Page 23 of Kingdom of Embers and Ruin

Choosing not to argue, mainly because Maude didn’t like the way he was starting to look, she slipped the rune over her head. Grabbing his arm, Maude pulled him up and slipped his arm around her shoulders so she could support some of his weight, then wrapped an arm around his waist. They started making their way through the freezing desert toward Engate. The sounds of alarm died down on the city side of the wall as they got further away. All she had to worry about now was whether one of the unnatural desert monsters would find them or if Herrick would keel over first.

In the silence of the plains surrounding Logi, Maude thought about the soldiers who had had an encounter with another group scaling the wall. They had called themvitki, but there was no way to know if it was Herrick’s friends or his brother.

As they trekked through the dead of the night, the sands thinned out, and the ground gave way to hard dirt and rocks. Herrick was stumbling a bit more now than when they had begun, but he kept giving her a look that saiddon't fuck with meso she let him run himself ragged. She knew he was worried about his friends, and while Maude would never admit it, so was she. So even when she had wanted him to rest for a moment, she let him keep pushing on toward the hope that his family was waiting for him when they got to Engate. They could only pray to the goddess Gefion for luck that they made it there unharmed.

6

Two hours passed before Maude was able to see any town lights. Throughout their hurried and stumbling escape to Engate, only the smallest of creatures made an appearance before the struggling duo. The larger and more dangerous monsters— like the sand dragonsighogg,who tunneled under the feet of travelers to swallow them whole— never made an appearance above the sands. Smaller sandtrollenwere easily kept away by Maude’s fire. Once they were far enough from the city, she was able to utilize the fire in her veins to fend off any unwanted skirmishes.

Herrick remained quiet for their journey. Whether it was worry for his friends and brother or pain that silenced him, Maude wasn’t sure. She only focused on getting them to Engate in one piece. Her dry throat was the only thing that kept her from trying to speak to him again. She couldn’t remember the last time she felt this parched.

Just before the sky lightened from the rising dawn, Maude and Herrick crossed into Engate’s borders. The rolling waves of the ocean slammed into the high walls surrounding the city as they made their way through the square. The brine of the salt water mixed pleasantly with the scents coming from the bakeries, farmers stands, and butcher shops readying to open for the morning.

“Herrick, I need you. I don't know where to go from here.”

Herrick, whose head had been hanging for the last stretch of the walk to Engate, lifted it weakly and pointed toward the eastern part of the center square where the sign for the town’s inn hung on display.

Maude nodded and started toward The Cask and Crow Inn, half-dragging Herrick with her. They made it to the door and stumbled through the opening, both landing on their knees. Herrick cried out and shifted the weight to his uninjured leg. The small tavern that was housed on the first floor of the inn was empty except for one woman who sat at a table sewing a patch into a bed sheet. At the crash of them entering her inn, the older woman jumped to her feet and examined them.

“Gods above, what’s happened to Herrick?” The woman cried as she rushed to the man in question, who was almost unconscious and hanging off one of the chairs in the room. Maude sat up, bracing her hands on her knees.

“Arrow to the leg. Walked here from Logi,” Maude replied, still attempting to ease the dryness of her throat. “He told me to come to this inn, that he was expected.”

The innkeeper was a short woman with a round face framed by straw blonde hair that was pinned to her head in tight curls. Dressed in night clothes, her round form was deceptively strong as she hoisted Herrick out of the chair and supported his dead weight. The stout woman eyed Maude suspiciously for a moment before her gaze landed on the rune swinging from her neck.

“Well, dear, he was right to bring ye to me. I wasn’t expecting him until tonight, but I do have one room to offer ye,” the older woman said to Maude abruptly. “Here, help me move him.”

They worked together to finish carrying Herrick to one of the bedrooms on the second floor. Maude almost stumbled as she saw the single bed in the center of the small but cozy bedroom with a dresser by the window. Itlooks like she would be finding other lodgings for herself once Herrick’s friends arrived.

“Just lay him down here. I’ll fetch some clean linen, water, and a poultice of turmeric and ginger to clean and dress the wound.”

Maude didn’t reply as they placed Herrick on the bed. She started to rip the pant leg off him when Herrick finally roused enough to say, “When I imagined my pants off in the same room as you, I didn’t picture it this way.”

“Leave it to you to be wounded and half delirious but still make a dirty joke,” Maude huffed a laugh.

“Mmm, I knew you could laugh,” Herrick said, an almost dreamy smile appearing on his face.

“Close your eyes and sleep, beast. I’ll take care of you while you rest,” Maude said gently, only because she knew he wouldn’t remember this. His eyes closed on a heavy blink, and he let out a soft snore.

Thinking he was finally asleep, Maude shook her head at the exchange and was glad that the innkeeper hadn’t reappeared when she had spoken to him. She stood and started to remove the extra layers of her travel clothing so she could sit and finish dressing his wound when she heard Herrick speak again.

“I can take care of you too, Maude,” Herrick slurred as he drifted into a deep sleep brought on by pain and exhaustion.

Before Maude could react to his words, the innkeeper walked into the room, arms full of supplies.

“I didn’t catch yer name earlier, my dear,” she said, setting the clean cloth onto a side table.

“It’s Maude,” she replied a bit awkwardly. “Thank you for helping me get him settled soquickly.”

“Ah, well Maude, ye can call me Thora. And don’t thank me; I have a soft spot for this boy and his friends. I assumed they would be with him, though.”

Maude wasn’t able to discern any suspicion in the woman's voice, so she felt comfortable replying.

“We got separated; the others still plan to meet here. They should be here soon.”

“They’ll know where to go then. Now, help me bind this poor man’s leg before it gets infected.”

Together, they worked silently and efficiently. Maude cleaned the wound of any leftover splinters of wood, and when Thora wasn’t looking, she cauterized a few more newly bleeding spots with her fire before Thora packed the poultice into his leg. Wrapped up in new cloth, Maude inspected their work and, satisfied with how it looked, stood to get herself cleaned up. Sand was pouring out of places she had never expected sand to be, and the gritty texture was irritating her.

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