Julie and Darla after a "good morning/good night" hug with Fran, Kaylee, and Jensen were quick to make their way to the medical wing. There was still much that needed to be done, of course, but everything appeared to be past the worst of it. Still, both wished everyone would heal quickly.
"They'll heal in time, sister," Darla told Julie, rubbing her sister's shoulder gently.
"I know," Julie answered, "I just want them to be well... and then we can be with our sister, husband, and sister-wife."
"I feel exactly the same," Darla said in agreement.
The two sisters went straight to work.
+++++++++++++
"That had to be traumatizing for Mal'akh," Lawrence commented, "I mean one thing is to see a loved one go mad... that does happen from time to time, even without magic being used... but to see her sister so utterly used as if she weren't much more the a tool..."
"And that is how the witches saw all that came into their care," Marie-Eliza said slowly, "as a tool. Once their world of madness became reality... the adult "nannies" that they had would become statues of children as their whole purpose to the witches was fulfilled. The Witch Pride and even Afua/Free would meet the same fate. They did not care about anyone, except for Joella... but even there, much of their treatment of the one person they cared for would be considered negligent... I mean, are you allowed to wander around Glendale without escort? Ever?"
Cassandra and Lilly quickly said "no." Alice and her half sisters took a little longer to agree with the Carnelian colored twins, mostly as it was a debate as to whether or not they should admit to the times that they had used the mirrorverse to go exploring. They decided to remain quiet on that subject.
"And that is the point," Marie spoke, "Now, Joella's geass did protect her from harm, but it would not feed or warm her. If she had gotten lost and was unable to return to the manor, she would have eventually died of starvation or of the cold come winter time."
"We get the picture," Betty nodded, and then noticed Lawrence looking at her, "Lawrence..."
He then hugged his Aunt firmly.
"I'm sorry if I scared you when Kurse had me as Quartz," Lawrence spoke as he hugged her.
Betty only sighed, guessing that the story of Mal'akh seeing her sister being used by the witches reminded him of that. Now she was scared during the fight against Kurse. She didn't want to fight her nephew, but she had been there to free him. And it wasn't his fault that he was enslaved.
"Lawrence, that wasn't your fault," Betty hugged him back, "You know that."
"I know," Lawrence answered.
"So what about Mal'akh?" Abbey asked, "surely Marie and her comrades didn't approve her spying on the witches... for fear that she would be enslaved by them as well."
Marie nodded, "Yes. Marie didn't want Mal'akh to get hurt because of her, or to get hurt trying to free her sister. Marie promised that they would free her, or die trying when the final battle came. Mal'akh of course insisted that she was a big girl and could help... but none of them wanted her in danger."
"Did she ever go back to the witches manor?" Lilly wondered.
"Not before the final battle," Marie sighed, "the sight of her sister being used that way terrified her. But that didn't stop her from being Marie Cruz's eyes and ears within Glendale."
+++++++++++++
"It hurts!" Alpha Rebbecca howled in pain, placing her paws over her swollen womb.
The Pack's territory in 1689 wasn't officially part of Glendale, as the town hadn't expanded as far as it would by the time of the present day, but even on the fringes of range of the spells that the witches were casting in Glendale, that didn't mean that they were entirely unaffected. The first affect was felt by a white female, Rebbecca, mated to the present Alpha male, Ross.
"It HURTS!" Rebbecca howled.
"Do something!" Ross ordered to the pack's doctor, nearly brought to tears by seeing one of his mates in such pain.
"I'm trying," the pack's doctor answered, "Rebbecca, you need to push."
This went on for an hour or so before, Rebbecca gave one massive pain filled scream and then collapsed backward. What followed was an eerie silence.
"My pups..." Rebbecca began.
The Pack's doctor looked up slowly toward the pained Rebbecca and the nervous Ross.
"I am sorry my Alphas," he said slowly, "they are stillborn... it was a miscarriage."
"No!" Rebbecca shouted before Ross could say anything and rushed forward, snatching the lifeless pups from the doctor's hands, "No. No." She began to cry as she repeated the word. "NoooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
++++++++++++++
Mal'akh crouched low among the some brush where there was a Gold Deer buck (Jack) nibbling on some grass nearby. Her mother was at the other edge of the clearing with a couple of the other females to be ready in case the deer fled toward them. Mal'akh had been instructed to catch the buck's antlers if he charged her and hold him until one of the other lionesses could get there. There was one adult lioness with her as well, just in case.
To be entirely honest, she didn't entirely feel like hunting, as her thoughts dwelt too much on what she had seen. Her parents had urged that hunting would help her relax and get over these issues.
Unfortunately, as she crawled forward, her ears caught a loud howling scream that just "screamed" sorrow.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
That distracted her, and her foot snapped a twig, though not that the twig was really the problem. Jack had heard the howl as well and bounded away.
"What was that?" Mal'akh said nervously as she looked up.
"It's one of the Lupmen," the adult female beside her, Jane Hardy, spoke, "Something is up though. They don't howl like that..."
