Of Blood and Duty

Teaser - To Hell and Back Again

Waves of pain surged through every limb and the very smallest parts of him. All aching so fiercely that it was impossible to know where it originated from. It seemed to emanate from each and every piece of him. Nothing in his body felt in peace or unharmed. 

His head pounded mercilessly with each realization that struck him, every thought entering his mind blinded him mentally with all the pain that it caused him. Letting him know that something was seriously wrong with his body. As if filled with the drums from hell itself, his head banged inexhaustibly and relentlessly. The skin on his temples felt as if they were the only thing keeping the insides of his head where they were supposed to be. The rest felt like a hollow and fragile shell that barely managed to do the job of keeping him intact. Making it feel like his skull would crack at any second. 

He could sense how his limbs felt... wrong... bending in angles they were not supposed to be bent into. Some, he could not feel at all... numb beyond any type of sensations. While others were screaming at him in fury and despair from how they had been brutally twisted or crushed into the horrid state they were in now. He had yet to see in what positions his limbs where set, but the pain made it easy enough to know that whatever it was, it was gruesomely wrong. 

Breathe. I have to breathe. He told himself when his body's cries almost overpowered his mind. Threatening to rob him of his sanity and ability of something so essential as breathing. 

Taking a slow and trembling breath in, he sensed that the air felt chilly but not freezing nor crisp. It felt nice and soothing to his lungs. Before he could stop himself, he drew in more air. Greedy to revel in the sensation even more... but with that, his chest expanded and pushed against things inside of him that were badly hurt. An immense pain shoot throughout his torso. An scream of agony readied itself to burst out of him but doubled the misery he was going through. The scream turned into a meager whimper which then morphed into a wheezing sound when he tried to not breathe in order to ease his own agonies. . 

Something is broken... No. No, several of my bones must be broken. The thought was redundant in itself, but how does one stop from thinking things even if you already know them? 

He opened his eyes, staring up into grey skies. Menacing dark clouds where moving closer from a distance. From which direction he did not know, but they looked to be at least an hour away from him. However, a storm could come faster than one anticipated and he did not want to be outside when those clouds unleashed whatever they carried over him. 

I will freeze to death if I stay here and a hell rain comes down... or starve if I am unable to get up at all. He thought to himself while studying the speed of the clouds above more closely. Trying to decipher how strong the wind was and how fast it would bring the bad weather closer. 

Despite the grayness of the skies and lack of direct sunlight, the light of day was strong enough to hurt his eyes and in so causing the hellish drums in his head to pound even harder. Shelter. I need to find shelter. He decided, shut his eyes and redirected his thoughts into preparation of what was to come. Pain. Indescribably pain was to come, but he needed to push through it in order to get out of wherever he was, to survive. 

Suddenly, images flashed violently in his mind. Swirling together, not making any sense at all. They appeared and disappeared before he could make out what they were supposed to show him or mean. Only then to reappear out of nowhere, before he got a chance to think about what he had seen last. Some blurred into each other, creating a combination that ended up making even less sense than they had before. However, something was always the same, a constant fixed part of what he was experiencing: someone screaming. The person was screaming for someone, a blood curling scream filled with panic, fear and torment. But why, and who where they screaming for? Was it for him? 

Who would be screaming for him? No. It was not for him the screams were for. 

Another painful wave rolled over him, drowning out the screams and the images completely. He shut his eyes hard again. Did not dare to open them if they light of day would worsen his suffering. Staying still, he tried to ride it out as best as he could. 

As the waves finally seemed to subside, the images came back and not any easier to discern. In quick, incomprehensible flashes they desperately tried to tell him something without giving him a fair chance to really see any of them. He wondered it it was memories. There were fractions that seemed to bits and pieces of memories. Images of horses with riders astride them, blades drawn, dirty faces he did not recognize and many other things which he could not make out. 

Mixing with the screams from before, he could soon make out dark shouts and barking. Men and hounds on a hunt. The rhythmic sound of hooves followed the shouts and barks, ringing in his mind like a dark omen. That something bad was happening. He was able to make out the sound of hooves belonging to several horses. Some riding away from him and new ones riding past him. Chasing those who were further away. Then things suddenly went black and the images merged together and turned into new scenarios. 

"Lie still..." A voice gently told him out of nowhere. Sounding far away or covered by something that muffled the words. Making it hard to hear what the person. Still, he refused to open his eyes. Too afraid of the pain that would follow suit. "By the Gods. Who did this to you?" 

Through his pain, he felt a cool palm appear on his forehead. Feeling him. Sensing how clammy his skin was due to excessively sweating from being in immense and constant agony. The voice continued speaking to him but he was unable to make out what was being said. Trying to focus on whoever it was or even what they were saying, made the drumming in his head more intense and unforgiving. It made him feel like he was going to throw up all of the contents in his stomach until they were no longer where they were supposed to be. Despite this, nothing came. Nothing but weak groans made it past his lips. 

"Who are you?" The voice clawed its way through to him in the fog of misery. "Tell me your name."

Unable to answer, he let out a dark arduous groan. Wanting to weep like a child from the pain he was enduring from simply hearing their voice. Not until the person asked for his name once more did he realize that he could not give it. Nothing came to mind. He searched desperately for it but could not even find a sliver that told him his name. 

"Get away from him, Mae." A new voice ordered the one closest to him. "He might be sick. He looks like death." 

"Sick? Are you blind? He has been beaten half to death. He is not sick." The first voice sucked their teeth at the other one. Irritation ringing clear in their voice. 

"Leave him nonetheless." The other one instructed darkly. "Those who did this to him left him here for a reason. From the looks of it, they are brutal and hold no remorse for what they did. Hell! For all we know he might have deserved it or he is even worse than them. He could be a traitor to the crown or worse; he might be one of them. So, leave him."

"We cannot leave him like this." The first voice persisted. Unwavering as they spoke. "I do not care who's side he is on. No one deserves to lie and wait for death out in the open like this. What if someone comes-"

"Can you not see his sword?" The other one argued with a growing threatening tone to their voice. "It has a royal crest. He is obviously a-"

"I can see that he is a soldier. And before you ask; no, I don't care. What type of people would we be if we let him die out here in a state like this?" 

"Perfectly sane ones! Oh, come on Mae! LEAVE HIM! I BEG OF YOU!" 

----------------------------------------

I hope you enjoyed this little teaser!
Let's find out who this mystery man is and who is taking him in!

Thank you for reading, I hope you will find this story interesting and worth reading! 

Lots of Love

Jenny