The Axe Falls 2 -ch 16-

“Okay!” Claudia said and stood up.

Jessie and Sara both now had a limb splinted up. Each Elf having been given something for the pain and then told to just wait there.

“Thank you,” Sara murmured, looking at her very broken leg.

Normally Claudia would be quick to heal them, but after realizing that their would-be prisoner would need a lot of work, Claudia had prioritized that over fixing their severe breaks.

For now, a splint would be good enough to prep them for healing later. Since one would need to make sure the bones were aligned before you started to heal.

As Nick had experienced personally with Jessie.

“Of course. I’m sorry I can’t just take care of it but… Rahak was right. We need to question them and… well… they’re going to empty me out,” Claudia muttered with a shake of her head. “Probably more than twice, I think. I’m not willing to down a mana potion given the situation and that we’re not in a rush.

“Thank you for both of you being willing to let this hold for a time.”

“Sure, sure. It’s not as bad as when Nicky stuck his foot on my bits and jerked on my broken leg,” Jessie said with a laugh, and then a wince. “That was pretty fucked. This is a tea-party in comparison.”

“Was it like this?” Sara asked and gestured at her own leg. The break had been fairly bad, but nothing had poked through the skin.

“A little worse. Not far off,” lied Jessie.

Nick had no idea why Jessie would play it down, but he wasn’t going to ask, either.

Instead he looked to Claudia who met his gaze.

“Okay. Time for the faceless then,” she said with a huff then walked over to the crater.

They hadn’t moved them and had just left them there. Reasoning that so long as they were unmoved, it was unlikely to accidentally kill them.

Claudia had checked them over once and given the statement that they’d live for more than half a day without her doing anything, so everything seemed fine.

Coming up to the edge of the crater, Claudia crouched down.

Unable to help himself, Nick found himself looking to her rear end. The fabric of her clothes had stretched tight over her slim frame and just about demanded his attention.

As if realizing he was looking at her in a way he often did Jessie or Sara, Nick ripped his eyes away. Looking to the crater inhabitant.

They were wearing a type of leather armor that was heavier than Jessie’s. Strips of steel were clearly worked into it and gave it a banded-armor look.

It would certainly be easier to move in than Nick or Sara’s armor, but less armored.

A middle ground.

“I wonder what class they are,” Nick muttered.

“I have no idea,” replied Claudia, putting one hand to the person’s shoulder. “What I can tell you is she’s very… deeply… wounded. There’s much wrong with her.

“Except that some of it has healed all on it’s own. In a way that is very much not normal. Not what you would expect.

“I begin to wonder if perhaps she’s something other than human.

“It would be best if we restrained her before I healed her, just in case she decides she wants to fight us to a degree.”

“Oh, right, yeah,” Nick said and then looked around. He wasn’t sure where his backpack had gone. Claudia and Rahak had been managing it.

“Here, use these. I don’t know how to do it,” suggested Claudia while holding up some of the ropes she’d been using for making splints.

It’d work well enough.

Nick got down at the very roughed up looking woman and quickly bound her ankles together. Using one of the knots his father had taught him to use on those to be executed.

Once he’d affixed the loops, he twisted it over, then ran a line from the feet up to her waist. Then repeated the same tie-up with her wrists, and brought everything back behind her waist.

Tying the two leads together and knotting them up tight.

Later on, he could draw the line to her feet up and cause her to be hog-tied in an uncomfortable way, that’d prevent her from kicking out.

Now secured, Nick remained in a kneeling position and looked to Claudia.

“She’s not going anywhere,” he said, then shrugged his shoulders when Claudia looked like she wanted to ask questions. “When you’re taking people to be executed, you couldn’t really trust them to go willing.

“It was just easier to tie them up. Dad taught me all sorts of knots and how to use them for what situation.

“And yes, before you ask, I can make a noose. It was part and parcel to being an executioner. You have to do it right so it breaks the neck, rather than them being strangled.”

“Oh. That makes a lot of sense,” admitted Claudia, gifting him with a radiant smile.

Nick was finding it impossible to see her anything as an attractive and lovely woman anymore. Any hint of her being an adult was long gone and she matched her age fully.

“Alright! Here we go,” said the pretty healer, turning to look at the ravaged woman between them. Nick couldn’t see much of what was happening, but he imagined she was now healing her.

There was a faint blue glow that he could barely see when he struggled, but that was the extent of it.

Claudia sighed softly and then withdrew her hand.

