The darkness was a warm comfort that she had not been expecting. The fire had taken the chill from her bones, but the nighttime was not nearly as terrifying as she’d been expecting. There were creatures out here - beasts that were dark and dangerous, and yet, the thought of her winged companion wandering out in the nighttime somewhere with her was reassuring. He would hear her if any distress were to fall upon her, Deryn was absolutely certain of that. What she wasn’t certain of was how far away he’d gotten in such a short period of time.<br/><br/>It seemed like she’d been walking for hours when she decided to lean against a rather large tree trunk. The trees here were different than they were back home in Albion. The trunk of this particular one was covered in a green mossy substance that tickled her fingertips as if it were licking them with several soft, small tongues. Covering her mouth, Deryn suppressed a laugh at the sensation. How odd? With that thought, a giant wave of tiredness overwhelmed her, and a yawn escaped her pouty lips before she squeezed her eyelids closed tightly. The gesture did nothing to ease the weariness pulling at her eyes and they continued to feel heavier with every moment. Deryn would need to rest, no thanks to the festering wound she’d carried with her for days after the beastkin attack. Perhaps Malkier had been right. Her wound had been more serious than she’d originally expected. It became more and more obvious with each day that passed as her body continued to recover from the wound.<br/><br/>The sound of laughter brought her back from her moment of drowsiness. Deryn caught the sight of a fire that was not her own flickering in the distance. These voices sound masculine, and while normally that would not be a deterrent for Deryn, she was a female in foreign lands. Not every place treated women the same as they did back in Albion. Malkier had made that clear based on his response to her earlier statements about stories and honoring women soldiers. Instead of the malicious take that she would have expected, the things he’d said were more...reverent than she could have ever wished to hear about a place within their world.<br/><br/>As silently as possible, Deryn crept closer to the fire, just to take a peek. Hopefully Malkier was a distance away and would not be discovered easily. Deryn did not think she had to worry much about her new friend, but there was a protective instinct inside of her that had her watching out for him just as much as he watched out for her. It was a shame she couldn’t point that out to him in this moment. The look on his face would have tickled her.<br/><br/>Lingering in the trees, she waited for a few moments to observe them before moving on with her excursion. Malkier would be out here somewhere, but it seemed that the black feathered man blended in with the darkness more than she had hoped. Turning back toward the camp would be the smartest choice, even though these men might be able to assist them in their quest. Did they even speak common? That was the question that rattled through her head as she pushed aside a few bushes and branches to peer into their camp with ease. It was only a few moments after that when she watched with wide, horror filled eyes as the men were frozen, their faces reflecting the very same terror that filled hers.<br/><br/><b>”Stay quiet, Deryn.”</b>She muttered to herself softly in the brush. As quietly as possible, she dropped down into a squat, making her body as small as she possibly could to avoid detection. If there was something out there causing this, she did not want to be seen and forced to become a victim as well.<br/><br/>A hulking figure advanced on the third man in the camp. At first, she did not get a good look at who or what it was, but once the fire light caught on the gleaming softness of a row of dark, glistening feathers, Deryn felt her breath catch in her chest.<i>Malkier</i>. Where her heartbeat had stopped just a moment before she realized who he was, it slammed in her chest with speed and she gathered herself to her feet. It was only Malkier in the clearing, but why had he paralyzed those men? Surely he did not mean to harm them?<br/><br/>Frowning to herself, she took one step, then another, then a third and forth and fifth and so on, until she stood at the edge of the firelight.<b>”Thank goodness it is only you, Sir.”</b>Deryn attempted to speak, but the words were quickly lost in her throat as she watched her friend gather closer to the third man. Terror ran through her, starting in her fingertips and running into the arches of her feet. Deryn watched as Malkier drank from the man, taking the essence that was his life and invigorating his body with it. As silently as she possibly could, Deryn backed into the shadows, hoping to avoid being seen. Malkier was making his way out of the camp, and Deryn could feel her fingers shaking.<br/><br/>Was he one of the demons that she’d heard about in all of those stories as a child? The ones that killed with their mouths and turned humans into walking nightmares? Was Malkier one of the Evil Ones, one of the pieces of superstition that she carried with her always? Her hand moved to a pouch at her side, grasping an old gem she’d found in a shop when she was younger. Had it kept her safe from Malkier’s bloodlust as it had been intended from the get go? Never before had she thought one of her many trinkets would have actually been useful, but the tighter she grasped the pouch, the more and more she became thankful it was there.<br/><br/>But one false step was enough to send her clumsy foot down on a tree branch that crunched under the force, loud enough that even the deaf could have heard it. Deryn’s breath caught once more, and before she could think twice about it, she let out a small squeak and took off at a full sprint into the woods. Beastkin be damned! She was not about to become the victim of a vampire!<br/><br/>Tag:<a class="username" data-user-id="92" data-username="@Malkier" data-xf-init="member-tooltip" href="https://blackdahliaroleplaying.com/members/92/">@Malkier</a>