Chapter 54

A few haunted seconds claimed the silence of the burnt down village as Emeric stared at the bloodied hand that peeked out from the pile of corpses. His fearful eyes searched for movement once more...That slightest twitch that signified the presence of life.

The fingers remained still...Lifeless...

Emeric wanted to leave, to follow his father. He wanted...No, needed, to get away from all the corpses...Stripped of their armor...They drew him back to his past, reminding him of the horrors he'd done...The lives he had taken. Yet, he knew what he had seen. The hand had moved. Right? Emeric couldn't leave when in good conscience he knew that there was a chance that one of the Etreshians had survived the attack.

With a halfhearted swallow, Emeric stalked towards the blood stained limb. His feet almost refused to move...A hidden emotion dragging him back...Was it fear? Terror from his past? He wasn't sure, but his spine was tingling with a sense of danger. Emeric wanted to bolt.

"What's wrong?" Hunter's voice broke through the cloud of doubt that rose over Emeric's head. Emeric swallowed, but didn't answer as he placed his fingers on the wrist of that one hand that seemed to haunt his very being. The skin was cold to the touch...Pale beneath the blood that marred it.

Emeric gasped with shock and nearly fell back when the hand moved and gripped his wrist. The pulse was weak, but there...Emeric was tempted to jerk away from the deathlike limb that grasped at him, but he frowned and forced himself to remain still.

Although the grip was barely hard enough to apply any pressure, Emeric could sense the emotion that the victim felt...The sheer terror that Emeric might leave him there to die, stuck beneath the bodies of fallen men, comrades...Brothers...

The victim's hand was nearly shaking with the effort of keeping his hold. Emeric almost felt tears rise to his eyes. He found himself gripping the mournful hand that grasped at him. He needed the injured Rogue to know that he wouldn't leave...That he was going to help.

"Oh gosh..." Hunter's exclamation made Rayhan turn back to them...To the pile of fallen Etreshians. That was when he also saw it...The hand clinging onto the last strand of hope...Emeric. He rushed to Emeric's side along with Hunter. The hope that at least someone had survived nearly drove Rayhan to the ground...He needed to know what had happened. He needed to know if there were any survivors...

"Help me get him out." Emeric said through a tight throat, still gripping the bloodstained hand.

Rayhan and Hunter started dragging bodies off of the pile, lightening the loud that pressed the lone survivor down. Emeric pulled at the arm...It didn't budge. He was afraid to pull harder, fearing that he might hurt the victim more than his current injuries were paining him.

As the load decreased, Emeric increased his efforts. He tightened his grip on the hand, grabbing just above the wrist, and then pulled with a steady force. Gradually, the body started slipping out of it's cage as it came free from the weight that pinned it down.

The victim came out stomach down, crying out in pain as hidden injuries came back to life with searing agony. The familiarity in the voice nearly made Emeric faint...It sounded so much like 'him'...He had to be sure...Hunter and Rayhan gripped the other arm and aided Emeric. The mangled body dropped to the floor, limp as a rag doll...

The victim whimpered in pain, clutching at his torso. Emeric couldn't make out his face. Only half of it was visible as he lay face down, pressing his forehead into the ground, trying, but failing to ward off the crippling pain. A savage laceration ran diagonally over the brow before turning down next to an unfortunate eye which was swollen shut and marred with blood. The damage would most likely cause blindness. The black tussle of hair was plastered to the Etreshian's scalp and forehead with dried blood.

Emeric knelt down next to the young man, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. Then, being as gentle as possible, Emeric turned the young Etreshian onto his back...

Emeric fell back, nearly fainting, as he saw who lay before him. "Kedo!" He cried as his eyes grew wide with horror. A shiver of disbelief and sorrow ran through him. Kedo's good eye turned to Emeric, but it was evident that he couldn't see much...he was fading...Blood loss was claiming him. The dark void that Emeric knew all too well was drawing his friend away from reality.

Emeric reached a hand towards Kedo's mangled face, towards the injury that would most probably blind the young man in one eye. How gruesome the wound seemed on such a young face.

That was when Emeric's eyes trailed down the body to the torso where Kedo was feebly clutching at one of the most horrid wounds that Emeric had ever seen. Kedo, like all the other fallen warriors, had been stripped of their clothes, left with only simple trousers to ward off the cold. Kedo's bare, wounded stomach was a sight from nightmares...

A deep laceration ran over his ribs, angling diagonally downwards where it slashed into his vulnerable gut. The wound was deep and wept crimson tears. Kedo's weak fingers couldn't keep his lifeblood from leaking out of him. His eyes met Emeric's, tears started welling up in the one good eye...

"Em...ric" Kedo whispered...His words begged for help...For relief from the heartless pain.

Emeric ripped his cloak off and pressed it to Kedo's wound, trying, but not quite succeeding at halting the rapid flow of the bleeding.

"I'm here Kedo. I'm here. Just hang on. You're going to be fine."

The lie tasted foul on Emeric's tongue.

