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— Run! — Jeanne shouted, pushing master Torutawa in the back. She herself turned round, dropped to a knee, fired her crossbow towards the hill. Rosa did the same, aiming for the source of the light. If they hit, they didn't do any damage to the lamps — not a single bulb went out. But arrows whistled and arquebuses rattled in response. The guards were striking from the crest of the hill at any movement. Rosa fired another shot, jumped up to run after the group... but her right leg suddenly gave out. The student collapsed clumsily into the grass, and only then did she feel a sharp pain. Rolling onto her back, she raised herself up on her elbows and saw the tip of a crossbow arrow sticking out of her thigh.
— What a night... — she said, staring at the dark stain spreading across her pant leg. At the same second, white light struck her eyes. Rose clearly imagined how Auguste's soldiers, crowded around the searchlights, saw her, snatched from the darkness by a whitish beam, and raised their weapons...
— Mistress! — a black figure blocked Rosa from the light.
— Shoo! Shoo! Clank! — Several arrows sank into the ground around the girl, one hitting something metal.
— Get up! — Jeanne jerked the sorceress to her feet.
— Yes... let's go. — Rosa was practically hanging on to the Guardswoman's neck, and felt something warm and sticky under her arm. But there was no time to think, and the two of them waddled towards the mountains. A single clap of a crossbow bowstring answered the guards' volley, and the lamp that had illuminated Rosa suddenly flickered to the side, beaming into the sky. Lytel must have wounded the soldier who was wielding it.
— Do it your... your favourite trick, — Jeanne commanded in an orderly tone.
— What? — the student hissed through clenched teeth.
— Pain. Pass the pain on. Pass yours on to me.
— But...
— If you go slow, we both die.
Rosa obeyed. Her shot leg still felt bad, but it was a lot easier to run without the spike of pain with each step. The searchlights were still probing the area with their beams, and the guards were firing indiscriminately from the hill, not risking a descent into the darkness, but their luck had run out. A quarter of an hour later the fugitives piled into the camp behind the knoll, where Don Marius was going mad with anxiety. Toad, sensing his anxiety, was also awake.
— Alive, thank the Creator! — The young man exclaimed when he saw his partners and the Erdosians.
— We'll be chased afterwards, — said Lytel, who was the first to go. — Don, can't you take more than three passengers?
— No. — The knight's gaze stopped on Jeanne and Rosa. — Signora... Rosa, what's the matter with you?!
— Later, — the elf woman cut him off. — Take the two wounded and one Erdosian. I'll take the other two on foot. They won't be lost with me, don't worry.
— Two wounded? — Rosa did not understand. Jeanne sat her down by the extinguished fire, took the magic lantern out of the pouch, and the girl saw that the guardswoman's left cheek was covered with blood. Jeanne's left earlobe was gone, and there was a deep, long cut on her cheekbone. — Jeanne!
— It's nothing. I don't wear earrings. — The warrior patted Rosa on the shoulder. Taking a tourniquet from her belt bag, she began to bandage the girl's thigh, which had been pierced by an arrow.
— Which of you three is in charge? — Lytel turned to the rescued Republicans.
— I am, — said the young lord Irutava. — And as head of the embassy, I order Boyarin Yuriev to fly forward with the wounded.
— Yes, sir, — the bearded man grumbled, clearly displeased.
Rosa stopped giving pain to Jeanne, and as a result she almost fainted while climbing onto Toad. But when she found herself in the familiar saddle behind Marius, she immediately felt more confident.
— Fly to the pass, — the Lady Captain instructed the knight. — Leave the wounded there, and follow us back to the place where we were first dropped off. By the forest road, remember? We'll split up again at the pass — you take the wounded straight to Three Horns, we'll get there on our own, or wait for the supply caravan on one of the paths.
— Take care of yourself, lady. — Marius clapped his pet on the neck. The toad took off, flapping its wings. The dragoness soared upward, toward the pale stars. Dawn was breaking over the eastern edge of the horizon....
Chapter 21
Rosa remembered the next twenty-four hours poorly — blood loss, stress and lack of sleep formed a marvellous combination. After dropping off the passengers at the mountain pass, Marius flew after Lytel's group. The companions laid the young sorceress on the blankets, but she raised herself up on her elbows and told them to give her a needle threader and a potion bag.
