Sheila came into the room to check on her friend and Edge Guard trainee, Raphiel. Most likely she'd end up taking him back to the Edge Guard training grounds as well. The healer was right, he probably would be just fine, and by the end of the day he'd most likely be just a little stiff. Considering that being fried hadn't particularly dampened his attitude, she imagined that he'd hardly notice that.
"Oh hello," Kayla said. "Your friend is feeling much better, he's in that room over there."
"Thanks," Sheila said cheerfully. "Is Mistress Sheena around? I was hoping to talk to her."
"She's busy with some of the other patients right now," Kayla said. "But she'll see you when there's time."
"Thanks, is Raphiel going to be able to leave today?" she asked.
"I don't see why not," Kayla said. "But the Mistress will tell you for certain."
"Right, well, can't keep him waiting," Sheila said and walked towards Raphiel's room. She found him sitting on one of the beds next to a lump of blankets and snacking away on a tray of food.
"Hey, Sheila," Raphiel called out cheerfully. "How're you doing?"
"I wasn't the one doing an impression of a charcoal briquette last night," Sheila reminded him playfully. "Hey, wasn't there supposed to be someone else in here?"
"Mmhmm," Raphiel said. "She's under the blankets. I brought her some food but she won't come out to eat it. So I've just been talking to her instead." He shrugged cheerfully.
"Oh," Sheila said. She walked over to get a look at the slightly quivering lump of blankets. "Well, why don't we move to the table and eat there? She might just want to sleep for now." Sheila picked up the tray of food and carried it to the table halfway between the two beds.
"Lydia gets enough sleep as it is," Sheena said as she entered the room. The lump of blankets made an unintelligible noise. "Kayla said you wanted to talk to me?"
"Yes, but it can wait," Sheila said glancing at the onlookers. "Is Raphiel ready to go?"
"Whenever he wants," Sheena answered.
"We'll just finish eating then," Sheila said, taking a bowl of stew. "This is great stuff."
"Thank you for the complement," Sheena said.
"Her name's Lydia?" the small jagwere asked. The healer nodded.
"That's a pretty name," Raphiel said in an off-hand manner, munching on an apple.
"Yes it is," Sheena agreed. "But I've got to go help some other patients now. Just talk to Kayla on the way out, and she'll tell you how much you need to pay."
"Pay?" Lydia asked, peaking out over the blankets and watching the healer suspiciously.
"Don't worry dear," Sheena said. "They brought enough gold in with you to stay for two years." Lydia grumbled again and disappeared back under the blankets. Sheena sighed. "That's about as many words as she'll say in one go." Then the tiger woman was walking back out into the hallway.
Raphiel munched on his apple and looked at the lump of blankets thoughtfully. Sheila looked from Raphiel to where Lydia was under cover, and back. She smirked and went back to eating
"So, what did you think of your roommate?" Sheila asked. Raphiel scratched his head and blushed slightly. "Ahhh...you like her! Don't you?"
"She is pretty," Raphiel said.
"I didn't get a good look, but I'll take your word for it," Sheila said, smirking. "She needs a lot of cheering up though."
"I could do that," Raphiel said confidently. Sheila was under the personal impression that Raphiel could cheer up an inanimate cliff face, so she admitted it was possibly. This case had her doubting the effect that the young man's positive outlook would have on the wererat.
"Chwa," Moisha said. "It's like, another one." She pointed to the werepantheress walking down the street next to an elf and laughing cheerfully.
"That's what?" Romeo asked nervously. "Ten just this morning?" Neither of them had yet gotten used to the sheer number of werecats around. Granted their weren't as many cats as their were other people, like elves, dwarves, trolls and other such things, but they were far more common than they were on Earth.
"How long are we, you know, going to stay here?" Moisha asked. Romeo swallowed nervously.
"We need to know if Lydia appeared anywhere," he said, fidgeting. "To do that we need to get rumors."
"But then we, like, need to go out there," Moisha said. "You know? With the cats?"
"We have to go out their sooner or later anyway," Romeo said. "To find a wizard you know?"
"So we just, like, head on out and hope to find a yellow brick road to follow?" Moisha demanded. She snapped her fingers. "I should have brought my red shoes with me." Romeo smacked his hand into his face.
