Out of Time. Part 2

Leofwin is standing outside the tent waiting for the healer, looking at the setting sun in distant mountains as the crimson sky gets dark with each passing moment. He started strolling back and forth clinching his fists, waiting as he is slowly losing his patience. Suddenly, the curtain in front of him lifts as a woman walks out of the tent. Her clothes and hands were stained with blood. "Hi, how is she? Will, she gonna okay, right?" He asked, rushing towards her grabbing her from the shoulders.

"Calm down, captain, and you should sit down." She said, pushing his hands away, and the captain started walking towards his tent and she followed. "I can't say I have good news. You saw her condition, right? We healed her wounds, and she is stable for now, and that is all in the name of good news. She lost too much blood, but there's something much worse. External interference badly damaged her mana circuits throughout her body, and I don't think we can do much about that. We all can just pray and wait." She said as she took a deep breath.

Leofwin sat there silently, thinking about how to respond. "Not everything is lost yet. We have hope. Eva can fix this, right? No, I know she can. There's no one better than her in the entire kingdom." He said standing back up. "We should not waste any time. It's already been two days. We should start moving for capital."

"Wait, captain. I don't think it's wise to go to the capital. Who knows how it'll affect her condition? We should go back to walls. It's much closer, and we'd have almost everything there we need." She said, bowing down sitting behind. "It'd take three days to reach the capital, and we'd reach the walls before midnight."

"Okay, I guess you're right." He said, stopping in his track. "Let's take a few men and head back to the walls. Rest will head to the capital." He said as he walked out of the tent and started talking to a knight and in a few moments, every knight started running around, taking apart the tents and loading things in the carriages and started heading to the capital. "Hi, we take that boy with us, too. He'll soon wake up as his mana gate is healed. I'd have a lot to ask him about." He said to the lady. "I want to see her."

"As you wish, captain." She said, standing up. "Follow me," and started walking ahead.

Leofwin stopped outside the tent, looking down as he took a deep breath and went inside the tent, lifting the curtain. As he lifted his head, he saw Isabel's pale white body lying unconscious in front of him on a thick furry sheet. Her whole upper body and forehead were wrapped in red-tinted bandages and her silver hair was turned dark red. The sight shocked him to his core, and he took a step back and slowly sat down on his knees. "You said you healed her, right? Then why is she covered in the bandages like this?" He said in a lifeless voice holding her cold hand.

"Yes, captain. I said that, and her external wounds are healed. However, as I've told you before, her mana circuits were damaged, and we couldn't use her own mana to heal her. That's why we used these bandages and laced them with a recovery incensement." She replied.

"I need a moment alone." He said in a low voice, leaning his head down as the lady left the tent. "What happened? How did it end up like this?" His eyes started getting numb looking at her pale face.

"Hi stop, it. Give it back. It's mine. No, am telling you if you ate it… No, no don't you dare." He yelled, chasing Isabel as she was running in front of him grabbing a beef sake in his hand. "I made that myself. Please give it back, be a good girl."

"If you want it that badly, then why don't you try taking this back? Or you know you can't because you can't catch me." She replied, smirking with a bright glow in her eyes.

"Oh, so you wanna go there, huh?" He said with a grin and a sharp look in his eyes as he took each step running towards her. Pillars of stone started rising from the ground below her. "Let's see how far you can run now."

"Hi, now you're getting serious. But I won't be enough." She said laughing as she dodged the pillars bending and jumping left and right.

"What is all this mess? You two go straight to the principal's office. Right now." A man yelled from behind as he was holding books in his hand, wearing dark green regalia.

"So, you both used magic again in the academy outside of the class. What did you two destroy this time?" Adam Brown said as he looked at both of them, sitting behind a table stacked with books over it.

"Aha ha. It's nothing much, just the whole corridor outside the north building." Isabel said awkwardly, smiling putting her fingers in her hair behind her head.

"You both know the final exam is next week, right? And if I expel both of you…"

"I am so sorry. It's all my fault. Please don't do that. I promise we'll never do that again." She said, stopping him mid-sentence bow her head down as young Leofwin was standing there like a statue with a gloomy look.

"I will not do that. You both are one of the top-performing students. However, I don't want to see you both here again until I say so. Now go, I have work to do. Hush." Adam said, staring at a book, and they both walked out of the office.

"Hi what was that about?" Leofwin said, looking at her.

"What do you mean?" She said as she lifted her head, looking at him, holding her hands behind her neck.

"What you said was that it was your fault, but I was the one who used magic." He replied.

"Oh, that. Well, it's my fault, a little, and I knew if you'd said something back there it would've gotten us in more trouble and I know how much it meant for you and for your family you being here. If you got in trouble, I'd feel bad. Well, see you tomorrow. It was fun teasing you, as always." She said, running ahead laughing.

He removed her hair from her face, reaching his hand out. "It felt like yesterday, your smile, it was so bright…"

"Where the hell is she? How have any of you could not find her yet?" William yelled, looking at the knights kneeling in front of him. "And why Leofwin hasn't returned to the capital yet? It's been five days since the full moon. Argh, why did she go disappearing like this? She's not a little girl. She has a boy to look after now. I swear, one of these days." He thought as he walked back setting on his throne. "Call Captain Crimson, tell him to ready a group of knights and head for the walls." As he was saying, suddenly a knight entered the throne room.

"My King, they have arrived and headed here," Knight said, kneeling.

"That is a relief." He muttered, sighing. "Send Captain Leofwin straight me." He asked.

"Yes, my King," Knight replied, standing up leaving the room.

After a while, a knight entered the room, kneeling in front of him taking a latter out of his pocket. "Captain Leofwin wrote this later. It'll explain our delay and there's an urgent message he sent." Knight said, standing back up.

"Call Captain Eva right now. We are headed for the wall." William said, suddenly standing up from the throne rushing out of the room. "What? How did she end up there? What the hell is going on?" He thought, rubbing the back of his palm against his forehead with a worried look on his face.

"Did he say that? Didn't he say why?" Eva asked the knight as she was sitting on the chair behind a desk.

"No captain, All I knew was a knight from the fifth squad came with a letter and He got all worried and walked out of the room.

"Fine, you can leave. I'll head there." She replied.

"Captain, your ride is waiting outside. He said to bring you right now," Knight replied.

"Fine, follow me," she said and walked out of the room. "Tell Alice I said to complete the work, and notes are on my desk. I'll be away for a few days." She told the night standing outside the room.