Disclaimer: Buffy The Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and 20th Century Fox. The Forgotten Realms setting is owned by Wizards of the West Coast. Drizzt Do’Urden is own both by Wizards of the West Coast and Authored by R. A. Salvatore. No infringement of these copyrights is intended. All original characters are the property of Wispr.

Author’s Note: Big thanks to Rebelrsr for the betaing. I will be pretty much going by D&D 3.5 rules as a guide for those who are wondering. This story starts the same night as the BTVS episode “Prophecy Girl.”

Warnings: Fem-slash.

Pairings: Willow/OC

Awards Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6 Ch. 7 Ch. 8 Ch. 9 Ch. 10

Beauty and the Beast the Faerûn Way…

A Ritual Beginning…

Willow hummed quietly to herself as she helped Giles clean up the horrible mess in the library that the newly-freed Master had caused. At least the Scoobies had won, and then they celebrated at the Bronze. When it came time to go home, Giles had graciously given them all rides, first dropping Buffy and Xander off at their homes. He had then headed toward Willow’s house. On the way, she had asked him about the mess in the library.

Giles had replied that he planned to go back later that night. He wanted to get the library in some semblance of order before Principal Snyder came in the following day.

Feeling guilty (and also not wanting to go home to an empty house yet again), Willow had immediately volunteered to help. Giles only offered a token protest, which rapidly crumbled once Willow brought out her resolve face.

While Giles made his way through the shelves, putting away books that had fallen out during the Hellmouth beast’s appearance, Willow worked on sweeping the library’s wooden floor clean of all of the debris. As she was emptying the dust pan into the trash, a flash of sparkling red inside caught Willow’s eye. Reaching down, she found a small, beautifully made metal sculpture of a woman’s face.

What really caught Willow’s attention, though, was that sculpture depicted a red head with pale skin and green eyes similar to her own. Turning it around, Willow saw there was a small hoop made for a chain or cord to go through and some odd symbols or writing. Her curiosity piqued, Willow set the small carving on her partially-open backpack with the intention of asking Giles about it later.

She never got around to it, however. Using some money Giles had given her as a thank you for her help, Willow walked down the hallway to buy a soda from the machine. While she was gone, Giles moved her backpack out of his way and, in the process, caused the small medallion to slide unnoticed inside of the bag. By the time Willow returned, fatigue had caught up with her and the medallion slipped her mind.

It wasn’t until a week later that Willow found it resting, thankfully undamaged, at the bottom of her book bag as she cleaned it out for the summer. Sitting back on her bed, Willow chewed her lower lip while she tried to decide if she should call Giles about it. With Buffy gone for the summer visiting her dad in LA, Giles was going to take it easy.

“Nah,” Willow thought to herself. “Giles threw it in my backpack. It mustn’t be anything important so there’s no need to bother him about it!”

With that little moral dilemma out of the way, Willow set about researching the strange runes on the back of the pendant herself. She had the next week all to herself since Xander had gone with his Uncle Rory to some motorcycle show and her parents had called yesterday to let her know they weren’t going to be back until the end of the month.

In the following week, Willow had to return to the library several times to retrieve books Giles kept locked away in his office. It was lucky for her that she had - on the off chance Giles should lose his key, she told herself - decided to make a copy of his office keys when she had the chance.

Several of the books she borrowed talked about, and actually had, some very advanced spells which Willow was grateful to find. Near the end of the school year, Willow had hesitantly asked Ms. Calendar about techno-paganism. The thought of mixing computers with magic really intrigued Willow. The computer teacher had given Willow a small book for beginners, after making Willow jokingly swear not to tell Giles that there was a written book about techno-paganism.

Willow had quickly read through the book and found it rather disappointing in what it had covered. She had ended up skipping over the more esoteric references about balancing one’s inner self and practicing meditation to align with the energies of the earth, choosing instead to concentrate on how the spells actually worked. Giles’ books gave her more information and also introduced her to spells for more than simply levitating a pencil.

As far as the amulet…Willow’s research turned up that it had been found years ago with a badly burned book written in an unknown language. Soon after its discovery, the talisman had come up missing again. Luckily, someone had managed to translate the readable parts of the book, and a copy of the translation existed in one of Giles books.

From what Willow had been able to gather, the small metal sculpture was in fact some kind of a special Holy Symbol for a Goddess called Sune (pronounced soo-nee). Sune was the Goddess of beauty, love, and passion from someplace called Faerûn. Willow guessed it was some long forgotten kingdom or city. What made the Holy Symbol so special was that it granted the person a vision of their future love. That last statement really caught Willow’s attention, for she was feeling very lonely at the time.

Since Buffy was involved with Angel, Xander not in the least interested in her that way, and everyone gone or busy with their own lives… well, it made Willow do something that - in hindsight - wasn’t exactly the brainiest thing to do.

OK… it was plain stupid!

In order to see the vision, there was a special ritual using the Holy Symbol as a focus. To Willow’s dismay, only a part of the ritual had been translated. The rest had been burned. She was missing how to empower the spell itself.

At first, Willow was at a loss. Then she got an idea from her computer programming classes, putting it together with something she read about magic being interconnected. She knew a programmer could use the code from one program and splice it with another to fix some corrupted or missing code. Usually it was only used as a quick fix, but Willow figured that she only needed to do the spell one time so no harm would be done.

Sadly, though the only spells Willow could find with her limited resources were rather… outside her comfort zone.

The first spell Willow came across called for her and another person to actually have… to havesex! It was through the ahh… act that the power would be raised. Willow immediately discarded that idea; her first time was going to be with the person she loved, thank you very much!

The second spell was still very embarrassing - but at least it didn’t require another person’s help. She would be the only participant and would take things into her own hands - or hand, as the case may be.

This was something Willow had been too self-conscious to actually do before; she had her mother mostly to thank for that. After having the talk, her mother had stressed that self-stimulation was completely natural and it was considered very normal. Ever since then, when her parents would get back from a trip, both of them would question her (the same questions every time). Afterward, her mother would take her aside to have a mother/daughter bonding moment. Or, in laymen’s terms, ask Willow if she was sexually active yet with or without a partner. Now, Willow could lie about her and Buffy’s Slayer activities, but it never cross her mind to lie for herself.

Which meant that on the few times she had seriously thought about… doing that, her mother’s face would pop in her mind asking the dreaded question. It was a real mood killer.

But now, with the very real possibility of ending her loneliness, Willow found herself not in the least intimidated by her mother’s question anymore. So once decided, she spent a large part of the day learning all she could off the net about how to please one’s self. She was awed by all of the very sensual and downright erotic ways there were. Though, she was very tempted to practice, as it were, she didn’t; she wanted her first time to be during the ritual. Willow figured giving up her self-gratification virginity would add a boost to the spell itself.

Willow finally decided on Saturday night for the ritual for two reasons: first, it was a full moon. Full moon rituals were supposed to be more powerful, and she thought it made for a very romantic setting which fit in with the Goddess she was invoking. Also, Xander would be coming home the next day, and she just knew he would come over at the most inappropriate time.

After taking a warm bath with a lavender body wash while real rose hips floated in the water, Willow walked hesitantly out of the bathroom - nude. Her hair was now slightly wavy and shown with highlights from her trip to the stylist earlier that day. She had also applied a light amount of makeup, iridescent dark green eye shadow and some blush across her cheeks.

In the middle of her bedroom floor, she had place a folded blanket for her to lie upon. Surrounding the blanket were half a dozen scented candles already burning; in front of each candle was a red rose. A CD of romantic music played softly on her stereo, adding yet another layer to the ambiance of her room.

Even with the pleasant lassitude from the large glass of wine she had drank during her bath, Willow felt rather self-conscious. She persevered, however. Kneeling down with her legs slightly parted on the blanket, Willow picked up the Holy Symbol that she had previously placed on a silken cord, allowing her to hang it around her neck. When the amulet’s cold metal touched the warm skin between her bare breasts, a shiver ran down her back as a wave of goose bumps rose across her bath-heated skin. She gave out a soft gasp as her nipples hardened in response.

Willow took a deep breath before starting to slowly run her fingers across her naked flesh, beginning with her knees and working her way up, all the while chanting. “Goddess Sune, the Lover, the Patron of All that is Beautiful, She who is Passion Immortalized. I call upon you to grant me a vision of my True Love; I beseech you to show me the one who will slake my ardor. Together we shall cry your name in ecstasy.”

Willow kept repeating the chant as her fingers ghosted across her flesh, dancing their way over the top of her legs and they then slid between her parted legs, allowing her thumbs to lightly brush through the neatly trimmed hair nestled there. Her thumb nails grazed suddenly sensitive folds, causing shivers of pleasure to radiate out from her center, and Willow stumbled slightly in her chanting.

By this time, Willow had her eyes closed, focusing her attention inwards to the new and very intense feelings she was experiencing. Both hands glided up across her flat stomach and her ribs as they made their way toward her youthful and firm breasts. First, she cupped them, enjoying the slightly rough texture of her palm and fingers as they flowed across the underside of each breast. Willow then brought her hands up to lightly run across her almost painfully hard nipples. Once again, her chanting faltered as a whimper forced itself out of her suddenly tight throat.

The air around Willow took on a liquid heaviness and the heat from the candles seemed bonfire hot, yet not uncomfortably so to her suddenly sensitive skin.

While one set of fingers slowly circled the erect nipple and areola surrounding it, teasing the hypersensitive flesh with gentle caresses and light pinches, Willow’s other hand flowed back down her body. Her fingers danced across very sensitive flesh, leaving behind a trail of heat in their wake. Willow lost herself in the erotic feel of her own flesh, in the unchaste exploration of her teenaged body.

Her chanting became more and more erratic as whimpers and gasps of pleasure replaced the words of the ritual. Yet the chant itself seem to echo within Willow’s mind, so loudly that she could easily hear it over the pounding of her pulse as it thundered in her ears. As Willow focused more and more on her arousal, one hand made its way toward her damp center. Willow threw her head back as her fingers touched her most intimate parts, tracing of the moist flesh and then playing across a very specific bundle of nerves with glorious results.

Giving a guttural groan of pure pleasure, Willow fell backward - only to have her upper body caught and gently lowered by translucent hands formed from the scented candle smoke. Above Willow’s body, the smoke from candles swirled and eddied as an exquisitely beautiful woman’s face took shape. Ghostly red hair floated around a porcelain smooth face with eyes of the purest emeralds. A body of such beauty and sensuality that no mortal artist could ever hope to capture the completeness of the godly vision formed as well.

Burgundy red lips, slightly heavier than the smoke they were made of pressed themselves against Willow’s lavender and rose scented skin, tasting the sweetness of innocence lost to the carnal knowledge of one’s own body. Their ethereal touch caused Willow to arch in pleasure as a gasping cry escaped from her lips.

Even across the dimensions, the unique Holy Symbol had allowed the Goddess Sune to hear Willow’s passionate prayers, and, being a rather inquisitive Goddess, she sent a part of herself to investigate. Now, Sune stared down through heavily lidded eyes at Willow who had become lost in both the power of the spell and her very own passions.

And yet, the Goddess could still hear the fervent plea from the young woman’s very soul. Letting herself drift down, Sune ran her insubstantial fingers across Willow’s sweat covered body, causing the red head to shudder as yet another wave of unearthly pleasure washed through her. The Goddess closed her eyes as her own body quivered and basked in the passionate heat given off from the mortal woman below her.

Bending down, the Goddess pressed her lips of smoke against Willow’s damp brow at the same time that she pressed one translucent hand against her Holy Symbol resting between the teenager’s heaving breasts.

Thus linked and using the raging power the human female had surprisingly raised, Sune looked and was pleased to find two heart strings stretching away from her supplicant. With the speed of thought, she followed one to find a human girl of this world full of grief. Looking deeply, Sune saw that the human wasn’t ready yet to leave her old, ugly life behind so she withdrew and turned her sight upon the other thread.

The Goddess Sune was startled when she followed the heart string to her own world of Faerûn. Racing downward, she chased the beating string to its end. Her vision fell through a thick canopy of tree limbs, with leaves in their first flush of spring youthfulness. It was within the ancient woods that Sune laid her eyes upon her quarry and found herself appalled at what she saw. But then, she remembered some of her own articles of faith that stressed that true beauty issues from the core of one’s being and reveals one’s face to the world, fair or foul.

Forcing herself to look beneath the beastly visage, the Goddess’ breath was taken away by the sheer splendor of this being’s soul. It shone with goodness and a fierce passion for life. Though the creature might not have the intelligence equal to that of the red head, she did posses a wisdom tempered by the harsh and cruel life she had lived growing up in her evil tribe. The Goddess had seen that was something the young human surely lacked.

Pulling pack, Sune compared the two mortals and found, to her pleasure, that they complimented each other very well.

A surge of magical power drew the Goddess’ attention back to the human. She was about to reach the pinnacle of the building wave of passion and thus complete the ritual.

Everyone knew that Sune was a benevolent Goddess, but she was also a whimsical one, too; she believed a little chaos in one’s life spiced things up and helped keep things from stagnating.

So she decided to add a little spice to Willow’s life.

As Willow pinched and pulled her nipples, even painfully at times, her other hand moved in a rhythm as old as time, delving into her moist interior as her hips thrust themselves up. Willow was so caught up in the final stages of the ritual (the spell’s building power having amplified her own ardor), that she was completely unaware of what was happening outside of herself.

The smoky figure of the Goddess seemed to lose cohesion and began to stream down upon the body below. The scented smoke flowed unnoticed across Willow’s shuddering body; slowly it surrounded her in a cocoon of candle smoke that was filled with the Goddess’ essence.

The rapidly the panting teen was lifted gently off the floor and hovered a foot above the sweat-drenched blanket. The incorporeal Goddess wrapped herself around the red headed human, touching every square inch of exposed flesh with feathery caresses.

Then Willow arched her back as never before used muscles clamped tightly around her fingers. Throwing her head back, she screamed in an exquisite mixture of pain and ecstasy born of the magical and divine forces she had evoked. Willow’s eyes flew open, but they didn’t see her bedroom. They saw what she had prayed for… her Love.

Sune took that moment to gather up the powerful magic that had been raised and, tapping into Willow’s own magical potential, added her own unique blessing.

First, the Holy Symbol glowed with a luminescence both terrifying and beautiful. The sparkling radiance spread quickly across Willow’s arched body and then she disappeared with bursts multicolored light as bright as the sun.

CHAPTER 2

A Lonely Road…

Lhyra loped at a steady pace as she made her way through the old growth forest known as The High Forest. The wood stretched over three hundred miles across and was inhabited by all manner of trees: maple, ash, elm, evergreen and the mighty oak. Even with it being several weeks into the month of Mirtul, the fifth month of the year, there still was a biting chill in the air since the forest was located so far north.

The cold didn’t bother Lhyra in the least, though. Her thick coat of light brown fur, with its spattering of reddish/gray spots, and her russet colored mane running from her head down her back to the base of her tail made sure of that. Lhyra wasn’t one of the civilized races of Faerûn; she was a gnoll. She had the appearance of a humanoid hyena, standing slightly less than seven feet tall and weighing in at over three hundred pounds. Lhyra made for a very intimating sight. Her eyes gleamed a bright yellow, while the claws that graced her human-like hands and her dog-like feet were a dull black in color.

Lhyra wore patchwork leather armor made from scraps taken from smaller suits of armor. The mismatched armor covered her shoulders and torso and wrapped around her upper thighs in a pleated skirt made of thick, yet supple, leather. A double bladed battle-ax hung from her belt, and three small throwing axes were clipped to the opposite side of the same belt.

A dagger and a short bow with a score of arrows completed her weapon compliment. Strapped securely on her back was a backpack with very basic survival equipment stored within; though; she carried nothing for cooking. Gnolls preferred their food raw and screaming. What mostly filled the large backpack were expensive furs such as mink, fox and the like, with a few plainer deer skins that she had hidden from her tribe after looting them from a caravan the tribe had destroyed.

