David just rolled his eyes and climbed into the saddle.

Alina looked back at Seluna.  “We’ll be back soon, ‘kay sweety?”  Luna gave several happy woofs and allowed her tongue to loll out for a moment as she gave what David assumed was her version of a smile, Alina responding with a smile of her own.  “Love you too Luna.  Stay safe now.  Bye!”

She turned back to Kai and David.  “We start on the count of three.  Ready?  One… Two… Three!”  David gave his horse a small nudge in the haunches and it launched forward with a jolt. 

After two near misses he allowed the horse guide itself and spared a glance around; had David not been on horseback he probably would have needed help scraping his jaw off the ground.  Kaila was next to Alina, keeping perfect pace with the horse.  Not only that, but she was jogging.  David was beginning to think the clergy’s accusations that she was a demon were justified when the image flashed through his mind of how protective she had been when she had first brought Alina in; nothing truly evil could be that loyal and caring.  Alina was clearly exerting herself, but still keeping up with Kai and the horse, running through the brambles and ground vines as though they didn’t exist.

David had just turned his attention back to the terrain ahead when he heard a scream.  He whipped his head around just in time to see Alina fall to the ground mid-stride, clutching her left leg.  David roughly pulled back on the reigns as Kai came to a screeching halt.  He threw himself out of the saddle and scrambled up, running over to Alina, where Kai was already crouched down and pulling her up.

“What is it?  What’s wrong?  Did you pull something?  Where does it hurt?  How much healing will it need?” David said all in one breath.

Alina grimaced.  “It’s not me, it’s Luna.  She’s been hurt.  We have to hurry, she’s losing a lot of blood.”

“Can you run?” Kai asked.

“Yeah, but not fast.”

“Fine.  David, get into the saddle and I’ll lift her up to you.”

“Kai, it doesn’t hurt that badly.  I can get into the saddle just fine on my own.”

Kai picked her up.  “Shut up.  I didn’t ask you,” she said quickly as David got into the saddle and held out his arms.  Alina swatted them away and grabbed onto the saddle, hoisting herself effortlessly straight from Kai’s arms onto the horse.

“We don’t have time for this nonsense, Luna’s in trouble!”  With that, she pressed her heels firmly against the horse’s flanks and they were off.  Part way through the ride David heard her gasp and turned back to see her holding her right arm and biting her lip. 

When they reached where they had left Seluna, David almost vomited.  Seluna was in the center of the road, barely standing, with a stab in her right front leg and flank and a long slash going down her left hind leg, claws and fangs dripping with blood.  Around her were the four trappers that had not been on horseback.  The one the boss had called Mikey was lying by the road with a gaping hole in his throat, clearly dead.  The boss himself had three deep, parallel slashes on his left cheek and the tendons of his left leg were cut.  They all had various smaller bites and claw marks. 

Without so much as pause Alina vaulted off the still running horse and landed in a rolling crouch.  She shot up from the crouch into a dead run, propelling herself towards one of the men even as she brought her fist forward to meet his chest, the combined force sending him flying backwards with a sickening crack.  Before he even hit the ground she was turning towards the second nameless man, diving towards the ground near his feet.  As she neared the ground she curled into a sommersault, straightening her body when her back was to him right before her head hit the ground and pushing off with her hands, sending both feet up to meet his jaw simultaneously, sending his head back with a snap that meant she had broken his neck.  As she rounded on the leader his eyes grew wide.

“You’re no girl… you’re a monster!  You’re a demon!  You’re--”

“You hurt Seluna,” she said in a deathly whisper.  Just before they narrowed to slits, David saw something in her eyes that made his blood run cold.  That feral, dangerous thing that he had seen when he had looked into her eyes at their first meeting was all that was there.  There was no sign of childlike innocence or kindness to be seen, just the wild, ruthless will to kill.  Apparently the trapper saw it too, since he fell to the ground begging for his life.

