Soul of Flames

Chapter 4

Keeva had learned that the Prince was not as spoiled as she thought. He also had chores to do. He actually had a job in a local forge as a smiths apprentice and he also volunteered in Jelly-Belly's baking store. Although that wasn't a lot of things, she was still rather impressed because she thought he sat on his arse all day doing nothing but the occasional spar with a servant or friend. She also learnt that his secret favorite food was anything sweet and sugary while she loved anything sweet and creamy.

“I hate sword fighting, it's just so pointless and-” Keeva screamed as she was cut off but freezing cold water over her head.

Ivar was smiling evilly at her as she stared at him, utterly horrified.

“You bastard! It's on!” Keeva yelled, filling a big bowl of water and pouring it down Ivar's tunic.

“Oh, it is so on!” Ivar agreed.

The two youngsters broke out into a full fledged water fight using anything they could fill with water to soak each other. Ivar had fallen onto the floor and Keeva was straddling him, holding a pot of water over his head.

“Sorry! Please don't! Not my hair!” Ivar almost squeaked.

“Worried about the hair are we?” Keeva laughed as she slowly dripped the water onto his head.

“Trust me, I look like a freaking wet dog when my hair gets wet”

“Well-”

“Keeva! Keeva!” Edda cried.

Keeva was instantly alerted and jumped off Ivar, helping him up in the process. Edda limped around the corner, right thigh covered in blood.

“Oh Gods, Edda! What happened to you?” Keeva cried, rushing toward her to keep her steady in case her leg gave out.

“No! Leave me be, I'm fine It's-”

“Oh Gods! Is Frer alright? Tell me!” Keeva shouted.

“Kee, calm down; is Nyradr hurt are they all alright?” Ivar intervened.

“Just come with me quickly.” Edda said, turning to leave.

The three ran, limped in Edda's case, to the healing tents as fast as there legs could carry them. They could hear pained screams coming from the tent and they sent chills through Ivar's body.

Keeva was the first to burst into the tent and when she saw how badly injured some of the hunters were, she literary gagged. She then laid her eyes on Frer and she almost screamed.

Frer was laying on a bed gasping and occasionally screaming in pain as a healer looked as if he was attempting to stuff Frer's intestines back into his torn body. He was laying beside Baz who was fighting for breath, blood poring out of a gaping hole on his chest. There was also a bone sticking out of his thigh and his shoulder had a jagged gash that was pouring blood. Thord was laying opposite them with an axe in his chest, medics wondering what to do. Nyradr was sitting on another bed, batting away the medics as they tried to stitch a huge gash the length of a young child's forearm in his side that was about the width of three fingers in the widest part.

“Get off me and go help those who need help!” Nyradr said in a rattled breathy voice that hardly sounded normal.

Nyradr accidentally yanked himself away from the healer and ripped the stitching out of his side and caused more blood to gush from the gaping wound in his side. He gasped in pain and clamped both his hands over the wound.

“If you'd kept still, boy, that wouldn't have happened.” The old female healer tutted.

Nyradr muttered something under his breath but kept still so the old healer could sew his wound.

“Oh Gods! What happened? I want to know who is responsible for this!” Keeva yelled.

She tried to reach Frer but was restrained by Ivar who didn't want her to accidentally make the situation worse.

“Calm down lass; this was the the fault of no one. It was merely a misfortune, an accident that costs plenty.” Toki said as he limped around, trying to help as much as he could in his injured state.

Keeva looked around and all she could see was blood. It was literary everywhere. There was blood on the walls, blood pools on the floor, and for some reason, Keeva noticed blood on herself and Ivar who had no contact with any of the injured so far.

“Ivar, take your Uncle away from this place. Make sure he rests on a comfortable mattress and he doesn't get up unless it is extremely relevant.” The kind, elderly healer said as she cleaned her equipment and moved onto Edda's leg wound.

“Yes ma'am; thank you for everything. We are entirely great full.” Ivar said politely.

The old woman glanced at Nyradr who was throwing up a suspicious red substance into a bucket that was beside his bed and gasping for air. She shook her head in a disapproving manor.

“That young lad is a fool. He doesn't know how much he has hurt himself,” The woman whispered to Ivar, “I fear for internal damage or damage he has deliberately covered up. When he was first rushed in here with the other lads, he was bleeding to death and he though he could bandage that gigantic gash and say that he was fine.”

Ivar gasped when the woman told him that and he quickly glanced over to Nyradr.

“You must watch him closely this night; if anything goes wrong, you know where to find me." The old woman said.

Ivar turned his attention to Keeva; she was fighting to get to Frer but she was being held back by a young male healer's apprentice.

"Keeva, come on. we must leave so the healers will have more room to help the wounded. I'll let you come back to see commander Frer as soon as he is ready and able." Ivar said as he literally lifted Keeva out of the tent.

Keeva kicked, screamed, and beat Ivar but he still stood firm. As soon as the cleared the healing tent, Keeva fell to the floor and cried. Ivar moved backwards, slightly frightened to see Keeva crying.

"Keeva, what's wrong?" Ivar asked and as soon as he opened his mouth, he knew that was the wrong question but to his surprise, Keeva didn't retaliate.

"He's my Dad." Keeva sobbed softly.

Ivar's eyes comically bulged out of his head and if not for the seriousness of the matter, Keeva would have laughed. Keeva patted the space next to herself and Ivar sat down beside her.

"The reason Commander Frer is so hard on me is because he is my father. He created this group when i was nine years old." Keeva cleared her throat and dried her eyes. "Dad used to be captain of the royal guard before I was born. His life was fantastic; he had money, he had all the food he wanted, he had a beautiful wife named Gaia and a little boy named Kiren."

"If I may ask, what happened?"

"I happened. My mother found out that she was pregnant and she was over joyed. When i was born,  a group of bounty hunters kidnapped me, my mother and my brother and held us for a ransom. My dad gathered up all his money and went to the the bounty hunter's camp that was right on the outside of the Dragon Born Kingdom.

When he got there, the bounty hunters took the money and him. They kept us in captivity for a very long time. Things weren't that bad I guess, not until I showed up and after that, everything did change, for the worse."