Andrew just keeps on convulsing while sweating buckets, his face also made him seem like he was in grave pain. Marian was dumbfounded about what to do and was just fidgeting on the spot, thinking about what to do.

But nothing was coming to her mind and hence she was confused. Eve only knew about how to administer basic first aid treatment and looking at the situation Andrew was in, that wouldn’t be useful a bit.

Lucas appears at this point wanting to know what has happened since Marian’s scream still hasn’t calmed down even though Olivia was already with them. On seeing Lucas having appeared, Olivia turns to him while asking, “Is there any soldier currently with us who has a bit of medical knowledge?”.

Lucas frowns for a bit before replying, “Wait for a while let me go ask around”. Eve has by this moment torn the cloth which she has used to wrap the injury and she could notice black blood fuming in the place where Andrew has injured, she thought back to the medicine once again and suspected it was the cause of it, maybe a kind of poison was used in it which even Olivia couldn’t notice. Even Olivia on seeing what was happening was shocked all the same and was thinking along the same line as Eve.

In no time though, Lucas quickly came back with one of the soldiers who was already sleeping as he was still rubbing his eyes, obviously not fully woken up. “This is the only one who has a bit of knowledge in medicine. He was said to have dabbled a bit in that area even while being in the army”, Lucas's voice sounds out behind the man.

Although his eyes were still blurry, when the man realized that he was in the presence of their general, he quickly became fully sober while saluting her. “Check on him. He seems to be in a critical condition”, Olivia says towards the man without bothering to scold him and ignoring even his salutation. He needed his rest after all, and they have been journeying while fighting against one group of bandits or the other for a while now. Any person would be exhausted from all that and thus needed his rest. The man quickly walks forth towards Andrew and on seeing the way bad blood was frothing couldn’t help being serious as he called for clean warm water and a rag. He first cleans the injury, after which he checks on Andrew’s pulse while doing some other checkups on the wound. He also took the powder which was initially given to them and sprinkled more of it on the injury, both Eve and Olivia thought of stopping him but the deed has already been done before they could say a word. After a while of performing various checkups, he sighs in relief. Marian whom has been pushed outside during the treatment couldn’t help but look towards the man in askance, although having pale faces due to the use of the powder as they look awkwardly in the direction of the man, they still wanted to know what was happening, after which they look towards Andrew, at which they were shocked. He has at a time started breathing normally and his convulsing has stopped. The injury still have that black blood fuming out but this time around, the pain on Andrew’s face has gone but he was still gripping his fists tight. As time went in, the black blood stopped fuming out and at a point, it stopped fully. Seems like the man understood what he was doing and their fears were unneeded.

Olivia and the girls look towards the man, while Lucas has already gone back to where he was stationed. He was meant to be a lookout after all and left his position due to the screams, now that it all seems well, he could now go back to his post. Being stared at by his general and the girls made him feel proud but awkward at the same time. He couldn’t help clearing his throat before saying towards the girls, “The truth was that the injury which was inflicted on him was caused by a poisonous weapon and he should be grateful that he was given this powder, if not he would have been dead without a doubt”.

Now it dawned on the girls that Edson has gone all out to save Andrew. What if they had relented on administering the drug and powder, what would have become of Andrew by now? Such thoughts couldn’t be prevented from coming to their mind. Olivia was more astonished as to what must have come over Edson to have done all these things. He wasn’t known to be this good if not, he would not have made it into the top ten most wanted criminals in the kingdom. Marian couldn’t help but remember how Andrew has grown to love rubbing poisons on his weapon, but they were diluted, so he wondered how it became this effective. But the man’s next words made her mind clearer, “The poison in and of itself isn’t too poisonous or rather was made into something not too poisonous but due to the fact that he has lost too much blood, that must have been the cause of the poison having such a great effect on him”, he pauses for a while before continuing, “His wounds should be tended to daily. The black blood which was foamed out was the effect of the powder. It was seeking and flushing out the poison in his body while also trying to repair any worn-out tissue”. He shakes the bottle which contains the powder initially before continuing, “The powder has been exhausted now, but he should be safe now. He has gotten through the worse part of it safely, the rest should be easier for him”.

If Andrew had been awake at this time, he wouldn’t have known whether to cry or laugh at himself. His poison has been used against him and it ended up being more dangerous than normal as it almost took his life. Perhaps, he might never coat his weapons with poison again, but that is for him to decide though.

After saying all he could and should, he orders something to use to sew the injury. The girls were driven out during this moment because the man needed absolute concentration in this part and knowing that Marian was fond perhaps she would scream or act in an unnecessary fashion while his injury was being sewn and such a scenario needed to be avoided if possible.

After a while, the man comes out of the cart, with beads of sweat on his forehead. It took his full concentration during the sewing session and Andrew’s wounds have been well wrapped in clean bandages at this moment. He was shocked to see Olivia still outside the carriage with the girls, they seem to have been waiting for him all this while.

“He has been stabilized and presently he just needs rest”, says the man while stretching his body. “You can go now”, Olivia says. Acknowledging her command, he gives a military salute before going back to sleep.

The girls didn’t go and disturb Andrew during this moment and just went in another direction of the camp led by Olivia to rest. They didn’t want to disturb his rest after all, so that he can recuperate properly. The night passed uneventfully and the next day, Marian quickly woke up to go check in on Andrew. He was still unconscious and his breathing was steady, she just cleans his upper body avoiding going down over there. Although she has gone through every part of Andrew, just remembering the scenario still made her embarrassed. She still did her best though, she kept the surroundings of the bandages clean and tidied up and even carefully used warm water to massage his body. She was doing this while thinking about the times she has been in the village, her father died, then in her presence, she saw her mother being gang raped and she eventually died and now the only family she had in this world was brutally stabbed in front of her and she has always been helpless to do anything to fight back or even to help.

She was always the one being protected and cared for. She felt like she brought bad luck to those around her and perhaps if she hadn’t come with Andrew, perhaps all of this wouldn’t have happened. She needs to change and start being independent so that she can provide some form of help to those around her who she loves and care for, most especially Andrew.

She understood better than anyone how she felt when Andrew was being stabbed multiple times in front of her, that scenario merged with that of when she was tied while watching her mother being forcefully raped. She has started understanding that the world was heartless and it won’t necessarily go the way it wanted her to. But it was unfortunate it took her the death of both her parents and Andrew being in this near-death situation for her to recognize this fact. But it wasn’t too late at least and she could pick up the scraps of her life bit by bit.

Perhaps if she has been focused on Andrew without thinking too much about those kinds of stuff she would have seen when Andrew opened his eyes which were now golden in colour. Staring at the girl in front of him, there was a bit of confusion as if in deep thought but such an expression disappeared after a few moments. His eyes' colour returned to the lovely blue that it was before he called out in a coarse voice, “Marian”. Marian who was thinking was jolted out of her thinking by that call, she trembled deeply before slowly turning to meet the eyes of Andrew which were filled with endless love.

On seeing his eyes that way, Marian couldn’t help getting teary-eyed. Her eyes were moist all of a sudden, and her worries over Andrew at this time were alleviated a little bit seeing that he has at least woken up. This was a thing of joy to her, her only family is still alive. Guess she still had some bit of luck by her side.