Harou’s vision blurred, but it was only the wind rushing past his face that made him realize his eyes weren’t the problem; he was being flung across the battlefield!

The big red and brown lycan hit the ground with a thud, knocking the wind out of him.  He staggered to his feet anyway, his shattered hind leg held in the air, close to his body.  His vision swam as he dizzily looked around for Solomon.  Solomon could fix this!  He had to find him.  He had to protect him!  Harou staggered towards the battlefield, and nearly lost his balance.

Solomon howled in agony somewhere beyond Harou’s sight.  Harou howled back, and tried to move towards the sound.  He had to hurry!  Solomon let out another pained howl, which cut off abruptly.  Harou collapsed, a sob escaping him even though he could not cry while in wolf form.  Without Solomon, hope was lost.  Their unit would be overrun for sure.

Harou forced himself to his feet, fighting the pain of the venom in his leg.  The venom couldn’t kill a lycan, but it would hurt until it was neutralized.  Solomon could’ve done it.  The drake’s venom couldn’t be overcome with magic, but Solomon would’ve known what medicines would work.  Harou knew Solomon couldn’t help him now.  If he didn’t make it back to the main army to warn them of the barbarian invaders, then Harou’s unit would’ve died in vain.  If they couldn’t hold them back, then they had to at least warn the others!

Harou forced his injured leg to the ground, breathing heavily through clenched teeth.  Drawing on his training, the lycan pushed the pain back, ignoring it.  It was dangerous to do this; he could permanently injure himself if it went too long, but he didn’t have a choice now.  He turned and ran towards the main army’s encampment.

His mind focused only on the direction he was going, his speed, and controlling the pain.  The details of his surroundings, the sound of the battle, everything else, it all faded into a dull fog and white noise.  Harou ran.

Harou ran until he was gasping for air, and his injured hind leg burned like it was on fire.  He ran until everything hurt, and the battle was left far behind him.  The clearing of the encampment finally came into view.  Everything was quiet.  It was very early in the morning now, and only half the camp was awake so far.

Harou paused.  He couldn’t approach in this form.  Changing forms while his leg was broken was dangerous, but again, he had no choice.  He looked around, and spied a thick branch that was broken into a short piece.  He picked it up in his mouth and bit down, hard, and forced himself to shift.  His roar of pain morphed into a scream as his voice became human.

His clean soldier’s uniform, enchanted by his brother-in-law to meld with his wolf form so he wouldn’t be naked when he shifted, immediately began to soak with blood, especially his left leg.  Now, Harou had a problem.  He no longer had three legs to help balance his injured one.  Forcing himself to run on all four legs rather than his three good ones, and then also shifting, had exacerbated the damage to his leg.  He could barely stand, let alone walk!  He flung the branch he’d bitten off to the side, frustration coursing through him.

He ran his hands through his brown hair and took a steadying breath.  No choices.  He had to get to the encampment.  Steeling himself against the agony he was about to inflict upon himself, Harou moved forward.  He tried to make himself run, but he couldn’t.  It wasn’t just the pain, but his leg just didn’t want to bend properly.  The injury translated to human form as shattered bone above and below the knee.  He wondered idly if it would still look like a drake’s bite mark.

Harou staggered into camp and shouted.  Several people looked towards him.

“Barbarians!” he panted.  “Barbarians are attacking the border unit!  Th-they have a mage, a-and a poison drake!” he cried, falling to his knees, overcome by the pain.

“Medic!” someone shouted.

The camp exploded into action!  Everyone rushed around, getting dressed, grabbing weapons, extinguishing campfires, getting ready for combat.  Two medics rushed to Harou.  He waved them off.  He didn’t want them to see his leg in such bad shape.  As a lycan, the bone and muscle would heal in time.  The humans had a tendency to amputate limbs when they were as damaged as his, and he couldn’t let that happen.

