Ledrith's Remorse

Warning: This story contains attempted rape, physical violence, and murder.

The smell of the herbs hung thick in the air, far too potent to be considered pleasant, as the pestle pounded and ground down into the mortar.  Of course, a potent smell for this particular brew was a good thing.  Medicinal tea may not have been something anyone liked to sip on, but when it would soothe the throat, fight a fever, and aid in sleep, an ill patient would gulp it down like a pint normally.

The young apprentice, Ledrith, had been training with herbs and tonics for nearly ten years now and had finally earned the right to work alongside his master seeing to their latest patient, Archduke Whitlan of Rostal.  As his master’s patron, Ledrith could not afford any mistakes with this mixture and had to focus on grinding the ingredients just right.  Too gritty and the medicinal properties would lessened, but too fine and particles could slip through the filter and be ingested causing more extreme reactions to the herbs.

His master, Master Healer Aromeus, would likely check over his work before it was ever used to brew the beverage, but Ledrith had been grinding herbs ever since his first day as a novice.  He knew not to make foolish mistakes, especially in the preparation phase.

“Almost done, boy?” Aromeus asked as he checked their patient’s fever with the back of his fingers.

“Yes, master.  I would say nearly there,” Ledrith replied.  He lifted the mortar to angle it for more light and found the mixture was indeed close to being ready.

The Archduke suddenly fell into another coughing fit turned to his side in the bed.  The room around them was grand in every sense of the word.  Massive tapestries hung on the walls concealing the servant entrances from sight and mind while weapons and displays of armor lined the walls, collecting dust rather than the glory and blood that had sparked their conception.  The bed itself that held the ill high noble bore scarlett sheets and pillows with furs and blankets a plenty.

A few more passes with the pestle and the medicinal herbs were ready to be steeped and administered.  With a practiced hand, Ledrith slowly poured the mixture into a small tea infuser while his master watched over his shoulder.  If the young healer made a mistake, he would be corrected immediately especially with who their current patient was.

Placing the infuser into a china cup, Ledrith slowly poured boiling water over it until the cup was filled with a dark orange liquid.  Ledrith quickly added a spoonful of honey to the cup while removing the infuser and stirred vigorously until the honey had mixed into the drink completely.  The honey not only made the tea easier to drink and hide the potent taste of herbs, but it also would help soothe the archduke’s sore throat from the cough. If they had gotten the shipment of exotic fruits on time like they were supposed to, he would have added a bit of lemon juice as well.

“Well done, my boy.  I do believe you are ready for your exams,” Aromeus congratulated with a smile as he took up the cup.

“Thank you, master, but I would rather study a bit more before trying for journeyman,” Ledrith replied as a bit of color filled his cheeks at the compliment.  The youth followed his master to the archduke’s bedside and waited while the old healer helped the noble tip at the medicinal tea.

Ledrith was in no hurry to advance to the rank of journeyman in his healing arts.  In fact, since Aromeus had taken him under his wing, the youth had dreaded the day when his apprenticeship would end and he would be forced to leave and start his own practice elsewhere.  Aromeus had taken him into his service and off the streets at the tender age of five.  The man might as well have been his father with the time his master had invested in his common education, health, and professional education.

Ledrith watched in silent observance as their patient slowly consumed the tea.  He paid attention to every detail from the beads of sweat that formed on the man’s brow to the color and tone of his skin.  When he noticed the stress point between the man’s eyebrows relax, he knew the noble had fallen into a restful sleep.  They would need to place the same infuser into the teapot and let it steep, but the first cup always had to be stronger than the following cups to help kick start the healing properties.  Another cup every hour once the archduke woke would put the man to rights quickly and return him to his family cured and healthy within the week.

“I will see to his care for the night.  Go get some rest and return in the morning to relieve me,” Aromeus instructed his pupil.  Ledrith bowed his head in obedience and turned to leave.  He wondered why his master had him attending to their patient when the man would most likely be awake, but Ledrith did not mind the opportunity to rest.  It was well into the night now and sleep would most certainly be welcome.

As the young apprentice stepped out into the streets of his home city, Rostal, he found the street lamps flickering and the roads both quiet and empty.  With a deep breath, Ledrith started down the main boulevard toward the apothecary shop Aromeus and he called home.  Their apartment sat above the storefront that they worked out of most days with Aromeus’s late wife’s nephew, Treven.

