Heirot

Kat gasped at his dizzyness. He must've been badly wounded, oh she should've tended to it earlier! She chided herself for not having done so and knelt by his side, feeling his forehead in worry.

"Shall I get you water?" she asked him, not noticing the flush on her cheeks as she touched him.

"Please," he said closing his eyes, trying to gain his wits. He didn't know what was on the arrow head or how long it would affect his health. He didn't worry about it killing him however.

This was all part of his family curse. To walk the world with long life and many problems and pain. Drakoe had faced problems his entire life but they were usually more emotional problems than physical problems.

Kat fetched him water quickly, scooping it from the river bank with a crudely carved cup she had taken from her knapsack. She knelt by Drakoe's side and helped him sip the cool water. Doing so reminded her of the time when Lord Bryon had been injured in one of his training sessions.

She had nursed his wounds in the privacy of his room. It was there, in that inmate privacy, that Bryon had taken her hand and kissed it lovingly. Kat had been so flustered afterwards that she could barely concentrate on her chores.

Remembering brought a small flush to her cheeks.

Drakoe took the water she offered and sipped it a little at a time. It was good and cold on his parched tongue. "Thank you," he said with a slight smile as he looked into the young girls eyes. He noticed her facial complexion change and asked, "Are you feeling alright?"

He trusted the girls skills but didn't want her tending him if she felt ill herself. He clenched and spit a mouth of the water back onto the ground as a terrible pain cut through him.

"I am fine." she said sheepishly, "Just...over-heated..."

"Good," he said stammering to his feet. He braced himself with the tree and tried to regain his wits. He handed her the water back and adjusted his body to a more comforting position.

"We better start searching or the others now." He walked a bit slouched with one arm clutching his side.

Days passed with no sign of the others and Drakoe's cut seemed to be healing rather rapidly. After the second week of their searching, he removed the bandage for the last time. Drakoe had become rather fond of the servant girl and found her to be rather decent company.

They were no longer on the river banks but they followed the tracks of Zeikiel that were several days ahead. Alone Drakoe would already be to where the beast is, but not with Kat at his side. He took his water skin from his side and drank from it. It was running low and he knew that they would have to find water soon. "How's your water?" he asked Kat as he walked beside her drinking down his last swallow. Luckily they hadn't run into any trouble thus far with anything but Drakoe figured it was only a matter of time before their luck ran out.

Kat walked beside him quietly. Their days of searching and walking did not phase her. She had always been doing much walking for her previous masters. She was so lost in thought analyzing a herbal remedy for Drakoe's other minor wounds that she had almost missed his question.

"Ah," she exclaimed coming out of her daze, "I-I'm..." Checking her water canteen, she found that she was actually out and had not even realized it. "...I'm out." She said it like a shamed child.

Drakoe nodded. He knew they would have to find water soon, but hoped they would catch up with the others before they did. They seemed to be gaining on them little by little. He wiped a bead of sweat from his burning face. The sun was hot, even under the canopy of the trees.

"Well I guess we better start looking for some." he told her. A slight smile appeared on his face as a breeze blew past them.

Kat, not one to complain, was sweating horridly from the heat within the forest. Her long sleeved tunic was too much for her in the confined heat of the Ashgrown Forest. Wiping her brow with the back of her hand, Kat agreed to find water with Drakoe.

She ached to strip herself of her confining tunic, but remembered her decency in front of a man of higher birth. She suffered in silence.

They walked in silence until they finally reached a small brook. It wasn't big enough for much of anything but getting some water and wetting their faces.

"Finally," he said as he knelt beside the natural spring. "Ahh..." He splashed the water over his red face. Despite the dreadful heat, the water was ice cold.

"I was beginning to wonder if we were ever going to find this place," he said scoping out the surrounding land.

Kat, grateful to find water so soon, practically dunked her head into the ice cold waters. When she resurfaced, her hair was plastered to her face and was now running water uncomfortably down her sweat soaked body.

"Ah..." she blushed knowing she had to remove pieces of her clothing.

Drakoe laughed as she pulled her head from the water. He didn't notice her blushing with her face already being red from the burning sun.

"What do ya say to us resting here for a while?" For the first time in a long time, Drakoe felt a nice cool breeze blow over his wet face. He sipped a handful of water.

"As you wish," she said softly, inclining her head. She sat on her knees at the bank of the stream, refilling her canteen and growing increasingly uncomfortable until she had finally had enough of it.

"Excuse me, My Lord, but I must...Ah...relieve myself of these clothes for new ones." She blushed more, bowing her head before standing and scurrying off behind tall shrubs.

Drakoe shrugged as she scampered off. "I really wish she would quit calling me lord." he said gruffly to himself.

She was gone for a few long minutes and he finally asked, "Do you need some help over there?" His voice was playful and joking.

"Oh...my..." His playing and joking suggestion made her hug herself protectively before remembering where she was and who she was with. At least that part of her past as a slave she had overcome... Quickly, she removed the long sleeved under shirt from her body and replaced it with just the vest of her tunic. She had also removed her leggings, scolding herself over how revealing she was being, but the weather was just too sultry.

Finally, she emerged in just a blue colored vest and skirt tunic and leather boots, her leggings and shirt drapped over her arm.