Return to Lynwood, Chapter 18

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18

“Search every corner of these quarters!” Isengrim barked as two of his packmates hacked down the door. “I want Vakhtang found!”

The sounds of fighting in the hallway rang in his ears as he and his thanes pushed into the headmistress’s old rooms, another contingent of Werelupes covering them from behind. As Isengrim thought, most of Vakhtang’s pack hadn’t been difficult to convince, but there was still some resistance.

But perhaps, Isengrim thought as he and his squadron fanned out to start searching, as soon as they dragged the false king out of his nest, the others would surrender.

 

Ears perked and sword raised, he stalked through the sitting room, into the office and the bedroom. The whole place smelled furiously like Vakhtang, but there was no sign of the rust-furred Werelupe as Isengrim’s forces overturned dusty furniture and checked walls and floors for secret passages.

“He’s not here, sire,” one of them finally said, setting the bed back down.

“We’ve searched everywhere,” another said.

Isengrim frowned. “We must find him. Come on.” He turned and limped back to the hallway, where the sounds of battle had faded, leaving a strange silence in their absence.

In the corridor, Werelupes congregated against the walls and on the floor. No longer raising their weapons against one another, instead most of them were treating each other’s wounds and passing around healing potions. Only a handful seemed to have refused to abandon Vakhtang’s goals, as they had been bound and placed under tight guard.

“Lord Isengrim, sir!” one of his packmates barked when she saw him. “Nearly everyone’s surrendered!”

Isengrim smiled. “Good to see you’re all getting along,” he said. He looked across the crowd for Gwyneth. “Terra, Suhel, how are you—“ His breath cut off when he saw the Ganuthor some distance away, and riderless.

Gwyneth paced restlessly on the creaking floorboards, whimpering, constantly looking back to the corner around which they had come as though she expected her owner to return at any moment.

A cold lump settled in Isengrim’s chest. He had trusted that his thanes could look after Suhel and the others, but now he regretted not trying harder to stay by their side. The thought of anything happening to any of them was too much to take. Lexora and Connor were dependent on him for their safety, and Suhel, Terra, and Pharazon were more precious to him than mountains of treasure. He could not afford to lose any of them.

And Vakhtang was on the loose.

Isengrim’s adrenaline spiked and he bolted through the crowd of Werelupes, ignoring the throbbing in his leg. “We have to find them!” he roared. “Terra! Suhel! Pharazon!” His chest heaved and his tongue flopped out of his jaw as he tore down the hall, his claws digging into the floor to launch him forward. Even so, it felt like he could not go nearly as fast enough.

“Isengrim!” Suhel’s bark echoed down the opposite end of the corridor, followed by a round of coughing.

He whipped around and ran back, toward the sound. “Suhel!” he called. She did not sound distressed, and the relief alone made new energy surge into his limbs despite the pain in his leg.

She staggered around the corner, holding Lexora in one arm like a child, and Connor, Terra, and Pharazon scrambled after her. Despite her coughing, the female Werelupe’s face lit up when she saw her king and friend.

Isengrim’s muzzle stretched into a grin as well. He cleared the distance between them in moments, and Suhel set Lexora down just in time for Isengrim to crash into his second and wrap her in a fierce hug. In his next breath he scooped up his owner and brother so they could join in. “Thank the fates you’re all right!” he panted.

“I’m so sorry we worried you!” Terra said, hugging him tightly. “We’re okay, I promise. I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“Gwyneth!” Pharazon called. Down the hall, the Ganuthor had also seen them and was making joyous noises in her throat. “Stay, girl, stay!” the Draik yelped. Isengrim knew that if Gwyneth broke into a full gallop here, she could very well punch a few new holes in the floor.

Gwyneth stayed put, although she shifted her weight from one paw to the next and grunted mournfully at not being able to join in the reunion. The Werelupes around her looked relieved, given her propensity for mass destruction.

“I apologise for losing you back there,” Isengrim said to his companions. “I should have looked out for you better—“

Suhel cleared her throat. “Don’t fret about it,” she said, patting Isengrim’s shoulder. “You were trying your hardest—and anyhow, it all worked out for the best,” she added with a smirk.

Isengrim tilted his head. “What do you mean?”

Terra grinned. “Vakhtang’s in the basement, thanks to Connor and Lexora,” she said.

“Aye, they’ve got quite a bit of warrior spirit in them, methinks,” Suhel said, smiling down at the two.

