Kronos didn't know how long he'd been riding but he knew he was close, he could feel Methos nearby…at least he hoped it was Methos. The night would be pitch dark if it weren't for the moon, which gave Kronos enough light to see anyone he might meet. He looked ahead, yes, yes it was Methos, he'd found him! Kronos pulled on the reins and the horse stopped, as Kronos got off he decided their horses were 10 years old and during that time had been trained well enough that they wouldn't run off if they weren't tied up. So he left his horse with Methos' and ran to catch up with his brother. When he did, he saw that something appeared to be wrong with Methos, there was nothing or no one on this land and probably hadn't been since before they came out this way, but Methos didn't seem to understand that right now, he was going through the grounds as if he were looking for someone.
He wasn't sure what to make of it, but, they were family and family could reason with one another. Kronos called to Methos before approaching him so he wouldn't be taken by surprise. In fact it did seem to surprise Methos that he was there, it was as if Methos couldn't even feel his presence, but his attention quickly went from Kronos to exploring the land again, and Methos turned his back to him.
As Kronos came closer, he saw something that would've stopped his heart if he were a normal person. Someone was standing in front of Methos wearing a long white robe, when the person turned around, Kronos saw it was Mary! She shook her head sadly and said something to him but he couldn't hear anything come out of her mouth. Now fortunately, of course it wasn't seen as fortunately at the time, Kronos had had his ears beaten open a few times in his life and had to learn what people said from the way their mouths moved. Mary spoke too fast for him to make out most of it, but he was able to make out the last sentence she tried to tell him regarding Methos, "Tell him I love him."
Kronos nodded so she'd know he understood, and with that, she vanished before his very eyes.
"Methos," he called again as he came up to his brother, "You ran out quite suddenly, is something wrong?"
"She's gone, Kronos," Methos said.
Kronos couldn't understand what he had said, there had been no tone to his voice, no emotion, he couldn't tell if what Methos said was supposed to be bad news, good news, or neither.
"She who?" Kronos asked.
Methos looked surprised, as if Kronos had forgotten something simple. "Mary, she's gone! Everyone is…the tavern's gone, the horses are gone, I can't find Alexandria anywhere, what happened, where are they?"
No, that wasn't right, Kronos knew Methos couldn't mean what he was saying. They had left Mary's grave miles back…going from their camp on this new land it would take them over a week to get back that way. Then Kronos got to thinking, that trip might take seven days, but it only took a couple of hours to get from their old camp to the burial ground where the tavern used to be. Just as it must have taken only a couple of hours to get here…now Kronos understood, Methos had had a back lash of some sort. It happened before to people he knew, they would think themselves back in time, one year, two years, sometimes forty years, they had no recollection of what had happened since, or very little recollection.
And as Kronos also remembered, those people were killed soon afterwards so they wouldn't have to go on the rest of their days confused. Others were fortunate to have a family, or lover who would take on the responsibility for what they did from there on out, but often in doing so they worked themselves to a much earlier grave than they would've otherwise.
No, no! He swore on his life he wouldn't take Methos' head, no matter how bad he got. Now he knew he was thinking too hard about it, he also recalled people who only went through a few during their entire lives, they were all temporary and short-lived…if Kronos could just get Methos back to their camp.
"Where is Mary, Kronos?" Methos asked, "Where did she go?"
No, Kronos wouldn't put him all through that again, thinking quickly, he came up with as good an answer as any.
"She left, Methos, she just rode out…you just missed her."
"Oh…do you know where she's going?" Methos asked.
"No…but she did say to tell you something."
"What's that?"
"That she loves you."
"Oh…" Methos looked as if the truth had hit him like a punch in the stomach. He slowly lowered himself until he was sitting on the ground, and during the next few minutes, he twitched, shook, and seemed unable to speak but made up for that with plenty of incoherent, almost animalistic sounds. Finally, he cocked his head to the side and laughed humorlessly once, and he said, "I really am alone, aren't I?"
