Gwyn had hoped to keep moving, but the distorted corset was keeping her from fully filling her lungs, leaving her panting for breath at the slightest hill. Surely they were far enough to be able to rest now, for a few minutes at least,
"Az! Stop, I can't keep going in this dress," she panted, and he nodded,
"Let me find your leathers," he gestured towards his still-unconscious brother, "If he wakes up, whack him," Gwyn snorted, but nodded, taking the chance to check on Laylah. The young female had walked without complaint for the past few hours, but she had to be tired, and her shoes were ridiculous, Gwyn would have to see if any of hers would fit.
"Laylah," Gwyn gestured for her to sit down beside her, "How are you doing?" She murmured, then laughed at herself, "I'm sorry, I understand what it is to have your whole life turned upside down. I don't know what you need right now but we're not going to let anything happen to you,"
"I don't know what I need either. It's not like I'll miss my father, but he is my only family, it'll take some getting used to,"
"We're here if you want us, or we can help getting you set up somewhere, Rhys is always willing to throw some money around, especially to help someone,"
"Really? He always seemed, I don't know, not cruel exactly, but detached, completely disinterested in individuals," Gwyn chuckled,
"He'll be glad to hear that, but it is an act, mostly to ensure the Camp Lords remember who he is, so they don't do anything stupid, obviously it wasn't enough to put them off this time, but also to protect the Night Court, it puts off potential invaders as well," she explained, and smiled at the glimmer of understanding in Laylah's eyes, thanking the Cauldron for her intelligence. "And Laylah, what you did, coming to find us to warn us, that was really brave, thank you," she glanced over to where Azriel was waiting, giving them a moment to talk just out of earshot, "You might have saved his life, and another of my friends, so thank you,"
"You guys are actually together then?"
"Yes, that at least was real." She couldn't help the smile when she looked towards him, "I'm sorry we had to lie to you, we didn't have much choice I'm afraid, there was always a risk that you might inadvertently betray us,"
"I know, it's okay," Laylah smiled,
"Gwyneth?"
"Just Gwyn, that's what my friends call me," Laylah swallowed, but smiled,
"Can you teach me to fight? Like you did, and Azriel, maybe I can be helpful, I'd like to be if I can,"
"I'm nowhere near experienced enough to teach you, but," she added before Laylah's disappointment could settle in, "We do have daily sessions for females wishing to learn, Azriel and Cassian teach them, I could get you involved if you like?"
"Thank you, that would be brilliant," she glanced towards Azriel, "I think he's got your stuff, you'd better go change, that can't be comfortable," she chuckled, wincing at the sight of the corset, the boning inverted where the arrow had struck.
"You have no idea," Gwyn laughed, but did slip away to change, freezing at the realization that there were no trees to hide behind, not even a rock, they were still stuck on that open plain. She glanced around for some long grass, treading back towards where they'd left Laylah, and her head snapped sideways at a sound. Quiet, barely there, but she narrowed her eyes at Azriel's brother, who fell still, but she was no fool, he'd moved, so she nudged him, encouraging him to try to get up, pretending she hadn't noticed. When he moved, she grabbed hold of one of the bags, swinging it as hard as she could into the side of his head, and winced at the crash when he crumpled to the floor, eyes rolling back in his head as he fell.
Azriel was there in moments, laughing quietly as he took the bag, swinging it once,
"Quite a weapon,"
"You said to whack him, I did,"
"Oh it's not a criticism, marvelous improvisation actually," she snorted, but he stepped behind her, between her and Laylah, "I'll cover you," Gwyn glanced up gratefully as he spread his wings out, giving her a chance to change in privacy. She barely felt his gaze on her as she loosened the corset as far as it would go,
"Can you help? It's the wrong shape, I can't get it off,"
"Oh, okay," She didn't miss the hint of pink starting to stain Azriel's cheeks, and couldn't resist the chance to tease him a bit,
"You can undress me properly some other time, we don't have time now," she grinned to herself when his breathing hitched, just for a moment, but Gwyn, of course, noticed.
