Outside, the wind howled.
The towel fell.
TWELVE
We walk, and we walk, and we walk.
Then we stop for camp.
Oils are applied, bellies are filled.
Then, again, we walk.
THIRTEEN
My cold, chapped lips wrap around the mouth of the inhaler.
The breaths I draw in are deep and ragged, like my throat is being dragged down the length of a grater.
I fill my lungs all the way to the pit before the stars in my eyes start to fade.
The coughs haven’t finished with me yet.
I swallow them back as best as I can, but my shoulders jerk with each one catching in my throat.
Moments ago, when the ice fae handed me the inhaler in the depths of the darkness, the coughs that were reaching through me weren’t the worst I’ve had. I didn’t double over or pass out in the midst of a fit. But each cough reached all the way down to my diaphragm, a cramp tensing into an iron ball, and my sight started to warp.
Even with the crutch of the inhaler firm in my gloved grip, my head is spinning, my cheeks puffing out with each surge, and my boots are scuffing over the road.
My misbalance is staggering me into the warrior’s side, and it’s not unlike stumbling into a marble statue planted in a museum.
He doesn’t budge.
Doesn’t sway or get pushed off-balance with my uneasy steps.
It’smewho’s knocked around.
And still, I’m on my third kiss of the inhaler, and the coughs haven’t eased.
It’s annoying them.
I’mannoying them.
The fae around me in this unit marching up the highway give an occasional hiss and subdued snarl, huffs coming right after each cough.
But I can’t stop it.
I’m trying.
My mouth is clamped shut, my body sagging against the fight, but I can’t battle them back down.
If the warrior senses it, the annoyance prickling among his kind, then he acts by handing me his waterskin.
It’s total darkness surrounding me, but I feel the slosh of water encased in leather as he pushes it into my gloved hand, and it’s exactly what I imagine a waterbed feels like.
I swap the kiss of the inhaler for the water and sip. Gulping it down wouldn’t be the best idea. One wrong swallow, and I’ll be doubled over with a hacking fit—then who knows what the fae will do to me.
I’m not so sure it’s about how annoying my coughs are, but that the noise fills the darkness when the unit must be silent.
