Bound Evil

Emily walked with Cupcake by her side as the scent of kindling trailed from campfires. Once everything had calmed down, the wandering fangs had gathered up and headed down south. From what Alex said, the likelihood of the elven burrows playing host to much larger beasts was very likely.

In fact, many predators would supposedly set up shop nearby and if the burrow could not outgrow them, they would all perish and become food for far stronger creatures.

Either way, the outcome was disastrous for any human settlements in the area because while an increase in wild beasts was a concern, an elven hoard could easily be a city destroyer.

Ducking under a low-hanging branch Emily took in the people around her. After their encounter at the burrows, Kael had ridden them hard to escape from the area. So they traveled for another three hours and set up camp just before the last light. They were now further down south than Emily had ever been, but still, the frozen forests claimed everything in sight.

Emily passed one of the four fires in the camp that currently held a large pot over it as the Chef named Fox put his title to work cooking a hearty stew.

The wolves had all been tied off nearby while Atticus took a team to set up a perimeter.

Some people pitched tents and collected firewood, while Emily had a destination in mind.

Heading to the outer ring of animals Emily came to a section where she last saw Gerade feeding the wolves with the meat they had collected along the way. Several people worked around the stoic man as he inspected one of the nearby beasts.

When Emily and Cupcake moved nearer Gerade looked up from his work and patted the side of the beast.

“I suppose you’d be wanting food for your partner right?”

Emily ran her hand through Cupcake’s thick coat.

“That’d be appreciated, but actually this girl here wanted to see the pups again. They were from her pack's litter.”

Gerade’s eyes glanced over to Cupcake and his eyes softened.

“It's bout time to feed 'em anyway.”

A short whistle into the night was all it took for the lumbering titan to find them.

“This here's Shade,” Gerade said as he walked up beside the black wolf and began unfastening the baskets on his side.

No sooner had he put them on the ground than Cupcake came over to scent the pups, as though greeting them after a long time apart.

“Rime wolves care for their young almost as much as humans, I’m shocked you could see that.”

Emily shook her head.

“Oh, I didn’t. She told me…sort of.”

Gerade looked up as he placed a bowl of milk down for the pups, a frown spreading over his features.

“There are only a few titles I know of that would allow something like. Is it only her?”

Emily nodded as she watched the she-wolf happily engage with the tiny babes.

“Well, for whatever reason she’s willing to cooperate with you. You mind if I have a look at her and perhaps give her a treat?”

Emily had seen more expression on this man's face in the last couple of seconds than in the entire time she had seen him.

Emily checked with Cupcake and got a hesitant ‘Fine’.

“Sure, just be careful of her hind leg, it's injured.”

The man shot her a wry look.

“That much I can see. But I wanted to asses everything. She’s got many years under her belt, so there could be deeper injuries. I’m surprised she’s even alive. Older Rime wolves are often used as scouts or worse.”

Emily watched as the man inspected Cupcake.

“Well, that's how we met. Cut a long story short, she’s alone now.”

Gerade nodded as he got to her front and took out a juicy strip of meat. Taking a tonic from his belt, popped the cork, and dumped it over the treat. Then with one fluid motion, he flicked it into Cupcake's mouth. The beast didn’t see it coming but began happily chewing the moment she realized what it was.

“That's good, dying of old age is one of the worst ways a Rime wolf can go out. Move to the front and hold her, will you?”

Emily’s eyes narrowed but she did as he asked. Gerade had arrived at her injured flank and was tenderly massaging it.

“Near as I can tell it's only her flank giving her trouble, but that’s easy to fix.”

Emily leaned around in time to see Gerade slip his hands around the upper section of Cupcake's leg and bend it in and up.

There was a sudden popping of a joint and a crack as Cupcake yelped and whipped her head around in an attempt to maul Gerade.

But the man had already hopped back to safety. Emily clung to Cupcake's pelt and tried to calm her down.

“Slowly girl, slowly. Gerade if she hurts you, I’m not taking responsibility.”

“Apologies Miss Emily. And that's a given, but I wasn’t sure how deep your link went. If you knew what I was about to do, it was more than likely that she would have too.”

Emily frowned as she looked over at Cupcake who was still growling at Gerade. She also saw Shade watching them all from on high. If he thought Gerade was in danger he would most likely step in, and yet he had let Gerade do whatever he pleased.

“I fed her a tailored healing tonic before so the break should be repaired correctly by tomorrow, but still avoid having her lean on it for now.”

Emily nodded slowly

“Right, then I guess I owe you thanks, or at least Cupcake does.”

Gerade put up his hand to stop her.

“It was purely selfish I assure you. Having more wolves around means faster travel. And with the territory we’ll be entering, soon we’ll need it.”

Emily couldn’t see any flaw in his logic so she turned back to Cupcake.

“Don’t worry girl you feel better in no time, how about a reward.”

Emily extended her hand and let her blood collect in her palm before rising into the shape of a ball. Cupcake lapped at the golf-ball-sized orb until it was completely gone.

