I don’t remember when it happened. Honestly, it was so long ago, it’s a wonder that I even have a memory of it. But I was like you, once. I was human.781Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVYGSaC92FV
“Go find some wall watchers! Father can’t have invited them all to the party. Meet me at the gate with them! I’ll fetch the wounded man!”
Before Seth could protest, Almecho had jumped off the wall. He landed with a muted thud, the sand cushioning his fall. As he ran as fast as could through the desert, he threw a glance over his shoulder. He could see Seth’s figure running atop the wall’s perimeter towards the gate that was ten minutes’ walk away. Seth was a dependable man. He would do as Almecho had asked and would wait for him at the gate with guards.
Almecho then turned ahead, focusing his attention on the figure ahead. It was a man slumped on a horse. The man was wounded, Almecho could see an arrow protruding from his back. As he drew nearer, he could see that the horse was wounded too.
The horse must have seen him for it started trotted painfully in his direction. It was limping. Almecho could see that it had an arrow protruding from its rear leg. Seeing the animal in pain yet trying to reach him, Almecho quickened his pace. Running through sand wasn’t easy. It was almost like trying to run through knee deep water.
“Hey! Hey! Take it easy friend!” Almecho shouted as he neared the animal. The horse neighed and threw up its head in response.
Almecho approached the animal carefully. He could not risk frightening the wounded animal. That would put the man slumped on its back in danger too.
“It’s okay. Calm down.” Almecho walked to the horse, which had come to a stop, with his arms outstretched to show that he was unarmed and meant no harm. It was when he was a few step away that he recognized the white fur on the horse’ head that had been hidden almost completely by blood. Whether it was the horse’ own blood, Almecho could not tell.
“Nawap? It’s you isn’t it?” he asked.
Upon hearing its name, the animal bowed his head. Suddenly, its legs gave away and it fell to the sand on its side. Almecho leapt, managing to grab the wounded man before he was crushed by the Nawap’s weight.
Grabbing the shaft of the arrow that stuck out from the man’s back, Almecho snapped it in a quick motion without aggravating the man’s wound. He then lay the man down on his back on the sand. Before he even looked at the man’s face, he already knew who it was. Everyone knew almost everyone else at Raganad. And everyone most certainly knew the man who had taken in a sickly young foal with a unique pattern on of white fur on its head and groomed it to a strong horse capable of running for miles without tiring.
“Arnold! Arnold can you hear me?”
Arnold opened his eyes halfway.
“Almecho?” His voice was hoarse and almost a whisper.
“You’re wounded. It’s better if you don’t talk.” Almecho slung Arnold over his shoulder. He started walking back towards the village. Behind him, he could hear Nawap get up to its feet and start following him.
“Almecho …” Arnold began. His voice was slurred.
“Shush. Whatever it is, it can wait. I need to get you to Amelia first.”
Almecho picked up pace, breaking into a jog. Despite being wounded himself, Nawap managed to keep up with him now that he was no longer carrying Arnold on his back.
“It’s … important. They’re coming.”
Almecho could feel Arnold’s breathing getting more laborious.
‘They’re coming’?
Was Arnold referring to whoever had attacked him and Nawap? Were they coming to Raganad after him? Whoever it was, they would never come within a mile of Arnold. Almecho would see to it personally.
It was beginning to get dark. Almecho could feel the air grow chilly. Good, he thought. If it had been midday, he would have been drenched in sweat and the heat would have been very uncomfortable. He was already feeling hot despite the drop in temperature.
Almecho felt something hot and moist seep into his clothes. Blood. Arnold was bleeding. He set the wounded man down on the sand and ripped apart his clothes at the chest. Almecho gasped when he saw long gash extending across Arnold’s chest, extending from his breasts all the way down to the groin. It had been stitched but Arnold must have reopened the wound when on Nawap. It was seeping out blood.
Taking off his vest, he put it against the man’s wound and applied pressure. All he had to do was staunch the bleeding until he could get Arnold to Amelia. He recarried Arnold, the vest between the man’s wound and his own shoulders minimizing the bleeding, and resumed his jog.
Since he was headed to the gates and not to the place where he’d jumped down, his feet soon hit solid sandstone. No longer constraint by the sand, he broke into a run.
“Nawap, stay!” he bellowed to the horse who was trotting painfully, desperately trying to keep up. The horse stopped and stood looking after the receding figure of its master being carried by Almecho. “I’ll send someone to fetch you!” came a shout. With a soft neigh, Nawap sat down on the ground finally able to rest its tired legs even if for a little while.
The sky was turning purple. The cold wind began to sting Almecho’s bare upper body as his sweat dried away. A few hundred metres away, he could see a small group of people in front of the gate. The wall watchers were waiting for him. Beside them stood Seth, a flaming torch in his hand casting a hellish glow to the entire group, while the wind caused the flames to dance and flicker and their shadows danced against the sandstone walls.
