Free User Unfriendly by Vivian Vande Velde

another."
    He growled at me, and for a moment I actually thought he was going to bite me. "Cowards. Then I'll go alone."
    "No, Feordin. This has nothing to do with fighting the campaign. This is the program's seams showing."
    Of all people, it was Marian who came to my rescue. "Feordin, you've got to think of the good of the company. You go in that fortress and you may not come out again. We're already two people short."
    He was considering trying it anyway—you could tell by his expression. But finally he relented. "All right," he mumbled.
    "Good," Cornelius said. "Let's get back to the camp."
    "Is that where the others are?" I asked. "Nocona and ... Felice?"
    "Yes," Thea said. "Felice was feeling so wretched, we decided it'd be best if she stayed behind. Nocona stayed with her in case there was any trouble."
    Nocona?
They'd left a wounded man to protect my mother? I was furious, but I only said, "Still has her headache, huh?"
    Thea gave me a sharp look, then nodded without saying whatever was on her mind.
    Darn, I thought. Somehow I'd hoped that in the hours Robin and I had been held captive things would have changed, improved—would have worked themselves out for the best.
    All things considered, I should have known better.

12. DAY TWO

    At the camp, Robin, who hadn't had anything to eat since lunch, and I, who hadn't had anything to eat at all, got a cold dinner of everybody else's leftovers. The only good thing was that the group decided that I—along with Robin, Mom, and Nocona—needed to rest to regain our strength. So the others divided up the night watches among themselves, and I got to sleep.
    In the morning I awoke to Feordin muttering to himself as he went along, scuffing his feet and bumping into people and pushing them out of his way.
    "
Mumble, mumble
mace," was the first I caught. "How do they expect me to do my job without a mace?" I missed part of the next, but then heard the names Feordan Sturdyaxe and Feordane Boldheart. Then he called someone—probably me—a lazy, stupid wimp. "
Mumble, mumble
sword or bow." And then he said something about the good old days of Graggaman Maximus, but by then he was loading up his horse, too far away for me to hear clearly. In any case I was less interested in listening to Feordin complain than in finding out how my mom was doing.
    But as soon as I saw her, I could tell that her headache hadn't gone away.
    She was sitting up, with her blanket wrapped tight around her, her knees drawn up to her chest, resting her head in her hands. Marian hovered over her, trying to get her to drink from a tin cup.
    "Harek!" Mom called as soon as she spotted me. But the effort, or the noise, must have hurt, because she winced and pressed her hands tighter to her head.
    "Here, let me make a fire," Cornelius offered, "then we can have some nice hot—"
    "No!" Nocona and Thea said together. Thea added, "We can't risk a fire being seen. We'll have to have a cold breakfast."
    By then I'd made it to Mom's side, and she reached up to take my hand. "Are you all right?" she demanded in a quivery whisper-voice. "I woke up during the night, and Cornelius told me you were all right."
    "Yeah, I'm fine." Considering how she looked, it seemed pretty stupid to ask how she was, and I didn't know what else to say. "What's the plan?" I asked Cornelius.
    "No fire."
    "Yeah," I said, "no fire. What else?"
    He shrugged.
    "You going to try some magic on her headache, or what?" I was fast losing my patience and I still couldn't bring myself to call Mom Felice.
    "I tried already," our wizard said. "While you were busy snoring away."
    How come I always ended up looking like a fool, no matter what?
    "I tried the Deflect Evil spell, and I tried the Ward Off Magic spell."
    "No effect at all?" I asked, though I could see for myself. Something was wrong. Seriously wrong.
    "I'll be all right," Mom said. "Only ... what? Four more days of this? That comes to ... ninety-something hours." She groaned. "How many minutes