Traveling Guardian

[CursedVixen]

(Closed for now)

Marliegh awoke mid-morning - her body and muscles aching. She arose from her makeshift bed roll and sat up against a tree. Her body was covered with bruises and cuts, her ribs broken and bruised.

The night before she'd been forced to walk a gauntlet, and sure enough the men had done their best to beat her to death. But she wouldn't succumb that easily. Her biggest pain had been her dislocated shoulder, which she had reset herself before falling unconscious. They had left her there, for dead, without food and supplies. Surely they hadn't planned on her actually living long enough for it to matter. The remains of the camp might provide her with something, but it wouldn't be enough to last her a couple days.

As she looked around Marliegh noticed that it was, ironically, a very pleasant day. The song of the morning birds and the smell of pine was almost too sweet and purely nauseating. As she looked around she cursed her brother for leaving her. Everything they had worked for the last few years had dissipated with him. Now Marliegh was left with nothing.

She cared not if she lived her died. She almost hoped that she had died the night before. She cursed her men for having not inflicted a deathly amount of pain. But they weren't her men anymore. Marliegh was hurt and frustrated, and situated herself back into her bedroll for a bit more rest before deciding that it would be alright for her to move. She almost wished for someone to find her, but at the same time she would refuse the assisstance. Since the year she and her brother had spent begging for food and money, she refused to accept charity. She couldn't, because her pride wouldn't let her.

 

[AriesWolf]

Corban was in a reasonably good mood as he dragged his boat up onto the riverbank, the last little town he had visited had proved quite profitable, and the weather was great. Birds were singing happily in the tree's and the river was low and running slowly.

With a quiet grunt he hauled the last few feet of his boat out of the water. The fifteen foot long craft was a good size for a river boat, and was rather heavy. Stretching his arms and back Corban looked around, he was getting hungry, and he had had enough of dried meat for the time being. Confident that his boat would left alone he grabbed a small satchel and wandered into the brush in search of edible berries and nuts.

Not really knowing the area very well Corban tried to stay within earshot of the river so that he could find his way back to his boat. His search wasn't very successful, but he did manage to find a handful of walnuts, which he supposed was better than nothing. The smell of pine was everywhere! Strong, and thick, it clung in his nostrils and came very close to being down right irritating.

Stepping from the brush into a small clearing, and what looked like the remains of an overnight camp Corban was shocked to find a young woman, battered, and bruised laying against a pine tree. Specks of dried blood covered one side of her face and he couldn't tell if she was breathing.

Cautiously, he took a few steps forward. She was breathing, but was she alone? Or was he about to try and help someone's bait? He hadn't seen anyone in the area, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Carefully he moved alittle closer.

"Hello?" he said, his voice soft but not timid, Corban took another step toward the girl. He was well within ten feet of her now.

 

[CursedVixen]

Marliegh stirred from her bed roll. She'd slipped into a fitful sleep that provided with he with little rest. She knew she would have to rest somewhat before moving along into the nearest village, but her wounds would not heal properly if she continued to remain in the camp. She had no choice but to wait until she'd regained her strength, which she felt would never return to her unless she ate healthfully.

At the sound of a man's voice she stirred again and opend her eyes. Her vision was still a bit cloudy as she looked around through the blur of colors. As she scanned the area her eyes fell upon a man who seemed to be inching closer to her.

"I've nothing for you. If you can find anything in the camp you're welcomed to it, but I doubt you will." Marliegh growled to him. The innocent but dark look upon his face she couldn't ignore, but she did her best to resituate herself against the tree.

"Leave me alone," she grumbled to him as she hopelessly tried to get comfortable.

 

[AriesWolf]

Corban was amazed when the woman spoke, she was so badly beaten and yet had told him to leave? He found himself respecting this woman already. However he would not honour her request to leave. If he did she would die, simple as that.

"Your wounds need to be treated" he said frankly, "You risk infection sitting here"

He didn't know if she had any deep cuts but it wouldn't take much to have some parasite get into the open sores on her arms. He moved closer still, he wondered if she would lash out at him.

