Chapter Text
Stan walked in the forest, a bow and quiver slung across his back as he made the trek. The season was that of spring and the forest was beginning to recover from the winter. The grass was going back to its normal healthy green hue while wildflowers broke up from the earth. Everything was mostly buds at this point, but it was relieving to see that- it meant easier times were ahead. Trees were becoming green again and birds were chirping at each other, it was even nicer to be able to trek outside without fear of falling ill or being mauled by a hungry predator. Stan took a deep breath in, glad that his father had sent him out hunting this morning. His family lived on a farm and made enough to support the family of four, so he could be in worse positions.
The black haired boy paused for a second, hoping his plain tan shirt and black trousers allowed him to blend in well enough to hide from any elk or deer. The forest he was in wasn’t dangerous per say- it held the normal dangers of wild animals and unsavory people lurking about. Nothing very superstitious about it. Stories of rare mythical beasts were rare and barely believable. Plus, Stan had wandered these woods since he was young with his dad- he knew them fairly well. He scanned his surroundings, crouching to study the earth- seeing signs of fresh hoof tracks, he then stood and followed them.
In the back of his head, he remembered what his father had told him, approach downwind, they will smell you and run before you know they are there– spring is dangerous because male deer and elk will be aggressive too. He knew how to avoid the sharp horns and grew proficient at climbing up trees when he needed a quick escape– something else his father had forced him to learn. It had saved his ass once before, so he couldn’t complain much. Eventually, he came up on them. It was a small group of elk and Stan crouched behind a bush, removing his bow from his shoulder and before he could grab an arrow, he lost his balance, his knee hitting the ground and making a stick snap. The elk stopped grazing on the grass and flowers, lifting their heads to scan for the cause of the sound. Their tails flicked, cluing Stan in that they would flee once he stood to take the shot. As quietly as he could, he got an arrow from the quiver and in one quick motion, he stood up as he drew the string back. The arrow landed in the leg of a buck, making the creature crumble to the ground while the rest fled.
Stan always felt bad whenever he didn’t land a clean shot on the animal and made it suffer. He got up from his hiding place and slung the bow over his shoulder once more, taking a small hunting knife from his pocket. He approached the injured animal, gripping the handle of the blade tighter in his hand. For a moment he wished hunting could be completed with a sword- he had always been good with a sword or claymore. The elk huffed at him and Stan took a couple steps forwards, trying to keep in mind the animal might still get up and try to flee. He would soon wish that was all it did.
As soon as Stan got close and was almost in reach of it, wanting to slit its throat, the buck quickly stood and threw his head at Stan. Suddenly there was a searing pain in his abdomen, feeling the horn of the creature puncture his soft flesh. He screamed in pain and yelped as the elk pulled its head away, removing the antler from Stan. Oh, how the tables turned. Clutching the wound, he was breathing heavily and crumbled to the ground. Trying to do what he’s always been told to do just in case, he removed the quiver and bow from his person and slowly removed his shirt. Every move Stan made, sent shockwaves through him and made his stomach queasy. Even though this was true, he carefully tied the shirt, gritting his teeth and gasping in pain as he applied pressure to it. Fuck. He sat there for a moment, trying to regain his strength and tried to ignore the blood that stained his pants and hands. All Stan knew was he had to get back home.
Shakily, he stood back up and began to stumble his way in a direction he thought was to him. The pain was too much and his head was becoming dizzy and the forest was beginning to spin. After about 20 feet, the world went black and Stan fell like a ragdoll and tumbled down a hill limply.
—
Prince Kyle sighed as he rode his horse. He was getting bored being cooped up in the castle and had pleaded with his parents for a little excretion. At first they refused, fearing that he would get hurt. A compromise was met and he was allowed to go- but in the company of many knights and the medicine girl of the castle. He wasn’t sure why- he had known extreme talent with a bow and arrow, even for an elven prince. He didn’t care he learned without his parents knowing- but if there were to be a time where the Wizard King attacked, he would be able to help defend his people and family. Even though he had some complaints, he was glad to be out in the budding forest.
“My lord, where exactly did you want to go?” It was his knight, Sir Clyde, who had been assigned as his personal knight on the trip, “I think it’s best we stay clear of territories bordering Kupa Keep.”
Kyle was silent for a moment, thinking, “I was thinking about traveling to Stark’s Lake, I haven’t been there in so long.”
“Kupa Keep has taken that territory over. We need to go through to get there and going around would take too long.”
“Sir Clyde, I appreciate your concern, but I think we should be just fine. We shall continue on this path, I have my trust in my knights to keep me and Lady Testaburger safe.” Kyle spoke, making sure it was clear to his knight there was no arguing with him on the topic and Clyde looked like he wanted to, but just nodded and sped his horse up to get to the front of the party once more. Taking in a deep breath of the forest air, It was nicer than the Elven kingdom. Fresher and free. It relaxed the prince. Peace never lasts forever unfortunately.
“My prince-!” It was the healer/herbalist, Lady Testaburger and Kyle let out an annoyed groan.
“What is it?” He didn’t mean for his tone to be so sharp, but all he wanted was a fucking moment.
