Wild and Divine: Not What They Seem (Pt 2)
Dire wolves. They weren't the beasts Guinevere had been looking for, but they were what she had found.
The crunch of bone was accompanied by a pained whimper as Guinevere slammed her warhammer into another wolf's skull, but hardly had the beast's body crumpled beside the corpses of four of its fallen brothers before more of its pack lunged for the dwarf. Sidestepping with mere seconds to spare as blurs of fur and teeth converged on the spot she had been only moments before, she allotted herself only an instant to swiftly survey her surroundings. While she spied at least half a dozen remaining dire wolves closing in on her from multiple angles, there appeared to be no signs of the naughty cat that had lured her a bit too close to the pack's den. Either he had escaped while the wolves were preoccupied with her or had already been gobbled up by the beasts as an appetizer.
"I swear, if I have to dig through dire wolf entrails to find that stupid earring-"
By the time her mind registered the low growl echoing behind her, it was already too late as a powerful jaw clamped down on the cleric's shoulder, the sheer force of the bite sure to leave a nasty bruise even if the creature's teeth couldn't quite pierce her plate armor. Finding purchase on the groove where her breastplate tucked beneath her pauldron, the wolf hoisted the dwarf off of the ground with all of its might, its grip holding fast even as she kicked and flailed in hopes of wrenching herself free. Amid her squirming and beating her fist against the beast's head, Guin caught a glimpse of the two other wolves that had somehow managed to slink up behind her, each flanking the first on either side, and as one of them tried to snap at her legs, it was rewarded with a blow to the jaw for its efforts.
The next thing she knew, the entire world had transformed into a blur as the wolf began violently shaking the dwarf to and fro, her head aching as her brain rattled painfully about in her skull. Nearly biting her tongue more than once as she struggled to blurt the necessary incantation, Guinevere slammed her palm against the beast's temple as soon as she glimpsed the spell's telltale necrotic green glow emanating from her hand. The pressure bearing down on her shoulder vanished in an instant, the wolf's pained cry piercing her ears, and the little cleric went soaring through the air before crashing down onto her stomach. However, she couldn't even scramble up onto her knees before two massive paws slammed down on her shoulder blades, driving her face first back into the ground. Her arms instinctively flew to cover her head and neck as more teeth and claws snapped and swiped at her, the pack closing in on her from all sides. Her lungs crushed beneath the weight of the wolf on top of her, Guin gagged on every earth-infused, shallow breath, hacking as dirt coated her throat and nose, and though she tried to cry out whatever spells she could think of, the words dissolved into an indecipherable wheeze before they could even escape her throat.
"Crap, this is bad. If I could just get my hands on the knife in my belt, maybe I could get this massive mongrel off of me. Problem is, I'd be giving the others an opening by moving my arm, and if one of them gets their jaws on my throat, I'm really screwed. I don't really have any better options though...Helm, please let this work!"
Her hand shooting down to her hip, Guinevere curled her fingers tightly around the hilt of her small blade and swiftly yanked it free of its sheath. Aiming as best she could with her face smushed in the dirt, she thrusted hard behind her and was rewarded with warm blood dripping down her fingers as the knife plunged into one of the wolf's front legs. The moment she sensed the beast's weight shift unsteadily on top of her, she rolled onto her back and threw her free hand into the air, wisps of radiance already coalescing in her palm as a string of syllables spilled from her lips. She squeezed her eyes shut just in time to avoid being blinded by the brilliant flash of divine energy from her fingertips, and as several of the wolves yelped in pain and wiped futilely at their stinging eyes with their massive paws, she launched herself at the nearest one, angling her body so that her shoulder rammed into its leg as she barreled past.
