Author's Note is at the bottom of the chapter this time! By the way, this one has a bit of violence and angst near the end. Thanks Tinkie and Ayumi Warui for reviewing my last chapter, I'm not sure if I ever replied though...? Let me know!
I decided that it might be a good idea to visit the infirmary, to see just how pissed off Albel was at me. I hoped that it wouldn't be too bad, but I did cause him at least one broken bone. I flinched at the thought of what it would be like to get yelled at in front of all the healers. I had the utmost respect for the Castle healers; they always radiated an aura of sunshine and calmness. I suppose I'm a little biased though, they did save my life.
The woman running the infirmary looked up at my approach. "Umm...Is Lord Nox in here?" She smiled warmly and me and nodded, pointing to one of the beds in the back corner. I grimaced and walked to the bed that she indicated. I got the distinct feeling that this wasn't going to be fun at all.
I walked over and sat down on the corner of the bed. I didn't think that Albel would strangle me inside the infirmary, at least, I hoped not. Albel didn't twitch at this movement. "Hey, how do you feel?" I tried to be nice, and gave his unmoving figure a hopeful smile. His eyes had dull shine and I could tell that they had pumped him full of painkillers.
"How the hell do you think I feel, worm?"
"Just trying to be...nice." I told him quietly.
"Why?" Albel asked me. I looked up at him, surprised that he would ask me such a question.
"Because, that's, just what people do for each other. Usually." I added with a half smile. He remained silent and averted his eyes. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lost my temper with you." I said this so quietly that I was secretly hoping that he hadn't heard. His eyes sparked when he looked at me, obviously full of curiosity.
"You're pathetic. After all the effort you put yourself through to injure me, you apologize for it? Spineless-maggot." He sneered at me and moved to reach for a glass of water on his bedside table, grimacing in pain from the effort.
With a patient sigh, I got up and handed the glass to him. "Do you want to eat your meals through a straw for the next two days? I can definitely have that arranged." He gave me a horrified look and groaned.
"Not as pathetic as I assumed." He murmured. I smiled and accepted the glass back from him, taking a sip before replacing it on the table. I was silently shocked to hear these words from Albel Nox, but I masked this carefully. This was probably the closest thing that I would get to a compliment from him, and I wasn't a mind to have it taken back so quickly.
"How did you get those scars?" He looked directly into my eyes when he asked me this, and the force of that gaze was overwhelming. I must have been staring, because he raised his eyebrows to show that he was getting rather impatient. The painkillers had definitely had an effect on his mind, after all, first a compliment and now he truly interested in how I had gotten hurt.
"...You. Exactly six years ago you clawed me with that" I motioned toward his gauntlet. He closed his eyes.
"You spilled chicken broth on me." His eyes flicked open and smiled at my astonishment. "I'm sorry..." He said, almost inaudibly. My jaw dropped. Yes, literally fell open at these words. Not much, but I was in shock. Luckily for me though, Albel was already drifting off to sleep. Whatever the hell they gave him, I wanted to slip it in his breakfast every morning from now on. Finally I managed to speak again.
"Goodnight, Albel." I murmured. Yup, he was definitely getting those pills again. Hopefully for another three weeks.
He was definitely off the medication in the morning when I brought breakfast. I grimaced when I remembered that I would have to bring him lunch and dinner; he obviously couldn't attend the banquet as he usually did. I set the silver tray down next to the bed and looked at him reproachfully. His claw still had been taken from him, and I had heard from the nurses that he had been howling about it. He gave me a baleful look and ignored the food. I then noticed that his good arm was working at something on the other side of the bed. Narrowing my eyes suspiciously at him, I inconspicuously leaned closer to him, attempting to see what he was doing.
"Why are you getting closer to me?"Albel abruptly asked me. I realized suddenly that I had gotten a bit too close to him.
"Oh, just wondering if the sheets were clean." I lied with a smile. Albel rolled his eyes and kept watching me. I gazed out the window, wishing that I could be outside playing in the newly fallen Glyphian snow. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw Albel start moving his arm again. My view was still obscured by the sheet though, and I couldn't imagine what he could possibly be doing.
Holding back a sigh of frustration, I whipped the sheet off his bed in a flash and narrowed my eyes at what I found. Albel was holding a small dagger in his good hand, and had been furiously working at destroying the side of the mattress that he was laying on. He had come very close to ruining the bed too; I'd give him another ten minutes before he had split the side of the bed wide open. "They won't move you to another bed. You'll have to lay in the mess that you make." I cut him off before he could open his mouth. "And no, I will not clean it up." He glared furiously at me and the dagger was pressed against my throat.
