I feel something, like a shroud of magick that covers me. I know the sensation. He’s hiding my injuries again.
Surely this means that he’ll let someone find me. Or take me somewhere so that I don’t die out here.
But then I feel a knife slide swiftly into my gut.
It’s pulled out just as fast, and then I hear a plonk in the water as he throws it in.
I'm left alone.
I'm thirsty.The river's so close. I could probably get to it, but I won't drink it because I haven't seen any marks on the stone. It could kill me. But wasn’t I already in it? I don’t know. Aren’t I already dying?
I cough weakly and it feels wet. But I can’t smell any blood.
Where am I?
The light is waning.
My arm is broken, I think. Some of my ribs as well. I claw my way to sit against the nearest boulder. I'm well outside of Halsford’s wards, I remember with dread.
The sun is still up.
There’s something wet on me. It feels cold. My hand wipes at it, but comes away clean. I can’t see what it is, but it hurts.
Is there a hole in my gut?
How did that get there?
Wasn’t Voss here? Or did I imagine him?
I shiver, drawing myself into some semblance of a ball, though one of my legs won’t move properly. I’m not sure what to do now. I can barely move. I can’t crawl up the steep hillside. No one knows where I am. How would they even know to come for me?
How would they ever find me?
I’m going to die, I realize. Because of a bunch of cowardly human men, and a fae who wasn’t supposed to want me dead.
I never thought this was how I’d go.
LOCKE
I've been searchingfor hours. I'm tired, and my light conjure is wearing thin, but I keep going.
I almost miss her slight form in the twilight. She's by the bank, sitting up against a rock. My heart lurches when I see her clothes are gone. Where the fuck are they? What happened?
I skate down the steep edge of the hill to get to her. Her eyes are closed but she’s breathing. She doesn’t look injured in the dim glow of my conjure.
I kneel down in front of her.
‘Bryn?’
She doesn’t stir. Conscious of the dropping temperature and her lack of clothes, I pick her up. She feels so cold and small. I glance around, taking in the curve of the river and the jagged peak to the south. We’re further from the village than I’d like to be with my magick so weak from fatigue especially now that the sun is setting, but I realize that Gwen's new home can’t be too far from here.
I begin to trudge down the bank of the river, being careful as I wrap my human female in my cloak, wishing it was ermine-lined and not the lightweight one I wear at this time of year. She's freezing.
As I traverse a high rock and jostle her, she whimpers a little, but her eyes remain closed.
I survey the steep cliffs of the gully around me, sure that Gwen said her new home was in the bottom of this valley, so I keep moving. The light in front of me flickers ominously, and I'm hoping I have enough strength to get us to safety before it goesout entirely and we're left in the dark because there's no way I'll find my way out of this gorge tonight under the clouds that have begun to roll in.
I walk for a long time, almost slipping into the churning river more than once, and just as I'm about to give up hope of finding the place, I notice a faint, glowing light ahead. I'm cautious in case it's a band of mercenaries or marauders, because I don't have any weapons with me bar my weakened magick and one small knife. But as I get closer, I can see the vague outline of a pitched roof against the cliff wall.
