‘...For now, I’ll lead you all until Elethien is rested enough. Please don’t disturb her too much.’
Teion stepped down from his small pedestal in the camp, weaving through the crowd as he returned to his tent. It took him far too long to make this announcement. He’d been hoping Elethien would exit her tent in rejuvenation after their conversation, but he had hoped for too much. For whatever reason, she was nowhere near her best state. Even when he had visited her a further two times during the day, she refused to take back the reins of power. It was as though she exhausted all of her mental strength in the battle and the night after, becoming a husk of her former self.
The Foresters dispersed, many heading towards the direction of Elethien’s tent. As they approached the entrance, some placed down their cloaks, some a trinket of theirs, some their weapons. None of them spoke more than a word before leaving. Before long, there was a pile of various objects that nearly blocked the entrance entirely, with Teion having to push all of them to the side so as not to put too much weight on the walls of the tent.
At least the others took to his message rather positively.
He needed somewhat of a break.
He headed out of the camp. It was surprising the Trelvenese hadn’t attacked them since that battle, but he was thankful for the day of peace. Without a significant portion of their fighting force, there was virtually no chance they could fight back against the enemy. Of course, Elethien could somehow pull off another miracle, but how many could they rely on at this point?
The rebellion was obviously struggling on its last legs. Most of the Forester combatants were fighting in the south, or were contracted to fight for Rhinn. There was really no one left to recruit in the region, and with so many noncombatants to protect, it only made their jobs harder.
He sighed. He really needed to relax.
He walked in the forests, feeling the cool air, looking at the light through slits in the canopy. This area was nowhere near his home, but the environment felt quite similar. As the birds chirped while perched upon the branches, he whistled back in a similar tone, engaging in somewhat of a call-and-response between them. It was a fun little pastime he learnt as a child, though he didn’t really have many chances to do so ever since he fought as a mercenary.
He also wanted to lie down a little. Noticing a clearing just slightly up ahead, he began walking in that direction. As he walked closer, he noticed someone already occupying that space. It was a thin, frail, small man, his body exposed and practically sinking into the soft grass.
The man’s face was covered in long, dirty white hair.
Teion rushed forward to Amovishel’s side. The young man, fortunately, was still breathing, his heart still beating based on the movement on his chest. However, there was not much else that was optimistic. Bugs crawled all over him, yet the prince didn’t even flinch. Bruises covered his entire body, the marks clearly from physical beatings.
Before the battle, Amovishel was still in Elethien’s tent, or at least that was what Teion remembered. The prisoner wasn’t fed very well, but at least he was still healthy and clothed.
What… happened?
He ran back to his tent and returned with a cloak. After untying Amovishel and wrapping his body in the large piece of cloth, Teion carried the surprisingly light man on his back and walked back, his rest nothing but an afterthought in his mind.
This didn’t make sense. It wasn’t that he had particular concern for someone who Elethien captured and insisted on keeping throughout their journey, but this was still a person who used to be physically fine until Teion found him in this state. There was no idea how long Amovishel had been exposed and unconscious in the forest, but the marks were clear that something had happened.
As they returned to the camp, some of the Foresters looked at him with curiosity. A few, though, deliberately looked away, as if they were trying to avoid seeing the prisoner’s state.
‘Teion, is this…?’ a Forester asked.
‘Leave us alone for a bit,’ Teion hurriedly responded.
As soon as they entered his tent, Teion placed Amovishel down on the ground. Opening the cloak, he realised the injuries looked very new, probably only inflicted in the last one or two days. Amovishel’s body was also surprisingly warm, the temperature akin to that of a fever.
He quickly went to grab a basin of water, soaking a piece of cloth in it before placing that over Amovishel’s forehead. He didn’t really know how to treat illnesses, but the damp cloth should work to an extent. Putting the cloak back on Amovishel’s body, Teion then waited for perhaps a miracle of some sort.
Like Elethien, he put his hands together in prayer, even if he had no words to really say to Fate.
As other Foresters came into the tent out of concern, he quickly shooed them off, though not without a tinge of guilt in the aftermath. It was probably at least a bit selfish to treat the prisoner alone and ignore everyone else.
