On solid ground once more, Lori collapsed forward into the snow and immediately turned her attention to the splintering pain in her wrist.
The white fur around her sleeve was stained red with blood and she hurriedly pulled her remaining glove off, gritting her teeth as she rolled the material away from the wound.
The blunt edges of the manacle had cut deeply into her skin. She didn’t appear to have broken anything though blood poured freely from the gashes. She flexed her hand warily.
“Haros!” Lephas called out.
Feeling dazed, Lori sat quietly and watched on as the demons hurried to her side.
“Hold still, Little Dove.” The demon ripped his own gloves off and pulled her injured wrist closer. Lori winced and shut her eyes to the blinding onslaught of healing majick.
The burning pain vanished almost instantly. A secondary deep aching in her shoulder, that she hadn't even been fully aware of, also dissipated. Lori gasped for breath and shivered violently.
“Did you hurt yourself anywhere else?” Haros asked her.
“N-no, I think that's it,” Lori replied through chattering teeth.
Haros grabbed her fur coat and pulled it around her. “Get that jacket back on before you freeze. Can you put your wings back down for me, Little Dove?”
“But they hurt so much,” Lori whimpered, her soft golden wings folding back on themselves once more.
“I'm sure we can fix something up for you. Just get warm again,” Lephas said.
“A few of our guys have wings too.” Haros nodded. “They have slits in the back of their armour so they can let them stretch free.”
Lori laughed. “That would have been a better idea.” She let Haroshelp her back into her jacket and re-fastened the buttons.
“Hands.” Lephas was knelt in front of her, holding out a glove. She carefully fed her numb digits into each finger-hole. “This one is bloodied but it's better than no glove at all.” He held the other out to her.
Lori noticed his handsome face was drawn tight with concern. He kept his dark gaze averted whilst he helped her back into her gear.
“Thank you,” she murmured and got to her feet. Her legs shook beneath her, but held.
“Are you able to continue?” Haros asked, tugging his snood back over his face. The other men gathered their packs from where they had discarded them during the panic.
Lori simply nodded and pulled her own fur snood up.
“Alright, let's carry on then.” Haros glanced to his commander for confirmation.
“Move out,” Lephas’s deep voice rumbled behind her.
Lori began to follow but met with resistance in the manacle once again. The newly healed skin was numb and tingly against the pressure. She turned to look at Lephas curiously.
“Not you,” he motioned for her to come back towards him.
Lori obeyed, returning to stand in front of the demon commander.
Without a word, Lephas rolled the sleeve of her jacket up to reveal the iron cuff.
“Honestly, it's fine now. You don't need to–” Lori began.
Lephas took a small silver key from a pouch on his belt and slid it into the lock on her cuff. The metal opened with a click and fell free from her wrist.
“Oh!”
“They are clearly more of a hindrance than a help.” Lephas frowned. He removed his own cuff as well, before clipping the manacles to his belt and returning the key to its pouch.
“Don't... Don't make me regret taking them off, Princess.” The commander fixed her with a steely gaze for a long moment before pulling his woollen scarf back over his face. “Come on, let's catch up.”
