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Chapter 17: Marc
I wondered how much longer we could hold the people off as I watched my warriors struggle in this invasion. Thankfully though, we had had enough warning in advance by the seer and Tess so we were prepared. Still, it was a difficult fight that had lasted through the night. I was eternally grateful to Tess though, when I saw that the trainees had come to help out as well. That was the boost we needed to get through this. Soon enough, the battle in the village had been won and we set off to take care of the injured.
It never occurred to me that anything else could be wrong until I found Kim running up to me. "Kim?" I called out to her when she was still a few feet away. "What are you doing here?"
"I heard about the fight. Jimmy came to get me and we went back ahead of the family. How is everything?"
"The enemy's pretty much been taken care of. We finished them off late last night."
"And the wounded-"
"Are being taken care of," I assured her. The sun had finally risen and we began taking in the damage. We made our way along the path in silence and let everything sink in.
Then she spoke again. "Marc, where's Tess?"
"Tess is-." I stopped. A chill gripped my heart as I tried to think. "Oh, no." I whispered to myself.
"She's not here, is she?" She asked me, fearfully.
I shook my head before I called out to a few people. "Blake! Dave! Denise! Come with me! Kim, you too."
Dave rushed to my side as we started running towards the edge of the mansion. "What's wrong Marc?"
"Has anyone spotted Tess since the fighting began?"
"No, I don't think so. I haven't heard anything."
I called out to one of the children who had been in training the previous day. "Hannah! Where's your Teacher?"
She paused from helping her family clean up her yard from last night's battle. "I think she stayed at the house yesterday. She didn't come with us fight."
I cursed under my breath and the five of us doubled our efforts toward the house. Stepping onto the path leading to the house, we found the first body lying next to a still horse. "Denise. Go back to the village and get a free cart and start loading it with these two."
"Yes, sir," she replied and went on her way back.
I kicked open the door and once again paused. "Dave and Blake, see to it that when Denise comes back, you take these other three bodies and put them in the cart." Those two nodded their heads and went back outside to wait for the cart.
I turned to Kim. "Now comes the fun part. You search upstairs for any other survivors or bodies. I'll search the rest of the area."
We split up and I made my way into the kitchen. The sick feeling in the pit of my stomach grew as I took in the scene in front of me. The pantry had been ransacked and the food supply had greatly diminished since the family had left. But that wasn't what caught my eye. Instead, I found the remains of Tess's clothing scattered all around the floor. I spotted the white rock, now free of its talisman pouch some ways away from the pouch. I bent to pick those two up, placing them in my own pouch to give to her later and continued to look around. On the table and also on the floor, spots of dried blood remained. On the table, cut pieces of rope lay about.
I shut my eyes, trying to get the horrible images of what probably happened here out of my mind but it only made it worse. I felt lightheaded as the scene played for me. How could they have done this to her!?
Then a piercing scream echoed through the house, followed by Kim's calling me. "Marc! Get up here quick!"
I heard the urgency in her voice and made my way up the stairs as fast as I could. "Kim? Where are you?" I called out, unsure of what room to go into.
"In here!" I heard her call back out to me. "I'm in the master bedroom."
I watched as I saw her back out of the room slowly and close the door, tears flowing down her pale face. I let her sob into my shoulder as I made my way back to the door. I started to open the door carefully when Blake came rushing up the stairs then. I let him take Kim outside. Finally, I took in a deep breath and opened the door.
Blood and broken furniture filled the room. I saw the remains of a great battle. Sword marks were scattered around the room, on the walls and on the floor. Splintered, wood furniture lay in pieces all around. The cloths that had once made up the bed were torn to shreds. But those didn't matter to me.
I made my way to the first body and grew sick at the sight. There was a poker sticking straight up from his stomach and a sword detaching most of the head from its body. Blood had pooled around him. Even that though, didn't hold my attention for long. All this I saw in a second as I quickly made my way to her body.
She lay on her side, twisted somewhat in such a strange position. Two daggers were still embedded in her body, slowly draining her of blood. Other cuts and scratches were visible and the bruises were just starting to make the ugly blue and black colors. Pain was etched on her face and I could see that her body was tense as I bent down and heard her shallow breathing. "You're still alive!" I whispered in disbelief.
My eyes searched the room, trying to find something to help her bleeding stop until we made our way to the Healers. I heard Denise and Dave rush back up the stairs and come in. "Guys. Help me find some cloths to stop the bleeding. We need to get her out of here now!"
Quickly, some rags were found and we did our best to control the bleeding before making our way outside. Just as we were about to go, I saw Tess open her eyes. "Tess? Don't worry. You'll be all right." I took her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. She closed her eyes and moaned as the cart began its way toward the village. The others stayed behind to clean up.
Kim had come along with me, accompanying us back to the village. On the way back, she asked me, "Is Tess going to be all right?"
I looked at her sadly. "I can only hope so." I tore my gaze away and focused on trying to get the cart to move quicker without hurting Tess any more.