A Mentor's Struggle

Chapter 12

Ezuras stood up as well and gave me a curt nod before forcing himself from his location by the warm fire and left the room as well. I turned to address Helwyn.

"Will you be alright here alone?" I questioned.

"I am a grown lady, my dear physician. I believe I'm capable of managing myself."

I grinned at her antics and placed a hand on Rowain's shoulder.

"Well, I suppose we will have an angry king to deal with if we don't leave soon."

Rowain nodded in a daze, still amazed that he would be doing an ordinary hobby with a man of the highest titled positioned. And to think, the man he was living with treated him like a brother!

I smiled, imagining what was going through his young mind. I put my hand on his shoulders as we walked out and closed the door.

Lief came running at us, a big grin on his face. He slapped me on the back merrily and tugged on my arm, dragging me to the horses. Rowain was already on his, playing with the harness out of boredom.

Lief decided to impress the young man and ran at his horse as hard as he could. Right before he ran into it, he jumped in mid sprint and grabbed a hold of the horse's mane, stopping him in mid air and he fell sitting straight up in his saddle.

Rowain's jaw dropped with awe and he began clapping his hands in amazement. I rolled my eyes and mounted my horse like a normal person would. Lief grinned at my bemused expression and led his horse in the front at a light canter.

The river we intended to fish at was located near the castle, in fact it was only a mile away. We were almost at the end of the trail to the river when we almost ran into a fallen tree. Lief glances at me and we both shared a wary expression.

Rowain prepared to unmount but I stuck a hand out, placing it on his chest to prevent him from moving.

"Rowain, fallen trees are perfect distractions for-"

Before I could finish three men clothes in black clothing charged from behind the tree with raised swords as they charged at us. I groaned as I felt another coughing bout overcoming me at the worst possible time.

I felt the blood drain from my mouth as I opened it, falling to the ground from my horse as the hacking shook my body violently enough to throw me from the saddle. I looked over to see a sword coming straight for me, before another sword met it in mid air.

Lief jumped in front of me, blocking his aim. I saw the other bandit Lief had been tastling with was on the ground, more than likely dead judging the lack of movement from his chest. I spotted Rowain grappling with a man twice his size, but the young man was holding on his own decently enough door such a scrawny boy.

I rushed to unsheath my sword from its scabbard and assisted Rowain, allowing him to stop so he could catch his breath. I quickly dealt a death blow just in time to see Lief looking over at men concern, right as the man he was fighting swung his sword at his side.

I let out a fearsome cry and thrust my sword at him, and it flew into his chest. Lief looked at the dead man in surprise before sighing in relief and falling to his knees.

Lief was extremely picky with our certain fishing location and I had stopped counting how many times we rode up and down the river, searching for the best spot, in his opinion of course. We finally found a clear bank that was shallow enough for Rowain. I decided to wade into the water first, wanting to show them how it's done.

Lief and Rowain sat on the bank and watched me with amused expressions. I rolled the bottoms of my trousers up my leg to prevent them from getting soaked and wadded out as far as I could without falling.

I leaned down slowly so I wouldn't slip and put my arms out in the water, facing upstream. I stood like a statue for several hours before a carp swam between my hands and I clamped them together, catching the fish in a dead locked grip.

I smirked in satisfaction and held the fish over my head victoriously.

"Bout time, Ben! It's getting dark!" I rolled my eyes at Lief's comment and wadded back onto the bank.

I dropped my catch at Lief's feet with a triumphant grin and walked past him to get the food ready. I spotted Lief walking towards the middle of the lake, trying to catch a fish of his own.

As soon as I turned around to carve the bread I heard a blood chilling scream. I whirled around, the knife still in my hand to see Rowain trying to get my attention as he ran up to me.

He pointed frantically at the water and I spotted Lief's limp body bobbing down the river with the current. My heart dropped and I threw my knife to the ground, racing towards the bank and plunging into the icy water.

Lief must be unconscious to be unable to swim in the weak current so I swam under every once in a while to feel for his body. Finally, my hands clamped on the feeling of soft flesh and I swam with  what little strength left in me to the surface.

My lungs felt like bursting, and a burning sensation screamed at me for oxygen with a painful passion. It felt as if ice cold hands were pulling me down, but I refused to let Lief die.

I finally emerged through the surface and drug his body with all the might in me and threw his limp body on the bank. Rowain raced to my side and in a panic stricken state grabbed my arms to help me out of the water.

"Forget me! Save Lief!" I demanded.

Luckily, Rowain didn't ignore orders and to my amazement began compressions in a steady rhythmic pattern on the king's chest. I managed to get a hold of a mangled root on the bank and I clawed my way into dry land, collapsing with my lungs working overtime to recollect the oxygen I had so stubbornly denied for my king's well being.

I crawled to Rowain's side to check on Lief and to my delight he was puking up gallons of water. I headed to aide Rowain with a sigh of relief, knowing he was okay. I helped the boy roll Lief on his side and he slowly began to regain consciousness.

He opened his eyes weakly and stared around in surprise before his amber orbs landed on me.

"Ben? Where are we?"

My heart sunk in those few words.

"Fishing, remember?"

"No, I don't remember any of this."

"What do you remember? Can you remember this morning?"

Lief vigorously shook his head no.

"Can you remember going to bed last night?"

"Kind of... oh! I remember helping you carry your books to your room! Thespia walked with me to my room."

I felt hope begin to flutter in my chest. He remembered up to last night... that was good. But did he remember...

"Lief, do you remember talking with me at all?"

"I did have a weird dream. You told me something... that you were dying!"

I tried my hardest to school my expression.

"Hm. That does sound like an odd dream. Obviously, I'm in perfect health." I said smiling.

He nodded in agreement, a grin appearing on his face. I knew it was cruel to lie to him, but what if last night was a mistake? I remembered the recent fight and they way he was continuously averting his attention to check on me.

"And you can't remember anything of this morning?"

"I can't even remember what I had for lunch."

"Well, it's almost nightfall, but we haven't accomplished much today."

He nodded in absolute trust, nothing but honest innocence reflecting in his eyes. I slowly felt my sickening conscience chewing away at my sanity, bit by bit.