From behind Seth a feminine figure stepped out.
Amelia!
Seth had fetched her along with the wall watchers!
He could hear her shout orders to the watchers. “Quick, place that stretcher here now! You two, go and help him bring the man here!”
Two of the watchers ran forward and eased Arnold off of Almecho’s back. They carried him by his shoulder and legs while Almecho kept the pressure on his chest wound. Almecho’s vest on the man had become drenched completely red by blood.
Upon reaching the gate, the three placed Arnold gently on the stretcher.
“Is this Arnold?” Seth asked in disbelief.
“What on earth happened to him?” Amelia almost shouted. She then quickly composed herself. “Questions later, I need to treat him first.”
She revealed a jar filled with green paste that she’d brought from her home. Scooping up a handful, she quickly applied it to Arnold’s reopened wound on the chest. Arnold screamed as the paste came into contact with his flesh.
“He’s conscious?” Seth asked.
“Yes. He was mumbling the whole time I carried him here,” Almecho replied. He turned to the wall watchers. “His horse Nawap is still out there. He is wounded as well. Two of you go fetch it. Take a horse and a bucket of water for Nawap. One of you, bring old Aghod here to treat Nawap. He’ll be at his home.”
“Yes, my lord.” The watchers dispersed to follow Almecho’s command. Behind him, Arnold was still screaming.
“What is that paste?” Seth asked.
“It’s an antiseptic. It won’t help heal the wound but it will kill and stave off infection off of it. It’s made from the leaves of Onsis plant,” Amelia explained.
“The witch plant,” Almecho muttered. “No wonder he’s screaming. I’ve never seen you use it before.”
“It’s a new medicine I came up with a month ago,” Amelia replied as she finished applying the paste to Arnold’s arrow wound that was on the abdomen. Looking up, she saw the suspicious faces of Seth and Almecho. “You don’t need to worry. It works; I tried it on myself.” She looked back at Arnold. “The paste will stop the infection. They seem to be coagulating the blood too. That’s good. Now, I need to stitch up his new wounds and resew the old one. Can you carry him to my house?”
Almecho, tired from carrying Arnold across the sands to the village, gladly let Seth and one of the watchers carry the stretcher. The group started walking towards Amelia’s home.
“Aren’t you cold?” Amelia asked, nodding at his bare chest.
“I am now that you’ve mentioned it,” Almecho answered.
“Here.” Amelia removed the golden woollen scarf she was wearing around her neck and handed it to Almecho. “Use this to warm yourself up a bit until we get to my home.”
Almecho accepted the scarf from Amelia, stretching it as much as he could without tearing it and using it to cover his back.
“Will he be okay?” Almecho asked, gesturing at Arnold who lay unconscious on the stretcher a few paces ahead of them.
“I don’t know. He has lost much blood. What do you think happened?”
“Someone attacked him. Who or why – I have no idea. He was constantly mumbling about someone coming after him.”
“Do you think someone put a bounty on his head?”
“A bounty? No, I don’t think so. Arnold has no enemies. No enemy serious enough to put out a bounty for him anyway.”
“That’s true. Then who could he be talking about?”
“I don’t know that. But whoever it is, they’re not coming within a mile of him.” He unconsciously flexed his muscle at the thought of confronting and beating into a bloody pulp the person who had left Arnold in such a position.
“He’s saying something,” Seth shouted back. “Something about an assassin.”
Amelia and Almecho shared a look and rushed over to Seth who was holding the stretcher along with one of the wall watchers.
“Arnold, it’s me Almecho. You need to calm down,” Almecho said, bending over Arnold and staring directly into his eyes. “You’re injured and can’t move properly. You must rest.”
Arnold’s hand shot out, grabbing the scarf over Almecho’s shoulder with fierce determination. He managed to pull Almecho’s face closer to him; Almecho had to kneel down.
“Your father … I must warn him … assassin will kill him,” Arnold whispered, his eyes closed from the pain, in between breaths.
The entire group was stunned into silence for a while. The duo carrying him had stopped walking, allowing Almecho to talk to Arnold.
“What do you mean?”
“Almecho, questions later please–”
“Lahamrab was attacked … army coming to Raganad … your father … she will kill him.”
“She? Who?”
Amelia grabbed Almecho’s hand. “Your father is surrounded by his own people in your home. He’s safe; Arnold is not. Please stave off your questions until later.” Her voice was stern.
“Wait. A girl came from Lahamrab yesterday,” Seth said.
The image of the girl flashed before Almecho’s eyes. The way she kept staring at him at the party.
“One last question, please Amelia.” Before Amelia could say anything, he turned to Arnold. “Does the assassin have red hair?”
Arnold opened his eyes to look up at Almecho. “Yes.”
An uncomfortable silence fell over the group.
Seth finally broke the silence with a single word.
“Go.”
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