Heirot

Ora's bright eyes looked from Joe to Daylan as her hand held his tightly. "I'm fine," she said softly, glancing wildly then into the darkness. "Frightened... You made them go away. Thank you." Her eyes returned to him slowly looking his face over. "Will Joe be okay?"

Her hair had come loose from her braid, most of it fallen around her face. Strands of hair were in front of her eyes, but it didn't bother her. It only made her eyes look brighter. She was holding his hand tightly still because she was so afraid of what might be in the dark that might get her.

Daylan held her hand, staring down into her pretty blue eyes. They seemed to glitter in the moonlight. Stop that, he told himself, they were being chased by wolves, they weren't idly sitting about the tavern. "That is good." He looked about again nervously, he wasn't sure what had driven the wolves off, but it hadn't been him. "Joe should be fine." he said, unconciously rubbing his shoulder. The phantom wound was starting to regenerate already, the healing wound never lasted very long. ".... I hope." he murmured to himself softly. He stared down into her eyes, slowly pulling her up to her feet, "We have to keep moving, they might come back." he said urgently.

Ora nodded and walked cautiously over to Joe, who was nocked unconcious, but should be waking soon. "Should we wait until he wakes up. "He is very heavy I'm sure. I could help you carry him. I'll get his legs..." She moved to his legs, wondering why they attacked Joe. Why didn't that wolf rip her head off? Why didn't he attack Daylan? Well, Daylan had magic. But, he could have easily killed her. She had nothing.

"I hope they don't come back. Gods please don't let them come back..."

Daylan walked around to the man's head, looking down at him with a sigh. Joe was bigger than he was, it wasn't going to be fun carrying the big lug around. "He ought to come to soon, perhaps we should wait." he mused to himself, the feel of another spell rising up quickly. The ball of light swelled and raised above them, illuminating the woods about a little bit better. "Keep close to me... and don't be afraid." he said softly, the power of the spell of fire in his mind as his eyes darted about the woods quickly. Perhaps the animal's were not aggresive, and had only attacked Joe since he had stabbed one of their friends.

Ora moved close to Daylan, so close that she was leaning against him slightly. Her arms wrapped around one of his arms. She felt very protected by this man and safe next to him. She didn't mean to be forward by wrapping her arms around his arm, but she was afraid. He told her not to be, and she believed he would take care of her.

"Daylan," she said softly. "D-do you think they were werewolves?" She thought about how big they were and she guessed they could be normal wolves. She had never seen a werewolf, not in its werewolf form at least. She had seen them in human form and was always wary of them.

"I hope not..."

Daylan felt her arms twine about his, the hand patting her reassuringly, not sure what else to do. "They might be... if they are, keep close to me." he replied softly. "Even if they aren't, keep close." he said with a small smile, trying to be as comforting as he could be. Truth be told he was as frightened as she was, but he couldn't admit that here now, if she saw him frightened she could lose all heart. He looked down at Joe, the man was groaning and stirring, "Wake up damn it." he muttered to himself softly. He let the flows of magic go through him again, it was comforting here in the dark, alone with Ora.

Ora did stay close to Daylan, she didn't have any other reason that would make her not stay close to him. Besides, she had this unexplainable feeling when she was close to him. She could only explain it as butterflies in her stomach or something along those lines. So she leaned comfortable against Daylan, feeling protected by him and not the least bit aware of his fear.

Daylan held her close, he would keep her safe if it cost him his life. He had never really considered himself a brave man, he was so scared he could hardly think, but he knew that. He poked Joe with his foot, "wake up damn you..." he muttered softly. He held Ora even as he did so, "Everything will be all right." he told her, an unsteady smile working its way onto his face. He thought he could hear the wolves again, Gods tell me it's imagination he said to himself silently.

Ora started to kick Joe lightly with her own foot, hoping he would wake up. She was afraid of the wolves coming back, afraid of what they might do. Would they rip them to shreds? Would they try to finish off Joe?

“Daylan... Thank you for coming with us. I don’t know what I would do if I were here alone,” She rested her head against his shoulder, trying to ignore the sound of the wolves. And then they stopped.

* * *

“What do you mean by pulling me back?!” the thin... thing called as he began to transform into the well built form of a man. “I almost had dinner.”

“He would have killed you, didn’t you smell magic?” the leader said as he pulled on one of his robes.

