Unblooded

Chapter 10

"I'm not leaving Elise. I promised to Gwan-Thwei that I would watch and keep an eye on her," she said stubbornly.
"And I promised the same of you Tsrasuna. Let's argue about it later because I don't have much time."
"Why don't I go with you instead of Gul?"
"Because I am the spawn of a traitor and she is an abomination. If either of us get hurt, it will not matter as much. Nobody will care as much. If I stayed behind and called for help, it would fall on deaf ears," he said as he guided he back to the tree line. "We must hurry, now go Tsrasuna."
She glared at him but her shoulders sagged in defeat, "I will go. But if she gets hurt, I will have your head." She turned sharply and sprinted into the undergrowth. I tucked the claw into my waistband, careful to not injure myself further. Gul tied my vine to the base of a tree and tossed it over the edge, "Let's go, hybrid. I don't want to have to carry you."
I grabbed the vine, it's surface waxy and smooth in my hands. I stood at the edge of the ravine and looked down. 'I'm going to regret this,' I thought as I leaned backward and began walking down the ravine's wall.
Gul followed quickly after me easily descending. The wall's surface was rough and jagged, gnarled roots covered in brightly colored mosses also jutted out from its uneven surface. We eventually reached the tops of the trees and climbed into their welcoming branches. "Let's stay in the trees. If it is still up and moving, we will at least be able to stay out of it's way."
I just nodded, my brain feeling a bit odd. The wound on my side had gone completely numb and I was about to bring it up when a sudden pained howl resonated from the forest floor below us. Gul led the way as we gingerly picked our pathway to the tree's lower branches.
Bundled pathetically at the base of the massive trunk was a pale and bloodied mass. The massive hound lay there, pitifully howling and howling in pain. It's hind legs were twisted and mangled, maroon bones protruded their jagged and broken ends out of the smooth ashen skin. It's spine broken into a grotesque angle and its front legs fared no better than the rear limbs. Gul drew in a deep breath and looked away when he saw the damage done from the fall. "We should not have come," Gul said through a gritted jaw, his mandibles pulled tight over his mouth. "If it you laying mangled and broken down there instead of that hound, would you rather have your spine cut allowing you to die quickly or to lay there in pain possibly waiting for hours, praying and begging for the end to come?" I asked him. I could feel that my mind was beginning to fill with cotton, my thoughts quickly becoming more and more blurred as time passed.
The world spun for a brief moment and I had to grab onto the tree's trunk to prevent me from falling off of the large branch. Gul took notice of my unsteadiness and placed a scaled hand on my shoulder. "Elise, are you alright?" He asked, mandibles flared slightly, out of concern. I nodded, "I just want to get this over with." I grabbed onto a vine that had wound it's way around the branch. It dropped all the way to the moss covered ground. Gul followed closely as I repelled down, landing ungracefully to my feet. My mind whirled and Gul caught me before I could fall. "The venom is moving quickly," he muttered as he set me right, "We need to move faster than it can."
I just nodded and wobbled my way to the hound. It snarled and snapped at me as I got closer. I moved around behind it and sighed as it pitifully tried to launch its body around to follow my movements. Out of sheer stupidity, I knelt behind its massive skull and reached out tentatively. It's fur ran thickly down its spine and became thin the farther you got from the spine, like the mohawk my mom and I gave to my dad while he was asleep one night. A sharp pain exploded in my chest at the memory. I remember my father's reaction. He acted as though he was angry but his eyes gave away a different story, he found it funny.
I dragged myself from the abyss of that memory and focused on the hound. I gently placed my hand on the fur and it began to lash out, growling menacingly and snapping it's heavy jaws. "Shh....," I whispered, " I'm trying to help you." Gul watched from a safer distance, his eyes fixed on my movements. I began stroking it's fur, whispering soothing words hoping it would understand. The hound's movements calmed and slowed. Having built up my nerve, moved to pet the skin pulled taught against the skull. It jumped at the contact but it's heavy breathing was even. As I pet the hound, it closes its eyes slightly and it's body becomes more relaxed.
Gul turned his head to the side, shock written clearly on his face. "How did you do that?" He asked in disbelief.
"What do you mean?"
"That. You calmed it down. Even the best handlers struggle putting down the injured ones that have been tamed."
I shrugged, "I have no idea. Animals have always been comfortable around me, once I get close enough to touch them that is." I pulled the claw from my waistband and searched for the soft flesh where the skull meets the spine. A vulnerable spot where a kill could be made, quick and relatively painless. Once I found it, I placed the claw's point directly in the middle of the soft spot about the size of a large coin. I took a deep breath before forcing all my weight onto the claw. It sunk deep into the skin, blood oozing around the sharp edge. The hound's eyes widen slightly and it's body shuddered, becoming still as stone. I reached down and closed its pale eyes. I stilled when I heard the sobbing. Looking up, I expected it to be Gul but he was knelt watching me with eyes full of curiosity not tears. Behind him stood a figure, it's body distinctly female. Her head was bowed, buried in her hands and her shoulders shook from sobbing. Tears could be seen dripping down from her fingers. Gul's expression turned into concern, "Elise. Elise! What is wrong?"
He looked behind him to the woman I was staring at. "Elise! What do you see?! Elise!"
I was too frozen to respond. The woman spoke, her voice ethereal and haunting. My internals grew cold with dread. "Why did you leave us Elise?," She asked her face still buried in her hands. "Why didn't you save us?"
The once clear tears turned crimson as they continued to drip from her hands. "Why did you leave?!" She screamed as she lifted her head to look at me. The woman's face was that of my mother's, her once beautiful face contorted in pain and anger. Blood streamed from her eyes causing crimson rivers to streak her face. I backed away, crawling in fear, I tried to put as much distance between me and my mother. "You're not her, you're not my mom. You died! I saw it!" I screamed, curling into a ball with my hands over my ears and my eyes shut tight. "You're dead!"