Dawn of Ancient Realms

Octavius part 2

  Octavius Pov.

  "Look at what we have here men, a little birdie"  taunted a Merrow and his friends, they slowly formed a circle around me. 

    "Want to sing us a song little bird"  said another Merrow, I clenched my fists and grit my teeth,

    "I'll give you this one warning, walk away now." I said lowly, there were six of them, I had to be smart if I wanted to get out of this with minimal damage, I had to act like I could take all of them at once, maybe they'll back down.  

    "Or what, we have you out numbered." 

    "Only a coward needs his friends to help fight his battles." I said, "but what can I expect from a bunch of fish."  With that last remark I received a hard punch to my stomach, I didn't have much time to catch my breath before I felt twelve pairs of fists and feet hitting me.  I expanded my wings with great force to fling some of them off of me, I used my talons to cut at their flesh.  It was not a fair fight, for every one I got off of me two more came back.  

    Kalliope's Pov. 

    I quickly tied s string around the flowers we had just picked, we were on out way to our parents grave before we left the city and started traveling South to the Vereilles  capital.  Trey had gone on a hunt through the grave yeard earlier that day to see if anyone had, had the decency to honor our parents death, luckily for us they did.  We needed to move fast so we could cover some ground before it got too dark, Trey took such long strides my tiny legs could barely keep up, I was practically running trying to match his pace.  I needed to take a second to rest and catch my breath when I heard the faint sound of grunting, Trey hadn't noticed that I had fallen behind yet so he was still walking.  I decided to take a peek at what was going on while he was still in his own world, and couldn't stop me.  I peered around the corner of the building where the sound was coming from, up ahead I saw a group of Merrow's hitting and kicking at something on the ground.  It was a man, a Welkin man at that, he flung the Merrow off of him and began fighting back,  it seemed like he was wining until the Merrow's he had already gotten off of him came back, and so on.  

    Despite my better judgement I felt like I needed to help him,  I'm not the best fighter that ever lived but I could hold my own against a man that was twice my size.  

    "Leave him alone" I yelled running at the group of men,

    "Kalliope get back here" Trey yelled finally realizing I was no longer following him, the group of men that surrounded the Welkin took off after seeing me and Trey, I don't think they were running out of fear of us, but of the fear that we would report them for breaking the human law of no Merrow Welkin violence.  As we got closer to the Welkin I noticed it was the same Welkin that I had bumped into at the pub, now I kind of wish I had kept walking with Trey.  He looked pretty beat up, he had a large cup above his right eye and a busted lip, what looked to be a broken nose.  The man looked at Trey and I before crumbling to the ground, we stood over him for a second before Trey walked around him, I on the other hand got down on my knees and began checking him for more wounds.

    "Kal, what are you doing?" Trey asked sounding exhausted

    "Looking for more wounds" I responded simply

    "Come on Kal, just leave him." 

    "No, he needs help" I pulled out my medical supplies and began wiping the blood away.  From behind me I heard Trey let out a long exasperated sigh.

    "Fine," he said linking each of his arms under the Welkin's shoulders,"but not here let's set up camp for the night." I hopped to my feet and smiled brightly at Trey, he rolled his eyes at me, but I saw a hint of a smile on his lips.  Trey dragged the Welkin into the nearby woods, which was still pretty far away, the Welkin kept mumbling words of protest, but Trey and I just ignored him.  Along the way I began to pick up small pieces of fallen branches, sticks and kindling for a fire.  We propped the Welkin up against a tree when we fond a good place to set up camp.  Trey tended to the fire, while I began my work on the Welkin; to my surprise he was still conscious.  I used my flask to dampen some cloth so I could wipe the dried blood off and clean the wounds.  

    "You don't have to do this" the Welkin said

    "I know" I said 

    "Then why are you?" he asked 

    "I couldn't just leave you there like  that" I stated, the Welkin stared at me in aw, I guess he wasn't used to seeing someone show kindness to someone else without obligation.  

    "People don't help one another where you come from?" I asked as I pulled out some healing herbs from my bag and mixed them with water to make a paste.

    "Not when the one who needs help has insulted the other."  He spoke softly but I still heard him, 

    "So you do remember me" I gave a harsh laugh

    "How can I repay you?" grunted the Welkin in pain  as I applied the herbs to is wounds.

    "Don't worry about it." I said 

    "No there has to be something, anything you want, need." he insisted 

    "No, but thank you."   He squirmed as I tried to apply more of the herbal paste,

    "Good God man, hold still" I said 

    "Sorry" he grunted again, I finally finished with his open wounds, now to his nose, it had to be set or it would get infected and not heal correctly.  I moved closer to him, practically straddling him, he looked at me with his gold eyes looking deep into my own.

    "What's your name?" I asked 

    "Octavius, and yours?" 

    "Kalliope" I said and cracked his nose so it was back in its proper place.  Octavius let out a loud yelp and clutched his nose. 

    "There, now get some sleep, Octavius" I said moving away from him, I went to sit next to Trey who was poking at the fire with a stick pretending like he hadn't been listening the whole time.  

    After Octavius was fast asleep I placed some medicine by him to help with the pain in the morning.  Trey and I gather our belongings and left long before he could wake up.  As we walked my mind kept drifting back to Octavius, his eyes were not a shining gold like most Welkin's but a dull gold, his eyes held a sadness in them that I felt like I could understand, because my eyes held the same sadness.  Trey seemed no notice my mind was elsewhere, he leaned over and nudged my shoulder getting my attention.

    "You have to remember to be careful of people Kal,"  Trey said, I looked down and nodded to show him I understood, "Not everyone is as nice as you, he could have bee dangerous, did you see his uniform, he's a soldier."  

    "I know Trey, but I just couldn't leave him there, not when he was hurt so bad." I said looking him in the eyes, Trey smiled at me,

    "I know, and that is one of the many reasons why I love you." Trey wrapped his arm around my shoulder and gave me a side hug, and we continued walking.