Their cottage was only a few steps away. Lia gathered her remaining strength and held Eldric’s body. The sudden movement caused the wound to open as blood gushed and Eldric getting paler by the second.

“Crap, crap, crap. I’m so sorry. Ah darn it all,“ Lia muttered under her breath. “Just a few more steps. Hang on please.”

Lia threw a vigilant look over her shoulder before she quickened her pace. It would not hurt to be careful. She was not sure that they were not being followed. She would not want them popping out of nowhere just when they were almost at the finish line.

“Mother, mother!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. Eldric groaned beside her but she had paid him no mind.

Tamara looked out the window and with an alarmed look, she rushed out of the house and helped her hoist Eldric inside their house. Lia felt relieved both from the weight of Eldric’s body off her shoulders and his life. Her mother would be a lot more helpful than her.

They brought him to Lia’s room because they have no other spare room and quickly set to work. Tamara barked instructions after instructions as Lia dashed in and out of the room bringing things such as basin, bandages, or medicines.

“Will he be okay?” Lia whispered. She did not know why she was whispering but it seemed appropriate at the moment.

Tamara furrowed her brows in concentration, cleaning the wounds. She did not look up when she answered. “I’m not sure. Too many wounds, too much blood loss.”

Lia chewed the corner of her lips as she helped Tamara bandaged the cuts on the man’s arms and legs. But it was easier and simpler to do than the wound on his stomach. It was so much bigger and deeper. She was not one to feel queasy about blood but there was something about Eldric’s wound that made her squirm. It was as if the wound came from a fit of deep-seated anger with every intention to kill the other person. She could not imagine what kind of things happened that made anyone angry enough to kill someone. Or perhaps, this was just how this world worked. If you were not from the same side, then one of you should die. That realization came to her like a jolt. She shivered involuntarily.

Eldric cried out in pain and then mumbled something incoherent. She still found it surreal to see him in his bed, wounded, and on the verge of dying. He seemed so tall and powerful, above all men except for the King. Just a week ago, he was being conned at the market. He had worn his easy smile, his devilish grin. Unlike his face now, contorted in agony. ‘What happened to you?’

“What happened?” Tamara asked still focused on dressing Eldric.

Lia shrugged. Then realized that Tamara could not see her. “I just saw trails of blood from the clearing, followed it, and found him like that.”

A horrible thought struck her. “Do you think it was wise to do that?”

“Don’t be silly. Of course, saving lives will always be important and but we don’t know who he is.”

“I know. “

Tamara glanced at her, warily.

“I know,” Lia deliberated. “He was the judge during the contest, the one I was talking about before? They said he was the general or something from the Imperial City.”

Tamara paled as a sheet.