Could it be Edger though? Seemed a stretch, except Edger and Cole had bothered him from the start, and it wouldn't surprise him at all to see them again, right in the middle of this mess. He still could make no sense of the larger image, but he felt strongly they would be right there in it.
He continued on, following the crude, careless trail until it ended at the entrance to a cave. Putting his fingers to his lips, he whistled for his horse. Next he held out his left hand and called up his magic, creating a ball of light that he sent on into the cave ahead of him. When it seemed there was no immediate danger, he went on ahead, calling the light back to hang just behind and above him.
The smells hit him first: the remains of a fire, burned meat, and blood.
"Should have fucking known it would be you," said a familiar voice.
Leonine relaxed slightly. "Edger. What are you doing at the back of a cave?"
"My stupid leg, what else?" Edger said, his voice raspy, thin.
As Leonine drew close enough for the light to reach him, he immediately saw why: Edger was propped against the back wall of the cave, shivering, and his leg wound had gotten worse, not better. He also seemed to be holding his arm carefully, and he was far, far too pale. "Where's Cole?
"He had to keep going with the rest of them. Only way we'll get our money," Edger replied, mouth twisting. "Guessing your business is that the queen has sent you to take our heads."
Leonine sighed and enlarged the light, then crouched to examine the dregs of the fire. Edgar must have run out of wood. There was also the remains of a couple of squirrels. Grimacing, Leonine moved to address Edger, cupping hands over his wounded leg and pouring all the healing magic he could muster into it.
Not much, in the end, but from the way Edger's expression eased a bit, clearly it was better than nothing.
"Sorry, healing isn't my thing."
"Doesn't hurt as much, which is all that matters to me right now," Edger said. "Your magic is something else. Never seen one like you."
"Will you be all right for a few minutes while I fetch my companions, some wood, and real food?"
Edger laughed. "Will I be all right? Already better than I was, ain't I? Thanks for not killing me outright."
"I'm a knight, not a mercenary," Leonine replied, and stood, heading back out of the cave just as the other two came into view, following his horse with confused expressions. "Guess who I found?"
"To judge by your expression, I'm not going to like the answer. It better not be that pair of upstarts who definitely aren't allowed to flirt with you anymore," Odilia said, voice taking on the ominous tone of a barkeep who'd reached her limit with rowdy, drunken patrons.
Leonine laughed. "Half right. I'm going to collect firewood. Eve, would you see about catching a rabbit or something? Odilia, don't kill him while he's helpless."
"Fine," Odilia groused, and set to dealing with the horses as Leonine and Everard headed off into the woods.
Chapter Eight
Thankfully, collecting firewood didn't take long. Leonine improvised a sling and carried as much as he possibly could on his back, and still more in his arms, trudging through the snow back to the cave, spurred on through the biting cold by thoughts of tea and food and not moving for a few hours.
He dropped the wood off, stole a quick kiss just because he could, then headed back out to forage suitable branches for beds, hauling them in bundles until he had a suitable stack by the door. Odilia came to help him then, dragging them into the cave and making the bed piles.
By the time he was finished, Leonine's body ached, and his lungs burned from the cold air. He still needed to actually make the beds and get water, but a few minutes to rest and warm up wouldn't hurt.
"That fire feels wonderful," he said with a groan. "Thank you, Odilia."
Odilia smiled faintly. "I'm going to see about water. No, sit, I can handle it just fine, you overprotective twit. You're more qualified to tend him, anyway. Back soon." She kissed him, took his waterskin along with her own, and headed off.
"I thought they seemed like a good deal more than strangers you met along the way," Edger said. "The way they glared whenever we flirted with you…" He laughed. "I was far more concerned what they were going to do to me than you."
Leonine rolled his eyes. "They weren't my lovers at the time. It's complicated. Let me have another look at that leg." He dug his healing kit out of his saddle bag and set to work, cleaning and re-stitching the wound, covering it heavily with salves for healing and numbing before carefully bandaging it, offering whatever additional healing he could muster. "Why didn't you go to the healer?"
"Complicated," Edger bit out. "Stupid, mostly. Let's just say that people wanted to talk to us, and they didn't feel like waiting, and then we were running for our lives." He laughed sourly. "Supposed to be an easy job. Shoot a stupid arrow or six, run away, collect our money, jump on a ship, and away we go." He sighed. "It's not like anyone actually misses the stupid bastard, not from all I've seen and heard." Leaning back against the wall, he closed his eyes and seemed to sink inward. "I hope Cole at least gets out of this mess. I don't want him dead because of my stupid decision to accept this job. Should have listened to him."
Stifling a sigh, Leonine set to work fixing up four beds, retrieving Edger's bedroll from where it was still rolled up beside his battered knapsack. Once the beds were ready, he helped Edger onto one, and wasn't remotely surprised when he passed out almost immediately, the tension in his face bleeding away.
Leonine's stomach churned. This man was one of the assassins he was supposed to capture or kill. Why did it feel like doing either of those things was the wrong action to take?
Whatever. A problem for later. He still needed to capture Cole, and ideally whoever was working with them.
When Odilia returned, he helped her with filling the kettle and getting a pot of gruel going. "How's our guest?" Odilia asked. "Prisoner?"
"Something," Leonine replied with a sigh. "Tired. In pain. Scared. Mostly for Cole, but also for himself."
Odilia gave him a sharp, pensive look filled with entirely too much knowing. "What's bothering you?"
"To be honest, I don't know yet. I need to find Cole and the others, get a better idea of the whole tapestry before I know what questions to ask, let alone the answers. I really do hope they're having as much trouble with this weather as we are."
"Trust me, with a group like that, the kind that would ditch one of their own…" Odilia's lips curled. "They're struggling with every step. The harder the journey, the more vital the cohesion." She rolled her eyes and smiled faintly, fondness in her eyes. "Which a well-trained knight would know."
"Never hurts to be reminded," Leonine replied, returning the smile. "Even if I still think you two stubborn brats should have stayed back at the inn."
Odilia laughed and fixed them all cups of tea, finishing just as Everard appeared with two freshly skinned and cleaned rabbits. Handing his cup to him, she took the rabbits and set to work butchering them, throwing most of the meat in the pot with the simmering gruel, bundling the rest together with string and carrying it outside where the cold would preserve it.