„Where are you comming from, little boy?" The female asked weary of this kid. After all he suddenly turned up here, together with a dead person lying next to him.
She had shoulder lenght brown hair, fair skin and a light scar decorating her neck. She was tall for a woman, standing around 1.7 meters.
He, a bit bigger, his short, dark red hair and straight nose with brown eyes making him quite good looking.
Robert, closing the distance to Mikael, knelt next to him.
"She is gone, boy. This wound is absolutely lethal, and most likely she was immediately dead."
His calm voice sparked a light in him. He gained back his clarity, actively noticing these persons presence.
"It was all my fault. They told us to surrender, that if we go with them quietly they wouldn't harm us."
He spoke, softly, afraid to be too loud. He recited the moment from their escape, when they ran into the woods, to the point of them getting swept up here.
"I made a big mistake..." Mikael cried, not letting his hand leave Nina.
"I wish to turn back, just accepting their offer. A slave life is better than no one at all."
Robert, as well as his friend, listened to his story in silence. They knew he was wrong, his choice being spot on.
The behavior that kid described were very weird for bandits, fitting more an controlled group.
"First, you are wrong, on both parts. Slaves often wish to die free, than being shackled for the rest of their life. At least she was not all alone, even if the end was tragic. And also your choice was the best one. You had a chance to live, albeit a small one."
Robert supported her, nodding his head and stretching out his hand.
"Diana is right. You may lament now, but once you calm down, think over once more, and you realize that decision was good, especially for a kid your age."
He removed Mikaels hand, as the body was long cold, and this child needed treatment.
"We will bury her later, letting her return to mother earth. Now, can you go over to Diana, that nice sister standing there, and let her see your arm? Else you risk permanent damage, and living with a disability is kind of a slave life, too."
Reluctantly letting his hand leave Nina, he stared at Robert, hesitating and not wanting to.
'Not moving on will solve nothing, and certainly doesn't make her alive, just like it won't help father back then, or mother...'
He knew, but the loss of so many loved ones, in such a short time, did something with him.
He felt letting go now would leave part of his life behind, as everything, everyone he knew was gone, leaving only him.
But he needed to continue.
'At least to live on, for never to forget father, mother, Didi, and also Nina.'
At least he still had the memento from Brom, resting on the bag that surprisingly still hang on his hips.
When he walked over to Diana, she grabbed his arm, moving it a bit to get a glimpse of the damage.
"Yep, that's a badly broken bone. I need some materials to make a simple structure to support it, or the bone mend back in the wrong angle.
Hey, Robert. I go out getting some materials, just to let you know!"
"Got it!" came the reply, as Robert still investigated Nina, then carrying her a bit away towards a soft looking spot, ready to be dug up and serving as a last resting place.
Meanwhile, let alone, Mikael took the book that uselessly hang at his side.
'This thing is most likely destroyed. What kind of item survives that torture.'
The outside looked fine, and when he opened the first page, which he expected to be soaked and ruined, but the hide of which the pages are made from where dry, and the ink used on them was still readable, the colors used for the pictures ever so lively.
"What the Mother of Earth..." he exclaimed, gaining a confused look from Robert who used a foldable shovel he took out from his backpack.
Seeing the Compendium in his hands, he got some interest, but resumed to his task.
Mikael flapped through the pages, and when he saw the page shown back then by Didi, the flower with many uses, he got the idea to search for this item.
'In this forest there surely is this flower somewhere. Maybe it can help me recovering faster.'
Wanting to search right now, he was hindered by his hurting chest, as well his broken arm.
'Let's postpone that for now, at least till I feel better.'
Walking out from the woods, Diana held straight branches, together with some rags she took from her backpack, she straightened Mikaels wrist and arm, as a normal position would be. He got to bite on a piece of wood, wrapped by leather. When he first was shown this, he wondered what it is for, but when the procedure came, he bit down with all his strength.
"Man up, I know it hurts, but we have to do it." She calmed him down to her best abilities, proceeding fast and clean.
The branches straightened his arm, and were wrapped and held in place with the rags.
He could barely move it, but that also meant it would lessen the strain.
"Thank you. But I don't even know you, how should I repay you..."
"Forget about that for now, first we have to finish up here, then we go back to our hideout."
"Your hideout? Isn't there a Village nearby?"
Robert heard him asked, coming over as the hole was dug and he came to report.
"There is one, yes. But it's quite a distance away. We are quite a bit in the Nodan woods, and our temporary residence is a small cave we occupied."
