Chapter seven: Lucas

Lucas watched as they carried the broken body of the girl back into camp, she was horribly scarred and he was almost afraid to step much closer.

Just after dawn a runner had reached camp, breathing heavily and with a message that the king of darkness, someone from fairytales who if they had any truth to them, was someone you would not want to meet, had a deal for him. It intrigued him greatly so he had the runner lead him back to where he had come from, an hour or two away.

Upon arriving at the place the runner had come from he had found the girl's body laying on a makeshift stretcher with the man, he suspected had been the one to scoop her up the horse, standing beside her with the horse. In the shadows of the trees stood a tall man who he knew immediately to be the king of darkness.

The king of darkness offered him the girl, horse, and man in return for Lucas’s name, it was a weird thing to ask for but he gave it anyway. The shadow of the man nodded and leaned down to whisper something in the ear of the injured girl before he disappeared with a rustle of wind through the trees.

The soldiers he had brought with him picked up the girl and carried her back to camp and into the medical tent where she was now.

He pushed aside the flap to the medical tent and walked in, the surgeon was leaning over the girl, looking at her neck, as she laid on a raised cot.

“How is my slave?” He asked smoothly and the surgeon turned around with surprise before bowing.

“Good sir, only the burn on her neck is confusing, either hot metal or iron to a….” the man drifted off with a nervous glance at the girl and Lucas knew what he meant.

“To someone with magic?

“Yes sir, the iron lacing her back would suggest that but the burn is bad, she might not survive, not to mention she is all bruised and beat up. It doesn’t appear that she was treated very well.” Lucas nodded and walked closer as the man left to a table in the corner.

The burn was bad, her skin was red and blistered all around her neck, in a complete circle, there was an ugly bruise around her eye and her hands were red as well, like she had attempted to pull the iron off of her neck. What was the reasoning for it he wondered. He brushed an oak brown hair back from her face.

There was a splash from the corner as the man poured something into a cup, taking a sip and sauntering over.

“Getting attached to the girl, are we sir?” The surgeon smiled as he looked down at Lucas who was leaning over the girl, he quickly stood up and watched as the man took another sip of the drink. “There is really no need to be worried, I don’t think the burns burnt anything important. I’m sure she will survive.”

“You just stated that she might not survive.

“Did I?” The man smirked and he caught the unmistakable smell of Whiskey coming from the man's breath. He snatched the cup out of the man's hands and took a whiff, it was indeed whiskey.

He dumped the drink on the floor, to the protests of the man, and then grabbed the bottle off of the table and handed it to him. He had most likely been trying to drink off the fact that he would have to watch over the girl all night instead of hanging out with the soldiers and gambiling away all his earnings.

“Take this outside and dump it, don’t drink it.” He knew the man would most likely still drink it hurriedly but if he did, he wasn’t to be trusted and could go to the stocks for all he cared. The man ran out of the tent, spurred on by the boot to his rear end.

In the time the man took he bent down and felt for the pulse in her neck, it was there steady but weak, barely noticeable. He sighed, if she died he would have to see out for a new slave all over again.

The man stumbled back in, empty bottle in his hands but breath smelling of even stronger liquor. He hadn’t listened.

“You drank all of this didn’t you?” He asked, even though he knew that the man had. The surgeon curled in on himself, stammering. Lucas shook his head and whistled, the soldiers that were standing outside entering moments later.

The soldiers stalked over to the man and grabbed his arm, lifting him and dragging him out of the tent as he cried forgiveness. There was none to be had, the man had insulted him and disobeyed him.

He turned to leave when the girl shot up in bed and fell off of it, clutching her head in her hands, wiggling on the ground.

“What have you done to me!” She cried, a hand going to her burnt neck and she screamed again. Lucas picked her up and sat her back in the bed.

“I’ve done nothing to you, you need to rest.” He watched as she curled up under the covers, still crying. He walked over to the table in the corner, reading the labels until he found a painkiller. He pressed it to her mouth as she drained it, and promptly fell back asleep.