Jesse woke in the middle of the night to an ear-splitting scream. His heart pounding, he leapt from his bed and ran toward Vitra's room. He found his mother there, throwing the door open.
In her bed, Vitra sat sweaty and panting, clutching the covers to her green breast like a life preserver.
"Vitra?" called Jesse as he ran to the lutin's side. His mother stayed back, still trepidacious about getting near the verdant woman. "What is it?"
"Bad dream, Roo. Bad HORRIBLE dream!"
"Want to tell me about it?"
"Evil lutin. Evil EVIL lutin! He look at me and tell me "You're not supposed to be. I'm sorry, sister. You have to die."
Jesse looked back at his mother. They exchanged a look of surprise and alarm that even though Vitra only spoke brokenly, she had relayed the quote in perfect Common.
"Who is this other lutin?" asked Jesse's mother, Kim.
"Not know, but he call me sister. He want me to die."
Jesse rose and approached his mother. "What do you think?" he asked.
"There's something real there, all right. Something she can't remember." Kim crossed the room and opened the window. "Christina is still awake. We need to go see her. Get dressed, Vitra."
"Why Christina?" asked Jesse.
"We're not the only ones who kept special abilities secret from Lord 'lowly-odd.' Christina is a mind mage."
"A WHAT?"
"A mind mage." repeated Kim as she put a robe around the lutin woman. "A practitioner of the psionic arts. She might be able to tell us who it is that wants our guest dead."
Christina had been sitting in her room for hours, unable to sleep. She was bored out of her mind, and was delighted when a pair of late-night visitors came knocking.
Jesse was all smiles when he saw the wolf-morph standing there at the door in her gauzy nightgown. "Come in." she said. "Come in, please."
In stepped Jesse, followed by Vitra. Christina screamed in alarm.
"It's all right!" declared the kangaroo. "She's safe. Her name is Vitra."
"She's a lutin!"
Vitra bowed her head in shame.
"That's right." said Kim, entering behind Vitra. She's a lutin, and one in a great deal of emotional pain."
"Oh?"
Vitra stood and shivered in fear, but already, Christina was going into professional mode. "All right, then. Sit down here on the bed... make yourself comfortable. Are you comfortable?"
"No."
"Then we'll make do. Open your mind to me... yes. I perceive that you are haunted by dreams. You have bitter memories which you have suppressed over the years. These need to be brought to the surface where they can be dealt with. I am going to place you into a trance. Do you understand?"
"Trance? Like sleep?"
"Something like sleep. You'll be able to talk and answer my questions."
"All right."
"Drink this tea." said the wolf, pouring some hot water into a cup, producing a minty aroma. Vitra complied, feeling the mixture of water and herbs numb her throat on the way down.
Interlude:
Ana stepped gingerly through the door of the tower, as though she was frightened of being discovered and cast out for intruding. The room was nearly bare, save for the rough, wooden, spiral staircase in the center, and a table and chairs which someone had brought there for an unknown purpose.
It astounded her that Oren had built this tower in so short a time. He could be the one to rebuild Hipocc, and yet, he would not. The otter now called Metamor Keep his home, and refused to look back. Ana refused to give up hope, however. She had determined to stay until Oren made up his mind to return with her. She knew, of course, that there would only be a little while before the curse claimed her body, changing her into a man, or a little girl, or heaven forbid, an animal. But if this was the price to be paid for bringing Oren home, she would do it.
Ana sat on a chair and wept as she anticipated that very price.
"Why for you are crying?" someone asked. Ana looked up with a start to see a small komodo dragon in the doorway, they gray- green dragonette called Mitok on his shoulder. He also carried what looked like his dinner.
"It's nothing." she insisted.
The komodo crossed the room to the table and set down the plate and cup.
"What are you doing?" asked Ana.
"Preparing for worship. Tomorrow morning is special day for people from Khumar. My countrymen and I, as well as my new friend, who is joining us out of curiosity, will be taking communion."
"Communion?"
The komodo only smiled. Ana continued to watch him as he covered the plate and cup with napkins to keep them clean until morning.
"My name is Ye." announced the reptile.
"Mine is Ana. Sawana, actually."
"Ana, would you like to tell me why you were crying?"
"We will be seeing Vitra's memories as she recalls them." explained Christina. "Not all of them may be true. In many cases, her mind will fill in gaps with information which she does not remember personally."
Jesse and Kim nodded their understanding. Even as they did, the room they were in became transparent, being halfway replaced by another. In it, a dark and sinister looking man summoned two individuals closer to him.
The first was a human woman. She had golden hair which hung about her head in great curls, and a sad, almost fearful expression on her face.
"You are Amara of the Taylors." said the sinister man. "You are the result of the merging of the lines of Taylor, known for their powers of the mind, and the line of Granchik, kin of the mighty werebeasts."