Even the adrenaline saturating her bloodstream couldn't completely defang the sharp stabs of agony emanating from her still tender side, but the dwarf nonetheless pushed herself to sprint while blinking rapidly to clear away the involuntary tears that welled up with every painful step. Behind her, she could already hear the hurried footfalls of the pack gaining ground, but she fixed her gaze firmly on her best hope: her great grandmother's warhammer, lying idly on the ground where it had landed after slipping from her fingers when she was tossed through the air. Not until her outstretched hand firmly grasped hold of the hammer's shaft did she chance a glance over her shoulder only to witness a sight that made her blood run cold. One of the wolves closest to her had sprang into the air, its hungry maw already agape in anticipation of the nearing kill as it sailed towards her with only mere feet separating them. By the time she managed to raise her weapon, it would already be on top of her, ready to tear at whatever flesh it could reach while its brethren swarmed her once more. As she stared into the mouth of glinting, knife-like teeth, her heart shuddered—shuddered as it had that day that felt like yesterday and yet also so long ago when she had faced off with the Dragonborn mercenaries attacking her home.
"Helm, you delivered me then. Please deliver me now. Don't let this be the end of my story. Don't let me have been led out here to die!"
When the ground shook beneath her, Guinevere automatically assumed it was her legs finally on the verge of giving out, having been pushed to their limit, until a guttural roar overpowered the drumming of her own heartbeat in her own ears. Out from the nearby trees hurdled a massive, dark blur, and with the swipe of a giant paw, the wolf before her was sent hurtling in another direction before hitting the ground with a sickening crack. The other members of a pack all skidded to a halt, eyes darting between the little dwarf and the wall of fur and muscle that now loomed between them and her. The cave bear held the wolves' gazes, its lips curled back in a snarl that revealed its own sharp teeth while it pawed at the ground, its deadly claws carving deep grooves into the dirt. As one of the bolder beasts tried to slink off to one side, clearly attempting to sneak around it, the bear lunged, snapping its jaws and swiping at the mongrel until it swiftly scampered back to safety amongst its brethren with its tail tucked between its legs.
After several tense moments, the wolves furthest from the bear finally started to creep back, refusing to take their eyes off of the hulking ursine until they were close enough to the mouth of their den to dart safely inside. One by one, each member of the pack followed until the only evidence of their presence at all was a brief glimpse of their glittering eyes watching from the darkness of their cave.
Guinevere's thoughts screamed for her not to move a muscle, but her body seemingly had other plans as her knees buckled abruptly beneath her, sending her falling onto her rump with a series of clanks and a thump. The dwarf's breath caught in her throat as the bear's massive head swiveled in her direction, locking her in its golden gaze, but the beast made no effort to approach her, opting instead to just stare at her with those eyes that felt...strangely familiar. In fact, now that she could get a better glimpse of the creature's face, her brow furrowed in perplexity as she catalogued the series of familiar details: golden eyes, dark fur with a slight goldish tinge to it in places, and a series of markings along the beast's forehead that closely resembled a set of antlers. The thought sounded absurd even as it crossed her mind, her mental faculties struggling to make sense of it all, and yet she could think of no other explanation without disregarding the evidence before her.
The question hung heavy in the air between them, Guin's gaze boring into the beast as she waited for some kind of answer. Though she couldn't tell exactly what was taking place behind those abnormally intelligent eyes, she could only assume that whatever or whoever this was before her was currently weighing his options very carefully. After what felt like several minutes but was probably in fact only a few seconds in real time, the bear silently reared onto its back legs while the cleric's stomach lurched with dread. However, as she watched, a pale light began to emanate from the creature until it had swallowed his whole body, bathing the immediate surroundings in a soft radiance. Before her eyes, the glowing form began to warp and change, shrinking and slimming in some areas while sharpening in others, until a humanoid figure gradually began to take shape. Though her heart still pattered uneasily within the cleric's chest, the nervousness could not quite overpower her sense of awe at the sight unfolding before her, a kind of magic she had never once touched upon herself. Once the last few curves and lines settled into place, the light dispersed with a flash, and as her eyes readjusted to the dim of twilight, Guinevere found herself gazing up at a man unlike any she had ever seen. Deep tan skin with splashes of freckles hugged a lithe yet toned figure, the warmer tones of the stranger's complexion contrasting rather nicely with the earthen hues and scattered purple accents of his attire. Thick, lustrous locks of black interspersed with strands of vibrant gold dangled down his back all the way to his hips while some shorter, unruly strands curled and coiffed as they pleased around his face and atop his crown as they fought to escape the confines of the small ponytail at the back of his head. Eyes of gleaming irises and dark sclerae, like rings of refined gold set against beds of obsidian, peered over an elegant, straight nose and set of supple lips currently pressed into a firm line, and from one of his large, pointed ears dangled a golden hoop that the dwarf had definitely seen before. The most striking thing about the elf's surreal appearance, however, had to be the large set of magnificent antlers that protruded from his head, adding another several inches to his already lofty height.
