Risk

Chapter XXVIII

Jasta forced her eyes open, sitting up slowly. She groaned. She felt as if she had been run over by a thousand horses, but at least she had managed to get some sleep. She looked around. White-trunked trees with round, yellow leaves grew thickly at the top of the cliff. She was lying at the base of one of them, circled on all sides by tall clumps of grass. The air was silent in the predawn hours, and there was nothing but a dim grey light to see by.

"Rowan." She rolled over. He was still sleeping, but his eyes snapped open when she spoke.

"Hmm?" he sounded much better than he had the day before, and the cut on his forehead was no longer swollen. His face was still crusted with black, though. He slowly sat up, his face scrunching up in pain.

"We should probably get going again." she yawned. She didn't want to ever move again in her life, but her life would probably prove pretty short if she stayed where she was.

"You're right." He said, blinking as if just sitting up had made him dizzy, and then he shook his head and rose to his feet.

"If you don't think you can, we can stay here. At least there's water." she was half hoping he would agree with her, just so she could lay there for a few more hours. She could tell it was getting lighter as the sun lifted over the horizon. A nap in the sun sounded delightful.

"No, we have to keep going. We can't give up now." he offered a hand to help her up, which she took, and he pulled her to her feet.

She nodded, hating the fact that Star had been killed by the river. It would have been very helpful to have a horse with both of them so tired. She trailed slowly after Rowan as he set off along the top of the gorge, staying clear of the edge to make sure neither of them would fall in.

They stopped for a rest near a tiny stream almost as soon as the sun was fully in the sky, and they continued like that for the rest of the day. Neither of them could keep going for very long at a time, so they took frequent and long breaks. Rowan showed her some berries that were okay to eat, but she still went to sleep hungry that night.

She woke up the next morning feeling just as stiff as ever, and still bone-tired from trudging all day the day before. Rowan was already awake, and he'd gathered a small pile of berries for them to eat before they started walking again. The sun was already almost at its highest point by the time they finally left their little sleeping place.

Later that afternoon, they reached the road, which they followed without seeing anyone for the rest of the day. A little before sunset, Jasta found herself too tired to get up from one of their long rests, and even when she finally rose to her feet, both legs were aching too much to go very much further, so they settled down again.

"How much longer do you think we'll have to walk like this?" she asked, leaning against a tree, and peering through the gathering darkness to see Rowan do the same.

"We should come to a village soon." He sounded certain, filling her with hope. Then she realized that they didn't have any money to buy food or lodging, much less a horse.

"How will that help us if we don't have any money, or anything to barter with?" she couldn't help but think again how it was all her fault. She could have stayed in camp the morning she'd been bitten, and then they would have been able to travel much more quickly. She could have done a lot of things that would have cut so much time from their journey...

"Stop blaming yourself." She heard Rowan get up and walk over. He sat next to her, and she could only just see him in the faint light.

"But it's all my fault, in more ways than one." She shook her head and sighed softly.