Slowly, Anais lowered her sabre, her heart still thumping loudly in her chest. It was over.<i>For the moment.</i>They were barely away from the capital, and already they’d almost failed. Had she been wrong for suggesting that they go through the forest?<i>No.</i>They were all still unharmed, and maybe the docks would have been worse.<br/><br/>Plus, it wasn’t all bad news. She’d never actually seen the virus progress like that before, though she’d heard reports. She glanced back at her cloak. She’d enchanted it to ward off the infected, but the dire wolves hadn’t been affected. Perhaps the enchantment only worked when the virus reached a certain stage. If so, maybe there was a way to rework it so that it had at least some effect on the other stages. It was something to try the next time she had a chance to rest, anyway.<i>If </i>she ever had a chance to rest.<br/><br/>The princess’s scream rang through the air. Had she been hurt after all? Anais sheathed<i>Theneras</i>and rushed over to her two companions, motioning for her rescuer to follow. The princess sounded like Anais had felt trapped underneath that wolf. She didn’t know the princess well. How do you comfort royalty? “It’s all right. The wolves are gone. We’re all alive, and we’re here for you. All we can do is press onward and be ready to face whatever comes.”<br/><br/>Anais let out a breath and turned to face Zettie, her rescuer. “It’s a long story, but... the city is lost. The people there are all... afflicted, just like those wolves were. We’re all that’s left, as far as I know. We’re trying to find a cure, somehow. It’s all the hope we have.”<i>Maybe the only hope for civilisation as we know it.</i>“Maybe your home has fared better. I hope so.”<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>