A crimson wave lashed out as the creature beat its wings. It washed over the convoy, doing away with Daith’s delicately woven golden net. A powerful shockwave followed, knocking them off their feet, and scaring the horses bound to the carriages.

Frightened neighs filled the air as the horses tried to break away from their bonds. A few guards broke off from the defensive line to try and calm them down, but to no avail.

Daith crouched atop the cart, his fists clenched. Golden threads of mana loosely floated around his fist as he kept it close to his chest. “Captain,” He spoke up. “If all else fails, protect my older sister. That is your priority.”

The captain only nodded once. He only had so much time before another wave of crimson mana washed over them. As they struggled to keep their footing, wolf-like creatures leapt out of the woods, pouncing on the soldiers, leaping over them to try and reach the carriages.

Within seconds, the peaceful convoy had become the centre of a battlefield. Daith forced himself to stand back up, his golden mana weaving into much simpler patters. It formed a sword made of concentrated golden light, which Daith immediately sent flying towards the wolf-bat hybrid still sitting atop the tree.

The creature leapt off the tree with a powerful beat of its leathery wings and rose higher into the air, effortlessly getting out of the light blade’s way.

Screams echoed around them as wolf-like creatures fought off the guards. Seemingly feeling no pain, they ignored all but the most lethal wounds they suffered. Ash felt his stomach turn as he watched them rip a man’s arm off. Blood sprayed the ground, turning the dirt on the stone road into a slippery mud.

“Retreat!” The captain shouted only a few seconds later. “Protect the elder princess!”

Ash felt his stomach drop before he comprehended the captain’s words. “Princess?” he breathed out in shock. Were these royal guards?!

He noticed a crimson glow in the air, distracting him from his rather abrupt realisation. He looked up, only to see the wolf-bat hybrid rear its head in preparation for another screech. It opened its bat-like mouth, revealing the crimson mana gathering around its throat.

“Run!” He shouted, grabbing Daith’s arm and hopping off the cart. Daith shouted something, but his words got lost amidst the deafening screech. They slipped on the bloody mud, but Ash somehow kept his balance, and dragged the prince towards the woods.

“What are you doing?!” Daith shouted, finally freeing his arm from Ash’s grip. His golden eyes were wide with anger as he took a step towards the convoy, but stopped mid-step as he too noticed the ball of crimson mana descend towards the convoy. “What-“

A crimson explosion shook the earth, sending both of them flying deeper into the woods. Ash felt something pierce his leg as he hit a tree trunk, then fell on the ground. His vision blurred with immense pain jolting throughout his body. Not too far away, Daith hit the ground, protected by a golden sphere.

Ash slowly moved his arm, only to feel his consciousness begin to slip away from all the pain. His arm hurt so, so much. Was it broken? It felt like it was. He closed his eyes in a childish fear – he didn’t want to see the wound. If it hurt so much, the wound had to be horrible.

Howls continued to echo throughout the woods. They would find him and kill him if he didn’t move. He had to move. He had to get up.

With a grunt, he pushed himself up on his knees, and pulled the twig sticking out of his thigh out. His arm was a bigger problem, but he didn’t need his arm to walk. “Help me,” He hissed in an attempt to catch Daith’s attention. “Hey!”

The prince flinched as if Ash’s voice snapped him out of a daze. He pried his eyes off of where the convoy was just a few moments ago. “Your arm-“ He scowled with worry, his complexion pale as a sheet of paper. “We must heal it, but I’m exhausted.” He muttered, looking at his hand. There wasn’t a scratch on him, but he did seem like he was barely standing.

“Forget about magic.” Ash winced as he took off his cloak. “Help me tear a strip off this.”

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He needed to be able to walk. They needed to get moving, to regroup with whoever survived that explosion… if anyone survived. Daith hesitantly reached for his boot, and pulled a small, thin dagger out of a hidden sheathe in it. He knelt on one knee and cut a long strip off Ash’s cloak. “Tie it around the wound,” Ash said, pointing at the bleeding wound on his leg. “Tightly,” He added.

He should have prepared the cloth first, he noted to himself as Daith helped him stem the bleeding. He had lost too much blood this way. Idiot, he cursed at himself before forcing himself to get up. His leg almost gave out, and he had to grab onto the tree trunk to remain standing.

“We have to get moving.” Daith said, seeing him get up. “I… might owe you my life.” He then added hesitantly. “I’m thankful.”

