The Kingfisher

XVI : Nora

The fire crackled softly, quivering with the slightest lick of winter air. It felt as weak as the link between the team, somehow. A slight uneven flicker and the flame could disappear. It wasn't enough to accommodate four perfectly healthy people, let alone three cripples, one nearing death and the ghost of a certain teenager who had been braver than the rest when it mattered.

They had all been injured. Nora had a wide slash on her calve, Salo a burn on the center of his back and Arden multiple slits across his chest, all of which were still gushing out crimson blood. And Ailyn. Ailyn was a lost case. She couldn't see it, and nobody had the courage to tell her yet. Her chest was black. It was like a tree spreading its roots across the soil, reaching deep and far. Although her eyes had fluttered closed some hours ago, the shadow kept spreading, slow and ominous. It would take some days to infect her arms, too. There would be no hiding it then.

Nora's gaze lingered on the ice. It was visible even from miles away, almost at the other side of the vast lake. Not that it tried to be conspicuous; it stood high and proud, a constant taunt to Seyal and now Musha, too. The girl had still to utter a word about Ela, half surprised and half frustrated. She could have come to the other side before raising the wall. She could have warned us beforehand. She could have--

Arden's hammering footsteps interrupted Nora's internal curses. He dragged a small unmoving rabbit by its legs and rested it next to the fire. "That's all we've got."

Nora looked at him in disbelief. His shirt was off and wrapped around his abdomen to stop the constant bleeding, but it was already drenched. The girl couldn't deny his days at the military academy seemed to pay off. She tried to focus her gaze on his eyes. "Was your head hit, too? What makes you think we can cook a whole rabbit on this spark?"

"Hope. If we lose that too, what else is left?"

Salo let out a dry laugh. "I didn't think I'd live to see the day you talked about faith unironically," he muttered, glancing down at Ailyn. Her chest was still moving, but her breaths seemed shallow, forced. "What are we supposed to do now?"

"Find thisKrastelov fellow," Arden said, raising his brows. "If you think I'm giving up after a kid sacrificed her freedom for us you're dead wrong."

"Wasn't that peculiar?" Nora sighed, poking the rabbit with her foot. It didn't seem very energetic. "I feel ashamed. We need to return the favour."

Arden shifted his weight, leaning forward to look at the two through hooded sockets. "You know what else is peculiar? The way Kage looked at you two."

Nora tensed. It was obvious Salo did too.

The girl laughed. "Yeah, maybe it's because I was detained in his country for a whole while?"

"What about him?"

Salo didn't even try to answer. He simply raised his shoulders in an indifferent shrug, his eyes glued to the flame.

Arden pursed his lips. His patience was ticking off. "We need to be honest for this to work. I haven't torn her Highness's eyes out of their sockets because she's already in the brink of death, but a long conversation awaits her when she wakes up, don't you worry." He turned to Nora, putting on his best sympathetic look. It wasn't very convincing. "Now, tell me what happened."

So she told him. About the prince's appearance, about the lie she blurted out about Salo and the subsequent amused look Kage shot him when he spoke fluent Seyali. And finally, about the offer. Arden's eyes seemed to light up at the mention of the pardons, but they quickly thinned to two thin slits once he took everything in.

"Doesn't it seem slightly absurd to you that the one person we don't want knowing about us shows up in your room and you don't say a word?"

Nora dropped her head to her feet, examining the rabbit which was now placidly rolling above the flame on its stick. It was absurd. What else could she say but that? She stole a glance at Arden, who was studying the sinking sun through narrowed lids. Her lips parted, searching for the right words to explain herself, but another sentence left her mouth before an apology could.