The wagon ride was long and stressful, though altogether uneventful. Boris had just jumped out of the wagon and traded out with one of his cousins and started to pull it. Callie tended to her canine friend, treating his wounds the best she could. Ethan was laying on the bottom of the wagon, shivering almost constantly. What was most concerning, however, was the fact that Ethan's eyes had gone completely gray, no trace of the ice blue color left in them.

Everest had no idea what was happening with him, but at least Chase was still breathing. He was still knocked out, somehow, but he was breathing.

The caravan of assorted warriors moved swiftly, reaching the southern border of Fenrir in a few hours. They continued well into the night. Everest eventually fell asleep after a while.

Something smacked her face. Everest's eyes shot open. "Wake up, we're here." Callie stood over her, dark green eyes staring deeply into Everest's. She moved and hopped out, Everest following close behind her. What she saw next was, to her at least, a strange but welcome sight.

The sun had risen, marking the time as late morning. They had come to a small, simple town. Simple wooden houses, a small church, and at the center of the town, a great hall made of both cobblestone and dark oak. There were many different kinds of animals here, from large bears to the smallest rabbit, and everything in between. Children of all species ran across the streets, laughing, shouting, and playing.

Boris hoisted Ethan out of the wagon, the wolf still shivering violently. Boris began running down the street, most of the people gasping or crying out when they saw Ethan in the bear's arms.

Callie began to run with Boris and Everest, having no idea what to do, also began to run with them. Many of the children also joined them, pushing Everest to the back of the forming crowd. She stumbled, falling face first in the mud. No-one bothered to stop and help her up.

She pushed herself up, groaning in disgust. She wiped off a bit of mud from her face, shaking it off. A hand extended in front of her face. Everest looked up to find a gray haired mutt looking down at her, smiling a friendly smile. She looked at his hand, thought for a moment, and took it. He helped her up, and for such a small dog, being nearly a head and half shorter than her, he had a strong arm.

"Sorry about the children." His voice was high, though not annoyingly so, and his tone was friendly and welcoming, like the first sight of the village. "Ethan's rather popular with them. Marshall always makes the joke that he's still an adolescent at heart. They absolutely adore him."

Everest nodded and chuckled, annoyed. "I can tell."

The mutt suddenly face palmed himself. "Where are my manners?" He chuckled. "I swear, if I was anymore forgetful nothing would ever get done around." He held out his hand again. "My name's Rocky." Everest hesitated for a second, then accepted the gesture. "I'm Everest."

Rocky laughed. "Hey look, I know you come from a kingdom that doesn't much like mutts and, well really, other species in general, but stay here a bit-" he held out his arms and did a small spin "-you'll change your mind real quick."

Everest returned the laugh. "Guess we'll see, won't we."

"Guess we-"

"ROCKY!" A yell came from down the street. Both Everest and the dog in question turned to see a dalmatian coming down the street, visibly agitated. His eyes too were blue, but a darker shade than Everest's. He was wearing the leather tunic, trousers, and boots that seemed to be standard in this town, a decently sized axe hanging from his hip.

Rocky's face lit up. "Marshall!" He ran up to him, only to meet Marshall's arm across his chest. The dalmatian looked down. "Where's Ethan?"

Rocky's face turned sad. "Last I saw him, Boris was carrying him to Skye's." He tried to hug the much taller canine, almost two feet taller than him, but got pushed away. "I am going to kill him. This time he is dead." He started storming up the street again, pushing Everst out of the way. "And if he dies, I'm having Skye revive him just so I can kill him again." He continued to curse Ethan as he kept walking.

Rocky came back to Everest's side, sighing. "I swear, if they weren't two different breeds, I'd confuse them for brothers."

Everest looked confused. Rocky chuckled at the husky. "You'll see soon enough." He gestured to her to follow. They followed behind Marshall, who was still very much angry.

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Boris arrived at a larger house on the main street of the town. Callie frantically knocked on the door. After the first knock, the door opened, revealing a cocker spaniel-poodle mix-breed female. She was about as tall as Callie, but had no weapons on her. She sighed. "Does he need healing again?" She sounded more annoyed than concerned when she looked at Ethan, still violently shivering and breathing heavily. Callie looked even more annoyed. "No Skye, he wanted to come over for tea and small talk."

Skye sighed again. "Bring him in." She moved to let them in, and noticed Marshall, Rocky, and Everest coming up the street past the crowd of children. She called out to Rocky, who was practically dragging the husky behind him. Skye cocked her eyebrow, but decided it was better to ask questions later.

The pair made it through the horde of children and adults and walked into the house. Skye turned toward the crowd and spoke. "Guys, look. Ethan will be fine. Everyone just go home and wait, okay?" Some of them groaned, but they listened. It wasn't a good idea to disrespect the only healer in the town.