"What?" Gwyn giggled to herself, turning to whisper,
"We're not alone here, we'll continue this later," and stepped out of the dress as the corset finally shifted with Azriel's help. Azriel swore quietly under his breath, and Gwyn smiled, she never thought she'd find someone to tease, someone she actually wanted the time to sneak off with, alone, but here she was. She raised herself onto her tiptoes to brush a kiss against Azriel's cheek once she was dressed again, back in her leathers, re-armed, ready to fight.
It was another hard few hours until they found a suitable camp site, a small grove of trees, but it was enough,
"We should be in range for me to call Rhys soon, he can winnow further than I can," Azriel whispered, keeping his voice low for that his brother wouldn't hear,
"What about him?" Gwyn glanced back, mentally checking that the ropes around his hands were secure, and that he wasn't able to get free from the tree he'd been tied to,
"We'll have to take him with us, he might be useful, and at least it'll take one enemy commander out of the war." Still, there was a sense of unease that she'd been unable to shake, an annoying feeling that she'd missed something, that something was in motion, but she had no idea what. They'd just have to be prepared for something to go wrong, she supposed, but it was still bothering her when she curled up to go to sleep.
The moon was already starting its descent when Azriel finally woke her to take the next watch,
"You should have woken me two hours ago," she hissed,
"You needed to sleep,"
"So do you! Bed. Now." She pointed towards his bedroll, but softened at his hesitation, "I'll be fine, I'll wake you if anything seems amiss, okay, now go to sleep," she raised an eyebrow and he finally relented, falling asleep within moments.
Once she'd ascertained that he really was asleep, she slipped back into the trees, setting herself slightly away from the campsite so that she could see it all and the area around. She'd be out of view here, especially shrouded in shadow as she was. She wasn't foolish enough to believe that it was all natural shadow, but she could let it go, at least Azriel was sleeping, even if his shadows weren't. Gwyn wasn't sure that they even needed sleep, but then again, she had no idea what they really were.
Back amongst the trees, she could easily keep casting her gaze around the camp site, flicking back to the spot she'd just checked in case someone was hiding there. Nothing moved for hours, but three hours in, just when the moon's light was fading she saw something.
Beyond the trees, out on the plain that they'd crossed, something moved again. And again. Slowly it was moving closer, keeping to the shadows, making no sound as it moved. Gwyn fell still, hardly daring to breathe, if something was wrong she'd have the advantage of being unseen, and she could send the shadows to wake Azriel if necessary. The thing moved closer, keeping below the waist high grass so that she never actually saw it, just where it had been, a soft rustle alerting her to the movement.
Her heart was pounding in her chest as she mentally checked for her weapons as it drew nearer. Every instinct told her to run, to wake Azriel, to strike first, but she forced herself to remain still, silent. It was nearing the edge of the trees now, the grass rustled once more, so close to her sleeping companions.
She slowly, silently drew a knife, balanced for throwing, it had a wide blade that tapered to a sharp point and thinned near the hilt. The hilt itself was heavy to help drive the blade home as it struck its target. She hadn't thrown it in a while, and she just hoped that she could remember her training, she'd only get one shot at this.
She drew her arm back to throw, and stopped. Right before she released the grass ruffled again to reveal a plains cat. Large, not quite waist height, with thick sand-colored fur. It had surprised her, but it wasn't a threat, there was no way it would attack anything bigger than a small deer. She sighed, and sheathed the knife, but the movement drew the plains cat's attention, and it hissed in her direction. Gwyn stepped out, and cooed softly,
"It's only me, come on, I won't hurt you, but I can't let you eat our supplies I'm afraid," the cat narrowed its eyes, but didn't hiss or make any more aggressive moves. Instead, it blinked once at her and purred, allowing her to gently fondle its ears before turning to bound away into the grass, the soft light of dawn sending streaks of red and orange through the sky. Gwyn settle back into her spot to wait another hour or so before waking the others.
