Peacekeepers

Chapter 29: Coping

Poppy appeared in front of the shop with Dan, finally able to let the panic set in her at the sight of him unconscious like this. She hadn't wanted to make the kids panic, so she'd tried to stay strong for them, but the way he was so limp made her heart seize anxiously. She loved him so much, she wanted to be by his side, but she didn't know what had been in that barb!

She shouted for someone in the shop, trying to lift Dan by herself but she was much smaller than him and he was far too heavy.

William was the one who came running out, and he looked down at Poppy, swearing softly in German when he saw Danny on the ground.

"Come on." He said, taking one of Danny's arms over his shoulder to help drag him inside.

Poppy looked over to William and saw how red his face was, how bloodshot his eyes were. Oh no... Connor...?

Her dread was confirmed at the sight of the blond man laying on a bed in the back, Garreth bustling around the shop to make an antidote while Anne sat nearby, her hands over her stomach as she looked around anxiously.

"Do we know what it is?" Poppy asked hopefully.

"Draught of living death." Garreth said, letting out a noise of worry as they set Dan on the other bed. "I just hope it's not too powerful."

"If it is...?" William asked, his voice cracking.

Garreth looked over his shoulder with a nervous expression, but didn't say anything. "It will depend on where they were hit, too."

"Dan was hit in the shoulder." Poppy said, looking down at him in worry, running a hand through his messy brown hair.

"Shoulder is better. It means it didn't reach his system easily." Garreth said, dumping handfuls of dittany into a cauldron.

"Connor was hit in the back, near his spine." William said, hoping for similarly good news.

Garreth paused and looked back at him. "Where exactly? Show me."

William shifted Connor onto his side and pointed to the area.

"Well... it could have been worse." Garreth said anxiously. A hit to his spine could have... but he wasn't going to say that with William already distraught. "That's a vulnerable area... it will probably take more effort to wake him up."

William let out a nervous sound. "What do we need to do?"

"You don't need to do anything. I need to make dittany potions... this first batch is pretty strong, but if it doesn't wake them I'll have to concentrate it more." He just hoped it wouldn't be too difficult... because if those darts were as potent as he was thinking they were, particularly for Connor, then... it would only take one potion to wake him up.

He glanced over to the grand wiggenwelds still brewing in the corner, but they weren't done yet... and they wouldn't be for another week or two. If those didn't work...

He'd think about that when the time came.

William looked down to Connor and bit his lip to keep from getting emotional again, not wanting to cry in front of the others. Sure he'd cried in front of Diane, but she was his sister. That was different. Though he knew Garreth and Poppy, he wasn't close enough to them to feel comfortable.

Glancing over to Poppy he saw her just as distraught, her hand stroking through Danny's hair gently as she looked down to him in worry. Her dark eyes were deep in thought, and when she glanced up to him their eyes met with a common pain.

"Alright." Garreth sighed, mixing the cauldron he was working on, dumping in some essence of dittany to add to the concentrated mixture. "This should really pep these guys up. Let's hope it's potent enough. If not I'll start on another."