Destiny

The Lirells greeted Ty and Isobel with a lot more enthusiasm than the mermaids. The injured Lirell was still alive; but only just.

“Here’s the remedy,” Isobel said to them as she handed over the package. All the Lirells crowed around as the leader unwrapped the seaweed using his horn.

Under the seaweed was the most beautiful shell Ty had ever seen. It was a large rainbow coloured clam shell that seemed to give off its own light. But that was not the cure, the Lirell opened the clam and the inside was full to bursting with little silver balls, quite a lot like a pearl.

“Ahhhhh,” breathed all of the Lirells at once.

“That’s silver, wont it kill him?” asked Ty.

“Yes it is silver, but these balls are magical. Watch and you will understand,” remarked the Lirell.

What happened next amazed both Ty and Isobel. One Lirell placed a silver ball gently in the centre of the Lirells injury and the ball immediately turned to liquid and vanished into the skin. The injured Lirell retched in agony as the silver pulsated through his body. The silver liquid then reappeared where it had started and as if played backwards, turned back into a silver ball. But instead of looking shiny it was dull and tarnished.

“The liquid has sucked out all the poison from the werewolf bite,” a Lirell explained, “it looks dull now because it is full of poison. We shall plant it by the riverside to grow some more silver balls. That is how the mermaids keep their stock high.”

Another Lirell caught Ty looking wistfully at the silver balls,

“Don’t bother, I know what you are thinking but you are to far gone for them to have any effect on you.”

The injured Lirell stood up; his bite mark had fully healed thanks to the silver balls. He walked over to Ty and Isobel, starting slow and unsteady but quickly regaining his balance as his strength came back.

“Thank you for your help,” he said to them, “We offered you a lift to Destiny’s palace and so we shall, but there is still the problem of the werewolf. We know your time is short so if you know the direction we will be happy to give you a ride there to speed you up.”

Ty and Isobel smiled at each other, this was better than they had hoped.

“I can find out where he is,” Isobel said. She quickly morphed into a wolf and threw back her head and howled.

The howl was a haunting sound and sent shivers through the Lirells spines; but the answer was worse. For the howl of the werewolf held misery and anger.

It came from an area surprisingly close, from the mountains. It would have taken Ty and Isobel about a day to walk there, but with the Lirells wings it would only take about half an hour.

They quickly climbed aboard two waiting Lirell and off they headed towards the mountains and the werewolf awaiting them.