Dark was truly starting to settle into the cove as they stared after the spiders, surprised by their sudden retreat.
“We should get out from under these thick webs before we make camp,” said Ainz quietly. They all nodded and made a quick retreat back down the trail some until they were out from under the thick webbed tunnels. Ruthrrien dragged the dead spider along with them for a fresh meal.
“A few smaller fires around us should keep them away,” Lucerin added as they began to unpack and gather wood. No one spoke much as they worked, building three small fires and one larger one that they cooked the spider meat on. It wasn’t until they had settled and had their fill before any of them spoke again.
“Surprisingly delicious,” Ainz commented to break the silence, “how many more flowers do we still have to find?”
“Six,” replied Lucerin with a heavy sigh, “and the way this trip is going what with the goblins, the…” he stopped himself and glanced at Ruthrrien, “well whatever attacked her, a troll, and now giant spiders…what else are we going to meet out here? At this rate, we’ll be lucky to get all ten and return alive.”
“Well we can always burn the forest if the worst happens. But we all agree we need the money, right?” everyone nodded silently in agreement. “Well then, I’ll send my raven out at first light to find the nearest source of water and we’ll start our search again then.”
“Think we could get a little more in payment with all the trouble we’re going through?” Lucerin posing the question to no one in particular.
“I don’t mind asking,” Ruthrrien responded heavily, massaging her shoulder, “this is going to take weeks to heal properly without any treatment, and that won’t come cheap.”
Gelwyn, who had been lounging against her pony, enjoying her food merrily, sat up some as Lucerin and Ainz tensed a little. “About that…” said Lucerin cautiously, “how is it?”
She shrugged a little, playing it off as unimportant. “It hasn’t kept me from fighting. It’s just sore from being wound up in that spiders web,” she added grumpily and started to unwrap the bandage, thinking she better check on it. As the last layer peeled away, fresh blood and puss was oozing from the wound.
“That doesn’t look good,” Lucerin commented flatly.
“It just needs to be cleaned and sewn up. Didn’t really have a chance to do that with the rain last night did we?” she responded grumpily, grabbing her waterskin and began pouring some water over it. As the blood and dirt cleared away, she noticed a few small thin black lines forming around the bite wound. She only paused for a second as a flicker of panic surged through her mind, but she steeled herself and quickly dismissed it. Feeling their gaze, she grabbed the suture kit from her pack and began sewing up her wound through gritted teeth, trying not to think about the Tiefling’s mention of werewolves.
Lost in thought and consumed by the pain of her task, she didn’t notice the elf and dwarf get up and move away to one of the smaller fires. Gelwyn also slipped away shortly after them, and quietly followed the two without their notice.
They were talking in low voices barely above a whisper. Lucerin was explaining to Ainz that in his studies he had read that it could take up to a week for symptoms to start showing in someone who had been bitten, and that the curse would not fully manifest until the next full moon.
“So we have about a month.” Ainz said quizzically.
He nodded, “Chances are, we finish this job and won’t have to see her ever again. But I don’t think she has a clue what’s happened to her. She looks far less concerned than she should be, or she’s hiding it well. So what happens when a month goes by and she transforms in a dense area of the city?
“Then we would probably get called in to take care of her. Or worse, get blamed for it.”
“Yeah,” finger and thumb stroking his chin thoughtfully.
“Do you have any silver on you? I mean, we could just deal with her now…” an evil glint flashed across his eyes as he glanced back at her.
“Wow, really?” eyes narrowing incredulously.
“She would make a good minion…”
“Look, we don’t have to do anything right now. We still need her considering what we’ve already faced. She may be as dumb as rocks, but she does pack a punch and can take a hit better than the rest of us. She’s more useful alive than with you controlling her lifeless form. You would jeopardize us all by killing her now.”
Ainz stared into the fire thoughtfully, “A fair point. Alright, let’s get this job done quickly and then decide what to do.”
“Despite what’s typical of my race, I don’t want to send a werewolf among innocent people. I know the curse can be removed by a warlock’s magic, but I wouldn’t know how. It would take a lot of research and effort.” Pausing for a moment. He hardly knew the woman, and would rather kill one to spare the innocent than try and save her, unless someone paid him well to learn the magic necessary to remove the curse.
“At any rate,” he continued, “If something goes sideways before we get back, we’ll deal with it. Otherwise, we wait until we get back to the city.”
“Well, if you guys are ok with her biting one of our heads off..” piped up Gelwyn suddenly from behind them.
Both blinked with surprise and turned to her. “Have you been here the whole time?” Lucerin asked quietly looking down at her.
She grinned, “No of course not.”
“She knows” said Ainz and Lucerin together. She giggled some.
“Not a word to her,” Lucerin said forcefully as her face grew serious.
“You think I’m going to tell her?!,” voice rising a little indignantly.
“Shhh, keep it down,” Ainz hissed.
They all turned their heads towards Ruthrrien to see if she had heard the high pitched voice of the halfling. To their relief, Ruthrrien had laid down on her good side with her back to them, already asleep with shoulder re-bandaged, not having heard a word of their whispered conversation.
Letting out a sigh, the three moved away from each other, Ainz and Gelwyn tending the fires before settling into their bedrolls as Lucerin took the first watch.
The Whitney Scott 