Unfamiliar Territory - Chapter 2 (Early Access) (Patreon)

"Oh goodness. Oh... oh goodness." Chloe clung to the tree with a panic rising within her so severe you'd think she was the one who had been shot. "What do I do?" she whispered.

The wolf didn't answer, even when she repeated herself.

"I have a basic healing kit," Chloe remembered aloud. She turned to run back to the cabin, then spun back to the wolf. "I'm not leaving you," she promised. "I'm coming back."

The wolf, predictably, didn't respond, but it watched her until she turned away and hurried back through the trees. Her skirt flapped between her legs as she ran, even when she hiked it up in her fists. She tore the cabin apart, flinging her possessions in every direction as she hunted for her small healing pack (store bought), collection of salves (home made) and portable lamp.

Tearing back through the woodland around the cabin the lamp swung wildly off the end of her outstretched arm and her tiny tins of salves clanked against one another in the sack tied to her hip. She clutched the healing kit to her chest.

Dropping to her knees in the dry dirt at the wolf's side, she placed the lamp as close as was safe and opened the healing kit for the first time since her mother had demanded she buy it. Anything could happen, she had reminded Chloe, and having some basics wouldn't hurt. She couldn't remember what basics were actually stored in the pack but they were new, clean, and hopefully came with an instruction booklet.

Digging through the pack, what she found was... very basic. If it weren't for a couple of magical remedies she would think it was produced for human use. A slip of folded paper was crammed into the leftmost side, Chloe snatched it out and read every word fervently.

"There's a low-grade pain potion," she announced, reading the ingredients list. "But I don't know if it's safe for animals..." Best not to risk it, she decided. The wolf’s eyes seemed to beg at her, but for all she knew the ingredients in the potion could kill the poor creature. She pushed it back into the sack.

There was a very small section dedicated to common uses for the healing pack such as fever or a bump to the head and, thankfully, bleeding. It didn't specifically mention being shot with a bolt, but the principles were the same in regards to getting jabbed with something sharp.

The advice was clear - do not remove embedded objects unless you have the means to close the wound. And this beginner's healing pack definitely had no such supplies. It advised seeking help immediately, but there was no one for miles around... except maybe a hunter looking to finish the job. Even if Chloe could get a message to someone of use (her crystals had long since run out of charge) they would not reach her for hours.

All she could do for now was clean the entry point to avoid an infection while she worked on a healing spell. It would need to be incredibly strong to keep the wolf from bleeding out during its performance. She would have to pull out the bolt right before, then launch straight into the spell.

The disinfectant liquid was pungent and the wolf reacted to the scent with a scrunched nose and squinted eyes. Otherwise, it continued to lay helpfully still, taking shallow breaths.

"Sorry," Chloe murmured. "It needs to be clean or you'll get sick." She soaked a cotton pad and began a dab-and-wipe routine all around the edge of the bolt. Thank goodness, the wood of the bolt's shaft hadn't splintered on impact, but blood had dripped and dried down to the wolf's side in a crust that matched the rust colour of its underbelly fur. The wolf's eyes squeezed shut despite Chloe's best efforts at a gentle touch.

Clean, drying under a lightly layered sealant salve, and hopefully disinfected, next was the spell research to close the wound. Chloe chewed on her lip as she looked over the weary wolf. She couldn't leave it out here while she worked through her books back at the cabin, but it clearly didn't have the strength to drag itself to her front door. It was best to be near her supplies for whatever the books might suggest…

Chloe frowned. She would need to drag it.

Armed with her thickest blanket, carried over her head back from the cabin, she began carefully shifting the wolf onto it in small movements to minimise discomfort. Its fur was thick, and her hands were lost in it as she tried to get a solid grip anywhere. With each heave of her full body weight against the wolf’s, they gained maybe an inch in movement. Chloe’s boots scrabbled at the earth beneath her, unable to find enough of a hold to push any harder. Inch by miserable inch, she managed to transfer the wolf to her makeshift sled.

Chloe knotted the corners of the blanket together at the wolf’s back, transforming the blanket into a woolly bag. Looping her elbows around the ‘handles,’ she started pulling.

Despite easily an hour of being lurched along the forest floor, the wolf didn't make a single noise of pain or complaint. Chloe had made a lot of noises of pain and complaint. Either the wolf was very brave, or barely conscious. She gave it a check when they reached the front of the cabin - still breathing and eyes half-lidded.

With more blankets and some pillows pulled outside, Chloe created a lair for the pair of them. She placed a bowl of water near the wolf’s muzzle but it made no move to drink. Then she grabbed all of her books that had any relevance to healing, and got to skimming by the light of her lamp, cross-legged at the wolf’s side. The wolf did its best to rest while she researched.

The clap of Chloe aggressively shutting her last tome got a weak head raise from the wolf, she did her best to look apologetic at disturbing its rest. She was also apologetic that she had found no answers. None of her books covered wounds as severe as a bolt to the side. A splinter here, a graze there… maybe a bit of bloating. No impaling advice to be found.

