The night that followed was quiet.
A very sleepy night, with good, fulfilled rest which only came to be after a day of work that one felt pride over. More supplies had been salvaged from Clinic Hill, and more importantly, the children from Clinic Village had been retrieved and been given care. The company had managed to rescue a village of only children that needed their help, and for that the company deserved a gentle night to let that pride settle and bore through the layers upon layers of horror and exhaustion their mission was constantly weighing on top of them with such heavy responsibilities.
"Dr. Sallus? It's time to check up on the children."
For the few that still stayed up to keep the nightly guard, that rest had to wait.
"Give me just a moment longer to finish writing."
They still had an entire night to wade through.
"I'll wait just outside then."
It wasn't the worst nights to be awake through though. The glade had a clear view of the Xoffian night sky blinking like dotted crystals far above. The legend of how the stars were formed sat unwell with Sarbor though. With the air being awash with fresh air that unwell feeling he managed to breathe out, replacing the unwell air with that of cold, leaf-filtered breaths that filled him with comfort and hope that the morrow would be the start of something new and great.
It was something worth standing guard for.
"Right, please lead the way, soldier."
A brief slice of weak candlelight stretched over the trampled ground as the doctor exited through the tent flaps with a slight hunch. Not enough to wake any of those that slept, but enough to let the soldier at duty, the doctor's shadow, know that he was ready to head out. He'd finished writing what he needed.
A letter half an apology and half a condemnation directed at the rugged officer. One way or another he'd read it, be it found by himself or given to him by one of his subordinates. Either way though, once the officer laid eyes on the letter Sarbor would be far, far away.
Was the plan.
From what Sarbor knew of military matters, and more-so those of medical ones, plans seldom survive the leap from paper to action.
He had to put trust in it though, otherwise who would?
Finding Manny had expedited the doctor's escape plan, if anything than out of his own hubris and belief in the plan he had concocted. It wasn't a complicated plan, but that did not mean that it was an easy one. The steps were few, only two, really. Take Cter and put her in the carriage. If Sarbor understood the monster driver's nature correctly from how it had been described to him by the soldiers that was really all that was needed. Two steps, and the rest the monster driver of the Monster Mage carriage would take care of.
But just as how Sarbor's job as a doctor was simple and only included the couple steps of curing the patient and sending them home there was more than just the simple surface.
The first step of getting to Cter was arguably the most difficult one.
For while Sarbor had been able to mingle and smoothed his relationship with the military company they still had direct orders to prevent him from seeing Cter. Those orders were given under the promise that should she and Sarbor stay with them, the plague would be cured. Sarbor with him being the closest one alive that could rival Dr. Sallus, and Cter with her direct vicinity of the massacre at Clinic Hill.
All the soldiers had respect for Sarbor, even more so when he treated the children brought in from Clinic Village. It would buy him a second or two of hesitation, but not much more. He needed more time to be able to break away from his stationed shadows, navigate to Cter's tent in the dark, check on her condition if it was even possible to escape with her, then carry her to her carriage and take off into the night faster than fast.
Steps a plenty to equate to two.
"If I may, doctor?"
Sarbor looked up from underneath his furrowed, bushy eyebrows lowered in thought to the young soldier that was escorting him. "What's on your mind, soldier?" Maybe Sarbor would be lucky and the soldier would suggest that he fled with Cter?
"I want to thank you for your assistance with the Clinic Village children." The soldier's hand clenched around the handle of his torch that bathed his face in a bright orange. "One of them is my...cousin. On my father's side. My father was a monster who was the first one in our family to be lost to the plague."
The chuckle that followed was grim. "Ironic, I know." He shook it off. "Monsters are easily laid low by grief the same that humans are. Emotions hurt them so much more than us. I...I volunteered to head to Clinic Village, but the chief did not want to risk any more emotional decision, as he put it."
Sarbor's eyes shot over to the tent where was stood the bird-like monster. She was another reason why Sarbor decided to expedite, for it was on that clear, chilly night that she was night guard at Cter's tent. If Sarbor had waited then it would have risked her being switched to another station due to him having talked to the day before.