Ash grimaced. “Then help me survive.” He spoke through gritted teeth. “I can walk, so let’s get out of here.” Daith nodded. “Yeah, we should regroup with the others…” He hesitated, his worry filled gaze lingered on what remained of the convoy. His voice was but a whisper. “We must find my sister.”

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Walking through the woods while wounded had proven to be agonisingly slow. Ash considered giving up a few times, but Daith didn’t even let him slow down. Whenever he mentioned wanting to rest for a few seconds, the prince would shoot him a glance full of determination and ask him whether he could run if the creatures caught up to them. Naturally, Ash’s answer was no, he was in no shape to run. He couldn’t even walk a few steps without some help from the prince.

They walked in silence until around midnight. At that point, the prince finally relented. “We need to rest.” He finally accepted. “Wait here, I’ll find somewhere safe.” He helped Ash sit down by a large tree, then ran off towards the forest depths, away from where they last heard the blood-freezing howls.

Ash leaned his back against the tree and closed his eyes. The wounds on his arm and leg were throbbing, and his mouth was as dry as sand on a summer’s day. He needed water, rest, and a splint to make sure his arm didn’t get any worse.

Seconds passed as he waited for the prince to return, then they turned into minutes. After a few minutes, he stopped counting. His shoulder dropped as realisation hit him. Daith had probably ran off towards safety. Why wouldn’t he? He was a prince – someone of royal blood, a powerful mage whose life mattered a lot more than a random farmer from a remote village. Why would he ever come back to help Ash?

He breathed out a sigh. He needed to plan to try and survive but… his thoughts refused to organise, they denied his will and dwelled on the scenes of battle he would rather forget. He could still smell the metallic scent of blood. And his boots were still wet with bloody mud.

“Where is he?” A sharp voice startled him. His eyes shot wide open, only to see a tall woman standing before him. “I saw you drag him away – where is Daith?”

Her long, raven black hair fluttered with the cold breeze. She wore a short, black dress that certainly wasn’t fit for a walk in the woods. Her golden eyes were the same as Daith’s, though hers almost glowed in the dark. “Answer me.” She hissed, golden mana gathering in her hand, weaving itself into a blade. She pressed the sharp end of the blade against Ash’s throat. “I won’t ask again.”

“I don’t-“

“Do not lie to me!” She hissed. The blade pressed further towards his throat, breaking the skin, and drawing out blood. “Where-“

“I don’t know!” Ash shouted. “How should I know? He said he’d find a safe place and left!” He pointed west, where the prince had run off towards. “He went that way. I don’t know where he is!” Ash cried out.

She seemed taken aback by his outburst, the blade of light that formed in her hand vanished as she raised her eyebrows. “Are you… crying?” She asked with an odd tone, like she had never seen a man cry before.

Ash wiped his tears. “So what?” he hissed, then winced with pain. He had moved too suddenly, his broken arm sent jolts of pain throughout his body.

The princess scowled. “You’re wounded.” She stated, though her tone made it sound more like a question.

“You don’t say?!” Ash snapped back at her. Her lips curled down as she watched Ash slowly pull the sleeve of his shirt back, revealing the broken bone. She flinched, and so did he as he noticed the white of the bone that was sticking out of his arm.

He quickly turned around and emptied the contents of his stomach onto the ground next to him. “I shouldn’t have looked…” He muttered to himself as he wiped his mouth. He then slowly turned his head to look at it again, against his best judgement.

A simple splint wasn’t going to cut it. That much was obvious even to his untrained eye. He felt sick again and looked away. Had there been anything left in his stomach, those would have been gone too now.

The Princess let out a sigh. “Stop looking at it if you feel sick!” She exclaimed, pulling his sleeve down not very gently at all, then grabbed his other arm and pulled him up on his feet with surprising strength. “Daith is a fool for leaving a wounded man alone in a corruption-infested forest,” She complained as she dragged Ash along with her.

“Slow down!” Ash exclaimed as she hurried after Daith. “My leg – I can’t…”

Annoyed, she turned around. “I swear to the spirits…” She hissed, pressing her hand against his forehead. A golden aura broke out around her before her mana flowed around her hand, then into him. A warmth filled his body, as if he was standing under the light of the Spire on a cold day. The pain slowly faded away until it was barely noticeable.

“It’s not healed,” She warned him. “I just dulled the nerves. Healing takes a lot of time and power, I can’t spare that right now. So just keep up, will you?”

Ash couldn’t decide if she was a rude person, or a very impatient one.