It took more than a little effort to force my eyes open, it was… lethargic, the lids unusually heavy as my senses returned to me. I regretted it as well; the light was painful. I groaned, the sound little more than a croak coming out of my throat as I moved my hand to rub at my eyes. At least… I tried to, I felt a numbness across my entire body that was quickly morphing into a tingling pain. I blinked repeatedly, attempting to jerk my head up to look at myself to no success. My head trembled to slightly lift then fell back against the pillow, and I drew in a deep breath as my eyes darted around the room. It smelled of soap and linen, and light from a window behind me painted the room. I could hear a carriage coming to a stop, a horse whinnying clear in my ears. No matter how hard I tried though I couldn’t tilt my head back to see the window, so instead, I kept my focus on the room itself. It was… a lot of white. White walls with a black and white tiled floor I could only make out on the very edges of my vision. Against the far wall to my right was a long table with what looked like cards and letters set up on it, but my vision was far too blurry to make any of it out.

I drew my eyes back, straining due to the efforts of trying to look as much as possible without actually moving my head. I glanced down, and to my annoyance my entire body below my neck was covered in a white blanket, large enough that I couldn’t actually see any part of my body. Past the bed, a simple metal-framed thing was a wooden door set into the wall, the brown clashing rather starkly with the black, and with my swimming vision looked impossibly far away. Just above it was painting, a mix of greens and browns that I couldn’t make heads or tails of. I sighed, my throat painfully dry. It’s a hospital, that much is clear, I could make out talking outside, but I couldn’t summon enough energy to speak even if I wasn’t particularly inclined to try. I just settled my head back onto the pillow, trying vainly to make my arm or legs move. Nothing, just a distant but rapidly closing pain and numbness that ran up and down my body as if the entire thing had managed to fall asleep at once. It’s an odd feeling, I could sense my limbs, all of them thankfully, but I couldn’t manage to move any of them. Like a man stuffed with cotton, it just tingled when I tried.

Was I paralyzed?

That was the first thought in my mind. I could move my head but nothing below it. Not a twitch, not a jolt, not a pull or tug. I closed my eyes and tried to think back. I remembered the party, talking to Crawford. I remembered someone pushing against my back and I tumbled over before I could catch myself. Then it’s a blur and… waking up here. Given that it appears to be the morning after I would guess that I had fallen into a coma. Something similar happened in town once when one of the neighbors got kicked in the head by a horse. He was down for about two days before waking up, always talked with a lisp after that too.

Holding onto such thoughts, or even the man’s name, was rather difficult. As the pain grew more intense a wave of lethargy washed over me, thinking becoming more difficult, though I was just trying to distract myself from the fact that I was likely paralyzed. It’s been one thing after another since this all started. Lost my barn, lost my neighbors, lost my arm and now possibly lost the ability to move at all besides my head. Not quite sure I deserved that, but at the moment there was precious little I could do about it.

Maybe I was too stubborn.

Hell, maybe I should have gone with Mary to the city. Though… I suppose I found my way there anyways, didn’t really give much thought to my neighbors that had moved away. Wonder what they would think if they could see me now. Lord knows I was always a stubborn bastard, and that was frankly how I managed to find myself in this mess altogether.

Doesn’t change that Wellbrook was a bastard however. Likely the man that pushed me over the edge in fact. I let out another breath, allowing… at least some calmness to come over me. I didn’t know how much time passed before I heard the door click open. Could have been five seconds, could have been five hours. The numbness had completely suffused my body up to the head, making any conscious thought near impossible. I strained my ears to make out the sound, boots, familiar heavy boots.

“Good morning Arthur. Awake?” Morrigan asked.

I tried to open my mouth to speak, but nothing happened. I couldn’t open my eyes or move my head anymore either. I could hear her moving, but I couldn’t move at all in response. The scent of her perfume washed over me as she approached, lilac… I thought, I grew crops, not flowers as a general rule.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

The walking stopped, and her soft accented voice spoke up again. “I’m… very sorry Arthur.” She said, an emotion I had never heard in her voice until now. “I dragged you into more than you were prepared for in an effort to… do something.”

