The City of Keahns

E

EquinoxSol

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"Saedor, get over here," called Aenaer, Sae's master.

"Yes, sir?" his apprentice asked, walking over to the front room where Aenaer was.

Aenaer was young, for being the city's only true doctor. He couldn't have been more than thirty years old, and with his dark hair and green eyes, he could have been any woman's husband, but now it wasn't certain if he would make it through the day. He was going to join the soldiers in the fight against the invading army, but Sae knew he wasn't a fighting man. He was a doctor for a reason. At least, if he wasn't fighting, he would be trying to heal fallen soldier on the battlefield.

Aenaer fixed him with a long stare. "I'm going to fight. I'm probably not going to be coming back...You're no longer an apprentice if that happens, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Sae answered, trying to keep the grin off his face. If he became a doctor, not an apprentice, he thought he would be the happiest elf alive. "Sir...?" Sae asked, while Aenaer was pulling on his shoes. "Uh, do you think that the city will still belong to elves after today?"

"Of course, Sae," he answered, standing up. "Over the Hundred Year War, this city's gotten through five different sieges, and this will be no different. I'm certain everything will be fine." With that, Aenaer left, leaving Sae in the doctor's house and shop, wringing his hands in worry and frustration.
 
Madge knelt before her father, along with two men on either side of her. Her father spoke- his voice confident, and loud.

"I am very certain that this war is ours. You three are the best fighters of this army, and I expect nothing less than the best from you." He turned and grabbed a sword from a wooden case
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He looked towards his daughter. "Rise, Madge Wells, my faithful daughter." She stood, and looked at him. He offered her the hilt of the sword, and she grasped it, smiling a bit. She looked it over, and slid it into the sheath on her belt. "Good luck, fight strong. Do not disappoint me."

"Thank you, father. I won't let you down." She bowed, and left, the two men following her. She barked orders at a few men, who ran off and grabbed her bow bringing it to her. With that, she headed out with the army.
 
Sae got ready an area in the back room of the building, deciding that when injured started flooding in he would treat them there. Clearing off a table, he spread sheets over it, readying strips of cloth for bandages and herb to spread over wounds. When it looked like he had enough materials to treat as many people as possible, he sat on the front steps of the doctor's building, which had a near-perfect view of the main square of the city. Eventually, Sae knew, the streets would be painted in blood.

As he watched, he caught sight of his friend, Arethor, walking away from his father's, the lord, home. As Arethor caught sight of him, the sour expression on his face brightened, him walking towards him now. "Sae..." he said, grinning widely. "Uh, hey."

"How're you?" Sae asked, returning his smile.

"Okay...my dad and I had a fight...He doesn't want me to protect my home when I'm perfectly capable of doing it. But I'm gonna do it anyways, gods be damned."

"Yeah?" Sae asked, grinning half-heartedly.

"Yeah. I'll see you later, yeah?"

"Bye," Sae answered as Arethor walked away, feeling no better or worse than he had earlier.
 
They got to a hill over looking to city of Keahns. It would be on Madge's word that the attack would be sprung. Madge stared down at the city below, then glanced at the faces around her. She was surrounded by others who were going to risk their lives. She looked at the sun, figuring it was high noon. It was time.

She raised her sword high in the air, and screamed the words in latin.

"Expugnatura omnes!"

She kept her sword held high was as the force rush passed her, charging at the city while crying out the sounds of battle. As she stood there, she whispered softly to herself, "May the Goddess watch over all of us..." She ran down the hill to join them fierce slaughter, making her movements with her sword swift and precise.

(Ps: Expugnatura omnes! - Latin for "Enslave them all!")
 
As soon as the enemies appeared on the hill, soldiers on top of the cities walls readied their bows and arrows, taking careful aim while they advanced. When they were within range, they let loose volley after volley of arrows, attempting to lesson the tide of invaders. However, even that was no match for their sheer numbers. Of course, rumors had been circulating that the lord had been conversing with contacts in the nearest Wild Elf tribe, but there were obviously no signs of them anywhere nearby.

