Open Chronicles The Wolf and The Bat

[Ishar Morrad]

"What? No." His voice was almost appalled. Almost.

"Don't be ridiculous." He waved his hand. "Why would I be teaching you how to survive without eating people if I was just going to eat them myself?"

Ishar shook his head.

Perhaps he would be best to remind himself that this girl didn't seem to have much of real world experience.

"An animal, deer likely." Perhaps a goat, there were many in the spine. "If I eat more now the wolf won't eat as much when the full moon comes."

 

[Rose]

"Oh. Right," she amended, reason returning to her as quickly as it left. She shook out the tension in her hand, leaning down to put the blade back in her boot.

After all he had done for her, she found herself with no real reason to fear him. After all, if she could go about trying to not hurt others, it stood to absolute reason that he was just as trust worthy on that. She let out a heavy breath, getting over her apprehension of him just like that.

"I've never meet a werewolf before," she told him, straightening out. "Well. Maybe I have. Its hard to tell about this stuff when we're not eating things, huh? But wasn't the moon full last night? You didn't change then." Or rather, it had been nearly full, but she didn't have a trained enough eye for that. All she saw was the brightness of the night and the circle in the sky. The sliver that had remained a shadow had been lost to her.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He shook his head. "Two days."

That was all he had.

Ishar could feel it now. The ebb and wane of the moons was almost pressed into his skull. Perhaps an effect of the plague that he carried, or perhaps just his own paranoia. He knew exactly when they would rise to their apex, knew exactly when it was that he would change.

"Werewolves aren't common, even on this side of the spine." He frowned. "They attract more attention than your kind."

Mostly because a hungry wolf killed whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted. That tended to grab everyone's eye no matter what was going on.

 

[Rose]

She nodded softly, making no move to go even after his stated intentions to hunt. "If you get yourself deep enough, maybe..." He won't stumble across a town like this.

She swallowed hard, disturbed at the thought. She tried not to linger on it.

"You can hunt. I'll keep looking for more of this-- rats tail?" She asked, name slipping from her.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He frowned, it was a deep frown. "Willow's Tail."

Ishar had no idea why it was named that. The tail part was obvious, but the former piece? He supposed some doctor somewhere had thought himself particularly clever. In truth however medicine had never really interested him. He was a fighter, warrior, not a caretaker.

"Go back to the village when the satchel is full." He told her. "There is an apothecary in town."

His lips thinned. "See him about selling the plants."

 

[Rose]

"Ok," she agreed easily, shaking off her concern and looking around them. "Wait. Which way's town again?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar rubbed the bridge of his nose. He couldn't really help but wonder how this girl had even made it out here without getting killed or eaten by one monster or another.

Perhaps she was incredibly lucky. "That way."

He pointed towards the large mountains that could barely be seen through the canopy of the thin wood. They were lucky the forest was not heavier here.

"Walk until you hit the road." He thought for a moment. "Then walk away from the mountains."

That would eventually take her to the village.

 

[Rose]

Rose could be seen quickly mouthing the instructions to herself, committing them to memory. It wasn't as if she was dumb, just clearly a city girl. What need did she have to know direction and herbs when following streets was the pivotal skill of navigation needed in her life.

Or rather, it was. Now, things had to change.

"Right, thanks. Be safe!" She shot him a smile, then dispersed into a shadow of a tree with no warning.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

A shiver ran up his spine.

Briefly the thought occurred to him that he'd never before met a vampire capable of doing magic, yet if one existed, there must have been more. The thought sent him down a dark path for just a moment, consideration of a much more...malevolent creature than Rose was.

He didn't like the idea of that.

Frowning, Ishar turned away from where the girl had disappeared and instead began to walk further into the woods. He would hunt using his instinct. A few months ago he'd have needed a bow, perhaps some traps, but now?

Now things were different.

 

[Rose]

There might have been a spare moment or two that he had felt like he had been watched-- a heaviness to the air and a stillness to the sounds around him that made things feel... off. But it would disperse quickly enough, leaving him to his hunt and the solitude of the forest.

When he'd return he'd find Rose exactly where he had first met her. She sat with her knee folded up to her chest, a mug besides her and cards spread out across the table as she hummed and played with herself. She had gotten back just fine. Her attention flickered up to him. A grin spread across her features.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar had managed to capture a deer on his hunt.

The creature had been quick and skittish, but in the end he'd caught up and taken it. The process had been quick, and he'd delivered both the creatures skin and the meat he hadn't to the locals in town.

So when he walked back into the tavern he was carrying a small purse. It wasn't much, just a silver coin along with a few coppers. The tanner had been less kind than the butcher, though he well understood the reason for that. Man was an asshole. "Here."

Ishar said as he dropped the purse onto the table in front of Rose.

"This should buy you a few nights at an Inn." She would need it without him.

 

[Rose]

She blinked rapidly, her attention flickering between him and the purse. She was naive, sure, but she wasn't stupid. She knew what to expect from strangers, and this wasn't it.

Her flabbergasted expression turned mistrusting and keen as she eyed him skeptically. She was silent for a long pause before saying, "You aren't going to off yourself, are you?" Her tone was hard.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"I have to." He told her quietly, sitting himself down at the table opposite her.