Isengrim turned to them, still keeping his arms around his family and his second-in-command. The fear of losing them still lingered in his soul and he needed to keep comforting himself with their presence. “I am glad you are safe as well, Lexora and Connor,” he said. “You were not hurt, were you?”

“No, sir,” Connor said. “Although I am out half a litre of slothic acid.”

“Which is why Vakhtang’s in the basement,” Lexora said as she stood slumped against the wall. Even as utterly spent as the Kougra looked, she still managed a sly grin and her yellow eyes gleamed.

Isengrim laughed. “Impressive! Have no fear, Connor, we shall put in an order for a resupply when we return to the Burrows.”

By now, many of the other Werelupes had trickled down the hall, drawn in by the conversation and the return of their missing allies. Isengrim gave Suhel and his family one last squeeze before turning to their packmates. “Vakhtang should be somewhere in the basement,” he said, “possibly unconscious. Find him, restrain him, and bring him to me.”

“What will we do with him?” one of the other Werelupes asked.

“I will bring him to Sophie, the Swamp Witch,” Isengrim said. “She is a just power in these Woods, and a skilled magician besides. She surely will know a way to detain him so he can no longer wreak his havoc.” He certainly would not hand Vakhtang over to any of the towns. He doubted they would be merciful, and Isengrim was determined not to allow cycles of anger and hatred to continue anymore.

He stretched out a paw toward the stairs. “Go! Hurry!” he barked. “I won’t have him get away!”

“Yes, sire!” someone said, and “Straightaway, milord!” said another, and a dozen Werelupes bounded down the hall.

Isengrim put his paws on his hips and sighed. It was over. Despite some brief worry, the entire situation had turned out rather well, he thought. He was proud of what they had accomplished today.

Then Lexora began to cough, and Isengrim remembered the other large problem hanging over their heads. The Kougra cleared her throat loudly and hoarsely, over and over, trying to catch enough breath for the next round of coughing. Her claws extended and dug into the wall, and dragged crackles of paint down as she sunk to her knees.

Suhel knelt next to her and put her arms around her, the only thing anyone could do as Lexora’s coughing grew more desperate. Isengrim closed his eyes, wishing he could help somehow, but his realm of knowledge lay in swords and forests, not curses.

Finally Lexora’s breathing cleared, although it was still labored as the effort had utterly exhausted her. She collapsed against Suhel with a moan, holding her stomach.

“We’ve got to break this curse,” Suhel growled.

Isengrim nodded. “I don’t suppose you found any clues concerning the matter while we were separated.”

“Not unless dust and mould count as clues,” Suhel said. She shut her eyes tight. “Oh, bother, I’m useless at this sort of rubbish.”

Terra held her chin and closed her eyes, deep in thought. “Well, the curse was formed from too much negative energy,” she finally said. “Specifically from how everybody at Lynwood hated each other, right?”

“Aye,” Suhel said, “but how do we figure a solution from that?”

Connor bit his lip. “Who knows how long this is goin’ to take…”

Isengrim knew one Neopet here who might know. He turned to his Draik brother. “Have you any ideas, Master Magus?”

“As a matter of fact,” Pharazon said, “I do.” He looked up at his owner. “Terra… I think you’re a cursebreaker.”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Wait—are you serious?”

Pharazon folded his hands behind his back, over the staff perched there. “It would make sense,” he said, “considering the way you broke that almost-curse over the town with no name.” At nothing but slack-jawed stares from the others, he continued. “Remember all that negative energy we sensed there? And how it was gone by the time we left? And how the same thing happened again at the old keep? That was you, Terra.”

The owner put a hand to her heart. “Wow… I didn’t know I was breaking curses.”

“And I wasn’t quite sure, myself, until the second time,” Pharazon said. “But it’s the only thing I can think of that would explain it.”

“You broke my curse,” Isengrim said, putting a paw on her shoulder. “When we were reunited.”

She glanced up at him. “I don’t know if you were really cursed… you’d just developed some incorrect attitudes about a few things that I helped you get rid of.”

“But perhaps even that was a sort of curse I put on myself,” Isengrim said. “After all, it seems you do not just nullify proper curses, but negative energies as well.”

“Hmmm…” Terra put a hand to her mouth in thought. “I guess that would also explain what happened when I took that curse Skoll threw at you. From what I understand, it was supposed to have been instantly lethal, but when it hit me instead, the effects lessened, giving you and the others more time to save me.”

“Which I’m sure was no coincidence,” Pharazon said.

