Conflicted

Wound

  There was a presence in the forest. He felt it.

He circled a bush near a clearing, awaiting for the presence to come nearer. The moon did not shine today, it was just pure black in there. He sensed the presence approaching the West of the forest. He hurried to the East. A shriek suddenly caught his attention. It could just be a dumb traveller, a fool who had entered the forest from the Kingdom. Or it could be another assassin that was never trained properly. He decided not to find out.

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Ok deep breaths, deep breaths, shut up, don't make any sounds, Helen tried to comfort herself. Just go and find the source of that scream and ensure everything is fine. Helen let out a shaky breath and slowly started towards the source of the sound. She kept a lookout for sticks and twigs on the ground and slowly peaked behind a tree. Nothing.

She felt a sudden presence behind her. Helen felt hot air being breathed onto her neck, sending cold shivers of fear down her spine. Helen slowly reached for her dagger and cautiously turned her head. It was a particularly dark night, it felt like a black blanket had been tossed over the forest, making everyone feel like blind bats in the wilderness. Helen narrowed her eyes, making out a tall figure behind her.

"What do you want."

"Less competition."

Helen heard the sound of metal and she felt a blade slash her back. Helen's hands weakened and shook, eventually dropping her dagger and falling to the ground. Everything felt numb, she couldn't feel anything except for her mind going a million miles per hour. Helen struggled to shift her arm to grab her pistol. She turned her head to faintly make out the dark figure slowly retreating, walking backwards, as if it was mocking her weakness. Helen's whole arm shook with the effort to hold up the pistol. She felt the presence of a thick liquid oozing out of the wound, but felt almost nothing at all. Everything was just numb. With the last remnants of energy in her body, Helen aimed and pulled the trigger at the figure before letting the darkness take over her.

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A gunshot caught the attention of him. He whipped around for a quick moment to survey the scene behind him. No one was there, thankfully. What was a hunter doing in this area of the forests. There was not much game near the edges of the forests, most creatures that resided at borders were wild enchanted creatures sent out by the King to kill any trespassers or people that could cause potential harm to the Palace. It was not possible for a hunter to be here.

His shadows around him tried to pull him far away from the gunshot.

Let's go. Go. Go. Go.

But his conscience didn't let him go. What if someone was injured? What if it was an assassin that mistook an innocent traveller for him? Why would a traveller come here though? He silently groaned in frustration. I'll go to check it out for a quick moment, a quick peak, and then I'm leaving.

Ignoring the shadows around him, he felt himself melt into a shadow himself and dashed through trees and bushes towards the West, coming to a stop in front of a fallen figure. A girl.

Regaining his original human form, he kneeled on the hard dirt floor and inspected the girl. She had been slashed, her back had a large and deep wound that was covered in dirt and half dried blood. This won't do, she'll bleed out if he doesn't stop the bleeding. He scouted out a few Pregew trees. The trees grew out special hard nuts that when grinded into a fine powder, would stop any bleeding. By adding on a few herbs in the forest, she would be able to recover after a few days.

As he quickly grinded the nuts into powder, he spotted a pistol by the girl's side.
I'll take this as a payment I guess. He chuckled and pocketed the loaded weapon. She would be fine, she still had dozens of arrows and a bow with her.

Why am I helping a potential assassin?

The thought finally struck him as he used large leaves to bandage her wound. Why was he helping someone who bore dangerous weapons on her? There were always known unanswered questions in the world, he guessed that this was one of them. But he was still going to shoot the avial near the girl for good measure. 

~Glossary~

Pegew trees: Considerably short trees with short and spiky leaves. Special nuts with properties that can lessen or stop bleeding can be harvested from these trees. They are mostly found in extremely dry areas such as deserts but can be planted anywhere with an unripe nut.