Sled Ride Loyalty Trial
Originally posted here https://www.deviantart.com/xqueen0fhellx/art/Sled-Ride-Loyalty-Trial-875594037
Vayrons Included
Artemis 13336 | Erasmus 13176 | Horai 13218 | Volk 11536
Artemis was more than a little concerned for her companion. Horai was quite stiff legged as she hobbled to get a few mouthfuls of food, and the pain seemed to affect her hunger, only eating the bare minimum. She knew how much the angora could eat, and she groaned inwardly. Suddenly her extra silence throughout their trip made more sense, as the fall from the caribou would not have accounted for an injury of that degree.
Her mind looked back to when Volk and Erasmus had acted fast to pull the vitiligo female back from the edge, and that was when she had started acting funny. Of course. Artemis felt guilt that she hadn’t noticed earlier, or pressed the matter harder the few times she tried to talk to Horai. Although knowing the bloodmarked vayron, she would have fought back even harder to hide her problems.
Now that just left the problem of dealing with it. And they still had all the meat left unless they wanted it to go to waste. She fought back a snarl of anger, and breathed deep, doing her best to keep a level head. Volk would be judging her through this as well, an unplanned complication, but a good one for her. She was determined to prove herself fit for command to the older general, and she wasn’t going to blow it now.
She glanced over her companions. Horai was easily the largest of them. No single one of them could carry her alone. Erasmus was much smaller than any of them, and struggled under the weight of a newborn calf; there was no way he would be much help carrying the larger female. Nor could she leave Volk and herself to do it, and leave him alone for defense should something come across them.
None of that helped the situation, until her eyes settled on the tracks they left in the snow. Of course! Roenden was fantastic for an easier mode of travel, and they were in the middle of the woods. It would be easy to get what they needed.
“Volk, I need you to go find wood. Perhaps strong lengths of bark that wouldn’t break, or fallen logs. Erasmus, you seem pretty apt with knots. Would you be able to fashion a harness for one of us to pull a sled?”
The small smile on her general’s face told her she was doing the right thing, and she allowed herself a small breath of relief.
***
Erasmus perked up from the orders. Volk had started to head off, while Artemis worked on securing the rest of the caribou. Horai was the only one not doing anything, and he cringed looking at her. A scowl seemed permanent on her face, and he wasn’t keen on getting too close, but he could help in another way he hadn’t mentioned before.
The melanistic vay went over to the angora, and cleared his throat a few times before he managed to speak. “May-may I?” He pointed to her leg and her scowl turned into a snarl.
“Stay away from me whelp.”
He cowed away, but frowned and tried again. “I know basic fir-first aid.”
The silence echoed around them, and if not for the sound of birds and the wind, one could have heard a pin drop.
“WHAT?!” The angry voice caused him to stumble backwards, and even Volk who wasn’t out of earshot yet stopped to look back at them.
“I might be-be able to tell what-what’s wrong and take care-care of it.” He steeled himself best he could, trying to be brave in the face of fury.
“If you could please, that would be great. Volk, if you could wait a moment in case there’s something our friend here needs. And Horai, for the love of all that is holy, just let him. It’s not like anything can get worse.” The vote of confidence from Artemis was enough for him to come closer. Horai growled, but didn’t move from where she was, pointedly looking away from him while he poked at her leg.
She was clearly resisting reacting, as he felt the muscles stiffen under a gentle touch. It must hurt her more than she wanted to admit. As he pressed a little harder, and tried to bend the leg a little, he came muzzle to muzzle with blood covered fangs and he gulped hard.
“I don’t have-have what I need to be full-fully sure, but it seems like it-it is broken, I would splint it just-just in case.” He did his best not to stutter, but in the face of the war veterans, he was hard pressed not to be nervous.
***
“Volk, can you make sure to bring back something to split her leg with too please? Even if it’s not broken, it won’t hurt to make sure it doesn’t move or get bumped during travel.” The war general nodded and trotted off into the woods.
Even if they didn’t have a medic on hand, the idea to split it was a smart one, and Volk would have grabbed something for that had no one suggested it. Thankfully he didn’t have to remind anyone, which made him more satisfied that his little crew was going to do just fine without his leadership in the near future. He was excited to see where Artemis took herself in the coming years.
