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Up until now, Zius had only ever seen Black Hen end her flights with a strange sort of elegance. A light jump to the ground, reminiscient of a bird landing. The one other time she had taken Zius along, she had kind of dropped him just before gracefully landing herself. Zius had been sure that she had been grinning smugly at him in amusement when she had turned to look at him stumbling over his feet, his stomach still protesting against the unnatural velocity and sudden pulls in unpredictable directions.
Right now, Black Hen landed with none of her usual grace. Instead, their landing was more of a crash, with Black Hen slumped over Zius' back, letting him carry most of her weight. Zius' knees protested at the impact of their combined weight hitting the ground, but he was glad that Black Hen still was conscious enough to lean on him herself. There was no way he could muster the energy to carry her completely on his own.
Once Zius had caught his footing again, he turned towards Black Hen, securing the arm she had wound around his shoulder with one of his hands while reaching around to wrap his other arm around her middle, pulling her against him to steady her further. This close, he could hear her short, laboured breaths puff out against his ear and the sticky warmth of the blood coating her side under his hand.
"I've seen a cave not far ahead," Black Hen mumbled under her breath as she weakly pointed in a direction. "Let's go there for now." Zius nodded, though Black Hen probably couldn't even see it, and set out towards the direction she had pointed at, careful not to jostle her too much as he slowly dragged her along.
They had run into an Eastern General who used a similar technique to the Skull. Not the General Nagyunn had run around with back when they had fought against that magician, but yet another one. Zius didn't even want to think about how many Eastern Generals were already roaming around the Central Continent, but he knew that this was crucial information for their war preparations so he would have to look into this and report to Blue Turtle as soon as possible. At least, this one hadn't been as strong as that Skull. Under normal circumstances, Black Hen should have been able to easily handle him - if she had fought him alone. As it was, that guy somehow had figured out not only that Zius was weak, but also that Black Hen had an interest in his continued survival. Something Zius had, so far, only seen as an asset for him to use, but which had turned out to be a fatal weakness against this particular opponent. A weakness which had let to Black Hen getting critically injured and them only being able to retreat by a hair's width. Way too close for Zius' comfort.
The cave wasn't far away from where they had landed. It seemed empty, too, from what Zius' senses could pick up. He was glad for both, since Black Hen's breathing had turned even more laboured, bordering on irregular, and by now she was putting nearly all of her weight on Zius. He took a moment to adjust his hold on her to better compensate for the shift in balance and then carefully dragged them both inside the cave until they reached a spot that couldn't be easily seen from the cave's entrance. At this point, there was just enough light left for them to be able to see themselves, but more importantly they would be able to see if there were any other people entering without getting instantly spotted themselves.
The dim light also meant that he couldn't see the floor clearly, though. He didn't notice the stone potruding into his way until his foot got caught by it. Usually, the slight stumble wouldn't even have registered, but exhausted as he was and with Black Hen's full weight draped over him, he didn't manage to regain his balance in time. Nearly comically slowly, they fell over. Zius just about managed to turn around a bit to cushion Black Hen's body with his own. The last thing they needed was to aggrevate her wounds even further.
This also meant that he was now laying flat on the cave floor with his back aching all over and his front completely covered by one Black Hen. Who made no move to get up or move off him, not even the tiniest bit. Zius waited a heartbeat longer, then lightly poked her side.
"Waron?", he asked. "You still with me?"
"No," came the grumpy answer, her voice muffled by the way her helmet was pressed against Zius' neck.
With her weight above him amplifying the sensations, Zius could feel every pebble and the small peaks of the cold, uneven ground digging into his back. In contrast to the cold stone, the sticky warmth of her blood spreading into his clothes where some of her wounds were pressed against him stood out even more.
He still had one arm wrapped around Black Hen's back from when he had pulled her close during their fall to make sure she'd land on him instead of on the ground. With a sigh, he let it drop to the ground next to him.
"Get up," he told Black Hen. "I need to treat your wounds."
He could feel Black Hen shaking her head against his neck with the slightest movement. "It's alright," she mumbled in an exhausted drawl. "Just let me sleep it off for a moment and I'll be as good as new."
Zius doubted that, considering the damage she took during the fight, but there was no way he could ever move Black Hen if she didn't want to be moved. If she was like this, he would have to settle for being trapped in this position for an indefinite amount of time. With another sigh, he tried to shift into a - even if only slightly - more comfortable position, until Black Hen honest to God growled at him.
"Stop squirming. You're only making it worse," she ordered in a voice that left no room for argument. Zius turned his head towards her helmet and levelled a unimpressed stare at her anyway, though that went completely ignored. But he stopped moving, relucantly resigned to his fate.
