Chapter 27: Waking up.
Chapter 27: Waking up.
He felt their countless little teeths tearing at him, but his system had already lost so much blood by then that he couldn’t focus on anything.
In the end, he died shortly after the monsters began landing on his body.
*******
" Why did you have to kick him so hard?!" Osborne heard Natalie’s angry voice as he gradually came to.
" What was I supposed to do when he was trying to kill you!"
" You know very well that he couldn’t have been able to chock me, so stop lying." Natalie said.
" Tsk~" Clawdeth clicked her tongue in displeasure. " So you’re saying what he did to you was alright?"
" I didn’t say that." Natalie said. " Just that you didn’t deal with it accordingly."
" Well you can tell him that when he wakes up, and that he better not try that again if he knows what’s good for him." Clawdeth said as she began to walk away.
" And where are you going."
" Where else? To get this camp started." Clawdeth said before leaving.
Natalie let out a helpless sigh watching her go.
" I’m alive again– Cough~ Cough~" Osborne coughed up some more blood after fully gaining consciousness.
" Young master, thank goodness your awake." Natalie said with a smile whilst holding him upright. " Please bear with the pain, I’ve already given you some healing elixirs but it will take some time for them to have an effect."
Osborne nodded but when he saw faint scratch marks around her neck, he froze.
" T-That..."
" Don’t worry yourself, Young master." Natalie noticed his reaction and pulled her cloth to cover up her neck properly. " I’m sure you didn’t do it on purpose, it was my fault for not taking into account what you must’ve experienced during your time missing."
Osborne was silent, not knowing what to say.
Yet the memory of his actions played vividly in his mind.
The image of the large feral rabbit overlapping with Natalie’s. Just thinking of how his own two hands had latched onto her slim neck, in an attempt to choke her to death. Osbornes mind couldn’t help but tremble.
The realisation that he allowed his own fears to push him to nearly take an innocent life pressed down on him like an invisible weight.
What made it even more painful was the fact that even after that, she was still trying to be nice to him, no animosity or hatred in her eyes whatsoever.
" Young master? Are you alright?" Natalie asked when she noticed he hadn’t spoken for long.
"It’s nothing.... thank you for tending to my injuries." Realising he’d been lost in his thoughts for far too long, Osborne snapped out of it.
" Is it ok if I headed inside the carriage for now."
" I guess, but wouldn’t you...." Natalie said.
" It’s alright..." Osborne said lightly. " I think staying in the carriage will help me calm my mind a lot." Osborne said with a smile, yet in her eyes, his smile looked broken and forced, like that of one trying so hard to appear calm when they were secretly breaking apart inside.
She watched his silent figure head back into the carriage without another word.
Clawdeth soon returned and began setting up camp. Natalie lended her a hand and they were done in no time at all.
As the fire crackled beneath the star filled night sky, Clawdeth and Natalie sat opposite eachother, keeping warm by the fire.
Clawdeth who was chipping away at a piece of wood, noticed her partner occasionally staring back at the carriage some distance away.
" Are you really that worried about him?" Clawdeth finally spoke, sounding more annoyed if anything.
" He hasn’t left the carriage ever since."
" It hasn’t been long since I offered him his meal and I’m sure he still hasn’t touched a single thing." Natalie sighed before turning to face her friend. " I think he’s beating himself up far too much for something that wasn’t even his fault."
" Not his fault?" Clawdeth’s eyes turned livid for a moment. " It was obvious he was trying to kill you."
" Just why are you so forgiving towards him."
" Because I can tell if someone’s trying to kill me or not." Natalie said with a firm look.
" The look in his eyes back then looked more desperate and frightened than happy." Natalie said.
" I think his reaction was more traumatic if anything." Natalie added.
" So now you think he’s some poor helpless animal?" Clawdeth said sarcastically.
" Would it kill you to be companionate for a moment."
" Don’t try to use that against me, I only show compassion where compassion is due, that man in there doesn’t deserve any of my sympathy." Clawdeth said without a change in her expression.
Natalie grumbled beneath her breath, looking annoyed, but then she paused. A strange light in her eyes.
" Are you sure there isn’t another reason why you’re behaving like this." Natalie said.
" And what would that be." Clawdeth raised a brow.
" Maybe, instead of disliking him because you think he isn’t worth your time, you do it because he’s Lady Roseline’s husband."
" What?" Clawdeth’s brows furrowed for a moment.
" You despise him because you can’t come to terms with the fact that our lady chose someone so simple and weak to be her betrothed." Natalie continued.
" You sure you didn’t accidentally drink one of those sedatives while feeding them to him." Clawdeth said.
" Just admit that you don’t like him because you think he’s unbefitting for her ladyship."
" Ok, first, he isn’t deserving of her." Clawdeth waved her wooden stake in her hand as she spoke. " And second, I don’t dislike him because he’s Lady Roseline’s husband, I do because he’s a complete disappointment."
" Tell me you didn’t feel frustrated when you learned that someone like him was our lady’s partner."
" Quite the contrary, I didn’t. I thought that he was a bit good looking for a groom."
" Then you must be an even bigger fool than I thought."
" Well it takes a fool to know a fool, wouldn’t you say." Natalie said.
" Well played cheeky fox." Clawdeth forced a smile on her face.
Natalie simply giggled.
The both of them then continued to enjoy each others company beneath the stars.