Just The Beginning... (Solangelo)

Chapter 10

Lou-Ellen's POV:

We race towards the coven because the medicine we gave the boy only lasts about four hours, and if the boy somehow manages to wake up while we're still moving, with Cecil carrying him like a sack of potatoes, we're going to have a problem.

We get to the city gates quickly, and were surprised to find that the cave is only about two hours away.

I tell Cecil to head straight to the king to report what we found, since that was our mission in the first place. We we're to track the rogues and report their nearest hideout to find out if their proximity implied an impending attack. Rogues are known to do that time and again, they attack covens try to kill the coven leader and take over. This only works on small covens though, as large groups of rogues are easily accosted, so there usually have small numbers. The king insisted on is, even though the Blood Stone Coven is the most powerful coven in the world, and all rogues know that an attack on us would be suicidal. Cecil and I have agreed that the king is simply being paranoid.

I head over to the human clinic, with the boy over my shoulder. On getting there I find it empty except for the doctor who stands and rushes over to me when he sees what i'm carrying. He collects the boy from me, takes him to the nearest room and lays him down on the bed.

"Is he a bloodslave or a servant?" He asks.

"Neither. We found him captured by rogues and decided to bring him with us." I inform him, both of us staring down at the presently motionless boy.

"Did you find him unconscious?"

"No. He was chained when we found him and was about to scream when we got closer, Cecil knocked him out so he wouldn't attract unnecessary attention."

"He has been unconscious since then?" He asks while cleaning the wounds marring the boy's chest.

"Actually, he was having a nightmare and was screaming. We woke him up then. Cecil let him clean himself, but he wouldn't let us carry him back here even though he obviously couldn't walk by himself, so Cecil gave him the Belladonna elixir."

His head snapped up from his work when he heard my last statement.

"What?!" He got up immediately and began checking the boy's pulse. He checked his eyes with a torch and sighed when he got no reaction.

"Why on earth would he do that? And why did you let him? You should know better."

"I tried to tell him, but he wouldn't listen!"

"He's not waking up anytime soon."

"But he...I thought the elixir wears off after four hours for humans." I watch as he hooks the boy up to an IV and a heart monitor, even though we can hear his heart just fine.

"That only applies for healthy humans, and as you can very well see, he's far from healthy. His body is unable to counter its effects, his immune system is also very weak, not to mention the fact that he's terribly malnourished."

"So, how long will he be out?" He removes the dirty bandages from his neck, but doesn't look surprised at the practically shredded skin.

"It is difficult to determine. In his current state, combined with the Belladonna, It could range from a couple weeks to months. Even after he wakes up, the effects of the elixir will still affect him greatly, so he will still be on bed rest after he awakens.

"He will need stitches. They dealt with the wound well enough to keep him alive, but not enough for the wound to heal as it seems it was reopened constantly."

"Yeah, how are you not surprised at this?"

"They are rogues. I've dealt with this type of damage before."