As the battle spilled into the cities streets, Sae watched as mothers and children locked themselves in their houses. Sae almost did the same, but he instead climbed to the building's attic, pushing himself through the small window there and onto the roof. Watching the battle from three stories high, he gasped as he saw Aenaer locked in heavy battle with one of them, a borrowed sword stabbing and slashing.

The elves were smaller and shorter than their adversaries, and it almost looked comical, had the elves not been fighting for their homes. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement, and rushing towards him was an arrow. He barely had time to shout when it pierced his left eye. He felt nothing but pain for what seemed like forever but couldn't have been longer than a couple seconds. Scrambling back into the building, he rushed to get a mirror and as many bandages as he could get. Holding the mirror in front of his face, he couldn't help but begin crying as he pulled the arrow from his eye, attempting to clean up the blood as best as he could. Muttering a prayer to the gods as he cleaned the wound and began bandaging it, he started weeping again when he realized he would only ever have one eye for the rest of his life.

Tying the bandaging down, he looked at himself in the mirror. Now-bloodstained blonde hair, hazel eyes--eye--his hands and clothes looking like he had murdered someone. Looking at the spot where his left eye had been, the bandages already showing red through their whiteness, he frowned at them, suddenly wishing he hadn't become a doctor's apprentice and instead became a soldier. Washing his hands and arms in a washbasin, he kept glancing out the window at the battle, expecting the enemy to break down the door and kill him.
 
Madge was the only female invader. She was strong, and conquered many, many elven lives. She had her sword always at the ready as she pushed onwards, forwards and forwards. She barely got hurt, but eventually got into one fierce battle- with some elf kid. (Aenaer.) She slashed at him, slicing his chest and stomach, and he was able to stab her in the shoulder. The was it for her. She growled and brought the sword down the such a fierce blow that it would make for amputating his left arm necessary. She fell back in battle after that. He had literally struck a nerve- and it hurt and made her right arm hard to move, even though she was left handed. The medic was working with more important wounds, so she instead kept away elves from getting too close to their established infirmary. Eventually she couldn't take it. She stumbled into the nearest building..Which happened to be Sae's.

She dropped her sword, and leaned up against a wall, sliding down it. She was starting to get weak from loss of blood, and the immense pain. And she had no idea where she had stumbled into.
 
Sae had been sitting in his bedroom, looking at himself in the mirror again, trying to dab at the wound with a paste made of herbs that would--hopefully--disinfect the wound and make it less likely that he would get an infection. Of course, he was so disgruntled that he had no way of knowing. However, just as he was about to apply the paste, he heard a sound downstairs.

Starting, he set down the mirror and bowl with the dark yellow paste in it, leaving the items on his bed. Running down the stairs, thinking that it might be Aenaer, back with injuries that needed to be attended to, he was unbelievably surprised when he saw a girl. More specifically, a girl, who was most certainly not an elf, with ears not unlike a cat's on top of her head. That was the first thing he noticed. The second was that she was bleeding. The third was that she looked like she was in intense pain.

Muttering a curse, he immediately ascertained that she was one of the enemies.

Stepping close to her, but not close enough that she could attack him, he reached out with his foot, setting it on the blade of the sword. Kicking it beneath a material's cabinet, he readjusted his bandages, walking closer to the girl. Reaching out, he gingerly touched one of her cat ears, painfully aware that she was both the enemy and bleeding.
 
She glanced at him when she heard her sword being moved. When he touched her ear, it twitched over to the side, away from his touch and then back up. She bowed her head slightly. She wasn't sure what he was going to do, but she wasn't going to be able to just run away from him now. She glanced over his clothing, seeing they were just as normal as any other person's clothing. The only real difference about him was his bandaged, bleeding eye, and possibly his ears as well. Well... Right now, the bleeding was something they had in common.

"Damn it. Just go ahead and kill me." She said, not looking straight at him. She closed her eyes tightly in pain, still clutching her shoulder. She just really wanted this all to be done and over with, either the pain and her life, or the war itself. But the war would rage on for a while yet. And she didn't want to be apart of it any longer.. She had already fought enough battles to call herself a skilled and timed warrior, and even an elder in the field. All she wanted was out.