Well-reasoned suspicion since Sarbor was using the bird-like monster in his escape plans, after all.
"To be so close and to also be denied," the soldier continued after some needed silence. "It was frustrating. It made me restless waiting for any news from Clinic Village, and when I finally got them, I ran to see you tending to my cousin with such care. I saw that she was in good hands, safe and sound." He breathed out, yet there was a twang of lament in it. "It means that my aunt is dead though. That she was lost to the plague." Another breathless silence followed. "Did you..." And another. "You wouldn't happen to know if I told you her name?"
"No," Sarbor answered. He wasn't gonna put any thought into it. "There have been too many for me. Please, forgive me."
The way the soldier inhaled made it sound like he wanted to say something more, but decided against it. The way he exhaled had his poncho bouncing, for he exhaled with his entire body to get it all out. "Understandable," he managed, finally. "And I do forgive you, doctor. I'm sure you did all you could for her."
Sarbor made sure to keep a step or so behind his stationed shadow so that he could eye the best way to make his way past as few tents as possible to reach Cter's, and also to keep his sight fairly used to the dark. It had been times when he had to do surgery and work in almost total dark up on Clinic Hill at the worst of times when monsters were busy and supplies were low. Once he had to resort to using a mirror to angle in some moonlight through a window.
There wouldn't be any lack of light anytime soon though.
For there was a third reason that Sarbor kept a step behind his escort.
He walked with his hands deep inside his felt jacket's pockets, clutching hard at the two bottles of alcohol the rugged officer had left behind. Since that day Sarbor hadn't touched them, for he had a hunch that they would come in handy. With Manny confirming that he still knew magic that had been the case.
Sarbor did not ask Manny's help with a light heart though. The child had done so much for him already up on Clinic Hill that asking again felt like putting on another burden on the pile of burdens Manny already had. Not initially, for when Sarbor asked he was flush with inspiration for how his plan would be. It was only when he returned to his tent that he realized that he had put on another weight onto the child.
It was necessary.
It was necessary that Sarbor used Manny's magic to help Cter escape. He could not bring with him Manny, and that Sarbor hazarded that the child already understood. He was needed with the children, for he was the oldest of them. He knew magic, and was still capable of it. That made him even more useful to the children who all had magical potential.
Whether or not any of them dared use their magical potential ever again was another question, and one Sarbor wasn't suited to answer. Although, if anything it was quite apt that he was utilizing both magic and physical means to save a Monster Mage. A slight and thin silver lining that he found amusing among all of it all.
Amusing to a fault, almost.
"I'll wait at the entrances while you check up on them," informed the soldier as he and Sarbor neared where the children slept in their tents. He pointed towards a bag at one of the stools near a coal-simmering campfire of rudimentary gauze and some medicine. "All that you should need are in there. Let me know if something else is needed." The soldier held up his torch so that Sarbor could see better. "Which tent first?"
Manny's, naturally, which Sarbor pointed to with a shrug. "Closest one." He took the lead with the soldier following. From the burnt campfire he rummaged a few intact sticks which he bundled together and handed over to Sarbor who wrapped them up in gauze. The soldier ignited the makeshift torch for Sarbor to use in the tents, and then led the way to the closest tent.
It wasn't the prettiest tent from the inside, but the children slept soundly in there regardless. Must have been safer for them compared to Clinic Village. Sarbor almost didn't want to wake Manny and his tent companion, but there was more at stake than disturbing the peaceful night. Even though they slept soundly, Sarbor didn't know if they would wake just as soundly, so before he shook them gently back from their dreams, he planted the torch in the soft ground so that he wouldn't drop it.
The fire had to wait a bit for the perfect opportunity.
"Hey," the doctor greeted to his young patient as tired eyes flickered awake. "I'm here to check up on you."
Begin scene. Act one.
