Pressure on her stomach woke Faye up. She opened her eyes to find Jyri's arm over her, and she shoved it away. "Gross."
Jyri sat up, giving her a look that matched her internal disgust. "Same to you," he said, blinking at the rising sun. "You were supposed to wake me up before falling asleep. That's how keeping watch works, you know."
Faye's knife was still gripped in her hand, and she slid it in her pocket, before sitting up. "I fell asleep before I could."
Jyri rubbed his eyes. "We need to get moving, at any rate."
"What about breakfast?"
Jyri reached for his pack. He pulled out last night's bread, and handed it to her.
"Just this?" But she ripped off a piece anyway.
"There should be a lake down there." Jyri nodded towards a cluster of trees as he dug through his pack.
"And?"
"I haven't bathed in two days." He pulled out clothes, and a bar of soap. "Watch our stuff."
Faye sat on a boulder, and took the last bites of bread. She stayed alert, in case it was a ploy to kill her. Her eyes swept through the trees, and she figured he'd have a hard time sneaking up on her in a tree. So she climbed the tallest one, up towards the topmost branch, and didn't stop until she reached a point where the branches would no longer support her weight. Still, she was high enough to see the lake, and a dot that looked like Jyri. So he wasn't lying about bathing. She looked away, towards the path they traveled on the previous night. Two figures off in the horizon caught her eye. It was hard to see who they were, but Faye didn't want to find out.
Her palms scraped against the tree bark as she slid down, and jumped off the bottom branch. She wasted no time sprinting to the lake. And arrived just in time to see Jyri take his final steps out.
Faye slapped her hand over her eyes at the same time Jyri covered himself. "Do you mind?"
"I was in a tree, and I saw two people headed this way," she said, hand still over eyes, wishing the visual away. "It might not be them, but-"
"I'm not taking the chance." Jyri paused, rustling with something. "You can look."
Faye removed her hand. Jyri hadn't bothered drying himself. His pants grew damp from his legs, and he shoved his arms through the sleeves of his shirt, but left it unbuttoned. Scooping up his dirty clothes, he made his way through the trees. Faye ran behind him.
Jyri shoved his clothes in his knapsack, and Faye slung her own on, hopping onto Holger. Holger attempted to bite at her until Jyri climbed on behind.
"A-ha!" Kern's voice echoed through the trees, and he and Roark emerged, on horseback.
"I knew we'd find them!"
Roark's booming voice spooked Holger, and he bolted without command. Faye held onto the estin's collar, wind whipping through her hair.
"Get them!" Kern shouted.
The sound of galloping pounded in her ears, and Jyri urged Holger on.
"Can't you use magic on them?"
"I need my hands." With that thought, Faye tightened her grip, her sweaty palms causing some difficulty. She peered around Jyri's side. The two guards were only a couple feet away. "They're close."
Roark threw something towards her. Faye jerked her head back in. A knife whistled through the air. It thunked into a tree, blade first.
"You idiot! That was our last knife!"
"I can get it."
"Roark!"
Faye looked back towards the two guards. As Roark's horse approached the tree, Roark reached his hand out, and grabbed the knife. Except his horse kept going while he struggled to pull the knife out, causing him to topple off onto the ground. His horse galloped onwards, sans rider.
Roark didn't move. Kern dismounted his horse to check on him.
"They stopped," Faye whispered to Jyri.
"Good." Jyri commanded Holger on, making a complicated direction of left turns and rights, going on and off the path. After many miles, Holger slowed to a walk on his own accord. Jyri flicked the reigns, but he came to a complete stop instead, tongue lolling.
Faye clutched at her chest, breathing deeply. "I think we lost them."
"I don't want to wait around to find out." Jyri ran his hand through his damp hair. "Those two are imbeciles. I don't know why King Lyon chose them to follow me."
"Why are they following you?" Faye asked.
Jyri didn't answer.
"Did you do something bad?"
At first, Faye thought he wasn't going to answer that question either. But he was silent for a moment, as though debating on how much he should say. "Some would consider it heroic."
"Stealing from the rich and giving to the poor?"
Jyri let out a half-hearted chuckle. "I wish it were that simple." He rubbed his chest, then seemed to notice his shirt was unbuttoned.
As he attended to his shirt, Faye watched Holger sniff at the grass. So it wasn't something simple, but it might not have been bad either. Faye wasn't ready to rule out murder, but her mind wandered to her "saving a maiden" theory. "You got a girl back home?"
Jyri snorted, buttoning his last button. "Sorry, but I'm not interested in you like that."
Faye scrunched her nose. "I was only wondering if a woman was involved, given how men are always getting into trouble for a pair of bosoms."
"Not every man." Jyri tried flicking the reigns again, and Holger traipsed on. "I prefer to stay away from bosoms, thank you."
