Faye stared down at the remaining wolves. Blood dripped from the wound. It ran down her forearm and slowly descended along the blade. She gripped the sword tighter in her hands as she glared at her foes. Two of the wolves began slowly encircling her. They watched her turn with them. Eventually, she found herself slowly rotating in place, trying to keep each wolf in check. They seemed more cautious now that one of their kin had met its end at the tip of her blade.
The standoff couldn't last forever. Eventually, someone needed to make a move.
Faye tried to figure out the best way to make it out of this situation alive. As her mind whirred at warp speed, the wolves made their plans first.
The one behind her leapt forward.
Faye turned to meet it, bringing her blade slashing sideways, trying to end it with one swing. Her blade cut into the wolf deeply. It cried out as it's body twisted, it's momentum shifting, causing it to tumble head over paws to the ground. It landed, blood pooling quickly beneath it. Faye readied herself for the next attack, bracing herself to feel the fangs tearing into her soft human flesh.
It didn't come.
Turning, Faye found a strange situation greeting her. There, not far from her, were two sleeping wolves. A little ways away from them, she saw the familiar form of a man. Ryder walked slowly forward, further into the light. His breathing was ragged and his arms was hanging limply in a bloodied mess at his side. Sweat dripped from his pale brow.
Faye stood there for a moment in shock, unsure of what to say or do.
"Hurry up!" Ryder whispered. "The spell doesn't last that long!"
His words helped to rid her mind of its stupor. She stride forward and stabbed her blade into the necks of both creatures. They breathed their last breath as Faye continued to stare at her companion.
Ryder nodded, then noticed the way Faye was watching him. "What?"
Faye shook her head as she pulled her blade from the corpse. She considered lying, but instead decided to tell the truth. "I...I thought you'd run."
Rider's expression didn't change. He opened his mouth to answer, but pauses. Finally, he said, "I almost did. But...then I didn't."
Faye watched Ryder for a little while longer, then nodded. "I'm glad. I would have been in some real trouble if you had."
"Yeah..."
Faye did her best to wipe the blood from her blade, but the blade itself was almost useless at this point. It was no longer sharp, it was dinged and chipped....she'd need a new one very soon.
As she looked over her blade, she sighed.
"We need to rest, so we can hurry to the city."
Ryder grunted in agreement. "Sleeping nearby these," he gestured toward the dead wolves, "probably wouldn't be the best idea. Might end up with something bigger looking to eat them, or more of their kin coming to avenge them."
Faye silently agreed as she began packing up their few things. "Let's move. We should camp a little ways away from here. Hopefully, if the scent of blood attracts anything, it'll prefer the easier meals as opposed to us."
Ryder gave his agreement and the two began to slowly make their way away from their old camp site. There wasn't much cover offered to them in these fields, but they found a portion of tall grass to bed down in. They decided against a fire due to their flammable surroundings and both tried their best to fall asleep.
It took a while, but eventually, the two found themselves falling into another dreamless night.
Faye Faye ole early the next morning and found, to her surprise, Ryder was already awake. After he'd slept in so late the first night, Faye had assumed he was the type to sleep in. Perhaps her assumption was wrong.
She slowly joined Ryder in readying everything to leave. The two of them chewed on some tough jerky as they started their journey along the road once again.
The road wasn't too defined, but it was easy enough to follow. Ryder hummed as they moved along. Unlike the previous days, the road b egg ah to split off from the route they were taking, and it became more defined. It was clear that this portion of the road was traveled along much more often than the previous portion.
It wasn't long before they came across another traveler. While Faye tensed up, readying herself for another bizarre interaction, Ryder smiled as an old man riding a cart passed them. The old man nodded in greeting, but didn't say anything. He passed them by without issue.
Faye watched the old man head further and further away from them, in the opposite direction they were headed. After a moment or two, she turned to find Ryder a few dozen yards ahead of her. She hurried to catch up.
She and Ryder walked in silence for the most part, unless Faye thought of another question to ask Ryder about the city they were headed to. From what he's told her already, it seemed to be roughly the same size that Jolis was. It wasn't well known, but it was a regular stop for traders heading into or out of Tresmus. Faye paid closer attention as the familiar name caught her ear.
When she was alive, Tresmus was the country to the East of Gosmarre. She wasn't overly familiar with it, but she'd heard of it. It gave her comfort to know that there were still some things that remained unchanged.
The two continued their trek forward.