Venom (Book I) ✓

Chapter Twenty

"I don't mean to...interrupt anything, but, well, why were you in the woods dressed like you were if you didn't know about the war?"

Ruby pushed the ancient tome from her legs and rubbed her eyes, "It's a long story." She sighed as Eira carefully settled a heaping tray onto her lap.

"I have time." The girl said, her eyes glittering.

Ruby couldn't help smiling a little as she nodded. She had been studying the books Ulric brought her all day and telling a story would be a welcome break. "Come on, sit down." She prompted, patting the bed beside her.

Eira haltingly obeyed, drawing her knees to her chest as she perched on the corner of the bed.

"Where would you like me to start?" Ruby asked, stirring the clear soup around her bowl thoughtfully.

"How about at the beginning?" Eira prompted, clearly giddy with her excitement.

Ruby laughed, a little embarrassed when she admitted softly, "I don't really know what the beginning was anymore."

Eira sat quietly for a moment before smiling, "Alright, start with the decision to enter the forest."

With a grin Ruby nodded and sat up a little straighter. "So, in my town there was this man..."

"Oh! I do love a good romance." Eira cried, clapping excitedly.

"No! Not like that." Ruby hurried, blushing, "I mean to say...he never spoke to me. He didn't even know my name. But he was very handsome, daring too, and...well, he saved my life once."

When she looked up Eira was frowning.

"What?"

"No, nothing, carry on." Eira hurried, batting a hand dismissively.

"Well, one night, in the fields, he got attacked. He was screaming and...I guess I kind of saved him, but he was still dying."

Eira's eyes widened, "Master Genevieve's pet." She muttered and Ruby nodded shyly.

"There was a lot of venom in his blood, so I came to get a sample to make an anti venom with."

Eira shook her head, "that's no good. You should have just let the boy die."

"What? No, I couldn't have!"

"Yes you could have, especially if he didn't even know your name."

"You're missing the point."

"You're supposed to be telling the story. How did Master Ulric get involved?"

Ruby sighed, slightly annoyed at the girl's interruption, "We ran into each other...on one of the trails."

"But, you were going the same way."

"No, not really. I was going south and he was going...sort of downward. I was in his way, so he took me with him."

Eira giggled and shook her head, "He always has been kind of clumsy, especially for a shifter of his calibre."

"What calibre is that?" Ruby asked curiously. She had been reading about shifters all day, but the strange system of rankings among them still baffled her.

"He is of the seventh degree." Eira answered.

Ruby reached for a book beside her with an emerald cover. It took her a few moments to flip through the different pages she had marked, but when she found it she smiled. "So, Master Genevieve is..."

"Of the tenth degree." Eira nodded, shrinking slightly.

Shifters are classified in 'degrees', called as such to accentuate a sort of connection with nature and the ever-changing, unpredictable force of weather. While methods of classifying are incredibly fluid and subjective, they depend largely on the calibre of the shifter's power.