Now reunited, Killian, Jasper and the group must cross dangerous territory to the Freebird's main camp. On their arrival, Killian learns just how far the Freebird's hatred of Jasper expands-and just how much danger that puts him in.
Soon after arri...
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It's worse when you aren't here. But I hope things are going well so far. I know you didn't promise that you'd come home...but please do. Killian thought silently, as if he could speak to Jasper through their minds. Sometimes it felt that way, Jasper was good at reading him like that. Nobody else was, not even Phoenix. Over the years they'd known one another, it was like he'd discovered his other half, now living without Jasper was difficult. What will I do if he doesn't return? He wouldn't entertain that idea.
It was raining heavily now, a few hours after Jasper had taken his leave. Killian walked beside Casimir along the muddy, stark outlines of a trail through The Nest. He'd given the other man a brief rundown of their mission, what he and Jasper had found out over the past couple of days. The medic apprentice hadn't protested to coming, in fact he'd seemed excited. The only thing making it difficult was the mud getting stuck on the bottom of his crutches. We really need to find him some sort of prosthetic.
"So, you think that blacksmith guy knows something?" Casimir prompted, leaning against one crutch to tug the other out of the mud. When it was let free with a gross sucking from the ground, Killian caught the other man in time for him to avoid falling over. "S-shit. Thanks, Kills." Huh. Usually I get mad when people give me nicknames...I guess Jasper was right. Casimir and I have gotten closer.
Killian offered a supportive smile, "'Course," he said, "wouldn't want you to show up covered in dirt, right? And, you know, the ground kind of hurts when you fall over." He couldn't help but notice the menagerie of bruises and cuts on Casimir's arms from the numerous times he'd fallen and caught himself in the past couple of days. He's stronger than we ever gave him credit for. If I was that hurt I wouldn't try to walk again. "And yeah, he's the only guy here I saw that has connections with the Carver's directly. So after we get what we need from him, we're going to have to be quick and meet with Anastasia in case she's found things out, too."
"Now that you mention odd things going on," Casimir muttered under his breath, setting a thoughtful hand under his chin, "when Hasan and I help out in the medical wing, some weird stuff goes on. There's always some fighters watching us and we're supposed to dispose of any dead bodies a certain way."
"...and you're just realizing how weird that is now?" Killian raised a single brow.
"Well, we were always told it was for our safety." Casimir reiterated carefully, "There have been stories of the corpses coming back if the infection is dormant in their body—apparently that's a thing that's happening now, too." He added quickly, "I'm not supposed to know that though, so keep it hush hush okay?"
"Okay," Killian looked around to make sure nobody was watching them, which in hindsight would have been a lot more suspicious than just talking in the first place. "You think we should go to the med wing first?"
"Nah, stick with the plan." Casimir said. "Get info and connect the dots later."
"Right," Killian nodded once. "Got it." That's a lot better of a plan than just going in blind and improvising everything. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up as a familiar silhouette hovered over his shadow.
