FEAR NO EVIL Delirious with pain, the herald wandered in a direction he hoped was north. It wasn't. Not really. There was an ache in his paws that he couldn't ignore anymore. The heady scent of rotting fruits broke through his dulled senses. Perhaps he would find someone there. Fruits meant safety, because they smelled so nice. The taste of his own blood was sour in his mouth, but no fresh blood had leaked from his wounds so far. He hadn't eaten or drank anything, it hurt too much. Moving his mouth was out of the question. Talking wasn't an option. Bumping carelessly into the thick trunk of a tree, the male grunted softly. Navigating around it, he kept going. He was exhausted. He just wanted to sleep. However, he knew better. Falling asleep without finding some help would be disastrous. Where was Raphael? Or even Uriel? At this point, he would even take Michael to help him. Someone, anyone. His face burned, and his throat was dry from wheezing. Surely he looked like death incarnate, covered in blood and wandering like a fool. speech

Spider laid partway in a long abandoned den that had been made by a considerably larger wolf than himself at some point between the long passed days when he and Natiel had made a home of the Orchard, before she disappeared and the vagabond healer found himself traveling again. It was in that time that he first met Echo and soon after he left, Shiloh. Now, once again Spider had no one. Even in the Southern reach of Boreas the cold of the oncoming winter had been much too unbearable for a tropic bird such as himself, and his beloved companion had migrated. Spider wuffed a sigh, watching his breath fog in the air and then dissipate. He had returned to his old habit of stocking herbs in a den he knew full well he wouldn’t be staying in long or simply gathering herbs until he got sick of carrying them before letting them fall wherever. He felt aimless and lost, but most of all he felt alone. His two-toned eyes snapped open, his head raising abruptly as the sudden stench of blood filled the air around him. He wondered for a brief instant if it was that hellion again, the one who said he should be afraid of, the one with the skull clearly marked on his head, and then realized that unlike before when the stench of blood and Gabriel had drawn him to the beast, Gabriel’s scent was much stronger. He bolted out of the den following the scent on the wind, his heart pounding. He found Gabriel clinging to life, blood oozing from a gaping wound in his face where some vile creature- the demon he suspected- had torn his flesh away. “Oh Gabriel.” He said softly, the stutter gone. “Gabriel.” He said again louder this time, hoping to catch his attention as he, approached the male slowly, making no attempt to hide his movements as he did. “Gabriel can you hear me?” He called gently, hoping he would follow the whispery tones of his voice. Spider Toad

FEAR NO EVIL The soft patter of delicate paws on the ground had him swing his head around in that direction. A few droplets of blood pattered to the ground from the sliced sections of his neck and throat. “Oh Gabriel.” A voice said. It was familiar. Who's blessed voice was he hearing? Louder, it said again "Gabriel." He groaned, trying to make his voice work, just once. That was all he needed. "Lord?" He rasped, blank eyes searching for something he wouldn't find. The wolf advanced further, and the scent caught up with him. The gears in his head shifted, and he remembered. Spider. Thank the Father, he had found him. "Gabriel can you hear me?" The herald grunted as loudly as he could, tilting his chin slowly up, and then slowly down. Lord, it hurt so much. He took a few steps forward, searching for the familiar form of the smaller male. It hurt to move his face, his head. Even walking pulled at the wounds on his throat and neck. "Pl- eas-" He spluttered, saliva sticky on his tongue with old blood. "help." That was all he had in him, muzzle thrust down and out in hopes it would bump into Spider. He was so tired, and he was so close to salvation now. Spider would help, right? Everything was so loud, all the birds seeking their wintering grounds were chittering, and their songs were ice picks in his brain. speech

