Chapter Twenty-One #6
She tugged the unconscious soldier’s arm back over her shoulder and shakily rose to her feet.
With the weight of the injured soldier pulling her down, her already weak legs shook like a newborn foal trying to stand for the first time.
After silently watching her for a moment, Sir Kuahel strode over and lifted the injured soldier off her.
“Let me take him,” he said coolly.
Not knowing what to do, Maxi kept her gaze fixed on Sir Kuahel’s boots. Even with the hood draped over her head, she had a feeling he would recognize her immediately. What excuse could she give him if he did?
When she remained rooted to the spot, his cold voice pressed her. “What are you waiting for? Lead the way.”
Hastily, Maxi started walking toward the tents, her gaze cemented to the ground.
Sir Kuahel walked beside her, carrying the injured soldier with ease.
She felt his eyes boring into her head but did not dare look up to meet them.
Had he already realized her true identity?
Maxi gulped and prayed for a miracle as they walked in silence.
They finally reached the tent for the injured, and the knight placed the soldier on an unoccupied blanket. He turned to leave without a word. The tension in Maxi’s shoulders only relaxed when his figure became distant.
It was foolish to think he would remember her after only seeing her once. Grateful for her indistinctive features, Maxi ran to the baggage wagons.
An overwrought Idsilla rushed over as soon as she spotted her. “I heard a troll regained consciousness and went on a rampage. Are you all right?” she asked.
Maxi nodded. “I-I am all right. A knight…came to our rescue.”
Idsilla gave a sigh of relief. “How fortunate. They say that it was the commander of the Temple Knights who led the reinforcements.”
Maxi pressed a hand to her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart. “They…arrived at such an opportune m-moment.”
“They have been keeping an eye on the area just in case the trolls tried to ambush the food supply,” explained Selina as she stepped out of the wagon carrying a cauldron.
Maxi’s face hardened. The fact that this was a premeditated attack made her blood run cold.
Contrary to their dim-witted appearance, the trolls were among the smartest monsters of the Ayin race.
If such terrifying monsters were to attack in a well-organized army, it would be a great calamity for any humans in their path.
Shaking off the barrage of distressing thoughts flooding her mind, Maxi grabbed the herb pouch from the wagon. At the moment, her task was to tend to the injured before her. Now was certainly not the time for needless worries.
Maxi distributed a mixture of mandrago leaves and dawning grass to the female clerics, explaining that it was a restorative concoction. After brewing the herbs into a tea and serving it to the wounded, the female clerics helped with the grim task of sorting out the dead bodies.
Maxi felt numb from seeing so much blood.
After the women wrapped the mangled corpses in dry cloths and brought them to the clerics, the high priests collected their belongings and sprinkled holy water over their bodies to purify them.
When the simple ceremony was over, the soldiers buried the fallen and erected a tombstone above their graves.
Maxi was shocked. “Aren’t the dead…sent t-to the capital?”
“It would be difficult to send all the bodies to the capital,” Selina explained in a low whisper. “When there are clerics present, they perform the funeral rites, and the dead are buried on the spot. Only their belongings are collected so they can be returned to their families.”
Maxi felt her stomach twisting into a tight knot. Could it be that some of the Remdragon Knights were buried so unceremoniously?
Squeezing her eyes shut, Maxi drove the thought from her mind. Perhaps due to the many horrors she had witnessed in the span of a single day, a thick haze seemed to shroud her brain.
She felt as though her consciousness were disconnected from her body as she helped prepare more bodies for the funeral rites. When they had buried all the casualties, they began the purification of the monster carcasses.
Finally, the campaign party set out once more. Maxi rubbed her tired eyes as she slumped in her corner of the wagon. The sickly smell of blood wafted from her clothes, making her stomach churn. Though she felt an unsteady wave of emotions, her eyes strangely remained dry.
She hugged her knees within the rattling wagon as she watched the sun dip below the horizon. The Temple Knights, bathed in twilight, appeared even more somber and formidable.
I wonder if Sir Kuahel conveyed my letter….
She wanted to ask the commanding knight if Riftan was safe and unharmed, but she knew she could not do so in her present circumstance.
I should be able to find out once we reach Serbin Castle.