She cringed as she reached with both arms to undo her weapons belt. She grabbed it with her left hand, and threw it. It slammed against the wall, breaking a few things inside of it's compartments, and fell to the ground. "There. Easy battle. Just get it over with..." Still she did not look him in the eyes.
 
"I...I..." Sae struggled for an answer. Of course she was the enemy, but he couldn't just kill an unarmed girl. "Look..." he finally said. "I'm not a soldier; I'm a doctor. I won't kill you. Leave and go outside if you want to die." He gestured towards the door, trying not to care if he helped her or not. But that was what he did, it was what he had spent his life training for, to help people. Any people. They didn't need to be elves, did they?

Biting the inside of his cheek, knowing that Aenaer would get angry if he came back to Sae healing her, he sighed in defeat. Cursing to himself, he looped his arms beneath her armpits, helping her stand. Gingerly moving her to the back room where he had cleared an area, he struggled with getting her onto the table. Once he did, though, he tore the sleeve of her shirt, exposing the wound.

Whispering an elven prayer, he got bandages and the proper herbs. Looking down at his bloody clothes, he contemplated changing, knowing the effects of sharing blood like that, but decided against it, not knowing how much time the girl would have without him.
 
She was mobile enough to help him. She was able to walk a bit, and pull her body for the most part onto the table. She closed her eyes tighter, determined not to let herself cry- especially in front of who was supposed to be the enemy. She didn't move unless he told her too, and let him do his work. Why was she trusting this one? He could easily be poisoning her wound without her knowing. But she was in too much pain to really care either way. What would her father say right now.. Oh god, she was just hoping no one would come in and find her. She would be extremely embarrassed. Certain things caused her to flinch, or tense up as he helped her. Not once did she cry out in pain, or let any tears shed.

She watched him as her vision blurred a bit. "Thank you...Doctor," she murmured softly. She lost consciousness from the blood loss- but did not go into coma or anything like that. She was fine, she only passed out.
 
Sae was extremely careful while he was dressing the girl's wounds, not wanting to hurt her - and possibly get her angry enough to attack him. As soon as she passed out, he checked her pulse, making sure she wasn't about to die on him. Sighing in relief, he continued to dress her wounds, applying small bandages on the smaller cuts.

It was then that he returned to his own injury, and he continued with the paste, feeling like he was going to throw up every time he looked at his empty eye socket. Spreading the paste over his wound, he wrapped fresh bandages when he finished. Returning to the back room, he saw her still lying there on the table, and smiled softly.

Looking out the window, he saw that the battle had died down completely. Unlatching the front door, he looked out at the carnage. It didn't take long to see that the elven defenses had lost; the bodies of elves littered the streets while injured soldiers wandered aimlessly, clutching at their injuries. "Gods..." Sae whispered, quickly going back inside to both hide the girl and prepare for when the injured would come to him.
 
(Here comes the father~)

Madge's father, Judias, was searching everywhere for his daughter, because her spotter said that she disappeared halfway through the battle. "Madge?! Where are you?! Answer me!" He asked both elven and non elven people about his daughter. No one could remember where she was seen last, it was all a haze to most people.

The man seemed intimidating. His hair was a brownish blonde, and somewhat long in a ponytail. His skin was a bit darker, and a rougher look and feel to it. He wore a black, leather trench coat that was opened, and a blood stained black, loose button up shirt underneath. He wore blue jeans, and thick, steel-toed boots. His sword was attached to his belt. He had movements that were rough and fast.

With each person he asked, he gripped their shoulder. Some people he shook. But everyone he saw he asked. He was worried sick.
 
Shutting the sliding doors to the back room, taking out everything he needed so that no one would see her unless he wanted them too, he moved them to an upstairs bedroom, deciding that he would treat people there instead. As soon as he thought he was ready, he left the building, searching for those he knew.

