Deciding

JP with Jaxx and Cindy

Having no viable way of seeing in the dark, the huntress decided she would have to end the search for the evening. Unfortunately, that meant going back empty handed as far as the antidote was concerned.

Islana did manage to find and kill three rabbits. They were usually easy kills and easy was good.

Still looking for any signs of what was needed for the remedy, on the way back, the young woman did spot a plant that could be used as a tea for the pain and bruising.

Before entering the cave, Islana gazed upward at the falcon. Feel free to join us for the night. Leaving Kaithak to decide.

She entered the cave, with clear disappointment in her voice, "I couldn't find anything for the antidote."

Giving Hunter a moment to process that information.

Hunter replied, “Sadly….the odds… are…bad. I would be…… surprised if you found……. the plants.” Hunter focused on his breathing a bit then asked, “Please put this charcoal in my tea. Crush it into powder. It will help neutralize the poison and buy more time.”

Islana nodded. She took the charcoal. Making a fire near the entrance, she made the tea, putting the charcoal in Hunter's. Islana helped the man sit up and drink the tea. Once he was done, she asked. "I caught some rabbits. Do you think you could try to eat something?"

Hunter replied, “Thanks…… but it will have to be small pieces. So why did you save me?”

The question surprised her, "I know we don't know each other that well and my guess is you had no idea that I was the one the Creed was going to murder that night but it doesn't matter. You still helped save me. I didn't do this to pay you back for that, even if I do owe you, but because if you were willing to do that you must be a decent person and one worth saving. Also, it was just the right thing to do."

It was difficult to explain how the thought of leaving him never entered her mind. To Islana that wouldn't have been a possibility.

"If the situation was reversed, would you have left me?"

Hunter chuckled and replied, "I am no longer a tool for killing. When we were trying to save you we thought you were a little kid, but it didn't matter since you were also a victim in the end. Voah has taken me under her wing to be an Incus and make me human." Hunter coughed a bit and cleared his throat. Then he spoke again, "I know you fear me for many reasons, but I have no desire to see you caged or dead. If asked I will only claim you learned of animal husbandry." Hunter drank some water from his skin while shaking a bit.

Then he focused on breathing as he spoke again, "You and I are both haunted by our past. I was taken as a kid and forced to become a killer and slave. Then I was sold to my former master Duke Gett. I committed many evil acts under his whims. It was an empty life full of mindless violence till I was assigned to protect his daughter. She seduced me and made me feel for the first time. She was wild and full of life even after she was pregnant with my child. When we tried to run away from her angry father, he sent his elite guards to kill me and retrieve her..............In the end they killed her instead of me so the Duke put a bounty on my head for her death."

Hunter took a breath again then spoke more, "Then after a few years I ended up here only to end up killing one of my lovers who was a Creed member. I recently learned that the bounty hunter found me because of the surviving sister and lover, so I am sorry about that. However I learned that is all moot now. There are rumors of a war bigger than the one coming soon. One that will need the natives and the immigrants to work together to survive. So...........I am going to let you decide if I live or die tonight. (pulling out the book of medical notes to show Islana) I marked the page with the recipe for the antidote. The choice is yours." Hunter then waited for Islana to make her choice.

"I appreciate you not saying anything about my abilities." Islana sighed. "The bounty hunter is after both of us. He knew about me as well, so that's not on you no matter what your ex lover did. Someone else put him on my trail. Now, he's also seen my power..."

The young woman didn't finish that statement, she probably didn't need to. "I know about the war that is coming. I can't help with a bounty hunter after me. He'll just be after me until one either he's dead or he's captured me." She didn't even hesitate, in taking the book. "Hunter I have no intention of killing you. I can't even contemplate that. I don't have the ingredients to make the antidote but I will keep looking for them. I'll take care of you as long as necessary. You're right, I am haunted by my past. Not in the way you are. But I've seen far too often horrible people get away with things that they shouldn't and good people bearing the price. It's not the way it should be. If I let you die at least one of the horrible people wins. I can't just let you die without doing everything I can to try to save you. I just don't have it in me."

Hunter chuckled and coughed a bit before he spoke, "Looks like the so called gods have a purpose for me then to guide me to people like you all. After we eat and drink you need to rest so we can leave before daylight. We don't want to deal with that old stinky prospector before I can turn him into fertilizer."

Islana smiled at Hunter. "I will go cook the rabbits then." She had drunk the tea with the leaves and it had started working on her pain enough to be able to do a quick butchering job and then cook the rabbits. She helped feed Hunter. Then while the young woman was eating , she said. "We need to come up with a plan for tomorrow. I think going back is out of the question as we'd likely run right into him. I guess we could just pick a direction and hope for the best."

Hunter chuckled and he swallowed his tea. It was bitter especially with the charcoal in it and felt like sand going down his throat. Once he swallowed it he replied, "We stay on course. We still have to find Voah and Tarmen if we can. Besides I am sure Alexis, Blackwolf and Wim picked up on my not liking Alcuin or whatever his name is. So if he comes back to them without us, they will not believe him regardless of his lies. Hopefully you will find the ingredients before then."

"To find Voah and Tarmen we have to go back. We can't do that until you get the antidote. We need to figure out what we're doing tomorrow. I think your right about them picking up on it." It was an assumption based on the people mentioned. "What if he doesn't go back to them?" It could take everyone else days before they realized that she and Hunter were even missing. "I think we need more of a direction to go tomorrow. If we happen to run across anything that might help Voah and Tarmen as well, all the better but we are nowhere near where we need to be for that." The woman took a breath. "I say we have to just keep going the way we are."

It didn't seem like they had much of a choice.

Hunter moaned and replied, "I know you are worried but maybe we will figure it out after we sleep."

Islana nodded. Maybe something else would come to them but she doubted it .