All of this was covered by a large cloak that, like her armor, was made from several cloaks stitched together by the tribe’s slaves. Lhyra had had the slave’s stain the cloak in shades of browns, greens and grays to help her blend in her surroundings. She had gotten the idea from a small group of human rangers that her tribe had ambushed the year before.

Lhyra moved at a steady pace, speeding quietly through the thick woods, placing her large paws carefully to lessen both sound and any trail she might leave. At times, she doubled back on her trail or even climbs a large tree to traverse several hundred feet through the interlocking branches before dropping back down to the ground.

Lhyra did this for a very good reason. Her tribe was hunting her.

By the time Lhyra had reached the age of nine, thus surviving to adulthood, she had discovered a unique talent. Lhyra could, through keen observation and insight, ferret out the psychological weaknesses in newly captured slaves. By using that knowledge, she broke their spirits. She became the tribe’s tantekurash or soul-breaker. She also excelled at tracking and hunting and combined her skills to go out and capture slaves. After bringing them back to the small abandon fortress that her tribe made into their lair, Lhyra took great enjoyment in breaking her captives.

For the next three years, she had reveled in the hunt and the torturing of her prey. Humans, elves, orcs…all were seen as both slave labor and a source of food. But then, during the fourth year, something within her gradually changed. Her tracking and the subsequent capturing of new slaves lost its excitement, and the screams of her tortured victims stopped sounding sweet to her ears.

Adding to that, Lhyra also suffered a shock the very foundations of how she viewed herself, the lost of the spells granted to her by the Demon Prince Yeenoghu that the entire tribe worshiped. Through the years of raiding and hunting, Lhyra had become a powerful ranger and had been granted a few spells from Yeenoghu. Gnolls worshipped Yeenoghu because he had created the gnoll race by fusing the essence of some of his mightiest demons with that of normal hyenas. Those hyenas literally gave birth to the gnoll race.

But now the spells were gone, and Lhyra was godless. This had made Lhyra look deeply into herself, and what she saw astonished her. Even though she could still feel the demonic taint within her, Lhyra had grown disillusioned with her kind’s evil ways. She became withdrawn; Lhyra didn’t know, though, what she wanted to do, for the tribe was family and even with the vicious infighting the tribe offered safety against the outside world. A world that wouldn’t accept a renegade gnoll - or so she had believed.

Several weeks later, a mixed group of elves and humans had been captured and turned over to her for breaking. Amongst the group was a young human female bard with auburn hair who tried to take her fellow captives’ minds off of their predicament with stories. Normally, Lhyra would kill one such as her by eating her alive in front of the other prisoners. But this time, she decided to listen to the stories the young bard told. Though the human bard spoke in the common tongue, Lhyra easily understood her, for she spoke common and a smattering of othertongues besides speaking gnoll and the language of demons, Abyssal.

One of the stories the bard told was of a Ranger who followed the Goddess Mielikki. What caught Lhyra’s attention was the race of the Ranger, whose name was Drizzt Do'Urden, for his people were the evil dark-elf race called Drow. Lhyra listened from the shadows as the bard told of Drizzt’s many great adventures and the cautious acceptance of him by the surface dwellers.

Later, Lhyra had taken the human bard aside and demanded to know if this Drizzt was real or not. The bard had told her that he was very real, for she had personally seen him with his friends, who were two humans, a dwarven King and a halfling, plus the Drow's great black panther. From her tantekurash skills, Lhyra could tell that the human was telling the truth.

After questioning the bard further, Lhyra then returned her the holding cells and the rest of the day had thought long and hard on what she had learned. The stories about the Drow had gifted Lhyra with something very unique; they had given her hope. Although she hadn’t the faintest clue what she would do once out there, she figure if they could accept a Drow, they might also accept a gnoll.

Lhyra knew she didn’t want to be a hero like the Drow; that wasn’t a life she wanted in the least. Instead, she had vague ideas of being a hunter/trapper or maybe even a bounty hunter. For even though she had turned away from her kind’s evil ways, she still was a gnoll, and happiness for a gnoll was a full stomach, a roof over one’s head, and the thrill of the hunt.

Once her decision had been made, Lhyra talked to the bard and together they had concocted a plan to escape. At first, the gnoll had planned for the two of them to simply walk out of the lair. The other gnolls would think Lhyra wanted to hunt the bard for sport. Lhyra wanted to thank the bard for giving her hope by freeing the human woman. But the bard had other ideas; she was adamant that Lhyra had to free at least her fellow prisoners that hadn’t been broken. The bard had explained to Lhyra this would help her to be accepted, and Lhyra had very grudgingly agreed.

Luckily for the newly arrived prisoners, there were several orcs that needed breaking and Lhyra had no qualms torturing them at all. This gave Lhyra time to slowly stash weapons and equipment near the prisoners; though, during the time it took her to gather the supplies, several of the new captives were eaten by her tribe. This really didn’t bother Lhyra at all; actually, she was rather happy since it meant fewer captives to rescue. Also, Lhyra really didn’t care about any of the other captives beside her bard, who she learned was named Tythina. Lhyra felt indebted to Tythina, and maybe even the beginning of a friendship. Both emotions were wholly new for the gnoll.

On returning around midday from a hunt, Lhyra entered the large hall that the tribe used as a gathering area to find a few of her pack-mates and the tribe’s chieftain eating the remains of the bard Tythina! At that moment, Lhyra freely embraced the darkness within her soul. With a roar of rage, she plucked one of her throwing axes off her belt and sent it streaking across the common room, spinning through the large fire in its center towards the chieftain himself. With a load thunk, the blade bit deeply into his sloped forehead, killing him instantly.

Even before the thrown axe had passed through the flames, Lhyra spun and leaped toward one of the large kegs of ale haphazardly scattered around the large room. Lhyra grasped the keg’s wooden sides, her claws giving a secure hold as they sank into the wood. With a snarl, she twisted around to heave the heavy keg at the fire. It struck the floor with fiery results. The keg landed before the large fire with an explosive burst of ale that the flames greedily ignited. With a loud whoosh, the resulting fireball enveloped several of the surrounding gnolls, setting their fur afire.

In the following confusion, Lhyra rushed outside and began yelling about traitors to the tribe who had forsaken the Demon Price Yeenoghu and killed the chieftain. Just then, one of the enraged gnolls from inside came out and immediately attacked her, adding credibility to her claim. Between her statement and seeing the tribe’s tantekurash being attacked, the listening gnolls enthusiastically leaped into battle.

Lhyra had slipped away during the fight and made her way to the other prisoners. Once there, she quickly freed and armed them with what she had been able to gather. She led them out of the back of the small fortress; they only ran into a few gnolls that she efficiently dispatched. By the sounds coming from the front, most of the tribe was embroiled in the fighting.

Lhyra and her small group had traveled for about an hour before she had spotted pursuers. Lhyra really didn’t care how they had caught on to her so quickly, more concerned with the present danger that they represented. Without really thinking about what she was doing, Lhyra sent the small group of surviving captives on ahead after giving the more wood-wise captives directions to the nearest settlement. She, herself, turned back and began peppering the hunting party with arrows, fixating their attention on her.

For the rest of the day and the following night, Lhyra remained constantly on the move, leading the other gnolls on a deadly chase. Several times, she had used her extensive knowledge to lead them straight to a dangerous forest denizen, knowing that between the fighting and the need to feed afterward, her pursuers would slow down.

That was how Lhyra found herself tiredly resting while sitting against the trunk of a large oak tree. The tree stood in a small clearing surrounded by thick underbrush that bristled with thorns. She had reached the clearing by once again traversing the branches, thus allowing her to not leave a visible trail for either her pursuers or any other dangerous forest creatures to follow. Her stomach was comfortably full from a young buck she had stumbled across near sunrise. After quickly dispatching it, she had ravenously devoured what she could of the deer, saving the rest of the meat wrapped in its skin for later.

At the moment, Lhyra was feeling rather alone. She had hunted many times by herself, but, Lhyra had had her tribe to return to then. A gnoll was, after all, a pack animal at heart. Now… Now she didn’t even have any of the escaped prisoners with her to keep her company.

Lhyra began to feel overwhelmed at the prospect of facing the outside world and its civilization on her own when with a bright flash of light appeared, dropping an unconscious and naked human female onto her lap.

CHAPTER 3

What Big Teeth You Have…

The first thing Willow became aware of was a pleasant lassitude that permeated her slightly aching body. She groggily thought to herself, “Wow, if this is what the afterglow feels like for self stimulation I can’t wait for the real deal!”

Then the reason behind the pleasant feeling came back to her, and she let out a gasp of shock as her eyes flew open. The memory of the spell and the image she’d seen quickly chased the feeling from her mind, though, and she became aware of her surroundings. Willow noticed that she was still naked; although, someone had wrapped her in some kind of heavy blanket that had a strong animal smell to it. The kind act made Willow feel very grateful, Willow saw through the folds of the blanket that she was outside in the woods - and it was cold!

Slowly, Willow poked her head out of the blanket to look around more when a strange, guttural voice said something unintelligible behind her. With a screech of surprise, Willow started to bolt away from the unexpected and very nonhuman sounding voice.

Then she remembered she was naked and tried to keep herself covered.

All Willow managed to do was roll across the hard ground several times with the blanket wrapping itself tightly around her from head to toes.

The voice said something harshly and moved closer to her. With the blanket wrapped too tightly for her to wriggle free, Willow did the only thing that came to mind. Rolling over on her stomach, Willow frantically inch-wormed her away across the forest floor as she looked out the open end of the blanket.

Between the hard ground and the tree roots, it proved to be a very painful experience. And, in the end, fruitless. Willow hadn’t gone more than a few feet when something heavy came down on the end of the blanket. Since Willow had been in the process of throwing her upper body forward, the sudden weight caused her to come down painfully hard on her chin. Her jaw snapped shut with a loud click.

Willow then felt herself being rolled onto her back effortlessly. Judging by the size of the hands Willow felt through the blanket, the person was really big and that made Willow’s hopes of the voice belonging to a human plummet even more. Suddenly, the section of the blanket enshrouding her head and shoulders was pulled away and Willow to flinched from the sunlight that made its way through the openings in the leaves above and struck her eyes.

The harsh light cut off as the person kneeling above her moved their head so it would block the streaming sunlight. After blinking several times, Willow was able to finally see the owner of the voice - and when she did her heart seemed to stop for a jarring moment before it began to franticly beat in her chest.

It was the face from her vision!

The hyena person - Willow easily recognized the head from studying about Xander’s Primal possession - said in its growly voice something Willow couldn’t understand. Shaking her head Willow stuttered, “I-I’m sorry I do-don’t understand y-you.”

Willow’s mind went a mile a minute as she tried to understand why the spell would show her this hyena person and how it had sent her to said person. There hadn’t been anything in the spell’s description about teleportation! Luckily, the creature seemed mostly curious about her, and Willow feverishly hoped it wasn’t in a ‘are you good to eat’ sort of way.

She watched as it cocked its head to the side and flicked its fur-covered ears toward her. Willow fought an almost hysterical urge to giggle at how cute it looked, almost puppy like. Well, maybe not quite puppy since its head was twice as large as hers and had huge and very sharp teeth filling its long muzzle.

It narrowed its yellow eyes slightly before saying something else. Though Willow wasn’t able to understand, she could tell it was a different language than the creature had used before. Shaking her head again, Willow said, “No… sorry.”

The hyena person tried yet another language, this one very… liquid, almost musical. Like before, though, Willow couldn’t understand a word of it.

Huffing in apparent irritation, the hyena person spoke to itself while rolling its yellow eyes. “Where in the nine hells did she come from if she doesn’t even speak the Merchant Tongue?”

Feeling her eyes widen in shock, Willow blurted out, “Oh! I can understand… you.” How was that possible? The hyena person had spoken in yips, growls and barks and Willow had understood everything. That, in and of itself, was a real shocker, but to top things off… Willow had replied in the same language!

Willow jerked away from the very intense yellow-eyed gaze as the creature barked out, “You speak gnoll?”

Willow could easily hear the disbelief in the creature’s voice, and she figured humans didn’t generally speak gnoll. Taking a deep breath and trying to calm her racing heart, Willow nervously replied, “Yeah, I guess I do now; it must have something to do with the spell I ca… ack!” Willow found her throat held in the very tight grip of one of the gnoll’s large hands.

Bending low, the creature (a gnoll?) growled out harshly, “What kind of spell caster are you?”

Willow could feel tears of pain and fear leaking out of her eyes. Even though her arms were free, she was still helpless against the gnoll’s powerful grip. “I’m not… I found…” gag “… an amulet, magical. It had a…” cough “… spell to activate it.” Willow forced the words out even though the gnoll’s grasp on her throat barely gave her enough air to breathe

“Amulet, you say. You still have it?” the gnoll asked without relaxing the crushing grip on Willow’s throat.

“Yes…” gasp “… on cord around neck,” Willow replied. She could feel the amulet pressing into her back, having slipped around during her aborted escape attempt.

The gnoll twisted Willow’s head to the side and located the silken cord. Reaching around Willow’s back, it retrieved the amulet. Willow felt the gnoll stiffen after getting a good look at the amulet, and then, much to her surprise, the gnoll gave out a hyena like laugh full of derision.

Letting go of Willow’s neck (though keeping a firm hold on the amulet still tied there), the gnoll leaned back on its haunches. “You found a magical amulet of Sune! No wonder you smell of sex, for I can easily imagine anything of the Whore Goddess would take sex to activate its power.”

Her outrage and embarrassment overriding her common sense, Willow angrily rasped out through her sore throat, “I’ll have you know there was no sex. No, sirree, I’m still a virgin!” Willow clamped her mouth shut in fear as the gnoll stuck its face close to hers while pealing its rather flexible lips away from some very big and sharp teeth in a silent snarl.

Flinching, Willow closed her eyes and turned her head away in fear. She could feel the gnoll’s foul breath wash over her as it spoke. “So the youngling has fangs. Understand this very well: I, too, have fangs, and they are bigger and sharper than yours. Do you understand me?”

Willow jerkily nodded, her whole body shivering more in fear than from the cold.

“Good,” the gnoll drawled before suddenly barking, “Look at me!”

Willow snapped her head forward, meeting the gnoll’s fearsome gaze.

On seeing it had her undivided attention, the gnoll asked, “What is the power of the amulet?”

Willow licked her dry lips before answering. “It was supposed to show me my true…” She took a deep breath to buy herself a little time to think up a white lie. “…friend. My true friend. I really don’t know why it brought me here.” She felt too embarrassed to admit what the amulet and spell’s true purpose had been. Willow knew she must have messed up the spell somehow for it to first show the gnoll to her in her vision and then actually deliver her to boot! She let out a quiet whimper as a wave of despair crashed over her. Something told her she was really far from Sunnydale.

“A… friend?” the gnoll asked with apparent disbelief in its voice as it leaned back on its haunches once again.

“Y-yes,” Willow stuttered slightly as she fought down the urge to start crying. “I was lonely. All my friends were gone, and I found the amulet. After researching it, I found the spell that would let me use the amulet. And I,” Willow felt a flush spread down her face, neck and down across her chest, “did the ritual and here I am.”

“So tell me…” The gnoll tilted its head to the side in inquiry. “What does being a friend entail?”

Willow blinked in surprise before answering. “Well, friends do friend stuff. Like being nice to each other and helping one another. They tell each other secrets and watch movies… umm, do you have movies?” Willow had noticed that she had spoken in English when she said movie, which had made her ask the question.

“What is moovies?” The gnoll asked her back, only slightly mangling the English word.

“Well,” Willow replied hesitantly as she tried to formulate an answer. “It’s like a play that tells a story, sometimes it’s a true story other times its make-believe.”

“Do you not know what a gnoll is?” the gnoll asked, seemingly losing interest in the talk about movies.

“No.” Willow shifted her prone and still tightly bound body a little. There were several tree roots beginning to make their presence painfully known.

“The Demon Prince Yeenoghu fed some of his most powerful and fiercest demons to a pack of hyenas and from their offspring the gnoll race was born,” the gnoll told her in a matter of fact tone as it let go of the amulet that Willow still wore.

