I walked the path towards the dorms in the darkness of that evening. On my back, under the cover of my cloak, is the unconscious Darius.
I silently made my way through the hallways and corridors, avoiding the bodies of several students, taking one step at a time, until I reached our room on the third floor.
Elliot and the rest faced the door as it opened to let a gust of wind in. Their faces broke into smiles when I took the inconspicuous spell off me.
"Took you long enough to return!" Arman said with a pout. "I thought the library closes at 7 pm sharp?"
"It did," I answered, heaving.
"How come you're so out of breath again?" Cat asked as I took my hood off my head.
"Oh my gosh!" Arman covered his mouth when a golden head rolled off my shoulder.
"Who's that?" Elliot asked, wide-eyed.
"Please help me put him on a bed first!"
The three of them rushed up to help me. They kept the filthy body wrapped in my cloak and dropped him on the unoccupied bed.
"Ugh, he stinks!" Arman complained while pinching his nose shut.
"Is that... Darius?" Elliot asked while staring at the pained face.
"Yes, I ran into him while I was on my way back. I'm glad you guys haven't gone to the baths yet..."
"Well, we were waiting for you, but we had no idea you were taking a half dead corpse with you!" said Arman.
"Is he really dead?" Cat looked at us, wide-eyed.
"No, he's just really tired."
We heard a monstrous growl coming from the unconscious body.
"And really hungry," I added.
"Well, we need to clean him up first!" said Arman who took a flask of water from Elliot's table. He was already taking the filthy sleeping gown off of Darius' body. "Damn, look at all the wounds he's got!"
"He's... he's that guy chained up in the prince's prison!" said Cat who finally recognized Darius.
"That's right, and I don't think he's eaten anything since the prince's vassals took him."
"No wonder he's out cold!" said Elliot who had opened a couple of platters full of food. "I don't think he can keep solid food down in that condition, I don't have anything like porridge or rice gruel, though..."
"Bread dipped in hot soup would be as good," I told him.
"Oh, I've got just the thing," Elliot replied.
"Cat, can you be a dear and fill this with more water from the washroom?" Arman asked, handing Cat the flask after wiping Darius' face and neck with a wet washcloth that have now turned black.
"On it!"
Cat hurried out the room.
"Can you heal his wounds, Pat?" Arman asked me next.
"I tried, but most of his wounds have been there for some time, I could only rewind his condition for a couple of hours at most, and only got rid of some of his scratches."
"I'll go get some gauze and medicine from my room, then."
Arman left after that, leaving Elliot and me behind with the still unconscious Darius.
"Can you prop his head up a bit while I feed him?" asked Elliot, dipping some bread in a bowl of thick, steaming soup.
I sat on the side of the bed and raised Darius slightly, an arm to his back so that his head leaned on my shoulder. Meanwhile, Elliot spooned some soup, blew on it a bit, and touched it to the unconscious apprentice's mouth.
His nose twitched as he smelt the food.
His mouth opened and took it in.
His eyes fluttered open after he gulped down the first two spoonfuls.
"Are you okay? Can you sit up on your own?" Elliot asked Darius whose glazed eyes focused on his face.
Darius suddenly went stiff. He tried to sit up and looked around the room, his chest heaving.
"It's okay, you're safe now, we're here to help," I assured him.
Darius' wild eyes focused on me, only then did his breathing seemed to calm down.
"My name is Patrick," I introduced myself, "you're currently in our room in the school dorm. This is our room mate Elliot."
"I'm Elliot. Can you eat some more?"
Darius looked hungrily at the dripping spoon full of soup Elliot held in front of him. He opened his mouth and chomped down on it.
"Do you think you can eat on your own?" I asked him, but his hands were shaking so badly he could hardly hold the spoon.
"It's okay, take it slowly, there's more where that came from," Elliot assured him as he took one spoon full after another.
"I got the water!"
Darius almost spilled the soup when the door opened.
"It's okay, they are friends," I told him as he shivered behind me.
"Oh, good, he's awake," said Arman who followed behind Cat.
"Are you feeling better now?" Cat asked as he sat on the floor in front of us. "You should take a bath with us after you eat!"
