The Villainous Lord's Obsession

2.

I had no idea where I was. How I had gotten here, or if I was dreaming. Everything seemed strange, with an almost ethereal brightness around me. I had to resist the urge to pinch myself just to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. Instead, I slapped myself hard on the face, thinking that would bring me back to my senses, and I'd find myself back in my bathroom. But nothing happened. I was still in the dark cave, with a strange light still coming from the injured stranger's hand.

Subconsciously, my right hand went towards the pendant tied on my neck. I needed comfort, and it was the only thing that could bring me comfort at that moment.

My chest rose and fell rapidly as I moved my hair away from my face. It took me few moments to finally calm down after my screaming had subsided, and only then did I allow myself to stare at the man lying beside me.

His tunic clung to his body, with what appeared to be blood seeping through the slashes across it. The blood oozing from his stomach was too much. As a nurse who had been working in the hospital for two years, never had I seen this much blood. Instinctively, I inched a little towards him and nudged him to see if he would move. But nothing happened. I tried again and again, and finally convinced that he wasn't going to move, I placed my head on his chest.

His heartbeat sounded weak, and it was so slow that I would have assumed he was dead already if it wasn't for his pulse. His chest barely moved as he breathed and at first glance he looked like nothing more than a beautiful corpse.

I sat back up, totally ignoring the fact that I had no idea where I was or how I got there in the first place. The only thing on my mind was how to treat this man and get him back to his senses before it was too late.

I was still wearing my silk trousers and sleeveless sleeping gown which I had worn the night before. The man, however, wore a black tunic.It ended just above his waist, and the sleeves were long. He wore dark trousers too and a belt was tied over the tunic to hold the trouser in place. I found it strange that his clothes, apart from the slashes over the tunic, seemed relatively intact given his state.

I sighed, pulled the belt away then tugged hard at the tunic until it tore away. A large stab wound was underneath, blood gushing out non-stop.

I had no clinical tools to treat him here. I had no scalpel, no antibiotics to use in disinfecting the stab, nothing medically used to treat a stab this bad. Instincts kicked in, and years of tending to wounds and cuts gave me the confidence to improvise.

With trembling hands, I tore away the remainder of his tunic, then used it to apply some pressure on the wound, hoping desperately that it would work. A few moments later, I stood up, leaving the cloth on the injury and looking around the cave once more. My eyes caught the dried logs of wood packed at the other end. I hurried towards them while tiptoeing around the shreds of thorns and shining glasses all around. After that, I plucked the green leaves which were beside a large rock. I had no idea what they were, but it was as though someone was telling me using them would heal the stranger.

The light from the pendant he was still clutching shimmered as I turned around, illuminating two rocks next to him. I rushed towards them and began to c.rack them against each other, gathering some dry twigs around. A half broken goblet lay beside me, and as the fire slowly crackled to life, I placed the goblet over it and meshed the leaves together. The smell was horrible, but I quickly dropped them into the goblet where they began to fizzle and crackle.

By the time I went back to his side, he was sweating profusely. His black hair was messier than it had been in the first place. His breathing was even slower. Something a little bit shiny caught my eyes at the hilt of his hips. I pulled at it, and surprisingly, it was a blade. The guiding voice in my head told me what to do, and I obeyed without hesitation.

I plunged the blade into the blazing fire. I was going to cauterize the stab wound, knowing that it was the only way to stop the bleeding.

It was a good thing that he was unconscious for this.

I let the blade sit for a little longer before I took it out and carefully placed it on the stab wound. He flinched, and suddenly a loud, guttural cry drifted across the cave. He sprang forward, so hard that he thrashed me against the side of the cave. I winced at the foreign pain, but still glad that he was alive.

I grabbed the knife and moved back towards him. He was groaning, thick breath emancipating from his lips. But he didn't move when I placed the tip of the red blade back on the wound. He only winced, trashing his head from side to side.

Moments later, as I kept placing and removing the hot blade from the wound, he stopped moving and I realized he'd gone unconscious. He was still breathing however, and the bleeding had stopped. I turned to the leaves which had turned into a thick paste now. Carefully, I scooped some of the paste and rubbed it over and into the stab wound before tearing a part of his tunic and tying it over the wound. It was exhausting, but totally worth it knowing he was alive.

But I was still holding onto the thought that perhaps, this was still a dream.

*

I couldn't fathom for how long I had been staying in that cave before I finally decided to step out. I was hungry, tired, and totally confused. But the hunger was what worried me more than the rest.

