Ed watched as his new friend, the floating eye, disappeared up into the trees. He could hear movement from behind him and turned to see the centaur lady, and what had her name been again, approaching while pulling out that weapon of hers. The same one that had hurt the lizard from before. Why did she feel the need to attack everything they came across? His head was hurting something fierce, but he didn't let it bother him too much. The centaur… Her name began with a P, he was sure of that much, put herself protectively between where the eye had been and Ed. That was nice of her. He smiled up at her but saw she had her eyes closed and seemed to be concentrating on something. He watched, fascinated until her eyes shot open and she was spinning in place, swinging her weapon to attack… Pandora! That was her name! There was a shriek from above him, and Ed felt something wet land on his head but in the time it took him to look up there was nothing there. His reactions were getting slower, he could admit as much to himself. 

Then she was calling to him, telling them they had to leave, that there was something around here that was dangerous? Wouldn't he have noticed if there was something dangerous attacking them? As far as he could tell there was only the two of them, and that friendly eye that had been floating about. Oh, but how he wanted to throw up right now. He touched his forehead, looking at his fingers as they came away red with blood. When had he cut himself? He was about to ask Paradox, that was her name, he was sure of it, but she was already moving away. She turned back to him, a worried look on her face, and Ed tried to smile at her reassuringly. If she was scared he would do whatever he could to alleviate her fears. After all, they had been friends for how long now? Too long for Ed to even remember, at least right now. He reached into his pocket and came out with a canteen. Oh, he needed a drink pretty badly, but the centaur lady was getting away from him. He stuffed the canteen back into his pocket and began running after her.

The running quickly became a stumble, which turned into a fall and the next thing Ed knew he was lying on his back looking up into the branches above. He groaned, but made no move to right himself. He just didn't feel up to it right then. Maybe after he took a nap he would feel a little better. He could do with a drink. Hadn't he had a canteen earlier? Ed grinned and reached into his pocket, pulling out his trusty canteen. Unscrewing the top, he lifted it to his lips and ended up spilling most of it into his beard and down his neck. The water he managed to get into his mouth, tasting warm and stale, was still the best tasting water he could remember ever drinking at that point. He swallowed a mouthful, choking on a second and had to put the canteen aside for a moment. His head was hurting pretty badly. What had he been thinking, wandering off into a forest like this? He could hear the sounds of someone, or something, approaching and quickly sat up. This caused his head to spin and almost had him flat out on his back again, but years of alcoholic stupors had taught him balance and control. He stayed upright, and managed to lift himself to his feet, scooping up the canteen and draining it dry.

His stomach rebelled against the sudden intake of water, and Ed's eyes widened as he was forced to rush off into the brush to vomit.

Paradox turned behind her to see if Ed was following or not, and judging by his recent disappearance, he was not. With a frustrated growl, she turned around and started tracking back to where she had last seen him. The snake was still above them, she could sense it, so this was not the time for him to be playing hide and seek with her. Intoxicated, jinked, dehydrated, or whatever was wrong with him, she was very disappointed his sense of self-preservation wasn't higher. She was starting to think that he was indeed just a standard idiot, and she was the fool trying to save his miserable life. If she let him get eaten purposefully, she'd always feel guilty about it.

She trecked quickly through the woods as nimbly as she could. She heard a sound ahead of her and grimaced. It sounded like he was sick to his stomach, no doubt a result of not drinking anything or drinking too much right away. She pinned her ears back at the vulgar sound and stomped over to the brush where he was currently vomiting. "Ed!" She snapped at him. "This is not the time to be playing games. We have to go!" She waited until he had finished then stepped over to him and grabbed him by the shoulder. His skin was damp and sticky from sweat and she was disgusted. She roughly threw his heavy body over her horse half, his head and arms dangling on one side and his legs on the other.

She looked up briefly to keep an eye out on the giant snake before continuing on her way back to The Fortress. Her ears were still pinned as she looked over her shoulder at him. "If you throw up on me, I swear, I will buck you off so fast, you'll think your head was a top, it'll spin so fast." She started at a quick jog, her head still raised on the lookout and her ears now perked forward attentively. They were only a short distance from The Fortress now, but she still had to keep an eye out for anything that would potentially see them as a worthwhile meal.

