His Own - Chapter 25：Anxious

Rosalind was busy attending to the patients as Titus’s eyes followed her every movement. He feared that something may happen to her if he even dared to turn away from her.

He was also impressed watching her take care of the patients, every movement was gentle and very precise. She knew just want to do to sooth their pains and help them relax, readily offering them a smile no matter if they returned it or not.

Looking at her move from bed to bed, he remembered how cold and lifeless her body was. Just the memory of that shook him to the core.

In a few minutes after Adena left, Rosalind’s body slowly started to warm up.

As soon as Titus could feel her body heat and her breathing steady, he laid her back down on the bed and moved away, wearing his shirt again as Ralph watched her, occasionally checking her temperature to make sure that it is steady.

Her body should warm up slowly, too fast and she could run the risk of damaging her entire body’s system.

Though Titus gave her space, he never did leave her, standing by her side until she woke up.

Rosalind, upon waking up, had no memory of what had just transpired.

“Are you sure you’re ok?” Titus would ask incessantly.

“Yes. Why wouldn’t I be?” Rosalind answered, puzzled with his concern of her.

He would hold her hands and constantly check on her temperature, earning teasing looks from the other doctors and nurses. All of which he ignored.

Ralph felt sleep come with the relief that Rosalind was awake and Titus accompanied him to his tent. He trudged to his bed and was knocked out instantly.

Adena had yet to come back and Titus along with the Generals still needed to find a plan of attack.

Titus would petrol the camp, talk to the look outs and the scouts, trying to determine their enemy’s position and the number of men they still have.

It was too large of number for them to be able to win head on. Even without the ambush, they were already on a tight spot; now, they have lost most of their supplies and men, forced to retreat further back as the enemy made their way closer to them everyday.

The discussions between the generals can go upto hours on end, with no definite plan being made. Their injured numbered much more than their able bodied men and reinforcements weren’t coming any time soon.

“Most of the men that were injured are the most skilled men we had. How did we not see the ambush coming?”

Everyday it’s the same questions and everyday, they remained unanswered.

The doctors and nurses were doing what they could to treat the soldiers but, again, with the limited supply, there was only so much they could do. It is a miracle that no one has died yet.

It took everything in Rosalind to not heal the men with her magic, she made a promise to Titus and she knew that if she used any more, she wouldn’t even have the energy to move.

Every time she looked at the men in front of her, she felt her heart break. Unless they were administered really high dosages of medicines, they couldn’t rest and rest is one of the few things they really needed.

Nightmares would constantly plagued them in their sleep, allowing them no peace whether they were awake or not

Many times she had to hold back sobs, but Louis would occasionally bring her to the side of the tent to give her the chance to catch her breath.

Rosalind, herself, couldn’t rest either. Every time her eyes closed shut, the cries of the men in pain and turmoil will resound in her ears and jolt her awake.

On one such night, she decided to take a stroll around the camp. The cool air blew across her face and body, making her feel a little more awake.

It must have been somewhere around midnight when she took her walk. The crescent moon lit the entire camp with its faint glow and she missed Adriel.

“Where could he have gone?” She mumbled to herself, wishing she wore her coat and not just the simple brown gown she had on.

All she remembered was that, as she fell asleep, he and Titus met outside the tent to talk.

After that, she woke up to a frantic and dishevelled Titus and Ralph the next morning. The panic in Titus’s eyes never quite left him since that day. He would ask how she was doing or if she felt off in any way, every chance he got.

But she cant really say that she hated the attention she was getting from him. Though, what unsettled her is the fact that he may be overly anxious for no reason and that may affect his health drastically.

Maybe she could visit Titus now and ask what’s got him so anxious about her, of anything, she didn’t want to be the cause of his distraction from his duties.

“Hey, it’s the nurse!” She heard a soldier calling out, a little outside cluster of tents.

“Good morning!” Another one waved at her.

She made her way to them, also waving she said, “Good morning!”

“Couldn’t sleep?” A soldier asked.