"Let's just go quietly and maybe they won't pay attention to us," Romeo said hopefully. He walked to the inn door and cracked it open, peaking out into the hallway. "Okay its clear, let's go." He snuck out into the hallway, hugging close to the wall and glancing around. Moisha followed behind him closely, quietly closing the door behind her. They turned a corner and passed hobgoblin janitor, who glanced at them and scratched his head a little in confusion at how they were skittering along the walls.
"Excuse us," Romeo said, embarrassed as he went back to walking normally.
"Yeah, we're, like, just staying out of the way, you know?" Moisha added as they walked by.
"Crazy kids...wannabe adventurers," the hobgoblin muttered, shaking his head as he continued down the hall.
"Well," the speaker was old, and his voice was a hoarse and hostile thing that promised pain and death. "They attempted to defy my judgment." He tapped his fingers and watched the footage from the satellite again. Perhaps it was just as well, of course, now he'd need another set of scapegoats. The three of them had just managed to set his plans back quite a bit.
"And they paid for it with their lives," the bodyguard behind him noted.
"Perhaps, perhaps," Gothwrain said, watching the film. "On off-chance that they are alive, kill them on sight. They're attracting far too much attention to us."
"Yes, milord," the bodyguard said. "And give Zero the same instructions."
"Just tell him we no longer support them," Gothwrain said. "So he is free to do whatever he likes to the little thieves."
"That is all?" the man sounded confused.
"If we asked him to kill them, it would cost us money," Gothwrain reminded his bodyguard with an irritated tone of voice.
"Oh, of course," the bodyguard said nervously.
"Hey, Brit," Brianna called out. The werecheetah looked up at her sister, and noted the look on her face.
"What is it?" Brittany asked.
"Those three wererats, they're dead," Brianna said. Brittany sat bolt upright.
"What?" Brittany demanded. "They're just kids. I mean, they want to kill me, but they're just kids. How'd that happen?"
"I'm just back from the leprechauns," Brianna said. "They had some damages from this dragon that attacked them during that whole Dragonblade fiasco you and Gina went on. The rats got killed fighting the dragon."
"Hey, why didn't they tell us that at the time?" Brit asked.
"Communications were down," Bri said. "Apparently the leprechauns with you didn't know about the attack."
"Damn," Brittany said. "I was hoping to talk to them. Maybe find out why they're out to get me."
"Well the leprechauns were very magnanimous," Brianna said. "They're going to consider the lost gold as belonging to the rats for helping get rid of the dragon."
"Well that was nice," Brittany said.
"Not really," Brianna said. "The lost gold is some of the stuff they wanted to get rid of. And if the rats had lived, they'd probably be right back in the slammer."
"Damn," Brittany said lounging back. "Makes you think, doesn't it."
"Yeah," Brianna said. "Well, I got to get back. Have to help Genn with something." She sounded rather irritated as she left the room.
"Damn, this is going to put a damper on my vacation to Jade," Brittany said.
Lydia woke up and looked around the room again, no roommate this morning. That was good. The older weretiger that ran this hospital was enough to deal with. She didn't understand these cats at all. They were just letting her sit here, they didn't ask about any other rats. They didn't ask about her superiors. They didn't interrogate her, not really.
Sheena tended to ask her how she was feeling and if the dragon talked to her. Lydia typically refused to answer at all. She didn't understand why it was important to say if the dragon talked to her or not. She remembered some vague past stories about the power of a dragon's voice, but those were all fantasy novels, not real.
She glanced to her side and blinked in surprise. There was a bouquet of flowers sitting in a vase to the side of her bed. She stared at them suspiciously and reached out to take the card gingerly between her claws. She stopped and frowned, they wouldn't poison her like that, with a contact poison. Even if they did, then it would be a release more than anything else. Besides, that tigress had told her how long she had. Two years, and the money would run out.
"Get," she read dryly. "Well." She narrowed her eyes and grumbled in confusion.
"Looks like someone has an admirer," Kayla said in a sing-song voice.
The apprentice came in smiling. Lydia watched her approach with a tray of food carefully. Lydia crumpled the note in her hand and tossed it across the room to trashcan. The elf's sunny attitude faded a little at the action, but not much.
