Sometimes it wasn’t the poison that got the best of those on the battlefield.
Whenever that happened, it was hard not to blame oneself for not being able to protect against something that they were so much more familiar with.
As Irene sprinted around the ogre and went to where she heard the yelling in the first place, she dropped to her knees at the sight of Felix with his arms around Sir Eitan.
The knight’s body was limp, and his bloody head lolled to the side, only held up slightly because of the shoulder plate armor.
"I need a healer!" the oldest apprentice shouted. "Summon Stanley. We’re close enough!"
Why did it have to be him again? she wondered.
Felix shouldn’t have even been able to stand, considering how much loss he had suffered already in his short life. Approaching twenty years old, he lost his entire family, the love of his life, and now possibly the knight who trusted him enough to ask him to be his apprentice, even though he was already practically a knight by that point.
Felix was everyone’s apprentice until they felt the need to pair off.
Irene’s legs felt weak, but at the request of Felix, who needed her to be strong in that moment, the girl lifted herself off the ground and sprinted forward. Thɪs chapter is updated by NovelHub(.)net
Only then did she realize just how close they actually had been pushed to the ancient wall segment. In the battle that lasted over half an hour but seemed to pass by in minutes with the thrill of the fight rushing through their veins, they had been pushed practically to their camp. It was terrifying how close the action had gotten.
However, that also meant it made her job that much easier.
She sprinted as fast as her momentarily weak legs could carry her and found her way to the infirmary tent where Stanley was dealing with so much already.
The mage’s head snapped up, and he placed a finger over his mouth. While there was a small curtain that divided him from the actual patients who were forced to stay in the infirmary’s cots, it didn’t do much for the noise.
The mage had a walking stick that he used to lift himself out of his chair, and he gestured with his free hand for the girl to get out of the tent.
Once they were on the dirt between the tents, he looked at her expectantly.
"It’s Sir Eitan," she explained.
Her voice broke, and the mage decided he wasn’t going to give her trouble as he normally might. He merely gestured for her to lead the way and went as fast as his walking stick would allow him to.
He needed to grab no supplies because he kept most of what he needed in his sleeves half of the time anyway.
The return trip was much slower with the old mage in tow, but Irene didn’t mind it. He was valuable in her quest to make sure that Sir Eitan came back to Felix and did not leave him an apprentice on the battlefield without a knight.
They returned to others having gathered around, but Felix insisted on sitting on the ground as he supported his knight. That was his only job: to protect his knight.
Felix felt like a failure because he hadn’t even been able to do that much.
Since they were treating him more as a knight rather than an apprentice, he was sent into the battlefield, not guarding Sir Eitan’s back.
He should have been wiser and stayed closer to the other man. It was an oversight that he didn’t even though it wasn’t his order at that moment.
Stanley pushed at the knights who surrounded the scene. He didn’t care whether or not they were northern, southern, royal, or otherwise. When he was summoned for something, he was going to do it to the best of his abilities.
However, Irene was more direct in her approach.
"Step aside!" she shouted at those who blocked the path.
This cleared a way for Stanley to get to the knight.
Even by mere glance, he didn’t have high hopes for the knight, but he was still going to do what he could because it was one of the knights who cared enough not to stare at him with unnecessary judgment. It was even one of the apprentices who helped guard them as they returned to the Duke’s Tower to help, despite their insistence that they never wanted to be in this area again.
"Please, lay him flat," Stanley requested. "We must get his chest plate off."
Felix’s eyes were red, and he seemed like a shell of a human at that moment, but he did what was asked of him.
Irene couldn’t help herself as she crouched next to Felix and placed a hand on the plate that covered his shoulder. He was wearing armor like a knight, just as he should have. All that he was missing was the title.
They waited with bated breath.
Stanley did a thorough examination of the man, but once he felt Sir Eitan’s head, he knew the answer almost immediately.
"Felix, I’m afraid he’s passed on," the mage admitted. "The back of his skull is shattered. He must have lost his helmet at some point during the battle."
Considering the miserable expression Felix wore, Stanley still did his best to light up healing magic in his hand and seal the wounds that spilled red blood. At least while they mourned the man, he could stay in one piece without all of his blood rushing out of him so quickly.
Irene felt a weight at her side, and she realized metal-clad arms were covering her as Felix held onto her for dear life.
She sank to the ground and let him hold onto her. It wasn’t the first time she had to comfort him through a loss.
If that’s what she became to him, she didn’t mind it much.
"I constantly feel like I’m drowning," he whispered. "When will I breathe again?"