Asht Gets a Horse and the Party Backtracks

The morning sun has climbed high in the sky now, and still no sign of Asht returning from the Shepherding Village. The group that remains in the camp has not been lax, though: Rhifaroth was half-dragged back to the clearing, retied and his blindfold put back on--not that it is necessary at this point, as the poison has worked his way into his system again, and the man at the moment is not responsive.

Adelaide is somewhere, perhaps, feeding the baby, though certainly the woman never takes her eyes off of Cordelia or leaves her alone with the Dunadan. And Cordelia is now by the horses here, carefully checking each of their hooves for stones.

[Asht(#29272)] The sunshine seems more of a hinderance to Asht as he trudges along the road, kicking up dust as he walks. The thin man is still wearing his black travelling cloak, the fabric of it covered in stains and dirt. His hood is down, dirty brown hair exposed, but his face is directed downwards at the road ahead of him. Behind him he drags a large sack, the sound of metal hitting metal can be heard as it bounces along the ground behind him.

As he nears the horses he stops and drops the sack on the ground and begins rummaging through it. He occassionally looks up Cordelia, dark eyes flashing, but he says nothing to the woman, his expression seemingly neutral.

For several long moments, Cordelia does not look up to acknowledge Asht, though the fact that she knows the man has returned is betrayed by a shudder that runs through her before she can hide it. She methodically continues checking the pony's hooves until she is satisfied with the state of them. And -then- she looks up.

Still, though, Cordelia says nothing at first, her focus on the horse that Asht has returned with. Addie has made Asht and Cordelia ride together ever since Keldean and Liuni fled--part of the punishment given out to Cordelia--but there's a bit of hope in her voice now as she speaks finally to the man. "You got your horse re-shod?" Maybe she won't have to ride with him anymore.

[Asht(#29272)] There is a long moments silence before Asht deigns to offer a response. He looks up at Cordelia then back at his horse. "Can't you tell a mare from a stalion, fool?" he snaps with a vicous smile. "Mine was too lame, I killed it and ah, acquired this one. There is food too, although it's hardly a banquet."

Asht stands up now and ties the horse to a nearby tree then walks back to Cordelia, an expression on his face that can only be described as evil. "So tell me, do you think your sweet-heart has got far? I am disappointed that Adelaide would not lead me hunt him down and kill him." The words are said with such a placid tone it takes a moment for the visciousness to sink in.

[Keldean(#23332)] The sound of hoofbeats echo down the road and as the dust of Asht's travel settles, another dust cloud can be seen in the direction of the village that the man recently left. A rider is bearing down on them fast, a brown cloak flapping in the wind behind him.

"I only glanced at the horse." The sound of Cordelia's voice is neutral, but she licks her lips nervously and backs up from Asht without even thinking. Just being near to the man makes her skin crawl, and Asht could likely see that very plainly on her face--the black eye and bruising from his breaking her nose now faded to a yellowish green. She pales beneath the bruising as he mentions Keldean, shaking her head in reply. "I don't know..." she frowns, looking past Asht. "And we've got company."

[Asht(#29272)] The nasty look on Asht's face disappears and he glances sharply at the figure on the horse. A flicker of recognition crosses his face and he swears softly. Lowering his voice, his hisses sharply at Cordelia. "Be wary, this man may just want his horse back.." The words are pitched lower and unlikely to be overheard.
Asht turns to face the newcomer, a rather transparent looking smile on his face. His hand rests on his dagger.

[Keldean(#23332)] The rider did not come unprepared. He's clutching a club in his hand and wears a tired looking leather shirt over his tunic. He pulls sharply at the reins, drawing the horse he's riding up short. "You stole my horse! Thief!" The man is middle aged, but lean and muscled, with short brown hair and a trimmed beard.

Behind Asht, Cordelia turns to look toward Rhifaroth. No help there--the ranger is in the grips of the poison that was on Adelaide's knife. So she turns back toward Asht and the approaching rider, staying slightly behind Asht as she draws her dagger--the motion slow and likely concealed behind Asht's back.

