Disclaimer: The author of this story lays no claim to the characters or events referenced within. The events portrayed are of his own invention and should thus be treated with respect, whether false or genuine.
A Wolf and a Game of Cards
The day was clear and warm. A light breeze blew over the land and ruffled the long grass of the field, which stretched in all directions with only a small forest or a hill breaking the landscape. The only visible living thing in the field was a group of six travelers who slowly made their way along a path that cut through the grass.
"Are we there yet?" said a small little girl dressed in pink. She dragged her feet and was slowly falling behind the swift pace set by her traveling companions.
A man with long brown hair and glasses turned and raised an eyebrow at her. "Unless your destination was an endless field of green grass, no, we are not there yet."
The girl stopped and turned her mouth down. The other five walked on without her. "Can we stop and rest, then? I'm tired. And hungry."
The man spoke again. "We need to get where we're going. If you're tired Guy can carry you."
"Hey, don't bring me into this!" A man with blond hair slow raised his hands and his face twisted into a nervous expression.
The tall man let out a sigh and placed his hand to his head. "Very well, Luke then."
A man with a mop of red hair jerked his head over to the tall man. "Hey!"
"Be a gentleman and please carry dear Anise. I'm afraid if we don't do something she may soon die from exhaustion."
Anise, the young girl, danced by at that moment crying "Oh the horror! I have walked so far and the weariness is overcoming me! I fear I shall never be able to draw breath again, so great is my wear--"
"All right! All right, I'll carry you!" Luke kneeled down and hoisted Anise upon his back.
Ugh! How can someone so small be so heavy? Must be that damn bear she is always carrying.
With a grunt Luke was up and the group of six carried on with their travel, Luke and Guy in front, Jade and a short woman with long brown hair following. A young lady with short blonde hair followed behind them, but she was silent and it seemed as though a wall stood between her and the others.
"Thank you, Luke. You're such a gentleman. Not like that oaf, Guy."
Guy, walking next to Luke, curved down his brow and frowned. "Why am I an oaf?"
A gloved hand shot up and pointed at the man's face, a mere flinch away from touching. Luke staggered slightly beneath her. "You refused to carry me." The sandy haired man twitched.
"It's not because I didn't want to, it's just that I couldn't." He started to draw little symbols across the back his left hand with the finger of his right hand.
"A true gentleman would have carried me in spite of his discomfort!" Anise shifted her weight further towards Guy. Luke lost his balance and his legs gave away. The two fell down in a pile. No one spoke for a moment as the two laid there.
Anise looked over at the man lying beside her. "Luke?"
Don't look at her. Just look at the sky.
"Yeah?"
"Why did you fall?"
"That bear of yours' must way a ton. You seem real heavy for a kid."
Jade walked up to the two and looked at them. "Is that really the best you can do? Honestly, must you always leave an old man like me to the heavy tasks?" With relative ease the man lifted the young girl and pulled her on to his back. "You're lighter than the Emperor, so I think I can manage you, Anise."
"You've carried Emperor Peony, Jade?"
"Sadly, the Emperor is rather found of drinking too much wine out in the Palace's courtyard." Without another word the group began to move on. They trudged over the land for a long while, pausing at times to pass Anise between Jade and Luke. The group was silent as the made their way over the land. At length they came over a hill and found themselves standing above a small farming village.
The group paused there and spoke to each other to try and find out the decision regarding the village.
"We need to stop for food," said the short woman with long brown hair. "It's too long a hike to make to Belkend without any supplies."
"I am afraid we can't have the luxury of supplies at the moment. We are wanted by the kingdom and the fewer people that see us the better," said Jade.
Anise spoke up, her arms wound tightly around Luke's neck. "I'm still tired! I'm not going anywhere else today except to that village for a nap!"
Luke hopped a little and forced Anise higher up his back. He spoke once his throat was free. "We just carried you; you're not going to play the tired card on us."
A smile crept slightly on Anise's face. "What about Natalia?" she whispered. The groups' eyes flashed over to the blond haired woman and then back to each others. She looked haggard, with her hair sticking out at odd places and dark circles under her eyes. "She looks so tired. She has gone through so much and it would be cruel to force onward." Most of the group frowned, save the man with glasses.
"Incase you haven't noticed, we have no money. We won't be able to spend the night in an inn even if we went into the village," said Jade, his fingers pushing his slipping glasses back up his nose.
Luke looked over at Jade. "What? How can we be out of money already?"
"You certainly don't think we fought our way through the entire castle guard to rescue you two? We had to pay a few to look the other way. And unless we find a bag full of gold in a pond, we have no money."
"Oops."
Jade looked over at Guy. He was rubbing the back of his head and looking at the ground. "Care to share your mistake?" he asked.
The young man kept his eyes to the ground. "Duchess Fabre gave me some gold shortly before we went to rescue Luke and Natalia. I forgot about it in the fight that followed after." The group was silent as they all looked at Guy, their brows curling over their eyes.