Willow felt her eyes widen. “Does that mean you’re demons?”

The gnoll gave a short burst of hyena like laughter before replying, “No, though there are many races who call us demons - and rightly so. We only have the taint of demons in our blood and that makes us a very wicked and savage race.” The gnoll paused for a moment before going on in a gentler tone, “But you have nothing to fear from me. I… I have left my tribe for I’ve grown weary of my kind’s evil ways. But understand this, betray me, and I shall show you just how barbarous I can be!”

Oddly enough, Willow lost some of the fear that had been coursing through her; the gnoll’s eyes had such a look of forlornness that it touched something in her. Giving the gnoll what she hoped was a kind smile, Willow said softly, “Sounds like you need a friend.” OK, to be truthful, there was also a very selfish reason Willow wanted to be friends with the gnoll. Her chances of surviving this predicament would be vastly increased if she was on the gnoll’s good side. Willow had a feeling that being on the gnoll’s bad side could lead to being inside the gnoll.

After a very long pause, the gnoll suddenly said, “Lhyra.”

“Excuse me?” Though Willow could suddenly speak gnoll, she was drawing a blank on the meaning of the word.

“My name is Lhyra,” came the dry reply as one of the gnoll’s ears flicked in such a way that made Willow think the gnoll was amused.

“Oh! That’s a pretty name.” Willow immediately bit her lip in consternation; she didn’t know if the gnoll was a girl or boy. Though, after taking a moment to study the gnoll’s canine-like features, Willow got the impression that Lhyra was definitely a girl. Seeing that there wasn’t any negative reaction to her compliment, Willow said, “My name is Willow Rosenberg. You can just call me Willow.”

Willow noticed she had used the English word for Willow, instead of the gnoll version.

“Wil-low.” Willow watched as Lhyra pronounced her name slowly, apparently making sure she spoke the unfamiliar word correctly. After receiving a nod from Willow, she flicked both furry ears with satisfaction.

After running her eyes over Willow’s still tightly wrapped body, Lhyra said, “You will need something to wear; you humans lack a decent fur coat.”

“Could you first help me out of this blanket? I’m kind of trapped at the moment.” Willow emphasized her statement by wiggling slightly.

Even with the inhuman features Willow recognized a mischievous grin when she saw one but was defenseless to prevent what happened next. Reaching down, Lhyra grasped part of the blanket out of Willow’s line of sight. “It’s not a blanket; it’s a deer skin.” Lhyra stood up with one edge of the deer skin firmly held in her clawed hand. This resulted in Willow being unceremoniously unrolled from the deer skin with a squawk of outrage as she rolled across the cold forest floor.

“Hey, what did you do that for?” Willow cried out as she stood up, shivering from the cold as she vainly sought to cover herself with her hands.

Instead of answering her question, Lhyra called over her shoulder as she walked toward the large oak tree that stood in the center of the clearing, “Can you sew?”

“Sew? Yeah, I can sew… Now, can I have the deer skin back, please? It’s really cold.” Being a California girl, it felt like it must be way below freezing; though, Willow knew intellectually that it wasn’t. Willow followed the gnoll’s retreating back in a fast shuffle with everything - at least front wise - mostly covered. She looked frantically around, hoping no one else was about to see her nakedness.

“Wait,” Lhyra ordered as she dropped the deer skin beside a very large backpack that she immediately began rummaging through. Willow stood by anxiously as her thoughts skittered back and forth. She tried to come to terms with what she had gotten herself in to. With a soft growl of pleasure, Lhyra stood up with a second deer skin in hand. Willow noticed that the one Lhyra held was the smaller of the two. Willow also noticed that both skins seemed to have longer hair than the deer Willow had seen on TV.

“Here.” Lhyra held the skin out as if it was a coat that she was helping Willow to put on; Willow eagerly stuck her arms in the ‘front legs’ of the deer hide. Between the acute embarrassment of being naked and the biting cold, any feelings of ickyness at the fact the hide still had the skin of the head attached with its little cute deer ears and slightly wrinkled black nose. Willow was thankful that there weren’t any eyes!

When Willow saw that Lhyra planned to cut her sleeves so that they ended at her wrist, she asked Lhyra to cut the skin several inches past her fingertips. This way, she would have something to keep her hands warm.

“Do you want me to stick my feet through the back legs?” Willow asked, once Lhyra was done with her sleeves. She was already beginning to warm up; though, her feet and lower legs were cold. The deer tail hung just at the halfway point between her knees and feet.

“No, not yet.” Lhyra knelt down to cut the hind legs off the deer hide. Tossing the legs to Willow, Lhyra turned back to once again rummage through the large backpack.

After she found what she wanted, Lhyra handed Willow a piece of rope just long enough for her to tie around her waist as a belt, keeping her coat tightly closed. Lhyra then gave her a small, finely crafted wooden box, about the size of a shoe box.

After accepting the box, Willow knelt and opened it to find what looked like a sewing kit. Instead of having just the normal small needles, the kit also had large ones and other things Willow didn’t recognize.

“The slaves used similar tools to repair the tribe’s leather armor and such. This I found along with the furs I took from a caravan we raided some time ago,” Lhyra said matter of factly.

“Oh,” Willow said quietly in response as her mind shied away from both statements about slaves and caravan raids. Instead, she focused on the items in front of her. With what Lhyra said, she now had a better understanding of their use. For instance, the large needle with the wooden mushroom-like head she figured would be useful in making holes through thick leather.

Out of the corner of her eye, Willow noticed Lhyra putting the other deer skin away in her backpack and decided what Lhyra had given her was all she was going to get. After giving it some thought, Willow came up with a plan. Sitting down she pulled the deer’s leg skin over her own legs until there was about a foot of hide stretching past her toes. This extra skin she folded back and pulled over her foot, doubling the skin over itself and creating an insulated booty for her. After marking where the end of the booty would be with a piece of chalk from the sewing kit, Willow then pulled the hide off her leg. She turned it inside out and sewed the ends with neat, tight stitches.

Once done with both legs, Willow pulled them back on to find that they fit rather comfortably. She did put a line of stitching around her ankles, though, to keep the folded back skin from sliding down. The deer hide running up her legs stretched far enough past her knees to enable Willow to tie some twine around her legs to keep the skin in place.

Once Willow finished repacking the sewing supplies, Lhyra said, “It is time to sleep.”

“What?” Willow replied in startlement, looking over to see Lhyra resting against the oak tree with her crudely camouflaged cloak wrapped around her large body. Willow noticed that Lhyra had her large battle-axe resting on her lap and gripped it with one hand.

“I’m tired so we will sleep. Now put the box away in the pack and come over here,” Lhyra pretty much ordered.

“But there’s so much I need to know: like where are we,” Willow exclaimed as she went about doing what Lhyra had told her.

“The High Forest,” Lhyra replied a touch of impatience coloring her voice as she pulled her cloak away from her side. “Now lie down and be quiet; we will talk later.”

Willow hesitated a moment, but, seeing the furry ears flick with irritation, she gingerly settled herself against the gnoll’s larger frame. Lhyra wasted no time in draping the cloak over both of them. Her muzzle drooped down onto her chest, and she quickly fell asleep.

Willow found herself without anything to take her mind off her predicament. After fighting to still her fears and racing mind, she finally cried herself into an exhausted slumber.

CHAPTER 4

We’re not in Kansas anymore!

Mid-afternoon High Forest…

Willow found out using a gnoll as a giant furry pillow proved to be a literal pain in the neck –and back- experience. After being abruptly awakened by Lhyra, Willow stretched feeling and hearing several vertebrae pop back into place. “You’d think after falling asleep during so many research parties my body would be used to awkward positions,” she thought to herself ruefully. She also had a slight headache from her crying jag earlier.

Willow saw Lhyra walking toward the edge of the clearing and, wanting to ask her a few questions, hurried after the gnoll. One of the most important things Willow wanted to know was where she was in relation to Sunnydale. Willow fervently hoped she was still in North America but feared she might be in northern Europe. She had learned from Giles that demons usually learned the local languages, and one of the languages Lhyra had used sounded almost like German. She knew Lhyra had told her that gnolls weren’t demons, but Willow hadn’t yet decided if she accepted that explanation.

Right now, though, the two questions that dominated Willow’s thoughts were: did Lhyra have an extra toothbrush she could use and where did Lhyra keep the toilet paper? Despite having brushed her teeth before doing the ritual, Willow’s mouth felt all icky, and… Well, it might not be morning, but she knew she had morning breath!

Willow had just opened her mouth to ask Lhyra her questions when she saw the gnoll squat down and…

“Whoa!” Willow exclaimed in shock as she threw an arm across her eyes and rapidly turned her back on the scene before her. “Hey, aren’t you supposed to do that behind a bush or something!” Willow cried over her shoulder in acute embarrassment.

“Why?” came the puzzle replied; though, Willow could swear there was a hint of humor in the gnoll’s voice.

Vainly trying to ignore the sounds coming from behind her, Willow replied, “Well, it’s just impolite and…” Willow made a vague gesture with her free hand; she didn’t want to offend Lhyra by saying uncivilized. “It’s really gross thing to do in front of other people.”

There was a long pause that caused Willow’s heart to start beating rapidly in fear. Had she inadvertently angered the very large gnoll?

Finally, Lhyra spoke from right beside Willow, causing the red head to jump a little in fright. “What I did would be looked at as uncivilized by the other races?” Willow felt a sense of relief that there wasn’t any anger in Lhyra’s voice.

Looking up to meet the tall gnoll’s yellow eyes, Willow answered hesitantly. “I know to humans it would be; I couldn’t say what the other races would think or...” Willow squinted in puzzlement. “More to the point, what did you mean by other races?”

To Willow’s horror Lhyra went on to explain in great detail what she had meant by other races. Elves, dwarves, Halflings – and those were just a few of the more civilized races. Lhyra’s people and the races such as orcs, goblins and their ilk were considered savage and barbarous. Lhyra had readily admitted that the latter races were aptly categorized; instead of building things, they were more adept at destruction and bloodshed.

Lhyra went on to describe the surrounding territories to the best of her knowledge. She had bluntly admitted to Willow that she (and her tribe in general) had never really cared what went on in the faraway lands. Her tribe had been more concerned with the more local dangers or food sources. But with Lhyra’s position as the tribe’s tantekurash (with Willow’s newfound knowledge of the gnoll language, she didn’t need an explanation of that title), Lhyra had become a bit more knowledgeable than the other gnolls in her tribe.

So much so that some of her fellow gnolls had accused her of having some human ancestry. Lhyra flatly told Willow the ones who said that to her face had died by her own hands.

As she had told Willow earlier that day, they were in the High Forest, and that it took weeks to traverse from one end to the other. The forest was filled with wood elves, humans, gnolls, orcs, and centaurs - to name a few of the more intelligent inhabitants. Then there were the numerous monsters such as owlbears and dire wolves. Lhyra knew that to the north of the High Forest was the great elvan city of Silverymoon.

East of the forest lay the great desert called Anauroch; it was filled with wandering tribes of human nomads. She had also heard of a flying city of shadow people that appeared in the air and made its way through the sky until coming to rest near a mountain range located within the great desert region. Lhyra herself didn’t know to believe the story or not, but enough of the slaves had talked about it that she thought it worth mentioning.

To the south, there was a large area almost equal to the size of the High Forest called the High Moor. Lhyra could only tell Willow it was a land covered in peat bogs and heather and that there were herds of wild horses, orcs, and hobgoblins that lived there.

Finally, to the west of the forest, were the great port city of Waterdeep and the lands that it controlled. Lhyra knew the city housed so many people that there were no words in the gnoll language for the number. The closest Lhyra could come to was a thousand-thousand people. It was said that all manner of races were welcome in the great port city and that anything could be bought or sold there for the right price.

Willow also learned that the entire land was called Faerûn, otherwise known as the Forgotten Realms.

After turning down some raw deer meat for lunch, Willow dazedly went to the opposite side of the clearing behind the oak tree to relieve herself. Even finding out that there were no toothbrushes and the only toilet paper was the leaves around her didn’t really faze Willow. Not with how she felt at the moment. Willow finally had definite proof that she was in a completely different world. Not simply a distant continent as she had previously hoped.

“Willow, it is time for us to be going.” Lhyra’s voice brought Willow out of her stupor; she was bemused to find that she had apparently stopped halfway between the edge of the clearing and the oak tree on her journey back to Lhyra.

“OK,” she quietly replied as she made her way over to where Lhyra stood with her large backpack on under her camouflage cloak. Looking around in bewilderment, Willow asked Lhyra, “How did you get in here?” She couldn’t see any sort of trail through the dense and thorny foliage.

With a fang-filled grin, Lhyra pointed up with one clawed finger.

Willow tilted her head back and followed the direction of Lhyra’s finger. She felt her stomach sinking as her eyes traced the oak trees large branches that quickly became intermixed with the other large tree branches far above her. Very far above her!

“Ahh… did I forget to tell you that I have a thing for heights?” Willow said a tad fearfully as she looked away from the branches to meet Lhyra’s yellow eyes.

“I can carry you up there, but after that, you will have to make it across by yourself. Some of the branches can barely support my weight, let alone both of us if I attempted to carry you,” Lhyra replied.

Looking back up, Willow asked, “How far do we have to go?”

Lhyra walked up beside her and pointed out a tree several hundred feet away. “To that tree. Beyond that point, the underbrush opens up enough that we can make our way on foot.”

“OK, I can do that... I think,” Willow said with very shaky determination. “I better take my boots off, though. I don’t believe they have the greatest traction.” Which was true; she had noticed that the doubled-back skins that covered her feet below her ankles had a tendency to slide across each other a little as she walked. On the ground, it was hardly noticeable, but up there it would be a whole other story.

Sitting down on the ground, Willow began removing her boots. “By the way, where were you going?”

Lhyra crouched down beside Willow with a slightly chagrined expression upon her hyena face. “I had planned to use the slaves I freed as a way to gain acceptance into a hunting village. But now, after telling you about the places that lie beyond the forest borders, I find that I wish to see them for myself.”

“Anyplace in particular?” Willow asked as she finished pulling one boot off and started on the ties of the other.

Lhyra pursed her canine lips before answering. “Waterdeep. I doubt very much I would be welcome in Silverymoon. I have no wish to travel to Anauroch, and the High Moors really don’t interest me at the moment.”

“Do you think there might be someone in Waterdeep who can tell me about my amulet?” Willow asked as she paused in removing her boot to tap a finger against the Holy Symbol of Sune that hung from around her neck.

Lhyra surprised Willow with a short burst of her hyena-like laughter before replying. “Willow, Sune is worshipped by many in the Realms. You can rest assured that there is a major temple dedicated to the Whore Goddess in Waterdeep. Most likely, we will come even across some minor temples in the villages and towns on the way there.” Cocking her head, Lhyra asked, “Do you have an idea where your home is now?”

Willow waited till she had finished removing her last boot before answering. “Yeah, and it’s going to take magic to get me home; it’s really far away. Speaking of magic…” Willow remembered Lhyra mentioning spell casters when they first met. “Are there people that can cast spells and stuff? And why do you keep calling Sune the Whore Goddess?”

Giving slight growl, Lhyra said, “I will answer your questions but no more until we make camp later tonight. We must move quietly through the forest so we do not draw unwanted attention.” Lhyra stood up and waited with some impatience as Willow tucked her boots through her rope belt. “As for why I call Sune the Whore Goddess - it’s very simple. She has fucked each of the so called ‘good’ Gods and Goddesses. Her temples are also brothels, and her clerics and their followers work as prostitutes to earn donations for the temple.”

Willow closed her mouth with an audible ‘click’; she was shocked at what Lhyra had told her about the Goddess Sune. She also felt acutely embarrassment at what kind of Goddess she had chosen to invoke and how she had gone about the invocation! The contempt with which Lhyra spoke about the Goddess Sune made Willow wonder what the gnoll thought of her. After all, she had used the Goddess’ Holy Symbol. For whatever reason, Willow didn’t want Lhyra to think poorly of her.

