Dance of the Damned

Phase Two

Back at the carriage's wreckage, a few minutes before the crowd waking up around Teri and Heris.

"We are here," Carvill said as the horse came to a stop.

"I was having so much fun on the horse." Micah chuckled as the man helped him down. "You should take me for a ride some time again."

"Of course." He said with a smile on his face, leading him to the wreckage. "Just under here."

"Well, do what you have to," Micah said, holding his hands out as Carvill looked at him with concern written all over his face. "Don't hesitate, Carvill. I will fail if you do."

"I am not." The man said, steeling himself as he pulled the dagger from his belt and placing the boy in front of the carriage. "I am so sorry about this."

"Make sure it leaves a mark." The boy said, smiling brightly as he began slashing at the boy the instant they heard voices in the other direction.

The smile on Micah's face disappeared as the cuts grew deeper and he let out a blood-curdling scream, falling to his knees he began to beg to be spared.

As he shouted, the voices they heard before grew as it seemed like people were running to their location.

Carvill paused but Micah grabbed his hand, holding the blade to his arm as tears rolled down his eyes, "not yet."

"I know." The man said, growing slightly agitated. "You don't have to tell me twice."

Lights from the people's lanterns began to be visible as they grew nearer and Micah uttered a cry of, "H-Help! I- I don't want to die yet. Please!"

That did the trick, from speed walking to them, the people are now running.

"Ready for the finale?" Micah asked, reading against the carriage with a tired smile on his face, footsteps two steps from them.

"Do I have a choice?" The man asked, plunging the blade into the boy's side just as the people appeared over the corner and began shouting at him.

Carvill pulled the blade out and ran to his horse, galloping away as some men and woman began to chase after him while other rushed to Micah's side.

The shouts filled the pathway, waking everyone up and bringing them out of their houses as the number of people that chased Cravill grew.

Once he reached the place where Teri and Heris were waiting, he did not even have to signal as the two took off, splitting the three into three different directions, confusing the people that chased them and making them split up as well.

The rest is up to you, Micah. Carvill thought, speeding his horse down the path they had planned where he will disappear through a series of short corridors like a thief in the night.

_____________

Micah heard someone shouting to call the doctor as the people began to surround him while he heard Carvill galloping away on his horse followed by some more people on their own mode of transport.

He sighed, hand over the wound as the noise around him grew until he could not differentiate one voice from the other. A hand suddenly reached out, pressing the wounds on his side, making him flinch.

“That hurts.” He tried to pull away from the person when they suddenly pulled their hand away.

“Do you think he is rich?” he heard a voice whisper to the left of him.

“Would we get a reward if we rescued him?” Someone else asked.

Well, this is to be expected. The boy thought. The people here live their lives relatively normally. Besides one or two noble families here, everyone else is a middle-class worker.

So Micah and his broken carriage stood out like a sore thumb, from the expensive fabric of his clothes to the build of the carriage that need not be pulled by horses but by this thing known as an engine, he would seem well off.

Thirty more seconds. He thought, feeling the wound on his side. It is not deep enough to be fatal but that did not mean it didn’t hurt.

Suddenly Micah felt something else in place of the hand, a cloth that he heard being ripped earlier. This person began to wrap his wounds up with what little they had and he couldn’t help but appreciate it.

“Thank you. I hope you don’t mind.” He said, reaching his hand out as he felt the person’s face with his fingers, creating a mental image in his mind.

With every crook of the person’s face, it became clearer in his mind until he could finally recognise the person in front of him.

“Why are you touching me like that?” The girl asked.

“Sorry. It is how I memorize faces.” He said, quickly pulling his hand away with a bright smile on his face.

“You sound so energetic still.” She said suspicion laced in her voice. “After you just got stabbed too. Shouldn’t you be in more pain?”

“I am ignoring the pain right now.” The boy said cheerily. “Focusing on it is not going to do anything for me right now.”

“You are naïve if you can think like that.” She said, almost scolding him. “But I guess it is fine. If you can ignore it, it must not be very deep. Why were you stabbed? Did you do something wrong?”

When she asked this question, Micah could hear the voices of the people begin to die down, almost as if they wanted to hear his answer as well.

“Perhaps because I am a liability.” The boy said with a sigh as he stared straight ahead. “After all … I am the disgrace of the Pober family name.”

“The Pober family?” Whispers began to surround the crowd as realization began to spread about his family.

The Pober family are ones that liked social gatherings and were well-beloved by the people because they did not hesitate to mingle with the commoners and even invited them to their balls.

They would hold the parties in a separate building reserved only for the Pober family parties and everyone in town would attend as they provided the best feast, making enough for everyone to be able to take some home.

No one knew why the Pober family moved to the outskirts of the main city. Especially with how influential they were amongst the other nobles though they were only a Baron‘s family.

It was heard all over the kingdom about a Baron who is so influential that he always has a private audience with the king, something only reserved for his most trusted courtiers.

It was also heard that the king offered the man a position in his court but he refused it then moved to this small town.

Everyone heard about the birth of his son and also about the condition he was born with. It was said that the midwife ran out of the house screaming because she thought the woman gave birth to a water sprite because of the colour of his skin and eyes.

Many believe that is the reason they left the main city. But no one will ever know and now, the said child is right in front of everyone, having been attacked and left for dead.

If his parents were still alive, most would fight to save the boy. But after their death, the Pober estate has fallen silent, almost as if, not a soul lived in the large house.

All they saw were the servants moving in and out of the mansion and, if they are lucky, they will get to see the extravagant carriages with the Baroness’s sister inside to attend another ball.

These people were known to look down on everyone that they came across, sneering at them and they knew, if they were to help Micah, there is a chance they might blame them for the attack.

And, since the young master is blind, who is to say his word will overrule theirs. They are still masters of the estate.

____________________

“I see.” The girl said, completely unbothered as she turned to the crowd dispersing slowly. “When is the physician coming?”

No one answered her, quickly averting their eyes while others were talking amongst themselves.

“What? Is no one going to help?" She asked, almost losing her temper as the boy reached for her dress, smiling at her.

"Never mind them." He said, smiling at her. "I cannot expect from them if I never did anything for them."

"That is complete and utter nonsense." The girl complained, turning to the people as she began scolding them. "Do you only help if someone can help you back? What about you all? Have you always had something to give?"

No one said a word as they stared at the ground, the crowd getting thinner as only some of them were left standing around Micah.

"Is he going to die soon? That is a lot of blood."

"I think he is growing paler."

The boy listened to the girl speak and then the whisper of the people around him, a knowing look on his face. Three. Two. One.

“Young master Pober!” An old man and a boy suddenly rushed to them as Micah released a sigh of relief.

"Micah!" The boy shouted, by his side in a second as the man began to check. "What happened? You're injured! Who did this?!"

"Bradie?" Micah reached his bloodied hand out, feeling his friend's face with his fingertips as he broke into a grin. "What are you doing here?"

"Who did this??" Briar asked again, panic written all over his creased up face.

"We need to take him to the doctors'. I am not going to be able to fix that." The man said, checking the biggest wound on Micah's side. "Quickly."

Briar picked Micah up and ran, not paying attention to anything else as Micah gave the girl one last smile.