Letters of Red

Chapter 3; The not- so- holy bishop and the overly happy knight

Chapter 3; Knight and Rook

When I woke up, I could feel the midday sun burning down on me. My headache had completely left me, but I still had a dull aching in my ribs. I opened my eyes slowly, and shaded them with an outstretched hand. It seemed that I fainted a lot recently, which is a bother. And I didn’t have the slightest clue why.

“Oh, you’re awake,” said a voice, near my right.

I turned my head to look at the person. I saw a golden-blonde haired boy, with remarkably clear blue eyes and a smile that could almost compare to Anthony’s. Several names ran around my mind until it settled on one and I finally recognised him; Alfred Woods.

I sighed, rubbing my head, trying to get rid of anything that remained of my headache. “Where did the others go, Alfred?” I asked. At least they had the heart to prevent Francis from staying with me.

He looked at me, with his blue eyes unreadable and then told me, “Felecia and Kiku have gone off to seal the rip in the barrier. Elizabeth and Luke went with them, in case another Auter manages to get through what’s left of the tear. Arthur was trying to beat Francis up after you fainted, which meant Gillian and Anthony had to make sure he didn’t murder him. And that left me here to watch over you.”    

Before I could say anything, the sound of rushed footsteps reached my ears. I stood up, Alfred behind me, and walked towards the sound, stumbling through various trees and almost tripping over a few fallen tree branches. I was met with the sight of a slightly panicked Francis about a metre away from an enraged Arthur- who was being held back by both Anthony and Gillian, in an open glen. Not exactly what you’d like to see just after you’ve woken up. And I said so too.

“This wasn’t really what I expected to see,” I informed Alfred, who just shrugged. I waited until Arthur wasn’t seething with anger so I could talk to him civilly, seeing how he was currently cursing both Gill and Anthony with various vulgarities that I don’t care to repeat. When his curses calmed down a bit (I could tell because he shouted a bit less), I started to talk to him.

“Arthur, can you leave him in one piece?” I asked slowly. “I kind of needed to ask him something.”

Arthur looked at me, surprised. “You usually don’t let him off this easily.”

I shrugged, and I knew he was right. Usually, I’d be the one trying to half- kill Francis. “Yes, well- it’s an important matter.”

Seeing that Arthur had calmed down considerably, Gillian and Anthony let go of him with a sigh of relief. It was never a pleasant duty to hold off an enraged Arthur- it was quite tiresome.

“Can we sit down please?” I inquired gently. “I feel a bit tired.”

Arthur nodded, and the others followed his lead. By the time we were all seated in a neat little circle- with Arthur and Francis as far away from each other as possible, Arthur was practically back to his usual calm and polite self.

 Still, he had the resolve to send a glare towards Francis. “If I ever hear or see you making Felecia uncomfortable, you are going to regret it,” he muttered through gritted teeth.

Francis slowly put his hands into the universal sign for ‘I surrender’.

Gillian turned to me. “Should we wait for the others before we continue?”

I shook my head. “If you guys think it’s important enough then you can relay the information back to them,” I told them.

I turned to Francis, who looked worse for wear-  his blonde hair was messed up, and his brown eyes seemed a bit worried, he had a bruise on his jawline, courtesy of me, and a few on his arms which were probably a little gift from Arthur.