Enough is too much, Sean-Selkie said, trying to assist her sawing efforts by holding his bound wrists as far apart as possible to strain the leather thong. She had to be using the dullest knife in the world to take so long at her job, but he blessed her arrival and her attempts at rescue.
The wrist thong snapped and he inadvertently slapped her face. She gave a little gasp but no more than that, and it occurred to Sean that she was accustomed to blows. The thought infuriated him.
My apologies, little one, for my clumsiness in striking the one who frees.
‘No apologies are needed for one so unworthy as I, for I am sworn by Coaxtl to rescue you.”
The dominant male voices were getting loud, and there seemed to be more noise outside the tent.
We must leave.
“This way.” She scrambled backward with a speed he was unable to emulate, stiff and sore as he was, with the wound in his haunch hurting even more. But the threat of discovery was a great spur, and blocking the pain in his leg, Sean-Selkie reached the place where she had entered the tent. But his rescuer was a good deal smaller than he. Frantically digging with his hands, he managed to make a large enough opening in the slush to allow him to pass under the edge of the tent. Then, carefully, he reached back inside and, as well as he could, scooped the slush back over the hole.
“Coaxtl waits,” the girl said, and rising to a crouch. beckoned him to follow.
Are there man clothes nearby? The arrow wound will not let me run as quickly as I should.
“Man clothes?”
Yes, and the quicker the better, dear child, Sean-Selkie said, hearing the noises converging on the tent.
“This way.”
The child changed direction, and Sean completed the transformation to his human form as he limped as fast as he could after her. The wound hurt more in his human form. At last she stopped and thrust a pile of filthy clothing at him. The pants were for a much shorter man, but the leather jacket and fur jerkin would be sufficient.
The girl had disappeared again. While he was struggling with the clothing, wishing he had something to cover the wound before it turned septic from the dirt impregnated in the pants, she returned and thrust some loose wrappings at him.
“Wrap these about your feet so thatoh! But you have real feet. Are you not really a monster?”
“Not really, little one. And as a human I am much safer right now among people who are looking for a monster”
“Oh, but you are not one of us, and everyone would see that you are a stranger.”
“At night and in the dark?”
“This night the fire is very bright. Coaxtl said that she would hide you. You are safer with her.”
“If I could reach her, yes, but the arrow wound slows me down.”
“Yes, of course it would. How stupid of this unworthy one … Come with me. There is one place where you will be safe. At least for a little while.” She giggled. “And even hot water to clean the wound.”
“There is?”
“Yes, I was given hot water in which to bathe myself since I am to be made wife to Shepherd Howling” Her voice broke.
Rage suffused Sean so that for a moment he couldn’t speak; he almost cut off the circulation at his ankles as he wound the foot covering on.
“I must be back there, at my tent. Ascencion said a maiden must be private to bathe on her wedding night.”
Poor terrified mite, Sean thought, as he cautiously followed her in a crouch that put more strain on his wound. He could feel fresh blood seeping down his leg. They were, however, going away from the noise and the excited mob about to discover that their quarry had disappeared. When they reached their destination, the child struggled with a tent peg so that Sean would not have to crawl again. He took it from her hand and heaved it loose from the slush, and they both entered easily. Fumbling, he managed to get the peg back into place from the inside.