On Her Knees

forming a plan

POV: Alruna

There has to be a chance for me to slip away, right?

The same thought keeps running through my mind, distracting me from how my legs and back are beginning to ache from being in the same rocking carriage for hours now. I don't know how Cam has managed to fall asleep against me. I'm in what's near to agony but the carriage ride is never ending.

We've been travelling since before the sun rose and, since it's summer, the sun rises early. Cam had to kick me out of my bed and force me into my clothes so that I wouldn't make everyone late. It honestly would've been better if I'd just stayed awake all night. I would've ended up less tired that way.

I've tried to fall asleep but the shaking of the carriage keeps knocking me around too much and my stomach is really starting to feel odd. I don't want to stop everyone or cause a fuss but if we don't stop soon I don't think anything pretty is going to happen.

As I try to steady myself against the wide walls of the carriage, Cam stirs from her sleep, sitting up from my shoulder and rubbing her eyes as if she were waking up from sleeping in her normal bed. It doesn't take her long before she looks at me and soon figures out that something isn't quite right.

"You look so pale, Runa. Are you feeling alright?" She nervously asks, steadying me and checking my forehead for a fever bit there isn't much there.

"Just...a little sick. This carriage is rocking a lot," I stammer, struggling to get any sounds out without hurling what little I ate this morning.

"We should be stopping soon. Do you think you can last a little longer?" Cam asks, rubbing my back as I take deep breaths and try to ignore the burning in my throat.

I walk everywhere. Carriage rides are a thing I am not used to. The closest thing I've ever had to this is sitting on the back of a cart towing straw from the harvest. Even then I felt a little unsettled by it but it was only a short trip up a hill when I was already tired and being lazy.

"I'll be fine," I brush it off, trying to pretend I'm fine but I just makes me feel even worse.

"I'll open the window to get in some fresh air for you. Please don't throw up, or I might throw up too and that'll be even more of a mess," she nervously chuckles, opening a window I didn't know existed this whole time.

I grumble and shuffle closer to the window to get more fresh air and it does help a little, but not enough. I'm still feeling queasy and the sudden jolts of the carriage don’t help me. Those jolts seem to have been the last as we finally stop moving, the carriage settling down and the sound of heavy bootsteps approaching the door before it's opened.

Cam speaks politely with the soldier who helps her out of the carriage. She pauses outside as the soldier leaves her, giving her a deep bow before scurrying off to help the others unload the carriages and set up camp for the night. She ushers for me to follow her out but all of me feels weak and shaky.

I wave her off, assuring her that I'll be okay and just need a minute. Reluctantly, she leaves me to settle my body after it has been shaken up for so long. Since I've been left alone, my body does start feeling better after I've been sat still and I eventually get the energy to be curious of where we've stopped.

Pulling the curtain that was hiding the window back, I peer out at all the soldiers transporting packed tents and supplies and spreading them out into organised piles. A few nobles loiter around as they wait for their temporary homes for the night to be set up.