I stepped out, trying to shield my face from the blazing sun. It was early and the sun was still a milky orange, though hot. A lot hotter than it had been back at Washington. Unlike the damp, musty, and earthy scent I'd gotten used to in the cave, I inhaled a deep fresh breath mixed with a little tinge of salt in the air. Which was no surprise, because of the large ocean by my left. To my right though, was a great, dense forest. I walked towards it, hoping to find something to feed my hungry stomach.

As I walked in, the forest smelled damp and the odor of the moss was everywhere. I hesitated, taking in the sight of the enormous trees and dark fog which seemed to hover over everything. A twig snapping behind me brought me out of my trance however. I turned around immediately, squinting my eyes to see if there was something. But there was nothing there.

And thankfully, no one.

Fortunately, I saw a cluster of blueberries and wasted no time in plucking them and shoving them quickly into my mouth. It took me a moment to finally get back to my senses, to get back the feeling of belonging. I was alive, in a wild strange place with nothing that made any sense. The cool breeze that blew made me shiver a little, and quickly, I plucked some berries and walked back to the cave.

The strange man was still unconscious. I placed the berries beside him and walked towards a small crevice where water was spilling from. I fetched a handful and splashed my face firstly before gulping it down. My thirst quenched, I returned to his side and sat down dejectedly.

This had to be a dream. That was the only logical explanation. But everything felt so real, and the reality of where I was had settled in over the last few hours. Whatever brought me here, surely there had to be a reasonable explanation for it all. Had I fallen into a coma perhaps? That seemed logical, since the last thing I remembered was being in my bathroom back in D.C.

But then who was this man lying beside me?

He groaned, and I wiped the sweat from his forehead using a part of my gown I had torn,

Just as I turned after placing the cloth behind me, however, he moved. Slowly, I cradled his head and placed it on my lap, then stared down at him in awe.

His eyes started to move, just a little as he struggled to pry them open. But I guess the light from the fire was too harsh for someone who had been unconscious for almost an entire day.

His eyes were green, the deepest and richest shade I'd ever come across. His lips, slightly parted, where poised as though he was about to speak. Now that he was awake, he didn't look much older than me.

Yet those eyes drew me back in. They were eyes of lost innocence, greener than seaweed and constantly searching. I regarded him with as much curiosity as he regarded me. The way his black hair swept messily by his shadowed jaw, falling across his forehead as he c****d his head to get a better look at me.

A moment later, he pushed away from my hold, and sat up, not without wincing, of course. Then carefully, he let his eyes travel across the cave, and back to me.

"Who in the bloody hell are you?" His voice was croaky, dead, and grating, and his gaze a lot more intensified. Before I could move however or try to answer his question, he pulled my right hand painfully, and I fell flush against his bare chest.

"Did he send you here to see if I'm dead?" His eyes flashed with so much hatred. Anger. His fingers dug more into my hand, and I winced at the pain. "Are you here to finish me off since his sword couldn't?"

"I...I..."

"That's sad because the bone crusher still lives. Karden is very much alive!"

"Yeah, thanks to me!" I finally shouted, trying to pry my hand from his tight hold. "I saved your damned life and this is how you repay me?" I shrieked. It was only after I was done shouting that I remembered the name he had shouted.

Karden?

What a coincidence! How was it possible for him to have the same name as the villain from Balwynward?

"Tristram sent you here, didn't he?" His breath was harsh on my face as he pulled me more. "No game of yours would trick me into believing such lies. Now, I'm asking you one last time, who the hell are you?"

Tristram? What game was going on here exactly?

I twisted out of his hold, which was easy enough since he was still weak. He tried to grab me once again, but I shoved him away, accidentally placing my hand right on his wound. He doubled over in agony, coughing out some blood.

"You b.itch!" he snarled.

"Yeah," I replied, standing in a defensive position with the blade that I used in treating him. "The b.itch that was stupid enough to treat an i.diot like you!"

The cave started shaking. And loud hooves of approaching horses and neighing filled the air. At first, the shouts were distant, but as they inched closer, I could make out what they were shouting.

Captain.

"Cap? Captain, can you hear us?" a voice drifted across, and I stopped dead in my tracks.

The entrance of the cave suddenly got dark, and in a moment, at least, ten people on horses stood before me, each with a sword drawn.

"Captain, is that you?" the man in the middle, who looked a little bit larger than the others but not as large as the man I had saved spoke up. He merely glanced at me briefly before his eyes turned towards the man beside me and he smiled.

"It's the captain, everyone. Send someone back to Balwynward, the king needs to know," he shouted, approaching the stranger who was still doubled over with his right hand on his wound, but his eyes never leaving mine.

Three of the men stopped right before me. But I wasn't worried anymore about what would happen to me. I was however, unnerved by the name he had just said.

Balwynward.