"Are you feeling any fever?" was said out loud, but only so that the soldier would hear what he wanted to hear. Masked among the loud whispers and rummaging within the doctor bag was Sarbor handing over the full bottle of alcohol over to Manny along with a stretch of gauze so that he could ignite it from a safe distance when needed. "Follow my finger." Not to make sure that Manny was awake, but so that he could nod where he and the other kids had dug out an area that could be safely ignited and not risk that the fire would spread to either the rest of the forest or towards the camp. A mote of dirt surrounding a patch of grass dug by the kids.
For what soldier in their right mind would ever suspect a group of children playing for what could be the first time in forever?
None did, as Manny signaled by answering no to Sarbor's question about whether or not his sprained ankle had worsened.
"Then I'll let you go back to sleep again, young ones." Sarbor let his eyes rest on Manny's tired ones for a bit longer to make doubly sure that the child was ready. "For Cter," he mouthed with a stern nod that the child mirrored. It eased Sarbor's worry, and he exited the tent to continue into the next one.
To his additional luck, none of the Clinic Village kids had gotten worse during the day. Some still had their fevers and aches, but with the medicine Sarbor had managed to argue that they needed, for they absolutely did, they had at least been able to sleep. As he left them though he made sure to mutter a plead for forgiveness.
"Wish you could do more?" wondered the soldier at the plead. "Maybe when the chief returns from having established with the remaining chain of command we'll be able to find places for the kids. Hell, maybe we'll be able to rebuild Clinic Village as our base of operations. From what they said the Monster Mages were beginning to do just that before...you know."
Yes, Sarbor did.
He was there.
"Anyways, I'll get you back to your tent so that you can..." The soldier's steps slowed down as his expression focused due to a strange smell his wrinkled nose picked up. He angled the torch away from the wrinkles and smelled the other way. "That's fire..." he said low and worried with a glance over to the old campfire which was a few tent lengths away from him. The shadows on his face deepened for a moment.
And in the next, they completely disappeared.
"Fire!"
Like sunrise that had arrived hours before schedule, the military campsite was awash in a bright orange, wiping the shadows off the soldier's hurried expression, and casting long ones behind him.
Act two.
"Get the children!" ordered Sarbor. "You're much stronger than me! You can carry more!" He turned on his heel, bolting off into the labyrinth of tents before the soldier could argue otherwise and see that Sarbor had taken with him his given doctor bag. "I'll let the rest know!" He looked over his shoulder, praying that the soldier would listen to him. To his immense relief, the soldier did, and to his further luck, the soldier began with the tent furthest away from Manny, closest to the for-show blaze. All of the children would be fine with being hurriedly lifted out of their tents, that Sarbor had made sure about.
He had a clear head for the next step.
The commotion aimed at the plume of smoke above a roaming, house-wide flame allowed Sarbor to run in the opposite direction of the flame, shouting at those who had woken up, but not shouting to wake anyone else. His goal was on Cter's tent.
Which he saw guarded by the bird-like monster, and her alone!
Finally!
"W-What h-have you done!" was Sarbor met with as he neared the monster who stood clenching the string of her bow worn diagonally over her torso. "T-This w-wasn't..."
"It's safe," Sarbor assured with a sharp slash in the air. "It's just for show. I promise. I don't want anyone hurt. I only want the Monster Mage." His breath didn't catch up with him, and he was forced to take strain on his knees with his hands. "Quickly," he coughed between greedy breaths. "Let's get her moving." With a last inhale that smelled strongly of charred burning, he stepped past the monster and into the tent he'd been forbidden to enter. The smell of burning was different from what he had endured up on Clinic Hill. It did not fill him with fear.
It filled him with determination.
"Light," he ordered to the timid bird-like monster who followed him inside the tent. Despite the roaring fire over yonder it was still very dark inside the tent. Despite that he still saw the all-too familiar silhouette of a human laid on a patient bed. Once the monster behind Sarbor snapped her fingers to summon a ball of light that softly illuminated he looked around the tent.
A part of him was surprised how mundane and benevolent things were. It looked as if the officer had spoken complete truth about how he had ordered Cter to be treated. There were washing basins, pestle and mortars used to liquefy food and medicine, fresh sheets, and tinctures used to help ease chafing from lying down too much and too long.
