* * * separates the blog-installments - I'm not sure this is meaningful, but there they are.
Susan was with her family in Paris. She enjoyed her stay, but felt so sorry for all the petrified gargoyles on the roof of the Notre Dame basilica. She felt ever so tempted to un-petrify them, but she had promised both Thora and Gilvi not to use any magic whatsoever in France. It would be too dangerous.
One of the times it was very hard for her to keep that promise was when the shop assistant kept imploring her to buy a book. She could just not understand enough of what he said to grasp whether he was warning her not to buy he book or contrariwise trying to make her buy it. In the end her Mom bought it and the little assistant was all smiles. Mom's guess had been right. That evening at the hotel while Mom and Dad took a nap and Linda was busy playing one of her interminable game & watch games, Susan leafed thorough the book.
It was written in an old font, almost illegible, but with illustrations of gargoyles and gryphons and other strange animals. On the last pages was an index, written larger and with the Latin names in ordinary letters. Suddenly it dawned on Susan. The bestiary was written in German, they used to print books in those funny letters. Now she could read parts of it. Slowly she laboured through a chapter on roosters. It was interesting, but speculative, to put it mildly. When she reached a paragraph on black roosters and immortality she closed the book and hid it on the bottom of her suitcase.
When Mom and Dad returned, the bright day had turned into a dark and stormy evening. Well girls dad said, as this is our last night in Paris, we've decided to eat at "The 7 Knights". It should be one of the best, most authentic French restaurant around here.
They all washed and put on their best clothes. The dinner was awesome good. The girls and Mom and Dad ate a lot of different dishes, not daring to ask what was in them but only enjoying the different tastes, textures and colours. It was pure happiness.
When they had eaten their way through all the main dishes, there was a break before the desserts were served. Susan and Linda looked at the chef preparing whipped cream in a strange contraption.
Susan began laughing and said to Linda: "Do you remember that funny cartoon where Gyro Gearloose is trying to whip cream by jumping around on a Pogo stick with a canister of cream strapped to his back."
"Yes," Linda said, "and that contraption reminds me of your red Pogo stick. I see the connection." The girls quietly laughed together.
***
The next morning Susan woke in a bad temper. She always felt unhappy when a holiday was drawing to an end and they were returning to the plain, drab everyday life. They still had a whole month of summer holidays left. Susan hoped she would be able to go to Unicorn Farm soon again.
The zealous innkeeper's assistant showed up in the doorway and asked in his atrocious English if the family was ready to "consume their small breakfast in ze restaurant?" Susan smiled to herself and almost bit her tongue trying not to make some sassy remark on the size of her breakfast. They followed him to the restaurant of the hotel - a small, plain room with three tables laid for breakfast. An old woman silently worked behind a counter. Her job was obviously to grind the coffee beans and pour scalding hot water over them. Whatever, it was the best coffee Susan had had for a long time, and even dad, who normally did not drink coffee in the morning, usually had two cups. The obsequious waiter as always tried to make Susan and Linda have scrambled eggs, but just as every morning they feasted on croissants with liberal amounts of strawberry jam. The waiter satisfied himself with raking in their coins for an extra croissant, and told some jokes, that made Susan feel happy that she had not fallen for the temptation to use her language understanding spells.
Dad paid the bill while mom, Susan and Linda carried their luggage down from the room. Linda's small suitcase opened and spilled marbles all over the entry hall. Linda went red from embarrassment. All the marbles were beautiful. Bought by Linda in a wonderful stone shop-cum sculptor's studio. Susan had seen some marvelous Gargoyles there. Yes she was a bit obsessed with gargoyles, they were such poor looking critters, just like a magic experiment turned awfully wrong, and them ended up being petrified. Of course she knew it was not like this, She had seen the sculptor's hands and tools carving the bat like wings of yet another gargoyle. "21," Linda said, "we have all the marbles now." "Merci beaucoup," Susan said in her best French to the maids who had helped them collecting the marbles.
Finally they were off, Dad pulled the old guide book from the glove compartment, and handed it to Mom. "Head for the Arc de Triomphe first. Then turn right into the 7st street, Avenue Foch ..." she said. Linda began playing her Watch and play game and Susan looked through the mess on the car seat after some paper to write on. She wanted to write a poem on Paris and the curse of the gargoyles. While looking she found some candy boxes, some of them were already torn open and the inside filled with her own and Linda's scribbles. She looked at it "A tall chimney with blue flags to the right; left lots of trees and a cast iron fence."
