Golden thorns chapter 45
The next morning was cold, so much so that the edges of their heat blankets were crusted with frost. Thankfully, the insulating material had trapped most of their body heat in their sleeping bags. As per usual, Coran was the first of his team to waken, though this time it was not due to a natural body clock but the pain in his leg. He reached over to his pack and rummaged around in the mess of junk that had accumulated at the bottom, trying to find some pain killers. He found the small box and took out two pills.
"Half that dose, kid. Two of those'll leave you senseless. I need you sharp and alert." Coran jumped at the sudden voice.
"Oh, Azura. You scared the life out of me." She was sat on a tree branch above him.
"Keep your voice down. Let's try not to wake the others, eh?" Coran chuckled quietly. His team were lying in a circle in the centre of the clearing, breathing quietly. It seemed that Jo had even managed to somehow control her earth-shaking snores. The huntress jumped down and landed, silently, and padded over to him. "We'd better rebind that wound if we're going to make any progress today."
"We're going to move? I couldn't have at least one morning off, could I?" Coran said in a feigned whine. He had already figured that this would be the case.
"As picturesque as this scenery is, it won't stay that way for long. I was gonna let you all sleep for another half hour but then we really should get moving. We've been here too long already."
"How far out are we?" he asked
"Ideally we would be reaching the mine by sunset, but due to unforeseen circumstances…" at this she gestured to his leg, "we will probably have to spend another night in the wilds."
"Alright." He said, already feeling slightly nauseous at the thought of having to spend an entire day on his feet. Then again it might have been the pain meds finally taking effect. He pulled out his scroll and was about to activate the built in cartographer, when Azura grabbed his wrist.
"No scrolls. Save the charge for emergencies. We don't want to be stranded without a homing beacon. From here on out, we use paper." And she reached over her shoulder and produced a folded and battered paper map. She carefully spread it out on a rotting log and gestured for him to come over. Rolling his eyes and grimacing at the sharp pain, he heaved himself upright, using his glaive as a crutch, and limped over to her. She pointed and what looked like a small circle of lighter green in an ocean of dark.
"This is us. We are roughly six hundred metres from the road that the trucks used to use to transport the ore. If we can make it to that our going should be a little easier. From there it's another nine kilometres to the mine." She glanced up and the sun, already rising high into the pale, cloudy sky. "We need to get moving. I'll wake the others, you break down your pack. We'll split the weight between us."
"That won't be necessary."
"Mr Silverthorne, please save the heroics for a situation where you are not likely to die. Your corpse weighs a lot more than your pack."
"if you insist." Coran yielded, limping over to where he left his bag and slumping down next to it as the huntress gave each of the students a soft kick, attempting to rouse them from their slumber. In response to the cold, and to lighten the load of his teammates, Coran slipped on the extra clothing that he had bought with him. He neatly spread out the few possessions that he had brought with him and surveyed the meagre selection of energy bars and medical supplies. He refreshed his dressing and applied some anti-septic while his team hauled themselves to wakefulness. This was going to be a long day.