ATTENTION!
This chapter contains both a pictorial description of an injury and blood!
If (for whatever reason) this is nothing for you, better don't read it!

Chapter 4: By a hair's breadth

"I'll give him something for the pain so that he can breathe more easily. The rest, he has to manage on his own."

The doctor looked at the round of worried faces and said encouragingly, "But since he made it this far, I'm convinced he'll pull through."

The three present nodded and the doctor turned to the housekeeper, "You did exactly the right thing with the compresses on his calves, it bought the young man some time. Because I'll be honest...", he looked around, "If I had come just a little later, I wouldn't have been able to do anything for him anymore.

The doctor smiled at the prince and as he continued, his voice sounded downright reverent.

"You have an incredibly brave and devoted majordomo, my prince. To venture outside in this weather to save the life of a servant."

"He is more than a servant."

All eyes turned to Belle, who had been silent all this time and now looked to Lumiere with an affectionate gaze.

"He's a friend, part of the family."

Everyone nodded, then the prince's face grew serious as he asked, visibly unsure:

"My majordomo... Did he stay in the village?"

"Oh no, he insisted on returning to the castle as soon as possible. On foot if necessary! I gave him my horse, but with the old mare it will surely take a while before he gets here. But at least..." he glanced outside through a gap in the curtains, "it has finally stopped raining."

It was true. The sky was still cloudy, but the rain had finally stopped and it was noticeably lighter.

The doctor gave the still unconscious Lumiere another shot, then said:

"Now, as I said, it's a case of wait and see."

He checked Lumiere's fever and breathing again, then smiled with satisfaction.

"His breathing has already calmed down and the fever has also gone down a little.

He's going to make it. But it was really, by a hair's breadth..."

"I think," Madame Pottine's much more cheerful voice was now heard, "we should let Lumiere sleep, he needs rest now more than anything. I will check on him again later. And we," she smiled at everyone in the room, "could all certainly do with a cup of good tea now, couldn't we?"

They all agreed and left the room, leaving the sleeping Lumiere behind.

It was a long way back to the castle, or did it just seem that way to him? Cogsworth couldn't say for sure, perhaps it was simply because he was exhausted and at the end of his strength. And the fact that the doctor's horse looked more like a rattle rack than a real horse didn't make things any better. It trotted through the forest that surrounded the castle and separated it from the village, and Cogsworth really wondered if the old animal would make it, but it went on unperturbed, slowly but steadily. The majordomo, who had recently been sitting firmly and confidently in his saddle like a young hunter, now looked more like a tired potato sack that had once been half-heartedly thrown onto the horse's back. He no longer had any strength to really hold himself upright and with every step of the horse he swayed to the side, so that one could think he would fall out of the saddle at any moment. But Monsieur Cogsworth cared little at the moment what kind of impression he made. For one thing, no one was around anyway, and for another, he was far too tired to worry about it. Only one thought was constantly circling around in his head:

Lumiere.

Had he made it? Was he still alive? Would he recover, or had everything the majordomo had done, everything he had put at risk, been for nothing else?

Just at that thought, the castle came into view from behind the treetops.

Cogsworth smiled, soon he would finally be home again, with what he saw as all the family in the castle. With the prince and princess Adam and Belle and...

Suddenly he stopped the horse and looked up at the castle, which could still only be guessed at by a few towers, because he remembered what had happened in the morning.

The words that had been spoken…

"Then you leave ME no choice... But to disobey your order."

...

"IF YOU WALK OUT THAT DOOR NOW, YOU WILL NEVER NEED TO COME BACK!"

...

Cogsworth began to tremble. What if...

Had the prince really meant his words as he had said them?

Had Cogsworth now lost his employment, his place to stay, his home?

He still stared at the castle, undecided what to do now.

Should he turn around and just disappear?

Or should he dare to return to the castle?

He could ask the prince for his forgiveness, in the hope that he would accept him and keep him in his service. And besides... He had to bring the doctor his horse to the castle and at least find out how Lumiere was doing.

Perhaps he would be lucky and the prince would really forgive him for his transgression.

And if not... Then Cogsworth might at least have the chance to pack his things and...

To say goodbye...

Sighing, he took a deep breath, then made the horse go on without paying any attention to where it was going. And this carelessness was to be his undoing. The animal got a little too close to the edge of the path, where it was very muddy and impassable due to the rain. It started to slide, gave a startled whinny and made an awkward leap forward. Stumbling, it came back onto the path, where it took a few clumsy steps before coming to a snorting halt.

Without its rider.

The moment the horse leapt off, Cogsworth, still completely lost in his thoughts, had no chance to react. Torn from his saddle by the sudden momentum, he fell backwards to the ground, half into the undergrowth at the side of the path and came to rest with his head next to a large rock, which he had missed by a hair's breadth.

But his luck had still run out, because as soon as he hit the ground, Monsieur Cogsworth let out a loud cry of pain and his hand went to his left arm. He wanted to roll away to the side when he realised that he could not move. At least not without a pain running through his shoulder that almost robbed him of his senses. Gasping for air, he felt his arm with his right hand until he came across something solid sticking out of the flesh above his armpit, right next to his upper arm bone. He drew in a sharp breath as he touched the spot where he now noticed something sticky and warm. Blood.

He closed his eyes and tried to suppress the pain and the rising panic, then turned his head to look at the wound he had obviously made. Barely a moment later, he let his head fall back with a groan and tried to suppress the rising nausea.

A branch, about two fingers wide, protruded from the wound that had pierced his upper arm from behind and held him to the ground. Breathing faster and faster, Cogsworth tried to find a way to free himself, but the pain caused by even the slightest movement hardly allowed him to think clearly. So for the time being, he just concentrated on getting his breathing under control again and not losing consciousness.

He could not say how long he lay there like that, but he knew that this misfortune meant the end of him if he did not get help as quickly as possible.

"But no one will come..."

It was a saddening thought, but Cogsworth had to realise that it was the truth.

People from the village rarely came to the castle and almost even more rarely someone left it. And looking for him... There was no reason for that and if someone in the castle should be worried about him and was looking for him, it would take hours until then.

No, he couldn't wait for help, he had to find a way to free himself and at best get to the castle. Cogsworth took a few deep breaths, then tried to twist himself sideways off the branch. His scream made a few birds fly up in fright and he himself thought he was losing his senses, but he had no choice. He turned a little more when he heard a crack behind him and suddenly toppled over to the side. His vision went black for a moment as he lay in the dirt, leaning on his right arm, and it took him a moment to realise that the branch that had pierced him had broken off. He was free.

How he had managed to get back on the horse, he could not have told anyone with the best will in the world, but he had done it. He was lying more on the animal than sitting, bent far over the horse's neck, the reins slack in his right hand while his left arm hung down at his side. His blood ran down this, had soaked the entire sleeve as well as the grey horse's coat, while it dripped onto the ground with every step the animal took. His senses were fading with each passing moment, he barely saw the castle that was coming closer and closer, barely noticed how they crossed the stone bridge that spanned the rocky gorge. He was only vaguely aware of them passing through the great gate before the horse came to a halt, right in front of the main entrance. He heard the horrified cry of a servant, as if from far away, as he toppled from his horse, bereft of all strength, and hit the stone floor.

A cry of pain, then blackness fell over him for good.