Kronos lowered himself on his knees next to Methos and put a hand on his shoulder to keep his attention. "No you're not alone, Methos, I'm here…"
But Methos didn't seem to hear him, he was talking again as if there had been no intervention from his brother. "I saw her, Kronos…she was hurt…she was…she was dressed as a warrior..." As Methos spoke he fought for control over his emotions, and it was a losing battle. "She wasn't a warrior, so who would dress her like that? She was a little girl, she was a baby…but somebody tried to make a soldier out of her...and her eyes…those eyes…" his own eyes had filled with tears and as he spoke, the emotional dam burst and he couldn't control himself any longer. "Something happened to her…somebody…they had to have done something to her, Kronos, she wasn't like that…you know that…no matter what her father did, no matter what we did…she never let it consume her…she was happy. But what I saw tonight…something had happened to her that the damage could never be undone…"
"No, Methos, that didn't happen," Kronos told him, "Mary…" he had to think, whatever he said, he had to speak of Mary as if she were still alive. He grabbed Methos' shoulder with one hand and slipped his other hand around Methos' back to keep a hold on him and to keep his attention. "She's allright, Methos…believe me, nobody's going to hurt her…not anymore."
Methos spent the next few minutes exhausting himself through his crying, until finally he couldn't cry anymore, he wriggled out of Kronos' hold and moved himself over to lay against the base of a large tree so he could rest. Kronos moved up next to him but made no physical contact with him this time. "Methos."
"What?"
"Do you want to stay here for the night?"
Methos shook his head.
"Do you want to go home?"
"Just let me rest a while, and we can go," Methos said, "but Mary, what if she comes back?"
"Mary knows what she's doing," Kronos assured him, "She knows where to find us and if she wants to see us, she'll see us, don't worry about that."
Methos nodded weakly, he was tired, tired because he hadn't slept and tired because he'd worn himself out once again with his crying. He wiped the tears away from his eyes so they wouldn't become hard and painful against his eyes once they dried, and just laid where he was for a few minutes. Kronos thought for a moment that he was going to sleep, but just as he thought that, Methos got to his feet and looked around as if he'd never seen the land before.
"Are you up to riding back?" Kronos asked.
Methos hesitated to answer.
"Our horses know the way back, yours would follow us if you rode with me if you need to," Kronos told him.
Methos truly looked exhausted, as if he shouldn't have stood up in the first place, as if even that had become too tiring for him to accomplish. Slowly he sank to the ground again, but Kronos wouldn't leave him here on strange grounds, he belonged back at their camp, their home, where at least he would know his actual surroundings. Kronos pulled Methos to his feet and held him close so Methos would be able to stay up, and Kronos took them back to where the horses were. First he untied Methos' horse and got Methos up on him, then he got on behind him and wrapped an arm around Methos' waist.
"What's going on?" Methos asked, "where are we going, Kronos?"
"Home."
Kronos just hoped once they actually got back, Methos would remember where he was. It would take them another couple of hours to get back, fortunately by the time they would get back, the sun still wouldn't be up for a few hours more, so they still stood a chance of getting some rest tonight providing Methos could rest.
Kronos had never been so glad to get back to their camp. Methos hadn't said a word and hardly made any sound at all since they left, and now that they were back where they belonged, he didn't have to worry so much about what Methos did now. No sooner had the horses stopped, Methos, who seemed to be half asleep, started moaning as if he were in a great deal of pain. Kronos got off first and then helped Methos down, and when he did, Methos screamed instead of moaned, and shortly afterwards, he cried again, this time however the sound resembled that of a wounded beast. Kronos had to all but carry Methos back to his tent, during which time Silas followed him.
"What's happened?" Silas asked.
"I don't know," Kronos responded, and it was the truth, he couldn't tell what was wrong with Methos.
"Did somebody hurt him?" Silas demanded to know.
"I don't think so but I'm going to find out what's going on," Kronos replied as they reached Methos' tent.
"Kronos…"
"I'll take care of this, Silas…go on to sleep, somebody needs to get some rest tonight," Kronos told him.
Silas didn't think it was a good idea, but he wasn't about to question Kronos' ideas, so he headed back to his own tent and left the oldest two Immortals to themselves.
As Kronos carried his brother over to the bed, he realized that Methos' skin was unbelievably cold despite the fair weather of the night. He set Methos down on the bed and covered him in the furs and blankets, but Methos shook and moaned and cried as if he were being left to freeze in the coldest weather the earth had experienced. He tried to make sense of what Methos was struggling so much to say but to no avail, it tore him apart to see his brother suffering like this, and there was no answer as to why he was being put through this, and no explanation of what had to be done to help him. Methos it seemed, was unable to make any coherent words, instead everything that left his mouth came out as an animalistic noise. Kronos grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him hard to get his attention, Methos made no acknowledgment that he'd gotten his attention, but Kronos tried anyway.
