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: Thank you Rebelrsr for all of the time spent editing this chapter.
ARCHIVING: Only with the permission of the author.
Beauty and the Beast the Faerûn Way…
By Wispr
Part 15
The Lost of Innocence…
House of Gentle Repose, early morning…
The ringing of a bell intruded into Willow's dreamless sleep. Rolling over, she reached dazedly to shut off the alarm clock, thinking that it sounded odd. When her hand encountered nothing but air, and not the nightstand that should've been there, Willow nearly pitched from the bed.
With a startled gasp, Willow came fully awake, the reality of the situation crashing down on her with a vengeance.
Home had never felt so far away.
Willow took a deep breath and fought back the tears threatening to spill from her eyes. Even after a long night's sleep, she still felt bone tired. Her confession to Lhyra about her feelings preyed on her unconscious mind. She wanted to curl up under the covers and lose herself for the rest of the day in dreamless sleep.
Another bell brought Willow out of her funk. Looking up, she saw it was the bell for the front door that was ringing. During the tour of the suite, Shu Fang had shown Willow a primitive doorbell. Pulling on a cord out in the hallway would ring two set of bells. One set was located inside the suite of rooms above the double doors of the main entry. The other was in the servant's bedroom Willow currently occupied.
Getting out of bed, Willow pulled one of the lighter blankets around her naked body and made her way to the front doors. Sunlight shone through the living rooms windows, and Willow squinted against the glare.
After making sure the blanket was firmly in place Willow, opened the door a crack. One of the maids stood in the hallway with a basket of their cleaned clothes, looking relieved at seeing her instead of Lhyra. Willow breathed a sigh of happiness.
Even though she wasn't in Sunnydale (or even her world), Willow didn't invite the maid inside. She merely held the door open for the maid and placed her index finger to her lips, signaling a need for silence. She hadn't seen Lhyra. If the gnoll was still asleep, Willow didn't want the maid to wake her.
The young woman took a few steps in to set the basket down by the wall. With a slight curtsey in Willow's direction, she then began to hurry out. Willow forestalled her leaving by raising a hand, motioning for her to wait. Once she was sure the maid wasn't going anywhere, Willow trotted into her room to grab a few coppers which she gave to the made as a tip. Willow knew Lhyra was rather (ok, a lot) intimidating and wanted to try to smooth things over with the staff.
Once the maid understood that the coppers were for her, she seemed quite please with the tip and thanked Willow exuberantly.
After the maid left Willow, immediately dug into the basket to retrieve her cleaned clothes. Dropping the blanket, she quickly slid into her deer hide coat, noticing that, aside from the faint flowery smell, the fur had actually been brushed. Willow also saw they had cleaned Lhyra's leather armor; though, some of the loose bindings hadn't been fixed. Carrying both her boots and Lhyra's armor over to the couch, Willow draped the armor over the back and left her boots sitting on the floor. Even though the air had a chill to it, the hardwood floor was warm enough to comfortably walk on with bare feet.
Going back to her room, Willow did her morning ablutions and then returned to the living room. Looking out the window, she tried to judge the time of the day. Unfortunately, all Willow could estimate was that it was several hours past sunrise because the bazaar that the living room windows overlooked was already buzzing with people.
Frowning, Willow glanced at the doorway leading to Lhyra's bedroom. The few mornings they had spent in the woods, Lhyra had gotten them up at the crack of dawn. She figured that her gnoll friend was simply sleeping in, enjoying the inns peace and quiet.
Turning back to the window, Willow leaned against the sill and watched the people below her. Seeing the different races and unusual styles of clothing really brought home the fact how badly she had screwed up with her spell. She had been foolish and naïve, messing with magic like that.
She spent some time lost in thought before finally shaking herself out of her fugue. Retrieving the sewing supplies, Willow fixed Lhyra's armor. The loose bindings were easy to replace; the gaps in the armor were another matter altogether. Willow decided to use the small and very sharp knife from the sewing kit to cut the leather armor scraps that Lhyra kept into slightly larger sizes than the gaps themselves. Then, using the leather punch to make holes, Willow sewed the patches over the gaps. She didn't know if this was the proper way of armor repair but figured it would do for now.
