The Excalibur Chronicles: Camelot Rising

Chapter Three - The Banana Exchange

CHAPTER THREE - THE BANANA EXCHANGE

He dreamt he was made of metal, each limb encased in shining steel, reflecting the golden hue of dying sunlight. One heavy foot shuffled in front of the other. In the end, with the echoing cries of battle all around him, he fell to his knees. His fingers touched his side and came back warm and sticky and crimson. The world around him was a haze and he looked for someone, anyone, in the noise of it all. He was sure he heard his name being called, but it sounded wrong to his ears amongst the ringing and the shouting. All of a sudden, he wasn't alone. Footsteps pounded, hands grasped at him, faces appeared above him and then a shriek. Sobbing against his shoulder. It wore at him, right down to his bones, and he wished for peace. He was glad when it all faded away. All except for a glow in the distance; a woman, walking towards him, her dress pooling at her feet the way a waterfall cascaded off rocks. She was out of place in the remains of the bloodshed but her blue eyes found his and his armor seemed to melt in to the dirt...

Adam jolted awake to bright lights and promptly vomited, only just turning his head to the side in time and not caring for the floor. Thankfully, someone was there with a soothing touch and a pan, and coaxed him until he’d stopped retching. 

“I turn my back for five minutes…” a voice said. They helped Adam to lay down again and placed a cool hand on his hot forehead. “For future reference, you have concussion, so don’t try and sit up too quickly. You’ll throw up.”

“Thanks for the heads up,” Adam managed. His voice was hoarse and he was slick with sweat. His sheets were damp too, no doubt because of the dream that had woken him. It was drifting away now, in the same way that ash caught by the wind breaks apart on the breeze, until all he could remember was the feeling of heavy limbs and shallow breath and fading faces. 

His eyes focused instead on the blur next to him - an older woman with her hair pulled up into a crocodile clip. She wore blue scrubs and a weary expression, like she’d been on shift for too long and wanted to get home. Even so, she offered Adam a smile.

"Drink this, just a sip mind." She lifted a small glass to his lips and he tried not to be greedy with the cool liquid. It tasted sweet and almost set his stomach off again.

“Welcome to the land of the living,” she said, setting the glass aside.

"Where am I?"

"The hospital."

That much seemed obvious now, and he felt stupid for asking, especially since she was in scrubs and he was stripped down to a hospital gown. His room was plain; empty except for the two of them, his bed, a sturdy looking chair and a bed side table. The walls were a terrible shade of blue. He'd read somewhere that blue was supposed to have a calming affect on people, but this blue reminded him of mint and how much he wanted to clean his teeth.

“How long was I out?” he asked.

“You were brought in two hours ago.” She went to make a note on the pad at the end of his bed. "Try to relax. Your head-"

"-feels like a hundred river dancers are doing the Can-Can inside of my skull," Adam said, cutting her off. "Don't worry. I'm not going to be going anywhere." He kept his eyes screwed up so he couldn't hardly see her; the throbbing was almost audible, coupled with garish overhead lights of the room. But, if he stayed very still, it did begin to ease off. The nurse laughed under her breath and scrawled on his notes.

"Do you remember what happened?" she asked, slipping the pad back into the slot. 

"Not really. It's all a bit groggy."

"You were found unconscious in Hyde Park."

Adam searched his mind for a reason as to why he'd even been at the park but his thoughts felt as tender as his pounding skull. Nothing came to him, at least nothing he could say to the nurse before him, so he offered her a smile which he imagined looked more like a grimace given the pain he was in.