Cerise's Story

Cerise agreed with Nova with a nod of her head and helped him up a little. She watched as he went over to the water and drink it up. She knew it was because of the medicine. "heh, Sorry I couldn't make it taste any better..." She said quietly. "So... Y-you feeling alright?" She asked curiously.

Schemeko watched from afar a certain feeling of annoyance rose within him. "Impossible....there is no concoction in this world that can counteract the symptoms...well...at least one that can be easily acquired...", Schemeko though to himself as grind his fangs together, "...No I have developed the most potent toxin in my pack's history!" Soon Schemeko bared his teeth in a grin instead of a scowl. "Of course...the truth is that it may be able to alleviate the symptoms only because the Asui did not suffer a full dosage." "Yes...his interactions with my fur was brief and he did not drew blood...my blood alone would have sealed his fate much sooner...no he merely pricked himself on my fur." Schemeko laughed to himself. "I must admit, I did not focus so heavily on the tips of my fur as I should...that will be remedied later...as for now he merely took a small sample of my toxin...obviously not enough to kill him if that little bit of medicine could alleviate him." Schemeko stared at Cerise, "I wonder where did you obtain medical knowledge from?" "Maybe a pack secret?" "No...from what I can ascertain from this distance that it was merely simple first-aid...simple but effective in a pinch." Schemeko laughed again, "Oh you are a lucky one...Nova...Eyes of the Asui!"

Schemeko laughed, "Yes...its funny I didn't see it sooner...perhaps I was being too oblivious...the sandy colored pelt...the ice manipulation...only one Asui is crazy enough to descend from those accursed mountains...and that is Nova...hm from the intelligence gathered from my pack there is no doubt about it...more resilient than I imagined maybe there will still be a game to play." Then he saw the Alva from ealier leave. "Ha! Foolish she-wolf! With those injuries she will only serve to kill herself even further." The he heard a howl coming from the direction of the cave, "Hm no doubt that Tenneth that stayed behind...must be going to intercept the Alva she was heading that direction." Schemeko began to formulate a plan to start his little game, "Hm...who shall be the objective...could it be the Kamarian, the Tenneth behind me, Cerise, or Nova?" "I don't much care for the ones behind me...no the more susceptible ones would be Nova and Cerise...of course I could wait and the Alva could be it she is perhaps the most weakest from the group at this point." Then a flash darted past Schemeko's eyes as he came up with a plan. "Now that may just be the most brilliant thing I have came up with in a while." Schemeko chuckled to himself.

"Well, I am not dying anymore, at least I don't think I am, and that is good enough for me. You have a remarkable amount of book smarts Cerise, coming up with that antidote so quickly. Here that Hemlock was telling me I was as good as dead." Nova responded warmly, thanking her once again. He finished with another drink, not so much to was his throat but more to satisfy his thirst, which had returned.

Cerise perked up and nodded before turning to the water. She to bowed her head and began lapping up water. When she was done she turned to Schemeko and looked at him oddly. He seemed to be laughing to himself. She looked over at Nova and chuckled. "Shemeko seems to be in a good mood right now don't you think?" She asks Nova. Cerise began to look a little down. "uh... Hey Nova. I hope your still not mad about that chase... It's just... For a moment, I thought that you were using me... and that we weren't really friends." Cerise says with her ears drooped. "But..." She perked up slightly. "Its your job, and I completely understand now that you do it for a living and to help your pack and the ones you love dearly." She says with a slight smile.

Nova shrugged at this, not wanting to dwell particularly long on old scars. "We all have our duties in life, some are simply less popular than others." Nova theorized, finally satisfying himself. It was painful to stand for an extended period of time, so Nova slouched down onto the ground, in a position that he could move again quickly if needed. When hearing her remark about Schemeko, Nova instinctively looked over at the Hemlock, who had muttered something inaudible. He did seem to have something on his mind, but the wolf was rather hard to read, and Nova wasn't really sure if he wanted to read that wolf's thoughts. Never know what he would find in there. Thinking back to what he had said to Cerise, it made him wonder what exactly she did for a living. She was armed, he knew that, so was she a warrior? She kept a sketchbook, so was she an artist? She was very skilled in medicine, he knew first hand, so was she a healer? He wondered if there was anything she didn't know how to do, besides, well, confrontation. He hadn't really seen her get angry at anyone besides him, so that wasn't really something he could work with.