Eventually, Amovishel woke up from his slumber, his weak blue eyes staring at Teion.
Teion reached for the cloth. ‘You finally woke—’
Amovishel darted up like a frightened animal, retreating to the corner of the tent as he hugged the cloak tightly.
‘Wait, calm down!’ Teion called.
The reaction was beyond his expectations. It was as if some innate fear of Foresters had formed in Amovishel’s mind, the young man retreating further and further, pushing against the tent’s walls. He breathed heavily, sweat pouring from his face as he shuddered.
‘Calm down… please,’ Teion repeated. It was almost like getting a child to stop whatever they were doing.
‘Oh… Oh…’ Amovishel heaved. ‘You’re not… at least.’
‘Not…?’ Teion was completely confused. Was he referring to the person who attacked him?
‘Sorry, I just… I don’t know. I can’t really put my mind together. I just blanked out, and then… I’m here. Sorry. Sorry I freaked out like that.’
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It felt weird hearing an enemy apologise for something Teion didn’t even know.
‘Look, I don’t know what happened,’ Teion said. ‘But right now, your body’s badly injured. So take a rest and calm down for a bit, alright?’
Amovishel looked at himself, realising he was wrapped in nothing but a cloak. ‘Wait, why am I—’
He convulsed, collapsing to the ground. His breath was increasingly rapid and shallow, his face flushing up in pain.
‘Hey, hey!’ Teion rushed up, but there was nothing he could do. Amovishel was choking himself, his body spasming and twitching uncontrollably. It was almost as if he was possessed by something completely out of this world.
‘Get it out, get it out, GET IT OUT!’ Amovishel screamed, pushing away Teion as the latter fell back in shock.
A moment later, the twitching just stopped. He sat up again, hugging the cloak tightly as tears ran down his face.
‘Amovishel…?’ Teion cautiously called.
‘I… remember now,’ Amovishel mumbled.
‘Remember what?’
The man gave no response as he hugged his legs.
‘What happened?’
Amovishel still didn’t respond. He was looking away. There was no life in his averting eyes. He looked so small compared to Teion, shrinking himself until he seemed no bigger than a child. His frail body certainly didn’t help his appearance. Unlike the previous dignity he presented himself in even in captivity, Amovishel now seemed extremely fragile, as if a little push would make him crumble.
Teion had never seen this before in his life, not even when his companions were at the brink of death.
‘Are you… alright?’ Of course Amovishel wasn’t, but it was all Teion could ask for now.
‘I…’ Amovishel murmured, his voice barely above a whimper. ‘I… I’m scared.’
Teion decided to treat the prisoner as if he was a child. It was probably the best thing to do considering Amovishel’s state.
‘You were beaten up, weren’t you?’
Amovishel nodded.
‘It hurt a lot, didn’t it?’
He nodded again.
‘Where does it hurt?’
Amovishel pointed to his head, then towards a bruise on his neck. ‘I don’t know… Everywhere, maybe…’
His eyes were darting everywhere, his entire body on edge. He wrapped himself tighter, hiding his face as he lowered his head. It was as if there was a huge gash on his body, his hands frantically trying to hide the wound.
Teion sat just a short distance away, observing the extremely erratic actions of the prince. Somehow, it reminded him a little of Elethien earlier in the day. Her distress, her blank stares, her sudden weakness… Amovishel had all of this but multiplied tenfold. While Elethien wallowed in remorse, Amovishel had a pure, visceral sense of fear.
They were similar, but upon closer inspection, it was just too different.
A thought surfaced in Teion’s mind. It was possible the two were linked. But he didn’t want to piece together the puzzle. He needed to, but he couldn’t. Even as his mind continued to give him ideas, he couldn’t allow himself to even think of such things.
But it wasn’t that those thoughts could simply go away.
‘Can you try… lying down?’ he asked.
