Distinctly Different

Chapter 3 ~ King's Announcement

“We need to cut off his shirt to see the injuries on his torso. I suspect those might be the life threatening ones,” Alistair told Arabella. He started at the bottom of the shirt and began cutting straight up. Alistair almost grimaced as he had to peel the shirt away from the bloody, sticky skin. Finally the guard’s chest was exposed and Arabella nearly couldn’t contain her gasp.

She didn’t know why she was so surprised when she saw the gruesome, gory mess. She had suspected what gave the guard these injuries but the sight of the damage done appalled her. The scratches on his arm hinted that it had been a wolf that had done this, but the savage bite marks on the guy’s body only confirmed it. The wounds were very deep and the amount of blood was astounding.

She grabbed some cloth and started dabbing at his chest to try and soak up some blood. She had helped the physician was some other wolf attacks so she knew what to do. The cloths quickly got soaked but it helped Alistair know what he was dealing with. Arabella and Alistair started putting more ointment on these wounds to prevent infection and then Alistair started stitching the wounds closed. Arabella watched quietly as Alistair worked to close all the bloody, ragged holes.

Finally after the physician was done he got the other guards to keep the injured guard up so he could wrap more white cloth around the guard’s waist and chest. The cloth still got bloody soon after the wounds were bound but it didn’t matter, the physician would just change them later.

“Well I’ve done all I can do, now we just wait and see if he survives his injuries,” Alistair announced with sorrow. Alistair gave the guard an appraising glance and then nodded to himself. The rest of the people were a bit pale at seeing so much blood, especially Eleanor. This attack seemed to have had the most affect on Eleanor, Arabella noticed. Eleanor was shivering slightly and her eyes were still watery.

“You three stay here,” the King ordered the guards that were in uniform as he past them and left the room. Eleanor looked at Arabella and they both followed the King out of the room. That meant Alexander could leave but he only moved to where the other guards were. “I must go deal with something, I want to make an announcement in fifteen minutes, make sure the rest royal of the family is present. Make sure the court also knows,” the King told the servant that was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. The servant bowed and hurried away.

Eleanor grabbed Arabella’s wrist and pulled her to her room. Eleanor went into her room and burst into tears as she sat on her bed. Arabella froze unsure what to do. Since Eleanor didn’t seem like she was able to say anything Arabella closed the door so no one would overhear Eleanor weeping.

“I-It’s all my fault,” Eleanor stuttered as she brushed away tears. “I’m the reason the guard got hurt.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Arabella said quietly as she found some water left in the bucket of fresh water. “You should stop crying my Lady; it will not be good for you to be seen like this.” Eleanor sniffled as she tried to obey Arabella’s instructions. Arabella wet a cloth in the water and started dabbing Eleanor’s face.

“It is my fault,” Eleanor whispered sadly. “We were near the outskirts of the forest on the path we normally take to visit my parents’ grave and I was riding a bit ahead of the King. It was all fine until something spooked my horse. Ivory started galloping to get away from what had spooked her and she past the guard in front of me.” Arabella set the cloth aside and grabbed Eleanor’s hand to give her some strength to go on. Eleanor gave her a sad smile.

“What happened?” Arabella asked, prompting her to go on when it seemed as if Eleanor wouldn’t or couldn’t continue.

“So since I had past the guard that meant I was left unprotected. I was only a bit ahead of the rest of the people when the white wolf showed up. It was humongous, one of the biggest I’ve ever seen. It bounded towards me and Ivory reared up. I was unable to remain in the saddle. I fell to the ground and then horse ran leaving me alone,” Eleanor said close to crying again. “I was so scared seeing the vicious white wolf coming at me, I thought I would die but then a guard went between the wolf and I. the guard told me to run and then he dismounted his horse and pulled out his sword. I should have stayed but I just ran.”