[TW ahead]
Where is Leif?
"Wasn’t he with Sir Sven?" she asked.
"Sir Sven was knocked out and is in the infirmary," Gunnar explained, his tone rushed. "Find Leif. He was in the southeastern area of the battlefield. Don’t stop until you find him!"
Irene felt numb.
It was the only reason she was able to press on.
There were so many bodies stacked up. Goblins were everywhere.
What she should have considered a success for the knights was the furthest thing from her mind. All she could do was desperately search for her friend.
They were concentrated in a specific area of the field. The girl decided it was best to resu her search on foot.
She thought she had been living her worst nightmare before. This was her true worst nightmare.
"Leif! Where are you!?"
She moved a smaller goblin body. Another one that was only a partial body. Pieces of a body. Weapons.
Even though it was arduous, Irene never stopped even for a mont.
She realized that amidst the muck and monster blood on the ground, there was a horse’s leg. It twitched.
The desperation in her movents beca worse. She was breathing heavily to see if anything further could be gleaned. Why was there a horse?
A bit further away, sothing shifted. She turned her attention elsewhere imdiately.
There was another horse thrashing around, but when she dragged away a goblin, she was t with the sight of a horse with a lance clean through its neck. It was clinging to life as it tried to escape whatever was hindering it.
The instincts of animals and humans weren’t all that different when it ca to survival.
Unfortunately, she knew that the amount of blood pouring out onto the muddy ground wasn’t sothing that could be saved. Her hands shook as she unsheathed her sword. She stroked the animal’s face, hoping that it would at least offer a little bit of comfort as she did what she had to do to not prolong the animal’s suffering.
"I’m so sorry," she whispered.
Clean through the lungs and to the heart.
She felt like she was going to vomit as she watched the life leave the horse’s eyes.
At least it relaxed.
Irene was then able to keep looking for her friend. Her very best friend. He was so incredibly important to her.
Further in the pile, she continued. Occasionally, she called her friend’s na. Her throat felt ragged.
If she saw a living goblin, she made quick work of decapitating it or stabbing it clean through its chest. There was no ti for them while Leif could possibly be there.
Her eyes desperately glanced around for help, but everyone was so occupied with their own tasks. Even Sir Gunnar was looking for Leif, but he was in another pile of the putrid creatures.
There was a gasp as Irene moved a body, and she finally saw soone’s arm.
The shirt. Blue. Wasn’t what Leif was wearing blue?
"Leif!" she cried.
Another goblin piece moved.
A face.
"Oh my god," she desperately uttered. "Leif! I’m going to unbury you."
He turned his head. He was alive. What an amazing sign.
He groaned again, but it was enough for her to keep trying. However, there was yet another horse, and it lay over the lower half of Leif’s body.
That wasn’t blood covering him. It couldn’t be, could it?
She began to shove the dead horse who was on top of her friend, but it only caused his eyes to snap open, and he groaned in pain.
"Iro... Stop..." he pleaded.
"I must save you!" she cried. "You need to get to the infirmary. Sir Sven is already there."
Her shoving was to no avail. War horses were particularly large. She was also working against the goblin bodies she had already displaced to try and uncover Leif in the first place.
She only stopped when Leif groaned in pain again.
"Iro," he practically whispered.
"We need help!" She stood up and shouted.
"Iro, please."
"Why won’t you let get help?"
She finally knelt next to her friend. She truly looked at him for the first ti since uncovering him. It was too hard to hear before, but his voice was becoming desperate. He could only talk so loudly.
"What do you want to do?" she asked, her voice wavering as she choked up.
She took off her gloves so that she could wipe away the tears that she was fighting the hardest battle against.
Leif’s voice was weak as he spoke again.
"I have a confession..."
Uh oh...
"Wait until you have healed," Irene insisted. "Don’t waste your energy, Leif. Please."
She knew her voice was trembling as tears freely fell from her eyes.
"I always knew you were a girl," he confessed.
But that wasn’t what he truly wanted to say.
He lifted his gloved hand and placed it on her cheek, willing her not to cry.
He coughed. Red flecks flew from his lips.
"What?" Irene gasped.
"You are too beautiful to be a boy."
He couldn’t confess to her the way he truly wanted to. What if he didn’t make it out alive? How awful would he be for forcing her to always mourn him? If there was even a small piece of her that could feel about him the way he did for her, he didn’t want her to have to live with a ’what if?’ for the rest of her life.
"Leif?"
His lips were still upturned in a faint smile, but his hand fell from her face, leaving a bloody handprint behind.
"Leif!" She scread. "Stay here! You’re my best friend. I don’t want to do this without you."
Arms went around her, and she was slowly pulled from her best friend’s dead body.
"No! He needs healing! Please!"
However, her throat was ragged from shouting. Her words didn’t carry very far.
All she was reduced to were sobs and gasps for air as she fell into the arms of Felix. He shielded her eyes from watching as they took Leif from under the horse. The bottom half of his body was completely crushed and indistinguishable from the rest of the dark liquid, blood, and mud covering the ground.
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