This chapter contains moderately graphic depictions of blood and gore in the first section, I invite you to skim over it if this bothers you. Also, posting a chapter is much more difficult with a cat laying on my arm
The snow was melting when they got to the surface.
The sky was overcast, but it was slightly warmer, warm enough for their tracks to disappear into the wet grass. Herobrine had slowed down considerably by this point, his face pale and blank and his arm wrapped tightly around Evangeline's shoulders as he tried to remain upright. Evangeline was doing her best to support him, but she was tiring quickly, and she knew that they needed to stop up the wound so that the trail of blood wouldn't give away the small head start they had.
When they reached the top of the hill, Evangeline paused, scanning the landscape until she spied a thin forest. It wasn't ideal, but it would do.
"Herobrine." She said, making him lift his chin a bit. "Do you think you can make it there?" She pointed to the trees, and he followed her gaze.
"Y-yes." He rasped out. Then he tightened his grip on her and they shot through space again, appearing just before the forest.
Before Evangeline could get her bearings, Herobrine's knees buckled and he slumped to the ground.
"Herobrine! Why did you-?!" Evangeline gave up, leaning down to hook her arms under his shoulders and drag him over to the base of the nearest tree. He groaned as he was moved, shifting slightly, but Evangeline couldn't tell how awake he was as she propped him up against the trunk. She knelt down before him, hesitated, then took the hem of his shirt and pulled it up to expose the wound.
It was, at least, a clean blow, one that went through the lower left portion of his torso and missed his lungs and heart entirely. She could see fragments of bone from his ribs, shattered by the force of the blow, but otherwise it was a simple stab wound that was currently leaking blood all over him.
Evangeline's hands stilled over the wound, uncertain. She was trained in first aid, but… this? This was a lethal wound by valkyrie standards, and there was no way for her to fix his ribs. She knew he was immortal, but would he heal on his own-?
Herobrine's hand wrapped around her wrist, and she jumped, looking up to find him looking her in the eye.
"It will be…" he rasped. "…fine. Needs wrapped." Evangeline hesitated, then nodded, unclasping her cloak as Herobrine struggled his way out of his shirt.
She tore a few strips from the hem of the garment, quietly lamenting the lack of Herobrine's knife. A sharp object would have made tearing the thick fabric much easier. Herobrine was leaning forward now, bracing a hand on the ground to keep him from toppling over, and Evangeline realized that his back was bloody as well. The pickaxe had gone all the way through.
"Shouldn't this be washed?" She ventured, not wanting to imagine the state that a long-abandoned pickaxe would be in.
"It should be washed, yes, and stitched, but we have neither time nor the means to do so, so bind it so that I am no longer bleeding out." Herobrine snapped, his arm trembling from the exertion of keeping him up. "…please." He added quietly. Evangeline sighed, then reached for her pile of fabric.
Herobrine held as still as he could manage while she worked, winding strips of woolen fabric tightly around his chest until the blood no longer flowed freely. She thanked Notch silently that the blow had missed any vital organs- if he was weak now, he doubtlessly would have been much more so had he not been able to breathe.
As Evangeline worked, she noted the patchwork of scars running up and down his chest. Directly over his heart was an especially jagged one, which appeared in the same place on his back. It seemed he was no stranger to debilitating wounds such as this one… but were they inflicted before, or after his banishment?
"What were you thinking down there?" She muttered, struggling to keep an accusatory tone out of her voice. "Attacking him like that? We had a chance to get out of there without violence, to get help." Herobrine didn't answer, staring silently at the ground. "I know you did not trust him, but you could have trusted me-"
"I'm sorry." Herobrine broke in, still looking at the ground. "I didn't think." He shifted, and Evangeline paused until he had found a better position. "What… is a piglin doing in the Aether, anyway?" Evangeline blinked at the abrupt change of subject, but answered,
"Half." She corrected him. "He was born in the Nether, to a piglin mother and a human father. I've been told that he traveled to the Overworld as a young man to seek his fortune there, and he happened to save Commander Zenith from an underhanded attack." Herobrine looked rather unimpressed by this tale.
"So he joined your army."
"Yes, Commander Zenith offered him a position." Evangeline nodded, tucking in the end of a bandage and reaching for another. "I'm sure you can see what a competent fighter he is."
