"Here and there."
She closed her eyes. It was better that way, for then the world ceased to spin quite so violently. "Then it was either here or there where you were robbed. Some village witch slipped some of her wares into what you bought."
Adhémar snorted. "Your imagination has gotten the better of you."
Morgan let that pass. She was far more concerned with getting herself to her feet where she could argue more persuasively. Perhaps she would even have a look at those herbs and see if they looked as disgusting as they tasted.
She sat up slowly, appalled at how unstable she was. She looked briefly at Camid. His axe was lying next to him on the ground and he was sharpening his favorite dagger with a slow, careful motion. He looked at her and winked. Well, at least someone was concentrating on their safety.
She frowned. "Where's Paien?"
Camid pointed to her right with his dagger.
Morgan looked next to her. Paien was snoring in an alarmingly loud manner. He sounded dreadful "Is he dying?" she asked in surprise.
"He likely wishes it so," Camid said with a small smile. "But nay, he's merely weary. We carried you both here, but with him it was a most unpleasant journey. I am certain he will remember bits and pieces of it in time. "
"Likely all the times we dropped him," Glines remarked as he studied his cards.
Camid snorted out a small laugh. "One would think a few days without food would have lightened his bulk, but it was not so." He stood. "I'll stand watch. Glines, tend Morgan. We'll set off at first light." He looked at her. "Where are we going again? "
She closed her eyes briefly to recover from the sight of Camid leaping so spryly to his feet. It hadn't helped her. "North," she managed thickly.
"Thatnorth." he asked, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. "Wouldn't that look fine on my list of conquests? Let us go very far north and see what sort of sport we find?"
"Notthatnorth," Morgan said, sounding appallingly weak even to her own ears. "Souther north."
"On foot?"
"How else?" she said, gritting her teeth.
"Not by boat, I suppose," he said, sounding rather disappointed.
Glines laughed. "Leave her be. We'll go on foot and be pleased with the journey."
Camid made sounds of disgust and tromped off.
Morgan didn't dare watch him go, but she determined that she would have speech with him, Paien, and Glines later, when Adhémar was not about. They would discuss their direction and she would tell them… well, she would tell them nothing. How could she reveal that she was carrying a weapon that was so slathered with magic that she could hear it singing from the depths of her pack?
They would think her mad.
She realized, with a start, that she probably should be considering the same thing. Was the blade calling to her? She hadn't realized until that moment that indeed it was.
Glines came to squat down next to her. "Are you feeling better? You look pale."
Morgan swallowed with difficulty. "I am well," she managed. She would have to keep thoughts of the knife out of her head or she would go mad in truth.
"Can you eat?"
"I daren't," she said honestly. "I think I might have a little walk, though, just to see what's left of me."
"Do you wish for company?"
"Nay, Glines, thank you just the same," she said, but she let him help her up to her feet. She swayed in an appalling manner and it took her far longer than she would have liked to feel steady. She managed, finally, to look at him without her eyes crossing of their own accord. "I will be well," she said firmly.
"I suggest you stay off boats in the future," he said.
Morgan couldn't have agreed more, but now was not the time to think on it. She leaned in toward him. "I suggest you be careful with Adhémar," she said under her breath.
