Teech had been at his divinely-ordained task for a full two weeks, pausing only to rest when he was too weary to continue, or to grab a quick meal of the jerked meat he carried for when his God would have him journey. Already, he'd consigned a thousand knights and nearly five hundred paladins to the bog below the sod. Teech was not only exhausted physically, he was emotionally drained by the consistent carnage and senseless death surrounding him.

Finally, there remained one last victim, laying slightly apart from all the others Teech had already buried. Despite his pleas, Teech's God had not seen fit to allow him even one survivor of this terrible travesty, which had brought Teech to the bog to begin with. After two weeks of burying the dead, he had no hope that this last victim might be alive, but like the others, she deserved to have her face seen and remembered by one who would grieve over her.

He approached cautiously. Overhead, the carrion birds had redoubled their attacks until they resembled a swarm of angry hornets, daring Teech's protective shield until they blocked a great deal of the early evening sunlight. Even the dog pressed close to Teech's side.

Teech noticed that this last body, set apart from the others, was caked in the black muck of the bog and bore wounds of battle, unlike her compatriots. One leg and the arm of the same side lay at abnormal angles, obviously broken. Dried blood in her white-blond hair spoke of a glaring head wound, which must surely have broken her skull. Also, unlike the others of her order, this paladin didn't smell burned, the way the others had.

For some reason, the carrion birds had not despoiled her body despite the blood and injuries she evidenced. After two weeks, the chances of accidentally opening the dead upon moving them had taught Teech caution. Expecting to find only open eyes made opaque by death, and a distorted, discolored expression, Teech gently turned her body over.

Instead of the death he expected, a pair of light green eyes fluttered and a weak moan of pain brought a rush of joy to Teech's heart. His God had granted him one soul to rescue.

"Thank You!" Teech exclaimed as his weariness fled and the oppressive misery of his task was forgotten in the dawn of hope. The task was over and a new one assigned. "Oh, thank You, my Lord!"

She took a breath that rattled alarmingly. Reminded afresh of his new task, Teech dropped his gaze to her face. She was so young! There was a flicker of fear in her light green eyes, that was quickly followed by resignation.

"It's all right," he assured her quietly, knowing she viewed him as an enemy, "I won't hurt you, but we can't stay here." As carefully as he could, Teech picked her up.

She gasped as her broken body moved and, against the fingers he held at her ribcage, Teech felt the grate of multiple broken ribs. Her eyes rolled back in her head as the paladin succumbed to the pain. Knowing she was unconscious, Teech ran for the trees.

Overhead, the enraged carrion birds accompanied Teech, attempting to attack him and reclaim their prize. They didn't stop until he was deep into the forest that belonged to his God.

Even unconscious, the wounded paladin shivered under the shadows of the trees. Dressed in the lightweight silken clothing of her people, the paladin's damp, muck-encrusted garments would never keep her warm enough. Even her boots, with the thick soles of a warrior, were lightweight; of a white, kid leather designed to be as much pleasing to the eye as functional.

Teech knew he had to keep her warm. The shock of her injuries would prove deadly if she grew cold. Safe from the marauding birds, Teech stopped to wrap her in his own clothes- his leather jacket around her upper body, thick, woolen overshirt around her legs.

There was a hot spring in the vicinity, he knew, though it would be an hour's walk from where he was. With the paladin wrapped warmly, Teech lifted her again and resumed walking. The hot spring would be his best option for tending her wounds and keeping her warm.

After what seemed an eternity, Teech sat the paladin down on the warm rocks beside the spring and unwrapped her in order to better tend her injuries. That both her right arm and leg were broken was obvious, but other than her head wound and broken ribs, she had no other overt injuries. Aside from setting and splinting her limbs and cleaning the dried blood and mud off of her, there was little Teech could do beyond keeping her warm and nourished. The rest, she'd have to do on her own.

Teech made her as comfortable as possible and went to gather some supplies. Once he had what he needed, Teech set to work. By the time he'd finished, her broken bones had been set as best he could and splinted accordingly.

Soon, she was as clean as he could make her without entirely removing her clothing and soaking her down. Modesty aside, Teech feared that, even in the comparative warmth of the hot spring, being soaking wet would chill her unnecessarily. The dog brought game, so Teech kindled a fire and made himself a hot meal.

Picking the meat off a squirrel brought by the dog, Teech gave thanks for his first hot meal in over a fortnight. Eating it though, he wondered how he was to get similar nourishment into his charge. He'd begged his God for 'just one' survivor and now that his prayer had been answered, Teech realized that his discovery was the beginning of the next task ordained by his God.

"Worth it though," he assured his God, "after so much death, I'll thank You every day she's alive- if she can't make it through winter to go home. Was she why you sent me then?"

