“Tiger…” Wolf called out to his bleeding companion, who was carrying carrying Dragon over his shoulders. ‘At least they’re both fine…’ He thought to himself. He had expected Tiger to get injured, but he didn’t entirely know the strength of their foe. He could see the cuts within Tiger’s arm where he had shielded the attack. The fool, he didn’t even use Iron Body, no doubt to psyche out his enemy in order to bash them. Tiger’s complex techniques were something that even Wolf couldn’t comprehend, after all, Tiger wasn’t one to think about strategy in a fight.

Tak’s eyes grew wider at the state of Dragon, but she remained silent. Still, her eyes seemed drawn to Dragon’s unconscious form.

Tiger just grinned and then dropped to a knee. Then he placed Dragon down on the ground, as if putting a child to bed. “Don’t worry…” Tiger sighed, stretching out his neck before then glancing down at his arm. He flexed and then went to patching himself up, tearing parts of his robes to do so. “He’ll be fine.” He said to Tak. “Dragon’s a lot tougher than he looks.” He chuckled to himself.

The little girl had followed the pair out and she was glancing between the new strangers. “W-who are you, sirs and lady?” She asked, curtsying.

“Eh? You’re a proper little lady?” Tiger asked.

“Yes, sir.” She nodded and then straightened herself.

“Get a load of this, eh Wolf?” Tiger chuckled.

Wolf took a knee to get eye level with her and then spoke softly, or at least as softly as he could. “We’re Dragon’s friends.”

“Brothers.” Tiger corrected as he continued to patch himself up.

Wolf nodded at the statement before continuing. “This is our guide, Tak. She is from the Hei clan, guiding us around the land to find our companion here.” Wolf motioned to the woman, who clutched her spear with knuckles white.

The little lady looked up at Tak and then back to Wolf quickly, obviously unnerved by the tribal woman. Wolf couldn’t exactly blame her. He couldn’t image the stories that children were told about the Hei clan.

“Tiger, would you tend to his wounds?” Wolf asked.

Tiger sighed, glancing away for a moment. “Eh, sure…” He shrugged and then ripped off part of his clothing to help tend to Dragon’s wounds too.

“Come, little lady.” Wolf said.

The small girl shook her head. Wolf paused and then looked down at her. She was looking at Dragon with a frown. She clutched at her ragged dress and shifted from one foot to the other. Wolf turned and left her there, taking Tak with him.

They scoured the camp, making sure all the slaves were fine and the slavers were bound together.

“I suggest you do not try and flee.” Wolf warned. A mass of predatory intent shot towards the slavers. They shuddered in cold fear and then remained silent and still. It looked as though they were familiar with this type of abuse, no doubt from Dragon himself. Wolf wondered just what Dragon had done to instill such fear in them… He trusted that, with two other monsters like Dragon about, the slavers wouldn’t try anything.

He turned to Tak. “Would you ride to the town and call for the knight?” He asked. The knight would do much better at bringing this many people about, and of course, Wolf wanted to continue the relationship they had one another.

Tak bowed her head and then thrust her spear upwards. Wolf took that as a yes as she then turned to ride. Her horse seemed reinvigorated, it’s nostrils snorting wildly. He could see the muscles of the creature thicken and grow taut as it rode away.

He turned back to the slaves and checked on them. There were mostly men and women here, some of whom were heavily injured, others seemed to not sense what was happening around them. They were heavily harmed too, but… There was something more. Something that affected their mental state too. Wolf frowned to himself. The abuse they must have suffered from the slavers must have been intense. Though why would these slavers damage their merchandise so?

He didn’t want to think about it, not for now at least. He was already sick of this. He would need to keep Tiger away, he was far more sensitive to this kind of thing.

He kept the weapons away from the slavers and set to freeing the slaves. He kept them separated, keeping tents between them so they couldn’t see one another. He didn’t want anymore bloodshed here. A couple of the slaves seemed to mutter something.

“We can do it.”

“No you idiot…”

“They’re right there.”

“Why not? What they did… What they did to my family…”

Wolf walked over to the freed slaves. They stopped muttering to one another, although didn’t realise that he had heard them. “I will look over them. Head towards the cave and rest up.” Wolf eyed up the group that had been plotting. They were mostly men around his age, though a couple were younger. It was the prime age to do something hotheaded, something one might regret, or perhaps they wouldn’t regret it, which would be a much bigger shame.

They grumbled to themselves, but left peacefully. Wolf’s look was one that dared them to act. They understood immediately their position within the group, they wouldn’t be able to beat Wolf. Still, it was bad luck to fight with your saviour.