While on the lookout for the wood he needed, the tobiano kept his long ears perked to keep a lookout for danger. The scent of the kill could easily attract other predators, and them being split up was not good for anyone, especially if Artemis had to defend the others herself.
It wasn’t hard to gather what they needed, and he probably grabbed extra. There was nothing wrong with extra at least, and he lashed it all together into a large bundle for him to pull back. It was awkward, and not as easy as pulling a sled would be, but he got the job done by following his own trail as he slowly trudged back to where the others were waiting.
Artemis had nearly tied up the remains of the caribou, and even added in the calf that the runner carried. Horai laid in the snow, glaring at whoever came near, while Eramus was currently digging in his packs for who knows what.
***
As Volk arrived with the lumber, Horai sighed. Hopefully these dullards didn’t take too long to get things together. The angora was struggling more than she was letting on, doing her best to ignore what ailed her.
When the smaller male approached her with a mouth full of something, she growled a warning at him. He flinched, but stubbornly came to her side, where she snorted and turned away.
“I have some-something for the pain. It should help-help.” She didn’t want anything he had to offer, and was about to tell him so when a soft whine from Artemis caught her attention. The females’ eyes met, and the vitiligo vayron sighed. Fine, she’d do what the male asked.
He deposited a small pouch in front of her, and she opened it carefully. She knew nothing of herbs, and squinted at the male. If he was trying to poison her…
With a defiant snarl, she downed the small mixture of leaves, sticks and seeds, tossing the empty pouch back at him before resuming her posture of lying away from him. She heard him retreat, and figured good riddance. All she had to do was suffer the splint he wanted to put on her, and then with any luck, she could ignore him the rest of the journey.
While the others worked to lash together a couple of sleds, one for herself and one for the meat, she found herself dozing off, much more tired than she would have expected. Perhaps it was just the excursion of fighting to hide her injury the whole time. She decided not to fight it, and let herself sleep in the snow.
***
As Artemis assisted in making the sleds, she kept glancing over at the now sleeping form of Horai. The melanistic vayon had a smug look on his face, and she dared ask him what he managed to feed her.
“Oh that?” She noticed his speech was much improved now that Horai wasn’t staring him down. “A mixture for pain such as ginger, cloves and willow bark, and then some stuff for sleep, like poppy seeds and lavender and valerian root, among other things. She won’t feel a thing as we get the splint on her and get the sled under her. By the time that all wears off, we’ll be long on our way and she might even be docile the rest of the trip, making getting to town a heck of a lot easier.”
Artemis stood there awestruck as he continued working on the ropes and she heard Volk chuckle. “Might want to pick up your jaw there.”
Never in a million years did she expect the shy vayron to essentially placate and knock out their most aggressive group member. That would teach her not to judge anyone again. He had surprised her with his medicinal knowledge, and with his treatment options. He was devious but efficient, and while his shy and stuttering exterior may seem harmless, she got the feeling he would be a wonderful doctor someday.
True to his word, Horai slept soundly while he lashed on the splint, and snored loudly as they hefted her onto the sled. They had tied a few pieces of wood on the sides so that they didn’t have to worry about her sliding off, and Artemis had taken her sled personally. She felt that since Horai had been injured on her watch, the bloodmarked reosean was her responsibility. Volk pulled the other one with the rest of their hunt, and Erasmus settled in the middle of their line, right behind Artemis where he could keep an eye on Horai if anything did go wrong.
***
Erasmus didn’t often get a chance to show off his skills with healing. He often tended to small things, birds and creatures that came to his garden, and left the bigger things to the actual medics in town. The pride he felt from actually being helpful on this trip caused him to keep his head high as they marched along the last leg of their journey. At some point, his patient stirred, and he halted their progress to make sure she was still doing fine.
After grumbling about how hungry she was, Erasmus figured she was doing just fine, and they broke off another chunk of the caribou for her to eat, including a few more pain relieving herbs into the meat. She ate it quickly, and nodded off again, barely bothering to finish the last bit. It caused a bit of laughter from the group as they picked up the pace again.
