downy bed. There was obviously no need, for the temperature was mild, and he was content to go as nature made him.
Arriving at the deep pool, he found everyone but Curley and the mage, Melf, there before him. Chert was frolicking at a game of tag with the tiny halfling, while Gellor and a striking woman with tawny hair lay basking, totally nude in the warm sunlight. Gord was suddenly self-conscious and leaped into the waters to hide his nakedness. Both the bard and the woman laughed at his discomfort, and eventually he came out of the pool.
'No need for such concern,' the lovely female said to him in a wonderfully throaty voice. 'Save for you and your friends here, we are all cats of one sort or another. None of us cares a whisker for the conventions you humans choose to affect.'
'This is most amazing to me, my lady,' the young thief replied, truly surprised. 'Surely you are no feline at all, for unless my eyes deceive me, you are one of the most lovely women I have ever had the pleasure of seeing!'
The amber-haired woman laughed at this. 'Thank you, man, for your sincere praise. Be aware, however, that I am called Tirrip, and I am what your sort call a tiger-were.'
Rather than drawing back in fear and revulsion, Gord laughed in return. 'This amply shows, fair… feline, how ignorant I am. I crave your pardon.'
'Well spoken. You have both my pardon and, I hope, my friendship, if you can accept such from a creature such as I.'
Thereafter the two fell into an animated conversation, from which Gellor quietly excused himself. The arrival of Green-leaf and Melf, chatting contentedly as if they were long-lost kinsmen, signaled an end to the relaxed sunning. After a brief wetting, both called for a conclave over a repast, so the whole party trooped off to the appointed area for their meal, the Court of Dappled Sunlight and Pleasant Stretching.
They were attended by the humanoid catfolk but were otherwise alone. Tirrip had left to join others of her kind somewhere else — whether in the great, circular mansion or the countryside beyond, Gord was uncertain. After they had broken their fast, Greenleaf spoke to the others.
'Melf and I have been in conversation regarding the whole matter of our mission — and his own quest as well.' The druid looked at Melf, and the fighter-mage nodded his head for the half-elven druid to continue. 'To be brief, he and I both have urgent need to be elsewhere. At the risk of offending our host, I wish to take advantage of Melfs kind offer to transport me with him when he departs.'
Melf cleared his throat, and when everyone looked his way, the gray elf smiled and said, 'I will refrain from departing, of course, if you feel that it will jeopardize those who remain here. There is the matter of the item we all seek, however… Gord, what is your opinion?'
Gord shrugged. 'My acquaintance with our host is just that, and I cannot hazard a guess. Still, our purpose seems unchanged, and duty demands that we continue with our mission as quickly as possible. I, for one, have no objection to the three of you leaving. I will take my chances.'
'I’m not afraid of the consequences,' Chert boomed. 'Go on!'
'It will be just you two, and Lord Gellor, who stay behind,' the warrior-wizard said. 'Biff is going with us, for he must oversee my affairs in my absence and attend to his own further training as well.'
Greenleaf nodded, adding, 'As Melf must report to his liege, Mordenkainen, I too must inform superiors of events. It goes against my grain to leave you, but I must do so now. Let us say our farewells now. Gellor, Chert, Gord — friends and comrades all — be blessed! I'll leave word in Chendl, at the Royal Palace itself, as to my whereabouts. Until we meet again,' the druid finished, embracing each of his friends warmly.
'You grow old and soft,' Gellor said with a chuckle as he noted the tears in the druid's eyes. 'This is not a permanent thing, merely an answer to a call of duty. All soldiers must do thus.'
Gord found Melf standing beside him, hand extended. The halfling was there likewise. 'I thank you, as does Biff, for our lives,' he said, gripping the young thief hand. 'Here is a token of my everlasting esteem, a small scroll of spells to replace the one you used. May you use them to their direct purpose!'
