Practically crawling home from a battle site.
I had been left with the dead and dying, so bad were my wounds. No one expected me to live out the hour.
Thanks to a strange twist of fate or luck, I pulled through. Some children came by--shoeless urchins--who picked through the mound of corpses, searching for spare coins or anything they could sell.
One of them gasped when they came across me, still blinking and muttering to myself. I closed my eyes and woke up in a small hut, barely more than a lean-to.
An elderly couple were speaking faintly, pointing at me and murmuring. When I awoke again, I could barely move for how bandaged I was, almost swaddled like a babe. I'm not sure how many days I spent there. I was hovering between worlds, or so it felt. When I was strong enough to stand without a ahoulder to rely on, I was able to make my way to the edge of their small village. I traded what little I had to use an old nag and made the slow trek home.
When I arrived at the gate, I was nearly falling from the saddle with my fatigue. The guards posted caught me as I swung out of the stirrups. I would've fallen elsewise.
They helped me back to the barracks and called for the healer to look after me. Riding had reopened the wounds.
They called for the priest too, I could hear.
I fell into a deep dreamless sleep. And when I awoke, my mouth was dry and parched. I reached for a carafe of water and a small cup someone had placed beside my bed.
I clumsily reached for it, and ended up knocking over the cup.
The noise alerted my prince, who had fallen asleep on his knees, it appeared, with his face on the bed.
He started. "God, you're awake! Thank the Lord. I worried you'd never recover."
He grabbed the cup and filled it with water, helping me to sit up and sip from it.
Looking down, I saw he'd kept a hand on my leg. It felt warm, even though my blankets.
"I'm sorry to have worried you." I managed to croak out, my voice scratchy from disuse.
Tears welled in his eyes. He nodded.
"You should be sorry. When they told us you had perished on the field...I was beside myself."
"Oh no. Don't Sir me, please. Not today. Not now." He groused, folding his arms across his chest.
Affection won out in the end, however, and he sat on the edge of my bed, holding my hands in his.
"I couldn't die and leave you alone."
He laughed bitterly. "You very nearly did." The prince gestured at the fresh bandages covering my torso. The first danger was over, but the risk of infection was still there.
"But here you'll receive the best care. You have my word. I sent for fresh broth from the cook, just how you like it."
I shook my head, already feeling sleepy again.
"It's all right. I just need a bit more rest. Will you...Will you stay for a bit?"
He looked back toward the door and turned back, bending forward, and pressed a long kiss to my forehead.
"I will stay as long as you'd like, love."
"And if I never want you to leave?" I laughed softly, then grimaced when my ribs ached.
"Then I never shall." He responded, helping me lie back and be covered. "Rest well. I'll keep watch."