“You have to come see this.”
Kyle furrowed his brow, telling the knight at the back to stop the party and set camp up for the evening. He turned the reins of the horse to follow her into the woods, stopping abruptly when she did and hopped off the horse. Patiently and trying to control the annoyance that was bubbling in his chest, he looked around for something but didn’t see anything at first. It was when she gestured him over to follow her, stepping through the foliage as he did so. Kyle was about to ask what the hell they were looking for and Wendy stopped for a moment, before hurrying over to what seemed to be a body. Kyle’s stomach flipped uneasily, approaching slowly and was slightly relieved to see the sides of whoever it was, heaving raggedly. Wendy carefully flipped the injured person over and to Kyle’s surprise it was a human male. He appeared to be his age.
“What happened to him..?” Kyle spoke softly, his eyes drifting over the blood staining the hands and pants of the human.
Wendly gently untied the shirt, revealing an angry and most likely already infected puncture wound, “He was stabbed..,” she paused and looked to Kyle, her expression was soft, “We have to get him to camp- he’s not too far gone and I can still stop him from succumbing to infection, please Kyle- I know humans and us elves are not the best of allies, but, he needs our help.”
Wendy has always been a gentle soul and Kyle thought she did her position well- healing others required empathy, passion, and patience. She had all those factors. The prince stared at the human, seeing his sides heave with every breath and he swore he saw the human open his eyes lazily for a couple seconds before going back into unconsciousness. “Fine. The others will not like this though, don’t expect us to be welcomed very nicely.”
“Thank you, Kyle-, get on your horse and help me lift him up on it. Let him lean on you. “
Doing as he was told and grabbed the arms of the human, lifting him on the horse with Wendy lifting his legs. He was fairly heavy- but humans tended to weigh more due to a greater muscle mass. Kyle shifted as he felt the limp male lay against him and waited for Wendy to mount her own horse before they started to go wherever camp was set up.
“Mhhh…” The injured human groaned in Kyle’s ear, making the prince frown uncomfortably. This human smelt like he had been out here for a while, alone and injured. His stomach twisted some, he smelt sick too. Soon they got to the clearing that camp was set up in. Kyle made sure to get close to Wendy’s wagon with his horse- who had space to have injured or sick rest if needed and also kept everything she needed to do her job.
“Sir Donovan,” Kyle saw the knight look over at him, who scowled lightly.
“Who is that?”
“I don’t know-, help me get him off the horse and into the wagon. Lady Testaburger is going to be tending to him.”
Clyde narrowed his eyes some, “You do know this is a human-?”
“Yes! I do, now please, do as I told you-,” Kyle snapped some, his cheeks pinkening slightly out of frustration and Clyde shut up, carefully removing the human from his horse. As soon as he was able to, Klye dismounted his horse and led it a couple feet away to a patch of grass. Returning to the wagon, he saw Clyde lay the limp figure down where Wendy instructed.
“I don’t understand why we would want to help them- they would never help one of us-,”
Before Kyle could tell Clyde to drop it, Wendy spoke up, her voice just as sharp, “I know. But Sir Donovan, if we do not help him, aren’t we just as bad. He doesn’t seem to be in the militia of Kupa Keep. His bow and arrow was stowed on my horse, he seemed to just be hunting and got hurt somehow- he is no threat to us.” Clyde only huffed in response, pushing past the prince where he silently stood. Kyle watched Wendy remove the shirt from the wound and work her magic for a couple moments.
“Do you think you can really save him? It might be easier to put him out of his misery,”
She didn’t like that and she scowled, “He is not an animal- I can’t just slit his throat. It might not seem like it, but he comes in and out of consciousness. It won’t be easy though, I’m sure it’s infected already. He’ll be sick for a while.”
Kyle fell silent again for a little, looking away as Wendy began cleaning the nasty gash, “Will it take most of the trip?”
“Most likely,” the healer looked up at her prince, “That is okay with you, right?”
“Yes. We cannot just dump him now- we’ll help him. You said he had a bow on him, did it have a name?”
Wendy thought about it for a couple seconds, “You can look, I didn’t remember seeing one”
The prince nodded and walked to Wendy’s horse. It flicked his ear nervously and Kyle whispered something to the horse and it seemed to relax some. He petted the man of the brown mare and removed the bow from its balancing spot on the saddle knob (i don't know what its called). He inspected it for a couple moments, running his hand along the grain of the wood. It was clear that it was handmade. Out of curiosity, he held it up and pulled the string back to test it out. He nodded his head, mildly impressed at the craftsmanship of it- of course it wasn’t as good as an elven bow, but it was good by human standards. Kyle began looking for a name or anything again, squinting when he saw a carving along the end of it. Stanley. So the human’s name was probably Stanley. He took the bow, walking back to the wagon and saw that Wendy had left- probably getting something else. For a moment he stood and observed the human- Stanley. He had a fresh bandage around his abdomen, his breathing wasn’t normal but it seemed somewhat normal. He was stable for now. Carefully, he laid the bow against the side of the wagon for Stanley when he woke up. Kyle turned away, sighing as he was finally able to maybe relax and enjoy the nature around him.