Jeremy picked up a stick next to his hand and poked the fire. “Three years, we’ve been out here for three years. Can’t we just go back and tell the king we failed?” “No, it’s not worth it,” Jane responded. “We’ll go to prison or be put to death,” Jeremy dipped his head down and stared at the fire. The crackling and activity of it giving him a little comfort to his exile.
Jeremy stood up, as usual his armour made his back sore. “Hey Jane, could you hand me the lock pick?” “Keep trying you won’t ever get it unlocked,” Jane said exasperatedly as she handed him the thin metal rod and he jammed it into the key shaped hole on his armour. He rocked the rod back and forth in a fit of rage causing it to dislodge and embed itself into his wrist. “ARGH damn it to hell!” “Need help?” a voice said in the distance.
Jane shot up her sword drawn and thrust in front of her. “Who’s there?” “Woah, calm down, I just want to fix your husband’s arm.” Jeremy interjected “We-we aren’t married.” The man took one step out of the shadow of the trees. “Cool it, I’m just kidding. Can I take a look at his arm?” “Sure, but just remember we’re armed” Jeremy said cautiously. The man made his way to Jeremy and held his arm up to his face. “Yeah, this is bad, see this?” The man pointed at the wound in a circular motion. “The metal is poisoning your blood, we need to limit the infection and get you to a doctor, or… let’s just say you won’t be in exile any longer.”
Jeremy and Jane’s eyes widened as speechless horror was cast on their faces. Jane slowly opened he mouth “How. How.” “It’s pretty obvious, you’ve been out here for a while judging by your armour, and the locks preventing you from escaping it. So, what have you got to do to get out of exile?” They stared blankly at the man for seconds. “We need to look for the greatest warrior who has ever existed. Do you know anybody who fits that description?” Jeremy said tiredly “Well, I don’t know anyone personally, I’m sure if you checked and arena you would find someone.”
“Name’s Aëd by the way, and this is going to hurt.” Aëd said quickly as he yanked the metal rod out “GAH!” Jeremy yelled before he slumped over. “Must’ve passed out, the baby” Aëd laughed as he grabbed Jeremy’s arms and draped him over his shoulders “Alright Jane, follow me,” Jane hesitated before she sheathed her sword and followed Aëd slowly.
“Hold on,” Jane said doing her best to dodge every vine that would wrap around her. “Why should we trust you?” Aëd stopped walking and paused “I don’t really know, but doesn’t that make it more exciting,” Aëd said excitedly. Jane squinted her eyes slightly trying to comprehend this person. Jeremy slowly opened his eyes “Where, where am I?” “Don’t worry, he’s going to get you to a doctor” Jane reassured. Jeremy stared at the bandage on his arm and looked at Aëd “I think you can stop carrying me now,” “If you say so,” Aëd said before dumping Jeremy on the ground.
The three kept walking until they reached a forest clearing. “Welcome,” Aëd said loudly flinging his arms open “To the village!” Jeremy excitedly ran in front of Aëd before his smile faded “Um, Aëd? This is just a cottage,” Jeremy said his voice slowly getting deeper “Okay, I may have lied about a village being here but a doctor DOES live here. He fixed me up when my brother accidently stabbed me. Jane and Jeremy simultaneously looked at each other. “Well come on guys, we haven’t got all day!”
Aëd creaked open the wooden door slowly. “Doc?” Aëd said slowly “Is anyone home?” His question was left unanswered as the cottage merely produced a quiet echo. “Guess he’s not in, I’m sure he won’t mind if we maybe take a medicine or two,” Aëd said a smile forcing itself on his face “Look I really don’t think this is safe,” Jane said her sword still drawn “I’m sure if anyone catches us we could knock them out or something,” Jeremy said as he chuckled. Aëd picked a vial off of the shelf “I think this was the one,” Aëd said slowly “Hold on, how do we know you aren’t just going to poison me? This could be your cottage where you kill people or something,” Jeremy said angrily. Aëd sighed, “Fine,” he said before he thrust the vial up to his mouth and swallowed what was inside. He gagged “Disgusting, it was just one solid thing,” Aed threw it to the ground and the vial shattered into pieces. Aed, Jane and Jeremy stared at the broken vial on the ground, Jeremy went up to Aëd and started shaking him “You idiot! That could have been the cure, why did- are you okay?” Aëd’s eyes went blank and glassy before he collapsed to the ground. “Did he just-” Jane started “I think so.” Jeremy said sitting down beside the newly deceased man, “Barely even knew him.” Suddenly Aëd shot up as Jeremy fell backwards screaming as Jane stepped backwards “Aëd! You’re alive,” Jane yelled. “I died?” Aëd said as he rushed to a mirror “Wow, check out my eyes, they’re so cool,” Aëd said excitedly.
Jeremy stood up “I think that might be permanent,” Jeremy said shakily “Can you still see?” Aëd waved his right hand in front of his face “As long as that’s my hand in front of me then I think I can,” all three sat down on the ground. “I don’t think we should stay here,” Jane said quietly “Come on, I just got unlucky, I’m sure the next vial will be the cure just lemmie test one,” Aëd exclaimed. Jeremy pointed at the mirror and Aëd turned his head to see his glassy eyes staring back at him “Okay I see what you mean but… you know what? I think you might be right, although the next doctor is at the capital city,” Jeremy and Jane looked at each other, the capital city was a violation of their exile and just strolling in would mean certain death.
They walked outside of the shack and Aëd darted his eyes around, he locked on to one opening in the dense shrubbery “Okay, so we just need to keep walk in that direction,” Aëd said and as he pointed a ball of fire erupted from his fingertip and hit a tree setting it ablaze. Aëd looked in shock “How long have you had that power?” Jeremy asked in amazement “I’ve never had that power before, I think,” Aëd said staring at his hand “Must’ve been the potion. This’ll be interesting to test out.” Jeremy interjected “Maybe you should leave the testing to when I’m not going to die.” Aëd shrugged and started making his way to the newly blackened opening to the forest.
The three walked in silence with only an occasional comment about the forest by Aëd. After a while Aëd looked over at Jane and asked “So you’re not very talkative, are you?” Jane raised one eyebrow and asked “So how did you come to that conclusion?” Aëd looked up and then back to her “Well when I woke up all you did was step back, whilst Jeremy here was the one that squealed like a girl,” Jeremy looked at Aëd and squinted his eyes. “No offence obviously,” Aëd hastily added “I really just speak when it’s necessary,” Aëd sighed “Well that sounds boring,” Jane said nothing and kept walking.