Snippet #2811808

Eilin grit her teeth, gathering her good arm under her to push up from the ground. The pain hadn't fully registered yet, dulled by the sudden adrenaline flow through her body. She had to move, had to do something. Just one slash of her blade and 20 seconds of survival was all she needed and then she could take care of herself. It was likely a scout, the only demon currently in the area. And boy, if she could use him to send a message to his pack...

All fantasies, really. Somewhere in her now half-delirious state she heard the bow pull back again, the arrow fly, and braced herself for the impact that never came. Instead, somewhere behind her she heard an infuriatingly familiar voice swim into her consciousness.

Sverre... What the hell was he doing out here? Was he following her? And for how long? Were the two demons together? Or were they at odds?

All questions that she could not bring herself to fully focus on even as the voices rose and carried through the forest around them. It was the adrenaline rush that helped Eilin move, using her good arm to prop herself up and drag herself farther out of the way. Near-by was a tree. If she could get herself behind it, she could assess the situation from a safer vantage point. So she forced herself up, gaining her feet under her and making a beeline for the trunk that seemed to be swimming in her view. Lightheadedness. Eilin did her best to not look back, instead keeping her gaze and focus straight ahead on her destination.

There was a shriek behind her and the demons clashed just as Eilin half slammed into and half caught herself on the tree, feeling her way around it to let herself sink down at the base. A little distance from the demons was the best she could really hope for right now. Only then did she dare look back to figure out what was happening, in her agitation reaching for her throwing knives in case she needed to launch it at an ex big brother. Yet from what she could see, he was too preoccupied with the one that attacked her, at least answering the immediate question of if they were from the same pack.

Once immediate danger was off of her, Eilin tried to remind herself to breath as she eased herself into a more comfortable position, careful to not snag the arrow on anything. It was both a blessing and a curse, though. As the initial surge of adrenaline began to dissipate, leaving her head spinning, the pain came on full force, causing her to tense. She couldn't just rip the thing out, as much as she wanted to just to get it over and done with. There was a good chance she would bleed out in the snow and what was worse, even with the amount of blood she had already lost she was beginning to feel the sharp tendrils of the cold seeping in.

How long the fight lasted, she wasn't sure. Eilin wasn't even sure if she managed to stay awake through it all. Her mind was fuzzy and she was growing irritated with herself for letting this happen in the first place. How dumb was she to come out here while her thoughts were elsewhere? How could she have hoped to have been in the right state of mind to fend for herself with everything going on? Yet she knew that despite it all, she simply had to try and get a leg up on the protections of the village. Otherwise, what was the point of her continued existence?

Eilin's head rolled back against the tree, shutting her eyes to the swimming world around her. There was suddenly silence and she heard a body drop. The fall of approaching footsteps. Then, the sound of Sverre's berating words beside her. The urge to tear into him wasn't difficult to hold back from due to the simple fact that she couldn't move without sharp pains shooting through her. She settled for a glare.

"You don't know the first thing about duty," she bit out the words before a sharp hiss escaped her as he turned to tending her shoulder. The blooming pain was dizzying on its own, but his handling of it, as careful as it was, was still worse. Eilin wasn't usually one for a sailor's tongue but she would later remember a few choice words that she grit out at this infuriatingly helpful demon.

That was really the last thing she would remember as her floating vision faded and she allowed the cold to lull her into unconsciousness while she was lifted to be transported back to safety.