The dry and cracked desert floor stretched for miles. In the distance the silhouette of a rocky ridgeline cast a jagged pattern against the night sky. Above it, a full moon lighting the entire valley. She had the strange sense that this place was familiar to her when the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. Filled with dread, she turned and found a tall shadow-like figure of a wolf towering over her. It stood on two legs, with fur so black it seemed to absorb light itself.
She was frozen to the spot as every cell in her body turned ice cold. It grinned wickedly at her, teeth dripping with saliva. Then it grew larger and taller, stretching up to the moon like a deathly shadow. It’s jaw opened wide and took a horrendous bite into the moon, blood pouring from it like a river. Suddenly the river of blood was rushing toward her, and she began to run away as fast as she could. But it grew and grew, swallowing the world around her and washing her away as a sickly chuckle filled her ears.
She was drowning until, SMACK!
A slap echoed across her face and her eyes snapped open to find Gelwyn’s small form in her face. She blinked a few times in shock then shoved the halfling off her angrily as she sat up. Her heart was racing and she was drenched with sweat, legs tangled in her bedroll.
She noticed the entire group around her as Gelwyn stood and brushed herself off. “You were screaming your head off you crazy b**ch! Someone had to wake you.”
“I…..” she stopped, her heart still racing with fear, “..sorry. I get nightmares sometimes.” She started to untangle herself and got to her feet, pushing past them all. “Just not like this.” She thought to herself, still white as a sheet. “I just…need a minute.”
No one stopped her as she walked off a little ways. What WAS that? She had never felt that level of fear before that she could remember, even from her regular nightmares. Resting a hand on a large tree trunk to steady herself, she tried to force calmer breathing, shaking like a leaf. After a few minutes she finally settled. Then with another pang of dread, she glanced at the bandage on her shoulder that hid the bite marks. Checking back to see that no one had followed, she unwrapped it slowly.
The wound was no longer there, perfectly healed as if it had never been. But the black markings of the curse remained. She wondered how much longer she could hide it, especially from the tiefling who hunted werewolves, and the necromancer that wanted her dead anyway. How much longer did she have before her mind was affected? Could she control it? Was there a cure?
“The sooner we get this job done, the sooner I can get back to the city. To Arlen. He’ll know. He wouldn’t just….” but she paused. What if he killed her the moment he saw the mark? Could she trust him? Deciding she would figure that out later on the way back, she wrapped the shoulder back up, determined to pretend it was still a normal injury, and made her way back to camp.
————————
They quickly made their way towards the falls, no one bringing up the subject of her fitful sleep, which was just fine with her. As the sound of rushing water grew louder, they slowed and quietly spread out, beginning their search for the flowers once more. The tiefling had been right, and they had soon gathered more than enough to fulfill their quest.
Just as they began to regroup around the large pool at the base of the falls, a number of growls came from the top of the ledge. A pack of wolves and dire wolves had appeared, hackles raised and teeth bared at the encroachment on their territory.
Again she felt that strange pull inside, a curious longing. But it was quickly replaced by the fear of what she was now becoming. She made to back away slowly, hoping that the pack would maybe just let them go if they didn’t appear threatening.
Before she took the first step, Ainz launched a magical attack, killing one wolf instantly with his spectral magic. And then the fight began. The wolves rushed in, biting and tearing at the group. But the combination of magic, might and skill proved too much for the pack. As the tiefling strangled the last of the dire wolves with his giant hand, two werewolves suddenly appeared at the top of the waterfall, furious at the site of their dead pack mates.
Everyone froze, waiting for them to attack. They howled with furry, sending chills down her spine, then disappeared back into the forest. She let out a sigh of relief, not realizing she had been holding her breath.
“That was close,” Lucerin commented grimly. “Let’s go before they decide to come back.”
They all nodded but before anyone could move, a large round stone structure slowly rose from below the river’s surface.
The Whitney Scott 