Picking the girl up, I flinched at the sight of the horsen coming our way.
They had to go through half a dozen groups of soldiers to reach us, a few actually armored for such cavalry, but I knew it wouldn't take them long to do so. There weren't just over twenty of them, they all were fully armored and had these huge halberds they were swinging around with far too much ease to not be suspicious. One of the horsen was even now riding into a line of infantry, and I watched him cleave a man in two at the waist with a single swing.
"I'm on the wrong side," I finally admitted as I hefted the girl on my shoulder. She didn't make a noise as I turned to look at her brother.
There was no need to pick him up.
I stepped away, and tried to rub the left side of my face on the girl's side as I did so. An arrow had skidded off the top of my head earlier and the flow of blood leaking from the wound had blinded in my left eye.
Carrying the girl, I was let through one of the larger… and likely last lines of defense. The wave of spears and shields parted for , but just barely. I bumped into the soldiers as I carried the girl to the back lines, heading for the farthest rear of the army.
"Hurry up lad!" a man shouted at as I passed.
The battlefield like always was loud. Though usually it wasn't so loud here at the rear. People were shouting, orders were being barked, and there were screams of pain and grief… and most importantly…
"Shields…!" only a single word of warning ca. I flinched as I hurriedly glanced back and above, at the sky.
Arrows. Lots of them.
Shields began to rise around , but no one in my direct vicinity had anything big enough to hide under alongside them. All the bigger shields were behind , at the front of the line. The ones back here were the stuff that barely covered the person they were attached too...
And no ti to reach any of the nearby embanknts, trenches or tents.
With a single breath I gathered my strength and ran forward, as hard and fast as I could away from the line of soldiers being targeted by the rain of arrows.
I only made it a few dozen feet before I began to hear the arrows land. For a small mont all I heard was the whiz of air from the arrows flying, and then I heard the tal on tal as sharp arrowheads hit armor and shields. I heard arrows thunk into wood, and then finally heard the cries of pain as arrows t flesh.
Instinctively knowing so were about to land upon , or at least around , I flung the girl on my shoulder over and in front of . I skidded a bit, trying to cover at least her head and upper body with my own, and was glad I did so. An arrow hit my upper left shoulder before I even fully got her situated.
Being hit so cleanly, and so quickly, sent into a small panic. But a few heavy heartbeats ca and went as I heard arrows land around , but not in as much quantity. Another hit my lower back, but it didn't stick. It bounced off and didn't puncture, likely hitting one of the thicker parts of my leather armor… or simply having lost most of its montum sohow in the air.
"Gather up! Regroup!" Orders were barked over shouts of pain, and I dared a small glance to the sky. The arrows were done.
A little relieved, I quickly gathered up the girl again. I did a once over on her, to make sure she had no more fresh wounds such as arrows sticking out of her anywhere, and once I was sure she was still alive I returned to running towards the rear.
Before I got too far I heard the sound of battle. Of n running into n. Armor clanking, and people dying. People that had been shouting orders were no longer doing so. Words of surrender were being given. Mud and dirt was being torn as people ran away.
I didn't need to turn around and look. I knew the sounds I heard well. Any soldier who's fought in sieges or wars knew those sounds.
The last line of defense was being broken.
I needed to get to the surgeons tent before they reached us.
Picking up the pace, I did my best to ignore the pains burdening my body. I didn't like the way my left shoulder hurt, where the arrow was still lodged. It was the kind of pain that told it had not just punctured deep, but had broken bone. That would take ti to heal, even for .
"Need to hurry or I won't get that ti," I groaned as I ran past a broken siege weapon. So kind of large ballista. It was cockeyed, one of its main wheels up front half subrged in mud. It looked like it had sunk when fired, and in doing so the thing broke from the odd movent. A man was lying against it, dead. His bloody face and chest told he had not been hurt in the war proper, but likely from the siege weapon itself. He had been hit by the weapon as it broke, it looked like.
"Hurry the hell up!" a woman shouted at the man following her. Another group of soldiers, ones that had abandoned their weapons and even their helts, were hurrying another direction.
Those who had finally realized the battle was lost were now trying to escape.
Too little too late.
But I was here with them, running, so I wasn't any better.
Rounding a large tent, I finally found the white flags fluttering in the wind. The healer's tent. Where surgeons and doctors would be.
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Picking up my pace, I ran past a horse that had no rider and wasn't strapped down. It watched run past but otherwise ignored .
The tent was a busy place. There were people running around all around it, and not just because people were panicking over defeat. People were carrying boxes full of supplies, or injured people. I ran past a pair of n carrying another on a long shield, using it as a stretcher. I beat them to the tent, entering it through one of the four large entrances.
I was a little surprised at the lack of commotion within. Considering the battle was lost, and all the people running around, I had expected the tent to be full. To be littered with bodies and people screaming in pain. Instead I found a rather clean, for a surgeon's tent during a war, and also far more empty beds than I should be possible.
Hesitating a mont, since it felt almost wrong to find it in such a condition… I wondered how it was possible.
I rarely visited these kinds of tents. Even when hurt. Because I didn't want to risk being caught. And because even when I got hurt, I didn't need such help.