As Lhyra began walking toward the base of the large oak tree with the now bare footed Willow tagging along, the gnoll answered Willow’s second question. “There are many kind of magic users: druids, sorcerers, wizards, clerics, and shamans.” Reaching the tree, Lhyra turned to face Willow and said, with a hint of sadness, “As a ranger, even I had earned a few spells from the Demon Prince. Now they are lost to me, for I no longer follow his ways.”

“Who do you follow now?” Willow asked quietly. Once again, she sensed loneliness from the tall gnoll before her.

“No one.” Lhyra turned to look up the trunk of the large oak tree as if planning their ascent. After several quiet moments had passed, she said in a gruff and uncertain tone of voice, “There is something I would ask of you, Willow, in trade for the protection I shall provide you as a travel companion.”

“I’m not sure what kind of help I can be, but if there is something I you think I can help you with, all you need to do is ask.” Willow took the request seriously; she could tell that Lhyra was very uncomfortable asking for her help.

Sighing deeply, Lhyra said, “Teach me the ways of civilization.” She shook her head before abruptly going on. “I won’t be some trained dog, but I do understand that to be accepted, I must learn to move quietly amongst the civilized races.”

Giving Lhyra a bright smile, Willow said, “I would be glad to - and do you think you could teach me how to survive out here?” She emphasized her point by waving her arms around to encompass the surrounding forest.

Lhyra nodded as she replied definitively. “If you truly want to learn to survive then you will do as I say. Are we in agreement?”

Swallowing a sudden lump in her throat (what had she just gotten herself into?), Willow replied, “Yeah… we’re in agreement.”

Then, out of the blue, a thought hit Willow that made her giggle. After seeing Lhyra’s questioning look, she hesitantly explained her laughter. “It just struck me that the situation is like a TV… um, a play I like to watch. It’s about a lady who got tired of being an evil warlord. She walked away from her army and ended up befriending a girl who was a simple sheep herder. Together, they go on adventures and help people in need. Along the way, Xena, the ex-warlord, teaches Gabrielle, that’s the sheep herder girl, how to defend herself. And Gabrielle teaches Xena how to be more laidback and civilized.”

Lhyra bent down so she was face to face with Willow. “We are not going around helping people like a couple of paladins.”

For some reason, Willow wasn’t put off by Lhyra’s actions. Giving the gnoll a big, beaming smile she said, “No… no, I’m using them as an example that two,” here she waved a hand, pointing back and forth between them, “very different people can become good friends!”

Lhyra stared at her for several seconds and then, much to Willow’s astonishment, the gnoll spread her arms apart for a hug. “Come here.”

Willow threw her arms around Lhyra’s thick hyena like neck - and let out a little squeal of startlement when Lhyra stood up, hugging Willow firmly against her chest.

Willow’s feelings of joy were badly deflated when Lhyra said, “Wrap your legs around my waist and hold on tight if you don’t want to fall.” With that order given she turned and began climbing the large oak tree while Willow held on with her eyes tightly closed.

Willow didn’t understand her disappointment at the real reason for Lhyra’s embrace.

CHAPTER 5

A Journey of Discovery…

Willow steadfastly refused to look down as they made their way through the large, interconnecting tree branches far above the forest floor. Once the two of them reached the level Lhyra had aimed for, Lhyra set Willow down and gave her some pointers on traveling along the branches.

For once, knowledge didn’t infect Willow with excitement. She stayed right where Lhyra had put her.

Lhyra, though, had no patience for that. She called over her shoulder to a frozen Willow, saying she wouldn’t wait for the red head once she reached the ground.

That was how Willow found herself wishing she had claws like Lhyra had on her four-toed paws as she made her way through the branches. She wasn’t a forth of the way across (though Lhyra was thirty feet farther along), yet Willow found herself soaked with sweat and the soles of her feet were scraped and raw from the bark underneath them. Willow admitted to herself that it wasn’t as bad as she had imagined it would be. There were enough smaller branches around for her to grab onto - with a white-knuckled grip, of course. As long as she didn’t look down, she could almost convince herself she really wasn’t that high up.

Willow noticed Lhyra stopped at the mid way point, the trunk of another large tree. Since Lhyra had warned her not to get too close, Willow started to slow down. But when Lhyra noticed her actions, she waved for Willow to continue on. Willow figured that meant the branches near the trunk were thick enough to support both their weights.

Once Willow had drawn near enough, Lhyra asked in a low voice, “Have you ever hunted?”

Shaking her head, Willow said breathlessly, her throat tight with fear and her memory of Lhyra’s orders not to talk loud, “No.”

“I take it, then, you don’t know how to skin and butcher fresh kills, either.” Lhyra’s tone of voice made it more of a statement than a question.

Willow silently confirmed Lhyra’s statement with another head shake as she moved up close to the tree trunk, feeling grateful for the small reprieve from the terrifying journey through the treetops.

“Willow, above you is squirrel nest. I want you to climb up and tell me if there are any young within it,” Lhyra said.

Taking a deep breath as she tried to still her quivering limbs, Willow gripped several smaller branches within her reach as she leaned back to look upward. All she could see was a hole in the side of the tree about ten feet up. “You mean the hole up there?”

“Yes,” Lhyra replied.

“OK.” Willow she planned her route carefully. With the short trip across the tree branches under her belt, climbing ten more feet up along the tree trunk itself didn’t seem so bad. After silently giving thanks that it wasn’t windy, Willow began making her way up. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lhyra shadowing her. There were several branches located near the hole, allowing her to wedge herself firmly in place with her bare legs wrapped around the uncomfortable, bark-covered limb. Feeling more secure, she looked inside the shadowy interior - after the last nine months in Sunnydale, Willow had grown leery of what could be hiding in dark places.

Instead of some kind of demonic monster, though, Willow found five adorable little faces staring at her in curiosity. “Oh, they’re so cute!” Willow exclaimed as she felt her face softening from the cuteness factor.

“Hand me one,” Lhyra said with a hint of distaste in her voice.

“Won’t I get into trouble for disturbing the nest?” Willow asked, turning toward Lhyra as she remembered an incident with a park ranger and some baby bunnies when she was younger.

Flicking both ears in irritation, Lhyra asked rather sharply, “Trouble from whom?”

Willow blushed in embarrassment; she had actually forgotten where she was for a moment. Or, more to the point, where she wasn’t. “Sorry,” Willow mumbled and glanced away from the gnoll. Hesitating only briefly, she made herself reach in the hole and gently grasped one of the young squirrels. She then pulled it out, speaking softly to it.

“Give it to me.” Lhyra stood with her legs braced against two large branches that forked out from the main trunk, gripping the trunk itself with one clawed hand. The other she held out for the young mammal. Willow envied the unconcerned ease Lhyra exhibited as she stood on the limbs so very high above the ground.

Carefully, Willow leaned over to hand the little squirrel to Lhyra.

Once Lhyra had the youngster in her hand, she said, “Now watch closely.”

In puzzlement, Willow did as instructed as Lhyra wrapped her hand firmly around the squirrel’s body, leaving only its head and shoulders visible and sticking out of the top of her fist. Seeing how scared the little squirrel was, Willow opened her mouth to say something…when Lhyra grabbed the little furry head with her other hand and snapped its neck with one deft twist.

Willow cried out, “Oh god! What are you…”

“QUIET!” Lhyra growled out fiercely as her russet main puffed up in anger.

Willow flinched in fear as she silently berated herself for forgetting she really didn’t know Lhyra at all. For some unknown reason, Willow found it strangely easy to relax around the large gnoll. Like when she’d first met Buffy - or Xander, for that matter. They seemed to click, and Willow admitted to herself there was a lot of clickyness going on between her and Lhyra. It made things even worse when something happened to remind Willow of whom (or what) she was with.

“Remember! We are to be quiet, for there are many of creatures within the woods that would be a danger to us. What am I doing is simple.” Lhyra held up the dead squirrel. “This is food, and I’m teaching you how to hunt and kill it. Or are you going to back out on our agreement already?”

“Bu… but I can’t,” Willow whined as tears trickled down her cheeks. Vampires were one thing, but cute baby squirrels were something altogether different!

Lhyra took Willow by surprise when, with a guttural oath, she roughly hauled Willow off her perch, scraping the red head’s inner thighs on the tree bark in the process. With a handful of Willow’s deer skin coat held tightly in her hand, Lhyra slammed Willow into the tree trunk hard enough to make her gasp in pain.

Willow stared into Lhyra’s blazing yellow eyes which, absently noting they were filled with an animalistic rage. Lhyra’s ears were laid tightly against her skull and her main puffed out from the top of her head all the way down her neck. Panting in sheer terror, something Willow had read during Xander’s possession by the hyena spirit came to her. Using all her will power, Willow followed the directions of that text, closing her eyes and looking away. She tilted her head so that she exposed her throat to the gnoll’s large and sharp fangs.

Willow didn’t know how long the tableau held, but gradually she felt the tight grip Lhyra had on her loosen. Her feet finally resettled upon the tree branches. Lhyra’s hot breath washed across her cheek and the gnoll leaned in to speak softly into her ear. “You cannot imagine how hard it is, the constant struggle against my gnoll nature. Tell me, with your magical knowledge of my people’s language… do you know the other meaning the word slave has?”

Still keeping her eyes closed (though Willow now felt that the immediate danger was passed), Willow answered quietly, “Food.”

“Yes, and I bet you can guess why, can’t you, Willow?” Lhyra growled softly into her ear, causing a violent shiver to run through Willow’s slight frame.

All Willow could do was nod her head in reply; she didn’t trust herself to be able to speak at the moment.

“Can you tell me what tantekurash means?” Lhyra asked in a sibilant whisper.

“Soul-breaker,” Willow replied.

“Do you know what that means?” Lhyra asked. She continued to talk after Willow shook her head. “I would capture the slaves myself, or my tribe would bring them to me. Either way, it would be up to me to break their spirits. Crush their hopes with everlasting despair. And I would do this terrible deed with happiness in my heart. I was very good at it, you see. Do you know how I earned the title?” This time, she went on without waiting for Willow’s reply. “I went out and captured a female human and her son of about seven summers. It took a lot of work, but I kept the tribe from eating them and I worked on the mother. She finally broke, and to show the tribe just how good of a tantekurash I could be, I had her carve up her still living son and feed him by hand to the chieftain.”

“No,” Willow whimpered. She didn’t want to believe what Lhyra told her, but in her heart, she did.

“Oh, yes, the spectacle caused such a reaction with the tribe that they descended upon the mother - and ate her alive as well. That is the life of a gnoll, and that is how I have lived for my fourteen summers of life. You should be grateful…” Suddenly, Lhyra paused and turned her large canine head away.

Willow heard Lhyra take a series of deep breaths as if she was trying to calm down.

After several minutes, Lhyra said more gently, “Stay here.” Once Willow had a firm grip on some nearby branches, Lhyra quickly and silently made her toward the squirrel nest.

Willow huddled against the tree trunk, pulling the deer skin over her head like a hood. Now that she had some privacy… she began to cry with silent, gasping sobs from fear and the pain from her scratched thighs.

She didn’t know how long she remained that way. After a while, though, she ran out of steam and came to a stop. Her head pounded and her nose was stuffed, but strangely, she felt better. Well, maybe only slightly better. It was something, at least. Slowly Willow raised her face as she pulled her improvised hood off, looking around, she found Lhyra crouched on a large branch very close to her. Willow couldn’t help flinching a little at the gnoll’s proximity, even though she felt that Lhyra didn’t mean her any harm… at the moment.

Making sure she didn’t look Lhyra in the eye, Willow held herself still as she waited to see what Lhyra would say or do. Out of the corner of her eye, Willow saw Lhyra’s unreadable expression and heard her tired sigh.

Finally, Lhyra said softly, “It’s OK now to look at me.” She waited until Willow met her yellow eyes before continuing. “How did you know to submit when I was in a rage?”

Willow liked her lips before answering. “A friend of mine got possessed by the spirit of a Primal Hyena, and I did a lot of reading about hyenas. I remembered reading that.”

Lhyra’s eyes widened slightly and she flicked her ears in startlement. “I will admit never having heard of that happening before. Maybe tonight, after we make camp, you can tell me about where you are from?”

Willow saw the peace offering for what it was and readily accepted it. “I would be glad to,” she replied with an almost natural smile.

Lhyra returned the smile with a simple nod. “Willow, you need to understand that I’m trying to treat you in what I understand to be a civilized manner, but I’m finding it very hard not to slip back into the role of master and slave.”

Willow grew thoughtful at Lhyra’s admission; she could tell it had been very hard for the gnoll to say what she did. An idea slowly crystallized in her mind, and, with only a slight hesitation, Willow asked, “How are gnoll chieftains elected?”

Lhyra gave a small bark of laughter before replying, “There is no election; if you want to be the chieftain, all you need to do is fight and kill the current one. That way only the strongest leads the tribe.”

“I hope I don’t hurt your feelings, but… are gnoll tribes a lot like hyena or wolf packs in how they interact and stuff?” Willow needed to know if her idea had any merit.

Lhyra gave her a fang-filled grin. “Trust me, it’s hard to hurt a gnoll’s feelings. Yes, we are very close to our hyena cousins - enough so that some gnolls refer to their tribe as a pack.”

“OK,” Willow said, and then she took a deep breath as she decided to commit herself to her hopefully not so hair brained idea. “I think what we need to do is to find a happy medium for us. Give you back a sense of normalcy in your life.” On seeing the puzzled - yet intrigued - expression on Lhyra’s face, Willow clarified, “maybe you can look at us as being like a baby tribe. You’re the chieftain, and I can be your follower slash servant, but not slave! I know we have already agreed on traveling together and who will teach who what, but this will give you a sense of familiarity, and truthfully I’ve pretty much always been a follower all my life,” Willow finished with a bashful smile.

Lhyra appeared to contemplate Willow’s idea for some time, and, just when Willow started to fidget with nervousness, she spoke. “That is a very good idea, but I will tell you this, Willow. You mustn’t question me when I tell you to do something. That is viewed as a direct challenge to a gnoll’s right of leadership. And this forest is a very dangerous place. Any hesitation on your part in following my command could be deadly for both of us.”

Willow nodded slowly. “About questioning your orders… After the situation is resolved, can I ask you why you told me to do that? I can learn from that. And what if we are just discussing options? Can I ask question then?

Willow could tell Lhyra was becoming a bit irritated at all her questions, but she still responded, dark humor coloring her voice. “I take it this is something friends do?”

“You mean making compromises?” Willow asked with a hint of humor in her own voice.

“Yes…” Lhyra gave a shrug as if to say ‘what the hell’ and then went on. “As for your questions… You may ask afterwards about my reasoning. When it comes to ending a particular discussion or disagreement, I will follow in my old chieftain’s tradition. When I say enough, then you know the discussion is over. If you still dispute my decision, either keep quiet or leave.” The last part was said with such finality that Willow plainly heard it and understood.

“OK.” Willow eased herself into an upright position with a hiss of pain from her abused thighs.

“I have injured you,” Lhyra said, hearing Willow’s hiss of pain.

“When you pulled me from the branches, I scraped my legs pretty bad on the bark.” Willow flexed each injured leg to see if the injuries would hinder her mobility.

“Can you make it the rest of the way?” Lhyra asked.

Willow nodded her head. “Yeah.”

“Good,” Lhyra replied. “We will go slowly, and I’ll wait at the end so to carry you down.” She turned and resumed her journey across the last segment of branches.

Willow sighed tiredly before making her own slow trek in Lhyra’s wake. She was filled with dread at what kind of future was most likely in store for her here in this world and with her rather volatile companion. Strangely enough, though, she found a bit of comfort in the terrifying trip over the forest floor. It helped to distract her from the almost overwhelming despair that lurked in the back of her mind.

CHAPTER 6

Welcome to my world…

After the two of them had made it across to the target tree that would take them to the ground, Lhyra wasted no time in getting Willow to the forest floor to check her legs.

