A Forest Of Vanity And Valour (The Levanthria Series Book 1) by A.P Beswick

Author:A.P Beswick [Beswick, A.P]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: A.P Beswick Publications
Published: 2022-01-24T16:00:00+00:00

31

Vireo

I pace back and forth.

Lek sits to my right, propped up by a large tree. His eyes are closed and flickering, his mutterings becoming words of insanity as his body fights desperately against the poison that courses through his veins.

The boy has been gone for nearly five hours, and I worry for Lek’s fate. The skin on his lower leg blisters and weeps, and the discoloration seems to be spreading. The immediate area where the needle stuck is crusted, and on the outer edge a black line forms. I have been on the battlefield enough times to understand that his skin is dying. If the boy does not hurry, Lek will not only lose his leg, but also his life.

“Vireo?” Lek stutters, opening his eyes. His voice rasps as if liquid lines his windpipes.

“I am here, old boy,” I reassure him. “How are you feeling?”

“My leg is on fire and my body aches. Never been better.” He forces a smile, trying to lift my mood, but I cannot hide the concern on my face.

Lek is my brother, and I need him to pull through this, to be ok. We have been through far too much for his life to be taken in this way, and I will not have it. I will not let him be taken by this place.

“You will survive this, brother. We will survive this.”

“The boy has fled with our coin, Vireo,” Gillam calls from the shadows, “and you allowed it.” She stands guard on the edge of camp against the hidden dangers of the dark forest.

“Now is not the time, Gillam,” I snap – but her words reflect my own worries: what if the boy isn’t coming back?

Lek musters a laugh. “You would have me thinking you are more bothered about the gold and my horse than my health.” His laugh quickly evolves into coughing. “Who would have thought that I would be bested by something so small.”

A wry smile forms on Gillam’s lips. “That’s because I am more bothered about the coin.”

Lek grimaces. “I can’t carry on like this, Vireo.” He struggles to form the words, as if the pain is too much for him to bear.

I squeeze his hand, my jaw clenched. “Brother, you are going to be ok,” I tell him, but I feel like my words are more for my comfort than his.

“Admit it, Vireo, the boy is not coming back,” Gillam says. I know she blames me for the situation we find ourselves in, and she is not wrong. “Vireo, we must remove his leg.”

“No, the boy will come good.”

Lek coughs and his breathing becomes more laboured as he gasps for air. He grabs the scruff of my tunic, pulling me closer to him. I am surprised at his strength given his current state, but I listen intently to what he wishes to tell me.

“Take it. Take the leg.”

“No, Lek! We must hold out for the boy.”

“By then, the poison might be too far gone. I would rather lose my leg than my life.

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