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They sat at the table in silence. Ashton had ordered a round of ales, but the mugs lay undisturbed before them. Fresh Cut Grass was busying themselves with getting the gunk out of their wheel. The occasional squeak as a gnarly chunk came loose broke up the otherwise monotonous hum of the inn. No one had spoken since they first sat down, and it was beginning to look like no one would.
After an hour or so of this quiet camaraderie, Orym excused himself from the table and began the long march up to his room. Fearne soon followed, with Little Mister peeking his head from beneath her cloak as she waved goodnight. Ashton, usually the first to join a card game or start a fistfight with the barkeep, slung their hammer over their shoulder and headed up the stairs. Fresh Cut Grass rolled close behind.
Laudna, having mostly recovered from her previous bout of poisoning, gave a nudge to Imogen as Fresh Cut Grass wheeled out of sight.
“Darling, I think it’s time to head up to bed.”
Imogen was leaning heavily on Laudna, her breath coming in slow and shallow spurts. Laudna gently pushed the other woman into a sitting position. A quiet wince escaped from Imogen’s lips.
“Imogen?”
The lilac-haired woman had her eyes squeezed shut.
“Imogen, dear, we need to get you upstairs.”
Imogen gave a weak nod, and Laudna carefully helped her stand. The two of them shuffled towards the stairs, with Imogen leaning almost entirely on Laudna as they went.
They must look quite a curious pair, Laudna thought to herself. A tall dark nightmare acting as a brace to a small purple ball of lightning. But Laudna was no stranger to getting odd looks, so she carried on to the upstairs of the inn.
Laudna guided Imogen’s steps toward the room they had booked at the end of the hall. The smaller woman’s breathing was getting heavier with each step, but Laudna didn’t dare risk rushing for fear of what that might do. Upon reaching the door, Laudna brought Imogen’s arm up around her shoulders and held it with one stick-like arm. With her free hand, she turned the key in the lock and softly pushed the door open. After a brief shuffle, the two were on the other side and the oil lamp had been turned to give a dim yellow glow to the room.
It was nothing special. Two single beds sat side by side, each with a pale blue blanket draped over a straw mattress. The oil lamp was set on an end table between the beds, and a small chest sat in the corner. It would do perfectly.
“Laud…”
Imogen’s voice ripped Laudna from her brief assessment of the room.
“Yes, my dear? What’s the matter?”
Laudna guided Imogen over to one of the beds and gently lowered her down. As she turned to get ready for bed, she felt a hand snake around her wrist.
“Laudna...I think...I think I might need some help.” Her voice cracked as the words came out, and she coughed weakly.
Laudna could feel her heart sink in her chest. It hurt, really, to hear someone she cared so deeply about in such pain.
“What do you need?”
She grabbed hold of Imogen’s other wrist and sank to a crouching position, their eyes level.
Imogen glanced up at Laudna. Those lavender eyes, those gorgeous, molten violet eyes that stared straight through her own to her innermost self, peeked out from beneath waves of lilac hair.
“Could you help me out of this?”
Imogen gestured to her outfit, wincing as her arm moved past a certain angle. What had once been a cream-colored vest and light blue dress was now a tangle of dark red and brown ribbons that tangled and twisted across her chest. In the places where there had once been buttons, there were now deep punctures, the edges seeping red into the pale cloth around it.
Laudna bit her lip, stifling a gasp. Up until this point, she had been keeping her eyes on the ground before them, certain that if she acknowledged Imogen’s wounds she would make them even more real. With the truth laid out so clearly before her, it was hard to keep tears from tugging at the corners of her eyes.
She swallowed deeply, then gave Imogen her best smile.
“Yes, dear, of course.”
Laudna took a seat on the bed beside Imogen and began to remove her tattered clothes. The vest was completely ruined, but the lack of buttons made removing it a quick task. Imogen silently slid her arms back through the sleeves as Laudna pulled it off. The young woman inhaled sharply as it drew some pressure on her arms, but otherwise, it slipped right off. The dress underneath, however, was a different matter. It was impossible to consider it a dress at this point, more a cloth prison that snaked its grip over Imogen’s shoulders. Laudna tried to pull it gently over Imogen’s head, but as soon as she had it around her ears, Imogen let out a gasp, and Laudna lowered it back around the smaller woman’s chest. She attempted to undo the buttons that ran down the front of the dress, but as soon as her fingers brushed the fabric, Imogen winced.
“Sorry,” Imogen whispered in her mind.
Laudna felt something tighten in her chest.
“No need to apologize,” Laudna replied aloud. She smoothed a hand over Imogen’s head, tucking a few strands of purple hair behind her ear. “I’ll be more careful.”
A guilty look crossed Imogen’s face, but she nodded.