‘I can’t,’ Amovishel replied. ‘My head hurts. My body hurts. Everywhere…’
‘Just for a bit, try—’
‘I CAN’T!’ Amovishel suddenly burst into anger. ‘If it’s possible, just let me leave… Let me leave…’ He clutched his head tight, pulling strands of his hair out.
‘Then stay here just for a while,’ he said. ‘I’ll be right back.’
He left Amovishel’s hands untied as he exited the tent. In that state, the man couldn’t escape anywhere, anyway.
His thoughts weren’t going away. As much as he trusted his leader, he needed at least some sort of clarification.
He needed to go to Elethien.
----------------------------------------
‘Elethien, I want to talk to you about something.’
‘What is it?’
She was sitting absent-mindedly on her seat while eating a cracker, her expression already far better than earlier in the day. The panic that was on her face, the lament she gave through her words, and even the sense of defeat in her body language had all nearly disappeared. She was almost the old confident Elethien, her rest clearly doing much good to her mind.
‘Do you know what happened to the prisoner?’
She froze. ‘I… don’t know.’
‘I found him in the woods outside the camp. He was bruised all over. His clothes were torn, so I gave him a cloak to wear. But most importantly… he acted like a child, completely unbefitting of his attitude in our hands up until now.’
‘Why are you telling me this?’
‘You are the one that’s been feeding and protecting him until today, aren’t you?’
‘I said I don’t know what happened to him.’
‘You’ve been taking good care of him until now,’ Teion said. ‘So what happened to him? Or should I say… what happened to you?’
He hated this. Her blank expression said it all. She was suppressing it. All of it: her guilt, regret, sadness, anger… all of it.
He hated that his suspicions were growing increasingly true.
‘Elethien… Was that the reason you seemed so different today?’
She stood and grabbed her sword, pointing it at Teion’s throat. ‘Stop.’
She was shaking. Even as her face showed no emotion, her entire body was shaking.
‘Don’t… talk about this. I’m tired.’
‘But why…?’ Teion asked. ‘Why did you do that—’
‘Fate already forgave me!’ she shouted. ‘There’s no need to dwell on it anymore, no need…’
‘Elethien, you’re seemingly recovering because you’re avoiding thinking of it, aren’t you?’
‘Fate already forgave—’
‘It doesn’t mean you’re automatically innocent of everything!’ Teion shouted back. ‘I found him. I saw his condition. I don’t know much about what happened, but I can already guess what you did from those wounds. I trust you, Elethien. I still do. But what good does it do to just run away from everything?’
‘Because it hurts!’
‘More than what you did to him?’
Elethien was struck silent. She dropped her sword, the blade clanging as it fell to the ground.
‘Elethien, you have to face this,’ Teion continued. ‘Our enemy will come to rescue him. They probably will succeed. When they see one of their most important figures being beaten like this, what will they think of us? No, I don’t mean our rebellion. I mean the Foresters all over the continent. They’ll see us as something even less than savages. You promised to build a kingdom for us all. But what good is this kingdom if all of the Foresters outside of it are slaughtered before they can even get a chance to enter?’
He took a deep breath. ‘Even if your God has already forgiven you, the Trelvenese won’t.’
‘... Teion, promise me you’ll at least give me time to rest before I face my consequences,’ she responded. ‘I don’t want the rest of us to know.’
She was insanely selfish. Teion was already regretting the words he said earlier in the day. For a moment, he thought of leaving the kingdom then and there. Even if the victim was an enemy, nothing Elethien did was right. Amovishel would’ve been better off dead.
But he couldn’t, because he shared Elethien’s dream.
‘And if the enemy brings an army at our door demanding the return of the prisoner at this moment?’
She sighed, hardening her resolve. ‘I will answer them.’
‘Will you return the prisoner?’ There was no point in keeping Amovishel captive, despite whatever the reason for his captivity in the first place. No one could be trusted to handle him after Elethien, not even Teion himself.
‘I will as long as the terms are right,’ she answered.
‘Will you?’ he repeated.
‘... I will.’
‘That’s all I need.’
He stepped out of her tent, not even bothering to salute or to say goodbye. ‘We all need you, Elethien. But what you did to him… was simply disgusting.’