Knox yawned, he was finding watch incredibly boring, Trask sat next to him, his dark eyes constantly scanning the area. He had barely spoken the whole time Knox was on watch with him. Trask suddenly tensed.
"What's wrong," Knox asked. Trask shushed him.
"Listen" Trask whispered, Knox listened, he heard a rustling, it wasn't from the sleeping members of the group but from the trees. Trask nudged Knox's shoulder and pointed, Knox, followed Trask gaze and spotted a pair of glowing red eyes from the undergrowth. Trask drew his crossbow,
"Wake the others, Knox, quietly." He ordered, his voice a whisper. Knox dashed over to Tanu who was closest to him while trying to be a quiet as possible.
"Tanu, wake up," Knox whispered, shaking the bulky samoan's shoulder,
"What's wrong?" Tanu asked sitting up and yawning,
"There is something in the woods watching us," Saying it aloud made Knox shudder,
"Where's Trask?" Tanu asked,
"Keeping an eye on it, he told me to go wake you guys." Tanu started rummaging through his potion bag. he handed a small bottle to Knox.
"What is this?" Knox asked.
"One is a gaseous potion if things go too far drink it and it will turn you into a ghost-like state, though you will solidify in minutes so use it wisely." Knox was about to respond when he heard a fierce growling followed by an ear-piercing screech, Knox dashed over to Mara who had managed to sleep through the commotion. Knox dashed over and shook her shoulder hard. Mara grimaced and her eyes opened, she took one look at Knox's face and asked.
"What's wrong?"
"Something is attacking, you gotta get up." Mara held her hand out and Knox took it helping Mara unsteadily to her feet. Another growl echoed followed by a fierce howl. Mara paled, panic entered her dark eyes,
"No," She whispered, tensing, preparing herself for a fight.
"What?" Knox asked, a loud crash sounded and Knox whipped around just in time to see the monstrosity burst out of the trees. It looked like a wolf but, was no wolf, it was about the size of a large bear, it had vicious fangs bared, revealing rows of sharp, jagged teeth. It had a crossbow bolt protruding from its meaty shoulder, supposedly shot by Trask.
Mara grabbed the knapsack from the ground next to her sleeping bag and slung it over her shoulder. The beast went for Tanu, who guzzled the contents of a potion right as the beast pounced, Knox looked away as the beast brought a claw down on the potion master, but instead of squashing the samoan as it should have, the claw when right through Tanu, hitting the ground hard. Tanu now looked misty, Knox realized that is must-have ben a gaseous potion.
"Scatter, we will meet up near the temple," Trask called out, reloading his crossbow. Mara grabbed Knox's hand and broke into a run. She let out a shrill whistle, and a screech echoed back. Knox realized that Mara was trying to call tempest, they swerved around trees and brush, occasionally vaulting over fallen logs. They heard many sounds but saw nothing, but they ran, and ran, their speed fueled by panic. Knox was having a hard time keeping up with Mara and her inhuman speed. Knox had no clue how long he had been running, his legs and lungs were starting to burn, he could see Mara starting to weaken as well. "Ok, we can break," Mara relented slowing her pace,
"What was that thing?" Knox questioned,
"A Lycanthrope, or more commonly known as a werewolf." Mara panted, clutching her side and wiping sweat off her brow.
"Do you think the others made it?" Knox asked,
"Only time will tell. Tempest isn't far I think."
"How do you know?" Knox asked
"I let her know where we were, she should be able to follow our tracks and scent. Do you want to grab a flashlight? My night vision isn't very good at the moment." Mara requested,
"Sure," Knox said, Mara swung the knapsack off of her shoulder and placed it on the ground. Knox opened the flap and climbed down. Despite it being night the bag was still evenly lit, though a little dimmer than it had been that afternoon when Knox had come down to grab food with Tanu. He found a flashlight in one of the bags of supplies.
As he climbed the ladder he heard voices. Was Mara talking to herself? She didn't seem like the kinda person that did that. Knox peeked out the top of the bag. Two shadows loomed near Mara, one was a little taller than Knox the other was a little shorter than Mara but bulkier. Knox stayed at the top of the bag to listen for a second
"What happened?" Mara's voice cut clearly through the silence
"We were vaulting over a smaller ravine while fleeing the werewolf, but he didn't make it all the way across, it was dark and he misplaced his footing." that voice was familiar. Knox climbed out of the knapsack and flipped on the flashlight. what Knox had thought was one person was actually Warren leaning heavily on Bracken, Kendra stood next to them. Warren's ankle was twisted at a weird angle and Knox thought he could see blood seeping through Warren's pant leg.