The chair was uncomfortable, but he wriggled around a bit until he finally settled.

"If I stay here things will happen." Ishar was of course referring to the wolf, a slice of knowledge that he had imparted to her a few hours ago. "Unlike you I can't control it."

Not even a little.

Ishar had learned that lesson during the first transformation. It was a mistake he would not be making again. Not with lives at risk.

 

[Rose]

She leaned in, hissing vehemently. "So you don't go killing yourself over it," came the soft yet sharp retort. Clearly he had misunderstood her question. Nonetheless, she was quickly turning livid.

"What kinda bullshit is that, you hypocritical arse! You're a good person!" She hit the table at the word, her nostrils flaring.

"No. you're not. I'm not letting you. If I don't have to die then neither do you, so there!" She whipped the coined back into his chest.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Quiet." His voice was a soft hiss, but strong. "Down."

His tone implied that if she didn't he would make her.

They were still in the middle of a tavern, in the middle of a public space. If anyone caught wind of what they were talking about Ishar had no doubts they would be sent straight to the noose. Or worse. "I won't die. I just can't be here."

Idiot girl.

He had already tried killing himself, and it hadn't worked.

"If I'm here in two days everyone will die." He scowled. "So I'm leaving."

 

[Rose]

She blinked hard, confusion quickly entering her expressing.

"But..."

"You just said."

She deflated back, eyeing him further. "You just said you had to," she responded carefully, properly intimidated by the implications of his demeanour.

You're not going to off yourself, are you?

I have to.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"I have to go." Was she dense? Why did she even care in the first place? Twenty four hours ago he was going to cut off her head and leave it on a pike.

His fingers tightened on the table top for a moment.

"I should have already left this morning." Ishar frowned again. "I need to get as far away as I can."

Otherwise when he turned the wolf would just double back and try to make it back here. He didn't exactly know how the creature did it, or even how it thought, but he knew that it could do that. There had been an incident once where he'd spend a night in a town then left before the full moon. He'd gone nearly twenty miles, but when he shifted...

A scowl touched his expression.

 

[Rose]

"Go do... what?" She asked with equal carefulness.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

How did she not get this? Did she not understand what werewolves were? What happened?

A frown touched his face and he looked around. "Change."

That was really the only way that he could put it, the only way that made sense. He just hoped that it was enough for her to actually understand. He supposed that he shouldn't have been too incredulous. In fact as he looked at her expression he realized that he might have been a bit harsh.

"It is not something that can be..." He lowered his voice. "Controlled."

Would she understand now?

 

[Rose]

"..."

Ok they had misunderstood each other here. Clearly.

"So..." She began carefully. "You're not gonna..." She drew a purposeful line across her neck.

"You're just gonna..." She made a running motion with her hands, her tongue sticking out as she mimicked panting.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He blinked.

Slowly.

"Yes." The word was hard to speak, only because of the ridiculousness of this entire situation and having to explain things to her. Had they been back in the Templar Keep he would have thrown her into the Well and told her to climb out of it.

A common punishment for new recruits.

"Otherwise I cannot control what happens." He explained, then leaned forward and lowered his voice once more. "And these people cannot defend themselves."

Not against him.

 

[Rose]

She blinked back.

"Oh. Right. Well that makes sense, okay," she concluded, the tension dispersing from her just like that. She grinned at him, possibly at the thought of him running about as a wolf. Of course it was a lot more serious than she was picturing it out to be, but for a moment she quiet enjoyed the mental image.

"Where's your bag? I can catch up with your afterwards, make sure--" she leaned forward then whispered, "--youstillgotpants."

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He sighed. "I have everything I need."

That was certainly true. Nowadays he traveled light anyways, and there was no need to worry about him going too bare. The act of changing for him had become something of a systematic ritual. He buried his things, stripped naked, and then just waited.

He didn't remember any of what actually happened after he shifted. There were no memories of his time as a wolf, nor was there any sort of hint. All he recalled was the pain. The pain of his bones breaking and regrowing, the pain of his skin tearing at itself. The agony of it all.

That always stuck with him.

"Do not." He pointed at her. "Do not. Follow me."

He'd end up killing her and everything he'd just taught her would be wasted.

 

[Rose]

She held up both her hands, palms empty. "I won't," she answered simply.

But perhaps... a shadow could, came the creeping thought. After months of being alone, she wasn't ready to say goodbye to this new found friend. She wasn't naive here, she knew perusing him would be dangerous. She understood what he was. But she was a vampire now.

Didn't that leave a little leeway?

She kept this to herself, scooping up the cards and holding them up. "One last night then?" She offered with a small smile.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He shook his head. "I told you I need to get as far away as I can."

Those hadn't just been idle words.

"I only came back to give you that money and get my things." As meager as his possessions were, they were still his. An echo of what he once was. "You need to take care of yourself."

It sounded harsh, but in his own way...it was almost sweet. Perhaps she wouldn't see it that way, in fact she probably wouldn't, but considering he had wanted to kill her yesterday...it was definitely an improvement.