Kitling’s dead!

nonononoNONONONONONON!

“ssssssss.”

Oh thank the heavens he’s still breathing! If he wasn’t around…….

“Big sis! What are we gonna do!?”

Little Mari was kneeling beside Kitling with her hands fidgeting over his body, unsure of where to touch. I could feel my hands clench, my body was rooted to the spot. I couldn’t move.

Please be alright….Kitling!

“Move aside!”

I was shoved to the side and, unable to catch myself, toppled to the floor. I could see Zla rolling Kitling over and placing a finger to his neck.

Checking the pulse…. Then…..wounds.

Bits of the training Zla had put me through surfaced to the top of my mind unbidden. There was a lot you could tell from a pulse.

“Pulse is erratic, small scratches along the hands, profuse sweating. Considering the lizard he faced today it’s pretty simple to guess what happened.”

“What is it?”

This time Yuli spoke. She had been standing in a shocked silence at the entrance.

“Venom… Alephi!”

“YES!?”

My voice squeaked out as I quickly went rigid, nearly falling over again after just righting myself.

“Get the blood from the lizard.”

Zla’s eyes stayed on Kitling. Little Mari started sniffling now, trying to hold back the tears.

I was too.

“NOW!”

He shouted with force since I hadn’t started moving yet. I was still fixated on Kitling’s still form.

“Yes!”

It almost came out as a sob as I dashed out the door.

“It’s in the kitchens!”

Yuli called out after me. I glanced back to see her helping Zla lift Kitling, though his body seemed so small now……

I made my way through the maze of the winding hallways, cursing my own uselessness. Kitling was YOUNGER than me. He was a little kid and yet he was the one taking all the risks to keep us alive here in the Arena. After growing up in my mother’s workplace I know exactly what would’ve happened to us if he hadn’t been there.

But still! I said I’d be the one to fix him if he ever got injured! I told myself even though I can’t fight, I’d support him some other way. But I couldn’t even see the signs when he came in!

The labored breathing, the purpling and blackening wounds, the profuse sweating!

Stupid! Useless!

I sobbed a little. There were more serving slaves around now. The kitchens were close.

I burst through the doors and entered the smoky kitchens of the arena. While other slaves barely paid attention to my entrance, the overseers certainly recognized a foreign slave.

“You! You’re not supposed to be here!”

“Please I need to see the carcass of the monster that just came in!”

The man furrowed his brows. A slave talking back wasn’t something he was used to. However he seemed to make up his mind on something and a weird grin took over his face.

“Why would you want some dead monster? I have a living one right here to entertain you!”

I could feel the blood draining from my face. Of all times, now? But Kitling needs the blood. Without it, Zla can’t….

Ah, Zla…..that’s it.

“Zla sent me here to retrieve something from it. You can take it up with him if you dare. Where is that corpse?”

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“You Impert’nent lil’bitch!”

“OI! I don’t want that insane sorcerer makin a mess in ma’ kitchens! The corpse is over there.”

A knife waving chef quickly defused any confrontation the overseer was about to start. Though the overseer seemed dissatisfied, the look on the older man’s face gave him pause.

“Thanks!”

I yelled back as I dashed in the direction he had pointed.

Coming in through a set of double doors that had been hidden in the smoky haze was a massive lizard. Blood dripped from a wound on its neck and from its missing eye.

Again I could feel my face go snow-white. Did Kitling really take down something this large?

No! Now’s not the time!

A clay bowl was resting on one of the tabletops. I snatched it before the chef there noticed I had ever been there. While the slaves were still dragging the corpse in I scaled the side of the lizard and scooped blood and fleshy bits from the neck wound.

I nearly wretched right there.

I ran down the length of its head before hopping off and dashing out of the kitchens. All before the slaves could react to me climbing onto the corpse in the first place.

By the time I returned to Zla’s office, the hope I was beginning to feel had helped calm me down.

The keening of little Mari shattered that.

Bursting in I saw her draped over Kitling’s body while Yuli attempted to remove her, her eyes red with held back tears.

“NO! I won’t let go! Kitling needs me! He can’t be dead!”

“De-?”

The bowl slipped from my grasp. But was promptly caught by Zla.

“Not if I have anything to say about it. Now get that fool sister of yours off him. Otherwise he really will go completely still.”

