Chapter 14: Dangers in the Forest
Lucas was walking in a random direction trying to get as far away as possible from the campsite and the human girl sitting in it. The realization of his feelings and the knowledge that they would probably never leave him was too shocking for him. Yet he had already decided to never pursue these feelings.
It was these realizations that caused him to lose control over his emotions once again and he needed space and time to fully process the decisions he had just made. So he stood up and escaped as quickly as possible without flat out running away.
He didn't have time to think about what his abrupt exit would look like to Eva. His instinct was to hide his inner turmoil of emotions and retreat as quickly as possible. That was the way it had always been for him. How many people had he shut out in this way?
Lucas shook his head and leaned against a nearby tree. It was at this time he realized that his noisy thoughts had drowned out the very dangerous noises around him. All of his senses were suddenly screaming danger at him. His eyes darted back and forth as he cursed himself.
Standing several feet away was a beast the size of a small bear. Blue fur covered the creature's body and it had already noticed the tiny elf that approached his space. Eyes the color of blood glared at Lucas.
Lucas reached for the belt on his waist. The sword he carried was left at the campsite. His nose twitched as a familiar scent filled his nose. The wind blew a foul body odor he would have normally not missed if not for the abundant patches of strong medicinal herbs in this area.
Grabbing the dagger at his side he silently thanked the spirits that Eva was still at the campsite and far away from this creature. If he had to guard her at the same time he did not know if he could win this fight.
Just as the thought trailed away from his mind another light crunching sound distracted Lucas and the beast across from him.
'No!' Lucas thought.
He couldn't look behind him. He must attack now or he would surely be on the losing end.
Lucas rushed at the beast while it was distracted. His heart stopped when he heard her distant voice call for him.
'Why did you follow me?' he thought inwardly as the beast's giant claws met his shoulder.
He tried to dodge, but he was not quick enough. The groan that escaped his lips was quiet as he did not want to alert Eva to their position. His knife barely cut through the thick hide of the bear-like beast. Shrugging the heavy paw off his shoulder he quickly used the beast's bulky moves to escape behind it.
The growl of the beast caused his bones to shake as he slipped beside the beast. Lucas had never been so afraid and desperate. A gasp rang out and the attention of the beast was caught once again. Lucas leaped and used his momentum to ram the knife deeply into the bear beast's neck, cutting its throat.
The bear reared up, throwing Lucas into a nearby tree and pulling the knife from his grip. Air escaped his lungs abruptly causing him to gasp loudly for air. His vision was swirling, but he still pulled himself to his feet. He had heard the bear beast roar and approach the direction the gasp had come from earlier.
He needed to save her. Another roar alerted him to the beast's location and ignoring the pain and sick feeling in his stomach from the pain of the collision he stumbled to its position. His vision still failed him so he used the loud crunching of leaves and wood to find his way.
A scream sent his heart into overdrive as the blurry shadows were still not clear in his mind.
'What is happening?!' he thought. 'I must save her!'
A loud thump followed and the trees were silent once more.
"Eva!" he yelled. "Eva!"
Lucas hit a nearby tree causing him to fall to his knees. He cursed once more. The whole fight lasted only a few moments, but it felt like a lifetime. Finally his vision cleared and he saw the bear beast dead next to an obliterated tree. He searched frantically for Eva.
A shaking figure standing next to the bear beast caught his eye and he rushed to her side. Blood covered her right side and no matter how he called to her, she did not answer. He searched her clothes and realized the blood was not the red blood of a human, but the dark purple blood of the beast. Taking a deep breath he calmed down.
"You can't freeze like that! Do you have any idea how worried I was? You must think quickly and act!" His loud voice broke her out of her shaking trance and she blushed in embarrassment. The calm teacher she was used to had been replaced by an angry elf.
Shock crossed her face as she realized his shoulder was ripped and covered in blood. "You are bleeding!" she cried.
"Don't change the subject. This is but a scratch to me. What worries me is you seem to have no survival instinct at all."
Picking her up he hissed at the pain that shot through his shoulder. The leather armor he had equipped would need to be replaced.
"You can't carry me with your shoulder like that!" Eva struggled against his arms trying to break free from his grasp.