"Anise, get on Guy's back. He's going to carry you now."
"H-hey, w-wait a minute!"
There came a sudden growl from the tall grass behind them. A large wolf ran out into the path, its mouth foaming and its eyes red. It gave a snarl and lunged toward the nearest member of the group.
Luke brought up his arm. The monsters teeth sank into his forearm. He let out a yell and in a second the pain flared in his mind; his feet gave out beneath and he fell to the ground. Get it off! Get it off! Luke lashed out with his foot and kicked the wolf in the ribs. It rolled away with a high yip, but it soon turned back to Luke.
There was a flash of light on steel and the beast rolled over, green blood pouring from a wound in its neck. Guy stood over the beast cleaning off his sword. Luke's vision was blocked by someone covered in various shades of brown.
"Tear, what are you doing?"
The small woman was kneeling in front of Luke, examining the bite marks on his arm. "Guy, look inside the mouth of the wolf. Tell me what colour the tongue is."
Guy's face twisted in disgust, but he walked over to the wolf. Luke wondered if the beast was dead from just one strike, but Guy gave it another stab to make sure it was no longer a threat. In a moment Guy looked over at Tear, his face grave. "It's purple. Dark purple."
Tear frowned and looked over at Jade. "Do we have any antidotes?"
Jade gave a small shrug. "Anise is in charge of the bag." They looked over at Anise.
"I thought it was your turn to carry the bag!" she said to the colonel.
Luke looked over to Tear. "What's going on?"
She didn't look at him, but focused on looking at the wound. "You might have been poisoned."
Luke let out a sigh. Not the first time I've been poisoned. He pulled his arm from Tear's grasp and brought it to his eyes. The wound was red and foul looking. There was surprisingly little blood.
"And we don't have the bag with all of our supplies. I have the worst luck." Luke looked back at Tear, but found his head was dizzy. He tried to focus on her, but that only made the dull pain in his head increase. "Can't see straight," he muttered.
Tear started to talk, but he only heard bits and pieces as his ears started to fail him. Something about fingers. Sweat formed on his brow and the arm that was holding himself up gave out. He sank back to the ground with a thud and his eyes failing him entirely, covering him in a think black blanket.
Luke woke up in a bed. He felt a great ache over his entire body. He was still breathing, though. I'm alive, he thought. Where am I? He tried to look around, but he could focus on nothing and everything just seemed as one great dark blur. It must be night. He raised a hand and rubbed his eyes.
His vision cleared and Luke could see the room he was in. Moon light streamed in from the window. It was a small room with little furniture. He rested upon a hard bed; a window, nightstand, and chair were to his right and a door near the foot of the bed. A dresser was next to the door. His vision blurred again. He blinked and rubbed his eyes again. He looked at the chair near the bed. A slumped brown figure rested in the chair, her feet propped against the bed.
Tear. He felt a small twinge in the back of his mind, but ignored it. He opened his mouth and spoke. "Tear?" His voice came out low and gravely. Luke then realized how thirsty he was. He must have been asleep for a long while. The woman gave a sudden start and looked around before focusing on him.
"You're okay." She pulled her feet off the bed and leaned forward to look at him. There was a brief flash and a candle on the nightstand next to the bed was lit. Luke saw a glass of water also rested there. Tear leaned closer and looked at his face, at times using her hand to tilt his head in different directions. "You've regained your colour."
Luke blushed slightly from the woman's nearness and gently pushed her away. "What happened? The poison was in me . . ."
"We didn't have any antidotes. Natalia and I managed to heal away the poison, but you had struck your head upon a rock", Luke's hand reached up and touched the bandages that he just noticed were tied about his head, "and Guy took you down to the farming village. We had no bandages to close the wound." Tear reached over to the nightstand for the glass of water. Luke took it from her hand and silently drank from it.
"Guy talked with the village head and was able to secure a room and a doctor. She was the one who stitched shut your head." Tear took the glass from him and returned it to the nightstand. She folded her hands neatly and sat straight in her chair, staring off into space. It looked uncomfortable.
"Tear, are you okay?"
She continued to stare ahead, her eyes unblinking. "It's been a tiring day." Her eyes finally left the wall and focused on him. "You should be more careful next time. Your luck isn't always going to hold up. Next time there might not be a village or maybe Guy won't be there to save your life again; you depends on him too much to get you out of ambushes like that. You're too careless."
Luke gave a sigh and leaned further into his pillow. Here we go again. I swear she writes these little speeches down before hand. He stared out the window as Tear continued to give him proper instructions of defending oneself from a simple wolf attack.
She has a point, though. I owe Guy a lot. He's saved me more times than I can count. And he came back after Akzeriuth. Not even Tear really wanted anything to do with me after that. She was just there by chance.
"Are you listening to me?" Luke's eyes snapped away from the window and refocused on Tear.