"Methos, Methos please, speak to me, tell me what's wrong…say something!" but it was all to no avail, Methos didn't seem to hear him and Kronos was beginning to fear all might be lost for him. He wrapped his arms around Methos and wailed as he buried his face in his Brother's shoulder, "METHOS!"
Methos woke up the next morning and found it hard to turn over, every single blanket and fur that made up his bed had been wrapped around and bunched up around him. It took him a few minutes just to get his arms loose so he could unwrap himself from the whole mess, and once that was finished he tried to figure out how he'd gotten like that in the first place. Somebody had to have come to his tent last night and done it, what for though, as a joke? If so he certainly wasn't laughing, and he left his tent to go find out what had happened.
"Kronos, hey Kronos!" he called as he headed for his brother's tent, "Where are you?"
Kronos had been up all night with worry pacing back and forth in his tent, and was surprised to hear Methos calling for him. He went out and saw Methos coming his way, and Kronos took off and met Methos halfway.
"What is it, Methos? What's wrong?" he asked.
Methos looked at him oddly. "Nothing's wrong, Kronos, I just want to know something."
"Wait, first I want to know something," Kronos was almost convinced Methos was back to normal but he had to make sure, "do you know where you are?"
"Of course I know where we are, we're in the exact same place we have been for over a month, why, are you planning on leaving and not telling me?" Methos asked.
Kronos howled in bliss and picked Methos up and kissed him, and Methos in return spat and pounded on Kronos' shoulders with his fists to be let down.
"Maybe it's you we need to get a woman," Methos said.
Kronos laughed and put his hands on the sides of Methos' face and kissed him again, and Methos was starting to get tired of it.
"Kronos I swear if you do that to me ONE MORE TIME!" he growled.
"Methos! I'm just so happy to see that you're okay! You had me worried last night…do you even remember last night?"
Methos thought for a minute. "All I remember from last night is trying to sleep, what happened after that?"
Kronos told him about the events of the night before that he had witnessed, Methos taking off without a word to anyone, finding him confused and looking for Mary, and his breakdown when they'd returned to camp.
"I'm sorry that I made you worry, Kronos," Methos said, "I honestly don't remember doing any of that."
"It's probably best you don't remember," Kronos told him, "I just can't figure out why it happened in the first place."
Methos shook his head, "I don't know…you'd think if that were going to happen, it would've happened sooner…right after she died…"
"Don't think about it," Kronos said.
"Well…it won't happen again tonight, that I know for sure," Methos said.
"How can you know that?" Kronos asked.
"I won't go to sleep."
"Methos you have to, otherwise you won't be good for anything."
"But Kronos, what if it happens again?" Methos asked.
"I don't know."
"Wait…wait a minute," something came to Methos very suddenly, "last night, when did you leave my tent?"
"After you had calmed down, how much time that took I don't know…but after you had I figured you'd probably rest easier by yourself. And the more I thought about it, I remembered you said that you wanted to get through the night by yourself, so I figured if by chance when you woke up again that you were back to normal, you would want to be alone."
How ironic, Methos thought, the first time he actually got through a night without Kronos with him at all times, and he couldn't even remember it.
"But that does prove that you can get through a night by yourself," Kronos told him.
"That was only part of a night," Methos said.
"It's still an improvement," Kronos replied, "besides, tonight I can stand guard and if you get up again, I'll just take you right back to bed."
The idea of sleep proved to be tempting for both of them, Kronos settled down on his own bed and went to sleep since he'd been up all night, and Methos headed back to his tent to get some more rest as well. Once he was back in his own tent and his own bed, he tried to think, what would make him act the way Kronos had seen it? He had to be telling the truth, there was no question to that, but why would Methos do it? And what could've happened that he had no recollection of it either?
