“I’m not going to bite,” she replies. “I don’t know what that demon bastard did to me, but I didn’t want to fight you then and I don’t want to fight you now.”
Arthur’s too exhausted to try a truth spell, and he’s not sure it works on dead people anyway. “What do you think, Shae? This is more your area of expertise than mine.”
Shae steps out from behind him, touching his chin in thought. The new ring on his finger gleams in the sunlight. “Can I touch your wrist?” he asks Georgia. “I want to see something.”
“I like a man with manners,” she say easily. “Though not as much as this guy likes you, clearly. You really know how to pick a moment, paladin.”
Arthur’s not so sure about that. He feels more like the moment picked him.
He follows at Shae’s side as he steps towards the dead mercenary. She herself stays perfectly still, which is smart because Arthur is ready to chop her hand off if she makes the wrong move towards Shae. He can’t help tensing as Shae takes her wrist and murmurs something Arthur doesn’t understand.
Maybe Shae would be willing to teach him a few words of Lyrisenian.
“The compulsion ended when Izen died,” Shae says, still holding Georgia’s wrist. “But the animation should have ended too… I think he used a full revival on you. I don’t know why.”
Georgia asks, “There’s a difference?”
“It’s complicated,” Shae says.
Arthur gestures to the other collapsed corpses surrounding them. “It’s the difference between whatever they are and whatever you are.”
“Okay, maybe not so complicated.” Shae lets go of her wrist and twists his own hands together. He only has the one ring to fiddle with right now. “Captain Oakven, I’m so sorry I got you into this mess. This is—awful. I know. I can lay you to rest when you’re ready.”
Arthur aches at the way Shae’s voice trembles. He reaches down and grabs his hand, and Shae squeezes it fiercely back.
But Georgia just laughs. “Let’s take a rain check on that, darling. Do either of you have a shirt I can borrow? Maybe a comb?”
“What?” Arthur asks in disbelief.
She plucks at her blood-stained shirt, torn open around the hold in her chest. “I need to cover this up before I ride back into town. People will talk.”
Arthur puts his hand on his sword hilt. “I don’t think bringing you back to town is a great idea.”
“Wait,” Shae says, putting a hand on Arthur’s. There’s still a tremor in his voice. He turns to Georgia. “You don’t want to rest?”
“Fuck no,” she says easily. “I’ve got a crew to take care of, and they already call me heartless. If I turn crazy again, Reed will chop my head off, no problem.”
There’s a strange expression on Shae’s face, but he nods. “Okay. It’s your choice.” Then he turns to Arthur, his eyes squinting up like he’s about to cry. But he smiles instead. “Let’s get out of here.”
Arthur would like nothing more.
***
They clean up the battle site as best they can before leaving. Shae gathers up as many of his rings as he can find and insists on burning the corpses, while Arthur prays over them. Georgia steals a mostly-intact shirt from one of them and changes into it. With the gaping hole in her chest covered, she looks ill but not dead.
Duchess returns midway through their work, snorting unhappily at the smoke. Arthur buries his face in her neck, inhales, and starts to feel like himself again instead of a dazed, impulsive fool.
He keeps looking at the new ring on Shae’s finger, though, and doesn’t regret being impulsive at all.
“I thought you two broke up,” Georgia says, as Arthur kisses Shae’s temple for the dozenth time. “This is insufferable.”
“I’d say I’m sorry,” Arthur says with a grin, “but I’m really not.”
He’s still overwhelmed by the fact that Shae gave up his goal for him. He cursed himself to a lifetime with this harsh power. Arthur vows silently to do everything he can to make that easier.
They set off for Lanwatch, Arthur and Shae riding double and Georgia walking beside them. She doesn’t seem to tire at all. Shae spends most of the ride asking her questions about various sensations and perceptions, and Georgia sometimes answers. It’s slow going, and nearly dark when they meet the group of guards and crown’s mages outside the border gate.
The mages are casting into the barrier, testing it or strengthening it or something. The guards swarm forward to confront the three travelers.
