Chapter Six

Upon opening his eyes, Siegfried Farnon's first thought was how astonished he was to see anything, let alone the first rays of a sunrise.

His memories of the previous day were jumbled and it took him several moments to collect his thoughts and work out why he had been so surprised to wake up. Then it finally came to him: stray horse, barn collapse, and Tristan having to treat his wounds.

Siegfried tried to swallow, his parched mouth and throat making that difficult. The last thing he remembered from yesterday was his little brother working to close the gash in his side. That part was easy to recall as Siegfried doubted he would ever forget the pain he experienced while it was happening or the dread he felt that this surgery would finish him off. The fact that he had survived and had awakened with at least some of his faculties intact seemed nothing short of a miracle.

He also remembered the waxen, vacant look on Tristan's face while he worked and the brief terror he had that Tristan was going into shock and wouldn't be able to finish. But somehow, in his haze of agony, Siegfried was able to figure out that Tristan had not become paralyzed with fear, but was actually working coldly and clinically to save his life. Looking back on it now, Siegfried figured that that thought made it easier for him to surrender to merciful unconsciousness.

Still, as grateful as he was to pass out in the middle of it, Siegfried regretted that Tristan had been forced to remain aware throughout it all. He knew that he'd have a hard time operating on one of his own dogs due to the attachment he felt toward them and would have to take them to Granville Bennett to treat them. He could only imagine how terrible it would be if he had had to do what Tristan did and operate on his own brother. An operation neither of them were actually qualified to do.

Siegfried shuddered. Even though he knew he'd never forget what happened to him, he still held onto a faint hope that Tristan would find a way to block those terrible moments from his mind. That was a memory he did not want his little brother to re-live. Ever.

He tried to move and immediately regretted it as fresh pain raced through his body. Not that he could move all that much anyway. The dammed beams that had fallen over him were still holding him fast.

Siegfried clenched his jaw tightly, only allowing a couple of quiet moans escape as he worked to regain his composure. Eventually, what registered about as much as the pain was how warm he was starting to feel. Warm and more than a little nauseous.

He put a hand to his forehead. Yes, he was definitely feverish. At least, Siegfried was fairly certain that he was. It was getting difficult to keep his thoughts orderly which frustrated him. He needed to keep his wits about him if they were to have any chance of either of them getting out of this barn.

It was then that Siegfried realized that he hadn't heard a sound from Tristan for a while.

"Tristan?" he rasped. He coughed and managed a thick swallow at last. "Tristan?"

Siegfried frowned and then blinked hard. He couldn't fathom how he hadn't noticed until just now, but suddenly, he was aware of someone huddled up against him. He craned his neck around to find Tristan curled up beside him, fast asleep.

Despite his discomfort, Siegfried managed a weak smile. He thought back to when Tristan was a boy and those times when his little brother would sleep beside him as a way to cope with his nightmares. Tristan never talked about it, but Siegfried hadn't missed the gratitude in his baby brother's eyes every time he had made room for him with no questions asked or recriminations given for waking him up. The nightmares went away for good after a few months, but Siegfried found himself checking up on Tristan at night occasionally from that point onward.

Watching his brother slumber next to him soon brought back other memories from Tristan's childhood, and for a couple minutes, Siegfried found himself lost in a mix of fond remembrances from years ago. He was brought back to the present, however, by the haggard look on Tristan's face even while he slept.

Another wave of pain was also a sufficient reminder of the dire situation they were currently in. And of the urgent need to act as quickly as possible now that it was light again.

"Tristan," he repeated, nudging his brother's arm. "Come on, Tristan, wake up."

"Come on, Siegfried," Tristan slurred, still mostly asleep. "Just let me rest in peace."

"I fear that is what we'll both be doing if you don't get moving. So stop arsing about and wake up, will you?"

Siegfried shook Tristan's arm even harder, the movement making him hiss with pain. This time though, it got the desired effect, and Tristan's eyes fluttered open.

"What..? Siegfried!" Tristan snapped up into a sitting position. "Are you all right?"

