Derek lay in bed, flipping through the pages, giving a slow nod; and studying the results. He added a few more drops, checked the color; and nodded again. This should be good. If it worked, he could fight side by side with Kylie, no more hiding behind her as a shield... but it was too risky to try on himself. He needed a test subject; preferably not a human one, or one who it would really matter if it didn't work right. He lay back on the bed for a bit, thinking... and nodded solemnly after a few minutes.

Cats. Dogs. Perhaps a bird. He could either catch a wild animal, or find someone with one they didn't want anymore. But.... if it hurt the creature, he'd best hide it from Kylie. She just adored animals. Too bad the devil was off doting on his granddaughter, he'd probably have no problem at all getting some beastie for him.

He sighed. He'd been in the courtyard for one of the numerous healing rituals; six so far; and it had set his legs. But they still hurt like hell, and he'd been warned not to walk for a while by Kylie; he was half convinced she was waiting for all the more critical cases to be healed so she could keep him in place. So... he focused. After a few moments, he called up a spell; this time hopefully getting it right as he chanted it, aiming to summon something to ride around... and after a few seconds... a crab appeared.

Three feet tall, four feet wide, the massive creature tottered over at his command... and he stared at it for a moment. Would this work? Not what he intended....

He decided to try it... and settled atop it, sitting down, letting the braces on his legs rest on its flat surface... and started to command it.

It... was a bit slow. Especially with him on his back. But... it worked. Now, to find an animal.

***

Walking was... a struggle. She could feel the chain, almost as if it were an extension of her limbs... but actively walking with it was an entirely different matter. At first, she tried wrapping it around her leg.. only for her grandfather to shake his head and demonstrate a few options; wrapping them around his waist, and dangling chains off each end like limbs; forming a circle at the base to act as a foot. For her, the boat anchor would serve as her 'foot'; or an oversized shoe; and after a few minutes of experimentation, she got the hang of it.. and started slowly working her way around the room. Getting her outfit and her pouches secured properly was a painful ordeal; but she managed.

Her grandfather gave an approving nod after seeing her walk out of the room and down the hallway with a series of loud thunks; and offered her a healing potion; a simple red vial. She had some, before the fight... but they'd likely either been broken, or used on someone else.

"Ugh. So how long was I out? Whats been going on?"

"Kylie woke up first, then Derek, then you. Its been a few days. With the brain in the distillery dead, the ones in all of the infected started dying off... and it hurt the victims, badly, on the way out. It was quite a bit worse than the ones that the plant-withering spell hit. They've been doing a healing ritual in the courtyard up top every dawn and dusk, and using every healing spell they have, every healing potion, every dose of that concoction you came up with they could make. For today you can do what you'd like; now that you've recovered, we're going to meet the Lord for his evening meal... get everyone healed, and get on the road tomorrow; we'll join the morning ritual there before we go, get the last hitches and pains out of you kids, then head out."

Terra gave a slow nod, continuing her loud thunking path down the hallway. "Well then. If there's an apothecary, or anywhere else selling exotic substances, I'd appreciate some directions. I think I've still got a few dozen gold left after that shopping at Hillsdale."

Her grandfather chuckled. "The Lord gave you three five hundred each. I turned down the gold, so he split mine among you three as well; and I doubt anyone here will take your coin regardless. He's got some other reward for us he'll reveal at dinner, and he implied it was something big... so don't get anything bothersome."

She sighed. "Mother sent me with the entrance fee for the Academy. They wanted more, because I was already a spellcaster before I started. I suspect that 500 would have done the job."

He gave a nod. "Probably. If you were a warrior, it would've been more. The sort of potion to undo all the work a warrior puts into building up his body, so you can get a proper foundation as a mage.... hard to make. Are you still wanting to go to the Academy?"

"I thought it would be a good way to learn new spells, make some friends, and get strong enough to use third-circle magic. But... I'm almost there now. I can feel it. Like its just barely out of reach."

