The Scarlet Paladin

Claire and Ana were able to make it back to the carriage safely. The stranger's unconscious body was in Claire's arms as they ran up to the carriage. "Thank the gods… I heard howling after you guys raced off." She said before sighing. "Is that her?"

Claire nodded as she headed towards the back. Lily climbed into the cabin to meet her. She set the unconscious, bloodied woman down on blankets that Lily had set out. Lily and Ana took over her health and observation as Claire hurried back outside. She had half a mind to go back into the forest to find her lovers but decided to wait for them to return. She paced beside the carriage, waiting for Jasmine or Elsie to appear.

It didn't take long for Elsie to appear in the treeline. She was out of breath and stopped for a moment to catch her breath. Jasmine appeared behind Claire as she called out to Elsie. "Come on! We need to get out of here. There's no way the Knights or Guards didn't know about them."

"Fucking Knights," Claire said with vitriol. "I swear upon Her name, if I find they knew about thes-" She was interrupted by Jasmine's hand on hers.

"Relax… anger does nothing right now," Jasmine said as they both watched Elsie hobble over to them.

"Fuck… I need to, hah, do more cardio." Elsie got out between labored breaths as she bent over. Claire picked her up and hurried her inside the carriage. "Ah… couldn't have done that earlier?" Elsie tried to lighten the mood.

But Claire was too annoyed to respond. Her mind raced as she thought about the implications of bandits having lycanthropy. "What in the fuck are the Guards or Knights doing? Lycanthropy was supposed to have been snuffed out nearly a century ago and they just have it?" She nearly growled out as she set Elsie down next to the stranger.

"What? You encountered werewolves?" Lily said, her face stunned as her face turned pale. "Then she… we need to get to Fyre." She looked at the bite marks on the woman's body before turning to Ana. "Get me bandages, I'll grab solvents. These wounds won't heal from normal healing magic."

Claire felt the carriage move as she hurried to the driver's window. She climbed through and joined Jasmine in the driver's seat. Jasmine furrowed her brow as she looked at her paladin. "I didn't find any tracks indicating that there were stragglers… so hopefully the guard wasn't notified."

Claire nodded as she settled into the seat. She furrowed her brow as she began to think. If the local guards knew about these bandits, then it was all the more reason to revolt against them. They should know how dangerous lycanthropy is; even children are told about it. But that wasn't what was seared into her mind. "Jaz. I don't care anymore… If we have to face Myrtle's guards or the Knights, don't worry about me. I'll handle the guilt."

Jasmine sat stunned for a moment as she processed Claire's words. She turned to her lover, who had her arms crossed and anger in her eyes. "What? Wait, no. That's not something you can just decide. You don't know how you-"

"I don't care. Their wagon was filled with the dead bodies of boys," Claire interrupted Jasmine. Her voice full of anger as Jasmine looked at her with shock. She didn't look inside the wagon at all, she was too focussed on the fight. "They were monsters, and the Guard had to have known about them. Or they were that incompetent. Either way, they enabled them."

Jasmine looked at her for a moment, wanting to refute her. She didn't need to carry the guilt of a killer like Jasmine did. She could keep her hands clean. Jasmine wanted so badly to protect her from it. But she couldn't. Both Elizabeth and her Goddess's plans would require her to fight humans.

"Don't even get me started on those knights. It's their fucking job to maintain the balance of power." Claire continued as her anger grew. She clenched her fist tightly as she thought about it all. "If they did their job, then those bitches would have never been allowed to exist."

Jasmine rested her hand on Claire's clenched fist, pulling her out of her anger, at least for the moment. She looked at Jasmine as her expression softened. "I get it. Truly, I get the anger… but we need to think rationally about this. Acting on emotions will get you killed."

Claire nodded as she listened to her former teacher speak. She began to take deep breaths as she felt her anger slowly calm down. She remembered the fight with the troll and how she let her emotions guide her during the initial encounter. Had she not thoughtlessly run to protect Elsie, she would have never been hit by the monster. She could still feel her anger bubbling, but she was calming down.

