.
“Of course we’ll run into enemies,” the bald man said, adjusting a dashing, broad-brimmed hat on his head. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have been hired. What’re you hauling, anyway?”
The Halfling glanced at him. “Any fool worth their salt can see I’m carrying fabrics. Wools, linens, exotic things from distant lands – I deal in it all.”
“Ooh,” Mira said. “That sounds nice. Hey, you, what’s your name?”
The bald man made a cartwheel that turned somehow into a sweeping, elaborate bow. “I am Kellan Dunn, ex-circus performer extraordinaire.”
“I… see!” Mira answered. “Which circus? Did you ever visit Undilwin? Why did you leave them?”
“No, never. I was in the Barbicon Travelling Troupe, but we disbanded a few years ago and I decided a mercenary life was just as good.”
“Oh!” the Halfling said. “The Barbicons! I saw them a few times! Don’t remember you in particular, but I always enjoyed you folks.”
Kellan thought for a moment. “What has six legs and quacks like a duck?”
The Halfling thought. “I don’t know?”
“Great-aunt Miranda on a horse.”
The Halfling burst out laughing, although Illinia didn’t get it. “That’s a good one! I remember that one! That was you?”
“Geez, Kellan, that was terrible,” Mira said. “I won’t say I could do better, though. My skills tend towards healing injuries and bashing people in the head with my broadsword.”
“You’re a cleric?” Torrigan asked.
“I sure am! Hey, what brings you out wandering, Paladin?”
“I… desire the righting of wrongs. The world is full of evil, and I must seek it out wherever I go. I cannot stay in one place for long…”
“Why not?”
He shook his head and said nothing.
“Fair enough. I’m wandering ‘cause I want to find the elves who raised me. I lost ‘em once upon a time, and I want to find them again. Hey, Illinia, you haven’t met them, have you?”
“No… I haven’t met a lot of elves y- um, recently. I’ve mostly been in the south of the land.”
“Aww. Well, that’s what I’m doing with my life.”
They walked along the road all that day, passing the time by talking.
It was mid-afternoon when Kellan, looking ahead, waved his arm. “What’s that ahead?”
Illinia peered into the distance down the straight road, which was flanked by trees and bushes. “I… think it might be… are those called kobolds?” Her hawk rose from her shoulder into the sky, sending her pictures of the land.
“Kobolds are pretty common,” Torrigan informed her, loosening his sword in its sheath. “I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Mira demanded, brandishing her own sword. “Let’s get them!”
“Let’s not go too far from the cart,” Illinia said, in her soft voice, and was actually rather surprised when the others looked at her and nodded. It was so unusual to have been heard, let alone listened to.
“Well,” Torrigan said thoughtfully as the enemy came closer, “those do appear to be kobolds, but not too many of them. Miss Illinia, perhaps you should begin to shoot them now. Miss Mira, let’s you and I move forward down the road to block them. Master Kellan, perhaps you could try to flank them?”
“All right!” Kellan called, jumping off the cart and vanishing into the bushes on the left of the road.
Illinia fired, but missed – they were still a little far for her, and the wind was blowing. Her next shot was gruesomely accurate.
There was a pained yell from the bushes on the left. “Kellan’s run into trouble,” Torrigan clipped out. “Mira, would you help him, please?” Illinia noted with a bit of a grin that their leader had forgotten all the careful, polite honorifics he had been handing out all day. She couldn’t say she minded, though. And he was still so polite! Was that from being a knight? she wondered as she fired off another arrow, this one catching a kobold in the leg, leaving it easy prey for the knight.
“Oh, gosh,” Mira cried from in the bushes. “You ran into a sword? That’s dumb!”
“All right, all right, I know!” Kellan called back. “Watch yourself!”
Torrigan looked over his shoulder, distracted, and so did Illinia.
“Sir Torrigan,” she said timidly. “I think I can handle the ones left on the road. Why don’t you go and help the others?”
“Thank you, Miss Illinia,” he said with a half bow, and dispatching one more kobold, plunged down the bank and crashed into the bushes.
She fired two more arrows, one each at the two left, but missed with both of them; they were moving too quickly. They were charging at her.
Her hawk dived and savaged the head of one of them. She braced herself, and thumped one in the head with the sword Valiensin had given her before they parted. The injured other was rushing directly at her, but missed where he was going and ran directly onto the sword, which she was admittedly using a little clumsily, but since she was still alive and her enemy was not, she wasn’t going to complain.
“Look out!” called the merchant from behind her, and Illinia felt a sear of pain flash across her side.