"I can tell. A couple of decent fights... nothing as big as the massacre here... and you'll be trying out combinations with far more power. Every circle is dramatically stronger than the one before, you know, and from what I've seen, its more obvious in the transition from the second to the third than anywhere else. Just be careful. As you get stronger spells, a warrior gets stronger. Faster. Tougher. The Knight of Ruin mixed his spells with his swordplay; and while he was much stronger than you before he got his third-circle spells, he could also leap onto a rooftop, outrun a common horse, and smack an arrow from midair with his hand."

He chuckled. "Not sure if he could do it, but I saw a few warriors who could deflect a lightning bolt back at the caster with their sword and did exactly that. Not so much us... our group mostly used ice magic."

Terra blinked. "Ice magic? That's odd. Why ice?"

"Hell isn't all hot. Where I come from, we only keep buildings above freezing so we can drink things. On dozens of occasions I would charge up, hold the enemies in place, start strangling and breaking them... and they would rain down ice and freezing sleet. I'd be just fine. Our enemies... not so much. The Knight of Ruin only learned ice magic at all because he worked with me."

"...Huh. Me getting chain magic is obvious, of course. But why am I so strong at fire, then? Shouldn't it be ice?"

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They'd reached the courtyard; there were long rows of cots, with men; and a couple of women; laying out, most of them groaning miserably or completely silent. Dozens of buckets were scattered around, and the smell was... awful. Women in simple grey-brown dresses were walking back and forth, collecting buckets, cleaning people up... forced to treat grown men as if they were babes.

Terra looked out over them. Fifty? Sixty? There were quite a few, at least. Not as many as she'd feared. "... Are these all the ones they don't have potions for, yet?"

"Precisely. The big holdup is the venom. Anything else that could do the job? The stuff that used spider venom worked much, much better than the batch with snake venom, but they both worked."

Terra sighed. "There's a variety of poisons that cause damage to someone's head, making it hard to think, to remember. The blend was supposed to minimize the permanent harm and just cloud the memories... but it was imperfect. If we weren't in such a hurry, I would have wanted to do a bunch of tests, try different mixes...."

One of the women holding a bucket glanced up, and saw Terra... and ran forward, embracing the girl as Terra went rigid, uncertain of how to react. She left her bucket at her feet, and smiled. "By the goddess. Terra herself, hero of Rockdale. They told us what you did. You didn't just slay the beast. You gave our husbands, our sons, back to us. My Rob was just lying there like a rock until we gave him that miracle of yours. If there's anything you need of us... anything at all.. just let me know. Let any of us know!"

She didn't cling to the clumsily moving girl, as Terra kept moving with her grandfather; attracting a few stares. Her grandfather chuckled. "You wouldn't believe how many people called me a hero... and who do now, after what happened here. And if it weren't for your little misadventure, I'd be back in hell, happily torturing damned souls. Interesting, the chain of events."

Terra glanced at him. "...I wonder what one of the goddess's angels would think about this. How much good was accomplished by a devil."

He gave a low, deep laugh. "Perhaps its fate that a devil should unwittingly do good, after her angels have done so much evil. Those wings... they might have good intentions, but their feathers should drip red with the blood of their victims."

"I... never heard about that. What happened?"

"Well. Long, long ago, during the wars which were the reason so many people around here have a bit of elven blood in them, an Elf king decided he wanted to make all of his people immortal..."

***

Kylie lifted up the arm, studying it closely. Most of the mass of the fungus seemed to pass into the lungs and the stomach so that it could be ejected normally; but some of it, mostly along the extremities, just slowly oozed out through the pores, leaving the victims almost... slimy... while it worked its way out. It had already finished on those who had the withering spell used on them; but for the others, it was an ongoing process.

Thankfully, it didn't seem to hurt the victims. Just made laundry more of a chore for a while. "Keep an eye on it. It should be gone in a few days."

The woman standing beside her husband smiled. "Of course! I appreciate your... is that a... crab?"

