Oswin Tunnelway's Arc

Chapter 1 of 10

Oswin walked at the back of the group, watching Caius's shoulders tense when he called for them to keep moving through the night. The others murmured complaints about rest and blisters, but Oswin stayed quiet. He knew why they couldn't stop. Every hour mattered now. When the group finally paused for water, Oswin slipped his notebook from his bag and traced the last entry with one claw. Three days since the scratch. The salve jar felt light in his paw — half empty already. He'd been applying it more often than the notes recommended, which meant fear, not medical judgment. Caius glanced back at him from the front of the line, and Oswin closed the notebook. He tucked both items away and stood. They needed to reach the ruins before his supply ran out, before the choice was taken from both of them. The rusted sign appeared an hour before dawn, tilted against rubble like a broken tooth. Oswin could barely read the faded letters in the dim light, but he recognized what it meant. The ruins were still days away. His hind leg throbbed where the scratch sat hidden beneath his travel pack, and he felt the fever starting behind his eyes. He watched Caius study the sign, saw him calculate the distance they still had to cover. Then Caius turned and met Oswin's gaze across the resting group. No words passed between them, but Oswin saw the question there. He touched the front pocket of his bag where the note waited, then nodded once. They would keep walking. Caius led them onto the cracked pathway as the first gray light touched the old lampposts. The broken road stretched ahead, unforgiving and long. Oswin fell into step behind the others, his leg burning with each stride. He counted his remaining steps in salve applications. Maybe four more days. Maybe five if he could bear the itching. The distance to the ruins didn't matter anymore. Only the distance between now and when he'd need Caius to open that front pocket. He checked his gait, forcing the limp away. The group couldn't know. Not yet. Not while he could still tend their blisters and keep them moving forward.