The man cowered behind the overturned bed, a blade stretched out in front of him. Erik sighed, the last two soldiers had woken up before he could finish them.

While he fought one of them the other had tried to wake up their comrades, resulting in desperate screams when he found his friends with their throats cut. The commander he fought was distracted for a second and one of the two stolen axes caught him below the shoulder tearing into his ribcage and severing an artery. Erik had thrown his axes at the second soldier and while one harmlessly flew past the woman the second struck her back, and threw her to the ground.

Blood was dripping from him as he reached down to the commander on the floor and pulled a long knife from his scabbard, the man tried to push him away but the blood loss made him sluggish. The knife pierced the skull through the eye socket and the soldier stopped his struggle twitching slightly as Erik withdrew the knife.

The woman unconscious, maybe even dead and the man hiding behind the bed was no soldier he had not even made an effort to help the soldiers but now he was moving. Standing up and slowly walking to the unconscious woman, arms raised palms showing Erik’s way.

“Please, I don’t fight, I am here to help the soldiers by keeping them alive. I am a healer you see, I have sworn an oath never to take a life!” His voice was high pitched shaking as he knelt down next to the woman, Erik stepped closer and raised the blade in his hand, if the mage could have done him any harm he would have probably not waited until everyone else was dead.

A faint glow began spreading from the man’s hand as he slowly loosened the axe in the woman’s back. The bleeding was slower than he had expected it to be, white light focused on the cut and Erik saw with surprise that the skin was already closing, sweat stood on the mage’s forehead as he slowly withdrew his hand from the wound.

Only a small bruise was left of the axe in the woman’s back now, the knife nearly dropped from his hands, this was magic?

The woman shot up, pushing the mage aside her hands flew to two knives at her side. Erik was caught completely by surprise, he managed to dodge the first cut but the second blade caught him in the chest, punching past his ribs and lodging itself in the bones.

Before she could withdraw her weapon Erik’s knife slammed into her left temple, the blade clenchingly sinking into the skull. The mage screamed as both of them fell to the ground.

Erik gasped, the blade had barely missed his heart, he could feel the cold metal and the blood streaming out of his wound. Grunting he closed one hand around the handle of the blade the mage yelped and rushed to him his hands trying to get Erik to stop pulling at the blade.

“Stop! You are going to bleed to death as soon as the blade leaves your wound! Let me heal you first!” He put his hand on Erik’s chest, the boy was surprised, why would the man help the murderer of his comrades?

Erik tried to push him away but the blood loss made him dizzy and the sharp pain in his chest did nothing to help him concentrate.

A faint glow began to spread around the man’s hands he had both eyes closed and slowly got closer to the boy’s chest.

Something was wrong, Erik knew as the hands closed in, something felt wrong the howling of wolves sounded in his head, fearful uncertain of what was to come next. Before the man could lay his hands on to the wound Erik pulled himself away, sweat covering his brow, the skin around the knife had begun to boil, black patches of skin spread around where the healer's hand had been.

“What are you doing? I am trying to hel-…” his eyes fell on the burnt skin on Erik’s chest.

Then slowly he got to his feet, hands spread in front of him, a panicked look on his face.

“I have no idea how that happened! Please believe me there is nothing I know that could explain this kind of reaction to my magic.” But Erik didn’t truly hear him, something was forming in his mind, a realization he felt like he should have realized way earlier.

He was dead, that would explain the reaction to the magic right? Erik did not know how exactly magic worked but the old Raven, their villages storyteller, had always said they existed in pairs.

One canceled out the other like water quenches a fire and fire evaporates water. An eternal struggle all around them which was the reason for all life.

Now, it seemed as if Erik was no longer part of said struggle, as he touched his chest he could feel the uneven patches of skin flatten again, the blood that was leaking from the wound in his chest was subsiding again.

With a grunt Erik pulled the knife from his chest, the pain had him stumble backwards as the metal blade dropped to the floor.

The healer yelled something and rushed over, his hands beginning to glow again but the boy raised one hand claws appearing at his fingertips, nothing he had control over at the moment, his mind was focused on closing the gap in his chest before he bled to death.

If he even could die, again.

The realization of his death was less of a surprise to him than he had initially expected, after all he had seen himself through the wolf's eyes when it attacked. Nobody could walk away as if nothing happened in such a shape, especially not after a wolf had attacked him.