He understood he was being selfish, but wanted more than anything to make sure his family and friends were okay, and if they weren't, he would do his best to make them so. When he couldn't find anyone, he grabbed the nearest injured man, a soldier easily ten years older than him. Slinging his arm over his shoulders and helping him stand, he quickly took stock of his injuries. Broken arm, stab wound in his stomach. He could try and fix that.

Walking him towards his home, knowing that in just a few hours, he might not have room for people anymore, he told Ms Brui, his neighbor's wife, to gather as many injured as she could and bring them to him. As he was making his way home, he saw one of the enemy striding around like he owned the place, questioning everyone. Well, Sae thought wryly, he did technically own everything. After this defeat, the enemies would waste no time in claiming the area as their own.

Crossing the blood-soaked road when he saw the man on the same side of it, he didn't even notice when he stepped in a pool of blood, only getting a disgusted look on his face when he felt a squishing in his shoes.
 
Judias looked over at another. "Boy! Quick! Have you seen Madge? Only female warrior. Brownish cat ears and tail.. Strapless shirt with a jacket.. Always has a weapon belt on like mine and a sword like mine. Have you seen her?" The tone in his voice was urgent and worried, and he seemed desperate to know. He shook the person as he spoke, and the warrior- on his own side- shook his head.

"No sir, I have not seen your daughter, sir." The soldier stared at the leader. He groaned in despair, where could she have gone?

"If she's fallen, or gone soft towards them... it'll be the end of me." He muttered, walking down the street past you, almost in a run as he went towards the Soldier Infirmary.

Back in the back room, Madge was waking up. She blinked a few times, groaning softly as she sat up. "Sore," she murmured. She looked at her shoulder, seeing it bandaged, and remembered. "Oh no..." She got off the table and stumbled a bit. She looked around the room. "Got to get out of her," she muttered to herself, about to head out of the back room.
 
Sae was leading the man up the front steps, pushing open the door with his foot, when he heard movement behind the back room's door. Urging the man up the stairs quicker than he knew was safe, he got him into the makeshift infirmary, lying him down on the couch, saying, "Look, I'll be right back, stay here." As he ran down the stairs, he swung around the banister, something that would irritate Aenaer to no end. Striding towards the back room, he slid open one of the doors, whispering fiercely, urgently. "Look. If any elf sees you leaving here, they'll think I've gone traitor. I can't have that. I don't know where my master is, or if he's alive or dead, so for all intents and purposes, let's say I'm the only doctor in the entire city. I need my people to trust me. Just...wait until at least nightfall, okay?"

Leaving the girl with that, he shut the sliding doors behind him, in time to see Ms Brui helping in a young soldier. "Take him upstairs, third room on the left," Sae told her, pointing. "Lie him down on the bed." With that, he grabbed everything he thought he needed, trying to remember every injury he had seen.
 
Madge stared wide eyed at the now closed doors. She was stuck here until nightfall? Oh, she was going to be in trouble now. She sighed. She went back over to the table, and noticed a chair near by. She grabbed the chair, and sat in it, pulling it quietly to the table. In her pants pockets she pulled out a piece of parchment paper, and a chunk of charcoal. She used her hands to break the charcoal into a decent tip, still pretty thick, but decent. On the paper, with her left hand, she started to write.

Judias Wells was not only worried- but furious. Someone had to have seen her. Someone had to know where she was! But no one confessed. "Damn elves," he mumbled. He ended up sending people back into where ever they lived. He told them to get off the streets. He told his men to set up a perimeter, and a watch schedule. And also to set up camp once that was started. He had checked on his medic, and sent someone to go get supplies as well.
 
As Sae worked on people, he constantly saw the enemies making odd movements. As he watched, he realized that they were also watching the elves. Muttering a curse, hoping that they didn't try to enforce a curfew, he continued getting more and more people into his building. When all the beds, couches, and tables were filled, he had to move the less-injured to the floors. At one point, he had a couple children who had gotten caught in the crossfire on the steps leading up to the second floor, but that strategy was soon scrapped when Sae nearly tripped when he was running down the steps, hearing someone crying out in immense pain.

