Bound Evil

“She’s an outcast! Kill her!” Marth’s amused voice tore above his wolf's snarls. Eight wolves surrounded the old she-wolf as she snarled her fury at the others, trying to keep an eye on all of them at once but their numbers were just too great.

When her back was turned a wolf would bound forward and nip at her, only for her to spin around and crack her whip appendages at them with a feral light in her eyes.

The moment Alex and Emily burst through the trees and got closer, Atticus glanced over at them. A scowl rapidly plastered itself on his face.

“Alexander, why have you abandoned your post? Get back there we’ll be done here shortly.”

Emily hissed back to Alex.

“We can’t let them hurt Cupcake.”

The corners of Alex’s mouth drooped.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That's Cupcake? When did you have time-”

Suddenly a wail went up into the air as one of the wolves got hold of Cupcake's injured side and caused her to cry out.

Emily bounced off Mist’s back and crunched down into the snow, taking off toward the center of their encirclement.

“Stop you fuck wits, she an ally!” Emily shouted.

Just before she got near enough Marth’s wolf suddenly closed rank with another of his men, blocking Emily off from the she-wolf.

“Girl, you are not going to want to get mixed up in this. Fuck off.”

Grinding her teeth Emily dove under the half-hearted swipe intended to knock her on her ass and roll through through their perimeter.

The moment she was nearer, Cupcake turned on her and pounced like a cornered animal.

Somewhere behind her, she heard a worried shout.

“Emily don’t!”

But by then it was too late, Emily's whole arm sunk into Cupcake's large maw. The moment the she-wolf bit down and tasted blood, the light of reason returned to her eyes as Emily felt their connection deepen again.

Seeing this Emily turned her attention to her surroundings.

“Kill it now!” Marth yelled to his men, who responded by attacking without hesitation.

Alex shouted, much closer this time, but he wouldn’t make it.

Emily called to her power and swiped her free arm out, causing two bands of hardened blood to stretch out and encircle her and Cupcake. The rings crossed one another in an ‘X’ like formation and clashed against most of the incoming attacks but two slipped through. One from Marth and the other from the man beside him. Both would have hit if it weren’t for Alex leading Mist to butt up against their wolves, knocking their strikes off target.

Cupcake dodged backward pulling Emily with her.

The whole clearing went quiet as the groups stared off at one another.

Atticus stepped in at this point.

“Emily, what in the hell’s are you doing? Step away from the beast, it's wild and dangerous.”

Thankful someone actually wanted to talk Emily grunted as she placed her free hand on Cupcake's neck.

“Listen Atticus, this one here’s name is Cupcake and she was probably just looking for me. I don’t think she will harm anyone.”

“You don’t think!” Marth sneered sarcastically.

“Do you think these beasts are playthings? Look at how that thing is currently treating you. A wound like that will need a tonic or a healer. Step aside so we can kill it.”

“You’re not killing her, she’s just here to see the pups!”

“I don’t give a shit what ‘you think it’s here for’, that thing has to die.”

Marth began preparing himself to attack and Emily had Cupcake release her arm so she could defend them.

“Enough. Everyone hold. What is the meaning of this?” Kael stepped out of the trees.

Marth frowned while Emily's eyes flickered over to see the man on his thin mount enter the clearing with Gerade on his tail. Emily pulled back the blood as fast as she could, but he clearly saw it.

“Your newest members won’t let us eliminate a threat to the company,” Marth said before anyone could get a word in.

Kael’s brow rose.

“It hasn’t even been a day yet. That’s gotta be some kind of record”

Emily pursed her lips.

“That was not my intention. I asked him to stop, but he outright refused. I know this she-wolf, it won’t-”

Kael’s eyes seemed to finish searching the area and then went back to Emily.

“Let's get something straight. You don’t give my men orders, especially if they were just doing their job… However, Marth, you would have done well to assess the situation before escalating things.”

Marth frowned but nodded.

“Yes, boss.”

“Now, Gerade what going on with that beast.”

Gerade hopped down from his massive beast using a loop of ropes acting as a ladder. When she got to the encirclement he tapped the two Rime wolves on the flanks and they opened the circle irrespective of their rider's commands.

Emily stood in front of Cupcake as the she-wolf growled at the approaching man.

Gerade didn’t seem to be bothered and took out a small cord of leather.

“Miss, if you can try to keep her calm.”

Emily tore her eyes away from Marth and turned to Cupcake. Trying to send calming thoughts down their connection.

Gerade snapped the band around the she-wolf muzzle with one fluid motion and buried his hand into her pelt. To Cupcake's credit, she only shook her head once when the leash went on.

“Can you get her to lie down?”

Emily tried to send what she wanted through the connection and the urgency of the situation.

Cupcake glanced at Emily and shook herself before slowly lowering herself into the snow.

Gerade hummed as he glanced out of the side of his eye at Emily. Tuning around he removed the cord and walked back to Kael.

“She’s a sly old girl. Definitely not trained and would be more than a handful for anyone else, but seeing as she’s following Miss Emily’s orders. There might already be something resembling a bond in play here. If you need me to I can probably teach her a thing or two and maybe fix that lame leg while I’m at it.”

Kael rubbed his chin as he listened to Gerade’s assessment.

“Is that something you want Emily?”

Emily looked back at the beast and couldn’t help feeling she owed it this much. Plus if Cupcake was willing she might even be able to ride her own mount.

“I’ll take responsibility for Cupcake if you’ll let me.”

“Well then there you have it. Gerade seeing she’s already on your team, I’ll leave it to you. Now if everyone could get back to their damned positions, I’d be mighty appreciative. I want to cross the elven burrows before nightfall.”

With that, he turned and left.

Marth watched his back with a grim expression but then turned to look at Emily. A cold light entered his eyes.