Now she remembered, It was an old driving game. She and Linda took turns seeing a thing with Susan usually writing them down. They had played this game coming into Paris. Susan looked out of the window. Wondering whether they would pass the big chimney once again. And yes Bois de Bologne, the signpost said. Mom had told them that the cast iron fence fenced in the campsite in there. And there was the tall chimney with the blue flags. Susan made a check mark next to it and looked for the next clue. A peculiar telephone booth. Found and ticked off. Susan followed their clues backwards for a long time. Suddenly Dad said "Hey. Elin, why don't you say anything, where do I go from here?" Mom shook her head. "I don't know, this road is not on the map. I can't understand. We came this way in" Dad stopped the car: Here, let me see!" He looked at the map, at the road-signs and back at the map. "Yes. Now I see, he said slowly," he looked rather lost and ashamed. "This book is quite old, almost 20 years to be exact. The road was built after the map was printed. We're lost ..."
Before Dad could draw breath to swear over old maps or stupid newfangled roads, Susan opened her mouth: "No, we're not lost. Linda and I played our 'Look and See-game' when we arrived, and I have all the clues right here. Next one is a large greenhouse selling tomatoes."
"It's over there," Mom said. "Brilliant Susan, let's follow your clues until we find a road-sign we can use."
And they all looked for a broken flagpole, a blue roofed clock tower, an overfilled clothes line - not overfilled today, but Linda remembered the apple tree next to it, and clue by clue they left Paris behind.
***
When they hit the main road north of Paris, Linda once again concentrated on playing her Mario-game. Susan pulled the strange book from her bag, and took a second look at it. The covers were frayed, bent and worn. The book looked as if somebody had been reading it with ungentle hands and then in frustration thrown it against the wall, letting coffee cup or whatever beverage he preferred follow suit.
As Susan already had found out, the book was written in German, it was hard to read it. She looked through the index, where the Latin names of the animals were printed in what Susan thought of as normal letters.
She found the chapter on Gargoyles and looked up page 142.
 |
| Transcription of the chapter on Gargoyles: "Gargoiles are like golems usually made of magically animated or transformed stone. They have animal or chimera traits, and are often guardians of a place such as a cathedral or castle. They can also be depicted as vessels for demonic possession, or as a living species resembling statues." "The first Gargoile seems to have been brought to life by a medieval stonemason, who unconsciously infused his hate and lust into two gargoyles that later attacked the town of Vyones and finally killed him when he attempted to destroy them." "Not all Gargoyles are evil. Friendly gargoyles are known to battle monsters in order to protect humanity." |
Their first stop was the cafeteria. Mom and Dad had coffee while Susan wanted tea and Linda hot chocolate. All beverages were fine and the strangely shaped cakes were delicious.
Susan quickly drank her tea, and slipped off to browse the stalls. Many of them were uninteresting. Farm produce, cheese and clothing, among these a gorgeous wedding dress with a sign in English saying: "For Sale - Wedding Dress - Never worn." Susan at once began making up a romantic story of a waiting bride and a lost lover, but then the further away stalls with brick-a-brack and old books awoke Susan's curiosity.
She looked and looked, and rarely touched any items until she reached the very last stall. This was obviously leftover from the renovation of one or possibly more churches. Processional crosses in mock silver, pictures of saints, none of whom were known to Susan, giant rosaries, stations of the Cross, holy water stoups, small stained-glass windows, stones from columns, chandeliers and strange vessels and paraments in bright and beautiful colours; and gargoyles. Susan almost jumped. One of them opened an eye and looked at Susan.
"Wow," she thought, "I must have read too much in that old book, I saw that gargoyle winking at me." Susan rubbed her eyes, and looked once more at the stone figurine. The eyes were jet black, probably some semi-precious stone. And then it happened again. One stony eyelid covered the black stone for just a second. Susan stretched out her hand. She caressed the stony wings, felt the tiny claws and admired the perfect scales on the lithe body.
"La Gargouille te plait?" she heard a friendly voice ask.
"Erm," Susan said, trying to understand. Plaitre, ... please? yes that was it. The man asked if she liked the gargoyle.
Now for an answer. "Erm. Oui, la gargouille me plait beaucoup." Susan said slowly and distinctly. Her French had gotten a little better with practice during the week in Paris, but she found it hard to remember the words, when she needed them.