"Now, don't be like that," she said, lecturing. "We have beef stew for lunch today." She handed Lydia a bowl and fork. "You missed breakfast, slept right through, but you do that most of the time, so I shouldn't be surprised. Now let's see your legs." Lydia stabbed at her stew and nibbled some beef as she bore the humiliation of having the girl examine her slowly healing injuries.
"Why doesn't the cat do that?" Lydia asked, suspiciously. Kayla looked at her in surprise. Lydia didn't usually talk.
"Mistress Sheena?" Kayla said. "Well, to tell you the truth, she thinks you would be more comfortable with me."
"She lets the apprentice handle the rat," Lydia grumbled.
"You're accusing Mistress Sheena of giving you haphazard care?" Kayla sounded insulted. "I'll have you know that she is very concerned with your health."
"I'll bet she $#%&$ is concerned," Lydia grumbled. Kayla turned a cross look to the wererat, but before she could say anything somebody else walked in.
"Hey, is she awake yet?" Raphiel asked. Lydia flinched and glanced toward the werecheetah, the bowl of stew in her hands shook a little. "Oh, hi! I hope you liked the flowers."
"Y..you sent them?" Lydia said, looking back at the wild flowers with a little more fear. She wanted to hide again, but the apprentice had taken away her blankets to examine her legs. She narrowed her eyes, had they planned this?
"You're going to spill your food," Raphiel said pointing down. Lydia didn't take her eyes off of the werecheetah.
"No offense," Kayla said. "Aren't you supposed to be training or something?"
"Oh yeah," Raphiel said. "Sheila is teaching me the ropes of being an Edge Guard, but she said we could take a break."
"I got the cards," Sheila called from the hallway. Lydia tensed up again as the jagwere entered the room, then blinked at the small size of this werecat. The other girl was at least as short as she was.
"Cards?" Kayla asked, as the two werecats sat on either side of the shaky wererat.
"Don't worry," Sheila said. "I talked to Mistress Sheena. She's okay with us being here."
They are all plotting against me, Lydia reasoned nervously. It was the only explanation for things. They wanted her to let down her guard and give some information away.
"What kind of cards are these?" Kayla asked, picking up one of the decks Sheila had brought and looking at the cards.
"It's an Earth deck, three of them," Sheila said. "One of my Earther friends taught me this real simple game you can play with them." She was shuffling one of the three decks as she spoke and then set it in front of the silent Lydia, who was still clutching her bowl of stew in both hands. Sheila took the remaining decks, shuffled them and handed one of them off to Raphiel.
"What game is that?" Kayla asked.
"It's called 'war'," Sheila said. Lydia flinched, and glared down at the deck in front of her, that game took forever. This could be a long, hard day.
"We're not going to get anything from here," Romeo said. "If she's alive and on this world, it's not anywhere near here."
"What do you mean 'if' she's alive?" Moisha asked. "I mean, she just went somewhere like us, right?"
"She was with the dragon, Mo," Romeo reminded her. "That big, nasty fire-breathing monster!"
"Oh, come on," Moisha said nervously. "It's Lydia, she can handle anything."
"Yeah, well, we aren't finding her here," Romeo said quietly.
"Well, we like need to find a mage anyway, right?" Moisha said. "Couldn't they, you know, find Lydia."
"Yeah, so now we just have to find a mage," Romeo said. He glanced to the west and one of the towers at the edge of the town. "I guess it's time to start knocking on doors." It wasn't until the eleventh mage tower that they got an answer, other than a door slammed in the face.
"Yes," the servant at the door said. The man, they thought it was man, towered over them and glared down at them with watery eyes staring out of a green face. His voice was a low croaky moan that sent shivers up the rat's spines.
"Uhhhh...we're looking for a mage?" Romeo said staring up at the...person and rethinking the wisdom of avoiding the Edge Guard that jagwere had mentioned.
"Mmmmm," the servant groaned.
"Kirch, kirch," someone shouted from inside the tower. It was a cheerful voice and belonged to a small round-faced man with a broad grin and greasy black hair. "Is that someone at the door."
"Guests," the huge green....thing said in drawling groan.
"Ah yes, so I see," the little grinning man said. "Well, well, what are you coming to this little piece of darkness for?"
"Uhhh, like,...we" Moisha swallowed. The man's grin wasn't any better than the huge servant.
"Darling," a woman said from inside. A moment later a tall woman dressed in black glided to the front door. "Did I hear there was someone at the door?"