For an instant, Guinevere was spellbound—but only for an instant before a thought occurred to her, a thought that shattered the wonder of the moment. As reverence soured into bitterness, her free hand at her side started to curl into a fist only for her fingers to close around something brittle and knobby that crackled a bit in her grip, and not even sparing it a second thought, she hurled the object with a frustrated screech at the stranger.
Dodging the projectile with little trouble, the elf shot the small cleric a baffled and perhaps slightly amused look, "Did you just throw a pinecone at me?"
"You! Jerk!" Guin continued to shriek, snatching up a few more pinecones and chucking them as well. "You could've changed back like that at any time, but instead you let me chase you all around the woods for the past several hours?!"
"You're the one who decided to be stubborn and come after me instead of taking the hint that I wanted to be left alone." The elf retorted, dodging a few of the cones and batting the others aside.
"So then you decided to lure me in front of a dire wolf den to finally get me off of your trail?!"
The man flinched at the accusation, his pointed ears drooping a bit as he glanced away from her. "I figured the pack would still be fast asleep; that obnoxiously loud armor of yours must've woken them. I didn't plan on you actually getting attacked..."
"Ah, of course it's my fault that your attempt at scaring me off backfired and almost got me killed. My mistake." Guin snapped before she set about rummaging around inside her satchel for her other healing potion, having run out of pinecones to angrily toss at the man. Sensing the druid's suspicious gaze shift back to her, she sighed and rolled her eyes. "You can relax; I'm just looking for my other healing potion. My hip is killing me, no thanks to you. You could've saved us both a lot of trouble by just talking to me, you know."
The elf's eyes narrowed slightly, his arms folding over his chest as he shifted his weight somewhat sassily to one side. "You really expect me to believe it would've been that easy? That you wouldn't have just attacked the 'fearsome demon' on sight and asked questions later?"
"You're not a demon though, otherwise the detection spell I was using would've exposed you hours ago." the cleric refuted, her expression brightening slightly as she finally pulled the desired vial of red liquid from her bag and brought it to her lips. "I was prepared to fight if I had to, but that doesn't mean I wanted to. I'd much rather solve all this without bloodshed if I can."
"Well that might be how you feel, but I'm inclined to think the villagers don't share your sentiment." the elf retorted, his hand instinctively reaching to massage along one of his ears. "Let me guess, you were fed something along the lines of me attacking those hunters first, right?"
Her eyes following his movements, Guinevere finally noticed with a churning in her gut the dried blood crusted around a tear in the stranger's earlobe, the injury appearing to be in the early stages of healing. "Yes...That wasn't the case though, was it?"
"If I had started it, they would've disappeared without a trace." the stranger scoffed, and though the gesture was subtle, Guin noticed that his arms seemed to protectively tighten their hold around him. "I was minding my own business foraging for supplies when we crossed paths. They saw something they didn't understand, and like many before them, they decided in all their wisdom that the best solution was to kill it. I fought back but only until I could figure out a way to give them the slip, not that that means a damn thing to anyone. Now, they've sent you to finish me off. Well, you've found me, so what's next?"
Tense silence seized the air once more as Guinevere sat peering down at the now empty vial in her hand, mulling over the torrent of new information flooding her brain. His initial wariness ebbing slightly, the druid watched the dwarf curiously, his head tilting slightly in order to get a better view of her face only for his heart to abruptly leap into his throat when her eyes suddenly found his.
"To start, you can let me take a look at that ear. My magic's almost completely tapped out, but I might have just enough left in me to heal that tear up so it doesn't become infected."
The elf's brow wrinkled skeptically. "And why would you do that?"
"Consider it a peace offering. Don't get me wrong, I'm still pissed at you for stringing me along for the past several hours. However, given what you've shared, I can understand why you did what you did." the cleric answered while extending her hand towards him. "I meant it when I said I'd rather resolve all of this peacefully if possible, and if you'll allow me, I'll prove it."