"What should we do?" Mal'akh asked, "they could be under attack."
"We must help them," Mal'akh's mother spoke, "they're our neighbors and it is the civilized thing to do."
"If they're under attack, shouldn't we get the Pride males?" a different lioness asked.
"There's no time, come on, before it's too late," Mal'akh's mother urged.
The Pride's hunting party soon broke into a low jog toward Wolf Manor.
++++++++++++
What they found at Wolf Manor looked like every Lupman had been hit by something hard. The omegas had the pups outside and they were all looking toward the manor where the howl had come from. They ended up being met by Martin, who was coming out, cleaning his paws with a cloth.
"You've come back..." Martin spoke, "Hunting trip go poorly?"
"We heard a howl and feared you were under attack," Mal'akh's mother spoke.
"There was no attack," Martin answered.
"What happened?" Mal'akh asked.
Closer to the manor they could hear sobbing coming from inside it.
"I can not say," Martin answered.
"We only wish to help," Jane spoke, "it's the civilized thing to do. You are the Pride's neighbors."
Martin looked up and then sighed. It was clear by his body language that he didn't want to answer the question, but noticed that the omegas had also gathered around and decided to go with it. He had been instructed to tell the Omegas anyway.
"Alpha Rebbecca had a miscarriage," Martin announced slowly, "Her pups are not to be."
"NO!" the Omegas said in unison.
"We're sorry," Mal'akh volunteered, moving to her mother's side.
"Nothing you could have done," Martin said slowly before he finally broke down, "and what pains me is that this is the NINTH miscarriage I've had to deal with this week. And the third from the Pack."
Mal'akh nodded at this. It was odd that the Pack would allow its doctor to go out and treat humans, as she had thought the Pack kept its resources pretty close together... but then Martin was the only two doctors in the Glendale area. Maybe he saw others because there was no one else available.
"We will pray for them, Doctor Martin," Mal'akh's mother spoke.
"You'd best go," Martin told them, "Alpha Ross is not in the mood for guests at the moment."
"We understand," Jane answered and began to lead the Pride's hunting party toward the gate.
"This has to be the witches doing," Mal'akh thought to herself, "they're killing the babies..."
++++++++
"That's how she saw it?" Maddex asked.
"Mal'akh didn't know what the witches' spell was and that the miscarriages were a side affect," Marie-Eliza explained, "but she knew the witches had to be involved somehow. Miscarriages did happen, but not that often in such a short period of time and almost never with Lupmen. For some reason, Lupmen, Leomen, and Felmen generally did not have the miscarriage problems that humans naturally had. Their hips, even at the narrowest were still wide enough to bear children."
There was a silence for a moment before Marie-Eliza continued.
"And Marie would soon see evidence that lead her to believe that the witches were doing something," Marie explained...
+++++++++++
Mal'akh couldn't get the sound of the sobs she had heard coming from the inside of Wolf Manor as she and her family made their way through the market area in Glendale. Her mother was there to see if there were a few sides of "properly" cut beef while her father was there to any of the local farmers needed an extra hand to herd their animals and to catch up on the news, if any had come in to Glendale from the outside world.
++++++++++++
"Properly?" Cassandra asked.
"Probably in accordance with the Jewish laws regarding meats," Lawrence spoke, "although, I'd tend to think that the Leomen were given an exception when it came to wild game... and that Mal'akh and her family knew someone who was Jewish that provided for those sorts of needs."
Marie-Eliza nodded, "Not that he could advertise being Kosher openly though..."
+++++++++++++
Their party had split up into as Mahershalal went to converse with some of the other men there, Mal'akh went with her mother to the shop owner who was secretly a Jewish butcher, though no one but Glendale's few other Jewish families knew it.
"Hello Joshua, anything clean today?" Mal'akh's mother.
"Always is," the butcher, Joshua, answered as he turned around, but Mal'akh noticed something odd as he turned.
He was growing hair again, and considering that Rogane would not be invented for many years (and Mal'akh wouldn't know what it was if it suddenly appeared before her), that should have been impossible for a forty six year old man, who was already looking to hand his business over to his son. His clothing also looked a little looser, like he was smaller, or he was wearing clothing that was was much too large.
"Has someone played a joke on you? Your clothes look a little... large," Mal'akh spoke.
"A joke?" Joshua asked and then looked down as Mal'akh seemed to watch him regress back into his twenties, "I don't think so... though I'd tend to think that I've found the Fountain of Youth, as they say, somewhere."
"And where have you found this fountain?" Mal'akh's mother asked curiously.
"I don't know," Joshua responded, "All I know is that this morning I was able to put on pants I haven't worn since I was twenty... though I guess that isn't a problem for you."
"We'd overheat if we did, sir," Mal'akh's mother responded.
"This has to be the witches," Mal'akh thought to herself, "it's bad enough they're killing babies, driving children mad, and stealing everyone else's children but now they're trying to turn the adults into children! Haven't they done enough."
