Try and Catch Me

Another chance
Lia popped her eyes open. She blinked a few times at the ceiling before squeezing her eyes shut once more. Then opening them again. It was a familiar ceiling. She scanned the place and determined her location with her head the only part of her that moved.

For a confused second, the place looked foreign yet familiar. Apparently, this was not her room in the cottage. But she remembered that the cottage was gone and she was staying at what used to be the mayor’s house. She realized that she was back in her room at the manor which explained the familiarity of the ceiling earlier.

She stared blankly and thought back to what happened. A dark place, getting dragged, unknown man, Pen, Eldric… Her last memories were her giving up on her life yet she managed to come back.

“I’m alive,” she croaked. She coughed a bit trying to loosen her dry throat that felt raw after being unused for who knows how long. She seemed to have escaped death this time. Again. Sure she was ready to go but one could not help but be grateful to be given another chance in life.

‘But how?’

She coughed once again and searched around her for any water at the bedside. There was no one around her. Sad how her life was unlike the heroines from drama where even if they just fainted for a while the entire household surrounded their beds, waiting for the sleeping princess to wake up. Ay, life was not as kind and good to her. It only reminded her that she was now alone in the world. She brushed her concerns aside.

‘Can’t be helped then.’

With a shrug — or a movement that resembled a shrug — Lia raised her body, slowly and tentatively, each and every muscle in her body revolted at her movement. She winced when she used her arm to support her weight. She looked down and saw bruises, perhaps from that time when Pen grabbed her. Lia remembered the dagger hidden in her sleeves and felt for it. It was gone.

She glanced at the bruises on her arm, aware of the shot of pain in her limbs and the headache that made her dizzy. That ordeal in the tent was a nightmare. To be able to live through it was a miracle already. But more than her own terror, she was more terrified at what she learned about Eldric’s past. She still could not make her mind up if she was terrified at Eldric’s past or at him.

Most of all, she could not help but wonder how was Eldric after all of that. He was wounded and drugged.

Lia was in the middle of musing and checking the rest of her body when the door opened.

“Oh good you are finally awake,” Jeremiah said.

He felt her forehead and then checked her pulse. “You no longer have a fever which was good.”

“How long…”

Jeremiah nodded, showing his acknowledgment at the unspoken question. “Two days.”

He then proceeded to tell her what happened after she lost consciousness. The leader of Unseen and Pen got away while Lia and Eldric were left behind to die. But they both had a high fever because of the smoke. Good thing, the guards found them right away.

“I must say, that was a dangerous move. You could have told me or any of the guards before going there. Well, I could say the same for the General. He could have asked for a backup but instead, he stubbornly insisted on going alone. Really you two, you have me worried.” Jeremiah shook his head.

“You don’t have to be so kind and put it lightly. I know it’s stupid and I’m sorry for my actions,” Lia apologized. She was indeed being stupid back then. “Where’s Eldric? How is he?”

“He woke up a day earlier than you and is now back bossing people around. Maybe he’ll come back later when he is done with work.

But Eldric never came.