Thirty Seven
Esmora awoke to a hand on her shoulder. It was not yet dawn and Cavan was standing over her. She arose without a word and watched Cavan leave as she closed her door to change.
She made her way down to breakfast and sat across from Cavan.
"Are you ready?" he asked after a while.
Esmora nodded and they left the house. Cavan strode ahead along the path leading into the forest. Esmora walked, head down, behind him, searching with her mind. Cavan stopped at some tracks.
"They're fresh," he said under his breath.
"The animal was running, it has gone far, we should hurry," Esmora said.
Cavan nodded and turned as one and ran through the forest. Esmora's feet flew over the turf and she found the chase exhilarating. She soon found that Cavan had dropped slightly behind, letting her lead. He must have lost the tracks. He was now simply trusting her. She lost track of the time that passed since they started, but the sun was up when Esmora stopped suddenly with Cavan right behind her.
"He's here," Esmora whispered. She probed her surroundings and saw woods everywhere and a cave up ahead. She found the animal and sent a probe to its mind. To her surprise, it resisted. Suddenly, she felt one behind her as well, she sent out a probe to it and the animal disappeared. It was an allusion. How did this animal possess telepathy?
"Esmora?" Cavan's voice broke through to her.
"It's telepathic, somehow it is," she whispered. She could feel several circling them and Cavan could now hear them as well. He drew his sword and Esmora sent a probe at one of the animals. It disappeared. She sent a probe at another just as a different one flung itself on Cavan. Cavan drove his sword into it but it disintegrated. Esmora kept sending probes into the allusions but could not find the real animal. Then, simultaneously, two animals launched themselves at Esmora and Cavan, leaving the illusions to fade away. Esmora found herself trying to thrust the animal away with her mind as she drew her dagger. The animal went flying and Esmora leaped on it only to find her arm ripped by sharp teeth.
"Focus on both," she said the words of her mentor.
A flurry of teeth, hair, sweat, fur, and metal flew over the ground in a mighty tussle of body and mind. When it was over a great silence reigned over the forest. No bird dare stir nor squirrel exit its den. Esmora lay panting and in pain. She felt as if she was on fire and her limbs refused to move. Her battered mind traced her body and she felt ribbons of flesh hanging from her body. What clothes were left were tattered beyond recognition. Her hands she could no longer call by that name. She would have sighed but her chest, or what was left of it, hurt with every breath. She cautiously began healing her vitals, knitting her one lung together and closing her chest and arms. By the time she had used almost all of her strength, she could move slightly.
"Cavan," she thought and hurriedly scanned her surroundings. He was lying with the animal on top of him. The animal was the only thing keeping his broken body together.
Esmora began healing him with what little strength she had left. It would not do much, but it would keep him alive. As she felt her strength draining away, her consciousness left her.
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Esmora woke with the sun high overhead. She could feel her stiff limbs sprawled out on the ground. She slowly sat up to see how Cavan was doing. She could tell he was breathing and she shoved the animal off of him. The action reopened some gashes that Esmora quickly healed with her waning strength. When she was finished, she still had some strength left. Her mind turned. What was to stop her from leaving? She was almost certain Cavan had enough strength to make it back when he awoke. And she was just as certain that she would have enough strength to make it to the Portal. Cavan could tell the villagers that the animals had killed her and thus be safe from burning. But was she certain he would make it? She looked at Cavan's face as indecision wracked her. She stood shakily and walked a few paces from where her husband lay. Her husband. She thought that word without the shudder that usually followed. Her brow furrowed. Leave or stay. She took another step away and turned to face the woods.
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Cavan woke and his mind relived the flurry of battle. He had won, but barely. In fact, he could not understand why he was not dead. Or why he was lying on something soft. He opened his eyes to find himself in his bed. He struggled to sit up, but a hand gently pushed him back down.
"You should not rise so soon," a soft voice told him.
He turned his head to the side and saw Esmora looking haggard and tired. Her presence seemed natural until he had thought for a moment.
"You could have left," he said.
"I know," she said simply, her face immobile.
"I would have been fine," he said again, not quite believing that she was there.
"Of that I could not be sure. Now, be silent and rest." He couldn't be sure, but as he drifted off he thought he saw tenderness reflected in her usually impassive face.