"Do you smell that?" Wynne asked.
Leah wrinkled her nose. "It's the reason I've been trying not to breathe so deeply since dawn."
"I thought that was because of the arrow."
"I'm fine." Leah's words came short, bitten off through clenched teeth. "Don't touch it!"
"I just want to have a look. You have been shivering all morning. What if you have a fever?"
"I'm shivering because we've been walking all morning through this drizzle. And it's autumn. This gods-forsaken bog issn't exactly in the warmest of climes. Ouch! I told you--"
"Just a peek."
"You-- You're still half-blind from that spell you tried to cast."
"I did not try to cast it. I did cast it. And it went perfectly. More or less. I can see much better today than I could yesterday."
"You howled when I changed your bandages. And the moon wasn't even up yet."
"You could have warned me."
"I thought the unwinding those bandages was-- ow! This is recompense for that, isn't it?"
"Hold still."
"I thought we had to keep going."
"It will only take a moment."
Leah sighed. "Fine. Answer my question and I'll hold still."
"I-- merely wish to make sure your wound is still clean. I care deeply for my sister's well-being."
"You were going to lie to me, weren't you?"
Pale cheeks, nearly lost beneath the strips of cotton-cloth wound 'round Wynne's eyes and golden curls, colored. "You know Mother's blood forbids it."
"And yet you tried anyway."
"Shut up."
"Make me," Leah challenged.
Leah yelped when Wynne prodded the heavy bandage under her sister's gown.
"I win this round."
"Save your breath for walking," Leah grumbled, as they started back down the muddy roadway. "This day isn't getting any shorter, and this weather won't slow that army down by very much." Leah wrinkled her nose again, as another taste of smoke wafted on the soggy breeze. "They certainly don't need to slow up to find dry wood and tinder."
One hand on her sister's arm, the other holding the hem of her sleeve up to her nose, Wynne matched her twin's pace.
"Demonfire uses bones for tinder."
"Hmm?" Leah glanced over her shoulder.
"Nothing. What did the last marker read?"
"Sixteen miles. Another two days, at this pace, and we'll be-- ow!"
"Step it up. That army is less than a day behind us."
"I'd say we're making pretty good time, considering my wounds and your blindness."
"Save your breath for walking."
"Shut up."
"Make me."
_________________ Rob
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