When the floors were all taken, he had to move his operation to the road in front of his building, having a couple women and older children help by cleaning the street of blood and then setting up makeshift tents, in case it rained later. Setting out blankets and anything soft they could find, he worked his way from the inside out, trying to get the most injured out of near-death before helping the less-injured.

A couple hours before nighttime, he received an elf that made his blood run cold. It was Arethor, bleeding from what must have been hundreds of cuts, his left leg twisted in a crazy direction while his mother, the lord's wife, held him, screaming, "My baby!" over and over, trying to get the unconscious boy to wake.

Knowing that there was no room in the building, but needing to help his best friend nonetheless, he takes on his weight, telling his mother, "Wait out here." Pretty much dragging him to the back room, he opened the doors as thinly as he needed to, shutting them behind him tightly. Looking to the girl, he said, "Stay there." Lifting Arethor onto the table, he cut off his shirt with a small knife, peeling away the cloth and armor from blood and skin. "No, no, no," he muttered to himself, seeing all the blood. "Gods, don't take my friend from me..."
 
She pulled back, getting out of the way and sitting over in the corner. She knew it was her fault, and she couldn't help but feel guilty and sorry for the poor boy and his dying friend. Then words of her father went through her head, and she suddenly looked away from the elven males, look straight down at the floor.

She felt like an animal. She had killed, blaming it on the fact that she was supposed to. To herself, she sighed, leaning back against the corner and hugging her knees. She wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't medical, so she couldn't help. Not that he'd let her anyways. She should be able to just walk out and not listen to him, bust instead she sat there, not saying a word, not moving a muscle.


Her father decided to have his healthy men start not only keeping a perimeter, but also covering the inside of the town. One of the men was asking about the tents, finding out it was a medical tent. He left it alone, for Judias to attend to if he wanted, and kept on his patrol.
 
Washing his hands in a washbasin again, he moved to Arethor's side, placing his head on his friend's chest, listening for a heartbeat. At first, he couldn't hear anything, but then he heard a faint beat, and breathed a soft sigh of relief. He was alive, at least for now. Pulling away, he got to work on the worst of the injuries, knowing he had neither the training nor hands available to do much to help him.

Muttering prayers and curses to the gods, Sae did all he could for his friend, bandaging every wound he could see and attempting to set his broken bones in his leg, though he knew that he had gotten it wrong. He always made sure to keep a careful look on Arethor's heartbeat. Just as he was about to try to heal more of his wounds, his friend awoke. As his screams filled the room, Sae did his best to calm him, trying to find herbs that would lessen the pain. As he found them, and was about to apply the medicine, Arethor grabbed his wrist, asking in a voice lower than a whisper, "Sae...am I going to die...?"

"No!" Sae answered all too quickly. In truth, he wasn't sure. He had already lost so much blood, and his wounds were so extensive. "You'll be fine!" As Arethor lied back against the table once more, closing his eyes, Sae got back to work.

Hours passed. Arethor didn't wake up again. The realization that his best friend had died sent Sae into a fury, sending bottles, glasses, and containers to the floor, most of them crashing and breaking. Yelling curses angrily, he felt angry tears stinging his eyes, spilling over his cheeks and landing on the collar of his shirt. He was feeling like he couldn't be a doctor if he couldn't even save his friend from Death's clutches, and it made the long years since becoming a doctor's apprentice feel like they were for nothing.
 
Madge didn't once look up. Consumed in her own pit of realization, grief, and guilt, she only blamed herself for what she heard going on around her. She could have spoken to her father, if she had, he would have taken her seriously. He would have listened to her ideas, concerns, and tactics. But no. She stood by everything her father said- for his respect. So he'd be proud. So he'd be happy. Now it was her own fault. Someone who took care of her- when she didn't deserve it- lost what seemed like his best friend, because she was too much of a self-revolved person. She cringed at the thought. As did the fact that one of the things he threw nearly hit her. She bowed her head in shame, her ears folded back and her tail wrapping around her ankles.

"I'm sorry..." She still didn't look at Sae. She whispered the words without realizing she had at first.
 
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