Every single second felt like a tick against time. Time that he was struggling to fight against. Zane had barely taken the time to sleep and eat properly since he had had an indication from the small flowers that Elcid was here. Here, in a land far from home, and the medicine that she would need. He was glad that he had taken the time in the dark woods and the blasted swamp to make some, preserving it with a few drops of his blood. It made it that much easier to travel with a single minded determination.
His lips seemed to have raised into a permanent snarl, at himself for taking too much time, and to keep others from distracting him. It had worked wonderfully so far and he had no plans of stopping now.
"Is she here? Is Elcid here?" Zane paused to half question and half demand at bright yellow maple. The trees had changed a bit ago, but that meant nothing to him as he was simply focused on his goal.
The tree stayed still for a moment before its leaves rustled softly at the persistent urging from his magic. Then the tip of it bowed in a direction as all its limbs seemed to point as well. Moving with the magic he pushed through its frame.
There. There. There. She is just over there.
The airy whisper touched his ears and Zane bowed towards the tree with a quick thanks as he took off running, the healing potion bouncing against his hip as he moved. Elcid was close and he would be a fool if he let her slip away. Tipping his nose up as he ran he let out a short demanding howl for her to respond to him. Hopefully she heard and responded back, if not Zane would remember that tree and he would go back later to tear it down leaf by leaf.
It had been over a week since Elcid had ended up thrown over the top of a waterfall, only to be rescued by a caring fox and a healer wolf. Unfortunately for Elcid, no one had been able to help her with her condition, mostly because she didn't share her condition with anyone else. It wasn't something Elcid enjoyed discussing openly as it was, and with strangers? No thanks, no matter how nice either of them had been towards her. Honestly, the fox Dos had quickly worked her way into her friendship circle. She had never dreamed of being friends with a fox, and yet she was sad to leave her behind, searching for colder climates and furthermore - for Zane. She would be back, however. She would have to find the wolf who had done this to her. She would do so with Dos' help, if it was the last they she did.
Moving north was slow going. Her leg had been splinted, thanks to the healer, but that didn't mean that it was healed enough for her to walk on. In fact, she was told not to spend too much time on it, but that didn't stop Elcid. She was determined to find Zane, even though she had no idea if he was even here. She didn't want to think about that possibility. She couldn't think about that possibility. If she did, she knew it wouldn't bode well for herself for multiple reasons. Each day was painful as she limped on three legs. Painful because when she forgot to hold her fourth leg up and stepped on it, her shoulder screamed with shock. When she remembered to favor the limb, her three other legs screamed in agony. Each step stung. Each muscle in her limbs protested in her journey across the lands. It didn't matter. She had a purpose.
When Elcid made her way through the jungle to the grasslands, she felt a wave of relief wash over her. Finally she was out of the humid jungle. She was that many steps closer to being in a more comfortable environment at least. She'd stumbled upon an area with trees that looked to be enjoying the fall season, and yet the air was still hot and dry. It made her curious, made her wonder if there was some sort of magic at work in the region. Too bad she felt too ill to inspect it all closer. Not only had the black bile been more of a nuisance than before, but her stomach was essentially rejecting anything she tried to put inside it. It had been four days since she'd eaten a meal. Four days, and her body felt weak from the lack of nutrition, the endurance of travel, and the recovery of her injuries.
Still, Elcid pressed on.
Suddenly a howl rang out through the region. A howl she recognized. A howl that sent a surge of energy through her being. What were the odds? What were the odds that somehow, by going north, she'd come across the wolf she had been searching for? Eagerly, Elcid returned his call, though it was cut short by a coughing fit. 'I'm over here' it told him, trying to hide her tiredness and pain. Then, slowly like she'd done the whole length of the journey so far, she started to limp her way towards his call.
If he could have taken the precious second to, Zane would have simply fallen to the ground with relief as a familiar howl responded to his own call. She was here, that tree had been right and she was here. Even if her call had ended worryingly short, cutting off suddenly and sharply. It left a violent mixture of emotions whirling in his chest. Hope, elation, worry, and concern. They swirled and fought with each other as he ran. He wasn't late but how many more ticks of the clock did he have to reach her?
All but barreling through the trees, not caring as he snapped some branches and twigs into his pelt, he almost ran into her. His paws digging into the ground as he rounded on her smaller frame. Eyes roving her wounded form with growing distress. What had happened to her?
Sides heaving as he pulled in desperate breaths as he all but ripped the potion from his hip and flung it at her. "Take your medicine." It was all but growled at her, but the worried expression that had stayed on his face the moment she came into sight softened any sort of aggression.
Leaving her to take the potion he moved forward to look at her leg, letting his cheek rub lightly against her neck affectionately as he dipped his head to look. A full blown hug was probably going to hurt her and as much as he wanted to he didn't want to make her hurt more, but that didn't stop his words.
