*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Earth's Knight - Ruth Watson* Part 2 - NARTHWICH

Chapter Eight - Panic!

*Watson's POV*

Our flushed faces must have given away what we had just been up to because, when we returned back to the camp, everyone's eyebrows disappeared into their helmets. Alpin had a huge grin on his face whereas I looked bashful, but pleased.
Goodwin, Green, Dean, Sellers, Pearce and Gray all had faces of amazement mixed with curiosity. Sawyer, on the other hand, looked livid.
As soon as Alpin released my hand, Sawyer grabbed him and dragged him away stating they needed to have 'a man talk'.
Us girls walked together, today, as we continued on our journey. They were bugging me for the steamy details.
"What was it like?"
"Did it hurt as much as they say?"
"How did you do it with all the armour?"
"Was he any good?"
"How big is he?"
"Whoa, one at a time! One at a time, girls!" I laughed, waving my hands at them. I lowered my voice so only they could hear me. "Ok. It was ok, I guess, for my first time. I don't suggest doing it on the forest floor. It didn't hurt, as such, but it was a shock. We had to remove our armour, which was a bit of a buzz kill. I don't know if he was any good, but he was alright at the time. I don't know how big he was, and it's not like I'm going to tell you anyway." I answered all their questions in order, a cocky smile across my face.
The girls giggled. Dean and Hewitt looked a little disturbed, of course it would be different for them being both girls. I glanced over my shoulder at Alpin and Sawyer who were staying back, away from the awkward conversation.
Alpin was looking around the forest, but Sawyer was glaring daggers at Alpin.
I furrowed my brow. Why was Sawyer being such a dick? Didn't boys congratulate each other after they had sex? I looked forward again, but something caught my eye. I held up my hand and everyone ceased making any noise, stopping dead in their tracks immediately.
Something was glinting in the sunlight at me, blinding me a little as it blinked through the trees. I slowly and silently withdrew Dragonwrath and cautiously stepped towards what I saw, while the others withdrew their weapons, preparing for anything that could happen. They stayed back as I advanced towards the light.
Coming to a tree, I noticed it was a sword. A hand was still holding onto the hilt. My breath hitched and I rounded the tree further to see what was on the other side. A boy about 13 or so was sitting with his back up against the tree. He looked badly injured and gaunt, his mouth was slightly hung open, eyes closed and his hair was dangling across his face. He looked very thin and... dead.
I lowered my sword, my heart dropping. Another one lost. Another one to bury. I closed my eyes, mourning the poor boy and raised my hand slightly to the others, telling them they could relax their defense. I looked at the boy again, heaved a very heavy sigh and went to move away to give orders on what to do when I heard him take a very slow, very painful intake of air and open his eyes.
"HE'S ALIVE!" I screamed. "DEAN, BRING THE POTIONS! OH THANK GOD, HE'S ALIVE!"
I was so happy, I started crying. I knelt beside him, taking his hand gently to let him know I was here, unsure if he could see me.
"It's ok," I whispered to him. "We've got you. Everything's going to be alright now."
His breathing was ragged and laboured as he looked into my eyes, tears forming, and a smile started to crack across his face.
Dean landed next to me, pulling out the green potion as quickly as she could. The others surrounded us, shock etched on all their faces at the fact we had found someone alive out here. It was a miracle.
Dean gave him a spoonful of the green potion, followed by a spoonful of the red to give him some energy. He pulled a face as he obediently took the spoonfuls, but straight away, his breathing relaxed and the pain seemed to have eased considerably for him. He gave us all a toothy grin.
"I... I thought I would die here," he breathed weakly.
"You are one lucky fucker!" Alpin laughed.
"Are you hungry?" Dean asked him and he slowly nodded. She looked to Hewitt, who nodded and pulled out a cloth bundle. "Some left over sausages from last night's dinner." She explained. "I'm glad someone thought ahead and kept some by." She looked up to Hewitt with such a proud smile on her face and Hewitt blushed.
The boy gratefully took the sausages and raised it to his mouth, but he was shaking too much.
"Here," I said kindly, taking the sausage and raising it for him so he could take a bite. "We don't want you losing any fingers."
He gave the smallest chuckle and bit into it.
"When you have the energy, you can tell us what happened. For now, eat, drink and rest." I told him before letting Dean take over feeding him and standing up. "That goes for all of us. I know we haven't gone far today, but we need to give him time to build his strength."
They all nodded and started unloading. I took off my bag and pulled out my cloak, draping it over the boys legs. His face was definitely starting to brighten up with every second that passed.
"Look at you getting pampered by all these girls," I laughed, and he let out a proper laugh.
