A/N: The first part of this fic will have some blood and gore in it. Well its really not that bad but I just wanna warn you guys. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!

Diclaimer: I do not own Dragonfable, if I did, Dragon Amulets will be free for all! WOOT! Power to the people!

Chapter Seven: In the Infirmary

AAAAAARRRHGGGHHHHH!

A blood curling scream woke me up and I sat up immediately but my head throbbed and my vision spun so I sank back into my bed as the screams continued. I realized that I was back in the infirmary. The knight have succeeded in getting us back to Oaklore. I turned my head toward the direction of the screams to find a teenager about my age lying on the bed adjacent to mine and in so much pain that he screamed to his lungs. I could also hear faint crying from outside.

His armor and upper clothes were taken off revealing a gruesome sight. His chest had a large gash with blood spurting occasionally. His sides were punctured with deep heavily bleeding wounds ,in the form a crescent like a bite mark, making his breathing almost impossible since his lungs and ribs have been badly damaged. He seemed to be coughing up blood constantly after every scream and it flowed on the side of his mouth. His mattress who were once white were now in a crimson shade as his fluids dripped into the wooden floor.

His screams persisted as I watched him helplessly from my swirling vision. A knight with a familiar red orange hair, who was no other than Sir Junn, hovered beside him carrying the same ingredients he used to treat my wounded leg once ,only this time, he carried five times more of it. His face were all sweaty and exhausted and filled with tension at the same time as he desperately tried to save this young man's life. He hastily emptied five bottles of the sizzling red substance unto the boy's chest. He then wiped it off but when he was about to pour the honey, the wounded guy suddenly went into spasmodic seizures with his whole body trembling viciously. Sir Junn dropped the bottle of honey and it shattered on the floor as he used his both hands to apply pressure on the wounds.

The spasms lasted a full minute before the body became still and his breathing turned into frequent gasps. The young man's hand gripped Sir Junn's shoulder weakly before saying "Reina….Where's Reina…..I have to….tell…her…" but he couldn't finish, his breathing stopped and his hand went slack. His almond eyes staring blankly into the ceiling in a way just like my brother's when I saw him in the wagon.

Sir Junn sighed heavily, his head bowed, as his eyes stared at his bloody palms while muttering something to himself. "You did all you can Junn, he was beyond your help. You can't save them all."

I had a feeling that it wasn't the first time he said that to himself. Just then, a teenage girl with matching blue hair, eyes and robes with white trim carrying a staff with a sapphire gem on top, came in. Her face was tainted with worry and streaked with tears. "Sir Junn, is Alex-" Her words caught as she saw the knight covering the boy's body with a black sheet, leaving only the face. He then turned to her with a defeated expression before saying, "I-I'm sorry, I did all I can but I'm afraid it wasn't enough. His wounds were way beyond treatment."

The girl dropped her staff as she slowly walked over to the dead boy's bedside. Her eyes were wide in shock as she dropped to her knees. She placed her hand on his cheek and spoke to him with her voice cracking.

"Alex, Alex please wake up…You-you promised me you'll be okay. Please….don't do these to me Alex. I-I love you!"

She hugged his head as she sobbed on his shoulder and pleaded for him to wake up. Sir Junn gathered his healing ingredients and went towards the shelf without another word. He then went back and picked up the boy's armor which were scattered on the floor. The breast plate was crushed and pierced in the sides and tainted with blood while the shield was badly dented beyond repair. His sword was bent and dripping light green blood.

Wait a minute, light green blood? I thought to myself. The boy's wounds that was unmistakably resembles a bite mark? There can only be one creature whom I know who can do this. It was the Hydra. It is becoming a larger threat every single day. It must be destroyed. But how? My daggers couldn't even penetrate its hide and spears only makes it mad. If only I could find a better weapon…

Sir Junn came up to me when he noticed that I was already awake. "Good, your up. I suggest you spend the rest of the day here and you can go tomorrow. May I ask a favor of you?"

