Lingering Shadows-Chapter 8

Notes:

• once again, I really hope this isn’t choppy or weird. lol I’ve been stressing about something coming up and trying to get ready for that.

• Anyway here we go. More plot and stuff will be developing in the upcoming three chapters. And…we might be going to the Green Hollows relatively soon.

• I’ll be posting maybe every other day now.

• Previous Chapter

Chapter 8-‘The Strength We Will Need’

“Who was that?” Artham asked through gritted teeth when Esben closed the door.

“Sir Bren.” Esben stated as he sat down to allow the younger doctor to examine his arm.

“But-” Artham looked up and toward the door.

“You aren’t going after him. Don’t worry, I told him to send more soldiers after whoever it was that attacked us, and he is coming back to talk to you in a little bit.” Artham looked down.

“Thanks. But we will…need to have an emergency…council meeting after this. Es, someone tried to assassinate you. That’s…that’s a big deal.” Artham gripped the back of the chair in front of him as the doctor’s thin fingers probed gently around the arrowhead.

“I know,” Esben said without looking up from his arm. “But I don’t think even Sir Bren will want us in an emergency meeting when both of us have blood and dirt all over our clothes and you have an arrow in your shoulder.” Esben didn’t hear his brother answer, so he looked up with concern.

“I said you’re right,” Artham said hoarsely when he saw Esben look up.

“How bad is it?” Esben asked the doctor worriedly.

“The arrow isn’t deep. It will be difficult to remove, however.”

“After I clean this up all you’ll need are stitches and a bandage,” the younger doctor said, looking up at Esben.

“This is going to take a while though,” Doctor Idrion said, gesturing to Artham’s shoulder. “I’m afraid that by now, rumor will have spread like wildfire through the castle and quite possibly through Pennybridge that there was an attempt on your life, Your Majesty. I would recommend that after Thaerin tends your arm you find something to eat and drink and assure people that neither of you were killed.”

“Ah. Okay. Umm…I’ll do that but then can I come back and see Artham again?”

“Don’t…worry Es. I’ll be fine. Someone needs to go handle the chaos out there, and I’ll be out to help you as soon as we get this over with.” Artham said, breathing a sigh as the doctor turned to rummage in his bag.

“As things stand at the moment, yes you will be able to come back in for your brother. And then there’s the matter of this arrow. Your mystery attacker may have provided you with some indication of his identity. Perhaps you will be able to find some new information from it.”

* * *

About an hour later, Esben had been gone for most of that hour and the doctor was winding a thick bandage around Artham’s shoulder. He snipped off the remainder of the bandage and patted Artham gently on the other arm.

“You’re done, Artham.” Artham exhaled shakily and leaned back in the chair, careful not to let his left shoulder touch it.

“Thank you,” he said, closing his eyes and clenching his fists in his lap when he realized his hands were shaking. It was hard to believe that it had been just that morning that he had been laughing with Esben in Mister Falkner’s charrot field.

“Thaerin will be back with something for you to eat and drink soon,” Idrion said. “That should help you feel stronger and less lightheaded. Your shoulder will hurt for a while, but if you take care of it properly, it will heal well. Thank the Maker it wasn’t as deep as it first appeared to be.” Artham wasn’t sure he felt better, but everything seemed slightly more manageable since the arrow was out and everything was nicely covered with bandage.

“Thank the Maker that Esben is still here with me,” Artham whispered under his breath. “An arrow in the shoulder is a small price to pay for that.”

If I hadn’t been there with him…Oh Maker please help us find whoever it was trying to hurt my brother. Let me be there with him if anything like this ever happens again. The doctor stood over Artham and looked at him with sympathy.

“I almost don’t want to say this because I know you won’t listen to me, Artham, but after you’re done saving the world, try to get some rest. That’s what will help you most.”

“I’ll try,” Artham said in a rather unpromising tone, sitting up and opening his eyes with a grimace. He stretched out his arm and winced, but continued to open and close his hand, trying to get used to the insistent throbbing in his arm.

“Do I have my doctor’s…permission to go find my brother and either join the council meeting that could be in session or assure Ar- my friends that I’m alright?” Artham asked, raising his eyebrow. The doctor laughed.

“If I truly had the power to keep you in this room, I wouldn’t let you out for at least a week so that you could rest properly and so that I could take care of you properly. But yes, you have my permission as soon as you eat something.”

“Thank you,” Artham said as he picked up the arrow gingerly off the table, realizing that he should be grateful that it was only his left hand that he was struggling to use, not his right hand. The arrow was clean now, and as Artham waited impatiently for Thaerin to return with food so he could leave, he began to examine it closely, hoping to find some clue in the odd make of the arrow that would help him eliminate this threat to his brother.

* * *

Esben returned with a clean shirt for his brother just as Artham finished eating. He apologized profusely(though he never used those two words) for not getting back sooner, but it had turned out that people were more worried about the two of them than he had thought. He had been ‘practically mobbed by a bunch of officials’

Doctor Idrion finally allowed Artham to leave after he whispered very suspiciously with Esben, despite clearly wanting to tell his patient to go to bed. When they had left the doctor and began walking down the hall, Esben apologized again to Artham, looking at his brother’s bandaged shoulder rather anxiously.

“Es, stop apologizing. It…wasn’t really that bad.” Artham answered, finding out by means of his shoulder that his manner of walking was jerkier than he had previously thought. Esben rolled his eyes.

“Artham, you really are a terrible liar. And you should probably know that when it was bad enough for you to tell me it wasn’t bad means that I should worry, not the other way around.” Artham blinked in confusion.

“Okay…The emergency council is in an hour, right?”

“Yes it is, but-”

“Good, that gives me enough time,” Artham interrupted.

“Time for what, Artham?” Esben asked with an annoyed tone, remembering Doctor Idrion’s asking him to please try to make Artham rest and not do anything that could further damage his shoulder. Esben began to try to think of ways he could restrain his brother, preferably in a way that would not hurt either of them.

“To find Arundelle. I'm sure she’s heard by now, they were staying in the castle today.”

“But Artham you’re supposed to-wait, where are you going?” He asked, intending to tell his brother that he was supposed to rest, but Artham walked off before he could even get started.

Artham had begun to think of everything Arundelle would have thought for more than an hour since the brothers had come back, and he didn’t like what he was thinking.

“To a predetermined place,” Artham answered as he walked off, pausing for a moment for Esben to catch up to him.

“You planned for this?” Esben asked in exasperation, deciding that keeping Artham from seeing Arundelle would be very nearly impossible.

“Not exactly, but she knew. She knew and I suspected that something like this would happen someday, so we agreed upon a place to go if we needed to meet each other and I couldn’t leave the castle. But I had hoped that we would never need to meet because of something like this.”