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I hoped Jaron wouldn't come after me, though as they tied Mott and I up, preparing for the interrogations, I knew he would, he always did, no matter how many times I told him not to. Suddenly, I heard shouting, an explosion, and then another one, this time closer.
As the Avenian soldiers shouted and began to regroup, Jaron came dashing around the corner, gripping his sword. He put his sword against the lone vigil who had stayed at their post when the explosions started and ordered him to untie Mott, or he would use it. While the vigil did that, he came over to me and started to untie my hands, I begged him to go, and leave me. Whatever they did to me and Mott, for Jaron it would be ten times worse.
He didn't listen and after a minute or so, I switched tactics and told him that whatever happened next, he must choose to live. I was angry at him of course, but also secretly relieved, if Jaron hadn't come, the Avenian's would have beat me, to get Mott to talk, and from Mott's expression, I knew he would have told them everything, which would have meant the end for both Jaron and Carthya.
Jaron finished untying me and helped me up. Jaron told us that he had stationed two archers to cover our retreat, all we had to do was make it over the hill and to the swamp, where we could meet up with the archers and escape. We bolted for the hill but as we ran, I saw an Avenian archer aiming his arrow at Jaron.
I didn't stop to think.
I changed course and headed straight for him, plowing into him and knocking him over. I dashed away but turned back at the top of the hill to look for Jaron, and as I turned an arrow pierced my left shoulder, above my heart. I heard Jaron cry out, but I was already tumbling down the hill. At the bottom I was surrounded by Avenian soldiers, they must have thought I was dead because they called for the burial wagon and lifted me inside.
As the wagon drove away though, someone must have heard my moans because the wagon stopped and a soldier, a commander I think, appeared. He told me that they would try to heal me, and I knew that once I was well enough, they would bring me in as leverage against Jaron. As soon as he said that, my decision was made, I would not get better.
They put me in a tent and brought in their physicians to heal me, but I did everything possible to slow my recovery, I had been used as leverage against Jaron multiple times and would not allow it to happen again. Over the days, as they tried, and fail to heal me, I heard glimpses of what was happening to Jaron.
After I was shot, they had captured him, and what they were doing to him was horrible in every way. Every day I heard the soldiers boasting to one another about how many kicks they had given him, or how many times they had punched him, they talked about how unresponsive he was, and how no matter how many times they hit him he never fought back.
That was so unlike him, ever since I had met him, he had been fighting, fighting his fate, fighting his advisers, fighting anyone or anything that tried to tell him what to do.
Now it seemed like he had given up, was he finally broken? A few days later I heard shouting and the pounding of feet, they were shouting about an escaped prisoner, could it be Jaron? The physician who came in a few hours later confirmed that, muttering about how King Vargan had allowed a heavily guarded prisoner who couldn't even walk escape with a horse, harming a few of their best soldiers on the way.
Jaron had escaped, which meant that now I had to get better, I had to see him again.