Lurisa halted them with a defiant raised hand. Like an army veteran, she waved straight and to the left. A random branch with a cloth hanging off of it. Bill snatched it and handed it to Lurisa. Whirling the wind once again, it matched the ring's direction, except now with two sources the gust would track more precisely.
On the other side, finally. Lurisa and Samara hopped off and began to follow the gust again. Arthur fell over. Bill collapsed on his behind. "Come on, it's only another twenty minutes, I think," Lurisa said.
Arthur inhaled deep, "Lurisa, you're heavier than you look." Her stare, it terrified him. Her eyes became a chill blue. He recycled his statement, "No, No, gods, no. I mean for that duration of time, carrying even a feather–"
"Oh, no I see. That's fine. Hmph. And here I was going to cast a ward on you for protection because you were so kind. Here Bill." She waved her hand and a faint yellow glow hue appeared over Bill and disappeared.
Idiot. Now, she thinks I meant that. Women baffle me, Arthur thought.
I'm going to put a wind spell that will weigh me down more on the way back. Lurisa smirked deviously.
A small arrangement of houses lay on a flat land. The grass was evergreen, even though the Witherr had begun to affect the world. Perhaps it was the swamp providing nutrients? The houses were quite fortified, stone in unison, perfectly crafted. Any stonemason would be proud. Bill rubbed his hands along the stone as if it provided him with a fond memory. The gust blew into the biggest house in the vicinity, but it'd look strange if she just randomly knocked on the door. So, Lurisa asked a bystander on the street if a woman had called around named Lily. She pointed her to the correct house.
Bill thumped on the door. An elderly man answered, "Can I help you folks?"
Lurisa stepped up, she was rather proud of her people skills, "Yes, did a woman calling herself Lily happen to stop by?"
"Yes. She seemed extremely distraught so I gave her a place to stay."
Lurisa and the others all gave a look to each other in understanding that they could bring her back. Lurisa explained the situation and the man understood he had said her eyes were wild like a mad woman. He let Lurisa and Samara in to see Diane, "Sorry boys, but by the patrons you smell funky. Get a damn cloth and water you dirty pigs." And he slammed the door shut.
Bill sniffed Arthur and nodded at him. Arthur took a whiff of his shoulder and his throat congested, "Fair."
Diane was sitting in a guest room by herself. Her eyes were dark and her hair darker. Her skin was slightly tanned and somewhat blemished. Lurisa weaved her head into the room, "Hi there. We heard you got lost."
Diane nodded her head silently.
Poor thing. She must be traumatised. "We're here to take you home," Lurisa said.
"Really?" Diane's eyes filled with hope.
Samara pursed her lips, "Come on now. We best get going now."
Her lips quivered, "Thank you," Diane said. It seemed to really hit her emotionally. Well, after hearing voices and getting lost what else would you expect?
Diane happily greeted Bill and Arthur and they began to return to Raas.
"So, how long were you staying there?" Bill asked her. Bill always liked the idea of people being comfortable around him.
"About a week. I didn't even know where to go. I just froze in place," she answered.
Samara seen the swamp coming up, "I won't get carried this time Bill. We can't have Diane going back soaked to the skin."
Diane's eyes grew huge, "Did you just call me Diane?"
"Yeah? Why?" Samara asked, confused at first.
Her breathing became heavy from chest and her body heaved, "My name is Lily! Not Diane. Oh, gods. You're bringing me back there! Help. Hel–"
Lurisa weaved her finger up and down like an orchestrator and it calmed Diane down to a lull. She was still sick but the best place to be sick is at home. With people who care about her.
They were out of the swamp close to Raas' house. Arthur swore Lurisa weighed about ten more kilograms but he couldn't say that to her.
A sickly sniff occurred from within the shack. Creaking open, Raas laughed, "Oh, my Diane! My Diane. I can't thank you enough."
"It's fine. We're here to help," Arthur said proudly.
Raas took out six haines and gave them to Samara, "You brought her back. Thank you so much. Now, I'll put her to bed and let her rest. Thank you. Thank you."
Samara had noticed one obvious thing, Raas was a hideous creature and Diane was rather pretty. "How did you guys meet?"
Raas blushed and waved his hand followed by a little giggle, "She thought it'd 'break' the curse to have a true love's kiss. Suppose it was a true love's kiss, it just didn't break the curse."
Samara felt butterflies, true love was so hard to find, "That's so cute. Well, I hope she gets better."
"Me too," Raas smiled.
Raas slammed the door and locked it.
"Local heroes save woman," Bill's hand caressed the imaginary headline as they entered back into the town. Now, they were ready to go off and finally begin the real journe–
Lurisa prodded and felt a wet patch in her pocket. She felt sick at the thoughts of delving her hand into it. Or would just looking at it be worse.
"Arthur. Can you check what's in my pocket," she asked.
He gasped, "That's the ring. I didn't want to hold it."
She flicked her hair back, Unbelievable. And he thought it was okay to just drop that putrid ring into my pocket. The ring. "We have to go back and bring the ring back to them."
Back at the rotten shack. For the last time, Lurisa promised herself. No one would be willing to live here voluntarily. Lurisa walked up and was about to knock–gut reaction. She put her finger to her lips and shut everyone up.
A ruckus within the shack, "Let me leave!"
"No. I won't. You little stupid harleton. If I let you outside like I did last time, you'll run away again and betray my trust."
"Betray your trust? You kidnapped me!"
"Kidnap? You're a full grown woman! Get over it. It's more like an..." he used his sharp wits to lessen the effect of the vile word kidnap and change it to something more family friendly, "abduction. Ah, Diane. Don't look at me like that."
"My name is Lily! It's Lily! And you even convinced those fools I was mad." She roared.
Lurisa and the others all gawked at each other in shock, Oh. My. Oh. My. Lurisa thought. We actually helped a kidnapper save his victim.
Headline. Local villains kidnap ex-kidnapped victim, Samara imagined.
That's not nice to say about us or anybody for a matter of fact, Arthur smoldered.
Samara ran into the rickety door smashing it to pieces. Raas turned as his volatile good dripped onto the already smudged floorboards, "Oh, wise sage. She's gone mad again."
Samara looked at him sternly, as did the others.
"I'm going to prison aren't I?" Raas asked pitifully.
Bill smacked Raas in the back of the head with a clobber of his fist. Next, Raas found himself standing upright in the middle of chunky swamp water lashing against his legs. He recognised the swamp water naturally. He looked around dazed. Lurisa laughed from land. He couldn't see since his eyes were shut. But he patted the ground ready to see which level of the swamp he was in. Only to feel his two hands stuck against something solid. Ice. "This isn't humane," he cried.
"You don't look human so that's lucky isn't it," Samara laughed.
They left Raas out there and decided nature would deal with him best. Arthur patted Diane waiting to hear a thanks after their mess up. Diane tilted her head to them, "I'm reporting you all to the sheriff for being accomplices to Raas."
"What? We didn't know?" Lurisa begged.
Diane shivered at their stupidity, "So you trusted a cursed Houler, dripping with a creepy green goo for skin, instead of me!"
"He said he loved you and I like to believe in love," Arthur said half hoping that would work on her and half because he wanted to see her reaction.
"You guys should leave. I won't press charges if you leave this town right now," Diane said.
And so the party of the chosen one left the swamp of Mareon without any charges being pressed upon them.