"Who's there?" a timid voice called out, apprehension filling the words completely.
"Just us Cinder," Beth called back, happy to have at least found Cinder's family.
"Amelia's hurt badly," Cinder blurted.
"We know," Tim replied gently. "Calm down. We're going to check on her so we can be sure if she'll be alright or not."
Cinder let out an audible sigh. Beth might have teased him for getting so wound up, but with the day she'd had, wound up should be the least of the state of anyone from that village.
Or at least of those who were still there and alive.
Suddenly Beth realized the light that she had thought was a campfire was moving. Not only that, but it was dying out as it approached her.
When it was completely out, she heard a soft whimpering. Then she felt something pressing against her leg. Which is when she realized that the light had been Flare.
"Oh, Flare helped protect us," Cinder said, apparently noticing Flare by her. "But I think Embris was worried she wouldn't be enough, so Embris took Nymis and Rephis and ran off. Then the bandits followed her after a couple minutes, but I couldn't do anything for my father."
"Where is you father?" Beth asked as she bent over briefly to rub Flare's head for a moment, wanting to make sure that it really was too late to do anything. Especially since she hadn't a clue as to what had happened. "And where's Amelia?"
Cinder sighed. "Father was hit with an arrow, but by the time I found Amelia, he wasn't breathing."
"How long ago was that?" Beth asked. If Cinder had only just found Amelia, then that could mean there was a chance.
"A little before the sun went down," Cinder answered, dashing Beth's hopes.
"Take us to him anyway," Hannah said. "You never know. He might still be alive."
Beth didn't have much hope of that, but stranger things had happened. Like them encountering a unicorn without even realizing it. However, Beth doubted that she was going to have enough strength to help both Cinder's father and Amelia if both turned out to be alive and in need of magical healing.
"Shouldn't you look at Amelia first?" Cinder asked. "She's closer."
Beth sighed. A blow to the back of the head didn't sound as serious as not breathing, but it wasn't like she had many options here. After all, it wasn't like she could just go walking around and just happen to see where Cinder's father was. Not at night with this darkness.
"Alright," Beth told Cinder. "We'll look at Amelia first, but then we'll need to go take a look at your father, okay?"
"Alright," Cinder replied.
So, she followed Cinder and after less than a minute, she was kneeling down where she guessed Amelia was laying. Beth put her hands on the sides of Amelia's head and used her magic for a quick scan. She didn't do as thorough of a scan as she had done with Hannah, but that was mostly because she was wanting to try and hold some of her magic in reserve, just in case she'd be able to help Cinder's father with it.
However, what she found opened a pit for her stomach to fall through. While Amelia had been hit on the back of her head by something, it had caused her to be bleeding inside her brain. Which was very serious.
Beth couldn't say precisely how serious, but she knew enough to know that if she didn't do something about that, Amelia was likely going to die. It didn't seem like it was going to happen quickly, but if nothing was done, it was possible that she wouldn't survive the night.
Not only that, but Beth wasn't sure exactly how to go about treating it, since she hadn't studied this subject as in depth as Amelia had. Although, she suspected that Amelia probably would be as lost as she was, since Amelia hadn't really had time to really study all of the medical books as thoroughly as she would have liked.
Which meant, if Beth had to sacrifice any chance to save Cinder's father to save Amelia right now, she was going to do so. Maybe it was a little selfish to do that for her friend, but at the same time, Cinder had also made it clear that he wanted Beth to save Amelia, so it wasn't like she was the only one, who wanted her to do something for her friend who was laying on the ground before her.
Beth immediately put her hands on either side of Amelia's head and started to pull her magic through the bracelet she'd woven herself on her right wrist, before pouring what she could into Amelia, first healing the part that was bleeding, then to reduce the pressure on Amelia's brain.
When she was done, she nearly fell over Amelia, but was able to catch herself. She was glad that it had worked, although she was most surprised that it didn't take more out of her than that. She was pretty sure she had a little more strength with her magic left, just not much. Yet, she couldn't say right off hand what she thought she might be able to accomplish with it, as she couldn't remember using this much magic before.
Yet, when she pulled away from Amelia, she suddenly felt like the world was spinning. Not just around, but almost like it was moving on the x, y, and z axis.
She couldn't explain why, but what she could tell was that she found herself laying on the ground unable to tell if she'd fallen face down or if she was laying on her side or back.
The only conclusion she could reach was that while it felt like she could use her magic more, she clearly had overused it. Even if she had a time where she felt she had to used her magic again, she might kill herself if she did that. Which meant, she probably should spend a week without using a single drop of it.
It might be an extreme measure, but like Charlie, she didn't want to die herself. Which meant she'd have to accept the discomfort with her decision, although, she couldn't help but suspect, especially with their current circumstances, that she might be very tempted to use her magic more later on.
She just hoped that she wouldn't find herself in a life or death situation in this state. If she did, she was sure that she'd probably use her magic, since the other option might be a certain death rather than just a chance of it.
