Through the pain and the cold working its way into my bones, I smiled. I had actually done it. I had made it when I genuinely believed I could not.
Cel was quiet inside me, her presence reduced to something barely more than a life force, faint and far away. I tried to push myself up one more time and found I could not even lift my arm enough to support the attempt. My shoulder had been half pulled out of its socket by the guard at the camp and the earlier injury from what felt like a lifetime ago had never fully healed, and the combination of both had left that arm nearly useless.
I curled myself against the fallen trunk with a weak sound in my throat. My fingers had gone blue at the tips. The burnt trees around me offered no protection from the rain and I knew I had to move but my vision kept swimming and my thoughts kept sliding away from me before I could finish them. I just needed a moment to let things settle. Then I would try again.