[Asht(#29272)] His attention entirely focused on the rider, Asht swallows audibly then calls across to the man. "Your horse? I purchased this horse honestly." His tone is needling, his voice cracks as he speaks. "Perhaps there has been some mistake, yes?" There's a long pause as Asht seems to consider this. "But, please, by all means check the horse's brand..." The words trail off and he offers the man a tight smile.

Of course he's lying through his teeth. Asht takes half a pace towards the mounted figure, entirely ignoring Cordelia for the moment.

[Keldean(#23332)] "Lying filth! My boy saw you take it! I ought to split your skull right here." The man has a furious expression on his face, and he urges his mount over towards the horse tied to the tree. "Don't you move or I'll bury my club into your face. We've enough problems with trolls and beasts without scum like you robbing our town."

Oh...my... Cordelia's hand hangs at her side now, holding her knife openly. A smile plays on her lips at the villager's harsh words, and she doesn't keep pace with Asht as he steps forward, but stays where she is, hedging her bets.

[Asht(#29272)] With a quick movement and a muttered curse, Asht moves towards the rider and the stolen horse. His back is still towards Cordelia, but he takes a few paces away from her. He doesn't seem to have registered the danger he's and doesn't even give the woman a sideways glance.

Approaching the man on the horse he says "Perhaps your boy is blind, yes?" he says quietly to him then shrugs. "If you can show me your brand on this horse I will acknowledge my mistake, of course." A calculating expression forms on his face.
Asht keeps his distance from the man, trying to stay out of range of the club. One hand rests firmly on his dagger, the other hand forms a fist as he speaks.

[Keldean(#23332)] The man gives Asht a shrewd look, his brows tightening. "Don't play tricks with me, thief!" He lets go of the reins of the horse he's astride and reaches to unhook the other, tugging at them to turn the beast about. "Look and see! The mark is there." He seems unwilling to let go of the club, and watches Asht closely, his eyes flicking to the dagger that the man rests his hand upon. "Draw that and I'll smack you hard enough that you'll forget your name."

Cordelia does take the three or four steps now to close the distance to Asht, yet again, she is partially behind him, hand with the knife in it behind her back. Her eyes flick back and forth to Asht, narrowing as she thinks. Then she looks to the rider with the club. "Is there some sort of problem, sir?" she asks in a kind tone. "A misunderstanding?"

[Asht(#29272)] Ignoring the man's threat, Asht looks across at Cordelia at last and nods slowly. "Yes, a misunderstanding, I think, yes..." Moving very carefully, keeping well away from the man's club he makes to inspect the horse's flank. For a moment he seems engrossed but then looks up with a confused look on his face. "There is no brand as far as I can see." he says in a very measured tone.

A look of frustration forms on his face. "If there is no brand, then this is simply a misunderstanding. Perhaps you will allow my wife and I to continue our journey in peace?" Asht looks up now, his tone has become softer, that of someone falsely accused who simply wishes to go about his business. He smiles faintly at Cordelia.

[Keldean(#23332)] An irritated expression crosses the man's face, but he seems good enough to give Asht the benefit of the doubt. He swings his leg over and slides down from his mount, but keeps his hand on the club. He watches Asht closely as he moves around alongside the man. "It's there plain as day, have you never looked upon a brand before?! Compare it to the other, you dolt. They match!"

A look of poisonous venom crosses Cordelia's face, and her knife is still so close to Asht's back. It wouldn't take much....but she doesn't. "We're not married yet. Dear." She looks to the villager after she says this, not bothering to hide the open hatred that has filled her eyes.

[Asht(#29272)] A placid smile forms on Asht's face and he glances over at Cordelia. "Perhaps not, but I truely feel as if we have been married for many many years," he says, the smile on his face sweetening. He looks down sharply at the brand on the horse he's stolen, which quite clearly matches that on the stranger's own horse.
"No," he says emphatically "They are not the same, friend..." This last word is spoken with absolutely no irony. "See here," he adds motioning for the stranger to inspect the brand more carefully. "They are plainly different."