Step by step, little by little, Elcid made her way towards Zane's beckoning call. While her pace had been slow (despite her own desires!) his pace had been anything but. Before long, she'd heard the tell-tale crunching of twigs and leaves headed straight towards her. While she hoped that it was Zane, she still prepared herself for a stranger. She turned her body away from the noise, trying to hide her splinted leg. She prepared herself, trying to draw herself up to appear larger than she was. It didn't work.
Luckily, it was Zane who had been barreling towards her, sliding to a stop as he nearly crashed into her smaller figure. Elcid couldn't help but chuckle at him, both out of relief and at the sheer amusement of him nearly unable to stop himself. She saw the worried look in his eyes, and the chuckle slowed. It was only a matter of time before he started to question her on what happened. Perhaps he would criticize her on taking better care of herself. He might even give her a stern talking to. All his way of showing he cared about her.
Medicine was quickly thrown at her paws. Her eyes glanced downwards, knowing what it was. She smirked, despite her stomach twisting at the thought of digesting the medicine. She would have to force herself to keep it down. The order came behind it accompanied with a growl, and her green eyes glanced back up at Zane. It was an order not to be ignored. Obediently, she lowered her muzzle and chewed the medicine at her paws. Like usual, it was horrible tasting. It took every ounce of self control to resist the urge to spit it back out. She swallowed a hard lump past her throat, the medicine accompanying it, and made a large emphasis on the Gulp sound that accompanied it.
He brushed her affectionately with his cheek, and she tried to hide her injured leg from him. It wouldn't work, of course, but she didn't want him to worry more than he already would. "I missed you too, you fool" she spoke back to him, grateful to finally be reunited with her friend. "I'll have to introduce you to Dos!" she quickly mentioned, turning her head to bump her nose into his shoulder in the same sort of friendly gesture she always did before, back in their home. Back in their home. "I've made friends with a fox! Her name is Dos. She helped me when this happened."
Zane didn't even bother to hide the soft slump in his form as he heard the exaggerated gulp. She was fine, she was gonna be fine. Elcid had taken her medicine. It would probably take a bit to get the sickness back to were it had been before but he wasn't fighting against a clock with an unknown timer anymore.
A grumble wormed from his throat as she called him a fool, head bowed to investigate the splint she had used to stabilize her leg. It looked like it would have done its job if she had kept off the leg but the swelling of her skin and fur around the edges showed just how much abuse it had gone through.
"A fox?" Zane questioned, leaning into the affection she gave. The only foxes he had ever seen had been very...skittish to say the least and every time he saw them they were leaving or just starting to.
"So you make friends with a fox. Walk around on a clearly hurt leg, sick, and probably dehydrated, and you call me the fool?" He snorted with a shake of his head. "Between the two of us I think you're the fool here Gremlin." His words probably would have held more weight if he didn't look like he was part bush, but Zane would stand by what he said.
"I'll meet your fox friend once we get this splint off you. If only to apologize for whatever chaos you brought to them, or will bring to them." He teased with a smile on his face. If there was one thing he knew was that if you spent any amount of time with Elcid there was going to be some sort of mischief sooner or later.
"Now hold still." Pulling on his healing magic, that fought him with every step of the way he pushed it at Elcid as he put his forehead lightly against her shoulder. It was always the hardest to use it this way as opposed to just giving her a bit of blood. But blood would sometimes take time to kick in and he didn't want her to be hurt any longer than she had to be.
Zane rightfully so chastized her, and she couldn't help but smile at his words, knowing that they came from a place of care and compassion. "Well, when you say it like that..." she started, grateful to hear her gifted nickname from him once more. He stated that he would be happy to meet her new friend, then proceeded to command her to hold still, which she obediently obeyed. "Hey! I didn't bring chaos to them! Well... much chaos, anyways. Oh, Zane, Dos is so cool. Do you know why her name is Dos? It's because she has two tail, not one. She also can shift into other animals! She shifted into a wolf to help me. She makes a mighty fine wolf, I think." Elcid continued to yammer on about her new friend, the excitement of the reunion forcing her to not sit still as she shifted slightly this way and that. She never had been good at the whole sit still thing.
Zane's forehead rested against her shoulder and she felt an energy start to flow into her body. The swelling in her leg died down and, most importantly, the pain in both her leg and shoulder lessened significantly. A sigh of relief escaped her at the realization. She let Zane remove the rest of the splint from her leg, then looked up at him to ask, "Can I test it?" She didn't dare yet try without his permission. Then, with a softer and more sullen voice, Elcid stated, "I'm really happy you're here, Zane. I was really worried about you. I thought I would never see you again. I thought that..." she cut off, saying the unspoken about her condition and how it would be the end of her. "I don't know how you ended up here, but I'm really really glad you did. I'm just sorry for taking you away from your mom. I'm sure she's worried sick about you." She didn't know how to get back home, and she didn't know how he got here, but she was sure it wouldn't be something easy to figure out, at least not on her own. "Dos thinks that someone evil transported me here with his magic potion gas. She wants to help me find them. What do you think?"
