Varian of the Northern Isles

The Plan

Hypatia's POV
The creature, formerly a dog, curled up to me.
     "What have they done to you," I breathed. The growths were more horrible the closer I looked and the creature was in pain. Blood, not just from myself, coated it's thinning fur.
     "shhhhh. It's alright I cooed and placed a hand over its eyes." The monster turned its head to me and a knife laying on the ground. It slowly got up on its hind legs and nudged the weapon over to me. I took it, forcing what I was already thinking out of my head. It let out a low, pitiful whimper and closed its eyes.
     "No, I can fix you, you are not dying on me." but even as I said those words, weather it was the cold, the injuries, or the horrible sight of the dog's twisted form, I knew what I said was a lie.
     In the distance, I heard Varian and Terrin, they were approaching the cave. They could help couldn't they?!
No. The monster had recognized me but it would most likely attack Varian or Terrin.
     "I'm sorry," I sobbed and drew the blade. I tried to be as quick as I could, but I was not fast enough to silence its cries. Finally, the beast lay still. I cut the collar from its neck and ran. The knife hit the ground with a dull clang and I ran as fast as my legs would allow through the twisting tunnels. I was fighting exhaustion and the all too vivid scene behind me to look where I was going. I burst through a tunnel right as a blade entered me vision.

Back to present time. Varian's POV.
Hypatia held out the torn collar to Terrin. He picked it up and what ever color was left in his face drained entirely. We rested by our small fire as Hypatia told us of what she had seen.
     "It sounds like we need to get to the north as soon as possible," Terrin's voice was low with exhaustion. Hypatia had stopped crying. Her sadness replaced by rage.
     "Whoever did this... Whoever dared set foot in my kingdom shale never see the light of day again." We talked late into the night, discussing battle strategies and what to expect. We didn't know if we would encounter anymore of the creatures that Hypatia had described, but we had to account for those as well.
     Our plan was simple, we'd enter through a secret, winding valley into Hypatia's lands. We would try to make contact with Helen and anyone Terrin or Hypatia could trust. In the end, Helen was the only one we knew for certain would help us. She had to help, we wouldn't know what to do if she didn't.