I slept like a corpse, so exhausted that I did not care whether or not we were found. Indeed, I knew not where we would flee, where we would find sanctuary. I could not even think of possibilities in my state.
I awakened with the dawn’s first light, noting immediately that Tarsuinn and Malachy were still both lost to dreams. I rolled over, planning to consider our situation, and yelped to find that I no longer lay alone.
Gawain clapped his hand over my mouth. There was soot on his face and mire in his hair, blood on his tabard, but his eyes gleamed with his usual devilry. He winced at his quick move, then sighed most eloquently as he lay back with feigned weariness. “Truly, I grow too old for this trade.”
“You are alive!” I managed to say, knowing that he delighted in having surprised m
