Chapter Six

 

Heh Heh . . . Nympho. . . Heh Heh . . .

Finally, the boat finally came back. Ryu, with Katt, Nina, Sten, and Ray in tow, arrived in time to see the boat finish loading and prepare to leave. In the Dragon Shrine, the portal had closed as soon as the last of them was through. Now, they ran to the harbourmaster who was waiting for them at the docks.

“We’ve been waiting for you.” The man was smiling as the quartet stopped before him, huffing and puffing. “After you saved our town, and we learned you needed to get to the other side, well, we simply couldn’t let the ship leave without making sure you were on it.”

“Thanks.” Ryu said, and they ran onto the boat. In about an hour, it was on its way.

***

“Uuhh. . .” Katt moaned from her place at the railing of the ship. Ryu, her and Nina were up on the main deck, gazing out to sea. Katt’s head was down; staring at the water straight on, not raising it. Ryu was on one side, eyes closed, a pleasant smile on his face, and Nina was on the other side, watching the seagulls that followed the boat out to sea.

It was a six hour trip from one continent to the other; not because the distance was great, but because the path that was to be taken. In order to reach the continent, the ship would have to maneuver a series of shallows and strong cross-currents. A smaller boat would have been smashed to bits if it attempted the journey, so a freighter had been built. Problem was, the freighter was so large that it required longer time in the shallows in order to make it through in one piece. That was the delay. Katt on the other hand. . .

“Are you okay?” Ryu asked her, that smile still present. “You look kinda green.”

Katt raised her head from where she was hung over the railing. She DID look a bit green. “I. . . don’t think Worens are made for sea trips. . . I don’t feel. . . Well.”

Her eyes suddenly widened, and clamping a hand over her mouth, she sprinted backward through the door behind her, choking noises following her all the way to the Head. Nina and Ryu stared down the hall after her, and then looked at each other.

“Maybe you should go check on her.” Ryu suggested.

“Yeah. I think I will.” Nina nodded and turned to leave. On the way out Ryu added, “And see if you can get her some anti-nausea herbs. I think I saw them being offered in the galley.”

***

Nina listened to Katt retch through the walls of the stall, and slid the packet of anti-naus herbs under the edge. While the sounds of seasickness surrounded her, echoing off the porcelain and metal walls, she found herself thinking about the letter she received from Mina.

I wonder. . . She thought aimlessly. Why are the St. Eva priests, warriors and the like? Isn’t a religion that preachs peace and love supposed to behave that way? And who is St. Eva? I never learned about her in school. . .

From under the door, Katt’s dry heaves began to slow, and her tail now slid weakly back and forth from under the stall’s floating walls. “Thanks. . . Nina. . .” She managed.

“Are you feeling any better?” Nina asked.

A cough. “A little. Give me a minute or so.”

For a while no one said anything, but then Katt broke the silence. “Nina?”

“Yes?”

“What were you doing with Ray, yesterday?” She asked tenatively.

“We talked about magic, then a little about ourselves.” Nina replied. “Then we went for lunch, and then we bumped into you and Ryu.”

“That’s all?”

“That’s all.”

Silence. Then, “Oh.”

Nina raised one fine eyebrow. “What? Were you expecting something?”

“Well, you two were acting pretty friendly when we bumped into you.” Katt said. “I thought that maybe. . .”

“No way! You thought that?” Nina was shocked. A little. “Ray maybe handsome, but he’s a little too, um, religion-minded for me, if you catch my drift.”

“Yeah, I guess. . .” Katt’s tail vanished from under the stall, and the door opened. She still looked pale, but she wasn’t seasick any longer. She had a timid, slightly embarassed smile on her face. “Thanks for the herbs. I’m feeling better now.”

She started to walk for the door, but nearly lost her balance after the first few steps. Nina caught her as she fell, and helped her up.

“I guess I’m not as well as I thought I was.” Katt mumbled, as they left the washroom. Nina only shook her head.

“You just don’t have sea-legs.” She replied. “Let’s get you to the lounge where you can sit and rest until we get to the other continent.”

“Nina. . .” Katt said. “Thank you.”

***

Elsewhere on the ship, Sten was gazing at the massive engine with his military-trained eye. Frowning, he turned away, rubbing the fur on his chin with one hand.

The engine was a piece of art. Massive cylinders powered monster turbines, which in turn rotated the massive screws to propel the ship. The cylinders were pumped by the oversize, salvaged internal combustion generators. Still, it wasn’t what he was looking for.

“This machinery is too primitive.” He whispered to himself. “So it’s not from the same technology under the town.”

He looked at the engine again, letting his eyes travel over the massive outer casing. “So who built that machine?”

***

Ray was up on the bridge of the ship, talking to the captain. Eventually, the talk of events on the other side of the channel evolved into the reason the ship was so late. Ray even made a point of asking.

“What took this ship so long to come back? Some trouble on the other side? A breakdown?”

The captain shook his head and crossed his arms. “No, no. . . nothing like that. A squall ripped across the eastern cape of the Sima continent. Levelled the docks. We had to wait for the docks to be rebuilt before we could unload our cargo. In fact, the area where the docks had been was so thoroughly destroyed and the landscape changed, that the new docks had to be built twenty miles to the north. It just wasn’t safe anymore.”

“Really?” Ray asked. “Wow. That must have been one incredible storm to destroy those docks. I was there once before, so I know how strong those concrete pilings and reinforced constructs are. Or rather, were. . .”

“That’s not all.” The captain added. “The same storm that destroyed the docks also caused a massive landslide that blocked the main road from the docks to Sima Plains. Everyone is forced to go through the Haunted Forest, or find another route. I can’t tell you how much money we lost because of merchants being too afraid of going through the forest.”

Ray’s eyebrow went up. “What is this ‘Haunted Forest’? I’ve never heard of it.”

“It’s a forest to the north of the old docks, west of the new ones. No one goes in there because it’s supposed to be haunted by some terrible, huge monster. At night you can hear it calling for victims.”

“Any other bad news I should know about?”

“Just that we can’t navigate the straights at night, and that the sun is setting soon. We’ll hold up for the night, then arrive at the docks tomorrow.”

Thanking the captain for giving him this information, Ray left the bridge and went to the foredeck, to the bow of the ship. He gazed ahead of the ship, one foot on deck, the other on the railing at the very apex of the bow. In a moment of ironic self-indulgance, he admitted to himself that the whole scene would look perfect as a painting somewhere. Perhaps titled, Searching for Land or something. He wasn’t an artist, so he wasn’t inspired to name the image in his head, this imagined painting.

He was there, not really thinking anything for a while, when he heard footsteps behind him. Turning slightly, he saw Ryu approaching.

“Hey, Ray.” Ryu said, and Ray turned back to the sea. “You look thoughtful.”

“Hmm? Oh. . . yeah.” Ray mumbled. He turned to face Ryu. “So, what brings you here?”

“I was going to ask you the same question.” Ryu replied, crossing his arms. “The crew says we dock in a few hours. You might want to get some rest. . . Are you okay? You look kinda distracted.”

“It’s nothing.” Ray lied, walking past him. He paused. “I talked to the captain. He says we’re holding up for the night, then making it to the docks tomorrow. I guess the area we have to get the boat through is to dangerous at night, and the sun is setting now. He also said the normal road is closed due to the storm that trashed the docks. We’re going to have to go through the ‘Haunted Forest’ to get to Sima Fortress.”

“Haunted?” Ryu asked skeptically.

Ray chuckled. “Yeah, that’s what I said. I guess we’ll find out when we get there if it really is or not.”