"Knox come here, and pass me that flashlight," Mara requested, "Bracken put Warren down let me see his ankle." Mara continued, taking command of the situation. Bracken helped Warren recline against a large rock and Mara crouched next to Warren, Knox passed her the flashlight and she switched it on. Kendra hovered next to them anxiously, but not speaking. Mara rolled up Warren's pant leg, his ankle was twisted at a very weird angle, Knox could see blood coming from Warren's boot that had indeed stained his pant leg.
"You brought another pair of shoes right?" Mara asked Warren, pulling a knife out of her own boot, Knox didn't even bother to ask why she had a knife in her footwear.
"Yes, you have to cut my boot off I am guessing," Warren answered
"Good guess," Mara responded, starting to cut away pieces of Warren's boot, Knox saw that Mara would find the seams and cut around those rather than just shredding the piece of footwear. Warren grimaced when Mara jostled his ankle when she slid the remainder of the boot off.
"I think its broken," Warren conceded,
"I think you are right," Mara muttered, rolling off Warren's sock as gently as she could.
"Kendra, my bag is a roll of bandages, a small potion with a blue label, some duct tape, and some scissors, get them for me, please." Kendra dashed into the knapsack,
"Should I ask what the duct tape is for?" Warren wondered hesitantly,
"Just to keep the bandages on, no I am not taping your foot back together," Mara assured
"What do you want me to do? Or, do you want me to look for the others?" Bracken asked,
"Look for the others but don't go far, I will probably need you back," Mara affirmed, Kendra emerged with her arms full,
"Why can't Bracken just heal Warren?" Kendra asked,
"Unicorns purify, take away pain, and help with surface injuries, we are less adept with broken bones or internal bleeding." Bracken told Kendra after she had passed her load off to Mara.
"Take only a small sip of this Warren," Mara told Warren uncapping the bottle Kendra had passed her after looking at the label to make sure Kendra got the right thing.
"What is this?" Warren asked skeptically taking the bottle from Mara, Knox was curious too.
"Pain killer, very strong stuff, Tanu mixed it for me back a Fablehaven, if you drink too much you will go loopy, so just one small sip." Mara related
"You a medical expert now?" Warren joked, taking the bottle from Mara and taking in one small measured sip.
"I had to learn quickly, and I am no expert," Mara responded gravely.
"You weren't kidding about this being strong stuff," Warren muttered shaking his head. He continued "I can barely feel anything, how do you live with bigger doses of this stuff?"
"The more pain, the less potency the potion has," Mara informed, she leaned closer to examined Warren's foot, when she grimaced,
"What wrong?" Knox asked Mara pointed to Warren's foot right below his ankle bone, there was blood coming out of a deep cut that had a piece of white sticking out.
"Is that?"
"Bone, yep this is one of the worst breaks I have ever encountered." Mara lamented, "Warren, I don't know if I can treat this, usually we would have rushed you into the hospital and you would have surgery. You shouldn't push the bone back in, and infections might be imminent in this environment, I could try to just clean it, bandage it, and splint it without touching the bone, or I can try to push the bone back in and cast it with Bracken's help." Mara related,
"Your call, you know more than I do," Warren responded
"I probably don't honestly, you have been doing this for a lot longer than I have." Mara conceded, Warren nodded thoughtfully, so did Kendra, "Do you want me to wait for Bracken?" Mara asked
"Sure, we'll wait,"
Bracken returned with Tempest, looking dejected
"Did you find any sign of the others?" Mara asked anxiously
"No, I couldn't even find tracks, how's Warren?"
"Bad, I know you can't fix a broken bone, but you are more knowledgeable in the medical field than I am, come take a look." Warren dozed propped up against his rock, Kendra had gone to try and sleep, and Knox had stayed up to give Mara company and reassurance. Knox noticed that when Mara was anxious or stressed she would either pace or get bad headaches because the past hour had been a mix of both, he swore that Mara had paced up and down the small line she had mentally made so many times that she could have walked multiple miles. Some times she would massage her forehead as she walked and would wince here and there though she tried not to show it.
Bracken bent down and examined Warren's ankle while Mara embraced Tempest, burying her face in the griffin's feathers,
"This looks bad," Bracken agreed,
"What should we do?" Knox asked
"Amputate it," Bracken responded nonchalantly, Mara whipped around to face Bracken.
"What? No!" Warren yelped sitting upright and turning to Bracken in horror.
"Just kidding, I wanted to see if you were awake," Bracken assured. Warren's face relaxed but he pressed his lips into a tight line, as if biting back a comment. "Other than the bone protruding for your foot the highest risk right now is an infection, which I can cure. I honestly have no idea what to do. Though I recommend bandaging it up while we decide."
"I had the same thoughts," Mara admitted, coming to stand next to Bracken.
"Do you want to do the honors, I want to go check on Kendra," Bracken said
"Sure," Mara agreed reluctantly. Bracken turned and descended into the knapsack.
