THE RISING OF THE WICCA

Breathe

"The king is injured! Call for a physician!" A voice yelled from the hall outside the room. Evanora jumped to her feet and ran to the door. Just as she was about to turn the doorknob, it swung open and Helena walked in.

"His Highness is here, he is injured." She quickly informed Evanora and just a few minutes later, Rokan walked in followed by Theon and Duman. His face was pale and came into focus against his dark messy hair. Blood was dripping from his black armor that turned it red. Evanora froze in place and watched as he walked and collapsed on the sofa.

Helena ran to his side and helped him as he sighed and struggled to remove his armor. Once it was gone, his wounds came to view. He was shot with two arrows on his left side. Only the heads of the arrows were still in the wounds as one dived in the flesh right under his shoulder blade and the other in his arm.

"We have called for a physician, just stay still until he gets here and stops the bleeding. You have already lost too much blood." Theon said.

"I need to be out there." Rokan grumped in a strained voice.

"You have already kept swinging your blades for about an hour after you got hit, you do realize that you are immortal, right?" Duman replied in a strict voice, " We will be there, have some faith in us." He continued.

"I wouldn't be here if I didn't. Go back, I can wait on my own."

Duman and Theon nodded their heads and left the room in rushed steps.

The physician knocked once on the door before running to Rokan's side. He took a quick look at his wounds and then pulled a pair of scissors from his bag.

"Help me remove his shirt," He said to Helena as he started cutting through the fabric carefully. Helena helped Rokan straighten up and removed the pieces of the shirt as the doctor cut them.

"I'm going to pull the arrowheads from your wounds, your Highness, please bear with me." The physician announced before turning to Helena once again, " Once I pull the arrowhead, apply pressure to his arm, we can't have him lose more blood."

Evanora watched from the back as the man and Helena worked on Rokan's wound, removing the arrowhead, applying pressure on the wound, cleaning it, and stitching the skin back together while Rokan grunted in a low voice.

"I need more bandages!"

The words sent Helena running outside the room to fetch some.

"You there, come here!"

Evanora looked around her searching for someone, anyone. When she saw no one, she realized that the words were direct to her and opened her mouth to protest but the urging from the physician made her seal her lips shut and walk to the sofa.

She felt a lump rising in her throat as she saw Rokan's face covered in sweat. His eyes were closed and she could see his eyelashes trembling. She wanted nothing more than running outside the room, leaving this sight behind her.

"I'm going to remove the second arrowhead, I need you to apply pressure to the wound while I get my tools ready to stitch him. Can you do that, my lady?" She glanced back at the physician and noticed he was staring at her hands. They were shaking. She nodded her head a couple of times and moved closer to Rokan.

The physician came next to her and she watched as his hands felt for the head of the arrow and then pulled a metallic flint from the open wound. She quickly put her hands on the skin and pressed against the blood gushing out.

She looked at Rokan and noticed that his eyes were now open. He was breathing heavily and sweat kept dripping from his face and onto his neck.

"Remember to breathe, witch." He whispered in a low grunt.

Only then did Evanora realize she was holding her breath and gasped for air before moving her eyes back to the open cut under her fingers.

She felt like time slowed down and her anxiety kept building while she waited for the physician.

"Okay, move." The words she was waiting for finally reached her ears yet she found herself reluctant to move away. She ended up standing awkwardly next to Rokan.

When the physician was done and Evanora had managed to pull herself together, she awkwardly put her hands on Rokan's shoulders and a green light started to slowly emit from her palms. Not a minute had passed when Rokan grabbed her arm.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"I'm just trying to help your wound heal faster"

Rokan pulled her hands away from him without letting go.

"There is no need, keep your energy, you are still recovering."

"But.." She started to protest when he gave her hands a squeeze.

"Duman said you almost started extorting energy from your life span." He stared at her.

Evanora decided to hold back as she realized that she would only make him waste more energy in arguing with her besides, he was right.

Helena kept rushing in and out of the room, bringing clean clothes, medicines and food for her king. When she placed the food on the table, she bowed her head and asked Rokan to excuse her as she had to go help care for the wounded. Before leaving, she gave a pleading look to Evanora as if begging her to take care of the king in her stead.

Rokan kept drifting from and to sleep throughout the night all while suffering from a high fever. Evanora was worried the arrows might have been poisoned and managed to call for the physician again but he assured her that it was not the case and that it was just his body's way of healing itself. She stayed by his side, wiping his sweat the entire time and changing the sheets when they were too soaked and uncomfortable for him. She was only able to rest a bit when the night was nearing its end and Rokan seemed to be doing better.

With the first cold breeze that came with dawn, Rokan woke up. He grunted as he tried to get up. He reached for the glass of water next to his bed and noticed the water bucket and the wet cloth next to it.

He looked around the room and pushed himself up as he noticed the door to the balcony open. Evanora was standing still and looking up at the sky. He followed her gaze and watched the sparkling stars swimming in the black ocean. He moved closer to Evanora and only when his shoulder brushed hers did she realize he was there.

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