The Predators - Part 3

After the battle with the beasts, both were in a lot of pain, Olivia more so than Lyrika. She could not stand from the pain and damage that was done to her legs, so, it was down to Lyrika to give a helping hand.

Lyrika did have some damage herself, but at least she could walk, so knew she had to be the one to find something to help her. The first thing that came to mind was the blue flowers. But before leaving she made sure Olivia had her dagger, the Morning star not being an option in her weak state, and headed out as quickly as possible.

As she dashed around the forest, she had her own knife in her non-dominant hand as it was almost impossible to hold it in the one that had been cut. In her search, she found a good number of plants and flowers, some with medicinal properties, but none that would help Olivia. They all helped with things like burns, or poison, which was good to know and something to take when they could, but for now, she skipped them. It took some time as well as some thorough searching and fending off a couple of efflers until she found it. Hidden among a good deal of shrubbery at the base of a tree, she found several of the blue flowers and after gathering all that she saw, she retraced her steps and headed back to Olivia.

Once she got back she found Olivia lying on the floor coming in and out of consciousness, groaning in pain, so she got to work. As she prepared the medicine, she also used some of their water to help wash out Olivia's wounds. Cleaning them caused Olivia to jump up at the sudden chilly feeling hitting her raw flesh and nerves, keeping her awake which was defiantly a good thing. Once that was done, she practically forced her to drink a good deal of their water as well, as with the blood loss she needed to replenish her fluids. The last thing to do was apply the medicine.

The cool blue powder was smoothed over each of the scratches and bite marks, but in the case of the bite, she had to remove some of the flesh that was hanging on for dear life. Making a quick fire, which had the added benefit of keeping them warm, she got to work heating her knife. Once done she said a quick 'sorry' to Olivia and sliced the torn sections from her leg.

As you would expect, Olivia cried in agony at that, and banged her head against the tree she was laying against in anger at the pain she was feeling.

But, with the gruesome part done, she applied a good helping of the powder to that area, which was the last one. She still had some of the blue powder left over and moved on to her own injuries. She only had a few, which while still painful, was nothing compared to what Olivia had.

Once she had finished sorting herself out, all she could do now was wait for Olivia to regain movement in her legs.

…

As the sun started to head over the treetops, Olivia woke up having realised she had fallen asleep somehow and smelt something cooking neaby. Her body was still wracked with pain so how she managed to drift off she had no idea. But she did, so at some point she must have gotten used to it, regaling it to something like background noise, allowing her to get some rest.

Lyrika, however, had been awake this whole time. When she saw Olivia finally drift off to sleep, she decided to keep her eyes open to make sure nothing came for them. She also did it to let Olivia rest after that horrible episode. But before she could do this, she realised there were a few things she needed to do before night actually hit.

One was getting rid of the carcasses. Sure, they could have been kept and butchered for meat, but honestly even Lyrika didn't want to eat these things after what they had done. So, all that was left was to drag them away and throw them into a dip in the ground a good distance from the camp. She did it quietly, and generally a good distance from Olivia, so she didn't disturb her at all. Once she had done all three, she covered them in a few branches covered in leaves as well as some shrubby. It wouldn't do much, but it might help keep the smell down and other animals away.

Once she got back from dealing with the garbage disposal, she had to deal with food and water. With all the excitement, it was nearing the time for dinner, and both needed to eat and drink something. With the way Olivia was, getting some grub in her as well as downing a good few mouthfuls of water would help her immensely. So, she got to cooking.

She decided to go for something simple, to make sure Olivia was able to eat it easily, where the only simple thing they had was jerky and hardtack. As she got it ready, that was when Olivia woke up.

"Uggh, did I fall asleep."

"Yes. I was just about to wake you, but it looks like the smell did my job for me." Lyrika said as she passed her the simple meal.

Taking it, she slowly got to eating, knowing she had to keep her strength up. Looking over she found Lyrika doing the same, but surprisingly, without meat. She was going to mention it, but honestly felt this wasn't the time to joke around. Once the meal was over, they both shared the water, Lyrika making her drink more of it than herself, before they then decided to call it a night.

