Wystwood

46. Smoke from the city

Ada woke to the scent of smoke. Her eyes flickered open and were met with the palest of blue skies, as though the night had swept all colour from the world. She felt cold and bare without her cloak, and pins of grass prickled her cheek. But when she tried to roll onto her side, a weight kept her tethered to the ground.

The air stilled and Ada slid her gaze to the left. Past the green dimple in the earth, the river burbled into foam, but the sight was partially blocked by a body of black leather. Raeph lay dreaming in the early sunrise, his face half-pressed into Ada's hair. In their sleep, he had cast an arm across her waist, the tips of his fingers aligning with the grooves between her ribs. They had found each other in the darkness, unconsciously curling up on the cloak and sharing warmth throughout the night.

His wounded arm rested between them, although the cut appeared to be little more than a scratch now. A jagged line still marred his skin, but the calendula poultice had dried into a translucent peel, and the web of scorched veins beneath it had faded. Raeph's chest rose and fell with soft breaths, and Ada was careful not to disturb him as she slipped away.

Above his cut, Raeph's sleeve remained in matted tatters, and his tunic was crusted with muck. It had fallen loose in the night, and Ada saw that like her cloak, its inside was sewn with pockets. Her breath caught, fingers already inching toward the breast pocket that would be just large enough to hold a folded letter.

Raeph groaned, his bent arm shifting as he rolled onto his back, dark hair tumbling away from his face. The stream seemed louder upon the deserted hillside, like a voice willing the world to wake. Ada waited for a handful of seconds, but when it was clear that Raeph was still sleeping, she tugged back his tunic.

Her fingers fumbled to open the pocket. She was crouched over his body, not even daring to breathe in fear that he would wake. But his eyelids didn't so much as quiver when Ada skirted her fingers down to trace the seam of the pocket over and over again. It was empty.

Her hand was fisted when she withdrew it, and she let the leather thud back onto his chest, no longer caring if it woke him. She felt abruptly angry; angry at herself for agreeing to go to the seers' wretched cave, and for believing that she would have retrieved both the Saltsworn's name and her grandmother's letter by now. She was angry at Raeph for not even bringing the letter. Perhaps he had never planned to return it to her at all, twisting the words of their arrangement somehow and making him exempt from the dealing.

Ada hoped his arm still hurt. She had already helped him more than he deserved, and he would certainly not receive any more if he struggled to walk this morning. Her glare glazed over as she watched the tufted hill rise up over Raeph's head, and for a wild moment, her mind shouted at her to run. She could slip away with the breeze and fly to freedom. The valley would provide little cover, but maybe the Wystwood forest would be more forgiving in the sunlight, and she could wander through the fringing trees until she reached the bone arch, and after that towards the well. 

But then what?

Across from her, the iron knife lay upon the soil, sheathed within wystwood. Solen's silver dagger caught the sunlight in keen flashes, but the wedge of wystwood almost merged into the hillside, its dark sheath belonging amongst grass and earth. Ada picked both blades up, weighing them upon her palm before coming to a decision: she wouldn't give Raeph the iron knife until he held to his side of the bargain. No matter what, she would retrieve her letter.

A sharp cough splinted the air and Raeph dragged his eyelids open. His attention immediately went to his arm, brows furrowing and stare darting as if he was unsure where he was. He heaved his body off of the cloak, hissing when he put his weight on his wounded arm and then clutching it to his chest. His gaze found Ada, at first wary, and then only a little breathless as he took in the hillside.