Milder

Nights in the forest were never silent, with wolves's howls echoing their warning to other packs, harpies feasting on their prey like carrion crows on a freshly expired battlefield, birds soaring through the night, migrating for more plentiful lands, and the wind playing the leaves like chimes, all coming together creating a both eerie and beautiful symphony of cacophonies.

Milder and Seicig were setting up a campfire, as the night sky prevented all vision from the human eyes. Milder struggled to a degree to create sparks with his seax and some flint, so he dropped them in resignation.

"I hate to say it, but-

"You want to use my fire orb to light the fire so we won't die from freezing to death? Sure. OR, you could learn to light a fire like we had to." Seicig said with a matter-of-factly tone.

"Oh for fuck sake, give me the knife." Varr exasperated and held the steel blade flat, pointing to the unlit tinder, then he struck the flint over the surface of the seax, making the sparks fly onto the ground and lighting the bonfire.

"Alright, who wants to guard the fire while everyone else sleeps?" Everyone pretended to be making tents and lean-tos out of branches, all the while keeping Milder in suspense and waiting for an answer which would never come. "Alright, I guess it's up to me then."

Milder put more branches on the fire and sat down by his own lean-to, courtesy of Daufi and his mantlet. Milder leaned down and listened to the sounds of the forest.

"If anything happens, Daufi, wake me up -. He yawned and continued with a goodnight. The hound just responded by flopping her ear. Milder trailed off to the wonderful realm of sleep.

---

Milder was flying through the air, a graceful duck migrating to the lands with warmer water to swim and frolic in, with his sweet children, and catch some proper fat worms.

Then in a moment he was a lone wolf running through the forest, he had gone too close to another pack. Suddenly he saw fire, a rare thing in the forest at night, so he went for the minuscule fool sleeping by the fire and bit his-

"AARRGGHH!" Milder felt a sharp pain in his arm and saw a large wolf with its fangs buried in his arm. He slammed his mace into its side, releasing the wolf's grip from his arm and killing it. When he approached the beast, he saw it was sick, covered in infections and frothing from the mouth. Milder looked down at his wounded arm with fear.

"What happened?! I heard you scream!" Djarfr had her weapons in hand, ready to strike, while Varr had a short bow with an arrow in position to be nocked.

"I got bit!"

"You don't say!" Djarfr was now more visibly relaxed, yet still tense.

"You had one job, protect us while we slept, and you can't even fucking do that right!"

"Everybody calm down!" Seicig slammed her staff down on the ground, triggering a small shock wave of wind shooting out from the butt of the pole.

"Now can one of you please explain what just happened?" It was now Seicig's turn to be angry.

"Milder slept on guard duty!" Djarfr and Varr exclaimed in perfect unison.

"I fell asleep and then I got bit!" Milder was giving exaggerated hand motions.

"I think it's best someone else stood guard then. Seeing as Milder can't stay awake when he's supposed to," She gave a quick accusatory glance at him, "and he needs to be treated in case the wolf was sick, and you two would just start snogging-

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"Damn right." Varr got an elbow in his ribs for that one.

"So I think it's best if I did it."

P.O.V : Djarfr

"Could you cut some onions to help treat Milder's wounds?" Seicig approached Djarfr, both of them still in their nightgowns.

"Can't you just wash his wound? I mean if you washed it with warm water and soap you'd get the same result, and I don't have to do anythi-" Seicig hushed her before she got too loud, furrowed her brow, and sighed deeply. Then the onslaught of puppy eyes caught her off guard, and Djarfr was at the mercy of the most persuasive person she'd ever met.

"All right, fine!" She stomped over to the bag with food hanging on her pet, Fatso, got out some onions and walked over to a stump from the tree they used to kindle the fire. She started chopping, dicing and slicing the peeled onions, and slowly uncoiled her head around everything that led up to this moment. Tears welled up in her eyes and her hands trembled, until she could hold it no longer and started crying. Varr heard her and walked over.

"What's wrong, sweet?" He nestled close and cradled her with the cover of their lean-to.

She responded with sobs. "Why did it have to be onions? Why!?" Varr took a few seconds to register what she said.

"AHAHAHAHA! Have fun!" He took back his cover and walked back to his bed.

P.O.V : Seicig

"Gadewch i mi, chwaer."

"After I am done standing guard and tending to Milder, Brawd."

"Milder, come here." She examined his wound with a large monocle. The wound was caused by a dire wolf that was sick or infected as evidenced by both the wolf's necrotic tissue and Milder's bite wound, or more precisely, the pus that had been spilled on his arm. It was deep, as expected from such a large animal, and the bleeding was not too serious, but not something you could simply walk off. She rubbed the diced onions on his arm. He winced.

