Beryn was quiet as Carnelian landed just outside the town’s now fully functional walls. She moved out to greet her. “Things are much improved,” the dragon praised right away.

Beryn felt a thrill go through her as Carnelian lowered her head and placed a very careful lick against her forehead. The vine on her shoulder tightened a little, reacting to her excitement. “I am glad you can see it.”

“All three subjects you have caught me so far have also been helpful. How goes the development of the new arrowheads?”

“They are supposed to present me with something tonight. We found tracks leading to what looks like a mystic rabbit warren. I was thinking about taking it on for our experiment.”

“Save a few for me, if you can, will you?”

Beryn smiled. “Of course. Thank you for the medicine that you brought us last. There was a terrible cough.”

“I am glad that it treated it. Do you think you can start the mining work that we discussed?”

“Arit has been hard at work surveying for the best spots to start digging. Are we becoming too expensive?”

“No… I probably could not capture any of these mystics on my own, so that achievement alone makes this town profitable to me. You are doing well, but I would like to see you become exceptional.” The dragon nuzzled her and thrummed.

Beryn hugged the nose nuzzling her. Of course, I want that too, the elf thought as she closed her eyes and leaned against the red dragon. “We will, I promise.”

“This is why you are my favorite. Ever see that silver-haired woman again? Do you think the mystics killed her?”

“No, there has been no news, so perhaps so. You were attacked by a mystic though?”

“Yes. I am not sure if there are allies or not. I suppose it soon may not matter for them, depending on the new battle plan and experiment.”

She moved forward and peered into the cage, where the fawn huddled and shivered, in much better condition than earlier specimens. Killing its parents had caused it to just give up. “Well done.”

“Please do not take me away,” the childlike voice pleaded.

Beryn wished the damn things would just shut up. She detested when they sounded like little kids crying. “Have you heard anything else about how the poison works?”

“No, but I did learn of a rumor that if we can get to the King, called Moryshin, and kill him, they will all go back to dumb beasts with enough time. For now, focus on the weapon tests and then we can decide how to advance from there.”

“Yes,” Beryn agreed, but she could already envision her task, to hunt and kill the king of pretentious, false forest-gods.

“I am placing the food I brought in the central square. I will be taking this now,” the dragon said, leaving her.

Beryn stood where she was until she could no longer see the red dragon. She heard wolves howling somewhere deeper in the forest. Howl all you like, she thought at them, soon, nothing will save even you.

The wolves were the most expensive adversaries so far, she had been able to pick out roughly their territory within the woods based on who did and did not return from hunting in various parts of the forest.

“My lady, we have set up the test targets and have arrows ready for you.”

She nodded. She took up the bow they had waiting and fired into the first target. It was fabric wrapped around some of the rotten flour they mostly used to help start fires. She swirled the arrow through the poison mixture they had been using to poison every arrow. She pulled back the string, squaring up her stance, breathing in. She lined up the shot and let it fly. The arrow hit nearly the center of the round lumpy shape and a plume of flour burst out of it.

She nodded. “And the new one?”

The normal arrow tips were metal and had an almost birdlike shape so that once they punctured the thick hides of their enemies, they would be impossible to remove without doing more damage. It was a standard tip used in most wars.

The new arrow tip had a similar shape, but instead of just two tails, it had four, and the center was thicker, so the head was longer to get the pointed tip. She touched it, “This is not a metal arrow?” Only the leading edge seemed to be metal. The rest of the arrow felt too textured.

“A type of clay around a metal frame. It was too heavy in all metal and didn’t do what we were hoping.”

“It is still too heavy, and it might be better off as a crossbow bolt. Let me try it,” Beryn said.

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It was heavy. She aimed high trying to compensate for it, but she still hit low on the second target. There was a loud thud and a spray of white as the flour exploded everywhere. Beryn blinked with a little surprise.

“Come see how it did, my lady.” The smith was all grinning.

They had colored the poison for both of the tests dark red. In the first bag, the poison had smeared and clumped with the flour inside the bag, which made sense for a poisoned arrow.

However, the arrow that had been designed to explode had done just that. The tip was designed with two compartments, one with the poison and an extra chemical. When it struck a hard surface, the fragile inner membrane would burst, letting a second substance mix, which would react with a boiling froth - and with the breaks already in the fragile tip, the whole thing would explode. Beryn was pleased to see that at least part of the explosion had gone into the bag of flour, though there were shards of the arrow on the ground that probably never penetrated it. “Are we really sure these will penetrate animal hide?”

“Not entirely. We’re hoping you will sign off on the test. If it does work, it will drop a lot bigger dose of poison into the false gods.”

She nodded. They almost always ran away after the fire overtook them, and sometimes they attacked their kin.

“Well, we know just the place. Let’s get a war party together.”

***

Rosalea studied the pup who had finally stopped stress panting. “So, are you are all right?” The pup gave her side eyes over his shoulder and whined. “Amalia is correct, you know; I will look after you. And when we leave some day? I will get you out of here, promise,” she said, rubbing over his back and carefully up his neck. He didn’t whine at her or growl. “Good boy, just get used to me a little, and no more biting, yes?”

Rosalea slowly used both hands to rub down along his body, watching him carefully, until she was able to start to lift him up. He began screaming again, but he didn’t try to bite her. She scooped him to her chest warily, and then struggled to get up. Her legs had gone asleep.

She wrapped him in both her arms and held him close and made reassuring “ooh” noises to him like he was a baby she was holding. He stopped, his ear cocking toward her. “Yes, see, good boy, ooh, good,” she wished she could actually talk to him and reassure him. I did not really have parents, but I can say almost everyone I have been around at least wanted me for something.