"Right. Thank you." Claire said as her shoulders eased, and she leaned back on the seat. "I just, those boys… none of them looked older than 13…"

Silence fell over the two as Jasmine wrapped Claire under her arm. Claire fought back the images of their lifeless faces as she leaned into Jasmine's chest. She felt her chest tighten as she thought about the poor kids that were taken by those bandits.

Back in the carriage, Ana was applying bandages while Lily was preparing a potion for infections and fighting against the lycanthropy toxin. Elsie was watching over her sister as she attended to the stranger's wounds. She was smiling as she heard her sister's thoughts as she did so. She was thanking their Goddess that she didn't look inside that ruined wagon.

Elsie was hit with the flashes of those boys' lifeless faces as she held her thoughts back from her sister. She didn't want to put that burden on her sister, she doubted Claire didn't see them. Her smile slowly dropped as she looked at the closed driver window and began to worry about Claire.

'Elsie. Go to her, we'll be fine back here.' Ana's words entered her mind. She let her thoughts escape her as her sister began to listen. She cursed her lack of control over her telepathic skill before conceding. She opened the window and left the two to take care of the stranger.

Ana wiped the sweat off her forehead as she finished the last of the bandages for the stranger. Her training as a healer had exceeded that of just magic. She was taught basic first aid and how to deal with wounds. She looked over her handiwork before letting out a sigh of relief. She was able to stop the bleeding and clean all the stranger's wounds.

Lily knelt beside Ana with a mixture of potions in her hand. She held the stranger's head up and tilted her bowl into her mouth. The stranger stirred momentarily as her mouth filled with the mixture before she swallowed. She was able to get it all down without choking, which Lily was thankful for.

Both of them looked over her status sheet, their classes allowed them to see the very basics of her stats. Primarily her health and mana, but also any ailments or statuses that might be affecting her. Lily was scanning her status for the venom but was confused when she couldn't find it. She used her analytical eye to dig further but could not find any signs of the werewolf venom.

She tilted her head as she tried to think of the causes. She highly doubted that none of the venom made it into the stranger's system, given how many bites she had had. Also, there are no real preventative measures that could be taken. No remedy or tonic to prevent the spread of the venom, only cure it. Lily was wracking her mind trying to figure it out as Ana let out a gasp.

Lily snapped out of her thoughts and looked at Ana. She was pointing to one of the minor bites that didn't need bandaging. It was healing. Slowly, but it was closing. The bite marks slowly closed up on the woman's skin, barely even leaving a scar. Lily was speechless for a moment before turning to Ana. "Is this you?"

Ana shook her head. "N-no, I haven't used my healing on her since we entered the carriage."

Both women looked down at the women with shock as more and more of the visible wounds began to close. Even the deep cuts and bites slowly stopped bleeding through the white bandaging as the woman's breathing became less labored. Lily was watching as the remainder of her health was healed up using the stranger's own mana. She doubted it was a skill that was activated passively.

She grabbed Ana's hand and pulled her to the driver's window. "Stop the carriage! She's a werewolf!" She yelled to the three in the driver's seat. She pulled Ana behind her as she stared at the unconscious body she knew would surely wake up soon. She watched the woman's health inch closer to its cap as the cabin jerked to a stop. She heard her lovers shout something as Claire nearly jumped through the opening.

Claire readied her shield as she stood between Lily and the woman. The carriage came to a stop as silence fell over them. All three watched with horror as the woman's body slowly became engulfed with white fur. Her face contorted as it morphed into that of a wolf's. Her fur matched her hair as the white werewolf fully materialized. Her limbs stretched, and claws grew from her fingers as the bandages and clothes were ripped off of her.

Claire held her breath as she decided what to do. Her Goddess had recommended this woman as an ally to their cause. Could this woman control the beast, or would they have to put her down? She didn't want to risk it. She'd rather stab the woman and protect her lovers behind her. But that little bit of doubt held her in place. Would killing this woman go against her Goddess's wishes?

She didn't get to think about it too much before the wolf's eyes opened. Its red eyes focused on Claire as it sprang to its feet. The creature bared its fangs at Claire, letting out a guttural growl.