The morning sunlight woke Kerikou as a beam of the light shinned into his eyes. He sat up and looked around, Derakor was still curled up on Landslide's lap and Arthidian was slowly trying to move his arm.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Kerikou jumped off the rock and shook his pack off.
"I'd rather try and get the function back into it now, if that thing comes back I want to give it a parting gift." Arthidian raised his arm slightly but quickly dropped it when a sharp pain shot through his arm.
"You're going to misalign the bones again, now stand still." Kerikou dived into his bag and pulled out a large sheet of refined cotton, and another handful of savoury. He moved the arm and bent it slowly in front of Arthidian's chest, he then slid a torn strip of cotton under it and tied it around Arthidian's neck. He then handed him the savoury.
"Surprised a slayer knows how to heal bones." Arthidian nibbled on the savoury as he spoke.
"I've learned many things, some my master taught me, some I taught myself." Kerikou took a seat on the leaves, pulled out a peach from his bag and sunk his teeth into it.
"So who was it you were trying to save?"
Kerikou froze in mid bite, then slowly finished the piece of the peach he had torn off. "My sister, our village was attacked and we were both taken, trained to become what we are now. We were barely five and we watched as our parent's were slain. We then spent of the rest of our lives either being forced to kill, brutalized into learning or treated like crap just being around our masters. No one retaliated, and those who did…" Pictures flashed in front of Kerikou's eyes, his sister appearing in all. "Became the reason why we never run."
"What do you think happened to her?" Arthidian glanced at Kerikou solemnly but his gaze was not returned.
"She's dead, she turned, and they killed her!" Kerikou pounded the ground with his fist. "I did everything to save her, but I was too late."
"So she rebelled?"
"No, turning is what we lycans call the shift from lycan to wereanimal. Rage is enhanced for lycans, thing is, it builds up. When we've been tortured enough, or are angry enough we shift to our hybrid form and attack whoever is closest to us. However we are not supposed to go into this, it was a curse given to us by the druidess. If we go through this release of rage to many times we turn, we lose all of our ability to shift at will, and when we do shift we go on a killing spree, attacking our loved ones first."
"So-" Arthidian began.
"Yes, I made a pact with Henry, see masters must still pay slayers, just enough to get a day's supply a week but they still must pay. I agreed to cut this pay in half and do double the work as long as she wasn't harmed. It seems despite my attempts, she faced torture I could not imagine."
"I-I'm sorry to hear that." Arthidian put his right arm on Kerikou's shoulder, but it was quickly shed.
"I should be saying sorry to you, well more your entire race." Kerikou took another bite out of his peach and turned it in hand. "I found two Elvin children one day, on any other time I would have left them, I don't kill young ones. These ones however had set fire to the forest, just figured out how to use fire. Instead of saving them, I killed them, and since that day I've never touched the blade that did so."
Kerikou and Arthidian were both struck silent, Arthidian's face shifting between anger and sorrow before he finally looked into Kerikou's eyes. Arthidian held the stare for a long time then sighed. "It was instinct, there's nothing to apologize for."
"You're letting it go that easily?" Kerikou turned the peach in his hands, diverting his glance away from the elf.
"As I said, instinct, it was an urge you couldn't control." Arthidian took a glance at Kerikou, who was still staring at the half eaten peach he was spinning in his hands. "So, how long do we have before these 'hunted' find us?"