***

Night fell swiftly and completely. Anchor was dropped, and the crew settled down for the night. Ryu and his company were given bunks in a section of the ship seperated from the crew’s barracks. It wasn’t very private, but it was steps better than the crew barracks.

As soon as Ryu’s head hit the pillow, he fell asleep, so he had no idea of what happened soon after. His quiet snoring filled the room. Ray had taken a bunk at the far edge of the room, away from everyone. He couldn’t sleep unless he was alone. There was two full sets of empty bunks between him and the rest of the group.

Sten only came in to grab his pillow and blanket. He wanted to sleep out under the stars, and be lulled to sleep by the sound of the waves, which you couldn’t hear from the bowels of the ship.

Katt chose a bunk to the left of Ryu’s and lay on her side in the half light watching him sleep. He didn’t thrash, or twist the bedsheets beneath him, and his snoring wasn’t obnoxiously loud. She imagined what it would be like to be so close as to hear his heart beat as he slept. When she thought of that, she smiled as her fantasy grew in her mind.

But then she noticed that Nina had taken the bed on the other side of Ryu, same distance away from him as Katt was. Even as Katt caught view of her, Nina also noticed where the Woren girl had set down for the night, and their eyes locked for an instant. Both girls’s eyes narrowed for an instant, and then Katt closed her eyes and rolled over. Nina too, closed her eyes and fell asleep. And Ryu dozed away, oblivious of the fiery glares the two had passed between each other, in the air over him.

******

“What’s so scary about this place?” Ryu asked, half an hour into the forest. He spread his hands as he walked and turned to face his friends, walking backward so he wouldn’t lose ground. “I don’t see anything worth being afraid of. The Tag woods back near Coursair were far more scary.”

He was right, too. This forest was warm feeling, friendly, and peaceful, not like the aged, decrepit and foreboding Tag woods. There were even animals running around, all playful and happy. Not like the animate, man-eating tree-things, the Trunks that tried to eat Ryu in that other forest.

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” Ray replied, frowning in mild irritation. “Those sailors were just superstitious. This forest has no ghosts or anyth--”

It was at that moment that a faint, haunting moan drifted through the trees, from somewhere within the thicker part of the forest. It sounded like someone crying, but who?

With a cry of horror, both Nina and Katt were clinging to Ryu, who staggered under their collective weight. They were both light girls; nina more so because of her bird-like hollow bone structure, but the two of them combined nearly knocked him off his feet. Ray found himself holding Sten.

Sten looked up with an imploring, almond-eyed expression and a toothy grin. “Heh heh. . . My hero?”

“Get off.” Ray muttered, dropping the monkey man flat on his ass.

“Um. . .Grphls? Wll u feaz geh-aff me?!” Ryu asked loudly, voice muffled by one of Katt’s forearms. He reached up and pulled Katt’s arm down. “I said, ‘Girls, can you please GET OFF ME?!”

The girls quickly got off him, offering apologetic looks and sheepish smiles. Ryu got up and dusted himself off. “Nina, you are a powerful black mage. I doubt any ghost should scare you. And Katt, you’re tough. I don’t see why you should be scared.”

“Hey, yeah!” Katt agreed, making a fist and extending her new knuckle blades. “I’ll make that ghost into shish-ka-bob!”

“And I’ll cook him up just right with my magic!” Nina added. They high-fived each other in feminine unity, while Ryu and Ray simply shook there heads and tiredly sighed.

“. . .Did you have to set them up for that?” Ray asked. Ryu shrugged.

“How could I know?”

Katt and Nina were psyched up now. “Let’s go find this ghost and teach it not to deal with the Ranger Guild!”

“Whoa whoa, wait a minute. . .” Ryu held up his hands before the girls could run past him. “What do you mean, the Ranger Guild? I’m the only guild member here.”

Nina pushed Ryu’s outstretched arm down. “Me and Katt will apply for membership at your guild, when we get back. I think that after helping a Ranger complete his mission, they’ll find it in their hearts to make us honorary, if not official Rangers. Don’t you?”

Ryu sighed and let his arms sag. To Ray and Sten he asked. “What do you two think? Should I support their initiation into the guild?”

Ray crossed his arms, and sniffed a little. “Like I really care. Do what you wish.”

Sten was more enthusiastic. “Hey, sure, why not? See if you can get me and Rand in there too. And Ray.”

“Me?!” Ray asked incrediously, pointing at himself. “Why me? I’m a priest from St. Eva! I don’t know if it would be alright. . .”

“Naw, don’t worry about it.” Ryu dismissed his objection with a wave. “If me and Bow, both of us thieves, I think I can get a priest -- no, a paladin -- in. It would probably help morale. Things have gotten pretty pathetic back in the hometown. We Rangers got stuck with a bunch of crappy jobs.”

He nodded to Nina. “I was actually hired by your little sister to find her pet pig.” Ryu chuckled. “Bow thought he’d get a chance to go out with her. Did you know that?”

Nina tapped her cheek with one gloved finger. “Yes, she did tell me someone was wanting to go out with her. Two someones, if I’m not mistaken. . . One a Plains Runner with a patch of brown fur on one eye, and the other. . . a youth with blue hair!”

“Ryu!” Katt fumed, outraged. “You hit on Nina’s little sister?! How could you?!”

“Hey! I didn’t even know you two at that time!” Ryu explained, countering Katt’s anger with his own. “And I didn’t know Mina had a cute older sister. . . !”

He stopped himself a little too late. The girls’s jaws dropped, he turned bright red, and Ray and Sten simply shook their heads in mock sadness. Then the girls began to laugh at him, but only half-heartedly. Because Ryu had just said something pretty serious.

The moaning stopped the laughter immediately. Everyone turned towards the sad noise. After a minute of listening, Ryu said in all seriousness, “Let’s move.”

***

They followed the noise deeper into the uncharted forest, beyond the path, everyone with their weapons at ready. The closer they got, the clearer the voice became, until Ryu paused to actually listen to it. “Oh, mon amour. . . Why did you imprison me?” The voice sang in a sad, almost effeminate manner. The accent was completely strange to Ryu; he’d never heard anything quite like it. “Our love is one for the ages, and yet you run away, ma petite fille. . .” “What the hell?” Ryu whispered as he passed by Ray in a crouch. “It sounds like some poor loser can’t accept the fact that some girl doesn’t want him.”

“Question is, where is this guy, or ghost or whatever.” Ray muttered back, eyes searching the undergrowth. They all moved stealthily through the untamed forest.

They followed the sad singing to a strange pool of churning dark, silty water that they couldn’t see the bottom of. Just before they entered its clearing, the singing abruptly stopped.

Katt looked around. “So, where is this monster? I know I heard him singing. . .”

“But mon chere, I am right here. . .” The unknown thing said from near the pool of water. Ryu went over to investigate, and found a fat green frog sitting near the shore; the only animal in the clearing.

“Are. . .you the creature?” Ryu asked unsurely. The frog only croaked and stared blankly at him.

“No no no, my friends. . . I am not there. I am over HERE.” The voice corrected him. The frog turned and hopped, vanishing into the dark water, fading from view. The frog had barely faded away when there was a sudden furious profusion of bubbles and foam from the center of the pond, and began to move closer to shore. As soon as the bubbling began, Ryu and the others went into combat mode, ready for anything.

The bubbling stopped, and something smooth and green rose into view. It sort of resembled a frog, except for the duck-foot-shaped ears sticking out from the sides of its head, and less animal like eyes. Instead of the blank look most animals had when you look into their eyes, this creature’s eyes radiated a kind, soft-hearted warmth, and genuine human knowledge. “Bonjour, mon amis!”