A second figure came forward. This one was obviously a lutin, ugly and green, though big for one of his species. He gazed at Amara with a lustful leer that made her shudder.
"You are Norchk of the bloodborne tribe, culmination of years of breeding, finally merging immense physical strength with the magic most of your kind can only dream of."
The sinister man looked at the human and the lutin and declared "It is time. Let the creation of the great one begin."
The lutin grabbed the woman and began tearing off her clothes. She screamed. Kim turned her head in horror, but thankfully, Vitra began to recall something else.
The view superimposed upon the room was now that of a birthing room. The cries of a baby filled the room. Moments later, it was joined by a second cry.
Norchk's hideous face came into view, his features somehow softened. "Twins is it? You've done well, my mate. Not one great one, but two. These boys are going to rule the world someday."
"They're not boys." said Amara.
"Well of course, they are! I can see this one's winkle!"
"That one, yes." said Amara, her smiling face filling baby Vitra's view. "This one is a girl."
"A girl? My wench brought forth a GIRL! Well, we'll just kill it."
"You'll do no such thing! She may not be a boy, but she's your daughter."
"That's the definition of daughter."
"Her name will be Vitra. It means 'She who lives'."
"Well then, I'm calling this one Nekril, 'Bringer of death'."
"You're a morbid son of a frog."
"Yeah, well at least I'm not all sappy going 'Oh, she's your daughter!'"
"Mung." Amara swore at him in lutin.
"Yeh. I love you too. I'm going out to tell the news."
Once again, the scene changed. Baby Vitra lay on the bed next to her brother. She looked to the door and saw her father enter. "Woman," he said. "Take as little as you need to travel and come with me."
"What is it, love?"
"The elders are demanding that the girl be slain. They say she disrupts our plans for breeding the perfect conqueror. We must flee if she is to live."
"Oh no!"
Norchk took Vitra in his arms. His embrace was surprisingly gentle. Amara took Nekril. Silently, the family slipped away into the night.
"Where shall we go?" asked Amara as they walked.
"We'll go to the south, where there are both lutin and human towns. Perhaps we can find a place to melt in and hide."
Amara looked at her baby. "Oh, I do hope so."
Norchk froze in his tracks. "Listen!"
"What?"
"Harriers! They've missed us! They're coming to find us! Run!"
Clutched against her father's chest, Vitra could see humans on horseback bearing down on her family. In sheer terror, Norchk ran, never looking back, never slowing. He could feel the breath of the horses on the back of his neck, but being perhaps the swiftest and strongest lutin alive, he took advantage of his small stature and ran between rocks and trees where the harriers could not follow. When at last he could run no further, he stopped and said "I think we lost them Amara."
There was no answer.
"Amara? Nekril?" In horror he realized that his wife, being larger and slower, could not have kept up with him. Heart pounding with a new terror, he began running back, screaming the names of his wife and son.
Vitra's next memory was hearing her father's voice singing a lullaby while she cried. The sun was breaking over the mountains, casting it's light over her father's tear-stained face.
Jesse's throat tightened, seeing the one he'd originally thought of as a monster softened with love and with grief.
In her next memory, Vitra had grown into a fine little girl. She was playing a game with some lutin boys, which involved kicking an armadillo-like creature into a goal. Thus far, she was beating the pants off of them.
"Mung it!" cried one of the boys. "How come we're getting beaten by a stupid girl?"
"I am not stupid!" Vitra asserted.
"Oh yeah? Well at least my father's not a woman."
"My father's not a woman!"
"Oh no? If he wasn't a sissy woman, he'd have left you with your mother when she died like a real man."
"That's horrible!"
"Let's face it! Your Dad is a sissy who cooks and cleans and raises babies like a woman."
"You take that back!"
"Make me!"
Vitra smacked the boy in the eye.
Once again, the memories progressed. Vitra was looking at a dress in the mirror while her father looked on. She towered over him now, but he seemed to be very proud of the fact.
"It's lovely, Father." she said. "Thank you."
"I'm glad you like it. Sewing's not something they normally teach you when you're a lutin warrior."
She reached down and kissed him. "What's the occasion, anyway?"
"You are to be betrothed, my sweet."
"Betrothed?"
"Yes, Love. I've found a boy who's almost your size. You'll be happy together, I think."
Another change. Around a table sat a large lutin man and several even larger children. She served them wearily.
"Get me more wine, lazy woman."
"But Amak, haven't you had enough..."
"I said BRING IT!"
"Stupid female." said one of the boys.
"Stupid." one of the others agreed. "Can't follow simple orders."
"I'll retrieve some from the cache." said Vitra sadly.
She left the house and headed for a submerged storage bin next to an icy stream. She cried as she went, wondering what she did to be paired up with such an awful family. Then again, all the lutins were alike. There were none like her Father. Not one was kind and loving like he was.
"Why do you weep so?"