The progress she made with an additional two hundred pounds of weight on her back seemed to be even faster than when she was starting and stopping and waiting for him to catch up. Now the progress was swift and steady. She was annoyed at herself that she didn't proceed to take this course of action sooner. They probably would have been back by now if she hadn't screwed around and waited for him to come on his own. Ridiculous drunkard, no point in waiting, as soon as she made one step forward, he would force her to take two steps back. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief when she saw the gates of The Fortress a short distance from them. 

. 

He must have blacked out because the next thing Ed knew he was slung over something, head swaying back and forth as his body rocked gently as the surface he was on rolled along. He cracked open his eyes and saw the legs of a horse moving, inches away from his face. He held back a groan of pain as his head began aching fiercely again, and looked to see if the centaur lady was around. He wondered briefly where she had found a horse for him to ride on when… Ah. He peered along the body of the horse to where it became a woman and realized, mortified, what was actually happening. He considered trying to slip off her back but then he acknowledged that that wasn't going to be the best of ideas. Even if he could get down without injuring himself what would that actually accomplish, in the end? He would go back to stumbling and falling and then what? Have her leave him behind or just end up right back where he was, on her back and feeling twice as sorry for himself.

He relaxed as much as he could, settling in to wait to reach wherever it was that they were going. There was one moment where he heard a mighty roar, but it came from far off and Ed thought, in his own humble opinion, that whatever was making the sound would be far off. No real threat. Shouts came from much closer by, though, human shouts that he couldn't make out the words from. Blearily, he looked around and there, between flashes of leg, he saw a wall approaching. Ah good, so wherever it was that he had found himself had some kind of civilization at least. That was good news. Civilization hopefully meant something to drink, a place to get washed up in and clean clothes. Then, maybe, just maybe, he would be able to find someway to repay Paradox for saving him and all the trouble that he had put her through. Then, after that, a return to his crew was in order, followed quickly by the demise of a certain pesky dragon.

He heard the creaking of hinges as gates that must have been substantially sturdy and impressive were opened to admit them, and suddenly people were rushing out and surrounding them. Ed tried to raise a hand, to ask for people to stop prodding and pulling at him for a moment so he could thank the lady centaur, but then he was being borne away while others surrounded Paradox to ask her questions. She seemed to be quite popular around here. That would make it easier to find her, once these people had done whatever it was that they were planning to do with him. He sighed, closing his eyes and accepting whatever was about to happen.

When his eyes opened again he was in the blessedly cool interior of some building. A motherly looking woman was poking at him, lifting something to his lips and saying all kinds of stern words. He no longer had the strength to argue. He drank whatever it was, some bitter concoction, but almost immediately his head began to clear. He finished the rest of it and breathed out a sigh of relief as his senses started to come back to him. It must have been some kind of healing potion, and it was doing well.

Elsewhere.

A tearing sound echoes across the empty plain as a gateway is opened.
"I left him right here. You all need to stop your complaining RIGHT NOW! Gosh, it's like none of you have ever stranded someone for fun before."

Paradox trotted along with her weighty burden. It was awkward and unbalanced, but she would manage. It wasn't long before the Fortress walls were in view and she slowed down to a steady walk. Some of the guards saw her and she waved back to them as she got close. There was a loud metal noise as the Fortress gate was opened and a small group of armed men came to escort her back inside. Only once they were back inside the safety of the mighty walls and the door was sealed did she speak. "Hello gentlemen, thank you for the help, but I think I can manage." The backed up a few paces after seeing the individual was not much a threat.

She stood still as several medics and aids surrounded her to investigate the man on her back. It was uncommon for centaurs to allow riders upon their backs, however, she found this case to be of an exception, especially given their location. They started asking her about him and she answered their questions the best she could. "I found him out in a field. He's likely drunk, poisoned, or under a spell. Something is wrong with him. See to it that no harm comes to him." She said as he was lifted off of her back. "I will come to see him when I can."' The assistance carried him into the medical portion of the Fortress, where he would likely be given an evaluation, as well as food, water, and some clean clothes. Even after the long walk, he still had the lingering scent of bile. 