“Not a good start to our journey girl. If that beast hurt any of mine, I’ll be taking it out on your head.”

Emily's eye twitched but didn’t respond as the man walked away. Behind him was the other man who had almost managed to hit Cupcake. He wore an iron circlet on his forehead with straw-colored hair and rugged features. Now that things had calmed down Emily could take in his features and flinched when a sudden phantom pain bloomed in her gut. The memory tried to wrestle free but Emily was already well aware of who this man was.

Just before he turned to leave he squinted his eyes at her as though trying to piece it together, but seemed to give up and follow after Marth. The rest of the group showed only hostility as they left the clearing

When they were gone Emily turned back to Alex and Atticus.

“Well, team two is just charming.”

Atticus shrugged his shoulders.

“They were just doing their job as enforcers. Alex, you get back into position but drop Emily off at the back of the team, let the Healer there know I sent you.”

With that, he headed back into position leaving them alone.

Alex didn’t say much as they moved to the back with Cupcake but Emily pursed her lips and spoke slowly.

“Thanks for backing me up back there…”

Alex didn’t turn back but she could hear a smile in his voice.

“I didn’t do that much. Plus if we hadn’t, we could have lost Cupcake two-point-zero.”

Emily unintentionally snorted at his use of the term.

When they reached the back, Alex asked around for the Healer. They eventually found him, but without fail, everyone they approached made a strange face when he asked.

Emily realized why that was the moment she met the man. He had a light grey head of hair, a scruffy beard, and a mouth a sailor would have been proud of.

“You damned wench, what are you doing getting yourself hurt on the first bloody day. By the five I should leave you bleed out on the ground. You’re incredibly lucky I’m so magnanimous.”

The man was convinced she was giving him more work just to be a bother.

It took Emily a good ten minutes hanging from a harness—used for patients—on the side of his wolf to even learn his name.

“What? Name? It’s Yishmal. Now hold still I’m going to heal your arm.”

Emily thought about just leaving and rejoining Alex in the front several times, but she didn’t because she was interested in seeing how healers worked their magic.

When he finally stopped long enough to render aid, he simply sent a large burst of energy into Emily. She could feel the exact point at which a powerful revitalizing force moved into her arm and closed the wounds.

When Emily healed her own wounds it always felt like they were simply accelerating and her body closed up its damage naturally.

Only the moment his energy brushed up against Emily it felt invasive and alien. The wound given to her by the god gave off a jolt of pain but if Yishmal noticed it he didn’t say anything. When Emily was done she thanked the long-winded man and with another rider's help, headed back to the front to rejoin Alex. It was a good thing too because Cupcake had started to get antsy so close to the other wolves.

As time moved on Emily recognized when they neared the the elven burrows. It wasn’t like Emily saw any familiar scenery, but she began to notice uneven ground as though large moles were running through the landscape. Pretty soon they would come across the first burrows themselves.

Only the roads were cordoned off by the keep as it was just too much land to cover but before they entered the elven burrows, Kael called for a short break.

Emily was grateful because Cupcake was looking a little worse for ware. She had been keeping up well enough, but she was clearly taking strain. Hopping off Mist, Emily moved to the she-wolf.

“How you doing girl, you okay?”

Emily could feel as Cupcake reached through the connection. She was glad that Emily had helped her earlier, but she wanted to see the pups. Emily could also feel she hadn’t eaten in the last while and was hungry. Pulling out more meat rations she had brought along for this exact reason, Emily once again soaked them in her blood. Luckily she had been getting a bit of life force from their section so it hardly cost her anything.

Cupcake was only too happy to snap up the offerings.

“Well go see them later, first we have to cross this area.”

Cupcake turned her snout in the direction of the wind and whined.

Emily patted her as the wandering fangs grouped up and plunged into the edges of the burrow.

Right away the mounds began to show up but unlike last time, the response was immediate. With so many creatures moving into their territory, the elves came rushing out like a dinner bell had been rung.

The difference this time was their sheer speed. Humans could outrun elves with moderate effort. It was only when they gathered en mass that it became a problem. But Rime wolves were a whole other story. They easily cleared the burrows as elves jumped out to sneak attack them. Kael had long since reorganized their formation to spread out rather than one vulnerable procession. This meant they could move through the area in one quick wave, but it also meant they were further apart if people needed aid.

As luck would have it no one ended up being caught by the child-like creatures as their numbers could not keep up with their mounts. They moved almost completely uncontested until they got to the scar again.

Kael dove into the line without hesitation and the rest of the wandering fangs followed. Emily got ready to pull power from her chest if need be, as Alex ushered Mist into the strip of land.

The moment they did Emily knew something was different. Where once lay numerous burrows all packed on top of one another, now there was only upturned earth and an air of loneliness. Not a single elf came to greet them. Kael saw this but seeing that they were already out in the open he called for them to make it to the other side of the gap.

The scent of rotting flesh and blood was carried on the wind along with a simply overwhelming scent of something sweet.

Atticus suddenly shouted out “Bruin!”

Emily first thought of a short brown bear, but what stepped out eclipsed anything she’d seen on Earth. A bear, the size of a minibus stepped out of the trees. A ridged set of spines ran along its back with traces of rage painted on its large face. To make matters worse, right beside it, a second one broke through the treeline.

Alex cursed but Kael stared on with a firm resolve.

“Team four you’re on the perimeter, keep the battlefield clear. Two and three you’re on the first beast. Myself and Team one are on the second! ”

Kael's intentions were obvious as the four dozen or so people began shifting their formation. They were going to have to kill these creatures if they wanted to advance. Most would curse their luck at having met these beasts on the first leg of their journey but Emily laughed her heart swelling with excitement.

Blood points 21