Willow’s right leg had escaped with the least amount of injury; it was the inside of her left that bore a nasty scrape, starting just below her privates and ending midway between her knee and ankle. This was the leg that had been dragged across the branch when Lhyra had pulled her off so abruptly.

Willow was mortified. Lhyra had stormed off to get some kind of plant for the wounds, after reminding Willow to remain silent. Now Willow sat at the base of the tree, the bottom half her coat open and her legs spread apart - letting the world know she wasn’t wearing any panties. Slowly and painfully, she picked small pieces of bark embedded in the abraded flesh of her right leg.

She had just removed the last piece of bark when Lhyra suddenly emerged from the surrounding woods with surprising quietness for someone so large. Held within one of the gnoll’s large hands were several leafy stalks of some unidentifiable plant. Well most plants were unidentifiable to her, Willow silently admitted to herself. She was a city girl!

“Here; take a good look at this. It is called blood-nettle,” Lhyra said as she handed Willow one of the plants. “The sap helps stop bleeding and fights infection. It also numbs the wound for a long while. One other thing…the sap covers the blood odor from any wound.”

Willow studied the plant in question, trying to take her mind off the fact that Lhyra literally had her nose up close and personal as she sniffed along Willow’s wounded leg for some reason. Lhyra then leaned back and began to gently shred the leaves and stems of the blood-nettle plant with her claws. She did this with all of them except the one Willow held; that one Lhyra told Willow she could keep to study and use later.

“Willow,” Lhyra said as she showed her some of the shredded plant remains, “do you see what I have done to them?” After Willow nodded, Lhyra explained further. “You want to take enough to fit into your hand like this.” Lhyra held up her large hand, the palm piled with shredded plant matter, for Willow’s perusal. “You also need something to bite down on to muffle the sounds of pain you will be making,” Lhyra said seriously, much to Willow growing dread.

Thinking only for a moment Willow quickly stuffed the folded back section of her deer skin sleeve into her mouth. At least that way, she would be biting the leathery inner side, rather than the hairy outer side.

Once Willow was ready, Lhyra made a loose fist with her clawed thumb pointing down toward Willow’s leg. “Watch.”

Willow stared as the muscles visibly bunched under the short fur covering the gnoll’s arm as Lhyra squeezed her fist tightly, crushing the shredded plant within it. Soon, a clear liquid began to seep out and run down her inverted thumb to splash on Willow’s abused skin.

When the first drop hit her flesh, Willow understood Lhyra’s wanting her to have something to bite down on… PAIN!

Eyes immediately tearing up, Willow’s bit savagely into the deer hide held between her teeth to muffle her screams. It felt like Lhyra had poured rubbing alcohol on her scraped leg, and Willow instinctively tried to jerk her leg away. Lhyra must have expected this, though. With lightning quickness, the large gnoll grabbed Willow’s ankle with one hand. “Hold still! Do not let the pain conquer you!”

It took all of Willow’s willpower to remain still as Lhyra splattered the stinging sap from the blood-nettle plant all over her scraped leg. She watched through fiercely watering eyes as Lhyra, after squeezing out the last of the sap, tossed the crushed plant remains under a nearby bush. The large gnoll then used the same hand to evenly spread the sap over the wounds. This action caused a new wave of pain to wash over Willow, and she bit even more deeply into the hide stuffed into her mouth.

Finally, it was over. Lhyra knelt to once again sniff Willow’s legs, probably checking that the sap covered any blood smell.

With a huff of apparent satisfaction, Lhyra sat back on her hunches and stared at Willow with a hint of amusement. Dazed from the pain, Willow didn’t understand Lhyra’s mirth - until Lhyra’s yellow eyes flickered toward Willow’s mouth.

That’s when Willow became aware, much to her embarrassment; she was still biting down rather hard on her deer hide sleeve. Blushing, she unclenched her aching jaw. The wet hide bore deep indentations from her teeth as it slid out of her mouth.

Lhyra grasped Willow’s arm and made a big production out of examining the teeth marks. “I will have to make sure not to get bitten by you,” Lhyra said in a dry and yet humor filled voice.

Willow weakly snapped her teeth in reply before looking down at her legs, noticing for the first time that the pain seemed to be rapidly fading. She flexed one then the other.

Lhyra interrupted Willow’s inspection by handing her one of her boots. “It is time for us to be going. I don’t believe my tribe is still following, but I do not want to take the chance. With you along, we will most likely have to move during the day from now on.”

“OK,” Willow replied a bit distractedly as she tried to find an unscraped section of leg around which to wrap the cord that held her boot up. She finally settled on a spot just below her knee, tying the other boot the same way so they would match. Once done, Willow used the tree behind her to pull herself up off the ground. And, after a few hesitant steps, she found that though her legs ached, the scrapes themselves weren’t painful at all. Looking up at her tall companion, Willow asked, “Are we heading directly to Waterdeep?”

“No,” Lhyra replied as she removed one of her two waterskins and handed it to Willow. “This is yours.”

“Thanks.” Willow gave Lhyra a big smile before taking a long drink, ignoring the odd taste of the water. Afterward, she draped the long cord over her head and one shoulder so her hands were free.

As Willow prepared to resume their journey, Lhyra continued to speak. “To the south, there is a small trading town that sits where the Heartblood River leaves the High Forest. We will go there to sell the furs I have and buy supplies. After that, we will head north and then west, back through the High Forest, circling around the Heartblood River and traveling between the Lost Peaks and the Star Mountains. After passing between the mountains, it will take another seven days before reaching the edge of the forest and the lands controlled by Waterdeep.”

Willow stared up at Lhyra in shock. “Just how long of a journey are you talking about?”

Lhyra shrugged as she began walking away. “Anywhere from two to three weeks.”

“But,” Willow exclaimed as she quickly followed the large gnoll, “I can’t be gone for that long! My friends will think I’m dead or something. Couldn’t we take a boat down the river? Wouldn’t that be faster?”

“No.” Lhyra abruptly changed the subject, letting Willow know that particular conversation was over. “Willow, what kind of weapons are you familiar with?”

“Well… I’ve shot a crossbow a few times, and I swing a pretty mean stake.” Willow was too dazed to pester Lhyra for more information. She was too busy grappling with the enormity of the journey that lay ahead.

“A stake?” Lhyra asked in puzzlement.

“Yeah,” Willow distractively replied.

Smack!

The slightly painful blow to the back of her head took Willow completely by surprise, causing her to stumble violently forward. She turned to give Lhyra a dirty look but quickly found herself quelling under the gnolls fierce glare.

“Pay attention!” Lhyra growled, narrowing her yellow eyes in irritation as she raised and flexed the clawed hand she had used to strike Willow. “Or the next time I will treat you like an unruly cub.”

“Sorry!” Willow ducked her head, fearing the threat of more corporal punishment.

“A stake?” Lhyra repeated herself; though, this time it was more of a statement than a question.

“Oh… yeah. You see Buffy would usually stake the vampires herself, but sometime she let Xander and me stake one after she beat it up.” Willow kept a wary eye on Lhyra’s large hand as she explained.

“So you don’t actually know how to fight?” Lhyra ask with a hint of dismay.

Face flushing with a combination of shame and embarrassment, Willow sadly answered, “No, not really. I mainly help Giles in researching stuff. Need a prophecy looked up or want to know how to kill a particular demon, I’m the girl to turn to.” Willow finished her statement in a forced, upbeat tone; she didn’t want Lhyra thinking poorly of her.

“Who is Giles?” Lhyra asked quietly as her eyes scanned the surrounding forest for any signs of danger. She wanted to end the conversation soon; the High Forest wasn’t a place to be distracted by idle talk. Yet, she needed to get an idea what kind of skills Willow had to offer, and in what skills Willow needed training.

“Giles is Buffy’s Watcher. He trains her to fight, and he knows a lot about demons and even spells. It was from his books that I put together the spell to use this Holy Symbol,” Willow answered with a bit of pride in her voice as she tapped the Holy Symbol that hung around her neck.

“He sounds like a Sage,” Lhyra said.

Willow thought for a moment and then shot Lhyra a beaming smile. “Yeah, that describes him really well.”

“And that makes you his apprentice.” There was something akin to admiration in Lhyra’s voice.

Willow’s smile grew even bigger at Lhyra’s words. “I guess you could say that.”

“So,” Lhyra said as she shot Willow a look that made it clear this was more of a command than a suggestion, “that means you won’t have a problem learning what I am going to be teaching you.”

Willow’s smile left her face and her stomach dropped around her knees. “I guess you can say that, too.” She had a feeling Lhyra was going to be a very hard taskmaster.

Several hours later…

Lhyra glanced at Willow as they made their way through the dense wood. The small human made for a somewhat humorous sight, with her deer hide coat and footwear. A light drizzle had started not too long ago, forcing Willow to pull the deer’s head up over her red hair as a hood, tucking the nose up underneath the hood to keep it from drooping in front of her eyes. The deer’s ears gently bobbed with each step Willow took.

In one hand, Willow carried a crudely made short spear that Lhyra had fashion from an oak sapling. She had jokingly told Willow to treat it like a two-handed stake; Lhyra’s comment had earned her a surprised a smile from the red head. Lhyra had made sure to show Willow some very basic moves with her improvised spear before moving on. She was quite pleased with how fast Willow had picked them up, even though the human had admitted to spending a lot of time watching Buffy being trained with a quarterstaff.

As they traveled south, Lhyra pointed out the few medical plants that they came upon, which explained the several bundles of plants now tucked under Willow’s rope belt. Willow asked Lhyra if, after they made camp, she would be willing go over what each plant qualities were and how to use them in more depth.

Lhyra readily agreed, much to her surprise.

Once again shooting a covert glance at the human, Lhyra thought about the easy way the two of them fit together. Lhyra knew if any of her old pack mates had come across Willow, she more than likely would have been eaten. After, of course, the males would have finished using her as a mating toy.

Even with the change in her outlook, Lhyra felt some trepidation at how she had willingly accepted Willow’s companionship, though. In fact, she wondered if the red head had cast some charm on her. But Lhyra dismissed that line of thought after remembering the incident in the tree tops when she had lost her temper with Willow. If she had been under some charm spell, it would have been broken by her attack on Willow.

Movement out of the corner of her eye jerked Lhyra’s head around to see a blue fur monstrosity erupt from the underbrush about fifty feet away. Even as she began to charge the creature, letting fly one of her throwing axes which Lhyra quickly replace with another from her belt Lhyra cursed herself for becoming distracted. She cursed more when the throwing axe was knocked aside by one of the numerous furry arms.

Lhyra recognized the creature; it was a Tall Mouther. Its ape-like head measured roughly four feet across, with a huge tusked-filled mouth almost splitting it in half. Oddly enough, there was neither a neck nor a body under the head. Instead, six fifteen-foot long arms splayed out, supporting the grotesque head. The gangly limbs allowed it to move with surprising speed and gave the creature the ability to strike at its foes before they could get close enough to counterstrike.

With those facts racing through her mind, Lhyra gambled and, at the last minute, threw herself into a tumble across the ground under the creature’s flailing fist. Her backpack hindered Lhyra slightly as she rolled desperately under the Tall Mouther.

Several of its huge fists struck the ground with terrible force, missing her by mere inches.

Once Lhyra was out from under the creature, she surged to her feet and swung both her battle axe and second throwing axe at the back of the Mouther’s immense head. The sharp blades left fearsome gashes with yellowish bone showing through.

The Tall Mouther spun with a roar of pain and anger, a barrage of fists waving at Lhyra. Luckily, only a few glancing blows landed. After that, the two of them began a grim dance, with Lhyra desperately trying to dodge the multiple fists and the Mouther’s tusk-filled mouth lunging her way.

Lhyra’s luck eventually ran out. One of the Tall Mouther’s fists got through her defenses, striking Lhyra a hard blow to her abdomen, leaving her dazed and wheezing for breath.

Immediately taking advantaged of Lhyra’s distracted state, the Tall Mouther large head swooped down to bite at the arm holding her battle axe. Lhyra threw her head back, roaring in pain as the large tusk ripped through the flesh and muscles of her arm.

Then, to her surprise, the Tall Mouther released her arm with a look of startlement on its beastly face. The horrid smell of burning fur tickled Lhyra’s sensitive nose and she noticed small flames licking the side of its huge head.

Lhyra swung her throwing axe, scoring a glancing hit on one of the long arms. A shriek of mingled rage and fear came from behind the Mouther and Lhyra saw Willow charge forward and hit it from behind with her short spear. Even though Willow wasn’t able to get in any other good hits, her efforts were enough to keep the foul creature distracted, allowing Lhyra to finally finish it off.

The Tall Mouther’s oversized head hit the ground with a loud thump, giving out one final exhale before dying. Looking over the carcass, Lhyra watched a very pale and wide-eyed Willow standing on the other side, gasping for breath, bloody spear held firmly in her hands.

Before Lhyra could say anything, Willow noticed Lhyra’s wounded arm; the red head gave a soft cry of alarm and rushed around the dead creature.

“You’re hurt!” Willow said as she hurried up and took the battle axe that Lhyra still weakly held. She propped it against a nearby tree before reaching for Lhyra’s backpacks straps. “Here, let me help you take that off.”

Lhyra watched in amusement as Willow literally staggered from the weight of the backpack before sitting it beside Lhyra’s battle axe. Lhyra also found the little “Eek!” of surprise amusing when Willow saw the squirrel’s carcass hanging from the backpack’s underside.

Lhyra allowed herself to be gently helped to the ground as Willow fussed over the wounds on her arm. “Do you have a first aid kit?” Willow asked.

“You mean a healers kit?” Lhyra asked in turn; although, she felt fairly positive she knew what Willow had meant. It was so interesting, though, to see this rather commanding yet tender side of the human.

“Yes, a healer’s kit.” Willow started cleaning Lhyra’s injuries by squirting water on them from her own waterskin. Lhyra couldn’t help feeling impressed by how meticulously Willow was being.

“No, that’s what the plants are for,” Lhyra answered. She wasn’t about to admit to Willow she had forgotten to pack the needle and cord for stitching in her rush to leave the tribe. Lhyra also wanted to see how Willow reacted to the lack of a proper healing kit. Lhyra had earlier guessed that Willow came from an upper class family from her physically softness. Right now, Willow was acting calmly, not put off in the least by the sight of Lhyra’s wounds. This struck Lhyra as odd, considering how squeamish she had been over killing the baby squirrel.

“OK, I guess I can use the needle and thread from the sewing kit instead.” Willow didn’t speak again until she had finished removing any debris from the wounds. “Blood-nettle first and then stitching?”

Nodding, Lhyra replied, “Blood-nettle first but before you start stitching, I need you to take my battle axe and cut off the lower half of one of the Tall Mouther’s arms.”

“Why?” Willow glanced at the large corpse before turning a puzzled and horrified look toward Lhyra.

Lhyra gave her a fang-filled grin. “Because I’m hungry.”

CHAPTER 7

Harsh lessons…

“Now see how this set of prints overlaps, the older ones and how sharp they are compared to the others?” Lhyra pointed the tracks out to Willow. Earlier, after getting her arm stitched up and filling her stomach with meat from the Tall Mouther, Lhyra had decided to back track to the creature’s lair in hopes of finding some treasure. Lhyra had made it into Willow’s first training session in tracking.

While Willow stitched her arm with very tight and even stitches, Lhyra questioned her about the burn damage the Tall Mouther had suffered. Willow rather shyly explained that, while researching the spell to power the Sune Holy Symbol, she had read several other spells in the process. She explained to Lhyra that she had wanted to get an understanding of how spells were put together, their code as she called it. One of the spells allowed the caster to throw a mini ball of fire. Willow had also studied the ability to maximize and empower spells so that they packed more oomph than they normally did. Having never cast the spell before, imagine her surprise when she had cast her supercharged spell and an actual flame had shot out of her pointing finger to strike the Tall Mouther on the side of its head! Willow admitted that she had come close to missing the creature entirely; she didn’t think she actually needed to aim the spell so precisely.