What did the others in the group do? The Tenneth brute...er...wolf, was more than likely a fighter judging by his frame and demeanor, and that is probably all he ever will do. BattleDemon, well she was a leader, but lately he wasn't sure if she would ever be good for that again. Can't lead when you don't even listen to the voice of reason. Schemeko? He didn't know any more about him other than he was questionably insane and his had almost accidentally killed Nova. That left that Kamarian, who had such a troubled mind that Nova could only guess that he was a warrior of some sort. So this is where he was. A rather weak in comparison scout along with a scholar warrior, a warrior, a former warrior leader, a warrior who doesn't even have to try to kill, and a warrior again. Perfect company. Better not make anyone too mad at him again.

"Uh... Yeah..." She said. "Well, I'm just glad this is all over... Sorta... I mean, I have been to the war hospitals when I was a pup. My real mom was a healer and she did a lot of things on poisons and paralysis but... She usually never wanted me near the warriors. She said that they would..." She searched for the right thing to say. "'affect' me in some way." She says. "Anyways, I don't really know if your supposed to keep taking the medicine or one dose is good enough..." She said before looking closely at Nova. "Well, here." She said before handing over the medicine to Nova. There was only a small amount, but enough to have an affect in an emergency. "J-just in case. You know. Always want to be safe..." She says shyly with a slight blush. "Well, is anyone else hungry around here because I am starving. "She perks up before walking out and towards the cave.

Schemeko walked along the bank as he spoke towards Cerise and Nova. "My, my that little bit of medicine did the trick...wow...I'm nearly speechless...well I would be if I hadn't known that it won't be enough to save his life." Schemeko said grimly as he stared at the two. "Yes, he may seem better right now but In truth what you did there was merely suppressed the symptoms...they will unfortunately re-surface once again." "Yes sad isn't?" "All of that work and it won't make much difference, he will revert to paralysis again and soon his heart will stop beating." Schemeko said as he looked towards Nova as he bent his head down and almost gave a grieving whimper. "But fret not...I know of a place that could help out our sick friend...that is if you trust me to lead you all there." Schemeko said as he watched Cerise leaving the medicine behind and moving awkwardly.

"Hehehehehe....just as I suspected...all the more better...," Schemeko thought as he grinned. "Thats good you have some on reserve, you will need that for the little trip we have to make if that is perfectly alright with you...or we can leave the Asui to his own devices and see how long he can last." "But I'm pretty sure that will not be an option." Schemeko said as he gave a slight smirk.

Cerise stopped in her tracks. "Re-resurface..." She whispers. Her ear gives a little twitch before she turns around. "Schemeko! You could have told me a bit after I gave him the medicine." She whined. "Ugh! I thought everything was over..." She looks Schemeko in the eyes. Trust. Everything was about trust. It always seemed to pop up in the most horrible situations. Cerise's ears drooped. "W-Well, I don't want Nova to die or anything like that..." She says. She looks over at Nova and waits for his response.

It took an immense amount of energy on Nova's part to keep his jaw from dropping upon hearing the verdict of Schemeko. How could he still be sick? Other than the pain, he felt fine. Symptoms couldn't just simply return after they had been defeated, it seemed biologically impossible. A defeated enemy does not rise again, not once he is dead. Schemeko's plan sounded a bit sketchy as well, but perhaps that was only because Nova was looking at it through the lenses of denial. Why did he have to go to this magical place of healing? If Schemeko really was telling the truth, he could just go and fetch whatever magical herb that he was making up and bring it back, while Nova lived off of a steady stream of newly made medicine from Cerise. There had to be only one answer for this conundrum.

"You're lying. You are just in denial that your poison could not kill a lowly Ausi like me. Is there anything else in your Hemlock mind besides how to make your newest deadly toxin? There is more to life than death." Nova responded, surprisingly forceful. This Hemlock was just trying to play with his mind, there was no hidden relapse that was going to happen. And what if there was, Nova still had Cerise's medicine, he could just live off that until he got better. That would be infinitely better than diving off into the unknown with a wolf he hardly knew. Or trusted.

Cerise looked at Schemeko then Nova. "Well, the medicine could have made the toxins only-." She stops when she realized she was defending Schemeko, "But you know. I'm an Avira..." She gave a sheepish chuckle. "Always worrying..." She continues chuckling nervously until she stops and backs away out of the conversation. She trots over at the river and lays down minding her own business instead of intertwining in the conversation of a deadly, insane, Hemlock and a skillful, agile, Ausi. She lets out a long sigh to herself. "Always worrying..." She mutters lowly.

