Grave of Heroes 12 Chapter 12

Braden heard the voice and it dragged his fading mind back to full consciousness.

Before he could react he saw a familiar dark skinned, muscular figure standing there.

Darvish's face looked as impassive as always, observing the situation.

"Darvish!" Braden gasped out. "Run!"

The man above Braden had already reacted and sprinted at Darvish with his sword drawn.

Braden watched in horror as the man quickly blurred forward, moving so fast that Braden couldn't even track him with his eyes.

However, even as he arrived in front of Darvish and swung his sword, it was as though time stopped.

The man stood completely still. Darvish stood still.

Braden thought he was hallucinating or something, but then Darvish lifted his hand even as the man remained still.

Darvish grabbed the sword blade and pulled it from the man's grasp, while the man stood there frozen.

Looking closely Braden could see the man's eyes moving wildly, but his body remained held in place.

Darvish swung the blade a few times before nodding. Then he struck, just once, the sword blade flashing as it slashed. The man's head was separated from his body just like that, and it seemed as if the man had his strings cut, crumpling from his frozen position to the ground. Braden felt something wet spray over him, getting in his wounds, his mouth. He looked and saw it was a purplish blood.

Darvish walked forward and eyed Braden.

"What do you think you're doing young man?" He asked calmly.

Braden felt disoriented, and couldn't formulate a reply. He went to ask, "What?" but before he could get the word out he coughed up blood.

Darvish shook his head. "Very inconsiderate to bleed all over the grass we cut this morning. I'll have to ask you to hold it together young man. I'll need you to help clean up after we get you healed up."

His calm voice and his talk of normal topics weirdly caused Braden to relax. As he did, he felt the darkness impinging on his vision again.

Before he lost consciousness, he struggled to get out a few words. "More men. Looking for girl. At graveyard. Lied. In the shed."

Even as he said this, he saw the men running back. Darvish turned sideways slightly, eyeing them as they ran up.

The leader held up his hand and they stopped short. He eyed the body of his comrade on the ground, and narrowed his eyes at Darvish.

"Why is someone like you here?" He asked in his flat, emotionless voice.

Darvish shrugged. "I think I should be asking you that question. Where do you come from, I wonder, reeking of blood as you do?"

The man tensed at the question, and quickly waved at the others. They advanced together.

The last thing Braden saw as darkness claimed him was the three men fanning out as they circled Darvish, and Darvish standing there, still impassive.

Then everything faded to black.

Braden drifted in and out of consciousness. He remembered Darvish being there, but then his figure was replaced by a woman in a white coat. He thought she might have been a doctor. There was pain, but it felt strangely distant. He didn't know where he was, and he couldn't see his surroundings well enough in his brief moments of consciousness to figure it out. He thought he had been moved at some point.

He dreamt feverish dreams. A man swung a sword at him and he raised his arm to block it.

A sudden pain hit him and he jerked awake. He looked around and found himself in an empty hospital room. He heard a noise and revised his assessment. Not empty. A small snoring figure lay on a cot on the floor next to him. It was the girl.

He sat back and tried to remember what had happened.

He'd been attacked, but Darvish had saved him. Then he'd started losing consciousness, probably from blood loss. He'd obviously been healed. The pain that had woke him up came from his wrist. He looked and saw an IV in his arm. Weirdly, the needle had been snapped. What remained was still embedded, which was probably for the best as it kept him from bleeding too much.

As he looked around for something to put over the wound so he could take the remainder of the needle out, someone appeared in his doorway. A busy looking nurse hustled inside

The nurse looked surprised as he saw Braden sitting up. "Oh, you're awake! The doctor will be pleased. Things were touch and go for a while there. You had some sort of nasty post-op infection, one that didn't respond to antibiotics. It had you running a high fever for a while, but the fever meds helped suppress it, and you seemed to come out of it."

As he said that, his eyes took in the broken IV and he frowned. "Now what did you do that for?"

Braden shrugged apologetically. "I didn't mean to. I was having a bad dream and must have hit or something."

The nurse shook his head before coming over and checking the IV. "Well, it's fine. At this point we were just replenishing your fluids. Now that you're awake you can drink normally. Though solid foods will have to wait for a while because of the wound to your gut. I'll let the doctor tell you more about that."

With practiced motions the nurse quickly removed the broken needle and pressed a cotton swab down on where it had gone in. Then he taped a bandage over it to keep it in place.

"I'll just go tell the doctor you're awake." And with that the man hustled out at the same pace he'd come in.

Braden watched him leave before looking back down to the girl on the floor.

Blue eyes stared back at him.

Chapter end