Golden thorns chapter 44

It was difficult to stay awake. He kept stumbling, almost falling again. The world was a haze of dark greens, browns and blacks. He felt more and more sick with every step. His vision spun and he stopped, leaning on the haft of his weapon. His eyes felt heavy. He needed sleep. He heard a distant voice, distorted by the pulsing in his head.

"Coran? Coran, can you hear me?" It was the woman with blue hair again. He felt his arm lifted and draped over her shoulders, easing the weight on his leg. His vision cleared slightly, showing Azura supporting him. With her, and his glaive acting as a makeshift crutch, he was able to keep walking.

After what seemed like an eternity they found a small, natural clearing. Coran slumped against a tree and slid down the rough bark, sighing in relief. Azura crouched next to him and spoke up.

"Coran, I need to go find the others, you know, make sure that they're alright. Are you okay to wait here while I get them?" he needed to take a rest anyway.

"Yeah, sure. I won't be going anywhere any time soon." He said, laughing somewhat hysterically.

"Okay. Remember, you're easy prey. No matter how cold you get, don't light a fire. It'll only draw them closer. Have you got any ammunition?"

"No. I'm empty."

"Take this then." She said, passing him a clip. "And for God's sake, have something to eat. You need to replenish some of that blood."

"And here I was thinking this would be a, what was it? Walk in the park." They both chuckled.

"You're too smart for your own good." She patted him on the shoulder and ran off into the forest. Coran slid the fresh clip into the housing in his glaive, pulled out one of his snack bars and settled in for a long wait.

Three uneventful hours of dull ache later and it was getting dark. Coran heard rustling in the shrubs off to his left. He snapped his head over and lifted his glaive, ready to put a slug through the face of whatever decided to poke its head into his clearing. The rustling grew louder and he saw the bush start to move. His finger curled around the trigger. He began to squeeze. A scaled face emerged, followed by the rest of his teammate.

"Bloody hell Devlyn. I could have killed you."

"Coran!? Is that you? The hell happened to you?"

"This place really is a meat grinder. You remember that Nevermore?"

"It didn't find you, did it?"

"Not willingly. Azura crashed it on top of me."
"Azura? You know where she is?"

"She went to go find you lot. That was three hours ago."

"Then where is everybody?" They looked around the lonely clearing. Coran was the one who broke the silence.

"So if Azura didn't find you, how did you get here?"

"I was looking for a clearing where I could spend the night. It's getting late y'know. So how's the leg?"

"It hurts like hell. I can stand but I can't put any weight on it. Azura drenched it in whiskey so it shouldn't get infected."

"Whiskey? Drinking on a mission isn't very professional, Coran. I don't want to be hosting an intervention." He said with a smirk. Coran laughed weakly. His leg was starting to ache again.

"Why, oh why, oh why is it always you?" A familiar voice echoed through the clearing as the girls made their way into the clearing. Jo was the one speaking. "Honestly, we can't take him anywhere can we?" they appeared to be largely unharmed. Relief flooded through him, easing the pain.

"Believe me, Jo, I've been asking myself the same question for years."