Poisoned Arrow
As Sotek led the group away from the canyon, towards another mountain trail, Shadow Walker cursed as he gazed across the canyon at him.
“Damn that bastard. They’ll be long gone by the time we get there”.
The Collector chuckled to herself.
“Oh, I doubt that. He’ll find that particular trail hard going”.
“What? Why?”
“Let’s just say it’s a particularly steep path and they have a long climb ahead of them. Let’s just say he’s not the only one with some tricks up his sleeve”.
Shadow Walker glanced somewhat curiously at her. He had a quick glimpse at her arrows then eyed up her pouch of herbs.
“Ah, so that’s what you did”.
She laughed at his comment.
“You have no imagination, that’s your trouble. Very soon, almost immediately in fact, he’ll have to stop and rest. That path’s too steep, he’ll never get up there”.
Within seconds Sotek knew something was wrong. His leg ached badly, while he felt hot and clammy. Deciding to try to hide his condition from the others, he pointed to the path behind them and gave his pack a few words of encouragement to help spur them on.
“They’ll be a damn good few hours behind so that gives us a chance”. Then he cast a smile at the group, trying to boost their moral. His smile soon wore off though once they set off along the mountain trail. Although they knew they had a good few hour’s lead from their pursuers, Sotek still pushed the group hard. His leg, despite being healed, still gave him some trouble. He guessed it was lightly poisoned but having already sorted out everyone’s packs he also knew it was pointless to ask the others if they had any cure poison potions. He knew damn well that none of them did. He just kept waking while his body did its best to fend the poison off.
Within ten minutes his pace slowed to the point that the others knew something wasn’t right. Both Aela and Sasha came alongside him, and both were equally concerned. Aela held his arm but was shocked to feel how hot and clammy he really was.
“Stop for a second; sit down on that rock”. Sotek didn’t argue, he stumbled his way to the rock which Aela had pointed out, but then he practically fell to the side of it and just ended up resting against it.
Sasha felt his temple. The sweat on him was literally pouring off.
“He can’t go on like this! Damn it, that bloody bitch used a poisoned arrow”.
Sotek shook his head weakly, he tried to explain his concerns.
“No, poison wears of. I’m getting worse. Dawn’s coming, we only have a few hours then we’re stuck. We can’t move in daylight. Where’s the arrowhead?”
“Ok, what arrowhead? Is that where we’re supposed to be going? Somewhere called Arrowhead?” Sasha asked as she looked at the other party members in the hope of someone pointing to some landmark.
Aela snapped at her.
“Get out of it. He means the arrowhead he was struck with. Sotek, it’s a steel one”.
Sotek tried to concentrate but every second he felt worse.
“I feel like I did when I was shot with a silver arrow. Look at it again. Check”.
“Oh, for the bloody nines, you’re a stubborn bastard. Look, here, steel… See”. Aela grabbed the arrowhead from her pack but instantly yelled out as she gripped it. “Oww, what the fuck?” She dropped it on the ground then looked at her hand. Three tiny needle like shards were embedded in her palm. “Oh crap, silver needles? The shaft tip’s coated in them. His leg’s probably full of them. Damn that bloody bitch”.
Sotek smiled weakly.
“Very clever. We can’t stay here. How far is Ivarstead?”
Kul-et looked up the mountain trail and groaned.
“We still got a fair way to go. Will it get easier at the top?”
Sotek ignored her question. He had enough trouble focusing as it was. He decided to pass the bone to someone else. Someone far more capable of dealing with his predicament.
“Right, Kul-et get on. We’ll run, we’ll run as hard and fast as we can”.
Sasha protested.
“Scarface can’t take Kul-et, we’ll walk”.
Sotek struggled to get to his feet but his resilience won through. Using reserves of strength, he pulled himself up.
“We can’t. I can’t walk but Scarface can run. We’ll figure out something once we get to the top”. A second later he changed his form, effectively ending the argument.