"Oh honestly." I sighed in exasperation at this new development and rolled my eyes. Some of the healers were watching the incident nervously, wondering if they should intervene, but obviously too afraid to. He made a noise that was the cross of a growl and a hiss at my lack of fear. Truthfully, I was scared that he would actually do it this time, but I continued on. "Put that down. It's not allowed in the infirmary." The blade was pressed a bit harder into my throat, and I could feel the warm trickle of blood dripping down my neck. One of the healers started to come toward us then, to attempt to put a stop to Albel's behaviour, but I was quicker.
I jabbed three of my fingers directly into his broken and bruised ribs. The noise that he made was nearly sickening as he tried to gasp and scream at the same time. Albel's face was whiter than a corpse, and he was taking shallow breaths because of the pain. The dagger fell to the floor with a clank, and I picked it up calmly. The knife was made from a fusion of steel and silver and the handle was made of the same metal. I noticed that the blade was slightly jagged and further examination showed that the edge was set with lethally sharp diamonds. Gods, it must have cost a bloody fortune!
I decided to take advantage of his temporary handicap and I reached under the pillow. My fingertips met with the cool smoothness of leather, and I grabbed it. The knife's sheath was simple compared to the deadly beauty of the dagger, and it was obviously well made. I slid the knife into the leather and slid it into my waistband. I looked at him and sighed. His eyes were glazed over with pain, but there was still the same fire burning just under the surface.
Alright, so maybe I felt a little guilty about what I did to him. After all, I could have just backed away and let the guards deal with it, but I didn't. I waited until the healers had lost interest in our corner of the room and then pulled the privacy curtains around the small bed.
"What are you doing, wench?" He growled. He flinched for a spilt second before replacing the expression with a venomous glare. "Answer me. I'll have you thrown in the dungeons." He probably will too.
"I'll make you a deal." I leaned close to the bed and spoke in a voice barely above a whisper. I hoped that he wouldn't speak any louder either. "You wanna spend four more days here or not?"
"Of course I don't want to stay here, you fool! I have better things to do than lay in a bed with these maggots tending to me." He hissed. I smiled coldly.
"Then I want you to swear that you won't tell anyone about this. Do we have a deal, Albel?" Oops. It's frowned upon to call nobles so informally, and by frowned upon; I mean docked pay or a night in the dungeon. Just another reason why I'm going to be in sooo much trouble after this whole thing is said and done.
"Fine." He said, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Slowly, I pulled the sheet back to reveal his bandaged midsection. The healers had done a good job with the bindings, and I had difficulty getting them off. I could tell that it was painful for him when I jostled the bandage near his broken ribs, and put my hand on his shoulder, as if I could draw some of the pain out from this simple action. I held my finger to my lips and kept my other hand hidden while I concentrated energy into it. A red light shone from my palm, and I couldn't hide it anymore. Albel's eyes widened, and I could tell that he was about to shout for the guards. I clamped my hand over his mouth, muffling him while placing the hand containing the glowing red light over his ribs. His lips closed under my hand, and I saw him close his eyes with the expectation of more pain.
Bone knitted itself back together and his sinewy muscles rejoined where the broken bones had torn them. I concentrated, and pushed more blood to the injured area. This would help fight any infection that might have leaked in from the scrapes. Finally, new skin washed over the area, making it look like Albel had never had the unfortunate encounter.
I gritted my teeth and didn't look at him after I had finished, and I was terrified that he would call the guards despite his promise. I heard him inhale deeply and closed my eyes, bracing my self for the inevitable. I should have left him there, to suffer and writhe in misery, like I had to. I realized after a second that no shout was forthcoming, and opened my eyes.
He was just lying there, staring at me like I was some kind of freak from the carnival. I swallowed and wondered how long he was going to keep looking at me like that. I shifted uncomfortably, but he seemed to be unaware of it as he gazed. After what seemed to be an eternity of excruciating silence, he spoke.
"You're...not Glyphian." It wasn't a question. Of course, why would it be? No Glyphian man or woman had yet to grasp the delicate complexities of Runeology. The Aquarians said that all of the blood that had been spilled on their soil clouded the magic from concentrating in any amount that could be used. That was the nicer version of it though; most just said that Glyphians were too dense to learn the sacred art.
"No..." I said, almost inaudibly. When I looked up again, he had averted his eyes and was looking out the small dirty window.
"You disgust me. I ate food that you touched." He said, still not looking at me. "I let you touch me. Traitorous maggot, do you know how many you're people have killed? How many innocents slaughtered at the hands of those Aquarian scum." He looked as though he were about to grow scales and spit fire at me. I could see the innocent snowfall reflected in his eyes that held so much concentrated hatred, it terrified me. I could feel my hands begin to shake with fear. My vision blurred, and I felt something wrenched from my waistband.
