Fae

Looking at Sif after the the fight, I can see that besides being pretty terrified she was fine. Her long golden hair had dried blood on it.

Nix came shortly after. Ironically he was the one with cuts and bruises from his little tussle.

Sif was still shaking, but when she saw the two scratch marks on Nix's arms she snapped out of it and got worried for him.

Both of us entered treatment mode and laid him down while administering first aid.

She got the alcohol and I got the swabs.

We also noticed that his wounds looked surprisingly infected. We both studied it closely for a moment.

Sif asked, "Infection?"

"No, It's spreading to fast"

"Is it Poison?"

I look again. It has a biological signature and has a reaction to cells besides outright killing them.

"Interesting" , I say this while using the Druid skill scalpel. Normally the Life school druids use this to eviscerate living enemies or cut limbs. They use it to cut out whole areas of infections as well and is the predominant method to treat them here without antibiotics.

I fortunately have a greater understanding of cellular biology.

Using scalpel in conjunction with inject that allows me to inject whatever substance or sample any substance, I diagnose this.

"It's a virus, the wolf claws have a virus on their claws that cause weakening. Don't touch the wound directly or you'll be contaminated."

"Is there a cure?" Sif asked this worriedly.

I stare at the virus in the two claw marks on his body.

"Nothing rest can't handle. It looks like this virus wasn't meant to kill only weaken for a short time. Look at how the spread is slowing down. His body is fighting it back already."

I take out a minor life potion and hand it to Nix.

"This should give you fuel to heal and enough spare cells to sacrifice in order to fight off the virus as your body removes it."

Nix was actually feeling great. He just went along with both me and Sif's grove of turning him into a lab rat.

"You guys didn't do that bad."

I heard Ullr commenting on our little wolf party over here.

He walked over to me and patted my shoulder, "as expected of the Descendent of the Royal family."

He said that, but why do I feel like a failure. Our only non-close range combatant, Sif, was attacked, Nix was injured, and I came out without a scratch. This doesn't seem successful. If that virus was stronger or Sif hadn't reacted on time in a fit of survival, they both would have been extremely injured.

I would have felt responsible should anything happen to these kids hence my current frowning face.

Ullr noticed my face yet smiled brighter. "Someday you'll understand what I mean."

"Daddy that was scary!" A little golden meteor attached herself to Ullr's leg.

Even though she stabbed a wolf in the throat, I guess she's still just a five year old. Speaking of which how did that even happen. I know she trained in using a dagger, but her reach was impossibly short due to her height.

"Sweetie, you did so good. Those may have been cubs but you stood your ground and protected yourself. I'm so proud of you." He said all this while hugging her.

Cubs? I didn't take the time to use the diagnostic tool but Cubs really?

"How were those Cubs Elder Ullr".

Ullr then looked at me and explained, "the wolf packs in the Myrkvidr are living packs with a leader. They specialize in poison and consuming large amounts of prey."

He then obviously saw my confusion and Nix's too.

"They have the ability to transform dead wolves into undead. There's a lot of Cubs because their devouring ability leaves a lot of Cubs with little to no food. They usually transform the dead ones into Cubs that don't need to eat in order to hunt more food."

I was astounded about the ecology here. Who are other species supposed to compete with that.

Nix then asked something important. "If those were the Cubs, how big are the adult wolves."

Ullr's smile left his face now. "Hopefully you never find out. These wolves can technically grow forever as long as they have food. An adult in age is different from an adult with strength."

_______Deep in the woods______

A small gloved hand slammed the side of a table holding some food.

A dark figure sat at the table in a huge tent. Around him were wolves of all sizes and colors.

There was a burly man sitting on the opposite end.

"I paid you to remove that pest and bring his remains to me" Said the small handed man.

"You never told me he was strong enough to handle 35 Cubs. It's hard enough to raise good fodder without killing a whole kennel." The burly man retorted

The small handed man slammed his hand again, "does it matter how strong he is. I paid you for a job and now you follow through."

The burly man stayed quiet for a moment before responding, "We refuse to continue the job until we renegotiate prices. I'll take what you've given me as your down payment. I want double that when the job is complete or no body."

"You tik (female canine), how am I supposed to come up with that?"

The bald burly man laughed and drank from a mug. "That's for you to figure out".

The small handed man stared at his other hand for a moment and stayed quiet.

"Deal"

__________________

We had a more quiet journey after that. We saw some strange faerie happenings like a talking tree, a treant. It gave us direction in exchange for one of us to water it.

Normally we would have said no but treants were known to be amiable. It's their female counter parts the dryads we have to look out for.

After about two days we arrived at the river. It was a magical sight. Fairies grazing around, will-o-wisps all over, fish jumping out the river, wild life like deer, bears and we even saw a few dryads staying away from us.

[Him you mean]

Yea they realized how strong Ullr was just by looking.

Sometimes he's useful but I'll tell you what, dryads are hot hot.

I'm not even a very lustful man and I haven't even hit puberty but holy crap their gorgeous.

When I first heard to watch for the dryads charm I was confused. How can I find a plant attractive. But they didn't even look like a plants. They were dressed in leaves and had a healthy curve to their figures. Their eyes glowed in a mesmerizing color and since it was still the end of winter their hair was snow white.

They all had different facial features but it was unanimous that all their bodies seemed to fit seemlessly in perfection. It was like a lineup of super models yet healthier.

Nix was blushing at this moment.

[So are you]

That's when there was pain in my foot.

Sif had slammed on my foot braking my trance. She turned to Nix and did the same.

"Owww, what was that for?" Nix was angry and flustered

She pointed at the both of us, "don't stare at girls like that. Hilda said that's rude."

Both Nix and I looked at each other and laughed.

"Okay okay, we won't look. Stay close to us though so that we keep our manners." I said this happily.

But in reality I was scared. Dryads were beautiful yes but that kinda of beauty was mesmerizing. I can tell there was magic afoot dragging me to them and Sif shocked us both out of it.

Fae are really scary. Though the fairy's flying around are very cute. They are more in line with the prank pulling fae.

It was nearing dusk so the will-o-wsps started floating around like magical lights.

These guys serve to mark out areas rich in mana. Their found in a lot of graveyards since corpses also contain a lot of magic in them. That's why people usually relate them to ghosts.

This river was beautiful and light a splendor with magical lights.

We put down camp that night and collected fresh water.

As we set up camp it seemed like the river was a hot bed of Fae activity.

Many species of Fae popped out to join in a magical night.

A group of satyrs even joined us. Satyrs feed of the sexual energy of women and none of us fit that bill.

Plus almost 99% of the Fae stood away from us because of Ullr.

Screw the lantern, I choose you general Ullr.

The Satyrs were very kind but also acted like like a bunch of frat boys.

Most of them frolicked around the dryads but we had a crate of booze Ullr brought and a nicely cooking venison on the fire making them offer there services as entertainers in exchange.

They make interesting drinking buddies as well. Singing their tunes and dancing. We found out Nix is a pretty good dancer.

That night, us three slept under the stars and not in the tent. Our lovely Ullr kept watch while we dozed off to dream land to the sound of rushing water.