With further questioning, Lhyra learned that when Willow cast the spell, she had felt a wave of fatigue strike her that had made her feel rather light head for a moment. Willow almost shamefully admitted that she still felt very tired and strangely bruised all over, as if she had pulled several all nighters. Lhyra told her that she had heard of spells that exhausted the caster, forcing them to rest until they had regained their strength.

Another surprising thing Lhyra learned was that Willow still retained the spell, and she thought she had the energy to cast it a few more times. When Lhyra asked Willow if she felt like she could put more power into the spell the next time, Willow replied she thought that if she tried, she would pass out with. Lhyra found this fascinating. She had heard of a very rare breed of spell casters called sorcerers who didn’t have to restudy or pray to regain any spells they had cast - unlike wizards, clerics, and druids. Even Lhyra, when she had spells, had to pray to her Demon Prince after casting them her ranger spells.

Lhyra told Willow about her suspicions and Willow was pleased. In fact, she seemed almost ecstatic that she wouldn’t be such a dead weight for Lhyra like she had feared since learning about the length and breadth of the journey ahead of them. Much to Willow’s apparent dismay, Lhyra assured her that she would ensure Willow would be a contributing partner in their travels…no matter what.

Lhyra had already decided to begin training Willow in the skills of a ranger. Even with all of her formable skills, Lhyra knew she would be hard pressed to provide both food and protection for Willow. And, if they wanted to keep a reasonable pace, Willow needed to be prepared for any kind of wilderness excursion. This was another reason they were slowly backtracking the Tall Mouther’s trail; Willow needed equipment, and Lhyra feared the money she would get from her collection of furs wouldn’t be enough to cover the expense.

Signaling for Willow to halt, Lhyra was pleased to see red head immediately come to a fairly quiet stop. Apparently, it only took one smack to the forehead to teach Willow to split her attention between tracking and her surroundings. Leaning close, Lhyra whispered as she pointed at some squat evergreens trees with a distinctive olive-green tint to their needles, “Willow, see that group of pine trees ahead?”

Willow nodded silently.

“Those are Laspar trees and see how their branches actually hang to the ground?” Lhyra spoke softly.

“Yes,” Willow answered with equal softness.

“Good.” Lhyra continued her lesson. “There are three things you need to remember about them. One, they make very good hiding spots or lairs because their branches droop down, making a fairly large hollow around the base of the trunk. Anyone or anything hiding there is practically impossible to spot. The second thing is that their wood makes poor campfires; its sap causes the flames to spark and crackle loudly. Finally, you can rub Laspar needles over yourself to hide your scent for a while.”

“OK,” Willow replied slowly; then she pointed at an area at the side of the tree where the needle-laden tree branches met the ground. “That evergreen bush is all wilted; you think that’s the entrance?”

Lhyra gave Willow a fang-filled grin of approval. “Yes, see how the Laspar’s branches drape themselves over the bush? Remove the bush and you have a tunnel leading to the underside of the tree.”

“So,” Willow excitedly said as she pointed with more animation, “all you have to do is pull the bush out of the ground and put it back after crawling in or out. Hmm…” Willow looked intently at the wilted evergreen bush. “I really don’t know much about evergreens, but I’m guessing, from the looks of that bush, it hasn’t been too long since it was uprooted.” Willow looked at Lhyra from under her long lashes, searching for any hints she was right or not.

Much to Lhyra’s surprise, she found herself reaching over to ruffle Willow’s hair, getting a quiet “Hey!” from the human. “Very good guess; it takes several days for that kind of bush to look so wilted and that would coincide with how the Tall Mouther looked.” Lhyra waited patiently. Even after the short amount of time she had spent with the human, Lhyra knew Willow loved to ask questions.

She didn’t have to wait long.

With a puzzled frowned, Willow asked, “What do you mean: how the Tall Mouther looked?”

“It had freshly healed wounds that were caused by weapons, blades, and arrows. Willow, you should always study your kill to learn from it.” Lhyra glanced around for any sign of trouble as she continued her explanation. “From the carcass, I could tell all of the wounds were in the front; the only ones in the back were from you. That means whoever it had attacked was most likely killed. If the Tall Mouther had retreated, there would be a good chance of wounds on its back. That’s why we’re going to explore the lair. The Tall Mouther would have taken several of its kills there to eat. Any equipment or treasure on its meal should be left.”

Willow nodded, showing that she was paying close attention to Lhyra’s words. “If we find any victims’ personal belongings, how do we go about returning the stuff to the family?”

Lhyra closed her eyes, shaking her head at Willow’s misunderstanding. “Great, I’m stuck with a Paladin wannabe.” When she reopened her eyes, Lhyra gave Willow a no-nonsense look and growled. “There will be no returning of any kind. What we find is ours and no one else’s. And that is final.”

“But…” Willow said in protest.

“Enough!” Lhyra snapped as her mane slightly rose, displaying her aggravation. Seeing Willow flinch and look away in submission satisfied Lhyra that Willow finally understood this particular discussion was at an end. As if nothing had happen, she said, “Willow, you will wait out here while I check out the lair; there is a chance there could be another adult or youngling within. I doubt it; however, it’s best not to take chances. Come over here. I want to show you how to use the shadows to hide yourself.”

Lhyra led Willow to a nearby tree with a leafy bush growing beside it. She walked Willow through how to find the right spot, one that offered a good vantage point and concealment. Before heading toward the lair’s entrance, Lhyra told Willow to throw a rock at the Laspar tree to get her attention if she saw anything coming. She left her backpack with Willow, ordering her to bring it when Lhyra signaled the all clear.

************

Willow clutched her short spear tightly as she watched anxiously as Lhyra made her way to the Laspar tree. It amazed and fascinated her how such a large person could blend into the dappled shadows and move so quietly. Willow winced at the memory of just how noisy she herself had been while walking through the wood.

Of course, Willow mused, she didn’t think she was as bad now. Lhyra had taken the time to show her how to watch where she stepped and how to place her feet to lessen the noise. Any loud noises Willow made after the lesson earned a painful smack to the nearest body part from Lhyra. Willow knew she had bruises forming under her deer hide coat. “Though,” she ruefully admitted to herself, “the harsh punishment had forced her to pick up that particular skill rather fast!”

Willow mad herself look away from Lhyra’s graceful figure; the last thing she wanted was some monster sneaking up on her while she was woolgathering. Though, Willow made sure to check on her gnoll companion’s progress from time to time - That last part proved hard to do because Lhyra seemed to disappear into the underbrush.

After what seem like forever (though was more than likely no more than fifteen minutes), Lhyra reached the entrance. She spent several more minutes listening before finally removing the uprooted evergreen bush. Drawing two of her throwing axes, Lhyra peered into the opening and entered the tunnel through the pine boughs.

Willow nervously kept her eyes and ears peeled while waiting for Lhyra to reemerge from the Tall Mouther’s lair. She really didn’t like being left alone like this; the littlest noise made her jerk in fright, and her eyes ached from the strain of trying to see if there was anything ominous hiding in the shadowy underbrush around her.

Willow breathed a sigh of relief when Lhyra exited the lair and gestured for her to come over. She reached for Lhyra’s backpack – and dropped it back to the ground with a grunt. It was heavy! Glancing in Lhyra’s direction for help, Willow was disappointed to see she was busy gathering fallen limbs for what would probably be for a campfire.

With a huff of irritation, Willow turned and gave the backpack one of her fiercest scowls. Receiving absolutely no reaction from the pack, another course of action was clearly needed. First, Willow wrestled the pack around until she could squat and poke her arms through the straps. Then, with another grunt of effort, Willow stood and was appalled to discover she remained bowed over from the weight of the pack.

Using her short spear as a walking stick, Willow, legs trembling from strain, began her very slow trek to Lhyra. Remembering her lessons, she made sure to watch her step so there was the least amount of noise. When Willow finally she approached Lhyra and the pile of fallen branches by the lair’s entrance, she struggled to set the heavy pack down quietly - under Lhyra’s very amused gaze.

Willow remained in a kneeling position as she caught her breath, feeling the sweat covering her body and longing for a nice, relaxing shower.

She didn’t have long to rest, thought, before Lhyra called to her. Willow felt her stomach do a flip-flop; the dead bodies of the young squirrels were laid out in a neat row. Her stomach dropped even more as Lhyra held her dagger, hilt first, to Willow. “It is time for you to learn how to skin your kills,” she said with a fang-filled grin

CHAPTER 8

The Dead Have No Need of This…

“Three hundred and seventy eight gold pieces,” Willow said, looking up at Lhyra from the pile of money. Actual gold pieces. Pieces of gold. There were also two smaller piles of silver and copper bits. Lhyra and Willow sat inside the Tall Mouther’s lair, hidden under the branches of the laspar tree. A small, but most welcome, fire burned in a pit Lhyra had dug out. Scattered around them was the treasure Lhyra had found - and for Willow, it was an eye opening experience about what to expect in the future.

Earlier, after Lhyra taught Willow to skin and gut the squirrels (the deed caused Willow to become sick to her stomach, much to Lhyra’s amusement), she explained that recovering treasure from monsters was one of the ways people collected wealth. People even banded together to form adventuring groups and well… went on adventures.

As Willow watched quietly, Lhyra gathered up the gold to put away in one of several sacks they had found in the lair. She thought back to what else had happened during the late afternoon and early evening hours. Once Willow had finished with the squirrels, Lhyra had immediately eaten three of them. Raw, of course. And then she had shown Willow what to gather for kindling. Willow had hunted down some birch bark and dry moss as instructed.

That’s when Lhyra had explained the next part of Willow’s lesson. Lhyra had prepared a small unlit camp fire for Willow inside the lair. If Willow wanted to cook her food, she had to first learn how to start a fire using flint and steel.

After several painful attempts - one of which left Willow with a nasty cut on one finger, she had gotten a small spark to grow into a flame. Willow scrambled into the lair to light the wood for the camp fire. The small fire allowed Willow to cook her two squirrels while Lhyra searched the lair, gathering all of the treasure into one large pile for Willow to organize later.

Willow asked if Lhyra wanted a small burning branch for light to help her in the dark part of the lair. Since the lair circled the entire tree trunk, a section of it remained unlit. But Lhyra turned down the offer, explaining gnolls were able to see in absolute darkness in black and white.

Once the squirrels were done - actually overdone, since Willow had burned them slightly to ensure they were fully cooked - she tore into them with a vengeance. Even remembering the cute little faces and the act of skinning them didn’t do anything to lessen the hunger that had overtaken her after smelling the meat cooking. Much to Willow’s dismay Lhyra had even made Willow eat some of the bones, for Lhyra thought that Willow was to thin, thus needing all the nutrients she can get. The few leftovers Lhyra took for herself.

Lhyra put the money away after dinner and they turned their attention to the rest of the treasure. It consisted of a metal longbow covered in green leaf-like patterns. There was also an empty longsword scabbard, a belt with a pouch containing a wet stone, a skinning knife, a comb made out of some dark hardwood, and flint and steel. Lhyra had been particularly interested in an empty quiver, which was divided into three unequally sized compartments. The quiver had a green fletching arrow embroidered on it that Lhyra identified as the symbol of the Elvan god Solonor Thelandira. The final item was the shredded remains of some Elvan leather armor which Lhyra told Willow they would save for patching her own armor.

Willow leaned over to pick up the metal long bow; she couldn’t get over the fact that the bow’s top and bottom limbs resembled a sword blade. Suddenly, she got an idea - that the bow somehow folded into a sword. But but searching for some kind of switch turned out to be a waste of time. Holding the bow by its grip, Willow tried to imagine what it would look like as a sword.

To her surprise, she found that imagination wasn’t necessary. With scarcely a whisper, the metal bow turned into a longsword! With an “Eep!” of surprise, Willow dropped the sword, letting it fall to the laspar needle-covered ground. Willow heard Lhyra grunt at what had happened, and then she leaned forward to eagerly scoop up the blade. “I have heard of these!” Lhyra growled in wonder.

“What is it?” Willow asked as she leaned in to stare at the sword, resting a hand on Lhyra’s fur covered arm without thinking about it.

“It is called a Swordbow; they are a very rare, magical item of the elves. As you see, it can…” With a flicker, the sword turned back to the stringed metal bow and just as quickly returned to the sword form. “…quickly change from bow to sword with a thought. I have heard they can carry other enchantments that allow the arrows to fly truer and strike deeper than a normal bow, and the enchantments also carries over to the sword form.”

“Wait,” Willow said as she grasped Lhyra’s large wrist and leaned even closer to look at the underside of the crossguard. “There’s some kind of writing.” Not recognizing the oddly attractive and flowing script, Willow turned to Lhyra and asked, “Can you read what it says?” As she gazed up at Lhyra, Willow blinked at the way the firelight cast its warm glow, giving Lhyra an aura of dark beauty. Disquieted by her thoughts - and recalling vividly the reason she had been sent to this world - Willow shook herself, switching her focus to what Lhyra was saying.

“No, I cannot read it,” Lhyra stated as she flicked her ears back in slight consternation. “Though, I do recognize it as Elvish.”

“Hmmm, I wonder what it says. I can tell that the first word on both sides is the same… see?” Willow ran her finger under the two words in question.

“Yes, yes, I can.” Lhyra paused a moment before handing the blade to Willow. “Here, you needed a weapon, and now you have one.”

Willow stared at Lhyra blankly. Finally, though, she grasped the hilt tightly. Making sure to hold the sword away from Lhyra, she surged up enveloped a very stunned Lhyra in a huge hug. “Thank you,” Willow mumbled into the furry neck. She felt Lhyra stiffen at first before she relaxed and even hesitantly patted Willow on the back.

Releasing Lhyra from her hug, Willow sat back down and experimentally swished the sword around. “Lhyra, I’ve never used a sword or a bow before.”

“I will teach you,” Lhyra replied, watching Willow handle the longsword. After a moment, she lightly tapped Willow on her bare knee. “Willow, hold the sword straight out before you.”

“OK; though, I don’t know how long I can keep it straight.” Willow could already feel the strain in her arm from wielding the weapon.

After several moments, Lhyra said, “Grasp the hilt with your other hand.” Lhyra quietly observed as Willow followed her instructions; she had noticed that the sword’s hilt was slightly longer than most. Reaching over, she gently shifted Willow’s hands into the position she wanted. “Hold the hilt like this and tell me how it feels.”

Willow swung the sword in several short arcs before replying. “Better; it doesn’t feel as heavy or awkward like it did when I just used one hand.”

“Good,” Lhyra said. “I will teach you how to fight wielding it with two hands at first. Once you get more strength in your arms, I will show how to fight one handed, too. Now, turn it into the bow and show me how far you can pull the string back.”

“OK.” Willow stood up; there was enough space close to the trunk of the laspar tree for her to do this. After changing the sword into a bow, she drew the string back, holding it with three fingers, like she had seen in movies. Willow was happy to see that she could pull the string even with her ear, and, judging by Lhyra’s expression, so was she.

Imagining that she was firing an arrow, Willow let go of the string and had to stifle a yelp of pain from the friction burn as the string scraped one of her fingers and scrapped along the cuff of her coat sleeves. “Ouch!” Willow shot the bow an aggrieved look and tried to ignore the soft hyena-like chuckles coming from Lhyra.

“The skin of your fingers will toughen as you train.” Lhyra let out a longer chuckle before she continued with a fang-filled smile. “You will toughen as I train you, Willow!”

“Well, poops!” Willow said in trepidation as she plopped down beside Lhyra. Shifting the bow back into a sword, Willow slid the blade into the scabbard and set the scabbard down. “Any idea why this has three compartments?” Willow asked, picking up the quiver.

Lhyra took the quiver from Willow and grew thoughtful as she turned the quiver in her hands. Suddenly, her ears perked. “Willow, hand me your spear.” After taking the spear, Lhyra selected the largest compartment and slowly slid the weapon into the quiver. “Yes.” Lhyra hissed in pleasure as she watched the spear continue disappearing into the quiver, even beyond the point that it should have been stopped by hitting the quiver’s bottom.

“Oh wow! That is so cool!” Willow exclaimed as watched in amazement.

