(3)

The Master tended to Saurus’ wounds, her left cheek turning the same colour of the jam he’d eaten a few moments prior. Saurus lowered his head and shook it, his wounded arm naked but for a bandage.

“Forgive me, my Lady,” he said again, unable to acknowledge what he had done. Maleeka eyed him beadily while deafly finishing his dressings; Saurus saw her roll a tongue over her upper gums.

“There is nothing to forgive, Lord Commander.” she said with added sternness, giving Saurus some relief, “You did not know you lost a son before entering my tent.”

Saurus looked over at Alaric, who now slept sitting upright, drool pooling at the corners of his mouth, Saurus felt the urge to shake him to life again.

“Is there any hope he’ll recover,” he asked, already hearing how foolish the question was as it left his tongue. Mercifully, Maleeka entertained him, choosing her words with care.

“Place food to his mouth and he will chew my Lord,” she said, “pour water, and he will swallow. But the rest is gone.”

Saurus listened, imagining what type of life that would entail, not just for him and his wife, but his son too. He imagined returning to his wife in the capital holding Alaric in his current state. Would the healers there be able to do something more he wondered? More than this basic Master? He fingered the Nymph Bean again, pulling it free. Maleeka recoiled at the sight of it as if Saurus pulled free a fist-sized diamond.

“And this?” he asked, “Will it not serve to heal him?”

Maleeka’s hand went to reach for it but stopped. She looked at Saurus, her eyes asking the inevitable question: ‘Where did you get this?’

Maleeka only shook her head. “I’m afraid not, my Lord.”

Without much consideration, Saurus tossed the bean to her. She caught it nimbly as if it were made of glass, she looked stunned.

“Take it as payment for your work.” Saurus said, “And use it to help someone most in need.”

Maleeka bowed her head, astonished.

“Thank you, my Lord,” she said. “It’ll save a life I cannot.”

Saurus returned the bow, taking another glance at Alaric.

“I will return for my son when Leeside is retaken.” He said.

“Very well, my Lord,” Maleeka replied.

Just as Saurus was about to leave she added. “I will say a prayer for all the soldiers you lost my Lord. May they find rest in the afterlife.”

Saurus haltered a moment, then left. Outside he saw Hadwin pouring a bowl of porridge to a young girl. She had mouse-brown hair that hung so low it touched the back of her thighs, and she still retained her beauty behind her worn-out face. Saurus looked around at the camp, observing the people's sullen and broken faces, he clenched his fist at it all. He would give them back their city somehow, he just needed to figure out how. He didn’t have the men to siege that city and even if he did, he wouldn’t. It would cost too many lives, and Saurus felt his hands were red enough. He would avenge his son though.

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Throughout much of the day, Saurus moved around the camp, helping where he could. As well as answering the parade of questions he received from the common folk, all centering around the Empire’s efforts to retake Leeside; Saurus could only tell them the truth: he did not know. He was only a Lord Commander set in charge to retake Wetbrook, he had only found out about Leeside when he arrived. The way the common folk approached him, he suspected they thought he had just come from a meeting with the Emperor himself.

With his army destroyed, Saurus felt as displaced as the people he talked to. He knew the Empire would be expecting him to return as soon as they find out he was alive but, Saurus had settled on sending a detailed message to the capital instead, informing them of what had happened. No doubt the capital was getting different stories, so to read it from Saurus’ own handwriting would put the actual story in order.

Saurus decided to remain at Leeside, and when its people ran out of questions to ask him, he got to work helping around the camp. Freshwater was required throughout the day, and Saurus found the task to help clear his mind. Much of the evening he spent among the general labourers, who he could tell felt nervous around him.

“My Lord, you need not do that.” Hadwin had argued with him when he first went to grab water.

“I do,” Saurus answered, lifting a broom handle over his head, on either side of the broom handle hung two empty buckets.

The men and woman beside him watched silently; having a Lord Commander lug water beside them was like seeing a horse dance of its hind legs. But Saurus was trained to not put himself higher than the people he served. His grandfather’s words echoed in his mind as he filled the buckets with freshwater:

‘The Empire’s strength is in unity. An Empire host, for example, should leave behind it a river of gold, not death or famine. So, when the common people see our red cloaks, they rejoice. That is how an Empire gains its favour with its subjects Saurus. For the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives.’

Saurus recounted his grandfather’s words, words spoken to him before he was even able to lift a sword. If there was one thing he knew for certain back then, it was that he would one day don a red cloak, like his father’s father had done.

“My Lord!” came a voice as rough as sandstone. Saurus looked up over his sweat-stained brow to see Hadwin. Saurus was surprised to notice the sun had set around him without him noticing, his work had allowed his mind to leave his body for a time; the world was dim around him. Beside Hadwin stood a woman, tall and lean, her hair caught the moonlight like running pitch. Saurus placed the buckets of freshwater he was carrying to one side, feeling his shoulders sting slightly from grazed skin.

“This might be someone you’d want to meet,” Hadwin said gesturing to the woman.

Saurus wiped away the sweat on his brow with his forearm, then extended the hand to the woman. The woman stiffened at the gesture, fear eclipsing her face for a heartbeat. Saurus frowned at that, but the woman took his hand reluctantly. For a fleeting moment, Saurus thought he'd touched ice, then felt the woman’s warmth saturate through. Hadwin, unwittingly, just smiled broadly at Saurus.

“My Lord, this is Lady Black.” He said, filling in the extended pause, “She says she’s managed to escape the city, and the news she brings is most promising.”

Hadwin was almost beaming as he spoke. Saurus looked again at this Lady Black, her eyes were brown, but Saurus thought they caught a shade of firelight as they twinkled in the moonlight.

“Can we speak somewhere more private, Lord Commander?” She said, and Saurus felt a night suddenly grow colder.