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The fire was lit and smoldering in the middle of camp when Shadowheart returned from her bath. She was surprised to find herself alone and took a second to look for the others. In a way it was nice, to have a moment of quiet without the small bickering and idle chat of her companions. Most importantly she didn’t have to deal with Lae’zel - who had become a constant reminder of the poor decisions she had made in Lady Shar’s name. She poured herself a glass of wine from Gale’s stash and settled in by the fire with a book. The time passed by quickly enough. She had thumbed through most of the book and finished half the bottle before she thought to worry about where everyone was again.
She rose to her feet and instantly regretted that last cup of wine, her legs wobbled a bit as she squinted into the darkness. On the edge of camp she saw a pair of yellow eyes skulking about just out of reach. Halsin must be coming back from his hunt she thought, but when he did not venture closer she thought him wounded. Her big bear might need a hand. She stretched and rose, walking casually to the edge of camp, the ends of her night dress dragging slightly against the ground as she went. The eyes seemed to be just out of reach again, every step she took towards them was met with what seemed to be equal distance of space.
“Halsin, if you’re tempting me into the forest for sex, I’d prefer my tent tonight.” She grinned a bit at her joke, knowing he would sleep wherever she suggested, hells, he would curl up outside if it meant he was close to her. The creature before her stepped on a branch - the cracking sound echoed throughout the forest. The game was up, it had shown that it had been moving this entire time.
They both froze.
Her eyes trained in on it in the darkness, easy after years of practice and saw a quite ragged looking wolf in front of her.
The eyes now looked nothing like Halsin’s, the pupil’s cold and distant the scruff along it’s collar bushy and unkempt, she backed away holding her hand’s in front of her to show that she was not a threat. Hot breath pushed against the back of her legs as she realized she was encircled, the magic she had hoped to use fizzled out of her fingertips into nothing - she was spent. The one in front lunged first, causing her to jump back as it’s jaw clamped down on her nightgown, ripping the ends to shreds. Another from behind seized the opportunity, biting down hard against her ankle, the bones crunching as they were turned to dust under it’s grip, her body cascading to the ground with a hard thump.
This is the part where you scream she thought - but her voice was empty, fear had taken it’s place, the yellowing eyes of her greatest fear circled in on her, the darkness bringing. Hot, wet, tears began to fall from her eyes, and the embarrassment at her drunken stupor made her face flush hot in the cool night.
But this was not her dream, not her nightmare, she was not alone. A mighty roar came from within the trees and a bear broke through their defenses - slamming them back and slashing at the nearest wolf’s body, it jumped landing too close to Shadowheart and dug a claw into her leg cutting open her flesh.
“Bit battered tonight, Fringe?” She felt Karlach before she saw her - the heat of her body and glow pushed the shadows away with ease. The barbarian leaned over her and gave a serious look. Small flames whipped across her surface as she spoke, smoke pooling by her lips.
“Yeah. Think my ankle is broken too.” Karlach looked down at it and whistled appreciatively.
“That it is. Won’t be walking anywhere on that.” There were several low growls behind her and a wolf slammed into a tree near them almost tearing it’s claws into Karlach’s back.
“Better let the bear-man handle this alone or we’ll both end up injured, come on.” She put her arms around Shadowheart and lifted her easily, tossing her over her shoulder like a sack of flour as she jogged back to camp. Karlach made a warm breeze in her wake and Shadowheart watched the tiefling’s ass bouncing below her to keep her mind off the pain of her ankle. Before she could comment on the view they were at her tent.
“M’Lady.” She announced as she put Shadowheart down on her bedroll and propped her injured leg up with pillows and books then turned to leave. Shadowheart could feel her body move but didn’t know what it was reaching for until her fingertips grabbed a ruby red jewel on the edge of Karlach’s clothing.
Her voice was hoarse and her eyes wet from fear.
“You’re welcome to stay.” She said, trying to be nonchalant. Karlach grinned, her hair billowing from her heat and settled next to her. Her arms wrapped around Shadowheart holding her against her chest and sprinkling her head with warm kisses.
“I won’t let anything hurt you again.” Karlach whispered to her softly, stroking her hair out of her face.
Halsin plodded to the front of the tent, his body covered in guts and viscera and curled up just outside. His eyes scanning the forest for any more unwelcome visitors.