Her neck pulsed, her entire body ached, but there was no relief for Natsuki as she was dragged back out into the cool night air and once again bound to her tree.
At the sight of his battered niece, Jousuke had to clench his jaw to prevent an onslaught of profanities from escaping his mouth, which would have inevitably earned him a beating as well. Once the other men had left, he finally spoke.
“You alright, kid?”
“Y-Yeah…”
“Commander Kruger…your neck…” a nearby Resistance member mumbled.
“Damn, that looks nasty,” another added.
“Those bastards,” Jousuke fumed, pulling against his chains, "I swear..."
“It’s fine…I’ll be fine,” Natsuki tried to calm the man and ease her men even though the pain wasn’t going away any time soon.
Settling down, the older man pressed on, “So, what did they want to know?”
“If we were planning any more attacks…Where mom was—“
“You don’t think they’re catching on, do you?” he whispered.
Natsuki shook her head, “Mmh, not yet. At least not these guys.”
“We’ve still got a chance, that’s good to know,” Jousuke stated with a sigh, “But what are we gonna do about our little predicament?”
“Shh! Someone’s coming,” a blonde soldier warned, and the rest quickly silenced themselves.
“Where’s the girl?” a voice quietly questioned in the darkness, and moments later Natsuki saw the moonlight glint off of the person’s glasses.
“Ah! Here you are.”
Coming into view, a young man in a Noble’s uniform stepped into the light, the patch on his chest indicating that he was a medic. Walking over to Natsuki, the man kneeled down in front of her before reaching into one of his many pockets.
“My friend told me about what happened. He said I should come take a look at you.”
Keeping her mouth shut, the emerald-eyed girl only stared at him.
Pulling out a small case, the Northerner unscrewed the top and scraped a bit of the clear gel onto his fingers before reaching for Natsuki’s neck. Of course, the girl jerked back from his hand, eyeing him, and whatever it was on his fingers, warily.
“Please, I know I’m wearing one of their uniforms, but I’m just a doctor. I don’t really support either side, I just want the fighting to stop and to help whoever I can.”
Wordlessly, Natsuki motioned towards the substance on the man’s fingers.
“Oh, this’ll help the pain and fight off any infection.”
With a sigh, she finally nodded, “Fine.”
With a look of relief, the medic got back to work, gently applying the medicine to Natsuki’s burn, “This looks pretty bad. That Bardas…he can get away with anything because of his name…Anyway, you really need to get this properly tended too as soon as possible. The scarring is inevitable, but if it does get infected, it could be fatal.”
“R-Right,” Natsuki muttered, wincing at the pressure on the wound.
“There. I’m done,” the man proclaimed, replacing the top on the medicine before sticking it back in his pocket and standing.
“Thanks.”
Looking around somewhat nervously, the doctor released a raspy breath before crouching once again, “Look, I have something else I need to discuss…with all of you.”
In an instant, the man had five sets of eyes and ears giving him full attention.
“My solider friend, Jaxen, the one who told me about your injury, he…and I…we want to help you. We’re working on a plan to get you out of here.”
“Wh-What?!” Jousuke exclaimed, everyone glaring at him for the sudden outburst.
“Yes, yes, I know. We might be nobles ourselves, but neither of us agrees with the methods of our current officials…”
“So what are you plotting?” Natsuki asked.
“Jaxen has guard duty in a couple of days. He’ll get a key that can unlock your chains then.”
“So he’s going to free us just like that? If all of us up and disappear during his watch, you know he’ll pay the price.”
“Yes, that’s where we’ve hit a bump in the road, so to speak. We were hoping that you guys might have an idea.”
“Just release one of us then,” Jousuke calmly commented.
“What?” the doctor sharply questioned.
“If you just free one of us, it’ll be less conspicuous. Hell, it’ll probably be overlooked. Then whoever we send can go get backup, tell the rest of the army and have them storm the camp.”
“I agree with my uncle,” Natsuki chimed in before motioning with her head, “Send one of them, no offense guys, but they’d miss you less.”
“Right, right,” the medic mumbled, rubbing his chin, “I’ll talk it over with Jaxen and see what he thinks.”
“All right, but be careful, uh…”
“Finias, and we will,” the doctor replied before walking back through the trees to the clearing of the camp.
“So…do you think this is just a hoax?” Jousuke inquired after the young man had left.
“Does it matter?” Natsuki remarked, “It’s not like we have any other options right now anyways.”
The older man snorted, “Ain’t that the truth...”
1. I know it’s never clearly stated, but aside from Natsuki and Jousuke, there are three other Resistance soldiers in their proximity and another group located in a different area of the camp. Not all of them were captured at the same time though.
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