[Keldean(#23332)] "Blind fool! Do you think I'll fall for your trickery?" The man's patience seems to be somewhat challenged, for he wastes no more time arguing and turns on Asht, swinging the club in towards the man's chest in attempt to knock him back. It's a slow attack, but there's muscle in his arm.

If Asht gets pushed back too hard by the man's club, it's likely he will bump into Cordelia--with the knife in her hand. The girl jumps back, but likely her movement is a second or two too late. The knife wasn't pointed at Asht's back, though. Of all the bad luck.

[Asht(#29272)] Moving as quickly as he can, Asht jumps backwards, but he's not quite quick enough. The club connects with his left shoulder, jarring the man's entire body. The movement also throws him backwards a pace, and he collides with Cordelia with a dull thud and a curse.

Swearing again, he draws his dagger quickly, the strangely thin blade is polished to a high sheen.He tries to ignore the injury in his shoulder for the moment, but it is slowing him down a bit. Another quick movement takes him out of the ranger of the club, but he moves forward again trying to slash the man's throat with his dagger, at the same time avoiding the club.

[Keldean(#23332)] The man boldly steps to the side and towards Asht. His tactic spares him getting his throat slit, but the dagger cuts a deep gash on the side of his neck, slicing the muscle and tendons. He's already reaching to push Asht, attempting to shove him to the ground, but gives a roar of pain as blood rapidly soaks into his tunic along his shoulder.

"Leave my fiance alone!" Cordelia rages at the villager. She rushes forward to try to slash at the man, but at that same moment Asht has moved forward to attack the man as well, crossing Cordelia's path--so that her knife arm slashes down toward Asht. At the last second she pulls back on her attack, trying to turn the blade so it slides along Asht's arm instead of cutting into it--or at least her blow is tempered.

You blindly attack Asht with your Dagger...
[Combat(#13388)->Cordelia]
Asht dodges your attack.

[Asht(#29272)] A look of complete confusion forms on Asht's face. Cordelia's blade that he unluckily intercepted doesn't connect, but the handle of the dagger strikes his arm, bruising it somewhat. At the same time the man's attempt to push to the ground don't quite succeed, but Asht falls back a pace.

He stops there a moment, breathing heavily, a few drops of blood colouring his sallow skin, but it doesn't seem to be his own. Asht raises a finger delicately and wipes the blood off before licking his finger. A shiver runs down his spine. Perhaps it's seeing or tasting blood, but something in Asht seems to snap and he lets out a roar that sounds too loud for his thin frame. With that he moves forwards, slashing his dagger left and right, his movments a blur, accuracy completely sacrificed in his anger. It seems he is simply intent on turning the man before him into mince meat.

Something, perhaps, in Cordelia snaps, too, as she watches the killing frenzy that Asht has been whipped into. She backs up one slow step at a time, whimpering, her own blade useless in her hands.

[Keldean(#23332)] The man lifts his arm to swing the club down at Asht again, but arrests the action when his opponent seems to suddenly go into a frenzy. He tries to back off, but the horse is there and he bumps into it as Asht's knife cuts through the soft leather shirt he's wearing. He tries to fend off the vicious assault but he's too slow and has nowhere to retreat. He yells in pain even as his own hot blood stains into old leather, turning it and his shirt a dark red.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]No one, except Addie perhaps, seems to care or pay the least bit of attention to the man laying face down upon the ground. After having been dragged out of the brush and back to their makeshift camp, they likely enough dumped him to wait for Asht. The Dunadan's right back shoulder is soaked with new blood. The man arms are still bound, he is not yet reblindfolded, his bare feet untied. But, Rhifaroth seems very uninclined to get up.

   Despite the noise of fighting, the only noise the Ranger makes is occationally gagging and dry heaving. The water they had given him earlier in the morning was already coughed up.

[Asht(#29272)] Breathing fast, Asht doesn't seem to be aware of what he's doing. He slashes wildly, his hands and covered in blood, splashes of it marring his sallow features again. His movements bring him forward, the two men forming a tight huddle with the horse that's blocking the rider's escape.

