Robber Royale: Fairytale of a Thief and a Scoundrel

Thieves and Scoundrels

They hadn't been wrong, it was a cold night, colder than she'd experienced so far. Sleeping in the rain had been cold, but only because she had been wet, but now the chill seeped in deep and unrelenting. Eventually, she found herself completely awake after several hours of semi-sleep, trying to ward off the frore air. Sitting up, she looked at the still figures around her, her eyes coming to rest for a time on the sleeping form of Fox, then on to the campfire that still glowed in the darkness. Shivering slightly, and wrapping her cloak around herself tightly, she moved toward it, laying down beside its giving warmth. It was far better for her front, but her back, now completely exposed, was colder than ever, leaving her to wonder if she was really any warmer, or if she just thought she was. Either way she decided to stay put, it couldn't be that much longer till morning...

The next thing she was aware of was Uldien's sneering, gurgling face directly in front of hers, hissing fiercely, eyes burning with hatred. She yelped, jerking back, her arms flailing wildly. A searing merciless pain engulfed her hand and wrist and she tried to move it but to no avail, desperately she moved again, but it only got worse. Try as she might, she just couldn't make sense of her situation, looking about herself desperately, pain engulfing her all up her arm and side now, she struggled, panic and pain drawing tortured cries from her.

All of the sudden, she felt herself being hauled backwards, her kicking feet dragging, before being plopped unceremoniously back down on the ground. Yet the burning continued, she couldn't make it stop!

It wasn't until about the third time he said her name, until he held her face in both his hands, forcing her to look at him, that she came to herself; that she recognized he'd been patting her down and pushing her hand away from her hurt arm, trying to help her; all the glimpses from the last few moments finally coming together into any sort of sense. Gasping, her eyes darted from his face, to the campfire - some of it now strewn about, to the men around her in various states of alert and uprightness, and back to his face.

"It's alright now." Fox said soothingly, as one would to a frightened animal. He stroked the hair out of her face, stroked down her cheek, his eyes full of worry. "You're alright. Everything is alright." He continued to murmur gently.

The shame hit her then, heavy and merciless, followed closely by overwhelming self-pity. Leaving her injured arm dangling painfully at her side, she dropped her head into her bent knees, wrapping her good arm over the top of it all, effectively, if not childishly, hiding herself from her situation; tears falling hot and silent into her lap.

When it was clear, after a time, that she wasn't coming out...or even saying anything, Fox sighed and looked back over at his men. By now the sky was pink and yellow with the coming of day, and from the looks of it, everyone was awake anyways.

"We've got a long day ahead of us." Fox said, a weariness in his tone. "May as well get started."

The men knew they were being excused, but left willingly. It was clear Gaelian needed a moment, and besides, they really did have a long day ahead of them.

Fox left her but soon returned, dropping something down beside her. Without a word he began tending to her arm, tentatively pulling back the material to get a good look at it. Curiosity winning out over her other two emotions, she turned her head to the side to see the damage.

Honestly, it hurt more than it had reason to, the whole episode, dramatic as it was, having lasted mere seconds only. Her palm and the outside of her wrist were the worst, screaming in pain, both a sharp sting and deep sickening ache. Still, it wasn't as bad as it could have been, not dangerously bad; just bad enough that it was going to hurt for a good long while.

Beyond that, strips of white flamed up the skin on the under and outer side of her forearm and burned and blackened bits of material spread across her upper arm and down her side. Fox sat back on his heels, taking it all in, before grimly setting to work, greasing then wrapping the worst of it.