I was carried in silence for about ten minutes through the woods. At the start I had tried to remember the way we were going so that I could retrace the route, but I gave up when I realised the clearing with the wolf would be no more useful a place as where they were taking me; I would still have no idea where to go to get out of the woods. And that was if I could escape the two soldiers first.
They both looked formidable, and I knew if I was to come up against them again, I'd have to do more than curl up and cry, to ensure my freedom.
When they finally stopped walking, it was at the remnants of a small camp fire with three tents set up around it. Another soldier sat attempting to light the fire again; he looked up as we approached, eyes fixing on the blood clotting around my stomach.
He let out a low whistle, and Silas bared his teeth at him. Grinning, the third soldier lit the fire, then turned to the closest tent and reached for something.
Silas took the time to lower me to sit on the ground by the campfire, then as he stood back up he froze.
The third soldier had come back out of the tent, and was staring at me in horror, having gone from seemingly mirthful to furious in seconds, he took a step towards me; his face an angry mask.
"What the hell have you-."
"She's marked, moron, sit down," Silas cut him off quickly with his words and by stepping determinedly in front of me.
Ty, the second soldier, remained worryingly quiet, adding to the tension as the others seemed to face off. After a few frozen moments he slowly moved then reached across to retrieve the cloth the third one had retrieved from the tent. I hadn't noticed it during the standoff, he had obviously been intending to clean my wounds, before he saw something he didn't like, probably the same thing about me the other two had seen at the start. The thing I had yet to identify.
"Marked? What with the..." the angry one let his words trail off, eyebrows drawn low over his eyes.
Silas nodded, and soldier number three stepped back and straightened, slowly nodding to himself; Silas didn't relax completely, but he too backed down a bit. The forest around us almost seemed to day in relief at the rest from conflict.
A touch on my arm drew my attention to Ty, who was crouched with the cloth covered in snow. He motioned it at my wound and I reluctantly stretched out to give him access to clean the wound. I turned to watch the two sulking soldiers as they shuffled around the camp ignoring each other.
"That's Johnathon, you won't find an ally in him, he'll be even worse than us," Ty spoke to quietly for the man in question to hear, and stayed focused on my bloody stomach. I held in a squeak and winced when I felt the first touch of the cloth.
He spoke again, head down to try and avoid his comrade's notice, "He hates your kind more than anything, even though-."
"Shut your mouth, lieutenant," it seemed Ty hadn't been quiet enough, and Johnathon's reprimand madeboth of us jump, though I was the only one who shivered in fear. Ty just gritted his teeth and scowled at my wound.
Silas sighed, "John..."
He spun on Silas, "Just because I have to, doesn't mean I like it. We'll take it back and resume the mission as soon as possible."
And with that he turned and stalked into the woods, quickly fading into the blackness.
I bristled at being called an 'it', but Ty shook his head at me with a wry grin, and pressed the cloth against me again, making me hiss in pain.
It was quiet for a moment, until Silas suddenly swore, then stormed to sit opposite me in front of the campfire, I looked at him strangely as he sat with his head between his hands, but Ty continuing to clean my wound distracted me soon enough.A silence settled, broken only by Ty standing to fetch some more bandages.
