Pain enveloped. Pain defined. Pain was life.
At times it was red hot, felt like fire destroying flesh. At times it was dull, barely there until the world became bumpy and made the pain rear its head and attack in anger at being disturbed. There was only darkness, darkness that promised absolution, comfort, an escape. The pain was able to infiltrate the darkness sometimes, would not leave it be as a safe haven, the pain crept in everywhere.
There was no escape.
•••
She would not let him die. He was too important to her plan and she was looking forward to causing even more pain to this man, to break him and leave him only a mass of pain-riddled flesh.
He had to stay alive.
As they traveled, the field doctor did what he could for the suffering man. He started by removing the arrow, an arrow he was relieved to see had not been poisoned or hit any major arteries. Even so the man's pain persisted, the wound had become infected due to lack of sanitation and the infection had spread through out his body. The man was suffering from fever now because of the infection, his body's attempt at trying to heal itself.
The field doctor had taken care of such wounds before but in order for it to work they had to stop and allow his treatment to take hold.
He approached the King, worried about not only the man but himself as well. He knew very well what Diprosopus was capable of. He told the King about what needed to be done, Iracebeth was present as well.
"If we stop then you can make sure he lives?" She asked with concern in her voice.
"It is a possibility…there is more chance of him recovering if we stop so I can do what needs to be done and the wound is allowed to heal properly…" the doctor told her.
Iracebeth looked to Diprosopus, "We must stop. He can not and will not die."
Diprosopus looked at Iracebeth with anger in his eyes.
"We have just attacked the Queen's stronghold what do you think she will do? Stay where she is and hope for his return? Yes she will have to attend to those we were able to wound or kill but she will be following soon after let me assure you."
"If he is not healed all will be lost. She must come back so she can be dealt with once and for all!"
"What if she is not meant to come back? This is not her world. She was no longer needed until you made a reason for her being needed. She is the one thing the residents of Underland love more then the White Queen. They will rally behind her to bring you down…and I will not be there to protect you."
"We are in this together now!"
"I am in this for only one reason. One you should be well aware of."
She looked at him in shock, trying to recover from it, her brain furiously thinking of a way for him to stop the march and let her prisoner heal.
"My sister will surly follow as you said, something that is to our…your…benefit. She will not have the home-field advantage. You and your men know these outlands better then anyone. You are making the rules."
"Yes I am and she will come just as readily if he is dead since she will not know of his death."
"If he stays alive Alice will come and she can be disposed of too. She is the real threat to you."
Diprosopus thought for a moment about what she said. Getting rid of Alice would indeed be beneficial if they were able to do so. She had proved herself more then once though and the odds were against them when it came to her, but he wanted his rule to be absolute.
"Alice will still come no matter if he lives or dies just as the White Queen will. It makes no difference and we do not have time to linger."
"I WANT MY REVENGE! And I will take it from his flesh until she comes here!"
Diprosopus looked at Iracebeth, her face beet-red, her fists balled and shaking. He knew it would be better just to let her have this or she would be difficult to handle and if he did live Alice and the White Queen would be more willing to do as he said in their fear for what they could do to this prisoner.
He looked to the doctor who had been silent all this time as his betters had gone back and forth.
"Very well," he said begrudgingly, "You may do what is necessary to save the prisoner's life."
The doctor bowed to his lord and backed out of the tent that had been set up for Diprosopus's comfort.
The doctor motioned to a few of the men that their lord had given them the go ahead to see to the prisoner. They unceremoniously took the man out of the wagon he had been traveling in and brought him into another tent that had been set up for the doctor to look after those who had been wounded in the battle.
He motioned for a spot to be cleared, a cot was brought into the tent as well as the instruments that he would need to help the broken man in front of him. He could see that the man was shivering as the sweat cooled on his skin, his eyes moving frantically behind closed lids, his head tossing from side to side.
The doctor looked to one of the men who had offered their help, "Get a fire going. Make sure it is as hot as you can possibly make it."
"Yes doctor Tutela."
The man did as he was bid and soon a roaring fire was going. Doctor Tutela looked to the man on the cot, his eyes were open, the first time he had seen them open since he had been ordered to heal him.
He knelt down by the side of the cot, placing a hand on his forehead. It was burning hot, the man cringed away from the coldness of the hand, trying to find where it had come from.
"Do you remember anything?" Doctor Tutela asked.
The large eyes full of pain looked into the doctor's eyes, looking for an answer to give him.
"Name….Tarrant…" his voice was cracked from in-use and pain.
"Tarrant I'm Doctor Tutela…I've been told to help you get better. In order to do that there will be more pain I'm afraid…"
He could see tears building in Tarrant's eyes, see that he preparing himself for the pain the doctor had forewarned about.
"I do have some chloroform that will hopefully last for the entirety of what I must do…don't fight it."
Tarrant nodded his head as the doctor put a cloth over his nose and mouth. He could hear someone telling him to breathe, he did. The effect was almost instantaneuous. Tarrant felt himself slipping into the darkness once again and he did not fight it.
The doctor saw that Tarrant was under and he began his work. He started by cutting away the clothing that was left on Tarrant's frame so he could get to the wound. He took off the bandages that he had put there, what he saw worried him. The wound did not look good, he had never seen one this infected where the man was still alive.
He told one of the men to put the knife he would need to use in the fire and he set to work on cutting away the infected flesh. When he was finished he immediately called for the knife from the fire so he could cauterize the wound. He wrapped the wound with cloth that was the cleanest he could find and covered Tarrant with a blanket.
Inbetween bouts of wakefulness, Doctor Tutela would force teas down Tarrant's throat to bring down the fever. The tea slowly did what it had been intended for, breaking the fever, leaving Tarrant weak but alive. Doctor Tutela went before his lord again and told him it was safe for them to continue.
•••
He had no idea what day it was. Time no longer mattered, it did not construct his day, that was the pain's job.
Pain came in intervals, these intervals became his days, which turned into weeks, which led into months. He lived a life that was long, too long and yet he did not die from old age.
The pain was interrupted by the burning, the burning that made him cold, made him shiver, caused the pain to spread out from his belly. That pain had grown, seemed to seep through his entire being.
Then there was the clean pain that came from the same place, pain so sharp that he could feel it even in the darkness of the drug. The pain administered by the man who he thought was trying to help, the one who was now causing the pain that made his skin burn and sizzle, filling his nostrils with the smell of burning flesh.
The man forced liquid down his throat, soothing liquid that dulled the pain, dulled the burning in his body. But the pain always seemed to come back in some capacity, he could not escape it no matter what he did. It would never leave.
Then it did leave. The pain left him alone, the fog lifted, the heat left, he was allowed to sleep for the first time in what must have been years.
•••
Diprosopus was pleased that even though the prisoner had caused them to delay, they were on there way again and would arrive at Mamorial within a day. Iracebeth would not be pleased that she had been left out of his plan to take Mamorial but she would get over it in time. She had what she wanted and so did Diprosopus for the moment.