Azriel loosened his brother's bonds for a moment, allowing the blood to flow back into his hands before tightening them again. He glanced up at the sun,
"Another few hours maybe, we should be home by lunch if we're lucky," he announced, then crossed to where Gwyn was hunting through her bag, searching for her spare pair of boots. Laylah had refused to slow them down yesterday by letting Gwyn look for them, but she could at least wear them for today, if they fit. "How's Laylah doing with walking?" Gwyn almost leapt out of her skin, she'd been so concentrated that she hasn't heard him approach,
"Cauldron, Az! A warning!" She narrowed her eyes at his soft chuckle, "Now is not the time to be testing me, idiot,"
"It is always the time to be testing you," he countered, "Don't drop your guard out here," he was right, but she wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of winning so she just huffed,
"Laylah seems fine, a little tired, but not too bad, I think she'll need to winnow soon though,"
"That's what I was hoping to avoid, I have no guarantee that those males who attacked us didn't already put a tracking spell on me if I use magic, it was a risk winnowing to our spare kit, and it's one I'd rather avoid," he kept his voice low, keeping an eye on his brother without turning his head, "Do you think she can manage another half day?"
"Not in those shoes," Gwyn held up her spare boots, "In these, yes,"
It was just after lunch that Azriel received a response to his mental shout,
Rhys,
Az, is everything okay?
We need you to come and fetch us, I can't risk winnowing, I might be being tracked.
Where are you? I'm on my way.
Azriel showed Rhys their location, and signalled to the group to stop. Laylah sank to the floor gratefully, shaking her tired feet to try to regain the feeling where they'd gone numb from walking, but didn't complain. Gwyn raised an eyebrow, and he offered her an almost imperceptible nod, but she smiled and understood. He gave no warning to his brother, waiting until Rhys materialized to show any sign of the plan at all. Even then, Azriel merely hauled him to his feet and warned him not to try anything stupid. Even with the warning, Azriel kept a hold of him, letting Gwyn and Laylah hold on tighter to Rhys. Still, the urge to glare at his brother and demand he back off from Gwyn was almost unbearable. He had no idea where it had come from, but perhaps what could have happened at the palace simply had him on edge, that was all.
The wind roared in Azriel's ears and it took all of his training and balance not to stumble when his feet hit solid ground. Laylah, however, wasn't so lucky, and it was only Rhys' quick reactions that kept her from breaking her nose on the stones under their feet. She shyly mumbled a thank you, and Azriel turned his eyes to the heavens when Rhys offered a grin, tactfully choosing to ignore the flush of color across Laylah's cheeks.
For now, they could leave his brother here, the Hewn City had never been breached this far and Azriel could come and get him if necessary. Whilst he opened a cell he heard Rhys quietly explaining to Laylah what was happening and that they weren't going to stay there. He unbound his brother's hands before closing the door, telling himself that he didn't care but a part of him still screamed in agony at the hatred in his glare, the memories of this male.
"Just going to leave me are you?" He jeered, trying to sound calm, but his flickering gaze betrayed his fear,
"You'll get food, someone will bring down a blanket, I'll be back when we need to speak to you,"
"Sure you don't want to tie me up?"
"I'm not you." Azriel snapped, losing the mask he'd so carefully maintained for just a moment but it was enough for the male's eyes to shine gleefully with that small victory. Azriel couldn't hide his disgust when he returned to where the others were waiting, but a part of him, small as it was, screamed at him to fix it, to go and fetch him, conveniently forgetting the first eleven years of his life. He shook his head, ignoring the urge, and was met by another, this time, one he more than happy to oblige. He grasped Gwyn's hand in his, and held on to his arm with and almost crushing grip, only relaxing when he wrapped an arm around her shoulders,
"Let's go home," she whispered.