Terra nodded. “But now that I know I’m a cursebreaker… how do I help Suhel and Lexora? I’ve been travelling with them for a week now—shouldn’t I have somehow inadvertently broken their curse already?”

Pharazon shrugged. “Like I said before, it’s not a very well-studied phenomenon. I have no idea how it’s supposed to work, and you know how magic tends to do what it likes.” He looked around at the others. “And if you automatically destroy curses just by standing around, a number of these Werelupes shouldn’t be Werelupes anymore.”

Connor’s ears drooped and he looked away. He bit his lower lip and suddenly seemed as though he was going to cry. Isengrim’s heart went out to the boy, remembering Connor’s conversation with Pharazon about Cursebreakers some nights previous. The young pup’s only hope had been dashed, and it made Isengrim suddenly wish that Cursebreakers did automatically nullify every curse.

Terra closed her eyes for a moment, then knelt down next to Suhel and Lexora. “I think I have an idea,” she said with a smile. “Find something you appreciate about this school.”

Suhel frowned. “I appreciate nothing about this prison,” she growled.

“I appreciate that I only attended for a year and a half,” Lexora breathed. “Does that count?”

“You’ve got to find something positive,” Terra said. “Was there anything good or beautiful or fun about Lynwood?”

“Not in the slightest,” Suhel said. “You’ve been all over this building—it’s drab and ugly. Even the food was bad. Least likeable place I’ve ever been. It’s not beautiful and it’s never wanted to be.” She coughed, scowling.

Lexora put a paw on her friend’s arm. “Suhel… I know something I grew to appreciate about this place.” Weakly, the Kougra smiled. “It’s where I met you. I know we got off to a rough start, but in the brief time we knew each other, you taught me so much about how to be brave, how to be myself and fight for what matters. Because of you, my life and my father’s life changed for the better. I don’t know where I’d be now if not for you.”

Suhel stared at her for a moment, and then the severe expression on her muzzle melted as she stopped coughing. “I’m—glad I met you here, too,” she said. “You were the only Neopet in the whole cursed school who actually stopped to listen to me, who let me do something my way. And now… I’m privileged to have you as my friend. I’ve so enjoyed travelling with you this past week, Lexora.”

“So have I,” Lexora said, sitting up in Suhel’s arms. “You’re really like the sister I never had, Suhel. I was an only child—but I think if I’d had a sister like you, I wouldn’t have been the horrid little thing you met at Lynwood.”

Suhel chuckled. “We don’t have to be blood relations to be sisters. I consider you my sister as well. I was an only child, too, and I think my childhood would not have been half so lonely or frustrating with you around.”

Lexora smiled and leaned in to hug her. “Well, then, I shall have to make up for it now, won’t I!”

A tickle started in Isengrim’s nose and he tried not to admit to himself that his eyes were watering. At the same time, his fur pricked, and his ears stood up straight as he realised the atmosphere of the old school had changed. Just like in the town with no name and the ruins of his keep, something dark and oppressive had left, replaced with peace and contentment. Even the cold daylight streaming through broken windows seemed a little brighter now.

“You know,” Suhel said, “as much as I hated Lynwood… it was worth it to find a friend like you, Lexora. So I’m glad I came here.”

“Me, too,” Lexora said. She took a deep, clear breath, and stood up. “I say,” she said, “I’m feeling much better.” Clearing her throat lightly, she pounded her chest a bit. “I suddenly feel as though I’ve got more energy. What about you, Suhel?”

The Werelupe pushed a fist into the floor to get to her feet. “Same,” she said, shaking out her arms, legs, and head like she was flinging away water from her fur. She took a few breaths and puffed out her chest. “My cough’s gone.”

“So is mine,” Lexora said. She took a few more breaths just to be sure, and then she grinned and leaped at Suhel with a girlish shout, hugging her friend. “The curse is broken!” she said. “We’re free!”

Suhel laughed and hugged her back. “Thank the fates!” Her green eyes fell on the owner who stood beside them, smiling quietly. “No… thank you, Terra,” Suhel said. “You saved us.”

Terra ducked her head modestly. “Happy to help. I’m just so glad you two are feeling better.”

Lexora clapped her paws together. “Do you suppose everyone else from Lynwood will be well again, too? Or was it just us?”

Pharazon looked up and around at the old school. “All of the negative energy here is gone,” he said, “so I’m assuming that means the curse is gone, too. For everyone.”

“Splendid!” Lexora said. “We’ve given them their lives back, too!”

