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redgyl · 2 years

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I'm happy that y'all like my story. Thank you all so much! You are so kind.

Chapter 4

The Boatem Knights did not go as far that day as they would have liked. It took ages to round up the scattered horses, and it took a while for Mumbo and Impulse to construct a litter to transport Grian in. Grian didn’t wake up — the serious brain-bashing, whiplash, shattered bones, and internal bleeding combined was a little too much for even Pearl’s skills to completely mend so quickly — and Scar uselessly ‘kept watch,’ keeping his distance from everyone and looking everywhere except at them. When they finally moved on, Scar stayed far ahead of them, though keeping himself clearly in their sight. Grian rode in the litter, a sheet of fabric stretched between 2 poles cut from trees, the space between made with two sticks holding the end on the ground apart, and the other end of he poles lashed to either side of Grian’s horse. In this carrier, Grian was carefully dragged, suspended behind his horse as Pearl led it by the reins.

They finally made it out of the forest early afternoon. A couple of hours later, they paused for supper. They didn’t build a fire, only pulling out bread, salted meat, and cheese to make sandwiches, which they could have done without having to stop and dismount, but there was another purpose.

“Come and eat, Scar,” Mumbo invited from where he sat in the circle of friends. Only Scar stood outside that circle, pretending to fuss over his horse while Jellie sat on his shoulder.

“No, thank you, not hungry,” Scar answered, his voice higher pitched than normal and quaking through a fake smile. He still wouldn’t look at them.

“Oh, but I made a sandwich for you, specifically.” Mumbo held it up as proof.

“Thanks, but you go on ahead. Enjoy yourselves. I’m really not hungry.”

Impulse, Pearl, and Mumbo exchanged looks. Impulse stood. “Scar,” he said, stepping towards him. “Come and join us. We need to talk.”

“That’s kinda what I’m scared of,” he admitted weakly, his shaking worse and his smiling more fierce.

He jumped as Impulse laid a heavy hand on his shoulder. He involuntarily spun to see not only Impulse standing there, but Mumbo and Pearl walking over to join them. He never felt more exposed than he did then, with those six eyes fastened on him.

“None of us,” Impulse said gently, “blame you for what happened.”

Scar stared at them. “Whoa, whoa, hold on,” he said as walked through them to get away, his suppressed despair rising to the surface. “What do you mean, not blame me?” He rounded on them. “I nearly killed Grian!” he shouted in horror, pacing. “And I enjoyed it! It was fun! And I was going to kill you, Impulse!” he yelled, pointing. “I only didn’t because I wanted to toy with you! And killing Grian seemed more important. Wasn’t I supposed to be kicked out of the order if I turn on any of you in a feral fit?” he reminded them, almost accusingly.

They were silent for a moment. Scar was the newest member of the Boatem Order, and have only been with them a few months. They recalled how, at the first, when none of them knew him very well except as an ex-thief who may or may not have enjoyed his vex-born powers a little too much, they had placed that probationary condition down.

“We didn’t think about that,” Mumbo confessed. “But …”

But before he could continue, Scar continued his guilt-stricken rant, saying all the things he had been brooding on throughout the day as he paced. “If I was a decent human being, I would have left already, but I … you know, I should just go ahead and put my head on a chopping block and let you all take turns whacking, except Grian’s not awake yet, and he ought to have the first swing, and…”

“Okay, stop right there,” Pearl said sternly, getting in Scar’s way. Her imposing look down on him somehow stopped his rambling. “It wasn’t your fault, and we are not kicking you out, and we are definitely not going to execute you, so stop.”

“What … h-how is it not my fault?” he stammered, “I remember it all … I lost control … you weren’t there …”

Mumbo put an arm around Scar’s shoulders and led him toward where they had been eating. “First, sit down and eat,” he said, placing the sandwich in Scar’s numb hands. “We’ll explain everything in a minute.”

Scar let himself be pulled down to sit, and he dumbly watched as Impulse and Pearl both sat down comfortably with him. She picked up her sandwich, and he his plate of plain meat, cheese, and bread, and they continued eating, themselves.

Numbly, Scar raised the sandwich and took a bite, and slowly started to chew.

None of the nightmares he had anticipated happened. He had been dreading talking to them, his friends. He had imagined, over and over and over, all of the horrible things they should say to him. He had tormented himself with thoughts of being alone again, this time permanently, with no hope for redemption. Hadn’t he already known that would have to happen when he first decided to claim Vex powers? The feel of the shuddering impact up his arm as crimson mist and wooden shards sprayed from the side of Grian’s head, and the easy weight of the avian’s limp body slapping the ground, and the euphoric glee he felt, and the brave desperation in Impulse’s eyes; these haunted him. He deserved to be beaten and banished, at the very least. He had been trying so hard to get ready for that fate.

He swallowed his bite. His friends were sitting with him, — comfortably, peacefully — sharing food with him, with no hint of condemnation.

The relief and mercy was too much. The sobs rose unbidden from the depths of his soul. His throat was painfully tight as the fear and the tension and despair forced its way out. He cried and cried, unable to eat, curling himself around his cuddling kitty, his eyes shut tight as he let it all out. Impulse and Mumbo each wrapped an arm around his shoulders, and Pearl came over to lay a hand on his trembling head. “We’re here for you,” Pearl said tenderly. “We’ll pull through this together. It’ll be okay.”

When Scar was done, he wiped his face. “You guys are too nice,” he said, wolfing down the sandwich. “Is there any more?”

Mumbo offered him his own half-eaten sandwich, and Scar devoured that, too. Then he took a deep, trembling breath and slowly let it out, calming. “Okay, so .. why don’t you guys blame me? I most definitely lost control out of the blue there. It … caught me by surprise, actually.”