He turned a desperate glare at Hunter, "Get Aire!"

Hunter was pale as a sheet...His eyes couldn't leave the ruined body of the young boy who lay at his feet...

"Hunter!" Emeric cried. Hunter drew himself together and fled away to the horses.

Kedo's body spasmed with pain, drawing a cry of pain out of the juvenile's aching chest. His eyes were clinched shut against the agony.

Emeric roughly wiped the tears from his eyes, but as he did so he smeared Kedo's blood over his cheek...The situation seemed like that out of a treacherous dream. Emeric kept telling himself mentally that this couldn't be happening...That he would wake up like he always did from all his nightmares...Not this one...Not this time.

Rayhan sank down to his knees next to his son. He had his own cloak in hand, rolled up. He softly lifted Kedo's head and placed the makeshift pillow under it to guard the Rogue's wounded head from the rough ground.

For the first time, Emeric felt the emotion that Kedo had experienced each time the older rogue had gotten a crippling injury in the Dome. Gazing down at a brother with a bleeding, wounded body hurt more than the wounds seemed to have ever hurt Emeric.

"Stay with me Kedo." Emeric pleaded as Kedo started drifting off. His head was lulling to one side, eye slowly siding shut. The young Rogue's body was shivering. Shock? Fear? Cold? The icy touch of death? Emeric tried not to think of such possibilities.

The distant thundering of hooves were music to Emeric's ears as the remainder of the rescue team came charging into the deceased village. Hunter rode his horse hard until he came to a shuddering halt a mere meter away from where Kedo lay, barely conscious and bleeding. Aire seemed to leap from the saddle as her eyes landed on her wounded friend. He had grown since she had last seen him, yet he looked so frail on the ground, cut down by the merciless wounds.

With her medical bag in hand, Aire fell to her knees next to Kedo. She gently pulled Emeric's hands off of the gaping wound and peeled the sodden cloak away. A grimace marred her face. She only needed a few seconds to examine the wound before making a conclusion of the damage done and the treatment it required. Few physicians worked with her speed and efficiency...

She pulled her kit of tools out of her rucksack and selected the equipment she would require.

It took Aire half an hour to treat the internal damage. Kedo's ribs had taken the brunt of the blow and had saved him from lasting effects. His entrails had come out relatively unscathed. Aire now took a scalpel from her took kit and started removing flesh from the edges of the laceration.

Kedo cried in pain, writhing. His breaths came in short gasps. He weakly tried grasping her wrist...To stop the pain...But he was too weak. His limbs were as heavy as lead.

Emeric grabbed Aire wrist and forced the scalpel out of her hand. He shot her a stern, questioning look. She gazed back at the wound. The bleeding had to be stopped and the wound needed to be closed in order for that to happen.

"Emeric, give me back the scalpel."

Emeric shook his head sternly, "You're hurting him. Like hell I'm giving it back."

"The injury isn't fresh. The flesh at the edges of the laceration are dying. He'll get infection if I don't remove it and the wound won't close. Let me do my job." The last part came out sternly.

Emeric hesitantly let her go and handed back the medical tool. She resumed her work and once more, Kedo's cries of pain filled the air. Emeric couldn't take it. It drove the red gaze over his vision, even though he knew that Aire was helping. He made a move to grab her wrist again. She twisted away from him, furious at him for interrupting the serious procedure.

"Emeric. Take a walk." Her voice was firm and commanding.

"I'm not leaving him." Emeric hissed.

Aire raised an eyebrow, "If you want me to save him, you'll go. Now take a walk. You're wasting time."

Emeric was hurt by her words, yet he didn't move. Rayhan had to step in. He guided Emeric away from Aire and Kedo, to the forest. Emeric was pale in the face and numb all over. Resisting his father was too much of an effort. Kedo's cries still met his ears...It would no matter how far away he went. It hammered in his brain, torturing him...

"He'll pull through." Rayhan whispered.

Emeric shook his head as tears streaked over his cheeks. His throat was too choked up to speak.

After a minute he replied, "Not with injuries like those...The blood...The trauma..."

Emeric started pacing to calm himself...The action did little to ease his strung up nerves. He wasn't sure how much time went by like that. Cries kept echoing to his ears. His heart was racing like the hooves of a thousand horses...He feared the inevitable...

Kedo had asked to go with on the mission...Emeric had refused, saying that it would be too dangerous...And now here Kedo lay, bleeding out on the floor in the place that was supposed to promise sanctuary and safety. Emeric cursed himself...He shouldn't have left Kedo...He should have been here...He should have protected his brother.

Silence made Emeric halt in his tracks. He turned to Aire...She wasn't crouching next to Kedo anymore. She was standing a few paces away from the bundle on the floor. Her shoulders were sagged with sorrow.

"Please no..." Emeric whispered. He wanted to run...To bolt to Aire, but his feet refused anything faster than a heartbroken trudge towards his friend...Towards Kedo who lay still...Too still...

"Please no..."

The words echoes mournfully through the dead village...