Soah kept breathing heavy, as each of the group voted on ejecting Soah from the party. After each had said their piece, Soah spat on the ground in between him and the group. "I shoulda bit your fucking throat out." Soah said, gruffly, as he picked up the cloak he had shucked earlier, and placed it around his naked body, now regretting showing the old mercenary any respect at all. Soah spat on the ground, again, a merchant cart rolled up. Soah didn't care if this was a possible ride to the next town, he wouldn't stay with the group. This was the same thing that's happened his whole life, ostracized Soah eyed the caravan, and then turned his gaze back to the group, before turned his back to both, and trudging off, wrapping his cloak more tightly around him, snow crunching under his bare feet as he went.

The merchant's eyes quickly flashed over to Soah as the man got himself up and walked away from the group. He looked up and down the road again, craning to look back over the people aboard the cart. Apparently satisfied, he looked back to Crom and spoke, "Name's Marcus Wheeler. You should climb on, get into town quicker on a cart." His voice was gruff but the invitation carried warmth. He set the reins down and wrung his hands, looking over the rest of the group. He stopped on Griff for a moment, seeming to consider the man's armament for a second before continuing. "That goes for you all too, 'course. The more the merrier, right?" He chuckled and some of the travelers aboard shuffled at their posts. They were a colorless group, all cloaked in earthen tones, a common choice in clothing but consistent across all four of them. One of them, hooded, stood up and crossed the payload of crates to kick a loading ladder down from the side of the cart. Its feet landed softly in the snow, and the ladder offered an easier way up than scaling the sides of the cart. He waited patiently for a reply, picking his reins back up and continuing his vigil over the roads.

Johnathon was outright surprised to see Soah get up and walk away. With the punishment he had taken, walking away without consequence seemed impossible to John, just another entry on a list of things he'd seen the man do in such a short time. That list and the man attached to it scared John deeply. Coming from the heartlands, he'd heard talk about such abominations in the deep woods and like so many wrote them off as impossibilities. If one of them existed... He shook his head and looked away: The man had chosen to leave of his own volition, he had offered no protest or justification. The cart driver had seemed interested in him, then again, who wouldn't be? "I am not turning down a free ride," John said, shrugging and stepping forward. He stopped beside the ladder, wondering if Crom would need help ascending and making sure to be there just in case. "Unless either of you are," he added after a silence. Traveling with Crom, Griff, and Adrian had not been off to a perfect start, but he sure didn't want to be without them. Without Griff they'd probably still be sitting in Aldrun being cleared by the guards, and without Crom subduing a werewolf might not have gone so smoothly, if that was a word that could describe the miracle that was nobody dying.

Crom's eyes darted from the cart to Soah as he made his threat. He relaxed, however, when he saw the young man turn his back and leave. He didn't know how he felt about exiling the werewolf. Having a wanted lycan with them was dangerous to be sure, but having that same wanted lycan possibly stalking them was just as bad. He almost considered calling out to the young man, but decided against it. He was in no position to challenge the group. After all, Johnathon had paid him to protect him, and if Johnathon wanted him gone he had no right to argue. Crom sighed and shook his head, hoping that their actions wouldn't have negative consequences, but feeling that they probably would. Crom's gaze was brought back to the wagon and the portly man driving it when he spoke. The man offered them a free ride into the next town. Crom nodded. "Aye, thanks friend, I'd greatly appreciate that." Crom's entire body ached. He hadn't been looking forward to walking through the mountains in his current condition. Still wringing out his wet cloak, Crom turned to the rest of the party. "Sounds good to me lad," he said towards Johnathon. He looked back and forth between Griff and Adrian. He saw no reason to reject a free ride, especially given what they'd been through already.

As the group went over to speak to the caravan owner, Adrian watched as Soah took off. Adrian paused for a moment, and waited. He began to think about what they were doing to the man. Kicking him out of the group, when he was naked, in the middle of the mountains. Adrian had no idea if the man's lung was still hurt or not, and he could be walking off to just die. Adrian righted himself and chased after Soah, leaving the group behind. As Adrian approached Soah from behind, he stopped. "Hey, you should keep coming with us. It'd be easier on you." Adrian spoke, softly, trying to be as diplomatic as possible. Adrian was told stories all the time as a kid about werewolves, and all the horror that went with them. Adrian couldn't blame Soah for what he had done. He hadn't chosen this life, and Adrian felt partially responsible for what had occurred between Soah and Crom. Even if Soah didn't want to stay with the group, he could at least come with them til they reached the next town.