Ryu lowered his sword, questioning what he was seeing, and finally resheathed it. With a puzzled expression, he asked. “Exactly what are you?”

“My friends, I am a person just like you.” The thing in the pond explained. “But I was sealed in this form, in this pond by a witch who lives in the Witches’ Tower, dans l'Oest. Can I ask you to do something for me?”

Ryu looked to his companions, all of whom shrugged. “Yeah, I . . . guess. . .”

“Bon! Bon!” The giant frog clapped its flippers happily. “Can you go to that tower and ask the witch who put me here how I can become my normal self? It seems my singing scares off most travellers. You five are the first to come by since I was imprisoned, a month ago.”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do.” Ryu said, a little unsure. The frog waved good by as they left its clearing in a daze.

“So. . .” Katt asked, walking beside Ryu. “. . . Exactly what the hell are we doing now?”

Ryu was silent as he thought. Then he replied. “We’ll have to go to Simafort eventually, to see if we can pick up the trail of the female thief. But. . . I think we can put it off for a time, at least until we help that guy back there.”

Nina tapped her chin with one slender finger. “I wonder what he really looks like. . .”

If you could see into their minds at that moment, this is what you’d get: Nina and Katt both pictured a handsome, almost godlike young man, a prince, really, who would smile a glowing smile, and sweep them off their feet. Ryu saw the same thing, but with a darker twist; the guy would sweep the girls off their feet, but away from Ryu! Ray pictured a simple peasant who went amiss with a witch. Sten. . . well, Sten just pictured some non-descript guy with a funny accent.

***

The trip would have been so much easier if they could have scaled the cliffs on the tower’s eastern edge Unfortunately, they neither had the tools, nor the nerve to climb a mountainside of sheer drop. Instead, they followed the incredibly wide Sima Lake’s shoreline to the south, in hopes of finding a less steep way on the western shore. The massive city/castle of Sima Fortress rose up out of the deep water, more than a mile into the lake. It was amazing; something that huge contained an entire city, along with castle. Plated in golden scales, the walls of the Fortress made it appear as a partially submerged pyramid, adorned with silver frog faces. At the very summit was a massive windmill, turning endlessly.

Ryu considered this as he stopped to wash his face in the cool water of the lake. Nina also noted it, voicing her amazement. “Wow. That place is huge. . .”

“Yes.” Ray said, stepping up beside her. His expression was severe. “We recently sent a missionary from St. Eva there. . . There’s word that they have converted to the teachings of St. Eva, but. . . The missionary has not returned. One of my reasons for joining your group was to find out why he hasn’t returned.”

“Your church sent you to retrieve him?” Nina asked. She looked at him as he stared at the city in the distance; the intensity of his stare and the tension in his face was very noticable.

“. . . No. I was sent to bring a missionary to Windia. Father Rohmer.” He turned to her. “When I left him, Rohmer didn’t seem like the man I knew before he joined our church. Nothing I can put my finger on. . . I just have a bad feeling about him.” Ray sighed and crossed his arms, then chinned towards the pyramidal city. “When I learned that the missionary sent here had not returned, I felt the same feeling. I want to know why I feel this anxiousness. This worry.”

Ryu had listened to all Ray’d said, and now stood up, reflecting on it. He had once been a St. Eva parishoner; his father had been a priest for the church, after all. But. . . after that incident in Gate. . . The replacement of his father, and the sudden appearance of Father Hulk. . . How all the townspeople forgot him and his family. . . Something in the back of his mind nagged at him.

“Hey, Ray. . .” He finally said, walkin gup to the serious faced paladin. “What do you know of a man named Father Hulk? He’s a priest in the town of Gate.”

“Father Hulk?” Ray thought for a moment. “I remember vaguely the mention of a priest in a far-off, hard to reach town. . . Why?”

“Nothing.” Ryu said too quickly. “. . . Do you know of a man named Father Gayner? He was my father. . .” “Your father was a priest in the Church?” Ray seemed surprised. “Then we are more alike than I thought! We both have a connection to the church. But I’m afraid I’ve never heard of Father Gayner. What happened?”

“He. . .” Ryu paused, and looked away sharply. “He vanished. When I was eight. My sister too. I haven’t seen them since. I thought that maybe he had contacted the Church. . .”

“Well, perhaps he did.” Ray put one hand on Ryu’s shoulder. “I may not know about it. I’m not apprised of everything the church is doing, so I don’t know everything.”

He went back to staring at the city, and his expression as well as his voice darkened. “. . . I know very little about what the church is doing. . . but I intend to find out. . .”

A few minutes later, they abandoned their rest spot and continued their walk.

*****

The sun was setting when they spotted a fire burning atop a hill, near the edge of a river that fed the massive Sima Lake. They approached cautiously, and found Azusa tending the flames.

“Azusa!” Ryu called, stepping into the light of the flames; the sun had completely set. “How goes it?”

“Ranger Ryu!” Azusa looked up from the coals and waved his friend in. “The Hunt still continues. How by you?”

Ryu sat down beside him, shedding his sword and undoing his armoured vest; the flames were quite strong. “Much the same, but with a new task. I have to find a thief that framed my friend. The trail leads to Sima Fortress. . .”

“Framed? Are you speaking of Ranger Bow?” Azusa was shocked. “Do you know what the perpetrator looks like?”

“Yes. She’s a girl with dark blue hair and batwings. Wore red boots and bodysuit. . . Azusa?” Ryu looked over at the expert hunter. “Something wrong?”

Azusa had paled, slack-jawed, but then he slapped himself in the forehead, hard. “By the Gods! She was here last night! That woman you speak of. . . She stopped by for some coffee and a meal before heading to the Fortress! I thought she was just a traveller. And now to know she is a thief? I had her RIGHT HERE!”

“Hey, don’t sweat it.” Sten offered, slapping the green-clad man on the back. “At least we know she went to the Fort. Did she come back?”

Azusa shook his head. “No. I waited for a sign from my prey, the Kimaera, and I would have noticed her coming back from the Fort. No boat has come back in the last day. In fact, if it were lighter out, you would see the boat still at the docks at the Fortress.”

“The Kimaera made it across the straits?!” Ryu was amazed. “That’s some distance! What kind of monster is this?!”

“Dangerous, and powerful.” Azusa replied, fire in his eyes. It has eluded me clear across the continent, and now is hiding somewhere near here. I hope to find it in a day or two.”

“What’s a Kimaera?” Nina asked. Azusa explained the beast to the others, along with helpful hints from Ryu.

“Wow!” Katt exclaimed, clutching her extended battlestaff a little tighter. She grinned. “That would be something to fight! I hope we run into it!. . .”

“I wouldn’t suggest it.” Azusa shook his head. “I’m not even sure I can defeat it. There’s no chance you would without major help.”

“Then you don’t know us very well.” Nina smiled darkly. “Ryu, I think you should tell him. . .”

Azusa seemed confused. “Tell me what?”

Ryu turned red and looked away when Katt said. “Ryu’s a Dragon Clanner.”

Azusa blinked, and then stared at Ryu in surprise. Finally he clapped a hand on the young man’s shoulder and laughed deeply. “Why Ryu! You should have told me sooner! I’d have invited you on my hunt!”

He swept a hand across the gathered companions. “But I see you have your own hunting party. You may not be hunting beasts, but you are on a hunt of sorts. And your huntmates are quite strong looking.”

That got Nina blushing, Katt practically jumping up and down, and Sten puffing up. Ryu groaned and shook his head. “Did you have to say that?”

Azusa laughed even harder, and they ended up having a bit of campfire story-telling session that stretched into the night.