Vitra spun around to see the most handsome man she'd ever laid eyes on. His skin was the fairest olive, and his eyes sparkled in the moonlight.
"I am weeping because my husband does not love me."
"How could one not love a beautiful flower such as you?"
"He does not. He calls me stupid and lazy, and his children taunt me as well."
"What is your name, pretty lady?"
"Vitra."
"Mine is Ushka, and I am going to see a wrong set right."
"What are you going to do?"
Vitra's memory went forward several hours. She saw Ushka boldly striding into her home, calling "Amak, I challenge you for the hand of your bride!"
"You what?"
"Defend yourself!"
Amak wobbled forward with sword drawn.
"How can I fight such a drunken man with a weapon?" Ushka asked no one in particular. He cast his sword aside.
Grinning, Amak leapt forward, intending to run this unarmed interloper through. What he did not anticipate was the fire that leapt from Ushka's fingers, consuming him in seconds. Moments later, the whole house was afire, and Ushka was whisking Vitra away to a better life.
Ushka was a special man indeed. He was a different kind of lutin. Noble and kind, he used his knowledge of magic to help others instead of himself. This baffled the other lutins, but left them smiling as well. His goodness was infectious, and Vitra reveled in it. She traveled far and wide with him, learning magic as they went. She became an accomplished healer, and was loved by her patients, hated by parasites. More than once she had tree trolls or micro-ogres try to kill her, but the goodness she brought made the danger worthwhile.
Some years later, Ushka had heard of horrible half-animal monsters wiping out lutins in the far south. He entered into the service of Nasoj in order to help fight these monsters. In doing so, he'd been assigned to a special team created to clean up after a particularly messy spellcasting. Some summoners had called up a horde of darklings to send against the Keepers, but they had escaped prematurely. He was one of several fire-mages sent to retrieve the creatures.
Vitra, naturally had come with him.
Something went horribly wrong, and Vitra saw it all. The darkman had turned on Ushka when he tried to capture it. He extended his hand to cast a fire spell, but the darkman grabbed it, freezing his fingers solid. Ushka screamed in pain as frost crept up his arm. Bit by bit, the darkman drained the heat from the lutin's body, and Vitra, helpless, could only watch.
The rest of the team of fire-mages had managed to rescue Vitra, but the darkman escaped.
The next memory was very harsh, but it demanded attention. Vitra recalled how the lutin men raped and beat her, then left her lying naked and nearly dead in the Valley of the Keep.
Vitra was ready to die. She hated lutins. She hated being a lutin. Ushka, her only reason for living, was gone.
She began walking to the keep, and met two of the monsters; an otter-thing and a small dragon. She waited for them to kill her, but they didn't. Instead, they took pity on her. Vitra looked up and saw the face of the otter shining with a glorious radiance she had only seen in Ushka, and in her father.
She instantly knew that she loved him.
The dragon was sick, she recalled. He had a tree-troll in his belly which she removed. Showing immense gratitude, the otter, Oren had taken her to a place where she could hide.
"We'll tell everyone you're Jesse's sister, come home to visit." he said. "After a week, you'll come out in the open and tell everyone that the curse turned you into a lutin."
Finally, having come to the present, Christina snapped her fingers and brought Vitra out of the trance.
"It is Nekril I seeing?" said the lutin woman at once.
"It is, I am sure." replied the wolf. "He is alive, and he knows where you are. We ought to get you inside the Keep, where you may hope to have a modicum of protection if he ever comes for you."
"They will not let me inside keep, for I am lutin."
"I don't know... have you ever heard of a guy named Grunch?"
"Grunch the defective? My people sing songs ridiculing him.
"He lives yonder at the Keep." said Jesse. "He's a lizard, now, who calls himself Bluenight."
"But curse is not for lutins. It does not make us change."
"Oh no? Look at your chest."
Vitra opened her robe to see that her green skin was slowly being covered in white fur.
"You're half human." said Kim. "That's more than enough to make you transform."
"But what I becoming?"
Christina turned Vitra's head with her paw. "Offhand, I'd say some type of weasel. Better go home and get some sleep. Fast transformations can be fairly taxing if you don't get your rest."
"Weasel... is lot the same as otter, right?"
"A bit."
Vitra smiled as she made her way to the door.
Interlude: "Do you understand?" asked Ye, his boyish voice softly filling the stone room. "The Creator of All Things knows what is good, and he will bring about what is meant to be. If Oren must go back to Hipocc, then that is what shall happen, and if you transform during your stay, you can be sure it will be for the best."
"Thank you, Ye." said Ana. "You've made me feel so much better."
"I am only glad to help."
Mitok projected an image of the sunrise.
"It is nearly morning." Ye interpreted. "Would you stay and celebrate this day with us?"
"You know, you never did tell me what day it was."
"Today is the day saint from west came long ago and told us many things we sought to know about the Creator."
Ana smiled. "I would be honored."