"Yes, Tear. I heard. I'll be more careful." Her eyes narrowed. Luke felt some sweat start to form on his brow.
"You're lying." Luke cringed and prepared himself for another lecture, but Tear simply closed her eyes and leaned back in her chair. "You're such an idiot."
Luke gazed at Tear for moment, and then dropped his eyes to his hands. "Yeah. Sorry." Silence reigned in the room, each one of them going over their own thoughts.
If it hadn't been for Guy, I would most likely be dead. Why did he come back all those weeks ago after Akzeriuth? I was never much of a good friend to him before. Why did he come back?
There was a knock on the door. "Come in," said Tear. The door opened and in came Guy, carrying a box of pastries and a doughnut hanging out of mouth. In one swift move of the mouth the doughnut was gone and Guy gave a smile to Luke.
"I see you're awake. You gave us a good scare there." Guy walked in and closed the door behind him. He set the box on the nightstand and gave Luke a quick glance. "You're looking much better too."
Luke smiled. "Thanks. I owe you one."
"I believe you owe me several, actually." The two gave a small laugh and then silence hung in the room. Suddenly, Tear gave a yawn and rubbed her eyes.
"I need some sleep," she said. Tear stood up and turned to Guy. "Can you watch over him?"
The blond haired man nodded. "You don't even need to ask. I won't be sleeping much tonight since I bought the pastries." Tear gave a small smile.
"Good. I'll see you two in the morning. Good night." She waved a hand in farewell and then disappeared through the door. Guy sat in the chair and propped his feet against the bed. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a pack of cards.
"Care to play a hand Yawyn?"
"Sure. Deal them out. And don't try any of those dealing tricks. My eyes can still see just fine." Guy slowly dealt out the cards, seven to each and a careful stack on the nightstand. Luke frowned as he looked at his hand.
"Tear didn't give you any trouble, did she?"
Luke glanced up from his cards briefly and shook his head. "No, she was as aloof as ever. Why? Should I have expected anything any different?"
Guy let out a sigh and rubbed the back of his head. "No, I suppose not. You know, she can be really stubborn when she wants to be."
Luke gave a nod and picked up a card from the remaining deck. His frown continued to travel down his face. "You really did save me today."
"Like I said before, it hasn't been the first time."
"Yeah, but it's the first time since Akzeriuth." Guy was silent and merely put down a pair of cards on the nightstand. "Why'd you come back after Akzeriuth?"
"I thought I already told you? I'm your friend."
"Natalia was supposed to marry me, and she went with Asch anyway." The two went silent after the comment, the thoughts of both men turning to the distraught princess. The silence continued and the card game went on. The deck on the nightstand steadily shrank.
Suddenly the silence was broken, Guy's voice cutting throw the thick blanket that had been cast over the room. "You're like family."
An eyebrow arched over Luke's eye. "You're a servant and I'm a master. Not really the best basis for a family."
Guy frowned and placed his cards on the night stand, his other hand rubbed through his hair. His tone was low and grave when he spoke. "When you came to the villa all those years ago, you were entrusted to my care. You father was busy with the tasks of the kingdom and your mother was often ill then. I taught you how to talk, move, and eat. You were always at my side. It was less like doing the biddings of a master and more like raising a son or a brother."
Luke grinned slightly in spite of the words Guy said. "That's odd; you don't look old enough to be my father." Guy smiled slightly.
"I couldn't leave family behind." The two were silent once more.
"But you did leave me behind. You went with Asch while I slept." Luke gazed intently at the back of his hand.
Guy was silent, his brown eyes staring at the back of his hands. His voices rose up suddenly. "I made a mistake too that day. I should never have gone with Asch. I was angry, though. I wasn't thinking straight."
"You were angry with me, weren't you?" Guy looked from his hands to Luke, his gaze unflinching.
"Yeah, I was. I felt let down. You hadn't told me anything about Van and what the two of you were 'going' to do. After all, you are like family to me."
Luke frowned and turned away from Guy, his eyes focusing onto the door that led out of the room. "I'm sorry. I was being very foolish at the time; in more ways than one it seems now."
Guy merely nodded in agreement. "I forgave you, though. I came back. Because you are family to me, and that is more important than anything else. He looked at his cards. "It's your turn." Luke looked away from the door.
"Hm?"
"It's your turn in Yawyn." Luke glanced down at his cards. He gave a groan and dropped his cards into his lap, pulling another card from the deck with his other hand.
Luke was silent for a moment, his eyes gazing up at the ceiling. His mouth was turned down. It seemed as though he was trying to speak. Finally, he said, "You know that you're family to me too, right Guy?"
Guy looked up and flashed a smile at Luke. "Of course I do," he said as he put down another pair of cards. Luke returned the smile. I have a brother. Guy won that hand with little trouble a few minutes later.
Notes: Nothing of importance to note. A rather different, short style for me, but I rather like how it all flows.