"I'm the luckiest man alive," He said, closing his eyes.
"Well, I wouldn't say you were," Alpin cut in.
All of us laughed, except Sawyer. He was sitting on his cloak, arms folded, glaring at nothing, a scowl still on his face. I made a low annoyed noise at the back of my throat and went to him.
"Ok, what's up?" I said, sitting opposite him.
"Don't know what you're talking about." Sawyer grunted.
"All day you've been a right grouchy sod. Tell me what the matter is." I sighed.
He shot me a look, before closing his eyes and bowing his head.
"Is it me?" I muttered.
No response.
"Is it Alpin?"
He flinched, but kept his head down and eyes closed.
I leant forward. "A-are you jealous of...?" I started to whisper hesitantly but I regretted saying anything immediately.
His eyes snapped open and glared at me. "Fuck no!" He growled. "Why the fuck would I be jealous?!"
"I-I-I do-don't know..." I leant away from him embarrassed. "I-I didn't m-mean-"
"You don't know me, Watson." He spat. "You have no idea!"
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way. I meant jealous of having the act, not with me..." I fumbled with my words, feeling very stupid.
"Just go away, Watson." He huffed.
I sighed, upset with myself and went back to sit with the boy and Dean. Dean raised her eyebrow at me, wanting me to tell me what had happened just then, but I shook my head and looked at the boy.
"How you feeling, buddy?" I asked him gently.
He gave me a huge smile. "Much better! Thank you so much for finding and helping me. I owe you my life."
"Oh don't be silly," I forcefully chortled. "What's your name?"
"Russell," He took a swig out of Dean's water pouch.
"Nice to meet you, Russell. My names Watson. This is Dean." I said.
"Very nice to meet you both." He grinned at the two of us.
"Could you tell us what happened?" My face turned serious.
Russell looked into the distance and took a deep breath. "My friend attacked me..." He whispered.
"Y-your friend?!" I blanched, looking at Dean, who mirrored my worried expression.
"Yes. It happened a couple of days ago. There was a group of us, five in total. We wanted to go exploring. I-I don't know what happened. One minute we were walking along, laughing and joking. The next, Walsh's eyes were glowing gold, and he started attacking all of us." Russells eyes glazed over as he thought about his friends.
I sat back on my heels, my hands resting on my knees. "I'm so sorry." I whispered.
Russell looked me dead in the eye. "I-I had no choice but to take him on," he sniffed, tears falling down his cheeks. "It was like he didn't recognise me. He was screaming at me, and throwing everything he had at me... I had no choice..." His voice sank to a whisper, finally trailing off as he clenched his eyes.
I furrowed my brow, confused by what he was telling us. I had never heard of anyone turning against their friends before. I mean, yeah there were some people that were just plain evil, like Stainton, but no one I knew of had pointlessly attacked. And with glowing gold eyes?
I put a consoling hand on his shoulder. "You rest up, you've been through a lot. I will tell the others what you told us, hopefully they might have heard of something like this." I waved at the others to take a seat around the campfire. "Get some sleep, Russell. We'll be right here."
He nodded and I wandered over to the fire. I removed Dragonwrath and sat down with it laying across my lap. Goodwin and Green sat either side of me, Hewitt by Goodwin, Pearce, Sellers and Gray by Green and Alpin and Sawyer sitting opposite me. I couldn't help but notice the boys sat apart from each other, allowing a large gap between them.
"Alrighty, then." I wondered where to start. "So, it seems Russell wasn't attacked by a creature or monster."
The others gasped, eyes wide, staring at me. I continued.
"He says he was attacked by his friend. He was part of a group who wanted to explore-"
"Well, that was fucking stupid!" Sawyer grunted, folding his arms. I raised my hand to stop him.
"As I was saying, he said they were exploring when his friends eyes suddenly started glowing gold and he attacked them all."
"How many of them were there?" Goodwin asked.
"Five," I answered.
"So, it was one against four?" Green said in shock.
"Yes. I've never heard of anything like this, have you?" I turned to Hewitt, Alpin and Sawyer. They shook their heads.
"His eyes were glowing?" Goodwin said.
"Yeah, strange, isn't it?"
"Why was his eyes gold?" Alpin thought aloud.
"Do you think he's lying, perhaps?" Sellers whispered, so Russell, who was only a few feet away from us with Dean, couldn't hear.
"I don't think so..." I hissed back. "Why would he lie?"
"Because he's a psycho?" Gray added.
I shook my head, trying to think clearly. "Does he look like a psycho to you? Even if that were true, wouldn't he be surrounded by his friends bodies? And would he have been this injured?"
"Did he give any names of the others he was with?" Sawyer asked.
