CHAPTER 7
The Mark of a Vigilante
The man that had tended to Fawn's adoptive mother on the night of the fire seemed to be the Chief Physician of the Affairs of the Inter-kingdom Ministry, Chief Monto. He had offered the destitute damsel a place to stay, at his office.
In the beginning of her new life there, Fawn had greatly struggled. All the others that were there seemed to know the concoctions by official medical terms and named symptoms by language she could barely keep up with.
There were nights when the damsel would it at the large stone library of the Royal Academy where Chief Physician Monto oft worked, just to see if she could muster some information and names that would help her sound equal to the others that seemed to have professional training.
They'd oft look down on her for her lack of posh language. After all, she knew potions by their make and ingredients and what they cater to, since her method of study was self learning, figuring out, brewing and testing.
Though her stay with Monto was temporary, her prowess in the field of medicine and brews had easily surpassed the caliber of all the book-bred students that were working at the Chief Physician's study.
Outranking them all by a long shot, Fawn was elected to be his official apprentice on grounds that it was Sir Monto's personal preference, despite her lack of professional qualification in the art.
During the various visits that Fawn had made across different kingdoms and countries as the Chief Physician's apprentice, she found it deep within to be on the secret quest of her heart to hopefully find the mysterious knight who'd called himself Kinwich.
In the mean time, she had made many friends.
One such had been a particularly memorable one;
Fiore.
The skies over the kingdom of Antaria had been darkening with the shades of night and Fawn was making her way back to Healer Monto's temporary study at the Imperial Castle from the Market Square.
On the way there, where the streets had been sprawling with shadows, Fawn had felt an uncertain sensation following her. Just then, succumbing to her fears, a masked man of unknown identity crept up from behind, gagged her mouth to keep her from screaming, and kidnapped her without wasting a hot minute.
When the blindfolds of her eyes had been withdrawn, she'd seen the masked man, still not having revealed his face, point to an immensely beautiful young lady in rather revealing and tattered clothes laying down on a bed, unconscious.
In fact, the patient seemed to be delirious with a high fever and could barely find her senses.
The damsel in question had had a rather sore past and was rescued by the unknown vigilante in the dead of the night and bestowed into Fawn's custody.
"Please bring her to good health, she deserves a fair life ahead", the man had said, his voice husky in whispers, so she could barely make out his identity from how he sounded.
Nodding hastily, with pulsing roaring in the vigor of being kidnapped and being presented with a patient of extremely serious condition, Fawn had inched close to the patient and checked her pulse.
Then, she had covered the unconscious damsel with a sheet and looked up at the masked man, asking, "What is her situation? How did she come to this? Are you related? Is she dangerous by background? Should I report her to the crown of this kingdom?"
To her avalanche of doubts, he answered with one question: "You are a foreigner to this kingdom, are you not?"
Fawn had nodded mutely, shocked that he had not abducted her to be a nurse at random, but having known somewhat of her background.
"I am aware that you are Chief Physician Monto's apprentice, here for temporary stay. I am a vigilante here at Antaria with my Kingdom's best interests at heart" the man said.
The damsel nodded, feeling all the more sinister about the encounter she was a part of. There was little she could do in rebellion, for she felt that she was at the mercy of the vigilante whose presence she was in.
The man turned to the young lady laying on the bed, fighting for her life, and sighed deeply before saying, "She is no spy, threatening the fraternity of this Kingdom, if that is your concern. She is a victim I saved from a brothel and desperately needs your help." Then, turning to Fawn, he said, "I felt it necessary to bring her to a person of your medical prowess, who is here for a fleeting stay here at Antaria's imperial castle. A Royal guest, in fact. But I trust that you will not divulge this young lady's identity or past to anyone?"
The Healer's apprentice nodded, in support. "Of course I would not."
"Very well", the vigilante replied. "She has a life ahead of her that she is to live, and she cannot do so if she is to carry the weight of her past on her shoulders every day."
Fawn was touched at the man's tenderness for a victim whom he had just saved and barely known. She went to the basin at the side of the little rented inn room wherein she seemed to be and wrung out a cloth, wetting it in the water.
Then, she gently placed it on the forehead of the unconscious young lady whose whole body was burning up with a fever. "I can assure you, she is in good hands now", Fawn said, with a smile, before turning her eyes to the man.
"I can see that", he nodded.
"I meant yours", the damsel said, before turning her eyes to see that there was a kettle and a hearth to assist her.
"I must apologise, but I must be on my way now. A vigilante cannot be kept to the confines of a single venue. But should need be, I have left some money to be of your aid", he said, nodding over to a bundle tied up at the foot of the bed.
Fawn frowned as she looked at it. "And who may you be, sir?" she asked, turning back, just to find that the window he had been standing closest to was open, curtains waltzed by the cold wind, and the man completely gone into the midnight shadows.
~