Spring was less than happy about the strange man in the cave, Erik had done his best to convince her the man was no threat, still she insisted to watch over him with a knife in her hands as he healed Bo form his fever.

Erik doubted the man had the spirit left to go against his orders after a bear had attacked them outside the cave. When the large brown mountain bear had tackled Erik mid run the healer was thrown off the sled, by the time he had managed to free himself from the snow drift he had been flung into the bear was dead.

Erik had cracked his skull open by throwing it head first into the mountainside, his instincts had taken over for a second and a howl escaped his mismatched vocal cords. It had sounded horrifying even to him, he couldn’t imagine how it must have sounded for the man and Spring.

Now he was keeping an eye on the girl and putting more firewood into the dying flames, the cave was getting cold. The sled was still outside, covered by a few branches and a lot of snow, Erik had brought some of the food inside but Spring had told him she would only eat once Bo had eaten something.

Summer was getting worse, the smell of dying flesh hung over her, the last couple of improvised bandages were stained yellow and the crust was sealing off the wound. Erik had thought about removing them but that would open up the wound again and she had lost a lot of blood already.

The faint glow of the healers magic spread through the cave as he put his hand on Bo’s forehead, his eyes closed to concentrate and Spring gripper her knife more tightly ready to cut the man’s throat in a moments notice.

After a while the glow stopped and the healer sat back, sweating and breathing heavily.

“The boy should be fine within the next week… I need to catch my breath before I can help your other friend.” Erik would have disagreed but there was no rush, it would take months before the snow was far enough gone for the man to escape.

“Spring, I am going to get something to make a soup, keep an eye on our guest. If he tries to leave cut him, don’t kill him.” Erik rose to his feet, the movement had the healer flinch, it was strange but something in him liked the fear, like stalking prey that had smelled something was off but not yet fully understood it was about to die.

The cold air outside had him snap out of it and he began looking in the sled for anything that could belong in a soup, a couple of potatoes, carrots and onions later he grabbed a pot and moved back into the cave.

To Erik’s surprise was the healer already next to Summer, inspecting the wound, he had a hand before his mouth and a worried look on his face.

“How does it look?” the boy asked as he sat down next to the healer.

“Not good I’m afraid, the infection runs deep and she is weakened by the lack of food. I believe I can heal her in time but it will take a couple of days at least.” The healer was completely in his element, not even looking at Erik as he felt the area around the deep cut, Summer coughed a couple of times and murmured something.

The faint glow returned to the man’s hands as he traced along the outlines of the wound, Erik watched as the edges began to slowly mend, pushing the yellow scab away with drops of red blood.

The skin that grew was weathered and thin, only a cover for the wound beneath.

“I fear she will keep a big scar, I do not have to power to avoid one.” Sweat was gathering on his forehead as the edges of the wounds grew closer together.

After a few minutes the glowing stopped and the healer settled back, Erik watched as he gasped for air, shivering as if he had just run for miles.

Whatever it was the man was doing drained him of life.

Erik set up the small pot over the fire snapping some carrots in two and peeling the onions, then he went outside again and got some snow. Within minutes the pot was filled with a watery soup, Bo wasn’t thrashing around in his sleep anymore and Spring was sleeping next to her brother.

“What are two children doing here?” The healer asked as he sat down next to Erik.

The boy sighed, he had been asking himself that a lot earlier, now he knew the two had belonged to the Shocktroops just as much as he had.

“They chose to follow Summer after their parents died.” He answered as he stirred the still cold soup.

“What is your name?” The boy asked to change the topic.

The healer sighed. “My name is Ascel, I am a healer of the University currently on my year outside… or was at least before I was sent to the soldiers in the village.”

The man sounded less than happy about it, maybe Erik could gain some sort of insight into the University.

“I have never met a magician before… I somehow thought you would be a lot scarier.” Erik said as he, for the first time, really took a look at the man sitting next to him.

He was thin, slightly taller than Alaric was, his eyes were a dark brown. When he shifted Erik could see a scroll of paper in the man’s coat pocket.

“Well it’s not like there are a lot of us traveling the lands, most that leave the university do so in their one year of travel… and most of them travel to the nearest brothel and stay there until they can return. Most of us don’t like the outside world that much.” He sounded lost as he hugged his feet in front of him, Erik sighed.

He had expected the mage to have joined the army because of money, or power something easier to understand and easier to hate for.

After all he could not let the man leave here after he finished healing Summer.

“What happened to you?” Erik felt the man’s eyes on him, the question might have been unavoidable but still, he was not quite sure on how to answer it.

“I… don’t really know…” he said keeping his eyes on the pot of soup in front of him, hoping the water would begin to boil so he had something to do.

“I have never seen someone react like that to the power of healing, neither have I seen a wound close that fast without the use of some serious magic.” Erik sighed again and watched as the spirit wolf walked over to where Spring and Bo were sleeping, its fur shining a bit of light on their faces, this would be hard to explain.

“I think I died…” He said after a while, the wolf looking at him as it sat down next to the two kids. For a while Thomas said nothing, just stared at him his gaze seemingly looking right through him.

“I think you might be right…” He said after a while. “I do think you died, I have never seen something like the cloud you drag around with yourself… it seems to dim all life next to you like a shadow.

The only time you see something resembling this is when two powers of polar opposition are close to each other… not that I ever heard of a opposition to life.” For some reason hearing it from another human being did not make things better for Erik, the opposite was the case, he felt worse than before.

“So… can you fix me?” The question hung in the air for a while the wolf cowering on the other side of the fire.

“I don’t know… maybe? But we need to take care of the woman first, it’s going to take me at least another day before she is far enough healed.”

Erik smiled, for the first time in a while he did so because he was happy, a feeling he had nearly forgotten.