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Chapter 15

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It took Kel and Dom three days to reach the mountain pass. Luckily, it wasn't an army post and they could ride on the open road till they were a good distance into the next valley.

As the week progressed, the temperature continued to drop. One morning Kel woke to find a thin layer of frost covering everything. Her breath came out as steam and the glade, in which they had camped the night, had an almost mystical aspect to it; everything sparkled and a light mist hid most of the trees from sight.

Kel wasn't bothered too much by the cold. She felt it, but her layers of clothes kept her warm enough.

Dom was a different story. He huddled in his cloak and took comfort in his horse's body heat, but he look pale and during the night Kel could her him shiver desperately.

On the tenth day since leaving the inn, Dom had lost his voice and was continuously coughing and sneezing. Half way through the day, Kel called a stop. Taking on look at Dom, she knew that he had a fever; his eyes had a glassy look to them and, even though he was shivering, his brow was covered in sweat.

Helping Dom of Whistler, Kel pulled his bedroll out of it's covering and spread it out beneath a beech tree. While Dom got comfortable Kel unsaddled both horses and tied them up.

By the time she got back, Dom was already asleep. She quickly built a fire and then went to look for water.

She found a stream about ten minutes walk from the camp. Filling a cooking pot and both her and Dom's water pouches with icy water, she hurried back to camp.

Dom was shivering badly in his sleep. She placed the cooking pot on the crackling fire before taking her bedroll and adding to the layers of blankets already covering him.

Pulling her saddlebag over, she searched through it till she found the small pouch that contained willow bark. She had brought it to ease the cramps that came with her monthly bleeding.

She threw a few stripes of the bark into the cooking pot on the fire and waited for it to boil.

Throughout the afternoon Kel made Dom drink the tea, cool his brow and wrists with water and did all she could to make the fever pass.

Dom woke frequently from his light sleep. At times he didn't know where he was or he would wake with a yell from a nightmare. Kel sat by him, only moved to add wood to the fire or to heat more tea for Dom to drink.

Kel didn't know what to do. Dom's condition didn't improve and Kel wasn't a healer. She was able to clean and bind wounds, but a sickness was out of her control.

A bit after dusk, Dom had once again fallen asleep after slurping a bit of the broth that Kel had made for him. Kel sat cross-legged on the ground, with her back against the beech tree and Dom's head on her lap.

Using a wet cloth, she wiped Dom's brow, neck and face and tried as best as she could to help her friend recover.

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Kel woke with a start. Groaning, she realised that she had fallen asleep despite of herself. It was still dark and the moon's position in the sky told her that it wasn't long until midnight. She had slept for about two hours.

Dom's head was still on her lap. Lifting it gently, Kel stretched her sore legs out. Leaning over Dom, she could tell that the fever still gripped him. His cheeks were hot to touch and his breath was shallow.

Kel's bedroll lay discarded at Dom's feet. Carefully she freed him of his blankets. Dom moaned in his sleep and tried to turn onto his side, but ended up lying sprawled out on top of his bedroll.

Kel was worried.

Fetching more water from the creek, she knelt next to him. Wetting the cloth again, she placed it on his brow. Knowing that it wouldn't help enough, Kel tugged Dom's tunic over his head. Unbuttoning his blouse, she pulled his arms out of the sleeves, leaving him half naked into front of her.

Ignoring the tingling in her stomach, she wetted her spare blouse and wrapped it around his chest before pulling the bedroll over him again. Dom stirred, but didn't wake.

During the night, Kel repeatedly changed the cold wraps around his chest. Using a spoon, she fed Dom water, trying to keep his throat wet.

By the time the sun was climbing in the sky, Kel had worked herself close to tears. Dom's state hadn't changed at all and she knew that if a healer didn't see to him soon, Dom would be lost.

Exhausted, Kel slumped next to Dom gripping his hand in hers.

"Don't die," she whispered, "Please! Don't die, Dom."

Her eyes itched and it took quite a bit of self-control to stop herself from crying.

Kel was moving in a daze. Stress, the cold, no sleep, hard riding and no food for almost a day were taking its toll on her.

Her hands were full with wet cloths as the two men appeared from behind the trees.

Kel had just enough time to recognise the weapons in their hands as bows and knives before exhaustion took over and she slumped forwards in a faint.

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Hey everyone.

Sorry for such a short chapter, but I feel that this needs to end with a cliff-hanger. (DON'T HURT ME!)

The next chapter will have interaction with people, for a change.

Anyway, all the comments to the great reviews that you send me are in the revised version of chapter 14, which has been posted. Please go back and read them. Thanks.

WOLFY

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PsychoLioness13 – Yeah, it is actually "Ganiel's Realm", but at the same time he rules over the "Realm of Dreams", so it really is the same. Thanks for the review.