I wasn't sure if anyone else saw me hightail it out of that shop, but I knew where I was headed. I bent my head down, hid the vial in my satchel, and hurried for the gate. I saw another caravan heading out, and after making sure no one was looking, I scrambled to get in as the guards were surveying the carriages at the front.
After successfully hiding myself, I watched through a peephole as the caravan made it's way away from the imposing gates as the final orders were given before the closing of the night. The caravan didnt go far before I silently crawled out and took cover near a boulder. I waited for it to go out of sight before rushing across the sand to get to the cave Richie was in.
"Thank the heavens! I just knew you were done for!" Richie tried to sound lighthearted but his voice was raspy and he was clutching the gash at his side.
"Hush up now and drink this." I poured the water down his throat while he eagerly slurped it up. Realizing that I didnt get any bandages, I grabbed for the rest of my dress' skirt and made due with those as bindings. I pulled out the elixir, had him drink a little then poured the remainder on his gash.
"Oooo girl that hurts like hellfire. What in heavens name is that stuff?"
"Some kind of healing potion." I answered vaguely.
"You don't even know what it is and you have me drinking it?! For land sakes! Are you insane woman?"
"Shut your trap. I went through a lot to get this I have you know."
----
We slept through the night. In the morning, it was easy to see that we would have difficulty entering in through the gates again. For one, Richie only had underwear and the top of my dress. For two, walking up to the gates just qualified for questioning. It was obvious we had to wait around for another caravan. Since Richie wasn't as stealthy as me, we would need to ask to board a caravan, preferably one with extra clothing. The plan was to have Richie strip to his bare-hide and claim that he was placed outside the gate as result of gambling. I would sneak in to one of the carriages and hopefully the persons in the caravan would be kind enough to allow Richie to have some clothes and a ride into the city. If not, we would have to overthrow a couple of horsemen and steal their clothes/horses. Only issue with that was, in order to prevent them from coming back to the gates and informing that the horses were stolen, we would have to kill them.
I guess we would see which showed up first to determine which plan to take.