Kylie turned... to see Derek riding on a giant crab of all things as he passed by. She sighed, and shook her head, rising to her feet. "You take care of yourself. We'll be leaving tomorrow, and your priestess can handle things from there." She patted the woman on the shoulder, smiled at the man; who still seemed dazed and confused; and stepped outside to follow the lunatic on the crab.

"Care to explain why you're riding on a giant crab down the hallway? You're supposed to be in bed til we get everyone together for the next healing circle."

Her boyfriend glanced back at her; he didn't seem to have fine enough control of the crab to actually make the whole thing turn.. "Well, I've been checking my notes and working on the elixir, and I need something else for the next step. Figured I'd head out, see if I could pick it up."

She blinked... and shook her head. "Couldn't possibly just relax for a few, could you?"

A short laugh. "Don't worry. I'm not doing anything strenuous. Just... taking a ride. You keep doing you, I'll be by later."

Kylie watched him go; struggling to keep a grip on the crab as it went down the stairs... and shook her head, slowly. He was as impulsive and absurd as he was brilliant sometimes.

***

"I know it sounds weird. But... basically speaking, I've got an elixir I want to try out. It should make whoever takes it stronger, healthier, better in just about every way. But... it might not work. So in case something goes wrong, I want to test it on an animal before a person.... and, well. I'd prefer an animal that was already sick, so if we had to put it down after, it'd be fine. The apothecary said that one of your cats was hurt, that he'd heard from several of your students about it, asking after something to heal it, but anything good for healing was already used up and sold to the Lord. Is it something he's going to recover from...?"

The woman studied Derek for a moment. She glanced at the classroom Derek had just interrupted. "...You're the one who had the spell that killed the rot inside the folks, aren't you. Helped save those people. Why are you riding around on a crab?"

"...Unfortunate incident while we killed the thing controlling everyone. Broke both legs and an arm. All of the really critical cases will be healed up by tonight, so I should be back on my feet either this evening, or tomorrow morning."

She sighed. "Well. I'm sure your research may help some other village someday the way you helped us. Yes.... I've got a cat, Lady. She's a beautiful grey, currently carrying a litter... but I don't know if she'll survive. When all that shrieking started up, my husband kicked her off the bed and into the wall so hard it hurt her head and her legs. I...she barely moves..."

Derek gave a slow nod. "Well. If this works, she'll be more blue than grey... but she'll be stronger, tougher, and heal faster. But I can't promise it will."

A slow nod. "Well then. Let me introduce you. Come along. I don't want to move her from where she's laying. Fortunately I live above the school; the cats may distract the children sometimes, but we all think its worth it."

He followed; the crab frightening the other cats, sending them scurrying into hiding as he followed her into the room, and stopped; the crab crouching down, turning more into a chair, as they reached Lady; a beautiful grey cat, lying limp and barely breathing. He reached down as if to pet her... but stopped, not wanting to hurt her further. "Such a pretty one. My girl would love a cat like her. Well."

He carefully slid out the vial. A tiny hint of blue in what was once transparent. "Just a few drops is all it should take. That bottle is enough for a 200-pound man; it'd be enough for myself, and a bunch of cats, if it works properly."

She leaned down; and carefully poured a drop on her finger; pressing it into the cat's mouth. The cat instinctively licked it... and started to twitch.

Derek set out his book on his legs, and nodded. "This may take a while. If you want to go back to your students, I'll keep an eye on her?"

The woman very gently ran a hand down Lady's spine; the cat giving a soft mew; and nodded. "Yes... do let us know if it works and she gets back up. The children really like her. Well. All the cats."

He nodded, and watched her step out; and started observing the cat, using his normal assessment spell. Something was clearly happening; the cat had a bit of an odd power signature, as was normal for a pregnant female, and it was starting to rise. Would it work? Would he have a half-dragon cat? Perhaps a litter of half-dragon kittens to follow? Kittens were already so adorable. What if they grew wings?

He was looking closely when a faint tinge of blue formed on the cat, some of the fur starting to slide free. It was working. The only question remained just how well it would turn out.