But…
It did seem sowhat normal. There were a bunch of n and won, and even nuns. It was a little relieving to see the familiar religious garb amongst the people helping. I didn't agree with them, but their being here made it more likely nothing was wrong at all… and that I'd be safe here for the ti being.
No army slaughtered the religious nuns who helped the surgeons. They wouldn't dare. Not only would they lose the support of the ones helping them, they'd quickly beco the defeated army once the holy knights heard of it. More than a few powerful bands and armies had been wiped out from such mistakes over the years.
Walking over to a bed, one that was freshly made, I placed the girl down onto it. She groaned in pain as I did.
Next to her was another clean bed. They both, and the floor beneath them, had not a single drop of blood or gri upon them. The bed next to it though had a man upon it, one missing his right arm and with half his head wrapped in dark bandages.
Glancing around as a nun hurried over, I tried to rationalize the lack of injured. But found it hard to do so.
Yes. Sothing was weird here.
"Sir you have arrows in your back," the nun said, speaking oddly calmly as she did.
"Tend to her first. She was hit in the head," I said as I pointed to the girl I'd just saved.
The nun didn't hesitate to oblige. She turned, shouted a few nas, and then went to checking on the girl.
I ignored the nuns and doctors for a mont as I stepped back, to both take a breath and relax a little.
No matter if sothing was odd. As long as they did their job.
Choosing to sit in the other clean bed, on purpose, I flinched as I reached up to wipe so more blood out of my left eye. It was not flowing as strongly as it had been before, but it was still warm. And not from my own body heat.
"Here."
I looked up, at an older woman who was offering a towel. It was stained but steaming. I could sll that it had just been taken out of a boiling pot. Odds were not far outside the tent were many such large pots, boiling the gri and nastiness away and out of such things.
Taking it, I thanked her as I wiped my face off, and was glad to finally see out of my left eye for the first ti in a couple hours.
With my sight returned, I realized they had stripped the girl. A man was now cutting sothing from the girl's back, likely a shard of an arrow or sothing based off the way he was pulling it out of her.
So she had gotten hit by one. Damn. What was the point in covering her then…?
"You're next. Sit up straight," the older woman who had given the towel said as she walked around the bed, as to look at my back.
I breathed a sigh of relief as I felt her touch my left shoulder. She hissed at the sight of the wound, but I didn't worry.
To them I was likely going to be a serious patient. I had far more wounds than the girl I had just brought them. They were still fussing over her, now focused on the large gash on her head. The one from the tal fist that had knocked her out. From the man who had killed her brother.
It was too bad. He had been a funny man. I had originally been annoyed at being called out and invited by him and his sister… since it ant I had once again been recognized, but I had quickly lost such frustrations while spending ti with them on the way to this battlefield. They had been a humorous pair of siblings. Their jokes had made laugh.
"This is going to hurt, young man," the old nun warned as two others ca over to help. One of them carried over a small bundle of sharp looking tools, likely to cut out the arrows stuck inside .
"Will she be alright?" I asked.
"As long as she doesn't pass in the night. Head wounds like that can be either the end of them, or just a passing headache. Now take a breath and don't move or you'll be la," the old woman said, a little callously, as I felt her rip open my shirt as to get to the arrow.
Taking a small breath, I nodded.
Right. Humans were so odd sotis. Sotis frail. Sotis strong.
"We've lost…!" a man shouted as he entered the tent, with a limping man clinging to him.
"Of course we did, you idiot!" a man from a nearby bed shouted angrily.
"No thanks to those damned rcenaries! I knew relying on them would get us here!" another shouted.
"Big talk from n who can't even hold a line!" the man nearby, the one not many beds away from and missing his arm, shouted angrily. His voice was slurred, thanks to his facial wounds.
For a brief mont the tent beca loud, as people began to shout at each other. Most of the argunts ca from those wounded, those lying on beds or sitting on chairs. Ones either getting treatnt, like , or unable to move on their own thanks to their injuries.
I ignored them all and stayed out of it as the arrow in my shoulder was dug out. I didn't flinch, even when the knife they used to do so clipped my shoulder blade. The nun doing the work hissed at herself, having noticed what she did, but she didn't say anything as she quickly finished her job.
Sighing softly, as so soldiers around groaned in pain, so argued with themselves over whose fault it was for our defeat, while others quietly died… I glanced at the girl I'd saved. She had woken up, likely thanks to all the noise. She was still lying down, but was now holding her head. She flinched upon touching her head-wound, and glanced over at .
"Stay there and rest," I warned her.
She flinched again, but obeyed. She laid back down, and I noticed the way she began to breathe quickly. Sharply. She was starting to weep.
Likely just realized, or rembered, what had happened. She had been right next to her brother and watched him die.
"One more," the nun working on my wounds said as she went to cut at another part of my back. The lower left area, where I had not even realized I'd been hurt. But as she did whatever she did, a sharp pain ran up my spine because of it. Whatever had been stuck in had been deep.
Shaking my head, I sighed again.
Third loss in a row. Not only was I now hurt, I was now once again unemployed.
Need a new band, again.
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