Another part of him in return felt conflicted over his choice to go through with his plan. It looked as if Cter was treated as well as she could have.
But only her body though. Only her human side.
"What is..."
For judging by the reaction of the bird-like monster behind Sarbor, there was something magically amiss too.
"My magic..."
The soft light expanded into something sharp and harsh, with the bird-like monster squinting at her own magic. It looked as if it burned her, and she dispelled it with quick breaths following into the half-visible light from the controlled, yet raging fire outside.
Sarbor decided to strike while the iron was hot. To lead on while the air of shock still hung. "This is why we need the Monster Mage to get back to Monster Country," he began direct and to the point while he went to where he had seen supplies that he would need to pack into his given doctor bag. "It's only there that she can be treated for her magical condition rather than her physical. It is why I need to escape with her. It is why..."
Sarbor trickled off as he caught what the bird-like monster was doing. With eyes closed and hand at the plumage on her chest, she inhaled calmly, as if focusing deeply. Conflict began to take a hold on her expression, hardening the soft feathers into almost stone. She was feeling something.
"It's here."
Something Sarbor saw that she recognized.
"The hope is here," she said gently. "The hope is here. The same I felt before. The same that brought us here. It's..."
Her tone was completely changed.
"It's what got us to find the Monster Mage. It is what brought us to here where we saved both you and her. You said it yourself, didn't you, doctor?"
The air had changed too to something that felt sinister to Sarbor. Further still, that it felt sinister was too something different to Sarbor. It was as if there was something new that he felt. Something that he had not felt before in his life. Deep, deep within him in a place he had not sensed before.
"You feel it as well, don't you, doctor?" the bird-like monster cooed. "In your soul? Do you feel the same hope? You must be, right, doctor?"
In his...what? His soul? No, no he didn't have one. "I've no magical potential," Sarbor stated with growing annoyance seeing how it was eating time. On one of the busy tables he found a stack of parchments which detailed Cter condition. He had no time to read them in the hectic moment he was under though, so he stuffed them into the doctor bag along with the grabbed supplies. "Now please, lend me your hands so that we may carry her through the camp."
"Wrong," was answered motherly by the bird-like monster. "You're wrong, Dr. Fech."
What did she mean by that? Sarbor tried to hum away the annoyance, but the monster still stood at the entrance of the tent smiling nostalgically with her hand on her chest. "With each second our chances of getting Cter out of here gets lower and lower." He rolled down the cover that Cter slept underneath. She wasn't wearing her Monster Mage robes which were folded neatly at the end of the bed. Instead she wore patient gowns that showed signs of charring at the edges. "If we carry her between our shoulders we might fool the others that she is a soldier that we're bringing to safety from the fire. In the commotion and low light it should be–"
"You do have an aura, Dr. Fech."
It took all of Sarbor's strength not to yell at the bird-like monster. He swallowed, reminding himself that he had to focus. "Then that is another reason that I need to get to Jarasevo with Cter."
"Don't you see? You're experiencing the exact same feeling I was, doctor." Ihloe moved a wing softly in an arc towards him. "The same destined hope. The same that brought me here, and what had us rescuing the Clinic Village children. It's a wonderful hope, isn't it, doctor?"
Dammit, she was far gone. Sarbor could see in her eyes that there was no chance he would be able to talk with her no more. He'd seen that glazed look too many times before, both from humans and monsters.
"I was a Monster Hunter before my village was taken by the plague." Ihloe unsheathed her bow from over her shoulder and folded a pair of feathers over the string which she plucked at. "To take one life so that many could survive was what I did." Her glazed eyes shifted over to the sleeping Monster Mage. "It's her, isn't it? It's her that's the source of this hope. She's the key to curing the plague. I can feel it. My soul is filled with hope just thinking about it."
Sarbor took a step back towards the flaps on the other side of the tent.
"If you take her away, then you'll be stealing away that hope from this country." A glimmer of an arrow began to solidify between the monster's feathers tightening on the bow string. "You're a doctor. Don't you agree with that? Isn't it your duty to protect those that come to you for aid?" Another feather curled around the notch of the bow, nocking the magical arrow solidifying with a teal shimmer.
