The Desperate
The first sign of something being amiss was the fact that she couldn't seem to locate her staff. She always slept with the staff within reaching distance. Still groping around for her staff, she opened her eyes.
And froze.
Two people who looked to be around her own age stared at her from chairs at the foot of her pallet. Or actually, bed.
The female who had short black hair cut in a boy's style and wonderfully glittering green eyes, blinked at in her surprise. "You're awake?"
The young male who sat beside the female arched a brown eyebrow at the speaker. "Well, of course. She would have had to awake eventually." He said calmly. He had his feet propped up onto another chair across from him and turned to glance at Thorn. "Don't mind Miri. Even the most commonplace things like having people wake up from sleep seem to surprise her at times." His voice spoke with a friendliness to her that did not reach his eyes.
Miri made a face at the young man. "Shut up, Brecc." She turned to smile at Thorn. "Hello."
Thorn didn't reply.
Miri spoke again, not at all affected by Thorn's silence. "How is your leg?"
Thorn tensed and glanced at the strangers suspiciously. Her leg was fine. Not that she could move it much. Somebody had bandaged and splinted her leg to keep her from bending or moving it. Who were these people and who had splinted her leg?
"You'll have to use a cane to help you walk for awhile. Just a little bit. When your horse fell on top of you, you're bone snapped and broke through the skin of your leg. You'll have to be careful with it, just until it gets strong again." the girl went on.
Thorn gave her a strange look. Was she always this friendly to strangers?
The young male stared at her appraisingly. "You don't talk too much, do you?" He asked, not really surprised when he didn't get a response. "Miri, Evin, and I spoke up for you while the healers pondered on what to do with you. If we hadn't spoken up, the healers would not have been so helpful with your wound."
Miri nodded and smiled. "Yep. But it's the least that we could do. After all, you helped Brecc and me with our own wounds. The healers examined my leg and told me that I might have lost it if you hadn't treated it like you did. And Brecc probably wouldn't have even survived if you hadn't stitched up his side to keep his innards from falling out and gave him herbs for the pain and to keep infection away."
Thorn blinked in surprise. Realization slowly dawned on her. These two, one who spoke welcomingly toward her and the other who glanced at her suspiciously, were the two injured captives whom she had treated. She hadn't recognized them with clean faces and clothes. But if they were here, alive and whole, then…
Thorn sat up so suddenly that the room spun around her. She closed her eyes until the dizzy feeling went away. Then she glanced at the female Rider.
"Where am I."
The girl glanced at her uncertainly. "You're in a guest room at Pirate's Swoop."
Oh no. Thorn struggled to get herself out of the bed, but her leg got tangled in the covers. She finally just ripped the covers off the bed and dropped them on the floor next to the bed and started to push herself off the comfortable bed, but her leg got tangled in the long, full skirt that she was wearing. Definitely not her own. The healers must have taken off her breeches for her and replaced it with the more modest skirt. She worked to untangle her leg from the skirt.
Brecc stood, albeit slowly because of his wounded side. "What are you doing?"
Thorn shook her head desperately. "I have to go." Her poor sister. What if Torhte had already hurt her?
"You can't." Miri protested. "You're hurt."
But Thorn just continued to shake her head. "Oh gods. I have to go. I have to go." She fumbled to take a step away from the bed but nearly fell over for her efforts, her body weak and aching from injury and disuse.
Brecc grabbed her arm. "You can't go anywhere. You're too weak."
"Don't touch me!" She said, practically yelling in his face. She pushed him away, but immediately regretted it when she saw him wince from pain.
Then the door opened and a tall figure filled the doorway. Sharp blue eyes pinned her to her spot. She had no trouble recognizing who those blue eyes belonged to.
"George just sent me to tell everyone that he will be very upset if you damage his guest room." He said with amusement.
Thorn glanced around and saw that the room did look like a mess. The bed sheets had loosened and overturned when she had gotten tangled in them and the covers lay in a tousled pile on the ground.
Brecc reached over and righted an over turned chair. Then he plunked himself down on it. "She wants to leave, Evin." He said flatly.
Evin entered the room and came toward her. She took it for as long as she could, but when he was only feet away and still coming toward her, she took a step back.
And tripped.
She reached out for something to stop her fall and her hand wrapped around someone's arm. Evin's arm.
She glanced up at him, eyes wide.
"Careful." He said to her. "You don't want to fall and hurt yourself again."