Maybe, he thought, it was just a thought finally surfacing in his mind…he couldn't deny the truth that he missed Mary, he didn't tell Kronos but he often wondered about what actually happened when she was murdered. As much as he had to face the facts, some part of him wanted to believe that it never happened, that she was still alive…and it seemed that side of him was coming to surface now. And now, taking all this into consideration was depressing him, he rolled up the sleeve on his right arm to see the proof of Mary's last visit. It was gone, Methos couldn't believe his eyes, but the scrap from her robe wasn't there. He tried to think, had it come off in the night? No, he didn't have it on the night before, nor the day before for that matter…meaning it had to still be in the tent, so he started looking for it.
After a couple more hours of sleep, Kronos went to see Methos, and as he approached the tent, something told him to get out of the way, and he went with that idea and ducked out of the way just as a rock came flying out of the entrance. Kronos headed in and saw Methos tearing through everything that he owned, everything that he'd claimed his and fought to keep, it all was going through the air and out the tent. Kronos jumped him from behind and they both fell to the ground, Kronos rolled them over and ended up on top so he could pin Methos down. "What's going on in here? What is it, Methos? Are you allright?"
"No, get off of me."
Kronos got up and pulled Methos to his feet. "What are you doing, Methos?" he asked.
"It's gone, Kronos…the piece of Mary's robe…I've looked and I can't find it…I've looked through everything."
"I can see that," Kronos looked around the tent and saw that Methos had thrown everything everywhere apparently after deciding it wasn't there. "You need a boar to get through this mess…"
"Kronos…what if I lost it?" Methos asked.
"Don't panic, Methos…maybe you left it in my tent, I'll go look," Kronos turned and was out of there in a heartbeat.
Methos went back to searching through his own stuff even though this made the third time he'd looked trough it all. He really felt awful for it, but that scrap, that simple piece of cloth, meant more to him than almost anything he could imagine, because of who it belonged to, because that child, that dear angel, had been stolen away from him far too early, and that scrap would be one of the only things he would have to remember her by.
He felt an Immortal approach but didn't stop to look and see who it was, somehow he had an idea from the start that it wasn't Kronos.
"What's this?" and apparently he was right.
"Go away, Caspian, whatever it is, I'm not in the mood," Methos said.
"Looking for something, are you?"
There wasn't anything threatening in what Caspian said, it was the way he said it that got Methos' attention. He turned around and saw it, dangling from his fingertips, Caspian held the scrap of cloth he treasured so much. Methos jumped at Caspian to get it back but Caspian was too quick and he got away, Methos chased him but came to a sudden stop and his heart did the same thing. Caspian held the scrap over a fire, taunting Methos, threatening to drop it in and burn it if he came any closer. Methos knew he couldn't call for help either because Caspian would burn it anyway. He hated Caspian, here he was helpless as to what to do, and he hated that also. He wanted to lunge at Caspian, he wanted to choke the very life out of him, he wanted to rip open his throat, but he could do nothing, and his anger mixed well together with his pain.
From the corner of his eye he saw Kronos running towards them but he was still far enough out of reach for them to feel his presence. Suddenly Methos didn't care what happened, he was going to get Caspian back for this trick. Just as Methos was ready to charge at him, it seems something, or someone beat him to it. Caspian stood alone, but he went back and down as if somebody had knocked him in the face, he fell to the ground and let go of the cloth. Methos scrambled to grab it and once he had it he took off running, Kronos tried to stop him and find out what had happened, but that ended with Methos knocking Kronos down and he just kept on running. Where he was running to he didn't know, he didn't want anyone to follow him, he especially didn't want anyone to find him.
Luck must have been on Methos' side, he managed to get away from his Brothers, and the village, get away from everyone and everything back there. Where he was now he had no idea, but it was certainly far enough away if anyone were to find him they would be looking for a long while. He held the scrap from Mary's robe in his hand, taking in her scent and hoping it never left the material. Thinking to himself how much he missed her, he remembered the last time he saw her, her scolding him for grieving. If she could see him now…he stopped that thought because it came to him that she most likely was seeing him.
"I'm sorry, Mary," he said, knowing she could hear him from wherever she was, "but losing you was the worst thing that's ever happened to me, I'm going to need time to stop hurting."
