Luna stared down at the man who had collapsed before them, at least she assumed he was a man of sorts. Being from a small village she had only met several demi-humans throughout her life, and none of them had looked like this.

Glancing over towards her fiancé she could still see that she had not relaxed her bow string, her hands shook slightly from holding back the notched arrow for so long.

“Shoji” she whispered the words so as to not startle her “It’s okay now, he’s no threat.”

After a momentary pause Shoji reluctantly lowered her bow, relaxing her grip. “We need to report this to the chief. We should take his head back as well.”

“Why his head?!” The words startled Luna a bit as she tried to contemplate why they should behead the being who had just finished saving them.

“He has no protection against the spores, it will soon spread and consume him. We can remove his head so the body can’t be controlled. That and it’s a 3 day walk back, the trip will be much easier with just a head. We can give him a burial if you like then.”

“But he saved us, surely that’s worth more than just cutting his head off while he can’t defend himself… And think of how much a runaway male is worth! I’ve never seen his kind before, but I’m sure we could still get a reward.” Knowing that Shoji was distrustful of strangers from outside their village, she tried to bring up the potential reward for capturing a male slave in the hopes of enticing her that way.

“It’s no use, I know the village could desperately use the funds, but he simply won’t last the 3 days walk back. You’ve seen what the spores do to things. His first day the fever will burn him up, I doubt he will make the second. And come the third day eyestalks will be bursting out his head as that thing starts moving him around. Even if he had just breathed them in, I would be against it, but to get so much in an open wound? The infection will spread even faster. He’s a goner.” Shoji shook her head slightly as she made her case, Luna could tell that she had made up her mind.

“Yes but he saved us, that’s got to be worth something right? I’ve heard some Demi-humans are immune to disease. Like the Titania's.”

“Doesn’t look like a Titania to me.” Shoji interrupted her plea, sarcastically pointing out the obvious. Luna's face flushed slightly under her mask at the mocking tone.

Stomping her foot down, she pulled the one card she had promised to never use.

“Well I never agreed to marry a quitter!”

A deafening silence followed as neither girl said anything, despite the heavy masks Luna could tell she had gone too far. Just the slumped body language of her fiancé let her know she had cut too deep.

“Sorry…I shouldn’t have said…” her voice was meek as she quickly apologized for her outburst. “You know me though…I can’t leave a good deed un-thanked…is there nothing we can do?”

“Fine.” Shoji’s voice was blunt and to the point. “But we bind him, and if his fever doesn’t get better I’m Taking his head and we will ditch his body on the road.”

“Of course!” Luna felt a wave of relief wash over her, although she did not know what kind of person this man was, she knew anyone who would risk their lives to help others should not be left to die. That and returning him to his rightful owner was sure to bring a much-needed reward to their village.

“Help me get some rope.” Shoji was rummaging through her pack. “We can drag him to the edge of the white woods and bandage him up there. If he comes too maybe he can walk himself…I don’t think we can carry him far. He’s huge.”

Luna gave him a once over, he had to at least be a full 2 heads taller than anyone she had seen before, and his large body looked to weigh more than twice that of a normal man. Her back muscles began to protest just thinking of dragging him through these woods.

“Help me roll him over.” Shoji motioned towards his shoulders as both girls approached his left side, kneeling, they grabbed his cloak and pulled upwards, rolling him towards his back. As he flopped over limply, both girls gasped and released the cloak they had been holding open. Momentarily pausing before bursting into laughter.

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“Who the hell walks around naked with just a cloak on!?” Shoji called as she hurriedly covered his exposed body with the edge of his cloak.

“We will need to get something wrapped around him better than this mangled thing” Luna glanced over the butchered clothing that he had been using to cover himself. “I refuse to carry him while he’s exposed like that.”

At her words she received a playful nudge from her companion “You always were a proper lady, you know that?”

Giggling aloud at the remark she unslung her bag and began rummaging through its contents.

“I have a small blanket that could work. It’s not important.” Shoji nodded at her words before replying.

“Good, anything he wears will need to be left behind or burned. It’s a shame he did not have any leather clothing. At least then we could have washed the infection off it.”

Together they silently bound his arms tightly against his chest, taking the blanket they wrapped his lower body before binding his legs together as well.

“Well, time to start walking” both girls paused to gather themselves at Luna's words, his bloodied shoulder had now thoroughly soaked through his cloak, one of them would have to hold him on his wounded side as they carried him along.

