Markus' head [i]thumped[/i] against the wall his back leaned on, letting himself slump now that Valerie spoke. He swallowed, his throat dry. "Yeah," he breathed, his entire body muddled with exhaustion. "For the moment, I think." He felt the warmth of blood on his hands, and he realized now that it was his own blood mixed with Valerie's. He had a large cut he did not remember receiving on his left forearm that seeped blood down his arm and onto his palm. He would have put his hand onto the cut, but it was pressed as firmly as he dared onto the spot Valerie's wound was, just in case. 

Markus had been too preoccupied with making sure his adventure companion was alive, but as he slumped there, he suddenly felt naked. As if he was missing something. He blinked, and it hit him. "My sword..." he breathed, realizing it was on the other side of the stone. It wasn't that he didn't have it, but he could no longer [i]feel[/i] its presence. The bond between Swordmage and blade was mystical in nature, it was what allowed him to use his enchantments on it and where he stored part of his own power. That stone portal had [i]severed[/i] the bond between him and the blade he had empathized with. That was powerful magic. 

He reached up with his free hand and lifted his matted, unkempt hair out of his eyes and sighed. "We'll need to find another way out," he said aloud. "I can't open that from the inside out." He coughed, his throat so very dry. He downed some of his water flask and coughed once more. "Here," he told her, giving her a bit of water as well. He knew she probably needed to quench her throat too, and even if she didn't, that blood loss... 

He put the flask down, and leaned over to the side to grip the straps of his pack, before yanking it over to them. He fished in it for a moment, before producing bits of jerky he had. "You need to get some food down," he told her. "You need all the energy you can get after that wound." He grabbed a few bits himself. He produced some extra cloth from his pack, and used both hands to rip it as he chewed, and then wrapped it around his forearm the best he could. He grunted from the pain, but it would halt his own bleeding. [i]Or the main source of it[/i]. 
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[@Luminosity]