"As well as could be expected, I should think," Siegfried replied, his words punctuated by another groan. "Is, is there any water left?"

"What? Oh. Yes. Yes, um, hang on a minute."

Tristan grabbed Siegfried's bag and rummaged around in it before pulling out a mostly empty pill bottle. He opened it up and shook out the pills, making sure to brush them and as much residue as possible back into the bag. Siegfried almost lectured him about the likely waste involved here, but at the last moment, it occurred to him that this was hardly the situation to be worrying about the misuse of veterinary materials.

Tristan crawled away, and Siegfried heard the creak of the pump and the sound of splashing. A few seconds later, his little brother returned and held up the pill bottle full of water. Siegfried had tried to take it from him, not wanting his baby brother to fuss over him. However, his hands shook too much to hold it steady on his own. Then there was also the awkward position he was trapped in to consider.

In the end, Tristan had had to both guide Siegfried's hands and prop his elder brother's head and shoulders up a little so Siegfried could get in a few healthy swallows. Siegfried hated how helpless all this made him feel, but he forced himself to be grateful for Tristan's assistance.

After drinking down a refill of the bottle, Siegfried collapsed back onto the pile of straw that Tristan had placed under him. At that moment, all he wanted to do was sleep, and his eyes slipped shut of their own accord. He would have dozed off right then if he hadn't felt a hand grab at his wrist, apparently to check for a pulse.

Siegfried opened his eyes back up to find Tristan frowning as he searched for a heartbeat.

"Use the stethoscope," Siegfried said. "You'll get a better idea of what is going on."

Tristan shook himself. "Oh. Right." He fished around in Siegfried's bag until he found it and put it on. Then Tristan pulled down the jacket covering Siegfried and opened his shirt a little. The frown on his little brother's face did not go away as he pushed the small disc around his chest which Siegfried knew was not a good sign.

"How bad is it?"

Tristan blinked slowly and put the stethoscope away before answering.

"I…Siegfried, I'm pretty sure you're getting fluid in your lungs. And…and your heart rate, it's going up."

"Infection then," Siegfried sighed, closing his eyes again. "Well, we knew that it would probably happen. Given what we had to work with."

"I, I'm sorry, Siegfried…I…."

"Tristan, Tristan, it wasn't your fault," Siegfried said, patting Tristan's hand. "There was no avoiding this." He opened his eyes back up and frowned at the sight of his little brother's worried face.

"What's important right now is getting you out of here," he added.

"Me?! What about you? Siegfried, I can't just…."

"You must and you will!" Siegfried snapped.

Another rush of pain overtook him, and this time, Siegfried wasn't able to hold back the agonized groan that escaped his lips. It took him several moments to regain control and clear his head of the warm, dizzying throb that had filled it.

When he finally did come back to his senses, it was to Tristan holding his hand and staring at him with anxious eyes.

At that point, Siegfried knew he'd have to take a different approach. The truth was, he could sympathize with how Tristan must be feeling as Siegfried knew how worried and irrational he would probably be if their situations were reversed, and he was the one who had to face the prospect of leaving his little brother behind in such a precarious condition. Not that he would actually go through with it, but that wasn't the point right now so there was no need to tell Tristan that.

"Tristan, listen to me," he said, working hard to keep his voice steady. "This barn isn't going to stay like this forever. So the sooner one of us gets out and goes for help, the sooner the other person can be rescued. Even if I weren't trapped by these blasted beams, I'm in no shape to make it back to the car. Don't you see, Tristan? It has to be you."

Siegfried curled his fingers around Tristan's hand. "Besides, with this infection settling in…I won't…I won't be able to hold out for too long. You see that, don't you…Tristan?"

He could hear his little brother swallow hard, and at first, Siegfried thought that Tristan's silence was the beginning of another refusal. Then, almost a minute later, Tristan finally nodded, hanging his head down afterwards.

"Yes, yes you're right," he mumbled. "But Siegfried…."

"No," Siegfried interrupted, squeezing his brother's hand. "Don't think about anything else right now. Concentrate on getting out of here, and then we'll concern ourselves with other things, little brother."

