Chapter Fifty-Three
Aravis awoke naturally from a sound sleep for the first time in what felt like ages. Someone had dragged another bearskin over her during the night, and she sighed happily as she yawned and stretched luxuriously under it. A good night's sleep was rare these days. She wrapped the bearskin around her shoulders and toddled out of her tent with a smile. The first person she saw was Cor, who was bundled up warmly next to the fire with a mug of tea under his chin. He grinned when he caught her eye.
"Just in time for porridge," Janey exclaimed from her spot near the fire. The fat beauty jumped up and ran over to embrace Aravis, who was surprised to find herself reciprocating eagerly. "We thought you'd sleep for days!"
"Rhys tried to make me," Aravis answered pointedly, but she tacked a giggle on at the end. The others chuckled at this, but Ram met her eye over the crackling fire. "Where's Corin?" she asked.
"He's nursing his sore nose," Hana chirped. Aravis looked at her—she was pale but alert, wearing her cloak over a thick bandage that swathed her arm and half her shoulder. "You really gave him something to think about."
Findora raised her eyebrows at Aravis, who shrugged.
"Oooh, but you were so sorely missed," Janey sighed. "The company just wasn't the same without you!"
"I sorely missed Romith's cooking," Aravis replied as she reached for the bowl that was offered to her.
"Hana says you felled an elk," said Findora.
Aravis nodded, mouth full of porridge. "A calf, though," she said as Cor pulled her down next to him. "Orphaned—it wasn't a crack kill by any stretch of the imagination."
"She put the arrow right between its ribs," said Hana.
Darrin and Romith expressed their admiration, which Aravis received with a knowing smile. They were all trying their hardest to make up for their treatment of her earlier, and she knew it—but it was hard to feel resentment when Cor had his arm around her and was laughing at the light-hearted teasing that was occasionally thrown his way.
"You should eat more," she told him. His color was better, but there was a marked pinched look about his face that indicated a lack of food.
"I'm full," he responded, but reached for another bowl of porridge and tucked in.
Once he was done and everyone was full, Cor cleared his throat. "We should set out for Zohra today," he said, standing. "I apologize to everyone for the delay I caused, but you should be aware that winter is coming, and if we get caught in the snows, it could be very dangerous."
"Sire," Rhys wheedled, "I do not think you are strong enough to ride—"
"Then lash me to my saddle," Cor interrupted briskly. "Darrin, you have visited Viscount Sidrat before. How far would you say we are from Zohra?"
"I would estimate no more than a week," Darrin replied. "But if we get caught in the snows, it could be much longer."
"All the more reason not to sit around idly," Cor said with a pointed look at Rhys. "Let's get going as soon as we can—we're burning daylight."
Aravis had very little to pack up, having sold most of her belongings in Shadesport. When her things were rolled up tightly and buckled to Inga's saddle, she turned to Raider, who was nosing her pockets for a treat.
"What have you done to my warhorse, woman?" Cor asked as she fed the massive animal from the palm of her hand and scratched its forelock like it was a pony.
"Raider likes me," she said defensively, scratching the spot under its chin where the bridle strap had rubbed the hair down. "I take care of him."
"He looks like a puppy, following you around like that."
Aravis laughed and kissed Raider's dark, velvety nose. "Fine, then. Take him back and treat him like a destrier. He's a hack pony at heart, though, I assure you."
Cor snorted rather like Raider. "Hold his head, then, while I tack him up."
Aravis took hold of Raider's bridle with one hand and fed him a bit of sugar with the other while Cor rubbed down the waterstained saddle. "He was so good while you were sick," she said conversationally, letting the massive horse lick her fingers clean. "Followed Inga like a lamb."
"Father always said he was a good beast," Cor answered. He shook his blankets off and stood up, taking a deep breath before lifting the heavy saddle. "I remember when he decided—" He broke off with a strangled yelp and dropped the saddle.
"Oh, Cor," Aravis sighed, hurrying to his aid. "You shouldn't have tried to lift that yet! Let me see your shoulders."
He sat down without protest and put his face in his hand as Aravis gingerly lifted his shirt up. While the sharpness of his shoulderblades was alarming, what worried Aravis most was the state of the gashes. They looked just as sore and swollen as they had when he was fevered, as though they had never been cleaned or treated, and some of them had broken open when he lifted the saddle and were leaking blood and fluid. She tsked. "Try to rest for a bit, Cor," she told him, kissing the top of his head. "I'll be right back."
The campsite was full of activity, so she slipped unnoticed amongst the luggage and found Rhys's ubiquitous stained herb satchel. From it she drew a roll of bandages, a pouch of powdered calendula, a few dried poplar buds, and a pinch of balsam bark. It was rudimentary healing, to be sure, but something was better than nothing, and the small voice in the back of her head warned her not to ask Rhys.