Gerade placed a hand on his chin.

“So that's what you’re feeding her. My skill is telling me she’s eating a lot better and regaining muscle mass. Almost as though she were a younger wolf again.”

Emily didn’t say anything but Gerade tore his eyes away from her palm to look at her.

“So you really can use blood magic. I mean I saw it back there but it's different up close.”

Emily shrugged.

“I guess, I’m more surprised you trusted me back there, you had no idea what I could do.”

Gerade shook his head.

“That wasn’t for you. It was for Kael. He’s a good judge of a person's strength, so if he thought you were good enough to be in my team, then I’ll take his word for it.”

Emily didn’t respond but she was starting to like this man.

“Can Cupcake stay here tonight, I’m pretty sure having the pups near her will make her feel better.”

Gerade rolled his eyes. “If she causes any trouble, I’ll kick her out myself.”

Emily smiled, this man was a big softie when it came to animals.

“Okay, I’d better get going I have a lesson to get to,” Emily said as she poked her thumb over her shoulder.

Gerade squinted his eyes as a worrying smile graced his hardened features.

“Not quite yet, now, I got plenty of hands right now, but you better start learning the ropes on how to care for your partner. There are still plenty of beasts that need food and water tonight.”

Emily glanced past Gerade down the line of Rime wolves; only half of which were settled down for the night.

“...You can’t be serious…”

Gerade’s smile widened, “Of course I am. Make it quick, and we might still be in time for warm food.”

Emily’s eyes searched the darkness for escape routes, but Shade leaned down to sniff her, causing Emily the scowl up at him.

“Don’t worry he’s just scenting you to make sure you can’t hide. Plenty of people try to escape but it doesn't do much good. Go ahead and run if you’d like.”

Emily glanced at Cupcake as her last hope, but the she-wolf hardly even looked up from the pups long enough to snort at her.

Sighing Emily looked at Gerade, “Fine, where do I start?”

“Good choice.”

It was almost an hour later that Emily sat down next to one of the campfires with a plate of food. The work had been hard but not altogether bad, Emily had actually found it quite relaxing. As long as she didn’t try to ride any of the wolves, they were quite receptive to guidance. Feeding and unsaddling the beast took time. Why everyone didn’t do it themselves was beyond her. Gerade had corrected her that some people did, but most had tasks to do that were required of them. With the whole of team three working together they had finished up the wolves rather quickly. Emily even got to know Loch a bit better. As far as she could tell the man was aiming to get the same title as Gerade so he happily showed her anything she didn’t understand.

Emily was just relaxing and staring up at the alien sky when she saw Selia sitting down beside her.

“Evening Emily, it looks like Gerade put you to work already.”

Emily shrugged.

“It's not too bad, actually kind of enjoyed.”

Selia snorted, “Don’t let him hear you say that. Anyway I just wanted to let you know Ashe was looking for you earlier but you were busy.”

“Oh yeah, I was going to search for her later for a lesson.”

Selia rubbed the back of her head.

“Yeah, about that. Look, Ashe is strong—really strong—but she’s not cut out for this life, and some people around here don’t like that...” Selia’s face darkened briefly before softening again. “All I ask is that you stay her friend. If you can do that, I’ll do my best to help you if need be.”

Emily blinked slowly, would Ashe count her as a friend? She’d never said anything so how was Emily supposed to know when they were friends? If Selia was willing to offer her help then Emily didn’t see a reason to turn it down.

“Sure, I’ll make sure no one has a bad word to say to her.”

Selia seemed content and got up, extending a hand out toward Emily.

“Now come, Ashe can teach you in our tent. Unless you want to go sleep with Alexander?”

Emily shoveled the last of her food in her mouth and took Selia’s hand.

“-Nah, I know he’s around here somewhere, so we’re good.”

Getting up from the bit of wood she’d been using as a stool Emily followed but then had a thought.

“Hey speaking of not being cut out for this life, what did you do to get sent out here? I remember Ashe saying something about exile.”

Selia kept walking but a melancholy look surfaced on her face.

“If she told you that there's nothing to hide really. I killed one of our tribe elders for attempting to sell Ashe into slavery. Then after everything, I heard she was sent to an academy which is almost as bad. She even refused to tell me how she got free from their walls”

Emily's eyes widened.

“Academy? As in a place to learn?”

Emily had always wondered what it would be like to study in a university.

“Oh you can learn things there alright, that is if you don’t go under trying to afford the classes. By the end, the fees are so high it’s just indentured servitude.”

Emily’s dreams crashed and burned before they’d even taken off. That did not sound appealing whatsoever. By now they stopped outside a tent and Selia lowered her voice.

“Look don’t say any of this to Ashe, she still loves academia, even if the price is laced with poison.”

Emily shrugged as she followed Selia into the small living space. The floor was covered in thick blankets to protect from rocks and Ashe lay back against her pack using it as a pillow.

“Emily, glad to see you’re safe. I just figured out what rune I’m going to teach you!”

Blood points: 32