Page 90 of Arrows and Gems
“I didn’t do it by choice. It had the boys trapped!”
Rouge poured some of their small supply of alcohol on the cuts. “You tried to send Margit away.”
While Cap ground his teeth against the sting, Margit folded her arms and smirked from her corner of the tent. “Tucker was right; you are a poor patient, Cap.”
“Just wait until I tell him to take it easy for a few days,” Rouge muttered darkly. “He follows instructions as well as you do.”
“I don’t need to rest for this,” Cap complained. “It’s barely a—mmgh.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, but he could feel Rouge’s glare. “If it was just a scratch, that wouldn’t hurt so much.”
“Sadist.”
She poked him in the shoulder instead of the side this time. “Just reminding you not to do something so stupid again.”
His eyes flicked over to Margit. He’d been trying to keep her safe. “Duly noted.”
While Rouge finished doctoring Cap’s wound, Jean-haut leaned forward. “How did the weapons work, Cap? Did you have any problems with them?”
Cap gestured to the sword lying next to the tent wall. “The release could be faster. Also, it wouldn’t revert to the hammer after. Perhaps the word is wrong? It worked fine on my bow.”
“Wait. You didn’t test them beforehand?” Margit’s incredulous expression looked a bit angry. “What would you have done if it didn’t work?”
“The concept had been tested,” Jean-haut replied with a shrug. “This was their first live trial, though.”
“I’ll work on it.AfterI finish patching you up,” Rouge said, her eyes focused on the bandages she was applying to Cap’s side.
Margit’s heated glare pierced him. “I don’t need protection. You should have let me help.”
She might not need it. But he still wanted to give it.
“You did help. Because you didn’t follow orders.”
“Orders?” Margit scoffed. “That wasn’t an order. And I won’t follow a stupid one, anyway.”
Cap was torn between amusement and annoyance. Not many people challenged his orders, let alone referred to them as stupid. Though considering his friends’ agreement, perhaps this one had been.
But it would be easier if Margit would listen. Little as he liked submitting to Rouge’s tender ministrations, he preferred to suffer through it himself rather than see Margit hurt.
He nodded to her. “I’ll keep that in mind, Your Highness.”
She gave him a strange look, but she didn’t say anything. Jean-haut snickered while Rouge rolled her eyes.
Returning to the subject of their weapons, he said, “I’m more concerned about the speed of release than I am about hiding the weapon afterward. I imagine it shouldn’t take much to fix that part.” He looked to Rouge for confirmation. “We’vedried enough meat and gathered enough winter berries that I think we can proceed to the next step.”
“The magic won’t last forever, Cap,” Jean-haut warned. “And Rouge and I only have so much magic. These aren’t small enchantments that you’re asking for.”
Cap met his eyes. “I know,” he replied in a somber tone. “I’ll understand if you want to change the plan.”
“We’re not letting you be recognized, Cap,” Rouge grumbled. “Nor anyone else in the raiding parties. You can lower your shirt now.”
Margit’s eyes followed the line of his hem as he dropped it back over his stomach. One corner of her mouth pulled up appreciatively.
Putting the extra bandages back in their medical bag, Rouge continued, “My brother meant that we need to plan with that in mind. We can’t replenish all of the enchanted items in one day.”
“And?”
“I can put the location of our next meeting place in the tokens, but only Rouge and I can find the objects,” Jean-haut explained. He took off his hat and ran a hand through his hair, exposing the pointed tips of his ears. “We’ll be our own camp and use the stones and tokens to find the other groups. Then each day, we’ll put as much magic as we can spare into the objects of whichever group we’re with.”