But no, she wasn't; at least- not entirely. Teech was assured that the burials were necessary and that Teech's obedience to Divine Will had pleased his God greatly. The lone survivor, though an enemy soldier, was in need of mountain hospitality and some downright neighborly care. Perhaps, seeing how servants of the God of the Mountains treated each other, as well as an incapacitated enemy, this young paladin would lose her animosity toward Teech's people.

"Ain't gonna' happen if she dies," Teech pointed out. "How do I get food into her?"

A mental image of hot soup replied; boiled game with tubers and greens that made Teech hungry all over again. There was just one problem with that.

"How'm I gonna' cook it, with no pot?" All Teech needed to do for now was to gather the fixings, he was assured. He'd get the rest of it after that.

She was rousing by the time Teech finished his meal, so he offered her a drink from the warm mineral spring, using a small, leathern cup out of his 'possibilities bag'. This was a leather bag that habitually hung by long, leather straps from one shoulder and across his chest to rest against the opposite hip. His possibilities bag contained his small cup, a piece of oilcloth that had been wrapped around his jerked meat supply, whetstone, a couple of carved fish hooks and enough rawhide cord to fish with or repair a broken bootlace if necessary.

The paladin took a few, hesitant sips before drinking the entire cup. After that, she closed her eyes again. Teech figured it was exhaustion until it all came right back up, accompanied by something black, that looked like particles of muck.

Had she survived by drinking from the bog? She'd have had to, in order to avoid dying of thirst before Teech found her. Unfortunately, anything she could have drunk from the bog would have been highly contaminated by the decaying corpses Teech had buried, toward the end of her time down there.

As she retched, Teech turned her onto her uninjured, left side, positioned away from the spring, and waited for her stomach to settle before offering her a sip of clean water to rinse her mouth with. Tears of agony trickled down her cheeks as the heaving of her protesting digestion put pressure on broken ribs and aggravated what was most assuredly a rather impressive concussion. There was nothing he could do but let her body sort itself out.

Noticing some cattails nearby, Teech dug out some of the tubers. To these, he added some late leeks, plantain leaves, dandelion, watercress and some thin strips of birch bark, peeled from a downed tree. The dog brought a rather large rabbit and sat it atop the pile. As Teech understood, a slow smile lit his face.

"If that don't beat all!" he grinned. As long as he could skin the rabbit without damaging the hide, Teech could make his soup . . . and rabbits were easiest of all wild game to skin out.

Once he had the soup set up, however, Teech found the downside. How was he to hold the 'kettle' upright in order to cook? The thin rabbit skin would tear if he tried to hang it from a spit.

Teech supposed he could prop it up inside the burning fire, but how would he get the soup back out again once it was cooked? Finally, he ended up building something of a stone cauldron and kindling a fire around all four sides of it. He could always put the fire out once the soup was cooked.

It was a rough night for both Teech and his charge. The ailing paladin suffered further agony as her body worked to rid itself of the toxic, foul bog-dirt. Aided by the warm mineral water, the muck flushed through the paladin's body unchecked.

Eventually, Teech had to cover her with dried grass and leaves so that her clothes could dry after Teech washed them. There was a mercy in her inability to remain conscious after the agonizing spasms though; she was unaware of her humiliation most of the time.

The soup was finally ready near dawn. She'd stopped vomiting by the time the soup was cool enough for her to sip, so Teech allowed the paladin some. To his relief, the soup stayed where it belonged.

For three days, they ate of the soup and rested between bouts of the paladin's illness, until her body was purged and digestion restored. Teech had added chicory root to the broth in order to hasten that day. Finally, some four days after he'd found her but two and a half weeks after she'd been struck down, Teech felt that the paladin was strong enough to risk a journey.

Winter wasn't far off and Teech wanted to get them to his cabin before the first snow fell. As it was, he was grateful to his God for the weather; that time of year was usually a rather rainy season, but it hadn't rained since Teech had seen the looters stealing armor from the dead.

Not wanting to presume on the mercy of the Lord, Teech carefully cleaned up his campsite as soon as the last of the soup was gone. He buried the bones and hide of what they hadn't been able to eat, replaced the stones he'd used for a campfire, and scattered the ashes thereof beyond the rocks of the hot spring. Finally, with the sun fully up, Teech gathered the wounded paladin into his arms and set out for home.

As he walked, he marveled that someone so small and with a youthful appearance could have the marks of an accomplished warrior. The order of paladins, who were full knights also trained to use magic, were marked by black symbols on their arms. These symbols appeared and grew as the paladins became proficient in the sorcerer's arts.

Teech had heard rumors of a paladin so powerful that he served as a high priest for their god, a paladin so powerful that not only both arms, but also half of his torso were covered in the various symbols of his sorcery. Though Teech's burden was young and slight, the black symbols on her arms, that covered both forearms and reached nearly to her elbows, warned Teech to be wary. Clearly, she was both well-versed and practiced at her deadly magic, and he was seen by her as an enemy.