@Pele Alarion@Ercassie
Brooke Willows with a random dog
Witchwood Cottage Tree, Archet Woods, in Winter
It seemed her fears about the man being in league with Mr. Spruce were unfounded. Brooke might have breathed a sigh of relief, but she felt too cold and miserable to feel very much relief. She was glad to see the stranger come to investigate the situation, and moved aside to let him inspect the hole they had been working at. Her fingers were hurting from being so cold, yet while she might have put her knife away in her bag, she did not. He commented that Clay could not have gotten under the tree through that small hole, and Brooke shook her head in agreement, but before she could offer an explanation of how they had went around the tree from another hole, the man had spotted the tracks they had left, despite the continually snow having begun to fill them in.
As it was, Brooke had been so caught up with trying to dig Clay out from the tree, that she hadn't even noticed the snow falling around them. Perhaps it was a good thing, though. For if their tracks were filled in well enough, and if Mr. Spruce took long enough, maybe he wouldn't be able to find their tracks? It was a hope, though not a very hopeful one. The man was a trapper, who hunted animals for their hides, right? So, most likely, he was good at finding tracks even when others couldn't.
Quietly, Brooke followed the stranger and the dog as they went around the tree to find the boulder which she and Aislin had been unable to move. She sniffled, nodding in agreement when he concluded that they had not been able to move the boulder. "It just wouldn't move." She answered softly. Knife still in hand, she wrapped her arms around herself in a futile attempt to keep warm. "He must've crawled in there to get away from Mr. Spruce.. he was chasing him.. he.. Clay.. led him away, t-to save me," She explained, followed by a cough as her throat protested the frigid air. "I don't know
why," She added with slight confusion. "He's never even spoken to me before." She mumbled, feeling even more confused as she wondered suddenly why Clay had even been here in the first place. But that was hardly important right now.. getting Clay out, was. The man's first attempt at rolling the stone away was unsuccessful, and Brooke worried that maybe he wouldn't be able to do it, either. Briefly, it occurred to her that maybe if all three of them put their efforts into it...
But just as she was thinking of offering, the boulder rolled away. Brooke let out a shaky breath, which came out in a faint puff of white in the frosty air. Glancing at Aislin, she smiled faintly, glad to see some progress at last. But it seemed that she was not the only one thinking to offer help. The dog leaped forward eagerly, probably intending to crawl down in the hole with Clay. "Oh, no.. come back!" Brooke tried to call, but the man was swifter, and caught him. Brooke inwardly cringed slightly, seeing that the man had caught the poor dog by the neck. It was the obvious place to have grabbed him, but.. well, the man hadn't seen the wounds that
she'd seen on the dog's neck, which his shaggy, matted fur was now hiding. "Oh, careful," She gasped softly, moving forward to get the dog from him. "He's had a very tight rope around his neck," She explained, remembering how it had been cutting into the poor dog's neck.
"Stay back," She told the dog, trying to gently hold him by the shoulders instead. The suggestion the man gave then, that they were trying to trap him, made Brooke blink in bafflement. "We.. didn't do this," She told him, unsure if he was joking or serious. But, of course he couldn't be serious, because if they couldn't move the boulder away from the hole to free Clay, how could they have put it there in the first place?
As he suggested that one of them keep an eye out for the tanner's return, Brooke glanced back that way, and then looked to see if Aislin was going to keep watch for him. As she coaxed the dog to sit, she then slid her arms around him as if in a hug, and anxiously watched as the stranger reached into the hole. "I think he's very frightened," She muttered, in explanation, as the man seemed to recoil abruptly. Had he been kicked? She had no idea what Clay must think about all of this, and also wasn't sure if he had heard their voices earlier as they tried to assure him that they were here to help. Perhaps he thought it was Mr. Spruce trying to drag him back out? She glanced back in the direction from which she expected the tanner to come, and then back to the hole.
'Please, hurry...' she thought, anxious to get away from here.
At last, the man had pulled Clay out of the underground tunnel. Brooke wondered what sort of creature might have burrowed under the tree to create such a mini-cave large enough for the young man to crawl into. But she would probably never know the answer to that. Probably, some poor creature hiding from the terrifying tanner. The dog was intensely curious, leaning forward as he tried sniffing at the rescued young man, but she held him back as well as she could. She watched, wishing she had some sort of supplies to offer, while the stranger put a splint on Clay's ankle. In her bag, she only had a few small strips of fabric that wouldn't be nearly enough for this. Everything else she had of that sort was in her room at home.
The promise of a healer dwelling in these woods, well, that was something of a surprise. Releasing the dog at last, she stood slowly. So far, she was still able to walk, but she knew her feet were numb. She'd have to do her best to keep up. She was momentarily worried that the dog would rush down into the hole the second she let go of him, but instead, he sniffed briefly at the hole, then wandered over to investigate Clay and sniff thoroughly around his and the stranger's feet, while one supported the other. Finally he came trotting back over to Brooke, his tail wagging as he looked up at her and barked, if to say he was done now.
"He might be hers," Brooke answered uncertainly, upon hearing that the healer had a dog. She had no idea where this one had come from, after all. She looked to make sure that Aislin was keeping close, and couldn't remember whether she had any shoes or not. Brooke's own were makeshift, and barely kept her feet from the cold. She'd gotten wet earlier, and at least half of her skirts were frozen stiff, coated in a layer of frost and ice. It wasn't comfortable, but there was nothing she could do about it.
