Forced Together

Part 2

Dagur could vaguely sense someone at his side, but in the dark his confused eyes couldn't make out a thing. "Mala?"

"Do I look- no, sorry. Don't try to get up." One arm slipped under Dagur's arms, the other under his knees, and with a grunt of effort, the stranger was carrying Dagur. Too out of it to be embarrassed at being carried like a new bride, Dagur blinked up at the unknown man. His vision cleared, and Dagur's eyes widened when he saw who it was. "No! Get... away!"

Hatred made a small impact on Dagur's haziness and he struggled in Viggo's grasp. "Stop that. I can barely carry you as it is. Believe it or not, I'm actually trying to help here." Seeing that his efforts were going nowhere, Dagur stopped struggling and glared at Viggo. "Going to... kill me." Viggo snorted. "If I wanted to do that, I would have stabbed you while you were unconscious in the tunnel. Try to think for once in your life. I'm helping you because I don't have the power to get out of here on my own."

The two eventually came to a cave, and Viggo laid Dagur down against the far wall before finding a large stone to block the entrance. When the Grimborn started a fire Dagur groaned, knowing what was coming next.

"Do you have to cauterize it? I think it would be fine if I could just stitch it."

Viggo snorted. "Sure, like you can even sit up right now. Did you not hear me say that you have blood poisoning? You're lucky I have an herbalist kit, and even then I'd be surprised if that didn't hit an artery. When I remove the arrow you'll start to bleed out. So yes I'm cauterizing it."

Dagur tried to hold still, but it was hard. The process was agonizing, but thankfully over quickly, and Viggo soon had the wound neatly bandaged. "Thanks" Dagur mumbled grudgingly. Viggo chuckled and put his things away, but then he froze. "What-"

"Shhhhh!" Viggo made a listening motion. Then Dagur could hear it; the sure, steady footsteps of assassins. "They shouldn't be able to see us" Viggo whispered, "But be ready for a fight."

One of Dagur's hands found the handle of his axe and he gripped it as well as he could, but Viggo could see that the normally tough viking would be no use if it came down to a battle. He needed rest and more treatment. Viggo readied his sword and waited; he could take down two or three before they shot him, if he got the jump on them.

The footsteps came closer and closer until they stopped just outside the room. They paused, and Viggo heard two gruff voices;

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know, can't see anything with this stupid glowing stuff everywhere."

"Well, just remember there's two of them now. The Grimborn was bad enough, but now we've got a berserker to worry about. I really didn't get paid enough for this."

"Hah, me neither. Still, Krogan will kill us if we don't get 'em, so keep your eyes peeled."

The mercenaries laughed nervously and continued down the tunnel. Once the sounds of their passing faded, Viggo breathed a sigh of relief. He returned to Dagur's side and felt his forehead, frowning at how hot the redhead's skin had become. There was limited water available, but it was cold enough to help, so Viggo shredded the bottom of his shirt into strips, soaked them, and covered Dagur's face with them.

Why was he even doing this? Viggo could likely get out on his own, even if all of the entrances had at least ten heavily armed guards and unknown numbers of hidden snipers waiting for him. No, he wasn't that dumb; he did need Dagur's help for this.

The cooling seemed to be helping, and Dagur soon stirred back to full wakefulness, rubbing his eyes and groaning softly. "This is not shaping up to be a good day. Days?" Viggo gave him time to recover while he made a small meal of preserved meat and dried fruit from his packs.

"So you only have enough supplies for another day or so it looks like. We'll have to have a plan soon, tonight would likely be best." Viggo blinked. "You actually want to help me? I thought I would have to bribe you." Dagur shrugged. "It's not like I have much choice. You are a horrible person, but Krogan's worse."

Viggo rolled his eyes but didn't reply. "Fine. As far as i can tell from the light coming in, we have a couple hours left before nightfall, and another hour or so before total darkness. Get some rest."