After he was gone, she was rather annoyed that the smell had seeped into her fur. She took her headpiece off and held it in the crook of her arm. Quietly she turned and headed toward the armory to put her equipment away and then take a bath. One of the young guards went with her. Her hooves clipped on the dirt as she made her way to the side of the building. "Interesting fellow, isn't he?" She glanced down at him and gave a half smile while perking an ear. "Quite so, I've never seen an individual just lying in a field like that on this island. It's almost suicide. I'm more curious about what happened to him, as well as how he got there." 

She opened the door and walked inside, leaving it open for the young guard to follow her. They made it to the armory and she placed her headpiece upon its specific shelf. Upon the creation of her armor, she was given her own designated corner for her equipment, not that it would get confused for anyone else's. There were no horses on the island, at least none to ride. She took off her saddlebags and bardiche sheath and leaned it against the wall. She undid her vest while the guard helped her take off her croupiere. She was flexible, like most centaurs, but the croupiere was a bit of a stretch, pun intended. The light metal slid off her muscles and he put it away in its place. The same went for the individual pieces covering her back and her criniere. Once the criniere and vest were removed, she was able to take off her leg bracers. They went with the bracers that were on her lower arms. 

She shook herself once the last piece was removed and the guard backed up a few steps. She let her mane out of its tight braid and the red hair fell over her white blouse and gray hide. She looked down at the guard, her armor off, she looked again like a wild and fierce centaur. "How were things here while I was gone?" She asked. She stepped to the side and went into the high walled wash rack. Once out of his view, she removed her blouse and began her bath. "Anything interesting happens?" She washed under the warm water and perked an ear as she heard the guard sit on a chair nearby. 

"Oh you know how it is," he said leaning back with his eyes half closed. "You've been here long enough. Just typical guarding of the Fort, making sure nothing gets in that shouldn't be in here. Nothing special." He paused and she heard him cross his arms over his chest. "Had a supply shipment come in, that was the main excitement for the day. A couple of those nasty little critters tried to make off with some things, needless to say, they didn't get very far." Paradox nodded as she rinsed the bubbles and soap from her mane. "Very good. Did the scientists find out anything new? Speaking of them, we saw a strange snake that we hadn't investigated yet. Very large and stayed high in the trees and wouldn't come down except for prey." She heard him give a quiet scoff as she turned off the water. The guards typically weren't that interested in the scientific stuff, but she could appreciate them just the same.

She threw on a clean shirt and made her way out of the stall, picking up her dirty shirt along the way. "Shall we be off?" He jumped up and they made their way out of the armory. She'd clean her equipment later, but now she was curious about what had happened to the man she had brought back to the Fortress. She threw her dirty shirt in with the others and they went carefully up the stairs. Though she had been in the human world for some time, there were still things that needed time to adjust to. When they got up to the medical wing, she bid farewell to her company, as she'd see him later at dinner, and walked into the ward. She got to his room just as the nurse was leaving it. She knocked quietly on the door and walked in, not necessarily waiting for an answer. "How are you doing?" She asked him as she leaned against the wall and crossed her arms, her ears perked forward.

As his faculties began to return Ed was able to take in more of his surroundings. It was his professional opinion that right now he was in some kind of hospital ward. He had been in enough of them to recognize the signs. There were the beds, of course. The screens that were set up next to them. The smell of medicines and potions in the air, at the same time smelling clean but bringing to mind the awful medicinal tastes that made him wrinkle his nose. There were the friendly, smiling people who worked there, dressed in their nice clean clothing and carrying themselves with the knowledge of one who could bring someone back from the brink of death through magical and mundane means if necessary. Oh, and then there were the moaning and crying patients that surrounded him. They kind of clued him in on his location, too. Looking to his left Ed saw a man, or what he thought might have once been a human man, swaddled up in bandages that already had blood soaking through them. In the bed on the opposite side of the room was an elven woman who was missing an arm, her left side ending in bandage wrapped stump. Immediately Ed began to pat himself down, checking that he was whole. A look around the room confirmed that the beds were full, there were four of them in total and the final bed was blocked off by a screen but that was where the crying was coming from. Where the hell was he that there were so many people hurt so badly? He had been damned lucky, it seemed, to get through whatever had happened here unscathed.

"Oh, hello, there. You're looking much better, aren't you?" Ed looked over at the source of the voice, a catfolk woman in a clean white dress, wearing some kind of white hat. Ed frowned at her, licking his lips nervously, still unsure of himself in this strange place.
"Where am I?"
"Oh, dear, don't you remember? You're on Bakulaw Isle."

