ICE BLOOD (#WATTYS2017)

CHAPTER FIVE

"You're an idiot, you know that?" I grunted out in annoyance, as I pulled him carefully out of the tree he had managed to get stuck in. "Hey, it's not my fault the wind started blowing so hard..." He muttered in defence, while hissing in pain.

Once we had managed to get out of the woods, he kept begging me to let him fly alone, and deciding I didn't really want to carry a man who kept whining, I complied. At first he flew more or less perfectly, but then, as if his wings had suddenly stopped working, he was falling head first to the ground. 

My first reaction was to fly after him, going at full speed. Then, I grabbed his arm, and pulling him up, I managed to stop his fall. Everything was going fine until, the so called soldier, starting thrashing around, trying to get out of my hold, while shouting at me to let him go or we'd both get hurt. 

So he fell, got caught in some high branches, and has been there for about half an hour while I tried to find a way to get him out without leaving him wingless, or causing more pain than he was already in.

"Okay, if you want to get out of here, you're gonna have to do exactly what I say." I said, using my commander voice. Realising that, Blake stopped fidgeting, turning his eyes in my direction and fixed them on my own. 

"Lift your left wing a bit... That's it! Okay... Now a little to the right... There, now up... Higher... Higher... Done! Next wing..." As I instructed, he did exactly what I told him. Soon, both his wings were free, and this time, I was carrying most of his weight, and though it was a great effort to do so, I didn't show it, not wanting to let him know I was feeling vulnerable right now.

As the sun started peeking over the horizon, I sighted a small town, and heading over there, I began gliding, letting my extremely tired wings rest. 

"You know captain, I never imagined you'd be a girl..." Blake said out of nowhere. 

"Yeah well, I never thought I'd be saving your ass so many times with no favor in return." Came my sly remark, though he knew I didn't mean it. 

"Oh come on, give me some credit. I did, after all, defend you in front of all the soldiers, and then jumped in the way of the knife aimed at you." He answered childishly.

 The words took a few seconds to sink in. "You... You took an arrow for me? I... Thank you..." I mumbled, suddenly feeling overwhelmed for knowing someone cared so much for me they would jump in front of something that could kill them. 

"First time I've seen you mumble. Oh! And also first time I've seen your face go red!" He exclaimed, pointing a finger at my cheeks. 

"Ever thought about... First time I've ever seen your face!" I exclaimed in fake surprise, "Maybe that might be the reason idiot." I answered in a defensive tone. After that, we just kept bickering like siblings would, or that's what I imagined it was like anyway.

Once we had finally managed to get a room in an inn, I took his bandages off, and instructing him to go and lay down on the table, I started treating him as well as I could. His wound had healed slightly, but I could already tell it would leave a great scar on either side, front and back.

First, I checked his back, knowing it was worse than the front from the dark bandages I had seen earlier. It was extremely bad. His skin still hadn't regenerated, meaning blood was coming out. By the rate it was going, he would pass out in about an hour, so deciding I would have to find a cure, I left him lying there, ice pack on his head, and headed outside where I started looking for the common plant, though hard to distinguish from the Burnt Leaves, a lethal plant that could bring death right to your doorstep, burning you from the inside out.

As I walked through the forest, a  snap brought me back to reality. In front of me, a young girl, probably my age, was standing before me, eyes wide, face dirty and clothes torn to shreds. As I contemplated her, I realised the sneaky girl was actually holding my tiny purse, something I kept tied around my waist at all times. 

"Hey, what's your name?" I asked sweetly, trying to get her to give it back without a fight. 

"Marionne." She answered hesitantly, looking at me with confusion.

"Do you think I could have my purse back? It's very important to me". I wasn't lying. It was the only thing that I had from my former life, the one I didn't remember of, before I had suddenly appeared in Bycrest.

She was trembling, as if she was having an internal struggle, one side telling her to take the purse, make a run for it, get money, feed herself, but the other side, the good one, was telling her to give it back, giving her reasons to feel guilty for stealing it in the first place. 

She looked just like me when I was young, when I hadn't met Celena, the woman who'd taken me in after I had been suffering for a few months, starving and freezing, nearly always on the verge of death.