It’s a little past what I think is noon before Alex starts to stir. Honestly, I thought he would be out for longer, he lost a lot of blood. And that was only the blood I saw him lose, who knows how long he was walking around before he found me.

I know he is going to wake up soon because he is rolling around in his sleep and mumbling to himself. My guess is nightmares about what happened to him yesterday. I feel for the guy, nightmares suck. As Alex slowly returns to the world of the waking I give his leg another look. Still missing a chunk of flesh, but mostly fine otherwise. A couple of spots are red and angry, that might be an infection or just remaining damage that has not healed yet. Hard to tell, god knows where those wolves put their teeth.

Finally, Alex finishes waking up enough to realize he’s not in his own bed and snaps awake fully. Rise and shine you lazy lout it’s my turn to take a nap. Alex looks around before finally settling his gaze on me. If I had to describe it, it’s a mixture of disbelief and what the fuck am I doing here. Then a look of realization dawned on him and he started checking himself all over. He seemed a bit upset at the state of his leg. He can get over himself I’m not a miracle worker, only a dryad.

“Did you #@ this?” he asks me. I nod my head up and down.

“Why?” he asks me.

Why? Because I could and he needed help. The problem is I can't exactly tell him that because, the translation only works one way. So I just shrug my shoulders at him. He furrows his brow and seems to be thinking about something. He’s silent for a few minutes as I just stare at him the whole time. Yea creepy I know, but I don’t have anything else to do. Finally, he looks at me again and asks another question

“What #$ you want?”

What do I want? To return to civilization to start with, but something tells me it’s not going to be that easy. What should I say that’s believable? Oh I know, I need some better clothing. I point to my top poking it in various placed to make sure he gets the message it’s the top I am talking about. Then I point down to my skirt, poking it in various places to indicate it as well.

“You want # &$# skirt?” he asks. I do the sort of hand gesture. He seems confused.

“You want new #$)%$@#?” he asks. I’m going to hope he said clothes and nod my head up and down.

He gives me a cautious look, almost as if he doesn’t believe me. I saved this guy’s life, what more does he want? I return his gaze with my own annoyed glare.

“Why do $%# want new $%@#$#@?” he asks me.

Does this man not see what I am wearing? I’ve got on literal branches and leaves for clothing. Granted I’ve made some heavy modifications but that doesn’t change the fact that I still don’t have any underwear. The stuff I made is already starting to wear down a bit, probably because I’m kicking and punching wolves in the face twenty-four seven. I just gesture once again to my makeshift garments. He still seems unconvinced.

“Why does $ monster $%^# clothing?” he asks.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Oh boy here we go with the merry-go-round of questions. I again gesture to my makeshift garments, this time putting my emphasis on the worn down areas. Actually with all the movement I’ve been doing I’m surprised I don’t have a rash or two from the crappy fitting hobo clothes I made.

“Yea $%^ leaving, @#$%$ follow me $% I’ll 'GAH'!”

His attempted warning is cut short when he tries to stand only to find pain when he moves his right leg. You’re not going anywhere fast fire boy. I just point to his right calf, point to the forest, and shake my head.

“Damn it, $ don’t want to $% stuck here!” he yells.

Well tough shit buddy, you’re going no where with that leg. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was now a cripple for life. Well ok, this world does have magic so maybe he can get it fixed. Hang on, the wolves are no problem for me and he seems to have a good handle on throwing literal fire at his problems. Maybe I can walk him back to his town or whatever. At least get him close enough that he can crawl the rest of the way and get help.

I wave and get his attention, interrupting his mumbling to himself while he digs through a side pouch on his belt I hadn’t noticed before. I make the gesture of walking with my fingers and then point to him and myself.

“$%#$ are you %$#$% on about?" He asks.

He didn’t get the meaning, hmm. I point to him, then my pod, then make the walking gesture with my fingers again.

“You want to $%#^ me to another dryad?” He asks, a bit mortified.

I frantically shake my hands and head no. Think, how do I get my point across. I should have thought some of this out while he was sleeping. Wait sleeping that’s it. I point to myself then to my pod, then press my hands together on the side of my head and lay down to make it look like I’m sleeping. Then I spring back up, point to Alex, point to the forest, make the walking gesture, then sleep on my pod again.

“You want to #%$# me to @#%$# pod to sleep?” He asks confused.

I shake my head no, point to him again, make the walking motion, then the sleeping motion.

“You want #@ walk me to %^$#@ I sleep?” He asks, still confused.

“Oh, %^$ want to %$^$ me to town?” He asks as the realization dawns on him.

Yes finally. I shake my head up and down and give a thumbs up.

“Do #$% want to die? #$ they see us %$^&(%$ out of $%# trees together we @#$$ both get killed.”

Well that’s just wonderful, what kind of fucked up shit do monsters do on the regular that warrants kill on sight if an adventurer drags one back? Maybe it’s just for dryads? Well we don’t need to go all the way, I could drag him close enough then drop him off. I stand up, hop down and run over to the trees to grab a branch. I don’t even need to manipulate it, just a branch will do.

“Hey, $%#$# are you %^*$#?” Alex yells after me.

I don’t answer because I turn around and come right back with my branch in hand. After that I ripped away the grass near Alex to expose the dirt. After that I smoothed it out with my foot, giving me a canvas to draw on.

Next I drew two circles across the board from each other. I pointed to Alex, made the sleeping gesture, then pointed to the far circle. Then I pointed to my pod, then to the closer circle. Far is his town, the other is my pod. I then pointed to him, then myself, then drew a line closing in on the far circle but not reaching it, then I made a 3rd circle. I made the walking gesture then tapped my stick on the 3rd circle. After that I pointed to Alex again then drew a line from the 3rd circle to the far circle, then made the walking gesture once more. It’s like I’m playing a game of charades. After a moment Alex seemed to pick up on my intentions.

“You #$%# to take $# part way?” he asks. I nod my head up and down.

“Why, what $% your angle #$%#^?” he asks in a more accusatory tone.

Did this dude’s parents and siblings steal all his things growing up? Because he has trust issues. I just once again point to home made garments. He still seems unconvinced and is about to argue with me some more when he’s interrupted by another howl from the forest. But this one is a lot deeper than the pups. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? The howl turns into a low growl, as a grey wolf as tall as me steps out of the forest and into the glade.

Grey Timber Wolf (Level:15)