Lykos looked at the boy as they both sat on the ground. Zahira, Dania, and Iaceo were still incapacitated. Lykos stared at the boy. His wolf ears twitched and clapped his hands.
"Oh right! What's your name kid?" asked Lykos.
"It's Yarell." Responded the boy. He looked at Lykos wolf ears and tail intently.
"Um, what are you staring at Yarell?" asked Lykos, raising his eyebrow at him.
"Can I touch them?" asked Yarell as he pointed his small hand at his wolf ears.
Lykos was slightly taken aback, but he felt it would be wrong to deny the boy such a small request after everything that just went down. He leaned his head down slightly, and the boy reached out. He rubbed the soft furry wolf ears between his fingers and smiled.
"Wow! So soft!" he said giggling. He eventually let go of his wolf ears and looked at the three injured knights.
"Will they be ok?" asked Yarell worried.
"They'll be fine. I cauterised their wounds. The bleeding stopped, that's good enough for them. They're strong. We've all experienced worse injuries than those during training to be a knight." said Lykos as he stood up from the ground.
"Wanna fill me in on what the hell happened? I assume the lady who I boiled is an articant," Lykos looked at the woman who was knocked out in a seated position, "I gotta check if she's alive actually. Anyways, if she is she won't be waking up any time soon. So tell me who the hell is she, and is she related to that cloaked ice dude who attacked me and my brother? He called himself Renus Ranyls? Something like that, I wasn't paying much attention. You know, getting attacked by massive icicles."
Yarell nodded, "Yeah. Renus Ranyls is the brother of their boss. His name is Ash Ranyls. That woman is Mira. She was in charge of the prisoners."
"Prisoners huh? So you being alive wasn't some fluke. They just kept a few of you alive. That makes sense. Where are they? And your parents? Are they there too?" asked Lykos as he crouched down to Yarell's level trying to make him feel more comfortable.
Yarell pointed at the frozen over castle, "They are held there in the lowest dungeon. It's about a few hundred. My parents and sister are trapped in there with the rest. The lord of our town is also inside.I don't know why, but they fed us quite well. Well Mira did anyway." he looked over at Mira and quickly turned away; not wanting to see her disfigured face.
"Mira doesn't sound so bad. Shit. Maybe I went a little too hard on her. Then again…" He looked over at his friends and shook his head.
"No sir!" Yarell shook his head, "You did nothing wrong! Just because she fed us decently doesn't change the fact that she killed countless innocent people! That bitch got what she deserved!"
Lykos eyes widened and chuckled nervously, "Hey kid I don't know if you should be saying that word. You look like you're nine."
Yarell's face scrunched as he got upset, "First of all I'm ten! Second, I think saying a cuss word is far less of a crime than burning someone half to death and evaporating a whole neighborhood of our town!"
"Uhh, touché I guess." Lykos wolf ears drooped as he rubbed the side of his neck embarrassed.
Dania began to shift as her eyes began to flutter open. Lykos immediately turned his attention to her and ran to her side. He held her hand as he looked into her eyes worried. She smiled at him and sat up straight as she hugged him. Lykos hugged her back, his wolf tail wrapping around her protectively. She broke the hug and went for a kiss. Lykos didn't deny her as their lips locked and their tongues danced. He held her face softly as she wrapped her arms around his neck. Lykos broke the kiss and moved her glimmering blonde and light green hair from her face. He took in her beauty. Despite the bruises and dirt that was plastered on her, Lykos could only see the prettiest woman he ever laid eyes on.
"Are you ok Dania?" Lykos asked as he helped her up.
"Yeah I'm fine, my shoulder is killing me though." she responded wrapping her arm around him as he picked her up to her feet.
Lykos helped keep her stable for a while until she got her footing before letting her go. He walked back to Yarell and set a hand on his shoulder, "Yarell filled me in on everything."
"Who is Yarell? The kid?" she looked at Yarell confused, "I don't think he ever told us his name. Yarell is quite the pretty name."
