Chapter Fourteen

When Ebon limped into the room the next morning, he found Sylaise standing in her shift behind Dyl with a razor and a bowl of steaming water while With-Two-Daggers patiently stitched a patch onto the shoulder of her dress. He blinked and froze, watching the sharp blade glide slowly along Dyl's scarred scalp as Sylaise expertly shaved away the patches of hair.

"-grow out, and then I can cut it so it looks better," she was telling the hunter who answered only with a soft hum.

"Well," he announced after a moment when he judged it safe to interrupt, "don't everyone get up at once."

Sylaise rolled her eyes in an over exaggerated manner as she rinsed the blade, With-Two-Dagger snickered, but Dyl turned slowly and smiled up at him, "How're you feeling?"

"Better," he came in and sat down on one of the bunks, watching as Sylaise gently turned their head back and continued shaving their scalp. "I don't know if I remember last night properly - they gave me something and it's all pretty hazy. But I'm sorry, I know coming back was a risk."

For a moment, the only answer was the soft schk-schk of the razor, then Dyl shrugged slightly. "Better you came back then tried to go on without me; I might not have found you."

He picked up a strip of bacon from the plate of breakfast and began to crunch on it, and scanned the room. There were bandages still on the hands and arms of the others, even Dyl had bandages visible on their arm and a dark paste that was flaking off their throat. "You look like shit."

Something soft hit the side of his head a moment later and he turned to glare in accusation at the goblin, then looked around for the offending item. It turned out to be half a biscuit, and the old man chortled as he brushed crumbs out of his hair, "Asking for worse, telling an elder that."

"You'd be an awful husband, Ebon," Sylaise rolled her eyes at him again but her grin told him she was teasing. "You need to learn how to be honest but not insulting."

"Why?" He grinned and reached for another strip of bacon, "If they don't like it, I know Dyl can kick my ass later."

They rewarded his bravado with a short bark of laughter and he saw them roll their eyes, but there were hints of a grin that didn't fade from their face and so he leaned back easily in his chair. The group fell quiet as Sylaise returned to work and, once she was done, Dyl rose and gestured towards the door and hall beyond.

"We shouldn't plan to leave until tomorrow morning; the Temple understands," they noticed Ebon raise an eyebrow in silent question but just shrugged slightly. "Safer to wait."

They could see another question in his eyes - or, they would guess, a dozen questions - and gave him a look that they knew he'd recognize: not now, not here. His jaw worked for a few moments, then he seemed to swallow his curiosity and leaned back in his chair. "Okay, we wait. What's the plan?"

Their hand was on the door when he asked and they glanced over at him and grinned slightly, "Remember those hot springs I told you about?"

"What, the glorious hot waters of Stroxbin? Lifesource of the city? They don't exist." He scoffed and rolled his shoulders, then noticed the coy little smirk on Dyl's face as they opened the door.

"There's natural baths below the temple." They said no more, striding out of view with an almost skip to their step.

"Baths?" Sylaise breathed the word like it would shatter if she spoke too loudly. "I didn't know there were hot springs here!" She dropped her pack on the bunk and ran out after Dyl, bare feet slapping on the stones in her excitement.

The two men sat for a few moments in silence, then Ebon looked to With-Two-Daggers and asked the first question that popped into his mind: "What was that about?"

The goblin cackled at the orcish man, starting to unwind his own belt of daggers from his side, "Girly loves the water. Hot is better, and already hot means no fire."

This seemed a perfectly acceptable reason, and Ebon slowly stood and began to strip off his armor as well before the duo stepped out and turned to follow in the direction Dyl had disappeared. It wasn't hard, a few dozen yards down the hall, there was a stair leading down and they followed it until the unmistakable sounds of running - and splashing - water could be heard.

Dyl was sitting in a pool that steamed gently, submerged up to their jaw with eyes closed and an expression of bliss on their face; Sylaise was splashing in an otherwise still pool and squealing at the cold and, as soon as the worst of the grime was off of her skin, she rushed to one of the hottest pools and plunged into it. Ebon took his time, carefully scraping away the dirt and blood from the prior night before picking a pool that was warm but did not scald his skin while With-Two-Daggers opted to make directly for the hot pool Sylaise had chosen and lowered himself in gingerly, then began to splash and burble gruffly. After a few moments, the others realized the goblin was singing - if quite badly, to their ears - as he bathed and Sylaise joined in, chanting and laughing as they clapped and slapped the water. Soon, the two were lost in a battle, trying to create the largest splash against each other and were laughing madly. Dyl watched and smiled slightly, finding a painful mix of comfort and grief filling their mind and body. They shut their eyes and relaxed, letting the water wash away their pain and worries. After a time, the splashing lessened then stopped and Dyl heard footsteps on the stones, then a soft ripple announced that somebody had joined them in the warm water. Brown eyes opened and found Sylaise sitting across from them, watching them through the steam with her bright green gaze fixed on their face and an expression of deep thought; they shifted, sitting up slightly and raised an eyebrow in question.