The man smiled at her and said something she did not grasp, except from "Church" and "Old".
She shook her head and tried again: "Combien ça coute, la gargouille?" She said, hoping she asked for the price of the figurine, and fearing that it would cost much more than the few Francs still left in her pocket.
"Normalement, les gargouilles sont tres chères, mais cette gargouille la est la seule que me reste de cette eglise, et les gargouilles se vents plus mieux en pairs. Tu peut me payer 10 francs pour elle!" Susan understood the 10 francs part, and emptied her pockets, She had 11 francs and 20 centimes.
She gave them all to the smiling man, who wrapped the gargoyle in a square of soft, black velvet, then in a red linen cloth, and finally placed the ensuing bundle into a paper bag with drawings of churches on it. Susan curtsied and sad "Merci beaucoup!" to the smiling man and made her way back to the café without further incidents. Mom asked her, what she had bought, and told her that she had been lucky to get the figurine that cheap.
"He must have liked you - did you speak French to him?"
"Yes, I did," Susan answered, "and I understood less than half of what he told me in return. But the important thing is, that he understood me." Susan concluded smiling. "And I got my gargoyle."
***
After the visit to the flea market they drove on, down interminable roads, through fields of sunflower and corn, the sun was bright and hot, and both Susan and Linda slept curled up in the backseat of the car. Susan held the still swaddled gargoyle cradled in her arm all the time.
A rapping at the windows woke up Susan, Linda slept on. Mom and Dad spoke to a customs officer, showed him their their passports, answered No or Nein to a couple of questions, and were waved on.
"Did you get us a stamp?" Susan asked.
"No sorry, Susan, I forgot to ask."
"Oh, well," Susan said, "I'll just have to satisfy myself with the ones from the service stations."
She and Linda each had a small play passport from a gas station back in Denmark. It had a data page in front with spaces for name and so on, and the rest were blank pages, much like a real passport, and you could have a stamp from most any service station and customs officers all over Europe. And when you returned home and showed the passport to the service station manager, you were given a small prize.
Not much later Dad left the highway and they entered a small German town. It looked like something from a fairy tale, timber-framed houses with flowers everywhere. Dad obviously knew something, as he drove straight for an inn near the river. It was a charming little house, all the wooden parts were painted a dusty spring green the walls were white and the roof was covered with green tiles. This green white theme repeated itself in the awnings, the flower pots and even the covers on the beds. It was so like a castle, that they began feeling a bit royal the moment they went through the door.
Susan and Linda did not agree on who were going to sleep in what bed, They both wanted the one with a canopy. But in the end Susan just gave in. "Oh you take the canopy bed, Linda. I'm going to lie on my bed by the window, and pretend I'm a werewolf waiting for the full moon to rise over the city."
Linda smiled. "I'm going to be a Princess waiting for my knight on a white horse then. You've better take care. He has a silver sword and a wonderful shield."
Susan sat down on the bed by the window and was about to unpack the gargoyle, when Mom came in. "Are you ready, girls? No, I can see that you're not. Comb your hairs, pack your tote bags and wash your hands. It seems there's some kind of moon festival going on in the city."
"Yes Mom!" Linda and Susan said as one. And hurriedly they did as Mom had told them. Susan put the bestiary, her drawing stuff and after a short pause also the gargoyle into her tote bag. Linda of course packed the Mario game and drawing stuff as well. Soon they were done and walked out on the terrace.
They walked down to a park by the river. The drums could be heard from far off over the waters' sounds. They arrived at a big, free space, probably the market square. It was bordered by trees on three sides, and the river on the fourth. Today it was topped with fresh gravel and flagpoles were put up from which pennants with strange signs flew in the breeze.
"That looks a lot like Chinese letters." Linda said. "Just like the writings on the rice bowls you brought home from China, Dad. Am I right?"
Dad had been a sailor before he met Mom, and they had many wonderful things at home from his travels. Also rice bowls and chopsticks, which Dad had taught them to use.
"Yes," Dad said, "they do look Chinese to me as well, but they could be Japanese as well. They look very much the same to me."
A bell was struck, or maybe a gong. After a while a loud male voice rose above the crowds: They could see a man dressed like an old fashioned town crier, carrying a megaphone on a small platform in the other end of the field. "And now we give the stage over to a Japanese dancing and drumming team all the way from Australia: The Prosperous Mountain Lion Dance! Give them a hand!"
