The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Fifty

The man that the Royal Guards captured after a heated chase was sleeping when we came to the dried well. It was a deep, empty well that several people could get into simultaneously. I could tell that this well was already abandoned as it looked rugged and wild, with some plants having entangling vines and roots in it before you could reach the rocky bottom.

"Should I wake him up?" I offered, as the Crown Prince stared for quite a long time. Prince Kao was observing the man as if he was trying to figure out where did he saw this person.

"Yes please," he agreed and I went to where the man was silently sleeping while his hands were tied using thick roots. I nudged him on his sides to wake him up, but the man did not budge.

"He is not waking up," I hissed worriedly and looked at Prince Kao worriedly. "Oh no, I think I knew what is happening!"

The Crown Prince remained silent, so I think he also knows what was happening. "I'll try to wake him up," he said and then he went in front of the man and started slapping his face. It was only strong enough to wake up a sleeping person but this was not going to work out as I suspected.

"How long was is it already?" I asked one of the Royal Guards who were with us. I believe this Royal Guard's name is Steffan. He looked like he was just as old as my brother, Garreth, so it was him that I became more comfortable with. "How long had already got past after what caught him?"

Steffan shook his head. "I am not sure, but maybe three hours? Four hours?"

"Oh no," I said worriedly and I could see that Prince Kao was also starting to panic. "We have to wake him up. Let us bring him up and try to revive his consciousness!"

"But the townspeople would see you with him---"

"I don't care," said Prince Kao who suddenly started untying the man. "Help me Steffan, Homer," he asked. "Let us get him out of this well. We have to revive him before he succumbs to the situation."

And that is what happened. They have to take him out of this well and find a place where we can take care of him and try to revive him. We found an inn just a few walks away from that abandoned well, and we went there. The owner was even shocked when he saw that we had Royal Guards with us, and then he gasped loudly when he realized the reason why.

He suddenly went in front of Prince Kao and knelt before him, and the Crown Prince had no choice but to acknowledge this old man. Then he asked the owner if he could summon a doctor or even just someone who knows how to apply first aid to someone who went unconscious after long exposure to the cold.

"My son is a doctor," the old man said and then went to the door. "I'll go to him. His house is not far away from here."

"Yes, please," I said, relieved that we have someone near that can check the man's condition. "Thank you for doing this."

"No problem. If it will help the Crown Prince," said the old man who even smiled at Prince Kao before leaving the inn. We waited there in silence while the Royal Guards accompanied the owner to this doctor.

"Do you think he would still wake up?" I asked the Crown Prince while we observe the unconscious man lying on the bed. "I should have thought that this was a possibility. The man was left in the cold for quite a long time already. He was bound to get hypothermia from just sitting out there in the cold."

Prince Kao nodded. "I did not think about it either. But even if we had thought about that, we still had no other choice but to went with the plan. My men had no other choice as we could have been seen with him by other people..."

"Yeah, I know," I said. "It sucked but you are correct. To tell you the truth I a not sad that this man might not wake up anymore. I think he deserves it, if he is really one of those men that went to our house before and tried to take me, but we could still not confirm that he is involved with that group of men so if he is innocent I think that would be the time that I would feel really bad."

"Me too," the Crown Prince said. "But still, we should have seen this coming. This part of Aure is a lot colder than in any other town as this faces the southern seas, so if you stay outside for that amount of time then it was really possible that he will freeze to death. And even if that is something that we could have done nothing about, we should have at least went to him sooner."

I went silent when he said that because I had a different opinion about it. I really do feel bad about this man's fate right now but it is also his fault. According to Steffan and the others, this man ran the moment he realized that the Royal Guards were after him. He also fought them when they managed to grab him. One of the Royal Guards even got injured from him. He was resisting them so the Royal Guards had no choice but to tie him and keep him somewhere he could not escape while the Crown Prince was still attending the festivities.

I don't know what to say to the Crown Prince, now that he is silently blaming himself for what happened. Of course, I know that he knows that it is not his fault, but still, if this man turned out to be innocent, this will haunt him for eternity. Because of this I silently prayed for this man to be guilty of what he did.

When the doctor came, which turned out to be a young man as old as Prince Kao, we let him treat the unconscious man while we wait outside of the room that we rented. We sat on the communal round chairs just beside the reception table while I prayed fervently that the man be revived still.

"My son is a talented doctor," the owner of the inn said proudly to us. "He will make it sure that your friend will be revived."

"Thank you," I just said even if I did not feel like talking. "I hope he can treat him."

"Oh, I have complete faith in my son that he will save your friend," said the owner who told us that his name was Emil. "He had far worse patients than that man, you know. And hypothermia is his expertise as this place is extremely dangerous to stay outdoors for too long. A lot of people who got lost in the nearby hills died from the cold as well, while some of them he managed to resuscitate. It's really a scary thing to get into. But my son is a great doctor. As long as that man is still breathing, my son can save him."

And he did. When the door of the room that we rented finally opened, Emil's son came out to us smiling. He bowed to the Crown Prince and told him the good news. "I managed to save him, but some of his muscles in his limbs went gangrenous, so he needs tough medication," he told us, and then he stared at me. "Is that man your friend?"

"Oh. Y-Yes..."

"He is working for me. He suddenly disappeared and got lost. We were lucky that we even found him at this rate. Thank you for saving him, Mister...?"

"Just call me Harvey, your Highness." The two then went on talking about stuff that was not so interesting for me to hear, so I just went to the man and examined him.

He did look familiar to me, but not because I recognized his face. And just like that, I had a weird vision in my mind that came to me just now.

This man was indeed looking at me from afar. He was standing there near the columbar so that people would not think that he had other things in his mind. He was observing my every move while he also basked in the warmth from the columbar. He was smiling wickedly as if he confirmed something from just looking at me.

And then my head ached. It was like someone pinched my brain and it caused me to lose my balance. I would have fallen to the hard floor if not for the person who was just in time to save me from falling. He held me in his arms tightly. "Are you okay?" Harvey asked and our eyes met.