You are the Alpha now. Can you heal us?

I followed my first instinct after her question. Avoid! What was good to avoid..

Uh- Uh-

What was I planning on doing before this in the first place?! Oh yes, going to try and heal the Wolf King!

While my eyes look everywhere but at the Wolf King’s mate, I spot the small dwarf giving Greenie a long speech about the importance of keeping creatures outside the cave.

He’d been upset ever since the first wolves that came inside spotted his precious sword and made a beeline straight towards it, dragging it out of the cave.

After recovering his sword (how he did it when he was blind, I still didn’t know) Andvari glared at the area around him warily, sniffing loudly when a wolf too close. They hated the sword. Every single wolf that passed by would growl towards him, trying to get the sword out of his grasp.

I wasn’t sure it was because he couldn’t see them, but Andvari was undaunted by their size and aggression. He just smacked down hard on their snouts when they approached, making them yelp in hurt surprise.

After a while of this, Andvari looked like he was enjoying the game of hit-the-mole. As did Greenie, scratching at his head and observing from beside him.

Uhhh. Please hold.

Unconsciously my human lingo slips out. But she waits anyways so I guess it worked?

Turning away from her, I call out towards Andvari.

Andavri! Did you finish up on the thing??

Unseeing eyes turn towards me, pausing in his one-sided argument with Greenie.

What thing, Lady? We’ve made many things in the past few days.

That was true. Building all the traps and items to make our lives easier had consumed most of our time. Our cave was still littered with junk and prototypes. There were piles of twisted vines, bent twigs, sharpened branches, crushed rocks, different fruits and insect shells. In addition to all the human stuff we'd been able to recover from the Subterranean Rat attack.

Smacking one eyelid down towards him in a awkward wink, I tell him again.

Look at me, winking towards a blind person. Wow, smart, Raven..

You know, that thing! What we made to carry the-

I send him the image of the item in question, which was stashed somewhere in a dark corner of this cave.

Oh! You mean the thing you made while humming nonsense about soft fur and that it would help bring in all the dead wol-

The female wolf’s eyes narrow into slits.

HOLD THAT THOUGHT!!

Opening my beak wide, the reverberations that come with the sounds of a drill at a construction sight makes my chest rumble.

DUNDUNDUNDUNDUNDUN!!!

Though he wasn’t speaking out loud, the noise I emitted was enough to distract him from finishing that thought.

Now everyone was looking at me confused as to why I suddenly made such a loud noise.

Ahem!

When all the wolves stare at me, I shrug my shoulders at them.

Sometimes you gotta let it out.

With a few barks towards me, they nod and stop paying attention to me.

Well, that was easy.

My answer satisfies them just like that, and they continue on roaming around the cave and settling down.

Was that your howl, Alpha? We heard many noises in the forest, strange sounds like your howl.

The female wolf sidles up to me and prods me with her snout, right on the white feathers at my throat.

..Yes. I think I have a talent for making many noises. I respond, gulping.

By appearance only, she would seem to be only curios at the strange sounds I made. But it wasn’t fun having a large wolf with blood dripping out of its mouth prodding at your throat. Aand she did it while looking at me head on the entire time.

She must know something was up.

With one snap, I would be done for. I didn’t know why no one else looked worried, not even Greenie.

Nevermind. I need to avoid! Avoid the subject!

Andvari, the thing please? Greenie, can you help him pull it out for the Wolf King?

Leaning as far back as I could, I privately speak to Andvari this time. It wouldn’t be good if the wolves found out the actual usage of the thing we were going to bring out.

Hmm. I see. And? Can you heal us?

It was back to that conversation. Though she steps away from me, it was too early to breathe out a sigh of relief.

Looking out over the crowd of fierce wolves gazing at me makes me shiver. This was not exactly the most comfortable of positions to be in.

Gcaack.

My throat clears of nothing. There was nothing stuck in my throat, but it felt so dry.

Can you heal us?

She states again, tail swishing behind her in- impatience? anger? pain?

It was too difficult to read her expression. All I knew was that it was a negative sort, her lips peeled back to reveal her sharp canines, eyes focused on something in the distance. The heaviness radiating off her makes my shoulders tighten in response.

We are sick.

A hippity-hop takes me forward outside into the light of the setting sun, and hearing the sound of her trodding behind me , I continue forward, slowing my pace once again.

Not that I wanted to. But my body was beginning to let out sharp screams of pain. Frowning down at my wing, I jiggle it a little in its cast again. Why wouldn’t it heal faster! I wasn’t even the one that fought!

Warmth disappears from my feathers as the wolf’s shadow falls over me, her waiting for me to keep going to where the Wolf King waited.

How sick are you all?

To avert the subject again from where I think it might be headed, I change our conversation to a different direction.

It is difficult to tell. Many of us feel weak, bleed, and then…gone.

With her head lowered, it was impossible for me to see her expression. Was the low growling emanating from her one of anger or sadness?

My thoughts kept bouncing between the two possibilities.

I didn’t know if I should tell them it was part of my plan. That I’d poisoned them. That I was the reason why they were bleeding so terribly.

If what she felt was anger, then the first person she would take it out on would be me.

..Maybe I wouldn’t tell them.

Arrrghhh!! I didn't wanna think about this anymore!!!! I'd done what I needed to survive, and that was that!

Though the wolf glances at me every once in a while as we continue to walk forward, I don’t meet her eyes. I can’t.

I won’t tell them for now. Maybe later?

Heavy dragging noises make us both turn back, to see Greenie pulling and Andvari pushing what looks like a wheelbarrow without a wheel.

It was a contraption made with the lightest wood we could find, lashing together sticks to make a flat platform that any bipedal being could drag.