Faye lowered her voice. "You like men?"
"No." Jyri's voice was curt, as though he got that question a lot.
"But you don't like girls?"
He didn't answer.
Faye furrowed her brow. "You're not sure?"
"I'm sure it's none of your business."
Something caught in her throat, and she swallowed. "I'm not sure either."
"What?" Jyri's voice rose, and Holger stopped.
"I don't think I like boys, but I don't like girls. So I assume I like boys, since I have to like one or the other, you know?" Faye rambled on. "But I just... don't. I don't like either. Is that even possible?"
"My brother likes both. So neither must be an option. It, never stopped me from feeling odd though." He looked down, showing a sudden interest in the reigns in his hand.
"Me too."
"I don't believe it. We have something in common." He sounded as relieved as Faye felt, and she struggled to hold back a smile.
A drop of water landed on her head, and she looked upwards at him. He was still fairly wet, but it didn't seem to bother him. "If we find a path, we'll hit a city." His tone was soft, for once. "Hopefully it won't take long."
Holger barked at nothing, and Faye grabbed onto his collar as he bounded forward, Jyri encouraging him.
They eventually found a path, but had to spend another night in the woods. The following afternoon, they arrived at a city. After getting a room at an inn, Jyri left Faye alone to collapse on one of the two beds. She'd never traveled before, and it exhausted her. Jyri seemed to handle it better, despite his complaints about being hungry and dirty. And the lack of electricity every inn had.
The door clicked open. Jyri stepped in, carrying a bag. Faye sat up in her bed, and slid her hand into her pocket, over her knife.
Jyri closed the door, and sat on the edge of the other bed. "I got you something." He pulled a clothing item out from the bag, and tossed it to her.
Faye removed her hand from her pocket to catch it, and held it up to inspect. It was a shirt, but with thick straps in place of sleeves. The back had an open V-shape, that swooped down to the small of the back.
"I found an open-back shirt," Jyri explained. "It's something you can wear that will have your wings free."
Faye tightened her grip on the shirt. "I can't have my wings free. I'll be carted away to Lyon's testing lab and die."
Jyri lowered his gaze. "I know." He glanced back up. "But it's only you and me in here, and it's something you can wear when we're alone."
Although accustomed to the pain in her wings, having them free on occasion would be nice. "Fair enough."
He pulled small packets out of the bag. "Go put that on, and I'll make a poultice for your wings."
"A poultice?"
"To help ease the pain." Jyri took out a small bowl from a cupboard, and opened packets of herbs.
"How do you know how-"
"Go change before it gets too dark to see in here." He kept his eyes down on the table, focused on counting out herbs. "Since this place is incapable of providing guests with electricity..."
Jyri began his usual tirade, so Faye changed in the bathroom, locking the door behind her. When she got out, he had finished mixing the ingredients into a thick paste, and held out the bowl. "Take a scoop, and rub it on your wings.
Faye stared at it, and a knot formed in her stomach. She took a step back. "What's in that?"
Jyri frowned. "Willow bark. A bit of turmeric. Peppermint oil. Usually I add in alcohol, but-"
"Turmeric?"
"It's like ginger, but better. What's the problem?"
Faye shook her head. "Nothing."
Frowning again, Jyri handed Faye the bowl. She scooped up a glob of the orange paste, and rubbed it along the top of her wing, massaging it in. She set the bowl aside, and took another handful.
"Feels better?"
"Somewhat." The paste was cold to the touch, and Faye rubbed it towards the middle joint. "I'm gonna have to bind them again eventually."
"You can have them free in Dorendi." Jyri smiled, and sat down on the bed.
Faye moved on to her bad wing, taking care around the twisted edge. "And I used to have them free here. Before you humans ran us out of this country."
"It was King Lyon who ran you out," Jyri said. "I wanted you all to stay."
"I'm sure he wishes we all stayed now. Given he must be running out of huminals to experiment on, from the stories I've been hearing." She stretched her wing out, and rubbed the paste along the top edge, towards her back.
Jyri rubbed his hands over his face, and looked down at his feet. "I'm sorry."
"For what? It's not you running deadly experiments on us." Jyri winced at Faye's words. She fluttered her wings, and discovered they didn't hurt as much. "I think it's working."
"Good." Jyri walked over to the table, grabbing the bowl. "If you keep putting it on, you'll be healed by the time we hit Dorendi." Faye looked down at her hands, which were covered in the paste. Jyri handed her a towel. "You might want to sleep on your stomach tonight."
After cleaning her hands of the mess, and lighting a candle for Jyri, Faye flopped down on her bed. As Jyri reached for his pack, she reached for her knife. But he just pulled out his notebook and pen, and started writing. She slid her knife out, slipping it under her pillow, and fell into a deep slumber with it in hand.
ns 15.158.61.8da2
