ILYAS
An uneasy truce had been struck: Ilyas agreed not to attack Willow, in gratitude for saving him from drowning; Willow agreed not to attack Ilyas, in exchange for helping him survive the cold. If both of them were to die, neither side would come out ahead. So for the moment, their weapons were set aside.
Several orbs of Silver fire burned around them as Ilyas pulled upon the elemental magic of Palm. It was enough, combined with Willow’s wards, to keep the worst of the blizzard off of them, but if they didn’t find shelter, they were still going to end up frozen. His good wing was wrapped around Willow’s back, as the man from Herb held onto his arm.
“Do you have any idea where the fortress is? Or what’s on this side of the structure?” he called over the wind. “I don’t know how far we got in the fight.”
“Me neither. I hope it’s this way. I haven’t spent much time on this side of the wall,” Willow responded, sounding stubbornly optimistic despite the fact that his teeth were chattering. “You could have stayed in one spot instead of flying around like a gnat.”
“You could be easier to kill. If there’s anything I’ve appreciated about fighting you so many times, it’s that you’ve been a stubborn challenge.” For Ilyas, that was the closest thing to praise he would give Willow.
“You’re a Void touched lunatic. You know that, right?” Willow’s bitter tone almost brought a smile to Ilyas’s lips. Almost.
“I’m not the one who’s spent his days defending a fortress and not learning the surrounding terrain. Aren’t you supposed to be a War Leader?”
“I wish,” Willow said, as they had to venture out from the meager protection of a copse of trees, right into the wind. It made every step a struggle, and left them panting until reaching the next bit of cover. “In the opinion of my Commander, I’m too ‘volatile’ to be put in charge of so much as a puppy. And there was no point in learning the valley. I’m never in one place for long.”
The next copse was thicker, providing them with better shelter from the elements. “We should rest here,” Ilyas said, looking around. “Can you place your wards around the whole thicket, or are you too weak?”
The Herb warrior looked around, then indicated a boulder between two trees. As he did, Ilyas noticed Willow was holding onto his midriff. There was a darker tint to his coat. “Against there. I’ll give us enough room to sit for a while.”
Ilyas nodded, and together they moved to the spot Willow had pointed out. Once there, Ilyas cleared the snow from the ground with a powerful gust of air. When he finished, he collapsed against the boulder. Pulling from Elsewhere, two vials appeared in his hands. “Catch.” He said, tossing one to Willow. “Rejuvenation potion from Fern. Once we’ve recovered some, we’ll make it the last bit of the way.”
He didn’t tell Willow what he had done for those two small vials, the battles he’d had to win to earn the right to faster healing—to a chance at life.
Willow uncorked his vial with his teeth. Swallowing his potion in one go was swiftly followed by a series of coughs and splutters. “How old are these? They’re rancid!”
Choosing not to answer, Ilyas popped open his own vial and drank it. It tasted like the smell of rotten eggs and milk, with just a hint of apple. He leaned forward, head between his knees. “How badly did I get you?”
“One of those thin rays, just before the ground gave out,” Willow grunted. Then he looked over, and quietly asked, “How’s your wing? That looked rough.”
“You’ve given me worse injuries. I'll recover with time.” Ilyas told him, taking shallow breaths to keep from being sick. He was silent for a while as he let the sensation of flesh and muscle knitting back together overcome him, then, “Your commander is right. If you could keep your temper under control, I’d never be able to beat you. I’ve learned to target everyone around you and knock you off your feet.” He should not have said those words, but with Binding Day looming, it hardly mattered anymore.
“Yeah…I’ve learned that the harder it is for my commander to beat something into my head, the truer it tends to be.”