They stayed like this for a few more moments, neither of them moving nor saying anything else. In the silence, Zius could hear the faint echo of water dripping down from the cave's ceiling into a puddle on the floor and Black Hen's breaths slowly evening out. Since he didn't had anything else to occupy himself with, he pondered whether it would be worth it to just shove Black Hen aside. But then again, he'd had to deal with a pissed off Hen and that would probably be worse than enduring this momentary discomfort. Besides, the warm body above him did provide him with a good shield against the cave's unseasonal chill.
Honestly, Zius concluded, this kind of could be compared to a cat falling asleep on top of you. You simply don't move until it gets off on its own. Though, considering Hen's volatile nature, maybe this was more of a case of letting sleeping dogs lie. Zius wasn't quite sure which described this particular situation more aptly.
His musings were cut short by Black Hen herself. Just when he thought that she actually had fallen asleep on him, she pushed herself up on her hands with an annoyed huff.
"Damnit, this thing is kinda annoying right now," she grumbled under her breath, so quiet that Zius wouldn't have heard it if the cave wasn't so silent otherwise. She looked down on him as if she was considering something. Then, with a decisive movement, she tugged Zius' hat down over his eyes, blocking out even the last specks of dim light.
"What are you -" Zius began, lifting his hands to pull his hat back only to get them swatted away instantly.
"Just leave it like that for a while, okay? Consider it payback for me saving your ass earlier."
Zius hestitated. This pretty much defeated the point of him taking watch so that Hen could recuperate in peace. On the other hand, if she insisted on using him as a mattress, this point was moot anyway. The best course of action would be to just let her have her way, instead of dragging out the inevitable by arguing. So, without a further word, he relaxed again, signalling Hen his acquiescence. She didn't say anything else either, but Zius could feel the smug satisfaction radiating from her nonetheless. He'd probably be irked, if he had any energy left for that.
Zius could hear a short rustle, and then Black Hen leaned down to rest on top of him again. He could feel something soft tickle against his skin and nose that he couldn't quite identify. Then, something that was quite definitely the cool tip of a nose pressed against the sensitive skin of his neck in what could only be described as a nuzzle and that was the only thing Zius' brain could focus on for the next few moments.
Slowly, other sensations joined in. Zius noticed the hot huffs of breaths caressing his skin first. How they ruffled the fine hairs on his neck ever so slightly and the tingle each one of those short bursts of air left on their way across his skin. He identified the tickling sensation on his face as soft strands of hair next. The thought of running his hand through Black Hen's hair crossed his mind, and for a short moment of insanity he was enticed by this rare opportunity. Not without effort, he squashed the urge down before he could lose his hand for a capital offense like that.
At least, this monumentally stupid idea had brought some of his brain's functions back online. Zius took stock of the situation, when a thought belatedly occured to him.
"Wait, so you can get up!"
He felt Black Hen shrug against him. "Not really," she answered. A part of Zius' brain took this opportunity to notice how her breathing and speaking felt different against his skin. Zius shoved that thought aside as well. "Anyway," she continued, "like I said, I just saved your ass. Again. I invoke the privilege to rest comfortably. I think I earned it more than enough by now."
"It's rather uncomfortable for me, though."
"Don't be so stingy and suck it up." She nuzzled further into his neck, and Zius would have sworn he heard a content rumble, if it had been anyone else than Black Hen currently nuzzling him. His brain still was kind of caught up on that.
"You don't need to be so nervous, you know," Hen said after a beat. "You're stiff as a board and your heart is beating like I'm about to bite."
Now that she had pointed it out, Zius could feel the too quick pounding of his heart as well. "I wouldn't put it past you, to be honest," he answered, glad that at least Black Hen wouldn't be able to see it if he was blushing, too.
"Only if you ask nicely," she chuckled, and the vibration of it went straight to Zius' guts. She continued in what his befuddled mind could only describe as a purr. "Are you asking?"
This was a trick question. Obviously, Black Hen took some sort of sadistic pleasure at having found a new way to throw Zius off balance. If she could gleam any sort of weakness from him, she'd use that against him mercilessly. Before Zius could stop his brain though, the unbidden image of her opening her mouth against his neck crossed mind. The idea of teeth pressing against skin, threat and promise at once. Zius couldn't stop the shiver at the thought, sure that there was no way Black Hen had missed it.
"... no," he answered anyway, berating himself for the obvious pause.
He could feel Hen's lips jutting forwards, as if she was pouting. "Pity," she said, actually sounding slightly disappointed, though that had to be Zius projecting on her. "Anyway, I really need that rest now. Wake me if somebody comes by."
The abrupt change of topic made Zius' head spin. He wasn't quite sure how he should notice anyone approaching before it was too late anyway, robbed of his sight and his other senses occupied with the person on top of him. He didn't voice his protest, though, aware that it would only prove futile anyway.
With yet another sigh, he once again resigned himself to his fate, determined to not let himself be disoriented by this bizarre situation any further.
To distract himself, he tried to focus on the dripping water again, counting the drops falling down. He was only moderately successful, but at least he could tell himself that he tried.