Chapter 26: Escaping the Ruins of War

Saffron watched in horror as the dragons fell towards the earth, intertwined. “No!” she screamed and began to run, pushing men out of her way. She stumbled, landing hard on the frozen ground. She lurched to her feet. She had to reach him. She had to.
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Her mouth was agape in dismay when she reached the field. Elric’s body, still in dragon form, heaved with wet, ragged breaths. Arrows protruding from his body and his blood ran free and thick down his sides. She scrambled over the embankment his crash had created and slid down the other side. She saw Udril’s soldiers advancing towards his prone body.
Suddenly, she was standing before him, brandishing a sword she had found abandoned on the ground. She held the sword expertly; her grandmother had insisted that she learn at a young age to defend herself and she remembered the lessons now. She spun the pommel in her hand and stared down the advancing soldiers who froze, their faces unsure how to approach the woman defending the dragon.
“Be gone! You will go no further!” she yelled, her golden hair whipping in the wind. She appeared as a goddess to the men in front of her, the protector of dragons. “Turn back!” she screamed at them, holding the sword aloft.
The trembling of the earth announced the arrival of the Runswick army. The Udril soldiers retreated quickly as the Runswick soldiers charged towards them, rushing past Saffron who laid her body across Elric’s head, shielding it.
The Runswick soldiers pressed the other army back, giving Saffron the time she needed to bind the worst of Elric’s wounds. She quickly removed the arrows before he can shift back, worried that the amount of damage that his dragon form sustained would kill his human one. Blood seeped freely from the wounds but she was able to remove all the arrows.
Soon the scales melt away as they did before, leaving only marred, human skin beneath. Elric is still not awake, his breathing rapid, and his heart racing. She needs to get him warm before his body freezes and he dies. She swallows her tears and bandages the worst of the injuries.
A lone horse was tied to a small tree on the edge of the clearing, abandoned by its rider. She coaxed it sweetly and with every ounce of her strength, she heaved Elric’s body over the animal’s back. She guided it through the mostly barren camp. Nearly every soldier was fighting, only the wounded and those attending them are still in the tents.
Wulfstan is waiting at her tent when she arrives. He looks down at Elric’s body, his eyes unreadable. He points to a cart laden with their things. “You must go, and quickly. Once the smoke settles, who knows what hell will be to pay for him shifting. I’ll send word when it is safe.” He said and helped to load Elric onto the cart. He covered him with furs, obscuring him from view.
“Where shall we go? We cannot go to Avolire,” she said, panic rising in her chest. He shook his head.
“No, you cannot go there. That is the first place that they will look for him. Go into the forest, as far as you can. No one will dare look for you there.”
“How will you know where to find us?” she asked as tears streaked down her face, wondering if she could even manage to find them a suitable shelter.
“I have my ways, princess. Take care of him,” he replied with a smile. Her heart raced. He had called her princess. It gave her faith that Elric would pull through and they would be married.
“I promise,” she said with a sad smile.
“You better get going,” he said and with one last look at Elric, walked away and disappeared into the mass of tents. Saffron glanced down at the battle raging in the valley below them. The clanging of swords echoed through the air.
After she hitched her stolen horse to the cart, she climbed into the driver’s bench and set off into the forest, trotting towards the unknown.
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Elric awoke to a sea of stars stretched above him. His entire body was wracked with pain and as he tried to sit up, he was aware of the broken ribs on his left side. He tried to take a deep breath but only managed a wheeze.
He looked down at his body. He was covered in fresh bandages and wrapped tightly in the furs from his bed. Confused he looked around. He was somewhere in the forest, surrounded by trees and in the back of a cart.
“What the hell?” he said aloud. A crackling drew his attention to a few feet from the cart and he saw a fire spark to life, Saffron crouched before it. At the sound of his voice, she looked up. The bruise on her face had begun to yellow and the swelling had gone down since he last remembered seeing her.
“You’re awake,” she stated and walked towards him, a fur wrapped around her shoulders.
“I am. Where the hell are we?” he asked as she climbed onto the cart beside him.
“I haven’t a clue,” she replied and passed him her water skein. He took a small drink, the icy water freezing his throat. He coughed a bit, his ribs aching.
“What happened? Why are we in the forest, in the back of a cart, in the middle of winter?” he asked, his eyes darting around them. A horse snorted nearby as it nosed its way through the few inches of snow on the ground, hunting for grass. “And where in the hell did you get a horse?” his eyes turned back to hers and she let out a chuckle.
“You don’t remember? There was another dragon so you…” she trailed off and looked back into the flames of their small fire. The battle came rushing back to him. He groaned and put his head in his hands. “Wulfstan thought it would be safest if we hid until everything settled down. I cannot imagine too many people will be pleased knowing about your ability,” she replied and rubbed her hand across his back.
“I suppose not,” he said gruffly. “So, what else happened after I fell?”
“Well, I had to pull nearly a hundred arrows from your arse and threaten the Udril soldiers with a sword I found, and then I stole a horse and here we are,” she quipped. He laughed and then doubled over with a groan, holding his side.
“Drink this,” she said and gave him a sleeping draught she had kept from the surgery. “You need some rest. I’ll watch over you,” she said and helped him to lie back. She added another fur atop him and lay next to him, her fingers brushing his hair back from his own bruised face.
“We make quite a pair, you and I,” she said and kissed his eyelids which had begun to close.