Willow had just finished the last of the patches when Lhyra asked from behind her, "What are you doing?"
With a startled squawk, Willow bounced from where she sat on the couch. She managed to keep Lhyra's armor from sliding off her lap, but she wasn't able to refrain from knocking the sewing kit over its contents scattered across the couch cushions. After uttering an "Oh darn!" Willow looked up with a sheepish smile. "You startled me."
From this angle, Willow immediately had a perfect view of Lhyra's naked breasts. Averting her eyes, she said in a slightly choked voice, "I got your armor patched; I hope it's OK. I never patched armor before."
Lhyra surprised her by leaning over the back of the couch to observe Willow's work, incidentally bracketing Willow's head with her breasts. Willow shuddered at the touch of the twin mounds, their heat somehow seeping through her hair to her scalp. From where she sat, Lhyra's large head and snout loomed over her as the gnoll took her time checking over her work. "Looks good." Lhyra straightened, taking the armor with her and leaving a very flustered Willow to pick up the spilt sewing kit.
Willow had just finish her task when a fully armed and armored Lhyra announced, "I'm hungry; let's go eat."
"Oh, OK. Just give me a minute to get my boots on." Willow hurriedly laced up her deer hide boots after slipping them on her feet.
Downstairs…
As the two of them waited in the common room for their breakfast, Willow asked Lhyra, "What did you want to do today?"
Lhyra took a drink of her ale before responding, "We will finish buying equipment and anything else you think we may need. Tomorrow we will start your training."
"More ranger stuff?" Willow asked, curious about what Lhyra planned to teach her.
Nodding head Lhyra said, "Yes, you need to work on your stamina and weapons training. I will also continue to show you how to track and live off the land."
Blinking in surprise Willow, she said in excitement, "You're really gonna teach me how to fight?"
Willow's remark earned her a bemused look from her gnoll companion. "Of course. If we are to survive on our own, you will need to be able to defend yourself. I thought you said you and your friend Xander helped the Vampire Slayer Buffy to fight vampires?"
"Well, yeah, we did; though, mainly through research." Willow deflated a little. "I guess mostly you could say we were more like a distraction to the vampires." Willow was a bit chagrin at her confession.
"With me you will be pulling your own weight and not merely act as a distraction." Lhyra paused a moment before amending her previous statement. "I suppose if we face a large number of males, I could always have you run around naked." Lhyra nodded briskly. "Yes, that would keep them distracted so I could easily cut them down where they stood."
Willow's chin dropped in shock and her face flushed. "Tha-that… I couldn't do that! I mean, it's embarrassing enough not wearing anything under my coat." She clutched said item in emphasis. "I'm feeling wind in places that normally aren't so exposed, and let me tell you - that makes me really self conscious when talking to people. Now you're talking about having me run around naked in front a bunch of guys!" She finished with an outrage screech, half standing out of her chair.
Willow grew concerned when, instead of answering, Lhyra's ears began to flick rapidly. Willow's concerns quickly fled, though, when Lhyra threw her head back and roared with hyena-like laughter. She pounded the table with her large fists, causing Willow to hurriedly grab their drinks to save them from spilling.
Letting out a huff of disgust, Willow waited for her friend to regain her composure. She tried to ignore the irritated glares they received from the other patrons and staff. She figured if they wanted to complain, they were more than welcome to try.
"Ha ha ha…" Lhyra finally wound down. She reached over and took her ale from Willow's grasp. After draining it, she said, "You are fun to tease. Even torturing that paladin didn't bring me as much enjoyment."
Pursing her lips in bemusement, Willow took a drink of her apple cider in lieu of answering the oddest compliment she had ever received. The arrival of their food forestalled any more conversation until later.
Once they finished their meal headed they headed out to begin shopping, Willow used the opportunity to broach an idea she had come up with during breakfast. "Lhyra, can I ask you something? And please don't get offended…"
Lhyra shot her an inquisitive. "Go on."
