Chapter 13

The sun was setting, marking the end of Emeric's eighth day in his mobile cage. His muscles were stiff and aching from the lack of movement. He desperately longed to go for a long, long run in the bliss woods...To just run without anything holding him back...No chains to call his own, but that wasn't the life he was living...He might never have that life again.

He simply had to face his new fate head on and do his best to last as long as possible...

He had to fulfill the promises he had made to everyone he cared about.

The escapade came to a slow halt in front of a large building that was larger in it's width that it's height. It had a bulky look that gave the impression of a sturdy, well built structure. But the dome that seemed to stretch upwards, out of the complex's center was what marked the immense structure as the end of Emeric's long journey.

He had reached the Dome of Scoalgeoc...Something he had been dreading over the past few days...

Emeric's cage was opened and he was dragged out. His legs refused to listen considering that they had been scrunched up for days on end without the luxury of being stretched out. Emeric was held by two guards. One on each side, gripping his arms.

Even if he could escape, he doubted that he would be able to manage anything faster than an awkward shuffle considering the useless state of his legs. Emeric mentally swore at the unfavourable situation.

Calvert got out of his grand carriage and proudly walked over to Emeric. The Rogue found himself looking down at the ground involuntarily. It was because of the utter authority emitting from the wealthy Dome Keeper. It set Emeric on edge and made him feel like an ant next to an elephant.

"Take him to Doc. He's to undergo the standard evaluation." Calvert strictly commanded before adding, "Tell Doc that I want him in the arena as soon as possible."

The guards escorting Emeric bowed their heads respectfully, "Yes sir." They said in unison.

Emeric was led into the immense building. He marveled at the resemblance between Deepdale and Scoalgeoc's interior of the Domes. Both of the buildings were dull and cold on the inside. The appearance seemed to reflect off of the people who inhabited the Dome...The two were dull and cold.

After walking...or in Emeric's case, stumbling...down dozens of corridors, the guards finally came to a halt in a comfy room which housed a number of odd furniture...

A working table, cupboard which housed a couple of books and vials, and a few paintings on the walls that added warmth to the room.

The guards gestured at the working table, "Sit." They commanded Emeric bluntly. Emeric did as he was told, more than grateful to give his jelly legs a quick rest. He sat in silence as the guards awkwardly just stood silent and motionless beside him.

The whole scene became rather uncomfortable.

Emeric allowed his eyes to travel over the interior of the room once more as they waited for whom he assumed was Doc...

Minutes dragged by and nothing happened. Emeric lowered his bored gaze to his lap as nothing transpired.  He was tempted to shut his eyes and sleep...Something that had been short coming in the bumpy, jerky wagon he had been transported in.

As Emeric started drifting off he vaguely registered the sound of a door opening and then a totally expected exclamation when the newcomer realised what he was. "Oh frolicking flamingo!" The strange exclamation made Emeric raise his eyes to the person standing in the doorway.

He took in the long, curly brown hair that fell over the young woman's shoulders...almost black, but not quite. She had large, inquisitive green eyes that gazed upon Emeric with awestruck wonder.

Her skin was neither tanned nor pale, but smooth and unblemished. She wore a simple olive green dress that complemented her slim build and brought out her eye color at once. She seemed to have seen the same number of winters as Emeric.

She was escorted by a tall soldier who seemed to wear a permanent scowl. He halted beside the young woman in the doorway and with a single hand gesture he dismissed the two guards who were stationed next to Emeric.

The soldier walked forward and placed himself close to Emeric in case he needed to intercept the Rogue.

The young woman slowly walked closer to Emeric, her eyes shining with curiosity, "I never thought I'd see an Etreshian in person." She mused when she stopped a couple of feet away from Emeric...His eyes grew wide with shock, his face portrayed complete disbelief.

"What?" The young lady questioned fearfully, as if she'd insulted Emeric by accident. He shook his head slowly, "It's been a long time since I was recognised by that name, that's all." He noted how different his accent was compared to the curious Chayran's.

"Aire," The soldier said in a manner that drew the younger woman's attention, "Calvert wants him to undergo the standard evaluation. He wants him in the arena as soon as possible." The young Doctor, Aire, tore her bewildered gaze away from Emeric as she hastily nodded, "Right." She said as she moved closer to begin the evaluation.

"I need to check your pulse." She explained as gestured to Emeric's wrist.

"He's property...you don't have to tell him what needs doing." The soldier reprimanded Aire. She acknowledged him with a slight nod of her head. Emeric swallowed uncomfortably as Aire placed her fingers over the artery in his wrist to feel his pulse. "Darius, please start the timer." Aire stated as she gestured towards the hourglass that stood on one of the cupboard racks.