Tristan nodded again as he let Siegfried's hand go. Then he tucked his jacket around Siegfried's shoulders again before crawling over to the edges of the piles of debris around them.

"You should put that back on," Siegfried told him. "You won't do either of us any good if you catch your death of cold."

"I'm fine," Tristan said, his back toward him.

Siegfried immediately frowned when he saw Tristan shivering while he began to dig through the mound of rotted roofing tiles in front of him. He loathed it when Tristan lied to him, but decided he would have to let that pass for now. The only important thing at the moment was Tristan finding a way out of this wreck. At least then, he could take comfort in knowing that his little brother would survive this ordeal intact.

As for himself….

Siegfried's frown softened. He had never been all that sure about his own mortality and wondered how his feelings might change as his condition worsened. No matter what though, Siegfried was completely certain that it would be far worse if he had to watch Tristan perish alongside him. As close as they were, that was one journey he did not want them to take together.

"This is hopeless, Siegfried," Tristan called back to him. "Every time I move a pile out of the way, more of it falls into the place I just cleared."

"Then you'll just have to keep trying," Siegfried said with an exasperated sigh. "And for goodness sake, be more careful or you'll bring what's left of the ruins onto us."

Tristan grumbled, but Siegfried couldn't make out what his little brother was saying. Just as well. He wasn't in the mood to listen to Tristan's whining anyway.

Siegfried coughed, his mouth dry again already. He thought about asking for more water, but decided against it. He didn't want to distract Tristan when his little brother was finally hard at work to escape.

Still, Siegfried couldn't deny that he was thirsty. So thirsty. And warm. Why did Tristan insist on leaving his coat on him anyway? Tristan was the one who kept shivering, although his baby brother was doing a little less of that now that he was busy moving heaps of wreckage around. Meanwhile, Siegfried felt plenty warm. It was ridiculous, but so typical of Tristan. His brother never did listen to him.

Suddenly, he felt very drowsy and could no longer keep his eyelids open. Siegfried figured he might as well rest while Tristan was working. Just a short rest so he could monitor his little brother's progress later. Tristan often started strong on a job, but then got bored and slacked off. Yes, he'd need to be awake later to prod his little brother to keep at it.

The last thing Siegfried heard was Tristan muttering something about a "bloody, wretched board" before falling asleep.

Back near the road, Andrew Birley discovered a curious sight: a car that was abandoned in the middle of nowhere.

Birley cocked his eyebrows up and got down from his buggy to get a closer look at the vehicle. It didn't appear to be damaged in any way. The tires were all sound. Lifting the bonnet revealed no troubles although he was far from an expert in that area. So why leave it behind? And for that matter, where were the folks who had left the car in the first place? This wasn't a commonly used road by any means, so it seemed unlikely that the occupants of the car would have been able to get someone to give them a ride elsewhere.

Birley's confusion grew when he finally realized that he recognized this car. Yes, it was Mr. Farnon's car. He'd seen it on the roads leading to and from Darrowby often enough. But what would Mr. Farnon be doing all the way out here? There were no farms close by.

A distant whinny caught his attention. Birley looked up and squinted as a horse came trotting toward him.

"Why I say, that's Charlie Kemp's horse," he muttered to himself. "He's been missing that horse ever since it'd run off. He'd be right happy to get it back."

Birley darted over and managed to take hold of the lead rope before the horse could run off again. He patted its neck a few times and then walked it back toward his buggy. As he tied the rope onto the back, he noted the bandage on one of the horse's legs.

"Mr. Farnon must have done that. Maybe that's why his car was out here. He was treating this horse and then realized he was running out of gas or something. That must be it. And he must have had his brother or Mr. Herriot pick him up so he could let old Charlie know. Well, maybe I could save them an extra trip."

Once the rope was secure, Birley hopped back onto his buggy and took off. It wouldn't be much out of his way to drop by Kemp's place. And he owed Charlie so many favors, it was about time he started paying some of them back.

"Come on, Marigold," he said with a flick of the reins. "Best we get going before too much of the day gets away from us."