It has been more than half a month since they set off. They had been travelling on plains so far. Starting today they started going up heel. Liza and Alicia were travelling in a carriage along with 3 church maidens. Since they couldn't ride a horse, it couldn't be helped. Church maidens rarely talked and Alicia had a feeling that they didn't have any intention to get friendly either.
Squad head stood true to his words and really didn't send Liza's portion of food. Alicia had tried her best to keep Liza healthy so far. She compromised her own portion of food and pasted it to its finest and used a cloth like a dropper to feed it drop by drop. She also changed the cloth on her forehead from time to time but nothing seemed to be working. She was becoming skinnier and skinnier day by day and now resembled more like a skeleton.
According to the coachman, it will take around 3 week more or so to reach hermes. She could only hope that Alice could hang on till then. Then she could ask high priest to ration a little more food by doing some extra work and hopefully that could bring some positive change in Liza's condition.
It was starting to get colder. On hilly regions, this cold was even more chilling and went even to the core of their bones. They only had one pair of clothes each and to keep each other warm, Alicia hugged Liza tightly in her arms. Liza's body was as cold as a dead body! Alicia kept rubbing her hands all over her body saying "Don't worry. I won't let anything to happen to you. You will be alright. We will reach hermes and start a new life where we won't have to be at anyone's mercy anymore"
At that time one of the church maidens pushed a bed sheet towards her.
"Betty! What are you doing?! Did you forget that they are rats?!" another maiden shouted immediately.
"They aren't rats anymore Stepheney. High priest has forgiven their sins already and given them chance to redeem themselves through their lives. They are one of us now. No matter how hard it is to accept, its the truth."
"They are one of us? You must be joking! They lack manner or etiquette. They don't even know how to read. They are just illiterate lowlifes!"
"Regardless, since holy priest took them in, it will look bad on our part if one died under the same roof as us" the third maiden who was silent so far said finally. "We already have our blankets, so sparing a bed sheet won't hurt much.Here, take mine too"
"Lesley you too.... Now I look like the bad person here" Stepheney grumbled.
"Thank you." Alicia was a little dumbfounded at first but thanked them earnestly after taking the bed sheets.
"Don't get the wrong idea. We are not helping you because we like you. Its just because we don't want to hear that someone died while travelling with us and we did nothing about it. It will look bad to our reputation. Do you understand?"
Alicia didn't mind their attitude. She was happy to recieve the bed sheets. With this she could keep themselves warm. After wrapping themselves up with it she felt a comfort she hadn't felt in a long time. It was warm and soon she her eyes closed in comfort. She didn't know how long it had been, when suddenly she heard a faint coughing from near her chest. It took her some time to realize that Liza who had been like a dead body all along had started showing some symptoms of coming to senses. Though she still had her eyes closed and in a weak state, she seemed to be showing signs of discomfort. Alicia sat her up immediately and sprinkled a little water on her face. "Liza are you alright? Can you hear me?"
The three church maidens also seemed curious and came a little closer.
After a few more shaking, Liza coughed twice more clearly before saying in a low tone "... water..."
Alicia took out her water pouch and poured some water into Liza's mouth slowly. Liza caughed again as some water seemed to get stuck in her throat. Alicia patted her back and she finally stabilised a little. Her eye sockets were sunk in and body like a skeleton looking too fragile to hold on to her life but she was awake! There was hope now!
One of the maidens seemed to have noticed this and instructed the coachman to stop the cart.
After a long time Liza finally vitalised and asked feebly "How long have I been out?"
"21 days.." Alicia was so happy right now that she couldn't stop herself from crying in happiness.
"21... damn did I set a new record of sleeping?" she laughed dryly.
"Take some rest now. You are still too weak." Alicia ordered fearing Liza would over exert herself after coming out of a coma for this long.
In the meantime the others noticed the cart stop on its tracks and stopped too. The captain went to the cart and shouted "What happened? Why are you stopping here?"
"Oh! The damsel actually survived? Indeed, those whom the God wills to live on can't die"
Alicia rolled her eyes internally "If we were to listen to you and leave her in port town she would have already been dead." the captain's next words however took her by surprise,
"Since she is awake now, I won't be hard on her. She may have her portion of meal from now on. Don't look at me like that kid. I am not an evil person. The only reason I was strict because I wanted to instill in your head that rank and order mean everything here. My name is Dicarto. Captain Dicarto. Keep my words in mind. "
Alicia nodded. Even though Liza almost died because of this man, both she or Liza meant nothing to him to begin with .Even if he behaved so ruthlessly, he had the qualification to do so whereas they were nobodies. If they wanted to get special treatment, the only way was to get stronger and rank up in position.
"Good. As long as you understand. Alright. We will take a quarter hours rest before continuing."
"You better not piss that man off" Alicia secretly warned Liza.
Liza tried to walk around a little with Alicia's support but she was still too weak. After a few steps she was too tired to continue and thus came back to the carriage.
After some time the troop continued advancing on its path. Every day whenever the carriage stopped for filling water or resting the horses, Liza would get down and try to walk around. Journey continued for three weeks and by the time they could see the top of the cathedral of the holy city, she was although not at her peak condition, she could now run at half her top speed for quite some distance easily.