Foul Mouth, C. 4

Chapter Four

Xavie awoke slowly. At first the only thing he could think of was the pain. From the right side of his chest to his fingertips throbbed, the pain peaking in his collarbone. He reached up and found the bolt still in him, sticking out at a sharp angle right angle to the bone.

Using his left hand, he pushed himself up, stifling a sharp cry. Tears sprung to his eyes as he looked around.

Rev sat staring at the body of the man who had shot him, arms wrapped around knees, rocking back and forth. Her red-orange eyes were wide, staring at the man.

"Rev," Xavie called hoarsely. "Please..." Her head snapped up and her eyes met his. He felt oddly frozen while their gazes were locked; the pain even faded a little. Then she was on her feet next to him, ripping his tunic away and examining the wound.

"Eat this," she said, pulling a small leaf from a pouch that hung around her neck. She held it up, and Xavie took it and consumed it without question. To his surprise, the pain faded a bit, and his head cleared substantially. "It didn't go all the way through," she said. Liquid healing magic made his collar tingle. "It struck the bone... It's shattered."

"Oh my," he muttered. "Can you fix it?"

"No," she told him frankly. "I can help a little. Close your eyes and count to ten." Warily, Xavie obeyed.

"One." Her fingers pressed the tender spot around the bolt. He winced. "Two." She did some kind of magic, and his whole shoulder and neck went tingly. "Three." His collarbone was completely numb now. "Four." The bolt tugged as Rev wrapped her hand around it. "Five." Rev placed her other hand on his shoulder, seemingly careless of jarring his broken bone. "Six." Her foot pressed against his thigh, probably for leverage. "Seven." She took a deep breath and then exhaled sharply. "Ei--." She wrenched. The bolt came out of his flesh with a sickening ripping sound. Xavie bellowed a foul curse word as pain shot down his arm. Even with Rev's magickal numbing spell, he still felt as if his collar had been shattered all over again. His eyes snapped open; his left hand flew to his right shoulder.

Rev grabbed his wrist, using all her weight against him to keep his hand from his collar. "Don't touch, you foul mouthed man! I've yet to set it!" She glared at him, and through his pain and dizziness, he resolved to tone down his language around her; she seemed quite offended. Pushing the thought aside, Xavie whimpered, and felt weak for it. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath—which hurt the broken bone. He felt a sob of pain and helplessness rising in his throat, and choked it back as Rev ripped strips off the bottom of her dress.

She fashioned a sling from the ripped linen. Draping it over his left shoulder, she fed more magic into his arm to numb it further and bent it to slide it into the makeshift sling. She used a stronger spell this time, or the herb she had given him to eat was working, for he felt little more than a twinge in his collar as his arm settled. He cradled his arm close to his body. He hadn't even suspected that getting shot in the collarbone would cause his whole arm to be in pain.

"Don't move it," Rev said. "You can have another thafen leaf in an hour, and one every hour after that, for pain."

"Thanks, Rev," he said. Suddenly, she swayed, her arms windmilling. Xavie made a move to catch her with his right hand, forgetting momentarily about his injury. The pain stopped him short, and Rev thumped to the ground on her backside.

"Gods," she whispered. "I used too much power. Xavie..." He looked at her through eyes narrowed against pain. Instead of a mage, he saw a little girl who was tired out and needed him. He levered himself to his feet using his left hand, his right clutched tight to his chest. Once he was balanced, he reached his good hand down to her. She let him lift her to her feet. Bracing herself against his leg, she wobbled, then stood straight.

"We need to get out of here before more soldiers come," Xavie said. "We can't stay on the road, but there's nowhere else to go..." He tarried with indecision, the pain in his collar and arm making him dizzy.

"We can go adjacent the road," Rev suggested. "I can go for miles yet." He looked down at her. A strong little girl, to be sure.

Because Rev could no longer ride on Xavie's shoulders, it was slow going. Xavie tried to ignore the bodies of the soldiers as they picked their way around them. He didn't know what powers other than healing Rev had, and he was in too much pain to worry about it now. All he knew was that several very official-looking men were dead, Rev was responsible, and that boded ill for the pair of them.

