Chapter 58
Third POV
On the return ride to Rivendell, she was cold, tired, and hungry. Her clothes had not fully dried the night before and although she had bought some bread, cheese, and mead for the road, it did nothing against the biting wind and chill that coursed through her every time her mind would wander back to the night before.
"Woah!" She yelled, pulling on Rochben's reigns. "Let's stop to rest here."
Rochben stamped his foot impatiently, wanting to get back under the shelter of trees.
"I need a break," Miranda told him.
He huffed and stamped. When Miranda did not move to get back on his back, he snorted and turned away from her.
Miranda's fingers fiddled with the cork of mead in her hands. Numb from cold, the bottle slipped from her fingers. She reached for it, crying out when it shattered upon the ground. Rochben startled and reared. Miranda was knocked to the ground with a splash, shards of glass imbedding themselves in her hands. She sighed and stared up at the gray sky, her knees sinking into the soggy earth, as her hands oozed crimson. "It's going to rain again," She whispered and a moment later, an icy drop fell on her nose. Miranda breathed a stream of fire onto her cold hands and stood up, warmed slightly by the fire and blood trickling down her palms, "Rochben?"
The horse glanced over at her first reproachfully then with concern.
"Let's go back," Miranda jumped onto Rochben's back, careful not to cut him and urged him into a run, her hair and droplets of blood flying wildly in the wind behind her.
Upon entering Rivendell, she saw Nrimir. "Take Rochben in and get him cleaned up." She told him dismounting and handing him the reigns. The largest shard of glass was visible on the back of her hand, twinkling green in the dim light.
Nrimir's eyes widened slightly and called urgently, "The princess is injured! Get her inside! Quickly!"
"Nrimir, I'm fine," Miranda stated dismissively.
"You are not fine! You have a piece of glass sticking out of your hand!" He shouted, gesturing towards my left hand.
"I've had far worse injuries than this," Miranda replied, looking over her red and green hand. "Besides, we're elves, we heal quickly."
"That's the problem!" Her friend all but screamed. "It could cause a lot more damage when taken out, especially if it is given time to heal! Why did you even leave them in? You could have taken most of them out."
"They felt...," Miranda responded serenely, looking up at the tree covered sky.
"They felt?" Nrimir echoed.
The she elf nodded, "It was warm."