Sam finished wrapping his side in bandages. His bare torso, now wiped clean and bandaged, had been covered in blood from the Tiger Beast and from his wound just mere moments ago.
Kiera had offered to help bandaged him but he refused. Normally he would have jumped on the chance to have the Beast General's hands on his body, but he needed time to review everything he had just witnessed. He also did not want Kiera to see him in that state.
They were in the late merchant's house. The young boy the merchant left behind was still hiding behind the crates after Kiera and Sam made their way out of the woods.
"Is it dead?" The boy asked them both after he saw them leaving the forest unscathed. The boy had heard the Tiger Beast's roars and had thought the strangers had done the impossible. His eyes widened when he saw Kiera's blade strapped to her side, a woman with a sword was a truly rare sight to see in Solomon.
"Yes. The Tiger is dead." Kiera answered the boy. Sam glanced to the side and looked at her. Her voice had come out hollow, her beautiful azure eyes stared blankly ahead at the boy.
The boy looked down at his feet, lost on what to do next now that his father was dead. Sam took pity on the boy and went over to him. He bent down to be at his eye level.
"Do you have any relatives that could take you in?"
The boy shook his head.
"I don't want to go to an orphanage sir." He said with tears in his eyes. He looked frightened at the thought of being sent off to an orphanage and Sam did his best to assuage the young boy's feelings, fully aware the Beast General was staring at him intently. He knew any second now Kiera would hawk at him to bandage up his wounds, a gash at his side, and a couple of scratches on his chest.
"I know of a good orphanage, run by a kindhearted grandmother and her grandchild. The pair takes great care of the children there and the orphanage is directly funded by the royal family, meaning it is observed closely. I can take you there if you'd like."
The boy stopped crying, his eyes looked at Kiera from behind Sam.
"Is he telling the truth?"
Kiera locked eyes with the boy, she shifted her weight from one leg to the other.
"The orphanage I went to when I was young was run by a cruel older woman. She gave us hard, stale bread once a day and made us launder clothes for money." Sam thought of the things she had told him on the carriage ride into Vicksburg. The first time she had killed a Deranged Beast was when it had attacked the director of the orphanage she was at. The story had painfully stuck with him, and he had thought about it after she had told him. Kiera had become such a confident woman that it was hard to picture her as a malnourished and terrified child.
"I don't know what orphanage he will take you to, but I can tell you that I do trust this man." His heart stopped beating inside his chest when Sam heard Kiera say those words. Even if she was only saying that she trusted him to persuade the young boy, he felt a sense of elation in his heart.
"You have two choices, you either starve out on the streets or, you can eat well and get a nice, clean bed to sleep on at night. If the same choices were presented to me when I was younger, I wouldn't hesitate to choose the latter." Kiera was straightforward, her directness was a quality that he loved about her but sometimes it did not translate well to others. Especially to younger children.
Sam looked at the boy, but to his surprise, the boy didn't seem fazed by Kiera. He nodded.
"I will go to the orphanage you recommend sir."
Sam smiled at him.
"That's good to hear. Now, what is your name?"
"Simon Weatherly sir."
"Thank you for trusting in me Simon." He patted the boy on his soft straw-colored head. "Do you think your father had any bandages at home?"
Simon nodded his head, finally noticing the blood on Sam's clothes. He took Kiera and Sam into his home and showed Sam where his father kept bandages and the like. Then he showed Sam where he could change clothes and bandage himself.
Kiera had tried to follow him into the room but he had stopped her.
"Stay with Simon. He needs someone to stay with him."
"You will need my help stitching." She held up the needle and string in her hand as if showing him she had come prepared. He had a sense she was feeling guilty for the wounds he had received.
"You don't need to Kiera. I can stitch myself up by my own hands." He smiled as she frowned, looking rather unconvinced by his claims.
Sam thought of a way he could get her to leave, and his smile turned wicked.
"Are you sure you aren't making excuses to see my naked body? That's rather naughty of you Kiera."
She let out an exasperated huff that Sam couldn't help but chuckle at, then she handed him the needle and thread.
"Kiera," Sam called out as she was heading down the wooden stairs to join the boy Simon. She stopped on the first step down and turned her head to look at him. "This is the result of my actions Kiera, the fault lies with me. I should have listened to you."
Kiera shook her head.
"No Sam, my duty was to protect you," her eyes lowered to the blood on his clothes, "and I failed."
Sam opened to his mouth tell her she hadn't failed, but the Beast General turned her head and bounded down the stairs before he could utter a single word. He watched as her raven head disappeared down below.
He sighed and closed the door to the room Simon had led him to. The boy had put down the bandages and supplies for wound care at the bedside table next to the bed.
As Sam sat down at the edge of the bed, the mattress sank with his added weight. He let out a sharp breath as pain shot up his torso.
