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Aphmau watched as the werewolves circled closer and closer, after a second of hesitation she drew the sword that Dante had given her and moved to stand over the injured owl. The werewolves growled at her as she tried to keep them in her line of sight. A slight movement out of the corner of her eye was her only warning before one of the werewolves lept toward her, she managed to bring up her sword just in time to block the swipe of their claws before trying to slash at the werewolf. The werewolf jumped back as she swung but the sword still carved out a wound on the werewolf’s torso. Blood splattered on the snow and the other wolves saw this as their sign to begin their attack. Aphmau’s world narrowed into dodging, blocking, slashing, and stabbing. Though she was used to using a shorter sword against the monsters that came around in the night, she felt like something clicked with the long sword in her hands, her body almost felt like it was moving on its own. Then that feeling suddenly stopped when the sword was thrown from her hands by a lucky strike from a werewolf. Broken from her concentration she noticed four werewolves on the ground around her, wounded or dead she couldn't tell from just the passing glance she gave them before focusing again on the one before her.
“You smell of them, of those weaklings of the Southern tribe. So tell me little girl what is a human smelling of the tribe we are warring with doing out here in our territory?” the wolf growled out.
“I’m just looking for a priest or monk to perform an exorcism,” Aphmau said.
The werewolf huffed “Like I’d believe that, there are no churches for miles, and there’s no way you're going to find a monk.” stepping closer and closer while talking.
“It's the truth!”
“It's more likely that those cowards sent you, and were too idiotic to tell you to erase your scent”
The werewolf darted forward and grabbed her before lifting her as she begins to struggle.
“Let’s see if they still accept you after this!” they exclaimed, malicious glee in their voice as they grab one of her flailing arms, She feels a pressure against the armor on her arm before it gives way to pain, she screams in pain before blessed darkness.
-
Aaron ran towards where he last heard the sound of fighting, the sounds stopped a while ago and he did not know if that was a good or bad thing. He heard a scream of pain, and cursed to himself as he forced himself to run faster.
-
Aaron burst into a clearing, eyes darting back and forth taking in the three werewolf corpses before landing on a girl, her long black hair spread out, a helmet lying a little away. As he slowly got closer, keeping his eyes out in case of a trap, he noticed the blood steadily flowing from a mangled arm guard. He rushed to her side, all ideas of a trap forgotten, checking the wound. His worst fears were realized as he saw it was the shape of a bite mark. A hoot drew him from his thinking and he glanced away from the injured girl to an owl. He sighed before removing the destroyed arm guard off of the girl before rummaging around in his pack for cloth to use as bandages.
-
Consciousness came back to Aphmau all at once. She jolted up looking around the small room she was in.
“Oh! You’re awake” Aphmau looks over to where the voice was coming from while trying to push herself up, but the second she put pressure on her left arm she felt it flare with pain before it stopped supporting her weight. “Oh no, don’t move too much you’ll aggravate your wounds.” Aphmau turned her head to see the woman who was talking, she locked eyes with a woman with pale hair and dark eyes. “How are you feeling?” the woman asks.
“I feel feel fine mostly, but my arm really hurts when I try to use it” Aphmau answered
“That’s about the best we can hope for considering the situation, but oh, I've just realized that I haven't introduced myself! I’m Mira!”
“My name’s Aphmau, and where am I?”
“You're in my cottage, your friend gave us quite the scare when he came into camp with you and that owl” at this Aphmau turned to see the owl wrapped in a blanket by the foot of her bed, before realizing something.
“Wait friend?”
“Yes the man with the hood” she mimes putting up a hood “covering his eyes, who wasn’t wearing a shirt” she vaguely gestures to her torso “and that long purple sword”
“That doesn't sound like anyone I know,” Aphmau said, slightly confused.
“Well what is the last thing that you remember, he could have found you after you lost consciousness”
“Well I was trying to find a priest or a monk to perform an exorcism, when I found the injured owl in a small clearing, then the werewolves surrounded us, I fought as well as I could but-” she stills suddenly as she realizes something “w-was I bitten?” she asked voice wavering
“I’m afraid so, unfortunately we will not truly know if you have been infected until the next full moon, but” Mira pauses as if trying to figure out what to say next “it is most likely that you have been infected, I’m sorry”
Aphmau felt tears start to gather in her eyes “when is the next full moon?”
“You have a week” Mira responded sadly, the tears start spilling in earnest as Aphmau can’t hold them in anymore.
-
Mira sighed as she closed the door to her cabin.
“How is she?”
She jumped and whirled around to see the man who brought Aphmau in leaning against the wall. “She’ll be fine, her wound is healing very fast, faster than any humans wound should”
“Does that mean she was turned?” the man asked
“That’s the thing, She’s healing even faster than the other survivors of werewolf attacks that I've treated, they all took a week in order to be able to move without pain.” she pauses “usually they experience full body pain that eventually localizes in the space of the bite, and then a day or two after that the wound only hurts when pressure is applied, She’s already showing signs of a mostly healed bite.”
“Well what does that mean?” he asked
“I do not know but there is something else that has been bothering me, she said when she found the owl it was injured, but that bird is in perfect health. My guess is that she has some sort of healing majicks that she is unaware of.”
He nodded in understanding before shifting off of the wall, leaning down to grab his sword and pack, “thank you for your hospitality, but if she is going to be fine, I’m going to head out” he turned and walked into the woods
“Hey wait-” she called but he had already disappeared into the woods.
-
Aphmau watched as Mira undid the bandages around her arm glancing away before the bandages were pulled away completely “so how long was I asleep for?”
“About the whole night and most of the morning too, you woke up a little before noon” Mira responded
“Oh no!” Aphmau groaned as she used her not preoccupied arm to cover her face “they're probably so worried by now”
“Who?”
“My friends, Garroth, Laurence and Dante, oh and Malachi too” she gasps before sitting up ramrod straight “oh no Malachi! I never found anyone to perform the exorcism!” and though she didn't speak about it out loud her thoughts also flashed to Logan who was still being held by the Eastern wolf tribe.
“You beat me to it, there was actually a monk staying at camp when you arrived, he was planning on leaving this morning but I convinced him to stay awhile longer so that you could speak with him.”
“Thank you so much! For that and the whole giving up your cabin to nurse me back to health thing” Aphmau says
“It was no trouble at all! Now that your bandages are done you can go speak to him, his name is Damian.”
-
Aphmau looks towards Damian before beginning to set out “don’t worry Malachi we’re coming.” she was excited to free Malachi, but she was also dreading the tirade her guards were going to go on when she tells them where she has been.