She cried out, spinning around in fear and pain, and the sharp edge of the sword caught the kobold in the face. It hissed and jerked back, hatred gleaming out of its small eyes.
Suddenly bold herself, she took a better grip on her sword and advanced on it.
A silver flash launched past her and cut the kobold in two.
“Are you all right?” Torrigan asked, already cleaning his sword. “Oh dear! Miss Mira, would you come help Miss Illinia?”
“Hey, Torrigan,” Mira said, as she hurried forward, her hands glowing with white light. “So I’ve been thinking. We’ve got at least another day of travelling together. It’s kind of a pain to say ‘miss’ all the time, isn’t it? Why don’t you stop?” Illinia gave a tiny nod of agreement, and winced as Mira touched her side, but it healed instantly, and so did her dress, which was a relief.
Torrigan thought seriously. “As long as you ladies are certain you don’t mind…”
“Oh, I don’t mind. In fact, I’d rather just be called Mira. Seriously. Please go ahead.”
“And you?” he asked, turning to Illinia.
She nodded again, not able to meet his eyes for shyness, shifting her weight. “I’d like that if you were to just call me by my name.” My travelling name, she thought to herself. When I find my husband, they can know my real name.
They journeyed the rest of the day without incident, and camped right on the road. Supper was frugal, but full of new camaraderie, which was new and exciting to Illinia.
Afterwards, they posted watches, and settled down for sleep, or in her case, meditation.
It was well into the night when Mira, who was on watch, woke them with a cry. “There are goblins in the trees!”
They all sprang into wakefulness and grabbed their weapons; Torrigan left his armour alone, because it would have taken far too long to put on.
Illinia had an advantage with her night-vision and her bow. Kellan charged ahead recklessly into the darkness, seeking out the goblins as best he might in the glow from the torches around their camp. Torrigan also had a bow, and he aimed and shot, but without a great deal of success. Mira waited impatiently, her sword and shield in hand, for the goblins to charge.
Her hawk, unwilling to fly in the dark, sat on her bedroll and shivered.
Illinia’s hands were shaking. She wondered why. Was it fear? It didn’t seem like it. She was with three other talented warriors. Then was it stage fright? That might be the answer. She fired, and missed. She took a deep breath and tried again; this shot was better, injuring her target.
Mira gave a cry of frustration. “Why won’t they come?” Too eager to get into the action, she flung down her sword and shield and drew her crossbow in the same motion, firing wildly into the trees. “Dangit!”
“Easy, Mira!” Torrigan said. “Watch them carefully!”
“No, watch me!” Kellan barked, and scrambled up the closest tree. Even Illinia stopped to watch him, as he stabbed the injured goblin, ran lightly along the branch, and leapt to the next tree, killing the first goblin he found there.
“My goodness,” Illinia murmured. “That was skilful.”
“Or lucky,” Mira grumbled. “Show-off.”
“Focus!” cried Torrigan, shooting an advancing goblin in the head.
Kellan fell out of the tree.
“What did I tell you?” Mira sighed, and ran to him to heal him with her magic.
Illinia couldn’t answer, but shot another goblin.
None of the goblins really got close to the cart, and after a short while, vanished into the night, squeaking in defeat.
The Halfling, who had been watching, applauded them. “That was quite the show! Thank you for your assistance! I don’t like to think what would have happened if you hadn’t been here.”
“Say no more,” Torrigan said graciously. “It was our duty.”
“Do we get a little extra for that?” Kellan asked, incorrigibly.
“No, you twit!” Mira scolded.
“Just asking…”
The merchant giggled, and went back to sleep.
The next day was very uneventful until evening drew near. The town that was their destination was also near, and as the sun set, they began to hear the howling of wolves. Illinia shivered, but tried to hide it from the others.
The howls grew louder as they got closer to town, until they suddenly ceased.
Now everyone shivered.
“Just get me to town, and then we’ll be all right,” the merchant said, looking around furtively.
“Of course we will,” Mira said, to reassure the protectors as much as the protected.
“What’s that?” Illinia said softly, pointing ahead.
They journeyed cautiously closer. As they saw what it was, Illinia gasped and the others flinched in shock. It was a werewolf, still clad in torn peasant clothing, chained with silver chains to a tree.
“Who is this, and what has happened to him?” Mira asked.
“I wouldn’t know!” said the merchant, slightly panicked. “Can we just go to town? You adventure types can come back later. But please get me to the town!”
“All right, but we should leave someone here to guard him,” Torrigan said reasonably.