Treven had hated Ledrith at first, often claiming that the street orphan was taking advantage of his uncle.  Yet, as time went on, the two built a friendship and considered each other practically family.  Treven would run the counter and take down appointments for Aromeus and Ledrith whenever they had to step out to take care of patients like that night.  Treven had come to work in the shop mainly to learn about business as a whole and acquire some management and record keeping experience before he went to work for his father and their trading company.

Ledrith was only a block away from the shop and apartment when he passed a tavern and noticed movement in the alley.  At a glance, it looked like a man was about to get sick, but a leg suddenly flew out and caught him in the groin.  Ledrith was not one to watch someone in pain without helping, but seeing that he was outside a tavern and the man just took a shot to the family jewels in a dark alley… the situation nearly explained itself.

“Hey!” Ledrith shouted, diverting into the alley and racing for the groaning man.

When he was only a few steps away, Ledrith spotted the young girl in the man’s grasp.  Her dress was ripped from the hem to just above her hip, exposing his small clothes which looked to have been tugged on but not yet removed.  She was fighting the drunken man’s grasp while her assailant pinned her to the crate with his knees and hands.

Putting all of his momentum behind his fist, Ledrith slammed a blow into the corner of the man’s jaw and crashed into him with his body.  He felt the skin on his knuckles split against the man’s face but he did manage to knock him far enough away from the girl that she should be able to escape.  However, the collision threw off his balance and Ledrith tumbled to the ground with his target landing hard on the muddy cobblestones.

“What do you think you're doing?” the man roared.  His voice slurred most of the words, but Ledrith could tell he was sober enough to know exactly what he had been trying to do.

Ledrith did not answer as he scrambled to his feet and pulled the girl from the crates so she was behind him.  He started to back up slowly, pushing her with his back toward the street while the man in the alley tried to regain his feet.

“Get out of here,” Ledrith ordered in a low calm voice.  He was surprised the words came out so cold and commanding considering his heart was pounding so hard he could hear and feel every thump in his head.  He released the girl’s arm so she could run and waited, keeping his eyes on the brute in front of him.

The man had returned to his feet and drawn a long blade from his belt and was glaring at Ledrith with lethal intent.  Ledrith swallowed hard.  He had gotten into his share of fights over the years, most of the them in taverns or alleys with other his age or sparring for fun with Treven, but this man had a blade and murder in his eyes.  The youth was not sure if he could fight this man and win without being injured or killed in the process.  Likely the fight would end with one or both of them dead in that alley, but if he ran, the man could just as easily try to take another girl into the alley to get what he wanted.  He needed to get the guards, but just as he had the thought, the coat of arms on the man’s muddy tunic caught his eye.  The man was a guard in service to the archduke.  Gods damn his luck.

The youth waited for the man to come at him while keeping a close eye on the blade.  The man must have been trained to use it considering the confidence he held it with.  Ledrith tried to think about what he could do against the blade, but nothing came to mind.  Before the young healer could even begin to think of something else other than the knife, the corrupt guardsman charged him.  Wielding the knife like it was a sword, the man tried to stab Ledrith in the belly, but he stepped to his left using his left hand to knock the attack away.  His right hand instinctively grabbed the neck of his attacker's tunic and yanked back while reaching out to take control of the man’s knife hand by grabbing his wrist.  With a hold on his tunic and knife hand, Ledrith kicked out at the man’s ankle and tried to throw him to the ground, however, he did not want to let go of his knife hand and hung on to it.  He had not expected the man to fall backward too heavily from the counter move and was dragged down on top of the man.

Pain shot through his side and he landed on top of the man and Ledrith immediately assumed he had been stabbed.  Considering the location, Ledrith would be dead in a matter of hours since the pain radiated from where his liver was.  Rolling away from his opponent, Ledrith looked down only to see his tunic was fairly clean except for a small cut and some blood on his left arm.  He must have been cut when he blocked the attack.  The pain in his side had already started to subside and he realized that he had been jabbed with something, but it had not penetrated the skin.  At worst, it was a bruise that would heal in time.

