Leonidas moved closer to Jeanne and plopped his head against the wood finish.

“How bad was it?” Jeanne asked.

“The boy died three times, and I had to resuscitate the bastard.”

“Three times?”

“I don’t what he has, but it’s bad. Incredibly bad.”

“You think he’ll live?”

“If he stops exposing his skin to high amounts of rusted metal, yeah, he should be fine. But we both know that’s probably not going to happen.”

“Yeah,” Jeanne said, taking another sip of her ale, “that’s not giving me much of a comforting thought.”

“No, no it isn’t. But I guess only time will tell,” Leonidas said as he turned to Jeanne. “I saw you were speaking with the mother.”

“I didn’t think she should have been by herself.”

“No, no, it was good you did that. Helps the time pass by faster, and know they’re not alone,” Leonidas said as he took a sip from his second flagon.

“Yeah,” Jeanne said before stretching her neck.

Leonidas rubbed his eyes as he let a long groan.

“You all right?” Jeanne asked.

“I had to use every trick I know to keep a person alive aside from … that, and I still almost lost the boy a few times.”

“Do you think he’ll pull through?”

“I have no idea at this point,” Leonidas said, shaking his head slowly. “A lot of the damage is probably irreparable at this point. And right now, the goal is to be to keep him alive from one day to the next until he regains his strength.”

“That bad?”

“The boy’s been whipping his back with unclean iron nails and what else they’ll put at the end of these things. And almost everyday from what I’d imagine.”

“Did we really save him then?”

“I honestly don’t know. If anything we might’ve bought him some more time to prepare himself for the end.”

Jeanne turned to Leonidas, her brows furrowed. “That’s a rather dark thought, Doc.”

“Sometimes you have to face the truth for what it is. And trying to lessen the blow in a situation like this only makes it worse when the full impact hits. That boy did a number on himself that frankly, I don’t know if there’s a way to reverse it at this point.”

“Nothing?”

Leonidas shook his head. “There’s a chance obviously, but a fool’s chance.”

“I feel bad for his mother.”

“Me too,” the good ones always take it harder than they should.

“What do you mean?”

“Maeryn was keeping watch by the door, could hear some of what the mother was saying.”

“Ah, yeah, she was blaming herself for him taking this path.”

“It’s sad she’s the one beating herself up when she had no power over the situation. And I’d bet good money the boy isn’t going to lose a single wink of sleep from the whole affair. Probably whip himself extra for missing a whole day.”

“You think that?”

“Seen it happen enough times.”

Find this and other great novels on the author's preferred platform. Support original creators!

“Outlands?”

“Oh yeah. Enough second chances to reach the hundreds, and no one would ever take the lesson to heart.”

“And you think her son won’t be any different?”

“We won’t know until he’s awake, but like I said, I’d bet some good one he won’t.”

“Yeah, I guess we’ll see.”

“What about you?” Leonidas asked before taking another sip. “What do you think about this?”

“I see two victims of the same man. And honestly, I’m not sure what our first move can be when it comes to taking this man down.”

“Well, we’ve figured out solutions to worse situations.”

“It is nice not having a demonic lunatic trying to kill you.”

“Or a peckish Bukavac.”

“Or one of those things.”

“We should probably go back up and see if the boy’s awake,” said Leonidas, rising from his seat and taking the remaining flagons.

“Edmund,” Jeanne said.

“Hmm,” Leonidas hummed.

“The boy’s name is Edmund.”

Leonidas paused for a moment. “Oh, thank you.”

“I figured you’d like to know.”

“Right, of course.”

Leonidas and Jeanne moved up the stairs and found Maeryn leaning against the doorway to room being used. The elf held her long knife in her hand, with the blade resting on her shoulder. “Anything happening?” Jeanne asked her.

Maeryn shook her head. “Not really. The mother’s been sitting at her boy’s side. And everyone else is … trying to give them their privacy.”

“That’s going to be a little tough,” said Leonidas.

“We’ll just keep it conversation to other things until the boy is strong enough to move.”

“Hopefully not too long,” said Leonidas, “I’d rather not have someone bunking with us.”

Jeanne paused for a moment. “Oh yeah … that’d be awkward.”