“Cool?” Lhyra asked in puzzlement as the top of the spear vanished into the quiver.

“Yeah, cool. Ahh… it means that something is really neat,” Willow explained as she reached over to hesitantly poke her finger into the empty quiver. “Where did it go?”

“Go? It is right here,” Lhyra said with a grin as she made a grasping motion with one clawed hand over the quivers opening. Much to Willow’s surprise, the spear point emerged from the quiver into Lhyra’s hand. The gnoll passed it and the quiver to Willow. “You try it.”

“Thanks!” Willow eagerly began to slide the spear into the quiver like Lhyra had done. “I take it you know what this is?”

“Yes, it is called the Quiver of Solonor Thelandira, another magical item created by the Elves. All I know about it is that the smaller compartment can hold many arrows; though, I don’t remember the exact number. The medium sized section can hold several javelins or similar items, and the largest opening will hold spears and even long bows. To remove an item, all you have to do is to think of it.”

“Oh! I see!” Willow copied Lhyra’s hand movements, imagining the spear reappearing in her hand. It did just that. Once she had finished withdrawing the spear, Willow started to hand the magical quiver back to Lhyra.

“No, it is yours; you need it more than I do. This will let you carry many arrows without weighing you down. You are…” Lhyra reached over, unexpectedly pushing Willow over. “…kind of weak.”

“Why you!” Willow giggled as she sat back up. Once upright, she attempted to push Lhyra over with all of her might. All she managed to accomplish was pushing herself over again.

Lhyra didn’t budge an inch.

Letting out a huff of mild irritation, Willow stared up at the pine boughs above her head. “OK, I get your point; I guess I need to exercise more.”

“More?” Lhyra replied sarcastically.

Pushing herself upright (again), Willow said crossly, “I’ll let you know, missy, in gym class I can do twenty push-ups and sit-ups without breaking a sweat… mostly.”

Narrowing her yellow eyes in puzzlement, Lhyra asked, “What are push-ups and sit-ups?”

Turning over onto her stomach, Willow said, “This is a push-up.” Willow then did three push-ups before turning over with her knees bent and her hands behind her head and did three sit-ups. “And these are sit-ups.”

“Ahh… I understand now. You say you can do twenty of each easily?” Lhyra asked with interest.

“Yeah…” Willow replied a tad apprehensively; she was beginning to have a sinking feeling about where this conversation was leading.

“Obviously, you are not doing enough. Starting tomorrow morning, and every morning afterwards, you will do thirty push-ups and sit-ups.” Lhyra’s no nonsense tone brooked no argument.

“Dang, I did it again!” Willow muttered, slapping her hand over her eyes, referring to the other times her boasting to Lhyra had backfired. Desperately wanting to change the subject, Willow thought of something she had been wanting to ask Lhyra but hadn’t had a chance until now. “Lhyra, did I understand you right? You’re only fourteen years old?”

“Yes,” Lhyra replied, slightly puzzled; she could tell Willow appeared amazed about her age.

“But that means, you’re just a kid!” Willow gestured at Lhyra as the gnoll easily towered over her even in a sitting position. “A really big kid.”

Cocking her head in amusement, Lhyra answered, “A gnoll is considered an adult at the age of nine; most gnolls rarely live beyond thirty years. Although, females are known to live slightly longer.”

“But that means you only have like sixteen years before…” Willow’s voice trailed off as she looked down at the ground. She had trouble comprehending living such a short amount of time.

Lhyra hooked a finger under Willow’s chin, gently forcing Willow to look up at her. “You barely know me and yet the thought of my passing brings you pain.”

Willow shrugged in embarrassment. “Yeah, it does. I mean we really seem to hit it off. Maybe a bit more physical hitting than I would like.” Willow shot Lhyra a small smile while rubbing her arm where she knew a bruise had formed from a particularly hard smack she had received earlier.

Flicking her ears in amusement (Willow was amazed how easy it was becoming to read Lhyra’s expressions), Lhyra leaned back against the laspar thick trunk. “I admit I find myself enjoying the time we have spent together today more than I would have imagined.” Lhyra grew pensive again. “You see, in the past, I taught several of the youngsters. With gnolls, it’s a constant battle to keep them focused and make sure they don’t attack me when my back is turned. But with you… you want to learn, and you ask intelligent questions, and… and I trust you.” Lhyra shook her head in wonder. “I shouldn’t; it goes against my gnoll heritage. Yet strangely enough, I do trust you.”

Willow grew a bit teary eyed at Lhyra forthrightness. Even in the small amount of time they had spent together, Willow could tell Lhyra wasn’t comfortable with opening herself up. Reaching over, she took one of Lhyra’s large hands into both of her own. Meeting Lhyra’s slitted yellow eyes, Willow earnestly said, “And I trust you, I admit there are times you scare me, but now I don’t feel that you would harm me in a bad way.”

They were silent for several moments, each lost in thought at the revelations that had been made. Lhyra was the first to break the stillness. “Willow, tell me about where you are from.”

Smiling, Willow did as she asked. “I was born and grew up in the town Sunnydale, California. What I didn’t know until about nine months ago, is that it is built on top of what is called a Hellmouth. A Hellmouth is…” Long into the night Willow told Lhyra stories about meeting Buffy and her subsequent introduction to the world of the supernatural. Neither of them noticed that Willow never let go of Lhyra’s clawed hand.

Later…

Deep in thought, Lhyra stared down at Willow who lay snuggled up against her chest, fast asleep. They lay on Lhyra’s cloak, Lhyra on her side, using her backpack as a pillow. Willow had her head resting on Lhyra’s outstretched arm. The heat from their bodies and the now smoldering campfire made the space under the laspar boughs comfortably warm.

Hesitantly, Lhyra reached over with her free hand and gently brushed aside a lock of Willow’s hair, allowing her see Willow’s profile more completely. As her eyes traced the delicate features, Lhyra thought back to what she had learned about the region from which Willow hailed.

One thing that had become very apparent was that human’s were the dominate race, with the only other race being the demons that hid in the shadows. Lhyra was astounded to learn that there were no Elves or Dwarves. Not even Orcs. To Willow’s people, they were simply myths. Even the demons that skulked amongst the humans were believed to be legends, something to scare the children with. It was hard for Lhyra to comprehend.

Lhyra did understand why the demons hid from humanity, though. They were weak compared to the ones Lhyra was familiar with. It made her wonder just how far away Willow’s home really was. She slowly traced the curve of Willow’s ear with a claw as her mind wandered. Lhyra had greatly enjoyed talking with Willow; the red headed human offered her something Lhyra never had with any of her tribe.

Intelligent conversation.

And that wasn’t something one could find in a tribe of gnolls. Aside from the slaves, of course, if they had been taken from the more intelligent races such as humans and elves. Amusingly enough, one of the reasons Lhyra so enjoyed her work as the tribe’s tantekurash was the knowledge she gained from the slaves she broke.

Earlier, when she had told Willow about the other gnolls’ comments about her having some human ancestry, Lhyra hadn‘t mentioned the other things they would whisper behind her back. Whispers about her being part flind, a being akin to a nobler species of gnoll. Though shorter and broader of shoulder, flinds were stronger and smarter than the common gnoll. They weren’t completely ruled by their basic instincts as her people were; though, they could be just as vicious. Combine with their intelligence and strength; it explained why flinds always ended up leading the gnoll tribes they were part of.

Lhyra knew that before she was born, her former tribe had been led by a small family group, called a teenogur, made up of flinds. Flinds looked at their lesser cousins as no better than talking beast and would never think of mating with one. It wasn’t possible that one had deigned to choose a female from the ranks of common gnolls. Plus, Lhyra assured herself, she didn’t have the rounder ears or the raised forehead of a flind, even if she did act like one in thought and manner. Instead of elevating her to a higher status within her tribe, it made the other gnolls jealous and uneasy of her.

Feeling sleep finally overtaking her, Lhyra laid her head down on her backpack and pulled Willow more tightly against her larger frame, subsequently getting a murmur of contentment from the red head. Thinking back to their discussion, Lhyra mirthfully admitted to herself it was nice not to have to resort to torture anymore for stimulating conversation.

CHAPTER 9

Welcome to Waukeen’s Rest…

“So that’s where we’re headed,” Willow thought as she and Lhyra perched uncomfortably high (for Willow at least) up in a large tree. The tree itself was located near the edge of the High Forest. Off to their right, a large river cut a huge swath through the thick forest as it exited the wood to meander its way across the plain that spread out ahead of them.

Past the wall of trees bordering the High Forest, small clumps of trees spread out before them. Mixed with the tall, waving grasses of the plain, a town (fort?, Willow wondered) rose up from its spot atop a small butte, and the river that Lhyra had called the Heartblood River flowed nearby. Lhyra had explained to Willow that deeper in the forest the water actually turned red in color as it passed the ruined city called Karse.

Even this high up, the two of them couldn’t see over the town’s wooden palisade walls except for a few roof peaks and chimneys with smoke slowly drifting into the cloudless sky. Willow estimated the palisade stood several stories tall, with small towers adding another story of height where they anchored the corners. A few more spaced along the wall, and - if she was guessing correctly - another two towers bracketed a gate on the far side of the fort. Judging by how close the two towers were, Willow estimated several football fields would fit inside of the town

Willow saw several wooden docks jutting out into the wide river; though, only one was currently occupied by a barge. From the barge, a small line of single-horse drawn carts made their way to and from the barge to the town. Seeing no other structures down by the docks, Willow figured it was too dangerous to build anything else close to the river. She simply couldn’t decide if it was due to flooding, monsters, or both, though.

Turning to Lhyra, Willow asked, “What’s the name of the town?”

Lhyra replied, “Waukeen’s Rest. It is named after the Goddess Waukeen, who sees over trade and such. The Church of Waukeen actually heavily invested in the building of the town, thus a large part of the local merchants are followers of her. There is also a temple dedicated to Waukeen in the center of town.”

“I guess you been there before then.” It seemed a logical conclusion to Willow.

Surprisingly, Lhyra shook her headed “No, I gain the knowledge from several slaves I broke that were from there.”

“Oh.” Willow tried not to think too much about Lhyra had done in her past. The reminders made her…uncomfortable.

“Come.” Lhyra began climbing down the tall tree. Willow followed; though, at a slower pace. Unlike the trees earlier, this one had many branches shooting out from the main trunk that allowed Willow to traverse it without Lhyra’s help. Even so, Willow didn’t like how high they had climbed.

Once on the ground, Willow waited as Lhyra put her camouflaged cloak away in the bottom of her large backpack. Lhyra then paused for several minutes at the edge of the wood, a barely noticeable nervousness in her expression. Just as Willow opened her mouth to ask if she was OK, Lhyra took deep breath and boldly walked out onto the wide, open grassland.

Seeing how Lhyra kept glancing worriedly up at the sky, Willow asked as nonchalantly as possible, “Have you ever been outside of the forest?”

“No,” Lhyra gruffly replied.

“Oh,” Willow said quietly. That explained Lhyra’s obvious discomfort. To distract Lhyra, she asked, “Hey, do you think there will be many people who can speak gnoll in there?” Willow pointed at the fort with her short spear.

“No, very few people learn gnoll.” Lhyra glanced down at Willow. “Why do you ask?”

Willow gave Lhyra timid smile. “I’m just wondering how I’m going to talk to anyone.”

Lhyra came to an abrupt stop and her ears shot straight up in startlement. Finally, she resumed walking. “I had not thought of that; just about everyone speaks the merchants’ tongue.” Lhyra sighed in minor displeasure. “I suppose I will have to translate for you, but…” Lhyra fixed Willow with a fierce look. “You must choose your questions wisely, for I will only translate for so long.”

Willow’s smile widened at the news. “Thanks!” Then a new thought occurred. “Hey, what’s the merchants’ tongue?”

“It is a simpler language that most people know; another name for it is Common,” Lhyra explained.

“You think maybe you can teach me a few phrases, like hello and I don’t speak Common before we get to the town?” Willow asked.

“Sure.” Lhyra replied.

Sadly, Willow didn’t see the mischievous look in the gnoll’s yellow, slitted eyes.

**********

Captain of the Guard Shagold Strifeminer made his way through the muddy streets of Waukeen’s Rest to the main gate located in the southern wall, following one of the guards who had come to him stating about a situation at the gate that needed his attention. An outside observer would see a shield dwarf who stood about four and a half feet tall and, like others of his race, boasting a broad chest and wide shoulders covered with thickly corded muscles. His skin was lightly tanned and the hair that he wore in a warrior’s braid down his back and that made up his neatly trimmed beard was a light brown. His breast plate and battle axe were engraved with a bronze mask with its eyeholes filled with flame - the symbol of his dwarven god Gorm Gulthyn, the dwarven god of defense and watchfulness. He who was the guardian of all dwarves.

Once the gate came into view, Shagold found his steps slowing in surprise. Standing just outside of the main gate, as bold as a brass dragon, was a gnoll. The gnoll had its arms crossed while it looked around in apparent ease, even though it was surrounded by the town guard. Shagold glanced up, noting with approval, that the tower guard weren’t paying attention to was going on below. Instead, they kept their eyes trained on the grassland out beyond the wall.

As he got closer, Shagold caught a glimpse movement beside the gnoll. At first, he thought the gnoll actually had a younger gnoll with it, but then he glimpsed a flash of pale skin and red hair. The girl was either human or half-elven and, judging by her clothes, most likely a slave. He felt a touch of surprise, though, at the sword strapped to her side.

The town’s mayor, who also held the office of High Priestess of the Temple of Waukeen, had been very clear that she wanted to open trade with the inhabitants of the High Forest. But Shagold didn’t think she had trading with a pair of filthy beasts in mind!

Shagold continued his perusal of the girl. She’s clearly human, he finally decided, and she looked through the gate into the town and at the passing town people in amazement. “Girl acts like she had never seen a town before… curious,” he thought as he walked up to the gate watch commander.

“Sir!” she said, saluting him by placing a clenched fist over her heart and snapping to attention. By Gorm, Shagold loved running a tight watch.

“I understand you have a situation, Commander?” he asked, returning the salute.

“Yes, sir. The gnoll wishes entry into the town to sell some furs and to buy equipment for both her and her pack-mate.” Shagold could hear the skepticism in the gate commander’s voice.

“The gnoll actually called the human her pack-mate?” If this was true, the human might be one of those cursed kryshtantel, savage souls in Abyssal, the language of demons. They were people who became either deranged from being a slave of the gnolls or a person who actually believed they had a spirit of a gnoll inside them.

After getting a nod, Shagold grunted in disgust before stomping the rest of the way over to the two newcomers. Right away, he noticed the human girl wasn’t used to wearing a sword at her side. She kept bumping it with her arm. He came to a stop with a bit of space separating them. Not out of fear. Shagold simply didn’t want to crane is neck looking up at the large gnoll. He opened his mouth to begin questioning the gnoll when the human woman interrupted him.

“Well met!” She said in oddly accented Common, giving him a big, friendly smile.

“Ahh… well met,” Shagold said a bit hesitantly, thrown off by her rather enthusiastic welcome. It was not how he imaged a kryshtantel would act. She seemed so damn friendly!

“Name?” he asked her in a gentler tone than he had planned to use; although, it was still gruff.

She gave a blank look at his query and glanced up at the gnoll, growling something in a questioning tone. The gnoll snarled something back that made the human exclamation in apparent understanding before turning back to Shagold. “Name… Willow Rosenberg.”

“She does not speak Common,” the large gnoll said surprisingly well in that same language.

Switching his gaze from Willow (what kind of name was that?), to the gnoll, Shagold asked, “What language does she speak?”

“Gnoll,” came the droll reply.

Shagold was actually disquieted by the seemingly civilized gnoll. If it wasn’t for the rough made clothing and armor he had seen countless times on gnoll raiders, he would have believed the gnoll was raised by non-gnolls. “Are ye sure she’s your pack-mate and not your slave?” Shagold asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.

The gnoll gave him a fang-filled grin. “Yes.”

