Aldburg Chronicles: Knighthood In Another World

Eric couldn't bring himself to say more. He couldn't. What was left to say? He turned to walk back through the gates of Juniper. He was sure he had energy left, but one step after another he realized he was slowing down. Slower than he had ever moved before. The sapphire flames danced in the reflection of his eyes. He thought of the woman and the group of sorcerers. He knew. He knew it was them. 

"If I had just said something... no. What would we even have done?"

His breath had slowed to the point of a mere suggestion of breathing. He felt his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. His joints stiffened an his head began to drop.

"Not yet. Come on, not yet. You have to keep going."

He felt the ground on his knees, then the palms of his hands, agony radiated through them, still burnt beyond measure from lifting the beam. Was this it? Could he really only manage to save two people? All because he didn't speak out? Because he was content to just go with the flow?

"Just one more. Even just one more will be enough. You can do one more."

He grunted and picked himself up off the ground, staggering and stumbling towards the gate. Was it so unreasonable to want more? Each time he tumbled to the floor he scraped himself back up off it, a trail of blood behind him, it felt like an eternity but he finally passed the gate. He blinked again and again, his eyes filled with smoke yet again, his mouth filled with the taste of ash.

"I don't even know them. Why are they so important? Why should I die so they can live."

He staggered back to the street he had been on, it had been too long and he knew that, but he had to try.

"Is anybody still here! I can help you!" He shouted at the top of his lungs, desperate to hear an answer.

Nothing. No sound met his pleas, he bit his knuckle, trying to stifle back any tears that threatened to escape and kept walking forwards. Every twenty meters or so he would try again, he would cry out, desperate to hear a response. None ever came. Forward still he marched through the smoke, his eyes bloodshot and his skin burnt. Forward still he marched until he felt he had walked this road for eternity, passing a side road he told himself he would check next time, if there was a next time. Forward still until he reached the center of the village. Miraculously, as he stepped forward through the densest smoke yet, the area with the highest heat from the cobalt flames, he entered an area of perfect clarity. A bubble of fresh air, no smoke, no flames, no heat. He looked forwards, countless men and women were lying down on the ground surrounding a fountain with no water flowing from it, the fountain was carved marble and at its top, the figure of a robed woman, her face shrouded. The people were either unconscious or dead, he couldn't be sure.

"Just one more. Just one has to be alive, they have to be."

He marched to the first, a woman, no older than thirty years old, he bent down and checked her pulse on her neck. Dead. He marched to the second, a portly, bearded man without a hair on his head, he checked his pulse. Dead. He saw two little boys, blonde-haired twins, God, it was a family, a mother, father and their two children. He approached the twins and checked the pulse of the first. Dead. He reached to check the pulse of the second.

"God, please, no. No, come on this isn't fair. This isn't right, you can't leave him alone."

The boy was alive. A feint pulse knocked against Eric's fingers. Eric couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy.

"Maybe it'd be better to just..."

He banished the thoughts from his mind, he wouldn't leave him here to die. He whipped his head around, trying to find another child he could carry, he ran to the nearest, a little girl with brown hair and a floral pattern dress.

"Hah! Yes! Come on!"

The girl was alive, he rhythmic beat of her pulse echoed in Eric's mind and for just a second he felt true joy that he could save them both, they were small enough to carry back. He hoisted the girl up to his right shoulder, walking to the boy and with tremendous effort, securing him onto his left. His footsteps felt like thunder, his eyes, unblinking, stared at the dense smoke with laser focus. The knight's voice bellowed in Eric's head 'Left, right, left right!' all the way to Juniper he had marched, the rhythm ingrained into his body, his feet still screaming in pain he marched to the beat of the drum in his chest. Slow as his steps were, as painful as they he made his progress, arms above his head, wrapped around the two children he had saved he trudged down the road to the gate and before he knew it he was there, at the exit. 

This time, greeted by a familiar figure. The knight and his men stood attending to a group of survivors much bigger than when Eric had left, their backs turned to him. The men were searching the tree line, most likely for Eric, The knight turned around and his eyes grew wide, his mouth fell open in an expression of shock that was almost comical. Eric wasn't surprised. He was burnt, covered in ash and soot, bleeding from his leg and his clothes torn to bits, all the while carrying a pair of children over his arms.

"There he is!" The first girl he had saved stood up and pointed at him in excitement, he face showing genuine excitement.

The men turned their heads, those without helmets gave an expression identical to the knight captain, those with helmets Eric could only assume looked the same. Eric bent down to one knee and gently set the children down next to one another on the ground.

"No time...not enough time." He mumbled, "Have... to go back." 

He stood and turned towards the village again, beginning another death march to the center of the village. 

"I've just got to get one more. I've got one more left in me, surely... Hm, that's odd."

The knight and his men rushed towards Eric, who was craning head first towards the ground, he took another step and with a resounding thud and groan, fell head first into the floor, collapsing in exhaustion. Still he pulled himself forwards on his elbows for another few paces, his chin scraping against the stone and dust on the floor. The knight's face changed from shock to a horrified awe as eric reached forwards with his burnt hands, his body betrayed him. With all the remaining energy he had he let out a hoarse plea, "They're straight down... by the fountain." Stopping to cough, hard, one last time before his consciousness slipped away.

The men stood around him, they looked at each other then back down to Eric, nobody said a word, but each one of them moved to help carry him to somewhere safer.