After a few moments he seems to exhaust himself and he takes a step backwards and turns the dagger in his hand, point directed at the rider's heart. With another muttered curse he tries to drive into his chest, the hatred and anger turning his expression into something feral.

[Keldean(#23332)] The man was already going down fast, but when Asht plunges the knife into his chest that last time, he becomes little more than a gored corpse. The body crumples to the ground, a mess of blood staining the dirt of the road.

Several feet behind Asht now, Cordelia stands with her own dagger useless in her hands. She has killed before, seen killings, but still there is a look of pure horror on her face. "Asht..." she says hoarsely, something compelling her to try to talk to the man.

[Asht(#29272)] For Asht, time seems to have stopped the moment his dagger entered the man's chest. He is motionless for a few moments, watching the man slump to the ground, the dagger protruding from his chest. His eyes shine and he shakes a little as a thin lipped smile forms on his face.

Asht shakes his head and reaches down and tries to pull the dagger out, but it is stuck, caught in the man's sternum. He leans down and softly whispers into the man's ear. "You pig..." he says, followed by another two syllable word that is inaudible. With that he wrenches the dagger free, opening the man's chest cavity, the heart still beating slowly, moving like a dying trout.

Finally he stands up and relaxes a little, he looks at Cordelia with a shrug, his blood stained features unmoving. "Well, there it is then," is all he says, breathing heavily.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]In the quiet that follows, the Dunadan coughs and mutters something. His shoulder hurts, still damp with blood.

"We...should..go." The words from the girl are slow, numb, and she can't help staring at that dead man and then at Asht again, over and over. "The horses are...fresh.." Cordelia says, having to think hard to force the words out, get her voice to work. A cough and some noises from the Dunadan draw her gaze that way. "Load him onto the pony again. Switch horses." There--a few words strung together at a time, like putting one foot in front of the other.

[Asht(#29272)] His attention still a little unfocused, Asht nods and he throws a glance at the flayed corpse on the ground. "Yes, we must leave now." he says sharply. "I don't plan on burying that carrion." With that he removes a cloth from an inside pocket and begins to clean the blood off his face, hands and anywhere else it might be. He moves over towards the horses and begins to prepare them for the journey.

Cordelia stares for a very long time at the mutilated body of the man--and then at Asht's back, not daring to try to draw his attention with eye contact. Silently, she resheaths her dagger and then packs up the horses and helps with Rhifaroth.

********time passes*****

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]Back tracking... this will confuse Rhifaroth for certain. But it hardly matters. The man was reblindfolded and hoisted up and over the cart pony in a most undignified manner, then tied so he couldn't fall off. Intentionally or otherwise, he might slow them down.

   Hours drag on and on... until they finally find where Adelaide wishes for them to turn south. Having gotten provisions and a fresh horse at the Shepherding Village, it is now time to strike out into truely desolate, wild country.

   The group finally stops some time after dark when there is no way to go further. The trace of a trail along the river has petered out. There are thickets of brush and thorny bramble impeding their progress. Was this direction the right choice? They must stop and wait for daylight. Everyone is in a foul mood.

[Asht(#29272)] From his position mounted on the recently acquired mare, Asht can see very little in the growing darkness. Indeed his own figure is difficult to discern, his black cloak seeming to blend in with the mare's black coat, making them both hard to see in the shadows. He draws the reins in, stopping the horses slow walk, then swings out of the saddle and onto the ground.

He looks around sharply, then nods his head before tethering the horse to a low bush and beginning to remove it's saddle.

Cordelia is riding in the middle of this group--behind Asht, but ahead of Rhifaroth--so that she can't talk to him--and ahead of Addie and the baby, so that Addie can keep an eye on her. She slows her horse as Asht does now, slipping out of the saddle and leading the animal towards where Asht has tethered his mount. "Shh..." she says quietly to her stallion Elfaron--Rhifaroth's horse originally. The horse doesn't seem particular nervous or jittery, so perhaps she is speaking to calm herself and not her mount.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    The pony comes up ahead of Addie who keeps a close eye on not loosing their precious prisoner. The stout cart animal is instantly content to browse whatever it can reach, completely ignoring the man who lays over it's broad back.

