Reunion at Sea

Precautions

While Varian treated the woman to a feast, the others went back to checking out the village. Hamuel and Quirin stood guard while Varian did the cooking, and then set the food down in front of her. "Enjoy." He smiled.

"Mmm, smells good!" She said, eagerly digging in.

Varian walked over and sat down in the chair across from her, leaning his head on his hand as he waited for the serum to take effect. "So, what brings you to Corona, Captain Creighton?"

"I'm tracking a werewolf." She said, swallowing and setting her fork down next to the empty plate.

Varian served her more food. "A werewolf, huh? And you're sure they came to Corona?"

"Of course, I'm sure!" She continued to eat. "I'm the best big-game tracker in the world, you think I can't follow a werewolf to this place?!" She reached for a glass and Varian set it closer to her, watching as she guzzled it down. "I took care of its previous host and then chased it across the continent to this place. It's all right here in this book." She pulled out a book and set it on the table and Varian watched curious as she opened it up to read it. "What we are dealing with is Maledicta Lupus; the Wolf's Curse. But, for you laymen, a werewolf."

"Is this werewolf powerful?" Varian asked.

"Oh, you bet it is. A lone werewolf could take on an entire village and leave not a single survivor. And, many times, the werewolf came from inside the village." Captain Creighton said, banging her fist on the table. "The Wolf's Curse travels the globe in search of host bodies. It feeds on untapped rage, so its ideal host is someone who harbors a deep-seated anger." She turned the pages as she went on. "It inhabits his body, and causes him to turn into a raging werewolf every full moon for the rest of his life!"

"Sounds terrible. How can we detect it?" Varian asked. "We'd prefer to take care of this problem ourselves, you might cause a panic and we don't need that right now."

"Hah! As if I'd share a profe—ngh!" She brought her hands to her throat and then look at him in horror. "What...did you...do to me?"

He grinned and closed the book, taking it from her and tucking it under his arm. "Hi, I'm Varian. You might not know me so well, but I'm The Alchemist of Old Corona. I sent truth serum-laced cookies to the castle last year, stole a withered magical flower and kidnapped the Queen. The food you just ate was filled with enough truth serum to have you tell the truth for the next few days. Now, let's try this again." He grinned. "How can we identify the werewolf?"

She cringed.

–

"A blue paw-print?" Rapunzel asked.

"Yeah. The werewolf's host will have a blue paw-print on their face, hands or arms." Varian explained.

"I still can't believe we're actually dealing with a werewolf." Pascal said, sitting cross-legged on Frederic's old throne. "By the way, what'd you do with the hunter lady?"

"Well, I was going to let her go, but then I asked her how she 'took care of' the previous host and basically I handed her in for conspiracy to murder." Varian shrugged. "Anyways, we should start looking for whoever it is, the next full moon is coming up very soon."

"Alright, let's get started." Rapunzel nodded. "Uhm...you're not the wolf, right? I know you can't move the rocks yet, but..."

He sighed. "Starting to wonder if I should just ask her for the incantation, because they'd really come in handy. No, I'm not." He assured her.

"Right...but how do I know you're being honest with me?" Rapunzel pointed out.

He chuckled. "Okay, fine. We'll dose everyone with truth serum."