We Already Are

Mira finished tying the bandage on Cain’s palm when she noticed the blood on the side of his coat. The graze along his left ribs didn’t show, and he had forgotten about it. She asked him to pull his coat open and started cleaning with what was left of the bitter alcohol she’d used. But the last strip in her hand would not cover the ribs.

“This isn’t enough. I’ll go get more from my bag.”

He watched as she came back with a handful of bandages.

“That looks like a lot.”

“This needs more wrap. Stay still while I put this around your torso.”

She worked on it with steady hands and tied it tight enough that he could still breathe.

“There, that will hold,” she said. “Don’t twist hard on it.”

He nodded once. By the time the knot was set, she was already heading for the patients.

She raised her voice to the room.

“Is there a warm place?” she asked. “We need somewhere to take the ones still sick, and those recovering.”

For a moment, nobody answered, and then the tavern owner stepped forward from the back, where he had been helping brace the split frame.

“I can let you use my cellar. We can get a fire going in there. It holds heat really well,” he said. “You healed my children when I had nothing to pay you with. I want to help them too.”

Mira nodded. “Thank you. But we can’t go with you. I trust that you can get them by yourself.”

She faced everyone in the room.

“Everyone, please follow what I already told you when I was healing you. I broke the fever but there’s a chance that it can come back if you don’t look after yourselves.”

“We understand,” the owner said firmly.

“I want to stay here if possible, but we can’t risk it, I’m sorry. And please, if anyone asks about what was cast here, tell them a mercenary did it and fled south.”

“We will handle the rest. You don’t have to worry about anything. We owe you.”

Cain pushed himself upright. The wrap at his ribs pulled, and the emptiness in his chest still had him shaking. She watched him closely.

“I’m alright,” he said. “I can walk.”

He went to the downed swordsman and looked over his sword. He hesitated, but he thought of every fight he had been in so far. If he wanted to protect himself and Mira, he needed a better weapon than his iron knife.

He took the blade that was lying inches away from his hand and wiped the grip once on his coat. He didn’t have a sheath yet, so he tried tucking it through his belt on his hip.

Mira went back to her canvas bag and started organizing her things as usual. She hung it on her shoulders when it was packed and looked at him.

“We should go. We can rest once we get clear of here. Can you handle that?” she asked.

“You got the roles reversed this time. I should be the one in charge.”

She tried to suppress her laugh but couldn’t. “Stop. You should not be joking like that. Just look at yourself.”

They said goodbye to all the families, and everyone offered their thanks to Mira and Cain. The pair cut through the alleys to avoid the town square. Some of the doors were open as people were coming out to see what the commotion was about.

“Looks like the guards weren’t called. I wonder why,” Cain said.

“I’m not sure either, but at least they are not hunting us.”

“You’re right.”

Before they reached the toll gate and watchtowers, a hand caught Cain’s shoulder. He spun, ready to draw his sword, but lowered it when he saw the tavern owner, breathing heavily against the cold.

“Easy there, it’s just me.”

“Sorry, just a habit. Why did you follow us?”

The man shoved a bag tightly packed with rations into Cain’s chest.

“Please take this. It’s not that much, but it’s all we can spare as payment for everything,” the owner said. “You can’t outrun trouble on an empty stomach.”

“Thank you,” they said in unison. Cain hooked the sack over his good shoulder.

“Keep her safe.” The man turned back toward the tavern.

They paid the toll at the northeast gate before anyone asked them any questions. The watchtowers still held their lamps against the late-season dark, the sky turning pale already by the time they were well clear of the town.

Ahead there was only frost and the black fields with no lights in them. They felt the chill that would make any wounded man feel every step they took twice.

After a couple of hours of walking, both of them were spent. Cain’s hand ached with a steady throb and the hollow from casting still lingered.

Mira’s shoulders started to tremble, the way they had in the clinic after too many healing casts.

They decided to leave the road for a stand of trees and found a ditch that would shelter them from the freezing winds of Whitefall.

There was enough dry wood to get a small fire going so they wouldn’t rely on any spell to light it. They huddled close and reached out their hands to warm them.

The trembling eased and they started to relax a little. Cain broke hours of silence.

“Where next? I don’t think anyone is on us anymore.”

Mira wiped her fingers on the edge of her coat and reached into her bag. She pulled out a folded heavy sheet of paper with a wax seal in the corner. The crease lines were soft from being opened often.

“Let’s see.”

He leaned close. Avermark’s heartland was a mess of inked roads and river lines. Darrow sat exactly where they had left it.

“How about we form a party? I mean, we already are, but we should sort out the paperwork,” she said as she tapped a location east of the capital.

Peldam

“We can, but the requirements are too much.”

“If I can recall, we only need to pay a bond and have a licensed caster in the party. They abolished the vouching already. Identification papers are more than enough, as long as they’re valid. I believe you have yours.”

Cain flinched at the question, but the forger made the best documents in the region.

“Of course. I have it here, with me.”

“Then it’s settled. We tick the second box already with me. All we need is the money for it, and a little extra to spend. That’s where we go if we want the good jobs.”

“I’ve never been to Peldam before.”

Mira shifted her finger northeast of Darrow, pointing to a smaller city. “But we need to stop here first.”

Ostbridge

“We could really use a proper night indoors. I’ve visited a couple of times and they also have the best chicken stew in the heartlands.”

“Heh, the best, you say?”

“I may be stubborn and wrong sometimes, but that is something I can promise you is true.” She chuckled.

Her hand slid from Ostbridge down to Blackwater Bend.

“Blackwater Bend after that. It won’t be that far either, three or four days if we keep a normal pace. And then we go straight to Peldam from there.”

“Looks good to me. We should sleep while we can. I know you’re past your limit. I’ll take first watch.”

She nodded and folded the map carefully and slid it back into her canvas bag.

Cain stayed with the blaze until his eyes would not stay open. He woke her for her turn, and by the grey edge of dawn they were on their feet again, slower than before.

They kept walking on the northeast road at first light. Day one was still harsh and ugly. They stopped often, and they talked only a little to save their breath.

Day two felt a lot better, with the hollow in him starting to ease. Yet, they were starting to feel how hard deep winter would get once Whitefall ended.

On the third afternoon, the road started to widen with real traffic, and the cart ruts got deeper. The smoke on the horizon became thicker and the timber bridge came into view.

Ostbridge sat on both banks of a stream that ran directly into the Averd. The fork where it met the Averd was the mark of the city, and the stream was the Ost.

Someone was selling roasted nuts near the bank, and the smell hit Cain hard enough that his stomach answered before he did. They stood a moment at the foot of the bridge and took it in.

“It’s bigger than Darrow,” he said.

“It’s still the same as when I visited before. I’m starving. Let’s take a closer look.”

They found the guild hall near the market. The board lamps were already lit against the early winter darkness. Cain scanned the notices first to see if there was anything posted about him. He didn’t find any.

“We should go inside and read the job board,” he said.

Mira watched him for a second and shook her head once. “Have you forgotten why we came here? If I walk inside the hall like this, I’ll drop on their floor.”

He felt the same truth in his own knees. “You’re right. Let’s go find an inn then.”