“I’ll stay,” Illinia said.
“I’ll stay,” Mira echoed. “You boys go on ahead. We’ll be right here, making sure no one hurts the nice werewolf.” There was some sarcasm in her voice.
Illinia looked at her as the others left. “Why were you sarcastic? I don’t understand.”
“Well… he could be a bad werewolf, you know. Few werewolves are good. And he’s chained up.”
“Well…” Illinia considered. “Can a werewolf be cured?”
“Only in the first week, and you’d need some wolfsbane.”
“Oh! I know what that is.”
“Wait, it’s too dark to look for – oh, crap, you’re a full-blood elf. Wait! Come back!”
Illinia scurried around in the undergrowth, using her nose to help. “It’s odd… I can smell that it used to be here… but…”
She came across a patch of burnt earth. “It’s been burned, deliberately.”
“Ha!” Mira said. “A plot begins to appear!” She sat back on her heels. “But why do you want to help this guy?”
“Why not? He looks like he’s in pain…”
“What if he’s evil?”
“What if he’s not?”
Mira had nothing to say to that, and they went back to the wolf after having established that there was no wolfsbane in that area at all.
“So, Illinia! We should be best friends.”
“B-best friends?”
“Yeah! Like, we share secrets and stuff. Maybe you can teach me more about being an elf!”
“W-well… I don’t know what to say. What could I possibly teach you that you don’t already know?”
“Well… how to be more graceful, how to hear better, smell better, that kind of thing.”
Illinia laughed with some embarrassment. “I don’t know how to teach that… Anyway, I thought you were pretty graceful already!”
“And then I dump my weapons on the ground to get my other weapons. Yeah, right.”
“Ah… well…”
“But you’ll be my best friend, right?”
“Ah, yes, certainly! I would like that.”
“Have you had any best friends before?” asked Mira curiously.
“Well… my elder sister, and my husband… Not really a lot?”
“That’s too bad. Well, I’ll be your friend now… Oh, there are the guys.”
Torrigan and Kellan walked up to them. “We got paid,” Torrigan said, handing the women each a small purse. “Now, what is it you want to do?”
“I want to help him,” Illinia said after a short pause. “No one should be under such a terrible curse.”
“All right. Well, we should leave someone to guard him while we find a priest or healer of some kind.”
“Who should we leave?” asked Mira. “I was really counting on sleeping in an inn tonight.”
“I’ll stay,” Kellan said. Illinia peered at him suspiciously; he didn’t really seem to mean what he said. But the others appeared to believe him. “Look, I’ll sleep in this tree over here. That way, even if he gets loose, which doesn’t look likely, I’ll be safe. You guys go on ahead.”
“Thank you, Kellan,” Torrigan said, and led them to the town.
Illinia had no need of sleep like the two humans (of which Mira was rather jealous), and after a while in her room in the inn, she went downstairs to the tavern, to see what she could see.
She hadn’t been there thirty seconds when what she saw was Kellan, with his hood drawn well over his head, walk nonchalantly into the tavern and up to the bar.
She walked up to him, her stance indicating disapproval, and he turned tail and hurried out into the street. She followed after, and ran after him down the street. He attempted to hide in a dark alley, but her eyesight was much better than his. “Kellan, I thought you said you were going to watch him! Why are you here?”
Instead of answering, he ran down the street, shouting. “Help! Help! Save me from this elf!”
She followed him in mortified perplexity. “Kellan!”
Guards began to converge on them. “What is it you need, sir?”
“I need a healer! Quickly! It’s an emergency!”
“Oh, right away, sir. Follow me!” And Kellan went off with the guards, with a cheeky wink at Illinia.
She followed at a discreet distance, forgotten temporarily. She thought of going back to get Torrigan and Mira, but they needed their sleep and she might lose Kellan in the meantime. So she followed.
They brought him to the local priest’s house, where he banged on the door in great excitement. The priest hurried down, obviously having been wakened. “What is it? What’s the alarm?”
“Oh, you are so devoted!” Kellan fawned on him. “So good of you to be ready for anything, even at such a late hour of the night!”
“It is my duty to serve, sir,” said the priest, somewhat in a better mood. “What is your errand?”
“I need a healer. It’s about that werewolf…”
The priest gave him a look of scorn. “You think I don’t know about that werewolf? Trust me, we’ve done all we could for him. There’s nothing you can do; nothing I can do.” As the guards turned away, laughing to each other, he added in a lower voice that only Kellan – and Illinia – could hear: “Come see me at the temple in the morning.”
