"Dr. Reeves, please come and check on him. He passed out," Alec urgently called out. He hurriedly made his way over to Leoric and carefully lifted him, struggling under the weight. He then took him to the rear of the vehicle, where he laid him down on the cold, metal floor.
Gavin Reeves checked Leoric's vitals. "He is extremely dehydrated. Did he not drink water?"
Alec glanced at Emily. He saw that Emily had greedily finished the water and did not leave a single drop for Leoric.
"Idiot!" Angel muttered under her breath. She took a bottle from her backpack. It has little water left, probably around 20 ml. She took a cotton swab from Gavin's medical kit and unscrewed the water bottle cap. She tilted the bottle to moisten the cotton swab, but without warning, Emily grabbed both the cotton swab and the bottle.
Angel was caught off guard, and her grip on the bottle loosened. It fell on the sand, and all the water spilled.
"You..." Angel glared at Emily. The precious water was wasted because of her rash action.
"You idiot! Why did you let go of the bottle?" Emily raved.
As much as Angel knew she shouldn't lower herself to the other person's level, she found herself unable to resist responding. "You are the idiot! Why did you grab it in the first place?" she fired back, unable to contain her frustration.
Alec's patience wore thin as he addressed the two women. "That's it. Leoric is unconscious. Do you really feel like exchanging banter at a time like this?"
Emily's emotions came rushing back, and she held Leoric close, tears streaming down her face.
"Leoric, please wake up. Don't die." Emily wailed.
Angel looked at her disdainfully. Even Alec seemed agitated.
"Emily, let go of him. You are making matters worse." He said in an annoyed voice.
"What do we do?" Emily's teary eyes looked at Alec helplessly.
"Let us get moving. We need to bring him to that water source to be hydrated. I'll drive." After speaking, Gavin Reeves went to the driver's seat.
Angel whistled, and the eagle landed beside her.
"Alec put him at its back," Angel pointed at the eagle.
Alec hesitated.
"We don't have time. It will take hours before we reach the oasis if we use the vehicle. Riding Agilus will be faster."
Alec paused for a moment, unsure of what to do. However, when Angel shot him a fierce look, he finally relented and placed Leoric on the enormous eagle's back, which reached up to his chest. The bird was truly impressive in size.
Leoric's imposing figure made Alec ponder whether the eagle could endure his weight. Alec, deeply concerned for his best friend, knew that Angel, his wife in name only, harbored as much animosity toward Leoric as he did. This was complicated further by the fact that Leoric, despised Angel, the daughter of his father's killer.
"Of course. Agilus is very strong. Did you forget that he was carrying a huge warrior before he was shot down?" Without waiting for the reply from Alec, Angel took off with the unconscious Erik in front of her. She hugged Leoric tightly as she was afraid that he might fall off.
The eagle seemed to understand that what he was carrying was fragile, so his speed was only 70% of his capacity.
Angel was afraid that Leoric would fall, so she hugged him tightly. He was seated in front of her, his body leaning on the back of Agilus. Angel could smell his scent; he reeked of sweat and the smell of being exposed to the sun. His hair was greasy and smelled like a mix of sweat and natural oils, which was somewhat sour.
The woman who had bathed earlier chuckled. This was the most intimate encounter she had with her husband in name, and she did not want to remember it.
Angel thought of her father, who was in prison, and her mother, who was in the hospital. Her green orbs became darker, and an evil thought crossed her mind.
Leoric was very vulnerable. She can push him down and with his current state he will definitely die. Wouldn't she be free then?
The woman sensed the man in her embrace beginning to stir, and she could feel the gentle warmth of his breath on the hands intertwined with his chest.
"Why do I feel like I am flying? I must be dreaming." The man murmured, then he became silent.
Angel shook her head to push away her dark thoughts. Did Leoric sense her thoughts? How come he regained consciousness when Angel was tempted to let him go?
After being airborne for a few more minutes, they arrived at the oasis. Even though Leoric had lost weight, he was still heavy, but Angel eased him off from Agilus without difficulty. She dragged him and laid him down beside a small pool, a little bigger than the size of a jacuzzi that was separated from the lake. That was where she had taken her bath earlier.
Angel hurried to the lake and filled a bottle with water. She then took out a bottle of iodine tincture and put two drops into the water. She vigorously shook the water container, and after ten minutes, she added a saline tablet before she fed Leoric the solution.
Leoric lay unconscious, causing the water to trickle down the side of his mouth. Angel paused for a moment, contemplating whether to act on the romantic scenes she had read in novels, where the male lead would transfer liquid from his mouth to the female lead in a tender gesture.
She would scoff every time she came across those methods, refusing to entertain the idea of doing something she looked down upon. After retrieving a dropper from a pouch containing her medical supplies, she gently cradled Leoric's head in her lap and carefully administered water to him using the dropper.
Angel put in immense effort to take care of Leoric. At times, she carefully used a dropper to moisten his cracked lips. After a quarter of an hour, she allowed Leoric to rest in the grassy area near the small pool. Taking a face towel from her backpack, she dampened it and delicately cleaned Leoric's face and arms.
As she observed Leoric, she noticed a positive change in his complexion. She carefully gave him more than 100ml of water from the bottle, and gradually his chafed lips began to improve.
Angel thought that he would feel better if she wiped his body and not just his face and arms. She lifted his shirt and pulled it up but her eyes widened when she looked at his chest.