"Beth? Are you okay?" Beth heard Tim ask from somewhere around her.
"Not really," she answered, "but I made sure Amelia's going to be okay. She's not in any danger now."
"Can you check father?" a voice asked, and Beth was fairly sure it was Feon asking.
Although, it could be someone else, given how not only was her sense of direction failing her, but it also felt like sounds were starting to get a little… fuzzy. While she couldn't describe it better than that, it didn't change the fact that she could tell that she'd really done a number on herself with healing Ameila.
Which meant that healing her friend had probably taken more magic than she had realized. Not that she'd have done anything differently. Just that she could tell she was out of commission for the near future, even once she could walk on her own again.
"…can't say if there's anything wrong with her," Beth heard someone say, and she thought it might be Tim.
She wasn't sure how she'd missed the first part of what he'd said, but she knew she had somehow. Maybe she'd lost herself in her thoughts longer than she had thought, but part of her said there might be something more to it than just that.
She wanted to let them know that she wasn't able to move or do anything on her own right then, but she realized she could only make choked sounds come out of her throat. Which told her that her conversational skills were now gone.
"Is that a good sign?" a young child's voice asked.
"Probably not, but I think it might just be that she overextended herself. She…" the voice she thought might be Tim's said. However, as he was talking, it felt like her hearing started to go in and out. "…don't…wrong…ould…ning."
"Can't…thi…just…ou…tay…" another voice said, but Beth's mind was starting to refuse to process who it might belong to.
She then closed her eyes, which only made the spinning sensations worse. However, she had a feeling she needed to sleep more than anything right now, and given how things were for her, she wasn't going to be able to do anything else anyway.
Though, she did wish she had been able to get something to eat. Going hungry had never been something she liked to do. Yet, at this point, she didn't really have much of a choice.
_
Embris huddled in the hollow of the tree, holding Rephis and Nymis against her. She had only recently become aware she was being followed. She had a feeling it was the bandits from before, but she couldn't be sure. If it was the bandits that had attacked her family, then she at least had distracted them enough for Cinder to find Amelia so she could help their father. Or at least, that was her hope.
Yet, regardless of if that would happen, she had to make sure that the brother and sister of hers that she had with her were kept safe as well. Both of them were too young for her to expect they'd be of any help right then, but that didn't matter to her. The fact that she was their older sister was what was important. It was her job to protect them and she wasn't going to fail at that if she could help it.
Only, she couldn't say if where they were hiding would keep them from being discovered. If the bandits did catch them where they were, Embris was certain that the only way for her to have a chance to continue to protect her brother and sister was to surrender.
She didn't like that option, but it wasn't like life always gave you options that you liked. All she could hope at the moment was that they didn't realize she and her siblings had stopped moving. If they passed them by, then Embris was sure that they'd have a chance at getting away from them completely.
However, she also didn't want her brother and sister to go to sleep without being able to eat anything, but it wasn't like they had any food with them. Cinder had been the one carrying that, so all it meant was that she'd need to do some foraging once she was sure those who were following them had gone.
Initially, she'd chosen to stop here because she knew that she was the only one who had the strength to continue running. Although, in reality, she'd been carrying both of them and it wasn't like Nymis had done any running in the first place. Yet, she couldn't help but face facts. Even if she herself had continued carrying both of her siblings, she knew she'd eventually have to stop as well.
The place they were hiding wasn't a place that was easy to come across, so she couldn't pass up the opportunity. Not only did it keep them from being seen by whoever was following them, but it would protect them from any weather that might come their way in the night.
Embris felt both of her sibling's breathing even out, telling her they'd fallen asleep, which she was at least happy about. All she now needed was for her pursuers to leave and she could look around for anything that she could get her siblings to eat, so they could keep their strength up.
Not that she expected to find much. The sun had already set and the stars were filling the sky, so visibility was rather low. Yet, she knew she wouldn't let that stop her. She was confident that she'd find something, even if it was a small root. Anything was better than nothing. Something that would at least fill their mouths, if not their stomachs.
With that thought in mind, Embris didn't realize when she fell asleep herself.
_
The smell of something cooking pulled Ralph out of his sleep. He couldn't say how long he'd been out, but he knew that he was hungry. He slowly sat up, his head pounding hard.
At first, he thought maybe he was still dreaming, despite the pain in his head, but after a minute of looking around, he realized that it wasn't a dream.
"Hey, you're awake," Ralph heard a familiar voice say.
He turned and saw Wes, holding a small bowl of something that he was eating. He didn't offer any to Ralph, so he slowly looked around, hoping that he'd be able to find something to eat himself.
"If you're looking for dinner, it's over there," Wes said, motioning to his right.
Ralph looked over and could see a large pot of something that was sitting on top of a small campfire.
Ralph wanted to stand up and walk over there, but as he tried, his legs wouldn't cooperate with him. They just felt so sore and felt like limp noodles as they moved mere inches to the point that he didn't think it would be a good idea to trust his weight on them.
