Had they seen through his disguise? No. They couldn't have. 

He'd worn a mustache.

Bardy's head buzzed so loudly with thoughts that he missed what the paladin was saying to him.

"--sir? Sir!"

"Huh?"

"I said, 'are you the one who brought the young lady in here?'"

"Uh, yes?"

"And where did you come across her?"

"The edge of the Witch's Wood."

The paladin nodded. "Makes sense. And…when you picked her up, did she…scratch? Bite?"

"No…?" Bardy thought of the little girl, limp and sickly in his arms just an hour ago. "Are we talking about the same kid, here?" 

"So she didn't break your flesh at all?"

"I'm not sure I like where this is going."

"Sir, I'm going to be straightforward with you." The paladin said. "What we have here is a lycanthrope. A legacy lycanthrope."

"Oh," Bardy said. "So…how do we cure that…?"

The paladin shook his head. "If she'd been bitten, we could combat that, but she's inherited the condition from one or both parents. There's…only one way we can deal with that."

"And that is…?" Bardy's voice trailed off as his eyes landed upon the weapon in the dwarf's hand. 

It was an ax.

A silver ax.

Bardy looked at the paladin in horror. "She's a child!"

"I don't like this any more than you do," the paladin said, grimly. "But if the threat isn't…dealt with, she won't be the last child to be taken by the curse. I have to go to the palace to get a few more men, but I'll be back by sunup. She's been secured properly, if you want to–if you can spare her some comforting words." 

With that, he turned and left. 

Bardy stood in shock for a long while. Finally, the doctor approached him. "We need to close up, now. Do you…need someone to come get you?"

"Yeah," Bardy said. "Yeah, I need to call someone."

He slipped out the front door and down the street until he was sure he wouldn't be overheard. The sky was dark by now–stars were beginning to bloom in the void. Bardy pulled out the sending stone.

“Make up your mind, Bardy,” Malakos answered, his speech slurred by sleep. “Am I s'posed t'be resting or not?”

“Okay, well first of all, I didn't call you—this is Ruby's sending stone, isn't it? Since I have yours? Where's Ruby?”

“She's sleeping. I got to the stone first. Come on now, I was only joking—what's the report? How's the little girl?”

“I'm not reporting to you. Get Ruby for me and go back to sleep.”

“I'm awake now. Tell me how things went. Do they know what's wrong with her?”

“Ruby. Now.”

“Fine.” Malakos seethed. He cleared his throat and returned with a higher pitch. “Hi Bardy, this is Ruby. What's your report?”

There was silence for a moment before Bardy answered. “Okay, you know what—I'm going to play along, just to see how long you can keep up that ridiculous falsetto.”

“What falsetto? This is how I always talk. Now tell me what's happening—did they figure out what's wrong? How long until she's cured?”

Bardy explained how he had carried her in to the clinic, and how they had spent a good deal of time examining her in hushed tones.

“And then they sent for some medics from the castle and this dwarf paladin showed up in full armor.”

“Oh, a paladin—that's good,” Malakos dropped the falsetto as he fought off a yawn. “Strong healers. He'd probably be able to--”

“He said she was a lycanthrope,” Bardy interrupted. “Said there was no cure. Only one solution.”

“Solution?”

“Malakos, he brought a silver ax. He's coming back at dawn.”

The tiefling was silent for a moment as realization blew the last tattered shreds of fatigue from his mind.

“Malakos--”

“Grab the kid,” he said, hauling himself from his bedroll and throwing his robes on. “I'll meet you at the well.”

Bardy looked at the stone with some irritation.

"Yeah, grab the kid, Bardy," he muttered to himself. "No big deal. Just walk into a locked clinic and release a patient who's been deemed dangerous to herself and others. Not to mention she's bigger than you. No trouble." 

The halfling huffed as he looked at the clinic. The front door was out of the question–a night shift nurse sat behind a desk facing the entryway; but as Bardy had been waiting, he'd seen a small window some ways down the hall, behind the desk. He trotted around the building, and was delighted to find a trash can serendipitously placed directly beneath it, just high enough for him to climb through.

The halfling rubbed his hands together. "It's Bardy time," he grinned. He placed both hands on the can to hoist himself up. 

Unfortunately, the can wasn't as full as he had expected it to be. It tipped over and fell into the street, clattering loudly enough to wake everyone within three blocks. 

"Who's there?" came the voice of the nurse, from inside.

Bardy panicked. He heard the front door opening and footsteps about to turn the corner. Cradling his lute to protect it, he climbed inside the trash can. He heard the footsteps coming nearer. With his heart pounding like a drum, Bardy quickly cast a voice-throwing spell.

The nurse grabbed the trash can and started to peer inside, when a loud yowling erupted from the bushes, followed closely by a matching set of yowls. 

Bardy could barely hear over his own pounding heart, but he caught the nurse grumbling about the 'stupid alley cats, it's the middle of the night,' just before he felt the garbage can lift and settle back into place. 

After waiting some time, Bardy peered out from under the lid. When he was satisfied that the alley was clear, he very carefully, very quietly, climbed atop the garbage can and eased open the window. 

"Now it's Bardy time," he muttered to himself before wriggling inside. As if to nurse his bruised ego, the halfling spared no fancy maneuver as he navigated the clinic's passageways, perfectly executing stealthy flips and wall-scaling maneuvers to stay out of sight of staff and patients alike.

Finally, he found the room where the child was being kept. She was fast asleep again, her almost angelic face now half-covered by a heavy leather muzzle, her arms and legs stretched out and bound by shackles of the same make. 

Bardy drew his dagger and began cutting through the leather, quickly and quietly. He lifted the girl onto his back. She didn't wake or stir–sedated, most likely. The halfling made his way back through the halls, this time using fewer acrobatics. He hid in a blind spot from the front desk until the nurse left to use the bathroom, and then sprinted out the front door into the night. 

"You got her by yourself?!" Malakos whispered. Bardy had gotten to the well just as the tiefling was climbing out of it. "I hadn't meant–I said it backwards: 'meet me by the well, we'll grab the kid' was what I meant to say, but then it just–but you got her! Great job!"

"Psht," Bardy scoffed, hoping Malakos couldn't hear his breathlessness. "Had to be me–you would've just been dead weight. But hey, since you came all this way, I'll let you carry her the rest of the trip." 

Malakos hesitated for a moment.

"She's not gonna bite you, Malakos–she's sedated," Bardy rolled his eyes.

"No, that's not–did you say they sedated her?" the tiefling tentatively reached out to inspect her face. "Poor kid," he muttered. 

Bardy saw his opportunity and dumped the child in the cleric's arms, stretching his back as Malakos fumbled to catch her. "Oof, okay, let's go," the halfling grunted happily, lowering himself into the well.