Everyone looked on as he allowed Kul-et to climb on. She felt nervous as it was but when Scarface rose up on all four paws, Kul-et grabbed hold of two handfuls of fur and pleaded one last time.
“Look, I’ll run on foot! I’ll keep up”. Within a second Scarface turned towards the mountain path, then with a howl, he ran up the trail as hard as he could.
Aela looked on as Scarface sped away from them.
“Crap. Come on, else we’ll never catch him”. Both she and Sasha changed their perspective forms then ran behind, trying to catch up.
Upon hearing the echoing howl, Shadow Walker looked back at the canyon.
“What for Sithis was that?”
The Collector grinned wildly.
“My prey”. With that she started running down the trail back towards the stone bride. “Come on, it’s just getting interesting”.
Scarface ran along the winding trail as fast as he could. Within fifteen minutes he reached the top but over the last few minutes his speed decayed rapidly. Red and Quicksilver were still behind, but they were gaining at an astounding pace. Scarface reached the top then slowly walked forwards. The effort to get himself and Kul-et that far took a hefty toll on him. Unfortunately, the price was high, too high for him to pay.
With a pitying whine, Scarface took one more step then collapsed on the ground, causing Kul-et to shriek in fear of being squashed. He was panting heavily as he painfully rolled on to his side and just laid there. His eyes were glazed over with a silvery sheen as he blankly stared at Kul-et.
Red was still a good few seconds away when Kul-et sat down beside Scarface. She held him by resting her arm around his neck as she tried to give him some comfort. A second later however Scarface started growling, loud and heavily. Initially, Kul-et mistook it for a warning to her proximity to him, especially as her interpretation of him was such that he was in an extremely vulnerable condition. She quickly moved her arm away but then noticed he was looking past her rather that at her.
Two wolves stalked through the tree line and started to form an attack pattern. They could tell that Scarface was no threat, and that just left Kul-et who they considered to be fair game. She stood up as she drew her two axes and prepared to make a stand.
The first wolf drew Kul-et’s attention as it moved towards her from the front while the other wolf had circled her and started to move in from behind. The last thing Scarface saw before he fell unconscious, was the two wolves moving in as one against Kul-et.
Kul-et quickly glanced behind herself at the second wolf. But the moment she did so, the first wolf saw its chance and ran at her to attack. Expecting such a move, Kul-et’s hands tightened around the axe shafts and as soon as the beast leapt at her, she struck her axe into the side of its head as hard as she could. The blow did far more damage than she expected, its keen edge cut into the wolf’s jaw, breaking its maw wide open. A second blow with her axe was all that was needed to finish the wounded wolf off.
Just at that moment the second wolf had leapt at her from behind. As it did though, Red happened to arrive on the scene. Her immediate appearance put the wolf off from its attack as it now turned to face its new enemy. Just as it snarled out at her, Quicksilver darted across the ground and ripped into its side. Due to Red distracting the wolf, it never saw Quicksilver until it was all but over. Within moments both Quicksilver and Red were tearing into it, systematically ripping it to pieces.
Aela transformed back without allowing Red to feed. She stared at the two wolf corpses for several seconds while she fought off Red’s lust for raw meat. When Quicksilver went to feed, Aela called out to her.
“No, leave them. I know you want to, trust me I know… He’s gonna need them. Badly in fact”.
Without explaining, Aela then approached Scarface who was still unconscious. She opened one of his eyes and saw the deep piercing silver colour which told her all she needed to know; his entire system was overloaded from the silver which was poisoning him.
“Sasha, Kul-et, give me a hand”. Sasha changed back then hurriedly approached Aela who was now kneeling alongside Scarface. “Help me roll him on his side”.
“What are you gonna do?” Kul-et asked as Aela pulled out her dagger.
“Do what I always do, stab the bastard in the leg”. Aela said with a sadistic grin. With that, she literally stabbed Scarface in the puffed-up wound. The instant the wound was opened, puss and blood oozed out of it, but all of it had a silvery sheen. “That’s why it affects him so much, it gets absorbed in the blood. His whole body’s poisoned”.
