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"What are you doing her, She-Fox? You are hurt and could be killed out here, you need to go back to the castle!" I growl back. I stared at her for a moment before looking back at Randle. "You almost killed Lyra. What the hell was that?" I glanced over at Lyra seeing her hurt stage. Then I looked at the wraith lying dead on the ground. I scoffed at the lump of cold meat and looked at Randle again. "Is this going to be a problem? You completely turned on us." I looked at him in a confused manner. My blood started to cool down and my heart back at its normal pace.

Lyra looked around, still tired. Why was the fox here? It wasn't safe for her to be here, where she couldn't defend herself. She turned to Randle, still bleeding heavily from a cut on her nose. "Yeah, what was that?"

An ice-cold shiver went down his spine when Randle lifted his head to answer, as that what he was looking at was clearly his doing. Lyra was covered in blood - her own blood -, and his ruthless claws had turned her face and neck into a gory mess. This were the kind of injuries he'd seen on the corpses of the unfortunate victims of manslaughter. The tragic souls who lost their lives to the claws and teeth of a bloodthirsty sociopath.
It couldn't be his fault. He would never even think about hurting any of these girls, never ever.. And yet.. Without saying a word, he stumbled a bit further away from the wraith's corpse, disgusted by the horrible tricks he had played on him. His decaying blood, black as ink, had splattered on the rocks and soil, but as most wraith's functioned perfectly without blood in their veins and lost many of it over the years, it wasn't much.
Randle sat down on the soggy forest floor and peered into the distance. What these girls had witnessed was the exact same thing Allis had seen before-... No. Don't think about it. The Husk sighed and looked at his female companions, his silver eyes filled with shock and sorrow. Pain and remorse. Who the hell wanted to travel with a maniac like him anyway?
"I've never considered boring you with my tale of origin," he spoke while wiping his bloodied lips on the sleeve of his trenchcoat. "Thought it would be a lame thing to do on a first meeting, y'know, but a little warning would've saved lives.." A small nod was aimed at the wraith's corpse. As physically pathetic as they were, wraith's were some of the skillful magic wielders known to the world, and as cunning and determined as a regular crime boss. That was why they manipulated the strong - or stronger - to fight their fights.

"You couldn't control yourself could you? It was the wraith's magic?" I asked him as I paced a little. I walked to Lyra and tried to help her wounds by licking the blood of of her. "Do you need help walking? I will allow you to ride me if you do... Just this once." I honestly hated people riding me. I only allowed it when I offered or they needed it. I sat down next to her and licked my left paw. I looked at the both of them and awaited their answer.

((Sorry my posts are so short, I don't know why honestly...))

Lyra glanced at her.
"Uh, yeah. That would be great, actually." She hoisted herself onto Vil's back with some difficulty. She looked at Randle, who was a few feet away. "Um, what happened?" she asked him. "In your past, I mean,"
She dragged her staff over Vil's shoulders, not wanting to make her more uncomfortable than she already was.

"You couldn't control yourself, could you? It was the wraith's magic?" Randle took out the piece of cloth he had ripped from the inn's sheets the day before, before Dylan had interrupted his attempt to bind the vixen's wounds. He tried to clean the blood from his head and nodded.
"Yeah.." he said bitterly. "The damned blue-skin casted one of those nasty Husk-controlling spells on me. It was my own fault to underestimate the guy." A second later the rag, wet with blood, disappeared into his pocket again, after which Randle got up and walked up to Lyra and Vil, who had taken on the form of a majestic and fully sentient Sage Dire. For a minute, he thought about helping the lupine gal out, yet his conscience prevented him from getting closer. No, he needed more time to prove he was harmless, for now at least.
"Um, what happened? In your past, I mean," Lyra asked as she hoisted herself onto Vil's back. Great, now he had to explain how dangerous he could be while he was trying to ensure them that he wasn't. Randle picked up his crossbow and tied it to his shoulder-belt, then sped up a little to walk beside the giant wolf.
"You really wanna know some old Husk's tragedy?" He tried to make it sound casual, hoping Lyra would change her mind so that he could save them both some tragic rambling. Before they set out into the Woods again, heading East this time, Randle looked over his shoulder one last time, and for the first time in quite a while, he was actually glad to see a corpse. Good. That was one less rat.. or wraith.

Lyra bounced on Vil's back, holding on with what strength was left. "Yeah, I'm interested. Stories can be interesting. If you don't want to tell me, that's okay too," she said, not wanting to pry. She looked forward. There were huge, looming mountains in the distance, and a dense forest in between. To their right were some gaping caves." I wonder what's in there, "she said, gesturing to the holes.