Methos cried himself to exhaustion, and after that he cried until he threw up twice, and after that he cried himself to sleep. It was just as if he'd lost a child naturally his, whether or not he held responsibility for her being brought into the world didn't matter, she was as good his had he been married to her mother. Some people he'd known said that after losing a child, you don't feel safe anymore. Methos wasn't sure that he believed that, but he believed that when she died a large part of him died as well. In perspective it seemed pretty sad that he clung so dearly to that measly scrap of robe but it meant so much to him because it was the last thing he would have to remember her by. He tied it high up over his shoulder, he would've preferred having an extra set of hands to help him with it but he worked with what he had. It wasn't very tight but he didn't plan to go anywhere tonight so he didn't figure he had to worry about losing it.
He didn't know how much time passed but eventually he fell asleep, at first it was an uneventful sleep and subconsciously he thought he'd get through the night without any trouble. However that changed when a dream started. Some men had rode into camp, the men who had killed Mary, and all the people who had used Methos as a slave and a whore and everything else they'd wanted of him and they took. They outnumbered Kronos and Silas and Caspian, and despite their best efforts they were no match for the strangers. Slaughtered like animals, first their flesh was ripped open, then their bones broken and smashed, and finally their heads severed from their bodies.
Methos woke up crying and in a cold sweat, now he was scared to death that he'd made a fatal mistake by leaving the camp. He got to his feet and started running, the moon gave off enough light for him to see where he was going. He could only hope that they were still alive by the time he got back.
Kronos had just settled down to bed when he felt Methos return, and no sooner had he felt that, Methos came running into the tent and when he saw Kronos, he jumped on him and pinned him to the bed.
"What is it, Methos? What's wrong? What's happened?"
"Kronos I'm sorry, I didn't mean…" Methos noticed something dark on Kronos' shirt, pulling back the blankets revealed he was covered in blood, "oh God, Kronos! Blood! The blood! They…"
Kronos shushed him and wrapped his arms around him and pulled him down to lay beside him. "It's allright, Methos…I'm not hurt."
"But the blood!"
"That is Caspian's blood…but don't worry about him, he'll live."
Methos ran his fingers across one particular patch of it, it stained his fingers…it was still warm, "What…" he didn't know what to say.
"I've been busy with him since right after you left," Kronos explained, "I just finished with him for the night, and now I am exhausted. It's too cold to wash tonight, I'll do that in the morning when the sun's up."
Methos heard him and what more he understood what Kronos was saying, but it didn't help him to calm down, he couldn't stop crying or shaking or moaning. He thought for sure he'd be sick again but he really didn't care at this point. All the noise he made got Silas up and he came to the tent to see what had happened, by that time Methos had exhausted himself so much he couldn't do much of anything, he was hardly making any sound by that time.
"Surprise," Kronos said, "look what came back."
Methos wouldn't turn to look, apparently he didn't need to because the next thing he knew he was being lifted up off the ground by Silas from behind.
"We missed you, Brother," Silas said.
"I missed you too, Silas," he replied, "put me down, please."
He did, and when he turned Methos around, he was shocked by the pained look on Methos' face. "What's wrong?"
"It's been a long day, Silas, and tiring for all of us," Kronos said, "I'll take care of this, you go on back to sleep."
As usual, Silas knew better than to question Kronos' orders, so he left. After that, Kronos pulled Methos down to him again and tried to calm him down since he'd gotten worked up again.
"Kronos," he groaned, "it was horrible…the blood, and you were..." he cringed at the memory of the slaughter, "I was afraid when I came back that it would be too late."
"Shhhhhh, it's allright, Methos, just calm down," Kronos held him close and stroked his head and rubbed his back, waiting for Methos to settle down. It really wasn't all that different from soothing a small child after they'd been given a great scare, of course he wouldn't tell Methos that, lest it further injure him to be compared to an infant, though a mental picture of that did make Kronos smile.
"Methos calm down…" Kronos noticed that Methos was turning a slight blue, "Methos, breathe, Methos…" it took a while to finally get him to listen, "Methos you have to breathe, you're starting to turn colors."
His breathing was very weak, Kronos spent the next few minutes trying to get him to take in one deep breath, and once he finally did, he forgot to get rid of it. "Now tell me…" Kronos looked at Methos and saw he still had it in him, "Methos open your mouth and let it out now."
He did, and if sound counted for anything, Kronos was convinced doing so nearly killed him.
"Now tell me what's wrong," Kronos said, "you don't have to get yourself worked up like that again, everything's fine…just slowly, and calmly tell me what's going on."