There was only one option, but it was too soon. They barely knew each other. Chloe wanted to create a real bond of friendship with her familiar before magically bonding them. The wolf’s frame shuddered on an outward breath, and struggled to draw in the next. Chloe bit at her thumb, stomach filling with dread. At this rate, her familiar wouldn’t survive long enough to become best buds. Drastic times called for drastic measures. It was all a test of fate, surely.

During the instating of a familiar, both witch and animal were revitalised. Down to the barely visible blisters on the sides of her feet, up to the condition of her scalp, in all of her organs, the bond of the familiar permeated all and restored your physical body to its own possible peak. The one and only cure-all that existed within healing magic. Every magical field had its limits, but the bonding of a familiar was considered the miracle of magic.

The blanket probably wouldn’t hinder the spell, Chloe told herself, although she paused repeatedly in her set-up of the bonding spell to consider rolling the wolf off. She was aiming for the least amount of wound aggravation possible, unnecessary tumbling was off the cards.

Her wolf watched her; Chloe wondered if the wonky ears meant it was interested in her odd behaviour. Or maybe hungry and weighing up any disadvantages that could come from taking a bite out of her. Either way, it continued to breath in the ragged way that made Chloe nervous.

There was no chalk necessary for this ritual: the most natural and intuitive magic. Bonding yourself, body and soul, to your familiar was the first, the essential, skill of any magic folk. Some theorised it was the first spell that the ancestors mastered.

Before fire. Before healing. Before the sun, moon or stars’ power could be harnessed. There was the familiar, an unwavering ally.

Fate watched her, she could feel it at her back, urging her forward. Everything had fallen into place perfectly, just as she’d known it would when she dragged her things from the hired cart to the cabin’s doorstep two months ago. That coating of tension had been stuck to her ever since. Destiny anticipating her, and Chloe anticipating destiny.

The wolf huffed, squinting up at the moon, now high and bright in the sky, and Chloe’s fantasies of fate were disrupted.

Although the binding spell itself didn’t require any ingredients, crystals or chalk, Chloe prepared a pile of items nearby. They were for after. A selection of foods, the water bowl, and more blankets should her new friend be inclined to nest. That was birds, she thought, but how different could two animals be? Once the wolf was healed, it would be able to move and eat and drink and relieve itself. Chloe had never had a pet, never had to take anything for a walk or empty a litter box. Another point for destiny in pairing her with a wolf - she presumed they were pretty self-sufficient.

Chloe shook her head, pushed out a long breath, and cleared her mind. All the should be thinking about was the spell. In front of her wolf, she dropped to her knees and then her elbows. It was laid against the ground, too low to join their foreheads without putting herself on all fours. That wasn’t a problem, Chloe crawled in close and eased her brow to the wolf’s on a held breath. The wolf allowed it, watching her with those dark, shiny eyes.

Concentrating. Heart fluttering. Palms sweating into the dirt. Knees protesting the share of weight they were being given to uphold. Magic current bubbling.

Chloe leant forward, taking the bolt in one hand, wiggling her fingers to ensure a sturdy grip, and yanked the long, wood piece free with a disgusting squelch. The wolf choked, jerking back a little and Chloe followed forward, reconnecting their faces. No time for hesitation, no drawing out the pain. She released a torrent of magical energy into the non-space between their foreheads, letting it fizzle in the press of her skin and the wolf’s fur. All of her brain power pushed at the will to connect, a plea to the universe to allow them to tie their life forces together. Forever. With the sound of pounding wind, the magic began to pulse over them both in waves. Then through them. A sensation of being refreshed and relieved overcame her. You never realised how weary you were until you got the rest you really needed. And Chloe felt the improvement, body and soul.

Running concurrent to the healing wash was the bond braiding its way out of her, like a rope weaving itself longer and longer…

For a few moments, Chloe couldn’t feel her heart beating. Her half of the bond met the wolf’s and everything stopped. Inside and out. Silence.

The rushing noise of wind returned, this time brief, and then silence fell once again as the magical coatings fell away with it. The spell was cast, the bonding complete, and the wolf healed. Their fates forever intertwined.

Chloe fell to her side with a hard exhale and then rolled to her back to stare up at the sky. Another point to destiny that she should have her bonding spell take place under a full moon and a symphony of stars, a perfect blend of Chloe’s magical affinity and her family’s. She grinned at the familiar sparkles above, until a furry head blocked her view.

“Do you feel better?” Chloe asked.

The wolf nose-bumped her forehead, which she took as a yes.

“I’m glad,” she said softly.

It walked a circle around her, before dropping to the ground at her side, fur radiating heat in every direction.

“Are we sleeping under the stars tonight?”

The wolf didn’t answer. Chloe let her body decide.

After some time watching the sky, pure elation glowing out of every pore, her body decided that sleeping beside a wolf in the middle of a mostly uninhabited forest was perfectly fine. Chloe had no points with which to disagree, but she was out cold before she could think too hard about it anyway.