Crave For Remedy
A SITUATION NEVER ENVISAGED



The stream of consciousness started to flow again. How long had she been sleeping? The witch had no idea. She could still hear three separate slow breathings ; she had not been dreaming as she had briefly hoped. But at least the three beings where still in torpor. She did feel much better than before. Her whole body still ached. Yet, it was bearable and that was what mattered.


Adelina's body still felt weird though. Even more weird now that her senses were no longer numbed by the agony. She didn't feel humanoid at all. Still unfamiliar with this new body - whatever it may be - Adelina concentrated on her muscles. Surprisingly she managed to open her eyes. It was all blurry and she forced her eyes to focus. She was glaring at a bare stone wall with a much larger field of vision than she was used to. Her new eyes visioned things differently though. The witch couldn't describe the differences though so strange it was. She had some trouble focusing on her complete sight and it took her a few instants to realize that the pair of black and white paws right in front of her were hers. 'Gods below!' She was in the body of a cat! In the body of her own cat, Solda.


'Ah, the irony...' Her, a powerful witch, was now in the body of a being which could not cast any spells. She wondered how she would ever get out of this situation. However more urgent matters attended her ; she had to find out who that stranger was. Adelina tried to get up on her paws. After several clumsy attempts she managed to stand on all fours. Curious and fearful of the owner of the third breath she turned around. In vain, for she fell to the ground twice in the attempt. The cat persisted though and with a little bit more assurance than the last time, she carefully turned her felid body towards the stranger.


It was a man. Most probably a mortal. In his mid thirties he had long, slender black hair. He lied, still unconscious, face down on the floor with his foot caught in the secret door. Dressed in dark shades of grey and brown he was carrying a bag, she guessed him to be a burglar. A  burglar had thwarted her own spell! At least he didn't seem to be a ruffian. That's the only thing who would have angered her more : Some thug out of the slum  interrupting her incantation. She stiffly turned her head, looking at her former body. It's eyes were wide open, clearly expressing fear and panic. Yet she stayed on the floor, petrified. Adelina concluded that the soul of Solda was in her and the simple animal mind could not understand the situation. Nor could it get any grip on its new body. She then felt her ears twitch, hearing a faint moan from behind.


She recognized it as the vampire's voice. But of the latter's soul the sorceress had shrivelled to its least. The undead could moan no more.  'Could it be that the soul of the burglar has been interchanged with the one of the vampires?' She had thought about many different outcomes resulting from the spell but that was a situation she never had envisaged. A very bad outcome it was. Looking at the vampire she saw that it was still immobile and far from consciousness. She had to think quickly though. This was a very problematic situation. 'Who knows what he will do at his wake?'


And then Adelina realized that she had another problem apart from the physical and magical limitations of her felid body : She couldn't speak. But she remembered making a potion for one of her previous cats several decades ago. It was supposed to make the cat being able to project his thoughts. Unfortunately, the feline never managed to project whole senseful thoughts. That was not very surprising though and she should have predicted it. But now, if she could find the potion it could come in handy.


The sorceress browsed through her many memories. It was tough to be over a hundred years of age and not having a very good memory. She had so many things to remember and yet she could only recall a few. She couldn't reminisce where she had stored the potion. But she was sure of one thing, if it was most probably in the store room. The store room was a little chamber with many high shelves who were cramped with potions and other magical components. Luckily she hadn't closed the door beforehand between her secret chamber and the magazine and the passage laid open for the cat. Awkwardly the feline concentrated and put all her efforts into setting herself into motion.  After a few falls she slipped into the supply chamber.


As a cat, everything seemed much bigger. The view from the small height  And the height of the tall shelves made her dizzy. The passage in between the the latter looked much wider though. Still she felt lost in a jungle of carefully stacked flasks and vials. She dearly hoped the potion was at ground level. The witch wandered around the shelves inspecting the labels of each potion which was in reach. The cat noticed that she could no longer distinguish any shade of red from grey, the colors she could see were also much dulled by her new eyesight. She had been very productive as a  witch, brewing many potions and other magical liquors for various use and reason. Most she had just made out of curiosity and were quite useless, just as that specific vial she was looking for.