Keep close, keep up, and keep on. The stranger's words were encouraging, but Brooke thought it was easier said than done. Still, she nodded, and mentally added, '
and ears, and noses...' to the bit he said about their fingers and toes staying attached. She thought she heard a mutter about the tanner, but didn't quite make out every word. If she had not been freezing, she would have been far more reluctant to go anywhere with a strange man, despite the fact that he'd helped her and Aislin. But at the moment, she was too cold and tired and scared of Mr. Spruce to object, and the dog seemed to think he was alright. Dogs could tell if people weren't nice, right? She didn't know for certain but she thought she'd read that somewhere, that they could sense if a person was good or bad, and stuff like that.
At some point, she did finally stow the knife away in her bag. Not only was her hand too cold to hold onto it much longer, requiring her to tuck both hands into her armpits, but she was also becoming convinced that the man had no intentions of harm toward them. As she trudged on through the snow, occasionally slipping or tripping, she wordlessly got back up each time, and tried her best to keep up, despite the cold making it hard for her to take breaths without a little cough every couple of breaths. Her throat was feeling raw from the cold, and she considered telling the stranger to go on and get Clay to the healer, and that she and Aislin would catch up. They had his tracks to follow, after all. But the words didn't come out, and she shied away from speaking up with such a suggestion anyway. He was already slowed down by having to keep to a pace that Clay could manage, and she did worry about if Mr. Spruce might catch up to them still. It seemed odd to her, actually, that he had not already done so.
The
cabin that appeared at last was a very welcoming sight. With windows glowing with warm light, and a thin stream of smoke rising from the chimney, it gave the place a cozy, warm appearance. A thick blanket of snow covered the roof, and beyond the windows, the light cast onto the snow made it glitter beautifully. If she hadn't been so cold, Brooke might have been better able to appreciate the sight, but for the moment she was glad to see the cabin for the thought of getting warm. As she thought she heard a bark from inside, the dog next to her perked up his ears and let out one of his own before running ahead, tail wagging as he stopped and looked back at the group of slow-moving humans, as if urging them to hurry up.
Healer Sérëní Moss &
Hwinia
She'd just put another small piece of log on the fire, when Hwinia suddenly leaped up and barked. The excited dog spun in a circle, barked again, and ran to the window, her front paws resting on the sill as she peered through the frosted panes. As Seri stood from her task, she frowned slightly and watched her dog bounce over to the door, whining softly as she pawed at it. "What is it, girl?" She asked as she moved to cautiously peer out of the window.
Brown eyes widened slightly as she caught sight of the little group moving slowly toward her porch, which she could only just see by the light spilling out of the windows. Though she couldn't quite make out who they were just yet, she could tell by the way one supported the other, that at least one of them was injured.
Taking up a shawl as to wrap around her shoulders, she hastened to pull her dog back from the door, and opened it before the group had even knocked. "Come in, get out of the cold," She urged, ushering the entire group in. Only once she had closed the door behind the last of the half-frozen group, did she take a proper look and realize that she knew the tallest of the group; the one supporting the young man, whom she also recognized vaguely. Enough to recall his name, at least. The two girls she was less familiar with; one, she had never seen before, and the other, she had only occasionally glimpsed around town now and then.
Swiftly, she took an assessing glance over her unexpected guests. The young man, Clay, was being supported almost entirely by Gwandhyra, with a makeshift brace of sorts on his ankle. She saw blood, and he was covered in dirt. And he was clutching.. a skull?! She swiftly overlooked that before it drew forth any questions that could wait, and looked at the other members of the party. The girls looked like they were freezing, and no surprise in this weather.. especially since only one, the younger looking of the two, seemed to even have a wrap to keep the cold at bay. But they did not appear to be injured.
"You two, there's a fire in the hearth, go and get warm," She insisted in a kind tone, with a motion toward the fireplace. "Don't get too close 'til I can check your hands and feet for frostbite," She added in warning, before turning her full attention to the injured patient, and the one supporting him. Gwandhyra did not appear to have any injuries, at least. "You seem to find injured young men everywhere you go, don't you?" She commented to Gwandhyra with a lightly teasing tone, as she motioned for him to help Clay stretch out on the sofa. Referring, of course, to the recent occasion when she had met the ranger, tending to another injured young man. Thankfully, this one didn't appear to be as badly injured as the other.
"What happened?" She inquired, while she went to get some water and other supplies ready. Both brace, and the boot, would have to be removed, but she wasn't sure what she would find beneath. So, she wanted to be prepared to stop a flood of bleeding, in case. In the background, the dogs were greeting each other like old friends reunited, and with a quick glance in their direction, she noticed that the unfamiliar one appeared to be of similar breed to Hwinia. But that thought could wait. Returning with her supplies, she set these on the coffee table and took a seat on the floor so she could better get to the wounded foot, and frowned at what appeared like 'teeth marks' on the leather of the boot. These didn't look quite familiar to her. "Do you know what creature it was that bit him?" She looked up at the others, unsure whether there might be any added dangers she needed to be aware of, since some creatures were known to carry diseases.