Chapter 4: His Perspective

*Bryson*

I stared at the beautiful woman in front of me as she looked at me in confusion. She didn't seem like a threat, but I couldn't help but force myself to stay strong in front of her, despite how hard it was to stay on my feet.

Or maybe I didn't want to look weak in front of her for a different reason.

"A…disease?" she asked.

Her voice had calmed down again, and I had to admit that when she wasn't screaming at me, her voice actually sounded quite nice. There was something melodic in the way her sentences lifted.

"Yes, a disease," I told her, trying to convince her as much as myself. "Since I was 10 years old, I would have irregular pain in my bones all over my body. Sometimes even to the point of fainting."

I left off the rest of my tragic story. She didn't need to know that my parents had spent as much money and time trying to find the most powerful healer or the most powerful medicine, and none of it helped in any way. In fact, all the healers I had seen had insisted that I would not live to be thirty years old and would never be changed into a wolf.

Oh did I prove them wrong though.

At the age of eighteen I had successfully possessed my own wolf. And by all calculations and assessments, my wolf seemed one hundred percent normal. My father and stepmother had been so excited by the news that they threw a special banquet for me to celebrate my rebirth as they named it.

"And you have had it since you were ten?" she asked.

She didn't even have to tell me that she didn't believe my story for me to realize that she didn't. It was clearly written in her tone and in her voice that she still believed what she had told me: that I had been poisoned.

Despite my resistance, the voice in the back of my mind was agreeing with her and concluding that her logic made the most sense.

Diseases, even the rare ones, had multiple cases to study. Whereas in my case…there was nothing. The healer who I had spent the most time with could find no record anywhere of anyone having any similar disease, making it hard to fight, and hard to diagnose.

All the mystery and inconsistencies were finally explained with her answer…it wasn't a disease at all.

For the first time in a long time, I felt a real spark of hope for the illness that I thought had ruined my life. My life had become more about exploring and adventure, and solving mysteries, than actually believing I would survive. It was odd to think of poison as a positive, but if the alternative was a bone crippling disease, I would take the poison any day.

Even though that meant that someone had betrayed me…possibly since I was ten.

"Yes," I finally answered her question. "I have had it since I was ten."

I still left out the rest of my thoughts, mind blown that one small trip was promising to change my life as I knew it.

I had entered her pack on a mission for answers. One of the old maids at my home had just revealed that my mother's last trip before her death had been to the Western Pack. Without a second thought I had left. Someone without a lot of time didn't just wait around.

But when I got to the Western Pack, I instead stumbled upon an unexpected sneak attack from some rogues. Seeing the rogues before me infuriated me, and even though it wasn't my land I began to fight them off. It didn't matter what rogues they were, they all deserved to die for what had happened to my mother.

I watched one racing through a garden of some sort, and chased after them. However, upon entering the garden I found myself feeling suddenly drained of power. The minor injuries I had sustained seemed to bloom into giant injuries right before my very eyes and my body began to shake.

The rogue I had been chasing took off, taking the opportunity to escape. They weren't the most elegant though, within a couple of steps they had collided with a girl that had run from the house, knocking her to the ground.

I stared at the girl in front of me now, realization hitting me. This was that same girl.

It wasn't every day that you saw someone so beautiful.

Her sharp eyes studied me, as if trying to read the thoughts that were traveling through my mind. Then she seemed to relax a little in front of me, or at least uncrossed her arms. She seemed unsure for a moment, opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, but then she made a decision and opened her mouth again.

"Look, I am not trying to be the bearer of bad news, and I get that this can be a lot for someone to process," she said in the same calm and mild voice. "However, I have extensive experience with healing, and I will tell you right now that what you had could never be simply a disease. The age of onset and the continuing symptoms are not consistent with something of a disease. Not to mention, I have never heard of any other disease case with similar symptoms."

She paused, but seemed committed to finishing what she wanted to say.

"The symptoms however, ARE consistent with that of Whisperbloom poisoning, which is why I am very sure that you were poisoned and that this wasn't some long standing incurable disease."

