1:6 The apothecary's apprentice.

Silveredge and I walked in silence until the sun had risen nearly above our heads.  By that time, Bhairoset was far behind us, and I only had to remind her once or twice to quit ducking behind me with her head down.  The road wound lovingly down the mountain which Bhairoset crowned, and it lost its paving after a while. 

Such is the way with most half-assed small territories- they don't make it their business to be overly friendly with travelers.  I suppose they think that it's some sort of safety to keep their roads so frustrating that only bitterly determined merchants will bother using them, but in all reality, their laziness only preaches to the nearest conqueror that the territory can be easily snatched, due to the inability to either travel quickly, or to contact allies for aid and supplies.

As it stood, it wasn't long before the road descended into a grassy footpath.  I continued onward as though nothing would happen, but kept a wary eye out for hangers-on.  Soon enough, I was rewarded with the momentary sight of a slinking shadow.

"Be on your guard," I barely breathed to Silveredge.

"I'm sorry, mistress?" she replied.

"What do-?"

In the three or four seconds it took for me to turn my head back to her, a small, crude spear flew past us both.  Moments later, I heard Silveredge's shuriken sing past my ears.  I whipped back around to see gleaming yellow eyes peeking back at me, and familiar figures sneaking in the high grass.

"That smell," Silveredge complained weakly behind me.  "I may faint."

"Kobolds aren't particularly known for their delicacy," I replied.

As if they'd understood the insult, five kobold skirmishers slid out of the tree and rock shadows that they'd been haunting.  I raised an eyebrow at the odd number, but figured that Silveredge's shuriken had claimed one of their lives already.

"Come on, runts," I rumbled, drawing both my daggers dramatically and flipping them each one time.  "You've followed us all this way, now strike.  Here's the fight you clearly wanted."

Oddly enough, behind me, Silveredge sank to the ground with her head down.  The kobolds' attention instantly went to her, and they rushed together as a group to get at her.  A firm dagger in the back prevented one, but the rest were met with a sudden swirl of fabric and katar.  Taking advantage of their confusion, I dodged through and under Silveredge's attacks to get to the dizzied skirmishers.  It seemed as though the encounter were over in mere minutes.

Then the archers came out.

Silveredge suddenly became ghostly, thoroughly creeping me out.  Deciding to use that energy to my advantage, I ran a wide semicircle to cut the backs of most of the kobold's knees.  The ones that were not screaming and crippled- and I already knew I couldn't possibly hit all of them- were frightened to death and headed for the hills. 

Kobolds, as the saying goes, tend to start voyages that their loot can't finance.  The best course of action is usually to terrify them into running away before they do more damage than they are worth.

I made it happen, but not quite soon enough.

A few moments after the remaining kobold archers scampered away, Silveredge flopped all the way to the ground in a way that I nearly instinctively knew couldn't be normal.  I moved toward her to look her over, and found a shimmering cobalt substance covering her back- it was so uniquely beautiful that it took me far more time than it should have to realize that it was her blood.

"When did this happen?" I charged uselessly, attempting to inspect the wound.  A light, but long gash graced her mid-back.  I couldn't tell if it had been done by an archer or a skirmisher.  "I can tear a piece of my-"

"Herbs will do," she replied quietly, her head hung so that her hair covered her face.  "Has my mistress seen sweet balm anywhere nearby?"

I blinked stupidly, trying to figure out what she was talking about.

"Sweet balm- the stems seem slightly furry, and the leaves look like spear heads.  Low to the ground.  The smell stings the nose."

The apprentice work I'd done long ago with that wicked waste of a female began coming back to me, and I nodded.  "Okay, I know what you're talking about.  But... I'm not really sure if I've seen any out here."

"Then laurel- does laurel grow here?" she asked, trying valiantly to keep her voice light.

It hurt me just to look at her, somehow, so I turned my back.  "It does, and I can bring you some."

"With that, and perhaps a little water, I'd manage.  I'd do the rest," she breathed.

I turned back over my shoulder, mostly to check if she were still sitting upright, which she was. 

"So while I'm walking this hillside- with not a few angry kobold-whelps about- what will you do?"

She looked up at me briefly, with the look of a child with a trick up her sleeve.  "I can, perhaps, think of an incantation or two."

I turned back and grit my teeth, knowing that picking her up and carrying her would be an even worse idea than leaving her behind.

"I'll find that laurel- you get about weaving that magic quickly and well.  I don't want to see any more of your insides than I do now."  

And with that, I marched off.