Pearl nodded. “We’ll get to that, but first, I want got know something. Do you remember what happened just before … it happened?”

Scar tried to recall, and the guilt welled up again. “Is Grian okay?” he asked, needing to have this cleared up. Then he noticed Pearl’s bruised cheek. “Hey, what happened to your face?”

She nodded again. “I’m getting to that, too. Yes, Grian’s okay; another healing session or two and he’ll be back to normal. But was there anything unusual that happened just before you went feral?”

“Just a whistle,” said Scar. “It was pretty loud. I thought you or Impulse were calling us. Then Jellie left …”

Impulse shook his head. “We didn’t whistle for you two. I didn’t hear a whistle, either.”

Pearl snapped her fingers. “He had one!” she exclaimed, her eyes bright. She looked over to Impulse and Mumbo. “The man in green, he had a whistle on him. He was blowing it when I first spotted him.”

Mumbo raised his eyebrows like an idea had just popped into his head. “Brilliant! That’ll be easy to handle.”

“What man in green?” Scar asked, clearly lost.

“When you went feral, I went after Jellie. I knew returning her would be the only way to wake you back up, you see, so I had to go get her. Well, I found a man in green watching you, blowing a whistle. I had a fight with him,” she said, pointing to her cheek, “and he was pretty good. He had a weapon — or armor, I can’t tell what it was, originally — that changed shaped instantly, so it was kinda tough. But at the end, he suddenly looked at you all, got scared about something, pulled a blue box out of his pocket and broke it, and Jellie popped out! That was when he sicced a creeper on me (of all things!), and…”

“A creeper?!”

She nodded. “Yes, then he got away.”

“So you see,” Impulse said, “it wasn’t your fault at all. That man somehow triggered your transformation and kept you transformed until he let Jellie go.”

Scar stared incredulously at Impulse. “You mean, that guy … used me … as a weapon?” Scar questioned, terrified. “He used me to try to kill you all?”

“‘Fraid so,” he continued. “So now we need to figure out a way to keep him from doing that again. We don’t know why he attacked or why he stopped, but we’re pretty positive that he’ll be back.”

Scar was barely listening, his easily-read face full of dread. “I’d better go,” he said. “If that guy can make me attack you all again … yeah, I’d better just go.” He started to rise, but both Mumbo and Impulse tightened their grips around his shoulders. He struggled to get loose, feeling a panic rising up inside. “What are you guys doing? I’m too dangerous to keep around, idiots!”

“We figured you’d react this way,” Mumbo said, struggling a bit to keep his grip on Scar, “and we already wondered about what we can do if he comes back, but knowing about the whistle is a big help. If you hear a whistle that none of us can, you hold on to Jellie while the rest of us get away like normal.”

“That works,” Impulse said approvingly, holding on relatively easily.

“Why?” Scar yelled at them. “Why are you keeping me around? I’m too dangerous!”

“You’re our friend, Scar,” Pearl said. “And, for all we know, maybe the man in green is after you. No way we’ll split up if we can help it.”

“We now have a better idea of what we’re dealing with, and, against my better judgement, I trust you,” Impulse added impishly. “We are almost at Cub’s house, too. With him having Vex powers, too, maybe he can help us.”

“You leave, and we’ll chase you down,” Mumbo promised.

Scar gave up. “You’re all fools,” he observed, smiling. “Every last one of you.”

Impulse grinned. “And you fit right in.”

The rest of supper was kept lighthearted. The friends exchanged jokes, shared stories, and Scar almost felt okay again, except for the hole that Grian left behind. In spite of Pearl’s assurances, Scar felt uneasy. He looked once over at where Grian slept — secured in the carrier behind his horse, his head heavily bandaged — and he felt sick.

They all decided that they weren’t going to camp for another night out in the open — the possibility of another attack was too great — and instead push on through the night until they reached their friend Cub’s home. Pearl sent a moth ahead let Cub know to leave a lantern on for them. This time as they rode along, Scar guided Grian’s horse while Pearl took the front, Mumbo followed her, and Impulse took up the rear.

They didn’t get far before Scar heard it: another whistle. It was shrill, coming from right behind him.

“AHHH!” Scar screamed, letting go of the reins and grabbing ahold of his blue cat. “I hear the whistle, guys! Stay with me, Jellie!” He closed his eyes and braced himself, squishing his cat.

Grian’s horse kept walking. Jellie meowed in protest. Up ahead, Scar heard Mumbo call back, “I heard the whistle, too.”

Then Scar heard laughter right beside him. It was very weak, broken, pathetic laughter, coming from the carrier, punctuated with little “ow”s.

“Grian!” Scar yelled, his face turning red. “You … you … you …”

“You … screamed … so loud,” Grian wheezed, smiling, his eyes staying shut. “Ow … Laughing … hurts.”

“Serves you right! How long have you been awake?”

“You were alll … so loud. … It hurt … my head.”

Impulse smiled down as he rode up and Mumbo and Pearl circled back. “Good evening, Grian.”

“Evening?”

“I actually didn’t expect you to wake up at all today.”

“Bumpy … road … hurts.”

Pearl whispered a spell into her hand, and a pale moth appeared there. The moth settled down onto Grian’s face. “Go back to sleep,” she said gently, in her soft, sultry voice, “you naughty stinker.” A moment later, soft snores rose up from the litter.

Feeling so much better than they thought possible, considering the circumstances, they all rode on, feeling hopeful again.

#soft #sultry voice #I cringed so hard writing this. So much sap.#Daughter helped me by adding for me #applestruda #boatem knights au #grian hermitcraft #impulse hermittcraft #mumbo hermitcraft #pearl hermitcraft #impulsesv #mumbo jumbo #pearlecentmoon #hermitcraft #was he too easily forgiven?#is the emotional damaged actually fixed?

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