Sometimes situations improved when you slept on them or at least your mind was a little clearer. This was certainly not the case for Kaitlyn this morning. The Templar rose up on her hands and peered out a nearby curtained window. [i]”It can hardly even be called morning.”[/i] The sun was still hiding away, pink wisps on the horizon the only proof that it was considering showing its face at all.

Kaitlyn slumped back down and felt around, trying to feel for a pillow only to realize there wasn’t one. Maker though it didn’t matter, there was no way she’d be going back to sleep anytime soon. Her body felt like it’d been trampled on my dozens of horses and she openly shuddered as she remembered her dreams. Red blood animal and dark tainted blood, intertwined and splattered across the land. It sprinkled over tree litter and mossy boulders, smeared on helmets and cobblestones, sprayed on the rotting corpses of horses, dark spawn, children, rippled through the rivers and the streams on the land. All the while she could do nothing, her body was hot and impossibly heavy, her skin felt uncomfortable like she wanted to shed it off like a snake.

Kaitlyn turned her eyes towards the room door. Thea had been mad that she’d refused to go to bed with her. She knew the mage must also be suffering alone, away from anyone she had once considered family. But the fact that Kaitlyn felt so wretched this morning was proof enough that she’d made the right decision. This way, at least one of them had a chance to sleep well.

The Templar stood up and gently knocked against the room door. There was no answer. She’d let the mage sleep for a little while longer while she readied for the journey ahead of them.

-----

Kaitlyn felt more than heard the mage sit down across from her. The templar had spent the last hour or so at the stable, rooting through the supplies to find Wendel’s map of the area. After she’d accomplished that she’d made herself presentable and was about half way through her breakfast. 

The tavern’s main room was as empty as usual. This time it made sense. The breakfast the woman was feeding them was abysmal at best. A chewy white grain was floating in watery milk and enough salt to cure a fish. Normally when faced with something this gut-wrenchingly bad, Kaitlyn would wait out for other prospects but with her health plaguing her, she knew she’d need the strength.

[b]“I figured we’d go this way,”[/b] the templar said, presenting the hand-drawn map to Thea. Kaitlyn carefully avoided the mages eyes as she traced a marked trail with her finger. [b]”It’d be shorter if we cut through these woods here,”[/b] she paused and indicated the location on the map, [b]”but I think we should stay out of them. Just in case. The trail goes around the Circle a bit, so we’ll have to cut back, and we’ll lose an hour or so… still I think it’s safer that way. Just think, this time tomorrow you’ll be safe behind the Circle walls and I’ll… I’ll be able to get this wound taken care of… not that you can’t take care of it,”[/b] Kaitlyn stumbled over her words, [b]”Just that they will have more supplies at the Circle.”[/b] It was a bit of a lie and she hoped Thea wouldn’t see right through it. When she removed the bandage this morning, she’d found the wound was hot and clearing infected with something. She’d tried to Cleanse it like she might have worked if it had been a poison or something mild spell. It had barely put a dent in whatever this was.