"Hmm." Herobrine looked down again. Evangeline suspected that he was hung up somehow over the mix of the Nether and the Aether.
She tucked the final makeshift bandage into place, then sat back, looking over her handiwork. The color of the dark fabric made it nearly impossible for her to tell if he was bleeding through them, but they weren't wet to the touch, so she assumed they must at least be helping. Herobrine wasn't quite so ashen, now, and he pushed himself up as she removed her hands.
"Thank… you." He bit out with audible difficulty. Evangeline nodded, taking what remained of his cloak and draping it around his shoulders.
"Where do we go from here?" She asked quietly. After they had clashed with Sergeant Tekno, she doubted that he or Commander Zenith would be sympathetic to their plight - if Tekno even still lived. If he was in the cave, he likely would not have been caught in the collapse, but… would he be able to find his way out?
"I know this terrain." Herobrine said unexpectedly. Evangeline quirked a brow at him, and he went on. "I know where we can go." He shifted, bracing a hand against the tree to stagger upright, and Evangeline shot to her feet to steady him.
"Where?" She hesitated for a moment before taking his arm, and he didn't pull away.
"Somewhere they will not look for us." Herobrine took a step, then another, releasing the tree as he fell into a rhythm. "Come on. It's this way."
The manor came into view on the evening of the second day.
Herobrine was stronger now, and he was able to walk easily without help, though Evangeline remained close by to catch him if he should stumble. She lamented the loss of her quarterstaff, which had been abandoned in the chaos in the mines. Herobrine's knapsack had been left behind as well, meaning that their bandages and half of their food supply was lost.
"Wait, is this-" Evangeline stuttered to a stop as the manor rose up before them. "-our destination? Who lives here?"
"The lord of the Mosenta region, Lord Steven Lancaster." Herobrine replied. "He is often away, and his staff are few, we will have no difficulty hiding here until your commander moves on.
"Steven…" She trailed off as he started walking again. "…Lancaster? Isn't that the name that you gave at the village?" She demanded as she followed. "And- hiding out in a nobleman's manor? How is this wise? We're wanted for murder, if anyone sees us-"
"Just trust me, Evangeline." Herobrine interrupted. "Alright? Trust me." Evangeline pursed her lips, biting back a snide remark.
"Fine." She followed him down the hill.
Night was catching up to them as they approached, giving them the cover of darkness they needed to bypass the few guards and enter the gardens. Herobrine led her to a side door and told her to wait, then slipped inside. Evangeline obeyed wondering how he had known that the door would be unlocked.
He returned after some time, just long enough for Evangeline to wonder if something had happened, with a load of fresh-baked bread in each hand. Pressing one into her grasp, Herobrine directed her to the far end of the gardens, where a variety of fruit trees created a sparse amount of shelter from the sky. Herobrine sank down beneath one, tearing off a piece from the loaf.
"See?" He said quietly. Evangeline sank down beside him with a frown.
"Just because we haven't been caught yet doesn't mean we won't." She said. "What did you mean when you said they wouldn't look for us here?"
"It makes no sense, does it?" Herobrine leaned back against the slender tree. "As you said, we are wanted. Why would we hide in a populated area?"
"I suppose…" Evangeline tore off a hunk from her own loaf. "Unless they have the same thought process as we do."
"Indeed. But our tracks will be muddled here - people come and go, and they may be forced to assume that we followed the road."
"I suppose." Evangeline bit into her bread, feeling slightly more optimistic about this plan. "But, why did you give Lord Lancaster's name to the gate guards at Northcrest?" Herobrine was silent for a moment.
"It was the first name that came to mind, I suppose."
"Oh." It wasn't much of an answer, but Evangeline had little choice but to accept it.
They finished their meal in silence, then quietly arranged watches. Evangeline was told to sleep first, and she laid down on the ground, shutting her eyes and trying to ignore the increasingly bitter cold.
It was only a couple moments, however, before Herobrine's cloak was draped over her. Evangeline blinked, looking up, but Herobrine was looking pointedly away from her as he sat against the tree with his arms crossed. Not willing to argue any more tonight, Evangeline murmured a 'thank you' and dropped off to sleep.