“You hurt my white sister and now you want mercy,” she said, still speaking in the same scarily calm whisper.  She turned around and began walking away, muttering.  At least it seemed like muttering, until David listened closer and recognized it as the same language she had spoken in before she had healed his jaw.  For a moment he thought that she was going to heal Seluna, until he saw Kai’s steely eyes grow wide with terror.  Without a moment’s hesitation she grabbed David and flung both him and herself away, towards the ground.  Just as they hit the ground Alina turned back towards the man, throwing her hands up towards the sky and yelling the last words of the incantation.  David watched with horror as lightning appeared in the cloudless skies and struck the men, both dead and alive.  He knew that screams from the two men still alive and the smell of burning flesh would haunt his nightmares for the rest of his life.

As soon as the lightning strikes were over Alina pulled her right hand back and began chanting another incantation.  Kai was beside her in a flash, grabbing Alina’s right arm.  She stopped chanting and whipped around as Kai said in a soft but strong voice, “It’s over, Alina.  They’re dead.  Let it go.”

David saw sanity return to her eyes for a brief moment before they closed and she crumpled, landing on the ground.

David walked over to the two girls on shaky legs as Kai sat down and picked Alina up, holding her head and upper body off the dirt.  David’s knees buckled as he reached them and he sat down, saying, “That was the most terrifying thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life.”

Alina awoke wrapped up in a blanket by a campfire.  She shook her head and tried to remember how she had gotten here.  Suddenly she sat up, throwing off the blankets as everything came rushing back.  “Seluna!  Seluna!” she called, panic in her voice.  “Oh Gods, Luna!”  She started to get up, only to have two strong arms push her back down. 

“She’s fine,” Kai said with annoyance.  “You, on the other hand, are a wreck.  You broke your right hand punching one guy’s chest, sprained your right ankle and left wrist kicking another guy, and somehow forced yourself to cast a spell that you didn’t have prepared.  You’re exhausted physically, emotionally, and magically and I swear to Eilistraee if you move even an inch I’ll knock you out myself.”

Alina calmed down at this.  “Sorry.  And thanks for taking care of me… again.”

“You should be thanking that healer.  He saved Luna and took care of you before he left.”

“He left?!”  Her voice was surprised, and she almost sounded hurt.  After a moment she gave a sad smile.  “I guess it makes sense.  Now that those trappers won’t be coming back he doesn’t have to come with us.”

“I left to get my stuff,” a voice said from behind her.

“David!”  She turned and started to stand up, only to be hit on the head by Kai.  “Ow!  Kai, what was that for?!?” she asked, rubbing the already forming lump.

“I told you I’d hit you if you moved.”

“Actually, you told me you’d knock me unconscious.”

“Don’t tempt me.”  Alina quickly shut her mouth.

David chuckled as he walked over to them.  “I know your all about tough love, but please don’t abuse the patient.”

Kai simply glared at him, saying, “Use the word ‘love’ in a sentence involving me one more time and your dead.”  David simply smiled at this, already becoming used to Kai’s cold, surly attitude.

There was an awkward silence, during which Alina picked the blanket back up and moved a bit closer to the fire.  After a while Alina said in a quiet voice, “They’re all dead, aren’t they?”

“Yeah.”  Kai sounded slightly regretful, though David guessed it was more for her friend’s distress than the deaths of the trappers.

Alina simply pulled the blanket tighter around her and stared at the fire.  Kai put a hand on her shoulder and spoke in a soft, gentle voice.  “It’s not your fault.  You were into shock.  You went into self-preservation mode--“

“I went on a killing spree,” Alina snapped.  Her voice became strained as she said, “I killed them Kai!  I snapped and killed them without a second thought.  I would have kept going till there weren’t even bodies left if you hadn’t stopped me.  You know what happens when I become like that!  It’s a miracle David’s still alive!  I can’t remember anything, but I’d bet my life that if he had been near them when I went off I wouldn’t have hesitated to kill him too--“

“But you didn’t,” Kai said insistently.  “You stopped before any innocents were hurt.  We both know that given half the chance they would kill you and everyone standing in their way.”

“So?  That just makes me as bad as them.”

“No it doesn’t,” David said, finally speaking up.  “The difference is that you feel remorse for killing them.  They would kill and never look back, but you admit that killing is wrong and you feel bad for having done it, even though they were your enemies.”

“I suppose…” she said hesitantly.

“Believe me, you’re not an evil, coldblooded killer.  I’ve seen and exercised evil things before, and I can tell you with absolute certainty that you are in no way, shape, or form evil.  Now go to sleep.  Kai is absolutely right, you’re exhausted and need rest.”