"Hold your forearm up like this- She held his hands around his bicep and elevated it above his heart- and press here." Then Seicig held Milder's thumb between the muscle and his tricep, stopping the circulation to his forearm. She walked over to her tent, like her brother's, a tightly woven cotton pavilion, both waterproof and capable of use in both frigid and scorching temperatures, then she opened to find her tools. She grabbed some soap, cotton bandage, a copper kettle, ornate with an ivory handle, a bowl with a sponge in it, and a tripod for the kettle with a fire orb placed underneath.

She put the kettle on the tripod and poured water from her water flask into it. After cleaning his wound with the soap and warm water, the bandage was wrapped around Milder's forearm.

"Remember to remove the bandage and wash the wound with warm water every day and then I'll give you some more bandage."

"Uhh... what now?"

"Go back to sleep. I'll clean up."

"By yourself? Won't you need help?"

"I already have my brother, and besides, aren't you tired?"

"Not really. I feel ready to rush into battle."

"How about I show you a magic trick?"

"I'm not really a child."

"Come on, you'll love it." She had a jovial smile on her face, in attempts to untense him.

"Alright..." Seicig held Milder's hand as she dragged him back to Daufi, who had slept through the whole ordeal. Somehow. And she sat him in the same position as before he was attacked by the direwolf.

"Sleep." She pressed her thumb against his forehead, and in an instant he started snoring. The young wizardess walked over to the corpse of the animal. It was covered in deep scratches and wounds, most leaking pus or blood. It must have been in a territorial battle with another pack.

Seicig got some rope and a stretcher and moved the carcass on top, as to have a clean area to dissect on. She got a large knife and started cutting through the abdomen of the direwolf, in hopes of getting some hide from it and making clothes better suited for the oncoming cold. Luckily most of the bite marks were small, probably due to the fact that even a small pack of wolves could take down a larger beast with enough coordination. A few hours had passed, and the animal was finally stripped of anything useful, and Seicig threw what was left into a leather bag and went back into her pavillion.

Seicig came out, and in her hands was a hide bag which she opened and started putting short poles with vind gems on the top end and urff gems on the bottom into the ground around the camp. scrying rods, they detected physical mass denser than air such as animals in a circle around, which was formed by the magnetism between the urff gems.

"Pam na wnaethoch chi roi y gwiail i mewn i'r ddaear o'r blaen? Gallem fod wedi osgoi unrhyw broblemau." Saethwyr was looking at her with a stern face.

"Doeddwn i ddim yn meddwl y byddai hyn yn digwydd, bleiddiaid fel arfer yn ofni o dân, a bleiddiaid enbyd yn brin iawn." Seicig defended herself against her brothers scoldings.

"Gallai rhywbeth gwaeth wedi digwydd!" He was quietly shouting now, as to not wake the others.

"mynd yn ddig ni fydd yn helpu."

"os gwelwch yn dda dim ond fod yn ofalus y tro nesaf."

"I always am."

"Not always. Your time is up, my turn."

"Here, this necklace starts screeching loudly if anything comes close, and due to the barrier, it won't be heard outside the air field." She handed him a talisman made to look like a tightly woven cage with a vind gem inside. He sat down cross legged by the fire and kept his eyes trained on anything moving.

Goodnight.

POV: The royal palace in the heavens

Gogledd, the leader of the Compass, was standing in front of the palace of God, beautifully decorated with expensive materials, and a testament to the might of his power and wealth. He placed his right hand on the crack between the two substantial, but amazingly decorated slabs of iron resembling doors, and within, a drawn out melodious ticking played, and the doors swung open. Inside were statues of previous deities throughout the ages, like Father, whose infinite kindness took away the freedom of all. The gods were the chosen leaders of Aldrfold. As much as Fathers decision was ultimately dooming the world, Gogledd would not hate anyone, not even his brother.

Waking from his train of deep thought, he walked into up the staircase between the numerous statues, into the living quarters of God. Unlike the iron murals, these doors were, obviously, smaller, and simpler, requiring a key instead of essence reading.

"Casses, dwi gartref." He walked down the corridor, until arriving to the final door, and knocked.

Nothing.

He knocked again. Still nothing. He got the hidden key in the corridor, and slid the key into the lock. As the door opened, He saw it had happened again, another murder. Brother was putting on his favourite traveling set of clothes. What would I tell everyone if he left? How could he consider leaving at such a delicate time!?

"Nid wyf yn gallu aros yma. rhy beryglus."

"Ble?"

"fy ngwraig."

"Pam?"

"hi yw'r mwyaf diogel i fod o gwmpas."

This couldn't be happening. Cefnu wasn't thinking beyond what he needed at this moment. that selfish, stupid stray! He could ruin everything!

Calm down, Gogledd!

"Dydw i ddim yn amau eich sgiliau."

He took the secret exit, and once again, he left Gogledd to clean up after his mistakes.

I should get some horses ready for my brother.