Remember Me

5

Another few hours passed; the sky so dark he wondered how the horses could find their way. He was dozing off after hours of gazing at their backs. After hours of holding up the flame, he started dozing off. That was until he heard a short scream. He shot up, the carriage stood still, and he flew out the carriage, flames ready at his fingertips. He flew out the carriage so fast, he nearly slipped on the ice. But nothing or no one was out there. Just snow, mountains and the dark sky. He turned to find Walt kneeling in front of Terrin, pushing up her sleeve. He climbed up the carriage.

"What happened?" He reached for her arm, but she pulled back.

"You burned her."

"I - what?"

"You must've fallen asleep." She said, hissing when Walt touched her arm. She avoided his gaze when she added. "It's happened before." Before he could utter a single word, she said. "I have healing paste in my bag. It can hold up until we reach the Dawn Court."

"There are healers in the Winter Court, miss Terrin. They can fix you up."

She frowned but didn't say anything. Eris went to get the paste from her bag. He saw something silver in her bag but grabbed the paste and climbed back up the carriage. He handed over the paste to Walt as he watched her. She had her head tilted to the sky, squinting her eyes shut from the pain. He glanced down at her arm. The flame. The flame he had produced had burned through her cloak, through her sleeve, right on her skin. A nasty burn grazed her lower arm. She hissed through her teeth as Walt put the paste on it.

I'm sorry. "I shouldn't have fallen asleep." He said instead.

"I've been through worse." She said, her eyes open but still fixed on the dark sky. He hated that he believed her. "We should get some rest. We're at the border anyway."

Eris glanced around. "How do you know? It's pitch black out."

Despite the wound he afflicted on her, the corner of her lips twitched up. "It's in the stars." Her voice was wistful. He glanced at the sky again, not a star in sight. "There is a clearing just behind that tree line, we should go there. There is a cave where the horses can get shelter."

"Alright, go sit in the carriage. I'll take us there." Walt said.

"No." She took the reins from him. "I know where to go."

Eris was still kneeling next to her when the horses started moving. He grabbed the bench before he would fall to the ground. It took just about two minutes before they reached the clearing. Eris could see the cave she had talked about. She stopped the horses right in front of it. Walt started to unbuckle the first horse when Terrin made a move to jump off and help.

He grabbed her upper arm. "No." She looked down at him. "You're hurt. I'll do it."

She snorted and pulled her arm out of his grip and jumped off the carriage. He sat there, still kneeling as he watched her unbuckle the horse before guiding him to the cave. Once the two horses were tied, watered and fed, they came over.

"Do we have tents?"

"No." She said and walked past him. "Get off."

"Please, would be nice." He said but jumped off anyway.

He watched as Terrin and Walt started to pull at the riding bench, one on each side. They pulled it forward until it clicked, then pressed it down. When they climbed up the enlarged platform, they reached above their heads to pull out another wooden board. Terrin opened the enlarged riding bench and took out several soft furs and a thick, heavy blanket. She closed the latch and placed the furs on it first before the blanket. Then they grabbed the red handles on the side of the carriage and pulled. Thick white drapes closed around the two boards, all the way to the front. Closing it off completely.