The Silvereye Chronicles: The Lightshield

Chapter 15:

Gerald dragged himself into the forest after an excruciating walk from Zor. Everyone had steered clear of him, even with his broken leg, and he'd reclaimed his leather coat from the gatehouse where he'd left the unconscious guard. He'd also returned the man's outer clothes to him.

Somehow, Gerald had practically crawled to the forest. Pain seemed to shoot through his entire body, and he could hardly even stay conscious. He leaned against a tree, gasping for breath, trying not to look at the unnatural angle his leg had taken. "Blimey," he panted, raising his eyes to the sky. Some mercenary he was; he couldn't even look at the broken limb.

Forcing himself to move, he retrieved a tough tree branch and removed his shirt, tearing pieces of cloth off of it. Once he'd finished, he placed the branch against his leg and yelled in pain. The slightest movement on his part sent agony throughout his entire body.

"Need a hand?" Gerald looked up suddenly at the unexpected voice. It belonged to a woman, with short, strawberry-blonde hair, but she was dressed in knight's garb, down to her armor. Light-green eyes with barely any color looked out from beneath her bangs. With a start, Gerald realized she was indicating his attempt to splint his leg.

"Erm ... aye. Suppose so." Gerald eyed the woman as she knelt beside him and placed the tree branch against his leg. He bit back a cry of pain and forced himself to ask between clenched teeth, "Why're ye helping me?"

"Hold still," she ordered, mercilessly pressing his leg down as she started wrapping pieces of cloth around the branch. As he cursed and grunted in pain, she went on, "I'm Sir Juliette, a knight of Vordelle and appointed protector to the Prince and Princess."

"Ye be doing a lousy job," Gerald panted.

Juliette slapped his leg, forcing him to give vent to a curse of pain. "I think I'm aware of that," she snapped. Mindful of the fact that she was currently the one in charge of tending to his leg, Gerald said nothing. "Now behave yourself."

Gerald wisely waited to speak again until she was finished tying the branch to his leg. It was a poor excuse for a splint, but it worked, given the circumstances. Juliette eyed it critically. "It's not much," she commented. "But it will have to do, until I can find a healer for you. Or something."

"Why?" Gerald said.

"Why? Because I don't want your leg falling off," Juliette retorted. Then she saw the look on his face. "Oh, you mean, why am I helping you? It's not that complicated. You helped the Princess, or tried, at least, and got hurt. It's the least I can do to try and repay you."

"Ye be doing all of this because I tried to help yer Princess and nearly got meself killed?" Gerald asked, marveling. "Love, ye have the wrong reasons, then. I only tried to save yer Princess for meself." He tugged on his collar, revealing the handprint on his neck. "When the demons be released, I'll be first on their menu. That be something I be keen to avoid."

Juliette sat back on her heels, watching him. "The fact remains, Fitzgerald Hunt, that the battle against the demons has put us on the same side," she said. "Under normal circumstances, we would be enemies, you and I. But now, it's not knight against criminal. It's the world against the demons in a fight for survival. And I intend to win that fight, if that's alright with you."

"And ye think tending to me will help ye win?"

"I think it's a start," Juliette said. "The demons are coming after you for a reason. I'd like to know why, and until then, keeping you alive is my second priority."