“Of course, sir,” Kellan said. “Thank you so much.”
The priest went back inside and shut his door.
The former entertainer turned back to Illinia with an air of triumph. “There, see? I was far more useful than the rest of you!”
“All right,” she said, uncertain how to respond. “Thank you, Kellan. But you really shouldn’t break your word. I’ll go watch over the werewolf now. Good night.”
She sat beside the werewolf all night, and on occasion tried to make him more comfortable. He was completely unconscious and did not move all night long. She wondered if the silver chains hurt him at all.
The others arrived early the next morning, having visited the priest in the temple. But as they arrived, the wolf changed back into a man. Illinia was not aware of the change happening, as it was so gradual. But she looked away from a wolf-man and looked back to a human, so he was changing.
The group talked in low tones as he stirred.
He blinked, sleepy and surprised, and raised a chained hand to cover a yawn. “Who are you?”
“We are…” Torrigan began, and paused. “Who are we?”
“We’re a group,” Mira said firmly. “We’re some travellers hanging together. Who are you?”
“I-I’m Derek. I… was a blacksmith in this town, and a member of the town patrol, but… a few nights ago, I… well, I don’t remember much. They say they found me unconscious on the edge of town… I don’t know. At some point, they discovered that sheep were going missing, and then that I was… the one… responsible…” Distress filled his simple, handsome face. “I don’t know what’s going on. But if I’m a danger to the town, then it’s only right that I be out here until I die.”
“No, that’s not right,” Illinia said softly. “How is it that all the wolfsbane has gone from here?”
“Yeah, how come no one’s tried to help you?”
“They did!” said Derek. “They did, very much. I don’t know anything about wolfsbane… but… well, this was all we could think to do. I’ll die soon, but since I won’t be curable in three days, that’s not much of a worry to me.”
“Three days!” Torrigan exclaimed. “All right, team, we have a deadline.”
“Wait, what?” asked the blacksmith. “Haven’t you heard what I said?”
“Loud and clear,” Mira told him. “Haven’t you heard what we said?”
“We haven’t actually said it,” Torrigan said.”
“We’re not going to just leave you here,” Illinia said softly, smiling a little, and placing a hand on his shackled arm. “You’ll see. We’ll help. We’re adventurers!”
“What are your names, sorry?”
“I’m Mira!” volunteered the lady in question. “I’m a cleric of Culann Nathalion! I’d like to be an elf… but Fate was unkind.”
“I’m Kellan,” said the former clown. “And that’s about all that’s interesting about me.”
“I’m Torrigan,” said their fearless leader. “Paladin of Pelor, righter of wrongs… the usual.”
“I-I’m Illinia,” said Illinia, shyly. And that was all.
“Oh, before I forget,” Torrigan said. “We all got silver weapons of some sort, and we bought you some silver arrows, Illinia. They might come in handy. Because while this man is probably innocent, there is still the wolf who attacked him, who may not be innocent.”
“Ah. Th-thank you…”
“Kellan?” asked the paladin, turning to their other member. “What’s on your mind?” Indeed, he had been very quiet.
Kellan, in lieu of answering, produced a pair of pants from the loose sleeve of his tunic.
Mira rolled her eyes. “Oh gosh. We’re trying to save a man’s life, and this guy’s worried about his modesty.”
“It’s a valid concern!” Kellan argued. “How about we unchain him?”
“We do have permission to do that,” Torrigan said, producing a key, and stood while Kellan breezed past him to pick the lock with an intricate set of picks.
“Soooo… lockpicks, eh?” Mira said suspiciously. “Any particular reason for those?”
“They’re useful?” Kellan said over his shoulder. “That’s about it.” He undid the chain, and Derek stood and stretched. Then he quickly accepted the pants from Kellan, turned around, shed the rags that had been covering him, and put on the fresh untorn pants.
“Well!” said the blacksmith, turning back to face them, looking better already. “Er. Thank you. You should probably hold onto that chain, since if I transform again, it’s your only hope of survival, probably. I don’t really know how much control I would have. I’ve always blacked out in wolf form up until now…”
“We’ll keep that in mind,” Mira said encouragingly. “Don’t worry, now. What would you like to eat?”
Derek’s face lit up, then fell again. “Well… I’ve been having a hankering for raw meat, which is not the best sign…”
“That’s all right,” said Illinia. “I can catch you some.”
“Yes, though we should head out immediately,” Torrigan said, checking the sun. “The day’s only just begun, but we’ve a long journey ahead of us before we reach our destination.”