“Can you heal the sick?” Erik asked as the wound on his chest slowly closed and the blood stopped flowing.

The healer's eyes grew wide as he saw the thin wound edge closer together.

“Uhm… yes, if it is not too severe I can, if it is I can at least help fight the sickness.” Erik sighed, the idea of letting an enemy into their hideout was less than optimal but seeing how both Bo and Summer were slowly dying he had little choice.

Erik waved for the man to follow him and began gathering things to eat from the pantry, outside was a new sled, courtesy of the soldiers most likely, just like most of the food in the pantry.

Dried meat and stale bread was one of the things the Goldhill soldiers were carrying with them whenever Erik and the shock troops had encountered them. Still this house had barely enough food left for two people to survive the winter, if they wanted to stay alive they would have needed resupplies or another stash of food.

Erik hoped for the later, there was no way the soldiers would not try to retaliate what he had done to their comrades now. If he was lucky the winter would give him enough time and opportunities to decimate the soldiers enough for them to either flee the village or for him to take them all out.

“Where are we going? Why are you doing this?” The healer sobbed behind him as Erik prepared the sled, the provisions were heavy and a storm was about due to hit them, he could feel the hair on his neck responding to the sudden change in pressure.

“You are going to save my friends, they are dying, if you do so I will spare your life.” The last part had the sobbing subside, Erik checked the old shed outside for any useful tools that would help him carry the valuable goods back to the hideout. The sled he had stowed everything on was large enough for eight men to sit on it in two rows, under normal circumstances he would have probably needed four horses to pull it up the mountain.

Sadly for him he had no horses available, the one thing that could save him from doing multiple trips would be some sort of harness, preferably one a few sizes bigger than a normal one.

The shed lacked such a tool but it did have multiple ropes, which were old but could probably still pull the weight of the sled.

Erik dragged the thick rope outside and began knotting slings large enough for what he had in mind. The healer watched him, after the first shock had subsided he was now strangely calm, watching him with interest as Erik worked on the makeshift harness.

“Excuse me, but what are you doing? Do you have a dragon hidden somewhere that is going to pull that sled for us? There is no way the two of us can carry that much, the load alone must be at least two hundred kilograms of food you got there…” Ignoring the question Erik gave the man the slings he had tied, what came next would require his full attention.

“I will change now, once I am done you get these ropes around my neck and sit on the sled, the storm is going to hit us any second now and I need to see where we are going.” The healer nodded, mouth half open and one eyebrow raised.

Erik took a couple of steps away from him and removed the trousers he had stolen from the first soldier, the healer cursed and looked the other way, peculiar reaction.

The cold was calming, the sound of wind deafening the howling of wolves in his mind, he was looking for someone else within him now, the mountain bear he had encountered in the early days across the pass.

It and the large cat like creature he had used to kill the first goat. Once he had found them he began to change, a scream sounded behind him as his bones stretched, his skin ripped open and fur spread.

He used the bulk of the bear’s form with the paws of the cat for a better step in the snow, the wolves howled in protest as his body changed, they tried to pull the transformation over to their bodily features, something they were more familiar with.

After what seemed hours to Erik, he had managed to find a form that was somewhat stable, it took a lot of concentration to maintain, something he hoped would change as soon as he began to move and his mind was busy.

He snarled at the healer who had dropped the rope and was now sitting in the snow, fear had paled his face to the colour of snow.

Erik moved over to him, his eyes two meters above the ground, thick muscles bulging under the thin fur, large claws rising and falling as he moved to the man.

“Ropes.” He grunted, the form was not made for conversation but he thought the man got the message as he hurried over to where he had dropped the harness.

Erik sank down on the ground and let him pull the ropes over his massive head, the healer shivered violently as he did his work and flinched at every move the beast made.

When he was done he climbed into the back of the sled, the wind was now faster, snowflakes were falling more rapidly now and Erik’s vision began to decrease with every minute.

Turning to his goal the beast moved slowly forward until the rope dug into his shoulders, the sled began to move through the snow as Erik slowly began to increase his speed, the howling subsided again as the wolves began to enjoy the movement.

The powerful limbs carried Erik through the snow faster than he had hoped, the weight of the sled behind him only a faint pull as he raced up the side of the mountain.

He could hear the screams behind him as the healer was thrown up and down as they climbed the mountain side, maybe he could save Summer and Bo.