Nervously licking her lips, Willow asked, "Do gnolls wear clothing? I mean, other than armor?"
Lhyra chuckled. "We can, if we like it. Usually, a gnoll's armor is our clothing. During the coldest months, we wrap blankets and such around us to fight the cold. As for human-style clothes, it is as I stated: some do; some don't." Lhyra cocked her head to the side in question. "Why do you ask?"
"Well, I figured since I need to get some boots and clothing, we can see about getting some for you," Willow replied.
"Gnolls don't wear boots," Lhyra said dryly. "What use would I have of clothing?"
Willow paused a moment to organize her thoughts. "What if we have company over at our apartment, and your armor is being cleaned? Wouldn't you feel uncomfortable being naked in front of stranger? And clothing helps how people perceive you - and seeing you dressed in civilized clothing may help lessen people's fear of you."
Lhyra scratched the fur under her chin. "So you are saying that dressing civilized may make people underestimate me?"
"I guess that's one way to look at it. Some may also respect you more for being civilized." Willow recalled how Lhyra put such an emphasis on how uncivilized gnolls generally were and that going amongst the civilized people made her feel a bit overwhelmed. Since then, Willow had given some thought to making things easier for her gnoll friend.
Lhyra said seriously, "Then I believe I need some clothes. What did you have in mind?"
"For you, I was thinking something like he's wearing." Willow pointed at a man in a tunic, a long shirt falling to just above his knees. Although this man had pants underneath the tunic, Willow had seen others going bare-legged. She'd also seen that some people showed a lot more leg then others did. On women, that wasn't a bad thing, but to her embarrassment, she had seen a man with something dangling into view with every step. It had been a very ewww moment for her.
Lhyra slowed as she intently studied the clothing of the man. "I like it; can I choose what color it will be?"
"I would think so." Willow tried to recall everything she had read and seen on TV about the middle ages. When it came to clothing, however, she came up short on information. Shrugging apologetically, she said, "They do things differently where I come from; I'm not really sure about the color selection."
Flicking her ears, Lhyra said, "If we can, I will choose the colors for our clothing."
"Mine, too?" Willow asked in surprise.
"Yes," Lhyra said in a no-nonsense voice. Then she glanced at Willow. "What kind of clothing are you planning to get?"
Arguing with Lhyra about colors would probably be a lost cause. Instead, Willow simply answered the question. "A pair of boots, two pairs of pants, and a couple of shirts. Plus panties and a couple bras." Seeing the expression on her friend's face, Willow explained. "I know I have to carry everything so don't worry. I won't go overboard on the buying. I hope I'll be able to find something lightweight to sleep in, though."
"Why do you need so many different kinds of clothing?" Lhyra asked, sounding truly puzzled.
Taking a deep breath, Willow launched into a detailed explanation on the many different forms of clothing and their uses. Willow found Lhyra to be an apt discussion partner; she asked smart and intriguing questions. The talk over clothing kept them occupied during the rest of their shopping expedition.
Early Afternoon, Waukeen's Rest…
Daeae moved swiftly through the crowded bazaar, searching for Steven. She hoped to catch him before he located the human girl (who Daeae now new was named Willow, thanks to a barmaid with a loose tongue) she had sent him to find.
Wanting to appease her god Mask, who loved complex and intricate plans, Daeae had thought up a devious scheme to get the magical artifact from the gnoll's slave. Daeae knew, no matter what everyone said, the girl had to be a slave from the way she fawned over the gnoll.
Steven was to take the Sune artifact from the girl when the gnoll wasn't around. Daeae didn't care if he used charm, bribery, or force. The beauty of her plan was that, if there was any kind of retribution from the gnoll, it would fall on Steven. She would be free and clear. On the off chance there was a demand for the return of the necklace, Daeae had memorized a cantrip that made jewelry appear more glamorous than it really was. This way she could return her cheap Sune necklace in place of the girl's. She'd have to be careful, though; the glamour wouldn't pass inspection by a professional. It would certainly fool an ignorant gnoll.
