It turned out to be a rough ride through the forest night, Chorong's aches and pains from the fall catching up to her as they moved. Riding a horse without a saddle was totaly different than with one, she found as she bounced along on the animal's bony back. By the time they finally slowed to a walk, the sun nearing the horizen, she felt like a rag doll.

"Hells," she breathed, shifting on the horse's back to try to find a more comfortable position. As her back hit Daehyun, though, he let out a sharp cry of pain and she froze. "I'm sorry!" she said quickly, thinking she had hurt him somehow.

"No," he gasped, and pulled on the horse's reins to make it stop. It did, compliant with it's riders needs, and the man dismounted. It was more of a graceless fall than anything, and as his feet hit the ground he collapsed to thump down onto his rear.

Somethine was wrong, that was evident even to Chorong's untrained eye, even in the pre-dawn light. She scrambled off of the horse on the opposite side that Daehyun had gone down on, unwilling to fall on him with her own clumsiness. As her feet touched ground she let out a groan of pain, all the bruises and scratches from the night catching up to her, but she tried to brush them off.

"Let me see," she told him, coming around the front of the horse and dropping the lead to the pack horse beside her. Even as she moved to kneel, though, he was pushing her hands away.

"Coming," he said, his voice coming out breathy. He was in obvious pain but caught her hand anyway. "They're coming."

He was right. She sat back on her heels with frustration, trying to decide what to do. They were surely pursuing, how close behind, she couldn't guess, but she knew he was right. They would be coming and so she had to keep him moving. "Okay," she said finally, leaning forward to grab his wrists. "Let me help you up."

But he didn't, merely pulled his wrist away and waved a hand weakly at her. "I can't, I won't make it far. You go."

Her heart gave a jolt as she realized what he meant: for her to leave him and escape on her own. "No," she said, even as the thought crossed her mind. "I won't. You've risked so much for me, Daehyun, I'm not just going to leave you to die. Now get up!"

He gave her a dire glare, but she ignored it and grasped his wrists again. With a shake of his head, he used her strength and pulled himself up, though he gave a cry as he began to straighten. "Can't!" he cried, and crumpled back down into a ball on the ground.

Chorong's brow creased in concern and she let him go, unsure of what to do. She couldn't waste time, really, but they have to get away! She was far too small to carry him and he couldn't ride in the condition he was in, but they couldn't afford to use a litter to drag him because of the tracks it would leave. "I don't-" she began, but stopped herself of saying it out loud. She had to do something, she couldn't just leave him there.

Or... could she? She looked around suddenly, inspecting their surroundings in the early morning air. The mountain forest was a harsh place, with lots of prickly bushes and short, stubby trees, but there were also many rock formations about them. "Wait here," she said, standing up and squaring her shoulders with determination.

"Where would I go?" he said, breathy but still a joke, to which she gave him a flat look. "Okay okay," he waved her off.

She knew she had to hurry, their pursuit could be closing in at any moment, but she was determined to find somewhere to hide him. She lifted her skirts high to avoid catching them in the underbrush and began to search all the rock formations about them. She was beginning to lose hope when she found exactly what she was searching for, and she gave a small clap of joy at her discovery.

A shallow dugout underneath the side of one large rock would suit her purposes perfectly, she figured. It was even mostly hidden by more prickly bushes in front of it! She hurried back to Daehyun, ready to tell him what she had found, only to find him pale and breathing shallowly.

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