Free *Editing*

Chapter 19

She awakens with a burst of adrenaline, the blood in her veins seemingly still pumping from the fight. Assuming she is still in the arena and delusional, she jolts and goes to sit up right. A hand touches her shoulder and a female voice urges her to- "Calm down, it's ok." Birdy blinks and turns to her. "It's Athey. She is smiling down at her from the bedside and behind her she can see Barn and Markus talking across from one another. Markus has wrappings around his middle and his arm is now officially in a sling. Markus turns his head and looks at her with a sly grin, half filled with relief and the rest with anticipation.

"Glad your awake." He chimes in and Barn nods. "We have to talk about something..."

"I would assume." Birdy grumbles and her hand flies to her chest. She flinches and the boys' faces flash with concern.

"It's just inflammation from your chest wounds, it's your spine I am worried about." Birdy sucks in a deep breath. She looks down and notices a strong plastic casing protecting her lower back and lower ribs.

"I look like a water bottle." Markus and Barn take this moment to swing around and sit on the end of her bed. Athey takes on an earnest expression. "When you landed on the back of that dragon, some of the ligaments in your lower back were torn. You're lucky you didn't damage your spinal cord completely. This'll help heal you over this next week-" She reaches into her jacket and pulls out a small bottle. She puts two pills into her hand and gives them to Birdy. Then, she goes and grabs a glass of water. She downs the liquid while her brother says. "It's about Ardenia."

Oh right, she puts the glass down and he nods at the bed two down on the right. A figure is sleeping and her heart jams in her throat. "She's alive." Birdy goes to move again but they stop her with gentle hands. We already checked, she's alive.

She is relieved. "Thanks for saving her-" Barn nods. "She saved us after all." Birdy furrows her brows at that. "But, she also set the forest on fire putting us in worse danger." She whispers, for fear of waking her up and perhaps insulting her after everything she's tried to do to help.

"Actually.." Markus gives a jesters grin and shrugs. "That might have been me, I took the sword back from her and might have lit a few trees on fire."

"Might have?" Birdy shakes her head. "It doesn't matter, it worked out for the best. We still managed to get that beast in the clearing without much trouble."

That's when Athey leans in close. "I shouldn't say this, as I am from the Kings Palace, but-" They have to lean in to hear her. "I need to tell you, that I support what you three are doing."

They look confused and she rolls her eyes. "My meaning is, if you need help, don't be afraid to reach out to me." With that, she escorts herself back to her desk to leave them to their conversations.

"That's, nice?" Markus turns his head to her. "-from what iv'e heard, the King hasn't made any statement about us."

"I'm sure if he didn;t want to hold up his end of the bargain we would be dead."

"He wants to see us fail in the arena Bird, in front of the whole world." She glares. "Well he's not going to get what he wants." She thinks back to the entire endeavor. "Did you guys hear the riot outside of our van? And the colosseum."

"Oh ya-"

"Yes..."

Markus crosses his arms. "My only assumption, is that citizens are rioting against the Kings rule"

"While the others are enjoying the murderous festivities..." she finishes his sentence. In the corner of her eye, Ardenia's figure moves. This time, she is faster than the others. She gets out of the bed and bites back the pain in her lower back and chest.