Daeae had convinced Steven that the very valuable amulet belonged to a High Priestess of Sune who had been lost in the high forest on some quest. She'd fearfully admitted being too intimidate by the large gnoll to try and get the holy symbol herself. Of course, Daeae knew Steven wouldn't be. She stressed, in painstaking detail, how grateful the current High Priestesses would be. They'd most assuredly show their gratitude to him personally, and everyone knew what kind of sexual deviants they were.
It hadn't been a surprise when the lecherous Steven readily agreed. He'd sealed the deal by taking her roughly before leaving for a meeting with some other merchants. His parting words had been a promise to have the amulet to her by the end of the day.
After smearing a healing unguent on the bruises Steven had left on her body, Daeae headed downstairs to the common room. She had then spent the morning talking and flirting with the customers and staff, gathering quite a bit of information about the gnoll and the human girl.
That's also how she discovered Willow's name. And where she suddenly recalled that complex and intricate plans, even her god's plans, had a tendency to blow up in her face.
Daeae had been eating lunch when a group of merchant came into the common room, laughing. Boasting and boisterous, they informed anyone who would listen about their earlier meeting with Steven. The merchants had played on his weaknesses, shaming him into leaving the meetings with repeated comments about the incident back in Waterdeep. When she overheard one merchant state he'd later seen a drunken Steven leaving one of the town's seedier bars, Daeae knew she better find him before he did something stupid.
Now, here she was chasing Steven down a side street. Daeae picked up her pace, not wanting to lose sight of him. Thus she was able to witness her grand and intricate plan go up in flames. Literally.
Willow sighed in relief as she slipped back into her deer hide coat after being measured for her new sets of clothing. Two pair of cotton pants, two cotton tunics like Lhyra was getting (though much shorter at the gnoll's insistence), and, much to her happiness, a short cotton nightgown. Again, Lhyra had insisted it be shorter than the one on display, citing the need to keep the items in Willow's pack light. Though Lhyra's explanation sounded plausible, Willow wondered if there was an alternate reasoning. "At least," Willow thought, "the cloaks we're buying will be nice and long and warm!" She really didn't like the constant chill in the air.
Oddly, odder even than the short clothes, Lhyra kept Willow in the dark about what colors she was choosing. Willow just hope they weren't going to be like some of Xander's hideous Hawaiian shirts.
As she dressed, Willow contemplated some other things she would eventually have to get used to with this world. You couldn't buy clothing off the rack; instead, everything had to be hand-made. That took time. The clothing she and Lhyra had just bought would take five to six days. And, much to Willow's dismay, there weren't any bras in this world, aside from something like a corset, which looked far too painful to wear.
"Willow," Lhyra called from the front where she talked to the tailor. He was a gnome, and he and his family ran the store. There were small and large step ladders scattered around so the short-statured tailors could climb up to measure their customers. Surprisingly, they didn't seem at all discomfited by Lhyra's looming presence.
"Yes?" Willow hurried through the curtained doorway of the private fitting room.
"Go and wait for me outside," Lhyra said, gesturing with her head toward the front door, bracketed by large windows displaying several different articles of clothing.
"You want me to wait outside?" Willow asked, puzzled.
Lhyra's ears flicked in irritation. "Yes, I have an idea about our clothing and do not want you to see. Also, give me the money so I can pay."
"OK," Willow replied, intrigue by what Lhyra planned. She handed Lhyra the money pouches, reminding the gnoll, "I still need to get some boots, and you said something about arrows for me, too."
"Yes, yes… if we run out of money we will simply go out and kill something. Go!" Lhyra said gruffly.
"OK," Willow said again, put off by Lhyra's idea on how to make money. As she exited the store, Willow thought, "Lhyra did mention before that people actually do go out and kill monsters and explore dungeons for loot." Willow shook her head. "I can't imagine trying that with vampires; it would be like grave robbing."
Some time went by and there was still no sign of her friend. Willow glanced inside the store, but Lhyra had her back to the windows, hiding whatever she was examining. Tired of standing around, Willow decided to check out a small stand just down the street selling colored ribbons.