Before Alina could protest further Luna padded over and nuzzled her chin reassuringly before curling up and laying her head in Alina’s lap.

“See?  Even Luna thinks you need rest.  Now just go to sleep and I promise you’ll feel much better in the morning.”

“Fine,” she said reluctantly.  She curled up around Luna’s back, pillowing her head against Luna’s side and keeping her top leg slightly back so that Luna’s head remained in her lap.  She was breathing deeply and evenly before her eyes had even closed.

Kai smirked as she stared at the heartwarming scene.  “You’ve never even seen an evil spirit, have you?”

“No,” David said with a smile, “but I figure she needed that.”

“I heard that,” said a voice from the bundle of blankets and fur.  Even Kai jumped a little when she heard the unexpected voice.

 Here's the next part of the story.  Pleeeeease comment! *makes puppy eyes*

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“I’m a poacher hunter.”

“What?”

Alina smiled at his confusion.  “I hunt poachers.  I search for people who are hunting illegally and I stop their operation.  Most of the time I just subtly oppose them by freeing trapped animals, but sometimes an open confrontation is necessary, like what you saw today.  Don’t get me wrong, I understand the importance of healthy hunting for both natural and economic balance; I just step in when someone is over-hunting or hunting an endangered species.  I also stop black market animal trades from domesticating dangerous species.”

“So you’re a specialist bounty hunter,” David said, trying to fully grasp the scope of her profession.

Alina rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly.  “Not exactly.  Bounty hunters are a little more…”

“Legal,” Kai finished for her.

“So what you guys are doing is illegal,” David asked, finally catching the drift of what was going on.

“No more illegal that what they’re doing,” Alina said quickly.  “And besides, I owe my life to animals.  It’s the least I can do to repay the debt.”

Before David could ask anything else Luna whimpered, yipped, and pulled twice at Alina’s pant leg.  Alina immediately crouched down in front of her and looked straight into Luna’s eyes.  After about five seconds of staring at each other Alina stood up just as suddenly as she had crouched down and turned back to them, looking a bit worried.

“Luna brings up a good point,” she said.  “Now that they know where he lives and they think David’s with us those guys will keep coming back, trying to shake him down for information or use him as a hostage.  We can’t stay here and protect him all the time, but it’s our fault they’re after him in the first place.  What are we supposed to do?”

“I could come with you.”

Kai and Alina looked at him as if he had grown a second head.  

“Hell no,” Kai said, recovering herself.  “You wouldn’t last for ten seconds in our world, and even if you survived you’d just be dead weight.”  David visibly flinched at this.

“Kai, we don’t have much choice.  Besides, I’d be nice to have a real human healer with us.”

“What do you mean a ‘real, human healer’?  Are most of your healers animals?”  A week ago he would have been kidding, but after everything he had been through in the last few days David considered it a serious possibility.

Alina just smiled at him.  “Of course not.  I mean someone who heals humans as well as animals.”

“You mean you’d sooner heal a bunny rabbit than your own arm?”

“Welcome to my world,” Kai said in a dry voice.

“That’s it,” David said with conviction, “now I’m definitely coming with you.”

“And just what exactly do you propose to do during fights,” Kai asked with annoyance.

“We could teach him to fight, Kai.  Neither of us are real teachers, but goodness knows that with our experience a little bit of sparring each night could prepare him for pretty much anything.”

“Meaning I could fight him every night and he’d be able to heal himself afterwards,” Kai said, a glint in her eye.

“Kai…” Alina began warningly.

“Fine, I won’t kill him,” she said almost sullenly.

“Or…”

“Or break anything.”

“…”

“Or fracture anything, or cause any internal bleeding,” she said, annoyance growing with every word.  “Geez.  Take the fun out of everything.  Y’know he’s never gonna learn if you keep babying him like that.”

David was beginning to regret his decision more with every word. 

“Well, if we’re going to bring him with us then he’s gonna need to get his stuff.”

“Fine,” Kai said, a small amount of annoyance still showing in her voice, “but I want him packed and us on the road by sunset.”

“That’s fair,” Alina said.

