#rivervale_lodge

Dag runs to get the basket.

A gasp, dizzy, and...she knows this...no... "NO."

Brekke feels herself gasp and for a moment..she's just Mrs. King, park ranger... and... no.. the flames are right there.

But it cost her to hold on.

One cookie is shoved into Jack's hands with a brusque "Eat." The second is broken into crumbles and pushed into Torin's mouth. "C'mon..."

Dag gets the cookie it gleams.. hopefully it's strong enough

She yanks Speaker off of her belt. "Stop this!" She commands the willworker...who might realize that the chimerical axe is attached to a very real, very sharp hatchet.

and Jack munches "I gotta help..."

Torin wakes.

"No.." the wizard says "Let go of me.. now. Fine. I'll leave your node. The body is enough"

"Run to the woods. Call the wolves, call Klump."

Jack races out to do just that, leaving through the kitchen door

"No. Depart the body. Return its owner to it. NOW."

"Torin? You stable?"

"Will worker.. possibly mad... possibly demon touched..." Torn says "But he's in Adam's body, tied to it... in the stories, you can't reverse it without the other nearby. He might but we can't force it"

"Okay. I can't... I have to help Chief."

"Or what?" the wizard says "Damn this boy could have hbeen more useful. A gift ot see fae freely, but does he put one word about it in his lap top? No... just lots of ratings for girls..."

"And sports stats." A snort "Waste of a talent"

Dagmar picks up Flyswatter once more, rushing to join the fight.

"Or I start carving. I or somebody else will heal the body later for Adam's return. If you want to avoid a great deal of pain... Tell. Me. Where. He. Is." And with the last word she slices across his arm.

Not a deep, dangerous cut. But certainly a painful one.

"Ah.. .you're.. meaner than I thought..." The wizard says "No.. I won't go back. The stars won't be right for this for another hundred years. I just have to out last you... and the night IS so very old"

A sob from under the couch.

"Connor, be a good boy and please stay hiding..."

She cuts off one of his fingers. "I'm motivated." Indeed, there's a very dark fury growing in Brekke's eyes.

THat makes him scream

And there's the sounds of tires crunching on gravel from the far side of the Lodge.

Connor HOOOOWLS when he hears Adam scream.

"Connor, honey...."

"...and I think that turkey for later in the week." Kerri's voice approaching the kitchen door.

"Sounds good," Sylvi chimes in.

And they both stop at the sight of the Chieftain attacking Adam.

"Connor, you have to be quiet and stay hidden." She shoots a glance towards the sounds beyond. "KERRI, SYLVI, HELP CHIEF OUT BACK!"

"Brekke! Stop!" Kerri yells and drops her canvas grocery bags.

"Wait, we ..we can bargain.." the wizard says

"Torin... watch him... I'm sorry..." Now she's up and running.

"Chieftain...what the...??" Sylvi is more baffled than her mother.

"NO! Not Adam. Willworker. Reaving the bale!"

"Not Adam" Torin agrees

Torin takes Connor into his arms "It's okay boy, think of him as a shapeshifter..."

"And not the nice kind"

Brekke looks about ready to cut off something else, but pauses. "Bargain fast, creature!"

Connor buries his face in Torin's arms and while he still sobs, it's mercifully muffled.

Dagmar leaves Torin and Connor by the Bale as she joins the others out back.

"You.. let me keep the body just until dawn. Then.. I switch back."

A lie! Oh he wants till dawn. But the switching was a lie

Sylvi spots the blood pouring from Adam's hand, and then the finger on the ground...she mimes a little cat's cradle to gimmix the finger to herself, out of the way.

Brekke shows more of her teeth as she raises the axe again. "Liar," she declares, and swings...another finger gone.

A scream ... but Torin's hands are over a pooka's ears

Dagmar frowns, twisting her grip on FLyswatter - perhaps not the most useful tool right now.