“Well! That’s all her internal injuries. I haven’t touched her mind or head yet,” she advised. “Those can remain till the end just in case she wakes up. I wouldn’t want to trust her given that she was a deserter or working for our enemy.”

“You really have grown up, Claudia,” Nick said, watching her face curiously. “I can’t see you as anything other than a woman. Not an uneducated an naieve heir or anything like that.

“I’m sure your father would be proud of you if he knew how well you were doing in this situation.”

“Thank you. I’m-I’m trying. I’m trying really hard,” murmured Claudia. She’d been quietly pulling something out of a pouch at her side. It looked like some sort of green-leafy mass. “I have to catch up. Actually, rather than catch up, I need to push ahead.

“I have to become a woman worthy to be your wife, a countess, and an adventurer. I’m also trying to figure out how to balance those two Elves with one another.

“They seem to both be willing to listen to me so I just have to… work at it, I think.

“Rahak’s been helping me with a lot. She’s very insightful and is incredibly quick witted.”

Finishing her statement, Claudia, frowned, nodded her head as if to a thought she’d had, and stuffed the green mass into her mouth. She began to immediately chew at it, her jaw working rather far up and down.

Then Claudia suddenly paused and met Nick’s eyes. Her mouth turned to the side and she gestured at him with a hand.

“Uh?” he asked, curiously.

Claudia grimaced, then put a hand to her mouth and gestured at him with the other hand again.

Getting the hint, Nick turned and looked away.

He distinctly heard the sound of what he was almost positive was Claudia spitting.

“That’s foul,” she cursed after a second. “It’s certainly bringing my mana back rather quickly though. Much cheaper than a potion in the ledger.”

Turning, he looked back to Claudia. She was still chewing but didn’t seem to be making as extreme movements.

Oh.

I guess that makes sense.

I didn’t realize that she and Rahak had actually started using the Ledger, earlier.

I mean, I know I gave them permission, but still. I didn’t think they’d actually start digging into it.

“I didn’t use any of your own coin, but I still wanted to save where possible. You’ve been paying for everything so far, it’s the least I can do to pay for my own things at times,” Claudia murmured. “That and I do need to learn how to save coin where possible. This is a good test to see if it’s doable instead of a potion.”

Claudia suddenly put a hand in front of her mouth and caught his eyes with hers.

He looked away once again only to hear her spit, then turn back to her.

“Alright, let’s… do it again,” Claudia hissed and then put her hand atop the mauled woman again.

A faint blue was around her hand on the woman’s shoulder. Her other hand came up to lightly prod chunks of the woman’s face to hang partially back in place.

Only for a lot of the flesh to begin knitting into place where it should be. Red meat and pink flesh squirming around as if it had a mind of it’s own.

“It’s… kinda gross,” muttered Nick. It didn’t bother him in the least, but he could at least accept the fact that it was gross.

In fact, he could probably admit he was more comfortable with a dead boy than he was with a living wounded person.

“Isn’t it?” asked Claudia. “While I was with father I practiced in the medical tents when I could. It helped me a lot.

“At first I couldn’t help it and would just throw up. All over everything every time someone was brought in front of me like this.

“It got easier with time. Still makes me a touch queasy but, nothing terrible.

“This isn’t so bad at all.

“Gut wounds are still the worst. Where they have only a handfull of hitpoints and it’s all critical hit damage that I have to work on.”

“You can… tell?” Nick asked.

“Mm? Yes, of course. It’d be hard to fix someone if I couldn’t,” Claudia murmured with a warm laugh. “Apparently it’s past the starting class that you can start to see things like this.”

“Gungghh,” gargled the woman between them. “Uuuungh.”

“I haven’t fixed her tongue yet,” said Claudia as if it were an apology. “Really though, she shouldn’t even be awake. Her brain is still quite… it’s bad.”

“Unf!” argued the woman.

“She seems to disagree with you. Want me to… bonk her on the head or something? If she shouldn’t be awake than we can just fix that,” Nick offered without malice.

“No, no. It’s fine. I’ll just fix her tongue in a moment. I have enough left for that I suppose,” murmured Claudia. “Though I’ll have to let my pool refill again. It’ll be interesting to see if this little wad can manage two bar refills.”

A good portion of the woman’s mouth repaired itself next. Followed by her coughing twice.

“Unn, it hurts,” she complained.