I’d taken the idea from a historical fiction book I’d read in school. I’d forgotten what it was called, but it was how the nomad natives carried their heavy items. It would have been perfect for carrying in our kills that were too heavy to take in one go.

The idea also came up because I wanted to find a way for us to quickly carry in all the dead wolves, before other creatures got to them.

Like what Andvari had almost slipped and said, it was supposed to be something to help Crixus and Andvari gather the carcasses for us to eat and use once all the wolves died of poison. It hadn’t been finished when Greenie and I left for our trip, but I could tell Andvari had finished it up while we were gone.

Here, put the Wolf King on this. We can take him outside.

The heavy atmosphere she projects towards me lightens a little as she switches her focus to getting her mate inside the cave.

It took us a couple tries to figure out how to get the enormous body of the fallen wolf on there, but we did it.

By connecting several wolves to pull the wooden slide-like thing forward, it was easier than dragging the Wolf King into the cave by gripping him with their mouths.

For some reason, the sick wolves had arranged themselves tightly next to Crixus in neat rows, leaving one spot available on the other side.

This was where the wolves took the Wolf King, settling him down comfortably on bits of grass they’d taken from Crixus’ bedding.

Crixus lay in a corner of our cave, still passed out while he evolved. I hoped he was evolving. It only looked like he was sleeping to me. There was no strange light like the one that shimmered around me right before I evolved. Just one Minotaur, passed out on the bed of leaves we’d made for him. The Wolf King right next to him while keeping his attention on me. A interesting sight, that was for sure. The enormous wolf panting heavily, hurting from his wounds from the fight, but laying next to the enemy who had given him the wounds like they were the best of friends.

The relationship between those two was now something special. I couldn’t understand it. They’d fought each other so bitterly and now they were like old buddies.

Was it some sort of understanding between fighters? The switch between fighting and then friendliness would give me emotional whiplash.

My mate has told you of our sickness?

!!!

My body jolts in surprise at the sudden question from Wolf King.

I thought you were passed out!

Phew! You surprised me. Wa-!!! Don’t try to get up!

Why was this guy trying to move after all the injuries he’d gotten!

I stop the Wolf King from rising up from his prone position by gently pressing a wing on his large paw. He shouldn't be putting any weight at all on those legs. That was obvious, even to me with my very shallow medical knowledge.

We have to set your legs and close the hole in your chest before you can start moving again.

I motion to roll my sleeves up from my arms and freeze. Old habits died hard. Even if I wasn’t wearing any clothes, or had any arms, the habit still stuck with me.

It was a good thing we had a bucket of the Blue Mulligis Clay. Well, our bucket was the helmet we’d used to make the Spice Bombs before, but it did the trick now to carry the clay we needed.

A cursory glance over the entire pack told me that the Wolf King was the most likely to die out of the group. Especially that large gouge in his chest, if he continued to bleed like that, things would end quickly for him.

He would be my first priority. The other poisoned wolves I would figure something out later.

Now I had to clean the wounds with water, using the gourds we already had.

Hmm. We would need more.

You, you and you! Also all of you there.

Pointing towards the healthiest looking wolves out of the bunch, I hand them some of the empty gourds. They gingerly take the gourds into their mouths, drooling over the gourds and on the ground while waiting for my next instructions.

Go to the lake and fill these all up with water.

Bark! Bark!

Nodding, the wolves set off, stirring my feathers up with the wind created by their swift movements.

Okay. We would have extra water secured soon. I hoped. I wasn't sure how well the wother wolves understood me. They didn't speak with Thought Transmission like the Wolf King and his mate did.

Now to clean the Wolf King’s wounds.

Taking a softened Crescent Moon leaf I’d processed by stepping on top of it multiple times, I turn back to him but-

A wet snout presses into my wing, stopping my movements.

Alpha.

It takes me a second to realize he was calling me Alpha.

Not me.

Can you heal my Pack first?

The Wolf King asks again.

Red blood continues to stain the fur on his chest, while up close I noticed shards of white peeking out of the joints on his fore legs. Nothing could prepare me for that sight.

Urghhp.

This was my fault! This was my fault! But if I didn't do this, we could have died!! Guilt and self-hate at what I'd done clash within me, while the logical part of me does its best to push the feeling all down.

It was easier if I didn't feel. Don't think about it, Raven.

I have to clamp my beak down hard to keep from throwing up.

…I think we should get you fixed up a bit before your mate.

Crixus had twisted the Wolf King’s legs so hard they were showing bits of bone. How the Wolf King stayed calm I didn’t know. If it were me, I would be screaming in pain right now.

No. Mate and Pack first.

He growls low at me and drags himself backwards, pointing his snout towards the female wolf that stayed frozen next to me.

No! Mate! I would rather you live and I die!

Crying out, her drooping ears and tail belied her sadness as she desperately tries to reject. Looking her over, the only thing wrong with her was her poisoned state.

Here, just let me put this clay on your chest-

No!

Groaning, he drags himself closer beside Crixus, snapping weakly at my wings.

This was going nowhere…

Both of them were set in their ways. But if I didn’t heal the female first, the Wolf King would keep on avoiding me, worsening his injuries in the process.

Things would go quicker and smoother if I healed her first.

But it wasn’t like I had some sort of miracle drug to heal her and all the other wolves. The magical potion Greenie first gave me when I met was gone.

Or did I?

Feeling the leather pack on my back I consider my options. One of Caïssa’s Tears were now Crixus’. There were still several left, not counting the ones I had shaved down into smaller bits. Those, I would use again for the next time I needed to protect myself. Hmm..