NIGHT 65: ROAD TO DOYLETON

[showmeyourwreath]

_{[From here]}

This wasn't get any easier.

The hurting voices in Flora's mind never quieted, and every time she took a step she was fighting the urge to try again, for all the good it would do. She knew that she had to keep going and had no intention of stopping or giving up, it was just hard, wanting to help and normally being able to, only to lose it, suddenly. It was bad enough for herself, but when others suffered it just made things a lot worse.

'Just keep one foot in front of the other, Flora. You'll fix this soon.' She wished that she'd been able to transform. "Soon" would have been a lot faster coming; they could have already been at Lee's village by now if she'd been able to teleport.

Comments

[awokentospring]

Lee rested on his left hand and knees, unable to look up for several minutes as he caught his breath. His right arm hung limply, cracking every now and then. He hardly recognized the pain. Too much of his mind was centered on breathing, and what was left of it was desperately trying to force him to look up and check on his friends.

He heard a voice from somewhere to his side and attempted to focus on that. Lloyd. Right, Lloyd was hurt and very close. It was probably him.

"Fine," Lee coughed weakly, moving to sit back on his heels. He blinked up, trying to focus on his comrades. Flora and Lloyd blurred before him, over-correcting before finally settling into focus. "'m fine. Are you...?"

[showmeyourwreath]

Flora had to touch the downed beast for an instant to flip to her feet. She eyed it warily, feet set as she waited for it to get back up again, but it didn't. It was dead.

She allowed herself a small sigh and loosened, a little. Relief threatened to crash over her, but it was still too soon for that.

"I'm alright." She remembered her wound, forgotten in the rush of the fight and adrenaline. Even so, bloody as was, aching as it was, it wasn't of as much consequence, not compared to what her friends had suffered.

"But you two are in rough shape, we need to get you some help." Flora looked them both over in utter concern, taking in what she could see. She was no stranger to fights, not even a stranger to getting through them by the skin of her teeth, but this was still something different. Flora held her hand out and tried to concentrate. Bandages, ointment, herbs, flowers, she tried to will or shift these things and more into existence, but nothing appeared. Helplessness tore at her. Even after everything was said and done, she couldn't take of things as she was used to.

"How bad are you both?"

She didn't want to have to be the one to bring it up. She wanted to let them rest as much as they wanted. They'd earned it, they needed it, but they couldn't stay here for too long. They should be so lucky to run into one and only creature out here, and alongside that, there was nothing out here to treat wounds. Forward or back, they'd have to press on. "Where do we go from here?"

[redcladidealist]

That same question was running through Lloyd's head right now. No matter how the others tried to hide it, it was obvious they were injured. If they went back, there wasn't any guarantee they would make it out again as easily as they had this time. If they went forward, though, who knew what else they would run into before they could find someplace safe to rest? Who knew how close the nearest town even was? He was torn. He didn't want to go back. But...

"Let's... bandage ourselves up first," he said, trying to put the decision off a little longer. "We can't go anywhere like this. I have my dagger. I can cut my shirt into strips." It wasn't sanitary or ideal, but they didn't have much choice at the moment. Gripping his dagger, he didn't wait before setting to work. Whatever they did, they needed to move fast before they were found by something else.