Summoning Woes

Ch 5 - The Reverse Blade

Michele's ears pricked at the strong, distinct sounds weaved together along with a focused tone underneath its wraps. She forced open her eyes, grabbing onto a flower vase sitting at her side when she noticed an unruly strawberry blonde haired man wearing a sleeveless white robe and baggy black pants sitting in front of the piano keyboard. She knew that music at once - the first of its kind to be able to play in a different way from the conventional classical setting. The impact was so strong that the musician who pioneered the style became busy with requests from kings of various lands. To think that the musician's influence stretched far enough to land onto the hands of a trainee knight...

"That's enough already, Klavier! You've been playing the piano for hours!" Themis yanked him by the cheek, forcing him back to the infirmary bed.

"Damn, you don't hold back, do you?" he rubbed his swollen cheek.

"That's because you're the most injured in the group," she folded her arms, her eyebrows arched together to form a "V". "I won't cast any more of my healing magic if you insist on playing when you've yet to recover fully!"

"Fine..."

"Now, to administer the drips to the rest," she pulled up a silver tray full of transparent bags filled with crystal clear water from the trolley on her side. "Oh, hey Michele. How are you?"

"I was fine until you two twerps disturbed my peace," her eyebrows twitched.

"I'm sorry, milady. Didn't mean to disturb you!" Themis bowed apologetically.

"Whatever, just shut up already. Anyway," she touched Themis's chin, forcing her cold stare at her. "Don't think I didn't notice you toiling day and night taking care of us. You should take a rest soon if you don't want to burn out later."

"Gee," Themis shuffled her feet. "I don't know what to say..."

"Themis," Klavier said, looking out at the window by his side. "Why are the soldiers here?"

"Those creeps again. Hold on," she swapped out the empty sachet of Michele's drip. "Hold on, I'll deal with them."

She stomped out of the room, leaving both Michele and Klavier in a daze. They were separated by a row of beds, each of them filled with people who were injured in the battle against Luther. Many were heavily bandaged and still unconscious, but thankfully, there were no signs of imminent death on any of them. Amy was on her side, still in a vegetable state and appeared somewhat pale. A small, square box that was connected to her beeped away on an interval. Michele stared at the green numbers displayed on the black screen, raising an eyebrow as she watched the device chart a massively crooked line across.

"The heck is this supposed to mean?" Michele poked at it.

"Best not to touch it," Klavier said. "It's something that shows whether a person's vitals are still working."

"How do you know that?"

"I've been reading. So, are you feeling better now?"

"Sort of. So who beaten his ass?"

"Someone who looks like me," he folded his arms, looking up at the ceiling at avoid her inquiring stare. "Apparently he blew almost everything up defeating Luther."

"That guy's got to be strong," she scratched her head.

"Yeah," he leaned back against his pillow.

Themis burst through the door, a sour expression left on her face as a giant man clad in purple-black armor followed right behind her.

"You can't imprison me yet," she said. "I've got thirty-six patients to take care of!"

"It's the king's orders, ma'am..."