***

The next morning, Azusa was gone; a note lay where he had slept, addressed to Ryu. It said that he had heard the challenging roar of the Kimaera in the dead of night, and had left to pursue it. He wished Ryu luck, and hoped he caught the thief.

They arrived at the Witches’ Tower just before noon. It was incredible; a massive stone structure rising into the sky like a spear thrust into the ground. If they squinted, the group could swear that they saw clouds below the summit of the tower.

Everyone had their own opinion on what to do.

“There’s no way I’m climbing that. . .” Sten whined, sitting down on one side of the entrance in a huff.

Ray looked at the tower, and remembered something he’d heard from another priest. “I’m not going in there. . .”

“Why?” Katt asked.

“Uh. . .” Ray blushed a bit as he remembered what he’d been told about the tower and its inhabitants. “Let’s just say someone like me isn’t exactly welcome here.”

Katt shrugged. “Suit yourself.” She turned to Ryu. “You gonna chicken out too?”

He pshawwed her. “Hell no. I’m going up there.”

“What about you Nina?”

She shrugged. “I have nothing really better to do. . .”

“Then it’s settled. Sten and Ray will stay here, and the rest of us will go inside and find out how to get that weird guy in the forest back to normal.” Everyone nodded, and then those going in, went in.

***

They didn’t get very far before they ran into trouble. The passage into the tower dead-ended at a wall, with a very strange looking panel set into the floor, a large raised symbol emblazoned on it. Where the panel was set was only wide enough to accomodate one person, so, they sat there wondering what to do.

“You realize that panel is probably a trap. . .” Nina pointed out, arms crossed.

“Yeah, but what choice do we have?” Ryu replied, studying the panel from afar.

“Someone’s gotta step on it. . .” Katt said.

No one moved.

Finally, Katt sighed. “I’ll do it.”

She stepped on the panel, and it sunk down a bit into it’s groove in the floor. On the wall in front of it, a bulbous projection snapped open to reveal a mechanical eye. It studied her for a moment, and then closed. “I have no interest in young girls.” A voice said through a hidden speaker. “Get out of my tower. . .Now!”

Katt barely had time to leap back before spears came shooting out of the confining walls of the passage, nearly catching her in at least three places.

“Jeez! What did I do?!” Katt wheezed, rubbing the spot on her shoulder where a spear’s handle had rubbed her when she dodged it. The spears themselves had shot between the two walls, embedding their tips in specially designed holes, and then almost immediately began to retract.

“I don’t know. . .” Ryu admitted. To Nina: “Can you do something to stop those spears? A spell or something?”

She nodded. “I think I can cast an Ice spell to seal them into those holes.”

“Do it.”

Nina closed her eyes and concentrated, mouth moving in silent prayer as she chanted the magic words, but more importantly, found the reciprocating vibe that she had been taught to recognize when casting any spell. When she found it, A small cloud of swirling ice-particles formed around her hands, drawing moisture in from the air and condensing it into semi-solid form. She then directed it at both walls, the cloud shooting out, and crystallizing completely, covering the holes in a thin but extremely durable layer of magical ice. “. . . There. That should take care of the spears.”

“Do you want to try next?” Ryu asked. His heart quickened with a small amount of fear when she nodded.

“Yeah, I’ll go next.” She stepped onto the plate in the floor, which sunk accordingly. Again, the eye in the wall snapped open, surveyed her, and then closed.

“You ARE quite beautiful, winged girl. . .” The now recognizably feminine voice stated. “But I’m interested only in beautiful BOYS. . .”

From the ceiling, a nozzle extended, and sent a sheet of flame racing down at Nina, who leapt back, nearly singing the edges of her black wings in the the strong flames.

Ryu had had enough. When the flames had receded, and the nozzle was still extended, he quickly whipped out his boot-dagger and, in a swift underhand toss, sent it spinning into the mechanical device. The blade pierced the device and severed it completely, leaving a sparking, ruined mess where the trap had been. “That’s it. It’s my turn.”

He took a deep breath, hoped he was handsome enough for this mystery witch, and stepped onto the plate. Yet again, the eye snapped open and studied him, but it stayed open and lingered on certain spots of his body, and when the voice came, it stayed open.

“Mmm m . . . You ARE a handsome one. . .” The voice chuckled seductively. “I’ll let you and your friends in if you can answer a few questions for me. . .”

Ryu looked to his female companions, who shrugged and nodded. To the eye he said, “Okay, what’s the first question?”

"What's your name?"

"Ryu Bateson." Ryu replied. "And the second?"

“Boxers or briefs?”

“Boxers or briefs?!” Ryu was totally confused. “What do you mean?”

“Boxers or briefs?” The voice repeated. “Which do you wear?”

“OH!” Ryu reddened a bit. “Uh. . . Boxers?”

“Ooh. . . Come on in then!” The smile was almost evident in the voice as the eye snapped shut, and the entire wall in front of Ryu rose up and out of sight into the ceiling.

Ryu stared at where the wall had gone, and then turned to the girls. “Um, do you know what that was about?”

The girls exchanged looks, and then fixed him with suspicious looks. “Do you know why most girls like guys who wear boxers?”

“No?”

They exchanged looks, and Katt walked up and whispered something in Ryu’s ear. His face reddened even more; “Oh. . . I see. . .”

“Let’s just get this over with.” Nina said sharply, pushing roughly past Ryu and into the main floor.

“Ow. Hey, what did she do that for?” Ryu asked Katt. She just frowned and walked past him, nearly smacking him in the face with a sudden snap of her tail. “Jeez. . . what’s got your fur in a bunch?. . .”

***

The slim passageway opened up a few meters in, into a large, open lobby, with a raised platform in the center, with a treasure chest flanked by two strange statues. Nina said as much as she studied them.

“They look so life-like it’s incredible. . .” She murmured, examining one of them up close and in depth. “I’d love to meet the artisan who carved this. . .”

“Yeah well. . .” Ryu said, popping the lock on the chest. Maybe there was something in there they could use? The lid flew up and --- behind them, the wall that had previously raised into the ceiling to permit them enterance slammed down with such violence that it made them all jump. “Ah, crap!”

“Jeez, Ryu!” Katt yelled. “Whaddya do?!”

“I don’t know!” He yelled back at her, angrily. “I just opened the chest and. . .”

“. . . sealed us all in here.” A small voice spoke up from behind the other statue. A boy no older than Ryu, quite striking in his green stage outfit stepped foreward timidly. His eyes looked left and right frantically, as if he were expecting something. “You just sealed us all in here. Getting out is gonna be much more difficult now. . .”

“What do you mean?”

“By opening that chest, you shut the ground level entrance. Only Nimufu can open it now, from the top floor.”

Katt frowned. “Who’s Nimufu?”

“She’s the witch who lives in this tower.” The young pretty-boy told her, his speech becoming faster and more nervous as time went on. “She has a taste for handsome young men, and when she tires of them. . . She turns them to stone. . .”

Nina’s jaw dropped open, and she looked at the statue she was examining in a new light. “You mean. . .”

“. . . That was a guy who was ‘stoned’ the day I arrived. That was a month ago.” The boy seemed about to cry. “Now that your male friend has come here, I expect that I too, will be turned to stone just like --”

Before he could finish, a bolt of silver lightning dropped from above and struck the boy where he stood. When the glare faded, a polished statue that looked like him stood in his place, it’s mouth open in surprise. From above, Nimufu’s voice chuckled over an unseen intercom. “I see you met one of my friends. . . Oh well. . . I was getting tired of him anyway. . . Please, come upstairs. . .I’m so very lonely up here. . .”