I felt a hand press against me, vaguely. There was a weight against my chest and I assumed it was a hand. It was damn near impossible to pinpoint where it actually was. “I used you, and you have gotten hurt repeatedly for it. Just… wake up when you can. I’ll handle things until then.”

I then felt a hand against my cheek, and something wet pressed against my forehead.

Speak.

I felt the hand move away.

Speak.

I heard her boots on the tiles again.

SPEAK YA RAT JOCK.

“Nay.” I croaked out. Pain throbbed in my throat as the words left my lips.

The walking stopped, then started again rapidly towards me. “Arthur? Are you awake?”

“A-aye.” I managed to say. “Can ya kindly pry open my eyes?”

I felt her hands press against my face, then suddenly light filled my senses once more as her fingers forced my eyes open. The shock of it filled me with new energy, and I blinked rapidly as I took in the sight of Morrigan standing above me. She was in one of the lovely blue dresses she seemed fond of, and was staring down at me with more than a little worry… and consternation. “How long have you been awake?” she asked.

“When ya started to walk away.” I responded weakly. The pain still throbbed in my throat and it was painfully dry. But I talked regardless.

Morrigan’s eyes narrowed. “And how would you know I was walking away?”

“Because I’m lying to you,” I said. “How long have I been out?”

“Asshole,” Morrigan muttered. “Three days. You’ve been out since you went over the edge.”

“Explains why my throat is so dry,” I replied. “How bad is it?”

Morrigan frowned, clearly trying to find the words to say. After a few moments she seemingly gives up, and instead pulls down the blanket for me to see myself. It’s…

Well.

I supposed that was just how my life was going. My left arm, the one that was previously a shattered wreck, was now just completely gone. A bandaged stump all that was present shortly below the shoulder. Beyond that, I had a series of bandages around my stomach and a rather large one around my knees. Alright. “What happened exactly?”

“You fell three stories and caught the top section of the fountain with your arm. It was… pulverized. But it slowed you down enough that when you hit the water you were fine besides damaging your knees. The doctors had to amputate the arm however, I’m sorry.” Morrigan said.

I looked back up at the woman, and found she was looking away from me deliberately. “Who pushed me?”

“We… don’t know. It was someone who wasn’t on the guest list. Crawford thinks it was one of Wellbrook’s men.” Morrigan admitted. “Crawford had already beaten the man within an inch of his life before the security got there. The man that is, Wellbrook had already left the party.”

I nodded. “Is Crawford okay?”

“He is. But you should worry about yourself first I think… you are taking this rather well.”

I stared at her until she looked at me, then replied simply. “Would it help?”

“Pardon?”

“Would me p-panicking help in any way?” I asked. “Ah assume ah am out of the races.”

Morrigan nodded. “You are, though your fans wished you well enough.” She turns her head towards the table and I followed her glance.

It is covered in cards, flowers, and small letters. It’s mostly cheap things, handmade or very poorly drawn on bits of card paper. I felt my fingers twitch, and forcing the matter I threw my arm out, ignoring the pain as I gripped the side of the bed and yanked. Morrigan let out a yelp as my right leg swung over the side, and I pulled with all my strength until the rest of me went over as well. Morrigan caught me just before I hit the floor, my one arm straining against the cool tile as my legs slid painfully down. It slipped a moment later, causing me to fail chest-first onto the ground and sharp pain to erupt once more, especially around my left shoulder, but the entire time I kept my head looking towards the table, mind racing despite the pull of the medication and pain attempting to pull my focus away.

I stared up at the cards. Not saying a word as Morrigan desperately tried to right me. I didn’t recognize any of the names I could make out, but I could imagine them being written by the urchins I had run into, or the baker, or anyone else I had met in this city who was more on my level of society.

“They sent in money as well, I don’t know if it would be enough to buy Beithi-”

“Ah d-don’t care.” I replied, cutting her off.

Morrigan finally sat me down against the bed frame, my back propped up against it as a truly god awful throbbing ran its course up and down my body. “What do you mean by that?”

I turned my head slowly, looking Morrigan in the eyes. “Where does W-Wellbrook live?” I asked, grabbing at the tile once again with my good arm as I tried to steady myself. “Where?”