“What’s that?” asked Derek.
“We’re in search of a sage who lived in the forest about six hours march south-east of here. So we had better get started!”
“Oh! Yes, indeed.”
“I-if you require it, my hawk can help,” Illinia said. “Forestfeather sends everything she sees to me. Perhaps she can help us locate this sage.”
“Excellent, thank you very much, Illinia,” Torrigan said, bowing to her. “As we get closer, we shall definitely call upon your assistance for that.”
She smiled at him.
“Is there any way I could see my friend Brett?” Derek said. “I know we have a long way to go, but I’d like to let him know what I’m up to. That I’m not shirking my punishment.”
“It’s not punishment,” Illinia murmured, but they didn’t seem to hear her this time.
“Certainly. We’ve talked to the priest, and he said that if you’re with us, the villagers will trust that we can keep you under control. Where’s your friend?”
“Well, he’s a guardsman, and he should be patrolling around the eastern edge of town at this time of day.”
“Lead on, sir.”
Derek’s friend was cautiously happy to see them; he spoke with a broad accent (Australian, for us modern-day humans) that Kellan could not understand. It was very amusing, seeing Torrigan try to translate between two different modes of their shared language.
They were just saying goodbye to Derek’s friend (who had even managed to tell them something new – that Derek had been found in an area where the night lamps were not working, his armour and clothing torn) when there was a hail from the other direction. “Halt! What are you doing?”
“Er…” began Torrigan.
“Lord Councillor!” Derek stammered.
“Well? Answer me!”
“This guy, Derek, he’s allowed to be with us,” Mira said. “We’re professional adventurers. We can handle him if he changes. Really.”
The councillor looked at them suspiciously. “You don’t look very competent to me. A goody-two-shoes paladin, a naive cleric, a shifty looking man, and an elf…”
“Hey, Illinia’s all right!” Mira said. “I dunno about Kellan, but…”
“Heyyyy…”
“I’m kidding, Kellan. You’re all right, too.”
“My friends,” Torrigan said soothingly. “Less banter, perhaps? My lord, please be assured we are fully prepared to help this man and to defend the innocent, or die trying.”
“Er…” Kellan said. Illinia nudged him and nodded, her eyes bright with agreement. He sighed and crossed his arms.
“So I suppose you are going to visit the sage. Well, that’s all right. At least you will be out of the town.”
“We most certainly will be, sir,” Derek said; a set in his shoulders told Illinia he was hiding anger.
“Well, be careful. There have been several disappearances the last few nights, and not limited to sheep, either.” The councillor turned and swept away, his attendants around him.
Derek looked at the others and shrugged. “And he’s the father of my sweetheart… He really doesn’t like me.”
“Oh, that’s too bad,” Illinia murmured.
“It’s all right,” he said to her. “She understands. But sometimes I think he was glad I became a wolf. Although… I am a very good blacksmith. My going would leave a hole in the town… my apprentice isn’t good enough to take over yet.”
Kellan nodded. “Could I be your apprentice?”
Derek laughed. “I think we can talk about that later.”
They set out and journeyed for many hours. Illinia’s hawk managed to catch a squirrel on the way, which she gave to Derek. He went behind a tree to eat, shamefaced, but he seemed to be feeling better when he was done. Mira offered him a piece of bread, which he also ate.
“It’s funny; apparently I’ve been eating sheep,” he said. “I had been wondering why my mouth tasted like wool when I woke up in the mornings.” Illinia, although she felt so sorry for him, couldn’t help but giggle a little at the way he said it.
Her hawk chose that moment to come dive-bombing onto her shoulder; Illinia staggered with the sudden impact. “What’s the matter, Forestfeather?”
The hawk stared wildly into her eyes. “Oh! There is… smoke, rising to the… east.”
“Is it the sage?” asked Kellan.
“I can’t tell,” she said, releasing the connection and shaking her head to clear it of the sudden weariness. “It’s not a camping fire; something big is on fire.”
“We must investigate!” cried Mira, striking a dramatic pose.
“Yes, of course,” Torrigan said. “Is that all right with you, Derek? It might be the sage we’re looking for.”
Derek nodded. “Fire is dangerous. You have every right to deal with that first.”
They walked rather faster in the direction Illinia’s hawk indicated. They hadn’t gone fifty metres when there was a venomous hiss and a massive black spider lunged at them from under a bush.
Illinia screamed as they all dodged in various directions; this spider was even bigger than the ones she had fought in Mirkwood, and looked faster and more vicious, too. Kellan, too, yelped.
