Open Chronicles The Wolf and The Bat

[Rose]

"Eep!" She unrolled herself quickly, scrambling to her feet. "Alright, alright, don't have to tell me twice." She shoved the blanket into her pack, subtly stealing it for feature use. She slid it against the wall, standing up and straightening herself out.

Welp, she was ready.

"You gonna get breakfast?" She asked almost eagerly.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He paused for just a brief second, glancing at himself in the mirror.

There was something broken there, something he couldn't quite recognize in himself. Perhaps the odd coloring to his eyes, the added lines of his face. It wasn't himself he was looking at, not the person he remembered from before. A frown touched his lips, then finally he managed to drag his gaze away from the reflection long enough to answer.

"Yes." Breakfast was important, though he suspected that the meal at this Inn would be...far from palatable.

After being bitten Ishar had found his craving for meat and animal flesh heightened. Though he could and still did eat other things, nothing was as satisfying as something he himself had caught and then eventually butchered.

The fact of that sickened him in a way he couldn't express, yet fighting the urge was difficult even at the best of times.

"Come on." He told her. "No point in wasting time."

 

[Rose]

She followed him out, moving with more energy than the bags under her eyes suggested she had. Unlike him, she didn't find herself craving meat or flesh of any kind. If anything, her appetite often felt... dulled. It could be days before she'd realize she had accidentally not eating anything solid. Without proper nourishment, a faint ache would always fill her body like an approaching cold and she would find herself overwhelmingly thirsty.

No amount of water would sate this awakening fever inside of her. Often warmed milk was employed to soothe her throat and bring her strength. If she was nourished, she was largely okay. But if she neglected this ... the curse would take over her that much faster.

She had learned that lesson the hard way.

"Saaay. Anyway I could carry your bags for some milk?" She leveled at him, using his own suggestion against him to work for pay.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Before he could answer they reached the food line which was predictably as terribly as he had suspected it would be.

The bacon was old and likely first cooked days ago, the oatmeal seemed to have been stewing in the same pot for weeks, and...well the rest of it didn't seem all that much better. He frowned for a brief moment, glanced at Rose and then slowly shook his head. "Just take what you want."

A sigh escaped him.

He would have to go hunting while searching for the plants to show her. Unlike Rose Ishar couldn't go days without eating, especially when he was tnis close to a full moon. The wolf would be rabid, and that would send it straight into the nearest village to eat whatever it wanted.

Ishar couldn't have that.

 

[Rose]

She perked, walking away with a massive cup of milk she asked to be freshly warmed, two slices of buttered toast-- a feast in her eyes.

She sat down, guzzling half the mug before he had the change to nudge in his chair. She smacked her lips and wordlessly went to town on the toast. She wasn't hungry, but it tasted good, albeit hard. She knew she'd feel stronger for it.

She let him enjoy his meal in silence, almost as if she was trying to pointedly not be agitating. She smiled up at him afterwards, a bit of color entering her cheeks.

"See. Perfectly human." Was she trying to comfort him or reassure him about herself? It was unclear. But she stood up without any of that mental heaviness he seemed to carry with him, eager for the day.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He wondered briefly if the food actually provided her any sustenance.

Ishar was no scholar, but he'd encountered more than a few Vampires in his life time. He'd seen none of them consume anything save for...people, and most had not been interested in anything else. Perhaps they could gain some nourishment from regular food, but he didn't know.

Something for the scholars to comment on, he supposed.

"Yes. Saying that out loud just like every other human." Ishar said dryly as he looked around the room to make sure no one was paying any attention to them.

When he found no one watching, he only stood from the table and bade her to follow.

 

[Rose]

She stuck out her tongue at him, catching the door and slipping out after him. She squinted at the bright morning air, pulling her cloak closer to her.

"You know I usually avoid going anywhere until, like- after high noon at least," she half grumbled at him, rubbing the last of her sleepiness from her face as her eyes adjusted.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"You'll need to change that." He said quietly, grabbing his sword and buckling it to his belt as he let himself bask in the morning light for a moment.

There was something pleasant about it, something that reminded him of...a calm.

His fingers tightened for just a few second on the hilt of his sword, almost absent of mind. After a few more seconds the werewolf half turned and regarded Rose. "Mornings are good for avoiding people."

He informed her.

"Best for slipping in and out of town without anyone noticing." He motioned to the left where the road extended into the mountainside.

 

[Rose]

"Yeah, but ... there's no shadows," she reasoned back under her breath, the discomfort at the thought evident in her strained tone. "What if someone recognizes us right now? What can I do? Scream?" She shook her head, slowing down just to do what appeared to be ... eye his butt.

"Though, I suppose I could use yours. If you don't move too much."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Run." He said simply.

Until there were shadows or something else that she could use. These villages, most of them anyway, were sleepy in their own little way. Sometimes there was a town watch, but most of the time the best you could get was an angry mob with a single goal.

"Small villages can be the best and worst for you." He said as they walked up the road. "The people will be welcoming, but their traditions..."

A frown touched the old Templar's face. "Well, I've seen more than once monster burned at the stake."

The emphasis he put on the word denoted that he clearly was not talking of real monsters.

 

[Rose]

She bit her lip, her cheerful demeanor quickly sobering into a more composed somberness.

"...I think my age helps. Most people don't wanna imagine a girl like me being... something like that. So usually... they don't wanna see it, so they don't, kinda thing," she explained poorly. Her arms wrapped around herself, her footsteps quick as they kept her right at his side. A weary glance was tossed over her shoulder, at the village receding behind them.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He nodded his head, seeing the logic in that. The same thing could not be said of the Blightlands. There, even children of ten or younger were suspect if they showed the wrong signs.

