Open Chronicles The Wolf and The Bat

[Ishar Morrad]

He did not.

"You didn't get hurt this time." Ishar said defiantly. "That doesn't mean it won't happen next time, or the time after that."

The Wolf was smart. Eventually it learned, it understood. Ishar had initially thought it was just a rabid beast, but over the years he had fought with it in his own way. He'd tried to hide things, trick it, but in the end the Wolf always seemed to figure things out.

Unfortunately. "It's not as simple as just running around for a night."

Frustration brewed within his stomach.

 

[Rose]

"And yet!" She shot back, arms splayed out before her in a sudden gesture. And that was precisely what caused her shoulder to burn in warm pain, a hissing grimace pulling to her lips before she could stop it.

Catching her mistake, Rose played it off by slipping immediately into the shadows, where she could clutch at the source of pain in peace.

"You're a jerk," she distracted, her voice coming muffled from the bush that had been behind her. "You just wanna hate yourself, you don't want any help. Jerk!" She hissed again for good measure.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar wasn't a fool.

He was a soldier with literally years of experience. He had fought against everything from Blight Orc's to Ghouls. He knew when someone was wounded, and the way Rose suddenly grimaced in pain and then recoiled told more of a story than any of her words could have.

"You're a fool!" He yelled back at her, though Ishar wasn't quite sure where the girl had actually disappeared to.

Too many shadows in the jungle.

"You got bit didn't you?" He shook his head, truly having no idea what would happen if so.

 

[Rose]

"No," came the childishly stubborn reply. "But if you don't shut up and say thank you, I'll bite you." She did not reemerge from the shadow.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Fool." Ishar reiterated.

Even if she hadn't been bit she had put herself in danger, and the idea of doing this again was only worse. The wolf would eventually catch up to her and tear her throat out, or worse.

He had no idea what would happen if she was actually bitten, but for all he knew it would create some kind of demonic spawn capable of killing entire villages. That wouldn't do, especially if it was because of him. He growled, turned away from the tree and began to stalk east.

Ishar wasn't going to discuss this.

Not now, not naked.

 

[Rose]

He was left to his silent anger, though certainly the insistent shadow trailed in his wake, refusing to walk away despite his anger. She was fine. And this was a brilliant idea, it had to be. Otherwise...

She clung close to his heel, sitting inside the shadows of his legs as the sun continue to rise and bare down on him. It took effort. But... he was naked.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

The walk took almost the entire morning.

It had been a chase the night before, and one that Rose had admittedly done correctly. The wolf hadn't caught up to her...apparently, and it hadn't made it to any villages either. It was good, though there was no guarantee that it would work again.

Not that Ishar would ever admit to having either of those thoughts.

Eventually the former Templar made his way back to where he had stashed his belongings. Moving the heavy boulder from it's place he grasped his clothes, pack, and sword, pleased to see that nothing had been touched.

Within just a few minutes he was dressed, his head still swirling from the night before.

 

[Rose]

It was only then that she emerged, stumbling into being onto her feet, her gaze not quite catching his. She would not now nor ever bring up the fact that he had been naked before her. It was a cost of what they were and she would not make either of them suffer it any longer than it had to be.

"I tried to keep you as close to your stuff as I could," she murmured, sliding to the ground and sitting. She looked paler than before, something off about her eyes. She rubbed her face, then dared a glance up at him.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"You could have been killed." Ishar said to her, though some of the heat had disappeared from his tone.

He wasn't going to yell, at least not right now.

Ishar knew that she had just been trying to help, but the danger was too much. The Wolf wasn't some beast to be trifled with and lead around by the nose. They had been lucky this time, but next time it could very well catch her. That wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

"I understand what you were trying to do." It was a good thing, perhaps even noble. "But it was risky, and foolish."

 

[Rose]

"Better me than one of them," she grumbled, rubbing at her shoulder. "You're welcome," she grumbled for the last time, his anger and chastising effectively bringing her down instead of breeding contrite. The strong desire to cry pinched at her eyes for a moment. Her lower lip slowly stuck out and wobbled her attention boring into the ground as she wallowed over this.

Well none of this was fair.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

”A life is a life.” He said quietly, not wanting to admit that he likely would have felt worse if he'd killed her.

Yes, an innocent would have been bad. Wouldn't have mattered if it was a farmer, soldier, or child, none would have deserved it. Yet he knew her, at least her name. He'd taught her how to survive, how to actually make it even with her disease.

Her death would have been a waste.

A sigh escaped the werewolf as he watched her for a moment. Now fully dressed, he realized just how hot the jungle around them was, and how much he was craving a drink of water. His lips thinned for just a moment and a low growl of frustration escaped his throat.

”Come on.” He grumbled at her. ”There's a river this way.”

It was all he said before he began to stalk off.

 

[Rose]

Rose huffed, watching him go for a moment before crossing her arms and dragging herself back up. She grimaced at the effort, her eyes flashing animalistically at his back as she followed after.

She walked without complaint, though her mood had not improved as they arrived at the river. It was hot, she was tired and uncomfortable, and he was an unappreciative jerk face.

She tossed herself into the water, cloak left behind as she let the coolness embrace her. Some tension left her body. She drank heavily from the moving river.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

Ishar only knelt at the side of the river, splashing his face and drinking some of the clear water.

He knew that they should have boiled it first, but the thirst overwhelmed him. His lips thinned as he looked up and took a breath, his mind attempting to reach back to the night before.

