The Green Guardian

Chapter 33: Fororli

Song: "The Last Battle" - Maxime Thibault

        Each dwarf sported long beards and wore baggy clothes, as well as no shoes on their huge feet. One of the dwarves' beards was white, while the other's was brown.

Fororli, the older and more serious dwarf with the brown beard, sauntered to Ben. He still held his sword at the ready. Fororli slapped it away. "We don't need this accessory, Your Highness."

Fororli's younger brother, Notmuth, cheered. "Oh my gosh!" He rushed to Mateo. "So he's the new Green Guardian."

Ben grabbed his muscular arm and pulled him back. "Yes, he is, but he's very ill. We can't be loud around him."

"No worries. No worries." Notmuth released himself. "Euphorbia sent my bro and me here to guide you to Seranet. Right, bro?" He winked at Fororli.

He merely rolled his blue, beady eyes. "Please, Notmuth, we're not children anymore. We don't have time for this. Euphorbia is waiting."

Notmuth jumped up and down. "But I'm excited! I did not expect her to choose such a young kid as her successor. I already love him." Without warning, he picked up Mateo's head and squashed his cheek to his.

Mateo coughed. His chest ached. Rivers of sweat soaked his clammy skin and white, puffy-sleeved shirt.

Fororli narrowed his bushy brown eyebrows. "We need to move. The forest sickness has reached his lungs."

Ben knew how the sickness worked. It usually started in the tummy, then it moved up to the lungs, and eventually the brain. Time was running out for Mateo. It was not uncommon for the sickness to cause its victims to go brain-dead just before they died.

Ben pushed Mateo back into Joey's saddle. He put his cape over him to keep him warm. He followed the dwarves through the forest's dense section.

Fororli remained serious. "He has every single symptom: sweating, cough, chills, headache, dizziness, nausea, a high fever, and a rash."

"But he won't let us take him to a doctor," Ben shakily said. "Sir, I don't think he breathed the sickness in. I think he was attacked by something that had it in it."

Notmuth was optimistic. He hopped over a hole in the overgrown path. "Not to worry, Your Highness. We're going to get him better."

"How?" Ben was starting to think it was already too late for his friend. Even if he did get better, his mental health was still suffering.

Ben gestured at Mateo's tummy. "The poison is trapped in his small intestine. I also think he has some internal injuries."

Notmuth glanced at him. "Krysta, the ranger paramedic, will treat him in Seranet. She has agreed to take care of him over the weekend, so there's nothing to be worried about."

Ben rolled his deep brown eyes. "He's not going to let her treat him. He doesn't want anybody to touch his tummy."

"I beg to differ," Notmuth said with a small wink. "The boy is stubborn, yes, but he's starting to change. Euphorbia told us he played with a fawn earlier. We don't need an antidote to heal him. What we need–"

"–is for Keegan to accept him," Ben interrupted.

Notmuth poked his chest. "Exactly!"

Fororli scoffed. "That's as if he doesn't die before Keegan can do so."

"Oh, bro, why are you still a pessimist?" Notmuth pulled his brother close. He rubbed his knuckles on top of his head.