And to the applause from many hands the drummers came running in, They were dressed in very colourful clothes, flowery pants and yellow tank tops with Japanese signs on them. A boy and a girl began drumming away and another boy dressed in traditional black Japanese dress began playing a flute. After a short while two persons with monstrous lion heads entered the scene. They staged a play in time to the music, but the symbolism and meaning were lost on most of the spectators.
The drummers stopped, the lions stood still, and the Town crier announced in his megaphone: "The Lion dance is traditionally a new year's dance, supposed to bring good luck. During the next part of the dance, the lions are going to bite some of you. They are not trying to hurt you, but to ward off evil spirits. Do not be afraid to touch the Lions or to be touched by them!"
The boy with the flute began reciting something that sounded like a poem, it could have been a cooking recipe or a spell for all they understood. But as he recited, the drummers began drumming wildly, the lions reared and began a stirring dance, moving their lower jaws, snapping after the spectators and generally behaving like wild, dangerous beasts.
Susan stood still, lost in the splendor of the dance, when suddenly one of the lions sneaked up close and bit her soundly in the arm. Susan gave a short, shrill scream, and almost dropped her bag. She thought she saw a triumphant grin on the face of the lion before it whirled away to snap its painted jaws on another hypnotized victims.
***
When finally the drummers and dancers stopped, the Sun was almost at the horizon.
Susan looked around, walked back and forth from the place, where they has stood, but Mom, Dad and Linda were nowhere to be seen. She looked once more for good measure, even walking to the opposite end of the square. Nope, they were gone, she was lost.
"Well," she thought to herself, "the hotel lies at the river, I'll just follow it back, It's not as if I was in the middle of Paris. And if I get totally lost, I bet my German is good enough to ask for my way to a green and white hotel."
She started to walk through the throngs on the square, many people were still standing, talking, drinking beer or eating grilled chicken in larger or smaller groups. She reached the end of the park, and there were the two lions, pulling off their big masks and stretching their backs.
"G'day, mate" one of the Lions said in funny sounding English. "I'm sorry I surprised you. I did not hurt you now, did I?"
Susan recognized the Lion who had bitten her arm: "No, you did not hurt me, but I did not see you coning close to me. How did you do that?"
"How did I do what?" he asked.
"Sneak upon me like that. You're not exactly invisible in that big mask. But I did not see you near me, until suddenly you bit me? Some kind of magic, I suppose, was it the drums or the words from that black clad boy?"
"Huh," the Lion said, "you got me there mate. It's Kensuke. He's the magician here. And I'm Liam. The girl drummer is Ella, and the boy drummer is Cooper. The other Lion is a girl, Teiko, very Japanese. Do you care for a cuppa?"
"I'm Susan from Denmark. Do I care for what, sorry?"
"A cuppa - some tea?"
"Yes please. I'm lost anyway, a cup of tea sounds nice."
"Lost?" Liam asked. "What do you mean?"
"I arrived in town earlier today with my family, we went here together, but after your performance the rest of my family, Mom, Dad and a sister, was nowhere to be seen. But I'll find my way back to the hotel we stay in. It's by the river."
Liam turned to the rest of the Prosperous Mountaineers and shot a stream of strange sounding syllables at them. Teiko answered with a shot affirmative sound, Cooper just looked blankly at him, and Kensuke answered with an equally long sentence. Susan thought it to be Japanese. She had never heard anything like it.
"Kensuke asks about the colour of your hotel, and admits to enchanting you. Teiko also thinks tea is a good idea." Liam said, very staccato.
Kensuke slowly said: "This is dumb. Over here all."
They gathered around him, he took a drumstick, moved it in a pattern, Susan recognized from the language spell and said: "Gengo!"
"Hello everyone, I'm Susan from Denmark." Susan said. "I live in a green and white hotel near the river and I'm happy to meet you!"
"A hotel where everything is white and green?" Teiko asked. "Like a castle. We live there too."
"Let's get all the gear into the Ute," Liam said. " We can drink our tea on the big terrace by the water."
Everybody helped get drums, lion masks and costumes stored in the back of the pick up, and they all piled into the five seats, Susan on top of Liam.
"Hey! That bag is heavy. Do you carry bricks in there?" Cooper asked, as he handed her the bag.
