It was cold, dark, and wet in the abandoned dungeons. Rico and I had ventured deep into the dark pits, looking for the remains of treasure. However, what we found instead was a dangerous spring, threatening what we had discovered was the shaky stability of the castle.

I sighed and knelt down next to the lightly flowing stream of water. “Give this place a few more years, and there won't be much left of it..” I said. I dipped my fingers into the cool, dark water. Rico was looking around with a flaming torch, taking a better look at the cracked, leaking wall. Despite my dislike of the cold, and despite the fact that I knew it was very cold in the dungeons, I plunged my hand deep into the water. I felt dry and unreasonably warm, and felt a strange pressure in the back of my head and neck. I was probably getting sick. It was fine, I would crawl off somewhere and sleep for a few days until I got better. I felt a nagging panic in the pit of my stomach, but shook it off. Whenever I got sick, I had to keep moving, keep running, and keep hiding. If I decided to stop and sleep, I would likely be found, caught, and killed. Perhaps it was more that knowledge that often let me recover after only a few days.

“Do you think we'll have the winter here?”

I sighed and let my cloak fall open around me. I was being stupid, I knew that, but at the moment the cold air felt nice against my bare arms.

“Perhaps. So long as we don't have legions of soldiers marching through here.... You don't have legions of soldiers hidden away do you? You might wish to send them away.”

Rico sighed. “Can't we leave now? I can't see anything down here.”

“Lord Necanda was insane. Gods only know what he hid here.” I stood up, cringing as I noticed my toes had gone numb. “However, until you're willing to heat this place properly... We may as well come back when it's warmer.”

My plan had been to get to the forest in the east before a real snowfall came. I don't like traveling in the snow, because snow is cold. I don't like the cold. However, the forest is full of pine trees, which keeps the forest floor mostly clear of snow. As well, there's so much activity, and so many fire pits aflame in the thieves village that it's kept fairly warm. However, nature decided it didn't like me. A storm started blowing, so Rico, Christen and I packed up our camp, and brought everything to the castle. The caravan was taken to the huge stables that were near the castle, along with the horses. Years worth of old hay sat there, so I wasn't worried about them. There was lots of game in the mountains and forests, so the three of us could easily survive in this big castle for the winter, resting while we combed every corner of the castle for treasure.

It was a shame really. The castle was bound to be boring with old Lord Necanda dead. I had also been hoping that going to the Thieves Forest would distract Christen. She had wanted to go there, she had wanted to sell a few things she had stolen. However, instead we were stuck inside the great giant castle where her mother had once lived.

Rico pulled me out of my musings. “Are we going?”

I shook my head and stood up. I felt the blood seem to drain away from my head, causing me to sway. I reached out to steady myself on a nearby pillar “Yes, let's get out of here.” I sighed. “ I don't think there's much treasure left here anyway.” Once I felt steady, I glanced at Riko. He hadn't noticed anything, so after a moment, I walked on ahead of him, leading the way out of the dungeons

We made our way to the study, which was the only place we were really able to get Christen to stay and rest. It was a large room, with several dusty, mouldy couches and piles of neglected books and scrolls. We cleaned it up as much as we could, and then settled in. Rico kept the fireplace going without fuel all day and night to keep it warm.

Well, I do hate the cold.

***

I felt tired and out of breath as we finally reached the windowless study. I opened the door and stormed in while Rico caught the door from slamming. He took a moment to take off his cloak and drape it over a nearby chair. I pulled my cloak off and dropped it on the floor near the fireplace, and sat against the stone wall. My tunic was worn, and I could feel the coolness of the stones on my back. I could almost feel body heat leak out of me. As I leaned against the wall I took a deep breath and allowed myself to rest. I wondered where I could hide until I felt better. The study was really the only room we had cleaned up enough to make habitable. I wondered if I would be warm enough in the caravan.

“Stiri?”

I lifted my head up from the wall and turned to Christen. She hadn't been talking much since she slew Lord Necanda. No, she was still spending all her time staring off into space. A part of me bubbled with silent anger. I've killed so many more people than she had, and I wasn't staring off into space all the time.

“Yeah?”

“...I asked you what happened in the village?”

I glanced up and looked around. Rico was holding his arm, which had a nasty scratch along the forearm. I leaned back against the wall and smiled. It had been a funny little incident. Before we decided to wander into the dungeons, we were outside the castle, poking around the long-abandoned village for anything of value. The houses were rotting away after years of disuse. Most of the houses had fallen apart, leaving insides exposed to the elements. We found a house that was still mostly in one piece. The door hung off it's hinges, and the chimney had fallen a long time ago, but Rico decided to wander in without telling me, to see if he could find anything. A moment later, I heard a thud, and turned around just in time to see Rico, clutching his arm and being chased away from the house by a bunch of angry racoons. This was just before I started feeling a little ill. I sat away to the side and watched him run around until he finally decided to scare them off with some fire. It was a great laugh, and thankfully, he didn't get his wound from the racoons, but from falling on top of something in the darkness of the house.

“Stiri?” Christen said

“hmm?”

“...Are you alright?”

I blinked and sat upright. Heat flooded the cool spot on my back where I had been leaning against the wall. My neck hurt, and I wondered if I had slept is an odd position. “I'm fine” I lied, “I'm just tired.” I stood up on suddenly shaky legs. I was getting worse, fast. “I'm just going to sleep.”

“Sleep? Already? It's not even dusk yet.” Christen chewed on her lower lip. On the bright side, this was the most I had heard her speak since we had been here.

“I'm tired.” I finally said. “I'm going to-” Before I could finish speaking, Christen was at my side, hand on my face. I brushed her hand away, but she took my hand in hers and held it down while she placed her other hand on my face. I grunted weakly.

“Leave me be.” I muttered, “I just need to sleep-”

“You're burning!” she gasped. “You're sick!”

I grunted, “a little” I admitted. “I'm just going to crawl off and sleep for-” Before I could finish, Christen was pulling me towards the fire. I attempted to pull myself away, but she seemed extraordinarily strong, and the stiff pain in my neck was creeping into my shoulders.

She led me to a chair near the fire. “Sit here.” she said, “I'll find some blankets for the sofa, and-”

I stood up slowly from the chair. “No, I'm fine.” I muttered. “I'll just sleep in the Caravan, I've got lots of blankets there, and-” Christen put her hands on my shoulders and pushed me down again.

“If you've got blankets in the caravan, we can bring them up here.” she turned to Rico, “Can you go and get them.”

“I'll be fine.” I muttered. “I've gotten sick before, and I've been just fine.”

“What, you slept in your caravan the whole-”

“I didn't sleep.” I snapped. My throat felt dry, and I felt a sudden pain, like tiny pinpricks at the back of my throat. I lowered my voice so that it didn't hurt to talk. “I didn't sleep.” I heard the door close as I assumed Rico was leaving to get the blankets. I released that he had likely found the key in my cloak. “I traveled to avoid being attacked while sick... Being able to sleep is a luxury.”

Christen still had a hand on each shoulder, keeping me from standing. I was too warm near the fire, and through the rough cloth of my tunic, I could feel the heat of her hands, like a slowly spreading fire on my skin.

“Just relax” she said, “There's no point in running off to your caravan, you'll be more comfortable here anyway, and if you need anything-”

With a soft grunt, I pushed her hands away. “I don't need anything.” I muttered. “I just need to sleep.”

“Then sleep.”