Régnwald opened his eyes after what seemed like winters to him. A grim, worried expression growing in his lined features as he turned to gaze upon the maiden. What has she said, he thought. A hand finding the moisted rag embracing his chest, and he once attempted to study his wound, a deep sigh of pain following, which would mayhap be enough for Faerhild to wake up if she had not.
She laid awake, her snow pale skin covered by a thick layer of cold sweat. The men had tried to keep her warm, and she did lie below and between an impressive pile of cloaks, only her face revealed. Despite that, every part of her trembled, even her weak voice when she called out for him, between ragged breaths "..A-hh..Are youh awake..hhh?''
The man spared her a worried, sad glance "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to... wake you." It was uttered low. Head cocking to the side with a thoughtful air, and his eyes glistened once remembering the issue they had argued about last time. "It's the second day, eh?" He asked with a slightly arched brow.
She attempted to swallow, although there wasn't anything to swallow, as she had not been able to hold her drinks. A ragged sigh escaped from between her chapped lips as she turned her head slightly to stare at him, her eyes lightless and weary for the everlasting pain, "I....I think I'm dying....and I think...they're coming for you." Her face wrinkled at yet another wave of pain, and she took a moment, before she continued, "The healer...will come with men...You should ask your men to move you elsewhere if you...wish to.... walk free."
Régnwald held her gaze with more care "Nay, you're not going to die. You were saved." He comforted her, pausing and letting his words hang in the air for a few moments "Not your fault. Now Forlaw's healer will cure ya. I truly don't know which is best for my men. We've been running for far too long." He eyed her a beat with some sound meaning in his words, before it faded like a dying star. "I can offer myself in exchange for granted safety of my men. But we were made wolf's-head, which means there's no law to protect us." His last sentence lingered in the air, the man swallowing heavily.
She did not seem to find comfort in his words. Although she replied in weak whispers, "Saved by...a small woman." She squeezed her eyes shut and let out a sob in yet another sensation of pain, "Ih...I will tell the Reeve I set you free...I will tell him I lied...that it was his order...That I promised to you and....hhh..and that I will do, even if with my last dying breath...if it grants your men...any favours...in the eyes ofh...law." She closed her eyes, frowning at the throbbing pain in her wound, "I can not..promise for my brother...It is likely he will...see my state....as your fault...." She coughed a few times violently, "He is quick to blame...." She drew in a dry trembling breath, "Although...in truth...I too... think you should...reconsider...leading men."
The man paused, brow furrowed and lips pursed beneath his beard. He searched for mouth words, gazing about the battered war-net adorning him. The deep voice was now edged with some worry, felt by the unusual stance the woman before him bore, "The oath was not only yours to keep... You've played your part well. And I am to hold mine... Save him." The frown deepened "Dealings in Forlaw don't grasp my care, nor my firmness. -- This deed isn't done, Faerhild. But I will not ask any of you to follow me anymore." It was stated lowly; though his voice no less firm. He would shake a pale thereafter, pursing his chafed lips but in answer, not adding the words of his own. He merely firmed his bearded jaw.
Faerhild let out a dark huff of air that sounded like a dry weak chuckle, "Fhollow you? I am..lucky...if I live. As is Eorcan...what comes for your other men...they hh...are few. You have -seen- the....enemy. It is not a mission...for four men...." She coughed again, shivering for a moment until she managed to add, "I told you before we went there that.....we needed more men..and I will tell you...the same now. It is up to you if you listen...or not. A proper warband is needed....and you do not have it. Forlaw has this...as do the other nearby establishments...If I live, I am not rushing...to death again..with but a handful of men and their proud leader...It is not because I am a coward, but because I have faith...success can be achieved only...with a larger force. If you are eager for.... your men to meet Gydgar, I encourage you to return. I however....will talk with the man who sent me here." She bit her teeth together in pain, adding through them, "If I manage to live...until that."
The Horselord let a ghostly smile in dark humour crack in his lips. Wandering his eyes around in search of an object and reaching out to his side, an arm clad in iron and leather grasped the chipped wooden tankard. "It's true I knew there'd be orcs." He paused, eyeing Faerhild dark and solemnly with something akin to passion "The fort, was something we were unused to... But now, we know of its structure." His eyes landed on the tankard once more, soundlessly turning it in his hand and studying with his reddened fingers. "They'll be here soon. Riders of Forlaw." He remarked, without any meaning underneath his word. "Climbing was folly. It didn't help, yeah... Now all we need is a distraction." He added.
