I left out a small part in this chapter where Test was going to make a second appearance out of respect of his recent passing. R.P.I Andrew Martin, my thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends.
On other notes, I've been feeling ill lately and my hubby made me take some damn pills… (I'm the biggest cry-baby when it's time for medicine) I do feel a little better, but my mind is still fuzzy, so if I ramble in this chap please forgive me or better yet, blame my husband for messing up my mind lol. Anyway, here is a little something.
Also! Let me warn you, this chap may be a bit … hard and not so pretty, but it needed to be done to continue with the story and to move on to more pleasant chapters... anyway, I know nothing about wounded people or war, so…
Once again thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them and I'm glad you enjoyed the part whit Jericho and Steph.
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She watched them through the upstairs window. The glass was milky and full of bubbles, but she could distinguish the people below all right. A few of them she knew by name and sight, but the vast majority were complete strangers to her.
The house she had been sent to pass the night was located near the city gates, so she had a privileged vista of the ongoing preparations. Her eyes told her what her heart didn't want to acknowledge. War was imminent; the city had woken up with the fierce call to arms. On that fateful morning, Canada was preparing to battle against the Kingdom's forces.
She had an ominous feeling deep in her gut about it all.
She watched in dread at the warriors in the yard, they were far more than she could ever have imagined. In that multitude Canadians mingled with some of the Kingdom's own to repudiate the advancing menace of Shane and his warriors. She could only pray for her brother's safety.
From above she could see the multicolored haired Jeff, his face painted extravagantly in black and white, resembling death itself. He was stretching and chatting with a black haired warrior while their horses were being saddled. There was also the man with the funny hairdo and cocky smile called Tyson; he was accompanied by the masked kid Rey. Stephanie couldn't understand why would the Canadians send a mere boy to a bloody war, it was beyond her comprehension.
The High Six, whom in that misty morning summed only five, were to lead the hundredths behind. They stood up front, holding a quick palaver as the deafening crowd buzzed behind them. They were all clad and armed for battle.
Lance stood in the middle of them all; giving what could be his final words to the rest of the Council. Edge, with his spear in hand and his never absent grin listened in silence. Christian lurked around them, but he didn't seem to be listening. His eyes were fixed somewhere outside the city gates and a determined expression reigned over his features. There was also Natalya, with a wild grin on her face that matched Edge's. Stephanie believed it was madness to allow a woman to take active part in a war, but these Canadians were not known to have any senses. Natalya was not the only woman down there.
From her safe place inside the crones' house she studied them all, but her eyes kept returning to the long haired blonde stretching beside Edge. She observed him from afar, still confused about the events of last night. He had kissed her fervently and she had responded with a passion she didn't knew she had in her, and just when her knees were weak and her body trembled from need he had left, storming out of the room as if the devil himself gave him pursuit. It bothered her that even after a full night of restless sleep she could still feel the phantom of his lips against hers…
And it bothered her that the same man that had awoken those raw feelings in her now prepared to battle her brother.
She pressed her forehead against the cold glass, wondering. If he hadn't stopped when he did, would she had succumbed to him? During the night she had convinced herself that it wouldn't be the case, that she had more sense than that. But now that she saw him once more, standing down there in all his glory she was not so sure; she only had to close her eyes to feel him. But it wasn't as it mattered anyway; to him she was just a nuisance to be kept from afar.
Not that she cared… kissing him had been just a lapse of judgment… she forced her eyes away.
When the horn was blown and the gate was opened, the great multitude marched outside with their swords and bows and their spears, their horses' hoofbeats thundering through the entire city and beyond. She wondered how many of those warriors would return to the city.
She watched them leave with a heavy heart until the last one of them went out. And when the gate finally closed she felt like crying.
For a long while she stood there, looking through the window to the now empty yard. Her mind was in deep turmoil, she worried about Shane and whatever fate would befall on him. He was no skilled warrior and he tended to be a bit on the impulsive side.
But her mind also dwelled on that previous night, on what could have been but wasn't between herself and Jericho. She wanted to keep those thoughts out of her mind, to lock them away. But they keep coming back to torment her. She wanted to hate him for messing her mind.
She was taken out of her troubled thoughts when she heard steps approaching from behind. She turned, expecting to see one of the crones, but that was not the case.
"And so we meet again…" The petit blonde said as she made her way into the room and sat on the bed, looking intently at her with her warm hazel eyes.
Stephanie observed her in silence, not sure on what to say. She had only seen the woman once, back in her previous life. But even thought she didn't know the woman she felt as if their lives were bound by the mockery of a cruel destiny.
Out of her confinements the Canadian looked smaller and skinnier, as if she had shrunk over the past fortnight. Her skin was pale, almost translucent and fading bruises covered her neck and arms. Her feeble appearance didn't stop her from holding her head proudly as she looked at Stephanie.
"You look different" The woman said taking in her appearances.
You do too, Stephanie was about to say but decided not to. It would be rude after all the woman had allegedly gone through. Stephanie felt uncomfortable under the blonde scrutiny.
