Victorious

It had taken him the better part of an hour to calm down, still, as he sat besides Althaea, who had begun brewing strange concoctions she said would help heal the wounded, Lucan’s eyes surveyed the battlefield. About a quarter of the tents had been destroyed, the forest behind them still burned and Cormac had mentioned to just let it continue to do so. There’d be no point in them trying to put it out. However, the fighting had ended in a victory for the Western Army. The Easterners had managed to take them unawares, but Lucan and his comrades had proved to be ferocious and after pressing them back into the burning forest, the lines of Madoc’s dogs had broken and within what seemed like mere moments, all of them had begun the flee.

“Are you okay, Lucan?” Althaea crushed some plants he did not recognize and mixed them into the small, cast-iron pot she had put on the fire. The reddish liquid boiled softly, as she stirred it around with a wooden spoon.

“Suppose I am” Lucan mumbled, unsure if he was.

“Well, you’re not bleeding, as far as I can tell…” Althaea tried to smile at him, but Lucan could only gaze back at her with the grave expression he had etched across his face. Though a soldier, a warrior, Lucan sometimes still felt uneasy with the work he was required to do. All around him he saw **** and dying. Soldiers sporting the Western colors of sky blue on white, red blood staining their tunics, and Easterners who’s spilled blood could hardly been seen on the red and black they wore. Lucan heard the screams of men who had been butchered, but clung to life as if there was any hope for them left…

Althaea slid across the log they were sitting on and crept a little closer to Lucan. She put an arm around his back and pulled his mighty frame closer to her. “We should go and collect your things, they’ll want to begin marching soon.”

Lucan let out a deep breath, feeling his heartbeat slowing slightly, enjoying the warmth of Althaea’s touch. “I doubt it. Cormac will want to celebrate before we leave. I think he only likes the fighting for the party afterwards. No, we’ll march in the morning.”

“We should go to your tent anyways,” Althaea said in a hushed voice. “I should get a proper look at you, make sure you’re really not hurt anywhere…”