— I need to stitch up the cut on your cheek and treat your ear, — the girl said to Jeanne, her tongue almost fluent. The Guardswoman had been holding a piece of cloth, now soaked with blood, to her face the whole flight. — Then I'll... extract the arrow. Yes... — Rosa swallowed. — Extract it.
— In this condition, you'll stitch up my mouth instead of my wound, — the warrior snorted, sitting down next to her friend. — I can do it myself. We were taught to sew on meat. What colour is the flask of sleeping potion?
This was exactly where Rosa's clear memories ended. Jeanne seemed to have skilfully removed the arrow from the girl's thigh, poured healing and cleansing infusions on the wound, and bandaged it. Then the necromancer's apprentice drank a sleeping potion and passed out before it took effect. Rosa woke up in the middle of the night, wrapped in two blankets, under Toad's warm side. She freed her hand and found her glasses and put them on. It turned out that they were at the edge of a rocky terrace on the mountain slope. The jagged wall of a parallel ridge was visible beyond the gorge, silver stars twinkling above its peaks. The green dragoness was breathing peacefully in her sleep, and beside her was a fire, near which Don Marius was seated on a rock. The young man was tossing pieces of dry thorns into the flames. The girl cleared her throat, and Marius immediately looked round. He jumped up and rushed to her.
— You all right? — The knight asked in a loud whisper, kneeling down and taking Rosa's hand. His palms felt very cold to the student.
— Yeah...I guess so. — The girl furrowed her brow. She felt nauseous, and her teeth were aching, all at once, but her leg felt more like numbness. Jeanne must have poured a lot of medicinal infusions into the wound. What to do, Rosa could not explain to her the correct dosage. — Where... where is everyone?
— Behind Toad, — the young man smiled. — On the other side, sleeping. This side is all yours. Are you thirsty?
— Yeah. I guess so.
The knight handed her a flask, and the girl took a couple of sips. She sucked in the air through her nose and squeezed her eyes shut.
— What is it? — Marius asked, picking up the flask. — Is the water stale?
— No. — Rosa shook her head. She asked: — Were you worried about me?
— Of course. We were all worried.
— Mm-hmm. But were you... were you afraid? That I wouldn't come back? — It sounded silly, but to Rosa, half-asleep, stupefied by her own potions, the question seemed incredibly important.
— Yes, — the knight said without thinking. — I was afraid. If I'd known you'd go under the hill alone, I would have...
— Wouldn't let me in? — The student opened her eyes.
— Who can stop you? — Marius bit his lip familiarly. After a moment's thought, he said, — I don't know what I'd do.
— Would you rub soap on yourself and follow it down the shaft? — Rosa suggested.
— Yes, — the young man agreed gravely. — That's the way I'd do it.
The sorceress freed her other arm from under the blankets and put her arms around Mariuse's neck. She said, looking into his eyes:
— If I kissed you first, it would be totally inappropriate. Kiss me.
— Eh... — The girl thought for a painful second that the knight would do something stupid. He would politely refuse or ask again. But after a brief hesitation, he leaned forward. His lips were as cold as his hands. Rosa was not distressed.
— First time kissing, — she whispered, leaning back on the blankets. Her head was spinning more and more.
— And you don't, do you? — Marius smiled again.
— No, of course... — The girl smiled back. — There was an elven girl at the Academy....
— What? — the knight was astonished. But Rosa had already fallen into a deep, dreamless sleep without finishing her sentence.
The rest of the flight went smoothly. At the next rest stop Rosa managed to talk a little with their new travelling companion. As she realised at once, Boyarin Genji Yuriev was a Virian. The people of Viria had once been subjugated by the Erdos ancestors who had come from across the sea, but since the conquerors themselves had lived on the islands, the boyarin's kin had retained their customs and traditions. Only among the nobles was it fashionable to take Erdos names.
— My name is different at home, but in the Chancellor's service I am Genji, — the bearded man grinned contentedly as Marius divided their modest supplies equally. There was no one left to hunt, and the travellers ate dinner of breadcrumbs and hot water. — Who would have thought that an Iolian woman who had never been to Iolia would take me out of captivity from the Iolians, who were not serving Iolia?
The boyarin held himself as if he had not been tortured for days. He was eager to help set up camp and tend to Rosa while the others were busy — though Jeanne took most of the care of the wounded woman. The student in turn tended to the Guardswoman's wounds. While the warrior changed Rosa's bandage, she washed her friend's ear with healing solutions. The scar on her cheek promised to heal quickly, leaving behind a small mark, but the earlobe cut off by the arrow could not be restored even by a royal healer.