"Nope, it's a gargoyle." Susan answered. And interrupted by questions from the Mountaineers she told the story of the old book, their stay in Paris and the winking gargoyle at the market.
Meanwhile Ella drove the pickup through the crowded, narrow streets of the small German town. Susan ended her tale as she deftly parked it near the Hotel's riverside terrace.
Mom, Dad and Linda sat near the doorway to the hall.
"Where did yo go?" Susan asked them.
"We told you, we'd go back," Mom said. "We were hungry and that Lion dance was boring. You seemed to enjoy it, though. Did you not hear us?"
"No, I did not, I think the drums were too loud. I met the band on my way home, they're nice, and they also live here. We drove back together. Is it OK if I eat with them?"
"Yes, do," Mom answered. "We have already eaten."
***
Liam had ordered a tea with lots of edibles among those the famous Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, for all of them when Susan returned to the table. For some time the only words were food related, everyone was hungry. But slowly everybody had sated their hunger, Kensuke told the story of how he and Teiko had started up with the Lion dance in Australia, and how they had come to Germany and set up a branch here.
"We wanted to re-name it," Teiko said, "Prosperous Mountain is far away, but we still need a new name."
"Yet so far Ella is our only native acquisition," Cooper said smiling, " We need more locals to join us."
Teiko poured fresh tea, and without talking they all filled up a plate with tidbits and asked the waitress to clear the table, The sun had set, the terrace was emptying with the onset of the colder night. Susan placed the wrapped gargoyle in the middle of the table. She then proceeded to unwrap the red linen and the black velvet cloths from the figurine.
"Wow, he's a beaut." Liam exclaimed.
"I dare bet he is one of the good gargoyles defenders of humanity and such," Teiko said, tracing the slender, gracefully curved claws.
"Yes," Susan said, "but I did not tell you the whole truth. This one is alive. I saw it wink at me at the flea market, and not only once, but twice."
"Lend me your book," Ella said with a small laugh. "I'm sure there's some clues in it, and I am able to read the old German print, no probs."
Susan handed Ella the old book, and as she began reading, the others sat watching the moon rise over the forest behind the river. The moon was big, full and reddish. As it cleared the topmost branches of the trees, a howl sounded from afar.
"Are there wolves in Germany?" Teiko asked.
Ella looked up from the bestiary: "No, not this far west, there might be some behind the Iron curtain. News from there are sparse, but this side, no. And before you ask, no there's no Zoo around here either.
Teiko looked at Kensuke, but he was looking at the moon.
"It's full," Teiko said.
"Could it be .. werewolves?" Kensuke said in a dead voice.
"Werewolves?" Cooper said. "Do they exist outside of horror movies and swords and sorcery books?"
"Oh yes they do," Teiko said, "and they're a dangerous lot. And they have it in for Lion dancers and wizards, I don't know why."
"Can we do anything." Susan asked "I mean I'm a witch as well. What about you, Teiko?"
"Yes, but ..." Teiko said, "I only just began in school, I'm not very skilled."
Ella interrupted: "But this book, it's full of magic. I can't do magic, but my grandma sure can. And here's a chapter on bringing gargoyles, golems and such to life. I'm sure she could do it."
They looked at Ella with renewed respect. In the silence more howls, and closer now, were heard from the woods.
Liam spoke up for the first time since werewolves got mentioned: "Time to visit your granny, then. Where does she live?"
"Very close. Let's get going!"
Susan carefully swaddled the Gargoyle figuring and put it in her bag. "Hey, Liam, hold my bag, please, and Ella, just a sec, Gotta tell my parents, I'm off."
"Visit Ella's Granny?" Mom asked, "now? And to show her the Gargoyle, Strange lot those lion dancers, but OK. You're home before the reception closes at midnight."
"Yes, mom, thanks!" Susan said and ran back down the stairs.
They were ready to leave, and Ella led them to a perfect miniature house in a clearing in the forest east of the town.
***
Ella's grandmother was the archetypal witch from the story book, small tidy, grey hair in a bun, jars and a big pot in the kitchen of a cozy house. Even down to the checkered apron and hooked nose. She was very kind, and heard the Lion dancers story with almost no interruptions. She bade Susan unpack the Gargoyle and clicked her tongue appreciatively as she saw it. "What a fine specimen! We'll have her back to life in a jiffy," she said.
