Strike the Steel, See the Sparks [PYRE]
04-02-2017, 06:12 PM
She regarded him warily, which Ankaios was well used to. Most creatures were surprised, if not fearful, the first time they got a good look at him. He couldn't discredit her for it even if he considered himself perfectly normal for his homeland. It was this place that was so weird. Her posturing intimidated him for a moment because gods, she was huge. He had seen several her size, even in his own family, but it in no way lessened the impact of meeting hostile strangers with proportions like hers. Luckily (for him, anyways,) her wounds seemed grievous enough to waylay any aggression he might have faced otherwise. Better do a good job, he thought dryly to himself. He approached slowly, making sure the on-edge woman could see him and easily predict where he was going and what he might do. She bared the wound for his examination, and a cursory sniff was all it took to determine that yes, it was definitely infected. She made it very clear that he would not be paid, and he restrained a dry laugh. He could not, however, keep from pausing his inspection just long enough to raise a brow at her. "I was not expecting to be paid. It looked as if you were fit to fall then and there on the river's edge. If you had, your corpse would contaminate the water for miles. It's purely selfish self-interest." Ankaios was experienced enough to know that strong wolves often gave the most resistance to aid, feeling as though it weakened them to ask for help. It made no different to Kai either way, but dry humor came naturally to him in situations like this, so that was what she would get. At the least, he was certain he could outrun her in her current condition. At the end of his quick inspection he concluded that her nose was dry and she radiated heat, so fever was certainly present. Her piercing golden eyes were a bit bleary, and the impressive wound was clearly infected. Boneset, he decided at last, and a bit of that trillium if he were able to find it. What luck that she had stumbled onto his path on the very day he had thought to seek it out. He opened his mouth, about to take his leave for a few moments to return to the hollowed tree stump he had stashed the bundle of herbs gathered so far, one he meant to return to Talis, when she asked him whether or not his origin had ought to do with the gods or spirits. To that the dry, humorless laugh was undeniable. "Oh aye, according to the tribe which birthed me. In my youth I was told marvelous tales of the spirits which lived within every rock and tree, and the gods which had sent us unto the earth as their beloved children, and we were to pay them all homage possible in return. I can't say I care for it much myself, nor hold much stake in their claim. Their benevolence never seemed to reach as far as me, and so I turned my back on them long ago." He gave her a tight smile, one that hinted at painful memories. He spat on his family's gods and all those who held with them. "Now if you stay here for a moment, I will go collect my herbs. It is perhaps a half mile up stream, won't be but a moment." He turned without a word, ember-strewn coat disappearing into the brush with the flick of a tail. He ran quickly, his lithe body consuming the terrain in powerful strides. It felt good to use his body this way, so often restricted to careful, slow, winding paths through undergrowth in the search of this or that. He picked up his own trail on the wind and followed it back to where he had slept the night before. His herbs were bunched together with a thin strip of hide he had struggled over for longer than he'd like to admit, but it was the easiest method he had to carry them from one land to another. On the way back his progress was slower. It would be one thing to treat the fever, but it would do the woman no good if the infection poisoned her blood. He needed that Trillium. Hard pressed and desperate, he gave his senses over entirely to smell, focusing on nothing but that sweet, delicate scent he was hoping to find. In the end, he settled for an alternative. Growing a bit farther from the stream's edge, in a somewhat dryer and sunny clearing, he caught the telltale scent of wild garlic. His ears perked. Yes, that would do just fine, he decided and began to dig quickly at the soil surrounding the withered remains of the plant. It was not it's prime season but he found several plants with life enough left to make use of. Willow bark would be ideal but they were hardly in the area for it. Grasping the bulbs of several unearthed plants, he raced back to where he had left the woman, only hoping she had not run off in the meantime. "Talk" "You" Think |