It was something he did often, attempting to remember what had happened. Ishar had no idea how it worked, only that he retained no memories of what the Wolf had done. It was not the same for the creature within, something he somehow knew. The thing watched what he did, knew things he knew.

He wanted to know how.

 

[Rose]

Rose soon had her fill of floundering like a fish in the shallow river's water. It's coldness refreshed her and chased away her aches and sleepiness. Even her shoulder was doing better, a healthy scab already in place as her strange healing did its thing. In some ways, she knew she should be appreciative for its presence. Being stronger, moving faster, not being hurt for as long as before-- they all seemed like gifts from above if looked at alone. But the burn in her throat reminded her they were not not gifts. And her speed was not fast enough, her strength not strong enough to grant her small girlish body more than a fighting chance against men like Ishar.

She was thirsty. She kept it to herself.

Her stubborn silence broke first, more desperate to keep his company then win their spat. "Are you okay?" She asked, her voice small.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"I'm alright." Ishar answered after a long pause, deciding that it was best to speak with her.

The fact of the matter was that Rose likely wouldn't be going away.

He was no fool, and the girl was more than a little determined to stick by his side for whatever reason. Perhaps she had been alone for so long that she'd simply forgotten what good company was actually like. He certainly wasn't it. A frown touched his face for a brief moment, head shaking.

"The Change hurts." He told her simply. "Always does."

Breaking every single bone in your body did that.

 

[Rose]

She grimaced, picking up her cloak and shivering into it as she draped it around her shoulders.

"Looked it," she confessed, coming to sit down by his bag. She watched him move, wondering if the pain was still there and he was just a good actor.

"And you... do that every month?" She asked carefully, testing the undiscovered lines of what he would and wouldn't talk about with her.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"Just about." A pause hung in the air. "Sometimes twice."

It all depended on the position of the moons of course.

Sometimes he got lucky and didn't change for a month, sometimes it was twice. Once it had been three times, though...there had been something off about the final transformation. He frowned for a moment, shaking his head to rid himself of the thought and gather his attention back to the now.

No point in lingering. "Nothing I can do to stop it though."

He'd tried.

 

[Rose]

"No," she agreed softly, her thoughts falling distant. "Never is, right..."

She swallowed hard and licked her lips, pulling out of her thoughts. "So.... Back down to get my stuff?" She asked, a hopeful edge to her tone. She wouldn't stay if he truly didn't want her to, she wasn't annoying. But she really wanted to. And by now, she really hoped he'd see the merit in it.

They could help each other. Because soon... well she would...

Her eyes were wide and pleading.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He sighed. "Yes."

His fingers came up to pinch the bridge of his nose. He supposed at this point there was no real point in sending her off, not when there would be another month before his next change.

Ishar supposed that had been her intent.

"Where did you leave it?" The former Templar asked, his voice still more than a little gruff. It was clear that the transformation had been rough on his body.

Still, a part of him was glad. He wouldn't admit it to her, couldn't, but he was happy that he hadn't killed anyone, hadn't damaged any property, hell hadn't even eaten any sheep. That was something to be glad for.

 

[Rose]

A grin blossomed over her features. She jumped up with more energy than she should have after a night of running. "Back at the town," she admitted with little bashfulness. "I didn't think you would leave so fast! But now we can get breaaaakfast and maybe, I dunno, look for herbs a little more. I dun mind sleeping on the floor! And I got the moooooney~" She shook the bag before her, coins tinkling.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "That's a day and a half away from here."

Not to mention it was going back to civilization.

A frown touched his lips, and in his head he ran through all of the implications of the towns people and how they would be looked at. Leaving for a few days, coming back, one of them leaving her things....it wasn't a good look. His fingers tightened for a moment and he took a deep breath.

"We can't stay that long." He couldn't. "They'll be suspicious."

He would be.

 

[Rose]

"What, really? Why?" The bag bit had been a lie, the object left hanging on a branch over the rock he had burried his under. She kept that to herself though, desperately wanting to return there if just for another day. Towns were a rare treat for her, even moreso with money in hand.

 

[Ishar Morrad]

"We're monsters." He said quietly, not sure how he could go about breaking this to the girl, thinking in truth that she should already know it herself. His expression shifted though, less harsh than it had been at the beginning of the day when he'd discovered her.

"Strangers." Ishar continued. "They watch use carefully."

Had she not noticed it? "Spend too much time in one place and someone is bound to learn the truth, and when that happens..."

He didn't finish.

 

[Rose]

Rose sobered at that, his logic sound but unwelcome to her bolstered spirits.

"...Okay," she relented, and rather easy at that. "My bag is just over there-- I didn't want to go just yet," she defended before he could grow frustrated by the reveal.

"I'm thirsty, and tired-- aren't you tired?"

 

[Ishar Morrad]

He rubbed his face, deciding now to call her out on her lie. There wouldn't be any good from it, Ishar knew that. At this point he was...well he was just too tired to keep up the fight.

Instead he took a deep breath. "I am."

More than he could say in fact. The change weighed heavily on him, and since he had to do it twice it always felt as though his entire body were fighting against every single move that he could make. The pain of it was unreal, leaving him aching for days after the fact.

His lips thinned.

"We'll move away from here back towards the village." He said quietly. "Slowly."

One night wouldn't kill them. If anyone asked they had gotten lost.

No longer though.