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Boris put Ethan down on the upstairs bed and immediately walked back downstairs. Only people that Skye specified could go up there when she was doing her magic. The area was rather crowded, especially with Boris's giant frame. Skye squeezed her way through them, grabbing what she needed as she went.

Finally, she was at the steps. "Alright look, everyone just wait down here." She looked around as the room of people nodded their heads. Skye turned her head to address Marshall, but her eyes first landed on Everest's eyes. That bright, ice blue looked just like Ethan's. A hypothesis started to form in Skye's head. She then did something strange that she didn't usually do. Skye pointed at Everest. "Except you, I'll need your help."

Callie looked offended. "I'm sorry, but why her? I'm Ethan's friend!"

Skye glared at her. "And so's Boris and just about everyone in this room, yet you don't see them complaining." She looked back at Everest. She pointed upstairs. "Come on then, we don't have all day."

Everest simply nodded and scurried her way to the stairs, though she was stopped by Callie. A glare met Everest's eyes before she was let go.

Skye went up first, Everest behind her. The husky closed the door after they entered the room, where she saw Ethan now bleeding profusely from his wounds. Skye cursed, rushing over and observing the situation. She cursed again and began to soak up the blood with some clean rags she had lying around.

"You know how to sew, husky?"

Everest choked on her words for a moment. "Y-yeah, I can."

Skye sighed. "Good, because we need to get to it and stitch up these gashes." Skye grabbed a few glass vials from the shelves on the wall of the room and also a mixing bowl. Everest took a moment to take in her surroundings. The walls were filled with shelves of many different vials of liquids, many forgien to her.

"Hey, come on!" Skye's voice quickly snapped Everest out of her trance, and she rushed over to assist the healer. She snapped her fingers and pointed at the bedside table. Everest looked over to see that she was pointing to a few rolls of thread and a couple of needles. Everest handed them over. Skye took out one of the now bloodsoaked rags and began dabbing her strange concoction in the wound.

Suddenly, Ethan violently jerked, his hands suddenly clutching his chest over his heart, groaning in pure agony, slowly curling into the fetal position. His eyelids opened, the colorless orbs gazing into Skye's for but a moment. She gasped and stumbled backwards, hand over her mouth, hyperventilating.

Everest managed to roll him back over, Ethan struggling violently as she did so. She looked at Skye, who had tears in her eyes. She looked hopeless. Everest looked back down at Ethan, who had started screaming in pain.

"What do we do now?" Everest had to yell over Ethan's screams, which had only grown in volume. Skye managed to collect herself, stood back up, and walked over to the bed. She was still crying, but she spoke clearly. "The best we can do right now is sew up the wounds." The gashes in Ethan's arms had stopped bleeding for some reason, and this was a red flag for Skye, along with all the others.

Skye muttered the words that she didn't want to hear or say.

"Cursed weapon."

"What?" Once again, Everest found herself having to shout over the screams of agony.

Skye cleared her throat. "He was stabbed with a cursed weapon. It's draining his life force slowly." Ethan screamed in pain again, writhing against Everest's grip, and he would have easily thrown her off if he was at full strength. "He needs-" Skye stammered with her words, "-needs a strong magic pulse from someone in his clan." She wiped her eyes. "Issue is, he's the last of his clan."

Everest struggled with restraining the wounded wolf, who was still writhing. Skye shook her head. "First things first, though. I need you to stick your fingers in the wound over his heart." Everest looked uncomfortable with the prospect. Skye snapped her fingers. "Hey, do it now or guess what? Everyone down there is going to kill the both of us."

Everest nodded. She inhaled, braving herself. Looking over at Skye, who nodded, she took two of her fingers and plunged them in the gash over Ethan's heart. He groaned loudly, but the screaming had stopped, his exhaustion obvious.

"Alright, I want you to try and find the heart. If it has been punctured somehow, we may have a bigger problem." Everest's fingers went deeper, Ethan still groaning in pain. She felt the pulsing of the muscle, but Everest did not feel the heart yet. Granted, she had no idea what it felt like, but she thought about it and figured she'd know when she touched it. After about a minute, Everest got deep enough to barely feel the heart.

"I-I think I found it."

Skye nodded, still cleaning out some of Ethan's wounds. "Okay then, I need you to go a bit deeper and actually touch it. If you feel it hitting your fingers, he's fine. If you feel a hole-"

The next thing the two females knew, Everest's eyes began glowing the same color as Ethan's, who's eyes were also glowing the same ice blue color flowing back into them.

Skye had been right. Ethan wasn't the last one.

