Two Crows Watch from the Gallows Tree (part 5)

A low growl started in the Marrow Man's throat, and he tilted his head hack to stare at the sky. His fingers dug into the bear's thick hide, drawing more of its blood.

Ky's trembling redoubled at the growl, but he wasn't looking at her, so she had to force herself to believe that meant he wasn't going to lash out at her. At least not until she'd finished.

She wiped at the infection as carefully as she possibly could, revealing the pungent wounds that were still oozing beneath it all. They needed medicine. Medicine she couldn't give him. But at the very least she could try to help.

She pulled up her own sleeve and began unwrapping her own bandage.

"Why you want die?" he asked her again through gritted teeth, dipping his head low this time and staring down at his foot. His fingers were sinking into the bear's wounds now, but he fixed his eyes on her.

She shrank under his gaze, looking down at her arm instead of meeting his gaze. "It's what's best for everyone."

She pulled off the poultice they'd pressed against her wound. It was made primarily of iodine-soaked brined seaweed, mold, and myrrh. It'd been wet with a mixture of melted snow with a few drops of milk of the poppy to numb the area and wrapped in cheese cloth. Which wasn't ideal since she needed to split it between both of his hooves, but she'd have to make due. She set it on the ground and sliced it in half with the knife, still not making eye contact even though she could feel his gaze drilling holes into her spine.

(not me, spending like half an hour studying anti-infection medieval treatments lol)

(That was some trying to figure out if you could actually cure hoof rot after I gave it to him)

He watched her cut the poultice, bending down to rest his arms on his knees so he could get a better look. "Who it help?" he asked. "Make your family happy? Make you happy? Stupid. Make Builder angry when life get thrown away. Though he sleeping deep now." His nose wrinkled again, pulling back his lips to show cracked square teeth with bits of flesh still clinging between them.

(haha basically, yes)

She couldn't agree more with that assessment -- she was stupid. Out here wandering around in the dark, playing doctor -- veterinarian? - for the Marrow Man himself. This entire situation was absurd. Her life was absurd.

"It won't make them happy," she murmured, not quite sure why she was justifying her suicidal wishes to a bogey man. "But it makes them safe, which I care about more."

She took a deep breath, finally forcing herself to look up at him, trying to figure out how she was going to put these in place.

"Nobody safe," the Marrow Man disagreed, digging his fingers the rest of the way into the carcass and ripping out a generous chunk. He sank his teeth into the meat, watching as she looked at him. "I ugly, girl? I scare you? Make you try run?"

She blinked at him, eyes wide, horrified at watching him tear through the bear's flesh, seeming not to notice the blood that dripped down his hands and splattered on the ground by his feet. She couldn't help but imagine that he was holding a chunk of her shoulder in his hand instead of the bear. Imagine him systematically eating her, bite by bite. It was startling and made her feel queasy. She looked down again, forcing herself to take a breath past the block in her chest taking up most of the space where her lungs belonged. "I said I wouldn't fight."

"But you want run?" He chewed noisily, smacking his lips as blood dripped down his chin and froze in his beard. "I see you scared. Scared peoples don't want die."

She looked back at him, still so perplexed by this entire situation. How was she even supposed to answer that? She couldn't very well deny she was afraid. She was still trembling, even now, and she'd probably pass out from terror the instant he made a pass at her -- before he'd even be able to make contact.

And yet, she also couldn't find a solid argument against his claims. She supposed if she really, truly, had nothing to live for she'd be numb rather than terrified. But she wasn't sure that was possible. She was terrified every moment of her life -- that was nothing new.

"I won't be scared once I'm dead."

"Stupid answer." The Marrow Man tore another chunk out of the bear. "How you feel if I eat you alive? You die either way, fast or slow, so why matter? Why be scared if you want die?"

She shuddered at that. Did he plan on making it slow, then? Why shouldn't he? It was just her luck. The macabre death she deserved.

"I fear pain, not death." She wasn't sure about that statement, either. She feared them both. But her fear didn't counter its necessity. "And I wish you'd save the eating for after the fact."

Yet another statement she'd never in her wildest dreams have imagined she'd utter -- giving her permission to be killed and eaten. Preferably in that order.

"I hungry, I eat. Is my curse." The Marrow Man sighed heavily, then glanced at her and tilted his head as he ate. "Is cold, still. You freeze soon, inside and out. Why die here with scary Marrow Man and dead bear when die with family is better and warm?"

"There are children there," she said firmly, ignoring the fact that she herself was not an adult, and also trying to shove down the prick of emotion that ran through her at being reminded they were her family now. "There's no point in them seeing."

"Seeing not worse than not knowing what happen?" The Marrow Man shook his head and stamped his hoof on the ground. "I see my family tent in ashes, I see bones and know they all gone, that I fail. Better than false hope, means I move on."