"Let me look at your wounds first," said Arman, carrying a first aid kit as well as some extra clothes and a basin, but Darius quickly moved away when Arman tried to touch him. He pulled at my cloak which was currently covering his naked body.
"We just want to nurse your wounds," I told him.
"No," Darius snapped at us.
"It's okay, I know what you've been through," Arman said in a gentle voice. "Would you like to clean yourself and nurse your wounds on your own instead?" he asked Darius who simply stared at him.
"There's more soup here," said Elliot, "go ahead and eat your fill while the rest of us go take a bath upstairs."
"Do you mind if I stay with you?" I asked him, to which Darius gave a little nod.
"We'll be back later then," said Arman as the three of them left the room.
"Have you calmed down now?" I handed Darius the newly filled bowl of soup when there were only the two of us left in the room.
He was able to hold it on his own now.
I gave him some more bread as well and watched as he gobbled everything up.
"As you can see, this is our dorm room," I told him as he ate his third serving of bread and soup. "But this room doesn't just belong to us," I continued, "this is room 328, do you remember what room this is?"
Darius looked up at me, soup spilling from his mouth.
"My... room..."
"That's right," I said with a smile. "This is also your room." I was actually behind you in line with Cat and Elliot. Arman, the one with the long black hair, is from the room next door, but we have all quickly become friends with one another."
"Friends?" he frowned at me.
"Didn't I ask you to trust me?"
He nodded.
"Then may I ask you to trust my friends as well?"
Darius hesitated at first, but he nodded once more.
"Thank you, now, about your wounds..."
At the mention of wounds, Darius clasped my cloak tighter around his body.
"M-my clothes..."
"Arman took them off. They were already too thorn and filthy. I have a wash cloth here and some water for you to clean yourself. You should tend your wounds after, before they get even more infected. I believe some of my clothes will fit you well."
Darius stared at the flask of water and the medicine Arman brought from his room, as well as a small basin and a new change of clothes.
"Would you like me to step out so you could clean yourself?"
"Y-yes... please..." he mumbled.
"Then I'll go and take a bath with the others," I informed him. "When we return, we will knock seven times, like so..." I knocked on the table next to his bed, making a 3-1-3 code for him to remember. "When you hear this, please open the door for us. Otherwise, please pretend that there is no one inside and hide at the end of the room, between the window and the last bed."
"Okay." He looked straight at me when he replied, his eyes, looking a bit more sane than it did a while ago.
I then left him to his own devices.
"How's he doing, Pat?" Arman asked me as soon as I entered the baths with them.
"He seems to be doing better," I replied as I washed myself in one of the cubicles by the wall. "His eyes looked a bit brighter when I left him with his 4th bowl of soup."
"So, what's the plan now?" Elliot asked me seriously when I lowered myself in the warm pool water.
"I was hoping you could help me think of one," I said with a weak smile.
"We could hide him in our room until he gets better, and then he can challenge the prince to free himself!" Cat volunteered. "I saw how he fought off those men who dragged him off before! He's really good with the sword, and I bet he could win if it was a one-on-one battle!"
"Good idea," said Arman. "Maybe he could even cut one of that bastard's hands, or even his dick!"
Cat laughed at the idea.
"That's pretty good," Elliot agreed, but our current problem is how we plan to hide him right now."
"That's right," I replied, "particularly since Prof. Whitman checks the student roster every evening to see if all the students are in their own rooms."
My three companions stared at me.
"I was thinking the same thing," said Elliot with a frown. "Do you think Prof. Whitman would tell the prince about Darius?"
"I'm hoping he would be more like Prof. Novil, and side with the students," I replied. "He's head of student's welfare, after all. That should at least mean something."
"What? Mean what?" asked Cat.
"It should mean that he actually cares about the students' well being," Arman pointed out.
"Well, we'll know who's side he's on later," said Elliot.
"And if he sides with the first prince?" asked Cat.
"Then we would have to make more drastic measures," I replied.
We thought of several 'drastic measures' after that.
Cat suggested Elliot overpowering Prof. Whitman. Arman suggested sending Darius to the toilets while the professor checks our room. Elliot thought of erasing his memory like I did with the seniors in the public baths before.
We went back to our room before the clock struck 9. We were still thinking up of more measures when I knocked on the door the way I told Darius.
We heard him unlock it, but the door remained shut. When I opened it, he was no where in sight.