"Can I ask you a question?" Trish asked and Stephanie nodded. "Is it true that you tried to intercede in my favor back at the castle, to get me out of the dungeon?"
Stephanie considered for a moment. "I talked to my brother about it, how do you know?"
"We have a few acquaintances in the castle…" Trish stood from the bed. "Would you walk with me?" The blonde asked but didn't wait for a reply, she headed out the door.
Stephanie hesitated, but followed the blonde anyway. They went down the stairs and out the house, and once they were outside they walked side by side.
"When they put me into that dungeon, I thought that was the worst thing they could do to me. I hoped and prayed the guys would find a way out for me soon enough… but my wait was long and cruel. That first night was bad, but it only got worse by the second…"
"I'm really sorry about that" Stephanie said as Trish took in a deep breath, her gaze lost in the distance. She still remembered walking out of that dungeon and leaving the blonde behind.
Trish smiled a sad smile. "The thing is that I want you to understand why this came to be, because although this war was not provoked by us, we are by all means going to end it, and if we have to take your brother down we will not hesitate"
Stephanie stopped walking and Trish turned to her. "Look, I know you have good reason to carry on with this war, and it really pains my heart to know all what's been done in the name of the Kingdom. But don't expect me to be content with the possible downfall of my kin. I know my brother's heart and I know that deep inside he's not a bad man, he's just being counseled badly."
"Look around you Stephanie" Trish spat, pointing at the pavilions where some of her people crowded by the dozens, the rest had gone to fight their Prince. "He did this to his own people, to your people... does love makes you so blind? Look at what he let them do to me, they ruined my life. I have the love of a great man, and back in that dungeon I wanted nothing more that to be safely in his arms, he was the only thing that gave strength to hang on… and now that I'm back here and he's with me I can barely stand his touch. I can feel how it kills him inside every time I cringe from him, and every time that happens a part of me dies with him too…"
"Why are you telling me all this?" Stephanie said coldly.
"Because you need to see the reality of the situation, whether you like it or not Shane's actions lead us all to this particular moment, not the other way around. His heart is corrupted by power, but yours is still kind. We may need your help at the end of the day and I want you to think about it"
Stephanie remained in silence, not sure on what Trish was saying or wanted her to think.
"See if you can do something for this people, after all you are their princess" Trish pointed at the pavilions and let her words linger around. "Now if you excuse me I have loads of things to do"
With that the blonde walked away and left her standing there.
Stephanie looked around, not sure on what to do. What could she do to help them? Nothing at all, her hands where tied when it came to them. She made her way to one of the pavilions anyway, the one where the wounded were being tended.
"Hey you, hold this"
Stephanie's eyes grew wide when a muscular blonde that was tending a screeching man put in her hands a bloodied rag. She wanted to throw it right away, but she held the damp cloth with a grimace of disgust.
"Santino!" The woman, who looked beyond pissed pushed the man hard into the table he was laying and trashing into. There was an ugly gash in his forehead and the woman was trying to stitch it.
"What happened to him?" Stephanie ventured to ask. The woman shot her an icy stare.
"This good for nothing fell off his horse before even reaching the gate; I should have left him bleed to death right there. Give me a clean cloth" she snapped and Stephanie had no choice but to oblige. As she looked around for the cloth she could hear the man whining.
There were a lot of wounded people there, and only a handful of locals tending them. Most of the wounded were those exiled from their lands and as the day went by Stephanie found herself helping along. Any thoughts of war and kisses were out of her mind for once.
It was not after the sun was high in the sky that the wounded warriors started to arrive. She was unsure if helping along was the best thing to do, after all they had been wounded fighting against the Kingdom. But there were stabs to stitch, broken bones to splint and countless arrows to pull out and almost no one to do it. She put on an apron and began her work. It was all a bloody mess and it occupied her mind from all matters.
With all the madness going around, the hours passed quick enough for Stephanie. She had pulled her hair up in a messy bun to keep it out of her eyes, the apron she had put on was covered with strangers' blood and she was exhausted beyond imagination. Just after stitching clumsily a young warrior's wound she decided to take a rest.
That was when the first of the High Six arrived. It was Edge, and he had been hit with an arrow right at his side. He was been helped along by no other that Lita, the redhead from the outcast's town.
She didn't want to help than man, so she tried to move out of their way, but before she could even take two steps out of the pavilion the redhead spotted her and called her out.
"Now this is something I never expected to witness" The woman said with a smile as the man beside her grunted in pain. She let Edge slip in one of the tables and before the blonde could react to it she pulled the arrow out of his flesh, the smile never faded from her face.
The man yelped, his face red and strained in discomfort; his eyes seemed about to pop out. When he was able to ease his breathing, the crazed man grinned awkwardly and looked at Stephanie. "She loves me"
Lita fixed him with a glare and rolled her eyes. "You wish tiger. So how you've been doing?"
Stephanie looked at the bold woman. "I…"
"I know, these are crazy times" Lita shrugged wiping her bloody hand against Edge's tights. "Isn't that Kurt? She walked past Stephanie and approached a section of the pavilion were the refuges where being kept on. "What in the seven hells happened to him?"