Cor was hunched over in the same manner when she returned, and she set to work running lukewarm water over the open wounds, using the roll of clean bandages to scrub out the pus while he tried not to shout in pain. When that was done, she packed each one full of herbs and wrapped clumsy bandages over the worst of them. "You have to be careful," she told him as she pulled his shirt back down and replaced his blanket. "If you let those cuts get infected again, your fever will come back."
He nodded wordlessly, what little color had returned to his face now gone.
She stroked his hair for a moment. "Let me get Raider ready for you, all right? He'll be good for me."
Cor nodded again.
So Aravis tacked Raider up and buckled the luggage satchels to the saddle, making sure to leave the stirrups loose so it wouldn't hurt Cor's back. "Just rest now until everyone's ready," she told him gently. "I'll get your cloak."
As she went to leave, though, he grabbed hold of her arm, his hand rough against the soft skin of her wrist, and kissed the palm of her hand. He didn't say anything—he didn't need to, either. That, and the expression on his face as he looked up at her, was enough for her. She smiled and squeezed his hand.
All was not well in the rest of the company, however. As she made her way back from the fire, Cor's cloak in hand, Aravis heard a snatch of a whispered argument coming from the far end of the tree they had lashed the horses to.
"—Your flesh and blood—"
"Yes, Hana, you're right. But please, please hear me out—"
"I've heard all I need to! Do you have any idea—any at all—what you put Cor and Aravis through?"
"Is everything all right?" Aravis asked, feeling entitled to interrupt since they had mentioned her name.
Hana and Corin jumped guilty and turned different shades of puce. Corin, who indeed sported a brilliant swollen nose, dropped his gaze when his eyes met Aravis's. "Aravis, I want to apolo—"
"No," Hana said shrilly, cutting him off. "Corin was just leaving."
Corin looked at her, then ducked his head and hurried off like a kicked dog.
"Oh, dear," said Aravis awkwardly. "Is there something I—"
"There's nothing to talk about," Hana answered, turning to her shaggy horse and brushing its withers repeatedly.
Aravis nodded slowly and turned back to Cor and Raider, who was nibbling Inga's neck as she chewed oats with a lazy expression. Cor's color looked a little better already, and Aravis draped his cloak over his shoulders as carefully as she could. "Have you spoken to Corin yet?" she said.
"No, I've scarcely seen him since I came around. Why?"
"He didn't let me come back and look for you until we were already well away from Shadesport."
"What the h—"
"To be fair, he was quite drunk. I think he feels terrible about it—"
"As well he should! He was busy getting sloshed while I was—" He broke off abruptly, the words seeming too painful to say aloud.
"You should talk to him. He looks absolutely dreadful."
"Let him stew in his own juices for a while. Maybe it'll finally get through that thick skull of his."
She tapped a knuckle on the side of his head. "It runs in the family, you know."
He sighed. "Don't remind me. Now, would you help me up on Raider? Damn horse is so tall."
Together they got him up on the saddle, and he squirmed gingerly before reaching forward and patting Raider's muscular neck. "Good old boy. Glad to see you took care of him."
"Well, it's been decided that if you die en route, I have first claim on him," Aravis replied archly. She clambered up onto Inga, who apparently had decided that her mistress had been coddled quite enough and so deserved a solid nip on the arm. "Ouch!"
"Control your beast," Cor said with mock sternness.
Aravis wrinkled her nose at him, rubbing her sore shoulder. "Oi, you, shut up."
"Excuse you, I was speaking to Inga."
The mare shook her head and snorted as if in laughter.
"Really, you two," Aravis sighed. "Thick as thieves."
Raider whinnied and tossed his head, keen to be included in the conversation, but the noise made the other horses prick up their ears and strain against their ties. It was time to head out, and soon the campsite was nothing more than a circle of melted snow with a smoking pile of charcoal in the center. Aravis was not sad to leave it behind—indeed, how could she be sad about anything? She had a fresh horse beneath her, a clean bandage on her hand, and Cor on her left who had decided that the best way to pass the time was by telling a long stream of ridiculous jokes. No, she thought, I'm not sad at all.
A/N: Well, to bastardize a phrase from Mr. Lewis himself, the holidays are over and the term has begun. Hence the fluffiness of the chapter—real class started for me on Monday again, so the updates that have been gushing forth from the wellspring of my inspiration will dry to a trickle. Oh, well—it's my goal to finish this story before the end of this coming summer, as I hope to spend the fall of 2013 studying in Hungary! (So if you live in the Budapest area and want to meet up next fall, drop me a line!)
Not to worry, though. I WILL finish this fic in a timely fashion, as I already have another fic idea starting to germinate in the rich soil of my brain! Hope you all will join me there when it's time! :)
~SH