I nodded and he continued. "Will you at least try to make her comfortable while I take the boy's body into the morgue." He gestured to a wooden door in the farthest corner of the infirmary. " She's currently in a devastated state and I'm afraid I can't do much about it."

I spent the whole day in the infirmary as Sir Junn advised. I tried to comfort the girl. Tell her everything is going to be alright and all while Sir Junn carried the boy's body into the morgue to prepare his body for the burial. In the first few hours after lunch, she just kept on crying and muttering things to herself. It was about mid-afternoon before she calmed down and managed to pull herself together but she was still a little shaken and downcast. I tried to start up a conversation to get her mind off things and luckily, she obliged.

We introduced ourselves to each other first. Her name was Reina and she was nineteen. She and Alex, the boy who just died, grew up together in Falconreach.

"What about you?" she asked, her voice still a little hoarse and her eyes were still red and puffy, as she took a chair and sat at my bedside. " You're not from here aren't you?"

"Well…yeah" I replied casually," I came from a faraway kingdom of Asgard in a humble quiet village of Locklaven. A bandit invasion destroyed my village and I was the only one who survived. From then on, I became a wanderer doing quests and menial tasks from village to village for a living. To tell you the truth, I only came here yesterday." They weren't lies, not just the complete truth.

"I'm sorry to hear that. If that's the case, then welcome to the kingdom of Lore." She said, managing a faint smile. "So why did you chose to be a rogue?"

"Excuse me?" I said, a little alarmed. "How come you all regard me as a rogue and yet you're not treating me like one?"

"Oh…sorry. You were referring to rogues that are synonymous to bandits and marauders." She said in realization. "Things are different here in Lore, so to speak. You were referred to as a rogue based on your fighting style. Rogues prefer to use twin daggers most of the time and were lighter equipped than warrior. I prefer to be a mage so I could cast spells and I always had a passion for magic. Alex-" her voice caught again. "he is a warrior, I mean, he was a warrior. He dreamt of someday being a great paladin."

"That clears it up. I'm sorry for you know, him." I said. I totally know how it feels to lose someone close to me. "So is he your brother or something?"

She shook her head and sighed. "We were childhood friends, best of friends. Well we became more than that just this last week. It's quite a funny story actually." She laughed half-heartedly as she held up a ring in her finger and stared at the small glittering sapphires embedded to form a circle on it.

"We were at Falconreach Bay, sitting by the docks and watching the sunset, just hanging out and talking about how rings affect our performances in battle when he asked me what will I do if he gives me one. I shrugged and told him it depends on what the ring does. He shrugged in return and brought out a ring with sapphires in it and said that we both know that we've been friends for what seemed like forever and it's time to take the next step. He said that I was the most amazing girl he'd ever met and everything about me was just perfect and he wants to spend the rest of his life with me. I just sat there stunned about the sudden turn of events. Then, he did something that surprised me even more, he leaned and kissed me. Can you believe that? I was so surprised but it felt good. He asked me one question 'Will you marry me?' I can only squeak a 'yes' as he inserted the ring in my finger. We went home without another word."

"He's full of surprises isn't he?" I said smiling, a little relieved that she's finally pulling herself together but the dark and gloomy mood came back as she narrated their last night together.

"We visited Oaklore yesterday to visit Alex's cousin, Captain Rolith. We spent the rest of the day hunting in the nearby forest. It was around midnight when we decided to go back when we came upon the broken bridge. We hurriedly came towards it, thinking that someone might be hurt. We were both unaware that we will be the ones hurt. Suddenly the water gurgled and three large sea serpents shot through the water and attacked us." Her voice started to tighten and tears were threatening to fall from the edges of her eyes as she described those fatal moments.