“I’ll do it.” Luna volunteered herself. “It was my choice to take him with us, the least I can do is this. Not like I can’t wash my leather afterwards.” As she spoke she approached his side and knelt down, firmly grasping his arm.

As both girls heaved up his body they struggled momentarily before finding steady footing.

“In the name of the Mother this guy is heavy!” Luna almost cried out as her back protested the sudden additional weight. “Whose idea was it to take him back!”

“Let's get a move on, night will set soon.” Shoji ignored her joke and began taking her first steps slowly, making sure to allow her partner time to match her pace. After several steps the two finally began walking at a reasonable pace, dragging his legs behind them.

Slowly the sun sank into the horizon as the two carefully made their way through the woods, as they walked the blood soaking through his cloak seeped into the leather Luna wore, dying its light brown exterior a blackened purple instead. Small patches of blood from his wounds dripped down his cloak lightly splattering on both girls legs as they walked.

“He won’t make it with this blood loss.” Shoji huffed as she glanced over their cargo. “He needs to be bandaged, it’s also not a good sign that he’s not waking up. His blood loss wasn’t that bad at the time, probably was running a fever before he got there.”

Luna shook her head slightly, “It’s not far to the edge, once we pass the creek we stop and wrap his wounds.”

Shoji simply nodded at the words before continuing, her footing was starting to weaken with every step due to the excessive weight of the man they now carried. Looking over at her companion she could see the ragged breath escaping through her mask. She was at her limits.

“Let's take a breather here for a minute.” At her suggestion Luna nodded, both girls slowly lowering their cargo to ensure they did not aggravate His wounds.

Leaning against a tree Luna huffed as she tried to slow her racing breaths. “In the name of the Mother that guy weighs a ton, all my years trapping and dragging home game and I’ve never been this tired”

She sighed as she went through how her day had been, scouting the white woods to find the source of infection, being spotted by that thing, fleeing and thinking it was the end, and finally being rescued by this being only to end up carrying him through the woods for miles.

My god I’m tired.

“This blood has soaked right through my clothing. Mind helping me get some off quickly before we start again?” Normally she wouldn’t mind a little blood, after all she had seen her fair share of it over the years trapping and hunting, but the thought of purple blood caused a slight uneasiness in her.

Shoji stretched out her back before rummaging through her bag, moments later she pulled out a worn shirt, shaking it off before approaching.

As she wiped away the mess Luna could hear her muttering in annoyance under her breath.

“He ruined this suit, even if we clean it the leather might remain stained here, why is his blood this color? I’ve never heard of purple blood before, it really makes you wonder what race he is…”

Shaking off the cloth she tried to avoid getting any droplets on herself. “Fairly sure mine is ruined too.” Sighing aloud she gathered herself and approached his side. “Well we have half an hour of light still, if we hurry we can leave here just after sunset.”

Continuing onwards, both girls shouldered their burden silently, only pausing to talk when the sound of running water met their ears.

“Creeks ahead” Luna delightfully announced as she looked at the setting sun through the trees. “After that we can get a fire going, wrap his shoulder and get some rest.” Both girls nodded at her words and pressed onward, only stopping as they cleared the last of the underbrush coming to the edge of a deep creek that cut through the woods. One side appeared as a diseased world covered only in white, but just mere feet from the running water the disease vanished, despite the creek being relatively short in width no sign of infection showed on the other side. Even the wooden rope bridge that had been built remained free of signs of infection.

“It always amazes me to see the Druids work.” Luna remarked admiring the waters as they approached the bridge and began crossing. “If it wasn’t for them living in these woods too, I could only imagine how far this plague would have spread.”

Shoji nodded before replying. “Yea, now that we’re out of there let’s make camp, we can stay close to the waters for tonight.”

Taking their time to lower him, both girls began preparations. Only after starting a fire and putting up a small tent did they turn their attention to the man they had carried here.

“Well time to see how bad it is.” Luna’s voice was solemn as she removed the rope binding his cloak shut, pulling it back she stared dumbfounded at his shoulder.

“What is it?” Shoji picked up on the sudden silence as she approached the two, only to find herself joining her partner in bewilderment.

The shoulder that had been shredded apart hours earlier, now showed no signs of a wound at all. Not a scab, scar or opening remained.

Both girls could only stare in silence, finally Shoji broke the silence, her voice thick with curiosity

“Just who is He? Or…what is He?

Both girls couldn’t help but wonder, just what demi-race this man belonged to.