“But it’ll be sunset in under two hours!  It’d take us over an hour just to reach the town!”

“No,” Kai said factually, “It’d take you over an hour to get there.  It’d take Alina under fifty minutes and it’d take me under thirty.”

“That’s impossible!  A horse couldn’t get there that fast.  No human can out-run a horse, especially with all this underbrush.”

“Obviously I’m not human.”

“Still, I doubt even a drow can move that fast.”

“Most can’t.”

David was beginning to get tired of her empty boasts.  “Fine then, we’ll race.  I’ll take one of the horses and you go on foot.”

Alina sighed and said, “Since I’m clearly not going to be able to talk you two out of it, can I join?  Even in the underbrush I doubt I’ll be able to do any more than keep up with Kai, but I think I might be able to beat the horse.”

“Sure, but if you join, who’ll watch the other horses?”

“That’s a silly question.  I’ll just ask them not to leave and Seluna can keep a careful eye on them just in case.”

“How are you gonna ask them to stay?  It’s not like they’ll understand you.”

“Wanna bet?”  With that, she turned to the horses and started explaining to them exactly what they intended to do, her voice sounding as though she was speaking through some sort of filter.  David’s eyes widened when, once she had finished speaking, all three horses nodded their understanding.  They became even wider when she asked who wanted to race and two of the horses shook their heads.  The remaining horse was the caramel stallion with a cream mane and tail.

“Well,” she said, turning back to her two-legged companions, “now that that’s settled, let’s race.  And David, don’t push him to hard trying to keep up,” she gestured to the volunteer horse.
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Technically I have more than this, but I still need to bridge the gap between chunks.  No matter how bored or impatient I get I will not post until I have at least five more comments (my replies to other people's comments do not count.)

 As they ran, David managed to huff out “Do you *pant* do *pant* this often?”

            “Do what?” Alina asked smiling at him, apparently enjoying her leisurely jog.  “Take down several armed men, or outrun enraged hunters on horseback?”

            “Either,” David said, still only half believing the situation.

            “Both,” Alina responded, hurdling over a log, “But mainly the first one, since they’re usually not in a condition to chase us when we’re done with them.”

            David began to trip and was saved by Kaila.  “Thank you.”

            Kai shrugged, showing no signs of exertion despite their break-neck speed.  “It’d be annoying to stop and wait for you to pick yourself up.”

            Alina giggled at this.  “That’s her way of saying you’re welcome.”

            “Hmph.”  Kai pulled ahead after hearing this, apparently uncomfortable with gratitude.

            “We can probably stop now,” said Alina, trotting to a stop and looking around.  After eyeing a few trees she began climbing onto the lower boughs of one of the largest, saying, “David, you should probably climb as high as you can and wait till this is over.”

            “Excuse me?”

            “That way you won’t get hurt.”

            “But I can’t let you face those guys alone.  I can help.”

            “Look David, you’re a really nice guy and I’m sure you’d like to help, but--“

            “Do you have any attack spells ready?” Kaila interrupted.

            “No,” David admitted begrudgingly.

            “Do you know hand-to-hand combat?”

            “No”

            “Do you have a weapon?”

            “No, but--” The glare he received from Kaila was enough to kill any protests he might have had.  David sighed deeply and began climbing the tree.  After he was situated near the top Alina and Kai crouched on lower branches and Luna had hidden in the underbrush.

They had not been situated long when hoof beats were heard thundering down the path of semi-destroyed foliage that their quick retreat had created.  Moments later the three men on horses came thundering through the foliage.  Just as the men were about to pass them Alina braced herself against the tree so that she was almost parallel to the ground and flung out her whip, wrapping it around the man in the middle and causing both him and the man on her side to be dragged from their horses.  At the same time Kai knocked the remaining man off with a flying kick.  The horses continued on for about another twenty feet before cantering to a stop.  When they all hit the ground Kai maintained foot contact with the man she had kicked off, Alina held the whip- still wrapped around the first man- with both hands and braced herself with one foot against the very man she was restraining, and Seluna jumped out from the underbrush, tackling and sitting on the last man.

“You can come down now!” Alina yelled over her shoulder.  David awkwardly climbed down the tree and ended up falling the last six feet.