Everyone laughed at that, and, tension broken, the six said their final goodbyes and it was done. Melf, Greenleaf, and the halfling went off to the gray elfs chamber. They would leave from there, unseen. The three remaining men decided to move about the place and make themselves evident, attracting attention just in case.
They toured the huge mansion and strolled the gardens and parks in and around the place for the next two hours. All was quiet, and nothing untoward occurred. They gave wide berth to the numerous great cats, which were everywhere. Here a leopard lay on a tree limb, there a pair of cheetahs seemed to be racing for sheer sport. Lions, panthers, tigers, jaguars, pumas, smilodons with their sabre-teeth, and all the sorts of smaller felines as well, from bobcats to jaguarundi to domestic varieties. None so much as sniffed at them. It was as if the men were invisible.
'Come, Gord! Your friends too!' Tirrip called as they passed a green. She was with a handful of men and women — males and females, actually — who all appeared to be her brothers or sisters. 'We are practicing our skills with human weapons and having all sorts of sport,' the tiger-were called to them. 'Come join us!'
The three men strolled over, and the others of Tirrip's kind greeted them in cool but polite fashion. There were two males and four other females all clad, as Tirrip was, in belted tunics of thick cotton. After introductions, the others returned to their contests — fencing, wrestling, jumping, and whatever else seemed to please them. One large male had defeated all his fellows at wrestling. Chert could not resist.
'I will try my skill against you,' he said, stepping into the area of flattened grass and removing his jack and blouse as he did so. The tiger-were male was nearly as tall as the giant barbarian, and his whole body was a mass of corded, rippling muscles.
'Ha!' the fellow laughed, dropping into a crouch. 'This will be a good lesson for you,' he added — and then he sprang.
All the rest watched with fascination. Fast as the tiger-in-man-form was, Chert was ready. The huge hillman caught the tiger-were in a hold, heaved, and the surprised creature sailed through the air. Chert spun to observe his opponent's fall, but there was no thud and whoosh of breath from the force of the throw. The fellow landed on his feet, snarling!
'Come on, Raug! Show him!' shouted one of the females in totally human fashion. The tiger-were needed no encouragement, however, for he was now circling and ready to spring again.
The contest went on for some time without either combatant able to gain an advantage. Both Chert and Raug seemed to grow more angry and determined to break the impasse. From springing and circling the two went to grips, and after much twisting, breaking of holds, and straining, the massive barbarian finally managed to get his opponent in a vise from which Raug could not escape, nor break in any fashion. 'Yield!' Chert demanded, applying leverage and squeezing with all his force.
'Beware, Chert!' Gord called suddenly. 'He takes tiger form!'
Chert instantly loosed his hold and was on his feet, reaching for a nonexistent weapon — the axe, Brool, which was usually at his broad leathern girdle. Meanwhile, the enraged Raug was completing his transformation. From a two-hundred-fifty-pound man he had changed to a tiger of twice that weight, and there was murder in the great cat's baleful eyes. The other tiger-weres were hissing — whether in encouragement or some other emotion, Gord knew not. Without hesitation, the young thief snatched up Chert's mighty axe and sent it spinning toward his friend in one smooth motion.
'Chert!'
The barbarian caught the weapon without taking his eyes off the tiger, standing poised to bring the great blade arcing to meet any attack. Neither antagonist moved. Suddenly, Tirrip was between them.
'Stop this! Slaughter is not permitted by our Master — you know that, Raug. Shame! And you!' she spat at Chert. 'As a guest, how dare you bare a weapon in such manner!'
Raug was growling curses but returning to man form. The barbarian was sheepishly lowering his weapon.
'Stupid cubs! Little boys! That's what you are,' the angry female said, looking disdainfully from one to the other. 'You, Raug, were arrogant and couldn't accept an honest defeat at the hands of a mere human, so you resorted to foul play.'
Raug, now again appearing as a man, flushed and looked away, but there was no escape, for the others were still hissing at him, and the sound was clearly one of disapproval. Raug slunk out of the ring. Tirrip turned to Chert
