Jerry rushed over to give him a hand to the table. Tiberius was so weak he could barely keep his head from falling down to his chest. Looking out thru heavily lidded eyes he scanned the people at the table. It disgusted him to be so weak that he was at the mercy of these people, but he couldn't be a hypocrite and not acknowledge that he wouldn't be alive if it were not for their help. He opened his mouth to speak but a barely whispered croak was all that came out. With assistance from Jerry, Tiberius was able to take a few swallows of water. His tongues still felt like paste in his mouth, but he was able to work enough moisture to try speaking again. "What are your intentions for me? Am I to be ransomed back to Lord Archibald Crane?", he asked. Jerry and the other looked around in confusion.
"We have no intentions of you but to nurse you back to health.", Jerry said
"What about my men have you slaughtered them all?"
"The last I saw of your men they were running away back into the woods."
"I don't understand you people. I was ordered to bring in hardened criminals who had been terrorizing my lords lands. The behemoth here practically admitted to killing his lords men right before I challenged him. Yet here I see a strange group of.... whatever you are, and you take the time to save a man sent to kill you. There is too much conflicting information. I don't know what to trust right now." Tiberius heaved a wary sigh shaking his head deep in thought.
"Well I can't speak on what your lord has said to you, but I will say this. Even before I arrived this family has been defending itself from your lords men. They are good honest people that simply wish to be left alone. The constant attacks have been a hindrance on their lives, placing them in continuous danger. While you rest and recover you will get a chance to see with your own eyes what type of people we are. Then you can judge for yourself what the truth of the matter is.", Jerry said
Tiberius nodded his head accepting Jerry's words and planning on doing exactly that. He would watch and decide for himself what was going on here. And he planned on taking any information he found back to his lord to better plan an attack for next time. As Jerry helped him to stand so he could head back to Jerry's room, his eyes fell upon Mel'Imba again. He started to open his mouth and ask how Cas'Nada was doing but he stopped himself. That was a different lifetime. He had no right to ask nor any right to know, since he decided to abandon her for his career all those years ago. Mel'Imba saw the look on his face and was curious what he was going to say, but Tiberius just shut his mouth shaking his head and slowly shuffled away to bed.
As he lay there with his eyes closed he could vividly see her face. She was crying and begging him to stay with her. They fell in love at first sight from the moment he opened his eyes and looked deeply into hers. He had been hurt then too, his scouting mission for his final exam at the military academy had gone horribly awry. His party had stumbled into a Sfornian advance camp of twenty scores of men. Mostly infantry but there where at least a score of cavalry. Their intelligence had been drastically off on their enemies position. His instructor told them to flee was he tried to buy them time. Tiberius and his classmates tried to stay and help but he began hitting and shoving them back into the woods yelling at them to run. Tiberius remembers being terrified and running as fast as he could thru the woods. He could hear the Sfornian commander barking orders, soon shots rang out and birds took flight at the ear splitting bangs. He knew is instructor was already dead and was trying to keep the trees in-between him and the enemies. But one of them must have been a marksman because unbearable pain blossomed in his left shoulder blade. The force of the impact sent him tumbling and he fell down a small ravine. His fall managed to wedge him in-between some small boulders. The position of his body and his lack of movement made the Sfornians believe he was dead. Tiberius awoke hours later stiff and delirious. Trying to get his body unstuck from the spot he fell into took him and hour in his weakened condition. He crawled across the gravel at the bottom of the ravine to the small stream that trickled by. He could see the arrowhead sticking out of the front of his shirt which was drenched in his own blood. His academy first aid training told him he was probably better off leaving it in so that his blood loss didn't happen at a faster pace. He also knew he had to stay hydrated to help with the blood loss he already had. As he lowered his face to the water to drink he heard foot steps behind him. He thought it was the Sfornians coming back to finish the job. He could barely lift his head let alone try to defend himself, so he closed his eyes and rolled over onto his back to await his end. He could feel the presence of someone right next to him and when he didn't feel the pain or hear another shot right out he slowly opened his eyes. The eyes of the maiden looking down on him was all that he could see. They swallowed him heart and soul in that very first glimpse and kept him there mesmerized. When he could finally pull his gaze away from her eyes the rest of her beauty was no less stunning. Her cornflower blue eyes sparkled when she smiles at him, her cute button nose seemed like the most adorable thing in the world to him. Her full lushes lips led to two large dimples in her cheeks when she smiled. Her stark white hair cascaded toward him and he was so stunned by her beauty he forgot he was in pain. That is until he tried to reach for her with his left hand and cried out at the pain that shot up his arm from his shoulder. She turned her back to him and whistled to someone in the tree. He wanted so much to just sit there and stare at her face, but his lids were getting heavier but the second. He must have dosed because his eyes shot open as pain laced thru his body as he was lifted off the ground. He was placed on stretcher and taken to her village in the trees. He awoke the next day with no pain and his injuries completely healed. He had to leave to give his report back at the academy, but he hated to leave her. She gave him a pendant and said when he wanted to come back just find the little stream again and blow on the pendant and she would find him.
He returned to the academy a hero for surviving such an arduous ordeal. The intelligence he reported allowed the military to counter the Sfornians and saved thousands of lives. He was given flying colors on his final exam, that combined with his already stellar marks and he was guaranteed any position he wanted in the military or he could join up with any mercenary core he wanted. He sent out some application and since he nothing else was expected of him until graduation he returned frequently to Cas'Nada's village. Their romance grew very quickly and in the two months he had left till graduation he spent all but one week with her. The day before he graduated he received the letter telling him he was accepted into the Blackwall mercenaries. As soon as the graduation ceremony was finished he said by to his family and friends and rode his horse straight for Cas'Nada to tell her the news. Expecting her to be happy for him she was saddened by what he was saying. She thought he was going to stay with her. He was only twenty years old. He waited his whole life to make his dreams come true and nothing was going to stop him now that he had them in his grasp. Not Cas'Nada, her tears, or her last words she ever said to him telling him she was pregnant. He turned his back on her that day and never looked back. He put his career before all else allowing him in ten years to move up in rank and take command of the Blackwalls. In his ten year tenure as commander they had never lost a fight. He had increased they revenue higher than any commander before him. His men were disciplined and followed his orders to the letter. So why would they run if they saw him lose one fight? It didn't make sense. Were these strange people telling him the truth? Was he allowing her similarity in appearance to Cas'Nada to blind his judgment? Was he and he men being played for fools? Tiberius had so much to think on and it seemed he now had all the time he need to figure things out. Sleep was hard to come by but right before it came he was plagued by one more question. Had he been betrayed?