I Followed Fires

XLIII. Adèle

With every little strength left in her body, Adèle carried Bash back to the castle.

But the ride back was arduous task, as the wounds on Adèle's upper arm kept stinging, and she tried not to moan in pain as she charged Midnight through the fields on a plain night. Bash remained unconscious, although she heard a few words slip out his mouth when during the ride back. Blood trickled down Adèle and Bash's clothes, and they looked like two people who have just returned from battle. As soon as they reached castle grounds, Adèle quickly placed Midnight back in the stables and then dragged Bash to his bedchambers. She wrapped his right arm around her shoulder, and with each step that she took; the pain had unfortunately worsened, both for Adèle and Bash.

A servant caught her dragging Bash, bruised and bloodied, in the corridors. The servant's eyes lit up in shock and immediately ran off to her, helping Adèle carry him to Bash's bedchambers. The servant did not say a single word while doing this, as it would cause an uncomfortable situation.

"Help me get warm water and a rag, and do it quickly," Adèle spoke to the servant, who simply nodded in reply and exited the bedchambers. She laid Bash on his bed, and immediately his sheets were soaked in the deep red liquid. The words that he was saying, or was trying to say, were barely audible. He mumbled a few things here and there, which sounded like Adèle's name, or something else along those lines. Adèle's hands covered up the wound on his stomach with her hand, before the servant returned with the water and the rag that she needed.

She thanked the servant, who was now pulling the bloodied bed sheets away from the bed and watched as Adèle soak the rag with the warm water and covered it up on his wound. The once wet cloth rag absorbed his blood, and turned red, just as his bed sheets. Her attempt to alleviate Bash's wounds took longer than expected, for Bash was almost howling with pain and kept trying to remove the rag off his stomach. There were a few cuts and bruises around his skin, but they did not hurt as much as the wound on his stomach.

"I am going to need you to stay calm," murmured Adèle, as she took up more drenched the blood out of the cloth rag, placed it in the water again, and then put it over his stomach. "Please, Bash, don't try to cover it up, your wounds will only worsen.."

As she did this, the wound on her upper arm that was caused by the Darkness, too, worsened. Blood trickled down from the wound and on to the ground, but she did not care. She was determined to heal Bash's wounds first before her own's. 

"Do you need anything else, miss?" asked the servant.

"I need something to wrap around the wound so that the blood is blocked off. Get me something. Anything," she replied, and then turned her head to Bash again, who was now beginning to grow conscious again. "Also get something warm for him to drink, please,"

The servant exited the chambers again in a hurry, only to lead several other people burst into the room. Mary, Francis, and Kenna ran into the room. Both Kenna and Mary were gasping in shock as they watched her, sitting on the bed as she tended his wounds. Kenna, still in her wedding dress, grew furious by the sight of her betrothed being aided by the woman he once loved, and walked to Adèle.

"Why do I have to keep reminding you and him that he is my betrothed, and he is the one who is to be my husband, and not you?" Kenna yelled at her, as tears began to fill up on the edges of her eyes. Her face was red with anger, but her eyes told otherwise. "..Why does he keep running back to you?"

"Kenna, please, we can talk about this later. He is losing too much blood in a significantly short amount of time," replied Adèle, looking annoyed, but still struggling to stop too much blood escaping the wound.

"What happened?" asked Francis, looking more confused than surprised.

"It's a long story that requires too much time to tell, Francis." Adèle did not even look at their faces when she was helping Bash alleviating his pain. "Time that I currently do not have, right now. But to put it shortly, Sebastian here thought it was a good idea to join me in the Blood Wood and put himself in more danger than he needs to be in."

"Adèle, look at the wounds on your arm. You should not be doing this to him right now, for it is too much for you. Francis, I think we should call a physician," said Mary next, turned her head to Francis, who nodded in reply and exited the chambers to ask a guard to call for a physician. "Adèle, it is best that you rest for the moment, as you cannot treat his wounds yourself, whilst you are also in pain. I understand that you are a selfless person but you have to help yourself as well,"

A few moments later, as Kenna was busy spitting negative remarks of both Adèle and Bash out of her mouth, a physician entered the room, with the proper treatments and medicine in his hands to treat Bash's and Adèle's wounds. The physician, a middle-aged man with graying hair, then walked towards Bash's bed. Adèle excused herself and brought the cloth rag and the water away from Bash, allowing the physician to take care of Bash himself. Another physician entered the chambers, an elderly-looking man, and walked to Adèle.

Adèle sat on Bash's armchair and tried not to moan in pain as she felt the wound continue to sting. The physician brought something soaked in oils and placed it against the wound on her skin. Before that, he made sure all the remaining liquid blood did not trickle down her skin, and soaked it all up with cloth. Mary, who was trying to calm her down, led Kenna, who was still infuriated, out of Bash's chambers. Adèle did not watch as Kenna stormed out off his bedchambers in tears. Instead, she was trying not to show Francis or Bash that she was in severe pain. The edge of the sword had cut deep through her skin when the Darkness slashed her upper arm. The gashes on her upper arm were then wrapped in bandage, slightly soaked in the oils, that the physician used, to stop the blood from flowing out, and to prevent an infection on her wounds.

"Thank you," she uttered in a soft voice, as the physician finished up the bandages on her arm. In response, the physician simply nodded, and continued to tend her wounds.  Adèle soon realized that Francis had been standing near his half brother, and was now beginning to fall asleep. The servant has now returned with a warm cup of milk and honey, and Francis brought the cup to the Bash's lips.

"Will both of their wounds heal quickly?" asked Francis to the physicians in Bash's bedchambers.

"The young girl will be fine, for her wounds are not too severe, but she will have to keep the bandages on for a few weeks," replied the elderly physician, who had tended Adèle's gashes.

"And what about him?" asked Francis, averting his gaze to Bash, who had now completely fallen asleep.

"His condition is fairly stable, but I suggest that you let him rest. The sword did not pierce through his flesh too deep, so he may take off his bandages when his wounds are fully healed."

"I cannot thank you enough for doing this for them," said Francis, and gave a kind smile. Mary, who has returned to Bash's bedchambers, asked Francis to return to their own chambers, and let his brother and Adèle rest with peace. The physicians left as well, which meant Bash and Adèle were left alone.

Adèle stood up, and walked over to his bed. As she saw him peacefully asleep, she kneeled on the ground, and touched his hand.

"Forgive me," she whispered to him, even though she knew he would not hear her.

After shedding single tear from her eye, she left his chambers filled with deep regret.