"I'll be over there when I can manage it," Ralph said, not wanting to admit that it probably was going to take him the entire night.
"I'll get you a bowl then," Wes said casually as if Ralph had asked him to. "I mean, you definitely wore yourself out, so until we get our strength back, we'll probably all need to go easy on each other."
Maybe it was because he was still rather tired or because he'd just woken up, but he wasn't sure he really followed all that Wes had said. Part of it felt like he was merely an observer, as if this was a scene in a movie or TV show. Generally, it felt weird and he hoped he didn't have to experience this situation again. Not that he could figure out how he'd be able to manage that.
"Where's Beth?" Ralph asked, as he started to recognize some of the people around him from helping the escape the caged wagon.
"Not sure," Wes said as he finished up eating whatever he had in the bowl. "She said she'd keep an eye on things while I looked for food, but when I came back, she wasn't here." Wes then glanced at someone across the crowd that was sitting around the pot of whatever Wes had cobbled together. "All I could get out of any of the kids Beth had been leading was that she'd asked one of them to look after the others. The girl didn't say anything more."
Ralph sighed. "Well, if she went off somewhere, I'd guess it was probably Tim, Amelia, or Hannah who got her. I mean, those are the only other ones we can't be sure of where they'd be."
"There is Cinder's family, but yeah. Beth wouldn't have just gone without saying anything to us if it was just anyone," Wes replied thoughtfully. Then a moment later, he got up and walked over to the pot, where he began ladling what looked like it might have been a soup or stew into a bowl before bringing it back to Ralph with a wooden spoon.
"Thanks," Ralph said as he accepted the bowl. Even if it didn't taste good, it was at least something to eat, which would also mean that his stomach wouldn't stay empty.
"Anyway, if it was Hannah, any idea where she was?" Wes commented. "I mean, she was supposed to head right over when we first became aware of something happening here, but then she never showed up. I mean, for her to flake on something less serious isn't like her to begin with, so what could have happened to keep her from showing up for this?"
Ralph shrugged as he started eating the stew. As he'd suspected, it didn't taste very good, but that might have been more from a lack of spices than anything else. He could detect what this world had in way of carrots and celery, as well as what he assumed was chunks of goat meat, since that was largely the only animal other than chickens he'd seen in the village, and it definitely didn't have the same texture as chicken.
"Well, whatever happened, lets hope she's alright, right?" Wes asked.
Ralph merely nodded. He felt like he should say more than that, but at the moment, he really didn't care. Even as he ate the stew, he couldn't help but feel his drowsiness taking him over. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to finish his bowl of stew before he was out.
Though, when Ralph didn't reply, We didn't say anything else, which Ralph appreciated. It was kind of hard to be part of a conversation when you were eating and didn't want to take the time to reply. Especially when you couldn't be sure if you'd be able to finish before you fell asleep again.
However, despite his worries, it wasn't long before he set the mostly empty bowl down to his side and lay back on the ground. The last conscious thought of his was about how uncomfortably hard the ground was before he was out again.
_
Hesha felt like she'd been roasted as she woke up. She remembered following Ralph into the fire, but not getting out. She wasn't sure why she was still alive, but didn't plan on complaining the point.
However, the next thought she had was about her sister, which caused her eyes to snap open in alarm. She might have gotten out of the fire, but she couldn't say if her sister had as well.
As she opened her eyes, she saw the sky full of stars above her, giving just enough light that she could see everyone around her sleeping. While it was still pretty dark, her eyes hurt at the sudden change in lighting, making her feel like she'd just looked directly at the sun for a few minutes. She couldn't say if there was anything wrong with her eyes or if they were just that tired.
Still, she waited until they were comfortable seeing in the starlight before she started looking around, trying to find where her sister was. She couldn't really make any faces out, but she didn't let that stop her.
She wasn't going to let herself relax again until she knew that her sister was alright.
Not that she had to look very far. She felt like she should have felt her sister's presence laying next to her when she'd woken up, but because she hadn't, she couldn't help but feel like there might be something wrong with her.
Rather than trying to find something to settle her complaining stomach, she instead curled up next to her sister, not wanting to be away from her at the moment. She couldn't be sure that her sister would make it just yet, so she didn't want to be away from her for a moment.
Beth had said she'd done what she could, but that didn't mean her sister would make it. She wanted her sister to survive, but with how little she'd been able to get what she wanted in her life, she was scared that this would be something else that wouldn't turn out well for her. That would be taken away before she had a chance to learn what her sister had always hinted at that she would teach Hesha one day.
She didn't know yet if any of her brothers or her father had survived yet. She hoped they had, but if they didn't, then that would mean that she would be the last of her family if her sister died as well. While she didn't want to die herself, the thought of going on alone was a scary one for her. She didn't want to be alone, yet it felt like life wasn't going to be that kind to her. Forcing her to live alone, which in a way she already had, given her ability with wild magic.