She laughed deeply and then her voice faded. Ryu stared up at where he’d thought he’d heard Nimufus voice coming from and thought glumly Why do I have the feeling I’m gonna regret going upstairs? . . .

***

The second floor was completely empty, save for another statue of some pretty-boy (another one of Nimufu’s playthings?). But when the trio reached the third floor. . .

“What’s this?” Katt asked, standing before yet another statue. At first, Ryu was sure it was yet another of Nimufu’s boys-in-stone, but it turned out to be something different. Instead, it was a statue of a girl with long hair, apparently garbed in some kind of leather-vinyl/dominatrix outfit. First girl statue they had seen.

“Weird. . .”

“Hey, I resent that.” The statue suddenly blurted out, shocking everyone. Nimufu’s voice came from it.

“Nimufu?!” Nina asked, dumbfounded. The statue looked at her and nodded sharply.

“Yes, it’s me. I’m using this statue as a conduit.” She looked Ryu over, and raised one granite hand to hide her pleased smile. “Oh MY. You ARE a handsome one. . . But looks aren’t everything, you know. . .”

“Uh. . . Yeah?. . .” Ryu replied hesitantly. He felt Katt and Nina’s icy stares on the back of his head and felt the sweat starting to bead up on his forehead.

The statue began to walk back down the hall, towards a panel with a large double-N on it. As it walked, Nimufu kept talking. “I need to know what kind of stresses you can handle. . .”

It reached the panel and gave it a push. The entire wall dropped straight down into the floor, revealling a hulking, green-skinned, pink-furred, fanged, one-legged, one EYED creature. It growled and hopped out just enough for the Nimufu statue to reach out and caress its green, leathery chin.

The statue that was Nimufu gave Ryu a seductive smile, much out of place near that hulking monstrosity, and said. "This is Crusher. He’ll test your stamina and physical condition. If you’re as good as I think you are, you won’t have any trouble. If you aren’t, however. . .” She leaned in and gave the Cycloptic monster a kiss on the cheek. The beast had the approximation of a smile; it enjoyed it! “Then Crusher here will have a new playtoy. . . I warn you though. . . he tends to break people. . .”

“Oh shi-- RUN!!” Ryu shouted, and backpedalled. The girls were already down the hall and around the corner when he managed to turn around. Running at top speed, he could hear the green and pink behemoth stomping its way behind him and getting closer by the second. He’d barely rounded the corner when Crusher slammed full tilt into the wall behind him, too fast to stop moving. The beast picked itself up and roared, its clublike arms raised so high they nearly touched the ceiling.

That’s when Ryu realized he had run into a dead end. The passage ended in a stone wall, only thirty feet ahead of him. But where were the girls? They were just in front of him. . .

“Ryu! Up here!” Katt yelled to him. Ryu looked up and spotted a two-foot wide square hole in the ceiling, with Katt’s face leaning down, one arm extended.

Behind him, Crusher roared and began to charge. Without thinking, Ryu increased his run and then did a leap, catching Katt’s arm and was pulled almost totally into the upper room. He nearly had his foot bitten off because Crusher took a leap and lunged for it, jaws snapping shut on empty air.

As soon as Ryu was up through the hole, he was away from the edge, where Crusher’s claws suddenly raked up and across, carving grooves in the dark stone.

“That is WAY too close. . .” Ryu breathed, staring at the deep grooves. They were nearly an inch deep.

There was a grunt and the shifting of stone behind him, and Katt called out, “Hey, you gona give us a hand, or what?”

Ryu turned and found both girls trying to push a tall, heavy piece of stone over the hole; Katt was almost strong enough to shift it, but Nina was having trouble. They obviously needed his help.

So there they were, pushing the stone towards the hole, through which Crusher was trying his monstrous best to leap up through. Finally, the stone pitched foreward and into the hole and. . . wedged it shut. There must have been a smaller lip just inside the rim of the hole, and the stone fit it perfectly, sealing it.

“Whew. . .” Ryu breathed, wiping the sweat from his brow and leaning across the stone. There was a loud thump from below, as Crusher tried to ram it (possibly with his head) and then a low moaning. “. . . Sounds like Crusher hurt himself on that last try. . .”

“I should hope so.” Nina declared, standing up from where she’d been sitting against the stone block. “That thing was big, ugly, and a jerk.”

Ryu made sure the stone wouldn’t shift by picking up a smaller, but fairly heavy stone and placing it on top. Now, Crusher shouldn’t be able to even make the stone move. “Okay. . . Let’s keep moving. No telling what Nimufu has planned for us next, and standing here waiting is just foolish.”

“Yeah. . .” Katt said, but her tone gave Ryu the impression that something was bothering her. As they walked out of the room and into an adjoining corridor, he mentioned as much.

“Oh. . . nothing really.” Katt mumbled. “Just thinking about what Nimufu said.”

She increased her pace, and left Ryu behind, to catch up with Nina. There, she leaned over and whispered something to her, and Nina seemed to think for a moment, and then nod.

Seeing this, Ryu definitely felt something was amiss. And the suspicious stares the girls were now fixing on him increased that. Great. Now what?. . .

***

On another floor they came upon another female statue. This one, however, was not one of Nimufu’s similcrum. It appeared to be a girl with long, spiky hair, turned to stone while running, a look of fear on her face. The outfit the girl was wearing was quite. . . familiar.

“Hey, she looks like Sana, but. . . younger.” Katt observed.

“Do you think she’s a shaman?” Nina asked.

“Well. . . we gotta find Nimufu and get her to release her from the petrify spell. Then we can find out.” Ryu replied. They continued on up the tower.

***

Finally, they hit a dead end after passing across a number of moving platforms on the uppermost level. There was another double-N plate in the floor, and the corridor before it shimmered with a force-shield.

“Looks like end of the line.” Ryu said, testing the force-shield by tapping it with his finger. Each tap caused an effect similar to dropping a stone in water, with pressure waves rippling out in all directions. “At least until Nimufu lowers this shield. . .”

“Yeah. . .” Nothing happened for a bit. Then. . .

“Well well well. . .” Nimufu’s voice came through the shield clearly and crisply. “Seems you made it this far. . . You may enter, Ryu. . .” She gave a low, secretive chuckle.

“And what’s THAT supposed to mean?!” Katt frowned, crossing her arms as the shield dropped. Ryu shrugged and stepped beyond the barrier, which leapt up like wind-blown flame behind him, cutting him off from the girls.

As he walked down the corridor between chambers, he heard Katt turn to Nina and say, “I don’t trust this girl. This Nimufu.”

***

Ryu entered Nimufu’s chambers, and stopped, slack-jawed. These weren’t simply chambers, they were bedchambers. Shelves upon shelves of magical tomes lined the walls, but even Ryu could see from here that a number of them appeared to be romantic novels, or texts on rather. . . adult topics. Dead center in the room, flanked by two more pretty-boy statues was a huge, four-poster bed, with drapes of pink veil, and sheets of. . . silk? Yes, it was silk. Very high quality silk, as well. Ryu had never before seen such beautiful material; it gleamed and shined like it was made of some smooth liquid, like mercury or oil, but was most definitely silk.

But that’s not what made his jaw drop. Laying quite seductively across those very sheets was a girl with long, dark pink hair, strange, playful pink eyes, and full, pouting red lips. She was still dressed in that leather get-up, but Ryu could see why she favored it; the smooth material accented her body’s curves and lines very well, and he felt himself begin to blush a little at the look she was giving him.

“. . . ahem. . . Nimufu, I assume?” Ryu finally managed, choking down the lump that had appeared in his throat. The girl on the bed stood up smoothly, cat-like, and sashayed slowly up to him, swinging her hips the whole way.