Schemeko chuckles, "Are you entirely sure you wish to take that chance?" "Obviously you haven't much of an idea of us Hemlocks, hehehehehe." "Yes you may think its rather suspicious, my actions, my intentions, all of it." "Because in truth...you are far too insecure to give trust to anyone." Schemeko chuckles as he looks at Nova, "I understand that is an...occupational hazard to trust anyone when your a scout...but please you should really acknowledge help when it is given." "Or do you want me to give the impression that your are rude?" Schemeko chuckles. "I suppose I am a bit shady...after all I am a Hemlock, you don't often meet too many decent wolves of my pack." "Yet believe me when I say this, what you've gotten yourself into has not yet passed, you can go ahead and try to deny but your are risking your own life then."

Schemeko studies Nova's eyes, "I suppose you find it hard to believe that you can still be ill, after all the medicine seems to be working." "I wouldn't want you to continue on while still puzzling why your still sick...so I'll tell you a little something...what you have accidentally infected yourself with cannot be found on this island...it has never been administered before." "If you allow yourself to believe you are going to survive, then your either crazy or in denial...judging by you its the later." "Soon once the medicine has passed you will fill the affects again since the toxin is in your body, affecting your brain, your muscles, your blood." "It would have to be completely removed from your body but trust me that is incredibly dangerous process and could result in a second-handed infection." "Trust me you have absolutely no idea how long it took me to create my signature poison...I could talk all day about my ingenious invention...but I do not want wish to bore you with the details, besides its not like you have the time to listen anyway." "Suffice to say it is unique only to me and I posses the only antidote."

Schemeko chuckles, "Now before you catch me on my word...I said there was no cure...I will show you my honesty and tell you that was lie." "I won't sugar-coat it for you either my explanation being was because I did not wish for you to know about it...it was mainly out selfishness as I do have a bit of a bad humor for such things." "I wanted to see despair but...I did not like how this played out...it left a bad taste in my mouth." "I much prefer if I inflict the wounds and not have it self-inflicted...that rather ruins a significant amount of the fun." Schemeko spoke even though the way he said still made him sound suspicious. "I can only hope you can forgive me for your current situation, it wasn't my intention to have you infected and I am sorry Cerise that I lied to you...I have definitely been out of touch with such social courtesy." Schemeko bowed his head to both of them hoping they would be convinced by his words. "Can you forgive me?" Schemeko asked head still bowed.

After hearing Schemeko's lecture, Nova concluded that he had learned very little useful information. In fact, the only thing that he could conclude in certain was that this Hemlock was a smooth talker, which mean nothing, other than he has had plenty of practice. Practicing deception, perhaps? Nova remained at an impasse. If he did so choose to go with this questionably insane wolf, a fact he could only hope to conclude from all of his cackling over such a dreary subject as well as general demeanor, he didn't know what would happen. Perhaps there was a magic plant fairy that lived just a day away from here. Or perhaps Schemeko was just seeing how long he could get his fun to last.

The reason that Nova was taking all of this in with a grain of salt was to preserve his own sanity. Perhaps Schemeko was just trying to plant a tiny seedling of an idea, the idea that Nova was going to soon die a crippling and horrid death. That little idea would sprout, its roots wrapping it corrupt way around his brain, leeching out all sane thought until all he could think about is the notion that Schemeko was his only savior, that this poison actually was real, and that he would die. Nova would end making himself sick anyway with such a weak state of mind. Paranoia would set in, and by that point the idea would have choked all rational thought out of his head, until he would do anything to get that weed to release, even if it meant walking to the ends of the earth with this Hemlock.

Before answering Schemeko's plead for forgiveness, Nova had a question of his own to ask of this wolf who supposedly was going way out of his way to help him. "Tell me Schemeko. If our roles were reversed, what would you do? If we say that, perhaps I have inadvertently placed an shard of ice within your blood stream, small and warm enough to avoid immediate detection, and yet cold and large enough to remain and destroy any chance of living once it reached your heart, would you really be willing to believe me over something you can't feel? Perhaps I have already done so, who knows? What if I said that even I, the maker of that blade of ice, which draws closer to your heart with every breath you take, said that I knew not how to remove it, what would you do? Sure, you thought you thought you could get rid of it yourself with a drink of hot water, or something else quite trivial, but what if I told you that wasn't enough? Would you follow me, a stranger, to the ends of our very lands to even have chance at finding a cure? And if I betrayed you, could you really blame me, if you had been gullible enough yourself to follow me just based on a word? Tell me Schemeko, what would you do?" Nova responded, carefully crafting a scenario. Nova's compliance would depend largely on this wolf's answer to his own predicament.

