The Three Bannermen | Vminkook ✓

Thirty Six: Air

Laurel Prince

Taehyung scratched at the bandage wrapped around the cut on his face. When the fabric of the white strip started to peel, he sighed. He glanced around the infirmary at the late afternoon medics doing their work, attending to people with a variety of problems. One man was severely ill; another was horribly burned. Taehyung figured that it might have been from one of the fires set by Jihoon's men. He pushed the blond hair out of his eyes and watched as a few medics were called out of the room to attend to something. 

Taehyung fidgeted with his fingers as another medic brought him a glass of water, setting it on the stand next to the his bed. Nodding his head in appreciation, he took the glass in his hands and looked into the water, lost in thought. 

It was only normal for Taehyung to be a bit antsy; he had been doing nothing all day, resting in his infirmary bed and letting his mind drift off. He found that he couldn't even nap, as his thoughts were racing around too quickly. 

Jimin was training Oak Soldiers in the field and Jungkook was trying to produce gas masks for his army. Taehyung felt useless sitting there on the bed, doing little. He wanted to help with the effort somehow. 

But in his mind he could already hear the Oak Prince and Stone Prince yelling at him to rest. 

"You've been through enough Tae! Please just rest!" Jungkook would say to him. 

"If you don't rest now, Taehyung, you'll regret it later," Jimin might assure him. 

The blonde shut his eyes tightly, thinking about the others. He felt a sort of pride in them, felt the strong love they held for him in his heart. It was as if they were all meant to be together- as if it was some fate that linked them to the night of June 24th. Made them break the pact...made them team up to fight the asshole of the north known as Jihoon. 

Smiling softly at this thought, Taehyung felt reassured about the state of the Oak Castle. Jungkook's brain would help them avoid the horrible effects of the poisonous gas and Jimin's fighting skill would strengthen the few soldiers that the Oak Castle had. 

Although they were going to be slightly outnumbered, Taehyung felt a confidence in his heart that the Oak Banner would fly high and stay there after all was said and done. 

It would have to. 

Because if it didn't-

He didn't want to think about it. He loved the other two princes too much to even consider failure. Failure would surely mean death. Taehyung was mulling this over as voices suddenly sparked in the air. 

"MAKE ROOM! MAKE ROOM!"

"OUT OF THE WAY!"

"HURRY!"

Panicked shouts fanned through the walls of the hallway and into Taehyung's ears. He could hear running footsteps heading toward the infirmary. Someone must've gotten hurt around the Oak Castle. He sighed, setting the water glass down and waiting. At least it would give Taehyung something to watch while he sat there. 

The door slammed open, admitting four Oak staff members holding tightly to the corners of a stretcher. They were extra panicked for some reason...

As if the person on the stretcher was...

Royalty. 

Taehyung sat up, leaning forward to try and get a look at the person being rushed to the corner bed on the opposite side of the room. As a chain of servants rushed past with pale faces, Taehyung caught a glimpse of hair he knew all too well.