At first, the druid just squinted at her open palm as if it was a viper poised to strike, but eventually, he crept closer and knelt down just barely within Guinevere's reach, wincing ever so subtly as her fingers brushed along his wound. Watching her closely out of the corner of his eye, his gaze flitted from her free hand clutching her holy symbol to her slightly weary face as the words of the healing incantation flew from her tongue. Gradually, a pleasant, buzzing warmth permeated his ear, swallowing the stinging ache that had lingered there, and once the gentle heat dissipated, he reached up to trace along the now smooth skin of his earlobe, detecting not even a hint of a scar. Fishing his other earring out of his pocket, he slipped the golden hoop back into place before turning to face the little cleric, some of the ice having melted from his gaze.
"So if you're not going to kill me, what is your plan? Those villagers won't be too happy if you come back empty-handed."
"Well, I'm not too happy about being lied to, so the feeling's mutual." Sighing, Guin continued to rub her holy symbol between her fingers, furiously racking her brain for even the smallest something that she could work with. "If I do nothing, they'll just send someone else after you."
"They can try, but it won't really do them any good. I was just passing through this area, and after my less than warm welcome, my goal was to make it as far away from this place as possible by the end of today. Of course, that was before a certain spunky dwarf got thrown into the mix and unknowingly botched my whole plan."
Guinevere wasn't sure what she found more irritating: the hint of an impish sparkle in the man's eyes or the way that very glint made her heart flutter in her chest. After a few more moments of contemplation, she tightened her grip on her amulet and forced herself to her feet, wincing as her leg and hip still throbbed with dull pain; apparently, the potion had only partially mended whatever she had done to herself by tumbling out of that tree. "The day isn't over. If we leave now, you should still be able to cover some ground and I should be able to make it back to the village before sunset."
The elf blinked at her, rising to his feet as well. "You're going back there? Why? You've no quarry to bring them, so what is returning going to do except make more problems for you? Just continue on your way and put this behind you."
"...I can't," Guin replied while slinging her warhammer over her shoulder, grunting slightly beneath the weapon's weight that seemed a bit more cumbersome than she previously recalled. "You got hurt because of these people's ignorance, and unless something is done about it, you won't be the last."
"And if they don't want to change?" the druid sighed with a woeful shake of his head, "There will always be ignorant people in the world. Some of them really are just naïve, but others choose to be that way of their own free will."
"Their choice or not, it doesn't make it alright!" Guinevere snapped, surprising them both. Steadying herself with a deep breath, she added a bit more calmly, "I'm aware that there's no guarantee of my efforts making a difference, but if there is even the smallest chance that I could change just one person's mind, I can't justify walking away without trying."
She could feel the elf's eyes upon her as she began to slowly trudge back in the direction from which she had come, her lips tightly pursed in an effort to suppress the occasional hiss of discomfort as she shuffled along. However, she had hardly made it more than a few yards when light footfalls greeted her ears just moments before the stranger planted himself directly into her path, forcing her to halt.
"That injury is just going to get worse the more you push yourself; I would've thought a cleric to understand that." he chided her gently as he knelt down before offering his hand just as she had done. "While I would argue that you bear most of the responsibility for your current condition, I also can't deny the role I played in it. Consider this my peace offering."
Guinevere's gaze shifted from the elf's outstretched hand to his face, scanning his features for any small tell she could grasp onto to help her decipher what exactly was going on behind those eyes of molten gold. "What happened to wanting to get away from this place as soon as possible?"
"Well, it won't do me much good if people continue to just assume that I'm a dangerous demon wherever I go. Perhaps traveling with a holy woman will dissuade some of them from jumping to conclusions." he crooned, holding her gaze without a hint of hesitancy. "Not to mention, some of those villagers aren't going to like the truth you're preaching, and you're in no condition to fight on your own if they decide to get hostile. If you're going back there to stand up for myself and others like me, the least I can do is provide you with some backup."
"So that's your angle..." Guin's brow wrinkled in contemplation for a few moments, her gaze growing distant as her thoughts momentarily seized her full focus before snapping back to full clarity again. "I understand that you can use magic and that you saved my life. However, that is where my knowledge of you ends. If I'm going to start traveling with you, I'm going to need more than that."