"You're a monster," Sarbor replied while positioning himself for a quick escape. Things were beginning to go against his plan, just as he feared. On top of Ihloe clearly losing herself due to some magical effect, the light from the fire Manny had set off had begun to dim slightly. "Don't you understand that Cter needs magical treatment?" He wasn't trying to convince, only to try and buy time. "I told you before that she needs to get to Jarasevo. It's the only place where she can get adequate treatment."
"Xoff is the only land I know," dripped from the orange beak. "Its people is the only ones I care for." The readied bow notched with a magical arrow was raised slowly towards the human doctor. "My friends. My family, both the one that I lost and the one I've gained. They need to live. They all need to!"
Sarbor ducked out through the tent flaps.
"One dies so that many can live."
Through the fabric he saw the teal glow of the magical arrow follow him as he ran around the tent. His shadow was cast on the fabric, and Ihloe followed along with a secure, constant turn of her body.
"We don't take life. We give lives."
Like a reaching hand, the magical arrow burst through the tent with a ferocious bite. Its speed was too much for Sarbor to react too, and it connected with his shoulder.
"'Tis the Monster Hunter creed."
The pain stopped Sarbor in his tracks, causing a stumble. His hand instinctively gripped at the arrow, but he stooped himself before pulling it out. If he did it would begin to bleed, and with his heart racing like drums in his head and ears it was the worst decision he could have made.
The decision he made though wasn't too far away from it.
With pain fueling him and anger at his plan falling apart motivating him, Sarbor leaned his neck back. He inhaled the smoke-filled air deeply, and roared with the pain and anger fueling his voice louder than it had ever been. "Driver of the Monster Mage carriage!" His voice rang out over the rushing soldiers coordinating bucket chains through the camp. "Come to me! I have the Monster Mage Cter here!" His throat chafed like he had been swallowing gravel, and his lungs stung with the heavy smoke. Coughs that had him tasting blood filled his throat and mouth, but he had to repeat. He had to roar again for the carriage to…
To…
"Where is the Monster Mage?"
Sarbor could only blink at the dark-blue, hooded monster that had suddenly materialized in front of him. He looked up in his blinking, and caught the final moments of numerous tents falling down from having been thrown in the air like rice at a wedding. A hefty gust of wind followed shortly. The bucket chain had been broken, with each broken end standing in chock with buckets clutched hard away from the deep carvings in the dirt that led to…
"Ah!"
The human doctor became startled at the sight of the Monster Mage carriage stood next to him with door opened for him.
"Where is the Monster Mage?"
"S-She's in there..."
"Baggage?"
"Robes at the end of her bed and also my doctor bag." For some strange reason Sarbor felt ease in answering the hooded monster. Even with his chafed throat and smoke-filled lungs he could both speak and think clearly. "We need some supplies for the road as well."
The blue-hooded monster nodded for Sarbor to get in while it glided towards the tent he had just escaped from. Inside it the bird-like monster was notching another arrow, but did not manage to get it off before she too startled a scream at a silhouette which just appeared at Cter's bed and–
Sarbor looked around in his vicinity, but there were no blue-hooded monster. Only a silhouette through the tent which patiently collected his doctor bag and Cter's robe. As if possessed by complete and utter trust, the doctor turned to the carriage door and walked inside. After another arrow bounced against the door frame he was suddenly awoken from the trance, but by then the pain from the arrow digging deeper had him sitting down in the seat facing forwards in the carriage. The same he sat down in when Cter and he rode to Clinic Village.
The pain had him closing his eyes for a moment while he reached for the half-empty bottle inside his felt pocket. A cold gust brushed past him as his fingers touched the cork, and he opened one eye to see Cter lying the same she had on the bed across the carriage seat opposite him. A second later the carriage began moving, and despite the arrow jutting deeper into his shoulder due to the acceleration, he still smiled.
"Magic..."
He poured some of the alcohol on his wound, gritting his teeth against the sting.
"Too much of it..."
Then he poured some in himself.
"Ebott's shadow, there's too much of it..."
