She gripped his shoulder fiercely, redoubling her grip when she felt him grip her tighter, apparating them to some other location, that was clearly still within the confines of the forest. She gave a small whimpering sob as their feet hit the ground, the pressure of the action making her knees weak, as darts of fire shot along her nerve endings and took her breath away.

At his question she nodded, her head still swimming too much to lean over to see her wounds, but she could feel the pain making a space for itself in her brain. She knew this because in a distant part of her brain she was aware that if the wound had been serious she would already be dead, if the pellets had ripped her femoral artery. Her hand came away slick with blood, the 4 small holes in her dress indicated the path of the lead pellets. She was lucky - he had all but missed her, and it appeared as though only some stray buckshot had winged her. It felt odd to say that she could tell that they were not deep, she could feel them moving inside her body when her muscles shifted around them.

'I can't do it' her eyes still closed against the discomfort, but her voice steadied as the painful fog cleared. 'Do you know the vocare* spell?' she rasped, a little worried that the sight of blood might send him running. ' I won't be able to see them properly if I bend' she managed, if he could manage that, the wounds would be small and manageable. She met his gaze, appreciating for the first time who she was faced with, the highway man! The realisation made her let out a laugh, that turned to a wheeze of pain halfway through, 'You didn't even give me the choice of your money or your life highwayman!' the tightness in her voice still very much present.

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