Methos told him about the dream he'd had while he was away, and that he was afraid it may have been a sign of things to come. And by the time he'd finished, he was hysterical again. Kronos wrapped his arms tightly around Methos so he couldn't get away and also wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight, and he assured him that no such thing would happen, but Methos, as always, couldn't be calmed so easily.
"Oh Kronos I'm sorry, I'm sorry for hurting you and I'm sorry for running away and I'm sorry if I made you worry, I didn't mean it…"
Kronos just laughed. "I wonder what I did to deserve getting a good brother like you," he said.
From those simple words came more sincerity than Methos could remember hearing from anyone in a long time, possibly even hundreds of years before he'd met Kronos. That only made him cry harder and he buried his face into Kronos' shoulder, and Kronos held him tighter and assured him everything was allright.
"What's important," he told Methos, "is that you're back and you're allright."
"Are you sure," Methos asked, "that I'm worth all the trouble I give you?"
"You're not trouble," Kronos said, "now Caspian, he's trouble if I ever saw it. He's going to take more work to tame than I thought, but he'll come around sooner or later."
That reminded Methos, he looked up and Kronos appeared to be trying to sleep, but before he could really get that far into it, Methos tapped him on the shoulder. "Kronos?"
"Hmm?" one eye opened and he saw Methos holding the strip of Mary's robe, it had come loose when he ran back and he'd held onto it so he wouldn't lose it. Now he wanted Kronos to tie it back on tight again. Kronos sat up and wrapped it around his arm and tied it in a tight knot, any tighter would've cut off the blood flow, so Methos decided that was all the tighter he wanted it.
"Thank you."
Kronos ran a hand through Methos' hair and said, "I can't think for the life of me why Caspian would take that, and then threaten to burn it. He knows how much it means to you."
"Maybe that's why," Methos said, "he cursed me for loving Mary, said it was a sign of weakness…that no true warrior would do such a thing."
"Then I can see I'm going to have my hands busy again with him tomorrow," Kronos said, "fortunately Silas will be around to keep you company. Actually he'd been out searching for you a long time today, started about just after you left. He couldn't figure where you'd gone, but he said he knew you'd be returning, I'm glad that he was right."
Methos closed his eyes and after a few seconds felt Kronos poking him in the stomach, he opened his eyes again and glared at him, demanding to know what that was for.
"You're feeling thin again…you didn't eat today, did you?"
Methos shook his head. "It wouldn't have mattered anyway, if I had eaten anything it would've come up with everything else tonight."
"Hmm…we'll have to do something about that tomorrow, you may be Immortal but you've got to keep yourself well."
Methos was too tired to continue, he rested his head on Kronos' shoulder and closed his eyes. It was good to be back, and while he didn't know for a fact that he wouldn't be leaving again, the idea was none too tempting right now. Just before he fell completely into sleep, he felt Kronos wrap the blankets up over him, covering them both. Now this, he thought, was what it felt like to be home again.
The next day Kronos had Silas watch Caspian while he tried to get Methos to eat, but after being sick the day before, Methos was in no mood to go through it again. Kronos found out very quickly Methos wouldn't eat, so he came to the conclusion that he would have to feed him, and afterwards he would figure by personal experience that was harder than wrestling with a barracuda. Methos kept his mouth clamped shut and he turned away each time Kronos even got near him, so Kronos decided to take a different approach, he jumped and pinned Methos to the ground, even so he wriggled, squirmed and jerked his head from side to side so he couldn't feed him. A couple of times Methos tried and succeeded in throwing Kronos off of him, but for the most of it the whole experience was an endless struggle between the two. Another time Kronos pinned Methos down and held his nose shut so he'd have to open his mouth to breathe, but Methos refused to give in. Finally Kronos gave up, he sat back on his heels and looked at Methos.
"Just what is it you have against eating this morning? Are you trying to punish yourself for something?" he asked.
"I don't want to get sick again," Methos confessed.
Kronos looked at Methos like he'd seen a monkey come out of a chicken's egg, a look of complete disbelief. "Methos, if anything was going to make you sick today, all that flopping around you did would do it, if that didn't bring anything up, eating won't either." He tried again, "now come on."
Methos laid on his side and turned away again, "No."
"Methos."