Soah turned slightly and stopped as Adrian approached him. Soah sighed, and rubbed his chest, where the dagger wound had previously been. "Go the fuck back to your group, and why don't you tell them to ask themselves why merchants would take this fucking path." Soah said, gruffly. Honestly, Soah admired the kid, a little, but Adrian was just like the rest. Abandoning him and kicking him out for no reason except for their own fear of him. Soah spat on the ground, attempting to appear fed-up, but a cough mid-spit sent him into a fit. Afterwards, Soah made eye contact with Adrian. "Why don't you come with me? You know they don't respect you. You're a fucking kid to them, and talk to you like one. You want adventure? You want to grow the fuck up? Come with me. I'll show you what this world really is." Soah said, maintaining eye contact the entire time with Adrian. "That group? They'll abandon you the first time you mess things up for them. I know how things are. I left my family when I was about your age as well. Don't make the same mistake I did, and go with a group like them." Soah added, the last bit of his sentence layered with poison. "I certainly don't have my head so far up my own ass to kick a werewolf out of the group, and then trust the first fucking 'merchant' caravan that comes by through a mountain path like this one."

Adrian remained silent as Soah spoke. He had made some very good points. Adrian glanced back at the caravan and the group, or seemed fine abandoning a naked and exhausted Soah in the middle of the mountains. Adrian turned back, and unclasped his ragged cloak, and tossed it to Soah. "Let's go." Adrian said, with a somber tone. Adrian felt little guilt, as Soah swayed him to his side. Maybe it was the fact that Adrian was young, and fairly naive, or maybe it was because Soah did actually make very good points. Adrian rubbed his nose as he thought. Soah and him were more alike than Adrian previously thought. Both left home at a young age, and both want to break what they are. Adrian, after a moment, looked Soah in the eyes. "Let me know if you need help." Adrian said, in a low, quiet tone, as he started to march off.

Soah smiled for a moment, as Adrian took off. As Soah wrapped the cloak around himself, to help keep warm. He stole one last glance at the group talking to the caravan. Soah's blood boiled as he watched the group. Soah had thought this time would be different. Travelers so apt to help a man covered in another man's blood. Soah cursed himself for being foolish enough to believe that this group of people would be anymore different than the hordes of others. Soah had a chance to end Crom's life, and inflict worse wounds, aim for vital spots, and get bloodier, but Soah didn't want to the bloodthirsty werewolf. It was self defense. Soah wanted to keep traveling, and let his wolf form heal himself, but Crom stepped in front of him, wielding that sharp blade. It was a repeat of a lot of times with Soah. Soah would often try to leave somewhere after it had been revealed what he was, only to be met with resistance. Soah turned on his heel, and began following Adrian, albeit slowly. Soah still felt the exhaustion from turning into the beast.

John froze as Adrian walked off towards Soah, and apparently joined the man. They marched off, away from them. That boy's convictions were stronger than theirs, that's for sure. In a morbid way, it put his mind at ease: everyone was getting what they wanted. He couldn't smile at that, he still felt the same as when he'd agreed with Adrian. I'm not here to choose between fair and right, he decided and looked down. The werewolf frightened him anyway. Fair was everyone walking away alive, where they walked and what to was something outside of his reach. There he stood, letting a young man walk away with a monster because there was a free ride in it for him. His gaze traveled up, weakly, almost reluctant to set upon the two figures marching away when he noticed Crom again. The wounded man, that was right. They had to get him to a doctor before he was bled dry, and two people walking into the wild wasn't his concern when he had a life to save, right? He swallowed and looked up at Griff and Crom. "I'm going with Crom to get him help." He looked around, noticing all at once at how empty the surroundings seemed now. "Are you coming along, Griff?" He honestly didn't know who had a reason to stay for what anymore. He did know that he liked the idea of having someone else who was armed aboard the cart, even if it was immeasurably safer than traveling on foot by itself. Behind him, the cart driver watched Adrian leave for a moment, before performing another check up and down the road. There were a few other roadgoers in sight from here, all black dots in the distance, most working towards one mountain pass or the other.