The wind picked up, biting at her skin with the chill. Life came back into her legs with pins and needles. When I lost Fen, my world fell apart… my sanity was supposed to fall apart, but instead, it seems like the world around me is falling apart instead. The puppy was whimpering and trembling.

“Well, so, how about we give you a name? Yes. I think a name.” She ducked under the canvas into her home and then she dropped it shut. It felt eerie and lonely without Miri or some other wolf around. I wonder if Miri will even play with him. She put the little guy down, and he ran for the back of the house, where the flowers, fed magically by Mere, grew in a nice clover-like carpet. She had a barrel back there, and he hid behind it.

“Nauru,” Rosalea decided, even though she couldn’t see the little runt anymore.“It doesn’t matter if no one wants you,” she said softly. “I promise to want you.”

She decided that he would probably stay hidden while she got some fresh water, so she quietly slipped out, picked up her bowl, and washed it thoroughly. She was half way through filling it when the puppy was screaming insecurely inside her shelter. “What?” Rosalea asked as she opened the canvas flap. He had come out form his barrel and was on her bed, but when he saw her, he screamed and ran back for cover.

Rosalea could not help but smile, “I see, you do not know how you feel about me, but you definitely know how you feel about being alone?”

She would check the soup that had been simmering quite a long time now. Everything seemed soft enough, though the meat was still tough and pretty chewy. She had a feeling the pup wouldn’t care. She went to the barrel he was hiding behind and got on her tiptoes to get a pan out of it. At the sound of the clanging, he growled at her as ominously as he could. “Yes, yes, you are a tough, scary boy, Nauru,” she promised.

She dished soup, and then sat on her bed, not too far from him. She made a dramatic, “mmm” sound.

She was gratified to see a little noise twitching just in view. Come on, you have to come out if you want to eat, she thought at him. It took a minute, but he slowly stuck his head and shoulders out. She tossed him a piece of meat.

He snarled and immediately bolted behind the barrel. Rosalea waited for his nose to catch up with what was happening. Soon enough, he slunk out and gobbled that bit of meat in one bite. Uh, I suppose I better do smaller bits so he does not choke.

She picked a smaller piece out of the bowl and wiggled it where he could see it. He retreated a little. She razzed him a little by eating it, “mmm.”

He had big brown eyes as he stared at her with all the intensity in his soul. How could any parent, mystic, animal, or otherwise treat a child like this? “You will have to eat a lot,” she said gently. “You are so skinny. And you should be growing.”

He whimpered helplessly at her. She tossed him another bit, and he showed he had learned something from the last time as instead of running for it, he tried lunging for it. He fell over his feet and whacked his little chin on the stone floor but gulped it down in a flash. “There is no one going to take it from you, sweetie,” Rosalea said as she watched him get up.

This time, she got a bigger piece, and she held it out to him. He whimpered at her. And then tried growling, but she did not toss it to him. She held it steadily right where it is. “Come get it from me. I want us to be friends, Nauru.”

It took a while. Her arm got a little tired, but he almost like lightning, he darted forward and ripped the meat out of her hand and swallowed it nearly whole. Her fingers tingled, and she was glad that sudden movement didn’t result in another hole in her hand. She reached back into the bowl, and got another bit of meat. “See, it is good. It is warm. And you can have as much as you want,” she said softly.

She got another larger chunk and kept a tighter grip on it. She held it out. At first he didn’t take it, and then that quick movement again. Rosalea maintained her grip, and he only managed to rip a little off. He whimpered at her. “You have to be more polite,” she said gently. “I like my fingers.”

He tried it again, with similar results. He whimpered. She held it closer to him. She didn’t want to push this too far, worried that it might encourage him to bite her to get it. He reached forward with his head and slowly bit into it, and then ripped hard, jerking it out of her fingers. Well, that was as step in the right direction. Rosalea got him another piece, and it took several more for him to realize he didn’t have to take it from her: she was giving it to him. He calmed down significantly and began taking it very gently from her fingers.

“There now, good boy, good Nauru,” she said soothingly. The bowl was over half gone, and there was a visible bulge in his belly. She placed it before him, and he dove in, not flinching as she stood up. She settled for eating out of the ladle for now since she did not feel as hungry, and she would secure the lid again.

He was licking his bowl clean, accidentally dumping it over, though there was nothing but residue in it; he whimpered and dug at it until he got it upright again. He licked hungrily until there could not possibly be one stray tiny bit of food or broth anywhere. His belly was pretty clearly distended.

“You can only have a little more,” Rosalea said softly. “If you come get it,” she held a piece of meat his way, though he was currently on the opposite side of the room. She sat down with her legs crossed again.

He looked at her worriedly, and then looked around, as if something else might come out and get him, he scooted nervously across the room, tail between his legs, and tried to get the meat from her hand. She resisted letting him have it. He ripped off a little piece, she moved it closer to her body. He whimpered and after a moment, followed. In this manner, she slowly coaxed him right next to her. She slowly held out her other hand, and he flinched, and tried to duck away with the bit of meat he was trying to extract from her fingers.

She gently touched him, and he froze. She petted just the very top of his head and let him have the meat. He ate it and ducked out of reach. Good enough. I guess I should try to puppy-proof this place as much as I can.

As soon as she was moving around too much, he would wedge himself back behind that barrel. Well, if he naps back there, that is probably good. I have nothing but time lately.