The Rogue Lady

Chapter Thirty

     Just wanted to let you all now that I added a song to chapter 28 and 29. Also, with posting this chapter, we are officially halfway, only thirty more chapters to go!! =D

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     “Please, may I do the honors of pulling the arrow out?” I asked, interrupting Eric mid-gesture by grabbing his hand. There was something in his eyes that told me he didn’t believe it was simply a polite offer but he glanced at Alex nonetheless. The blond archer shrugged. Eric moved out of the way and I knelt down in front of the archer, grabbing the tip of the arrow. I smiled up at Alex and saw his eyes widen.

     “Wait, I changed my mind! I don’t want you near that arrow,” he quickly said, trying to push me away from him.

     “Too late,” I smirked and gave one hard pull on the piece of arrow that had still been in his shoulder. A surprisingly loud cry of pain left Alex’s mouth before it was followed by a string of curses, which was surprisingly colorful. I got to my feet and threw the piece of wood in the fire.

     “Dragon! Why did you have to do that? Couldn’t you try and be gentler?”

     “That was for nearly shooting me last night. I promise that next time I will be gentler.”

     I didn’t even bother turning back to him; Eric had probably already taken my place. Sure enough magic filled the air. Alex would be patched up in a matter of seconds and then I would be able to relax for the first time since Eric and I had left for the ball last night. We had ridden all day, not wanting to stop before we put at least a day’s riding between us and Starryfield. Occasionally we had had to slow our pace or even stop to water the horses, especially my mare but she had done well. Consequently, she was asleep right now without even having been brushed. The bigger part of the ride, Eric had been asleep against me, which was why he had recuperated enough to heal Alex right now.

     The sun was setting at the horizon and the night was settling in fast. Quite frankly, I wasn’t hungry even though I hadn’t eaten all day; I wanted to curl up in a tent and sleep until sunrise, which I knew wasn’t very likely to happen. I envied Eric a little; he had slept most of the day away already, not even bothered by the bumps in the road.

     “I’m sorry; I’m still too tired to heal it properly. I will have to finish it in the morning,” Eric said after a while as his magic disappeared.

     “Do you need me to tie something around it?” I asked before adding for Alex’s benefit, “Don’t worry, I won’t try to hurt you this time.”

     He still looked dubious but the decision wasn’t his to make. Eric handed me a strap of cloth without even looking at the archer and went to sit close to the fire. I passed the cloth under Alex’s arm a few times before I put a knot in it, making sure it would stay put for the night without bothering him. The archer silently inspected my work before mumbling a silent thank you. He slumped back against the tree behind him and closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. I knew first hand that getting shot in the shoulder hurt terribly; even worse because he had had to ride with that arrow in his shoulder all day.

     “You’re good at that. How come?” Tom asked.

     “When you train the way I used to train, you get hurt quite a lot. And I can’t be healed with magic so I had to learn how to do that,” I shrugged.

     All of us were tired, as so was I. The yawns kept coming and it was getting annoying; the only one who didn’t seem to fall over from exhaustion was Darrick. It was to be expected because he hadn’t had to deal with the disaster we had had inside the city walls; he only had to wait for us and keep an eye on the gate, which had been useless in the end. Though, no matter how tired my body might have been, my mind was racing.