“Why don’t you check on your patient while I go see what Cid wants to do?”

Leonidas nodded. “Let me know if anything major happens.”

As Leonidas moved to the bed to check on young Edmund, Jeanne walked over to where Cid and Kveldulf were standing. “Jeanne,” Cid said, lifting his chin up to her. “It’s good you’re here.”

“Something the matter?”

“No,” Cid said looking over at the bed. “Just a thought I wanted to run by you and Kel. Doctor, I’m going to convene with Jeanne and Kel in the hall if you need us.”

“If I’ll need you, I’ll scream like my head’s taken off,” Leonidas said while he examined Edmund.

“And on that note,” Cid said, gesturing Kveldulf and Jeanne to follow. A short distance from the room, Cid looked around the hall before turning back to Kveldulf and Jeanne. “All right, your thoughts on the situation?”

“Anything particular?” Kveldulf asked.

“Overall.”

“Obviously this can’t be an isolated incident,” said Kveldulf. “There’s too many of them of this child to be the only one who was affected by something like this.”

“And Weuve isn’t a supporter of these flagellants at all,” said Jeanne.

“Weuve?” Cid asked.

“The mother.”

“Oh!” Cid said, pleasantly surprised. “And you said you’re not good with people.”

“Well, she said her son joined up after his father passed.”

“Did he now?” Cid said, rubbing his chin slowly. “Interesting.”

“How so?” Kveldulf asked.

“We can’t assume this boy is the only one to join because of this Stefan. And most religious leaders tend to have some special spark to bring people to them.” Cid paused and turned back to his lieutenants. “And if it was my child bedridden because of that man. I’d want to feed him his own heart.”

“So, what are you thinking?” Jeanne asked.

“The mother, Weuve, when things temper down, I want –”

“Are you shitting me?” Jeanne hissed quietly. “Her son is still comatose, she’s breaking keeping it together, and want to turn her into a spy?”

Cid held up his hand for a moment before placing it on her shoulder. “When her son awakens, we’ll ask to see if there’s anything she can tell us that might help us.”

“You think she’ll know anything about this group?” Kveldulf asked.

“Worst she can do is say no,” Cid said.

“Worst can do is tell us where we can shove it,” Jeanne followed.

“Still, it would be wise to at least see what she might know.”

“Who should do it?” Kveldulf asked.

“I’ll take care of that,” Cid said to them.

“I can do it,” Jeanne followed.

“I’ll take the lead on that, but I do want you with me, Jeanne,” Cid said to her. “If she’s familiar with you, that’ll help her feel less at ease.”

Kveldulf and Jeanne exchanged glances.

“What?” Cid asked them.

“Don’t you mean ‘more at ease’, Cid?’

Cid lightly smacked his forehead. “Damn it did I mix the words up again?”

“You did,” Jeanne said to him.

“Damn it,” Cid said, “Well you both knew what I meant. Let’s go see how the doctor is doing.”

Returning to the room, they saw Leonidas checking the boy’s pulse, his breathing now at a slower tempo and his mother looking more relaxed than before. “How’s young Edmund?” Kveldulf asked.

“He’s looking a lot better than before. Thank the mercy of Sol for that,” said Leonidas as he wiped the sweat from his brow. “He should be on his feet whenever he awakens.”

“Good, good,” Cid said nodding. “Why don’t you take a moment to rest and collect yourself. We’ll call you if we need anything.”

Leonidas nodded slowly, his eyes half opened. “Right, I’ll see you all later.”

“I’ll be there shortly,” Jeanne said to Leonidas.

Leonidas caressed her cheek, saying. “Don’t leave me waiting too long,” before leaving the room.

Cid pulled up a chair and sat next to Weuve. “How are you faring, Lady Weuve?”

“Better,” Weuve said. “A little better.”

“I’m glad to hear it. Very glad.”

“The doctor said my boy is in a bad spot.”

“He not the type to give a person false hope,” Cid said.

“No, I guess that would reflect bad on him, wouldn’t it?”

“Might also have us reconsider his contract with our company,” Cid said, giving Weuve a warm smile.

“Yeah, I’d imagine that’d be the case.”

“I wish there was something we could do to make this better.”