Suhel chuckled a bit. “I wonder if the faculty were cursed as well, not just the students. It’s silly of me, but I just can’t help but imagine old Miss Boggis suddenly leaping out of bed and doing a jig right now.”

Lexora laughed. “The maths teacher? That uptight Lupe always had a snide word for every girl’s hairstyle, didn’t she?”

“Aye, she did,” Suhel said, “but I can’t help but wonder if she was just jealous. She looked like she had such pretty red hair, but she always kept it bound in a bun… makes me think her parents never allowed her to do her hair the way she liked.” The Werelupe reached up and fingered one of the fangs she had woven into her own curly black mane.

“I see your point,” Lexora said, self-consciously reaching up to check that her own coiffure was not too messy. “You know… I can’t get myself to hate Lynwood anymore, Suhel. I’m not saying it was a pleasant place, but all of my anger for it is gone. And I’m glad we’ve broken the others’ curses, too. Perhaps now they can start to be better Neopets.”

Suhel nodded. “It seems we’ve all learned a lot from this, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have, too. Things have a way of working out in the end.”

Isengrim was watching them with a smile when he spotted movement out of the corner of his eye. Connor was inching toward Terra, poking two of his claws together with his head bowed. “Erm… Miss Terra…” he said.

“Yes?” she asked.

He sighed and looked up at her. “Couldn’t you break me curse, too? Please?”

Terra studied his face. “I… don’t know if I can,” she said. “I’m just not getting a feeling for what to do to break your curse, Connor. I’m sorry.”

“If I had to hazard a guess,” Pharazon said, “I’d say she can only break curses that were meant to be broken. If that makes any sense.”

Isengrim let out the breath he had been holding. Despite how sorry he felt for Connor, he was relieved that this seemed to be why none of his thanes would suddenly find themselves normal Lupes against their will when Terra was around. It did make sense, in the roundabout sort of way that magic often made sense.

“Curses aren’t always a bad thing,” Terra pointed out as Connor’s tail drooped. “Remember what Pharazon said back at the Brownings’, how plenty of curses have beneficial effects too.” She smiled. “Personally, I don’t see anything wrong with a Lupe becoming a Werelupe.”

For a moment the expression on Connor’s face was unreadable—then he nodded slowly and stood up a little straighter. “I’m not a monster,” he said, “no matter what the townsfolk might think. I don’t like what happened to me, but it’s not the end of the world—and it won’t stop me from being a scientist.”

“It certainly won’t,” Isengrim said.

“Lord Isengrim!” someone shouted from down the hall. “We found him!”

Isengrim whipped around. The search party had returned. Slung over someone’s shoulder was a limp Vakhtang, his paws tied behind his back. The Werelupe King let out a breath in relief. The Haunted Woods would be safe now. Well, relatively speaking.

“Make preparations to depart,” Isengrim said. “We’ll leave for Neovia immediately.” He gestured for everyone to follow him as he headed back down the hall, toward the stairs.

His companions and packmates clustered around him, but the other Werelupes hesitated. Finally, one stepped forward, the male patroller who they had met outside. “Ah… Lord Isengrim,” he said. “What about us?”

Isengrim tilted his head. “You are free to go your own way now. All I ask is that you leave the towns alone. The hunting is plentiful enough in the deep Woods, and you will not get half as much backlash.”

The other male nodded absently. “Aye, but… well, a lot of us have been talking, and… is there room in your pack for more of us? We’ve only known you and your packmates for a short time, but you’re vastly better than Vakhtang. We’d… like to give teamwork another try, at least the way you’ve talked about it.”

The Werelupe King smiled. “Of course. The Burrows has more than enough room for several times your number. Vakhtang could only offer you fear, but with my pack you will have sanctuary and family.” He glanced around at the others. “Any of you who would like to join my pack in Meridell are welcome to do so, but you are under no obligation to. But let’s head outside—I miss the feel of earth under my paws.”

They made their way back down the stairs, into the entrance hall and out the doors, where a clouded-over sky and damp grass met them. Isengrim’s leg was still hurting him and he had to hold on to Gwyneth for support, but he didn’t mind. Everything had been set right again.

Chapter 1 - Chapter 2 - Chapter 3 - Chapter 4 - Chapter 5 - Chapter 6 - Chapter 7
Chapter 8 - Chapter 9 - Chapter 10 - Chapter 11 - Chapter 12 - Chapter 13 - Chapter 14
Chapter 15 - Chapter 16 - Chapter 17 - Chapter 18