She pursed her lips and looked around the stone chamber for a moment as though seeking an excuse to break that gaze, then turned back to look at Dyl and leaned forward. "Alright, I think it might be important to know: who the hells are the Green Guard?"

They considered her for a long while, shifting slowly as they noticed Ebon had turned to listen though he did not speak and when he noticed their gaze, quickly turned his head as though he was not at all interested in the conversation. They sighed and slowly sat up straight in the steaming water that smelled of the forest and flowers. "The Green Guard served the enclave in the forest before Blackmire was attacked; I was intended for service, but never was given chance to take the oath."

"Served?" Sylaise cocked her head curiously.

Ebon moved to the edge of his pool and rested his elbows on the stones, "You know the stories about Blackmire, Syl, same as the rest of us."

She looked from Dyl's face to Ebon and back, slowly understanding began to dawn in her eyes as the implications became clear. "Oh… oh, I'm sorry, Dyl. I didn't realize."

The shrugged slightly in answer and dunked under the water; when they came up, they reached for a rough cloth to scrub away the last of the mud that was still caked on their throat but turned away from the others. Sylaise seemed to be taking her time to absorb and consider this information but With-Two-Daggers chimed in from across the room, where he sat on the edge of a pool and lazily kicked his feet, "Sounds to me like you been wanting to make a promise a long time."

"A long time," Dyl agreed, and tried to keep their voice neutral.

Ebon and Sylaise glanced at each other, he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head and she nodded slightly. She turned back to Dyl and gave the other a bright - albeit seemingly forced - smile, "So, if we're staying here another night, mind telling us why?"

They shrugged slightly, setting the rag aside, "Full moon. Not safe to head into the forest tonight."

"The forest?!" Three voices answered in near unison, two surprised and one filled with disbelief. They looked between each other.

Ebon spoke first, "Dyl, you said the forest is dead. Why would we go into the forest?"

"Because," Dyl answered calmly, pulling themself out of the water and reaching towards a pile of clean linens left for bathers, "the only bounty hunters who will follow us already have a death wish. And they won't know the forest."

With this explanation given, they began to dry off and then wrapped the thick fabric around themself like a cloak before returning to the bunkroom to dress and relax by the fire. The others found them laying before the hearth with a book, turning the pages slowly as they considered the knowledge presented therein so the others did not interrupt the study and instead found means to entertain themselves until Sylaise loudly refused another game of cards. Then the hunter set the book aside and tossed a pouch onto the table lazily.

"If it's cards, I'll play - but only for coin." Ebon's smile was wide but faltered when he saw the calm expression upon his elder's face, "And I won't be going easy on you this time, lad."

~~~

Deep in the woods, the sun had barely risen but a young wolf woke and winced, her body ached and her pale fur was covered in dark stains that she whimpered at the sight of, remembering vividly the taste of fresh blood flowing through her teeth and dripping from her jaws. She blinked and tried to separate the nightmare from reality but as she began to take stock of her surroundings, Hiruun realized with a sinking heart that none of the strange and terrifying images in her mind seemed untrue and she turned her eyes on the other figures she could hear and smell nearby, but there was nothing to give her hope in the sight. A dozen or more large and furry bodies lay about the small cave piled together for warmth, but the one fur-robed figure she wanted was absent - there were no slight grey forms there to protect her anymore.

A voice spoke softly from the direction of the source of light, "You're awake already? Good." 

She flinched and cowered, turning fearfully to meet the eyes of her captor.

Vindal was standing in an opening, the light of the sky casting him in shadow and he came closer and made a shushing sound, then crouched and held out a bloody hand to her but she cowered away from his reach. She noted his other arm was in a sling and could not meet his eyes, remembering how fast his heart had pounded when she pressed her teeth towards it. "Hush, you don't want to wake the Pack Master from his rest or it'll be your hide."

She slowly rose, shaking on her paws as she tried to find balance with this unnaturally powerful new shape, and he smirked. "That's right, take it slow. The first change is always the hardest, you'll learn the way of it. You did well."

The wolf that had been Hiruun sniffed hesitantly at his hand, the blood there was fresh and still warm on his skin. It was not his own, and it smelled wonderful. She licked at the scent and whined as the taste caused her stomach to clench, hunger prompting her to continue in this way until all the blood was cleaned from his hand then she cowered away again, tail between her legs and head lowered so her chin scraped on the stones and dirt.

"That's right," Vindal chuckled softly, "You'll be hungry. Come out to my fire, I prefer my meat cooked, still."

She looked uncertainly up at him as he retreated but after a few moments to screw up her courage, she followed cautiously out and down a slope to where a large fire roared between the stones. She rushed forward and crouched close to it with a sigh of relief, and he did not speak to her again as she got comfortable and kept his distance, until she was settled. Then he tossed two plump hares to her side of the fire and a wild instinct took hold.

The wolf pounced on the corpses and tore into them, crunching on bones and shredding furry pelts with gleeful abandon. This morning, Vindal did not deem to chide her for her lack of table manners as he sat across the fire and shared the meal with the newly turned werewolf.

"Good, eat up. You're going to need your strength now, girl."