Ice, Fire, and Wood

Cuu gathered his senses as the Wolf on his metaphorical shoulder finally silenced himself; his heart was pounding in his chest, both out of fury, and from something else he couldn't explain. As he reached once more for the door, he noticed something stowed away in the corner, behind where the door would be if opened.

A bow; filled quiver and all.

A piece of paper lay pierced on an arrow turned upside down in the quiver lain by the bow, with a simple drawing of a red-hooded stick figure, handing a bow and arrow to another stick figure; this one with pointed ears on it's head, and a big bushy tail. All along the border of the drawing were smiling faces, and simple hearts. Cuu looked down at the gift, his heart suddenly coming to a stop in his chest; his eyes burning and damp as he realized what this was.

"A... gift? For me?" He said in a whisper; he was stunned. "I nearly maim her, and she... buys me a gift?"

He felt heat on his cheeks as he shook himself from his stupor; picking up the bow, and testing it. It was correctly proportioned to his oversized figure, and with a sturdy, yet flexible wood that wouldn't snap from his strength. The string, too, was quite strong; with a careful examination revealing it to be of very high quality. This would have costed him a whole year's worth of coin from digging latrines for the Great Caravan to afford, at minimum... and Doctor Oswald just gave it away to him?

Well, he wasn't thanking her with just words; that was for certain. He knew that there were plenty of deer in the area, but he'd need a proper butcher in town to help with the carcass. Pulling the bow and quiver over his shoulder, and pulling up his boots; Cuu walked out of the house, and onto the yellow brick road.

...

Dorothy and Miss Shesh had left Belledor to stew in his misery; the poor drunkard even now moaning on in his home behind them about his failings.

"Well, that's one less worry we'll have." Dorothy said, looking somewhat dour about the whole thing. "If the McDonalds as a whole knew about those fields, we'd be lucky if they sent anything less than a small private army to search the town..."

"We still don't know where those silly little Hatter goons went." Shesh said; eyeing the shade of every alleyway as they went. "I wouldn't bet my life on them returning to The Hatter empty handed; maybe they'll grab some other debtors on the way back? Maybe they'll try their luck again? We should be careful not to grow complacent while your little dog is-"

Their conversation came to a stop as a hooded figure turns the corner, a wooden mask covering their face; while they didn't have the build of any of those three brutes, Dorothy could see the aura of a Tale emit from the person's being; a bright aura, much like that of Mister Baldur. The unknown Tale is motionless as it stares them down. The Hood lifts itself onto Dorothy's head, and Miss Margo speaks in her mind.

"There may be more of them."

"Who are you?" Dorothy asks; keeping Miss Margo's words in mind, keeping an eye out for further auras... the street had suddenly gotten quite empty, hadn't it?

"Me?" The Tale asks; their voice sounded like that of a woman. "I'm unsure why you'd want to know."

Miss Shesh nudges Dorothy with her elbow, her hand already on her blackjack as she whispers. "I don't recognize this one; fight, or flight?"

Dorothy spots another hooded figure, off in an alley; hidden from head to toe by the shadows, but their aura was plain to see; a dark, swirling mass, just like the aura of her grandmother.

"Get Baldur; I'll lead them away if things get bad." She whispered back; she refused to have another incident like that night...

"It's quite rude to whisper amongst each other while conversing, don't you think?"

This voice had a heavy foreign accent, and came from behind them; a hooded man with another wooden mask. He was much closer than the others, so Dorothy could make out what his mask was meant to be; a spider. His Tale's aura was a pure gold; something utterly... divine.

Shesh looked to Dorothy. "Are you sure?"

She nodded. "Go."

Shesh smiled, vanishing from sight as moving silently as she escaped. Dorothy uses the group's surprise at the sudden vanishing to her advantage, forcing emerald ice to form in a thin sheet beneath her, which then spewed forth a vast wall of fog. Dorothy had spent the last week doing three things; learning of the Tales she had seen, taking care of Mister Cuu, and training her newfound power.

She refused to be helpless; she refused to just sit and watch the next time someone she cared about was hurt.

