23. Bastian

23

BASTIAN

"Just keep him stable until we reach the castle." Niz's voice was filled with a plea I couldn't ignore as I nodded sharply, knowing now was not the time to mess with him. Especially not at the expense of this young wyvern's life.

To say that our arrival into the wyvern kingdom was far louder than the last time would be an understatement.

As we entered, the low, loud sound of horns filled the air. My heart thundered in my chest, wondering if these were war horns, and if so, were they announcing our arrival as enemies? But the shouts of the guards as they spotted the injured child in their crown prince's arms calmed me. The shouts drew the attention of others, and within minutes, our group was being ushered into two carriages drawn by a pair of pegasus each that would fly us in the direction of the castle. It was then that I offered to keep the child as medically stable as I could until we reached the castle infirmary.

Admittedly, the child's well-being was something that I should have thought of before that moment, but my brain had been far too crowded with the bloodlust. The need for vengeance I'd felt after ridding the world of those pieces of shit—ones that had absolutely no issue preying on the weak, even children—hit me hard right to that very moment.

The boy couldn't be more than six— if that .

After entering the carriage and covering the boy in heavy wool blankets as he was laid out on the bench opposite of us, Niz enacted some type of power that almost immediately forced the child to shift back into human form. His wounded arm now laid over the blanket as I focused my attention on it, the skin flayed and burned, blisters covering from his shoulder down to his fingers and all along the side of his body. There were more burns than other injuries, but the hook had done some particularly nasty damage—especially since it had been coated in an acidic poison.

My offer to heal the boy was how I ended up in the carriage with Kieran, Niz, and the boy, while the other three men followed in the second one. Truth be told, I was glad for the extra space, since it gave me room to spread out while focusing on using my power to stabilize his condition. My hand hovered inches over his blanket-covered form as I watched his body convulse in its unconscious state.

He had endured potentially fatal damage, truth be told.

It was clear that the Alfemir soldiers had been given weapons that would be effective in their mission to capture wyverns, piercing through their tough skin before pulling them toward imprisonment. But that didn't explain why the hell it had been covered in poison.

More so, hadn't Niz said that the metal used in the weapon that injured him was rare? Maybe it had been a normal weapon, but because the wyvern was a mere child, he had been more vulnerable to injury. Just one more question we needed an answer to.

I had no idea how I was considered a monster when individuals willing to injure and poison an adolescent creature for their own means existed within the Alfemir guard.

Inhaling sharply, I put aside my anger and slowly focused on the push and pull of the blood through his veins—seeking out the poison with my power and extracting it. It was mostly on instinct but the minute I closed my eyes, I was able to visualize each particle of it, and while it was grueling and tiring work—I could feel that it was, in fact, working.

A red orb grew to encompass the injury from the hook before beginning to turn a sickly yellow-green shade from the pollution of the slow-acting but lethal agent.

"Why is it turning green?" Kieran asked crouched next to me on the carriage floor, her hand grasping the boy's other hand.

"Poison," Niz answered as I offered a sharp nod.

"Horrible," she whispered, her hands tightening into white-knuckled fists in her lap. "Why? Why would they poison him? To prove a point? To pull other wyverns out if he died? I thought the purpose was capture."

"Maybe both options were viable in their minds," I answered quietly before a cynical smirk tugged on my lips. "It isn't like they're particularly good at trial and error—the individuals I 'worked' with enjoyed it when I felt any level of pain. Although, it was all disguised under the umbrella of testing."

"I hate them," Kieran said vehemently, fiery anger flashing in her stunning eyes. "I hate them so much?—"

Reaching out, Niz put a hand on Kieran's shoulder as if to calm her rage, but I didn't want that. Rather, I wanted the opposite, her big feelings were somehow making me feel more grounded now.

"I just don't understand how he got out," Niz admitted quietly. "Wyverns leave occasionally, but he can't be older than six."

"There's no way he would be let out alone," Kieran speculated, brows pinching together as she glanced at Niz. "The guards would have stopped him, right?"

"If he went through the main doors, they absolutely should not have let him through," Niz agreed with Kieran's statement. "I have to assume he snuck out somehow. He's young, school aged, so I wouldn't put it past some prank gone wrong. There are tunnels throughout the cave systems, but he shouldn't even know about those. We don't tell the younglings about them until they're fifteen or sixteen and go on their first flight in Alfemir. We use it as a way to assure them that there are other options to return home if they get lost—so no , there is no way this should have been allowed to happen."

"When he wakes, we need to ask. I don't want anyone else put in harm's way," Kieran whispered, her brows bent in distress as she looked toward the carriage door. "Talking about harm, do we need to worry about being able to enter the castle? We didn't end on friendly terms with your parents, and I wouldn't blame the soldiers for barring us from entry. I would bet that if it wasn't for you Niz, people would assume we had injured the boy ourselves."

"Any wyvern worth their salt would wait until an announcement from the king and queen before acting rashly," Niz said after some thought, leaning forward so that his elbows rested on his knees. "At least I hope so. I know my parents will understand that the attack wasn't our fault."