When she realized that he would not let her go, she crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "Where are you taking me?" she asked.
"We need to leave," Lucas answered. He was still fuming. 'I can't believe I let this happen.'
"Leave? But why?" she asked.
"Beasts that small are often accompanied by others. We need to leave the area before they find the dead body," he replied.
The fear that she had forgotten returned. It was her first time encountering a beast of any kind. She had seen illustrations in books, but the knights would never allow her to go hunting with them on beast exterminations.
They claimed that it was not a lord's job to hunt beasts. It was a job meant for knights and adventurers. She had accepted everything at face value and had not given it any more thought than that.
"Let go," Lucas said.
Focusing back on the world around her she realized that, as her terrified thoughts were running through her head, she had unconsciously grabbed the clothes over Lucas' chest. Releasing her hand, she felt her feet touch the ground once more. The warmth of his chest was replaced by the cold air once more. It made her feel empty.
"Pack everything quickly. The medicinal herbs will only mask our scent for so long."
Lucas shoved things into the packs haphazardly. He kicked dirt into the fire and made sure that the hot coals would not start a fire and cause problems for the forest.
He glanced over at Eva and realized she had just finished packing her things.
"I am going to have to carry you again," he said.
They needed to move quickly and he had not been able to teach her how to move more quickly in the forest.
"Your shoulder," Eva said.
The clothes were more visibly soaked than before. Lucas looked down at his shoulder and frowned. Putting his pack down once more he pulled out the bandages he had made for Eva and began roughly winding it over the wound on his shoulder.
"Let me." Eva grabbed the bandage from his hands and neatly wound the bandage tightly. "I can at least do this much," she told him.
Her hand lingered on his shoulder when she was done. Her lips formed a line on her face. 'His strange behavior today must have something to do with me.'
Her eyes looked downcast as she turned away and grabbed her pack from the ground. She heard the clanking of Lucas' pack being slung onto his back.
'He has never forgotten to grab his weapons before entering the forest before. It was like he was fleeing from me,' she thought.
Turning around, a calm expression was on her face. It was the first time since she escaped that she put on the fake expression she had learned to use from a young age. Lucas reached down and quickly picked her up once more. The forest seemed to blur around them as he quickly ran from the area their camp had been in.
Eva had never seen him move this quickly before and a chunk of her calm expression faded and surprise filtered in. Lucas was focused on their surroundings and didn't see the clashing expressions on her face. It would take him a while, but he would eventually trace the changes that were to come over Eva to this day.
It was dark when the out of breath Lucas finally stopped. He just managed to set Eva down before falling to his knees. The pain in his shoulder had gradually increased. If it wasn't for that, he had planned to run through the night in order to put as much distance in between those beasts and them as possible.
The plants' smell was strong, but that did not reduce their chances of being tracked. Beasts' noses were a lot sharper than elves' noses. Lucas prayed they were lucky and the beast was far away from or recently separated from a pack. Either way he wasn't going to take chances with Eva.
The rhythm of the run had long put the exhausted Eva to sleep. The smell of copper and the sudden stop roused her from her nap. Next to her she saw Lucas hunched over clutching his shoulder.
"Lucas!"
Her startled voice shook Lucas from his pain. "I am fine. Just need to rebandage my shoulder and we can continue," he lied.
Moving the pack from his back he winced from the movement.
"You liar."
Eva grabbed the pack from him and rummaged through it until she found another roll of bandages. "Honestly, we should have taken care of this before we left."
She pushed Lucas down and began unwinding the blood soaked bandage. Pulling the pot from the pack she had shoved it in, she hoped that there was water nearby so she could boil them.
The wound looked swollen and painful. She pulled at his cloak and roughly pulled his arm out of his shirt so she could look at the wound better.
"Why did you let it get this bad!"
It was at this moment that the pain became too intense for Lucas and his vision blurred in front of him and he fell forward onto Eva's shoulder. Her arms caught him and she realized she now had a heavy half naked man against her.
"Wai-ait a minute. Lucas? Lucas wake up!"
None of her calls made him stir.
Reaching out with her right hand, she managed to grab his pack that was not too far from her.
"If you had just let me take care of this properly the first time we wouldn't be here," she whispered into his ear.
******
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