The King's Remorse

Returns

"Oh, there you are, Brook!" Seneca trots up to me, Icarus close behind. Her hooves create little puffs of dust every time they hit the ground. Icarus's claws throw up clumps of dirt with each step.

"Hey," I manage to get out. Blood runs down my side, a sickly warmth against my skin.

"You're injured!"

"Oh, really?" I chuckle humorlessly, grimacing as the movement sends the pain spiking.

"Was it him?" I nod, widening stance a bit to keep my balance and remain standing. Seneca turns her attention to the Soldier. A smile spreads across her face, but there's nothing friendly about it.

"She betrayed My Sovereign, Hi-."

"Cut it with the name. How can you honestly expect anyone to remember that? It's ridiculous."

"You will not speak about your King of Ragdon like that!" The Soldier gapes at Seneca, horrified.

"I'm not from around here. He's not my King. So are we going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"Do what?"

"Your death, of course! You hurt Brook, so you die. Easy as that. Not much logic to it. So, easy way or hard way?"

"I'm not dying."

"Let's just agree to disagree. You still haven't picked, and I'm getting bored."

"I'm not dying."

"Agree to disagree, remember? On the count of three, I'll make my move. Decide what you want to do.

"Three.

"Two.

"One." As soon as Seneca gets the word out, she lunges.

I watch her through the haze of pain making my vision go blurry. I blink sleepily. Gotta stay awake. You have to make sure Clap is ok. My legs grow wobbly, and I rock on my hooves, but I cling to consciousness.

"Deep breaths, Brook. Clap's getting you a doctor. Do you, uh, want to lay down. I don't know. Haven't really been in this situation before." I can barely hear Icarus's words. My head falls so it's hanging by my knees. Icarus curses.

"What's going on? Soldier's thoroughly dead, btw's," Seneca says before cursing as well. "Wow, that's a lot of blood. How much do you think she has left?"

"I don't know. Brook's pretty out of it. I think once you got here and went after the Soldier the adrenaline started to wear off."

I'm right here, you know... 

"Where's Clap?" 

"Getting a doctor," Icarus replies.

"Better get here soon, or we're gonna have a problem."

Footsteps approach quickly. "I'm here. Wha-." Miles curses, speeding up more. "I'm here, Brook. What happened?"

"Sh-she was fighting Guard a-a-and Soldiers. A-and they ATTACKED her! O-one of th-them c-c-cut her with h-his s-s-sword... me-meanie..." Clap whimpers, her words coming out jumbled and slurred together. I barely notice as Miles gets to work.

"She got into a fight with Guard and Soldiers. One of the Soldiers cut her on the flank with his sword. She's lost a lot of blood."

"Yeah, she has." Miles's words hold a bit of thinly concealed panic.

My vision blurs further, and I can no longer make out aspects of the world around me. I sway on my feet, stumbling a step to the side.

"Brook? Try to stay still."