“I’m fine, don’t worry about me!  I’ll be fine!  I can tend to myself, you go!  There are people in my unit in much worse shape, so don’t waste time on me.  Save them!” he begged the medics.

“Let me help you to the med tent, then I’ll leave you to it,” one of the medics said.  He nodded knowingly at Harou.  The man was an elf, and he could tell Harou wasn’t human.  Harou wasn’t sure if he knew what he was, but he was at least grateful the elf understood his situation enough to leave his injury be.

The elf helped Harou to the med tent and then hurried off to join the other medics heading for the battlefield.

Harou waited until everyone was gone, barely clinging to consciousness.  He shifted into wolf form when no one was around to see, and hobbled into the woods.  He found a place under a fallen log, in a bramble thicket, that seemed like a safe spot.  He crawled into it, and then gave in to the darkness.

Harou woke as the sun was setting.  It would not have been entirely accurate to say he felt better, but he could tell that he had healed a little bit while sleeping.  He could tell from the sounds of the nearby encampment that it was likely the same day.

He dragged himself out from under the log, and through the thorny thicket.  He shifted back to human form, and tested his leg.  He winced.  Walking on it was still out of the question.  He hobbled back to camp.  He searched every face he passed, looking for others from his unit.  His heart sank further the longer he went without seeing anyone.

Unsure what else to do, Harou went to report to the officer above the commanding officer of his unit.  The man was a djinn, and knew how to pull strings to get non-humans together in a single unit, especially if they were a type of non-human that preferred to be unknown to humans.

“Paimon, Sir,” Harou greeted, giving a short bow.

“Harou.  You survived,” Paimon observed.  The djinn had an uncanny look.  He looked human, but a little too perfect, a little too symmetrical.  His bronze skin had an almost glittery look to it in the sun, and the irises of his eyes were constantly shifting in color like fire.  Looking into his eyes was like looking through a window into a fireplace.  It was unsettling, but also kind of fascinating.

“Did… D-did anyone else?” Harou asked, swallowing hard.  Paimon took a moment to answer.  He nodded slightly.

“A couple did.  They’re in worse shape than you, although,” the djinn looked Harou up and down, “you look pretty damn rough yourself.  What’s wrong with your leg?”

Harou deflated, heartbroken to learn so few survived.

“Poison drake venom,” he said quietly, knowing it was useless to lie to the djinn.  They could sense when someone was lying.  They didn’t have the same power fey did, to know the truth within a lie when it was told, but they always knew if someone was lying to them.

“You are unfit for duty until you get that healed,” Paimon said bluntly.

Harou nodded, feeling defeated.  He’d known that would be the result.

“I’ll get your paperwork ready.  You will be discharged with honors, and get a medal for warning the main army despite grievous injury.  If you can find someone capable of healing you, you’re welcome to come back.  I know what doesn’t kill a lycan outright can usually be healed, but that venom is not going to leave your leg on its own,” Paimon said.  Harou nodded.  He knew that too.  He wasn’t sure where he’d go from here.  His sister was a lycan physician, but she wouldn’t be able to help him.  Poison drakes had never been in the area of his hometown, so no one in his family would have experience or knowledge of dealing with them.  He didn’t think even his brother-in-law’s extensive library would help.  It wasn’t good enough to know how to heal the venom, one had to have the materials.  Harou knew the herbs needed didn’t grow anywhere around home.  They didn’t grow around here, either.

“I’m in for a long and painful journey, trying to find the cure to this venom while crippled by it,” Harou observed with a sigh.  Piamon’s stoic expression softened with sympathy.

“Well, I know your kind doesn’t do well with horses unless the horses were raised among lycans, but there is a trade route to a big city from the nearby town.  I hear the city has a goblin market visiting right now.  They say if it exists, you can find it at a goblin market.  I don’t know if that’s true, but it seems like a place to start,” Paimon suggested.

“Thank you,” Harou nodded.  It was a place to start.