+++++++++++
Meanwhile, Marie and the Hunters went about the business of healing. While Vatican couldn't until a female gargoyle could be brought to the new world to transfer his soul to a new husk, for Katherine and Draco, they were rapidly beginning to approach the end of their recovery period. Draco's wing membranes had regenerated to the point where there were no holes in them and the wing bones did feel better, but he could instinctively tell that his wings were still too weak to fly. It would be close to four weeks before they could support his weight and that the bones would be fully healed.
Katherine was also doing better. She could move her arm again without wincing, but her bones also, were not fully healed and the female Felman did her best to insure that she didn't aggravate the injury. Marie had offered her some help that she said physicians would use in the future to help with broken bones and potential muscle damage.
"Are you sure you're not bringing some drug that shouldn't exist into being?" Katherine asked ask Marie felt along her regrowing fur, which to Katherine was a relief.
"No," Marie answered, "They'll call it physical therapy. It's just a series of exercises designed to help you get your strength back."
"You're sure?" Katherine asked.
Marie nodded, "You are my friend Katherine. You and Draco both are... Vatican as well... and even to a certain extent Linus. You've all done much to look after me through everything, trying to keep my spirits up. Let me return the favor and help you."
"Okay," Katherine said slowly and giving Marie a slight purr to show her friendship with Marie.
"If anything I do hurts, let me know," Marie told her, "and I'll stop. As I'd assume that we'd still want to be very gentle for the moment."
++++++++++++
A few days later, after getting the time to do so, Mal'akh once again made her way to the praying town. As she approached Running-Bear's home, she did notice a few of the native children playing on Vatican. Despite the gargoyle's wounds sustained in the first battle with the witches, he seemed to be good with children. She knocked on the door and calmly waited.
It was Linus who answered.
"Young Mal'akh," Linus said politely, "What brings you here? Are you feeling better?"
"Better then I was when I was here last," Mal'akh answered, "but I need to inform everybody."
"Of course," Linus answered, "Vatican is out back, but Marie or Draco will likely tell him later. The others are upstairs."
Mal'akh followed Linus up the flight of stairs to a bedroom where Draco was watching Katherine her broken arm in small circles while Marie provided it with support to make sure the Felman wasn't over exerting herself. As Mal'akh approached, she did find that that Katherine actually looked fairly pretty now that her pink and blue fur was beginning to come in. She promised herself to ask her if all Felman were colored like that when the witches were gone.
Her arrival stopped the therapy session.
"Mal'akh, what brings you here?" Marie asked in a surprised voice, "You haven't been snooping around the witches' manor anymore, have you?"
"No," Mal'akh answered, "what I have, I've seen elsewhere..."
"What is it, dear?" Katherine leaned over to rub her head to Mal'akh's.
"They're killing babies! BABIES!" Mal'akh spoke, "I was with a hunting party for our Pride, and we heard the Big Bad Wolf Pack's Alpha Female howl in pain and agony! Her puppies died! The ninth such miscarriage! Ninth! And not the first the Pack has suffered..."
"Miscarriages? Among Lupmen?" Draco spoke, "but every Lupman pack I've come across has never had such problems... or at least if they didn, they didn't have them when I was there."
Marie closed her eyes and then sighed. She didn't get a chance to say anything before Mal'akh continued.
"That's not all," Mal'akh spoke, "they're also trying to turn everyone into children... our butcher... he's Jewish, but don't tell anyone... he looks younger... his hair is growing back..."
Marie closed her eyes again and sighed heavily.
"What is it, Marie?" Draco asked.
"She's right," Marie said slowly, "in this fantasy world of theirs that has children being perfect... they're trying to regress everybody back into children. The miscarriages are only a side effect."
"How..." Mal'akh began.
"My own sixth sense as it were," Marie sighed.
"You have to stop them! I don't want to lose my parents! I don't want more babies to die! I want my sister back!" Mal'akh urged.
"We will," Marie promised, "We will or die trying. But we have a little while yet to wait for Draco and Katherine to fully heal, and other then hitting the witches themselves with our own secret weapon..."
+++++++++
"Secret weapon? What about Balthilde's bones?" Cassandra asked.
"That was the secret weapon," Marie-Eliza sighed at the interruption, "although given that Golgotha knew that Marie had them, calling them a secret weapon probably wasn't accurate, but then I do not think Marie wanted to tell Mal'akh that she had robbed someone's grave to get the weapon."
"Did Mal'akh question what the secret weapon was?" Alice wondered.
"No," Marie answered.
+++++++++
"...we've still yet to finalize any plan for dealing with these weapons they've created from the use of second sight," Marie sighed, "and while Vatican says he can deal with this gargoyle they've created... in his wounded state, I'm worried he'll need help."
The other hunters sighed heavily. They would need a plan. With Leomen manning the outer defenses, sneaking in at night would be impossible, and even if they did sneak past the Leomen, the witches' gargoyle wouldn't miss them. They would need a plan.
"Can I help?" Mal'akh asked.
"You've done more then we could ask for, Mal'akh," Marie spoke, "about all we can ask you to do, is pray for us. You'd best run along home. We promise we'll bring your sister back to you."