"Come, my boat is not far from here, I can heat some water, we can clean and dress your wounds, then if you still want me to leave I will" He reached out to take her by the arm, slowly so as not to seem to anxious to drag her off. In truth, he didn't like the idea of helping this woman, but he felt like it was his duty to try.

 

[CursedVixen]

She groaned as he reached towards her. "I'm fine," she snapped at him. She figured that this man, whoever he was, had some ulterior motive for trying to help her. Marliegh refused to let him. She would be left to vulnerable, and she would be indebted to him for his kindness.

Kindness, in and of itself, was something that Marliegh was foreign to. The year she'd spent as a beggar she'd experienced very little kindness at all and she was lucky to have survived the winter. And she refused to let herself become indebted to any man.

"I don't care if you have a boat, leave me be!" She growled at him. She cared naught about the pain or the possibility of infection. Her will to live had left when her brother had.

 

[AriesWolf]

"You are one stubborn woman" he said quietly, he knew that if he really had too, he could just carry her. She was probably too weak to put up much of fight, but then she'd never sit still while he tried to help her.

Pulling his hand back he looked around, the area was crawling with vermin now. They filthy little beasts and insects had come to collect the left over food stuffs from the night before.

"At least let me help you move away from the vermin" Corban said. "Come a safe distance away from here and then I promise if you still want me to leave I will"

Again he offered his hand.

"Please for my peace of mind let me help you get away from all this filth"

 

[CursedVixen]

"Why do you care?" She spat at him as she threw off her bed roll. "You know nothing about me. For all you know I deserve to sit here and rot with the vermin."

And truly, that is how Marliegh felt. She wished she could dissolve into the earth and become apart of it. Nothing in her life held any meaning, and everything that had once been important to her was lost.

"Acts of saintly kindness are worthless in this world. You'd do better to pass me by and go on your way."

Marliegh looked up for something to grab a hold of. If this man would not leave her, she would leave him. She did not deserve kindness. She slowly propped herself against the tree and groaned in pain.

 

[AriesWolf]

This woman had a good point, why did he care? Had he not passed a dozen or more people in the same situation without a thought or care? He probably should move on.

"I just don't want to have your death on my conscience! take my hand and get up!" Corban snapped finally losing his patience. "Or I will carry you and your shoddy bed roll to the river and toss you in"

He didn't mean it, but maybe a few sharp words would move the stubborn woman. God he hoped so, the sooner she moved the sooner he could get her somewhere cleaner, and then maybe he wouldn't feel so bad about leaving her to her own devices.

"Come on I don't care if you deserve to die! Your death in this place will not benefit anyone, least of all you"

 

[CursedVixen]

It took everything Marliegh had for her to swallow her pride and take his hand. Which she had just in time because her legs had started to give out. They weren't broken, but they were severely beaten and bruised.

"I'm not dying," she mumbled to him, knowing that if she didn't have a comfortable place to sleep death would be inevitable.

 

[AriesWolf]

"Of course you aren't, but I had to say something to get you moving" Corban replied, placing her arm across his shoulders so that he could help her limp along. It didn't take them long to make it too his boat despite the fact that she could barely walk. Sitting her down in the banks soft sand, he got her a proper bed roll, tossing the other one down a few feet away.

"Rest for a moment while I make a fire" he said, forcefully so as to make it clear that she was not too move. He hand kindling in his boat and there were enough decent sized stones about that it didn't take him long to dig a shallow pit and line it with rocks.

Soon a small fire was crackling happily away a few feet from the girl. Retrieving a kettle, a bowl, and some strips of cloth, from his boat he began to boil some water.

"My name is Corban" he said politely as the kettle began to steam, he poured some the water into the bowl and dipped one of the cloths in. "Here we should clean your face first"

Gently he reached over to wipe the filth from her face.

 

[CursedVixen]

As they limped along Marliegh could feel the pain of the broken ribs in her chest. She found herself holding onto him tightly for as much support as possible. As he set her down she moaned as she felt spikes of pain all over her body. Even if she wanted to she couldn't disobey him. So she sat quiet and still, waiting for him to return.

She watched him build the fire and watched as it grew. As he introduced himself she began to watch him move towards her. She flinched as he went to clean her face.

"I'm Marliegh," she said to him. "And what are you doing?"