She hadn't wanted to believe Daehyun when he had spoken those words, but it was hard to deny them when she saw what ailed him. Chorong had knelt in the rain and examined his wound, shocked to find that he had been stabbed in the side. It didn't look like it had hit anything vital because he was still alive, but from the clamminess of his skin, she didn't know how much longer he could last.

It finally stopped raining and Chorong cleaned the wound as best she could using her soft cloths and water from the panniers. She wished that she knew how to start a fire so she could boil water even as she wiped the blood and gore away from his skin. He was feverish and shaking, and when she used her needle and thread to sew him up he hardly responded to the pain. That alone would have been enough to worry her, but with all of it combined, she was sure he was right. He was dying.

Unless, of course, the Ring did exist and she could get it for him. She examined the map by the dying light of day, trying to place where they were by using his indications the day prior and her own trip to the river. By her estimations they had maybe a day or two travel to the Cairn, but he couldn't ride.

So she built a litter. She was not experienced in building things at all, but she figured that she had seen enough horses hitched to wagons to understand the basics. Two large sticks later and she was digging in her pack for her black dress. She looked at it in sadness as she took her scissors, and then with a sigh she cut the skirt into long, thick strips. That had been one of her favorite dresses!

The strips she used to tie shorter sticks betwwen the large ones, making a big rectangle, and then she took the last blanket out of the panniers and stretched it across the makeshift litter. Maybe it would work... she hoped it would work!

The final thing was the horses. She had used very long branches so that there would be enough room for both Daehyun to lay on and to tie the sticks to the horse's side. She used the remaining strips of skirt to tie the litter tightly to the panniers, and then stepped back to take in her hard work. She could hardly see, the moon being the only light by which she could work, but she thought it would serve. It at least held her weight when she lay on it to test.

"Daehyun," she said softly, stepping over to his form where he huddled next to the rock. He had gotten wet in the rain and shivered now, though she knew that it wasn't only from the cold. He didn't even look up at her as she crouched beside him, lifting a hand to his forehead to check his fever. It still burned hotly and she shook her head and took a deep breath.

First things first, she needed to get him warm. She unwrapped the blanket from his shoulders, following with his soaked shirt. He had not grabbed his own pack in the night, otherwise she would have used that, but she could make do. She found a curious thin stick tucked into the wasistband of his pants, and realized that it must be a magic caster and the source of the boom that had knocked her from her tree. She tucked it into her own dress pocket and continued. Once his skin was bare, she took off her own warm wool coat and draped it over his shoulders, having to use strips of her dress to bind it down because it was too small for him. Then she heaved him up, mostly dragging him if she had to admit it, and moved him to the waiting litter.

"Oh please hold," she begged it as she hefted him onto it, using every ounce of her strength to do so. It wasn't pretty, she was sure, and she could tell that she was hurting him, but it must be done. Once she fianlly had him settled on the litter, she took the remnants of her black dress and opened the buttons so it fell open like a shirt, and she lay it over him too. Then, as a last thing she could do, she removed the grey outerdress from what she was wearing and draped that on him, too. Hopefully that would keep him warm enough. It had to: they had nothing else.

She pulled her pack back onto her shoulders, and led the packhorse a few experimental steps. The litter held, and she breathed a sigh of relief before leading the other horse to a log to mount. Once she was up, she gathered both animals and set off.

She only stopped a few times through the night and the next day: a few times to check on Daehyun, and twice to dig through the panniers for something to eat. She hadn't eaten in a while and she was starved! She found a bit of dried, tough meat, but she didn't question it and devoured it. Daehyun had lost consciousness and it was all she could do to rouse him to trickle water down his throat, so she didn't bother with food for him and merely pushed on.

They reached the river near sunrise, and then she turned East along the waters to head for the Cairn. By sunset that night she was too exhausted to continue, and so she got off of the horse and nearly fell as she made her way back to the packhorse's litter. It was a lot of maneuvering to get him out of it and it unhooked so the horse could eat, but she managed, and curled up by his side to share warmth.

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