“Uuh. . . Nimufu? I’m here to ask you to rel-mmph?!!” Ryu couldn’t finish his speech, as Nimufu suddenly and quite forcefully locked her lips to his, cutting him off midsentence. All he could do was stand there, rigid and wide-eyed as Nimufu proceeded to try and make-out with him.

Oh please don’t let the girls find out about this. . . Ryu thought desperately as he unconsciously responded to Nimufu’s affections. . .

***

Back outside the portal, Katt and Nina were waiting, both impatient and slightly worried. Not for Ryu’s health or well-being; with his Dragon powers, he was almost guaranteed to win a stand up fight. No, They were worried about something they both had noticed regarding Nimufu.

“I can’t stand it.” Katt fumed. She extended her battlestaff and tried to shove the tip through the barrier, only to have it repulsed. “Ryu’s in there with that. . . that. . . girl! And we’re stuck out here!”

“Yes, Nimufu seems to have an interest in handsome boys.” Nina observed. “But where normal girls like us are simply interested, or attracted, Nimufu seems to be . . . what’s the word I’m looking for?”

“Fickle. Promiscous. Sex-starved.” Katt suggested, taking a hit from the whiskey bottle she’d pulled from one shoulder guard. She’d gotten it from Azusa the night before, to help her sleep, but now she needed something to cool her down. Already, she’d taken enough from the bottle to start a rosy glow in her cheeks and make her eyes a little glassy. “Does that cover it?”

Nina nodded. “But that’s not the words I was looking for. I was thinking more along the lines of. . . Nymphomanic. Yes, that’s it. She’s a nymphomaniac, and wants every guy, but can’t stand being around them otherwise. When she tires of someone she. . .”

“Turns them to stone. . .” Katt paled. “Oh crap. We GOTTA get him outta there!”

They turned back to assaulting the barrier with everything they had, desperate now, almost frantic. Now they were concerned for Ryu’s safety.

***

“HEY!” Ryu cried out as Nimufu shoved him forcefully onto the silk-sheeted bed. He scrabbled for purchase, found it, and slid back down the bed, away from her. “I came here to ask you something, not for. . . this!”

“What’s the matter?” Nimufu teased, crawling across the bed on her hands and knees towards him, smiling coolly, eyes twinkling with mischief. “Don’t you find me attractive?”

“I, er, . . . uh. . .” Ryu looked quickly for an exit, some way to get away from her, but realized she still controlled the forcefield. “Yes, but. . .”

“Then all your questions can wait until afterwards. . .” She whispered, pushing him down and settling on top of him. Looking down on him, her hair tickled his face. “. . . My new toy. . .”

***

The barrier shattered inward under a final Lightning Strike from Katt, and Nina’s focussed Thunder spell, melting away into nothingness.

“Finally!” Katt spit out explosively as she stood up from where her move had taken her. “Let’s go find Ryu!”

***

The girls burst into the room just as Nimufu was cinching the knot that pinned the last of Ryu’s limbs to the bed posters. Both Ryu and Nimufu’s gazes shot to where the girls were; Nimufu’s was disapproving, but Ryu’s was full of desperate hope.

“Ryu!”

“Ryu!?”

“Katt, Nina! Help!”

“You! How did you get in?!”

Ryu struggled against the bonds that held his arms and legs. “Girls! Please! Help me!!!”

“What are you doing to Ryu?!” Nina demanded, anger more evident in her voice than she wanted it to be. “Ryu, what happened?” Katt asked him, glaring, but at the same time concerned.

Nimufu answered for him, standing up. “He’s my new toy. What do you want with him?”

“We want him back!” Katt growled. She glared at Ryu again. “And I’ll deal with you later. . .”

“Likewise.” Nina threatened, crossing her arms. Katt gave her a sidelong surprised glance, but quickly recovered and faced off with Nimufu.

“Untie Ryu right now.” She ordered. The pink-haired witch sniffed and looked away. “Untie him now. . . .”

“Do it yourself.”

Again, Katt growled. Finally she put her staff away. “Nina, cover me.”

“Okay, but. . .”

“I don’t want to be stoned like those others. . .”

Nina pursed her lips. “We’ll both do it. You take the left side, and I’ll take the right.”

She glared at Nimufu. “That way we can both keep an eye on her.”

Nimufu gave an acidic smile. “I feel so honoured. . .”

Katt’s expression seemed to falter a bit at Nina’s proposal, the frown replaced with shock, and then with a sad stoicness. “Alright. . . Let’s get to work.”

Both girls began to undo the knots that held Ryu down onto the bed, and both of them were giving him such icy stares that he felt practically seared by them. What did he do to deserve this? It wasn’t his idea. . .

As the last two knots fell away, and Ryu sat up to rub his wrists, Nimufu spun on the girls and asked. “Why do you have such an interest in this boy? He’s just like all the others.”

“He is NOT!” Katt declared, sticking her chin out at the witch. “Ryu’s. . .special.”

“Huh. Special to who?” Nimufu seemed unimpressed.

“Special to. . .” Nina began to reply. She paused and looked over at Katt. For a moment, their thoughts seemed to align, and Nina felt grateful and sad at the same time. Finally she answered. “Special to . . . us.”

“Like I believe that. . .”

Ryu looked at both girls in surprise (well, mostly surprise). “Girls?. . . What do you mean?”

Again, the two girls looked at each other, and then nodded. Then, catching him completely off guard, they kissed him one per cheek. At this Nimufu’s iron-clad stubborness seemed to falter, and finally break as she fell to her knees and began to cry bitterly.

“Why? . . . why is it so hard for me to find someone to love?” She cried, face in her hands. “Is it because I’m ugly? Because I’m a witch?”

Ryu stopped his bemused grinning at the girls’ kisses, and got off the bed to stand in front of her. “Nimufu, I don’t know much about you, but I do know that you are a sad girl. Much as I wish I could tell you that I am the one for you. . .” He indicated the girls who were just getting off the bed. “. . . I can’t because I already have TWO girls whom I care for and they care for me. All I can say is I hope you find someone you can love. . . and that you don’t turn him to stone when you get bored.” He added with a wink and cracking a half smile.

Nimufu stopped crying, and sat there sniffling. “Yeah. . . I suppose I am a bit. . .flighty. I guess I should release everyone from my petrification spell. . .” She waved a hand in the air, the fingers trailing stardust. “There. Anyone who was petrified in my tower is now free and normal. . .”

“Nimufu, we came here to ask you something.”

“What?” She stood up and wiped her remaining tears on her leather glove.

“Could you release the guy that’s stuck in the middle of the forest to the east?” Katt asked. “He says you put him there.”

Nimufu seemed confused for a moment, and then remembered. Her eyes flashed angrily. “Oh, him! Well, I can’t release him with my magic. . . but the kiss of a beautiful maiden will release him.”

She gave them a cruel smile. “That’s how I knew he’d stay there. His sheer ugliness would keep other girls away, and there is no way I was gonna kiss him to release him. . .”

“Er. . . Thanks Nimufu. . .” Ryu replied, hesitantly. The trio went to leave, but at the last moment, Ryu turned back around. “Hey Nimufu. . . I know you’re lonely, living in this tower and all, so. . . We got some spare rooms in our town near Mt. Fubi. If you want, you can have one of them.”

She had her back to him, and didn’t respond immediately. Then she turned a little and said softly. “I’ll think about it. . .”

“The room will always be free, so, just drop in anytime, okay? See ya.” Ryu left the room.

***

“What the hell was that?!” Katt demanded of Ryu. The trio was nearing the place where they had found the second female statue; the one that looked like Sanamo. “You offered her a room?! After she put you in bondage?!”