"Why yes Morgana, dear," the little man said. "A couple of young and lost looking wererats."
"Wererats?!" Morgana said in cool surprise. "How quaint, why Domez Edemms, where are your manners do invite them in for a chat."
"Uh...that's okay," Romeo said, backing away along with Moisha. "We'll just go find some werecat and ask for their help. It might be safer."
"Like, bye," Moisha said.
They turned around and smacked dead into the huge green servant guy, wondering how he got behind them without them noticing.
"No, no," Domez said. "You came here for help, and we'll do everything we can to help you in whatever it is. Besides, Kirch would just be so heart-broken if you left so early, right Kirch?"
"Stay..." the Frankenstein look-a-like groaned.
"Uhhhh...hehhehhehhehheh," the two rats said nervously.
They're back, Lydia grumbled to herself as she held the deck that was put into her hand. If she didn't play a card when she was supposed to, then one of them would play for her, and that meant they had to get close to her. So she played a card when it was her turn.
This had been going on for several days now. As evidenced by the growing number of flower vases in her room. Of course the topic of conversation was leaning toward the Edge Guard at Sheila's subtle guidance. Lydia was hearing shades of the wererat that had convinced her to become a warrior for her clan, though slightly different. Sheila wasn't talking directly at Lydia, she was instead talking about her past adventures and the people she'd helped, occasionally pausing to remind Raphiel to keep up his training so that he could become an Edge Guard as well.
The entire thing just completely confused Lydia. What were they hoping to do with her? Then she smelled HER, and everything fell into place. Lydia slumped forward, the deck slipping out of her hands and scattering over the bed, and started shaking stronger than she had yet. Sheila quieted down and glanced to the wererat in concern.
"Is everything all right?" she asked.
"Hey Sheila," a voice called from the hallway. "Whatcha doing in the hospital?"
"Hey, is that Brittany?" Raphiel asked, sniffing at the air. The werecheetah in question walked in, completely decked out in her designer clothes as usual.
"Oh yeah, hey Raph," she said cheerfully. "Brianna says..." Brittany stopped and focused on the girl on the bed, looking over her sunglasses. "Hey, my sister told me you were dead." Sheila blinked and looked back at Lydia remembering the stories she had heard about the wererats after her friends.
"W...well, g..get on with it then," Lydia said. "Th...this is your chance, isn't it? Start killing us rats off now."
"For goodness sakes," Brittany said rolling her eyes. "How many times do I have to tell you three..."
"ONE!" Lydia snapped, staring down. "There's only one of us...you #@%#!" Brittany looked at her and noted the tears falling down from the girl's face to her lap.
"I don't..."
"JUST GET IT the @$#$# OVER WITH!!" Lydia shouted glaring around at all three of them, tears running down her cheeks. "You've GOT me! I can't walk more then twenty feet at a time! Romeo and Moisha are dead! STOP @#$@#$ around and just KILL ME!!"
"Listen girl," Brittany said coolly. "I don't want to kill you. I'm sorry about your friends, I'm sorry about what happened to you, leave me alone I'll leave you alone. I'll see you outside Sheila and Raphiel."
"Stop #%# playing with my head!" Lydia snapped back. "You cats were made to kill us rats, there's always going to be war between us!!"
"I've never killed anyone," Brittany snapped back. She almost had once or twice, but she never had quite. The only time she was certain she would have, fate had saved her from the chance. "I'm not at war with anyone." Brittany left in a somewhat angry mood.
"Everybody leave," Sheena said coming in. "You can come back later, maybe." She looked to where Lydia was crumbling on the bed.
"Yeah, come on, Raph," Sheila said. "We have to get back to your training."
"Bye Lydia," Raphiel said. "See you tomorrow." Lydia flinched at the words and went into a new series of sobs. She didn't watch as the cats left, only looking up when Sheena was the last one left in the room.
"This is Jade," Sheena said. "Werefolk are werefolk are werefolk. Over here we don't have to follow some ancient grudge set by someone that saw us as slaves and tools. But I'll let you alone for now, Kayla or another apprentice will bring your dinner as usual."
Lydia looked up and glared through the tears. They had to be lying, it had to be a huge hoax to get her to reveal something. Because if there was no war, then her entire life to that point was a lie.