“Prin! Aster is only sleeping after all.” Elwin said hurriedly. The relief flooding his body as his broken heart tried to stitch itself back together.

“You’re lying.” Prin sobbed. An accusation he had never lobbed at Elwin before.

“No, look. Look.” Elwin took Aster’s arm with the slick droplets of fresh blood sliding down into the cup of her curled hand. “See? Alive.” But maybe not for long. He frowned, his mind slipping its gears as he tried to imagine what to do next.

Prin’s eyes grew round with surprise, and he almost, almost, smiled in relief before reality took over. “Oh shit. Shit. What are we going to do?”

“Uh.” Elwin looked around frantically. He had to come up with something to stop the bleeding. That seemed of paramount importance. Elwin spotted a colorful silk scarf hanging out of a drawer of the tilted over vanity and grabbed it. He wrapped it firmly around the jagged wound on Aster’s wrist. It almost looked like someone had hacked at it with a serrated bread knife. But Elwin knew it for what it was. A bite.

“Is that good enough?” Prin asked.

“Not really but . . . it’ll have to do.” Elwin said.

“We have to get her to a doctor.” Prin said. Suddenly clear-headed sounding and logical. As though an emergency reserve of senses had been tapped and he came to them. All for Aster.

He labored to his feet, almost dropping Aster although she was child light and not resisting.

In fact, she hadn’t moved at all in this time, or shown any sign of awareness.

“Can I help?” Elwin asked. “You were dizzy . . .”

“No, no.” Prin walked determinedly to the door.

“Wait, wait a second. You can’t go out there like that! There would be too many questions! And,” Here Elwin lowered his voice. “There’s a dead man in here.”

“I don’t care.” Prin said.

“Do you want us to both go to prison?” Elwin asked. “And Aster too, probably.” He added desperately. If she lives that long.

This made Prin pause at the door. “What do you suggest, Elwin? How do we get out of here and get to a doctor?”

“We have to, we have to do something.” Elwin gestured helplessly around them at the bloody and broken mess of the room. It was hard to say what looked worse, the blood soaked room or the blood soaked Prin and Aster.

Elwin figured he didn’t look as bad, of course there would be transfer but at least his clothes were dark. “You can’t walk out there looking like that. This is a quiet time here, with the business closed for the day. But still. There are a lot of people around.”

“So . . . get cleaned up first.” Prin said. He looked around the room, eyes hurriedly darting, doing the what in the hell is cleaner then I am assessment.

“Even then . . . to leave with Aster. . .” Elwin was sure they would be stopped by someone.

Aster began to shiver in Prin’s arms.

Elwin wasn’t sure if that was a good sign or not. At least it was some sign of life he reckoned.

“We sure as hell aren’t leaving her here!” Prin said ferociously, as though Elwin had suggested it and he was mad about it. He grabbed the shawl from the mannequin and wrapped it around Aster.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Aster nuzzled her face into Prin’s chest, instinctively burrowing for warmth, but didn’t stop shivering. She mumbled something unintelligible.

Prin gave Elwin an anguished do something look.

“Okay, alright.” Elwin said, stalling for time as he tried to get his train back on the track. It was hard going. “You sit down here.” He guided Prin to the bed. “Sit down and rest a minute.”

Prin stepped over the mangled corpse and tucked his bundle in under the covers. He sat close beside her, as though afraid to not be touching her in some way or she would stop breathing without him knowing it.

Elwin went to the bucket of water. There was already a towel draped over the handle, and he brought it along when he carried the bucket to prin.

Then he carried the vanity to the door and wedged it against it. This wouldn’t hold for long, and he was cleanly aware that it blocked off their only escape route. Unless, they were to bust through the wall. Now there’s a thought he could save for later, if it seemed of use. He had always thought the walls in this shack seemed flimsy, like they would barely hold the elements at bay let alone an intruder.

Elwin came back to the bed and dipped the rag into the bucket. “We have to get you cleaned up a little bit.” He cleaned the blood off Prin’s face, and it took a good bit of scrubbing with the cold water to get most of the rapidly drying blood off. Prin closed his eyes tight and winced.

“I’m sorry.” Elwin said. He took Prin’s hands next and scrubbed them as best he could.

“You keep having to clean up after me . . .” Prin said.

“So? I want to.” Elwin said. He rinsed the rag in the bucket. “Here, you do Aster. And check her over for any other wounds. I have to figure out what to do.”

The fairy still hovered close to Aster, giving off an anxious energy but not doing much to help.

Aster shivered when Prin moved the covers aside.

“This is bad Elwin.” Prin said. He took a corner of the rag and gingerly dabbed at Aster’s face. “We have to do something.”

“I know, I know.” Elwin paced the floor. He went to the wardrobe and found a pile of clean white under things on the bottom. “Do the best you can and then see if you can get her changed.”

“I can’t right now, she’s too cold.” Prin said. “Help me Elwin.”

“I’m trying!” Elwin bit his lip.

“Fire.” Aster said. “Fire.”

“I know you’re cold.” Prin stopped trying with the cleaning rag and scooped Aster into his arms again. “But we can’t light a fire right now.”

“Maybe it’s a suggestion.” Elwin said. “We could burn down the evidence.” Suddenly, in that moment, it seemed like the only thing that made sense.

“You think?” Prin’s voice had gone soft, he was mulling it over but didn’t like it. “Aster can you answer me? Aster are you there?” He crooned softly into the matted, half braided, half curled mass of red hair.

Aster’s eyes didn’t open and she didn’t reply.

“It’ll all be okay now, you’ll be okay.” Prin assured, holding her like a baby. “I don’t think this is good.” He directed at Elwin. “We have to get out of here and get some help.”

Elwin wondered how good a pile of fancy dresses would burn. He remembered hearing something at one point that they were quite flammable. A woman at a party had caught herself on fire and died after knocking over a candle, or something like that. But enough so to burn up a body into unrecognizability? That would be tough, but that’s what he wanted.

There were a couple of small oil lamps so he could use them, but it wouldn’t be a lot of fuel. “Aster, do you have any extra lamp oil in reserve anywhere?” he asked.

“You can’t seriously be thinking of burning the place down.” Prin squeaked suddenly. “What if it catches to the other buildings? With people sleeping inside? It’s too risky.”

“I’m sure they’ll get out.” Elwin insisted. “And the fire will probably be put out before it ever gets to the main house.” He went to the wardrobe and dug around again looking for a jug of lamp oil. He didn’t find it, but there was a small trunk on wheels full of cloth, trim, lace, and other sewing notions. Elwin pulled it out of the bottom of the wardrobe and emptied the contents.

“That’s a good idea.” Prin said. “Let’s pack a bag for Aster. Since she’s not in any position to help . . . I wonder which dresses we should pack?” He sat Aster back down on the bed and tucked the blanket in around her. “Aster? Aster? Wake up. I’m so sorry.”

Aster shivered and squeezed her eyes tighter shut.

“Can you hear me?” Prin asked. “Maybe you’re too weak to talk right now. That’s okay, but if there’s anything you want me to be sure and pack . . .”

“I was thinking more along the lines of . . . hmm.” Elwin had a strange thought but almost hesitated to say it for fear of Prin’s reaction.

The trunk wasn’t big enough to hold the man’s body. And even if they could make it fit, there would still be the issue of all the blood. ALL THAT BLOOD. It was so much.

However, the trunk may comfortably fit a much smaller person.