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The Battered Flame: Alive
Marco POV
My head was throbbing, my arms where aching, and my side was on fire. Though hopefully not literally. To be honest all of me hurt. Where was I again? I shook my head, trying the clear the fogginess that filled it. I'd been hit while I was distracted, a rookies mistake, that from the feel of things I would be paying for in a bandage for a long time.
But as things came back to me, what surprised me the most was, when I realised, that I was still alive. My eyes slowly pried themselves open, blinking quickly at the sudden invasion of light. I looked around, noticing where exactly I was. There were pale walls around me, partially obscuring the bright sky above, trapping me tightly, and putting a painful weight against my side. I pushed hard, my sore arms giving out just as I managed to heave what ever it was away from my side, allowing me to sit up.
Really? I just had to land under the armpit of a giant didn't I. But I guess this was the only reason I was still alive, no one having been able to see me from the sides while I was there. I lurched forward, attempting to stand, but only just managing to fall painfully on my hands and knees. That's when I saw it, my 'Dragons Tooth' lying just 20 feet in front of me. I began to crawl forward slowly, each inch taking a tremendous effort, but I knew I just needed my sword. It had gotten me through so much. It could get me through this too.
I only managed about half the distance, before promptly falling to the ground, with my outstretched hand not quite reaching my sword as I breathed heavily from the strain.
I sensed foot steps coming from beside me, making me tense up. As 2 pairs of hands land on my shoulders I began to struggle, trying to lurch forward just a little more…
"Hey, its ok, we're not going to hurt you," a gentle, if slightly gruff voice fills my ears as I'm held back, the sets of hands helping me get back up to my knees and holding me steady.
"Jeffrey, inform the princess that we found a surviver, and that he seems important."
One of the men, seemingly only in his late teens, wearing light chainmail and holding a spear, ran off to follow his orders, leaving me in the hands of the other, seemingly older, man. I look up and scan around me. The field was now filled with countless corpses, large and small, and tattered banners that were littered among the battle site, sticking up in angles from the muddy ground, flying Solemnly in the light breeze. Unnoticed by me, being barely conscious, where groups of a few dozen armed and armoured men in chainmail, and wearing blue tabards, with a butterfly emblazoned over their chests, that were currently scouring the field, searching any body for signs of life. Over to one side stood several people on horses, most seemingly wearing heavy, plate armour, and a speck of golden blond could be seen on a warnicorn in the centre of the group.
A skin of water was thrusted into my face, from the man behind me, and I guzzled it up for dear life. I pulled away spluttering and look up, seeing an obviously hardened, but kindly face looking down at me, with a slightly amused smile.
"Thank you kind sir," I say, my throat still hoarse, "I really needed that."
"No problem, I assume this is your Sword?" He says, passing me my blade, with me feeling a sense of strength filling my body as I grasp it's familiar worn grip, "I must say that's some fancy weapon and armour, under all that mud nd' blood n' all, you a knight?"
"A knight? No, just a mercenary." I reply, finally hoisting myself off the ground with the help of the soldier pulling me up, and offering me a shoulder to lean on.
"Well you must be a bloody rich one then," he says chuckling, "any way the princess will have a lot of questions, so you better be prepared for quite a bit of talking."
I look up to see the mounted group from earlier riding up, showing them to consist of 5 knights, and a girl about my age on the warnicorn.
They pulled up in front of us, the mounts tearing up a clump of dust as they skidded to a halt. The knights stay mounted, visors down, as the girl, presumably the princess, jumps down to take a good look at me. The first thing I noticed was her long, pretty, bright blond hair, flowing far down her back. She had striking blue eyes, and two heart marks on her cheek. She wore a light set of thin armour plate, seemingly custom made to fit around her thin, curvy, build. She was in all honesty very attractive, and seemingly naturally so, not made up with thick layers of make up to cover any imperfections, like most of the other princesses I had met in my time, and I found it hard not to stare too closely at places other than her eyes, as she looked me over from close up.
"Thank you Attila," She said, giving a nod to the man supporting me, before turning her attention back to me, "I am Princes Star Butterfly, heir to the kingdom of Mewni, what is your name?"
"Apologies princess, I would bow but I fear I'm most likely just to land back in the mud if I do," I joke, "My name is Marco Diaz, member of the Three Flames." This brought a look of shock from Star, and a few gasps from the knights on their horses. Every one of them had heard the name 'Marco Diaz' before. I mean who hadn't, the Three Flames having performed many famous deeds, with word of us having long ago spread to every corner of the dimension, and others beyond.
"You're the Marco Diaz?, who fought at the battle of hells-reach point?" Star asked in surprise, with me only nodding, a smug smile fixed to my face, "Does that mean the rest of the Three Flames where here? What happened?"
"Well ok, first, yes I am the one and only Marco Diaz, secondly, yes the other two where here, and for the third I can tell you what happened or at least what I know of it," I answer, sorting through her myriad of questions. "But first do you have any medics with you? I can give you the story as I'm seen to."
I winced as the needle again passed skill fully through the side of my bare chest, slowly sowing shut the rend in my skin. But to be honest this was nothing compared to the earlier pain when the alcohol had been used to clean the wound, the burning forcing me to bite down hard to avoid crying out. But I had dealt with such things many times before, a staple of my early career, while we were still inexperienced, and rushing into danger without so much as a second thought for ourselves.
After I finished my story, Princess Star and her knights left to a huddle to discuss what I had said, as an assigned healer tended to me in silence, allowing my thoughts to wander. Soon I began wondering about Lachlan and Kalara, I hoped that they got away safely. Kalara would have been right in the midst of that cavalry charge to the rear of the army, and I know Lachlan would charge himself headlong into any danger to get her out. But I also know that Lachlan knows what he is doing, and, that despite her preference for the bow, Kalara was a daemon in combat in her own right. Not to mention if Deathclaw had died on the battlefield, one of Mewni's soldiers would have found his massive corpse long before now and brought it up. They probably would have fallen back to our base camp, and spent the last —however long it's been — avoiding the larger groups of monsters and licking their wounds, before they would inevitably come searching for me, but seeing as it was unlikely that I would be waiting on this field when that happened, I would have to find a way to get a message to them telling them where I was.
Suddenly a portal opened, and deposited out a man in fancy court garb, who walked quickly over to where Star was and said a few words I couldn't hear to her before she nodded and he began to head back to the swirling portal.
"Diaz," Star said, walking over, with what might have been a slight blush on her cheeks at my topless state. "My mother wishes us to meet her back at the castle, and you will be coming with us as well. We will make sure you're healing will be finished there." Taking this as an order, not a request, Star and the rest of her entourage waited until the healer hooked her self under my arm to support me, as some soldiers helped me pick up my ruined armour, and I began walking, with much less difficulty than before I might add, through the portal, alongside the princess