"Get. Out. Now." I had never heard a colder voice in my life. I lost my war against the tears and sobbed. I stood to leave, and felt a searing pain rip down my left arm. Looking down, I nearly passed out at the sight of so much blood. My blood.
I swallowed the bile that was rising in my throat and calmed my self, darting back from another knife swipe. Unfortunately, Albel had other ideas, and since he was newly healed, could carry them out. I felt three quick swipes of the blade across my cheek, and bit my tongue until it bled to keep from crying out. Whatever the cost, I would not give him the pleasure of hearing me scream.
As if he were reading my thoughts, a sneer lit across his thin lips. "You think you can resist me? A thousand men have wept before me, pleading for their pathetic lives. And you have the arrogance to believe that you can stand here now?" Albel's sneer grew wider as some treasonous fear leaked into my eyes. I could tell that he experiencing sadistic ecstasy from slicing me up.
I inhaled deeply and gathered my last reserves of strength. I was losing a lot of blood from my arm injury, and would continue to do so until I could heal it. It was now or never. I dived at him, catching him off guard as we both toppled onto the infirmary bed. After slamming my fist against his kneecap, I lunged across him, shoving my elbow viciously into his throat while grabbing the knife away. His fist connected with my cheek though, and I dropped the elegant blade with a grunt. His good knee smashed into my stomach, further impairing my ability to fight back.
Bruised, bleeding, and most likely, with a broken cheek bone, I had completely lost the will to fight. Suddenly I was feeling all of those lacerations and other miscellaneous injuries that Albel had inflicted. Isn't strange how the sudden loss of adrenalin can do that to you? I was shocked that the healers hadn't at least peeked in on us, but we had barely made a sound, despite the severe injuries that were received. Albel's hand wrapped itself around my throat, but there was no way that I could possibly fight him again in my condition. The world was spinning around me, blurring the cold white floor with the plain grey brick of the walls. His nails dug into the tender skin of my neck, drawing a hiss of pain from me, but instead of strangling me, he merely threw me down onto the floor.
I concentrated on the simple task of keeping myself awake while he got slowly off the bed. My hand moved slightly, and brushed against a cold metal object. The knife! It slid effortlessly out of its sheath, and I gripped the handle of it with white knuckles. Albel stood over me, but I didn't look at him; maybe if I stay perfectly still, he wouldn't see me...nope, too late. He knelt down next to me, and I snapped my arm up and pointed the knife at his rapidly blurring nose, ignoring the searing pain that ignited my flesh. Blood oozed out of the wound and slithered down my arm, pooling at my shoulder.
I could feel the sneer on his face that resulted from my rather pathetic attempt to defend myself. The blade tip was shaking dangerously, and I was quickly losing feeling in my fingers. However, my worries about keeping the blade steady were soon extinguished though; I felt a quick and forceful jerk on the blade and Albel was suddenly in possession of the knife. Fuzzy spiders spun webs of darkness at the corners of my eyes that spread quickly across my vision. And then...nothing.
Albel sighed in irritation. Not only had the wench managed to land a few good blows on him, she had up and fainted as well. And he would be in trouble with that wretched old man Woltar again. Hmm. There had to be an easy way out of this. He would have preferred simply to leave the fool there to (hopefully) drown in a pool of her own blood, but it would be no mystery who had left her in such a condition in the first place. Not to mention, that would take a rather long time. Sighing with impatience, he tapped his foot. He wished for a moment that he could perform Runeology as well, but that thought was quickly chased from his mind. Runeology was an Aquarian art, and it was nothing that any decent Glyphian should ever even attempt.
Fine then, time to browse through proper Glyphian manners of healing. A crimson glow lit his face for the second time that day though, and he looked down in surprise. The girl was healing herself, even though she was out cold! Now that was something that you didn't see...ever. But here she was, defying what seemed to be a rather basic law of Runeology, and healing herself. Albel grimaced; with all the maids in this gods-forsaken castle, he had to get stuck with the one that was not only a treasonous maggot, but a mage as well. Well, at least he wasn't going to get in trouble for whacking her around.
Well, as I've said in the previous chapter, there might be some considerable space between new updates as I passed my driving test yesterday, so I'll be a bit busy! Anyway, what'd everybody think? This chapter was a bit difficult to write, as I'm not that great with violent/graphic descriptions. Oh and sorry all of you AlbelxAudrey people, not in this chapter. Keep your hopes up though! Please review!