Borne of Fire

Chapter 12

Being slowed down by the weight of Randyl, he managed to catch up with L'non and Ja'aris before they had gotten very far at all but the fog had thickened in the open fields around Brookdale - any further and he may have lost sight of them altogether. None of them spoke as they ran but they were all three of them listening. They listened for the sound of an attack, the sound of a pursuit, an alarm being raised, horn being blown, a bell being rung. But they heard none of these sounds. The only thing to be heard was their footfalls and heavy breathing.

"Where are we going?" Braxter managed after a time.

"Into the woods, the cover of the trees" L'non replied. Although far from out of breath, the effort of carrying Randyl was evident all across his face - his furrowed brow, his jaw set and clenched, teeth bared slightly. The effort was also obvious in Ja'aris but in an altogether different way - the watcher didn't say a word. Cutting, sarcastic nor indifferent. Although earlier he would not have believed it so, Braxter wished he would make any such comment now, anything to show that the situation wasn't as dire as it seemed to be, to create even an illusion of normality. But the watcher ran on in silence, his black eyes fixed ahead of them, constantly searching the scenery around them for anything even slightly amiss.

They reached the perimeter of the woods without incident and came to a stop once they were a short distance inside, lowering Randyl to the ground with his back propped against a large oak tree, before they dropped to the ground themselves, out of breath and sweating. L'non immediately withdrew his canteen of water and after taking a sip himself offered it to Braxter who accepted readily.

"Don't gulp - you'll end up with a stitch and we need as much clean water as we can find to your friends wound" L'non warned quietly.

Ja'aris crouched nearby and drank slowly from his own flask, not saying a word, keeping his thoughts his own.

The fog had not penetrated the trees perimeter but the density of the foliage above them blocked out the small amount of light that the moon could have offered. The result was that they were left in almost complete darkness. Even though the hour was late there should have been the sounds of the nocturnal forest around them - foxes, owls, bats and the like, but there were none of these to be heard.

L'non gently unwrapped the makeshift tourniquet he had fashioned for Randyl, taking care to keep the wound as closed as possible but the previously dry fabric was saturated and tacky with blood now and would not come away easily.

"Master L'non," Braxter said quietly, crouching beside the watcher and peering into the trees which surrounded them on all sides. "What about the wargs? The ones you ran into with Rand yesterday - what if they come back?"

L'non concentrated on washing the wound once again, cleaning it with more torn rags soaked with water. Now that he had removed the dressing, blood oozed slowly from the ruptured flesh which was surrounded by skin - skin which was already swollen and inflamed.

Ja'aris answered Braxter's question when nothing was forthcoming from L'non. "Well, we'll run again lad. From one evil or the other, makes no difference, see?" Although far from reassuring, Braxter noted that this was probably the closest to friendly that Ja'aris would ever be.

"Infected." L'non said bitterly after a few moments. He stood up, looking down at Randyl's prone body, lying against the bole of the tree. His eyes no longer flickered as much beneath their lids and his breathing was not as shallow and ragged as before but it was slow and laboured as if every inhalation was an effort. "I need to gather a few things to stop the bleeding and prevent the infection spreading. Both of you wait here and watch over him. I will return soon."