The wind blew heavily over the lake, swirling sand up from its shore, throwing the tiny grains harshly against her face. Denna tried to cover her eyes, to protect them from the fine sand, but she had no leverage to hold onto. The sky was clear blue, everything around them seemed peaceful, and still, only them dashing through the perfect landscape disturbed its silence. The horse was snorting heavily it needed to rest soon. The weight of the both of them - even for the splendid animal that it was, with its raven-black fur and strong toned muscles - was too much to carry for this long stretch of time at their hurried pace.
The water splashed high in the air and soaked their clothes, covering them with a fine film of mud, as they rode at the rim of the lake. Denna held Cara tightly against herself, embracing her from behind on the horse. Her hand grasped the reins in an iron grip, her knuckles turned white around the soft leather. Cara, wrapped in a warm coat, had lost consciousness once again and Denna started to have difficulties holding her close.
Darken Rahl's men were hunting them down; Denna could already hear them in the distance, dozens of hoofs on forest ground - screams and shouts, coming steadily closer. The noise Rahl s soldiers made started soon after they had left the temple, the spell must have ended sooner than Denna originally anticipated. However, it did not matter as long as they were far away as it eventually happened. Denna shuddered inwardly at the thought, imagining what Rahl would have done to the both of them to her when she had been caught while still in the temple. Especially with Cara in her arms, it would have been hard to come up with a sufficient explanation why he shouldn t torture her to death - only to be revived with the Breath of Life and tortured again until she would die. Their only chance was to reach Denna's shelter soon and hide before their followers would get to them. The platinum blonde Mord'Sith schooled her gaze straight ahead, pulling Cara even tighter to her chest and spurred the horse. As if the animal could feel her desperation, it went faster.
Unnoticed by anyone, a small golden chain slipped out of its pocket into the lake's clear water, sinking down to the ground a few feet away from the shore. It came to rest on a sandy pillow, as if made to lay there for eternity.
The cottage laid hidden deep in the woods, in an area faraway from villages and towns, also isolated from the main travel roads. Seen from the outside, it appeared to be abandoned for years. Small trees grew up on the roof, some windows were barricaded with wooden boards, and the color of the walls had faded under years of constant sunlight. The magical web that was cast around it let the cottage blend in with the nature; making it invisible for the unknowing eye. In the months of preparation, Denna had spent a lot of time looking for a suitable place to function as her shelter once her mission was carried out. She never planed for anyone accompanying her though.
Pulling on the reins, Denna brought the raven horse to a halt in front of the cottage. For onlookers they stopped in the middle of nothing but trees and wild bushes. Everything had gone accordingly to plan, with the exception of her unconscious former Sister, who had almost killed her a few months ago. Cara had only woken once during their ride, but never regained full consciousness to actually realize what was happening around her. Dismounting the horse first, Denna steadied Cara so she would not fall down, before Denna pulled her into her arms. The old door made a loud scraping noise as Denna unceremoniously kicked it open and stepped inside. The place was still warm from the fire she had made before she had left earlier in the evening. She felt Cara shivering in her arms, only covered with the dark coat Denna had wrapped around her, assuming that the black leather straps which functioned as Cara s only clothing, offered as good as no protection to the cold.
Denna laid Cara carefully down on the rug in front of the fire. The cloak was soaked with blood and mud and Denna wanted to avoid washing the covers of the bed. As a Mord'Sith her desire to experience the joys of domesticity was pretty much non-existent. Trying to survive was keeping her busy enough. In her absence, the fire had burned down, but the remains still glowed red with an intense heat. It would take time to heat up enough water to fill the tub though, but Denna was sure, Cara wouldn t be complaining.
Half a candle-mark later, the tub was half-filled, looking at the steaming water; Denna figured it would have to be enough. Having to fill that tub by herself triggered a strange feeling to rise within her; in the past, there had been slaves or pets - and on occasion other Mord Sith of lower rank - who had jumped at her command and filled it for her. If the water was cold when they're finished - Denna would let them start anew and punish them if they weren't fast enough for her liking. Pets earned hours of precious training time and her Sisters a rebuke neither of them would forget about.
A full bath had lost some of its appeal, as soon as Denna realized that she needed to heat and carry the bugs of water all by herself, if she ever wanted to step into a steaming tub again. On occasion - she missed her former life dearly, especially in situations like this. As her thoughts wandered back to the Mord'Sith bathing chambers and how much her body and soul arched for them, she quickly locked the memories out and turned her attention back to Cara. There was only a certain amount of nostalgia she could handle in a day and the present reminder which was lying curled up on the rug in front of the fire, surely was more than enough for one day. If somebody had told her in the past, she would be filling up a tub for a former Sister, especially one that had tried to kill her without second thought; she would've laughed at them whole-heartily. Mistress Denna playing servant girl for anyone? Unthinkable.
