Collapse (Part 4), Scene v1

Kismet picked the up blanket set out beside Delphi’s and gave it to the king as she sat beside her. “Please, use this for yourself. I’m fine without it.”

The king accepted with a smile. Kismet shifted behind Delphi, who leaned back into the Catheran’s warm embrace. Reaching into a pouch at her side, Kismet pulled out a piece of jerky and gave it to Delphi, along with her canteen of water. Normally, there was little point to her carrying the jerky with her, but she always did in case someone was famished. The princess frowned, gnawing at the dry meat. Kismet rubbed the princess’ huddled legs to warm her as she spoke. “General, when I was speaking with Lucas, I was shot by an arrow. I broke off the shaft, but it’s still in the back of my left shoulder. Could you please get it out for me? I can’t really reach it.”

“Oh, sure,” she agreed, kneeling down behind her. “Did you manage to see the person who shot you? They were probably involved in this.”

Kismet shook her head. She had a hard time focusing that night. She didn’t even hear the person approaching. Her mind swam with so many questions, questions that still lingered. “Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to see. I ran straight to the castle as soon as it happened.”

“Guess it couldn’t be helped. Luckily the shot wasn’t fatal,” said the general, as she gently touched the Catheran’s back, around the wound. “No wonder I didn’t really notice it. You broke the shaft so close. I’ll have to dig, if you want it out.”

“Dig?” asked Delphi, turning back nervously with furrowed brows.

Kismet put a hand on her shoulder to calm her, then draped her arms over her shoulders to prevent her from looking back. “Do what you have to.”

The soft whisper of blade on leather tickled the Catheran’s ears when General Raze pulled her knife from its sheath. Delphi cringed when the tip pierced Kismet’s hide, as though she felt it herself. King Marcus placed a hand on the restless princess’ shoulder, speaking softly. “Let’s try to get some sleep while the fire is strong. There’ll be plenty more walking tomorrow.”

Delphi nodded and curled up against Kismet’s body. The Catheran pulled the blanket up the princess’ shoulders, and rubbed her arm soothingly. Blood trickled down the fur of her back as the general carved at the wound. To avoid making Delphi uncomfortable, Kismet bit her lip to stop her body from wincing. The back of her leather corset grew warm and damp with blood over the several minutes of digging. With a quick yank, General Raze pulled out the arrowhead. The flicker of the flames served as a fine distraction while the pain dulled out. General Raze moved her blanket to Kismet’s left, and sat there, holding the blood-covered arrow tip in the light.

“Kismet,” she whispered, in a tone unsettling. “Look at the shape of this arrowhead.”

It was a three-blade, serrated steel broadheaded arrowhead, finely crafted, and a little less than an inch in diameter. “Isn’t this…?”

General Raze nodded. “It’s the same type of arrows our military uses. But that’s not all. Outside of wartime, we only allow our archers to carry specially crafted arrows. Our smiths forge these arrows with their respective I.D. embossed into one of the blades, so we can better monitor any use of arrows with regular check-ins.”

She pointed to the small imprint on the side of one of the blades. “SS017,” read Kismet. “Wait, it can’t be. Is that Sara’s I.D.?”




First: Kismet vs. Bandits, Scene v1
Previous: Collapse (Part 3), Scene v1
Next: Collapse (Part 5), Scene v1