Alina couldn’t contain her giggle as she asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” he said, blushing heavily.

“In that case could you go grab the horses?”

“What?  Oh, the horses!  Sure, be right back.”

David didn’t know what happened in the few seconds his back was turned and he was earshot and never would, but when he came back with the horses Alina and friends were just releasing the men, all of whom were white as sheets, trembling uncontrollably, and had expressions as though they had just faced down Death himself- or herself, as the case may have been.  They somehow managed to stumble to their feet and began running before they were fully standing.

“Wait,” called David, “Don’t you want the horses?”

David wasn’t sure whether the sound he heard was a laugh or a sob, but either way they kept running. David turned to look at the two women to see Kaila staring after them with evident boredom and Alina looking at the horses with delight.

“Normally I would suggest selling horses, but they’re all in really good shape, and these two have wonderful temperaments,” she said, gesturing to the caramel and chestnut stallions.

“Alina, we’ve had this talk before.  Neither of us needs a horse and if we pick up every animal we run into that might be useful we’ll turn into a moving zoo.”

David wasn’t sure how to describe Alina as other than pouting as she said, “Fine.  But let’s at least keep them until the next town.”

“All right.  We can probably get more money for them there anyway.”  Alina started to open her mouth and Kai added with almost affectionate exasperation “And a better home for them.”  Alina closed her mouth and smiled.

It was at this point that David noticed the trickle of blood coming from underneath the bracer on Alina’s right arm.  “Oh my gosh!  Are you all right?!”

“Hm?  What are you talking about?  Of course I’m all right, why wouldn’t I be?”

“Your arm,” David said, pointing.

Alina looked down towards the arm that David was pointing to with vague surprise and interest.  “Oh.  Hey, will you look at that.  So,” she said looking at David, “What’s the problem.”

“Your arm is bleeding!  Aren’t you worried?”  David was now thoroughly confused.

“Why would I worry?  It’s just a little blood.  It’s not like it’s going to stop me from being able to fight or spellcast.”

“Still, shouldn’t you heal it?  If you don’t tend to it, it could get infected and--”

Alina rolled her eyes in exasperation and cut him off, saying, “David, I appreciate your concern, but I can’t afford to waste a spell healing every little bruise and cut that Kai and I manage to collect.  Since I don’t travel with a healer and my job tends to land me in fights pretty often, I have to save my healing spells for serious injuries.”

“What exactly is your job,” David asked, reminded of his previous curiosity.

“Well, normally I wouldn’t tell you, but since we’ve already endangered you…” she glanced towards Kai, then looked back at David, “I’m a poacher hunter.”

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Well, that's it for today.  Four people must comment before the next post.

             It had been almost two days since all of this occurred.  The priests had spent most of the time hanging more talismans to ward off evil around the church entrance, apparently expecting Kai to return at any moment leading an army of demons.  Other than a few attempts to reassure the rest of the clergy that the appearance of the strangers had not been an evil omen David had not mentioned any of what had occurred in the healing room. 

            He had just finished that day’s entry into his journal when one of the priests burst through his door.  Though he did not know why, David’s heart leapt as he thought that the strange trio had returned.  However, reflecting upon their parting words he quickly dismissed the thought.  “What is it?”

            The priest was breathing heavily as he said “Sir, some men just entered town and are demanding to speak with our healer immediately.”

            Fearing the worst, David immediately stood up and headed for the front door to the church.

            He stepped out of the church, journal still in hand, and came face-to-face with a grizzly man almost twice his size.  Behind the man were more six men, three on horseback, three on foot.  All were armed; the large man himself carried a club.

            The man’s gravely voice sent shivers down David’s spine as he asked “You this town’s healer?”

            “Yes,” the fear was audible in his voice as David responded, “I am David.  What can I do to help you?”

            “A couple of days ago two women attacked some trappers working for me.  One of them was injured badly and they should have gone lookin’ for a pro healer.  They come through here?”

            David was wary, but firm as he asked, “What business do seven armed men have with two women?”

            The large man nearly growled the next sentence.  “Those little bitches took out four of my best trappers.  I want their hides.  Now, where are they?”

            David tried to be strong as he said, “I cannot tell you where Alina and her companions are until you calm down.”