“We are guarding the prisoner.” They pointed to a man, asleep in a makeshift cage of wood. “We didn’t really expect to get a prisoner so, this had to do.”

“We won’t really have to do much though, his injuries will prevent him from getting anywhere far.”

Rosalind saw the wounds on his body, they were definitely infected and would hurt a lot even with little movements.

“Can you believe that we got the man responsible for the ambush to our camp? As well as the attack to your vehicle? I really can’t wait to see what they’ll do to him.”

“But how did he get caught? Isn’t he a master at stealth?”

“I heard he got too cocky and went too close to his target, got shot in the process.”

They both laughed, but it was very dry humour. The man moved a little, groaning in pain and Rosalind took a step back. He was awake and his wide eyes were on her.

“YOU! You are the one that told them not to kill me.” His hoarsh voice drew out. “Why?”

“You didn’t deserve to meet your end just yet.” She answered back, her expression hard.

“Hey, miss nurse. Do you want to try treating his wounds? We can’t have him die before the due punishment is given, now can we?”

A part of her wanted to help him but another part of her really, really didn’t. It was because of him and his men that so many were unnecessarily injured and died. Remembering the gun shot on Louis, and the pain that the other men are going through, she steeled her resolve.

Shaking her her head, she changed the topic. “Have any of you seen Titus?”

The men laughed again. “See that? Not even the nurse wants anything to do with you. As for the General. I think he is still at a meeting. That’s all they are doing these days.”

“It’s been three days since the ambush, and still they have not come up with a proper plan.”

“That’s because they can’t reach our level, no matter how much they wish to.” The man in the cage said, his tone was eerly calm and yet, condescending.

“And what do you know about them?” Rosalind retorted, getting angrier by the minute.

“We are right, they are wrong. End of story.” The man relaxed against the bars of the cage, a contented smile on his face.

“Really? Because one would think that attacking an unguarded opponent is a cheap tactic used only by those with no honour.”

“Oh man.”

“Damn.”

The two soldiers covered their mouths, trying to hide their smiles and looked at the man in the cage as he scrowled at her.

“Are you calling me a coward!?” His calm demeanor disappeared as he lunged forward, gripping the bars, eyes wide with rage.

“I never said that.” She teased.

“I am not a coward! I am of the highest in terms of intelligence known to man. A skilled and indestructible weapon! Everything I do is carefully calculated to bring about the best outcome. Look around you. The state of this camp is my doing! I should be looked at with admiration and fear!”

He looked at her, but his smug expression faltered when met with hers. She looked at him with a mixture of pity and annoyance.

“All I see is a sad, pitiful man who only knows how to attack when his enemy is unaware. In battle, you attack face to face. Where each side is ready and armed, only then is their fall or victory considered great.”

With that she walked away. Leaving the three men to stare at her.

“She is something.”

“I heard that she comes from a family of soldiers, so she obviously has her opinions on that.”

The man in the cage curled up into a ball in the corner, shaking, biting his index finger and mumbling to himself.

“Why? Men cower before me and women fall at my feet. Everyone either praises or fear me. Why doesn’t she? Its just her right?”

The soldiers hit the cage, shouting, “Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

He looked up at them with his bloodshot eyes and gave a wide tooth grin. They recoiled back, fear flashing in their eyes before regaining their composure.

He gave out a loud, throaty laugh. The soldiers walked back to their posts, ignoring the madman. Waiting for their shift to be over as he continued to shake and shiver, talking to himself and laughing.

“Hey, isn’t that Lieutenant General Titus and . . .”

“The nurse!?”

“Huh. I heard that he is engaged, I didn’t know it was to her.”

“You know, it should have been really obvious with the way he treated her.”

The man in the cage instantly perked up, looking in the direction that the men were pointing. As if his already wide eyes couldn’t get any wider, they did as he saw the smile she gave the man beside her.

Trembling even more, he bit into his finger, breaking the nail as blood flowed into his mouth.