    Semi-conscious, fever from Adelaide's knife wound to his shoulder has set in, burning up the man's skin. Vomiting, with nothing left to rid himself of, has continued off and on for hours, as well as occational muttering. Dark blood has stained the back of the Ranger's right shoulder, marring the plain tunic. Most likely the man will not be much trouble the next day or two now that he is poisoned, yet again.

[Asht(#29272)] Having removed the saddle from his own horse, Asht casts a calculating gaze around at the others. He raises his left arm, stretching it and spends a moment trying to identify the injury inflicted by the rider's club. He lowers his arm and shrugs, it seems likely it's only bruising. He makes his was slowly towards Rhifaroth, his eyes downward, his dark cloack pushed back over his shoulders.

Once he gets to the pony he proceeds to untie some of the ranger's bindings, freeing him from the animal, but leaving his arms and legs tied. With a grunt, Asht lifts Rhifaroth off the pony, but seems to be unable to manage the man's weight, dropping him to the ground. He leans over the ranger and shakes him roughly, as if it was necessary after dropping him on the ground.

Moving more quickly, Cordelia hurries to tie up her horse and remove the saddle. She'll finish tending to him in a while, but now she hurries over to Asht and the ranger. Her expression is hidden in the darkness here. "Is he alive still?" Her tone is flat.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    Even after very little food for about two weeks now... who has kept track of the time? Even so, the tall Dunadan has a broad frame through his chest and shoulders and likely still weighs close to 200 lbs. Rhifaroth collapses to the ground in a heap where he is dumped, but it does rouse him. His blindfold replaced, one can not see if he opens his eyes or not.

    But as Asht reaches down and shakes the man roughly, there is a mutter, "Bastard, leave me alone..." Likely the thin man can feel the heat of the Ranger's skin through the thin tunic.

[Asht(#29272)] Throwing Cordelia a questioning look, Asht says "It would appear so." His hands rest on the ranger's shoulders a moment and he lays one across the man's forehead, his brow furrowing. "He's feverish though, which is hardly surprising, still we certainl don't want him to die yet, do we?"

With that Asht proceeds to remove the bindings on Rhifaroth's legs, but maintains a firm hold on the noose which still hangs around the man's neck. "Are you hungry, ranger?" he asks, his tone betraying his complete lack of care.

"Broth, Asht. He can't keep anything down when she's poisoned him like this." Cordelia's voice is a hushed whisper, and though the darkness hides her face, she can't keep the worried tone out of it.

"We need him alive," she repeats, urgent. "I have a salve for the wound on his shoulder that I could get, too...?" There's a hesitancy in that, as if she isn't sure just how far she can push Asht before the man snaps. The way he did mutilating the villager.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    There is no answer for Asht's question. Head lulling back if he is lifted up and shaken any more, the bound man seems mostly limp and unresponsive. Rhifaroth's breathing is a bit rough. Something incoherent is muttered, and then the man rouses enough to say, "No... no food." Even the thought of it is nauseating.

[Asht(#29272)] His eyes dart from the man to the woman and back again. "Alive, yes?" he says slowly then more quickly. "Of course we need him alive," he snaps. "And therefore we must feed him, however much he may want to starve himself to death." Ast leans down and attempts to straighten the ranger out somewhat so he's lying more comfortably, strangely.

He straightens up and says quietly. "We'll need a fire..." The words hang for a moment, before he stands up and begins searching the nearby ground for kindling and larger pieces of firewood. "The man's shoulder should be looked at," he says softly to Cordelia as he searches.

Cordelia is confused. "Looked at? I ...?" But Asht is searching for kindling. She glances at Rhifaroth, then apparently taking Asht's words as an order, she walks over to her pack. After a few minute she returns with strips of cloth in her hands and a small jar of the ointment she had used before on Rhifaroth's wounds.