"You don't now of the surrounding area?" Diana asked. Normally the villages should know at least the surroundings, but this guy seemed not to have any knowledge about the surroundings.
"So this is the feared Nodan area." he said. " I was often told these woods are quite dangerous, but not this here was it. And we fled a far distance, as these bandits, or whatever they are, once plundered our village over by the Lance fief, but as we had no hope of support, we ran. I only followed, and no one bothered to tell me where we fled to."
His last words, which he silently murmured, " I'm the last one." made them understand something grander had to have taken place. But they had few clues, and didn't really wanted to meddle with the affairs of lords and vassals.
"Okay, got it. Right now we should get you out of here. It is not so dangerous as they often tell here, but danger lurks nonetheless. Goblins, bears, kobolds and occasional wolf packs are more common here. If you are like us tho, you have nothing to fear. We got experience and are skilled enough to get in here and hunt some good game."
"Our hunting trip is recently a bit sparse, as if the animals fled. We only hunted a malnourished deer, and hare rarely show up. We wanted to end early, this scout being our last when we found you."
She signaled with Robert without words, eye contact being enough to convey their intentions.
When she had his silent approval, she proceeded:" You should come with us, alone your chances of finding the exit are slim, let alone fining our village and avoiding the creatures. You being alive is all the more surprising."
"Can I? Why are you so helpful? Didn't we just met?"
Mistrust build up within him. He was a washed up stranger, and they would just help him? Just getting left by his family and abandoned by his Father's friend, he couldn't believe it.
"How could we just leave you here? I get that its weird, but we are just like that, especially Diana. She always had a soft spot for animals and Children. Would you have been an adult we probably ignore you, but what can you do? Additionally your situation, and that of this suspicious attack is weird in itself, so with you being the survivor can serve as a witness in case someone wants to know something."
He leaned down to his ears, so Diana could not hear what he said next:
"But just a warning. In case anyone questions you, how you survived or you escaped this forest, you never met us, alright. I'm not a bad guy, but should you somehow endanger Diana, or me, I make sure it was the last thin you did, before these guys can find out you are still breathing."
He left Mikaels personal zone, walking leisurely towards the hole he dug.
Despite the warning, and the slight danger he felt, akin to being stared at by a hunter, his nerves calmed down.
Robert being so cautious, making sure he would not tell anybody, were better than having no ulterior motives or just being helpful. At least they made sure to give him a sense of threat.
As weird as it sounded, it relaxed him.
"Would you like to bury your friend now?" Diana asked, holding her hand to help Mikael stand up.
"By the way, you never introduced yourself. Our names are clear, but how are you called?"
'Right, I still didn't tell them.'
"Mikael, and my fathers name is Brom. My friend is Nina."
She smiled gently, grabbing his unhurt hand and shaking it. "Nice to meet you, Bromson."
Hearing her calling him like that, with the name of his deceased father, made him happy."
"I'm Diana Helgadóttir, and Robert should tell you yourself."
"Svenson!" came the answer flying, and how casual it was made him smile.
"Then, should we proceed?" Diana suggested.
Nodding, he used her hand to help himself standing, and walked over to the hole. By the time he arrived, he breathes heavily, his chest making him still trouble.
Worryingly Robert exchanged a look with Diana, as wanting to say:" Is this really ok to take him with us?"
"Sorry, I cannot help you with this injury." She said apologetic, just hoping he could follow them when they get back.
"I have to. He simply answered. Looking down the hole, he wondered if he should already have to bury so many close persons to him.
'Is this fair? Shouldn't I see them die by natural causes, not like this?'
Nina laid next to the hole, her head covered by a bandage to cover up the nasty wound.
"Thank you, too." he said addressed at Robert, "Really, you don't imagine how much that means to me."
"Nope, I now. Don't mention it. Just help me lowering her down there."
When they got her in the grave, they shoved the earth into it, covering her up completely, triggering a weird replaying memory.
"May you find back thy way to the lap of mother Earth." Diana prayed, speaking for Mikael.
'Goodbye, Nina. Sorry for being such a miserable friend.'
He wanted to cry, but couldn't. He felt sorrow, but also a unexplained emptiness.
Diana stroked his shoulder in empathy, but was quickly interrupted by Robert.
He darted past them, facing a darker part of the woods, from the direction of the waterfall.
"Careful, we got company." he said, taking out an bow and arrow, nocking it and aiming towards a rustling spot.
Diana just sighed, taking out her own and also taking aim.
"What is it?" Mikael asked nervously.
"Don't know yet, we see in a moment." She said, and Robert let loose the tensed bowstring.