Ember's eyes grew wide as she stepped around the brutalized body on the ground. Her heart pounded loudly in her ears, and the scent of blood met her nostrils like an old lover, tickling the half-drow's skin until she wrinkled her nose in disgust. The woman looked as though she'd been hacked to pieces by something sharp. Fangs? A blade? Ember didn't want to pause and get a closer look. She moved her foot to an area of road free of blood, then swung her other foot over a large piece of arm. Or leg. Ember couldn't tell.

[color=000000]'It's not safe here.'[/color]
[color=ababab]"You think?"[/color]

There was no sign of anyone else. Just the single body on the ground, ripped to pieces. Ember wondered what the girl had done to deserve such an angry death. Or, maybe, the fool had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. 
That thought had Ember's eyes scanning the woods around them. The body behind her, the vagrant stopped to listen, glad her mixed blood gave her good hearing. Only there was nothing in the trees. Somewhere ahead, she could hear a dog bark, its shrill calls echoing along the road. [color=ababab]"I hate dogs."[/color] Ember complained aloud. [color=ababab]"I bet she does, t-"[/color] 

Ember turned to look at the mutilated woman on the road, only to find nothing there. No blood. No body. No pieces of flesh and organs. Nothing but the smell of blood that lingered and teased her nose. [color=ababab]"What did you do?"[/color]
[color=000000]'I got rid of it.'[/color] Glowy said indifferently.
[color=ababab]"Why?"[/color]
[color=000000]'Do you want me to bring it back?'[/color] Ember quickly shook her head, turning her back on where the body had been. [color=000000]'Then don't question it.'[/color]

Her pace quicker now, Ember wandered toward the sound of the dog, questioning herself with each step. The dog could have been the one to tear the woman to pieces. Ember could be next, if she kept going. She sensed Glowy bristling to say something. [color=ababab]"Glowy if you tell me its not safe here I swear I will leave you in the Banks."[/color]
Glowy withered. [color=000000]'I'd like to see you try,'[/color] she pouted.

Still, Ember's feet carried her forward, the butterflies in her stomach twisting beneath her pounding heart as if waiting to devour it. The barking grew louder, until Ember stopped and crouched. There was a small hill, and she knew the dog would be on the other side. [color=000000]'What are you doing?'[/color]
[color=ababab]"It's near."[/color] Ember whispered.
[color=000000]'You look like an idiot, sitting here.'[/color]
[color=ababab]"I smell it."[/color] Ember inhaled deeply. [color=ababab]"Blood. A lot of it."[/color]
Glowy reacted with curiosity, so Ember inched forward, moving her feet slowly over the dirt as she crept toward the top of the hill.

On the other side, some hundred yards away, were many more bodies. Blood made the road red, the air metallic. The dog was barking and growling angrily, standing with its haunches raised at it flared at an approaching man. There was a second dog near some girl with sunny hair, who was kneeling beside a black-haired woman on the ground.
[color=ababab]"Your doing?"[/color] Ember whispered as quietly as she could.
[color=000000]'I'm flattered, but no.'[/color]
Believing Glowu, Ember grasped her bow and held it before her, sliding an arrow from her quiver and aiming her weapon at the barking dog. Two dogs was unfair. Dogs were quick and vicious. Plus, Ember hated dogs. She pulled the string, ready to fire.
[color=000000]'Wait!'[/color]
Ember lowered her arm again, widening her eyes. The sunny haired woman stepped forward and hushed the dog. To Ember's surprise, it obeyed, but it continued to stare tensely at the man. He held his knife behind him, pleading for help over his recent attack. Ember watched, her eyes flickering from the sunny haired woman and her demon dog to the helpless man.

[color=000000]'Kill the woman.'[/color] Glowy insisted. [color=000000]'She is the master of those monsters.'[/color]
Ember frowned, her eyes still moving between the figures. Beside the ebon-haired woman was a pack of supplies Ember knew to be used for healing. She recognized them from her training. So was Sunny healing the injured one?  she wouldn't be healing one and attacking another.
[color=000000]'Shoot her!'[/color]

Exhaling, Ember rose to her feet and pulled her bow taut, pressing her fingers to her face as she aimed not for Sunny, but for the man, his knife plain in Ember's view as he walked away from her. Ignoring Glowy's irritated growl, Ember held her breath and fired, the twang of her bowsting loud in her ears. Her arrow rang across the road and met the man's shoulder with a thunk. He stumbled forward under the force of her arrow, and Ember stepped back as he straightened again.
[color=000000]'You couldn't even kill him?'[/color]
[color=ababab]"Not now, okay?"[/color] Ember hissed, reaching into her quiver for another arrow.