"Hehehehehe....I can see where the cause of alarm has sprouted." "But is it really gullibility?" "If your hypothetical question was correct, what other choice would I have?" "Either deny your help as a I believe it is some sort of twisted means of torture and die a horrid death or take the chance of actually surviving, even if it means death." "Unless i had a death wish I would choose the former!" Schemeko laughs, "But I have no interest of dying as I am sure your are not either." "I concur I wouldn't be comfortable with the idea either but it is a matter of life and death and since I would already have one foot in the grave...what do I have to lose?" Schemeko chuckles at the idea. Schemeko looked at Nova and studied him as well. "Honestly, it would seem sketchy but can one truly gamble their life on the chance that a person is lying?" "After all you did inadvertently place that shard of ice, why would you lie about the danger?" "It would make sense if you meant to cause them harm to lie about their predicament, or better yet not mention it at all and they will have the displeasure of finding out later, by then it would be too late."

Oh Nova, your more intriguing than I previously believed. Its almost a shame you accidentally volunteered yourself...oh well, Schemeko thought to himself as he looked at Nova. "Really though, what motive would I have in lying to you?" "What could I possibly gain?" "If I wanted to see you in pain, if I wanted to see you die, I would never have mentioned about the antidote at all." "What you did to yourself, as i said before left a bad taste in my mouth." "If I intentionally infected you then I would study your symptoms, your agony, your death, and enjoy myself." "What you have done to yourself has instead made you my responsibility...I maybe a lot of things but irresponsible, I am not." Schemeko finished as he looked at Nova waiting to hear if he has anything more to say.

After a drawn out pause, followed by a sigh, Nova decided that Schemeko was speaking his mind. Though there was one thing that he didn't have to lose, which Nova did, and that was time. Everything was time critical, especially in war. How long should he expect the packs he had charted out to stay in the same place, with the same level of preparation and defense? If they were smart, they would be constantly moving, or better yet, digging in. It would be a shame to send a group of warriors to destroy a village only to run into a fort that wasn't there a month ago. But if Schemeko was telling the truth, Nova doubted he would get back to Ausi territory alive. Better late than never he supposed.

"Very well. Forgive me for my rudeness, I suppose you can just call me overly cautious" Nova responded, choosing to make amends now, since he was theoretically going to be with this wolf for quite some time, from what he described as a distant cure. "How long will it take you and I to get wherever we are going, a fortnight? If so we should really get going if this is as urgent as you make it sound." Nova continued, curious. He looked around absently, noticing Cerise biding her time. He would much rather be in her position, just having to eavesdrop on other wolves problems rather than actually experience them.

"Oh it shouldn't be that long...uh I would say from here a few days or so if we walk, if we made a running pace it should be a day and a half." "That is if you can muster enough energy to run of course." Schemeko snickered as he looked towards Cerise. "Oh Cerise you wouldn't have anymore of the medicine on you do you?" "We could use a little bit more to keep the Asui's health up, we don't need him dying on his way to get healed up now do we?" "I'd say that would be pretty ironic!" Schemeko laughs. "I would have to say you are very lucky for biting me and being not to far away from help, otherwise there is a good chance you would not have made it." Schemeko smiles at Nova. "Oh and one more thing...I noticed the Alva who lumbered off into the direction is badly injured...if you could it would be wise to try and convince her to come with us." "Before you ask why, I have quite a bit of medical supplies there, and why do I have medical supplies there? Because I need them as ingredients to make the antidote of course." "Might as well fix two issues at once, right?" Schemeko smiled as he looked towards Cerise.

Cerise looks in Schemeko's direction. "Well, uh, That's all I have but the medicine comes from some simple herbs so I'll pick some stuff up along the way." She looked over in the direction that BattleDemon took. "I don't know. Don't you think it would be a little time costly to convince Battle to come with us. I mean, she ignored everything Nova and I said to her even when I was trying to help fix her broken leg. It seemed as if she didn't know us at all, so I'm guessing she has a bit of amnesia. Though, she didn't even recognize her own name, so that makes it a bit worse than even an advanced healer may fix..." She paused a moment. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know how you're going to heal her. You seem to know what you're doing but you don't act or seem like a healer wolf at all. I don't know the cure to amnesia and I have some good enough experience though, you have probably been around herbs your whole life with making your poison more and more toxic." She thought a moment. "If I were a wolf who would have come across Battle in this state, I'd probably send her to the Avens since they have most of the herbs, medicine, and healers in all of Nigerius..." She stopped. "Why don't we just go to the Avens for help, or is this herb so specific it only grows outside of Nigerius in the darklands?"