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Everyone sitting downstairs was tense. Callie had her ears covered, sitting on the floor, crying. Boris had his hands folded, sitting silently in thought, though he flinched at every scream. Rocky had been sitting folded up in Marshall's arms, the pair simply waiting. Marshall hated hearing his friend in this state, but he found that he felt that Ethan deserved the pain this time.

After about ten minutes, to everyone's surprise, Ethan's screams had stopped. Then they heard things falling and what sounded like bodies thumping to the floor. After another ten tense minutes, Skye came walking down the stairs, a look of joy on her face. Everyone else had looked at her, confused.

Usually, she was cursing Ethan out for being stupid, so this was both welcome and oddly suspicious.

The mix-breed female walked over to the table in her small living area. She slammed her fist down on the table, her voice also reflecting her current emotions.

"Ethan's not the last of his clan anymore."

The reactions were mixed. Rocky looked at Skye confused, Marshall cocked an eyebrow, Boris began laughing a hearty, joyous laugh, and Callie didn't respond at all. Skye looked at the bear, who's laugh had started to rattle the small house.

"Why are you laughing, my oversized friend?" Marshall's words carried across the room easily, and Boris had to wipe away a few tears from his face before he answered. "This-this is great!" He threw his arms up, almost knocking over Skye and hitting a hanging plant, knocking it to the floor. Skye hissed and shoved his one arm back down.

Boris playfully shoved her before continuing. "It's just funny, I find. I mean, his clan is wiped, and even you thought that all of them were dead."

"I'd highly suggest not finishing that thought." Marshall threatened, his voice low.

Boris, as it happened, was not a good listener. "And now, it means only you are the last of your own clan." His eyes had widened when he realized what he had just said, and then he stammered to try to take it back.

It was a bit late for that.

Within a second, Marshall had thrown Rocky off of him, drawn his axe, dashed over to the bear, and went for Boris's throat. Suddenly, another sword had blocked his axe. Marshall turned his head to see his blood brother blocking him.

Ethan growled, teeth baring, eyes narrowing. Marshall threw him off, taking up his battle stance. Two hands on his axe, he braced for a fight, face calm.

Ethan was the exact opposite of the Dalmation. He had both his sword and dagger in hand, what armor that hadn't been removed from his body hugging it, and he was absolutely pissed. He had heard what Boris had said, and that's where most of his anger was coming from, but he found it annoying that Marshall had acted out like that. That was Ethan's job, not his.

Skye had to step in the middle of them, preventing the two of them from going at each other. "Ethan, you shouldn't be walking around right now. You have lost way too much blood." Her voice reflected her irritated self. She looked at Marshall. "And YOU need to calm the hell down. A fight isn't going to solve this."

Marshall scoffed. "Tell that to him." His eyes narrowed. "He killed the Fenrir king."

The room seemed to pause as everyone's head turned toward the wolf, who was still stanced up for a fight.

Ethan laughed. "I was well within my damn rights. Don't get why you're so pissed off."

Now it was Marshall's turn to laugh. "Did you not understand the whole 'Kidnap the prince for ransom and in the process try to turn him to our side' part of the mission? I don't remember saying 'kill the king if the opportunity presents itself."

Ethan chuckled manically. "You and I both know that the bastard deserved it. I just gave him a fighting chance to die." He shook his head. "You know you would've done it too, you damn mutt."

"Maybe so, but I expected you to at the very LEAST follow orders this one time without thinking that you know how to do my job better than me."

"The hell I can do your job better. I just do what I want because I don't like following orders."

Marshall sighed, irritated. "And that's why you almost died just." He clenched his fists out of anger. "I wish that just for fucking once," he pointed at the wolf, "You would at least try to value my input."

"You think I bloody don't?" Ethan scoffed. "I do value it, I swear on mum, but half the time your "brillant plans" tend to go to shit."

"Only because you don't follow the plan."

"No, because you can't predict everything single fucking variable that may or may not occur. Most of the time the plan falls apart after about five damn seconds."

"Like this time?"

Ethan sighed and shook his head. "I did it as a distraction and I did it for us, Marshall. I thought you'd at least understand that much."

Rocky suddenly burst into tears. Everyone looked at him as he sobbed. "Both of you are fucking iditos!" He ran out the door, tears streaming down his face. Marshall looked at Ethan, almost bursting into laughter. Ethan just shrugged, barely containing his laughter as well.

Marshall made his way toward the door. "I'll take care of him." He pointed at his blood brother. "Get some rest, alright?" Ethan practically shooed him out the door.

Boris and Callie also began to leave. "I need to go check on our new soon-to-be-friend and make sure he's comfortable." Boris saluted and walked out, Callie hugging Ethan before going with him.

Ethan then turned to Skye and said one thing.

"Okay, who the hell was I in bed with just now?"

Skye chuckled. "That's a long story."