Of Ashes and Wind

Rescue

It came to Phoenix about the destination of travel that Lionheart led her in.

"We're going to the great elven city of Eostrun." Phoenix mused out loud, Lionheart merely looked over his shoulder and continued his pace. Sometimes Phoenix would walk alongside the beast, other times Lionheart would grow impatient and nudge the child to climb on to his back.

Every time Phoenix would climb on to Lionheart's back, her blue eyes would take note of his injured left wing. The wound didn't seem to get better, in fact, it seemed to grow worse with each passing day. The few times Phoenix would try to inspect it or get close to it, Lionheart would get cross and screech loudly at the child until her ears rang.

She got the point after the third time, don't touch its injured wing.

Phoenix had learned that Lionheart preferred his meat cooked, she took note of the way the gryphon went off to hunt down a deer nearby and dropped the carcass at Phoenix's feet. The child was trying to fill the makeshift canteen she carried about. She used the huge pieces of bark and the leaves which were as big as a bed sheet from some trees to fashion together a canteen. Using Lionheart's superior senses, Phoenix figured out which berries in the forest were edible and which weren't.

Her left hand had devolved into a dull, but still painful ached despite her wound being almost closed up. Her right hand felt better and her body felt normal again, despite the need to take a warm bath.

They came across a river again, she couldn't tell if it was the same river they used from before or a different one. Phoenix took advantage of the fresh water and tried to wash off as much grime as she could from her clothes once more. Her tunic and trousers were riddled with holes and she could tell it smelled, Phoenix wished she had learned from her father how to properly tan a hide or turn the animal fur into a proper felt. The horned-wolves from before would have made an excellent cloak – if only the child knew how.

There was a chill at the base of Phoenix's neck, she stilled the same time Lionheart did.

In flash, Lionheart got within the darkest shadows of the forest, Phoenix followed along. The beast looked up at a branch which hung close to its head, Lionheart nudged the child to look up. Phoenix got enough of the hint to climb up the gryphon's back and then eventually swung herself onto the branches. She climbed higher and higher until her eyes caught a cart in the distance. It was travelling along on the forest floor, there was no discernable path.

She squinted, there was something different about these people.

Maybe it was the hair.

Or the eyes.

It came to Phoenix once they were closer.

They were elves.

Excitedly, Phoenix stood up on the branches.

"Hey!" She called out excitedly, her body working through to get back on the forest floor. She noticed Lionheart remain in the shadows, but the gryphon continued watching as the human child ran closer to the elves.

Phoenix waved her hands, "Over here! Please, I need help!" She called out, she noticed how wide-eyed the elves got when they caught sight of Phoenix. The child had no doubt that she was a sight to see with her tattered rags, makeshift canteen and berry pouch, the hunting knife she had hidden within her waistband.

"Y-You're a child." One elf sputtered out.

"A human child." The second dead-panned, the third elf sat in the back of the cart and duly regarded Phoenix.

"I... I am, I was kidnapped and..." Phoenix thought about what she wanted to say, "I escaped by falling down the side of Great Granite Range," She held out her hands to show the various wounds that had healed to light scars, the most prominent being the ones from the spikes that went through her palms, "P-Please, I-I just want to go back home." Phoenix fought down the lump in her throat while regarding the three elves.