I looked up at to where she pointed, "I would bet anything its some bandits. That or more of the Wolven Beasts..." I looked down a bit and shook my head from the bugs. I looked back to Randle, who was walking the path aside me. I had my weapon still on my back and my clothes in a bundle tied with it. "The story could make time go by faster... It seems we could be walking for a while..." I look up and don't see any castle anywhere, just trees that grew tall and full with leaves. Birds where chirping and squirrels were rustling through the dead leaves and bushes. Other creatures out of the ordinary were doing their own thing. There was a pack of wolves to our right, they snarled but looked at me and pinned their ears back. My size must have scared them, otherwise... They were also victims of the Beasts. I turned to the road and followed it, hoping a dragon or a bear won't come in and make things harder. I had hoped that the She-Fox had gone back to the castle like I warned. I wasn't sure, but I kept walking. I sneezed when we came across a bush ad rather large flowers. Their polin was stuck in my nose and I had a hard time getting it out, but I managed.
After a while, my paws where starting to hurt. I had thought it was because of all of the walking, and it was. We had been walking for a while now and night was falling upon the orange sky. "We should seek shelter... Or keep going. Up to you." I said to both of my allies as I looked up at the sky and saw some bats heading north.

Keeping secrets wasn't a good thing to do when trying to get to know each other. Besides, beating around the bush wouldn't exactly fit his personality anyway. Randle cleared his throat and peered into the distance, hoping to see the edge of the never-ending Wood, but alas, more trees and shrubs.
"Before I came to The Kingdom of Wood, I used to be Firnland Hill's top bloodhound. Life was pretty neat back then, rescuing runaways and catching murderers were everyday occurrences for me. Made a lot of friends and enemies with my work, and I did what I liked best: unraveling the unknown and hitting wrongdoers across their mug with the fist of justice." A pack of wolves walked by but were immediately scared off by Vil and her menacing snarls. That was.. impressive. For a moment, he wondered what kind of other forms the gal could take on, but he remembered just in time that he had to continue his story. "One of my closest friends, a gal named Allis, assisted me during every case that desperate clients tossed at us, but.." Great. He wasn't going to give in to it, right? He knew better than that. What happened couldn't be forgotten, but he could at least move on. That was.. what Allis would've wanted him to do. "But one day, this seemingly dumb goon appeared in town. I had been on his track for quite a while; the brute was an infamous sociopath who killed in the name of some kind of bloodthirsty cult. He just appeared on the market square, fully armed with his battleaxe and ignorant confidence. And-.. well, before the eyes of all my former allies, he revealed he was a Wielder after all. He manipulated my Essence - same thing happened back at the clearing - and when I woke up from the damned nasty trance.." He looked at his feet. They deserved to know. ".. Allis' mauled corpse was lying at my feet." Randle didn't know how his voice sounded so calm and bitter. Somehow, all his emotions didn't show. And maybe that was for the best.

Lyra stared to him, shocked. "I'm... sorry," she said, ears slightly flattened. Why did she ask all the wrong questions? First with Dylan, and now with Randle. She started to nitpick at all the little things that she said to them, but the jolts of sitting on Vil's back brought her back.
" Um, did she know that you could be manipulated?" The sky was becoming dark, and she turned to Vil. "Shelter would be good."

Listening to his story, it was quite tragic. I couldn't help but feel bad for him - and the girl of course. I kept looking ahead though, the woods were full of mysteries and I hoped we didn't become one. "I am truly sorry for what happened to you..." I looked down and frowned, but quickly looked back up when Lyra said that shelter was the choice. "Ok, I should be able to find slmethimg..." my senses were more strong, but only by so much. I didn't know enough about the Wolven Beasts to have better or worse senses, but the closest relative to them I know is the wolf. I start looking around and smell an awful stench, it smelled like a rotted corpse. "How about a bear cave? We would have to kill a bear or two... If you don't feel the need or don't want it, I can find something else." I look at them, fighting a bear was one thing, but two was going to be hard... I could only smell one so far, but as I get closer, it feels like more. Maybe it was just paranoia? That or subconsciously I knew there was more than 1.

Lyra sniffed the air, which had a faint scent that reminded her of the cemeteries that she had seen as a child. She looked straight ahead, but all she could see was more forest, and wondered how much longer they would have to go. She stared at Vil, struggling to keep awake. "Sure. Whatever's fastest,"

Before she could say anything, a loud growl pierced through the night. Lyra sat up. "What was that?" she asked, frantically looking all around her. She thought she could see a pair of glowing eyes behind a tree, but it was probably nothing. She tightened her grip on her staff anyway.