"Her?" Susan and Ella said as one. "Oh yes, gargoyles can be female as well. How do you imagine small gargoyles are made?"
"Ohh" Susan said, getting a bit red in the face.
"Well, I spy many young helpers, Ella's grandmother said. What I need to do is rather time-consuming, and time is what we do not have." She took the book, handed out strange roots, fruits, gems, and pieces of wood with as many different tools and instructions. Susan peeled and grated a ginormous purple root, while Teiko and Kensuke chopped something looking like cross between beans and sparrows' eggs. Ella stirred the big pot with a wooden spoon, watching over the wasters with an ease, that told the others that she might not herself be a witch, but she was sure used to helping granny in her magic workings. Cooper grated a black square of wood, very slowly. "Take good care now, drummer boy, you do not want your fingers grated along with the wood. It's old, seasoned Ironwood from our local Black forest!" Granny said.
Liam finely pounded a bowl of blue and yellow crystals.
While they all worked, each as concentrated as could be, they once again heard the werewolves howling. The distant howl, was answered by yet another from down by the river, and then a shiver ran down their spines, for the next howl cam from close up, on the other side of the hut.
Granny assured them, that the werewolf was farther off, than is sounded, and that they had time for their job, if they worked diligently. And work they did.
When all was ready. Granny added the ingredients one by one to the boiling cauldron, all the time chanting and stirring the pot in complicated patterns. The steam rising from the pot changed colour with each ingredient, in the end looking like a twisted rainbow hanging over the pot. She carefully took the Gargoyle from the kitchen table, and dunked it into the bubbling, multicoloured brew.
As she pulled it up again, the figuring was dripping coloured drops. Granny put it back on the velvet square on the table. The gargoyle shook itself ever so slightly, and the colours shimmered and shifted. Fascinated, Susan and the Lion dancers watched as all the green, blue white, golden and brown colours went to the wings, the eyes, claws and beak, and in the end a perfect living gargoyle sat on the table in front of them.
"Good evening little one," Granny said.
The gargoyle flapped her perfect, green wings, opened and closed the shiny beak and ... answered: "Good evening. I'm Cerina, the last of my kind. And I'm happy to be here tonight. I can smell the werewolves in the air. This is not a night for people to be out in."
"Not even ..." Susan said.
"No, gentle girl, not even witches and wizards. You all stay here, and prepare a cauldron full of the recipe on the next page. Leave the werewolves to me." The little gargoyle flew to the rim of the cauldron, drank down the contents, and then walked to the door. On the way out she nudged Susan's hand. Susan ran her hand over her eye ridges, down the perfectly curved horns, and caressed the pointy ears. "Oh, you're so pretty, Cerina. Take good care of yourself." They went together to the door, Susan's hand resting on the horns of the Gargoyle. When Susan reached the door, her hand were further away from the floor, than it had been.
"You're growing!" Susan exclaimed.
"Yes, you brewed a very potent potion for me tonight. Stay inside and brew me another one."
Cerina neared her face to Susan's and put her snout to her face, in something reminding of a kiss.
Susan opened the door, and once outside the quickly growing gargoyle shook herself and alighted in a whirl of dust and colours. She circled once over the house and took off in the direction of the river, where the savage howling of the werewolves could be heard coming ever closer.
Susan stood looking after the flying shape until Granny came and pulled her inside.
"Our work is not yet done," she said. "You heard her just as well as I did.
"She was such a wonderful, wonderful sight," Susan said. I'm afraid what the werewolves are going to do to her.
"You'd be better off worrying what she will do to the werewolves." Granny said sharply. "Those horns, claws and beak was not made for decorative purposes. And the werewolves were human once. Never forget that."
Granny closed the door and with a sharp word of command she closed the shutters on all windows and doors.
***
"And now we clean and brew!" Ella's Grandma commanded. Ella and Teiko cleaned the cauldron, careful not to touch the last drops in it. The other Lion dancers meticulously cleaned their tools, while Susan once again grated large amounts of the purple root. Granny gave Cooper another piece of wood for his grater, if possible even harder, but this time grey. "Wood from the Petrified forest. It's very hard indeed, drummer boy," she said with a loving smile and a pat on his head. Liam was given another batch of crystals, grey and green for his mortar and pestle. And she handed Teiko and Kensuke something that looked like a snake's or a shark's skin, but Granny said it was from a small dragon.