Crom watched in disbelief as Adrian left with Soah. He turned away from the party and stared blankly towards the duo as they walked off into the snowy forest that surrounded the path. Soah's words weren't completely unheeded. He was a bit curious as to exactly what the merchant was doing coming through the mountains, but he wasn't really in a position to ask too many questions. He wouldn't be able to travel very quickly in his current condition, and he didn't know just how long he'd last if they were attacked. The werewolf had injured him rather heavily, and as his adrenaline eased he realized it more and more. The ache in his chest had worsened, and he was still losing blood. Still, leaving Adrian to wander off into the wilderness with a werewolf didn't sit well with him at all. He reminded himself it was the boy's decision, and that his own goal was to keep Johnathon safe. Still, it wasn't right. He shook his head and cursed to himself before turning away from the duo and staggering towards the cart. "So where are we headed?" Crom asked, a bit of his warmness fading. He turned up his flask, drinking the last few drops from the vessel before replacing it on his belt. He was beginning to feel light-headed, and he doubted the alcohol was the cause.

As the pair marched on, Adrian felt little remorse. Soah was right, after all. To the group, Adrian was no more than a child who wanted to play pretend. At least with Soah, someone who understood his predicament, he would be able to do more. Adrian gripped his dagger tightly as the cold breeze of the mountain slightly cooled him. Without his cloak, he was going to be cold fairly soon. He didn't have the larger frame Soah did, but Adrian was willing to push that away for now, considering Soah's current predicament. Adrian wondered for a moment if he should say something about Soah's lycanthropy. As Adrian opened his mouth to speak, he instantly closed it. It probably wasn't a smart idea. Soah considered Adrian a traveling companion now, and it would be best to stay on his good side. "I'm....I'm sorry for what I did." Adrian meeked out, as he started a downward march, down the mountain. Adrian doubted it'd be very long before that saw some sign of civilization.

Soah was surprised that Adrian apologized to him. Soah smirked slightly. "That would of killed just about anyone else." Soah said. It was a good stab, probably one of the more serious wounds Soah had endured. Soah thought back on his many injuries. The worst one was from an archer in some Northern village. A bar fight had broken out, and a town guard was slamming the younger Soah around the bar, trying to kick him out. Soah hadn't done much, just punch the teeth out of a woman who had obviously taken his coin purse. He ended up turning slightly, which prompted immediate stabs from the town guard. What little Soah could remember was being hit several times by some professional archer with silver tipped arrows. The pain was unreal, and nearly killed Soah. It was the closest to death Soah had ever felt. The next thing Soah knew, he was waking up in the middle of a forest clearing, completely fine, but so exhausted that he was paralyzed for almost an hour. "Listen, when we get to the next town, we'll get me some real clothes, and then we'll figure out our plan." Soah said, curtly, as he wrapped the cloak around him tighter, trying to keep warmth.

"Yes I am." Griff said in reply to Johnathon, surprised slightly at Adrian's decision. That boy is going to get himself killed at this rate, he thought to himself, not too bothered about letting Adrian leave with a werewolf. The boy could have easily become a liability. He was glad the group had decided to take the cart, well what was left of the group anyway, Crom probably wouldn't make it far on foot now. "Our best bet for helping Crom is probably just to take the cart to the next town and see what we can find there. I doubt we'll find anything out here in the wilderness and we can probably manage to make some bandages on the way." He said to Johnathon as he followed Crom over to the cart.

The cart driver shrugged and said "I'm driving up into Loenn to take care of some business. Far overdue, 'specially after that spot of trouble in Aldrun today." He looked back at the town with something resembling ire before looking back to the party, waiting for them to board. Loenn wasn't far away, situated just beyond the mountain pass the party had been working towards to begin with. One of many towns thrust up against the northern mountains, most of which evolved outposts with a long heritage of independent action.