And that was that. Randle received a fair amount of pity, but as much as he appreciated their compassion and friendliness, the realist part of him knew damned well that what had happened couldn't be undone. He would bear the remorse in his heart day in day out, but he'd learned to live with it, think about other things and continue carrying on. Do things he loved to do. A setback, even this big, wouldn't stop the one and only Clockwork Dick.
Lyra asked if Allis could've known what had gotten into him, and in response to that, Randle shrugged lightly and said: "No, and neither did I. But what done's done, and I know that she also would've wanted me to carry on. So.. enough about that-.." Bear. He stopped close to the end of his sentence as he caught a glimpse of two auburn embers gazing at them from dense and high shrubbery. The sleuth focused on its heartbeat, counting the throbbing in its chest. Along with the stench of apprehension and the showing, gleaming teeth its maw, it was more than clear that they were facing a furious ursine. "Think you can take on this one..?" Randle asked Vil in a hushed voice, keeping his eye on the irate black beast in the bushes. He cautiously took his crossbow from his belt and put in a bolt, hoping that the clicking noise it made wouldn't set off this uptight ursine.

But it did. Roaring at the top of its lungs, a massive black bear barged from the undergrowth and threw itself in full force against Randle's knees, knocking the sleuth off his feet. Two sets of clawed paws ripped through his shirt, grinding against the strong skin on his chest. Damned bears.. Randle kicked the beast in its abdomen, then reached for his crossbow and smashed it against its skull.
Splinters and blood splattered into his face. Yet the fight was far from over. The bear let go of him and stumbled down the road a bit, but as soon as he noticed Vil and Lyra, he charged at them, blood leaking into his eyes but too furious to be bothered by it. He lashed out, and Randle rolled over to grab the bolt that he dropped earlier.
Loading it successfully, this time, he then aimed at the beast's ugly mug, held his breath and shot, hoping that a steel rod from hell puncturing its skull would be enough to take it out.

As I was alarmed, I was calm. The forest's aura was soothing and kept me from worrying too much. I was listening to Randle go on more about his story, but he was interrupted by a noise. It was loud, deep, and rough, it was a bears warning roar. Everyone's head darted towards the noise and I cautiously stood back. I could see the eyes of the beast glow like fire in the dark shadows of the trees. The light from the moon was weighing in and making it harder to see. Randle had brought out his crossbow and asked me if I could take it. I honestly didn't know, I had fought them before in the past, but I didn't have a wounded friend by my side. The crossbow clicked and the bear too ok it as a threat, it ran and lunged itself at Randle and I stood back a little, the bear clawed deep into his torso and shoulder before getting kicked off and stumbling to get up. It looked at me and Lyra before lunging at us, I bit it's throat before it could touch Lyra and I bit hard. My teeth sank into the muscle and let the blood seep down my mouth and into my throat. It had started to claw at me before getting shot in the head by an arrow of steel. It stopped clawing at my body before it let go. I let it fall to the ground and stumed, my shoulders hurt and stung like thousands of wasps were attacking me. I grunted and looked back to make sure Lyra was ok, I could barely see but I had assumed that she was. "Imagine if it was a momma bear..." I chuckled and licked my mouth. I peeked through the bushes and saw the cave. It was big and had some roots growing over it. There was no other bear in sight, I looked back at Randle, "Looks like he was the only one..." I assured, of course, I didn't know the gender but the way it was built looked like a male bear. I climbed the small cliff and looked around as I grabbed some wood, "How about a fire?" I asked. I put the wood down and dug a hole, big enough to hold the wood and not let someone fall into it. I put the wood into the hole and put Lyra down onto some leaves. After, I walked into the bushes and, hidden, I turned back into the red-head. I looked at my shoulders and grunted in pain, I ripped the sleeves off of the shirt and made it without sleeves. I put the corset on to keep it from falling and touch my wounds, I hiss in pain and pit on my pants and boots and wall back to the cave. "How are you feeling? Do you hurt more?" I ask Lyra as I put the cape on her to keep her warm and light the fire with magic, the magic kept it from giving out a lot of smoke so if any of the wooden beasts were following our track, it would be harder. Then I sat down and warmed my hands and put my hair in a bun to keep me from getting too hot.

As soon as she noticed the bear, Lyra slid off Vil's back. She held her staff up at the black bear and lifted it into the air, pulling the bear off of the ground. Breathing hard, she held him in the air for a few seconds, then let it fall to the ground. It crumpled, and she pointed her staff at it, tracking its every move.