Once Lyrika got the tent up, they headed inside and she made sure to get Olivia comfortable. As she looked over her, to check the wounds on her body, she was thankful that she was no longer losing blood. The blue powder had pretty much plugged up the holes and damage, so all they could do now was wait for her to heal. It would be some time for her to fully heal, but given her fast healing, the hope was that sometime tomorrow, they could set off at a slow pace, in order to get a move on and go to the village.

Lyrika suggested that Olivia sleep through the whole night, wanting to make sure she got as much rest as possible and healed. Olivia did want to protest, but like when she was bitten by the effler, Lyrika's glare kept her down.

And with that, Lyrika sat in the doorway of the tent and kept watch over Olivia as she slept.

…

Olivia woke up, very much groggily, to the world-shaking around her. She though that there may have been an earthquake and started to panic, but as she heard her name, and felt a soft hand on her arm, she realised it was Lyrika, shaking her awake.

"Uggh." was the only response she could give as she opened her eyes to the bright light of the day.

"Good morning. How are you feeling."

"My body still hurts all over. But it's not as bad as yesterday."

Lyrika looked over her with worry in her eyes, but if anything, things could have been much worse after that battle.

"Can you move your legs?"

Now that was the big question. How good was her faster healing? Sure, it dealt with the bite of the effler, but with the amount of damage the creatures from yesterday did, would it be able to fix it all.

So, to see whether a single night was enough to fix things, Olivia went to stand up.

"Ahh"

And fell straight back down.

"Yeah, nope. Still a lot of pain when I put pressure on it. Might be a while still."

…

Both pretty much stayed in the same location for a good deal of the day. Lyrika spent that time checking her wounds, apply more blue flower powder to sections where it had fallen or been rubbed off from her sleep. As she looked, some of the shallow damage had healed slightly, removing the need for those more powder in those sections. The large bite and the deep scratches however still looked gruesome.

With that done, Lyrika then made them both breakfast, and as the day rolled by, a nice lunch, adding some of the meat as well to liven up the meal. There wasn't really much else she could do, so she just ended up practising some of her archery against a log.

Olivia was actually unable to do anything. All she could do was sit back and watch Lyrika move about. It was relaxing, but also very boring after a while. But that thankfully ended after lunch, when they tried to get Olivia moving again.

With Lyrika giving a helping hand, she was able to stand on her feet. The pain was still very much evident, but she could now put pressure on it without collapsing. But while that may be the case, surely the added pressure would only worsen things in her leg. So, the only way they could get going was by her leaning against Lyrika as they walked.

It wasn't ideal, but both really wanted out of this forest, so once Lyrika packed up the tent and everything else, they got on their way and headed towards the village.

…

"What were those things."

They had been travelling a while now, and things were as calm as they had been when they first left Yoban's village. This gave them plenty of time to talk and distract each other from the pain they were feeling.

While still keeping a look out as they went, of course.

"I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like that around here. This should be quite a safe area. For something as deadly as that to be moving around here is just odd."

They mused on that for a bit, trying to figure out where they had come from. If Lyrika didn't know what they were, then they were unlikely to have been native to the beast-kin land. They could have come from deep in the forest, but for them to have made it this far into the beast-kin land without someone being attacked or noticing, just didn't seem right. It was also possible that they came from one of the other kingdoms, but again the same situation arose on how they got here.

Then there was the timing of it all. Not that someone had sent the creatures after them once they had left the village. It was more that they had turned up several days after Yoban's village was besieged, and not far from the village itself.

Could the bandits have had them?

But, why would they.

"… ah"

And then it struck her. The bandits could have gotten them from one of the carriages and could have got them as loot. Then they could have realised how dangerous they were and just got rid of them, by leaving them in the forest. Or it also possible that in the attacks on the carriages, they managed to get out that way. If this was the case, they probably would have gotten free no matter what. With something that powerful and aggressive, breaking out of cage would only have taken a matter of days to do so.

If they were from one of the carriages, then that would give credence to them being from another kingdom, the carriage likely being a trader, which might be why Lyrika didn't know of them.

They would never know for sure, what happened as this was all just speculation, but one thing was for sure, they would always remain vigilant for that growl again.