From the fog, several copies of herself sprung forth, heading in different directions; simple illusions conjured by the fog. She too fled as her doubles did, off towards the direction of the woods; there, she would have the advantage. Stalks of greenery and spewings of silk attempted to entrap the doubles, but found only fog in their grasp. Dorothy nearly made it to the trees when The Hood pulled her aside. She had learned during her practice to not to fight against the movements of the sentient cloth, instead pivoting to more smoothly flow with it's movements.

A massive wooden pole, taller than Dorothy, flashes past her at a blinding speed; thrown by the first hooded figure. It impacted a tree, splitting the whole thing in half as it did so. The Hood moves, and so does Dorothy, flowing away from where a stalk emerges beneath her feet. A movement of her hands flash-freezes the grass beneath her, with more fog spewing forth; but a massive net of silk suddenly snags both her arms, binding them together. Miffed at this, emerald flashes ignite the silk, allowing Dorothy to snap her bindings, and flee deeper into the woods.

"Come on, the path is somewhere this way..."

...

Cuu waved to the kind older gentleman running Antiquity's local Butchery as he left, glad to have come to an agreeable arrangement; he would bring fresh game, and receive some of the fresh meat, and coin in payment. A good slab of venison was just about the best way he could think of repaying Doctor Oswald for the new bow and quiver. As he walked back towards the house, he smelled something familiar; bumping into thin air.

"Doggy!"

Smiling to reveal herself, the Cat quickly grabbed Cuu by the wrist. "Doc's in danger, come on!"

"What!?" Cuu's heart starts pounding once again; it wasn't nighttime at least, so he wouldn't be able to transform if things went sideways.

The two rushed towards the center of town, where fog was slowly dissipating across the alleyways; stalks of greenery and silk were strewn about the road, and the smell of wood varnish was strong in the air. Cuu followed the scent, with the Cat peeling off; saying she would go get "Handsome" to come help. Cuu hadn't seen the greasy-one fight yet, and was unsure if he'd be of much help. Either way, he had to keep on the scent, heading into the woods, and rushing past a tree that had been split in half. He grinded his sharp teeth together in anxious anticipation; the smell was getting stronger.

With a flash of emerald light, and a hooded figure with a wooden mask comes flying out of the woods; smashing into a tree just beside Cuu. He staggers, looking over to see who had just been sent his way. A stranger, who's odd mask resembles a young rosey-cheeked boy, groans as he tries to pull himself back up, only to fall back onto the tree; knocked-out cold.

Cuu get back to the chase, running past another cloaked figure; who's spider-shaped mask was now cast to his side. Half of his body was encased in an emerald ice that brought back far too recent of bad memories; Cuu averts his eyes from it, rushing towards the odd smell of wood varnish.

Finally, he makes it to a clearing, spotting a final masked figure, as well as Doctor Oswald; staring each other down. The mysterious attacker held a long staff of wood, with two oddly rounded bumps near the edge... are those nostrils? Either way, Doctor Oswald was looking worn out; blood was trickling down her forehead, and her breathing was uneven as she held her side. Her free hand was flickering between fire and ice, both a brilliant emerald hue.

Cuu pulls the bow from his back, notching an arrow, and releasing it; all in mere moment. The shot sounded like nothing less than a whistling grim reaper as it sped towards the head of the masked assailant. At the last moment, the attacker steps backwards; the arrow knocking the mask off of their face; revealing something quite off-putting.

A woman, who's skin was wood; with no nose to speak of.

"Well, it seems I have the advantage." Said the stranger in a joking tone, the staff in her hand extending as she called out. "Mirror, Mirror, in our hall; grant us passage, one and all!"

The woman then shatters like glass; the shards vanishing into nothingness soon afterward. Cuu turned about, seeing that the other two masked opponents vanished in much the same way. He looks Doctor Oswald, just in time to see her collapse; The Hood doing it's best to cushion her fall. He felt every part of body shudder, as if he had been frozen solid by fear itself.

"Dorothy!"

He rushes to her side, picking her up in his arms; she was out cold, but still alive. Looking about, he noticed a familiar path not but a few meters away; the road to her Grandmother's house. He hurried to the path, being as careful as he could be with the injured lamb in his arms.

"Dorothy... It's going to be ok..." He said; mostly to himself. "It's going to be ok..."