Would they? I could hear him trying to sound confident in that statement, but I wasn't sure I had as much trust for his parents. If they didn't, I made a silent promise I would make it clear what happened and how the one problem—Alfemir—was now a true, direct threat to them.

"Either way, we'll have this sorted soon. Thank you for keeping him stable, we're nearly at the castle where the medical staff can take over. Castle staff will have been notified by the guard at our incoming approach, I have no doubt my parents will ensure the medical staff are there and waiting."

"I may be done extracting the poison by the time we get there," I told him, closing my eyes once more and focusing on working as carefully and efficiently as I could.

Despite working with a speed that impressed even me, I couldn't help the images that continued to plague my brain—nightmares of my brother's death. That same damned mountainous divide could have been another scene of slaughter, but it hadn't been—all because of Kieran. She had saved this young boy.

"Proud of you, Darling." My voice filled the carriage as I opened my eyes to look at Kieran. She stared back at me with a wide-eyed gaze, lips parted in surprise.

"What? Why?" she asked, almost baffled. I was running on instinct when it came to my relationship with Kieran, but I knew that we were very alike in some ways—and much like myself, I didn't think many people had taken the time to tell her that they were proud of her.

"I'm proud of you," I repeated. "You didn't hesitate to act, and you saved him."

And I couldn't help but wonder, if she had been there when my brother died, could she have saved him as well? Of course, I would never know, but I liked to believe that she would have. Kieran had already soothed my demons, so it made sense to me that she would have been able to fix that as well.

"Bash—" Her voice was imbued with a softness that had me holding her gaze. It felt like there were a million things she wanted to say, but as the carriage touched down, I was aware that we had an audience right outside our door so I shook my head and she snapped her mouth closed.

The carriage door flung open suddenly as we came to a sudden, full stop that jostled the boy roughly, revealing we had made it to the courtyard of the castle. Filled with both guards and a stretcher from the medical unit, questions began to ring out loudly—drawing my attention to where the king and queen stood waiting in the doorway of the castle. Both of them looked shocked, and honestly a bit scared too. Even the queen seemed shaken.

Deciding to keep my hand hovering over the boy's injury and my power encompassing him, Niz slowly lifted him onto the stretcher as we began to make our way toward the door. The group followed, but we didn't even attempt to field the questions and demands echoing around us, pandemonium filling the courtyard.

What happened?

Who did this?

Explain. Now.

Are you responsible?

We need to lock down the central entrance!

Are we under attack?

We need every medical attendant on staff to report to the center.

How have you managed to keep him stable?

What is this power you're using on him?

Take him to the infirmary immediately.

"I want them questioned."

The last one demand stood out because it came from Niz's mother in a hushed tone as she spoke to Conan. My eyes narrowed on her as we reached the castle doors and she moved her gaze to her son, without reaction to my glare.

I didn't bother responding, our group following along with the stretcher and medical attendants. Everyone around us seemed to pretend to not hear her statement to her husband—far more focused on the boy's well-being instead. Still, I glowered. We didn't have time for questioning right now.

"Niz—"

"No," Niz snapped, turning to look at his mother over his shoulder as his parents followed us. "We're making sure he's stable first— then we'll talk. The only individual who should be questioned is the guard that allowed a wyvern this young out of the kingdom to go flying in Alfemir."

His words silenced her. I was as cynical as the next man who had been locked away under torture for years, but even I wouldn't take the route she was inferring. If we had hurt this boy, why would we be so focused on ensuring his well-being? Why would I be using my power to heal him?

As we walked for what felt like hours in tense silence, but was actually only mere minutes, my whole focus stayed on the extraction of poison—and I managed to achieve full extraction by the time we walked through the doors of the infirmary. Pulling the polluted orb away from the boy's body, I let it float above me, not wanting to absorb it into my body. I just needed to find a place to dispose of it.

I briefly recognized that Nora and Conan were talking in hushed whispers at the back of our group as we entered the new space, but it was the least of my concerns. I instead focused on the infirmary we made our way into. The large, cathedral-style ceilings and peaceful, dim lighting made it feel comfortable rather than cold or sterile.

"In the back," Niz directed as we made our way toward an area stocked with supplies, a large bed, and a sea of medical attendants. The attendants immediately aided in the transfer of the boy from the stretcher to the bed. I stepped back, letting the orb of poison pop over an empty, clear container a few spots away before handing it to one of the attendants.

"Poison. I got all of it out—but here it is, in case you need to know what was in his system." The middle-aged woman stared at me in surprise before taking it and rushing away, not questioning my words.

It's not like I would have answered if she had questioned me, but it was interesting to see that not all wyverns distrusted us based on what we were. Unlike the queen.

"You removed all of it? You're sure?" A man with a graying beard asked, everyone seeming to defer to him as they worked around him.

"They used a poison-coated weapon on him, I managed to keep him stable and remove the poison from his blood, but I haven't healed him past that." And considering the fatigue hitting me, I'm not sure that would have even been a viable option.

Immediately, medical attendants began to work on his injured arm while others applied ointment to the burns covering his left side. I stood back as Kieran came to hold my hand, all of us watching the process with full attention. I noticed Niz didn't go to his parents, instead staying by the boy's side.