Ryu shrugged indifferently. “I think she’s a nice person, underneath. She just grew up. . . isolated. I mean, look at this place! It’s almost totally empty! No wonder she was the way she was! She’s attention starved.”

“. . . Almost empty.” Came a quiet voice from the shadows. Out stepped the girl who resembled Sanamo, if only in clothing. Pale-skinned, with aqua-coloured hair and eyes, she seemed timid and shy, not meeting anyone’s eyes as she stepped into the light of the torches. “Are you the ones that got me freed?”

“Yes.” Nina answered. “And you are?”

The girl did a curtsey. “My name is Sesso.”

“Nice to meet you.” Katt said. “I’m Katt, she’s Nina, and this guy is Ryu.”

“A pleasure to meet all of you. . .” Sesso smiled.

“How did you get stoned?” Ryu asked. “I thought Nimufu didn’t have a taste for girls.”

Sesso made a face. “Oh, I had a fight with her. I was her best friend at one time, but when she started stoning her former boyfriends. . . and mine. . . I got mad. Then she got mad, and she stoned me.”

“Oh. . .”

She shrugged. “It’s all in the past. I’m sure she’s coming back to normal, if she’s releasing even me from the spell.”

Ryu considered Sesso for a moment. “Say. . . do you know a woman named Sanamo?”

Sesso blinked. “Why, she’s my sister. She’s a Fire Shaman, and I’m a Water Shaman.”

“Lemme guess. . . You two don’t get along very well?”

“Only if we fight. Most of the time we’re pretty good.” Sesso looked at them. “Have you met my two sisters?”

“There’s three of you?” Katt asked.

“Yes, there’s me, Sanamo, and Spoo.” Sesso counted off on her fingers. “She’s a Wind Shaman.”

They all had been walking down through the tower, down a stairwell that Sesso had known about, but that everyone else had missed when they first came in. Now, they finally reached the open front door. Apparently, Nimufu had released the lock on the gate, and was allowing them to leave. All the stoned boys had already fled before the trio-nee-quartet got outside.

*****

“So?” Ray asked, standing up from where he had been leaning against the outer wall of the tower. Ryu and the others had just emerged from the tower, with someone new trailing behind them. “How did it go?”

“Yeah, we saw a bunch of pretty-boys come rushing out in the last little while, saying something about a sexy witch.” Sten pointed out, still laying against the tree he’d been sleeping by. “Hey, who’s the new girl?”

Ryu quickly explained what happened, and who Sesso was, and left Ray and Sten nodding thoughtfully, while Katt and Nina glared at him.

“Anyway. . .” Ryu pressed on. “We got what we came for; a cure for that dude in the forest.”

“Then shall we be off?” Ray asked, and the group started walking back towards the path that lead down the plateau.

Along the way, Ryu remembered how Ray seemed embarassed at the idea of him going into the tower, and asked why. Ray replied, with embarassment as when they were first at the door, that his being a priest, he had ceertain morals. Going into Nimufu’s tower would have been against those moral codes, and a black stain against Ray. Not to mention, he’d heard from a pilgrim about Nimufu’s ‘tastes’. He’d been pre-warned.

At the same time Ryu and Ray were talking, Katt and Nina were talking to Sesso.

“So, you’re gonna join us and come with is back to the Ruined City?” Katt asked.

Sesso nodded. “My granny and my sister are there, so I can go home there.”

“You realize we aren’t going straight back, right?” Nina pointed out. “We’re going to Sima Fortress after we rescue the guy in the forest, and then if we catch the thief, we’re going back then.”

“I know.” The Water shaman replied. “I’ll stay with you until we get back to that ruined town, you were talking about before, okay?”

*****

The whole team (all six of them) bunked down for the night at the campsite they’d been at the night before. Katt and Nina made sure Sesso wasn’t going to sleep near Ryu by carefully placing themselves on either side of him, seemingly without him or each other noticing.

When Ray awoke the next morning, from his place under a tree, he found Sesso nestled against him quite. . . comfortably. For once in his life, he wished he wasn’t a priest, so that he could enjoy it more, but. . .

Towards late afternoon, they arrived back at the ‘Haunted’ woods, where the strange man was trapped in that muddy lake. When Ryu called out, there was a furious profusion of bubbles, and the beast arose from the water. Sesso had been terrified, and clutched tighter onto Ray’s arm, while he tried to comfort her as best he could.

“Mes amis! You came back!” The giant frog-thing clapped its flippered paws. “Did you find out how to release me?”

“Yes, we did. . .” Ryu began. He took a breath and chose his words carefully. “She said we need a beautiful girl to kiss you. That’s the only way the spell will be released.”

“Beautiful! We have trois belle filles right here!” The thing smiled as best it could. “Which one of you beautiful women will be the one to give me a kiss?”

A moment later, all the guys broke out laughing, because in that instant of the frog saying ‘kiss’, every girl present had paled in revulsion.

“No WAY!” “Unh-uh.” “No chance!” All their responses overlapped.

“Aw, come on girls. . .” Ryu pleaded half-heartedly, still grinning broadly. “Just imagine you’re kissing me or Ray.”

That got Ray’s attention. “What?! ME?!? But . . .”

Sesso got a secretive look and gave Ray a very interested once-over. “Hmm. . . Well, in that case. . .”

The same for Katt and Nina, though Nina tried to hide her interest by not smiling or showing anything othr than disdain. “Oh, alright.”

All three girls lined up at the edge of the pond, and the beast hauled its massive head onto shore, levering itself up so that its lips were at the girls’ eye level.

Katt took a breath. “Okay. . . One. . .”

“Two. . .” Sesso added.

“Three. . .” Nina finished, and they all leaned foreward and planted chaste kisses on the beast’s slimy skin.

“Ack! Gross!!!” Katt spat when she was done, wiping her mouth frantically on her gauntlet. The other two were having the same response, retching and spitting. All Ryu, Ray, and Sten could do was laugh their asses off. Apparently it had not been a very pleasant experience.

Quite incongruously, the frog threw its head back and howled like a wolf, and proceeded to do a bit of a victory dance in the water, making the guys laugh even harder. Then suddenly it stopped, and began to shake. “Ooh. . . I can feel it. . . I’m returning to my old self!!”

As everyone began to back away from the pond (the girls moving faster than the guys, who were farther away), a thick fog, or steam seemed to billow up from the pond, enshrouding everything in a thick gray blanket. There were loud bangs, and pops, and from the girls, a few squeals of fear, but then everything went silent, and the fog began to recede.

“Hey, are you okay?” Ryu called, still unable to see anything. He took a tenative step foreward. “Did it work?”

“It had better’ve worked. . .” Katt grumbled. “I used up my best fantasy trying not to think of kissing that thing. I don’t think I’ll ever use that particular one again. . .”

Finally, a voice called out of the fog; much smaller than the earlier voice, but very recognizable as the guy in the pond. “Oui! Oui! It worked! I am, how you say, ‘normal’!”

The fog receded completely, revealling in place of the massive frog in the pond,. . . a smaller frog-man, standing on its shores. It turned out that Sten’s idea of the guy in the pond wasn’t far off track; The frog man flexed his thinly muscled arms, and tried to suck in his tubby belly, without much effect, but seemed genuinely pleased. Dressed in a stiff white tunic with blue and red trim, and a strange little skirt-like edge to the bottom, he reminded Ryu of those ancient ‘Elizabethan’ type actors.

“Ahh, it feels so good to be myself again.”

