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Moniker: @Jared-Williams

Words (1,215) Minutes (6:54)

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1sQJgI8KhJ0KuWNCBAzLKGj5Pga_SzcCa/view?usp=sharing

 

“It smells good.”

I turned in surprise. Hanniumm was on his feet, leaning up against one of the chairs.

I dropped the stirring stick and rushed to his side. “Hanniumm! How are you feeling? Are you sure you’re okay to be standing?”

I grasped his arm with one hand and placed the other over the wound on his chest. I hadn’t noticed before, but the scales were gone and a large, bruised, indented area was left in its place. It looked like a scar, the bruise was so finely outlined.

Hanniumm let go of the chair he was bracing himself on and reached up to hold my hand. His skin was warm to the touch, and our hand lingered there, together, upon his chest.

“I’m glad you’re uninjured,” he whispered.

I was captured in his eyes, and all the questions I’d wanted to ask fled. “Thanks to you,” I managed to say after an embarrassingly long pause.

Hanniumm looked around. “How did we get here?”

He was still holding my hand. “Um… it’s kind of a long story.”

Spying the extra beddings and rucksacks, Hanniumm’s face hardened as he let go of my hand and stepped back.

“Please tell me you haven’t involved more people in this.” He shook his head, and I couldn’t tell if he was getting angry or sad.

“Well,-”

The door opened and Semiramis walked in, followed closely by Yaxkin.

“No.” Hanniumm stumbled forward and grabbed ahold of a chair to brace himself.

Semiramis and Yaxkin stopped when they saw Hanniumm, and Semiramis smiled at him.

“Long time no see, sir.”

Hanniumm’s breathing increased at an alarming rate. “Please tell me the king is not involved in this,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Um.” Semiramis and Yaxkin exchanged glances. “The king-”

“Tell me the king isn’t a party to this.” Hanniumm yelled.

Semiramis stepped forward timidly. “He had this hovel made for your recovery, and he left us-”

Hanniumm screamed and threw the chair behind him. It crashed against the wall, the force echoing in the small space.

“No,” Hanniumm screamed, pounding his fist on the table. The force left an indent and a crack running half-way up the middle.

“Hanniumm?” He was scaring me.

He pounded the table twice more, then flipped it and kicked the next chair over. Repeating ‘no’ thrice more, he charged the wall and slammed his fist into it. The hovel shook, and small chips of wood flew out from the impact.

I’d never seen his temper before. Was he actually capable of murder?

Semiramis was frozen on her feet with her mouth gaping open. Yaxkin had all but blended into the wooden background behind him. His dark clothing, however, stood out like a sore thumb, as if they were floating in thin air.

Hanniumm’s fist remained pressed into the wood. I couldn’t even see his knuckles, they were so far indented into the wall.

I reached out a hand to him, wishing to somehow calm him down, but my feet felt like iron weights. “Th- the king saved us, Hanniumm. We need his help.”

“No, you don’t understand.” He pulled his fist from the wall; large splinters poked out of his hand like quills. “He will raze this country to the ground.” Hanniumm fell to his knees and covered his face with his hands.

Semiramis closed her mouth and moved forward. “Who will raze this country?” she asked.

Hanniumm looked up at her with a genuine face of fear, and it sent shivers down my spine.

“Cairbre.”

I’d never heard the name, and Semiramis looked confused as well. “Who?” she asked.

Hanniumm took a deep breath and slumped his shoulders, as if resigning himself to his fate. “The vaelintrien who’s been hunting me. His name is Cairbre, and you’ve never fought a man like him.”

Semiramis chuckled nervously. “Sir, you know we’ve faced many vaelintrien sages. Surely-”

“Toddlers compared to him!”

I couldn’t believe Hanniumm would compare a sage to a toddler, but the fire in his eyes convinced me he was serious. But sages were the strongest essence wielders of the vaelintrien race. If they were as toddlers, just who was this Cairbre guy?”

Semiramis looked as shocked as I was. “Are you serious-”

Hanniumm interrupted her. “I told you we can’t get the king involved.” He stared at me with a pained expression. My breath caught in my throat, and I didn’t know what to do. When did he tell me that?

Semiramis squinted her eyes. “You fought him and survived. Twice, from what I’ve heard. So with the king’s-”

“That’s because he was only after me!” Hanniumm slammed his fist into the ground. “If the king gets the army involved, he will be forced to resort to…” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. Blood from his splintered hand dripped onto the floor. “He’ll be a one-man army.”

Rushing over to my supplies, I grabbed a cotton cloth, what little thyme I had left, and some wrapping, and went to Hanniumm’s side. I couldn’t fathom what he was saying, but at least I could mend his hand.

“No matter how many men the king has with him, it won’t be enough. The kingdom’s never faced a force like this,” Hanniumm finished.

“A one man army?” Semiramis’ head leaned back as she squinted at Hanniumm.

I took Hanniumm’s hand in my own as Semiramis continued to question him.

“How cou-”

“The king!” Hanniumm tore his hand away from mine as he stumbled to his feet. “Perhaps it’s not too late. Where’s the king?” He grabbed Semiramis by the arms. “Where’s the king right now?”

“Hanniumm!” I followed after him, and Yaxkin rushed forward, grabbing Hanniumm’s arm.

Still under Hanniumm’s grasp, Semiramis raised her hands, palms up. “Woah, just slow down now. You’re not making any sense.”

Semiramis angled her hands down and twisted her wrists, breaking Hanniumm’s grip, then brought them back around in a circular motion to grasp Hanniumm’s wrists.

“Let’s take a deep breath, calm down, and start from the beginning,” she said in a slow, forceful tone.

Hanniumm closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “You’re right. Forgive me.” Opening his eyes once more, he said, “At least tell me the king is alright.”

Semiramis nodded and let go of his arms. “Last time we checked.”

With a sigh, Hanniumm sat cross-legged on the ground and raised his bloody hand toward me. The three of us sat around him, and I began to clean and wrap his wound.

“I showed you that move,” Hanniumm addressed Semiramis.

She nodded with a smug look on her face. “I only learn from the best.”

Hanniumm sighed and stared at the floor. He looked so solemn, it didn’t seem like he’d just lost his temper a moment ago.

After I finished wrapping his hand, I gently placed it back in his lap. Now that he’d calmed down some, his breathing had returned to normal, but all his muscles glistened with sweat from all the exertion he’d given.

Despite my reasoning earlier, I couldn’t deny my attraction to him. A knot formed in the pit of my stomach, for the chances it was unrequited were even higher now. Closing my eyes, I forced myself to be logical. I was his doctor. Nothing more.