“Wait there!” He commanded with a sudden power that he would never have known was inside him. "I’ll be right back, wait there, lie down if you can.” He said before he darted away, tearing across the Orchard with an urgency he would have only reserved for fleeing a possible threat, and finding his way back to the den. There was still a portion of honey comb from the one he had used to treat the strange white male he and Echo had seen in the north, and some cotton balls he had carefully strained and plucked the seeds from to make dressing, he gathered those as well as a powder he had made from crushed coffee beans and collected them quickly in a piece of hide before he tore off, back to his injured friend. There was no time to lose. His heart was racing but his thoughts were clear, there was no Toad, no Cricket, no one but himself, he heard his own thoughts with perfect clarity as they all focused in on one goal: Help Gabriel. Spider Toad's voice You

FEAR NO EVIL Spider was going to help, evidenced by his command of "Wait there!" given with stunning strength. Taken aback by the show of power, Gabriel did just that. "I’ll be right back, wait there, lie down if you can.” Spider said, and there was no argument to be heard. The light pawsteps faded away rapidly. Gabriel felt his knees finally weaken, and he dropped quite heavily onto the ground. He did his best not to simply sprawl out on his good side and pass out right there. Arranging his limbs beneath himself was an exhaustive task. However, he managed it. Somehow. May the Lord Father bless Spider, for being such a wonderful friend to him. There had been no questions, simply the urge to help. His chin drooped, neck tired from holding his head at such an odd angle to lessen the pain. Eyes sliding shut, he felt all the weight of his exhaustion all at once. Would it be so bad if he fell asleep now? Surely Spider could do his work if he slept. Surely... speech

He came to an abrupt halt beside Gabriel and set the pouch down carefully. Almost as an afterthought Spider grabbed four of the mostly rotten fruits from the ground and set each one  down in front of the Herald’s nose. “Eat these. All of them.” He said with just a touch of authority that was not so dissimilar to the golden wolf’s fiery brother. “They won’t taste good but they will take some of the pain away.” He explained urgently. It would need to; what Spider planned to do would be invasive and would involve touching him and specifically the wound quite a lot and applying a good amount of pressure to it as well. It would hurt, he knew that it would, but there was nothing about that he could do other than get Gabriel drunk enough that the pain was only a dull throb. “When you finish lay down on your side- the uninjured side.” He instructed, and waited for the Herald to follow his orders. Spider Toad's voice You

FEAR NO EVIL Pattering paws, delicate as those of a child. Uriel? No. Wheezing a breath through his lungs, he forced himself awake again. The soft whump of something landing beside him. Acrid and sour in his nostrils, several rotten fruit landed on the ground under his nose. Then came the command, “Eat these. All of them.” Spider told him. Groaning from deep in his chest, he did as he was told. The herald knew better than to question a healer. Uriel had been a snippy creature when she was learning, and cuffed even Michael over the head without fear. “They won’t taste good but they will take some of the pain away.” The ache in his face only intensified as he forced his brutalized muscles to work. Michael had torn into the delicate ligaments, and he worried his mouth would never work again very suddenly. Tipping the fruit back into his mouth, he chewed laboriously. It was agony. Juice spilled down his muzzle from between his lips. "Fu- ck." Sin tumbled carelessly from his tongue, before he could stop himself. Fear shuddered down his spine. The Lord would beat him for speaking such filth. He plucked up the next fruit before the first had slithered all the way down his gullet. It hurt less the more he used the muscles in his jaw. Or perhaps Spider knew something he didn't about rotten fruit. Mechanical motions of teeth against wrinkled flesh led to the consumption of the third. “When you finish lay down on your side- the uninjured side.” Exhaustion was washing over him again. This was too much. A soft whimper barely made it up his throat. The fourth one took longer, he needed all of his strength at this point. Dizziness rolled through his skull, and he felt his head loll a little to the left. Ouch. Heeding his friend's words, he felt his body leaning heavily to the right. It hurt less there, but not as much as he wanted. Shoulder rolled onto the earth, and then his right cheek pressed into the dirt. It was deliciously cold on his burning skin. He could feel the world moving beneath him. Was this the Lord's work, suddenly visible to him? speech