Minstrel

Chapter #30 ~ Creak

"No, no, no." Creak cried and sank to her knees in front of her brother.
"Don't you dare die on me!" She screamed and pressed her hands against the blood that poured out of his stomach. Stinky, red blood that flood like a rapid river.

"No." Creak whispered as the tears she had been holding back for months fell from her eyes. "Stans, don't leave me. Please don't leave me."

Creak had never felt the panic she felt now. Her brother was right beside her dying and there was nothing she could do. A sob broken from her lips taking with it any strength she had. Creak lost herself to coughing sobs of pain and misery. It was her fault that her brother was hurt. If she hadn't committed treason. If she hadn't left him, then maybe they wouldn't be where they were now.

"Stans?" Creak held her fingers against his neck to feel his withering pulse.

"That idiot!" A beautiful she-elf with black hair and blue eyes stomped onto the scene of the battle. "I told him to wait! But did he wait?"

A male elf who looked identical to the she-elf walked out beside her. "No, he didn't, Aria. How are we going to explain this to the Queen?"

The she-elf, Aria, walked over to Creak and looked down at Stans.
"Uhh." She sighed with sorrow and frustration. "I might be able to keep him alive long enough to get to Musicilous." She ran a hand through her hair. "Uh! I don't know! Core, do you think carrying him would kill him?"

The other elf, Core, shrugged. "He'll certainly die if we don't."

Aria looked down at Creak. "You must be the sister. Thanks for making my mission even more complicated."

Creak glared at the elf. "You can't blame me! If you two were with him why didn't you just hold him back? You could have saved him!"

Core shook his head. "Stans would never have forgiven us if something had happened to you. It was his choice."

Creak felt her heart sink. It may have been her brother's choice, but he had only don't it for her. It was her fault, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

It took everything she had to make herself stand up and move out of the elves way. "Please." She pleaded. "I don't care who's at fault. I just want Stans to be okay. Can you do anything for him?"

Aria's eyes softened. "We'll do everything we can."

With a nod, Creak forced herself to give the elves some privacy to work. Stans wasn't the only person who had been hurt in the battle.

Looking out at the white world covered in splashes of blood, Creak caught Riptide's eye. He sat in the snow with a small sewing kit open beside him. He finished tying off the stitches on his arm from where a wolf claw had caught him. Creak wasn't sure how long she could look at him before she completely lost it.

Why was he here? Was he going to drag her back to the king? Or was he going to help her?

Creak shook her head at that last thought and turned away from him. She needed to make sure Vern was okay. After the wolves had attacked her, Creak hadn't seen him.

Walking across the clearing, leaving drops of blood in her wake, Creak knelt down beside Vern. His back was crisscrossed with cuts that were thankfully shallow. He had suffered worse in the desert and Creak knew he would be okay.

"I'm okay if that's what you're wondering." Vern said with a soft smile. "You don't need to worry about me."

Creak tried to smile, but her face just wouldn't work. "That's good." She managed to get out before her voice cracked.