Hunting Death- Bound Proposal
Story by MigeYeFoxe on SoFurry
New character! Though always remember when going off into a new location that having a stone that allows you to actually understand what the other person is saying is very important when you can get one. And food. Food is important too.
The Bound Proposal
I awake to the sound of motion nearby. I had gone to sleep the previous night shortly after the fight but took precautions to make sure I was not attacked during the night, which mainly amounted to something that would wake me up at the first sign of motion. When I open my eyes I'm surprised to see a naked human lying on the ground, caught up in the same binding spell I had used the previous night to restrain that beast. Curious I sit up and cock my head to the side as the human suddenly half cries out in alarm at finding himself restrained. He struggles against the magical bindings a few times before speaking up. Or at least I think he's speaking up. The sounds he's making are very strange and unintelligible and not very elegant sounding.
“Oh, right," I comment quickly, eliciting him to try and roll himself away from me for whatever reason as I yawn, standing up just enough to begin to stretch the sleep out of my legs and back. “It would probably help if I had something that would let us talk, wouldn't it? Hang on, I can fix this."
The human seems to be watching me very intently, trying to stay away as much as possible as I have my nose to the ground, trying to find some sort of stone that I can use to replicate that thing that Rophan had. It takes me a few minutes but I do manage to find one, though it is a little sharp around the edges. But it'll do until I can find a better one. I paw at the ground for a moment trying to decide how to go about it but decide that it's best if the human doesn't completely see everything, just in case. So I walk over to my pack and drag the entire thing back towards the stone, interposing the pack so that it is between me and the still cowering human. I pull out the rooshou again and a small dagger and then look up the length of my arm to find a good spot. The spell I saw on Rophan's stone needed to have a magical charge for the runes to work. Pricking a pad would be the easiest and most sure way to get my blood onto the stone, but since I'm planning on putting pressure on that again it's the worst spot to pick. Cutting oneself in a location that will be in contact with other things a lot with a lot of pressure being applied to it is a move only an idiot would do. I find a good spot on the bottom of my foreleg and press the dagger in just enough to draw blood and then hover the wound over the stone. It takes a moment for three drops to fall due to my fur and because I wasn't cutting that deeply. But as soon as I get the third drop I lower my limb and begin drawing out the runes with the rooshou.
The great part about the runes is that one can draw them as large as necessary, once completed they'll constrict onto the object at their center, thus I don't need to be all that dexterous with my mouth. The human is barking other words at me but I still can't understand him. Finally after a moment the runes are complete and after a word to initiate the runes they quickly glow and the stone blows up. At first I had thought that maybe I had made a mistake or worse that I did not know the correct runes but when the smoke clears the stone is still there, looking like it has all of the correct runes on it as far as I can tell. On top of that it seems to have conveniently sprouted a chain that I can wrap around my neck, a convenience I hadn't even thought far enough ahead to consider. The stone is, for the most part, still the same size and shape, though the edges do look a little smoother and the color has changed a bit. I put my rooshou away and slip my head into the hole for the chain.
“Okay, now how's that? Can you understand me now?"
“You can talk?" he exclaims, apparently even with all of my actions and the fact I'm the only one around within sight of his bindings he is still assuming I was just some dumb animal. “Nevermind that, please don't eat me."
“Eat you? Why would I go through the trouble of putting those bindings on you if I was going to eat you?"
“About that—"
“You attacked me, so I restrained you. Or I restrained some sort of beast. Don't know why you're here and not it."
“No, my point is how were you able to restrain me at all? Spells of this magnitude shouldn't even be able to do much more than slow it down for a bit and would take way too long to set up. Believe me I've tried. If something like this could have stopped it I would have had it used a long time ago."
“Oh, those things? Yeah, I saw the beast so I know enough to know that they wouldn't hold it long, just long enough for me to wake up and knock it back out."
“Knock it out? Is that even possible?"
“Why shouldn't it be? It is what my Anaelin is good at doing," I comment again, tilting my head to the scythe still lying on the ground, a decision made to not return it into the pendent since I didn't know how long I would have if the beast had awoken."
“Wait, you used a scythe to knock me out? Isn't that dangerous? Or were you trying to kill the wolf?"
“No," I comment, moving back over so that we can speak more eye to eye. This human was certainly odd looking and sort of disturbing to look at naked. “My Anaelin is special. It can't kill someone even if I wanted to. The blade doesn't cut flesh."
“Then what good is it?"
“Well it cuts through spells pretty good and it was able to take that thing out well enough. Though that reminds me," I comment before moving back to my scythe and give the mental command for it to return into the pendant, the sudden motion surprising him yet again.
“What just happened?"
“Well you have seen how large it is compared to me, right? How much sense does it make to be dragging along such a weapon all over the place? I have a spell attached to the cord that allows it to be stored into this pendant when I'm not using it."
“I suppose, so what are you going to do with me now?"
“Well I had thought of maybe trying to come to a sort of arrangement. I have no clue where I am. I would rather not spend the rest of my time wandering about lost."
“So you need me to take you to the next town?"
“Correct. And in exchange I'll let you go."
“And if I refuse?"
“Then I knock you out again and go about my own way of finding somewhere. I already have one direction I want to go for now."
“I guess I have no choice then, though I do have one condition, that if I do turn into the wolf again that you will use your weapon to knock me out and keep me out for the entire night."
“Fair enough," I shrug before leaning in close to the bindings and after focusing on them for a second or two breathe out all of the air I can onto the nearest ones.
At the gesture of release the bindings begin to evaporate away starting at the location I breathed upon. The human stands up once they're all off and begins stretching his own muscles. It is an odd thing too since I can hear quite a few cracks from his joints from the motions.
“I suppose I should introduce myself. I am Hashal Imbevela," he states, with a gesture with one arm as his other moves to cover his genitalia. “But I'm going to go out on a limb and guess that you can't read and thus have never heard of me."
“I can read," I protest at him, “just not maybe your language. Anyway," I rock back a bit and press my chest and head downwards with a bit of flourish, “I am called Migeyefoxe."
“A pleasure to meet you. Though if I may make one more request. Is it possible that we make a small detour so that I may go and find where I had stashed all my stuff last night before letting that wolf take over? I'd really rather not walk into town in the nude. And I have a lot of irreplaceable writing materials with my stuff too."
“I'm okay enough. But after that we should go find something to eat. I'm hungry."
“That's probably a good idea," he states after moving off in one direction once having gotten his bearings. “Though may I ask a question? Are you wearing a sort of ceremonial paint or something?"
My head cocks to the side as I don't bother facing him but instead work on getting my pack back on.
“That's an odd question to ask."
“It's just that you're so asymmetrical."
“Aesa what?"
“One of your ears is white instead of a normal fox's color, same with one of your forelegs, except the off-colored one is on the wrong side. You seem to have heterochromia and there's that large patch of brown fur over your eye. So is it paint to make you have this look or is it how you normally look?"
“You know I could always just knock you out again and leave you here."
“Fine, fine, forget I asked. Let's go get my stuff."
“And then food," I add, my stomach grumbling.
“Yes, yes, and then food."