The distant howls got closer and closer all the time, urging them to work with speed and care. But as Granny once again stirred the cauldron, adding the shredded, grated or pulverized ingredients, the threatening howls of hunting, hungry wolves turned into the yelping sounds of hurt animals. And then it sounded as if all hell broke loose over the tiny hut. Snarls, roars, yelps, hooting and crashing, flailing falling, terrifying sounds resounded in the clearing in front of the house. Susan jumped to the window, and tried to peek through the shutters, but they were a perfect fit, not a single crack to see through. Ella and Liam was beside her, but Granny came over and gently steered them away from the window. "Dear children, you have done what can be done, trust the little one and the magic of my cauldron." They gathered around the fireplace.
"The second draught is ready," Granny said, "When all is quiet, we'll use it on Gargoyle and weres alike." She turned to Susan and looked her in the eyes: "That book is a treasure beyond compare. Could you let me have it for a while. I'll send it back, or even better yet send Ella and the Mountaineers up to you with the book when I'm done writing a copy for myself."
Susan looked at Granny, drew a deep breath and answered: "Yes, you can. My wizarding school is still establishing itself, we can wait. And a visit from the Lion dancers would be a treat in my part of the world."
The sounds died off, not gradually, but as if cut by a giant knife, only a soft whimpering could be heard. And then a scratching at the door. Susan ran to the door, but she could not open it. "Careful my child, Granny said,. " Your heart is big, but the world is a dangerous place." She touched her giant spoon to the door - her wand Susan realized - and a small round hole, like a knot, opened. Granny put an eye to the hole, and looked out. "Yes. It's Cerina!" She announced, smiling from ear to ear and opened the door.
Cerina the gargoyle came through the door. She was wounded and had shrunk again, but she looked defiant and triumphant. "I did it," she said in a small voice. "All the werewolves are mortally wounded. You can dose them without danger."
"Susan, you take care of Cerina, all the rest of you come here. Susan picked up the tiny gargoyle, and asked her what she needed.
"Wash me in pure water first, and then dip me in the cauldron." The potion in it removes almost all the magic from me again, I will become a normal gargoyle for a long time again. But I have my reward. One of the Weres had been attacked by one like me. He - the other gargoyle - is at the red, white and blue hotel next to the one you stay in."
"Do you want to stay here?" Susan asked, feeling a chill to her heart.
"Yes, gentle girl. "It would make me most happy not to be alone, to be able to defend this small town when the werewolves gathers again and maybe even rise a family."
What do I have to do, my pretty one?" Susan asked.
"Dunk me in the cauldron, and let me fly away before the potion takes full effect. We'll meet again."
Susan did as the gargoyle had told her, and while she carried the little one to the door, she noticed the colours on wings and chest became more muted, grey green and stone- like. Crying she held the gargoyle up to her face on both palms, kissed the stone grey snout and whispered: "Thank you Celina, live long and prosper." The Gargoyle wept with Susan, two grey, round tears fell as marbles. "Keep my tears, they will be of help to you one day, Cerina said, and flew away, Susan stood as rooted, until her lithe silhouette was swallowed in the distance.
***
Cooper and Teiko were the first to return. They carried between them a creature mangled beyond recognition. It had a head, and some fur could be seen, but what was up and down in the bloody mound, they placed on the floor was not to be determined. Susan watched in horrid fascination. Then the lumps of flesh and bones started moving. Susan felt sick. but before she was overwhelmed, Granny stood at her side.
"Fill this dipper from the cauldron, and bring it to me. Careful. Do not touch the substance, before it has touched the monster there."
Susan did as she was asked, and she returned with a dipper full to the brim. Granny took it from her, and poured the grey green liquid all over the crawling mound of flesh and bone. Suddenly the bones knit, and the flesh knew where to go. Once again they looked, transfixed as the shape turned more and more human.
"You," Granny whispered. " You're the miller of this town. Do you even know what you are, or rather were, until tonight."
"I know it not," the man whispered, "but I suspected it. I always got drunk, and hid in the cellar at the full moon, but this time I forgot. It was that dance."
"Well that dance, and a gargoyle, and a potion out of my cauldron also cured you. You are no more a skin turner or a lycantrope. What are you going to do now."
"I am cured? I will help build up what I have ruined, and marry the sweet Elsbeth of the swirling shirts. I'll spend two days a week to build and help the citizens of the town for free. Sundays I'll go to church, and on the remaining four, I'll build a new life for Elsbeth and me. And I'll help and recompense you in any way you'll deem necessary."