This is all set next to Rhifaroth as Cordelia kneels next to the man and begins to work at moving his shirt off his shoulder. She's silent--grim-faced too. But she seems to know better than to try to talk to Rhifaroth these days, though she does glance over her shoulder more than once for Asht's whereabouts. "I need some water to clean it, too," she says, calling back to the Mordain man.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    Someone moved him to lay out less tangled, and now someone turns him over on his left side... someone with less rough, gentler hands. It is dark out, and he is fevered, but he knows the small sounds this young woman makes, her voice, even how she smells by now. But Rhifaroth can see nothing and his stomach continues to cramp painfully from the poison in his blood.

    The wound is on the back of the Dunadan's right shoulder - cutting between the shoulder blade and the back at a darnward stabbing angle that sliced through muscle. With his arms bound back as they are, only a very small opening of the wound as it slides beneath the scapula is accessable. If his arm was unbound and moved forward, over his head, it would rotate the bone down and out of the way of the wound.

    A fair amount of blood, mostly sticky and drying now, soaks the tunic's back. Still a little blood seeps fresh from the wound as he has been dumped and jostled about. Cordelia can feel ridges of old scar tissue criss crossing the man's back and shoulders in the darkness.

[Asht(#29272)] A short grunt is all the response Cordelia gets. Asht busies himself collecting dead wood, and returns to the others with a large pile of it. He drops it on the ground, then builds a fire and spends some minutes trying to get the tinder to catch alight. Eventually, smoke begins to drift upwards and the kindling catches and soon a merry blaze is burning.

Without a word, Asht rummages through a large sack that's attached to his saddle and finds a small kettle, something like a small cauldron. He wanders towards the river and returns some minutes later, the kettle full of water. It also seems that he's taken this opportunity to wash the more resistant blood stains off his face and hands. Approaching Cordelia, he thrusts the kettle at her. "Is there anything else you require?" he asks, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"No." Cordelia's voice is very small as she answers, her eyes dropped. It hasn't been long enough to say if the change will last, but watching Asht at the work he is known for--that is, a brutal killer--has made her very meek around him. The hatred that she was openly showing to him--her standing up to him verbally or taunting him to draw his knife on her--has vanished, replaced by her avoiding his eyes and dropping her head whenver he speaks to her, and obeying whatever he tells her to do. The request for water, perhaps, was one last spark of the old defiance that was in her, and now even that, too, is given up at Asht's sarcastic reply--Cordelia glancing at the fire Asht builds but not asking about it.

A cloth bandage is dipped into the water and dabbed onto the exposed wound, then the girl frowns. "I..." She licks her lips in that nervous habit she has. "His hand. I have to raise it above his head to get to the wound." She glances sideways at Asht, looking down quickly.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    Something touches his back, where the knife wound is that still yet burns faintly from the poison. A faint groan escapes the Dunadan but hearing it himself, Rhifaroth cuts the sound off. He swallows, for a moment becoming more clear headed. Where are they? The Ranger thinks he can smell the river again, but that can't be right. The Bruinen doesn't smell like that... it is a stony bottomed river. That smells like river mud. Like the Mitheithel... but they had been heading east. That makes no sense at all. Was he wrong about where they were?

    Faintly, the Dunadan asks, "Where are we?" Rhifaroth knows they won't tell him.

Asht rubs his face, exhaustion showing in the deep hollows under his eyes. It's hard for him to miss the change in Cordelia's attitude, but his own responses don't seem to have changed much. "The arm?" he says thoughtfully then bends down over the ranger. For some minutes he struggles to undo the knots that bind the man's arms, but eventually manages it. He draws the noose around Rhifaroth's neck tight, keeping him on a very tight leash.

"Don't try anything," he says sharply, but smirks, it seems he figures the chances of the ranger being able to escape are fairly low. "As for where we are... Not far enough North for my liking, we have many days travel ahead of us." A sharp look at Cordelia and Asht nods slowly.