She released his arm, not caring any longer that she would fall to the ground, but Evin reached out and grabbed her before she could hit the floor.
Her temper flashed and she glowered up at him. "Don't touch me."
He raised a blonde eyebrow and glanced down at her. "You're allowed to touch me, but I'm not allowed to touch you? That's hardly fair." he teased.
She flushed and glanced away.
"Evin." Miri said disapprovingly. It was the first time Thorn heard her being less than friendly.
Evin gave Miri a penetratingly glance but then looked back at Thorn. He picked her up and gently placed her down on the chair that Brecc had had his feet on earlier. He then knelt in front of her, so that she could rest her splinted leg on top of his shoulder because she could not bend it. She was suddenly glad of the long, full skirt that she was wearing.
She tried to pull her leg away, but moving it was heavy and painful, and he had one of his hands securely on top of her ankle, restraining her so that she could not move it.
"I would like to have my leg back, if you don't mind." She said, grimacing.
He raised his eyebrow again. "But I do. And don't worry. My intentions are completely innocent."
Brecc snorted from his seat beside them.
Evin grinned. "Now what were you telling my companions before I arrived?"
"I have to go." she bit out.
"Why?"
"That's none of your business." she said coldly.
"Where is it that you have to go?" He asked.
She didn't answer.
He looked up at her carefully. "You want to go back to the bandits, don't you?"
Miri started making a sound of protest but Evin shook his head for silence. Brecc watched silently, one hand absently rubbing his side.
Thorn glanced away, but she saw Evin reach a hand up toward her face as if to touch her and she turned to glare at him.
"That's better." Evin said, a touch of a smile coming to his lips. "From what I saw while I was with the bandits, you did not like being there any more than I. But why would you want to go back?" He asked her softly.
"Why I want to go anywhere is none of your concern. I demand that you release me. And where is my staff?"
Evin gazed up at her appraisingly. "I'm sorry, but I can't do that." he said gently.
She blinked. "What?"
Evin shook his blonde head. "There are people who will speak with you before you will be allowed to go anywhere."
She shook her head briskly. "No, you don't understand. I have to go."
"You might be able to leave after you speak with those who wanted to speak with you--"
"No! I have to leave and I have to leave NOW!" She tried to get to her feet but could not keep her balance. Evin gently pushed her back onto the bed. "Please, you have to let me go." She said pleadingly.
They didn't understand. Torhte, he was going to think that Thorn left and willingly went to the Riders. He was going to think that she betrayed him and the rest of the bandits. He was going to kill her sister for her mistaken betrayal.
Evin reached down and took her shaky fingers into his firm ones. "Tell me why, and perhaps I will be able to arrange something."
She numbly shook her head. If she showed up at the bandit camp with a bunch of Riders, it would kill any chance of being able to save Asianna if she wasn't dead already. "I can't. I can't." she said faintly.
There was a silence as the Riders considered what she said and how to handle the situation. Thorn took the moment to reach out with her mind and call to her staff.
There. She felt it somewhere nearby, but not in the same room as she. She breathed a sigh of relief. At least it hadn't been left at the raid site. Then a thought struck her and she glanced down at Evin.
"How long have I been unconscious and asleep."
He mulled over the question. "Perhaps a day and a half."
Her heart sank. A day and a half? So long? If Torhte had thought that Thorn had betrayed him, than Asianna would be dead and cold by now. All she could do is hope that Torhte didn't believe that she had tried to escape and hadn't killed her sister. Thorn would have to bide her time before making her escape to find out the truth of whether or not Asianna was already dead.
Then she spoke about another thing that was troubling her mind. "Why are you doing this?" She asked, her gaze sliding from the sympathetic Miri to the edgy and unimpressed Brecc and finally to the unperturbed Evin.
"Why are we doing what?" Miri asked.
Thorn gave her a skeptical look. "Well, whenever I thought about what might happen if I ever got captured, it always involved being locked up in a dark dungeon with a bunch of rats. Not a guest room in the home of Tortall's first Lady Knight." she said flatly.
"Well," Evin said with an easy shrug, "you have to be more careful. Things don't always come out the way one would expect."
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A.N.- wow, can you believe it? Evin was actually talking in this chapter! He has more than a 'look at me, I'm sitting here' role. A friend was complaining about that to me yesterday. Well, I hope everyone likes my latest chapter. It is kind of long, but the last chapter was kinda short, so this makes up for it. Review and tell me what you think.
~Krizsta
