Curse the Mainframe! 61 New Companion II

They piled back onto the wagon with a few extra additions. They were lucky that they had so much extra room, because the addition of Elias' wolf took a lot of space.

The grey alpha wolf growled, causing the remaining grey wolves' ears to perk up, twitching. There were only four other wolves left, but they dutifully got into formation next to the wagon.

On the other hand, the purple wolf that Alec had acquired only had two other members left from its pack.

Alec rubbed the purple wolf's ears, dubbing him Fenrir. Elias called the grey wolf Echo.

Alec dragged Henry to the back before he tried to go and continue driving the horses.

With a gentle smile that didn't match his actions, Alec quickly and methodically slathered salve over the man's lighter wounds without any delicacy.

Henry hissed in pain, but dutifully started healing himself of the worst of his wounds, pouring a liberal amount of magic into the wounds that were still bleeding sluggishly. By the time they were left with a faint scab over them, Alec slapped more healing salve onto it.

He had made the salve himself from the variety of flower petals that were commonly available inside Stanley's shop during the two weeks, and they seemed to be working fine, much to his satisfaction.

Elias got off comparatively lightly, with fewer bite marks and claw marks, so Alec let him be with just a light amount of healing salve over his wounds.

Having done that, Alec worked on himself and Fenrir, who were relatively worse off due to their prolonged battle of dominance.

Henry, who saw that the wounds on Alec and Fenrir was just as bad as he himself had been sporting, placed his hand over the boy's wound, trying to heal him as he healed himself.

Alec held still for the man, wondering how effective his healing was on other people.

The hunter furrowed his brows, sweat beading his brow. The wounds knit ever so slowly under his intense focus, leaving the man breathless.

Alec stared as his wounds slowly scabbed over. The scab peeled off, leaving behind flawless skin.

Henry groaned. "Ugh, that was harder than I thought." The hunter scratched his cheek. "Gotta work harder on that…"

The man lightly worked over the other two wolves, just barely managing to finish healing the wounds before he passed out.

They stared at the passed-out hunter for a beat before Philip scratched the back of his head. "Well, I suppose it's up to me now."

Philip climbed to the front of the wagon, frowning. The horses were shaking in their metaphorical boots at the sight of the wolves nearby. The creatures weren't even doing anything, but their mere presence alone was causing the horses to quiver in fear.

This wasn't good.

Philip lifted the flap, shaking his head. "The horses won't run. They're too scared."

Alec paused before looking at Fenrir. "Fenrir, can your wolves pull us instead?"

Fenrir snorted, tossing his head back, as if Alec was looking down on him by asking at all.

He gave a short howl, and the wolves outside moved in a uniform manner to the front, looking unbothered. The grey wolves seemed to have accepted that their pack was now merged into one, with a shared alpha position between the two small humans.

While leaving Philip outside to the wolves, they set off without any more delays, moving at a much quicker pace than before. The horses were let go into the wild.

Settling in with two wolves, a large bunny, a passed-out grown man and a teenager, Alec finally had time to help out Elias with his potential bond.

"Do you want a familiar bond with Echo? Or are you just planning to continue like this?"

Elias thought about it. "If possible, I'd like to have a familiar bond with Echo."

Alec nodded, pulling out a glass rod from his spatial dimension. He shooed Fenrir and Bunbun to the side, where they stared each other down. A huge bunny staring at a small wolf, who didn't back down.

Elias stared. Where had that brush come from? A spatial dimension? But Alec didn't seem to be wearing anything that would allow such a thing.

As Elias was thinking, Alec used some of the blood that he'd collected from Echo and Elias, mixing them together as he crafted the runes in his mind.

For a familiar bond, the standard fare was to use the runes to form something akin to a communication bond.

It was not unlike what Alec naturally experienced when he Awakened something, just simpler and more one dimensional.

Those people would be able to very faintly feel what the other party was feeling, as well as track where they were located within a certain distance.

This type of rune usage was something that people used to communicate long distances as well, so it was really nothing special, but what Alec had in mind was more complex than that.

He wanted to form a bond on the genetic level, which would allow them to use part of each other's specialties. Of course, nothing so crude that would cause them to gain extra appendages or what not. It was like they were next of kin. They weren't altering their original genes, just adding a link between their genes, if that made sense.

Theoretically, it was possible… it was just that Alec hadn't tested it out before.

Of course, this wasn't something that was crafted on the fly, but something that he had worked on with his mother back in the clan compound, so it had her approval, but even then he still hadn't used it before, so there was always a chance that something would go wrong.

Alec ran through it again in his mind before practicing twice.

When he was satisfied that he would finish drawing the runes without any mistakes, he dipped his glass rod into the mixture of blood.

Alec moved over to the alpha wolf, eyeing the mass of fur. Alec smiled lightly as he slid his dagger out. Echo growled at him, his ears flattening.

"Echo," Elias admonished lightly.

Echo whined but obediently held still as Alec shaved off some fur so that he would have space to work on.

Alec drew the runes with precision, drawing normally. Whilst he didn't want to make mistakes, drawing at a speed that was unfamiliar to him would potentially cause him to make mistakes instead. Sometimes, going slower didn't mean that there was an absence in errors.

"Don't move," Alec ordered the wolf. "I need to paint it on your back."

Elias loosened his top, pulling it over his head. His back muscles flexed as he pulled is top off, looking unbothered.

The markings in red inked themselves over pale skin, carrying a sheen as they dried on his back. He worked at a slightly quicker pace now that he was more used to drawing the runes.

Alec stepped back. There was a bloom of red runes over the two's back. Alec looked over both sets of runes with a critical eye, finally satisfied when nothing was out of place.

"Channel a bit of magic into them on the count of three. One, two, three."

The red marks appeared as if they faded out of existence, but Alec knew that they had taken place. Whether or not it worked as advertised was another matter, but Alec was confident.

Even if they were hurt in the area of the runes, it didn't matter because the runes already took, which meant that they were already considered a part of the genetic level.

This was one of the reasons why it was so hard to remove a slave brand.

Echo whined and put his head in Elias' lap, seeking comfort. His smooth, glorious fur had been shaved by a madman!

Elias patted the wolf.

Chapter end

Report