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The last one, however, swooped in close to Harlin and got him with a curse. He convulsed and rapidly shrank down into a miserable toad before their very eyes.
“Harlin!” cried Daemona. She rushed to his side, only to see a large toad sitting beneath his lump of clothes and mail. She picked the miserable toad up. “Is that you, Harlin?”
The toad said, “Ribbit.”
The townsfolk crowded in around her. She wiped her eyes, hiding the tears, and looked at them, saying, “I like him better this way. Serves the bossy do-gooder right.” She placed him in her satchel and quickly walked away.
The crowd cheered, “Hooray, hooray! We have been delivered!”
Lost in her own thoughts of loss, she saw Ivy facing the werewolf, whose massive chest was still heaving from his confrontation with Gruesome George.
“It’s you, isn’t it?” Ivy asked.
The werewolf nodded, and for such a ferocious creature, he tenderly gave his wounded hand to Ivy. She took it and wrapped a bandage about it with care.
Daemona was stunned.
The werewolf transformed before her very eyes back into Ghul Lykos.
“What!” she cried.
But he didn’t hear her; he was too busy embracing Ivy.
Daemona pushed closer after giving them a moment. “Hey! When were you going to tell the rest of us about your condition?”
Ghul Lykos looked at her and gave a toothy grin. “I wasn’t if I could help it.”
“Seems like something you should have shared with your teammates a long time ago,” Daemona argued.
“I’m sorry, I’m not sorry. The curse of my family was not something to be bandied about with just anyone.”
“I’m not just anyone. I’m your friend,” Daemona blurted out. She blushed a little. She hadn’t meant to say that. She was surprised that it had come out at all.
Ghul Lykos went quiet, as did Ivy. “Princess Sykaryn knew. She trusted me and said it would be all right if I kept it to myself. I didn’t mean to keep secrets, but I didn’t want anyone worrying about whether they could trust me either.”
Daemona nodded. “I’m sorry,” she said, walking away feeling like it was her tail between her legs now. Daemona opened her satchel to look at Harlin the Toad, asking, “Why couldn’t you have been turned into an incredible monster?”
The toad answered, “Ribbit.”
Chapter 11:
Tall Town was delivered from a great evil that day, but not without plenty of loss. Many had perished, and many homes had been destroyed. The first terrible thing Daemona witnessed after the battle was Esmerelda cradling her grandmother’s hand. It looked like the old woman was sleeping, but Daemona knew that could not be the case. Her smile of joy at their triumph vanished as tears ran down the little girl’s face.
Esmerelda looked to Daemona and Ivy. “Gran is gone. I don’t have anyone now.”
Ivy glanced at Ghul Lykos and Daemona. “We’ll look out for you now.”
Daemona tensed and whispered, “But we have an urgent mission. And we’ve lost a man already.”
Ghul Lykos said, “I thought you wanted out of here. What makes it so urgent to you now?”
Daemona sniffed at that. She didn’t want the attention on her now, but decided she owed him an answer. “That Necro Priest knew my name. He said he knew that those dark forces had a claim on me. That I was fated to serve Ghul Tark. I don’t believe in fate, and I aim to make sure that they are dead wrong.”
“I’m glad,” he said, putting his hand on her shoulder.
Ivy dabbed at her eyes. “I am with you too and will do the best I can to make up the difference, but we can’t leave her here.” She looked to Ghul Lykos who gritted his teeth but nodded in agreement.
“She better come with us, but stay out of the way when trouble comes,” he said.