"I'll hold you to your promises," Granny said. "Now leave!"
Susan turned to the door, where Kensuke, Ella and Liam came carrying one more wolf-human pile of meat and bones in a sheet. She left the house with Cooper and Teiko, hoping that there were no more of these not quite dead bodies around, or at last hoping she would not be the one to find it.
In all five werewolves were found and cleansed. They were all normal citizens, all having had a suspicion, but deeming werewolves superstition, they had tried to explain their illness under many other names.
None of them saw one another, or were told who they were, only that there were more of them. All pledged to live decent, helpful lives from now on, and Susan and the Mountaineers were sure Granny would hold them to their promises.
"And now, Granny said, as the last of the weres were found and cleansed, "It's time for us all to depart. It's almost midnight. you should all be at he hotel. I cannot thank you enough for your help tonight." She hugged them all soundly, blessing them and then she raised her spoon and chanted something that sounded like a lullaby. Suddenly they drifted trough the air, landing at the parking site in front of the inn.
They piled inside, and as Teiko, the last of them, crossed the threshold, the bell began tolling the midnight hour.
"We'll meet again in Denmark. We'll have to leave early tomorrow." The Lion dancers said to Susan, and they all hugged one another.
"Gengonai!" Kensuke whispered, swishing his drum stick wand and suddenly Teiko's chirping sounded once again totally unintelligible in Susan's ears.
"Sayonara!" she said, one of the really few Japanese words Susan had learned.
Susan slept as soon as her head hit the pillow, and she dreamt of nothing at all during the night. Next morning she woke very late, and she was sure Granny had done something about this, as she had feared sleeping after seeing the werewolves changing shape.
When Susan and Linda climbed into the car, Susan looked up. And there, at the highest point of the house, where the eaves met, a grey green Gargoyle glistened in the early sun. Susan left the car and looked up. Very slowly one of the eyes closed, and opened again. It was Cerina.
***
After a long, but totally uneventful day on the German motorways Susan and her family arrived at the port. Susan had slept most of the day, she did not normally sleep very much during a ride, the world was much too exiting, but yesterday night had been taxing in many ways. She was still plagued with a mild uncertainty whenever she thought about Cerina. Maybe she should have brought the small gargoyle home with her after all. But then again, she would have been lonely, out of place and without any function, as Susan was sure, there were no werewolves in Denmark.
"We have lots of time before the ferry leaves," Dad came back and told them. "The first one is sold out, and there's over 4 hours til the next departure."
"We'll be home late then," Mom said. "Maybe we should visit Dina and Kurt in their summer house, I'm sure they are already there. It is Friday after all."
"Oh, let's go and see the new mystery movie, while we're waiting," Linda said. "I've heard lots about it. And I saw posters in the big city we just passed."
"I'd like a haircut," Susan said. "I had planned a consultation with the hairdresser tomorrow, but we won't be hone in time for that, and my bangs are killing me. They are into my eyes all the time."
"OK," Dad said "Who wants to see the movie?" Only Linda raised her hand,
"Then Linda and I'll go and watch the movie," Dad said, "Susan you can probably find a hairdresser somewhere near the cinema, What about you, Elin?" Dad asked.
"Oh, I'll be fine, Mom said, I'll find a nice café, have a coffee and a cake and maybe go shopping for some cakes and candy. German sweet stuff is so good!"
They went back to the city they had passed on their way to the ferry, and easily found a place to park near the cinema. Mom and Susan walked a bit further up the main street, where mom found an Italian ice café. Susan easily found a hairdresser, as dad had foreseen. She was lucky because it had been closed for a long time due to problems with their light fixtures, and had lost almost all their costumers, so they had an open slot immediately. Susan and the hairdresser quickly reached an agreement on the price of a haircut, and to Susan's joy, she was quick, efficient and not too talkative.
They all met back at the car, and drove away to the ferry.
On the ferry Linda told enthusiastically about the movie. "It was very scary, and that violin solo! It made my hair stand on ends. And the heroine ... her freckles were so cute, but she died. Horribly."
Susan did her best to understand what Linda was saying as they stood on the windblown deck. looking at the setting sun reflecting in the sea's dancing surface. But she was unable to concentrate for long. It was a beautiful evening, and she looked forward to a stay on Unicorn Isle.
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