"I don't want it."
"Methos, you have to eat."
"Fine, but I don't want the meat."
"Next time say so in the first place," Kronos replied, "what would you rather have?"
"The bread."
"Fine…but if you do this again…"
"I won't."
It seemed to take forever to get Methos to eat it, but after not eating any through all of yesterday, Kronos understood that Methos didn't want to overdo it and actually risk getting his stomach upset again.
After that he laid Methos back in the bed and covered him up.
"Just take it easy, Silas will be along soon to keep you company."
Methos smirked, "You better watch it, Kronos, I could get used to this sort of treatment."
"You've been put through a lot lately, you've earned your rest."
"Well, I hope it all stops soon, this is nice but I'm getting tired of it," Methos said.
Kronos smiled at him, "Don't worry about it, we're Immortal, we have all the time in the world."
"That's exactly my point; I'd like to get on with the rest of my life while I still have it."
"Just rest, everything will be allright."
"If you say so," Methos replied as he turned on his side.
He heard Kronos call back after he left the tent that he would be back later in the day. Not long after he left, Methos felt Silas enter. "Methos, are you asleep?"
He turned over to face him, "No, I'm awake."
"Are you feeling better today?"
"Yes, very much…Silas?"
"Yes?"
"Do you think Kronos will ever really get Caspian…do you think he…" what exactly was he asking? "He'll never be normal, but do you think he'll ever stop these things he does?"
"I don't know," Silas answered, "Kronos tries, and he tries again, but it never seems to keep."
That got Methos to thinking, "one time Mary…" he said the words before he even realized it, it was too late to take them back but he didn't go any further.
"What?" Silas asked, "what did you say?"
No, he realized, he could tell Silas about it, he'd understand…he hoped. "One time I told Mary about Caspian, and I explained to her we couldn't risk getting her near him because it was dangerous. She asked me if he didn't get better, if we would kill him."
"Kronos has several times, it doesn't do anything to him," Silas replied.
"No, I mean taking his head, she wanted to know if we'd kill him if he never changed…"
"Kronos wouldn't do it, not even if he had to," Silas said.
"It would certainly seem that way," Methos thought.
Neither one said anything for a while, but the silence ended when they heard Kronos screaming in agony. Methos jumped out of the bed and he and Silas rushed to find him. Methos hadn't seen where Caspian had been put this time but he gathered from the direction the screams were coming from, that they were close by. Silas followed right behind him and they both came to a sudden stop at the sight before them. Kronos laying on his back, howling like a wounded animal, which he basically was now, with his good hand he clenched his other arm that was bloody with the skin torn and bone showing through. His feet were a mess of black and blue bruises, meaning he was in no position to move, they would have to move him. After acknowledging this fact, Methos realized something else, Caspian was gone.
Methos collapsed beside Kronos and cried as he took in closer observation of his injuries. He pulled himself up and faced Kronos, his injuries were healing slowly, and it seemed he either couldn't scream anymore or during the healing process the pain ceased. Methos wrapped his arms around Kronos' shoulders so not to hurt him any further, and he swore revenge on the man responsible for this.
"We have to get you back to camp, Kronos, we have to…" Methos then realized that it would be impossible for him to do it. Kronos was heavier than he was and Methos couldn't see a way to get him up without touching his injured arm, and even if they could get him up, there was still the matter of his feet which were still in a poor condition. "Silas, can you carry Kronos back?"
"Yes."
"Good, take him back and take care of him the best you can, I'll return later," Methos said.
"What're you going to do, Brother?" Silas asked.
Methos looked down and saw Kronos' sword laying near his body, still sheathed, proving Kronos hadn't a chance to fight back. He picked it up and looked back at Kronos. "Forgive me, Brother, but I have a feeling I'll be needing this more than you."
Kronos nodded weakly, Methos didn't know if he just wasn't talking, or if he couldn't now after all the screaming he'd done. He bid them farewell and took off to find the assailant. Methos realized he had no idea who he was looking for, whether it would be Caspian, or a complete stranger, but right now he didn't care. Kronos had been hurt and he could've been killed, and Methos had to make sure that didn't happen. If it were Caspian, he wouldn't take his head, he'd just make Caspian wish he had. However if it were a stranger on the land, Methos didn't know, nor did he care what would be their fate.