While the majestic Dire sunk her teeth into the bear's neck, his quarrel pierced its head and ruthlessly embedded itself into its skull. A clean headshot. Randle tried to keep a stoic face when one last roar escaped from the bear's mouth, after which it collapsed on the soil. Those poor animals never knew when to stop. A damned shame.
Ignoring the searing pain his chest, the Husk walked over to the ursine's corpse and tried to pull the steel bolt from its cranium, to no avail. After the second tug, the wooden shaft shattered in his hands, so he decided it was for the best to leave it. In the meantime, his female companions were checking out the nearby cavern, and by the time he headed their way as well, a soft orange glow indicated the presence of a bonfire. So one of these gals knew the survivalist's trade. Good to have those kind of people on the troupe.
Randle bend over to squeeze himself through the overgrown entrance and sat down by the fire, across from his companions. He noticed Vil had taken on the form of a human redhead again, whereas Lyra was laying down, covered by a cloak for some reason. The sleuth remained silent for quite a while, glancing at his companions every now and then.

I yawn in tiredness and huddle into a ball, my arms wrapped around my knees. I listen to the fires crackles and snaps and watch the images from the fire appear and dance around like a parade. I look around the woods and see nothing in sight, a rare feature to me. I was always used to danger lurking around every corner, I was quite happy to see that nothing was here to hurt me or the rest of the party. I rummage through my satchel in search of some bread or cheese and found an apple, it was soft and a little rotted but I cut around that and ate.
The forest was dark and very dimly lit due to the fire and moon. The creatures of the night had awoken and started to be on its move. The fire had simmered to some charcoal and sparks, enough to keep it lit but not enough to see what was right in front of you. I sat against the wall and rested my eyes. I was awake enough to hear anything that stirred in the darkness and I held my weapon close in case of scavengers. There was a sound that brewed from afar. It was like many legs walking upon dry leaves and spilling water or another liquid. I opened my eyes, very tired, and looked around until I heard hisses and cackles. Alarmed, I grabbed my weapon until I saw it fully, there were spiders as big as wolves. I stood still and went back to sleep, if I didn't bother them, they wouldn't bother me, at least I hoped. I went back to sleep and let my mind carry me to another dimension of wonder.

Lyra immediately fell asleep when she could. She snuggled into the cloak that had been placed over her, and entered the world of her dreams. She woke up at every slight noise, but fell asleep just as quickly. Every now and then, she checked around the fire, but there was never anything there. She thought she could see legs, but she thought it was just paranoia. Once or twice she woke to check or change the bandage on her face and neck, or to check that her staff was still there. It always was, and she fell into a dreamless sleep until morning. All the squirrels and birds had gone to sleep, and the only noises were the crackling of the fire, crickets, and the rustling of the trees.

The sun rose above the trees, and Lyra opened her eyes, still a little bit groggy. She dug around in her pack for some food, and found some stale bread from the day before. She scanned around for anything better to eat, and finding nothing, shrugged and stuffed it in her mouth.

"Do Husks dream of artificial sheep?" Randle thought as he watched his companions fall into a deep, seemingly comfortable slumber. Back in Firnland he'd considered giving sleeping a shot, but thanks to the loads of work and theories that bothered him until the sun rose again, the straw-filled sack on the platform never got properly used. Ah, and how Allis used to complain about him pacing around until the early hours. He imagined that she'd been glad if he were to go out for a few days, enjoying a good night's rest and all..
But now, he had all the time of the world to try it out and see what it was like to sleep and dream like his fellow - or, well somewhat fellow - mortals. The sleuth closed his silver eyes and rested his head against the cavern's cold stone wall. Now, breathe, and stop thinking. No more thoughts, no more pondering. Just darkness and tranquility.

It didn't work. Not at all. When Randle opened his eyes to check out where the shuffling noises were coming from, he realized that he'd been goofing off for hours without even dozing off for a tiny bit. He groaned and pinched his nose bridge with his index finger and thumb. What a waste of time.
Forgetting to check up on his troupe, the grayish cougar crawled through the entrance and sat down on the mossy forest floor, inhaling the crisp air. Shortly after dawn, the shower had stopped, yet its petrichor was still fresh. Indulging the scents, colors and ambiance of the Woods, Randle stayed outside for quite a while, but eventually he realized this wasn't a forest vacation. Queen Haelga still awaited Xeilius ever so crucial answer, and there was no time to lose. He got up and squeezed himself through the roots. Especially with an injured gal on their side. Goddess knew how deep those wounds were, but either way, she needed the well-deserved attention of a healer. A damned shame..
The Husk sat down by the fire again and saw that Lyra was chewing on a tasteless, old slice of bread. Randle clasped his hands together, rubbed some warmth into his knuckles and turned to his lupine companion. "Mornin'," he said, not too sure if she would ever forgive what he'd done to her last night.

Foxy fell down on Randle