William took out his hand to rummage for a suitable example. When it stumbled upon the perfect substitute, he took the branch before Lucifer’s eyes and said, “Look!”.

Lucifer, of course, immediately began to wag its tail at the sight of it, thinking that they were going to play for some reason, even though the timing was way off. To this, William frowned and said in a more serious tone, “If you run away with this stick, I will personally crawl after you and impale your leg with it! So you better not think about playing right now...”.

His words got to Lucifer with no avail. The dinosaur simply cocked its head and cawed happily. Waiting for the branch to get wiggled around for it to grab. William shook his head. Sad that his dinosaur’s usual cleverness would get overshadowed by its eagerness to still act like a cub… “Ah, forget it… If you play around and I die, I guess that would be punishment enough for you… Now, look!”.

Lucifer looked on intensely as William held up the branch with both his hands and then… He snapped it. Afterward, he intently looked down at the arrow sticking out of his leg. Hoping that the dinosaur would get the idea. But just to be sure he did it a couple of times more until the branch he held was nothing more but small chunks of wood.

Lucifer sniffed his palms and gnawed on some of the wood pieces. But it soon got bored doing so. Then it waddled over to the arrow; eyeing it with great intent. “Good… Lucifer”, William praised the dinosaur, not sure if it had completely understood its mission yet. Soon its clawed foot grabbed hold of his leg as it put the arrow’s shaft into its mouth. William gaped in shock. Because it looked awfully a lot like Lucifer was going to try and yank it out again!

“No! Lucifer that’s-ARRRGGHH!”, William curled his body like a dead spider while he tried to hold in his scream. There was, after all, still a battle going on between bloodthirsty people just a few meters away.

When the black spots left his eyesight completely, William could see Lucifer come over with a piece of the arrow in its mouth, frayed at the tip. “You did it! Good boy!”, William scratched the dinosaur under its chin. Glad that his fears hadn’t come true. Now he just had to pull the remaining end with the arrowhead out, and hopefully, he would have enough fabric to wrap a bandage around the afflicted area.

****

About 6 hours went by before the fighting stilled down. The Ponile’s had failed once again to bring down the city gates. Not that it was to anyone’s surprise as their attack had been rather head-on with no tactics to back it up. They decided to retreat so that they could gather enough strength to attack yet another day...

William looked at the shadows that formed the now desolate camp. All of its inhabitants had either fled into the moat, the surrounding forest, or the underworld, never to come back again. His wound was still hurting but it was under control. Currently. As they were well into the night, Lucifer rustled its feathers before it came over to borrow some body-warmth. 

“Huh? You want to cuddle now?... You sure are getting used to the good life…”, William commented. The little dino lowered its head and thus it was let in beneath the human’s palm. There it laid with half-open eyes, pretending to be asleep while it got accustomed to the touch of a hand.

William thought it was rather nice to sit in the forest with Lucifer cuddling up to him. If only the stench of destruction wasn’t so prevalent…

In the darkness, he heard lots of noises. Both from small critters and night hunters. Some who had the tendency to come whenever conflict had spread among Denckwood and Ponile. “You hear that?”, William smoothly whispered to Lucifer. “It’s faint, but it sounds like people are returning to the camp?...”. Lucifer sneakily opened an eye, not willing to fully wake up from its slumber.

The forest floor was thoroughly trampled, and then, out in the open moonlight, human silhouettes began to appear. William weakly smiled, thinking that they were returning camp-dwellers. Alas, this assumption got ruined the moment he saw their actions. They weren’t survivors of the battle but something more alike scavengers from elsewhere. Who came carrying sacks that they filled with all sorts of rubbish. This was understandable as the world contained many groups of opportunists, but once William saw them lift dead people off the ground and onto their shoulders, he frowned upon their actions.

He thought: Why are they collecting the bodies of the deceased?... That definitely can’t bode well… Unless they have come to bury them respectfully as an apology for looting their goods?...

The scavengers kept rummaging through the camp until the sky showed its first signs of orange and pink. Then it was time for them to leave, but not before two of them came upon a certain wounded someone. Both were females that up close, could be seen wearing nothing on their chests. William blankly stared at the odd getup they were wearing. Which consisted of waist-high skirts and finely braided hair, that contained chunks of seashells decorating the fine arrangement.

One of the women, who had the sternest look said in a murmured voice, “Roa, Roa… There’s a Skoi here... Should we take them with us?”.

The older of the two reluctantly directed her words at William, “You want to come with us? We*ll help treat your leg”. A stupid expression rested on William’s face as he had not expected to be found in the tall grass. Once he came over the sudden intrusion he replied back jokingly, “Uhm… No? I think I can take care of this wound by myself, but thanks for asking…”.

The stern woman had a gaping mouth and hands that motioned for the other to persuade William. Roa folded her arms in a sassy stance before she spat, “Then make a walk for us and see if you can make even ten steps without fail… If you can, We’ll gladly leave you behind”.

“There’s no need for that”, William half-chuckled at how ridiculous their demands were, “The wound is fresh so of course, I don’t want to overexert it… You can just go. I won’t mind”. To this, Roa heaved her chin, “Then what about tomorrow?... Will you be able to fend for yourself against the castle guards, when they come to ‘clean’ this area?... I bet they’ll be very happy to find a pretty little lady like you, wounded and unnamed on the edges of the woods… With a bonded dinosaur to boot”.

The implications were clear and crude. William tried to shake off the images his mind generated with a: “HUH!? That… How come?... This is not my dinosaur! It's my master's!". Both women ridiculed him for that lie and stated, "You think we are stupid?... Look at it, snuggling up to you… And you dare say that you're not bonded with it?". 

William glossed over their laughter and with an uncertain voice he asked, "Then… Where are you headed to? South? West?”. Roa ignored the unfriendly Lucifer as she helped heave William up from the ground, “North…”, she stated, uncaring off William’s plights. With a slack mouth, William moaned, “Ow… Wha-, North!? But that’s… the opposite direction of-”. A grunt from the woman interrupted his lament, then she lifted him up to ride on her back.

William didn’t mind this, for about an hour ago the adrenaline dissipated, along with the numbness of his wound. At the moment it couldn’t feel more fresh and real...

Roa added after a few steps: “Direction doesn’t matter. You’ll heal, and then you’ll walk again… North, West, South, East? When the time comes you can go in whichever direction you please… But for now… Let us save you”. Then her glance went down to rest on Lucifer’s face that was getting more and more bejeweled by sharp teeth.

On the back of Roa, William thought about how long this detour was gonna take. Surely these people didn’t come from afar, when they came prepared with bags and tools for the pilfer? And would it really be that bad accepting help from strangers? He had after all been okay gifted by his visit at Leonard’s place...