"It's crazy," Benaret agreed after hearing Lirris' plan. "But it is sort of out only choice isn't it? I don't want to lose you or..." he shuddered, "anything else."
Lirris nodded. "Right. We've got to start preparing because we have to leave tonight or before dawn tommorow. We'll have a better chance of making it if we leave tonight."
While Rainsorl and Laise were at the midday meal, Lirris led Benaret into their quarters. "You're sure they won't notice that their clothes are gone?" Benaret asked nervously as he tried on some of Rainsorl's clothes.
Lirris shrugged on as she pulled on one of her mother's shirts. "No, but how far do you think we'd get trying to pass off as and old man and woman in our normal clothes?"
"I still feel a little wierd taking them," Benaret sighed but folded up a third outfit and stuffed it into a bag. "Especially since we're going to be stealing a lot to get out of here."
"Not stealing," Lirris corrected as she changed back into her own clothes and put her four favorites of her mother's outfits into her own bag. "Borrowing. They'll be too busy worrying about their missing daughter to worry too much about missing clothes."
The clothes were only the first of many preparations needed before they could leave, they had to find a runner and cart to steal as well, they'd never get far on foot and they'd need quite a story for people not to be suspicious of them. By the evening meal, however, everything was ready, with the help of Gilla and a few other of Lirris and Benaret's friends.
"We're going to miss you two around here," Gilla admitted after she finished dying Lirris' hair black. "I hope you guys make it and I really hope this dye washes out. You don't look bad in black, though."
Lirris laughed as she looked into the small mirrot Gilla handed her. "Not bad at all. Thank you for everything, Gilla. Hopefully, someday we can come back and see everyone."
"Lirris! The runner and cart are here!" Hurry up!" Benaret called from outside the kitchens. "We have to leave!"
"Well, good-bye for now, I guess," Gilla replied. "Hopefully not forever."
Lirris gave her friend a quick hug and then dashed out the back door of the kitchen to where Benaret was already seated in the driver's seat, the reigns of a large chestnut in his hands.
"C'mon!" Benaret put out a hand to help Lirris up. One she was settled beside him, Benaret gave the reigns a jerk and urged the horse on. The chestnut tossed his head and started into a fast trot which quickly changed to a canter and then an all out gallop. Lirris turned around in her seat to watch her home dissapear around the corner.
Talmur chirped sadly as the Healing Hall vanished from from view and rubbed his head up against Lirris' cheek reassuringly.
Benaret noticed Lirris' sadness glumly. "You're sure you want to do this?" he asked over the wind and the sound of the chestnut's hooves striking the ground.
Lirris shivered and drew her cloak closer but nodded yes. "It's the only thing I can do," she replied and scooted closer to Benaret who threw his cloak around her, worried by the shivers that racked her body.
The weather got increasingly worse as they sped through the forest, a summer storm obviuously on its way. The rain was coming down in sheets that penetrated all clothing, leaving Benaret and Lirris soaking and cold as ice. Talmur sat on Lirris' shoulders, trying desperately to keep her warm. By the time it was too dark to travel any further, Lirris was covered in blankets and Benaret was sure his hands were frozen in place on the reigns.
As he looked for somewhere to stop for the night by the light of dying glows, something went wrong. Benaret never knew what happened, he just knew that one moment he was sitting on top of the cart and the next moment he hit the mud and the glows went out. He could see, dimly, the outline of the runner, struggling to get up. Feeling his way along, Benaret managed to free the poor animal from the cart. The runner got up and then sank to its knees.
A pitiful chirp from Talmur reminded Benaret of Lirris. Suddenly, he realized he didn't know where she was. "Lirris!" he called over the wind and heard a groan of pain in return.
His vision was adjusting to the dark now enough so that he could open the back of the cart and get out a new batch of glows. By the glowlight, he made a horrible discover: Lirris was trapped under the cart.
He managed, somehow, to get the cart off of Lirris, but it was obvious that she would need a healer. She was bleeding freely from a gash on her leg that ran from her heel to her knee and seemed to go very deep.
Having worked in a healer hall for some time, Benaret had picked up some healing skills. He found a shirt in the things that had fallen out of the cart and tore off a sleeve to use as a bandage.
While he was banadaging her leg, Lirris recovered a small peice of her conciousness. "Benaret?" she asked weakly to the dark figure by her leg.
"Yes?" he asked, relieved that she was awake.
"I'm bleeding pretty bad aren't I?" she asked, trying to look at her leg. "Don't lie, I'm only asking you to confirm what I already know."
Benaret nodded. "Yeah. I've bandaged it up to stop the bleeding, but you're going to need a healer."
"Well than shard it, go get one!" Lirris demanded. "Talmur can protect me for a while until you get back."
"Are you crazy?" Benaret asked. "I can't leave you here with only a flit to protect you! Who knows what's out there?"
"Just go!" Lirris told him. "But before you do, promise me that if I don't make it, you'll go on living without me."
It hadn't even occured to him yet that Lirris might die because of this. "Only..." he had to stop for a moment to control his voice,"Only if you promise me the same thing."
Lirris smiled and nodded. "I promise. Now go before you have to make good on that promise!"
Benaret put two glows in the mud beside Lirris' head. "I'll be back soon," he promised, leaning down to plant a kiss on her forehead. With a last look at Lirris, Talmur perched watchfully by her head, Benaret roused the exhausted runner and raced off to find a healer.
� � �
follow Benaret | follow Lirris
here's where it gets a bit confusing: if you follow Benaret or Lirris, I suggest you come back and follow the other one to get a full understanding of the story. Though both eventually end up back on the same page you need to follow each one to understand how they got there :0)