Sasha leaned over her to have a look at the wound.
“Find the needles and pull them out”.
Aela snapped at her.
“What?”
“It’s slowly poisoning him. His system will get used to it, but for now he’ll be weaker. Oi, Aela… Look, you’re missing them, there’s two there. Pull them out”.
Aela’s reply was harsh and sarcastic.
“Well duh. I was actually gonna add some, but thanks for that”.
“Hey, don’t start on me, bitch! I wasn’t the one who lit up the bloody mountain and sent a flare down to them was I? Mind you, I wasn’t the one either who shouted out where we bloody were either, so shut the fuck up”.
Automatically Kul-et joined in.
“Hey, I apologized about that. It was a reaction…”
Sasha sneered at Kul-et sarcastically.
“Oh! Sorry Sotek that I shouted back to that psycho and caused you to get shot”.
Moments later, once Aela pulled out the last silver needle, Scarface stirred. He rolled over onto his chest then struggled as he tried somewhat clumsily to get up on his paws. Failing miserably due to the strain, he collapsed in a heap, too exhausted to get up. Aela signalled over to Sasha.
“Help me”. She took hold of a dead wolf’s leg and started dragging the corpse over towards Scarface. Once Sasha saw what Aela’s intentions were, she went over to her and helped drag the wolf.
Scarface just laid there with his head resting on its side, staring at the dead wolf. Aela walked up to him and gave him a light playful kick in the side.
“You, lazy git”. She laughed as she said it, but she felt a lot more concerned than what she showed. Once more she drew her dagger then cut off a few pieces of meat and literally hand fed him.
With fresh meat in his belly and the taste of blood in his mouth, Scarface’s energy and will returned. He managed to pick himself up, although it was clear to everyone at just how unsteady he was. Scarface pulled the rest of the body closer then slowly started feeding by himself. Once he had finished with the wolf, he went straight to the second wolf then promptly tore into it.
Afterwards, once Scarface rested for a few minutes, Sotek changed back. He slowly opened his eyes as he looked over towards Sasha. His voice was weak, but he was in no mood to show the weakness in himself.
“I accept your apology Sasha, but I’m sure it was Kul-et who called back to her”.
She looked on at him with some degree of shock.
“You heard all that?”
“Forget it! We’re all on the same side and there’s not many on this side either. I’ve lost us enough time and dawn will soon be upon us. Once that hits, we’re stuck. Aela, how far away is Ivarstead?”
“It’s a few hours away. Hang on, we can’t go there! Can we?”
Sotek chuckled back at her.
“Of course we can’t. That’s why it’s perfect. Come on you three, stop lounging about”.
Aela smirked at him.
“This is one of your, ‘of course we can’t so that’s why we are’ moments, isn’t it?”
“Maybe”. He stated while wearing a massive grin on his face.
His smile soon faded when Aela poked him hard in the chest.
“Well you better have a damn good plan. Come on, let’s move”.
“Scarface can carry Sasha and Kul-et, Red can run alongside him”.
Aela flicked him on the nose which made him blink several times.
“No, you can’t cope with that”.
“I’ll be fine, thanks to you”. He then lent towards her and pulled her nearer to him. He gave her a kiss before he whispered in her ear. “Thank you, you make a great nurse”.
Aela smirked as she responded.
“Yea, well… Don’t even think of asking for any specialist aftercare”. As she spoke, she lightly slapped his hand and pulled it away from her haunches which Sotek had started to squeeze.
Sotek’s response was a loud hiss but Aela cut him off as she pointed at his face while she cast a threatening look. Moments later, he changed form. Aela turned to the other two.
“Get on, the pair of you”.
Kul-et approached Scarface but she had some concerns.
“Will he be able to cope with the two of us?”
Aela laughed as they both got on.
“If he collapses and rolls over on you both, crushing you to death, then no. But don’t worry, we’ll soon find out”.
Sasha rolled her eyes.
“Great, I’m on the back… At least I’ll be able to try to jump off”.