The corners of the elf's eyes crinkled slightly as his smile grew, and Guin prayed silently that the warmth blooming in her chest was not steadily creeping its way into her face.
"Fair enough. I'm Lumen. I'm a druid, and I'm currently...searching for answers about something. Honestly, I'm not quite sure what; that's one of the things I'm hoping to find out, I guess. And how about you, little disciple? You're a holy woman, so perhaps you're on some kind of divinely ordained expedition?"
"It's more of a pilgrimage...but without a particular destination." the dwarf frowned, and for the briefest moment, Lumen noticed something grim flicker across her features before swiftly vanishing again. "I'm Guinevere, a servant of-"
"Helm. I heard your prayer, not that I was trying to eavesdrop. Actually, that reminds me: there is one other pressing question I need you to answer before this goes any further."
Guin realized too late the grievous error she had made as an impish gleam lit up Lumen's face.
"So, your divine magic is able to determine whether a creature is a demon or not, but it is incapable of identifying a target's gender? Or is a certain little cleric secretly a bit naughty and enjoys trying to sneak a peek? If it's the later, I'm afraid I'll have to withdraw my offer; sexual harassment isn't something I can condone."
Pure, burning mortification set every inch of Guinevere's face ablaze with the vibrant scarlet heat of a dozen suns, her eyes widening like two silver shields while her lips and tongue tripped and tumbled over each other. "I-I-I-I THOUGHT YOU WERE A CAT!!!"
"I'm hearing an excuse; I think somebody has a guilty conscience." the elf jeered, his amusement undeniable. "Then again, perhaps I should travel with you to ensure you do not 'unknowingly' objectify any more druids in their beastly forms..."
Nurtured by the heat flowing in her veins, another angry blaze flared in Guinevere's chest, rising up her throat to escape her lips in the form of an angry screech as she sharply smacked Lumen's hand aside. "Forget it! I don't need your help! Leave me alone!"
Her aches and pains momentarily overshadowed by her stoked temper, the cleric tried to push past the cackling druid and hobble away, but amid his gleeful snickering, he managed to grasp her by the shoulder before she could slip beyond arm's reach. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. It is only a joke, I promise. You should be more careful in the future though; you might actually offend the wrong person if you do that again, even if your intentions are innocent enough. Now, I really have to insist we get you off of that leg. There will be no more jokes made at your expense, I promise."
Though she shot him a glare over her shoulder, Guinevere did not try to pull away from Lumen's grasp. At this, the druid knelt down low to the ground whilst sliding his hand off of her shoulder, upturning his palm and offering it to her once more. Begrudgingly, Guinevere placed her hand in his and followed his lead as he guided her up his back and onto his shoulders, his stomach lurching a bit as she felt his other hand lightly press against her side to help support her weight as she climbed. Once her legs were draped over his shoulders, she reached for his antlers to help steady herself, curling her fingers around the smooth structures only to immediately release them again at the abrupt hitching of Lumen's breath accompanied by a powerful shudder reverberating throughout his body.
"Sorry!" she blurted before tentatively draping her arms around his neck instead. "Is this better?"
As the tension in his shoulders gradually released and his breathing evened once more, Lumen nodded. Rising to his feet, his smile returned and the corners of his eye crinkled slightly when he felt the dwarf's arms and legs instinctively clench to keep her from sliding, although he could tell she was intentionally using only part of her strength to keep from hurting him. He could already taste a playful quip on the tip of his tongue, but he had promised her she would not be subject to any further teasing for the moment. He was not about to break his word, tempting as it seemed.
"I'm sorry again that you got hurt trying to help me. However, in my defense, I didn't think you'd really climb that tree to try and get me down, Guinedeer."
Biting back the heavy sigh that she knew would only further encourage her new comrade's antics, Guinevere rested her temple against the back of his head as he began to walk, his gait surprisingly smooth despite her added weight. Mulling over everything that had happened in the last several hours, all of it strange to say the least, she directed her gaze to the heavens above as she crafted another silent prayer.
"Helm, please continue to watch over me—over us—because I have no idea what the hells I've just gotten myself into."
