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And a whole lot of revenge.
We didn’t stop for another hour. We trudged through the dense forest, darkness pressing in on us. We supported each other. She helped me with my weakened leg and I helped her stay upright and not collapse with exhaustion.
“Just a little further,” I said.
It kept her going. But I secretly knew that every time I said that, it was a lie.
There would be no end to our running. Not until we reached the Fallen Temple on the other side of the forest.
Finally, with sweat dripping down our faces and our limbs aching to high heaven, we came to a stop at a small clearing. It was lit by moonlight that streamed through the open canopy above our heads. A brook ran through the middle of it. The water looked clean but that meant nothing.
Sometimes the most dangerous things were those that looked the safest.
I had to drink it or risk dying from dehydration. I bent down and scooped it up with my hand.
Hazel dropped to her knees beside me. I blocked her from touching it.
“Wait,” I said. “Let me see if it’s clean.”
“You’re sick,” she said. “I should be the one to test it.”
“You’re not from here. It might be more harmful to you than me.”
It didn’t taste foul and I felt no negative effects. It was, to my senses at least, clean. I gave Hazel a nod.
She slurped the water into her mouth hungrily. She drank so much I thought she might run the brook dry.
“We need to get out of these wet clothes,” Hazel said.
Out of these wet clothes… and into what?
We had no other clothes on us. Night was drawing in and brought a chill with it. It would make us very sick by morning.
If we managed to survive the cold snap.
I looked her over uncertainly.
Hazel pressed her hands on her hips.
“I’m a nurse,” she said. “Nakedness doesn’t bother me.”
It bothered me!
Besides, I doubted we would be much warmer without wearing clothes.
I approached the huge leaves that hung from the Nurture Tree and tugged them off. I climbed the tree to the closest branch and peered around it until I found what I was looking for.
I ran my finger along the bark and came out with a thick glob of tree sap.
“What are you doing?” Hazel said.
“Making some blankets,” I said.
I laid the broad leaves down and applied a dob of tree sap to each side. I overlapped the leaves, forming a large blanket.
Hazel understood what I was doing and cleared away some of the damp leaves on the ground.
It was the first time I’d done this since I was a boy. The activity conjured up all sorts of memories from when I used to travel the empire with my father, learning and training, and developing relationships with the next generation of lords and ladies that I would foster into the future.