Johnathon nodded at Griff. "I've got some fabric scissors in my bag. We'll cut it into ribbons if we have to and that should be enough for a cover." He didn't sound quite convinced himself, a few bolts of cloth weren't much and even John knew that. It's better than nothing, he reminded himself. As Crom approached the cart he turned and clambered up the ladder as fast as his shaking hands could take him. He took a knee by the top of the ladder, and offered his hand down to Crom. As he looked down, he started to realize that him attempting to pull up somebody like Crom was a bit of a futile effort, but he owed him at least that. The hooded passenger that had lowered the ladder knelt beside John, and also offered a hand down, something that lent a considerable amount of relief to the patchwork man.

Adrian nodded at Soah's plan. It was simple. At this point, Adrian was ready to take a break in a nice tavern, and rest for a bit. As the pair trudged on, Adrian began to think back to his family, and if they were looking for him yet, or if they just assumed that he went out on a camping trip, like he did a lot with other friends. Adrian's grip on the hilt of his dagger tightened, again, as he thought about his family. Adrian was glad to be out adventuring, but he missed the comfort of his bed, as well. Adrian steeled himself. He wouldn't let child like desires beat his want for adventure. He was going to accomplish great things, and being trained to take over for the Lancer family was not going to breed anything worthy of song and tales. Adrian glanced back at Soah, and examined the man for a second. The man was gruff, and callow, but he also seemed to be somewhat caring, in a tough love kind of way. Soah was also headstrong, except in a smarter way, just like Adrian. Adrian pondered for a moment what kind of travels the man had seen. Being this callous at such a younger age, when the older Crom seemed to be as springy as a 20 year old, must of meant the man had seen plenty of bad things. Adrian also pondered for a moment if he would eventually turn into Soah. Adrian didn't mind the thought, as long as the shrewd and tough nature came without the lycanthropy.

Soah marched on, wrapping the cloak everr tighter in order to keep himself warm. As he did so, his hand traced his sternum. The wolf might be able to take stabs partially through the heart, and some other bad injuries, but that didn't erase the feeling from Soah. While the battle with Crom was a mild one, and even though Soah had had numerous bad injuries, that one had never been inflicted on him before. It was weird to feel such a sharp blade in his body, cutting up his organs. He doubted it was something very many people felt, and had a chance to live afterwords. The wolf had taken grievous injuries before, only for Soah to find that he was completely unharmed. He had a greatsword cleave half way through the throat of the wolf before, only to turn back and be completely fine. The wolf had had most of it's body burned, before jumping in a pond, only to have a balista shortly afterwards shot through his chest. Soah had no idea how the wolf pulled it off, but he woke up in the middle of an alley, still completely unharmed. Every time something grievous happened to Soah, he felt less and less like the small boy from the Capital, and felt more and more like some kind of feral beast, It was difficult. Everything before the night he was bit by the beast is a blur. He couldn't remember his father's face, or even the smell of the bakery in the morning when they most of the dough. It was getting far too easy, by now. The way it used to be was better. It used to take a lot to set off the wolf, and it used to not take so much for Soah to resist it, but now it was almost second nature to allow the beast to take over. He was starting to enjoy it. The immense power he felt, the power to control the situations around him, but the repercussions of such actions still cut deep with Soah. He hadn't been truly accepted into any permanent group of people since he left the Capital.

Crom reached up, pulling himself into the cart with the help of Johnathon and the hooded stranger. He winced. Raising his arm had stretched his torn shoulder. As he made it into the cart, he took a seat near some of the other travelers and grabbed his shoulder, trying to apply some pressure so he wouldn't bleed all over the man's cart. Johnathon and Griff were talking about making bandages. He looked over to his comrades. "Aye, I'd appreciate that." He didn't know how exactly he wanted to die, but he knew it wasn't bleeding out in the back of a merchant's cart in Estovet. The soldier looked around at the other travelers. Most seemed rather normal, and didn't inspire any particular reason to be concerned. Still, Soah's warning echoed in Crom's head. He hoped the werewolf was wrong.