That was just how it was. "It'll help if you go west, as well."

The forest here was thin, not like the great oaks you would find in the Falwood or the jungle trees of the Wilds. The height of the spine and the lack of oxygen meant that trees and foliage could only grow so high. The sight was still impressive in it's own way, but certainly not breath taking.

"Certain things have become little more than myth to some people." He told her. "Especially around the cities."

 

[Rose]

She nodded in understanding, having grown up in a city herself. Strangely enough, she found it harder to exist there. Maybe because the concept of vampires was prevalent, even threatening the streets at night.

But that was not the case everywhere else, she had noticed. Perhaps she could hazard a change in a city again. Experience had kept her in the wilderness up until this point.

"Which... way is west?" She asked carefully, braced for the frustrated response.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He stopped suddenly, frowning, glaring at her, and then pointed towards the mountains. "That way is west."

How could she not know this?

In the blightlands if you didn't know simple information like that you were likely to die by her age. He grumbled quietly for a few seconds and then let out a breath.

"The spine is the divide of the two continents. Many claim its the divide of civilization." He frowned, clearly not liking that. "To the east you have the Wilds, the Blight, the Isles. To the west lays...well most major cities."

Ishar admitted, albeit slowly. "Alliria, Vel Anir, Elbion."

A few others as well, though he didn't list those.

 

[Rose]

A careful step back had been taken, the vampire looking at him as if he was a sudden threat. "...Okay," she accepted, tone almost abashed as she eeeedged a step forward to dismiss the conversation and get them moving again.

She said nothing, waiting for the tension in him to disperse.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar continued to hike forward. They wouldn't go too far into the mountains. As they got higher plants began to die, and it would defeat the purpose of this whole crusade.

There were a few plants that grew only in the mountains, but the benefits did not outweigh the dangers. At least that was what he thought to himself. A frown touched his face briefly, but his head shook as he began to explain things to her. "Willow's Tail is found in most forests on this side of the Spine."

His voice was steady even as he turned off the rode and headed into th woods.

"It's used as a salve for wounds." Ishar explained further. "It's not rare, but grows only on the bottom of fallen logs or rocks, generally facing east towards the setting sun."

 

[Rose]

Once again, Rose said nothing, though that was not to be mistaken for not listening. She committed these facts to heart, moving away from him to kick and pull over the rocks and logs around them. After a few minutes, she found a plant wrapped around a large log she had hefted up.

"This?" She asked, blowing a frizzy curl from her eyes as she looked up to him.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

The plant, more of a vine really, could almost be said to resemble a tail. If you squinted and half looked away. "Yes."

With his left hand he tossed an empty satchel at her.

"Cut it just before the root." He told her. "It will regrow."

The vine itself was the valuable thing, what needed to be ground up into a paste in order to actually be applied to the wound. Ishar knew of it thanks to a doctor that had treated him once. The man had talked for hours and hours on herbs and other healing remedies.

Annoying at the time, helpful now. "You won't get rich doing this, but you'll earn yourself a night or two in an inn."

 

[Rose]

She caught it unnervingly fast, not even looking up as she did so. It was an unconscious display of what she was, but a display none the less, a tiny dagger being pulled from her boot to cut the plant with.

She gingerly place the plant into the sack, grinning a bit as she looked up and held it out to him.

"Here. For breakfast!"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"No." He waved her off. "Keep it."

He wouldn't need it anyway.

His life style was ordinarily fairly spartan, and as he traveled more and more that was only becoming more true. The wolf destroyed most of his things unless he hid them, and sometimes the creature carried him too far away from where those things were.

The only thing left form his old life was his sword, something he'd miraculously been able to hang on to. "You'll need it."

He was sure of that.

 

[Rose]

A smile broke out across her face, genuine and pure. "...Thanks."

She slipped it into her cloak, moving with a pep in her step back to his side as they pushed in deeper.

"Sooooo. You know an awful lot about this area. Where are you from?" She asked boldly.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"The Blightlands." Ishar retorted bluntly, none too shy about admitting where he came from.

There was no shame for him in his origin, nor was there any to be had. The Blight made you strong. Fighting against the Blight Orcs, pushing back against Molthal. It made you strong, it made you stand tall. There would never be a second where he wouldn't be proud of it's home.

Though of course, not so much it's nominal ruler. "Several hundred miles north of here."

The reason he knew so much of course was his time as a Templar.

He and the others frequently traveled down south for one reason or another. The trips were an important lifeline for the Blightland Templar, always had been.

 

[Rose]

She double took, looking around herself. "Wow I've walked far," she mused, surprised to hear her location. That, at least, she understood, the Blightlands known about in her small costal city that often found itself ravaged by monsters and evils that wandered its way over to them.

She casted him a careful glance. "...So you know where you're heading or.... just headin' till you're done?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"I need to eat." He said quietly, fingering the hilt of his sword for a moment before he released it and then turned towards her.

A sigh escaped him.

"I'm not..." How did he say this? He hadn't exactly told her before, not really, but he figured now was as good a time as any. "I'm not a vampire."

Ishar cringed slightly. "I was bitten by a werewolf."

For some reason that was easier than saying what he was directly.

"The breakfast this morning wasn't..." He frowned. "Well it wouldn't have done much for me."

Not filling, not fresh. Not what the wolf wanted. "You can head back, but I need to catch something."

 

[Rose]

Her eyes widened at the reveal. Oh, she knew about werewolves too. They were as real too her as what she was. She couldn't help but take a startled step back, fear pricking in her chest just at what he was.

"Some-some person?" She tried to clarify, her voice squeaking. The shadows at her feet shifted ever so slightly, her fingers tightened on the small dagger. Unfair to him, she knew. But it was instinct.