She stared at him in wild confusion, shivering in her fever, "I told you there would be a fort...and I told you we would need more men....I told you of the routes... Why did you not send scouts if you were unsure and untrusting of my words? Four men, some of them wounded, can not....hhh...make distraction and a heist. Why are you too stubborn...hh..to ask aid? Find more men?... A larger force?" She bit her teeth together again, twisting in discomfort. "You will not be able to fight properly for some weeks....Thrymm might die during that time....This is not about you...or I....it is about him and it is not even about him...but the threat those orcs cast upon the whole region. The settlements nearby must stand ready....it's not...one man's war to regain his honour..." She grunted and then growled in pain, slithering more beneath her blankets, he could only see her nose and her eyes that closed. Unwilling to look at him. Dark silent words could be heard from below the fabric, "I am starting...to grasp...why Stangard fell."
Régnwald listened her words with all the patience he could muster, frowned with a brooding gaze but other than that he would seem calm. "Knowing there'd be a fort is a thing. But we had to know the inside, now we know. Faerhild, our challenge is against time, you're aware." He noted, trying to hold her gaze "And I agree we failed... badly." He casted his eyes to his armour and rags around him. "It appears you're so eager to judge me over things you're yet to discover. You don't know what happened in Stangard. And you don't know me either." He shook his head with a little cold air about him, firming his jaw, he breathed heavily with the fatigue of recent, dark days. "It's true I seek the path of honour for my men, for they don't deserve being looked down for something gravely misunderstood. Yeah..." He paused "But it matters less than life of Thrymm and survival of Forlaw." The young earl spake in truthful words, although 'twas for the beholding eyes to see or nay.
She opened her eyes to stare up at the ceiling, pulling down the blanket ever so slightly to reveal her pale lips, her voice weak and hoarse, shattered by the fever.. "I hhh...have not judged you....by words of others...but for what I have seen so far.......For now it is your actual deeds and decisions...that speak of your ill judgement." She coughed, still not sparing a glance at him, "Your men...them I can respect...I can only wish you will not throw their lives away again...just to catch a closer glimpse at a fort...." She let out a heavy breath, closing her eyes. "I am happy I did not seek your council before I sent Yrminas to fetch the healer....There is no point in dying without a reason. I think you should leave...now....if you wish to continue what you have started as a free man. I believe....Ethelweard is outside."
The wounded man remained silent a long time at that. Yet his eyes would betray her words, soundlessly seeking for her eyes, his own still red-rimmed after the ill sword-work. He would dare evenly to look her in the eye regardless of the scout maiden's words. "Then why kill me? Take me out of my misery... 'Tis what they'd in Forlaw afterall." He sighed darkly with the faintest of shrugs. "And respect isn't the hoard of fair words by others. Well, those seeking it are now in Forlaw, eh. -- Those beside me are here for a higher cause. It's not death or life... And I curse Wyrd claimed Gydgar and not me." Eyes hardened in sorrow. Turning in answer after a length to her last advice "Warband will decide for it. You take care of yourself, for we've lost too much already." He straightened some in his bed, appearing weary but he managed to stand in his byrnie, sucking in a deep, painful breath.
She glanced at him, "I promised to take the blame..... they would not be able to kill you for being mislead by a crazed woman." She drew in a breath, "It is your and your men decision what path you choose....whatever it is...I hope you have learnt of your mistakes." She looked down at the furs that laid atop her,"...For the sake of those few... who remain alive."
Straw-coloured brows furrowed at that, eyeing her a beat with his habitual solemnity and his features heralding the sound of determination in the man who was made wolf's-head. "Warband will keep its oath no matter what." It was stated firmly. He drew his breast close "And I promise you, --" he was cut off, by a man stepping inside to talk to him, who would be noone but Hondscioh. Régnwald gazed between them briefly, nodding his head silently to his redbearded companion.
She would nod subtly, "I can only hope....I live to see that day." She'd then look at Hondscioh briefly before closing her eyes.
