"My gods..."
Arthur’s words were hardly more than a whisper. He didn’t even have a description for what he was witnessing.
All he could do was grip the side of the cot and squeeze his eyes shut once he was certain her chest was rising and falling.
Felix had stood up the mont Sir Arthur let his presence be known. He hadn’t been able to sleep much anyway since Irene had been injured. But he wasn’t given any acknowledgent the mont Arthur saw his daughter. The apprentice could only understand.
He would never have children, so he could only imagine how painful it would be to see your child so gravely injured and not be able to do anything to speed up the healing process. Her appearance was alarming as well. Altogether, it was a formula for only pain and worry.
"Tell what happened, Felix," Arthur finally mustered up.
The apprentice went to pull up another chair so Arthur wasn’t left sitting on the ground.
When Arthur was offered a chair, he pulled it as close as he could to the bed before removing his glove and placing a hand on his sleeping daughter. He wouldn’t stop touching her and making sure she still felt warm.
"She witnessed Leif die, sir," Felix explained. "He was her best friend in the knighthood. It would affect anyone badly."
"But what happened to injure her so gravely?" he asked, his voice sharp. "I was given vague details in the letter. I want to hear it from soone who was out there with her."
Felix nodded. He understood.
Arthur’s face looked particularly terrifying since he was half shadowed. Their only light in the infirmary so late at night was candles.
"After Leif’s passing, she was feverish, so I brought her here in hopes that she could get so dicine and rest," Felix began. "I expected the mages to be attentive so that I could go to my duties since she was sleeping, but when the war horn sounded off again, she was awoken and rushed into the field. I’m not entirely sure how conscious she must have been about what she was doing. I’ve never known her to throw herself needlessly into danger. She has your skill and intuition, sir."
Sir Arthur rely stared at the apprentice. He wasn’t going to respond until he heard the entire breadth of the story.
"When I heard her screaming, I knew almost instantly that she was on the battlefield," he continued. "When I got to her, she was on the ground with blood covering her. A sharp slash to her chest from what I believe was an axe. Her leg was crushed as well. Not quite sure how that one happened."
Arthur felt miserable.
As a forr knight, he wanted to be upset that she acted so irrationally. However, he hadn’t been on the front lines to experience how awful things were. After seeing soone die so many tis, and then for the next one to be her dearest friend, it was no wonder she had snapped.
Arthur took his hand off his daughter for a mont, and he leaned his elbows into his knees as his fingers laced together.
"May the gods guide Leif ho," Arthur whispered. "He was such a good apprentice."
A mont of silence ensued. The two n thought fondly of those they had lost so far.
Arthur had gotten updates, but it was impossible to keep him entirely up to date. He was still unsure of the entirety of the losses.
Soon, Sir Gunnar rushed into the infirmary, his shoulders heaving because of how quickly he had to move to get there. The others made sure to tell him that Sir Arthur had arrived. They had been awaiting his arrival for two days.
Sir Arthur stood up and acknowledged the other knight. He felt awful at how frail the man looked. His beard was longer than usual, and the hair on his head was as well. Tiredness was evident underneath his eyes.
"Thank you for looking after her," Arthur managed to say.
He found it important to speak first because he didn’t want Gunnar to think that any of this was his oversight. Irene had her own free will. It seed that others didn’t think she would do such a thing, and that was more a complint to her than it was anything else.
"It wasn’t enough," Gunnar vehently disagreed. "I wish she had gone ho much sooner than that."
"Yes," Arthur said, trying to change the subject. "We can’t go backward, only forward."
Gunnar could tell that Arthur was upset, but he appreciated the man not taking it out on him. He could only handle so much. The deaths and disappointnts were compounding and felt like they were solely on his shoulders at tis.
So many looked to him, but it didn’t feel like that’s how it was supposed to be, so he would divert questions to Commander Lothian.
"How long will you be staying, Arthur?" Gunnar asked.
"I will stay for as long as it takes my carriage to arrive with supplies and the way I will take Irene back to our ho," he explained. "Just how many people know that she is a she?"
The father’s eyes were on Sir Gunnar, but they soon drifted to Felix, who diverted his gaze.
It was clearly a sore subject.
"How many, Gunnar?"
"The rumors have been spreading beyond our control," Gunnar admitted. "Felix wasn’t the only one in the tent when she received healing, after all."
While the thought in itself was stressful, Arthur could only be understanding.
"It was a wonder she wasn’t found out before that," he admitted lightly.
Sir Arthur ran a hand through his red hair, and he let out an even sigh.
"In the anti, could I pull up a cot and rest next to my daughter?" Arthur asked. "It seems she won’t be waking up any ti soon. I ought to rest myself before we travel ho once more."
"By all ans, Arthur," Gunnar responded. "It is wise. She is under a sleeping spell and will likely be for quite so ti."
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