Laudna reached for the pair of scissors hooked around her waist and carefully brought them around to the back of the dress. In a few quick movements, she sliced through the fabric at Imogen’s back. While there were a few gashes here and there, the brunt of the damage lay on Imogen’s chest, which made removing the dress much easier from this end. After loosening and cutting the dress enough that it would come off a bit easier, she came back around to the front.
“Thank you Laudna, I think I’ve got it from here,” Imogen rasped. She nudged Laudna back slightly.
The smaller woman brought her hands to her chest and slowly began to tug the fabric off her chest. Her mouth opened in a wide “O” shape and she winced sharply, but she continued to pull on the dress. After another agonizing moment, she cried out in pain.
Laudna took hold of Imogen’s arms.
“Stop, please.”
Imogen seemed to jump with the contact, but she let go of the cloth, slumping back in defeat.
Laudna took hold of the dress once again and pulled it off Imogen’s chest. It was difficult. The blood had dried enough that it stuck to her like glue. After carefully working it back and forth, however, Laudna managed to pull it off, leaving Imogen hunched on the bed in her shorts. She was breathing heavily.
Laudna took the ruined dress and set it with the vest. After tidying the pile of clothes at the foot of her bed, Laudna looked up at the young woman before her.
Imogen was sitting cross-legged on the bed, her hands tightly gripping the blue blanket beneath her. Her head hung down, and her hair swung gently in front of her chest. The tips of her hair, usually that lovely soft lilac color, were stained a bit red, almost as if she had dipped them in a cup of wine.
“Imogen, let me see your chest,” Laudna whispered.
“I’m alright. Just need some rest, is all,” Imogen responded, swaying slightly as she sat on the bed. Her words were slurring slightly as if she had drunk a bit too much downstairs. But Laudna hadn’t seen her touch her mug.
“Imogen, darling, let me help you.”
Imogen raised a hand weakly and waved Laudna off.
“You’ve already done enough, I’ll just...I’ll just go to bed now.”
She leaned backward but did not lay down.
“Enough of this.” Laudna came forward and laid a hand on Imogen’s shoulder. “May I?”
Imogen was silent for a moment, before shaking her head yes. Laudna brushed the lilac hair out of the way.
The shade creepers had at least been thorough, Laudna thought, as she stared at the mess that was once her traveling companion's chest. Deep gashes crisscrossed her stomach, and there were dark red punctures just around the ribcage. Across her upper chest, right where the heart was, there lay a splattering of bright and dark red, amidst that deep brown color that comes from old blood.
“Oh, Imogen.”
Laudna took a step back, her hands going to cover her mouth.
“I’m alright, Laudna, just a little scratched up is all.”
Laudna couldn’t help but chuckle from behind her clenched hands. Strong until the last minute, Imogen was.
“I’m going to get you cleaned up now,” Laudna said calmly. She waved her hand and a shadow seemed to pass across Imogen’s chest. In an instant, the reds and browns dissolved into nothing as prestidigitation cleaned them away. Laudna then tore off a few strips of the blue blanket on her own bed and set to wrapping them snugly across Imogen’s gashes. She had no healing balms or ointments with her now, but she was sure she could ask some of the others in the morning. Fearne looked like she might have something hidden in those flowing green robes of hers.
“Oh goodness, Imogen, you scared me to death today,” Laudna whispered as she busied herself with the makeshift bandages.
Imogen inhaled sharply as Laudna tied one bandage tight, then chuckled quietly.
“I scared you? Laudna, I thought it was over when Duggar spewed whatever that goo was over you.”
Laudna scoffed.
“It takes more than a little goop to take me down.” She tightened another bandage around Imogen’s torso. “And it apparently takes more than a few shade creepers to take you down.”
After another moment or two of work, Laudna pulled back. Imogen’s chest still looked a mess, but it was a whole lot better than it had been.
“There. Now I’m the only one in the room that looks half dead.” Laudna winked at Imogen. “I can’t have you out here stealing my look.”
Imogen smiled, and Laudna knew if her heart was still beating, it would have stopped in her chest.
“Yeah, well, you make it look so good I thought I should try,” Imogen slurred. Her cheeks were a light pink color.
Laudna grinned, then helped Imogen lay flat on her back.
“It’s been a long day, darling, and you need to rest.”
Imogen hummed, but Laudna wasn’t sure if that was a response or part of some half-dream the sorcerer was already slipping into. She pulled the blue blanket up around Imogen’s shoulders and made sure the cold wasn’t going to creep in through the bed. Imogen’s eyes were already closed, and her chest was rising and falling in a much steadier rhythm than before.
Laudna silently slipped out of her dress and into her sleeping clothes, then slid into the bed opposite Imogen’s.
“Goodnight, Imogen,” Laudna whispered into the dark.
In her mind, she felt the light touch of Imogen’s presence.
“Goodnight, Laudna. And thank you.”