Torrigan and Mira were to the fore, weapons at the ready, with the shaken Illinia behind them, and Kellan on the flank. Derek hung back, weaponless, nervous.
The spider attacked with claws and fang; Torrigan grunted as he struggled to block. Mira took advantage of the assault on Torrigan to bash one of its legs; Kellan cartwheeled around to the other side of it and attacked it with his rapier from the back.
Derek seemed to be having trouble; he fingered his throat nervously, blinking, sweating. Illinia cast him a worried glance as she loosed another arrow, striking somewhere near the creature’s head.
Derek let out a howl and dropped to all fours, dark brown fur bursting out all over his body. (Fortunately, this pair of pants did not tear.) He growled fiercely over the others cries and exclamations of “oh crap!” and charged forward, past Torrigan and Mira, and slammed the spider’s head into the dirt, where it scrabbled uselessly.
“Oh! Quick, get it!” Kellan called, redoubling his attack. “Kill it! Kill it!”
Derek barked as one of the spider’s fangs nipped his bare foot. Then Mira’s sword clove its head from its body, and it collapses in a pile of flailing legs. Kellan ducked, but was nicked by one anyway, tearing a deep gash in his shoulder.
“Oh no,” Mira said, investigating Derek’s foot. The wolf-man stood quietly, breathing heavily, but otherwise unmoving.
“Derek?” Illinia said cautiously, moving up into his field of vision. “You’re in control, and not asleep?”
He turned to look at her and gave her a big toothy grin.
“It’s probably because… Derek, did you transform out of choice?” Torrigan asked. The wolf nodded, and stiffened as Mira prodded his wound.
“That explains it,” Kellan said. “Hey, if we can’t cure him, can we take him with us? He’s pretty good in a fight.”
“That would be up to him, but first we are going to do our best to cure him,” Torrigan said sternly.
“Of course,” Kellan said, but sighed afterwards.
“Oh, drat,” Mira said from where she crouched on the ground. “It’s poison time. Where’s that spider antidote?” She sang a little song to herself as she hunted through her pack, mostly consisting of the words “it’s poison time, poison time, poison time…” that made Illinia laugh in anxious bemusement.
“All right,” she said. “Derek, please drink this. It’ll taste awful, but you won’t die.”
He took the vial and gulped it down, licking his lips with his long tongue afterwards. He coughed a bit, but the wound began to heal.
“That should do it!” Mira said. “All right, gang, let’s continue!”
Torrigan nodded. “Which way, Illinia?”
She consulted her hawk.
They took another half hour to reach the fire. When they got there, they halted in shock.
There was a lovely little hut, burning to the ground. It had only just been set on fire in the last hour. Outside, a dead wolf lay sprawled on the ground, covered in multiple blade wounds and arrows.
Kellan, without a backwards look, dove into the hut.
“Hey! That’s not safe!” Mira called; as if to punctuate her point, part of the flaming roof broke off and tumbled to the ground.
Illinia knelt beside the dead wolf. “This was the companion to someone…” She couldn’t say how she knew; she just knew.
“Is this the sage’s hut?” Torrigan asked.
Kellan came stumbling back out of the house, a few things in his hands. “Was the sage’s name George? Because these things belong to George.”
He had a journal, a couple magic books, and two potions.
“Well, yes,” said Derek, now transformed back into a human. “Oh, dear. That was his wolf companion. What happened to him?”
Illinia looked up. “Orcs and goblins. I can smell it.”
“You have a keen nose, then,” Torrigan said. “I smell nothing besides fire.”
“I think it’s an elvish thing,” she said. “Let me see…” Her hawk rose into the air, and she tested the wind in all directions. “We can follow them. The sage isn’t here, right? There’s no body? Perhaps we can still save him.”
“Man, and I bet we have to save someone else in order to save him,” Kellan said. “Wheels within wheels. What a pain.”
“Come on, Kellan, keep up!” Mira called, following the slender disappearing form of Illinia. There was no real possibility of Illinia disappearing into the forest in her red dress, although she had the black velvet cloak in her pack still, and she had discovered a bit of an ability to create an illusion that made it look like she wasn’t there. It wasn’t true invisibility, because she could only make it look like she was another part of the landscape, a tree, for instance. But it might be useful when she was all alone without friends to watch over her.
They followed the orc-trail for a couple hours, not stopping this time for food, although they ate on the move. Derek could only eat a small piece of bread this time, and Mira frowned anxiously at him.