It would take her a long time to find that potion but it wasn't lost time. She was gaining mastery over her new body. Although she still felt very clumsy in her body Adelina didn't fall anymore. 'An awkward cat... how ridiculous,' Adelina thought. She nearly lost all hope of the potion being at an attainable height when she finally noticed a flask which she recalled being the right one. It was labeled was stained beyong reading and covered with a dense layer of dust just as most of the potions around it. The liquid inside was of an opaque white.


The feline tried to paw at the potion in hope to make it fall off the edge of the shelf. The bottle did not bulge at all. Recalling her strength and concentrating on her muscles, Adelina attempted to jump on the shelf. She wrongly measured the strength needed for the jumped and crashed into the plank of wood right above the potions. Her head was dizzy and throbbing with pain.


Recovering herself she leaned herself against the flask, pushing it over the edge. The glass smashed itself on the floor and the thick white liquid stained the stone floor. She hopped off the shelf. Awkwardly avoiding the scattered pieces of glass she licked the liquid. It had a buttery taste. The cat carefully drank, avoiding the shards of the shattered flask, as much liquid as she could. Her vision suddenly became blurry and her stomach was set alight. Was it the wrong potion? After all, it was not labelled, and her memory could have failed her once again. She fought against the urge to fall on the ground.


After a small while, the secondary effects of the potion wore off. Just in time for she heard more groaning in the neighboring room. As quickly as her limited control of her feline body let her, she came back to her secret chamber. The three bodies were still limp. She had too think quick of something to do when the burglar would wake up. She couldn't let him run free. He could alert the bloody populace, starving for witch burning. Her whole house would be rampaged. She would loose all her precious books.


'After all, it shouldn't matter anymore. They wouldn't be of any use to me if I stay in this form.' But still, she might make use of this burglar. She had to find somebody who could help her. Someone talented in witchcraft. She had an old sorcerer friend who lived in a small secluded village in northern Thrace. She had had no news from him for ten years. Thrace was far away, three hundred leagues actually, which was an impossible trip for a little cat. 'I might get the intruder to help me.' She had little hope though. The burglar didn't have any reason to help her. And he would probably prefer being in a superior vampire body than in his old mortal one. Still, she had nothing else to loose.


The vampire let out another groan and Adelina's keen sight saw the whole body tense itself. It occurred to her that she had no idea how to project her thoughts. 'It's most likely to only require the will of it. Although I'm not sure in what way I should think to make it work.' She figured that she might also try it now. It could have more effect on the stranger's mind. And it certainly would give him time to comprehend the situation and maybe he would act rationally once he'd shaken off the extreme weariness.


She focussed on her inner self, as if she was going to start the incantation for a spell. Glaring at the shaking body she bended her will to project her thought into the burglar's mind.

"Welcome stranger. Although you do not know me, I plead you to fear me not for I can help you. When you will wake up you will notice a singular change in your body. Actually, you are not in your body anymore but in the body of a... another being."

Adelina waited a few seconds as the stranger mumbled in a vain attempt to communicate. Taking a deep breath she concentrated once again.

"My name is Adelina, and although my words are probably the strangest you ever heard, please listen. What I have to tell you is of utmost importance. I will not harm you. In fact, I need your help just as much as you need mine. I am a sorceress and you have arrived in the middle of my spell, disrupting it. In result of it I am now trapped in the body of a cat while you are trapped in another body," she waited a few seconds for him to conceive his strange situation. "Please, don't be afraid of me. I realize that this is quite unbelievable but I need your help. And I think you need mine, whatever your motives are. I implore you to listen to me and discuss this matter with me when you awake."


Then she lied down in front of the intruder's eyes, not to close though and she waited. She hope the stranger listened to her pleas and that she would be successful in manipulating him furthermore. She also hoped that he would endure the shock when discovering the true nature of his new body.