Taker slowly opens his eyes with difficulty from the rays of the sun and his excruciating headache and his right side is really hurt. He sits up using his hands and directly feels that he has his left eye bandaged and sees that he has a bandage on his shoulder that wraps around his chest, a bandage on his back and a bandage on the other arm. He looks around and is relieved to be at the castle but he can't help but think about the conversation he had with Scott and his ancestors.
How many days has he slept? Who took care of his castle while he slept? Who is the traitor that I must kill? who has the diamond eye? What if he get killed like his Grandpa was killed? Full of unanswered questions. He feels very weird as if something inside him has come loose. What if it's because of Scott hitting the cursed form? He takes off the blanket to try to get up. At this moment, Pat enters the room with the care box to change Taker's bandage like every morning and stops short when he sees his ally, his friend, waking up and straightening up. "you awake!" He said smiling, relieved to finally be awake.
"The spirits heard my prayers tonight!" He said helping Taker back to bed. "Pat...I...I slept how long?" he asked in a tired voice looking at his ally. "A few days, don't worry about the fortress, I took care of it." He reassured him, Taker looked at him curiously not knowing if he should really trust Pat now that he knew his grandfather had killed his grandfather. "How are you ?" Pat asked while changing the bandage on Taker's arm.
"It hurts..." he said, laughing nervously, hating to be in a weak position in front of someone. "Your back is broken, you had to gouge out your left eye, it burst and you have a few injuries to your arm and chest. And by the way, you made a great sacrifice to save Diana." Said Pat mentioning the sacrifice Taker made for Diana when they were at Arag's burrow.
"I did what I thought right." Said Taker before looking at him and smiling. "Have you heard from Mendal?" Asked Taker still looking at Pat who finished changing the bandage on his friend's arm. "We know for the maps, it's Mendal Castle and its basement, the key opens the top floor of the basement and you were right, it was a labyrinth. We don't know what it is yet. is in it." He said, gently removing the head bandage covering his left eye socket.
"Who told you that?" Asked Taker looking at Pat. "Kinsey told me everything she knew about Mendal and his army." Said Pat before re bandaging Taker's head to cover his left eye socket. Taker is starting to get upset, why doesn't she tell him? Why was she waiting for Pat to ask her to tell him everything?! Maybe Pat gained her trust and made her feel safe...however...Pat did a great job...
Pat explained to Taker what else he knows about Kinsey, her life and how she got into Mendal's camp, he explained how he tricked someone suspicious into turning into him, he was anxious but it was a good experience to do. When Pat talked about village men wanting to fight for Taker, he didn't agree at first but when Pat talked about Kinsey's job, he would like them to train hard. Pat reassures him they train so hard and aren't even scared.
Pat helps Taker put on at least his big dress to hide his many wounds and especially to hide his facial wound. "Ladies and gentlemen!" Pat shouted from the balcony of Taker's room, looking out at the village and the soldiers. "I have great news, Taker, Mark Calaway is awake!" He shouted before Taker came to the cheers of his people happy to see them again. Everyone is happy to see him finally standing.
"Ladies and gentlemen" Taker started to say trying to speak loudly despite being still tired. "First of all, thank you for visiting me during my recovery, I thank Pat who has done a good job during these last days. I hope you all realize that what happened a few days ago, I'm not going to let this jerk get on my nerves. i can be beaten to death, tortured but i won't die as long as i protect this fortress. I'll stay up!" Said Taker before going back to his room hearing his people shouting "Long live the dark lord!"
~!~
Diana runs to the castle after feeding Tigress. She heard that Taker woke up thanks to the villagers talking about it. She goes up the stairs, down the long hallway, she stops in front of the closed door to Taker's room. She knocks on the door and walks in, she sees Taker lying down, she doesn't know if he's awake or not. She slowly approaches him, Taker hearing a noise approaching him, he turns his head towards the door and to his great surprise, sees Diana, a slight smile appears on Taker's face, very happy to see her again . Taker's heart races for the first time when he sees her, which hurts him a lot.
She's relieved to see him alive, beaten but alive, his beard starting to take away from the intimidating face Taker had with his goatee. She sits in the chair next to him, gently taking his cold hand in hers, feeling him squeeze her hand a little. "How do you feel?" » she asked calmly, still looking at him with a smile. "I...I'm fine..." he lied so as not to worry her. Indeed, he has a lot of pain on the left side of his face, his arm hurts too and still feels the pain that Scott inflicted on him by hitting his cursed form and the blow to the ribs. "I'm glad you survived...I was afraid that..." She stopped speaking as she felt tears welling up in her eyes, he gently placed his hand on Diana's cheek. "I don't die easily" he says trying to hide his pain, he smiles at her when she looks at him. "Do you want me to do something for you?" » she asked wanting to do him a favor but Taker shook his head, not needing anything but just wanting to rest. "I just want you to stay in the fortress, don't go into the forest alone." He said before yawning, his hand still in hers, looking at her with tired eyes ready to fall asleep at any moment. "I promise."