"I didn't ask earlier but how the heck did you do that to your foot," Mara asked Warren.
"There was quite a ditch on our path. Kendra can see in the dark and her aura is like a lantern to Bracken, so they could see. To me, everything was pitch black, so naturally, when they jumped I fell in." Warren related, as Mara got to work, gingerly wrapping Warren's ankle in clean white bandages, with gentle expertise.
"Someone has had practice," Warren muttered
"What?" Mara asked looking up from her work on Warren's maimed foot.
"No, it is just, you seemed like you know what you are doing with stuff like this, you are doing great," Warren responded,
"Oh, thanks, I have had lots of practice with bandages and stitches," Mara acknowledged.
"Don't tell me you tried to stitch yourself back together!" Warren said in alarm,
"No, it was Trask's head injury, I passed out from blood loss before I attempted to stitch myself."
"I am not even going to pretend you were joking," Warren said. Knox just stared at Mara, she hadn't been joking. Knox looked at Warren's foot, it was now wrapped neatly in white bandages and Mara was ripping off pieces of duct tape to keep the bandages in place. A couple of minutes later Warren's foot was in a nice looking splint with a protective layer of duct tape. Mara brushed her hands together and tucked her hair behind one ear.
"This will work temporarily. Hows the pain?"
"Fine, are you ok? You look tired." Warren replied Mara had deep shadows under her slightly bloodshot eyes.
"I am fine, I have had later nights." She yawned, "Knox go get Bracken and get some sleep yourself." Mara continued.
"Ok," Knox agreed, he knew better than to argue. He had just opened the Knapsack to climb the ladder when Bracken's face appeared under it. Knox let out a small yelp, caught completely off guard. Mara whipped around and held up her knife threateningly, ready for a fight.
"Sorry for scaring you Knox, please don't stab me Mara," Bracken apologized climbing out of the bag with Kendra at his heels. Bracken had some blankets draped over one shoulder.
"We left our sleeping bags, but I found these." He informed, plopping the blankets down in front of him. Bracken was talking about when they had to flee their camp. Knox realized that they had indeed left behind their sleeping bags. "We might be able to make a blanket fort or makeshift tent." He continued. Unfolding a blanket and shaking out the wrinkles, "Or we could just sleep under the stars." He continued, "Sure, let sleep under the stars." Kendra agreed.
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Seth found flying exhilarating for the first couple hours, but after a while it began to grow tiresome, just dangling from the claws of an invisible dragon for hours on end. The night air chilled him down to the bone and he wished that he had brought his coat. There had been no sign of anyone, not even other dragons. Seth had dozed at lot, but currently, he was on alert. His eyes scanned the trees looking for any signs of life.
"Seth, look down there I think I see smoke," Raxtus told him quietly, Seth's eyes darted around when he saw it, a thin trail of smoke coming from in between the treetops. Raxtus circled slowly over the small plume of smoke. The dragon suddenly dove for the trees making Seth's stomach lurch. "What was that for?" Seth yelped, startled by the sudden descent, Raxtus landed and put Seth down.
"I thought I saw something moving if it was an enemy I didn't want to be seen." Raxtus explained quietly, "I am going to check it out. Stay here" Raxtus vanished, Seth blinked, well that happened fast. Seth was unimpressed. Why couldn't he go check things out? But he knew better than to rush after Raxtus, so he waited. After what felt like an eternity Raxtus returned,
"I think your friends where here come see," Raxtus informed, suddenly becoming visible. Seth followed eagerly, he took in the scene. The smoldering remains of a campfire lay in a small circle made of stones. Sleeping bags lay strewn everywhere. Seth counted 8 sleeping bags, large bear prints were everywhere. Had the camp been attacked? It sure looked like it. Though it looked like no one had been killed.
"They were here, and so was something else. Though on the bright side it looks like there were no fatalities." Raxtus announced, Seth nodded, picking up and examining a spear, it had a sharp menacing tip and was about 8 feet tall, the wood was smooth, sanded down to prevent slivers. There was also a sword on the ground some ways away. Seth put down the spear and went to examen the sword, it was heavy, made of fine metals with an ornate handle. Seth held on to the sword. It might be useful later. Other than some crossbow bolts and rouge blow darts strewn in the wreckage it seemed at everything else had been grabbed when the team had fled. Seth looked up the morning sun was just piercing the horizon, casting an orange glow over the mountain tops the surrounded them. Where were the others running from this monsters beast? Had anyone been injured? Was Kendra awake right now or was she trying to get a couple more hours of sleep? It looked like she had had a busy night. Seth felt conflicting emotions at meeting up with her again. She seemed like a real friend but how did he know? Right now it was his only course of action, and honestly, it could've been worse.
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