How Bertha, daughter of Hamel and Thelma, saved Fred's life.

"Ow,ow,Berthie!" Hamel cried out in pain as he raised his hands to block, losing the spell he had almost cast. "Is that any way to treat your aging father?!"

"Leave him be!" Bertha shouted, dropping the frying pan and leaping to block Fred's body with her massive frame."He's pretty!"

"Oh stop it, Berthie, he'll be better off as a dog." Thelma said, not looking up from her stew.

Bertha had very long, curly red hair which smelled of apples. She wore a knee length red peasant's dress and was barefoot. "No!" she shouted with even more conviction. "It's wrong to turn people into animals!"

Behind her, Fred's mind was racing. It ran over the options available to him, eventually arriving at one - he should flee. This Hamel was obviously not Castellan, Dark Heretic of Vjorica, the evil mage that Fred had to slay. But the door - the door was no doubt locked by a spell. The window? The window seemed far too small to fit through.

"I'll teach you to disrespect your father like that!!!" Hamel shouted, moving his hands in spell-casting motions again. In response, Bertha turned around, grabbed Fred by the waist and leapt toward the door, muttering a silent spell to break it open. With a protesting Fred in tow, and Hamel's curses behind her, Bertha took off into the night.

A short time later she set him down. She was breathing hard, for they had run quite a ways. Fred too was drained by his harrowing experience, and sat down on a rock. They were in the forests just outside of town.

"Please let me join your party, Sir Knight!" Bertha said as soon as she could speak again. "If I go back to my father he is sure to be vengeful for my disobedience. And I have modest spell-casting knowledge that may assist you on your quest." She looked at Fred with wide and hopeful blue eyes, still tinged with the

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