A crowd of well wishers surrounds Mira
--or--
"To swim or not to swim, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the feathers and beaks of the were-ducks...."
--or--
"What is it? The well! The well! Mira's stuck in the well!"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Night One
Mira had been so loud on the first Day that, really, it shouldn't have been much of a surprise to her when the were-ducks approached her after sunset, dragging her to the well in the center of town.
“What are you doing?” she shouted, and one of the ducks clapped a feathered hand over her mouth before she could scream any more.
“Mmhmm let mmhmm go mmhmm of mmhmm me,”
Mira ordered, her voice distorted through the foul gag. One of the villains glanced furtively around the village. She thought she saw someone moving, but as she stepped away to investigate one of her packmates called for her.
“For the love of Hans Christian Anderson, she's feisty! The nasty thing just bit me,” she complained, waving her semi-wing back and forth and hissing in pain. “Didn't your father ever teach you to play nice?”
“My father's dead,”
Mira put in sadly, but the were-ducks just laughed at her confession.
“Well then get thee to a grief counsellor. We're not here to listen to you cry.”
“Actually we are,” another put in, and they all burst out laughing again.
Mira continued to struggle until finally the other duck scampered off, returning with someone in tow. “Shut up and take it like a big girl or we slit his throat,” she threatened.
The hostage's face was shrouded in darkness but
Mira recognized him instantly.
“No,” she begged, “not him. Please don't hurt him.”
It took two of the were-creatures to subdue him, but they finally held his mouth open and poured some kind of liquid in it. In less than a minute he collapsed, unconscious.
“No!”
“It's all right, he's just sleeping,” one of the were-ducks whispered in her ear. “For now.”
“What do I have to do?”
Mira asked hesitantly.
All the were-ducks smiled and looked toward the middle of their little circle, right at the well.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next morning a few of the members of the little party walked toward the well to get a drink.
“I think there's something in the water,”
Gwath noted, and
Durie nodded in agreement.
They looked down into the well and gasped.
“No....freaking....way....”
By now most of the group had gathered with them.
Shasta stumbled out of the building and brought up the rear, pushing his way to the front of the group. “What's going on?”
“Mira's trapped in the well!”
Nerwen shouted, bouncing up and down and looking surprisingly chipper despite both the early hour and the grim news which had just left her mouth. “She's dead. Give me a D! Give me an E! Give me a D!”
Shasta glared at her and she weakly finished, “What does that spell? Dead.”
“She killed herself,”
Mith theorized. “Wish I'd thought of it first.”
“Tell me about it,” agreed
Nilp and
Lommie, and
Wilwa facepalmed again.
Shasta vomited in a small bush across the village square at the sight of her mangled body, and the rest of the villagers slowly made their way toward the local bakery to scrounge for some breakfast.
“But....” said
Fea.
Izzy sighed impatiently as she walked beside her. “Yes?”
Fea shrugged. “That was it.”
“It's a cover-up,”
Mac said to himself as he and
Rikae walked toward the building. “It's all a conspiracy to brainwash the youth of the Downs by....by....I'll get back to you.”
“Yes, dear,”
Rikae agreed supportively, and stole a glance back at the well, which was far too tall for tiny little
Mira to have jumped into by herself.
The Dead
Sally (stabbed in a case of mistaken identity by a non-six-fingered Phantom on Night 0)
Phantom (made into a very unhealthy breakfast on Night 0)
Legate (ordo, pickled on Day 1)
Mira (Ophelia, ordo, drowned on Night 1)
Shastanis Althreduin
The Living
Feanor of the Peredhil
Brinniel
wilwarin538
Durelin
Nogrod
Isabellkya
Nerwen
Rikae
Mith
Kath
Lari
Mac
Nienna
Gwathagor
Thinlómien
Nilpaurion Felagund