The Knights and the Princess

Chapter 38

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I-I had it for like a month now? The-The villagers weren't exactly the nicest of people and it's not like they'd give us medicine if we asked!"

"...Fair point... but do you even realize how serious it was?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah. I'm stupid, but I'm not that dumb. I'm actually surprised I lasted this long without getting a fever." He looked slightly surprised. "My mom was a nurse, so... I know some stuff." I recalled the crash and a felt a tear in my chest, but I quickly pushed it out of my mind and said, "Th-Thanks for patching me up by the way. I-I appreciate it."

He looked away, scowling. "Whatever... just don't move around too much or you'll rip the stitches. You're lucky I traded some stuff at the village or otherwise you'd be keeling over right now."

I tried for a laugh, ignoring the panic I was starting to feel at talking to a stranger and not knowing where Blue was at. "S-Sorry..." I opened my eyes again, looking around the clearing. "When... did we get into the woods?" It was around sunset. My jaw went slightly agape at the sight, watching the sky glow colors of pink and red and orange. I've always loved sunsets, but spending so long in that cave... "I almost forgot what the sun looked like."

Everything's different now. Everything's changed.

I saw the male look at me from the corner of his eye.

"Ah, Brown Dragon!" I turned my gaze and watched as the redhead female dashed towards me, kneeling on the ground with a happy, relieved smile. "You're awake! Both you and Kalix suddenly collapsed on the way down from the mountain and we all grew so worried!"

"Kalix?" She looked surprised before realization flashed across her face. She pointed at the sleeping white-haired male not far from me. "O-Oh..."

"He's wore himself out when he was digging in the caves," She explained, "but when we finally found a place to stop, Yun discovered all your injuries and demanded us to stay put until he finished patching them. This is your second time passing out like that..." The girl looked so concerned. "He said that your wound was infected... How are you feeling?"

"I'm-I'm fine..." If she knew how many times I black out normally then I doubt she'd be so worried right now. It's just something I'm starting to get used to. "Besides, I get hurt all the time-I trip and fall flat on my face on a daily basis! What's a side gash gonna do?"

The blonde next to me who was crushing something in a bowl stiffened slightly when I mentioned how clumsy I was. Then, as if nothing happened, he went back to crushing the objects that were in the bowl.

The girl tilted her head at me. "I... see. Oh! Are you hungry? Is the food still warm, Yun?"

"You just have to relight the fire," The blonde next to me responded, confirming my suspicions that he was Yun. I was uncomfortable speaking to so many people at once, it being slightly suffocating, but I forced myself to endure it. They were trying to help, after all, and... Blue and I are going to be traveling with them from now on. Oh god, that sounds so weird. Wait, hold on, does this mean we're camping?

B-Bugs... oh god no. The last time I ever went "camping" was when I was around eight or nine and Mom and I, along with my siblings, had to sleep out in a tent in a trailer park because we didn't have a house. According to my dad that was considered being "homeless" as he was getting on me one day about how if the electricity ever went out at Mother's place that I should just spend that time with him, and I told him that I could live without electricity. Kinda how he learned about the "living in a tent" thing in the first place. I didn't really consider it homeless, as Mom had a job and we could still eat, and we technically had a roof over our heads.