The forest surrounding the road was passable, but it slowed their progress. Rev struggled to keep up with Xavie's long strides, tripped over roots more than once, and refused to stop for rest. She insisted that they had to get to Eltya to find a proper healer for him, and that any rest would only slow them further. She was not stupid; she knew she was slowing him, and he could tell she was trying to make up for it.

She finally agreed to stop as the sun sunk below the trees. Her fear of the dark came into play then, and she begged Xavie to light a fire. He found himself unable to grasp his magic, however; it seemed just out of his reach. The pain was a nuisance despite the herbs Rev had given him every hour.

They were forced to huddle together in the space between two large tree roots, cold and uncomfortable. Rev curled up under a blanket Byli had put in Xavie's pack. Pain kept Xavie from lying down properly. It was a sharp ache that spread across his chest and to his fingers. He muttered curses as he tried to get comfortable, scowling and sighing irritably.

After a while, he gave up on sleep and sat watching the forest around him. It occurred to him that it might not be the cleverest of all things to do, traveling by day. Surely evasion of the soldiers would be easier in the dead of night.

By the time Rev woke up at dawn, he had his plan fully formulated.

"Xavie?" Rev said sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her wrists.

"Sh," he murmured, placing a hand on her head. "Don't talk loudly. We don't know if anyone's searching for us." She nodded and he went on. "We're going to stay around here today and then travel at night. It's easier to hide in shadow than in daylight."

"But... it'll be dark," she said, voice small.

"I'll be right with you," he said soothingly. "I'll hold your hand, I promise."

"...As long as you're going to be there," she conceded.

"Alright, good girl. We're going to climb up this tree and hole up there for the time being. Can you climb without my help?"

"Of course." She scrambled to her feet and leapt to take hold of one of the low-hanging branches.

By the time Xavie had pulled himself onto the first branch, he was covered in sweat and Rev was halfway up the tree. He panted, resting for a moment before reaching his left hand up to take hold of the next branch.

"First rule of tree-climbing," Rev called down, voice pitched for his ears only, "Keep three limbs on the tree at all times. That lowers the probability of a fall. I guess that'll be hard for you. Do you need help?"

"I'm alright," Xavie panted. He pulled himself up slowly, resting now and again and ignoring the pain in his shoulder and arm. Finally, he reached a place where five branches were spaced closely together, forming an odd sort of hammock. Rev sat there quite comfortably, fiddling with her pouch. When Xavie settled himself she pulled out a cloth and crawled over to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Rest," she ordered firmly. "I know you didn't sleep during the night. Maybe you can sleep up here. And eat this." She placed a thafen leaf to his lips. He opened obediently and chewed up the bitter leaf. The pain went down after a moment, and he sighed with relief.

"Rev," he said, "Where did you learn all this? All this healing?"

She glanced at him and then away, lowering her lashes to veil her eyes. "From Mistress Genma," she said softly. "Our next door neighbor, back home. She was the village healer. When Mummy saw I had power, she sent me to Mistress Genma's for learning. She was a great healer, she was. Taught me so much in just three months."

"Only three months?" Xavie inquired.

"Yes. Then all of this," she waved a hand to indicate, he assumed, their recent troubles, "happened, and... When we were running away from the village, I saw Mistress Genma on the ground... She was bleeding. A lot. Only other time I seen bleeding that bad was when Kejmal cut off his own hand trying to chop firewood. He died, so I... Mistress Genma couldn't have..." Her voice broke.

"I'm sorry, Rev," Xavie whispered. "She was good to you, huh?" Rev nodded and rubbed her eyes with her wrists again.

"I told you to rest," she said a moment later, taking a deep breath and flashing him a wide smile. "Sleep so you'll be rested for traveling in the—tonight."

"Yes, Healer Revya," he said obediently, ducking his head to hide a smile. She nodded at him once and then turned around to survey the ground below.

Xavie dropped into a fitful sleep. Dreams of being chased through the woods by liveried men and bleeding old women plagued him, but by the time Rev woke him at dark, he had gotten a good bit of sleep.

Rev clambered down the tree and stood waiting for him on the ground. With a grimace, Xavie looked down, trying to figure out how he could get down with the least amount of pain. Having a broken bone was such a nuisance.