“Considering you’re missing your nose and both eyes, like I can see into your gods damned head, that’s not a surprise,” Nick warned with a small nod of his head. “Want me to bonk you on the head?”

“No,” groaned the woman. “I’ll fucking fight you and kill you. Eat your spleen.”

“Do spleens taste good?” Nick asked, curious. “Spleens always seemed oddly shaped to me. Not to mention where they sat behind the ribs made them harder to get to.

“That and my father never bought them so it wasn’t as if I had a reason to try them.

“I’ve tried a great deal of organ-meat from animals, though. I especially enjoyed livers.”

Claudia clicked her tongue at that and resumed chewing.

“I’ll eat your spleen and tell you, you damned ass-fucker,” cursed the woman. “Maybe after that I’ll gnaw on your guts!”

“Are you normally in the habit of eating humans?” Nick asked, leaning over the top of the woman.

He could see into her sinuses and down the back of her mouth.

It certainly explained why her words and breath had an odd sound to it. She wasn’t able to get the exhale or pressure right given her lack of a nose.

“I… that… no?” replied the woman. Only to sputter. “I’ll fucking kill you!”

“Hm. Did you regenerate her teeth?” Nick asked and lightly eased the woman’s upper lip upwards. His armored finger not in any danger even if she managed to bite him.

He saw that her teeth were indeed there.

Surprisingly though, they weren’t teeth he was expecting.

Her canines, both upper and lower, were far longer and sharper looking than he expected. Her incisors looked incredibly sharp and partially angled. There were also a number of teeth that looked like they were simply not there.

Even her molars didn’t look like molars and were more akin to teeth.

Or more accurately, large triangles. That when the top and bottom came down together it’d almost be like a pair of scissors.

“My, what lovely teeth you have,” deadpanned Nick, pushing his fingertip up into her gum and pulling her mouth to the side.

“Werewolf, Sire. She’s a Werewolf,” Lucian advised him. “Her being here is as strange as Rahak being in country. Werewolves prefer to remain in their own nation. It’s somewhat far to the east. Well beyond our borders.”

“Well, Miss Werewolf… what brings you around these parts? Other than being turned into Gryphon food,” Nick asked in a calm and very steady tone. He kept every word at the same level and volume without much inflection. “If your answer is interesting, I’ll have my healer here keep putting you back together.

“If your answer sucks… well… we’ll just leave you here to survive as best as you can. But… I’ll be honest… those Gryphons were clearly sent here for a reason. I imagine you’re on a lovely wanted list now.

“I really don’t care one way or the other if you decide to be a good girl or a bad girl, but you’ll need to decide one way or the other.”

The woman didn’t pull away from Nick poking and prodding at her teeth, nor did she seem overly bothered for being called out on what she was.

He also had a bit of a stupid idea.

Wolves had been a normal problem where he grew up. Depredation was a serious issue with so much livestock running around.

They did best with non-aggression, only.

On top of that, without a sense of smell, like when an area was blanketed in an overwhelming scent, they were often incredibly confused and often scared. Lashing out quickly.

“Work,” she said finally after Nick withdrew his hand and start removing the gauntlet from his right hand. “I was here for work. Hired to be a tracker and hunter. I’m a level sixty-two Huntsman. I use a long-bow and a long sword.

“I was hired by Dalph. He deserted from the army and wanted me to make sure the camp and surrounding area was clear.”

“What a good girl,” Nick said warmly though at an even volume. He put his right hand into her hair and began smoothing it backward with firm, yet gentle, pressure. Lightly scratching at her scalp with his fingertips. “Thank you for such good information, good girl. What’s your name. Despite you being a good girl, I can’t just call you good girl.

“Claudia dear, would you please keep healing our good girl here?”

“Of course,” murmured Claudia, giving him a strange look even as he continued to pet her head.

“Harlowe,” rumbled the Werewolf, sounding incredibly confused.

“Harlowe. That’s a good strong name,” remarked Nick, continuing to pet her. “Harlowe, you were hired on, but the one paying you is gone. Gryphon got him.

“If you could give me more information, like if the deserters were working for someone, or there was someone who didn’t belong, I’d be happy to reward you.

“I’m sure I could find a nice big hunk of raw meat for you. Any preference on type? Do you like cow?”

“I… I like cow. I’m starving,” answered Harlowe, still sounding extremely out of sorts. “There were three or four people who didn’t belong. They smelled wrong compared to everyone else.”