Aire shut her eyes as she focused on counting each heartbeat. Emeric realised that his heart was beating faster than it usually did. He also noted with shock that Aire was the first female he had seen since the day of his mother's death. Probably the reason why his heart was racing.

"Time." The soldier, known as Darius, said when the sand had run out. Aire nodded her thanks and turned to write notes on a chart. She continued her evaluation, checking Emeric's eyes, ears and mouth...to his total discomfort.

"Stand up, please." Aire said as she stepped back from Emeric to write more notes on her chart. Emeric got to his feet and cautiously glanced at Darius who had moved closer. Emeric was offended...Did the soldier really think that Emeric was heartless enough to want to harm a innocent young woman in an attempt to escape? But on the other hand, he was believed to be a beast so what had he expected?

Aire turned back at him and gestured towards a wall where measurements were marked out. Emeric moved to stand in front of it, knowing what was expected of him. Aire took note of the number by his head and then moved away to her charts once again.

Darius gestured Emeric back to the table...he obeyed. 'So you really became an obedient animal?' He criticised himself.

"Take your shirt off please." Aire said while she was scribbling more notes down, her back was still turned towards him. She was met with silence and when she turned around she saw the uncomfortable look that Emeric was shooting at her...His expression seemed to say, "Hell no..."

He made no move to go through with what he'd been told to do.

"Standard evaluation." She explained in an apologetic tone of voice. Emeric didn't feel any better about the prospect than he had, but he knew that he didn't have much of a choice. He let out a soft sigh, "Fine." He muttered underneath his breath.

The action was difficult with his hands bound and his winced as the shirt pulled over his inflamed back. He held his shirt in his cuffed hands which were resting in his lap.

Aire took note of Emeric's strong build as she continued the evaluation, however, as she moved behind him, another exclamation escaped her lips, "Oh jolly jackal! Why wasn't this treated?" She demanded as she stared at Emeric's serious injury.

He took the question as a rhetorical one and didn't give any form of answer. "Well, Calvert can get rid of the idea of sending you to the Dome this week." Aire mumbled, almost inaudibly, as she inspected the wound closely.

"Highly inflamed, infection, blood not clotting...Could things be any worse." She muttered angrily at the situation and seriousness of the wound.

"Darius, please get a bucket of clean water, I'll prepare the ointment for the infection." Darius stood frozen and looked between Emeric and Aire...His face portrayed uncertainty. Aire noticed, but dismissed it as she got busy, "Darius, I'll be fine...But if we don't treat this wound now, we might not be able to save him, "She gestured at Emeric, "And I'm sure Calvert would just love that." The last statement stung with sarcasm.

Darius sighed and as he left he shot Emeric a look that seemed to say, 'Try something...I dare you.'

Emeric stayed where he was, watching criticizingly as Darius hesitantly left. When the soldier disappeared from view, Emeric directed his attention back to Aire who was vigorously mixing different assortments of herbs and oils together to prepare a treatment for Emeric's wound.

"Is he your bodyguard or assistant?" Emeric cautiously asked. Aire seemed surprised by the sudden question, but quickly recovered. "Uhm...Both I guess. He used to be my bodyguard, but I started bossing him around, so now he's probably also my assistant...I guess."

Aire picked up the vial which the new concoction was in, "When were you injured?" She questioned with a concerned frown on her face. Emeric lowered his eyes to his cuffed hands, "Eight days ago." Aire suddenly looked shocked, "How didn't you bleed out?" Emeric shrugged. He'd wondered the same thing on dozens of occasions along the tedious journey to Scoalgeoc.

Aire put the vial on the table as she started inspecting the wound once more. She lightly started feeling for swelling around the wound, furthering her knowledge on the extent of damage that had been done.

Emeric just barely held back a grunt of pain when Aire reached an extra sensitive spot, but Aire, being a highly trained physician noted the sudden tension in Emeric's posture and knew that he was in pain.

"This area will need to be cauterized." Aire informed Emeric when she reached the middle of the wound. "It won't heal properly on its own, and I'm afraid it's the only way to stop the bleeding." Aire explained further.

Emeric grimly nodded his head, knowing it was necessary if he didn't want his wound to cause even more problems. But the thought of the pain that he was sure to suffer from the procedure set him on edge.

Darius came back, carrying a bucket of water. He set it down on the table and stood back to allow Aire to do what she did best. He seemed more relaxed, grasping that if Emeric was going to attempt any form of escape it would have been in his absence.

Aire took up a cloth and dipped it in the bucket of cool water. She then started gently wiping the blood from Emeric's back. He winced a few times as she went over the sensitive spots, but Aire had a light hand and worked with experienced knowledge.