"He-he told me to go and get help but I disagreed. I wouldn't leave him alone with those things by himself even if I only knew fire spells and weak energy shields. We fought valiantly for half an hour but we couldn't even deal a considerable amount of damage and we were getting tired. And then it happened. Alex was busy fending off the largest one and one of the smaller ones when the remaining head snapped at him. I tried to erect a shield but it shattered immediately on impact. I could only watch in horror as the serpent sank its teeth on Alex's sides. If only I wasn't so pathetic and useless!"

She pounded her lap and buried her face into her hands as she sobbed. I sat up, and immediately felt woozy but not like the last time, and gave her a hug. She looked like she really needed one.

"Hey…It wasn't your fault. If the Hydra wasn't there in the first place it wouldn't have happened. " I whispered as she continued to sob. We stayed like that for about five minutes before she muttered an 'I'm okay' and I let go.

"You were right. Thanks for everything. Talking to me and all." She managed a weak smile as she wiped her face and said with determination. "The past is past I couldn't do anything about it but I won't let it happen again. I'm going to be a better mage!"

"That's the spirit." I said smiling.

It was already late afternoon when Sir Junn finally came out of the morgue. He looked like he hadn't slept for a week, maybe he really didn't. He looked really terrible. Reina had fallen asleep in one of the beds and I just sat there thinking about how the Hydra destroyed her life.

He walked over to me and said in a low voice. "Well, Mr. Vincent, thanks for taking care of her. She seems to be fine. I apologize for the trouble I'm not really good at dealing with those matters." He sighed.

"It was nothing really." I replied. He looked at me gratefully before thanking me again.

Just then, two knights came in, both wearing full faced helms so I couldn't identify them, and greeted us. " Hey Junn, Pent said that you needed us so we're here but you better be quick about it since I've just came out with a new idea for the catapult!" One of them said excitedly and I realized they were the guys hanging around the catapult yesterday.

"Right…." The other one said sarcastically but the first one didn't seem to mind. " With that new idea of yours, we'll find the ruins in to time."

"Oh will you two take your minds off those mythical lightning weapons and ruins that don't even exist," Sir Junn interrupted. "and get a shovel and dig a new grave in the Field of the Guardians."

"Why what happened to the guy we rescued earlier?" The first one asked.

"Oh he's still alive… we're just going to practice our grave digging skills…" the second one said, still oozing with sarcasm, and I swear that I could see his eyes rolling inside that helm.

"I want to see him first. He's my cousin after all." A familiar voice filled with authority said by the doorway as a blonde man with a huge golden hammer strapped in his back stepped in. All the knights stood in attention, even the sarcastic one.

"Of course Captain, right these way." Sir Junn said as he went over to unlock the door to the morgue. Captain Rolith followed shortly. He glanced at the sleeping Reina and muttered a 'poor girl' and then turned to me and said. "I must say you've done your job well, rogue. You've protected the priestess with your life and you deserved this." He tossed me a sack of gold coins.

"Uhhh…Thanks…" Was all I could say as he went inside the morgue and I was left with the other two knights.

I chatted with them for some time. The excited one was named Vivor while the sarcastic one was simply named Castic., a fitting name. They told me their quest to find the mythical weapons of the legendary knight named Sir Jing. It is said that he wielded weapons that have the ability to channel lightning and stored them in a temple before he died. As centuries past, elementals, spawns from the essences of nature attacked the temple and it was long forgotten.

It was an interesting story, I have to admit, as I waved goodbye to them after talking for some time. It took me a few moments after they were gone before an idea struck me. Lightning of course! The Hydra is weak against lightning since it is a water borne. I should have thought of that sooner! But where is it? That question suddenly nagged my mind. Maybe someone here might have a clue. I made a mental note that the first thing I have to do is to find anything about the whereabouts of Sir. Jing's temple.

A/N: Whew! It took longer than I expected and I know its somehow boring since the whole chapter happened in one place (and its in a hospital! There's nothing fun in a hospital!) and there was no action. I really missed the action. Anyways, I hope the next chapter comes out better. The Iron Raven taking off!