At last, they reached a wide clearing in the forest; beyond it was an encampment made of rickety wooden boards haphazardly hammered together to create a circular barricade.
Illinia’s hawk came down to share with her what it had seen.
“There is… a cage inside the encampment?” she said slowly. “No, more than one cage. And there are towers with archers in them. They are not alert, though.”
“We can take them by surprise!” Kellan said, rather louder than he had to. The others shushed him.
“Well,” Torrigan said. “Let’s start by shooting them. Illinia, would you take point? Mira and I will come behind you.”
“Man, all I have is this stupid crossbow,” Mira grumbled. “It’s inaccurate and completely un-elf-like. Someday I really want a longbow like you, Illinia.”
Illinia blushed and nocked an arrow.
Even she was not so accurate at the distance she was shooting at, but the goblins in the towers didn’t seem to notice her. She shook her head. Her next arrow hit, and they still didn’t react.
Her eyebrows quirked in confusion. They were under attack, and they still didn’t realize it! What was wrong with them?
Torrigan and Mira’s arrows joined the fray, and then they began to notice something was up.
“All right,” Torrigan said. “I think they’ll probably open the gates and charge us. While we keep them occupied, Kellan and Illinia should sneak inside and try to rescue the sage. I bet he’s in one of the cages.”
“Sure,” Kellan said, moving to the side. “Come on, Illi.”
“Illi?” she said to herself. It sounded so strange coming from Kellan, and kind of forced.
The gate swung open jerkily, and six big orcs rushed out and down the hill towards them.
“Uh oh,” Torrigan said, switching his longbow for his sword. Mira took a bit of time to shoot one more arrow, and hit an orc square in the chest, dropping him immediately as the powerful little bolt punched through his armour.
“Ha!” she cried. “Finally, a hit with my ranged weapon!”
Then the orcs were upon them. “Oh, drat,” she said, simply dropping her crossbow and grabbing at her sword.
Illinia and Kellan were already behind the orcs, fighting the goblins who swarmed out of the towers. Illinia gripped Valiensin’s sword tightly, her heart pounding rather uncomfortably in her chest. A roar from behind them told her that Derek had transformed again.
They burst into the camp, the goblins not slowing them down at all. There were two cages; one held a young girl, perhaps fourteen, and the other held a middle-aged man.
Illinia and Kellan had to deal with the goblins before they could do anything, but Kellan, while Illinia was holding their attention, ran over to the sage’s cage and cut it open.
The sage rose and walked swiftly to a staff leaning against the opposite wall. He picked it up, held out his hand, and the goblins convulsed and collapsed. Illinia shuddered and jumped back with a squeak – the ground was also convulsing! The roots of plants coiled around the hapless creatures and dragged them under the ground into large cracks that closed over them.
The young elf stood there, shivering, and then became aware of a greater need than hers. The sage was weeping, softly at first, but then big racking sobs tore through him.
She understood. Somehow, without words, she understood. The wolf had been his life’s companion, and now that it was gone, he was without his dearest friend, one who had been to him like a child. She slowly went to him, supporting him as he crouched sobbing on the ground.
The group that had been fighting the orcs entered the gate. “Oh dear,” Mira said, surveying the damage.
Derek was cleaning blood from his claws when he caught sight of the girl in the cage, and then gave a hoarse bark.
Kellan released the girl, and the werewolf rushed to her side. She cowered away with a shriek. “Aaaah! Who are you? Don’t hurt me, please! Please please please don’t hurt me! Stay away!”
“It’s all right,” Torrigan said. “Don’t be afraid, miss. This is our friend Derek. We are working to free him from his curse.”
“Oh!” she cried out in fear again, though. “That’s Derek? Derek, dear, what happened to you?”
Will a huge effort of will, the blacksmith transformed back into a human. “It’s all right, Fiona. It’s all right. They’re going to cure me. Now, what are you doing here? You disappeared! I was out of my mind with worry! And then I found out that I was the werewolf, and they locked me up, which was of course the right thing to do… for all I knew, I was the one who made you disappear!”
She shook her head, and crept out of the cage. “No, silly brother.” Her forehead wrinkled up. “Well, actually, I don’t know what happened. I promise I didn’t go out at night! I stayed near Auntie all day! It’s like I just fell into a pool of dark water in my head… and when I woke up, I was here! I was terrified!”
“I can imagine,” said her brother, who cautiously went to her and picked her up. “I’m not going to hurt you, Fiona, honestly I’m not. These people are all good fighters, though. They’ll stop me if I lose control.”