The girl swallows hard, biting off her own answer to Rhifaroth's question. Her own face blank as Asht nods to her, she leans forward to carefully try to move the ranger's arm over his head--very carefully in fact, aware that his muscles may be more than tender after all those days tied in one position. And aware, too, of the knife tucked into the bandages of one hand. Not sure which hand holds the knife anymore, in fact--if at all--she uses two hands--one on Rhifaroth's own, and one on his arm.

"We should.." Cordelia suggests quietly, "tie his arms in front of his body for a while. I don't know if this wound will heal with his arms tied back. It might fester." Still, she leans to try to clean the wound and dress it.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    The coarse rope around his throat is cruelly tightened once more. Rhifaroth lays still, trying to think if he has enough stregnth to even try anything. Everything feels leaden.

    Ropes that have bound the man's elbows behind his back for so long are suddenly slacked. Shoulder ball and socket joints that have had very little or no significant movement in two weeks or more are suddenly loosened, and his right arm is lifted to begin rotation out and up. Terrible, sharp, unexpected pain wracks the man and he cries out, even with the rope tightened, ready to cut off his air. The man's whole body tenses with the simple, dreadfully painful movement. But, rotating his arm does move the scapula bone and opens the wound up.

    Rhifaroth tries not to fight Cordelia, but she did cause him a few moments agony. Breathing faster now, nearly gasping, the man lays still again, "Sun ... wind, don't .. " He shuts his mouth.

[Asht(#29272)] The pressure on the noose relaxes a little and Asht leans over the man again, a look of curiousity on his angular features. "What are you talking about, fool?" he says softly to Rhifaroth and smiles. Turning to Cordelia, he says quickly "He might as well remain untied while you minister to him. Afterwards, restrain him anyway you like, just be sure he cannot escape."

Asht leans backwards, crouching, almost sitting on the ground. Looking out into the gloomy night he says nothing for a time, but his grip on the rope doesn't lessen. "Perhaps it's worth torturing this scum some more, if only to stay warm," he muses and a shiver shakes his thin frame.

Cordelia's breathing quickens, harsh at the Dunadan's cry of pain. Her hands tighten their grip on his briefly, though it's not a cruel grip, but one meant for comfort. It's all she can offer--she has to bite back her own cry of sympathy, given Addie's threats to her. "I'll..." she clears her throat..."dress this first. Maybe he'll pass out...and I can move his other arm forward more easily."

Her head turns at Asht's mention of more torture, and she opens her mouth to reply, then shuts it.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    There is no comment from the injured man. Rhifaroth lays still, breathing a little harshly, his skin quite hot to the touch. But for now, he's past struggling. The young woman can do anything she likes. Asht to, for all that the Dunadan cares just now. Sleep... too bad they aren't giving him any more of Acelen's horse meds to knock him out. It removed pain and made him sleep...

[Asht(#29272)] In the firelight, Asht's dark eyes jump from Cordelia to Rhifaroth and back again. He shrugs and then sits down properly, studying the ranger's face with an almost worried look. "He's not well, is he?" he asks and laughs shortly, the nasty tone of it is unmissable. "Still, do what you can for him." he says to Cordelia. "He must remain alive long enough... " The words trail off and Asht looks down at Rhifaroth with a decidedly hungry look on his face.

'I will do what I can,' Cordelia says, pausing for a second and adding very quietly, "(Logathig) Master." There's resignation and defeat in her voice--hope is fading quickly for her, if there is any left at all, and now she slips back into a role she knew long ahead and for many years. 'But no, he's not well, and I can't say for sure how much more he can take. But I will try my best.' She reaches for the salve and bandages and sets to work.

[Rhifaroth(#27282)]  
    Rhifaroth's breathing has eased a little now that he's no longer being moved about, just now. The man lays on his left side and may well have passed out unconscious. Asht may study the man's scarred and tattooed, blindfolded face, but the Ranger is not aware of it. Fever drags him down, burns him up, and muddies the mind into darkness.

    The fire burning behind to cast light upon the man's bloody back is almost cheerful, in this gloomy place.