“We’ll see abo…” Shagold was interrupted again when Willow squealed. He twisted his head around to see what she was pointing at with such an adoring look on her face as she excitedly barked and whined at the gnoll beside her.

All Shagold saw, though, was his old adventuring friend Tramorn Beestinger, a halfling who led the handful of rangers who scouted the surrounding wilderness for any dangers to the town. Tramorn was even shorter than Shagold, standing just under three feet; although slender in build, the halfling was quite strong and agile. He wore leather armor dyed a dark green and carried a short sword and a compound short bow. Shagold was happy to see him for two reasons. One, Tramorn had a particularly strong dislike for gnolls and had learned everything he could about the vile race. Second, Shagold knew the small halfling spoke the gnolls’ language.

Shagold divided his attention between the girl and gnoll, who were barking and growling at one another, and Tramorn who he saw had a very puzzled expression on his face. Clearing his throat to catch Tramorn’s attention, Shagold asked, “Can ye understand what they’re baying about?”

Quickly glancing away from the gnoll and girl to look at Shagold out of the corner of his eye, Tramorn replied, “Oh, I understand them alright. I’m just trying to comprehend what the young woman is talking about.”

“Why? What is she saying?” Shagold watched the human apparently finish her conversation with the gnoll and stare at Tramorn with a look of embarrassed fascination.

“Well, she thought at first I was a child dressing as an adult and that I looked very cute in my costume!” Tramorn said in dismay.

Shagold had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from saying something to set Tramorn off. Now wasn’t the time. He would wait for later. Tramorn continued talking. “When the gnoll…” He didn’t even try to hide his disgust. “…identified me as a Halfling, she replied that she thought halflings were fat and had big, hairy feet!”

Shagold lost it. He roared with laughter, ignoring the kicks to his armored shins from the cursing and irate halfling. “Hahaha… ohh… stop that, the hairs on your feet are… hehe… tickling me!” That set off another round of cussing and kicks from Tramorn, but the two of them eventually calmed down got back to business.

Gesturing for Willow to come closer (which she did after getting permission from the gnoll), Shagold had Tramorn translate for him. “Listen, Willow. The gnoll says you are her pack-mate, not her slave. Waukeen’s Rest is what we call a free town, and if you really are her slave, we will protect you from the gnoll and grant you your freedom.”

As Shagold waited patiently for Tramorn to translate his words to the girl, he kept a wary eye on the gnoll. He had spoken loud enough for both his guards and - most especially - the gnoll to hear what he had said. Shagold felt a bit disheartened at the very lack of negative reaction from the gnoll. The only thing the creature did was smirk at him.

Even though he didn’t understand gnoll, Shagold understood Willow’s emphatic head shake and the way pointed at the gnoll with a big smile. She barked her response to Tramorn as well - and then Willow took everyone by surprise by hugging the gnoll!

The gnoll bore the hug stoically; though, Shagold could almost swear there was a bit of embarrassment leaking through its beastly visage.

After letting go of the gnoll, Willow resumed her fast-paced talking. She sounded like an excited puppy under a Haste spell. The tone of her voice suddenly turned inquiring, and Tramorn replied with a nod, after which Willow knelt on one knee to point at the underside of the crossguard of the longsword strapped to her side.

Shagold didn’t hear what Tramorn said. He was too distracted; as Willow leaned over, her deer hide coat parted slightly, allowing an amulet to slip out. Shagold immediately recognized it as a very finely crafted holy symbol of Sune made from precious metals.

“Godsspit!” Tramorn uttered the curse with admiration as the girl hurried back to the gnoll.

Her action caused Shagold to ask, “What?”

After letting out an irritated huff, Tramorn looked up at him. “Well, first off the girl Willow says her and the gnoll are friends, and that they are traveling to Waterdeep together. She, Willow that is, wants to visit what I guess would be the Temple of Beauty in Waterdeep, and Lhyra, that’s the gnoll, wishes to see the world.” Tramorn shook his head. “Willow claims Lhyra has turned away from her people’s evil ways and wishes to learn about civilization.”

“That caused ye to curse?” Shagold asked.

“No, she asked me if I could read elven, and when I told her yes, she got me to read out loud the inscriptions on her sword.” Tramorn appeared chagrined. “She was so smooth I didn’t even think till afterwards that I just told her most likely how to activate any magical abilities the sword carries.”

“That one has a honey tongue on her then,” Shagold stated.

“Oh, she’s a sweet talker alright. The damndest thing is, I can’t decide if she meant to trick me or not,” Tramorn replied.

“How about her story? Ye think she’s telling the truth?” Shagold asked his old friend.

“Aye. Her accent, which I personally haven’t heard before and you know how far we travelled in the past, says she’s from a faraway place. Also, though I’m loath to admit it, I can’t imagine the common gnoll being patient enough to befriend her just to get a look inside of here,” Tramorn said with a resigned sign.

Shagold sighed as well. “Wait here.” He approached the gnoll and said in a no nonsense voice, “Listen here, gnoll. I’m letting the two of ye in here, but mark my words… ye bring any harm to the townspeople, and I’ll personally skin ye and hang ye above the gate here!”

The gnoll Lhyra laid her ears back and growled out, “I will defend myself, dwarf, but otherwise I will comply.”

“Well, just make sure ye are defending and nothing else!” With that said, Shagold gestured for the guards to step aside as he motioned the gnoll and the human girl into the town. “Welcome to Waukeen’s Rest,” he muttered sarcastically.

As the two newcomers passed through the gate, Willow spun around and called out in Common, touching the Sune amulet with one hand and waving with the other. “May the whore Goddess grant you great sex!” Waving one last time, she hurried to catch up with the gnoll’s large strides.

In the shocked silence that followed, it was easy for both the guards and Shagold to here Tramorn’s quip. “Aye, she’s a Sunite alright!”

CHAPTER 10

For want of a Mall…

Like a tourist, Willow gazed around in wonder at Waukeen's Rest and its inhabitants. She noticed the buildings mostly were constructed of wood; though, there were a few built from stone. The architecture varied, but all of the structures seemed constructed of thick walls and doors, as if to withstand a siege, similar to the pictures of revolutionary war forts she had seen in her history books.

In the center of town sported what, to Willow's eyes, appeared to be a cross between a miniature fortress and an old European bank. Resting above the double doors was a huge gold-colored coin, at least eight to ten feet across, with a woman's face in profile on its surface. A wide swath of steps led away from the doors down to the ground where a large bazaar sprung forth in a multitude of booths.

Willow was astonished at the people, too. Or, more accurately, all of the different races who manned the booths and who made their way in the crowded area between the stalls. While most of the people were human, Willow saw several more Halflings and Dwarfs, plus what Lhyra identified as Elves and Gnomes. Willow was chagrined to see that, as with the Halfling from the gate, her idea of what a Gnome or Elf looked like was a bit off.

The legends of gnomes Willow had grown up with described them as short, with long noses. The real life Gnome was short - just a bit taller than the Halflings - and broader in body width than the fictional gnomes. They had normal sized noses. In fact, they looked like miniature humans with pixie features.

The Elves were the closest to what Willow had seen watching Japanese anime with Xander. Their ears were as long as their hands, unlike the Tolkien Elves who had smaller, human-sized ears.

Willow even saw a few other larger and more beastly looking races Lhyra told her were Half-orcs. Judging by the tone of Lhyra's voice, she didn't really like orcs that much.

The style of clothing varied as much as the people themselves. Some wore shirts and pants - mainly the men, though quite a few women were dressed similarly. Others wore robes of various styles, furs like the barbarians that graced the covers of fantasy books, or armor. The armor came in such a dizzying array of styles and materials that Willow found herself at a loss about what to call most of them. Although, she did recognize plate armor and chainmail and a suit made from leather.

And then there was the sheer number of weapons that Willow knew would have Buffy drooling. Overall, it made her think of a Renaissance Fair with a heavy fantasy theme.

One thing that the authors of the few fantasy books she had read seemed to have left out, though, was the smell of unwashed bodies. Every once in a while, Willow would get a tantalizing whiff of some kind of perfume. And she noticed a lack of the smell of sewage; Willow remembered reading about how badly medieval cities had reeked of waste and garbage. Aside from the smell of the stables nearby (Willow had smelled similar odors during her trips to the Sunnydale Zoo), there was nothing rotting.

The fact that people in the town really disliked Gnolls was readily apparent, too, judging from the looks of fear and hatred directed their way. Willow edged closer to Lhyra's tall form; she envied how Lhyra seemed immune to the antagonism. Willow stuck close to her friend as they made their way through the rapidly parting throng crowding the bazaar.

After walking by what had to be every booth in the bazaar, Lhyra finally headed toward a tall wooden fence that circled a building located near the bazaar. There, Lhyra dropped to the ground, resting her back against the fencing, her large backpack resting besides her.

Before Willow could sit, too, Lhyra motioned for her to wait as she dug into her backpack and withdrew a pouch. She handed it to Willow. "Do you see that booth over there selling the bread stuffed with meat?"

"Yes," Willow replied, looking in the direction Lhyra had indicated, judging the pouch must be quite full of coins from the jingling it made.

"Go and buy me four of them and buy however many you want for yourself." Lhyra's eyes jumped from one thing to another before them. Willow figured Lhyra was nervous being in a town and facing the cold reception of the inhabitants.

"OK," Willow happily replied. The wonderful aromas coming from the stand made her mouth water and her stomach grumble. Willow was confident that with the smattering of Common Lhyra had taught her she would be able to make the purchase.

Securing the pouch to her sword belt (which still felt very odd to wear), Willow made her way to the food stand. She tried to ignore the pitying looks she received from some of the crowd as she passed by them, but she still felt very uncomfortable at the attention.

The stand itself was actually a small shed-like structure with the ovens for the bread in the back. Several cauldrons hung above a fire pit, filled with a thick, simmering, meaty stew. It was manned by a family made up of the parents and one teenage boy a few years younger than Willow. She watched as the food was prepared while waiting for the person in front of her to finish with their order. The servers took a round piece of flat bread, about half an inch thick and the size of a dinner plate, and scoop the thick meat and vegetable paste onto it, after which they folded it so to make a giant bread taco.

Once it was her turn, Willow made sure to say, "Well met," before asking for five of the bread tacos. When they told her how much Willow ran into a bit of a problem. Lhyra had taught her how to count only to ten in Common before running out of time. Willow knew the cost was in silver pieces but not how many. Blushing in embarrassment, Willow counted to ten in Common while holding up the corresponding number of fingers. The teenage boy made some kind of jeering comment that earned him a rap on the back of his head from his father; thankfully, the mother was kind enough to indicate they were asking for fifteen sliver pieces by mimicking what Willow had done.

Willow paid them with a gold and five silver pieces, remembering that a gold piece represented ten silver pieces and a silver piece equaled ten copper pieces. The woman stacked the folded bread tacos across Willow's outstretch arms thus allowing her to carry them in one trip. Willow made sure to thank them by repeating what Lhyra had taught her, "May the whore Goddess grant you great sex!" She must have mangled it somewhat, though, from the looks she received. She'd have to ask Lhyra to go over it some more with her.

When Willow returned with the bread tacos, Lhyra took four of them and, much to Willow's dismay and disgust, actually set three of them on the ground beside her as she began eating the first. With a quiet sigh, Willow sat down beside Lhyra and began to eat her own. Though Willow found the taste odd, the meat being a bit gamy like the squirrels, she liked the bread taco and soon finished it. Turning to Lhyra, Willow asked, "So what do you want to do next?"

Glancing down at Willow out of the corner of one slitted, yellow eye, Lhyra answered, "While I go sell the furs, you can take the rest of the money in the pouch and buy yourself anything you need from the bazaar. But remember, what you buy, you carry."

"Thanks!" Willow gave Lhyra a bright smile. "Where are you going to sell the furs?"

Giving her a look of mild exasperation, Lhyra said, "You need to pay better attention to what is around you; look beyond me along the wall."

Leaning out enough to see around Lhyra, Willow saw an open store front set into the wall with people lined up selling furs to the clerks behind the counter.

Once Willow leaned back, Lhyra said, "I have been listening to the prices the furs have been selling for to make sure the merchants do not cheat me."

Willow's eyes widened in surprise. "You can hear what they're saying from here?" Receiving a nod from Lhyra, Willow replied, "Wow… I wish I could hear that well."

"In time, mayhap you will." Lhyra stood up, effortlessly hoisting the heavy backpack off the ground. She helped Willow to her feet and shoved her toward the bazaar. "I will find you once I'm done; we still need to buy you some armor."

"OK." Willow gave a small wave with one hand and made her way back into the bazaar.

For a while, she simply browsed the various stalls, trying to get an idea what was for sale and what would be useful for their up and coming journey. Thinking back, Willow tried to recall the stories Xander told her about his camping trips with his uncle Rory.

"First off, I need a backpack," Willow thought. Xander had waxed rather poetic as he had shown her the backpack his uncle had bought him.

Looking around the bazaar, Willow came up empty, though. She only found stalls selling pouches. Finally, when she looked at some of the surrounding buildings, she spied a shop with a sign that actually had a backpack and a pouch with a campfire in between them. Inside, Willow saw the shop was full of all kinds of pouches and backpacks and other camping equipment.

Willow's head was instantly filled with a list of all the neat things she saw that would be nice to take with her. Then she remembered Lhyra's comment about carrying what she bought - and the list suddenly got smaller. A lot smaller.

Later…

Willow hummed happily as she walked slowly through the bazaar. Her shopping expedition had netted something truly wonderful: a tooth brush and tooth paste. Or, more accurately, tooth powder. She had stumbled across them at a booth selling soaps and other hygiene products. The tooth brushes ranged from simple strips of cloth to elaborately decorated silver toothbrushes. Willow bought a handful of wooden handled ones (which she'd used at the first opportunity) and several bags of the herbal tooth powder, all of which were nestled in a small wooden box in the bottom of her backpack. There was a second box for Lhyra, even though Willow hadn't seen any cavities in Lhyra's teeth - after getting several up close views of them, Willow should know. That aside, Willow admitted to herself her new friend did have a bad case of doggy breath.

Willow loved her backpack and hoped Lhyra would approve of it. The dark brown leather backpack was slightly larger than the one she had carried her school books in, and, aside from the single large chamber, it had several smaller side pockets. The pack was attached to frame made from some kind of black hard wood and from both the frame and pack hung multiple leather straps. Remembering a comment Xander had made, Willow made sure to pick a backpack with comfortable shoulder straps.

She had also bought what she would guessed might be called a mess kit, made up of a skillet, kettle, several wooden plates and bowls, and metal utensils. There were even leather drinking cups. She had wanted to buy some toilet paper (Willow hated using leaves). To her horror, though, this world's version was a sponge on a stick, kept in a clay jar with salt water. Willow still blushed at the pantomiming she and the merchant had gone through on that subject! She had bought two of them, one for her and one for Lhyra. That was another area of personal hygiene Lhyra came up short on cleaning; though, Willow secretly was glad Lhyra didn't clean that particular area like dogs did… Talk about EWW!

Suddenly, Willow felt herself being lifted off the ground by her backpack. "Hey!" Willow wind milled her arms and legs to no avail. When she heard a familiar hyena-like chuckle from behind, Willow immediately relaxed, going so far as to cross her arms over her breasts and ignoring the shoulder straps pulling rather uncomfortably on her underarms.

She was then twisted around, coming face to face with Lhyra, who had picked Willow up with one hand by her backpack's frame. Giving Willow a grin, Lhyra commenced bouncing her up and down before dropping her to the ground. Once Willow had straightened her deerskin coat from where it had ridden alarmingly high, Lhyra said, "I like this pack. Did they have any that would suit someone my size?"

Puffing up at the praise, Willow smiled. "Yep!" Then she grew apprehensive. "Lhyra, I ahh… bought you a couple of things that are kind of part of being civilized."

Lhyra tilted her head to the side in apparent curiosity. "What did you buy me?"

Trying to cover her nervousness and hoping Lhyra wouldn't take offense, Willow opened her mouth to explain what she had gotten and, most importantly, why.

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