“Uh. . . Now, that you’re free. . . Do you want to join us? We’re trying to get to Sima Fortress in order to pick up the trail of a thief.” Ryu quickly relayed the story of Bow’s framing to the frog, and soon he was nodding in understanding.

“Yes, yes. . . I understand you’re dilemma. . .” He nodded, though his reddish eyes were dull with bovine confusion. “We shall go to my castle, but there is something I must do first.”

“Sure, we can. . .” Ryu paused. “Wait a moment. You just said ‘my castle’. What do you mean?”

“What else?” The frog threw his arms wide. “I am the Prince of Sima Fortress!”

“ ‘Scuse me?” Katt’s jaw dropped. “You? A prince?”

“Oui, Oui!” He stage bowed, trying to look elegant, but seeming more effeminate, announced. “Je suis Ekarru Hoppe Do Pe Tape, but you may call me Jean, my friends.”

“Er. . . Nice to meet you, Jean.” Ryu offered his hand, which the frog shook with much enthusiasm. “Now, what was the second thing you said, about needing to do something?”

Jean gave him a blank look, and then remembered. “Oh, yes! There was a man I met on one of my frequent trips. He said he was looking for someone by the name of Ryu. . . Had something for him. I told him I’d keep an eye out for this ‘Ryu’. By the way. . . What is your names mes amis.”

“I’m Katt.”

“Ray.”

“Sten.”

“My name is Nina.”

“And my name is. . . Ryu.”

Jean blinked for a moment. “You are Ryu? Perhaps you are the one he was looking for, n’est pas?”

“Well, maybe.” Ryu shrugged. “But maybe there’s another Ryu he was looking for? Not me?”

“No no no. . .” Jean stopped him “You misunderstand. He told me this Ryu would have le cheveaux bleu; blue hair. You are the only one with blue hair I have ever seen. The only Ryu with blue hair.”

Katt felt the hair on the back of her neck rise up (much as everyone else’s neck hair stood at attention, though there’s no way she could know that.) “Creepy.”

Ryu shook off the chill that had shot down his spine, and said. “Well, I suppose we should go see that man then. If he has something for me. . . Maybe it’ll be of some use.”

“Bon, bon. Then shall we be off?” Jean walked past them all confidently and towards the forest’s edge. Well, to him it was confidently. To the rest of them, it was a kind of prancing, or skipping that seemed a little. . . odd.

***

Outside the forest, Jean explained that the form he had been trapped in was his own transformation that Nimufu had frozen him in. Apparently, anyone of the Sima Clan could change into a massive frog, when need be. Most just. . . didn’t. Nimufu had taken advantage of the ugliness of Jean’s transformation to scare away possible saviours, by preventing him from morphing back to normal.

Jean was demonstrating this strange, strange transformation at the edge of Sima lake, and turned into a huge green frog, with webbed, finger-like ear frills and a large red V just below it’s chin. The big frog turned back to the shore. “Well, are you going to climb aboard? The only way to reach the man I spoke of is to go behind the waterfall on the plateau, and you can only reach there if I carry you.”

“Ew. . .” The girls groaned, climbing onto the frog’s back delicately, trying to touch as little of the slimy skin as was humanly possible, but still trying to maintain a strong handhold to keep from falling off. Ryu and the other guys were not as picky or grossed out, though Sten stuck his tongue out when his fur got slimy while he climbed.

When everyone was aboard, Jean in his big frog form began to swim at a quick pace across the deep, dark waters of Lake Sima. The lake was so very large, that even in this huge form, Jean took nearly two hours to cross the span of it. Along the way, he chatted with his passengers as if he were still human sized.

“Madmoiselle Katt. . .” Jean was saying. “Would you remind removing your fingernails from my shoulder? It is. . . quite painful. As is monsieur Sten’s fingernails. Both of you are causing me pain by clinging to me like that.”

“No offense, Jean,” Katt glared up at him from where she was firmly latched to his shoulderblade, “But shut up and drive. There’s no way I’m gonna fall off until we’re on shore.”

Her comment was met with laughter from all aboard, save Sten, and even Jean laughed loudly and deeply. “Very well. . . Having a belle fille hang on to me for protection is tres bon. I won’t let you fall.”

*****

Soon enough, they reached the plateau with its waterfall. From their position in the water, they could look up and just see the tip of Nimufu’s tower in the distance, on top of the plateau, to the east. Jean stopped swimming when he reached the waterfall, and set down at the very edge of the downpouring of water. When everyone was off, he changed back to normal.

“This way, mes amis.” Jean motioned for them to follow him, and then vanished behind the wall of water, entering from the side. No one could tell if there was a tunnel, or if he’d just walked into the water itself.

Ryu shrugged, and followed, shielding his face with one hand as he stepped through, one hand out in front so he wouldn’t run into anything. One by one, everyone followed.

Inside, they found a small cave, converted into a makeshift home or halfway house. A very misplaced halfway house. Jean was waiting patiently for them, beside an old man who leaned on a large gnarled branch he used as a walking staff.

“Which one of you is Ryu?” The old man asked, squinting. “The light in here is so bad, and at my age. . . well, my eyes aren’t as good as they used to be.”

Ryu didn’t move at first, but when Katt and Nina both poked him in the kidneys, making him jump foreward a bit, he solidified his confidence and stepped up to the old man. “I’m Ryu. Ryu Bateson. And you would be?”

“Ryu Bateson?” The old man’s eyes widened. He reached up with one arthritic hand and pulled Ryu’s head down to look at his hair more closely. Satisfied, he smiled. “Yes, you’re the one. . . Oh, me? Let’s just say, I’m a wise old man of the Dragon. I have a very important gift for you, Ryu. Ladon told me to give it to you. I’ve been looking for you for weeks.”

“I. . . see.” Ryu said unsuredly. The old man put one hand on his shoulder and began to concentrate. Almost instantly, a blue aura rose up around him, flickering and flashing like electrical discharge. Without trying, a similar aura rose up around Ryu, larger than the one around the old man, and a white-yellow colour, like starfire. A bolt of blue energy travelled down the old man’s arm and into Ryu’s shoulder, and suddenly Ryu felt like he’d been hooked up to a christmas tree, electrified or galvanized or something. To the others, his hair seemed to lighten, in short flashes, but the pulses were growing longer until they were a steady glow, and became a white-yellow colour, rising up a bit as if in a thin wind. The aura that surrounded him flared even larger, threatening to envelope the two of them, standing there, but then it began to retract, returning to ethereal, invisible foam, as was the old man’s aura. Ryu’s hair turned back to it’s natural blue colour.

When the aura had vanished, the old man removed his hand and looked Ryu sternly in the eye. “Your powers, which were artificially released, and therefore underdevelopped, have been completely released now. You no longer need to be angered or excited to transform into a dragon. You may summon your powers whenever you wish. Just beware; don’t let the Power rule you. Become strong, but always remain humble. Don’t become corrupt just because you have the ability to transform. . . Remember that.”

Still a little rocked by the moment, Ryu mumbled. “Yeah,. . . I understand. I’ll keep that in mind.”

The old dragon man turned and walked farther back into the cave/rooms, mumbling something about needing a nap after all the excitement, leaving Ryu alone with his friends.

“Ryu?” Nina asked. “Are you. . .okay?”

“Hey Ryu, your hair went all funky!” Katt was grinning. “You looked hotter than usual!”

Both Sten and Ray were silent, deep in their respective thoughts.

“So, what do we do now?” Sten finally asked. Everyone looked at Ryu, who shrugged, still rubbing at his shoulder where the energy had entered him.

Instead, Jean answered with aplomb. “We got to my home! Sima Fort!”

 

 

Chapter Seven: Frog Legs