Nova nodded at Schemeko's recommendation, but also took into account Cerise's insight. From his experience, Nova doubted that anything short of walloping her on the head and knocking her out would get BattleDemon to come with them, and that was a rather dangerous proposal. Where had she run off to anyway? "Do you think that is a good idea Cerise, would the Avens be open to such a bunch of strangers coming right to their doorstep?" Nova asked rationally, wondering what the Ausi's would do in a similar situation. Nothing probably, or make the problem worse. Ausi's weren't known for their skills in healing.

"Wherever we decide to bring her, it might be to our advantage to put her to sleep, otherwise we would have a long struggle just to try and help her. Do you know of any herb that could do that Cerise? I'm going to go look for her." Nova continued, before checking his condition. Deciding it would be satisfactory for all he knew for the next few days, Nova followed the trail he had last seen BattleDemon disappear down. It didn't take that long to find her, actually, she had done nothing to try an conceal her trail. All he had to do was follow the muddy footprints and the broken twigs, and eventually he came upon Rokunam.

"I won't lie to you, I am no healer wolf," Schemeko chuckles playfully, "But I have more knowledge, than you would probably think about medicine...after all a little bit of medicine can heal a person but a lot of it can kill you." Schemeko laughs at that little fun fact. "Yes, I would agree that the Avens would be more helpful than I in dealing with her supposed amnesia," Schemeko spoke bobbing his head up and down, "But i am merely proposing I can help her with her physical status, I can tell from the smell on her leg that she has a nasty infection." "I can definitely help with diseases." Schemeko grinned proudly. "As for her amnesia...uh I'm at a lost...never dealt with that before...but if we let her go on as she is now that infection will kill her." "So her physical health, unfortunately takes precedence here since we could be dealing with another life or death situation like Nova's." "Hopefully from there we can figure out how to relieve her of her amnesia." Schemeko smiles as Nova left to go look for her, "Ah yes I shall come as well, it will be interesting to look at her more up closely!" Schemeko laughs as he follows Nova.

As he followed Nova he came upon the Tenneth from earlier and found the injured Alva passed out before them. "Ooooooh, this poor creature is definitely suffering from a feverish wound, you can just smell it from here!" "Judging from the rest of her it ain't much better." Then Schemeko looked at Nova and the Tenneth. "I must say here passed out from the pain is stroke of serendipity if there ever was one!" Schemeko laughs, "Transporting her will be much more easier!" Schemeko said as he looked back down upon the Alva. Oh, this gets better and better, this will be an interesting game for sure. Schemeko thought to himself.

Cerise nods and follows after, but at a very slow pace. When she finally reaches the group, she looks over the head of Nova and sees Battle passed out and from what Schemeko was rambling about, she passed out due to pain. She walks over beside Nova and examines Battles leg. Schemeko was right. A foul odor emitted from her leg. How could she had missed this? Maybe it had gotten worse over the time she had gone. Cerise sighs inwardly, "Well, I guess we will need to hurry if we will ever reach those supplies you were talking about..." She says grimly. Something inside of her told her something was messed up. She didn't what it was but it had most of it to do with Schemeko's place where he is supposedly going to heal Nova and battle's infected leg. If she were in Battle's or Nova's position, she would just hitch hike it to the Aven territory, but of course, somebody can't just waltz into another pack territory. Not when everyone was against each other. Not at a time of war.

Nova did not need to be reminded that he was in a supposed life or death situation, and Schemeko's gentle reminder hastened his movements. At least seeing that BattleDemon had already passed out for some time negated the need for having to knock her out physically, or something to that effect. However, now that she was out, she was going to be a deadweight. A deadweight that he and Schemeko would have to get from point A to point B. She had a sturdy build, and even in her sickly form she would still be hard to carry, and Nova doubted that either of them would have the stamina to make it in time to their destination with her on their shoulders, even if they switched off. Glancing around for inspiration, he spotted a fallen branch of a nearby conifer. It was rather large, and many of the needles stayed on, creating a fan shape out from the central branch.

"Perhaps we could drag her along in that, like a litter. It would be much easier than carrying her, though probably a bit less comfortable for her. She probably won't mind though." Nova suggested, gesturing to the others of where he was looking. The branch forked at the end, so it would be possible for two wolves to carry the pieces in their respective mouths, unless someone wanted to craft some kind of harness so that they would be free to talk.