Zla’s words jolted me into action. With Yuli’s help I managed to force Marin to let go.

Zla had already cleaned his wounds and after doing a few things to a portion of the blood with some medicinal plants I didn’t recognize he chanted something over the remaining portion of blood. It bubbled a bit before becoming a milky white color that he directly poured into Kitlings mouth.

Yuli and I held Marin steady against a wall. Though by now we all mostly held each other for comfort. Kitling had truly become our support. Without him we just broke down so quickly. I vaguely registered Yuli suppressing her own sobs while my eyes strained to see any change in Kitling.

Once Zla finished pouring whatever the blood had become into Kitling’s mouth he slowly stood. As he straightened his back he looked at us.

“Alephi, be a dear and make some tea using chamomile.”

For a minute Zla seemed to be a very tired and kind old man. Completely different from the stern task master he was when we were learning under him.

“Does that mean..?”

I left the sentence unfinished. I was trying to keep the rising hope in my chest under control.

“It’s up to him now. It all depends on how strong his body is. I merely gave it the tools it requires to heal itself.”

Zla sighed as he moved to the front room and slumped into a chair.

“Now about that tea.”

“Ah!”

With a start I realized I had been frozen as soon as he said there was hope. I knew Kitling, he was strong. Way stronger than anyone else I knew…..except maybe Yuli.

“Yes!”

“Good girl.”

Yuli and Marin slowly walked out and sat on the other chair. While they still appeared a little sad, there was some hope in their eyes now too.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

~Data Gathering: 100%~

~Initializing Analysis~

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Kitling still hadn’t woken up. It had already been two days since the fight. Zla had looked into exactly why such a dangerous creature had been used in a novice Hunter’s second match. Supposedly that was all that they had on hand. But Zla said he smelled foul play.

Yuli has already gone back to training. She seems to have lost all worry for Kitling.

“He’s not dead after two days….he’ll be fine.”

Was what she said. Little Mari has almost obsessively been beside his bed. To the point where Zla yelled at her today.

I hope he wakes up soon. The guards were giving us the kinds of looks that the men who came to see mother had. It made my skin crawl.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

~Analysis Complete~

~Compiling Results~

_____________________________________________________________________________________

A week has passed. Zla is starting to become impatient and strangely angry. It’s like that brief image of him as a kind old man was a lie. He’s even harsher with Marin and me. He smacked Marin for getting Ilia’s Pearl mixed with White Bell when she was sorting through the latest plant shipment. I don’t understand why he’s gotten like this.

I heard him muttering the other day while checking up on Kitling. Something about fake gods and Kitling lying. He seemed genuinely upset over it.

That night Marin and I found the guard who usually was at the end of unconscious with his legs broken. After informing Zla we returned to our room. Yuli was hidden under the covers of the bed. The room looked like it had been ransacked. She was crying.

I slipped into the bed behind her and hugged her. The pieces coming together.

“He didn’t hurt you right?”

“That bastard didn’t have a chance. I should’ve killed him. The little fucker said that w-wi-with Kitling gone no one could protect us now.”

Yuli started balling then and curled into an even tighter ball, her tail corkscrewing in stress. Marin slipped in on the other side of Yuli.

“It’ll be ok! Kitling isn’t gone!”

Marin had calmed down over the week and was back to her usual self.

A knock wrapped the door. I slipped out first with Yuli following behind. Her hackles were fully raised and her muscles seemed to vibrate with tension. I answered the door before she could. She might do something that was….. stupid.

“Yes?”

An older guard stood outside.

“The ‘Silent Prince’ is to compete tomorrow. Should he be unable to all of his property will be forfeit to the highest bidder within the Arena.”

After finishing this, the guard leered down at Yuli and I before striding off.

*BAM*

The bedpost closest to the door shattered from Yuli’s fist. I slumped to the ground, tears streaming down my face. I could here Marin begin to cry from under the covers.

“Oh Kitling.”

_____________________________________________________________________________________

~Results Compiling: 100%~

~Re-booting~

_____________________________________________________________________________________

“What did I miss?”

A solid nugget of information had formed in my brain. But the more pressing matter was the three sniffling children surrounding me.

“”“KITLING!”””