Serving Lant Agriche

Chapter 15 - The Maid Wants Her Husband Alive

Dion followed her and saw a burly man standing by the vegetable patch. He was bare-chested and cradling a bleeding arm tied under a sling.

Mina screamed before approaching her husband. Her deft fingers lightly skimmed the contours of his broken wound before she clutched his bristly face and kissed him.

"There, there, I tan't mean ta scare ya, darlin'," the husband winced from the pain. "Go fetch water scoldin' hot. Ha ha, you's ticklin' me swoon."

He was drunk. None of his peers were adept in medicine. The only saving grace they could give was to help him drink away some of the pain and wrap the wound.

The husband shouted at his friend who had given a lift home in his mule cart. His friend yelled saying he would send for the medicine man. The mule owner kicked his animal with the side of his foot to leave.

The husband caught Dion's eye. He was surprised that a boy was here, but extra hands were welcome at the moment.

"Boy, you's fetch wha' I says!" He called out. The husband diverted his attention to his wife. "And you love shall take seat. I's thoughts you'd work well und'r stress," he chuckled. "A stone's fell when me mate's settin' the wall an' he hath slipped on the scaffolding. Eh, sit down wife. 'Tis urgent I tell thou something."

"Just tell me!" she grabbed her lapels.

It may have been the baby hormones that amplified her anxiety. Dion could not otherwise explain why the maid was in hysterics.

The man gently shoved his wife away before unravelling the sling. His torn shirt was wound clumsily around his arm with a stick used as a brace. The makeshift bandage was already unravelling to show the true horror of the wound. 

His arm and hand from the tip of his elbow had been completely smashed. Bone was sticking out half an inch through the forearm and the skin around the gap was a range of colours from blue and purple to mottled green. The bandages were soaked through with blood.

Dion suspected that a major tendon was severed. The man would never again have control of his arm. A rural medic could save him if the arm was amputated, but what was the use of a human with a missing limb?

The maid fainted and since her husband was only one-handed now, he let her slump to the floor.

"Thought I was thy patient," he grumbled. He was growing faint from blood loss too and was swaying on his feet.

He stared at Dion again, annoyed that the boy had not listened to him.

Dion had not bothered to move. There was no benefit to helping the maid or her husband. He suspected the man would be dead soon, but not because of his smashed arm. 

Dusk had fallen and the red moon was risen.

A human howl came from the well.

His toy was hungry.

The beast crashed its shoulders against the water well's gable roof. The wooden roof flew in one piece and blasted a hole through the couple's thatch cottage.

The beast's pupils had dilated into two black orbs from becoming a creature of the night. Its scraggly black hair dangled over its shoulders as it stood on its two hind legs, canine arms dangling from its human torso.

One arm was bleeding where Wally had chewed on himself to emasculate his hunger. When Wally turned to the injured man, saliva dripped from its human face. Its teeth was stained red.

"Wha?" the man fell backward. He landed near his wife and shifted backward on his elbows. He took his wife in one arm and cradled her body, the sling over his broken arm covering her cheek.

Dion walked over to the man and smashed the man's forehead with the heel of his steel-toed boot. The man fell back until he was laying on the floor.

Dion looked down to see the maid staring at him with a wide eye. Her hand was pressed against her husband's chest.

"My toy needs feeding. Move," Dion said.

Lant Agriche had said to keep Wally's existence a secret, but Dion did not plan on obeying him this time. If he didn't want to kill the maid, he wouldn't.

It was a snap decision. If he wanted her dead later, he could always come back.

The maid pressed her hand harder against her husband's chest, shielding him.

"Please," She begged.

Please what? Don't kill the man? Don't kill her? Get away from them? Dion did not understand her request, but he was curious to hear her thoughts again. He bent one knee to move his face closer to hers. His short bangs fell over his red eyes.

"Why keep the cripple, maid?" Dion said. His leather gloved hand cinched the man's broken forearm. "He is trash to you, but fodder to my toy. As he is, he will only waste the meagre resources you have."

Tears dripped from her eyes. "I don't want him to die," Mina said.

Dion was dissatisfied with her answer. Her answer troubled him because he as well could not explain why he wanted to keep the maid alive. He stood to let Wally take husband and wife, losing interest in saving her.

"Prince!" She burst out. She crawled on her knees and clutched Dion's ankle. She kissed the toe of her boot, head bowed low. "He is useful to me. Broken and forsaken by God, he is still useful to me." Her teary eyes rose to meet Dion's gaze. Her shoulders were trembling, but she still seemed determined to give her point across.

"He is an investment. I will find out how to treat his arm and his loyalty to me will be unbreakable. His love will be everlasting. I swear by my unborn child that my husband will serve me if he lives."

"You are wagering a bet," Dion said. He could understand this logic.

Maybe the maid was making sense. Although he did not love anyone, Dion knew that some humans were stupid, emotional creatures. It was as Machiavelli had said. People could be controlled by fear or love. The maid would use emotional influence to bend her husband's will to her: lust, money, moral obligation.

Dion would follow the Agriche tradition to control people through fear, but he was very curious to know what love felt like. He could not fathom why he would want to be controlled or care for anyone.

Dion began to understand why he wanted to keep the young woman alive. The girl, living and breathing, was more useful to him than dealing with her corpse. She spouted very novel and idealistic concepts that intrigued him.

Mina's stifled cries and Wally's heavy breathing filled the air.

"Maid, if I have other questions, will you answer them if I come back?"

"Yes," she whispered. Her head bowed low again. She kissed his boot again tenderly.

Dion pushed his foot away and grabbed Wally's leash. The beast snapped its teeth shut as Dion locked eyes with him, their noses touching. "We are leaving," Dion told it.

Wally gave a snarl and kicked snow back with its hooves before following Dion into the cottage. Dion changed back into his damp clothes and burned the clothes that had been gifted to him, throwing away any evidence that he appeared.

They departed.