She peered around at all of them. “Oh wow. You all look so scary!” She pointed at Illinia, still crouched over the grieving sage. “Except for you.”
Mira gave a rueful laugh. “Even me?”
“Well…”
“Even me?” asked Kellan, leaning with a somewhat deranged grin. Derek swung his sister away from the ex-clown, muttering “not funny”.
She nodded, shrinking away.
“Kellan, please,” Torrigan said. “Miss Fiona, in a moment, we shall escort you back to town. But first we must talk to this man.”
The sage was recovering after his outpouring of grief, and was getting up, more composed. “What can I do for you, sir knight?”
“We were told you might be able to help us with this man. Er, man infected by a werewolf.”
The sage moved over and inspected Derek by sweeping his staff over him. “He’s pretty far gone. You have only two days after today to cure him.”
“We know. But what is the cure?”
“Have you tried wolfsbane?”
“There isn’t any near the town.”
The sage frowned. “What? That is ominous… I wonder who or what could have removed it?”
“Not a werewolf, I suppose,” said Kellan. “The werewolf that bit Derek. Because then wouldn’t he have problems with it?”
“It was burned,” Illinia said. “He or she could have burned it from a distance…”
“True,” the sage said. “Well, that makes your job a little more difficult, for all my wolfsbane was also burned… But fortunately I do know someone who can help you. You must seek out Aleic the Wise, who lives in the mountains north of the village. He will have wolfsbane. He is much more powerful than I, so he will not have been defeated by a paltry bundle of orcs and goblins.”
Mira had been poking around the camp, and came up to Torrigan. “Hey… look at this. Does this look suspicious or what?”
“That certainly does look odd,” Torrigan answered, taking the papers from her. “It’s a letter requesting that these orcs kidnap… well, the two of you. It’s signed with a strange symbol… It looks kind of like an M and a T overlapping inside a circle with a five pointed star.”
“I didn’t know orcs knew how to read,” Kellan said.
“I’m not sure they would have to,” Mira said. “This doesn’t seem like it was for their benefit. Yeah, it’s not addressed to them… It’s a status report to some guy… Lord… Tofu? He’s in Thaxted, the city to the north, anyway.”
“Er…” Torrigan deadpanned, attempting to figure out the scrawl. “I can’t read that either.”
“Well, we’ll figure that out later,” Mira said, stuffing it carefully into her bag of Holding. “For now, let’s get the girl back to town and then go see this Aleic person!”
“Agreed,” Torrigan said. “Kellan? Illinia?” They nodded. Torrigan turned to the sage. “Will you be accompanying us, sir?”
The sage nodded. “I will take stock of my situation in a safer place. Let us go quickly, before more evil things come.”
They left and walked back to town. Night was falling when they drew closer.
“I should stay away,” Derek said as the sun was slipping over the edge. “In fact, you should probably chain me up again right now.”
“Ah! Yes, that would make sense,” Mira said. “If you feel you’re in control, though, just let me know and I’ll let you loose again. No problem.” She fished the silver chain out and shackled Derek’s hands together.
“What’s going on?” Fiona asked worriedly. “Why are you chaining my big brother?”
“It’s all right,” Illinia said. “He’s just worried that as he’s under a curse, he might hurt us by accident. He’s protecting us.”
Fiona pouted. “Well… all right. But don’t you hurt my brother!”
“No fear,” Kellan said.
“Your brother is a wonderful person and a formidable fighter. We won’t hurt him,” Torrigan assured her. “Now, how about Illinia and I take you home? Will you tell us where you live?”
She nodded. “Follow me! I can lead the way from here.”
Illinia stooped and picked up the little girl, who clung to her neck. “I will carry you, sweet child. It’s been a long day, and I’d like to keep you close.”
The four – Illinia, Torrigan, Fiona, and the sage – trooped down the hill and into the town. They heard a distant growl behind them, but it was surprisingly unthreatening.
“That would be Derek, I suppose,” Torrigan said. “He doesn’t sound too alarmed. Or alarming.”
“That’s good,” Illinia said.
They walked down to the town, bid farewell to the sage at the temple, and returned the child to her home, where her mother cried with joy and relief. Then they went back into the forest to camp with the other three. Derek was quiet; he did not fall unconscious like he had for whatever reason on the night they had found him, nor did he seem inclined to attack them. After a while, Mira unchained him. He bared his teeth when she first approached him, but it seemed that he was in control of himself. They still posted a watch. After a while, Derek curled up and went to sleep.

Chapter 5