We closed the door behind us and was about to look for him when we found him hiding behind the door with the glass flask in his hands.
"I'm glad to see you're well enough to stand on your own again," I told him with a smile while reaching for the flask.
"Oh, your hair is still a mess, I couldn't even tell what color it is!" Arman fussed around him. "You really should have gone to the baths with us! We're the only ones there, anyway, and it's off limits to other students!"
"Would you like some more food?" Elliot asked, opening another platter.
The scent of freshly baked minced meat pie filled the room.
"I want some!" Cat exclaimed, jumping into Elliot's bed to get to his table. "Do you still have some cider? My throat's gone dry!"
"Coming right up!" Elliot pulled out several bottles out of his red pouch. "Here's one for you as well, Darius."
I looked at our new companion who watched us wide eyed. He was particularly watchful of Arman who took a wet towel out and wanted to rub his hair clean.
"I... m-maybe, later..." he mumbled to Elliot.
"Right! I need to clean your hair first!" Arman insisted. "Is that mud or blood on your scalp?" he nagged when he finally took hold of his head.
I was glad to see that Darius wasn't as defensive as before. He simply kept his head bowed low while Arman rubbed on it.
"I guess I would need two more wet towels to clean all this filth!"
"I-I'm sorry..." Darius mumbled.
"Don't be, not your fault, anyway!" Arman replied. "See this wound?" he pointed at the slash on his left cheek. "Got it while fighting with those bastard seniors! Good thing Pat got it healed for me!"
He wiped the mask of flesh to remove the spell and showed it proudly to Darius.
"See? Good as new! Too bad he couldn't do the same with your old wounds," he continued.
Darius stared at it with amusement.
"A magic trick?" he asked.
It was only then that Arman realized what he did. He looked at me as I nodded at him and gave a sigh of relief as he faced Darius once more.
"This is a disguise Pat taught me to make it look like I still have the wound on my face," he told Darius with a grin.
Darius looked at me with renewed fascination.
"You... you know magic?" he asked.
"That's not all Pat knows!" Cat handed him a plate with a piece of pie on top. "He's real smart too! He was able to beat those seniors with his knowledge to win me back!"
"You... challenged a senior?" he looked confused.
"There are a lot of things that happened while you were... locked away," I told him. "And as you have trusted me, we put our trust upon you as well, to keep the things you hear and see in this room a secret."
Darius kept silent, but the bright look on his once wild eyes were enough to tell me that I had nothing to worry about. He took the pie from Cat and was about to take a bite from it when we were all surprised by a knock on the door.
"Arman, time to head back to your room!" sounded Prof. Whitman's annoyed voice.
"What the..." Arman stood up from the towel he was scrubbing in the basin.
"He's early, it's not even 9 yet!" Elliot hissed at us.
"You think who knows?" Cat asked wide eyed.
Darius looked worried as well. He stared at me and placed the dish on the table next to him.
"It's okay," I pointed at his empty bed. "Lie on the bed with the covers over you."
He did as I instructed.
Darius quickly jumped into bed and pulled the covers on top of himself.
Arman went to the door as soon as he was settled, and all four of us crowded by the doorway as he opened it.
"Good evening, Prof. Whitman, you're quite early today?" Elliot asked him with a grin which looked a bit forced.
"Don't tell me I'm the only student today who's hanging out in someone else's room?" asked Arman with a strained laugh.
"I just decided to start with you today."
The professor's reply sent deadly silence inside our room.
Cat side-glanced Elliot who was looking at me.
None of us moved, though, since we were still waiting for the professor to do or say something else.
"Well, Arman?" he said this so suddenly, all four of us jumped out of our skin. "Are you just gonna stand there and gawk?"
"Y-yes, sir! I'm heading back now, sir!"
Arman hurried out of the room while Prof. Whitman held the door open for him, his leather bound book, in his left arm.
"Next time learn to return to your room on your own!" he said as Arman passed him by.
I gave a deep breath as he pulled the door after him.
"Oh," he paused, making us hold our breath once more. "Welcome to the dorms," he told no one in particular. "I hope you enjoy your stay."
We stared at the door and heard it click as the professor closed it.
The chimes of the clock tower followed shortly afterwards.