The Rogue Lady

Chapter Fourteen

Map in the external link. Let me know if there are any mistakes in the chapter. And Enjoy.

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     A part of me felt completely numb when I woke up. The other part of me was boiling with rage and apprehension. Sleep, although preventing me from any conscious and lucid thought, had done nothing to ease those feelings, and they came back in force when I woke up. Sleeping never helped, I knew that, but it never stopped me from hoping that it would.

     I refused to open my eyes and wake up completely. I liked the floating feeling you get when you were somewhere between consciousness and unconsciousness. It gave me hope that I could sleep just a little longer before going back to the problems waiting for me once I was fully awake. My body was still tired and could use some more sleep, but my mind was steadily waking up. It started processing everything around me; what I heard, what I felt, what I smelt. And it reminded me what I had happened right before falling asleep. Eric would probably be mad to some degree; I shouldn’t have made the connection with the horse and giving my energy so carelessly. I had needed it elsewhere. Not that I could have known beforehand.

     Reluctantly, I let my mind force me out of my floating stage and thrust me back into reality. I heard the sound of a crackling fire, the sound of horses occasionally snorting softly, hushed voices not too far away and much more. I smelt food and earth. I felt heat wrapped around me and the softness of whatever provided the heat. I also felt that my limbs were heavy. I groaned and rolled over onto my stomach when my arm started tingling. I inhaled the scent of my makeshift pillow and exhaled softly. I was in bed, or the closest thing to it. That was good, I was so tired. I heard some noises closer to my ears, shuffling footsteps, someone shifting around a little. Maybe there was someone in the tent with me. Or maybe they were just right outside. What difference did it make, really?

     “Is she still asleep?” Decidedly, there was definitely someone in the tent with me, the voice seemed to come from right next to me.

     “Yes,” came the reply. Or maybe there was more than one person.

     “Any idea for how long before she wakes up? I mean she’s okay, right? You said she was fine.” My mind tried to focus on the sound of the first voice, attempting to work out whose it was. My mind was still too groggy from sleep to concentrate properly.

     “She is fine. Her body merely needs to stock up on energy again. I can’t believe she actually gave some of it to her horse.” The second voice sounded a touch bothered, leaning to irritation. That was definitely Eric; the hushed intensity of his voice, which was due to the magic in his veins, was quite distinguishable.

     The other voice didn’t reply after that, though I was sure they hadn’t left the tent. I rolled over again, suddenly uncomfortable, unable to find a relaxed position now, but I refused to open my eyes. I wanted to go back to sleep even though my mind made it clear to my body that it wasn’t going to happen. Part of the unwillingness to wake up had to do with the fact that I wasn’t ready to face the others yet. My body craved more sleep, and even though my mind could use some resting time before it started procession the anger and fear part of me felt, it refused to shut down. I rolled over onto my left side but hissed as it made my shoulder hurt. With an irritated huff, I opened my eyes and glared at the ceiling of the tent. I didn’t look at whoever was in the tent with me, and they didn’t say anything yet.

     “Are you seriously glaring at the tent?” I now recognized the voice as Alex’s.

     “Yes.”

     “You can be really immature at times, you know that?”

     “And do you have a problem with it?” I turned my glared to him.