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“I was worried you didn’t make it.” Remis exhaled slowly, a smile finally breaking over his face. “Percy?”
“Broken leg. I’ve got him fixed up as best I can but it will be hard to move him. Are you okay?” Merritt stepped back, his attention sweeping over Remis in the same quick way he’d just done.
“I’m certain I drank about half the river so my chest hurts like hell but other than that and a headache, I’ve never been better.” The words sat sour on his tongue, but he refused to let his smile fall.
“Come, Percy will be relieved to see you. Though I should warn you, he’s in a mood.” Merritt grimaced as he high-stepped around the foliage.
Remis tried not to think too hard about the fact that his friend's injury was another failure that could be added to the list of things that were inevitably his fault. Guilt made his cramping stomach tighten even more. “I wouldn’t be happy if I broke my leg either.”
“Not the leg,” Merritt warned. “His book.”
A surprised laugh bubbled up and out of his throat. This was not the time or place to laugh, but Percy had been safeguarding his book since they’d left home. He had to have known that there was no way it would have survived this journey but he’d still brought it along.
“He lost the book?” he asked.
Merritt held a thin branch out of his way, then let Remis walk by before he let it go. “No, he still has the book. That’s how he broke his leg. He refused to catch himself and chose to hold the damn thing instead.”
“And our salves from the physician?”
“Gone.” Merritt held his hand up, the skin pale but cracking and soon to be scarred. Whatever was in the physician’s salves, whatever magic she might have used, it had done wonders in speeding along both of their recoveries.
They walked in quiet contemplation the rest of the way. Seeing Merritt and knowing Percy was well enough made walking along in his freezing clothes much more manageable. Even the blisters on his feet that were rubbed with every shift of the boots could be easily ignored in favor of savoring this small delight.
They carried on for several long minutes before Percy’s form came into view. He was much farther from the river bank, but even at this distance, if Remis paid attention he could still pick up the sound of the running water, though he had no interest in getting anywhere near it again.
There was a small fire going and Percy was propped up against a nearby tree. He didn't smile in relief like Remis did when they made eye contact. Percy frowned, his brows pulled dramatically low.
“You owe me a new damn book,” Percy growled.
“I’ll buy you a whole library if we make it out of these damn woods alive,” Remis answered, holding a hand over his heart as though he was taking an oath. That was enough to appease his friend and Percy nodded and crossed his arms over his chest but said nothing further. Two sticks broken to the length of Percy’s leg were tied tightly on either side of his broken bone. Nausea swelled as Remis caught sight of the swollen, jagged part of Percy’s leg. He knew without having seen it that if the ties and sticks weren’t there the lower half of his leg would be sitting at an exaggerated angle.
Merritt stopped several feet away, planting his hands on his hips. “Strip out of those clothes and let them dry. I think I might be able to catch a rabbit with this trap. Percy taught me how to make it, and then maybe we can have a meal before nightfall. We’ve been here for several hours and I’ve wandered farther and farther trying to find you. Now that you’re here we’ve got to figure a way out of this mess.”
“If you wanted to see me naked, Merritt, all you had to do was ask.” Remis winked, though the playfulness was like a mask he’d easily slid into.
“If you don’t get dry you’ll get sick,” Percy quipped.
“I know.” Remis nodded, undoing the thick buttons of the waistcoat and laying the material out next to the fire. He also knew that if they didn’t get Percy to a physician soon to properly set his leg the likelihood of him being able to walk ever again would rapidly decrease every hour. He’d forever be in the debt of his friends. There was nothing he could do that would ever be as great as their loyalty to him, but he would damn sure try.
Though the winter wind was stirring and the clouds that gathered above them could potentially mean snowfall, Remis was considerably warmer when he’d shucked out of the last of his wet clothes, save for his undergarment, and stood next to the fire. He held his hands out letting the heat lick against his palms.
Percy watched Remis over the flames. When his attention slid to Remis’ hand and the mark upon his flesh Remis closed his fingers into a fist. Remis was almost certain at this point that the mark itself could see. He worried if he looked down upon it that it would blink up at him and feel that much more real. Though he couldn’t deny it any longer, the witch had appeared to him in his unconscious state. She’d been able to peer into his surroundings and see exactly where he was located.
“What’s it like?” Percy finally asked.
Turning to give his friend his back, Remis made a show of needing to warm his backside. In reality, he found himself shying away from speaking about the curse that plagued him. He looked down at his palm, letting himself trace the raised edges before he spoke.
“Terrifying.” He swallowed. Exciting. New. Deadly.
“Does it hurt?”
“The mark itself? No. It feels like an old scar.” Though when she’d been in his mind, when she’d cut his throat, he’d felt that. So there was something to this connection, something greater than just marred skin. “She came to me, you know?”
Remis swore he heard the rustle of leaves as if Percy was shifting in his seat. But to turn around and face his friend? That might make him lose the confidence to confess what he’d seen, what had happened, when all he wanted to do was bury it deep deep down and pretend it was never real. As if he’d ever be able to get the image of her standing over him out of his head.
“Like when we were in Olden? How we had to flee the warlord's home?” Percy’s tone was gentle and curious but not prying. He wasn’t trying to solve all my problems like Merritt might but was merely searching for knowledge to understand. It was enough to help Remis speak the rest.
“No. When I was still unconscious, I think. It was like…like some sort of vision.” He chewed his lip, forcing himself to think about how it had happened. “It was like I was waking up and there she was standing at the side of the river watching me. She spoke to me.”
