"Get out of the way everyone this is army business, get out of the way!" The one person I didn't want to meet right now suddenly appeared, Cedric. "Shit it's Cedric." Freddy whispered to me, "Yeah, and knowing him he'll immidiately misinterpret the situation." I said in a low tone of voice, "We have to get Bert to an ER right now." The decision was made but before we could move Cedric moved in to intercept us, "My, my. What have we here? My lousy, good for nothin' piece of shit brother trying to help a deserter?" Cedric had a sickly smile on his face, whilst looking at me and Freddy, "You know what the penalty is for helping a deserter right, 'L.I.T.T.L.E.' brother?" The moment he finished his scentence I knew, he loved every bit of this situation.
Helping, hiding or being complicit in the dissapearance of a deserter was instant grounds for capital punishment, our dad once told us how he found out that a fellow soldier had helped deserters pass through checkpoints, he reported it to his superior officer and the next morning the man was shot by a firing squad, comprised of soldiers from his platoon. But even then Bert was no deserter he wasn't even shipped out to bootcamp since he only got his letter yesterday, "Bert is no deserter Cedric!" I lashed out at him, "He just got his draft-letter so he's not even part of the militairy yet!" It didn't matter that I said these things, the look in Cedric's eyes was more than enough to tell me that he wasn't listening, and even if he was he'd probably still want to punish me for helping Freddy 'attack' Bartholomew.
*Shitttt~what am I gonna do, if this keeps up we might lose Bert! We don't have time for this!!* I thought to myself trying to come up with a solution to our impending problem. Looking over at Bert it suddenly hit me, "Article 72." Cedric's eyes suddenly widened at those two simple words, yes to the normal citizen it wouldn't mean much but, "I call upon military article 72! In case of a medical emergency the nearest commanding officer has to ensure that the patient is brought to immidiate safety!" Cedric's eyes were filled with rage at my words, I'm sure he would beat me up if we were alone or even rebuke it, but considering there was a squad of soldiers under his command just feet behind him he couldn't, even if he wanted to he would get reprimanded by his superiors for disobeying military law. Before Cedric could state a rebuffal the doc suddenly yelled out, "If we don't get him to an operating quarter asap, the youngun' will die, Sergeant even if this man is a deserter it is our duty, yours and mine to make sure that he gets the nessecary medical attention!" Hearing the doc's words Cedric turned crimson with rage, "Don't think I'll let that little trick of yours slide Arthurion, after that pedantic piece of shit is in capable hands you'll have hell to pay, is that clear?" He said it low enough that the surrounding soldiers and people didn't hear him, but knowing him as soon as everything was settled I probably would get my ass beaten by him in a nearby alleyway or worst case scenario he'd take some of his goons with him and they'd beat me within and inch of my life.
"Men clear the way to the nearest ER!!" Cedric commanded his troops, as soon as his orders were finished the soldiers that stood idle by sprung into action, sounding a clear and practiced "Sir, yes sir!" Clearing a path through the crowd of people that had now grown 3 times in size thanks to the military showing up. "Hey Arthurion, how screwed are we?" Freddy asked me with a hint of fear in his voice, "You not so much, but I'm pretty sure that by the end of tonight I will have fallen down at least 30 flights of stairs." With that said I'll have to go visit Milan's grave later today and thank him for telling me a couple of the most important articles in military law, even if at the time I didn't really care for them, today it saved my skin and even made it so that Bert would be able to get the medical attention he needed.
*Thanks big bro for always watching out for me.*
After Cedric led Bert to the nearest ER, Evelynn and Misha ran over to us, "Are you two okay?" Evelynn asked worriedly while Misha asked with a trembling voice, "Big bro, are you going to be alright? Is big bro Cedric gonna hurt you?" I looked over to Misha planting my hand attop her head and while stroking it I told her, "Don't worry about it Misha, now you head off home I'm sure mom and dad are waiting on that medecine you were supposed to get." Fighting with Cedric was nothing compared to seeing Misha at the edge of shedding tears, "Evelynn, would you mind terrebly if you went home with Misha?" I asked because I knew if she was to be sent home alone she would definetely go off to Cedric in a desperate attempt to try and stop him from hurting me. I couldn't let that happen, even if Bert wanted to dissapear to avoid his responsibilities, that wasn't grounds for the beating he took, so I would take the beating Cedric had in store for me. And who knows with a little luck I might even be able to lead him to the edge of the forrest and let Sylvia deal with him for a little bit, ofcourse making sure that he wouldn't remember the beating or even remembering what had happened after he'd beat me up for a little while.
A couple hours passed after the incident and rumours were starting to spread like wildfire, "If this continues Bert's mom will never be able to leave their tavern again." I said to myself since I was currently sitting beside the gravestones of Milan and Anisse. I knew that Cedric was looking all over the town for me, so even if it took a little longer than I expected, he would find me here for sure. "He sure likes taking his time, I wonder what you would say to him bro? He's not a bad guy I think. At least not to everyone else, he's nice to Misha and even let Freddy get away scott free." Once again all of the previous fights we had played like a film in my head, "When did it all start to go wrong? We never were that close to begin with but after you guy's were gone the dial was turned to 100 in an instant. Does he blame me for something? I really don't get him. haaaaa~"
*Winter is aproaching fast even the nights are getting progressively colder* Thinking that I once again asked myself, "Will mom make it past the winter? Wouldn't it be better for her if we found a way to let her pass without suffering....", Out of nowhere a punch was thrown straight to my face, I didn't even intend to dodge it but before hitting me square in the jaw, the fist stopped a couple inches away from my face. "Hey Cedric, If you're going to beat me at least punch me with some conviction?" I knew from the moment the punch was dolled out that it was Cedric so I didn't even flinch, he was still in his military garb so even if he wanted to be stealthy it would be very difficult since the breastplate covering his uniform and the shoulder-pauldrons stood out quite a bit in the low luminiscent light. His eyes were filled to the brim with tears, he had a pained expression while at the same time looking furious, "Why did you say that?" I looked up to him with a face of indifference, "Say what?" I asked him in a quiet monotone, "About mom, why did you say we should let her go?" At this point his tears had started to pool in his eyes his fist still inches away from my face. He started to schake violently trying to keep his calm.
Looking at the pathetic state of the always masculine and abusive Cedric I tilted my head and looked him square in his face, "Don't you think she has suffered enough?"