CHAPTER 388: THE RETURN

As the other knights joined Irene and Henry, the Commander moved forward, meeting the men in the middle and walking with them towards the rock Irene was forced to lean against.

"Were there any monsters on your way up?" the young Duke wondered.

"We spread ourselves wide across the path, but didn’t see a new sign of a single monster or beast," Gunnar explained. "There’s an abandoned dwelling on that path, and we were able to stay inside the shelter overnight. It felt like a pleasant walk rather than a search for monsters. We didn’t even have to ditch our horses."

The Commander offered his other four men a relieved smile.

"I’m relieved to hear that. Unfortunately, our group was split up. We found a cave with goblins, though it collapsed and split us up. Bren and Sven are traveling up the other side of the mountain, while Irene and I had to make our way through the cave in total darkness to reach the summit."

It didn’t go unnoticed that the Commander didn’t use her title, but referred to her by her name instead. She had to train her expression so that she wouldn’t smile.

It was a wise idea to control herself, because the Commander soon glanced at the woman whose eyes were already on his face.

"Actually, Irene was injured first when the rocks collapsed and her leg was stuck under the pile," the Commander explained. "Then last night, she was guarding and was attacked by a dire wolf. Three cuts just under her collarbone. We’ll have to get healing for her once we arrive back."

Irene felt Gunnar’s concerned eyes on her and she offered a slightly guilty smile, as if to silently apologize that it always seemed to be her who was hurt on these sort of excursions. However, she felt comfortable being there knowing that it wouldn’t cause the knights to doubt her abilities but feel concerned that she seemed to always throw herself into danger.

"What do you suggest we do next?" Gunnar wondered.

"If one of you would consider ditching your horse so Irene can return to Siverly more quickly, I would appreciate it," Henry admitted. "Otherwise, the rest of us ought to travel down together and find Sven and Bren on the way down. Since there aren’t any other goblin nests to worry bout for now, I don’t believe we need to waste time here for much longer."

Irene wasn’t that surprised when William, the youngest apprentice who was always eager to prove himself, chimed in, "Commander, she can take my horse. I will walk down with the rest of the knights and ride her horse back."

The Commander glanced at Irene who gave a nod of approval and he turned back to the men.

"Then it’s settled. We will split up from here. Gunnar, Irene, we will see you at the Duke’s Tower this evening. It ought to be a faster trip on the way down."

The Commander passed Irene’s pack to her once more, and she stepped away from the boulder so that she could put it back on her shoulders, where it belonged. Before he could leave, he offered her a smile and a nod before they were set to part ways.

She returned the silent goodbye, but couldn’t help feeling a sense of loss that their journey together ended there. It was likely there wouldn’t be other moments where they could confide in one another so deeply. She had even treated him differently from the way she treated Felix, and she found herself craving more of that attention—it wasn’t something a friend could provide. While she knew it was unfair to put that need on the unsuspecting Commander, who couldn’t possibly think of her anything other than a knight in his order, it was hard to stop.

As Irene followed the other knights, she couldn’t help stumbling a bit before she righted herself. However, Gunnar was ever her hero and he offered his shoulder.

"Seems worse than the Commander let on," he realized. "Or perhaps you were the one not telling him the truth of how you were feeling."

"You sound like my father," Irene teased the older knight.

"For a time, I was permitted to treat you as such. However, now you outrank me and I can only be a helpful subordinate," he joked in response.

"Never," Irene insisted. "I will always look up to the likes of you, Sven, and Philip. You three are the ones who taught us the most."

The old knight felt satisfied by that and helped the woman to William’s horse. When she was able to hoist herself onto the animal, Gunnar then saw that her leg plate truly was gone.

"Have you taken off your boot in a while?" he wondered.

"I didn’t dare," she admitted. "When I woke up this morning, it was swollen enough that I couldn’t get it off. If I remove it, I have a feeling I’ll be lacking a boot until we return."

"Best to leave it, I suppose," Gunnar responded hesitantly despite how much he wanted to see the extent of her injury. However, it was merely him worrying in his older age over a knight he had seen hurt many times before and didn’t like to see hurt even now. "Let us press on and get you back to the mages quickly. We haven’t given them enough work recently."

Irene grinned at that. While she wasn’t fond of being a patient, she did love to interact with the mages because she felt that they were always a gold mine of information that she wasn’t expecting. If she caught Siverly in a talkative moment, he might even reveal secrets of Nickron to her.

The entire group got onto their horses and Irene was able to push herself forward easily since she could now rely on a horse to do the heavy lifting of her in her armor and all the supplies. It seemed there was a higher entity looking out for her because she had been dreading all day and night that the trip down to the bottom was going to be such a burden for her and everyone who was forced to help her.

She realized she would have to thank William for giving her a horse and making it so he would have to walk halfway down the mountain.

Luckily, the path was easy and they didn’t face much bad weather. There were no monsters as they said and Irene even got to experience a trail she had never faced on the mountain before.

By the time they made it to the bottom, the sun was sinking closer and closer to the horizon and her green eyes went to the mountains where she silently prayed for the Commander and others to have made it back down safely.

Before she could escape, she heard Gunnar rat her out to the mages and before she could escape, Siverly came out of the finally finish infirmary with a look of usual slight displeasure on his lips.

"There are ever only a few knights who could be hurt," he uttered as he gave Irene a once over and then gestured for her to come inside.

Gunnar was quick to her side and, before she could object, she was a patient at Siverly’s bedside—his bedside manner leaving much to be desired as he bickered with Stanley over things beyond her comprehension.