            The large man suddenly smiled, saying, “You know they’re names, huh?  That means you’re with them.”  He grabbed the collar of David’s shirt and lifted him several feet of the ground.

            Panicked, David stuttered out, “I’m not!!  They came, I healed her, I learned her name, they l--“

            The man cut him off.  “You healed her?  So you are with them!”  He pulled back the arm with the club, saying, “In that case give them this present for me.”

            David closed his eyes, cringing, and waited for the pain.  It never came.  He opened his eyes and saw that the club had been knocked out of his hand. 

            “There will be no need for that,” David looked towards the voice and for a moment he thought that he was hallucinating.  There, standing on the roof of the nearest house, was Alina, holding a whip in her hand and looking at the man coolly enough to be discussing the weather.  “Just give it to me yourself.  That is,” her eyes narrowed and her expression changed to pure distain, “if you think you can.”

            Seluna drew her lips back into a threatening snarl and growled so menacingly that several of the men stepped back from the house on which the two were standing.  David was amazed; he couldn’t believe that these were the same Alina and Seluna who he had watched playing like a child and a puppy.

            “You must be the boss of the little poaching operation that I’ve been following.”

“And you must be the little purple weasel who’s been interfering with my business,” the man spat in her direction.

“That’s right.  As much as I’d like to settle this right now, this isn’t an appropriate battleground.  Innocent people could get caught up in it if we fight here,” David, who was still being held off the ground, had to strongly resist the urge to voice a loud “like me” at this point, “so let’s move this to the woods.”

“Not a chance.  Unless you want your little healer friend to die you’ll take me on right now.”

Alina sighed deeply, saying, “I really hoped to avoid doing this, but…” For the first time in the conversation she made a casual gesture, shrugging her shoulders and raising her free hand, holding it palm up.  Suddenly a gray blur appeared between David and the trapper, and before either of the two men could register the movement the trapper was sprawled on his back and David was sitting on the packed earth.  He looked up and was, to his own confusion, not at all surprised to see Kaila standing over him. 

“You little bitch!” shouted one of the men as he and another of the till now silent trappers charged towards Kaila.  Kaila took a single step forward and punched the first man in the stomach; the other swung his sword towards her side, but before David could even warn her Alina was in front of him blocking the sword with the bracer on her right arm and kneeing him in a rather sensitive area.  The two women simultaneously threw the men on top of enraged leader. 

Alina walked towards David and offered him a hand up, which he accepted with his own shaking hand.  As she pulled him up the leader managed to push the other two off and shouted, “Get them!”  As the remaining four, three of whom were on horseback, started towards them Alina pulled David to his feet.  “Mikey,” the boss called to the remaining man on foot, “Don’t let the cleric escape.  He’s with them!”

“But I’m not…” began David. 

“It’s useless,” said Alina, pulling him forward with the hand she still held, “once they get an idea in their heads there’s no getting it out.  Just keep running.”  That said, she towed him through alleys and over fences as she followed Kai and Luna; she didn’t release his hand till they reached the edge of the forest.

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This is my first time writing a semi-combat scene.  Please be nice.  Constructive criticism or no criticism at all, 'Kay?

You are now as far as I have written.  Therefore, I will be requiring comments from five people before I post again (partially as a stalling tactic.)

    Seluna is my wolf.”

“What?  But I thought you said you talked to her.”

Alina finally managed to stop laughing and straightened up.  “Well of course I can talk to her.  I’m a pretty powerful druid and I can communicate with any animal, especially my companion.”

David looked at her with sheer disbelief, “Alright, being a druid would explain the healing powers and the wolf, but how can you be a powerful anything?  You can’t be more than fourteen.”

For the first time since he had woken up David saw annoyance on the face of the girl.  “I may not look it, but I’m twenty-nine”

“What!?!  No way!”

Her displeased frown was replaced with an amused smirk.  “As you probably guessed, I'm the child of an elf and human, meaning my lifespan is longer than yours.  Biologically speaking I’m the equivalent of a seventeen-year-old human.”

David relaxed a little bit, saying, “Okay, seventeen I can believe.  Still, how could you become a truly powerful druid in twenty-nine years with the maturity of a teenager?”