Maxi consoled herself with the thought. Though she felt hopeless and afraid, knowing that she was getting closer to Riftan gave her strength. She was willing to endure anything just to see him safe and well. Even a glimpse of him from afar would be enough.
Driving the nightmarish images of the battle from her mind, Maxi buried her head on her knees and tried to rest.
The troll ambush had delayed their march, and it was dusk by the time the campaign party stopped to set up camp. The knights patrolled the area with torches while the female clerics tended to the wounded. After being forced to march with their injuries, most of the men were in a terrible state.
Maxi and Idsilla went to the spring to collect water for boiling restorative herbs.
When they had distributed the remedy to all those who were injured, they helped the other female clerics with the dinner preparations.
Maxi was on the verge of collapsing from exhaustion, but the women were not given a moment’s rest. They were only able to gather to eat the remainder of the bread and watery soup after they had served the men their meals.
This arrangement did not seem unjust to Maxi. After all, the soldiers risked their lives to protect them. It was the women’s job to bolster the army’s strength so they would always be ready to face an emergency.
Maxi finished her measly meal in the dark, laid a blanket by the fire, and settled down to sleep. Idsilla had worked in silence the whole time. She spread her blanket next to Maxi and lay down without a word. Not long after, Maxi heard faint sniffling.
“A-Are you all right?” she asked in a low whisper. “Are you hurt anywhere?”
“N-No…. It’s just…it was so much worse than I expected….” Idsilla noisily blew her nose on her blanket. Her eyes shone with tears. “I’m sorry. You must think me foolish. After all, it was I who practically forced you to come with me….”
“Th-That is not true. I came…of my own volition,” Maxi said. After a pause, she hesitantly asked, “D-Do you want to go back?”
Idsilla shook her head. “I don’t want that. No, that was a lie. I do want to go back, but even so…I won’t.” She bit her lip. “Have I told you about my brother?”
When Maxi nodded, Idsilla continued in a voice as muted as dying candlelight.
“Knightly honor was not the only reason Elba left for the war in his poor condition. That was the reason he gave us…. But the truth is, it was to secure my dowry. My family is one of the most ancient houses in Livadon, but our fortune greatly declined during my father’s generation.
Whereas the man I’m betrothed to is from a prominent family in the south… .”
Maxi could guess what that meant. “D-Did his family…demand a high dowry?”
Idsilla nodded stiffly. “I told my father that I didn’t mind breaking off the engagement, but he wouldn’t listen, saying it would be no different from a death sentence for a noblewoman.
Elba was also adamant that he would never allow such dishonor to befall me.
My father sold what land we had left, and Elba took it upon himself to fight in a war.
All to secure my dowry.” She took a shaky breath.
“I knew…but I acted as though I was ignorant and only pretended to dissuade him with empty words. If I had just entered the convent and became a female cleric, then Elba would not have done something so reckless…. If Elba…were to suffer a fate…similar to the soldiers we buried today, I would never be able to forgive myself.”
The girl’s face crumpled as she stifled a sob. It seemed Idsilla had been racked with guilt for her family for a long time. No wonder she had made such a reckless decision.
Maxi’s heart constricted as a perplexing wave of emotions overtook her. A father selling his land for his daughter, a brother risking his life for his sister…it did not seem real to Maxi, whose father and sister had only ever caused her pain.
Idsilla sniffled. “I’m sorry for troubling you with my sad tales.”
“It is all right,” Maxi said gently.
“I’ll be back to normal in the morning,” Idsilla declared firmly, wiping her tears with her sleeve. “The fatigue must have gotten to me.”
Maxi was unsure what to say. “You should sleep,” she said after a while. “W-We will be on the road again…at dawn.”
Idsilla bobbed her head, then pulled the blanket over herself. This time, Maxi heard no sobbing, and she surmised that the girl must have worn herself out.
Maxi gazed up at the starry sky with bleak eyes. She could not believe that one born as a woman could be so loved. Would the Duke of Croyso have treated her differently had she been smarter, more beautiful, and free of her cursed speech impediment? Her heart suddenly grew cold.
Curling into a ball, Maxi pulled her blanket up to her chin.
Why was she making herself feel miserable with such unnecessary comparisons?
She had Riftan, and he adored her for all her flaws.
As long as he was alive, nothing else mattered.
Maxi squeezed her eyes shut to drive out the wretched memories of her past.