— You'll have a beautiful bodyguard, madam, don't worry, — Jeanne promised in response to the student's worries. — I'll just let my hair down a little, and no one will see my ears.
— What are you talking about... — Rosa sniffed her nose. — I'm thinking about you.
— You're always thinking about everyone else but yourself, — the woman said grumpily, checking that the bandage was holding. — I'm fine.
— I'm always thinking about others, and you're always doing fine, — the sorceress sighed, squinting at the cuirass the guardsman had removed. Two fresh dents adorned the back plate. Places where crossbow arrows hadn't penetrated the blued steel. The same metallic clang the necromancer's apprentice had heard when Jeanne had covered her. At the time, she'd thought it had been a single hit. But the arrows had just struck almost simultaneously. — Right.
The Three-Horned Gorge showed up ahead four days later. It was lunchtime when the Toad dropped into the village square, scaring away the recruits who were training there. Jeanne was the first to jump down, summoned a soldier, and told him to run to headquarters with the news. Captain Utlt arrived at the dragoness lying in the middle of the square before the marshal and the necromancer.
— Where is the girl? — The black-bearded elf asked, glancing anxiously at the four arrivals. They must have looked like a band of escaped convicts — especially the one-eyed Virian in rags.
— What... — Marius began, but Rosa, who was sitting on the fold of the dragon's wing, interrupted him:
— Lady Lytel is unharmed, captain. She's leading two other guests on a foot march.
— Ah... — Marius nodded in confirmation of her words, — I'll come back for them as soon as Toad rests.
— I see. — The Anelonian's face showed genuine relief. — So everyone's alive?
— Not very healthy, but yes, alive. — Rosa stroked her thigh and glanced behind the elf's back. — And here is the mentor.
It was clear why Marshal de Cotoci and Donna Vittoria had been delayed — they had arrived in their dress suits and with a small escort, as if they intended to meet a real embassy. At the sight of the only Republican, the necromancer stared at her apprentice with a mute question. She stood up, leaning on Jeanne's arm, introduced Boyarin Yuriev and described in a nutshell the outcome of the whole outing.
— Young Lord Irutava has done well, — the marshal said approvingly. — Lord Yuriev, as military adviser, will make an impression of our capabilities and report to the lord as soon as he arrives. We will be able to start negotiations without any unnecessary delays.
— But first, hot water and hot food for our guest. — Donna Vittoria smiled dazzlingly, made an inviting gesture. — Please, milord. Come with me. Your saviours will be taken care of.
The one-eyed boyar shook Jeanne's hand firmly, nodded to Marius, and turned to Rosa. Suddenly he grabbed her under arms, lifted her up like a child and held her against his broad chest for a moment. Putting the girl, who was dumb with surprise, in her place, he said:
— That was an unofficial act just now, master. Because there should be no ceremony between us. I owe you my life, and I will always be your friend. I'll see you around.
Looking at the back of the departing bearded man, the young sorceress could only squeeze out of herself:
— S... see you.
The delegation moved towards the inn. Only a couple of escort soldiers lingered, obeying the marshal's command.
— I thought she'd at least tell you something, — Jeanne muttered sullenly, glaring at the glowing Vittoria. The necromancer walked beside the Virian, asking him something. Rosa shook her head.
— Master, we will bring you a stretcher, — said one of the soldiers left behind by the Marshal.
— You shouldn't. — The young sorceress raised her palm. — You're free to go. Jeanne... — She gripped her friend's elbow tighter. — Take me home. I just want to go to bed. Everything else — later...
Chapter 22
In the back of her mind, Rosa hoped that her mentor would drop by the next morning. But Vittoria didn't come. Nor the next day. And for another twenty-four hours after that. During this time, the young sorceress was visited by many people — familiar officers and mages, Captain Utlt, Donna Minerva. Even Boyarin Yuriev appeared one evening and handed the girl a large white mushroom.
— There are no flowers here, they've all been trampled, — he explained with a broad grin. — But I found this. But don't eat it, put it in a vase.
Marius was coming too. The knight was still unable to go after Lytel's group — the army needed aerial reconnaissance. The marshal needed to clarify the positions and composition of the royal army on the plains, so the dragon knight was exhausted, flying sortie after sortie. Their meetings lasted a couple of minutes at a time, and there was no thought of a new frank conversation. In the end, Rosa concentrated on her treatment. She didn't want to be out of her life for long.
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