“Wrong like… not human or wrong like they smell like a foreigner?” Nick asked, running his fingertips back and forth along her hairline.

“Magic smell. Didn’t belong. Magic has a smell and it was magic that wasn’t something I normally smell here,” Harlowe answered as Claudia continued to heal her.

Nick was watching her nose reform itself and filling in rather quickly.

“Oh, fascinating, fascinating,” continued Nick. “You’re such a good girl Harlowe. Now how about you give me a smell so you know I’m alright.

“While you’re doing that, do you like your beef bloody raw, raw, seared, or cooked? I assume you’d want it bloody raw.”

Harlowe’s nose finished growing in as the healing magic started in on her eyes.

The tip of said nose began to twitch and move back and forth. Sniffing at the hand presented in front of her face.

“Bloody raw,” Harlowe confirmed. “You smell like… a predator.”

“Why thank you. I appreciate the compliment. I’ll get you that bloody raw beef then. Is there anything else I should know about these people, Harlowe? Anything else from my good girl?”

“They… ah… the people who didn’t belong knew what I was. I didn’t tell anyone though,” Harlowe said. “Which is weird because even my employer didn’t know. But they didn’t tell anyone, either.”

Harlowe’s eyes filled in and were revealed to be a greenish-brown that could definitely be labeled as hazel.

Now that her full face was there, Nick noted she had a very angular look to her features. Hard and sharp features and a slightly large nose. Her mouth was also a bit wider than he normally would attribute it to.

Her hair was a shoulder-length blonde that was a mess of tangles, blood, and what looked like a few twigs. All of it wound up and looking as if it needed some severe care.

A few seconds after that she blinked and her eyes focused on him. Then her nose twitched again.

“Now, Harlowe, shall I fetch you that beef? Would you like to come away with me for a walk to get some of that anxiety out, too?” Nick offered. “If you like, we could go carve a hunk off a Gryphon so you could eat some of them in return. The one that pecked at you is just over yonder.”

“Yes,” she said, staring at him intently.

“Great. Let’s go on that walk. I’d like to talk to you about hiring you. I could use a professional woodsman,” Nick said with a grin.

Reaching down around and behind the woman, he neatly undid the knot and pulled on it in two places. Then reached down and did the same at her ankles.

The bindings would fall away easily once she stood up.

Not waiting for her, he instead got up and began walking away. Giving her distance and space as he moved over to where his backpack was.

Rahak had it and she was currently stuffing Gryphon parts into it.

There was a scrambling noise behind him and then Harlowe was there, moving along next to him.

Surprisingly, she was as tall as he was though her frame was lithe and athletic.

“Think you can smell out your weapons, by the way? When you landed you had nothing on you,” Nick remarked in an offhand way. His voice and tone still calm and smooth.

“Yes. I can do that,” Harlowe agreed, still staring at him.

“Go do that, I’ll get your beef, and we’ll take that walk,” he offered and gave her a smile.

He’d almost said “go fetch” but realized that was likely a bad idea.

Right now, Harlowe was still in her fight or flight phase of their new relationship.

She was curious, interested, and had been baited with rewards.

At the moment, she could just as easily run away in the next moment as to stick around.

Harlowe nodded her head, sniffed, then started moving off a short ways. Moving one way, then the other. Seemingly following some type of trail.

Well!

If we can hire her on, that’s one more soldier for our cause. I might even be able to get a better price if I bait her further with meat.

“That would be a good thing, Sire,” Lucian murmured. “Though I should warn you. Werewolves are… not wolves. Just as you’re not a Dragon.

“They’re also less welcome than a Dark Elf.”

It’ll be fine.

If it isn’t, well, I’ll just have to kill her.

She probably has a bounty on her head that we could benefit off of, too.

“I got them,” Harlowe said, surprising him from behind. “They weren’t far.”

He’d managed to school his features and partially turn toward her.

Giving her a smile he nodded his head.

“What a good girl you are, Harlowe,” he said in the same warm, smooth, tone. “I’d offer to give you a head pat, but I’m sure you’re more eager for your beef. You mentioned you were starving?”

“Yes, I’m very hungry. I missed the last meal and I didn’t get a chance to check my traps,” she answered. “That’d be nice.

“You’re rather tall.

“Big.

“Do you hunt?”

“Mm, I do. But not in the way you’re thinking, I’m sure,” Nick answered, still smiling. He was trying to keep it all light touches with his words. “A very dangerous prey that’s also hunting me. Now… beef.”