Ed stared at the catfolk woman silently, trying to comprehend this. His recent memories were a little fuzzy, he vaguely remembered wandering through.. Had it been some kind of desert? It had been hot, he remembered that much. How had he got there though? And Bakulaw? Wasn't that the island with all the monstrous lizards that nobody was meant to go to for fear of a horrible, horrible death?

"Yes, dear. That's the one."
Ed looked at the… Nurse? Healer? Whatever she was. He hadn't realized he had spoken. He closed his eyes and groaned, resting his head back on the pillow.
"Well dear, if you get a little more rest that should be fine, but you'll have to be getting out of here soon. Plenty of folks'll be wanting this bed soon."

There was a knock at the door, and Ed opened his eyes to get a look at who would be coming in next. In walked the centaur lady, the one who he had half expected to have been a delusion of some kind. Ed smiled, looking up at her, but then remembered the company they were in. He tried to look more somber as she asked him how he was doing.

"I'm doing much better, thank you. I think I'm actually ready to be getting out of here…"

With that he swung his legs out of the bed, somewhat grateful that he hadn't been stripped completely. Hanging over a chair next to the bed were his trousers, which looked to be clean, as well as his overcoat. He was currently wearing a plain white undershirt he didn't recognize, but it would do since his shirt was nowhere in sight. He wondered why that was as he dressed, quickly, sitting down long enough to pull on his boots before turning to face the centaur again, realizing he had been rude to not keep up any kind of conversation while he dressed, no matter how quickly he had done so.

"I think I might have you to thank for saving me, my lady. Though… Things are a little… Fuzzy. How may I repay you?" He glanced around the room at the injured people, hoping to go somewhere a little less grim to thank her.

Paradox watched Ed sit up in bed then swing his legs off to the side. He made it perfectly evident that he wanted to get out of the hospital wing. She wouldn't complain, it wasn't necessarily her favorite place in the world either. She straightened upright so that her weight wasn't leaning against the wall. She watched him quietly with perked ears as he got dressed. He didn't talk much, but that was fine. He'd talked plenty on the way over here, but then again, those weren't necessarily sober thoughts. She was glad he was doing better and seemed less delirious. Whatever had happened to him had evidently worn off. 

She gave him a small smile as he stood and walked over to her. She turned carefully and walked with him down the hallway toward the kitchen. She was hungry and she thought he would be as well, considering he hadn't eaten the whole time he'd been in her company. She was careful not to step on his feet as they went. She looked down at him and turned an ear in his direction. "You don't have to thank me," she said. "I did what anyone would have in that situation. My conscious wouldn't let me leave you behind like that, especially in the state and condition you were in."

She guided him around a corner of the hall, a short way down was the kitchen. Upon entering, she started rifling through a basket on a counter. She gestured to him to have a seat at the small table in the galley, while she brought out a loaf of bread from the basket and grabbed two apples off the stack. She set the apple and loaf of bread down in front of him, keeping the last apple for herself. "I figured you would be hungry, this should hold you over until dinner." She carefully folded her legs up underneath her, giving one the impression that she too was sitting at the table. "You don't have to repay me for anything," she said as she bit into her apple. It was sweet and ripe, and she would have loved to have eaten several more, but she was content to wait until the formal meal.

"If you want, the scientists always could you use an extra set of hands in the labs or an extra guard out front. Only if you want to, of course." She turned the apple in her hand. "I'm sure you saw in the infirmary that we're a little short staffed right now. One of the guards told me they had an incident earlier with a shipment that came in, some creatures tried to make off with some items. That was the result, honestly, not the worst I've seen since I've been here." She chuckled dryly. "It's been interesting working here on this island. I wouldn't recommend it, but it's been a unique experience just the same."

She chewed thoughtfully on the apple as she looked at him. When she got to the core, she set it carefully on a napkin. She'd throw it out later, or use the seeds for something. She didn't want to waste it, especially here. Everything had value in the Fortress, there just wasn't enough to be wasteful with it. "You never did say how you ended up on here on Bakulaw. Not my first choice of places to end up. I hope you didn't lose a bet." She quickly flicked her ears at him. "I definitely think you should get your money back on that one."