Our second world- book one: Past beginnings

Chapter 19: Grace

After out battle with the bandits in the forest, August and I carried an unconscious Haren to a safe area away from the main road so we could rest and recover. Marylyn's arm had been injured in the fight, but it looked far worse than it really was. After wrapping it in a bandage and using some disinfectant on the wound, the two of us left Haren with August while Marylyn and I traveled back to the river for some medicinal herbs to restock my supply.

We returned to find Haren awake, and seeming to be feeling better. After checking up on him, I busied myself with preparing something for dinner. I say prepared, but in reality, it was nothing more than warming up bread and some smoked jerky. I threw a few dry twigs on our tiny fire before laying down to sleep.

I woke in the early hours of the morning when the sun was only beginning to peek through the thick blanket of trees. The sky was a muddy mix between gray and blue as a thin mist clung to the air around us. Quietly, I crawled over to Haren and August, who were sleeping near me.

The two boys were a mess of tangled limbs. August on his back, using one arm as a pillow, Haren curled at his side. His head rested on the other boys' chest. At first glance, they seemed perfectly normal, but upon closer inspection, I noticed how red Harens face was. The second thing I noticed was Harens scarlet tail lay limp at his side. His breathing was shallow as well. Definitely not normal. I decided his symptoms had something to do with yesterday, and that it would be best to wait for August to wake up before doing anything. Instead, turning to spread the coals of the dying fire.

After waiting for a few minutes, I knelt next to Haren again and reached out to wake him. Hesitating, I reached, instead, over him to August. Before my hand made contact, he sat up.

"Ready to go?" he asked.

"Shouldn't we wake him first?" I gestured to the still sleeping Haren.

"Nah, let him sleep yet. I'll carry him."

While August slid away from Haren and got the unconscious red-head on his back, I walked over to Marylyn and gently shook her awake. She seemed a bit tired, and I offered to carry her, but Marylyn shook her head and we started walking. The three of us were quiet as we walked. It was partially due to the fact that none of us wanted to wake Haren, but also because there really wasn't much of anything to talk about.

When we finally stopped to take a break for lunch, Haren was awake.

"Are you feeling a bit better now that you've slept a while?" I asked, putting my hand on his forehead to check if his temperature had gone down some. It had, but not by much.

Haren nodded," yeah, a bit."

"If you want, I can carry you again," August offered, sitting down next to us.

"You've been carrying me all morning," Haren answered." You sure you don't want a break?"

"I don't mind," August replied, pulling a map from Harens bag." Look, we're about here," he pointed to a spot near the river we crossed yesterday, and traced his finger down to a small town marker further north." We're going here. It's our last stop before heading into the mountains: A wealthy mining town, Morgerthard."

"Which means we should get there sometime today or tomorrow, right?" I added.

"Right," August nodded." See my point?"

Haren sighed," fine."

"Good. Now, since this is the only town we'll be at for a while, if anyone needs anything, we should get it now. There won't be any other towns until we cross the mountains. That's about a week or two for travel time."

"Well, the only thing I can think of is clothes and new weapons for Mary," Haren said." I don't think I need anything. What about you, Grace?"

I shook my head," I think I'm good."

"Well alright then, we should get going."

August rolled up the map and put it away. Taking the lead with Haren on his back like before. It wasn't long before I noticed that Haren had fallen asleep again.

We walked all day, and even a short way through the night. Reaching the large town on the border of the mountains around nine. Tired from our long day, we wasted little time finding an inn to stay at. We got two rooms; Marylyn and I shared one, and August shared the other with Haren.

While August went down to get dinner for everyone, I stopped by their room to check up on Haren. He was laying on one of the two beds in the room and looked to be asleep. I walked over to the side of the bed and leaned over to check his temperature. I let out a sigh; his fever had spiked up again.

"Lady Grace, may I be of assistance?" I looked over at the sound of the voice to find Alfheim sitting on my shoulder.

I nodded," please."

Alfheim nodded and flew over to Haren. As a faint blue aura surrounded her hands, she placed her palms on Harens forehead. After a moment she let out a gasp.

"What? What's wrong?" I asked.

"Master, it's bad!" Alfheim pulled off the blanket to show me what she had noticed.

Despite being covered by Harens' hands, I could see a dark spot forming on his shirt on his side. Blood.

"Go get my things, now," I instructed. Alfheim nodded and flew off to my room.

While she was gone, I moved Harens shirt to get a look at the injury. I let out a small gasp when I saw it. A large black bruise the size of my fist. At the center of the mark was a bloody gash. Blood oozed out of the cut, so it was hard to tell exactly how bad it was. Alfheim returned with my bag of medical supplies after a minute or so, and I got to work. While I did, the fairy used her magic to try and lower Harens' body temperature.

I winced as Haren let out a pained whimper when I pressed a rag soaked in disinfectant to his side," sorry," I mumbled." I'll be done soon, so bear with it a little longer, ok?"

I heard the door open, and, without looking to see who it was, I said," Come help me."

"What can I do?" August asked, rushing over.

"Keep him still," I instructed, threading my needle." This is going to hurt, but there's nothing I can do about it right now."

"Ok."

I did my best to ignore every whimper of pain as I worked as fast as I could to finish stitching up the deep gash. It only took a little more than five minutes, but those five minutes seemed to stretch into hours. I was exhausted by the time I was finished. It had been harder than we thought to keep Haren still and it had been a struggle to work quickly with the awful light we could get our hands on. However, I felt like it was worth it when I was done. Now I could be sure Harens' life wasn't in danger. No longer able to fight back my exhaustion, I fell asleep where I sat.

After that, we made Haren rest for three days at the inn. It was a shock, to say the least when I went to change his bandages on the morning of our fourth day in Morgerthard. I removed the old bandages to find that the injury had nearly healed completely already. The healing ability of beastmen was really something else. Unable to deny the fact that Haren would be fine now, I reluctantly agreed to finally take time to do what we came to this town to do.