Thirteen.

The air did not warm and by mid-day thick grey clouds obscured the sun. Necrucian had fished the second blanket out of his saddlebags and Taliah had fashioned it into a cloak, drawing it about herself and the boy. For hours, the paladin had channelled the Light to warm herself and the child, but the strain of such deep concentration had taken a terrible toll. Her exhaustion had forced her to cease the channelling prayers and the paladin would have to rely on the warmth of Valiant's body, captured within her makeshift cloak. They would move at a trot for hours at a stretch, and then have to slow to a walk again when Valiant grew winded and tired. They had passed from the foothills and forest into the flatlands and though he looked behind them often, the deathknight saw nothing. Still, he had the feeling that he and the paladin were being pushed by something malevolent.

Taliah looked down into her cloak and pulled the corner of the blanket away from the boy's face. He was sleeping peacefully and to her relief, was not shivering though her breath was steaming in the cold air. When the sun went down, it would only become worse. The days were growing short and the sun would be disappearing behind the hills at roughly six bells. The country they were in was so open, with only small patches of thin forest and by her reckoning, not even a hermit's tent between them and the ruined town of Tarren Mill.

There had been no words between her and Necrucian since that morning and the deathknight drove them on relentlessly. While they had been a dysfunctional but somewhat equal partnership previously, the deathknight had assumed a more dominant and authoritative roll. It chafed the paladin like wet leather and her already short temper was becoming frayed, but they could not stop, not out in the open. There was something malicious behind them, she could feel it as Necrucian did, and there would be no rest tonight. Valiant had suffered through all-night pushes in the past, and as much as she hated pushing the stallion beyond his limits, there was no choice now.

At two bells, Necrucian saw them, a mass of perhaps a dozen figures a few leagues behind them. Out in the open as they were, he knew they had seen him as well. Taliah hazarded a glance over her shoulder, her expression resigned as she spotted their pursuers. Unconsciously, the paladin put a hand protectively to the sling beneath her cloak and her jaw set at a stubborn angle. The temperature had dipped bellow freezing as the sun sat lower in the sky and the damp ground began to glisten with frost. Valiant's unshod hoof slid more than once as the ground became slick, but the worn out destrier did not balk or slow.

"They aren't in a hurry to catch up." Necrucian observed sourly "They know they have the advantage."

"Aye.." Taliah was tired and it was beginning to show. She was hungry and cold, but the part of her that cried out for a halt to the march was overpowered by the fiercer part that wanted to live to see the light of another day. "They're driving us before them like cattle, but the only thing between us, Tarren Mill and Southshore is a lot of river on one side, foothills on the other with a whole lot of nothing down the middle." The cold was biting now and Taliah's hands were going numb. "If they decide to run us down, there's no way Valiant can outrun them on this ground in his condition."

Necrucian pulled up alongside her suddenly and reached over, pulling her destrier to a halt. Valiant's ears pinned and he snapped at the deathknight's hand with a rusty-hinged squeal as Necrucian pulled the bridle from the stallion's head. "Then we leave him behind."

"What the hell are you doing, Scourge?" Taliah just looked at him in shock and outrage as the deathknight grabbed a fist-full of the cloak she wore and dragged her into his lap. She struggled fiercely, but he wrapped an arm around her, pinning the woman to him. "Have you gone mad? Let me go, you bastard!" The hood of her cloak fell back and beneath it he heard the boy wail in fear as she thrashed. Valiant seemed just as confused as his paladin and stood just looking at him.

"Stop squirming, woman." His cold lips brushed her ear and made her skin crawl. With a growl his spurs gouged into Acharon's ribs and the destrier sprang forward, not seeming to notice the extra weight he now carried. The deathknight gave Acharon his head, leaning slightly forward as his mount's stride lengthened and his sharp hooves gouged chunks from the freezing earth. Valiant gave an angry trumpet and despite his obvious exhaustion, broke into a gallop in pursuit. "Two things are slowing us down right now." He growled and his breastplate pressed into her side as he leaned forward in the saddle. "I chose the lesser of two evils for you. Be thankful."

Valiant's stride faltered as he slipped and skidded on a stony stretch that bothered Acharon not at all. As Taliah craned her neck around to look over the deathknight's shoulder, Valiant went down on his knees. The brave stallion struggled to his feet and trotted after them, his head bobbing violently as he struggled along on three legs, the fourth unable to support his weight. Taliah felt tears sting her eyes as her heart was torn with anguish "Valiant..!"

"Forget him and see to the boy." Necrucian shrugged his shoulder purposefully and his pauldron struck her cheekbone, making the paladin turn her face away in pain so she could not watch the destrier struggle.

Thomas wailed and squirmed against her in panic and she put her arms around him. It took all of her training and discipline to keep her voice calm. "It's alright, Thomas." She soothed. The sound of her voice and the rocking motion of Acharon's surprisingly smooth stride quieted the wail into hiccups and sniffles. Necrucian's arm crushed about her waist, his mailed fingers digging painfully into the old scar on her belly. She said nothing more, her protestations ending but her anger roiling in the pit of her stomach. She cradled the child to her and listened at Valiant's desperate calls began to fade into the distance.