After the wound was successfully cleaned, Aire retrieved a lamp from on top of a cupboard. She sent Emeric an apologetic glance as she placed a blade in the flame. Time seemed to pass slower than a slug could move as Emeric watched the blade gradually start to glow red.

His breathing involuntarily sped up as he watched the blade, fearing what was to come.

"Lay stomach down of the table." Aire instructed Emeric, and then turning to Darius she said, "Hold him down please." Emeric reluctantly did as he had been commanded...He could already imagine the blade searing into his skin...the stench of his own flesh burning...the immense pain...

Emeric took a few deep breaths to try and calm his nerves as Aire retrieved the blade, which was glowing a hot red.

Her slow footsteps approached, causing all Emeric's muscles to tense. Darius noticed and pressed him down, as if he feared that Emeric would jump up and bolt away from the danger.

When Aire reached Emeric she gave him another apologetic glance, but he didn't see it. His eyes were clinched shut against the expectation of pain. "Bite down on this." Aire instructed as she offered a piece of cloth that had been rolled up.

Emeric took it between his teeth and took one last deep breath to calm himself...

At that moment Aire pressed the glowing blade against Emeric's injury...The pain was worse that he had thought it would be. He bit down hard on the cloth, trying his best to contain a cry of pain as the blade seared his back...The stench of his own skin and flesh burning tortured his nose and nauseated him.

He clenched his hands into fists till the whites of his knuckles were showing clearly.

He wasn't able to hold the cry back for long.

An agonised yell of pain escaped his lungs as he couldn't take the pain anymore. But luckily after a few more seconds, he noticed that the sizzling sound of flesh burning had died down and the blade was no longer pressing against his back...But the pain wasn't better at all.

"I'm sorry." Aire said softly, hating the thought of causing a patient any pain.

He pressed his forehead into the table, willing the pain to die down...It did not.

Aire discarded the blade and retrieved the ointment that she had been mixing earlier.

The young physician applied the ointment into the wound. It immediately had a soothing effect on the wounds as it softened the pain to a dull throb, rather than the agonising burning that it had been.

The mixture of herbs and carefully extracted oils would aid in the fighting of infection and would speed up the healing process. It also contained a pain adhesive.

Emeric was allowed to lay still for a few more minutes to recover from the procedure, but then Darius ordered him back into a sitting position. Emeric complied with difficulty as his cauterized wound complained against the movement.

Aire finished with wrapping a bandage around Emeric's torso to keep the wound clean. "All done." Aire said as she clasped her hands together with satisfaction, while she shot Emeric a sympathetic glance. Emeric gratefully pulled his shirt on again, he felt way too exposed without it.

Aire returned to her notes and examined them for a few seconds, "Darius, you can tell Calvert that the Etreshian won't be ready for the Dome for about a week. Sending him sooner would only worsen the state of the wound..." Darius nodded and clasped Emeric by his arm...A simple gesture that made it obvious that their visit to Doc was over.

Emeric left the room without another word to Aire. He felt guilty in some way, as if he should have said something. She had saved him after all. But it was more than that. It wasn't just because she had treated his wound, no...She had treated him like a human being...She had called him an Etreshian...She had acknowledged him for what he really was...And that was why he felt the overwhelming need to thank her.

*****

Emeric's cell was quite similar to the one in Deepdale, but the cell hall had been constructed differently. Instead of having cells on both sides of the hall that faced each other, the cell hall which Emeric had been dumped in was a single row of cells next to each other. There was no way to see you're neighbor. It made you feel like a single prisoner in a world of spectators who cheered for your death.

The cells were also much larger. Almost twice the size of Emeric's previous cell. 'More room for pacing.' Emeric thought as he realised that he would probably succumb himself to the soothing action in the soon future.

His wrists had been released, but he still held his permanent cuff on his right wrist. He feared that it would follow him to his grave.

Emeric took in the bleak interior of his cell. There was a single blanket on the floor. Whether he wanted to use it to ward off the cold or use it as cushioning against the hard ground was up to him. There was a small heap of folded clothes by the cell bars. Darius had instructed him to change into the new clothes before he had left Emeric in his new cage.

Emeric was grateful to finally have a change of clothes. He wasn't sure how long it had been since he felt something close to clean, but it had been before he had been captured all those months ago.

The clothes sat loosely...A fit all size...Emeric reckoned.

With a tired sigh, Emeric sank down on the thin blanket. It did little to soften the hard, cold ground...but at least it was there.

Emeric relished the idea that he had a week off before he would have to go back to the Dome. A whole week where he wouldn't be expected to do anything, to kill anyone. A week where he wouldn't have to be seen as a monster by hundreds, or even thousands, of spectators. A whole week to himself.

He shut his eyes, reassured by the fact that he wouldn't be dragged off to the Dome at any second...

If only Emeric knew how wrong he was.