"Ah..." With great care, he removed his shirt, tearing away the fabric from the gash on his side. Sam winced as his hand touched the skin near the gash, sticky with his blood. The boy had enough sense to bring him water in a wash basin before he had left downstairs, and Sam now reached over to drench a rag with the water. He then washed the blood around his torso as best as he could. Then he washed his hands and began preparing the needle and thread.
He took the glass bottle full of alcohol and soaked the needle with it. He threaded the needle and quickly went to work after stuffing another rag into his mouth to keep him from crying out.
Sam made a total of five stitches. With every stitch that he made, he wanted to stop but he knew the wound would take longer to heal if he did not take care of it now so he endured the pain while gagged.
After he was done, he took the rag out of his mouth and washed away the blood that had seeped from the wound as he stitched. Then he applied the balm the merchant had. It was a balm that was quite popular with the commoners, as it worked wonders for gashes and other cuts. Now covered with ointment, Sam washed his hands again before wrapping bandages around his torso.
He rose up from the bed, and going over to the armoire in the corner of the room, he opened the doors to reveal the shirts that belonged to the merchantman. He pulled out a shirt he liked and slipped into it. He only slightly grimaced as pain continuously shot up his body.
He cleaned up the area, bringing the wash basin of now bloodied water downstairs.
"Finished?" Kiera looked up at him as he came down, she stood next to the boy with a bag full of clothes.
"Yes. It wasn't that deep."
He went outside and threw out the water, then he went back inside the house. He set down the wash basin on the kitchen table. Sam nodded his head over to the boy.
"Simon, I have a couple of questions as to what happened. Do you think you can help me answer them?"
The boy nodded eagerly, he looked as if he would do anything for Sam and Kiera.
"Tell us what happened."
"Well, my father is the town's newest merchant. We moved here from Lexington a couple of months back." Simon played with his fingers as he recounted the story of how they came to Kurt. "I didn't want to move, but father said he had something he needed to transport."
"Do you know what he was transporting?"
Simon nodded, but Sam could tell the boy was hesitant to tell him.
"I don't want what occurred here to happen again, Simon, and to do that I need you to tell us everything that you know."
That was enough to spur the boy to confide in Sam.
"He said it was an animal he got from some rich man. He didn't say who, only that the man promised the exotic animal would make him a lot of money."
"Your father was transporting the tiger?" Kiera finally spoke up, her face rigid with anger.
"Y-yes." The boy looked spooked by Kiera as her blue eyes shone with an intensity that could not be described. In times like these, Sam could feel the Beast within her. He imagined a black wolf standing behind her and baring his teeth.
"Kiera," Sam said her name, and the Beast General was shaken out of it. She looked at the boy and she stared apologetically at him.
"I'm sorry Simon." She smiled sadly down at the boy. "I know it isn't your fault. I let my anger out on you when I shouldn't have."
"Could you forgive me?"
The boy shook his head, waving his hands out in front of him.
"N-no. You did nothing wrong. My father was the one who brought the animal to Kurt in the first place." Tears sprang into his eyes. "It was our fault."
Kiera reached down to the boy, who looked embarrassed as Kiera tenderly caressed his cheek with her hand.
"It was you that tried warning the townspeople, wasn't it? You tried to keep people safe even though if the lord found out, your father would be sent to prison."
The boy nodded his head, sobbing.
"The animal got out, it took many of our neighbors' chickens and other livestock. It even ate an entire cow." He blubbered out while Kiera kept her hand on his cheek. "I-I knew I had to tell someone about the tiger but I didn't want my father to get in trouble. I went around town hoping someone would believe me!"
"See?" Kiera's voice was unbelievably soft as she talked to Simon. "You tried everything you could. You aren't a bad boy. You are good."
The boy sobbed again, balling up his hands and hiding his eyes behind them. He went to Kiera and buried his face at her side. Kiera looked taken aback. She blinked her blue eyes, unsure what she should do in this situation.
Sam smiled as the Beast General gave in and crouched down to envelope the boy in her arms. She let the boy cry into her chest, her hand patted his back whenever his cries became louder.
"You are very brave Simon. Strong for a human." Simon didn't understand her words, but Sam did. He laughed softly at her.
When it was time for them to leave, Kiera and Sam briefly went back into the woods to bury the body of the Beast and the merchant. She said a couple of words under her breath that Sam could not decipher. He couldn't even begin to comprehend the emotions that were fluttering through her mind as they reemerged from the treeline.
"Are you sure you got everything you need?" Sam asked Simon, the boy nodded, sniffing.
"Then let's get going." He reached out and let the boy take his hand. "I'll send you letters Simon, to make sure you are doing well in your new home."
"Will you?" Simon looked at Kiera. She only smiled.
"Yes."