A look of sadness flashed across the young druid’s face.  “There were unusual circumstances.”

David’s confusion was evident.  “What do you--”

The door slammed open, effectively cutting him off.  In it stood a very annoyed drow.  “Kai!  You’re back.”  Alina brightened visibly upon seeing her companion.

“Yeah.  I can’t believe you made me apologize to those pig-headed morons.”

“Kai,” the girl’s voice held an almost scolding tone, “you kicked one of them across the church.”

“Whatever.”  She turned to face David.  “This place is a friggin’ maze.”

Alina suddenly seemed to realize something.  “Kai, where’s--”

Before David could blink, a streak of white barreled through the door, tackling Alina with a flying leap. 

Alina laughed as she was pinned to the floor by Seluna and began to receive a very thorough face licking.

“Ah!  Seluna, I’m fine!  I’m OK!  Stop it Luna, I just washed up.  Hey, quit that!  Luna, get off me!  Yes, I’m glad to see you too.  Luna that tickles!”

David watched the two for a moment before turning back to the monk.

“Looks like she healed you,” the drow cast a glance towards her frolicking traveling companions.  “You’re lucky she was still a bit drowsy when she punched you.  Otherwise, things might have gotten…messy.”

“If that’s what she can do when she’s drowsy, I’d hate to get her mad when she’s awake.  So, you’re name is Kai?”

“Kaila.  She’s the only one who can get away with calling me Kai.  I’ve got a couple of names.  Speaking of which,” she turned to Alina, who was now giving Luna a tummy rub, “don’t you think it’s about time we get moving, before we bring these people trouble?”

Alina and Seluna suddenly stiffened.  Luna rolled over and stood as Alina nodded towards Kai, stood up, and turned to David.  Then, to his surprise she bowed deeply, saying, “Thank you for your help.”  She straightened, looked directly into his eyes, and said with complete seriousness, “For your own safety, please forget we ever came here.”

My Mac has always been really tough. I'm more careful with it's well being than I am with my own, but accidents are bound to happen. It's survived being dropped or falling on several occasions and I've heard stories of kids dropping their MacBooks from the top of a bunk bed and the computer landing on it's side and surviving. All this leads me to think that my karma must really suck, since it slid off the bed onto a soft surface and the lower 3/4 of the screen is now beyond recognition. I can just barely see what I'm typing!

Alright, here's part three of the exceedingly bizarre story of The Misfits.

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David awoke to a strange tingling sensation in his jaw. He cracked his eyes open instantly closed them against the green light almost directly below them. Groaning, he instinctively brought his arm up to shield his eyes from the light and ended up accidentally- though not regretfully- swatting away the source of the light. He heard a surprised “Oh!” from next to him and opened his eyes again, though he did not remove his arm from across them.

“You’re awake? Thank Meilikki!!” The voice was calming in an almost mature way, while still holding a distinct child-like sweetness to it. He finally removed his arm, curious as to the owner of the voice, and was surprised to see the Alina standing beside him, though he didn’t see the source of the green light. He realized he was lying on the very table she had been only… only what ago?

David sat bolt upright. “How long was I out?”

“Just a few minutes. I am so sorry about that, but it was automatic. The last time I was conscious the tranquilizer had kicked in and a guy had just stabbed me in the stomach. Then I wake up on a table with my shirt pushed part way up and someone I don’t recognize standing over me. You can understand my reaction, right?”

“Yes, it was a completely natural reaction.”

“Thanks for understanding. Now stay still, I’m almost finished.” She closed her eyes and said several words in a language David didn’t understand, and a soft green light that reminded him of sun through the forest canopy surrounded her hand.

“Wha-wha-wha?!!”

“Please stop talking, it’s hard to heal a moving target.” He finally managed to close his mouth and Alina used her free hand to gently push him down. Once he was on his back again she placed the glowing hand on his chin. He was surprised when the ache in his jaw that he hadn’t realized was building up was replaced by the tingling sensation from before. As the strange girl slowly inched her hand across his jaw he considered what she could be. He doubted she was a cleric like himself, and she certainly wasn’t a paladin, yet she had the ability to heal. Perhaps she was child chosen by the gods, or had a magical ancient artifact, or…

As he continued his speculations her hand finished its slow movement across his jaw and she drew it back, the glow fading away. “I hope it’s okay, I’m not used to healing people.”

