Pain
The caravan was covered with bees. The sound of their humming was coming from everywhere. They were moving at a speed that was beyond anything that Lief and Jasmine had ever experienced. But as they raced through the countryside, neither of them was able to marvel at how fast they were going. In both their minds, was the memory of the previous night's events.
Slowly, the memory of Jasmine saving him from having the mask of Bede's adulthood bonded to his face for the rest of his life and beyond was returning to Lief in scraps; that still seemed not to want to be fitted together to form an exact mental image of what had happened. But in a way, Lief was glad of that. The parts that he could remember were enough to make him sick to his stomach.
"Lief," Jasmine was kneeling on the trembling floor boards in front of him, her jar of green ointment in her hand.
"You need to let me put some more of this on your face," she said softly. "It will help to reduce scarring, as well as helping with the… Lief, what is the matter?"
Lief was shrinking away from her, shaking his head and trying to back himself against the caravan wall. Jasmine could not understand why. Certainly he was in pain, but surely he was not going back to the way he had been the night before. If he was, Jasmine did not know what she would do.
"No, thank you," he said, his voice cracking slightly. Plainly, his throat was still sore from screaming. Jasmine could not help but feel relieved that he was not going to start again. Having Lief shouting obscenities and abuse at her in the field in Happy Vale had been one thing, but if he were to start again in this speeding caravan from which there was no escape, it would be something else entirely.
"You need to let me put some more of this on your face," Jasmine repeated. Again, Lief shook his head.
From Lief's expression, Jasmine could see that the pain he was in was still severe, though it seemed that he still had some control over his mind. She tried again.
"Lief," she said gently, moving toward him as though he was a wounded animal that might attack her at any moment. "Please let me put this on your face. You will feel better, I promise."
Jasmine unscrewed the lid of the jar and scooped a portion of the sticky green ointment onto her hands, rubbing it between them. As she reached up to smooth it onto his face, Lief suddenly threw his arms around her, holding her to him. He held her so tightly that it hurt her a little, but still, she did not pull away from him.
As Jasmine smoothed the ointment on his face, Lief finally looked at her properly. Whenever Jasmine looked at Lief closely, she wondered how it was that Lief's eyes were the same colour as the Lapis Lazuli in the Belt of Deltora. But now, she felt no such thing. The half-mad look in his eyes was frightening her.
Jasmine," He said, his voice a harsh croak that did not suit him.
"I will let you go back, back to the forests. \You can be free. I will let you go…" He stopped there, his eyes filling with tears.
Jasmine finished applying the ointment, and put the lid back onto the jar. As she returned Lief's embrace, the jar dropped to the caravan floor with a soft clattering sound.
"What are you talking about, Lief?" Jasmine asked him. "You have said before that when all this is over, that we would be married if we survive."
"No," Lief rasped. "We cannot be married now, my face, and the things I said to you last night…"
Jasmine pressed her mouth against Lief's, effectively smothering his argument. She had done this before, but this time, it was different. For one thing, Lief did not return the kiss. He seemed frozen, perhaps with shock, perhaps with pain. Slowly, Jasmine felt Lief's body relax, and when he closed his eyes, she felt relieved that she would no longer have to see the madness that the pain was driving him to.
"It will be alright," Jasmine told him as she broke the kiss. "We will find Laughing Jack, Zerry, and the belt, then we will continue north to Shadowgate…"
But Jasmine stopped there, as she felt Lief's mouth against her own for the second time in as many moments. She almost wanted to pull away herself, to finish what she had been saying to him. That as far as she was concerned, Lief could have her for his bride, whatever he looked like, that she would never run away to the forests, not from him. But she supposed that now, she did not need to, for Lief had opened his eyes again, and the half-mad look had gone from them. Jasmine had been right; her green ointment had eased Lief's pain. Now, all there was to do was hope that the speed at which they were moving would be enough for them to catch up with Laughing Jack.
