The privateer and his tracker

Chapter 4

The bolt of pain in his shoulder almost kept Nikolai back from going to meet Mal. Almost. But as always, he continues to push on, thinking it's nothing serious. After all, he has been in far much more pain, he can survive this.

But of course, it made him worse at fighting. He mostly used his other arm and it was going great until it started to go numb and he had to switch.

While Mal was taking a five to hydrate a bit, he was testing out the limits his shoulder set. However, when he surged forward, trying to see how painful that is, he felt way too much pain in his lungs and stomach. His back started to ache familiarly.

Not wanting to alarm Mal, they continued as always and Nikolai still scored some points, and won some rounds. The pain was becoming more insufferable and he was thinking about visiting a healer.

But if he made it just fine until now, he can take some more.

"You seem pretty stiff, is everything alright?" Nothing was alright, but the king couldn't let anyone see that and nodded in reply, worried his words will give him out. He cracked a knuckle or two before trying to attack Mal. The attack failed.

The pain was in his hands now and he could barely hold the sword properly.

"Would you grant me the blessing of a reply with words?" Mal continued jokingly, and Nikolai did find it quite funny, but as he chuckled a series of coughing made its way out of his throat. His throat started to itch oddly and he hoped he wouldn't choke to death, because of the weird feeling at the sides of his throat.

Hoping Mal won't pay much attention to it he replied: "Why do you ask? Worried about me, tracker?" He added a wink and slipped the much-used nickname. He was aiming for sounding at least a bit seductive but speaking hurt and he had a crippling suspicion he failed.

"Such a selfish reason, I'm afraid. I wouldn't like being blamed for the king's death." And yet Nikolai could see the worry in his eyes but decided against pushing on, rather pulling off a trick, winning the bit.

"No need to worry about that, I'll make sure to send someone from the afterlife that'll tell everyone it was my own fault." He was hoping it'll end up funny, but Mal just seemed worried and completely stopped.

"So something is wrong? Should I call for a healer?" With hands on his hips, he looked far more serious than he usually did. The privateer wished he'd be able to go closer to Mal, wrap his arms around his neck and just forget everything for a moment. He felt as if maybe being close to Mal, would actually discard all the pain he was feeling.

"I was just messing around, everything is fine-" before he even closed his mouth, a bolt of pain shot through his body, ending up in his stomach, making him feel like it'll explode. He kneeled over, clutching his chest where it felt like something was squeezing his heart.

Mal didn't say anything. In shock, he rushed over to him, for a moment hoping Nikolai was just messing with him. Nikolai's back, he assumed it was his lungs, hurt too much he fully laid down on the messy floor of the barn.

The king felt like he couldn't breathe and the lack of oxygen made his head hurt, black spots appearing.

After another second he realized the tracker wasn't silent, probably calling for a healer, but he just couldn't hear his voice.

Well, he could hear his voice, just not what he was saying right now. His memory took him back to the moment when he and Mal peacefully sat under that tree, his mind trying to follow the tales Mal was telling him about.

He tried lifting his head to Mal's face, but all that he achieved was a failed attempt and he couldn't even feel his hand no more. His legs also had a tingly feeling in them, like they had fallen asleep, and he hated it with passion.