Stephanie's feet were glued to the ground and she found it almost impossible to turn around. "What Kurt?" Could this day have more to throw at her!
She willed herself to turn around, and when she did she saw Lita leaning into a man laying asleep in a cot. She had to look twice to recognize him as the man who had attacked her not long ago. An ugly scar covered his right cheek, it oozed a disgusting yellow fluid that ran down to his ear. He looked gaunt and his skin had taken an ugly grayish tone. But as bad as that was, the worst were his hands… or the absence of them to be precise. Two bloody bandages covered his stumps.
He cut of his arms, Stephanie thought to herself, the image of Jericho washing blood off his hands back in the streams popped to her mind. The cut had been just below the elbow and blackish veins protruded from there up to his neck. He was a pathetic sight and just to look at him made her want to gag. He reeked of putrefaction and death.
She had passed a dozen times by his side without giving him more than a glance.
Lita looked at Stephanie suspiciously and then back at a blonde man resting at the cot beside Kurt's. "What happened to this one?"
The man, who was just nursing a broken ankle shrugged. "Found him as good as dead along the road. We never thought he would pass the night but the son of a bitch keeps hanging on"
"Is he unconscious?" Stephanie managed to ask, she didn't dared moving closer.
"Most of the time, but when he wakes up he only wails and calls for his love, his princess. Anyway, I'm Dolph Ziggler" The man extended his hand to Lita with a huge smile on his face, but the redhead just ignored him and he had to pulled his hand back.
Lita looked down at Kurt and then back at the other man. "Well, what are you looking at, go back to your business" The redhead said angrily at the puzzled man and when he did as told she took Kurt's head in her hands.
When she did so his eyes opened and went right to Stephanie. Those dull eyes grew wide as he recognized her, he was on the verge of tears and when he opened his mouth to speak Lita jerked his head to the side.
Stephanie remained in place with an eerie calmness even when his neck cracked loudly and his dead eyes kept staring at her. Lita let his limp body back into the cot and looked at her.
"Let's find some bandages for Edge before he bleeds to death and the whole country blame it on me" Lita walked away from the man she had just killed and towards Edge, whom had been observing the whole thing from his spot.
"Marry me" the Council member grumbled.
"Shut up" Lita poured ethanol into a cloth and pressed the thing against Edge's wound. He let out another yell and cursed loudly.
Stephanie only moved into action when a warrior with a broken leg was rushed to her.
And so day turned into dusk and Stephanie couldn't count how many people she had tended during that endless day, and as it turned out Kurt's death was only the first of many she witnessed. Her heart had turned to stone, and she didn't find it in her to weep at their disgrace.
She was tired and couldn't stand on her tired feet anymore. She sat on the soiled ground and rested her back against one of the pavilion's pillars. The scent of blood and ethanol was strongly on her, and she wondered if they would ever fade away. Not long after Lita found her and sat with her.
"So what happened with Kurt" The redhead asked as she handed her a plate with food.
Stephanie refused; she couldn't stomach food, not at the moment. Lita began eating hers as she listened to Stephanie. She told her all, about Kurt and his failed attempt of rape and Jericho going after him. The rest she could only speculate.
"Kurt was mad. I worked at the whorehouse, as a bartender, mind you, and the girls always discussed him and his strange ways. None of them liked him very much but he would pay them good if they pretended to be princesses and he their prince… Anyway, I'm going to check on Edge"
When the redhead was gone Stephanie considered on resting on one of the cots and getting some sleep, it wasn't as if she had any other place to go, but as she thought about it she heard a commotion outside the gate. The ones that could stand up rushed over there to see what was all about. As for herself, she was too scared to move.
What if they have Shane?
When the gate opened a great number of warriors entered, they were received by cheers and whistles from their wounded companions. She stood up from where she sat and walked with trembling legs a little closer, just enough to take a peek.
She saw Christian ahorse, a wild look on his face as he dragged a severed body through the dirt. Her breath caught in her throat and she hurried up front, pushing her way through the multitude. Only when she saw it up close she was able to breathe again, it was not Shane. The body was almost beyond recognition, but she had seen the man almost every day of her life for the past couple of years. It was Orton, and the Canadians had done an ugly mess out of him.
She looked through the crowd until her eyes rested on Jericho. He walked on foot, his horse probably lost during the battle. He had an open wound just above his left eye and his hair spilled out of the knot at the back of his head in messy curls, he seemed just fine.
She let out a sigh of relief she didn't knew was holding. But her relieve was short lived… she saw he was dragging something of his own. His was not a dead body but a live one, hooded and bounded by the neck. He was leading the captive like a dog, blind and stumbling. She didn't have to see his face to know who that was, after all she had spent all her life with him…
TBC
Well, Kurt's death was a bit lame but I hate killing people off, I know it doesn't look like but it's true! Anyway I was going to make Steph do it, but that wouldn't be like her so I changed it so Lita would do it lol