Cat and Corpse

Teeth chattering, and hands rubbing up and down her shoulders the cat eared sat sheltered under a tree doing her best to keep herself warm.

"Ah, it's spring, why is it so cold?" She thought to herself. "If I knew the nights were going to be like this I would've taken my coat along, or at least a small blanket to wrap around my shoulders." She shivered.

She wore her usual gear, a long sleeve shirt under a cropped vest and a leather covered ring mail breastplate, along with a pair of tight cotton trousers under a pair of knee length shorts and buckled brown leather boots, but it wasn't enough to protect from the elements.

And though it was cold she couldn't start a fire, undead monsters, bandits, or worse the Azure Eyes would be drawn to the flames.

So bearing it was all she could do for right now. "At least I don't have to be cold and hungry." Reaching into her bag she pulled out some jerky and bit into it, her teeth having no problems chewing the tough meat.

The guild had overstocked, so before leaving on this scouting request one of the guild maids Erin had given her a big bag of it, which she had been grateful to the point of tears for.

Certainly doing all this running around would've been difficult while living off stale bread alone. She had been on the road for nearly a week now heading south near where her quarry was rumored to be active. It had been a relatively uneventful trip so far.

"My luck is looking up, first I get lucky with the guild overstocking their jerky and I haven't encountered a single undead along the way." The thought of her good fortune alone seemed to warm her up slightly. "Yep, even if I don't find Azure Eyes. I atleast got a nice bonus from it, and an excuse to run around."

She'd been behind city walls for too long, most of her work had just been odd jobs to get by. Dusty warehouse cleaning, dustier storeroom cleaning, or tearing up weeds in dusty lots. "Why have all the jobs lately been so dusty?" She wondered.

A cold wind blew, putting an end to her elated warmth, not due to the temperature, but because of the smell that traveled with it. The smell of rot.

She stood up back sliding against the tree she was sheltering under, her ears folding down and tail going rigid. Blood running hot she was shuddering with fear. As a rotten face appeared from the underbrush, the moonlit night was met with a shrill shriek.