“How did you learn this stuff anyway?” Volk tried to make pleasant conversation with him, and the pink and black vayron beamed.
“Oh well I love gardening and poetry and it seems like a rather weird hobby to get into from that but sometimes a good epic for example needs a bit of fun elements and magic is so overused so I turned to what I was good at and started learning more of what everything I grew was used for. The reoseans in my home town also are like super nice and some of them had old uses for herbs long forgotten and it was one of those things where one thing lead to another and suddenly I’m treating injuries.”
He babbled on a bit, causing a little more laughter from his audience, and at Artemis’ prompting, he told them tales he invented on the spot, even if half the time he started a new one without finishing the first.
***
Volk enjoyed listening to the younger vayron talk about his hobbies. Anyone could tell he was passionate, and he always stopped his tale to be a good caretaker whenever Horai stirred. Artemis had done a good job getting them to this point, and the harnesses were made so that the sleds could easily be detached should trouble arise. He was proud of them all, and would be happy to award Artemis with a rank upgrade when they returned from this.
It also amused the old reosan to see Horai so docile. She was usually such a spitfire, and he hadn’t heard so much laughter in a long time. It was probably best not to draw attention to themselves, but Artemis was being careful to lead them through open areas where any attack would be spotted from miles away. She camped in the open, creating shelter in the snow, and had everyone take careful watches.
It wasn’t too long before the capital of Roenden was in view, and Artemis proved herself again by not pushing herself the last few miles. She kept an even pace, and Volk commended her verbally. She did well to hide it, but he could tell she was quite proud of herself.
“If you’d like, I can run ahead and find a doctor who can better treat her?” The runner asked, and Volk was more than curious to know how Artemis would respond.
She was silent for a while, but finally shook her head. “While you would probably be fine across that distance, especially since you are more built for speed than us, we did promise to escort you, and I won’t stop until we are safe in the capital.”
A good choice indeed. Erasmus muttered his thanks, and kept his place in their line.
***
Horai started to wake when the sounds of the city grew louder. She couldn’t remember much of the last few days and even now she was still drowsy. Still, she was ecstatic to finally be done with this. A proper doctor and she could be on her own four paws again, as she was feeling more and more embarrassed by the day.
She was vaguely aware of her companions saying their goodbyes, and she had to think hard to figure out what they were doing. They weren’t leaving her were they?
No, she heard the voice of the younger vayron and she remembered. She lifted her head and watched him start to turn away.
“Hey!” He stopped, freezing in place as everyone else around her waited for the shoe to fall.
“Thanks.” She mumbled, knowing that things could have been worse without him to help her twice.
She watched the nervous expression turn to a grin, and he bowed slightly to her. “Of course.”
She wouldn’t miss him, but she wouldn’t forget the shy reosean either. “Alright guys, are we going to get my leg looked at or what?”
-End-
Artemis 13336, Erasmus 13176, Volk 11536 Purity Trial - Loyalty Trial
Horai 13218 Companion
The loyalty trial is the ultimate showcase of trust between the Reosean and those they choose to surround themselves with - surviving in solitude is difficult, they must be able to lean on others and provide stability themselves.
♦ 'Never leave a man behind' is a mantra that is important to many in the realm - depict your Reosean bringing in their injured companion for help.
WC 2471 + 24
Corresponding Land +1
Ingin Horai 13218 +2
Other Reo Erasmus 13176 / Horai 13218 / Volk 11536 +2
Purity Trial +2
Total = 31 CP
WC 2471 + 24
Personal +1
Ingin Artemis 13336 / Horai 13218 +2
Other Reo Artemis 13336 / Horai 13218 / Volk 11536 +2
Purity Trial +2
Total = 31 CP
WC 2471 +24
Corresponding Land +1
Ingin Artemis 13336 +2
Other Reo Artemis 13336 / Erasmus 13176 / Volk 11536 +2
Total = 29 CP
WC 2471 +24
Corresponding Land +1
Ingin Artemis 13336 / Horai 13218 +2
Other Reo Artemis 13336 / Erasmus 13176 / Horai 12218 +2
Purity Trial +2
Total = 31 CP