Xerxes was the first to awaken. He looked around and saw everyone else was still asleep. Since Elric and Sir Castor had been unsuccessful in catching any prey twice now, he decided to go hunting himself. Just as he was about to head out, he heard someone speak faintly.
"Don't leave me here alone. You can't go..."
The voice was too soft. Xerxes couldn't tell who was speaking, but he looked around to see if anyone had awoken. His eyes fell on Damia and stopped. She was stirring in her sleep, as though she was having a nightmare. He moved over to her and knelt down beside her.
"Please... no..."
"Shh, little Damia, it's alright. It's just a dream, you can change it." Xerxes placed his hand in her open palm by her face and willed warmth through it to soothe her. In a matter of seconds, she had stopped stirring and the scowl on her face was replaced with a calm look.
"She has calmed down now, remove your hand." Elric had also been woken up by Damia's stirring and saw the method Xerxes had used to make her feel at ease.
Xerxes moved his hand away slowly, but kept watching Damia to make sure she truly was at rest now. Once satisfied, he stood and left the cave, never once acknowledging whether or not he had heard Elric.
Elric stared daggers into Xerxes' back as he walked away. He couldn't stand how easily Xerxes approached Damia and acted as though he was entitled to touch her whenever he wanted. Once Xerxes was out of sight, he turned his attention to Damia who now slept soundly once again. The fire had gone out while they all slept so he got it going again. Soon after, everyone else started to wake up, one by one, Damia being the last.
Embarrassed that she had slept in longer than everyone else, she grabbed her belongings and went over to a nearby stream to wash up. Elric intended to follow her, but thought better of it.
"Alcippe, go with her. Make sure she stays safe." Elric ordered.
Alcippe hated being ordered by Elric, but she had planned on going to the stream herself, so she let it go and followed behind Damia. She also thought that if she played nice with the shifter, Adi would pay more attention to her.
Adi was surprised that Elric would trust Alcippe to protect Damia considering how Alcippe felt about her and the trouble she had caused. He got up to follow the two women, but Elric stopped him. "Adi, Damia was heading to the stream. As men, we should give her the privacy she may need and stay here. Since she'll be near water, I'll be able to sense if anything is amiss. She's not going far so we'll be able to get to her before anything too serious happens."
Adi understood his point so he nodded and decided to gather more wood for the fire instead.
---
Damia reached the stream, and could hear footsteps behind her. She looked back, but the owner of the steps was hidden behind all the brush in the forest. A few more steps and she arrived at the stream. Fearing that someone might be watching, she decided not to change out of her clothes to bathe and only knelt down to wash the sleep off her face.
The footsteps continued until finally, they stopped, but no one had come into her view at the stream. Shortly after, she heard a shrill scream in the direction of the footsteps. Recognizing the scream to be Alcippe, she shot up from her position and ran in the direction of the scream.
Alcippe had not been too far behind her so she quickly found her. As she arrived, she was joined by Xerxes, Elric, and Alf. Elric saw Damia and ran towards her, taking her in his arms, and looking her over to see if she had been injured. "Were you attacked? What happened? Where's Alcippe?"
Damia didn't understand why Elric was frantic over her, but she pushed him back slightly. "I'm fine, but I think she's in that hole." She tilted her head in the direction of an opening in the ground that had not been present when she walked by earlier.
Alf and Xerxes were over by Alcippe already, helping her out of the hole. Someone had set a trap. Once Alcippe stepped over it, she fell through and a bamboo spike had gone through her calf. As the two lifted her out, her eyes fell on Damia and a furious rage overcame her as tears flowed from her eyes.
"I came to protect you like your betrothed commanded, why would you attack me!"
Now Damia was confused. "I was at the stream, what do you mean? I didn't even know you had left the cave until I heard your scream."
Alcippe fought against Xerxes and Alf to go after Damia, but the pain in her leg quickly took the fight out of her. "You liar! I clearly saw your face! How can you deny it?"
All the men looked back and forth between Damia and Alcippe until Xerxes interrupted. "Elric, use your magic to stop Alcippe's bleeding. If this goes on much longer, she'll lose too much blood. Alcippe, whomever attacked you was not Damia. I felt a spike in power that did not belong to anyone in our group, just before I heard your scream." As he said the last part, he looked at Elric who nodded his understanding and moved to form an ice barrier on Alcippe's leg.
Xerxes and Alf carried Alcippe back to the cave while Elric checked the perimeter to confirm if the person had truly left. He then ran back to the cave to prepare for their departure.
"Castor, prepare the horses, we have to leave urgently to get Alcippe to a healer. She's been attacked." Elric spoke with urgency as he gathered all that they needed to take with them. Adi helped gather Alcippe's belongings while Alf helped Damia.
"But the path hasn't returned yet. I don't know how to get to the village." Damia spoke to Alf.
Elric had overheard her. "We don't need the path. I told you before, I'm familiar with that village. I can get us there. Xerxes, you carry Alcippe on your horse. Your powers should work best for keeping her calm during the journey. She's going to be in a lot of pain, but we don't have time to take it easy."
Everyone hurriedly jumped on their mounts, with all their belongings, and Elric led the way to the village. Damia could sense something behind them as they rode away and she stole a glance back. She couldn't make out the figure, but a shadow lingered up in one of the trees by the cave. She rode closer to Alf to see if he knew about it. "Alf, did your barrier notice anyone by the cave during all of this?"
Alf shook his head. "No, there was no alarm sent by the barrier. Why?"
"Someone was watching us."