A second later it was clear to everyone that Scarface coped rather well. Mainly due to Red having to run hard to keep up, and the screams of terror from Kul-et and Sasha as he ran down a narrow slope. All the while Kul-et’s eyes were torn between the edge of the path and the rocky jagged mountain side leading to the forest floor, hundreds of feet below.
Within half an hour they reached the peak of the mountain trail. As they made their way along the top of the mountain range they came across some old ruins. All they could make out was some stone blocks which seemed to outline a small house. Except for a singular pillar, which must have formed part of the gateway, the ruins were only a few feet high. The gateway itself stood over eight feet high. An old rusty metal gate, which laid nearby, half covered in the undergrowth, lay testament to the height.
Scarface came to a stop. He sniffed the air heavily as he tried to place a scent which was alien to him. He shook his shoulders to let Kul-et and Sasha know they had to get off. Moments later, after a brief transformation, Sotek was scanning the area.
“There’s something here”.
Kul-et looked around at the ruins and trees.
“Where? I can’t see anything. A bear again?”
Red ran up to them after falling behind by a good few seconds. She sniffed at the air as she placed the scent both her and Sotek had detected. After changing her form, Aela grumbled as she scanned the area.
“There’s a Wispmother nearby. She’s probably already seen us”.
“What’s one of them?” Sotek asked as he kept a watch out for whatever it was that they were trying to spot.
Sasha threw him a quick glance.
“Your joking, right?”
Aela laughed as she watched Sotek’s reaction.
“We have really got to get you out more. You uneducated excuse for a lizard”.
Sotek hissed at her in response.
“I’ve got a bad influence in my life, it’ss not my fault sshe’ss a bitch”. A few seconds later an arrow thudded in a tree no more than two inches away from him. He knew it was Aela who had shot it. “Oi, cut that out”.
“Oops, sorry. It just slipped right out of my hand”. She then stuck her tongue out at him while he glared at her.
From out of nowhere, a wisp flew out from the trees as a blast of ice swept along the ground at Sasha, causing her to yell.
“Hey, why pick on me?” She cried out as she ran for cover.
Sotek retaliated by firing off several fireballs in the surrounding tree line. Each one exploded, smothering its perspective area in flames. A piercing screech from one of the explosions was all it took to give the Wispmother’s location away.
“There she is!” Aela shouted as she saw the Wispmother glide across the ground. Two wisps formed just in front of the Companion and flew towards the Huntress. They swarmed around her like bees. As she aimed her bow at the Wispmother, one of the wisps darted about in her face, making her try to swipe it away from her with the back of her hand. At the same time, the second wisp floated around her from behind. Both in unison started draining her health which she felt almost instantly.
She dropped her bow then drew her dagger and tried to lash out at the two glowing orbs, but they were too fast and easily avoided her blows. All the while they both continued to feed off her life force. Aela shouted out as she grew more and more frustrated.
“You mother fuckers”.
Sotek and the others all turned around in surprise to see her change form. A second later, Red charged out in a blind fury and chased a wisp as she desperately tried to claw it out of the air. Sotek, Kul-et and Sasha all watched Red chase the wisp through the trees while at the same time they continued to fight the Wispmother.
Kul-et laughed as she watched her.
“Oh yea, she’s copped”.
“You think?” Sasha laughed as she saw Red tear through a bush as the wisp desperately tried to fly off.
Sotek conjured his bow then started firing at the Wispmother while Kul-et healed whoever received ice damage from the Wispmother’s own attacks. Sotek glanced across to Red who was now chasing the second wisp after destroying the first one.
“Sasha, help Red and for the grace of Hircine watch her, else she’ll bite you on the ass”
“Will do, she’s certainly going for it isn’t she?” Sasha chuckled to herself as she watched Red chase the wisp. It hovered by a tree while Red closed the distance between them, but just as she got close, it shot off around the side leaving Red to slam into the tree head first. She fell to the ground, dazed, but she shook it off in a matter of seconds then resumed the pursuit once more. However, this time she was far angrier than before.