Yarell smiled and nodded. She walked up to her and grabbed her hand, "Thank you so much Mrs. knight! You and your husband are amazing!"
Dania's face got bright red as she blushed. She looked away flustered covering her face with one hand, "H- husband? Are you trying to give me a heart attack after I just woke up? He's my boyfriend."
Lykos blushed as well, but he was unable to hide it as his wolf tail wagged, "Yeah just her boyfriend. Like I'd ever want to marry her. Er- I mean! I would just like not right now!"
Dania nodded, "Yeah I wouldn't want to marry a dog." Dania snapped with a hint of venom in her voice.
"Hey! At least I'm not some pointed ear freak!" Lykos said embarrassed by her comment.
"Lykos, your wolf ears are literally pointed!" she said laughing.
Lykos grumbled annoyed and Dania walked up to him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek before hugging him. She let go and looked at Yarell.
"So Mira is an elf? I remembered you said that earlier before she attacked us," asked Dania as she looked over to her slummed body; surprised at her current state, "Holy shit Lykos you really fucked her up!"
"Um yeah I suppose so." Lykos responded
Yarell looked at Dania, "She claimed to be an elf, but her ears aren't pointy."
Dania approached Mira. She could see her chest rising and falling as she wheezed with each exhale. She lifted up her head seeing the burning and blistered mess her face was. She looked at her ears. The cartilage of her ears had burned and scarred. She no longer had ears. Instead it was a bundle of raw flesh. She let go of Mira disgusted as she backed away, "Well if she has elf ears they're long gone now. Fuck me. Fire really is barbaric."
"Is she alive?" asked Lykos.
Dania nodded.
"Good then we should question her when she wakes up. She won't be able to fight back because she's too weak. Plus, I destroyed her manifest. It's gonna take a while for her goldy traces to go back up to full power. She is nothing but a vegetable now." said Lykos as he looked at Mira before turning his head to Zahira and Iaceo.
Zahira groaned as she held her head. She opened her eyes to see Lykos and Dania looking at her. She was groggy at first before it dawned on her. The kid? Where was he?
She sat up immediately ignoring her body's pain screaming at her to rest, "Shit! Fucking shit! Where is he? Where is the kid!"
Lykos looked at her confused before turning around and pointing at Yarell, "Oh you mean Yarell? Yeah he's right there."
Zahira saw him and ran to hug him, "Oh my gosh! Are you ok? I'm sorry. I didn't mean to put you in danger. I was too weak."
Yarell shook his head, "It's ok miss!"
"Please call me Zahira," she said smiling before pointing at the other, "That's Dania. She is an elf. And that there is Lykos. He's the nicest wolf beast man I've met. And that loser all soaked in water and knocked out is my brother Iaceo."
Yarell nodded. Zahira turned her attention to Mira; looking at her slumped body. Rage began to fill inside her as she approached Mira's body.
"Is she dead?" asked Zahira.
"No." said Lykos.
Zahira pulled out her dagger. Before she could do anything Lykos grabbed her arm.
"What are you doing? We should question her. Killing her now would be a waste. I know you're mad, but think about it." Lykos said, looking at her with a pleading stare.
Zahira sighed and put away her dagger. A black puddle appeared below Mira. Black tendrils wrapped around her body binding her.
"Just so she won't get away. I'm killing her when we're done questioning her. got it? And also where's Adriel?" asked Zahira.
Dania nodded, "Yeah that's right you went with Adriel where is he? Is he ok?"
Lykos wolf ears twitched nervously as he shrugged his voice low, "I- I'm not sure he told me to leave and find you guys while he fought. I'm sure he's fine though. There's no way he'd die that easily."
Iaceo began to cough. Everyone turned to him as he began to regurgitate an unreasonable amount of water.
"Well, it looks like we're all awake except for her," Zahira said looking at Mira, "I guess we just have to wait."