Making the Team
Part 8
“It’s all right sir!” Joren insisted, wanting to sit up suddenly and gasping in the attempt, causing the older man to bring his full attention back to him.
“All right? Look at you! I’ll tell you if it’s all right!” boomed the master, disbelief painted across his creased features.
“It’s taken care of now, sir,” assured the wounded young man, latching onto his elder’s forearm despite the latter’s attempts in getting him to be still. “The beast’s been put down and no person or child will come to harm anymore.”
“I should have known,” he said, his tone sharp. “That is what you didn’t tell me that morning, isn’t it? Three days ago. You knew about the child that had been taken.”
“I…” Joren exhaled sharply. “Yes, sir. That’s right.”
Menzo raised an eyebrow, beginning to understand what had brought all this on in the first place. He observed Joren’s face as the young man tried to convince his mentor that he had only acted according to what had to be done. This knight was so filled with self-assurance, so convinced despite having nearly died that Menzo knew that were it to be done again, he would leap right back into the danger. This conviction stirred something within Menzo that he had not realized was still in him.
For a moment, he turned his gaze to stare outside through the open shutters. Children were playing in the village common whilst adults once again milled and worked in the surrounding shops and stalls. Most obviously tried to hang about, stealing glances, curious at what was happening inside the healer’s hut. The village leader, if he could be called by such a title, tried to look busy but Menzo knew him well. Everyone would be wondering. They all relied on him to do the dangerous work ever since they first asked him, those few years ago, before Darene had disappeared. He had never minded, per se. Then again, it had given him some purpose he needed to carry on, the same that Joren recognized. The one that was already fading away, leaving him feel as though he were filled with lead…