92: Falling right into the trap

Falling right into the trap

Much like Bastian von Conradie had predicted a day earlier, the sky that followed the thunderstorm was a clear blue. The sun emerged from behind the dissipating clouds, casting its brilliant rays down on the Archduchy.  1

Arkin had made the decision to focus today's scouting mission solely on the shallow side of the forest where rebels were never known to be present. The plan was to explore the darker side of the forest the following day with only a select few from the knights of the First Order, and without a difficult Lady who insisted on tagging along. 

It was the Commander of the Second Order, his apprentice, and Leopold von Conradie on the scouting mission today. And Arkin couldn't shake his disdain for Adela's presence.

"...If you have an issue with this, take it up with the Archduke. He was the one who ordered me to stay by your side," Adela retorted.

"I recall that he ordered me to stay by your side," Arkin countered.

"How is it different?" Adela shot back, their banter continuing as they crossed the eastern entrance of Lanark's forest. Arkin was appalled by Adela's stubbornness as if the encounter with the rebels — whom she now referred to as mercenaries— had never taken place in the cursed forest!

"Uncle, you really should have waited for us to come back," Bastian murmured, his concern evident.

Leopold remained silent, his presence all but forgotten by Adela in the heat of the argument she was having with her knight.

It must be very hard on him…

Adela, who held the memory of her falcon dear, couldn't help but empathize with Leopold von Conradie. The knowledge that his brother had ended his own life in the very forest they were now traversing evoked a profound sense of sympathy within her. She could only imagine the tormenting images that must be plaguing his mind as he walked through those woods.

She pushed away the thoughts before they overwhelmed her, unwilling to dwell on the image of a boy shielding his newborn brother from something monstrous like the white wolf she recently met. There were more pressing matters at hand, and they needed to focus on the mission ahead.

"Commander, I supported your decision yesterday, but shouldn't we have waited for the other apprentices to join you before we came here?" Bastian asked.

"What, a bunch of newbies? I'd rather be skinned alive than give my back to untrained men," 

A clicking sound beneath Arkin's foot caught his attention, causing him to frown.

Adela held onto his arm tightly, her voice filled with urgency, "Arkin, don't take another step-"

But it was too late. Arkin's foot had already triggered a trap buried underground. He froze in place to prevent it from fully activating.

Adela turned slowly to explain the situation to Bastian and Leopold, but her words caught in her throat when Leopold who seemed to fully understand what had happened without requiring an explanation bolted towards them with wide eyes, pushing Arkin with all his might.

When the trap snapped shut catching Leopold's leg, he let out a gasp of pain before falling down the ground.

"Why did you do that for?" Arkin exclaimed, flabbergasted. "Are you out of your fuc*ing mind?"

"Hey! Uncle was trying to protect you," Bastian retorted, crouching down to check his uncle's injury.

"A civilian protecting the Commander of an Order? He's probably half my weight!" Arkin barked.

Bastian's gaze shifted to Adela, who was using her handkerchief to wipe the sweat off Leopold's forehead.

"Does weight matter that much?" Bastian asked, his voice strained.

Adela's pale face nodded, and she recited what knights do when they encounter such traps, "Arkin could have remained still while we brought him help. If he couldn't stand still any longer, he should have been replaced with someone heavier..."

"Or a rock!" Arkin flushed red, feeling deeply hurt at the sight of the older man in pain. "Just look at him!"

"It... It doesn't hurt that much," Leopold groaned, his words strained with pain.

"Adela?" Arkin pleaded, crouching next to her.

With one look at Leopold, Adela knew that he would soon pass out from the pain. But in this situation, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"Take Bastian and go get some help. I will stay with him."

Arkin's face was full of objection.

"You shouldn't go alone, and Bastian is faster than I am," Adela instructed.

She also understood the importance of her soothing presence for Leopold at that moment.

"Don't move..." Arkin pleaded.

"I won't," she promised.

Once Arkin and Bastian were gone, Leopold began to release all the sounds of agony that he had been holding back before. The groans soon turned into incoherent mumbling, which alarmed Adela.

She gently touched his forehead. "You're already burning up..."

"My son... My son... Where is he..." Leopold slurred, startling Adela.

Is he not a bachelor? She had heard from her father that it was Leopold who took Egon and Bastian to Kolhis, but that was the extent of her knowledge about him.

He suddenly grasped Adela's hand that was resting on his face, his hazel eyes unfocused, "Grace... How could you do this to me?"

A sense of foreboding washed over Adela as he addressed her mother so casually, but it was quickly replaced by sympathy when tears started streaming down his face.

"How... How could you punish me a lifetime..."

"Shh," Adela gently wiped away his tears, deeply concerned by his hallucinations and arriving to the unfavorable conclusion that the trap was indeed, poisoned. 

Desperate to find any clues about the poison they had used on Leopold, Adela attempted to search for any traces with her eyes while still restraining him from moving around too much. However, she grew alarmed when his body began jerking uncontrollably.

"Let go! I have to go after my son!" Leopold's panicked voice echoed.

Out of his mind with hallucinations that seemed to have clouded even his sense of pain, Leopold pushed Adela back with his hand as he rose to his feet and took two steps forward.

Adela rose up then closely followed behind, fear gripped her heart as she worried about the presence of more traps lurking in the area.

As Leopold took his third step, a distinct clicking sound reached her ears.

Driven by overwhelming instinct, Adela closed the distance between them then pushed him forward, fully aware of the weight difference between them but unwilling to leave his other foot trapped and risk a higher dose of the poison coursing through his veins.

Instead of the anticipated sharp pain in her ankle, Adela gasped as she felt herself being lifted off the ground.

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