She barely made it halfway there before being grabbed painfully by the upper arm and jerked around to face her attacker. She vaguely recognized him as the Captain guy who had been sitting with the Pirate lady at the inn the previous night. Willow tried to jerk her arm free and yelled, "Hey!" Her move didn't work; the captain simply tightened his grip, causing Willow to whimper and her eyes to tear up from the pain.
With his free hand, the man rudely poked at her Sune Amulet and muttered something unintelligible. If her eyes hadn't already been tearing from pain, they would have watered from the alcohol lacing his breath. Though her vision was blurred, Willow saw a few people beginning to gather around them. So far, no one showed signs of stepping forward to help her.
"Please, let me go; you're hurting me," Willow pleaded, not noticing she spoke in gnoll. She might have helped Buffy fight vampires and demons, but facing a drunken guy scared her in some visceral manner.
The captain snarled in disgust, releasing Willow's arm. He then grabbed her hand and shoved a handful of silver and gold piece into it that he had taken from his pouch.
Willow simply stared at the money in confusion, not realizing at first why he gave it to. When he made another drunken grab for her necklace, Willow finally understood. Unfortunately, in his inebriated state, the man missed and took one Willow's breasts in a bruising grip. Screeching wordlessly in pain and anger, Willow knocked his hand away and threw the coins back at him.
Crossing her arms protectively over her chest, Willow shouted, "What the heck are you doing? I'm not…oomph!"
The backhand blow took her completely by surprise; Willow spun several times before landing in a heap on the muddy ground. Even through the ringing in her ears, Willow heard cries of outrage from the small crowd. Then another noise drowned out everything else.
The roar of an enraged gnoll.
Willow glanced up in time to witness Lhyra effortlessly hoist her attacker high into the air using only one clawed hand wrapped around his throat. Lhyra shook him hard while he held on to Lhyra's wrist with both hands to keep her from breaking his neck. Lhyra snarling into his face, showering him with saliva, her mane puffed out to its fullest, making her appear even larger than normal.
The sight must have been truly frightening to the drunken man. Willow saw a wet stain spread rapidly across the front of his pants.
Lhyra noticed the stain, too. She stopped shaking the man. Pulling him close to her fang-filled mouth, Lhyra snarled something at him and then threw him, without apparent effort, several feet where he landed in a large mud puddle.
Turning away from the captain, Lhyra crouched next to Willow.
Before Lhyra could say anything, though, Willow saw her eyes raise, apparently focused on something over Willow's head. Whatever it was made Lhyra lay her ears back in anger. Twisting painfully, Willow look at what had caused Lhyra's reaction.
The group of Guardsmen coming their way explained everything.
Willow turned to face Lhyra again and watched, in horror, as a now-upright captain charged at Lhyra's back with his sword drawn. Willow barely had time to yell, "Look..!" before he struck Lhyra with his sword.
The force of the blow sent Lhyra to forward onto her hands and knees and sprayed Willow in a warm shower of blood.
Everything became surreal for Willow as time appeared to slow drastically. She watched as the man drew his sword for another strike, his mouth open in a silent yell.
He chose that moment meet Willow's eyes.
By its own accord, Willow's hand rose, her index finger pointing at Lhyra's attacker. Familiar words tumbled from her lips as her other fingers formed an arcane sign while her index finger remained focused on the target. A rush of fatigue passed through Willow as all her rage and fear added power to the spell. A two-inch orb of yellow and red fire, burning with unnatural heat, sprang from her fingertip and flew across the space separating her from the man.
With unerring accuracy, the flaming orb passed between the man's lips and slammed into the back of his throat. The supernaturally hot flames easily ignited the fumes from the alcohol he had imbibed earlier, causing blue fire to shoot from his mouth and nostrils. The flames quickly spread to his heavily oiled beard and hair.
For a moment that felt like an eternity, their eyes remained locked through the flames, and Willow saw the terror and pain within them. Then his eyes bulged; a loud, wet crack sounded and his partially boiled brains exploded from the back of his head to land in a steaming heap behind him.
Willow promptly fainted dead away.