On Fire

Asher closed his eyes and chuckled when he heard the name coming from the physician's mouth.

Somehow, he found it hard to believe that Baron Ake was behind the late King's death. He could not understand what Baron Ake would gain when he and his father died.

The royal family monarch would end when he died. There's no way his sister, Amelia, would be able to govern if it was not for his decree and emblem.

When Daren showed up to the palace sometimes later with his crest, Asher was sure that the nobles would do everything they can to push Amelia off the throne. The nobilities would reject the idea of a woman as their ruler. When that happened, there will be a power struggle. Whatever it is, Baron Ake will never be the person who gained anything in this situation.

Unless if he was working for someone else...

But who among the nobilities would gain the throne once he was out of the picture?

He tried to think of the people who were able to instruct Baron Ake to do his dirty deed. His eyes flashed, knowing that Baron Ake and Viscount Neill was close.

Asher opened up his eyes when he heard a noise outside. He looked around the shack and saw that Leo was on guard even when he was tied and injured, while the physician had long fallen asleep half an hour ago.

Leo glanced at the King and raised a brow as if asking if he had heard the same thing.

Asher nodded to Leo. The two of them stayed in silence as they wait for someone to come in through the door. However, after a few minutes of silence, the people outside the shack did not enter and instead, they heard footsteps, telling them that the people were walking around the shack.

"Wait," Leo spoke urgently, causing the physician to startle from his sleep. Leo turned to Asher with an anxious expression. "Did you smell that?"

Asher closed his eyes and sniffed out. "Something is burning." A thought crossed his mind and Asher began to panic. "They are planning to burn us alive."

"What?" the old physician who has been silent for a long time started to show some reaction. "No way."

Leo focused his strength around his wrist and tried to wriggle out of the rope, and his wrist started to bleed from the abrasion. His eyes roamed around the shack frantically to look for something or anything that he may use to cut the rope.

Asher watched with worry as Leo scooted towards the fire in his attempt to use it to burn the rope. But the fire was too hot and unpredictable. Leo was not able to get what he wanted, instead, the fire caught a side of his clothes and almost set him on fire.

Smoke began to fill the room and fire spread through the walls.

Soon, Graham Dansey ducked to the floor, coughing and gasping for air.

The three of them scooted towards the center of the room to avoid the fire. Even if they were going to die, they did not want to die so soon.

It was then that they heard a commotion outside —first, there was a loud thump, and then, they could hear the sound of someone shouting and metal clanking.

From the noise, Asher and Leo were able to guess that there was a fight going on outside.

Before they were able to process at what was happening, the door went down to the ground with a loud crash. A few people they didn't recognize rushed into the shack and dragged them out of the burning shack.

Asher coughed once he was able to breathe fresh air. He looked up to his savior and gave his thanks. The man merely nodded at him before he helped to cut the rope around his hand. Knowing that he was now in a safer place, Asher turned to search for Leo and found him sitting beside Doctor Dansey.

"Lady," his savior spoke up. "We got them out of the building. But the old man is unconscious probably has been inhaling too much of that smoke."

Hearing his savior speaking with a tone full of respect, Asher was suddenly curious. He turned to look at the person that his savior was talking to and his eyes widened when he recognized her.

"Evelyn?" Asher stared at her, but the lady ignored him, and instead, walked passed him before she crouched down beside the old physician.

"Another one of them had a slight burn on his hand, and a wound on his shoulder," his savior spoke again. "Looking at his injury, he was probably shot with an arrow or something similar."

"Alright. Beck, you look after that burn," Eileen rummage through the knapsack and threw a bottle of medicine. Then, she stood up, walked over to Asher, and went down on one knee. "Are you alright?" she asked him.

He replied with a nod. "Yes," he continued to stare at the woman before him and frowned. "But, what are you doing here?"

Eileen Cloud flashed him a smile that did not reach her eyes. "I have been tracking you down ever since you disappeared on me." Her voice was a whisper to prevent others from listening to their conversation. "Right now, you are my patient. Until you are fully healed, I will never let my patient away from my eyesight."

Asher frowned at her confession.

Eileen sneered at his expression. "Anyway, please address me as Eileen. You should be grateful that I arrived with these people just in time to save you. I see that you have an extra person with you," she glanced at the old man, lying on the ground not far from them. "Would you mind telling me why is Doctor Dansey is here with you, Your Majesty?"

"Hei s the reason why I came out of the palace," Asher said. He glanced at the old man and frowned. "Is he alright?"

"He's alive." Eileen shook her head, noticing that the king didn't answer her question. "One of these days, you need to tell me what you're up to." She lowered her head to take a deep breath and looked at Asher again. "Your Majesty. I want to help you. Please. Let me help you."

The King stared into the woman's unwavering eyes and found that after years of separating, the person he previously knew as Evelyn Cloud had changed a lot.

"Alright." Asher nodded after a while. Then, he turned to look at the men who had come with Eileen. He understood right away that these men acted under Eileen's command. "Who are these people?"

"They're the local from the slump," Eileen explained. She took out a new set of clothes and handed them to Asher. Then, she turned around and Asher immediately understood that she wanted him to change. "Don't worry. These people knew nothing about you. They were only helping me in exchange for a few... favors."

"That's not true." The man who had pulled Asher out of the burning shack said as he approached. "We owe Lady Cloud a lot. She always gave us free treatments and medicines whenever she came to our town."

Asher turned to Eileen and saw her smile. Suddenly, he wondered what she has been doing after she quit the Royal Hospital.

"I'm Beck," the man extended his hand for a shake.

It took Asher a while before he took the man's hand. "I am," he paused, suddenly at loss at how he should introduce himself. "I'm Asher."

Beck smiled before he turned to Eileen. "I think it would be best if we head back to the village now, Lady Cloud. One or two of those guards escaped into the woods during the fight. It will be troublesome if they come back with their friends."