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Original story by: Courgus

Translated by: Erazaa

Galrond lay on the bed for quite a while and slept very restlessly. The pain he had suffered from the stab wound ensured that he hardly came to rest. The blood loss caused him to slowly develop a fever. He rolled back and forth in his bed several times. Finally, it was Irana who came in when it got worse.

She was cleaning up the last stains when she noticed the pool next to the bed.

"That looks bad..." she thought to herself and at the same time her gaze turned to Galrond who was rolling back and forth on the bed.

Irana was lucky that she never had to deal with him because she had accepted her fate from the beginning. She did not resist the baron and made sure that she was treated better than the rest. She could not bear to see the suffering that Galrond had inflicted on her tribal friends. At this moment, as she stood beside the bed, the memories, the cries, the impressions just boiled up again. She thought for a moment and saw the dagger lying on the small bedside table.

It would have been easy for Irana to grab the dagger and stab Galrond. As it seemed, she was completely alone with him. Even though the door was still open, no one was around.

Irana was still looking at the dagger lying on the nightstand. Dozens of possibilities flashed through her mind and many more memories came flooding back.

"Should I really do it? After all, he tortured many of my comrades just for fun... Just looking at him makes me shudder. Who would miss someone like him?" she thought hard.

Irana looked over her shoulder to the back, because now she had the feeling that she was no longer alone.

Her gaze wandered past the small wall towards the door she could just make out. But still there was this uneasy feeling of not being alone.

Slowly she rose from the floor and pressed herself carefully against the wall. She peered around the corner, looking for a clue. But she could find nothing. Whatever it must have been she was, probably, still alone with Galrond.

She turned back to Galrond and looked at him. On the one hand, she had the urge to take his life as he had done with many of her comrades. But on the other hand, she had too much respect for life to lower herself to the level of Galrond.

But still her instinct wanted to act.

So she stayed for a while and watched how restless Galrond became.

Even though she didn't want to, she couldn't fight this instinct and put her right paw on his head.

"He's literally glowing..." thought Irana to herself.

She thought for a moment and then rose from the bed, albeit hesitantly.

She quickly grabbed her bucket and walked out of the room with it. Her destination was not far away. The kitchen.

She wanted to quickly get fresh water as well as a new rag. When she had both, she returned to Galrond's room as quickly as she could and felt his forehead again.

"Lordy. It's almost glowing worse than before!" she thought to herself and soaked the rag in the ice-cold water of the bucket.

She squeezed the rag lightly and placed it on his forehead.

It did not take long and the rag had already become warm again. Again and again she repeated this procedure and cooled his forehead.

For Irana it seemed like an eternity that passed but slowly, but surely his forehead became cooler. In addition, his sleep became calmer now.

When he had finished the roughest part, at least Irana thought so, she looked at the bandage. It wasn't hard to see that the wound was still bleeding, as the bandage was already reddening slightly.

She decided to make a new bandage and went back to the kitchen. There she met Roidros again.

>>Irana?<< he asked curtly.

>>Roidros... what are you still doing here?<<

>>I wanted to know how the patient was doing.<< he said with a smile on his lips.

Irana wasn't sure what exactly he was getting at and hesitated for a moment. But then she answered him:

>>I think it's getting there. His fever is slowly subsiding but the wound is certainly causing big problems.<<

Roidros nodded and then asked her something that was on his mind:

>>Why are you helping him?<<

Irana caught her breath when she heard the question. Of course the question was justified because Galrond had killed many of her friends.

But the answer she gave surprised Roidros very much:

>>I will not be like him.<< she said firmly.

Roidros who had expected a completely different answer was taken aback.

"She had the chance to kill him. Punish him for his sins, but... She didn't do it." he thought to himself.

Inside he felt deep respect for the reaction of Irana who spared his life because she wanted to be better than the henchman she loathed so much.

As she walked out of the kitchen and Roidros looked after her, he also felt shame. He was ashamed that a woman had shown him that one can defend oneself. She was a better knight than he was.

So Roidros lowered his gaze and looked down to the kitchen floor.

"She shamed me..." he thought to himself.

At first, he didn't know what to think, but then he looked up and smiled.

"I'm impressed." he thought to himself and slowly rose from his chair.

Irana had arrived back at Galrond's place and had started to undo the bandage. The more she took off the bandage, the more it became clear that this wound was far from being properly taken care of.

The cloth was completely soaked with blood.

"It's no wonder he has a fever. The wound is already slightly inflamed," Irana quickly noticed.

Since she had nothing else there, a simple cleansing would have to suffice until she could gather herbs to properly tend to the wound.

She took the cloth from the bucket of water and slowly dabbed the wound. As best, she could, she tried to clean everything and bravely continued.

Even though she still held a strong grudge against Galrond, she couldn't just leave him like that. She had just cleaned the wound and put the bandage back on when she heard noise from behind.

Ragoht came rushing into Galrond's room. He was drunk as a skunk and staggered towards his bed.

>>You are... a... wretched... traitor... Yes... you are.<< he slurred.

With the wine bottle in his left hand, he staggered on while taking another sip.

Then he caught sight of Irana crouched on the floor next to the bed.

>>Oh look ... one ... there ... He is also ... The ... never mind! What's... the troll up to, huh?<< he slurred again and Irana tried to avoid him. But Ragoht grabbed her with his right hand and held her tight.

>>Where are you going? Am I not dirty enough for you?<< he slurred further.

From his mouth he smelled like an old barrel of wine that had stood too long in the sun.

>>Come on... give the old one... a smack!<<

But Irana resisted.

"I can't do that to myself right now..." she thought to herself and pushed the baron aside.

Irana now tried to get out of the room, but the baron grabbed her by her foot and she fell to the floor.

>>Don't be in such a hurry little butterfly!<<

Irana landed ungentle on her hip and left thigh. She felt a pain running through her body.

>>Au! Ah damn!<< she groaned out and Ragoht was still on her.

But Galrond was still lying on the bed and didn't notice any of this.

Now Ragoht tried to get up again and crawled up. Finally, he reached her and held her tightly.

>>Now... let's have some fun! Like every night!<< he said with a frown.

He grinned menacingly and Irana felt more and more queasy. Today he had been even worse than usual. This time she would not get away so easily, she feared.

Ragoht straightened up and Irana closed her eyes. She just wanted it to stop.

"Not again.... I can't..." she thought again.

>>It's about to get funny!<< he said and put his hand on his pants.

She guessed what was coming but nothing happened.

The next thing she heard was a dull bang.

Shortly after, she dared to open her eyes and looked up into the face of Roidros.

>>Come with me, Irana. We don't have time.<<

Irana looked beside her for a moment and saw that Ragoht had a stab wound in his chest.

She did not hesitate for a moment and walked out of the mansion with Roidros.