“So... I could have ripped his head off! Or did you stop me for the sake of the girl? You seemed quite smitten with her!”

“I didn’t stop you because of her,” the leader justified himself, and it was a bit of truth.

“We should go back and get the man you bit,” the arrogant werewolf said.

“If we go back we will go back as men, not beasts. When the time is right... he’ll become one of us,” the leader said, a fang smirk growing on his face.

“What of the magic user and the woman?” the arrogant one said.

“That, Milo, we will figure out in time...”

Daylan sighed, biting his lip as he looked down at Joe, he would have to carry the man, but Joe was bigger than him, he wasn't sure just how far he could go. "I appreciate that Ora, thank you. I just want to keep you safe, I don't know what I'd do if you were hurt." he said with a faint smile, "But we can't stay here any longer, we have to get moving." He said, crouching down beside Joe, lifting the man up and slinging him over his shoulder after some difficulty. He stopped when the sound of the wolves stopped, that only seemed to make the silence even more ominous.

Ora jumped and screamed when a hand fell lightly on her shoulder, that was not Daylan's. "I'm sorry to frighten you miss, but we heard the sound of wolves," one of the men said as she turned to find two of them standing behind her.

The one with his hand pressed hard against her shoulder was a gruff looking person with a short thick red beard. The other one was tall, and just like the man before her heavily musceled. Except the one that was tall had no hair on his face, but a bright pair of crystal blue eyes, however still not as bright as Ora's.

"We have a camp not far from here. Devil's those wolves. Attacking poor defenceless travelers like yourselves." He said, hand still holding her shoulder firmly as if he wouldn't dare let go of her.

"Want me to get that, little man?" Milo said as he walked towards Daylan.

"His name is Daylan," Ora corrected him, a sort of curtness in her voice that a mother would have to a child.

"My name is Lucas, and his name is Milo," Lucas said, nodding ot the one wanting to help Daylan with Joe's heavy body.

Daylan turned quickly when Ora screamed, the blaze of the magic filling him before he realized that it was just two men standing before them. A nervous grin formed on his face as he stood before the two, "Yes, they are strangely bold for wolves." he mused to himself, they might not be werewolves but this place had many strange beasts in it.

Daylan accepted the help from the other man, hardly even taking note of Ora's curt, commanding tone as he shouldered Joe between them, "Nice to meet you Lucas and Milo, I wish that we could've met at a better time. My... companion's name is Ora." he said, tilting his head towards Ora, "And this passed out lug is Joe." he said, lifting Joe a bit. He would follow these men to their camp, but a voice in the back of the head kept telling him to remain cautious here in the woods, the men could be bandits.

Ora looked back at Daylan. She trusted him, but she didn't trust these people. Though, Ora wasn't proned to trusting people she didn't know that well. But, for the moment it was the only offer of help she had recieved. Lucas moved his hand around to her back to her urge her around him so that they might walk to the camp.

"What are folks like you doing out here in the middle of the night," he asked both of them, but his eyes rested on Ora.

"We are traveling around Arken, just to find a more suitable place to live," she told him.

"Oh? So, which one is your husband?"

"Joe is my brother and Daylan is my friend," Ora told him, arching an elegant black eyebrow.

"Ah, a pretty girl like you not married yet!"

Milo leaned towards Daylan. "I think he's taken with her," he commented with a strange twist of amusement. "She's got the looks that's for sure..."

Daylan stayed close to the two, following Lucas's eyes to Ora, s faint frown crossing his face before it vanished moments later. "Yes where we were, it was becoming more and more difficult to continue on." he said, not really adding much to Ora's lie. He kept close to Ora, he needed to be close if the men turned on them. The magic still pulsed through him, the raw power of it exilhirating. He looked back towards Milo, a faint grin of amusement twisting across his face, "It would seem he is She really does." He said, eyes turning back to Ora, a bit of worry evident there. He was afraid that he himself was rather taken with her.

They arrived at a small camp with about four tents. Two more men emerged from the tents with a slightly condused expression on their face. "Where did you pick them up?" one of them asked, tilting his head to the side.

"We heard some wolves and we went out to hunt them and found these poor souls. One of them was bitten."

Ora tilted her head to the side and looked at Lucas. She hadn't mentioned that... and neither had Daylan... Right?