As Adrian and Soah struck out across the mountain range and began their descent of the mountain, the tranquil village of Loenn came into view at the foot of the mountains. At first, only by the light gray smoke of the many fires lighting the wooden houses, and then by the pointed tops of the handful of watchtowers standing sentinel by the roads into town. Unlike Aldrun it had no palisade, and sprawled considerably more in the extra space. The pristine centerpiece of the town was a log fort, the only building that existed here hundreds of years ago before some people had the bright idea to settle around it. Within the fort walls the flag of Loenn, a boar's head on green field, flew. Flew above the Arcarti army bicolor, light blue over white. It did not boast the obvious merchant district of a port town like Aldrun, but a colorful cadre of tents and canvas around an open square within the town signaled the presence of shops and peddlers from afar. The whole town sat far away down the mountain, with stands of trees and a slow return to grassy fields from the mountain snow separating the two from the town.

As the pair marched their way through the trees, a faint rustling became apparent around them. The woods were sparse, and soon they could see a group of five men approaching them through the woods. Apparently their own rustling had been heard. Three of them carried bows slung over their shoulder, and none of them seemed all that alarmed or concerned as they approached. They were dressed what some would call shabbily, in thick leathers and furs to keep the winter out but they could all be identified by the green armband they bore. The same green and boar of Loenn. The lead man waved and hailed, "The hell happened to you two?" They seemed okay, but in a guard's mind he had immediately begun to suspect some sort of crime for their predicament. Most people didn't freely walk about in the snow sans shoes and pants.

Soah stopped as he heard the rustling. He stopped viewing the town, and put his head on a swivel, looking around his environment. Eventually, five men walked out from the woods, three of them carrying bows. Soah wrapped his cloak tighter as the group approached. He noticed the armband the men wore, no doubt denoting that they were affiliated in some way with the town guard. Soah sighed, wondering if this was really going to start this early. If it had been just simpler people, with no authority, Soah might of just walked straight by, without saying a word. "I had a fight with someone, and I lost my clothes." Soah said, simple and gruff. Soah glanced at Adrian, praying the boy didn't pull something stupid. Soah wasn't in the mood to take an arrow, or have to even fight. He just wanted to get to the town, get clothes, get food, and sit down for a moment. The men seemed friendly enough, though, and he doubted they'd do anything to the group.

The man looked at Soah with an almost concerned look, stuck between discerning what kind of fight the man meant and how that lead to him losing his clothes. He shook his head and stopped himself. The sergeant nodded to a man at the back of the group. "Lusevet, garb this man," he said. The younger man obliged and stepped forward. The circumstances were certainly different but it was a guardsman's custom to see travelers through, especially when they turned up in the woods without obvious provisions. Russel Lusevet stripped the snow shoes and the fur spats that went with them from his boots and held them out to the shoeless man. Satisfied at their meager contribution to the common good, the sergeant looked down the line to Adrian. Soah had glanced at him, and while he would rather have concluded his business with the group by leading them into town, there seemed to be something afoot here. "What about you lad? Doing alright?" He cleared his throat, and decided to issue the formalities as well as his question. "If you would, and I assume you were going there anyway, we're supposed to see wanderers and the like into town. Things have been... different recently." He was uncomfortable with admitting the outbreak of banditry in the realm, but politics were also complicating his job.

Soah took the snow shoes from the man, and placed them carefully on his feet. He never enjoyed snow shoes, but they did their job well. Soah glanced at the guard, as he began to talk to Adrian, and explain their job. Soah finished placing the shoes on, and stared the sergeant in the eye. "Are you suppose to annoy the fuck out of travelers, as well?" Soah said with a gruff voice. The man was talking a little too much for Soah's liking. While Soah appreciated the help, he wasn't about to thank the man for doing his job. He was also asking questions that didn't need to be answered. "Instead of bothering travelers who are in a hurry to get to town, why don't you go hunt down some pigs?" Soah added, as he stared down the sergeant. Soah wasn't looking for a fight, but he was looking to hurry up and get to Loenn, and he didn't have time to deal with guards who have their heads up their own asses.