A quick glance back to his opponent revealed the man laying still in the mud with the handle of his knife sticking up like a pole from his chest, exactly where his heart was.

“Gods, no.  No, no, no,” Ledrith begged as he scrambled to his knees and crawled over to the man and placed two fingers on his neck to check for a pulse.  His fingers lingered there for only a moment before he slowly pulled them away.  His eyes drifted from the man’s throat to his face seeing a blank stare gazing straight up into the night sky.  With a shaking hand, Ledrith reached up and closed the man’s eyes with the tips of his fingers.

“Gods… what do I do?” Ledrith whispered to himself.  His voice shook with terror, pure uninhibited fear.  Within the haze of fear, the only other emotion that managed to poke its head out was panic.  He scrambled to his feet again and stumbled backward to the crates and nearly climbed up them without even facing them.

“What do I do?  What do I do?  No matter the situation, killing a guard is a crime.  I…” His mind immediately locked on to a single decision.  His instincts screamed in unison echoing the decision and his body responded.

He turned and sprinted down the street toward the apartment at full speed.  He had never run so fast in his life.  His adrenaline, fear, panic, and pain consumed his world and all he could see was his goal.

“Supplies, coin, escape,” Ledrith whispered to himself.  “Supplies, coin, escape.”  He had to escape.  No matter his accomplishments, no matter his reasons, no matter his connections, he would hang for killing a guard.  Killing a man before he could rape a woman would usually be punished with time in prison and a year of hard labor.  However, since the man was a guard, it would never be publicly acknowledged that Ledrith was stopping a rape.  The guard had to be seen as uncorrupted by the gentry no matter what.  No matter what crimes the uniformed thugs got away with.

Ledrith tripped twice on the stairs as he scrambled to the door and nearly broke the door itself from trying to wrench it open.  Clambering across the main living area to his room, Ledrith collided with Treven and they both hit the floor in a tangle of limbs.

“Led, what are you doing?” Treven grumbled as he pushed his friend off him.

“I gotta go.  I… I just… I gotta,” Ledrith sputtered out as he dove under his bed and pulled his travel satchel that he would use when Aromeus needed him to go and buy supplies and herbs for the shop.  He pulled up the loose floorboard that concealed his savings and grabbed the small bag of silver coins.

“Led, Led, calm down for two seconds and tell me what happened,” Treven said, grabbing hold of Ledrith’s shoulders and holding him in place.

“No time, there’s no time.  I killed him, Trev.  I killed him,” Ledrith confessed.  Tears were flowing down his face now as he shook his friend off and stuffed his coins in the satchel.  

“Killed who, Led?  Who’s dead?” Treven asked.  He followed his friend around the room as Ledrith scrambled to find everything he might need on the road, but not take anything that was not his.  He would already bring all kinds of trouble down on the shop and his master once this was discovered, the last thing he wanted to do was steal from him too.

“The guard at the tavern… he was trying to… with the girl and… I didn’t mean to, but… he just… he didn’t…” Ledrith could not get the whole story out through his panic and sobs, but apparently enough had gotten through to send Treven into action.

The young clerk immediately grabbed his own bag and started packing his own belongings.  Ledrith didn’t stop until Treven had torn up another floorboard and grabbed his own savings.

“What are you-” Ledrith started but had to sniff, cutting his question off short.

“What does it look like?  I’m coming with you.  You’re my best friend and I’m not letting you go through this alone.  Besides, you wouldn’t last two days out there without me,” the youth teased before retrieving a short sword from under his bed and a quarterstaff.

Ledrith sniffed again and grabbed his friend before wrapping him in a hug.  “You shouldn’t throw your life away like this,” he managed through his sobs.

“It’s my life and you are like my brother.  We stick together.  Through thick and thicker, right?” Treven said, embracing him back.

“Through thick and thicker.”  Ledrith nodded and took up the quarterstaff.  It was essentially a walking stick and would be easy enough to wield as a weapon.  He had no experience with a sword so a long stick was probably his best bet.

While Ledrith grabbed some food from the larder, Treven wrote a short letter to his uncle explaining that the two of them had no choice but to leave and Aromeus would understand soon enough.  They both signed and headed for the door and a life that neither had ever dreamed of or even considered.  A life on the run.