David gave her a grateful smile and sat, saying, “It’s great. Thanks for healing me.”

She waved it off, “It’s the least I could do after I broke it. And Seluna’s the one you should thank. She grabbed your collar as you fell and probably saved you from getting a serious head injury. She also told me what was going on.”

“She was quite protective of you.”

“She always has been, ever since I was little. She’s the best companion I could ask for.”

“Yeah, she kicked one of the priests half way across the church for just touching your hair.” David couldn’t help but chuckle remembering it. However, he stopped when he saw the look of confusion on Alina’s face.

“Seluna…kicked…,” Suddenly a look of understanding appeared on her face, and then, to David’s amazement, she started to giggle. The giggling turned into laughing, and soon she was doubled over with tears of mirth appearing at the corners of her eyes.

As she continued to laugh David’s expression changed from startled confusion to one of indignation. Finally, he asked “What’s so funny?!”

She calmed down a bit and between laughs she managed to get out “Seluna’s not the *giggle* the woman who brought me i--*giggle* in. She’s not my traveling companion *hahaha* she’s my animal companion. *hehe* Seluna is my wolf.”

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Well, that's all for now. Four people must review before the next post.

 Though it was two people, I did technically get 4 comments, so here's the next post.

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“All right then…” David said, nervously edging away from the wolf, “If you would bring her this way I would be happy to heal her.”

            The pace was brisk as he led the strange group to the healing room and he tried to gather more information, mostly in an attempt to break the silence.  “So how exactly to you manage to anger poachers to the point of them attacking you?”

            The drow’s voice was flat and matter of fact as she said, “The less you know the safer you are.”

            “Alright…” He let out a weak nervous laugh.  “Ah, here we are,” he said, opening the door, “Bring her right in h--,“ the drow was through the door before he finished speaking.  He motioned for the drow to place her friend on the table and instantly paled at what he saw.  Besides the various minor wounds he had previously noted was a large wound, which had previously been hidden by her companion’s arms while she was being carried.  He could not see the wound itself, but the leather covering her stomach had a large gash in it and the surrounding material was soaked in blood.  David was horrified; how could anyone have done such a thing to this fragile creature?  However, as he rolled up her shirt enough to expose the wound he was amazed by what he saw.   The girl’s stomach was pure muscle.  He glanced at her arms and saw that under the cuts and bruises were arms that could put any farmer in town to shame.  David realized that the “fragile” creature lying on his table would be able to take down a grown man with ease.

            However, his surprise was buried deep in the back of his mind as he saw the source of all the blood.  He had seen deep wounds before from when a child fell on something sharp or when the occasional bar fight got out of hand, but nothing like this.  It seemed like a knife wound, but was far to deep and jagged to have come from a normal knife or dagger.  “What--“

            “Hunting knife.  Saw backed, hence the tearing.” 

David wasn’t sure what scared him more, the answer to his question or the calm manner in which the answer was given.  He quickly put these thoughts aside and removed the bracers covering most of her forearms, revealing more bruises.

Before he began the first steps of the healing process he asked, “May I at least know my patients name?”

            The drow seemed to consider his request.  He was beginning to think she wouldn’t answer when she finally said “Alina.”

           
                           He nodded to show that he heard her and began to chant the proper incantation for his strongest healing spell.  As he finished the chants his hands began glowing with a crisp sky blue.  He started to focus all his energy into healing her wounds and eradicating all traces of the tranquilizer from her body, his foremost concern being to stop the bleeding in her stomach.  The girl’s companion kept a watchful eye upon him throughout the healing, almost as if expecting him to try to assassinate to Alina at any moment, and the wolf paced the entire time.  After nearly two hours he finally finished healing her and turned to her companion.  “I’ve healed all the wounds and managed to eradicate most of the tranquilizer.  Honestly, it’s a miracle she survived.”  He thought for a brief moment that he saw the drow smirk, but quickly dismissed it. 

Your result for The Camelot Test...

King Arthur

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YES!! All bow before me! Mwahahahahaha! I just want to thank my parents, my forth grade teacher, and my neighbor's dog Rocco for this honor. : )