"And why should I believe you?" I asked, still trying to not let on that I already was starting to.

"I can prove it."

"What?" I asked, not expecting that answer. "How?"

"I have researched poisons and poison antidotes extensively," she continued, her words more confident. "I could cure you of this 'disease' that you are said to have, proving that it in fact is no disease at all. Just a poison in need of the correct antidote."

My body wobbled for a moment as I lost focus in standing up at her words. That was not what I was expecting her to say either. Was it really possible? Could she heal me?

Reality set in and crashed down around me. There had been countless doctors and healers to treat me, and none had ever been able to tell me the results of their tests, let alone find a solution. What made her think that she was so much better than any other professional in the field?

She was just some lowly girl from a podunk little remote, small pack. What if this was all a joke to her and none of it was actually serious?

For some reason, it was much easier for me to discount her certainty than risk having hope.

"And why would you heal me?" I asked skeptically. "Why should I believe you?"

Irritation flashed in the sharp eyes still examining me, but she shrugged nonchalantly as if my words had meant nothing.

"Believe it or not," she said simply. "Either way, the person who is going to die is not me."

Her indifference irritated me. Did she not realize who I was?

I stepped towards her, somehow maintaining my balance still and glared down at her.

"If you dare lie to me about this, I have the power to make the whole Western Pack disappear," I growled out, trying to hide the shaking in my voice. A threat wouldn't be very convincing if my voice was shaking the whole time.

She bristled in front of me, and moved so fast that I didn't even realize what she was doing. Then, the next thing I knew, she had a cold, sharp blade pressed firmly against one section of my neck.

I instinctively swallowed and felt the blunt edge of the metal blade.

"It's your life in my hands now," she whispered, somehow sounding even more intimidating than I had. "If I want to save you, I can; if I don't want to save you, no one will know that you were killed by me. In fact, they won't even realize that you are dead, because they will find no body. Do you understand me?"

Heat built up and I struggled against the blade, breaking free and pushing her to the side as I tried to create distance between us. Instead of diminishing her spirit though, this seemed to ignite it more.

She dove for me again, but this time I was more prepared for it. I grabbed the wrist of the hand that held the blade and pushed it back away from me. Without the use of her hand, her legs began to kick out.

With a grunt as one happened to catch my shin, I pushed her forward and pinned her to the wall of the small building we were in. The small space allowed me to pin more of her body down and prevent any more lucky shots.

She didn't seem as strong as I was expecting actually. There was something odd about her that I just couldn't place. However, with me still operating at low power, she was easily a match for my frail body. She managed to push back a couple of times before I could regain control and pin her again.

She looked outstanding fighting though, making me breathless with her mixture of warrior skills and grace.

Distracted by my observations of her face and body, she managed to land a solid elbow to the gut, knocking me down to the ground. I tried to get up, but couldn't. It seems that I had finally used up what little energy I had made up over the last couple days.

The woman stepped forward, whether to attack again or to call a truce and offer me a hand up, I wasn't sure. And I didn't find out either.

Because just at that moment, one of my bone and muscle spasms shot through my body, and I curled in on myself on the ground. The pain was immense and agony coursed through my body as I squeezed tighter and tighter into my curled position, only taking short gasps of breath as deemed necessary by my brain.

I managed to bite my tongue though and keep in all of the pain that wanted to spew from my lips. If there was anything positive about dealing with this…condition for such a long part of my life was the fact that I had learned to bear the pain in an internal way.

Except for the actual image of me curled up on the floor, there would be no noise I made to draw attention or pity to myself. I wouldn't even hold it against the woman if she took the opportunity to make sure that I was dispatched. It would be the smart thing in battle to do.

As she approached, I braced myself, preparing for it. Instead though, she took out a small vile from her pocket and held it up to where she knew I could see it.

"I will help you cure the poison that courses through your body," she said slowly, turning the bottle over and over, her eyes not even looking at me anymore. "Provided that you take me to the Grandmoon gardens."

My body spasmed again, trying to make the decision for me.

"Why do you want to go to Grandmoon?" I managed to choke out.

Was this girl, was risking my life, worth it?