I nodded. "Yes, Walsh."
"Walsh?" Alpin blurted out. "Walsh... As in, the Narthwich guard Walsh?"
"I don't know. You'll have to ask him. You know a Walsh then?"
"Walsh was down to come with us." Sawyer said. "He was really pissed off when Needham told him he wasn't needed anymore."
"Why did Needham tell him he wasn't needed?" I frowned.
"I don't know. Maybe because you decided to take your mates..." Sawyer shrugged.
"Ahhh," I nodded, remembering I had said to Needham to take some guards off so Green, Goodwin and Dean could take their places.
"We were put into training the day after the Mournestrike attack because Needham wanted to send us out to look for survivors." Alpin nodded his head to Sellers, Gray and Pearce. "We were told we had a week to train up and prepare ourselves. Walsh was meant to be leading us."
"Then, Needham seemed to change his mind. Came to us a few days later saying that someone else was going to be leading us and that Walsh and a few others weren't going." Sawyers continued.
"Walsh had a massive argument with Needham and quit the guard," Hewitt added. "He just stormed off, saying we were all going to regret it."
"Well, it is sounding more and more likely that Walsh did, indeed, attack the others," I said, looking into the fire. "But why would he have attacked his own group? Was Russell part of the guard too?"
Hewitt shook her head. "I have never seen him before. The others that were told they weren't going looked kind of thankful to be staying in Narthwich."
"It makes sense now why they went exploring, I'll admit." I sighed. "We will never know the full story, but I have a feeling we can trust Russell. He needs our help, for one. We're all heading in the same direction anyway."
The others nodded, slowly. I looked back at Russell, who now seemed to be in a deep sleep with Dean watching over him.
"But we will keep a close eye on him," I said to the others. "Anything suspicious, let me know. I don't want to make you feel like you have to be tense around him, but we have to make sure we're safe."
They nodded again and I turned to Gray, Pearce and Sellers. "Have you girls got any weapons?"
They shook their heads.
"Right. Does anyone have any spare weapons they can give to them?" I addressed the rest of the group.
"I have a few spare swords in my bag, Watson." Dean called over. "Three of them to be exact. They're the ones from Ozryn."
"Oh, excellent!" I clapped my hands together. "Dean, you fucking beauty! I could kiss you!"
"Uh, excuse me? May I remind you she's taken!" Hewitt gave me a false stern look.
"I thought I was shacking up with Goodwin?" I joked back.
"Fuck off, Watson." Goodwin snarled, making me laugh.
"I thought you were with me?" Alpin joked along.
"Hoes before bros, Alpin." I jested and went to pick up Dean's bag to get the swords.
"Call me a fucking hoe ever again, and I slice your tits off!" Goodwin snapped.
"But they're her biggest asset," Alpin laughed, the rest of us joining in, except Sawyer of course. I stuck my tongue out at Alpin.
Pulling out the blades, I handed them to each of the girls. "Have you ever used a weapon before?"
"I have once, but I wasn't very good." Pearce admitted, while the other two shook their heads.
"Ok, well then. Todays plan is to get you trained up then. Sawyer, you help Gray. Green, you take Sellers and Goodwin..." I looked at Goodwin, a smirk across my face. "You take on Pearce... But try not to slash her throat." I reminded her of the first day of training she ever gave me, and she finally cracked a smile.
The six of them started their training, while Dean, Hewitt, Alpin and I sat and watched. Russell was fast asleep, breathing gently.
"You know what I realised earlier today?" I said to them, wanting to make conversation instead of sitting in silence. "It must have been almost ten months since we arrived in Astrovia."
Dean gasped. "Fuck, has it been that long already?"
I nodded. "Give or take a couple of weeks, of course, it's gone so quick."
"I can't believe it..." Hewitt whispered.
"So much has changed. I don't think anyone knows any different now. I haven't thought about home for a long time," Alpin admitted, looking guilty.
"I'm the same," Hewitt said. "I've just been so caught up in the moment."
"What do you think your mum would say about us?" Dean asked.
"Umm..." Hewitt looked down. "My dad would be shocked but proud I think."
"Oh my god!" Dean clamped her hands to her mouth, before pulling Hewitt into a tight embrace. "I'm so sorry, darling."
Hewitt gave a dry cough. "You didn't know. I don't like to talk about my mum."
Dean had a strange expression on her face. "You know, my mum would absolutely love you."
Hewitt gave her a brave smile. "My dad would love you too."
I felt my heart grow ten sizes bigger from how cute they were being.
"If we ever got back home..." Alpin said, deep in thought. "Do you think we will ever find each other again?"
"Oh way to spoil the moment, Alpin!" I exclaimed.