If his parents truly thought he was a poor leader, then they were blind.

"Thank you, Bash," Kieran whispered to me as I squeezed her hand, and my heart twisted in my chest. She didn't need to thank me. I may have been crazy, but I wasn't heartless. Especially in matters that concerned her.

"What happened?" Nora finally demanded.

"Away from the bed," Niz insisted, walking around and leading them across the room toward an empty section of the ward. I was hesitant to leave the area in case the medical attendants needed me, but I did so anyway, knowing I needed to be part of this conversation.

"You want me to explain?" Niz asked Kieran as she shook her head, turning toward his parents.

"When we were leaving, we saw—" Kieran's soft words captured everyone's attention, but I interrupted her. I wouldn't allow her to downplay her part in this.

"When Kieran saw the problem—she alone was the one to act first and save the boy," I clarified, wanting to make it crystal clear who was responsible for the boy's life.

Queen Nora seemed to weigh the truth of my statement before turning her attention back to Kieran, whose gaze was on me with a soft smile.

The queen cleared her throat, attempting to pull Kieran's attention, but her gaze was steady on mine as she said, "Right. Well, when I saw something in the distance—a flash of flames—I trusted my gut and approached the mountain range. Immediately, I knew something was wrong because guards were cornering what appeared to be a very young wyvern. They had hooked his wing and were trying to herd him with fire—to what end, I'm not sure. Whether to capture him or even worse, especially since Bastian found poison on the hook. It was absolutely disgusting."

"And this isn't the normal way of Beast Tamers—nor were any of the angels who were there Tamers to begin with," Ronan took over, offering our girl support. "They were normal soldiers, and so were the group of six that followed after them."

"All of whom we took care of," Steele pointed out, not needing to specify past that—it was obvious what he meant. Obliterated— that's what we had done to the group of soldiers.

"We have dealt with a lot from Beast Tamers over the years, but this is a new level of danger being thrown our way—our young can not leave the cave now, even as they grow older." Conan's voice was filled with more emotion—mostly anger—than I had heard from him in the short time knowing him.

"This wasn't Beast Tamers," Ronan repeated. "This was a new tactic, a military one. A reaction to the war between the Rebellion and Alfemir, most likely. Whether it was to use the boy for military strategy or to invoke your rage and pull your kind forth by his death, I'm not sure."

"This is a war that we didn't ask to be involved in," Nora said softly, looking toward Niz as her tone hardened with accusation. "It's convenient that the threat you attempted to gather aid from us in defeating suddenly poses such a massive?—"

"Do. Not." Kieran's voice was sharper and darker than I'd ever heard it—honestly, I fucking loved it. Coupled with the disgust on her face toward the queen? Total turn on. "You can accuse us of whatever else you want, but I will not stand here and let you suggest that we hurt a six-year-old child for our own gain. Only a true monster would even think of that."

Kieran's words filled the space around us with silence as Nora deflated, running a hand over her face. Her shoulders slumped and she sighed heavily, pulling in another deep breath and then letting it go again before she spoke. "Of course, you're right. I may not agree with you, but I know my son. Anyone he calls a friend wouldn't be capable of that."

"I know you're scared, Nora," Kieran spoke honestly, her hands extended out to emphasize the scale of the problem facing the wyverns. "But the truth is that Alfemir has been, and will always be, a threat to you and your people. However, at this point, they're a threat to everyone ."

The two of them stared at one another for a long moment, seeming to silently communicate, before Nora nodded and leaned into her husband. "It is clear the ways of the world are changing, whether we want them to or not. Alfemir is a threat to us, and that can't be denied. It doesn't matter whether we trust you or not, does it? At the end of the day, we will need to pick a side, even if it feels like we shouldn't."

My brows arched with curiosity at her words.

"And what side will you pick?" I demanded.

Nora looked up at Conan before her gaze slid to Niz. "Our son's side."

"So you'll help us?" Kieran asked softly with disbelief, blinking several times as her brows arched up.

"Yes."

"Thank you," Kieran said, her voice rough with emotion as she pressed a hand against her heart. "And I hope that you can learn to trust us in time—I promise you that our intentions aren't to hurt your people."

"You went out of your way to save one of our own," Nora whispered. "I may not trust angels, but I trust you, Kieran. Don't prove me wrong."

Before another word could be spoken, the doors burst open and a sobbing woman ran forward—likely the mother of the boy. Walking back toward the bed, the king, queen, and Niz all greeted the woman before launching into an explanation and consoling her.

Kieran kept close to my side as I drew a hand across her back in what I hoped to be a comforting move. I could tell the exhaustion of today's events and the let down of adrenaline was starting to hit our girl, her body loose of tension as she began to melt into my side.

"I am so glad they'll help us," she whispered as she sagged fully against me, "but I hate that this had to be what pushed them to that realization. This should have never happened."

"But it did," Steele pointed out. "And it's all the more reason why Alfemir needs to be taken out, fast."

"Especially now that they feel threatened," Ronan murmured, causing Gabe to nod.

Yes, Alfemir was a problem. Yes, they needed to be taken out, sooner rather than later. But now we faced the problem of figuring out how to do that.