Cara shifted unconsciously on the rug and a soft sigh escaped Denna s lips as she moved to lift the blonde woman into the tub. The leather straps, which had hugged Cara's body tightly, had come off; they weren't easy to remove and some of Cara skin on her back had come off with them. At first Denna had considered to wash the dirt and blood off with a cloth, but was quickly convinced, that she wouldn't get it off thoroughly. Denna reached down into the water, testing the temperature. It was warm, but not too hot anymore. She remembered the feeling of too hot water against open wounds and bruises all too well. Where the notion came from, to spare Cara that kind of pain, she couldn't say. Nonetheless Cara murmured something unintelligible as Denna lowered her into the tub, fighting against a fever that had taken a strong hold on her, trembling in its grip as she tried to fight her way out of the darkness back to consciousness.
Denna ran a wash cloth over Cara's bruised cheek, cleaning away the dirt and sweat on the raw flesh. The welts and bruises looked angry against the otherwise pale skin and Denna reduced the pressure as Cara flinched ever so slightly from her touch. Holding Cara's head with one hand under her neck, Denna slowly lowered Cara down to rinse her hair off. There was no way she would get the dried blood and grim out of it only with the small washcloth.
One bloodshot eye cracked open and Denna could see Cara struggling to remember where she was or what was happening around her. A small frown settled on her features when she obviously couldn't make any sense of what was going on. "What do you think you're doing?" Cara's voice cracked, she sounded weary but suspicious as Denna pushed her deeper into the water.
"I'm trying to drown you, but there is not enough water in the tub for that." Denna deadpanned as she moved the washcloth over Cara's temple and then through her hair. "Besides you're not trashing and screaming - so it's not as amusing and I'll settle for rinsing you off. You are filthy." Denna grimaced disgusted to underline her statement, but couldn't stop the corners of her mouth from tugging upwards ever so slightly.
"You're lying." Cara groaned, eying Denna once more before her eye closed and she relaxed into Denna's soothing touch. She was tired and her whole body hurt immensely. The only thing she wanted to concentrate on right now was the feeling of the soft, warm washcloth Denna was moving over her skin. There would be time to think about why Denna was doing what she did or what Denna s plans where in the end, but Cara was really too exhausted to think about it now. Sweet oblivion engulfed her once again and the last thing she saw were Denna s piercing blue eyes staring down on her, before darkness took her completely.
Days went by in a blur of bouts of fever, hallucinations and screams prompted by never ending dreams of agony. By the time Denna had lifted Cara into bed again for the third time that night, she wasn't at all sure, that Cara would make it.
During her time as Mord'Sith, there had been lots of different, serious injuries and Denna had expierienced almost as much as she had seen herself. Numerous wounds she herself had inflicted on others, be it with the help of her Agiel, a whip or any other practical item of her choice. After years of training pets, fighting countless enemies and common people for Lord Rahl's sake, Denna could easily tell which weapon had caused what kind of injury, which of them would be fatal and which would not. There weren't many things one could do to a human body that Denna had not seen over the years - and some of them she would never be able to forget.
The wounds covering Cara's body from head to toe though, were unusual, to say at least. Clearly inflicted with an Agiel, so much Denna could conclusively say, but they looked too vigorous and angry for simply being just that. An especially deep wound on Cara's thigh had started festering quite seriously, so if Cara was to recover, walking would be a difficult and painful affair for a while, a long one. But Denna wasn't even sure if Cara would make it at all.
Moving the damp, cold washcloth over Cara's heated face, Denna wondered how hard Cara must have resisted, how fiercely she'd fought against Rahl's magic, defying him. Denna chuckled at the memory, when Rahl had come out of the dungeons, impatiently barking questions, how long it would take to finally break Cara. He definitely wasn't pleased with the breaking progress. It was only then, that Denna remembered the attendance of the Sisters of the Dark as well and how odd it seemed that they'd accompany him in the dungeons. They only would be down there if there was any business to attend to, but the only thing in the dungeons had been Cara.. Could it be possible that Rahl had sought their help in breaking Cara, when he realized he would fail? The angry marks on Cara's once so proud body, were they marks inflicted by the Keepers servants? Denna would've let her die, only to be revived with the Breath of Life a moment later, if she could've been sure that it would work, but she wasn't, not when magic darker than the one Rahl wielded had been inflicted upon her. What if the dark magic would interfere with the of the Breath of Life and it didn't work? Denna found herself not willing to take that risk. Putting the washcloth back into the basin next to the bed, she crawled under the covers next to Cara, tugging them both into the sheets. Cara might need rest and care, but there was no way, that Denna would sleep on the floor - there where certain limits to how far Denna's concern went. The flames in the fireplace glowed in a multitude of colors, lighting a shadowless night. Denna was already asleep, when the flames died down, unaware of the sea green eyes watching her intensely.