Kul-et cast a few fireballs at the Wispmother while Sotek attacked with his own fire spells as well. The Wispmother screeched out from the pain as fire fought to consume her. She tried to cast her ice spell one more time, but it failed to reach its intended target before she was consumed by the flames.
Sasha, who was still trying to follow Red, screamed out at Sotek who had temporarily focused on the Wispmother.
“Look out!”
Realism struck him as he suddenly became aware that Red was far closer to him than he had realised. She was still chasing the second wisp around the ruins, but the pursuit had caused her to hurt herself on two occasions. The wisp tactically stopped by the ruined wall which Red, being so blinded with frustration, simply charged full bore into. The wisp quickly, at the last possible moment, shot over the top of the wall leaving Red with no target and nowhere to go. She smashed through the wall, sending rubble flying in all directions. Red crashed into Sotek’s legs, swiping them from under him as she slid along the ground.
A few pieces of debris also happened to strike the wisp, causing it to fall alongside Sotek who found himself stuck, unable to move. Red was sprawled out over him, trapping his legs underneath her as her weight bore down on top of him. Red, half dazed from the impact with the wall, groggily looked across at Sotek. She was about to growl at him for getting in her way when the wisp half recovered and started hovering again. Unfortunately for the wisp, it was just a few feet from Red’s jaws. Although she was recovering from the impact herself, she still managed to have the wits to snap out angrily at it.
Unfortunately for Sotek, the wisp was only just above his tail. He screamed out in agony as Red’s fangs bit into his tail, nearly tearing off the end. Both Sasha and Kul-et jumped with shock from his scream. Red, in shock herself, never had the wit to let go. She just laid there holding on to it in her mouth. Sotek reacted out of pure shock and pain as he lashed out, thumping Red in the side of the head until she let go.
“Fucking let go! Get off…. Let fucking go!” Red released his tail and backed off. All she could do was stare at the wound as blood spilled out onto the ground.
Sasha called out to Kul-et with dread.
“By Sithis, she’s bit his tail off!”
Kul-et ran over to him and started to heal his tail but the tip had already showed signs of irreparable damage. She tried again with her healing spell. The spell started to bind the wound but the tip of Sotek’s tail still showed no improvement. Desperately, she shouted.
“Sotek, I can’t save it”.
Sotek yelled out in pain as he turned to look at the damage. Cartilage and bone protruded amongst torn flesh and shattered scales. A large pool of blood formed around it and the tip lay limp and lifeless.
“You fucking bitch!” Then he started casting his strongest spell he could. With each second his hands seemed to shake more and more while confusion and disorientation threatened to overwhelm him. Fighting nausea, Sotek concentrated as hard as he could. The whole area lit up with golden light as his wound, and thankfully the tip, bound together and healed over within a few seconds. Unfortunately, the glare from the spell also lit up their position for miles around.
Shadow Walker and the Collector couldn’t help but see the glare of the healing spell, but also several Shadowscales from Ivarstead saw it as well.
“There! We’re gaining”. Yelled Shadow Walker as he started to run up the trail.
“Steady you idiot! It could well be a trap. We’re still a few hours behind. Let’s go careful”. The Collector explained as she shoved him out of the way and took point.
Aela changed back then approached Sotek cautiously. All the while her eyes darted between him and the others. Sotek whipped his head around and glared angrily at her.
“Don’t say a bloody word! Any of you. Shift it, they’ll have a bloody good idea where we are now. We have to move. As for you, you bloody… A rabbit has more control of a wolf pack than you do of your bloody temper. As for Red… Fuck it! You got point”. With that he shoved Aela in front.
Kul-et timidly walked just behind Sotek, while Aela took point. Unsure as to what to say, she decided it would be far better to remain silent. Sasha however, who was walking behind Kul-et, smirked silently as she watched Aela head off along the trail. Sotek shook his head at Aela as he cursed quietly at her, or rather at her temper. But his mind very quickly switched to a more pressing matter. The sky had now started to lighten, heralding the approach to dawn, which was now just an hour away.
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